Cowboys’ Gamble Costs Them Game : Pro football: They fail on fourth-down play with two minutes left; Eagles win, 20-17.

If you thought Dallas Coach Barry Switzer was crazy to go for it on fourth down with two minutes left Sunday against the Eagles, then get a load of this one:

Even though the Cowboys were stuffed not once but twice on the fourth and one from their 29, Switzer didn’t think for a second that he had made the wrong call. Neither did the man who hired him. Or the players who failed to execute the play.

There was nothing wrong except a 20-17 loss to the underdog Philadelphia Eagles (9-5), a two-game losing streak that makes them 10-4, an ejection from the driver’s seat of the NFC playoff race (though they did clinch a berth) and a sudden and seemingly incurable case of denial.

“That wasn’t the difference,” Switzer said of the fourth-down call. “That’s not what lost the ballgame.”

Said Cowboy owner Jerry Jones: “I saw the decision that was being made, and I agreed with it. I agreed when we made the decision the first time, and when we went back and tried it again.”

And this from quarterback Troy Aikman: “I wasn’t surprised we went for it. We pride ourselves on being a big offensive line with a great running back. We’ve been able to do that all year.”

But never had the Cowboys been faced with a fourth and one quite like this:

Score tied, 17-17, clock ticking down on two minutes left in the fourth quarter, stiff wind blowing in the Cowboys’ faces. Dallas needed about a foot to get the first down and have a chance to control the clock and prevent the Eagles from driving for the winning field goal.

“I wanted to make a foot and control the ball, because we were kicking into the wind, and they would have come back to kick a field goal and win the thing anyway,” Switzer said. “We punt the ball, they’ll come right back. If we had the wind, I would have kicked the football.”

Emmitt Smith took the handoff from Aikman, moved to his left, but was stopped cold for no gain by linebacker Kurt Gouveia.

But wait. The clock reached 2:00 just before the snap--even though the officials didn’t appear to signal the two-minute warning--and the Cowboys got another chance. Surely now, after dodging the bullet, Switzer would send out punter John Jett and trust his defense to make one more stop to send the game into overtime.

But Switzer told his players to go for it again, calling the identical play.

Same play, same result. Smith was stopped for no gain, as linebacker Bill Romanowski slowed him with an arm, then linemen Daniel Stubbs and Andy Harmon completed the job.

Four plays later, Gary Anderson kicked a 42-yard field goal, but the Eagles were called for illegal motion. Anderson’s second kick was good.

The game was over, but the second-guessing had only begun.

Even Eagle Coach Ray Rhodes, who wouldn’t directly criticize Switzer’s decision, admitted he wouldn’t have gone for it in that situation. “I’m sure Barry Switzer felt like they’d been in that situation before and they were going to take a shot at it and make it. . . . I think I would have punted in that situation, but that’s a coach’s decision,” Rhodes said.

Of course, it didn’t help that the Cowboys’ offense had virtually shut down the entire second half, and especially when Smith fumbled at the Eagles’ two-yard line with 11:14 to go in the fourth quarter. Smith, who ran for 98 yards in the first half, gained only 10 in the second.

The defense, playing without injured end Charles Haley (back) and losing tackle Russell Maryland (foot) in the third quarter, wore out down the stretch in blowing a 17-3 lead.