OAKLAND - How do you explain scoring just nine points against a team that had given up 44 the week before? How do you explain giving up six sacks to a team that had managed just nine in their previous five games?

How do you explain completing fewer than 48 percent of your passes a week after you had just five incompletions? And how in the world do you explain converting an atrocious two of 16 third-down opportunities?

"They did some things we weren't expecting," right tackle Winston Justice said after yesterday's embarrassing 13-9 loss to the Raiders. "Things that caught us by surprise."

"They did a couple of things we didn't go over in practice," echoed Justice's linemate, right guard Max Jean-Gilles.

After blitzing 45 times last week against the Bucs, the Eagles were supposed to be the ones with the attacking defense, the ones who would make JaMarcus Russell's life miserable.

Instead, it was the Raiders who went on the attack. After blitzing very little in their first five games, they went after quarterback Donovan McNabb with extra rushers early and often.

They also threw the Eagles a curve with their coverage. Normally a team that favors man-to-man coverage, they played a lot of zone, which took away the deep passes that the Eagles like to throw.

"Their defensive coordinator came up with a scheme which we hadn't seen," said McNabb, who was sacked six times and completed just 22 of 46 passes. "They dropped back in more zone than we've seen in early games. That allowed them to sit back and wait for our guys to catch the ball and then make the tackle."

The fact is, no matter what defensive surprises the Raiders threw at McNabb and the offense, it was no excuse for this embarrassing performance. It was no excuse for all the sacks and all the poor throws by the quarterback and all the drops by the receivers.

"Today wasn't about so much what they did," running back Brian Westbrook said. "It was about what we did. We didn't run our offense very well. We didn't run it the way we expect to run it. We didn't hold up our end of the bargain."

Coach Andy Reid reverted to his passaholic ways, having McNabb throw the ball nearly 50 times in a game the Eagles never were down by more than seven points, and having Westbrook and rookie running back LeSean McCoy carry the ball a total of 11 times the whole game.

"In hindsight, of course you'd like to run the ball a whole lot more and control the clock a whole lot more," said Westbrook, who rushed for 50 yards on just six carries, but had a team-high nine receptions for 91 yards. "But we had a lot of success throwing the ball in the first four games. So it's hard to go away from that."

The loss of left tackle Jason Peters in the first quarter to a knee injury made the Eagles even more susceptible to the blitzes. But even when McNabb had time, he and his receivers seemed to be out of sync.

"We were in position to make plays," said tight end Brent Celek, who had four catches for 75 yards, including a 42-yard catch-and-run that he almost broke for a touchdown, but also dropped two passes. "We just couldn't seem to get anything going.

"They hadn't blitzed very much [before]. They hadn't moved around as much as they did today. But that's no excuse. I had a bad game."

He wasn't alone.

Thumbs down

 

-- To referee Pete Morelli and his crew. They called a horrible game, missing penalties on both teams.

-- To kicker David Akers, who set a land-speed record showering, dressing and slipping out of the locker room before the media could ask him about his 43- and 47-yard misses in the four-point loss.