McNabb: We showed our youth

Going in to today's game against the Cowboys, the focus offensively was on the interior of the Eagles' line.

But after 60 minutes of scoreless football, it's clear the Birds have several other concerns to address before they make another trip to Dallas next weekend.

As is always the case, we start with the quarterback.

Donovan McNabb did not play well, completing 20 of 36 passes for 223 yards. He failed to throw a touchdown for just the second time this season - the other being the loss to the Raiders.

More specifically, McNabb had a couple plays that were big in terms of momentum.

One was a fumble in the second quarter when the Eagles' offense was in the red zone with the team trailing, 14-0. Set up in the shotgun, he could not handle the snap from Nick Cole, and the Cowboys recovered. During his press conference, McNabb took "full blame" for the snafu.

I need to take a look at the replay to see exactly what happened, but the play was huge as it killed one of the few chances the Birds had to get points on the board.

The other was the deep ball to DeSean Jackson. McNabb had him open in the second quarter, but overthrew Jackson as the Eagles failed to capitalize on one of their only opportunities for a big play.

To be fair, McNabb didn't get much help from his supporting cast either. While the offensive line played better than expected, specifically in the first half, the receivers dropped several passes throughout.

After the game, McNabb said the group's lack of experience in these types of games was probably a factor.

"We showed our youth in situations where everyone began to look around to see who was going to make the play instead of stepping up and making that play," McNabb said. "And that's something that comes with the territory when you have a young group. And I think at this time, after discussing it with the guys, everybody understands that. All throughout the year we've had guys step up and make big plays for us when their name's called. Today it just didn't happen. And when you lose the way we did today in this fashion, obviously it is a humbling experience and we have to bounce back strong."

Jackson was limited to three catches for 47 yards. In two games against the Cowboys this season, he has five receptions for 76 yards.

McNabb, meanwhile, in two games against Dallas, has completed 36 of 66 passes (54.5 percent) with one touchdown and two interceptions.

Earlier we posted on the game and also laid out the NFC playoff picture.