Notable games in long and heated Eagles-Cowboys rivalry

IT IS SOMEWHAT appropriate that the Eagles-Cowboys rivalry essentially started with an elbow to the jaw, continued with snowballs from the 700 level and sank to a low while Michael Irvin lay motionless on the cold surface at Veterans Stadium.

This year is one of the few where neither team is very good. So we turned on the Wayback Machine and took a look at some of the more notable and notorious Eagles-Cowboys moments over the last 50-plus years:

* Sept. 30, 1960: The first installment saw the highly regarded Eagles narrowly escape with a 27-25 win at the Cotton Bowl against a Dallas club that was playing its first season. The Birds won the NFL championship that year, while the Cowboys staggered to an 0-11-1 mark. "The Eagles were a very fine team," former Cowboys executive Gil Brandt said in a 2009 Daily News story. "Actually, we looked at a two-point loss to them as a moral victory."

* Nov. 6, 1966: Timmy Brown, the greatest kick returner in Eagles history, returned two kickoffs for touchdowns in a 24-23 Birds' win, and Joe Scarpati stole the ball from Dan Reeves as the Cowboys were driving late in the game.

* Dec. 10, 1967: Leading 31-3 in the fourth quarter and far away from the play, Dallas linebacker Lee Roy Jordan drilled Brown with an elbow to the jaw. "I was a decoy on the play,'' Brown would recall later. "It was supposed to be a pass to [a teammate]. It went incomplete. I'm slowing down and here comes the elbow. Fractured my jaw, loosened six teeth.'' Brown said he lost respect for the Cowboys and coach Tom Landry that day. Eagles-Cowboys would never be the same.

* Sept. 26, 1971: Dallas opened Veterans Stadium with a 42-7 beatdown of the Eagles that featured three interceptions by Philadelphia native Herb Adderly.

* Oct. 28, 1973: Roman Gabriel threw for two touchdowns and ran for another as the Eagles snapped an 11-game losing streak to the Cowboys.

* Nov. 12, 1979: Barefooted kicker Tony Franklin booted a 59-yard field goal as the Eagles snapped a nine-game losing streak to the 'Boys and won in Dallas for the first time since 1965. "Oh, my God," coach Dick Vermeil said after the game, wiping away tears and clutching a football. "This is the finest thing anyone ever gave me. It's the greatest game ball I've ever received. It came from their hearts. I love them."

* Dec. 21, 1980: Harold Carmichael's 127-game streak with at least one reception, then an NFL record, was snapped when Dallas safety Dennis Thurman knocked Carmichael out of the game with a questionable hit in the second quarter. The big news that day, however, was the Eagles clinched their first division title in 20 years despite a 35-27 loss. Both teams finished with 12-4 records, but the Cowboys had to win by more than 24 points because of a tiebreaker. Dallas had a 35-10 lead in the fourth quarter before the Eagles rallied.

"I saw [Ron] Jaworski doing his dance after [Tony] Franklin kicked that last field goal," Dallas safety Charlie Waters said. "I'll remember that if we meet in the NFC Championship Game, which I hope we do."

* Jan. 11, 1981: You did, Charlie, and Wilbert Montgomery's 42-yard TD run on the second play vaulted the Eagles to a 20-7 win in the NFC Championship Game, the most important of the 107 Eagles-Cowboys meetings.

* Oct. 25, 1987: Two weeks after many Cowboys regulars crossed the picket line and rolled up a bunch of Eagles' replacement players during a work stoppage, Buddy Ryan had his full roster for a 37-20 win. At the end of the game, Randall Cunningham faked taking a knee and instead threw a pas into the end zone that resulted in an interference call on Dallas. Keith Byars scored from a yard out on the next play. "I've been fortunate enough to be around a lot of classy coaches in my career," Cowboys wideout Mike Renfro said after the game. "But that was one of the most classless things I've ever seen."

* Dec. 10, 1989: The Eagles were accused of putting bounties on the heads of various Cowboys players, including kicker Luis Zendejas (who was cut by the Eagles earlier in the year) and franchise quarterback Troy Aikman. The charges were never proven, but the atmosphere for this game was as ugly as any ever at Veterans Stadium. Adding to the insanity was the stadium was covered with snow and fans dangerously heaved snow and iceballs throughout the game, which was won by the Eagles, 20-10.

* Oct. 31, 1993: Emmitt Smith ran for 237 yards, most in an Eagles-Cowboys game, as Dallas won in a rainstorm, 23-10. Smith, for an encore, ran for 172 yards in the teams' second meeting that season. The Cowboys won that one, too, 23-17.

* Dec. 10, 1995: The Eagles stopped the Cowboys twice on 4th-and-1 and turned the ensuing possession into a game-winning field goal in a 20-17 victory. The Cowboys' first attempt - from their own 29-yard-line! - was stuffed, but not before officials determined the 2-minute warning had sounded. With its second chance, Dallas ran the very same play - a Smith run off left guard - only to be stuffed again.

* Jan. 7, 1996: As if a 30-11 playoff loss wasn't bad enough, a massive Philadelphia snow and ice storm kept the Birds in the Dallas area for 2 extra days.

* Sept. 15, 1997: Ty Detmer drove the Eagles 80 yards for what should have been a game-winning, 22-yard field goal, but holder Tommy Hutton bobbled the snap and was tackled as time ran out and Dallas won the Monday nighter, 21-20.

* Oct. 10, 1999: Eagles fans cheered as Michael Irvin lay on the Veterans Stadium carpet with what turned out to be a career-ending neck injury.

* Sept. 3, 2000: Andy Reid opened the season with a stunning and successful onsides kick and Duce Staley ran for 201 yards as the Eagles overwhelmed the Cowboys, 41-14. Temperatures in the Dallas area hit a record 109 degrees, which the Eagles combatted by consuming pickle juice.

* Nov. 15, 2004: Donovan McNabb scrambled for 14.1 seconds - think about that - before hitting Freddie Mitchell with a 60-yard bomb as the Eagles hammered the Cowboys, 49-21.

* Sept. 15, 2008: Rookie DeSean Jackson scored his first career touchdown, except he didn't. What originally was a 61-yard score became a 60-yard completion when Jackson mindlessly flipped the ball before he crossed the goal line. The ball rolled dead and was ruled a fumble. Fortunately for Jackson, the Eagles retained possession and Brian Westbrook scored on the next play.

* Dec. 28, 2008: Losses by the Bears and Buccaneers meant the winner of this Eagles-Cowboys game would secure the NFC's final playoff spot. Brian Dawkins created all sorts of mayhem as the Eagles rolled to a 44-6 win at raucous Lincoln Financial Field.

* Jan. 9, 2010: The Cowboys thumped the Eagles twice in 6 days, this time 34-14 in a wild-card game. It turned out to be the final Eagles game for McNabb and Westbrook.