Eagles steal one from 'Skins
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Eagles steal one from 'Skins
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
With 11:42 remaining in the fourth quarter, the mood at Lincoln Financial Field couldn't have been gloomier.
The Eagles, nine-point favorites, trailed the Redskins, 24-16. And DeSean Jackson was out of the game with a head and neck injury.
But for the second week in a row, the Birds rallied late and somehow came away with a 27-24 win to remain one game behind the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC East race.
Donovan McNabb led the Eagles on a pair of touchdown drives, after the offense looked out of sync for the first three quarters.
With Jackson sidelined, Jason Avant came up with a pair of big catches, one for 46 yards and another for 20. Just when it looked like the drive would stall at the 1-yard line, Eldra Buckley punched it in for the touchdown with 7:24 left.
On the two-point conversion, the Eagles went to the often-used shovel pass as McNabb flipped it to McCoy, who gave a great effort to tie the game at 24.
After the defense got a stop, the Eagles put together another drive, going 66 yards on 10 plays to set up a David Akers 32-yard field goal, his fourth of the game, which gave the Eagles the 27-24 win.
This was your classic glass half-full/glass half-empty game.
On one hand, there were a number of miscues -- the onsides kick, the penalties, the third-down defense. The Eagles were big-time favorites against a 3-7 Redskins team that was depleted by injuries, and they were lucky to come out on top.
On the other hand, the Eagles were banged-up also, and they put together a fourth-quarter comeback for the second week in a row.
At 7-4, they are in great position as they travel to Atlanta to take on the Falcons next week.
So I'll let you all chime in below with your take on the game. Gutsy, comeback win that shows character? Or ugly, lucky win that means nothing because this team's going nowhere?
Back with more after the press conferences.
I'll take a hard win against a division team anytime when it puts it us at 7-4 and 3-1 in the division. We're in great position now for the post season, I just wish we were a better team. Too many penalties. 5-15 on 3rd down. 1-4 Red Zone. I'm wishing us luck! And speedy recoveries for DeSean, Celek, and Brod.— Sattymike- What was it Mike Schmidt said? That Philadelphia was one of those places where you could experience the thrill of victory and the agony of reading about it in the next day's newspapers?— barcelona fan
- a W is a W but when it's this hard to get one against a bad team, it does not bode well for much of playoff run.— raoool
- skins game is always always tough but the bears game is questionable. vikings and saints have alot of talent but we're the 3rd best team in the conference (cowboys will blow it in december and nfc west continues to be a joke). i'll take gutsy wins for now, because december and hopefully more than one weekend in january will almost certainly require alot of guts.— aam13
- It seems the Eagles give up 40 yards on kickoffs, so the onside kick wasn't horrible to me. Nice to see McNabb step up in the 4th quarter 2 weeks in a row. Sure, they're not New Orleans or Indy or Minnesota this year, but 20 teams don't make the playoffs, and right now they're in line for it. The division title is still right there. Say what you will, but with all the LB issues and OL issues, they still win. How many times have we complained about not drafting skill? Now they have it - nice to see them step out of their comfort zone.— joeags
- I fully understand the concept of "a win is a win" as it relates to the "any given Sunday" reality of pro football. However, the other side of this "coin of rationalization" is stamped with the faces of the grateful fan, the relieved coach and the under-performing, well paid player who, DESPITE their high school-like-mistakes have been granted a repreive for another week. What separates a Super Bowl team from all the others... well, one thing for sure is that they never have to rely upon using "a win is a win" as a means of justifying their poor performance --- and neither do their fans!— onedayer
- Hey Sheil, if the Eagles stole this game, what would you call Dallas's win last week against the Skins? Grand larceny perhaps! Wasn't pretty I'll admit, but they came up big when they had to. Jason Avant, Shady, and Asanti played huge today.— flyerdup
- a win is a win, however this should have never been close. iggles have yet to play 4 quarters this year, ok for regular season, not going to fly in the playoffs. Good teams put away bad teams, and it shouldn't have to take 4th qtr combebacks against sub-par teams.— xlGmanlx
- where are all the Donovan bashers? take the win. get healthier on D, get ready for the second season.— birdfannnj
- Seed - Andy's winning percentage is indisputable. Over the last 5 years, 2005 to date, it is 52% (34-30-1). Not good enough for me.— DrBri
- No! The Eagles didn't steal one. They won by mistake! Just like how they got into the playoffs last year. By mistake! But make no mistake, if they make it to the playoffs this year, there's no way they get past the Vikings again...Or the Saints.— pevans1
- Drbri over the last two seasons his record is 18-11. Anybody can pick an arbitrary time span to try to justify their hate.
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