Last Monday for Texas Stadium

Cowboys home to be replaced in 2009

IRVING, TEXAS -- Light shining out through the hole in the roof, the national audience watching on television and all the history.

The Dallas Cowboys' final home opener at Texas Stadium against Philadelphia also marked the last Monday night football game at the famed facility, which will be replaced next year by a gleaming new $1 billion-plus glass-faced palace.

From Craig Morton throwing three touchdown passes in the first one to Herschel Walker's NFL debut, Emmitt Smith and Barry Sanders going head-to-head, and Tony Romo getting his first extended playing time, there have been plenty of Monday night memories for the Cowboys at Texas Stadium.

For Romo, it was a Monday night game on Oct. 23, 2006 against the New York Giants, when the undrafted free agent from a small school replaced Drew Bledsoe after halftime. Romo has been the starter since and gone to two Pro Bowls.

Romo hasn't toured the new stadium yet. But he also isn't ready to get nostalgic about the old stadium.

"I'm definitely a nostalgic guy in the traditional sense of appreciating what was or what were great things," Romo said. "I love the history of this franchise and this organization and this stadium. I'm sure there will be a time to do that, but as of right now, I haven't done that."

Terrell Owens caught a touchdown from Romo during the quarterback's coming-out party, but Owens' most memorable Monday night at Texas Stadium came when he caught three touchdowns for the Philadelphia Eagles on Nov. 15, 2004.

As noticeable that Monday night, when the games were still on ABC-TV, was the cross promotion intro in which actress Nicollette Sheridan, a star of "Desperate Housewives", was dressed only in a towel and asked Owens to skip the game. She then dropped the towel and jumped into his arms.

Donovan McNabb, who threw a fourth TD in that game, also had a 14-second scramble in which he ran from one side of the field to the other before heaving a 60-yard completion.

"It was a great play. I was tired," McNabb recalled last week.

Tony Dorsett's 99-yard TD run, with only 10 Cowboys on the field, was on a Monday night, but that was at Minnesota on Jan. 3, 1983.

Dallas played only one Monday night game last year. The Cowboys scored nine points in the final 20 seconds to win 25-24 at Buffalo, when Nick Folk kicked a 53-yard field goal as time expired. Romo had a career-worst six turnovers (five interceptions, one fumble).

The final Monday night game at Texas Stadium was the 29th. Here's a glance at some of the memorable moments from the first 28:

* Oct. 30, 1972: Cowboys 28, Lions 24; Morton threw for 206 yards and three TDs in the first Monday night game at 1-year-old Texas Stadium.

* Sept. 9, 1986: Cowboys 31, Giants 28. Walker, who began his pro career in the USFL, ran for two touchdowns, including the winner with 1:10 left in his Cowboys debut.