Each week, Daily News football writer Paul Domowitch will tell you the things he will be keeping his eyes on during that week's game. Here's how things panned out last night:
1. Making Campbell Soup: Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell was benched in the second half last week, but started last night. He's protected by a wobbly offensive line missing two of its best blockers, left tackle Chris Samuels and right guard Randy Thomas. The Eagles sacked Campbell six times for 38 yards and intercepted him once. Newly acquired linebacker Will Witherspoon was in on two of the plays. He sacked Campbell once, causing a fumble recovered by Quintin Mikell that led to an Eagles field goal. And Witherspoon returned an interception 9 yards for a TD.
2. How do you spell run, Andy? Running backs Brian Westbrook and LeSean McCoy had just 11 rushing attempts last week as Andy Reid called a whopping 54 pass plays. Against the Redskins' defense, which came into the game ranked third in the league against the pass and sixth in sacks per pass play, the Eagles ran the ball 27 times and went to the air 26 times, a much better ratio. Westbrook, however, had only three carries before leaving the game with a concussion in the first quarter.
3. Third-down improvement: The Eagles converted just two of 16 third-down opportunities against the Raiders last week. Last night, despite the 10-point win, they were only 4-for-15 in third-down situations.
4. Many happy returns: The Redskins' coverage units came into the game ranked fourth in the league in both punt and kickoff coverage. Last night, punt returner DeSean Jackson averaged 10.3 yards on three returns, while Ellis Hobbs ran back two kickoffs for 37 yards, an average of 18.5.
5. The Eagles' offensive line: This unit played awful last week. Worse than awful. It couldn't protect Donovan McNabb and didn't do a very good job of run-blocking. Last night, with left guard Todd Herremans back in the lineup, McNabb was sacked three times and the Eagles gained 122 yards on the ground.
