'Refereeagles'? Will Philadelphia Eagles Beat Dallas Cowboys Thanks to Ref John '7-0' Hussey?
ARLINGTON - The Philadelphia Eagles will take a "Sunday Night Football'' win here at AT&T Stadium against the hated Dallas Cowboys any way they can get it.
Including, of course, if a win is "given to them'' by the John Hussey-led officiating crew.
In Dallas this week, we've played with the phrase "Philadelphia Refereeagles'' as a way of noting that when Hussey works a Philadelphia game, Philadelphia wins.
Always. Every time. Seven outta seven.
In fairness, when Hussey refs, the home team usually wins. Also, in fairness: Hey, over the last few years, the odds are going to be pretty good that any officiating crew is going to end up overseeing a Philly win ...
Simply because Philly in the last few years usually wins.
But what the 10-2 Eagles and the 9-3 Cowboys would probably prefer, given that each team comes into "Sunday Night Football'' with plenty of confidence?
That the best team - which each team thinks is them - wins.
And that the refs simply operate as the "traffic cops'' they are supposed to be.
This game will help decide who wins the NFC East, and maybe even who wins the No. 1 seed in the conference come playoff time.
But most observers want the game to "decide'' things, not Hussey and his crew, who have been in charge for last season's 26-17 Eagles win over the Cowboys on "Monday Night Football'' and for the Eagles' 31-7 victory over the 49ers in the NFC title game.
In the "Monday Night Football'' win over Dallas, the Eagles were penalized just twice for 10 yards, while the Cowboys totaled 10 flags for 72 yards.
Against San Francisco in last season's NFC Championship game, the 49ers were penalized 11 times for 81 yards while Philly was flagged just four times for 34 yards.
Given all of that, there might be a temptation for an Eagles fan to root for imbalance, to hope, even, for bad officiating.
The problem with that mindset? Generally speaking, lopsided and poor officiating could in theory victimize anybody at any time.
Except ... maybe ... When John "7-0'' Hussey works an Eagles game.
