Every opportunity was there Sunday for Matt Barkley to charge into Eagles lore.

He had the ball. He had his timeouts. He had the Dallas Cowboys in sight. First place was on the line in the NFC East.

And then all three of his possessions would end in an interception, the Eagles losing, 17-3.

Rookie mistakes?

“I know what I am capable of,” said Barkley, who had entered when Nick Foles reported concussion symptoms. "I believe I can do great things in this league. And this is just a start. It was funny, Tony Romo was kind of smiling after the game, and he told me that in his first start, he threw three picks.

“I'll take that for what it's worth, and I will take this game in stride and learn from it. But this game is not going to set a tempo for the rest of my career.

“Keep trusting in yourself and the system and move forward from there.”

Check out my column on the Birds' rookie quarterback, his missed opportunity and his determination to be resilient in the Daily Times Monday, and as always, on delcotimes.com