December 10, 1995: A cold night at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Eagles host the Dallas Cowboys. This is a rivalry that defies geography, due to the oddity of a Dallas team being in the NFC Eastern Division, along with Philadelphia, the New York Giants, and the team then known as the Washington Redskins. (From 1970 to 2001, the Division would also, strangely, including the team that began the period as the St. Louis Cardinals, and ended it as the Arizona Cardinals.)
The Cowboys had won Super Bowls XXVII and XXVIII, and lost the 1994 NFC Championship Game. The Eagles had been in contention throughout, and both were in Playoff contention again: The Cowboys were 10-3; the Eagles, 8-5.
Late in the 2nd quarter, the Cowboys led, 17-3, and blew it. With about 9 minutes left in the 4th quarter, the score was tied, 17-17. The Cowboys had a 4th & 1 on their own 26-yard line. The Eagle defense, including William Fuller, Danny Stubbs, Mike Mamula, William Thomas, and the man then ripped as the dirtiest player in the game, Bill Romanowski, knew they had one job: Stop the man the Cowboys were obviously going to give the ball, Emmitt Smith, then the best running back in the game, from gaining one yard.
If Smith got that yard, the Cowboys would have a new set of downs, and plenty of time to get within range of a game-winning field goal. If he didn't, the ball would be turned over on downs, and the Eagles would have the ball inside Cowboys territory.
Sure enough, Cowboy quarterback Troy Aikman gave the ball to Smith, and the Eagles stopped him. The Vet erupted in cheers.
Except... Ed Hochuli, not one of the NFL's most-respected referees, ruled that time-out had been called before the snap. It was the kind of thing that had led many NFL fans over the last 25 years to believe that the officials fixed games for the Cowboys. Regardless of whether that was true, the Cowboys got another chance. So the Eagles had to do it again.
Eagles radio announcer Merrill Reese had the call: "They give it to Smith, and they stop him again! They stop him again! And this time, they can't take it away from the Eagles!"
It became known as "The Groundhog Day Game," after the "time loop" movie starring Bill Murray, 2 years earlier.
The Eagles tried to run down the clock as best they could. Three running plays by Rickey Watters gained a total of 4 yards. With 3 minutes left, Gary Anderson kicked a 42-yard field goal, putting the Eagles up, 20-17.
Out of timeouts, with only the 2-minute warning to help them, the Cowboys got no closer than the Eagles' 47-yard line, and the 20-17 lead held. The Eagles had won, and 66,198 fans went wild.
The Eagles finished 10-6, made the Playoffs, and won in the 1st round, beating the Detroit Lions, 58-37. Alas, the Cowboys finished 12-4, won the NFC Eastern Division, and got their revenge in the Playoffs, beating the Eagles, 30-11 at Texas Stadium, before winning Super Bowl XXX.
*
December 10, 1995 was a Sunday. These other NFL games were played that day:
Detroit, Green Bay, Houston, Tampa Bay
* The New York Giants beat the Washington Redskins, 20-13 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.
* The New York Jets lost to their arch-rivals, the New England Patriots, 31-28 at Gillette Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.
* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Carolina Panthers, 31-10 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina. The Panthers played this, their expansion season, at Clemson University's stadium, then moved into what's now Bank of America Stadium in downtown Charlotte the next season.
* The Atlanta Falcons beat their arch-rivals, the New Orleans Saints, 19-14 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 41-35 at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium (now EverBank Stadium).
* The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Green Bay Packers, 13-10 in overtime at Tampa Stadium.
* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Chicago Bears, 16-10 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.
* The Buffalo Bills beat the St. Louis Rams, 45-27 at the Trans World Dome (now The Dome at America's Center) in St. Louis.
* The Detroit Lions beat the Houston Astros, 24-17 at the Astrodome in Houston.
* The Seattle Seahawks beat the Denver Broncos, 31-27 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.
* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Oakland Raiders, 29-10 at the Oakland Coliseum.
* The day before, Saturday, December 9, the Minnesota Vikings beat the Cleveland Browns, 27-11 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
* Also on the Saturday, the San Diego Chargers beat the Arizona Cardinals, 28-25 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.
* And on Monday, December 11, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Miami Dolphins beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 13-6 at Joe Robbie Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.
There were 7 games in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs, 118-112 in double overtime at Madison Square Garden. David Robinson led all scorers on the day with 45 points in defeat. John Starks led the Knicks with 25 points.
* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Boston Celtics, 108-103 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston.
* The Indiana Pacers beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 111-104 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. Rik Smits scored 44 points.
* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Detroit Pistons, 87-82 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
* The Sacramento Kings beat the Miami Heat, 110-90 at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento.
* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Houston Rockets, 103-101 in double overtime at the Rose Garden (now the Moda Center) in Portland.
* And the 2 expansion teams of that season, both based in Canada, played each other: The Toronto Raptors beat the Vancouver Grizzlies, 93-81 at General Motors Place in Vancouver. The Grizzlies moved to Memphis in 2001, and GM Place became the Rogers Arena in 2010.
And there were 4 games in the NHL:
* The New York Islanders beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-2 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.
* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Hartford Whalers, 4-1 at the United Center in Chicago.
* The Washington Capitals beat the Winnipeg Jets, 6-1 at the Winnipeg Arena.
* And the Edmonton Oilers beat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 3-1 at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim (now the Honda Center).
