Eagles fans have been asking for the team to give them a reason to believe. The Eagles did just that on Sunday night, dominating Dallas 34-7. It was a glorious night. The offense was like a machine, scoring on the first six possessions. The defense kept Tony Romo in check all night long. The Eagles finally played a complete game. They showed up for all 60 minutes and looked like the team that fans had expected all season long.

The individual who stood out was LeSean McCoy. He set career highs with 30 carries and 185 yards. Dallas came into the game with the top-ranked run defense, but after Sunday night they fell down to fourth. McCoy is having an amazing season and he did some special things. There was one play that summed up the situation. Dallas nose tackle Jay Ratliff has been a Pro Bowl player. Inside linebacker Sean Lee will be a Pro Bowl player. On one run late in the first quarter, McCoy made Ratliff miss with a quick lateral move and then used a stiff arm to keep Lee off him. McCoy got 11 yards on the run and made it look easy.

You don't run the ball without good blocking and the Eagles certainly got that. You can really see Howard Mudd's vision coming together with the offensive line. Rookie Jason Kelce won his battle with Ratliff, which is no small feat. Ratliff has terrorized the Eagles in the past. He can explode off the ball. Kelce is the first center the team has had who has the quickness to deal with him. The other thing to watch with Kelce is his hands. He does a great job of keeping his hands on the rusher. Even when guys beat him off the ball, Kelce can steer them wide because he's got his hands on the defender.

It was great to see Jason Peters' return to the lineup. You forget just what a talent he is sometimes. He made a terrific block on Jeremy Maclin's wide receiver screen touchdown. Peters flew out in space to take out a defensive back on that play. He used his power to cave in defensive linemen as the Eagles used a design cutback run over and over. All Peters had to do was down block, but he did it very well and gave McCoy acres of running room all night long.

My favorite position group of the game was the tight ends. Brent Celek had his best game of the year, catching seven passes for 94 yards. Clay Harbor added one catch for 11 yards. They did a great job of blocking as well. They chipped on the Cowboys pass rushers on a lot of pass plays. Sometimes they stayed in and blocked. There was one play where Harbor blocked DeMarcus Ware one-on-one on a pass play and put him on the ground. That was impressive. The Eagles used the tight end screen pass three times in the game and it worked well each time. They got first downs on two of them and came less than a yard away on the third.

Tommy Lawlor, goeagles99 on the Discussion Boards, is an amateur football scout and devoted Eagles fan. He was a finalist for Philadelphia's Most Influential Blogger Award and is the Editor of IgglesBlitz.com

The maestro to all of this offensive greatness was Michael Vick. I think he played his best game as an Eagle. Vick didn't have any highlight runs. His longest pass completion went for 24 yards so there were no spectacular bombs. While he wasn't dynamic, Vick played a smart game and that's something Vick hasn't done enough of. Too often he relies on his physical gifts. On Sunday night, Vick was a weapon before the ball was even snapped. Maclin's touchdown catch came on an audible. Vick saw the Cowboys defense and changed the play to something that would work better. He audibled a few other times in the game. Vick adjusted the protections when the Cowboys showed various blitzes.

Vick also made good pre-snap reads in terms of who to throw to. Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg put together a brilliant game plan. They had some plays that left Dallas completely confused. This led to a couple of times where Eagles were uncovered or there was a favorable matchup. On one such play Celek was in the right slot, uncovered. Vick took the snap, dropped back, and then got the ball to him for a first down. Vick didn't rush. He knew where his guy was and got him the ball in a normal way. Some guys will rush throws like that and be off-target.

Vick made good decisions in other ways. He wanted to throw a quick pass to Maclin in the second half. The Dallas cornerback jumped the route. Vick saw the corner and didn't make the throw. Smart. The other thing I loved is that Vick got out of bounds on several of his runs. Smart. There's no reason to fight for every inch you can. I've yelled at Vick a few times for not protecting himself. On Sunday night, he did protect himself by avoiding hits and using the sideline as his friend.

Juan Castillo's defense had their best game of the season. Dallas came into the game sixth in yards per game and 10th in scoring. The Eagles held them to 267 yards and seven points. I think we are finally starting to see what Reid and Castillo had in mind when they put the defense together.

It all starts up front. The defensive line had four sacks and two of them came on the opening drive. That set the tone for the game and Tony Romo never got comfortable after that. Jason Babin and Trent Cole harassed Romo off the edge, but just as important was the pressure that Mike Patterson and Cullen Jenkins got up the middle. Patterson has played well two games in a row and the defense has looked good in both of them.

Jamar Chaney looked like the Chaney of 2010 for the first time this year. There were times when he covered Jason Witten and Chaney was solid. He tackled well when Witten did catch some short passes. That's simple, but critical. You can't let Witten get extra yards. Brian Rolle and Moise Fokou each made a couple of good tackles. Both Fokou and Chaney broke up passes.

The secondary was terrific. Asante Samuel played his best game of the year. He was aggressive in coverage. He played a lot of press coverage and even got jams on receivers a few times. He had four solo tackles. Nnamdi Asomugha looked like a stud corner. He picked off a pass. He smothered receivers out wide. Asomugha covered Witten on some plays.

I wrote this summer about how the defense was designed to play with a lead. You finally saw that pan out on Sunday. The defensive line kept regular pressure on the quarterback. The corners were able to shut down wide receivers.  The defense played with a lot of energy and aggression.  They tackled well.  They were confident and you didn't see blown assignments. 

Some fans have asked me about whether they should be worried since so many things went right on Sunday night.  I don't think so.  The great thing about that game is that no player did anything that can't be repeated.  This is nothing like last year's two epic wins, the domination of the Redskins and the Miracle at the New Meadowlands.  Those games were flukes.  One was a perfect performance.  The other was one of the great comebacks of all time. 

What we saw on Sunday was good, smart, efficient football.  The Eagles made minimal mistakes.  The coaches put together a great game plan and the players executed it.  They did this against a very talented Dallas team.  I can't promise you that the Eagles will have such a clean game each week, but I can't stress enough how different that is from a game filled with long touchdowns and crazy moments. 

The Eagles are just 3-4, but this is a team absolutely headed in the right direction.  Reid will keep his team focused and not let them worry about any talk of the playoffs, winning streaks, or future games, which is exactly what the Eagles need.  Focus on the little things and the big things will take care of themselves. 

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