ARLINGTON, Texas — It turns out the Cowboys can lose elimination games in agonizing fashion without Tony Romo, too.
A Romo-esque interception thrown by replacement Kyle Orton sealed another playoff-less winter for Dallas and sent the Eagles back to the postseason as NFC East champions after a two-year absence with a 24-22 win Sunday night at a packed AT&T Stadium.
Orton fared well for more than three quarters in place of the injured Romo, but his poor throw for Miles Austin on first down with 1:43 left was picked off by Eagles cornerback Brandon Boykin to end the Cowboys’ furious rally and make Chip Kelly a division winner in his first season.
Not bad for a college coach.
Skeptics had a field day last winter when the Eagles lured Kelly and his wacky, no-huddle offense from Oregon, but no one is laughing now after he returned Philadelphia to the playoffs just a year after a 4-12 disaster that sent Andy Reid packing.
The 10-6 Eagles will host Drew Brees and the 11-5 Saints on Saturday night in the NFC wild-card playoffs at Lincoln Financial Field.
“They’re a special group,” Kelly said outside a jubilant Eagles locker room. “Everything we asked of them, they’ve bought in. It’s terrific when all the hard work pays off. They just found a way.”
But Kelly and the Eagles had to sweat out virtually every moment of this one until Boykin stepped in front of Orton’s throw for Austin and returned it to the Dallas 32, as the Cowboys nearly rallied from deficits of 17-7 and 24-16.
“The biggest moment,” Boykin, a second-year pro, said of where the play ranked in his career. “Maybe not the biggest play [of my life], but definitely the biggest moment.”
It was also a crushing finish to an otherwise impressive fill-in effort by Orton, who completed 30 of his 46 passes for 358 yards and two touchdowns while being intercepted twice in his first start since 2011.
“It appeared that Miles won the route, but the ball was thrown a little behind him,” coach Jason Garrett said. “It’s a tough ending, but I thought Kyle played very well in this game.”
Any thought that Romo’s absence would prompt Garrett to commit to his running game and bruising back DeMarco Murray turned out to be misguided.
Murray carried just 17 times for 51 yards, and Garrett will have to live down calling for Orton to roll out on fourth-and-1 from the Philly 40 late in the fourth quarter instead of giving Murray the ball. Orton’s pass was batted down, wasting a precious opportunity.
The result was yet another elimination-game loss for the Cowboys, who fell to 1-8 in that situation since 2005. It was also their third consecutive loss in a Week 17 game to decide the NFC East, and Dallas (8-8) will now miss the playoffs four years in a row.
Jerry Jones said afterward that Garrett’s job is safe, but the Dallas owner wouldn’t say the same about embattled, 73-year-old defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, whose unit was a disaster for much of the year.
Ironically, Kiffin’s defense had one of its better games all season Sunday night and nearly gave the Cowboys a victory by sacking the Eagles’ Nick Foles five times and coming up with a goal-line stand in the fourth quarter.
“I think they understand it’s not always going to go the way you planned,” Kelly said. “We just keep plugging.”
While the Cowboys keep coming up short in big games.