Cowboys Beat Eagles

By Art Garcia, The Sports Xchange

ARLINGTON, Texas — Carson Wentz was the better of the rookie quarterbacks for much of his first career matchup with Dak Prescott.
But it was Prescott who came through in the end.
Dallas’ fourth-round draft pick rallied the Cowboys to a 29-23 victory over Philadelphia Eagles in overtime Sunday night at AT&T Stadium.
Prescott was suffering through his most inconsistent game before finishing strong. His 22-yard touchdown pass to Dez Bryant tied the game with three minutes left in regulation before going 5 of 5 in the extra session, including a game-winning 5-yard touchdown to Jason Witten.
Prescott didn’t let his early struggles get to him with the game on the line.
“I’m not going to stop,” he said. “I don’t care how bad I play early on, I don’t care really what I do, I’m not going to give up. I’ve got great, unbelievable teammates around me who give me confidence no matter what I’ve done.”
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones also appeared to appoint Prescott as the starter next week at Cleveland with Tony Romo continuing to recover from his back injury.
“My opinion is that Dak will start against Cleveland,” Jones said.
Even though it’s been assumed that Romo would eventually get his job back, Prescott had led the Cowboys to 6-1 start and the top record in the NFC. (Minnesota is 5-1 going into Monday night.)
Prescott did look Romo-like on the final scoring pass to Witten by buying time in the pocket before delivering a strike to the longtime tight end.
“I guess you can say that,” Prescott said. “Just keeping the play alive.”
Wentz, the second overall selection in this year’s draft, completed 32 of 43 passes without an interception for 202 yards and a touchdown. Wentz snapped out of a personal three-game funk, though the Eagles came up short in their bid to tie the Cowboys atop the NFC East.
“We were in control and we’re going to learn from it,” Wentz said, “and we’re going to be better.”
The Eagles (4-3) fell two games back in the division race. The rivals close out the regular season in Philadelphia on Jan. 1.
After throwing five touchdowns without a pick during a 3-0 start, Wentz had three touchdowns and three interceptions during a 1-2 stretch. He only completed 54 percent (27 of 50) of his passes over the last two weeks.
Philadelphia went up 23-13 after a field goal early in the fourth. Wentz had a chance to create his own magic after the Cowboys rallied to tie it, but the Eagles couldn’t muster anything on their final two drives.
“They just made more plays that us. It’s plain and simple,” Wentz said. “Those are the kind that I’ll kick myself over.”
Wentz was never able to get off the sidelines in overtime as Prescott led the deciding march. The two young quarterbacks figure to square off plenty over the next decade or so, but maybe not again this season.
Wentz could be making his first start opposite Romo in the finale