Monday Night Madness Leads to Tuesday Morning Hangover in Eagles Land

The dust has settled, and my hangover is settling in. 

Cowboys 41, Eagles 37.

With seven lead changes, the emotions of last night ran the gamut:

Excitement. 

Bewilderment. 

Despair. 

Nausea. 

It's pretty much summed up by the string of text messages I received toward the end of the shootout:

10:56 p.m., From: Chris
"I don't think I have enough beer or liver capacity for this game."

12:01 a.m., From: Thom
"[expletive]!"

12:03 a.m., From: Thom
"Hook & ladder?! WTF? Is this college?"

12:09 a.m., From: Thom
"They dominated so much of that game. Could have...No, should have won that [bleep] game."

12:25 a.m., From: Chris
"How the hell do we react to this game?"

I'm not quite sure how to answer Chris' last question. Is there such a thing as a "good loss?"

There's no question Donovan McNabb looked awesome. The franchise quarterback looked very much the part and should leave no doubt that he is completely healed.

The defense and special teams are different stories. 

But this loss isn't as deflating to me as most Dallas losses for some reason. The Eagles showed they can hang with the so-called "class of the conference." The Cowboys defense is supposed to be strong, and McNabb marched the Birds up and down the field, at times with impunity.

Yes, there were two killer fumbles. Yes, there was a killer kick return. 

And yes, DeSean Jackson is lucky he is very, very good. Andy Reid releases most players that make a bonehead play like that. On the spot. Let alone putting him back on the field in the same game.

It was just one game out of the 16, one that goes down in the loss column. But if the Eagles build on what they showed last night, it may be one of the few that do.

Now where did I put that Aleve?