by by Paul Domowitch , The Philadelphia Daily News

For the better part of last season, third-and-short was a hurdle the Eagles couldn't seem to get over. For a while, it appeared it would be their undoing.

In their first 11 games last season, the Eagles converted just eight of 20 third-and-one situations. Not surprisingly, the Eagles won just five of those 11 games.

But then they got their short-yardage act together, converted six of eight third-and-ones in their final five regular-season games and five of six in the postseason and made it all the way to the NFC Championship Game.

In their first seven games this season, they were an impressive 12-for-15 on third downs of 2 yards or less, including 7-for-8 on third-and-1.

But last night, they came up short on three separate third-and-1s and a game-turning fourth-and-1 that gave the Cowboys a short field they used to set up their game-winning touchdown in a tough 20-16 loss.

With the game tied early in the fourth quarter, running back LeSean McCoy was stopped for no gain on a third-and-1 at the Dallas 45-yard line.

Rather than punt the ball away, coach Andy Reid decided to go for it on fourth-and-1. Donovan McNabb ran a quarterback sneak that appeared to get the first down.

But referee Walt Coleman's crew spotted the ball short of the first-down marker.

Reid challenged the spot, just as he did on a failed third-and-2 in the third quarter. But the spot was not changed. Five plays later, Cowboys wide receiver Miles Austin beat cornerback Sheldon Brown on a double move and caught a 49-yard touchdown pass from Tony Romo to put the Cowboys in front for good.

The spot on McNabb's failed fourth-and-1 seemed to be incorrect, but Reid refused to criticize the officials after the game.

"I can't go into the challenges," he said. "I can't do that unless you're going to pay [the fines] for them. They called them the way they called them."

McNabb felt he clearly had picked the first down on the quarterback sneak.

"I did," McNabb said. "I felt like half of my body was past the marker, which I'd seen. I landed on top of one of our guys and just slid and kept on moving.

"We thought we had a first down, but unfortunately, i guess, twice we didn't."

The Eagles , who converted six of 11 third-down opportunities in last week's win over the Giants, were just 4-for-12 against the Cowboys. Failed on a third-and-1 in the first quarter when McNabb, who completed just 16 of 30 passes and threw two interceptions, was high with a short toss to tight end Alex Smith.

Had a third-and-2 at their own 41 in the third quarter. McNabb completed a pass to McCoy, but the ball was spotted short of the first-down mark. Reid challenged that spot as well, but the ruling was upheld.

"To be at home and have those kind of calls go against you [is disappointing]," said wide receiver DeSean Jackson.

The failed challenges left the Eagles without any timeouts. The Eagles managed to get within four points on a 52-yard field goal by David Akers with 4:33 left in the game. But the Cowboys picked up a pair of first downs on their next possession, which was enough to let them run the clock out.

Did you notice:-- The Cowboys ran the Wildcat twice on their first scoring drive, with Tashard Choice taking the direct snap both times. He ran for 7 yards on the first one, but it was negated by a holding penalty. They used a direct snap to Choice again later in the drive on his 2-yard touchdown run. He followed pulling right guard Leonard Davis into the end zone on the play.

-- When Jason Peters got hurt late in the first quarter, left guard Todd Herremans slid out to left tackle, Nick Cole went from right guard to left guard and Stacy Andrews played right guard.

-- The great bounce Sav Rocca got on a 48-yard punt late in the first quarter. It came down at the Dallas 32 and bounced all the way to the 15.

-- Andrews got beat badly by nose tackle Jay Ratliff for a 10-yard sack of McNabb early in the second quarter. The Eagles , who had a first down at the Dallas 18, ended up having to settle for a 45-yard David Akers field goal.

-- The hit by Cowboys cornerback Terence Newman on Brent Celek on a third-and-8 pass late in the second quarter. Celek barely got the first down, gaining just 1 yard after contact with Newman.

-- Asante Samuel's inability to tackle reared its ugly head again late in the second quarter on the 64-yard catch-and-run by Patrick Crayton that set up a Nick Folk field goal to give the Cowboys a 10-6 halftime lead. Samuel tried to tackle him near midfield, but Crayton stiff-armed Samuel like somebody swatting away a gnat. Tracy White finally brought Crayton down at the Philadelphia 17.

