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A green day

Eagles running back Brian Westbrook tries to break the tackle of Cowboys linebacker Bobby Carpenter Monday in Irving, Texas. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Jaime Aron Associated Press
Eagles running back Brian Westbrook tries to break the tackle of Cowboys linebacker Bobby Carpenter Monday in Irving, Texas. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

IRVING, Texas – The Philadelphia Eagles were supposed to get buried by December road games against all three division foes, especially with retread backup Jeff Garcia running the offense.

Turns out, that challenge was exactly what they needed to grab control of the NFC East.

After close calls in Washington and New York, Garcia and the Philadelphia defense made it a clean sweep with a surprisingly easy 23-7 victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Monday.

Garcia led the Eagles (9-6) to scores on four of their first five drives and the defense forced Tony Romo and the Cowboys into easily their least-productive game of the season. The victory – Philadelphia’s fourth straight – clinched a wild-card berth and moved the Eagles into first place in the division with one game left in the season.

“We took a situation where things weren’t looking good, with some major hurdles to overcome, and we found a way to win,” said Garcia, who improved to 4-1 since replacing an injured Donovan McNabb. “It’s this playoff mentality we’ve had over the past month that’s carried us.”

Philadelphia coach Andy Reid laughed about how easy it’s been since his club was 5-6 after losing Garcia’s first start.

“We thought it would be a cakewalk,” he said with a wry smile. “Every one of those games has been huge. The guys have buckled down against some good teams. Our players knew what was ahead of them. Everybody really pulled closer together.”

The Eagles can win the division for the fifth time in six years by beating Atlanta at home Sunday. Philadelphia also could clinch if Dallas loses its finale to Detroit.

The only way the Cowboys (9-6) can win the division is by beating the Lions and by the Falcons knocking off the Eagles. Dallas no longer has a shot at the conference’s No. 2 seed and a first-round bye; this game clinched that for New Orleans.

The NFC East winner will host the lower-seeded wild-card team; the division runner-up will play at Seattle.

Garcia was 15 of 23 for 238 yards with a touchdown and an interception, and ran for 43 yards. Brian Westbrook ran for 122 yards and Correll Buckhalter had 38 yards and a touchdown.

Garcia set the tone with four third-down conversions on the opening series, then a 25-yard touchdown pass to barely covered Matt Schobel. After the defense made three straight goal-line stands against Marion Barber, the NFC touchdowns rushing leader, Garcia moved Philadelphia from its 4-yard line to the Dallas 2, setting up the first of three straight field goals by David Akers.

The Cowboys never led and hardly threatened, setting a season-low for points by 10.