The Eagles entered last week with the No. 1 run defense in the NFL and the third-ranked defense overall. It was hard to tell against the Redskins, who had success on first down, second down, third down, and, well, you get the picture.

"I think we had a bad second half, and I think they'll respond," defensive coordinator Jim Johnson said yesterday. "We'll see how they respond. No, I'm not that concerned about it. I just want to make sure that we play hard every week."

The Eagles' young linebacking corps has had trouble all season stopping tight ends, but this week's defensive challenge really is all about stopping the multifaceted Frank Gore, who leads the league with 603 yards from scrimmage. The Niners' fourth-year running back out of Miami is averaging 4.8 yards per carry (88 for 423 yards), has three rushing touchdowns, and has caught 19 passes for 180 yards and a touchdown.

The 5-foot-9, 217-pound Gore is tough to bring down. He has had four plays of 20-plus yards, tied for third in the NFL.

When faced with another formidable back, Washington's Clinton Portis, the Eagles' defense crumbled. Portis averaged 5 yards per carry and finished with 145 yards and a touchdown. As a team, the Redskins gained 203 rushing yards, just 12 shy of the Eagles' other four opponents combined.

"We didn't come up with some key stops last Sunday, especially in that second half when we had them third and long," Johnson said. "We didn't come up with the key stops, whether it was a big sack, an interception, or just getting off the field. And we keep emphasizing that, and we keep talking about it. We're capable of making better plays there, and we just didn't play well in the second half. I can rationalize a lot of things, but we didn't play well in the second half."

Johnson spread the blame around. He said the linebackers got "caught up a little bit in some play-action stuff."

"Between our ends and our outside backers, we didn't set the edge, and we didn't tackle well," he said. "That's the first time you can say all year that we didn't tackle well, and I thought they dominated at the line of scrimmage in the second half."

The Eagles will get some help on the line. Victor Abiamiri, who has been out since he badly injured his right wrist early in training camp, most likely will return on Sunday. He practiced for the first time on Wednesday and again yesterday, albeit with a protective cast.

Johnson said Abiamiri, a projected starter at end just a few months ago, will rotate at end and tackle, a position Abiamiri played occasionally last season.

"I'm cool with it. Yeah, definitely," Abiamiri said when asked how he felt about playing tackle. "It's a way to get onto the field."

Whoever is on the field, they will have to focus on stopping Gore and getting back to being the defense that held St. Louis and Pittsburgh to 346 yards combined.

"We need to get that swagger back," safety Quintin Mikell said. "We lost to a team last week that we shouldn't have lost to. Not taking anything away from them - they're a good team - but I feel like on defense, we didn't handle our part in the second half."