Backups to play for title tonight

ARLINGTON, Texas - Nick Foles and Kyle Orton were backup quarterbacks when the season began.

They will be the starters for Philadelphia and Dallas tonight when the Cowboys play their third consecutive season finale against an NFC East rival with a division title on the line.

Foles has a 7-2 record in nine starts and leads the league in quarterback rating, which is why MichaelVick didn’t get his job back when he was healthy again last month.

It’s a different story for Orton, who will make his first start in almost two seasons after Tony Romo was declared out for the rest of the season Friday after undergoing back surgery.

Romo injured his back in the fourth quarter of last week’s 24-23 victory at Washington that kept Dallas’ playoff hopes alive. After the injury, Romo directed the winning drive capped by his fourth-down pass to De-Marco Murray for a 10-yard touchdown.

Orton’s last start came with the Kansas City Chiefs, who were wrapping up a 7-9 record in the same season he was dumped by the Denver Broncos in favor of Tim Tebow. Orton has played three games - and thrown just 15 passes - in two years as Romo’s backup.

“He has knowledge of the game in terms of he’s been through issues and problems and he knows how to solve them,” Cowboys offensive coordinator Bill Callahan said. “That’s why we have that opportunity to have a veteran quarterback as a backup.”

Tight end Jason Witten came into the league with Romo in 2003 and said the quarterback’s absence should serve as inspiration for the Cowboys.

“Everything you’ve worked for, you’ve done over the course of a decade is for moments like this, and if he’s not able to go, obviously that’s a blow,” Witten said. “You want to do it for guys like that.”

Foles said he isn’t so sure that the Eagles will benefit all that much from Romo’s absence. Philadelphia is trying to complete a worst-to-first rebound from 4-12 last season under Chip Kelly, who is in his first year as the Eagles coach.

“I don’t care who’s quarterbacking, who’s playing,” said Foles, who has 25 touchdowns and two interceptions. “If you’re not up for that, I don’t know if you’ll ever be up to play football.”

The Eagles have been held without a touchdown once this season, in a 17-3 loss to the Cowboys in October. Foles was 11 of 29 for 80 yards before being knocked out of the game with a concussion.

Since then, Foles is 6-1 and is averaging 287 yards passing per game. He tied the NFL record for touchdown passes in a game with seven against Oakland the first start after the Cowboys shut him down.

The Cowboys also must find a way to slow Eagles running back LeSean McCoy, who leads the NFL with 1,476 yards and has a chance to become Philadelphia’s first league-leading rusher since Hall of Famer Steve Van Buren in 1949. McCoy also needs just 93 yards to break Brian Westbrook’s franchise record of 2,104 yards from scrimmage.

Dallas limited McCoy to just 55 yards rushing and 26 yards receiving in the teams’ first match up, but shutting down the Eagles offense figures to be a tougher chore this time with linebacker Sean Lee out because of a neck sprain.

That creates a significant problem for a defense that has experienced its share of struggles already this season. The Cowboys defense has given up the first two 600-yard games in franchise history this season and an NFL-record 40 first downs.

“Sean Lee is an incredible player,” Foles said. “He’s everywhere. He makes a lot of big plays. I know that they’re going to miss him, but teams rally when guys get hurt and I’m going to be ready for their best shot.”

Today’s game

PHILADELPHIA AT DALLAS TIME 7:30 p.m. Central WHERE AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas.

RECORDS Philadelphia 9-6, Dallas 8-7 TELEVISION NBC

Sports, Pages 21 on 12/29/2013

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