-- Defensive end Juqua Parker almost sacked Romo with 7 seconds left in the first half on the third-down play right before Folk's field goal. The Cowboys didn't have any timeouts left, so if Parker had sacked him, time likely would have run out and Folk wouldn't have had time to kick the field goal.

-- The nice job McNabb did of extending the play on his 11-yard touchdown pass to Brent Celek early in the third quarter. He stepped up in the pocket to avoid an outside rush, then outran linebacker Bobby Carpenter, who had been spying him, and got the pass away to an open Celek.

-- Michael Vick was on the field for just two snaps. He had a 2-yard run in the second quarter and handed off to LeSean McCoy, who gained 3 yards, in the third quarter.

-- Juqua Parker was covering Cowboys wide receiver Roy Williams on an 8-yard completion to him late in the third quarter.

-- Some of the costly penalties on the Eagles . A low block by linebacker Moise Fokou wiped out a long interception return by Sheldon Brown in the third quarter. It came right after a senseless, unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Samuel, who picked it up after finally making a tackle on Cowboys running back Marion Barber.

-- The double-move Miles Austin used to beat cornerback Sheldon Brown on his game-winning 49-yard TD catch.

By the numbers-- The loss was only the Eagles' third in 11 games at home against the Cowboys under Andy Reid.

-- The Eagles failed to score on their first possession for the fourth time in eight games.

-- Sheldon Brown notched his fourth interception of the season in the third quarter. That tied his career high. He also had four interceptions in 2005.

-- David Akers, who made all three of his field-goal attempts, has missed just four times in 40 career attempts against the Cowboys.

-- Last night was the fifth time this season the Eagles had recorded at least three sacks. It was the first time they lost when they had that many. They now are 59-14-1 under Andy Reid when they've had three or more sacks in a game.

-- Donovan McNabb, who completed just 16 of 30 passes, has completed 60-plus percent of his passes in just two of 18 games against the Cowboys.

-- Just two of LeSean McCoy's 13 rushing attempts gained more than 5 yards. He has 83 carries this season. Just 17 of them have gained 7 yards or more.

-- Michael Vick had one rushing attempt for 2 yards. For the season, he's rushed for just 28 yards on 11 carries.

-- In their last four games, the Eagles have had the ball on their opponent's side of the 50 on 24 of 49 possessions. They've scored 13 times and just three of those scores were touchdowns.

-- The Cowboys were only the second team this season to score more than 17 points against the Eagles .

-- The Eagles had four sacks and have sacked Tony Romo 14 times in six games.

-- Trent Cole's third-quarter sack of Tony Romo was only his second in the last six games against the Cowboys.

-- The Eagles held the Cowboys to 3.3 yards per carry. They've allowed more than 4 yards per carry in just two games this season - New Orleans (4.6) and the Giants (4.4).

Report cardRUSHING OFFENSE: While LeSean McCoy and Leonard Weaver both had some success on the ground, the Eagles couldn't get a yard when they needed it in the fourth quarter, getting stopped for no gain on third-and-one and fourth-and-one.

Grade: C

PASSING OFFENSE: The accuracy Donovan McNabb showed last week against the Giants disappeared against the Cowboys. He threw just his second and third interceptions of the season.

Grade: D

RUN DEFENSE: The Eagles did a good job shutting down the Cowboys' ground game. They held them to 3.3 yards per carry in the first three quarters.

Grade: A-minus

PASS DEFENSE: The Eagles held Tony Romo without a touchdown pass for 3 quarters, but then Miles Austin beat Sheldon Brown on a double move for the game-winning TD in the fourth quarter.

Grade: C

SPECIAL TEAMS: David Akers made all three of his field goal attempts, including a 52-yarder in the fourth quarter. The Eagles did a good job of neutralizing Cowboys punt returner Patrick Crayton.

Grade: A- minus

OVERALL: DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin were held to just 2 receptions. Donovan McNabb had his first regular-season multiple-interception performance since the Baltimore debacle last November.

Grade: C-minus

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