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Monday, November 13, 2006

Birds 27, Native Americans 3. 

Being the nerd that I am I sat down after the Eagles game on Sunday and figured out that the Eagles had run the ball 189 times this season prior to Sunday in eight games and had thrown the ball 299 times, or roughly 61% of the Eagles plays from scrimmage. The Eagles threw the ball three times for every two that they ran it going into yesterday.

Which makes yesterday’s game against the Washington Redskins a beautiful thing: the Birds ran the ball 34 times and threw it just 27, or just 44%. The Eagles finally discovered their running game. Brian Westbrook carried the ball for 113 yards on 22 carries, the kind of day we've been expecting from him for a while.

The game’s final drive was a masterpiece. Taking the ball at their own 28 with a little over nine minutes left on the clock, the Eagles proceeded to pound the ball down the Redskins throat. Westbrook ran five consecutive plays, gaining 3, 3, 4, 2 & 11 yards. After Buckhalter ran once and lost a yard, Westbrook ran for 21 yards. Then Buckhalter carried for 3 and 1 yards before McNabb hit Westbrook for a 7 yard pass to keep the drive alive on third and six. After Buckhalter rushed for another 4 yards the Eagles could simply take a knee and run the clock out. Ten carries, fifty-one yards and over nine minutes bled off the clock. It was simply a masterpiece, a spectacular close to the Eagles dominating performance yesterday afternoon. Finally, after allowing the Giants back into the game after leading 24-7, the Eagles figured out how to close out a game.

Apparently Andy Reid turned over play-calling duties to Marty Mornhinweg and the move as a good one: the Eagles broke out of their rut and really stuck it to a good Redskins defense. McNabb’s stats don’t look great (12 of 26, 222 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT), but they were a major improvement from the Jacksonville game (18 of 34, 161 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT) and the Bucs game (3 INTs). The real big news for the Eagles offense was the return of wideout Donte Stallworth, whom McNabb clearly missed during the team’s three-game losing streak. Stallworth had six of the Eagles twelve catches and 139 of the Eagles 222 passing yards. Reggie Brown, L.J. Smith and Westbrook managed just six catches for 83 yards. Westbrook and Stallworth were the Eagles offense on Sunday.

Defensively the Eagles D didn’t have a big task: stop one of the NFL’s least explosive offenses, but they did a nice job collaring the Redskins offense. Mark Brunnell had apparently never lost to the Eagles as an NFL QB, but the Redskins offense netted just 278 yards on Sunday and just 132 were in the air. The Eagles porous pass coverage tightened up and it looked like the Redkins couldn’t stretch the field at all. Maybe the weather had something to do with that, but the Eagles threw the ball effectively deep, so credit the Eagles secondary with keeping Antwan Randle El and Santana Moss bottled up.

That cap on the Redskins pass game – and the game-ending injury to running back Clinton Portis – kept the Redskins from running the ball with too much effectiveness. The Redskins got 146 yards on the ground, but this is a team that needs to run to survive. They got some rushing yards, but the Eagles offense took the big plays and got the points.

There was a ton of good news for the Eagles on Sunday. First off, the Atlanta Falcons unexpectedly laid an egg against the terrible, awful Cleveland Browns, losing 17-13. Vick turned the ball over three times against the Browns and was roundly booed by the fans. Then the Minnesota Vikings lost to the Packers 23-17 to drop them to 4-5. Then, best of all, the Chicago Bears rallied from a 13-3 deficit and roared back to beat the New York Giants 38-20 in a game that has to leave the Giants depressed about the direction the team is going in. More good news: the Saints lost to the Steelers 38-31 yesterday, which means that the Saints advantage over the Eagles is somewhat diminished should the Panthers come on strong late in the season and take the NFC South.

If the playoffs were to begin today the 5-4 Eagles would be in as the higher of the two wildcards thanks to the tie-breaker they hold on the 5-4 Cowboys and the strength of a superior conference record over the 5-4 Falcons and the 5-4 Panthers (assuming that the Panthers defeat the Bucs on Monday Night Football).

I’m not saying that the Eagles are locked in as a wildcard team, but if they cannot over-take the Giants they have a route to the playoffs to take. Winning the NFC East, however, is looking like a definite possibility: the Giants get the Jaguars in Jacksonville on Monday Night Football in a game that looks like a definite ‘L’ for them, followed by the Titans on the road, the Cowboys and then the Panthers in Carolina. The Giants could see their record drop to 7-6 going into the game on December 17 in the Meadowlands against the Eagles. After that the Giants play the Saints and Redskins.

The Cowboys are emerging as the more significant threat to the Eagles as this season shapes up: whomever scheduled the Cowboys must have been taking bribes from Jerry Jones or something, because I am at a loss to explain why the ‘Boys got such a sweetheart of a scheduling deal as this: five of their last seven games are at home. The Eagles play four of their last six on the road. The Cowboys get the Indianapolis Colts at home. The Eagles go to the RCA Dome to play the Colts. Oh, and the Eagles play the Redskins, Giants and Cowboys on the road on consecutive weeks. This schedule was designed to give the Cowboys a shot at the post-season and to keep the Eagles out.

Up next for the Eagles, home against the Tennessee Titans. Make no mistake about it: this is a vital, must-win game for the Eagles. They need to get to 6-4 and set themselves up for their last six games: the Colts, the Panthers, the three NFC East games, and the Falcons. The Titans are 2-7 and I don’t think that Vince Young is going to live up to all of the hype in Nashville. He looks like he has fewer tools than Michael Vick and Vick is a stunningly inconsistent player, looking very good one week against the Steelers, and then losing to the Lions and Browns. Add in the Titans internal turmoil between the coach and GM, and this team looks like a loser next Sunday. The Eagles have always had success against Vick and mobile QBs in general, which is good news. The Eagles have got to win, otherwise they have an exactly 0% margin of error against the rest of the league.

Check out my Phillies blog: I am wrapping up my big series on the 1950 Phillies this week.

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