First place on the line in Philly

PHILADELPHIA -- They have played each other with both a Super Bowl and a playoff spot at stake.

There was the "Bounty Bowl," Emmitt Smith getting stuffed, Eagles fans cheering for a motionless Michael Irvin, and Terrell Owens stoking controversy for each side.

Dallas and Philadelphia have lined up against each other 99 times in games that have forged one of the NFL's most heated rivalries. Somehow it seems fitting the 100th meeting would have something significant on the line.

With the Phillies' run in the World Series over, all eyes among the city's sports fans are on one game -- one sport, really -- this weekend.

Win tomorrow night in Philadelphia, and the Cowboys (5-2) are alone atop the NFC East.

Knock off the Cowboys, and the Eagles (5-2) move into first as the only NFC East team unbeaten in the division.

"I know the crowd is going to be out of their minds," Eagles coach Andy Reid said.

The fans always are hostile when the Eagles and Cowboys play, especially when more than just bragging rights go to the winner.

Last season was no exception. The finale turned into a do-or-die game for the final NFC wild card spot, and the Eagles thumped the Cowboys 44-6 to earn the right to play in the postseason -- and they eventually reached the NFC title game.

The Cowboys left Lincoln Financial Field in shambles.

They return on a three-game winning streak and playing their best football of the season. The Cowboys haven't forgotten how they were dominated in the second series game last year, and -- though its only the halfway point of the season -- wresting the division lead from the Eagles would help put that unpleasant memory behind them.

"We're going to watch it on tape, we're going to correct the things we didn't do well and come up with a way to attack these guys," Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo said. "We're going to go out there and be a better football team than we were that played that day. I don't know about the rest of the stuff that people use as motivation. There's motivation in the sense that is an important game."

Romo has thrown eight touchdowns without an interception over the past three games and has put aside Roy Williams' grumbling to find a favorite target in wide receiver Miles Austin. Austin has 21 catches for 482 yards and five TDs during the winning streak. Oh, and those games have represented his first three NFL starts.

"He's been waiting for his opportunity, and when it came along he's done some really good things," Romo said.

The Eagles want to end that hot streak -- and keep theirs going.

They have rolled to victories the last two weeks over division rivals Washington and New York. Philly will have running back Brian Westbrook in the lineup after he sat out last week because of the lingering effects from a concussion.

"I am excited to get to play again. It really doesn't matter at this point who we are playing against for me," Westbrook said. "It means a little bit extra because it's Dallas, but I just want to be able to go out there and play a football game."