IRVING, Texas - No one has forgotten, or could ever possibly forget. It had to be the single most disappointing, frustrating afternoon in Dallas Cowboys history.

The Ice Bowl and The Catch and all the other heartbreaking defeats have their place, but the 44-6 beating the Cowboys took in the 2008 season finale is in a sort of class by itself, the culmination of a season-long implosion.

On the plane ride to Pennsylvania, the Cowboys had it all. They controlled their own destiny, something the Eagles didn't, and could have gotten themselves into the playoffs with a win. Philadelphia needed losses by Tampa Bay and Chicago in the early games, which they got, whipping Lincoln Financial Field into a frenzy just before kickoff.

What followed was three hours of destruction and self-destruction the Cowboys would carry with them for the next seven months.

"We just flat out got our tail whooped, man. No excuse or anything like that," Patrick Crayton said Monday. "They played better, they showed up to play that day and they were able to get a win and get in the playoffs. We didn't. We went home and had to sulk and had to deal with that for the whole off-season."

It didn't end when the final whistle blew, either. First the franchise quarterback collapsed in the postgame shower after sustaining damage to the cartilage around his ribs. Then, two players got into a scrap on the return flight home. A real-live protester confronted players when they came in the next day to clean out their lockers, and the owner had to battle back questions about the job security of the head coach, the controversial star wide receiver and the oft-troubled cornerback.

And, nevermind the take-charge attitude he exhibited by shooing the punt team off the field for a needed fourth-down conversion. Nevermind the fact he was so hurt he needed help to step down from the stage after his postgame press conference. The questions involving Tony Romo were if he was a leader, and would he ever really get it or care about winning at all, for that matter.

And all that within the first day of what was an eternity of an off-season. 44-6, that one stung.

So this Sunday, some 315 days later, the Cowboys return to the scene of the crime. The stakes are high again, certainly not to the point of it being a de facto playoff game, but high nonetheless. Both teams come in at 5-2, and the winner will take over sole possession of first place in the NFC East with half the season to go.

With something important on the line, Wade Phillips wasn't sure if he even needed to bring up the 44-6 loss to his team.

"Depends," Phillips said. "Depends on what I think and what our players think as far as the motivation is concerned. But I don't think they'll have to be motivated to play this game because of the importance of the game. We all know the importance of the game."

On top of the playoff-positioning factor, Phillips said he is interested to see how his Cowboys measure up at this point in the season against the team who outclassed them so badly the last time they took the same field.

The blowout loss provided a clear picture for the organization that things needed to change, and was put into consideration in every major decision.

"Again, if you don't make your goals, you need to look at things and see what you need to do," Phillips said. "Our goal wasn't to go 9-7 and have a winning season. Our goal was to make the playoffs first and then do well in the playoffs and we didn't succeed in that area."

On top of the humbling experience the game was for the Cowboys, it also showed just how far they have to go to be on the same level as the Eagles. After three 5-11 seasons to start the decade, the Cowboys have turned things around as an organization. Since 2003, they have the second-most wins of all the NFC teams, with a record of 61-42. The only team better has been the Eagles, who are 63-39-1 in the same span.

But that doesn't explain the whole difference between the two clubs. The Cowboys are in the midst of that record playoff-win drought, while the Eagles are enjoying a sort of renaissance. Since 1999, when Andy Reid took over and Donovan McNabb was drafted, Philadelphia has five division titles, five berths in the NFC Championship game and a trip to the Super Bowl.

Each season, the Eagles seem to overcome adversities and improve to play their best football in December and January, when the games matter most.

All the Eagles' accomplishments didn't ease the pain for the players and coaches who could stomach going back to watch the game afterward. Crayton said he had to turn it off, calling the performance "disgusting."

It's a taste they had in their mouths until the new season started. Finally they have a chance to do something about it.

"Last year is last year," Romo said after Sunday's win against Seattle. "We had to deal with that all off-season. We had to grind it out to get better and improve and not let that happen again. We've taken a lot of steps to be the ballclub that we're hopefully getting to be."