TRUSTS CHOOCH IN A PINCH
The Eagles finish the regular season next Sunday afternoon at Dallas. The game has been changed from a 1 o'clock kickoff to 4:15. The winner will capture the NFC East title. If theEagles win, and the Vikings lose either tonight at Chicago or next Sunday against the Giants, the Eagles will get the No. 2 NFC seed and have a bye in the first round of the playoffs.
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Paul Domowitch’s “By the Numbers” in Eagles’ 30-27 win over Broncos on Sunday.
DeSean Jackson, who had no red-zone receptions in the Eagles’ first 13 games, has had a red-zone touchdown catch in each of the last two games.
Brent Celek’s 47-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter is the longest reception of his career.
The Eagles had three false start penalties against the Broncos (by Nick Cole, Winston Justice and Todd Herremans) after having just one in the previous four games.
The Eagles failed to score on their first possession for just the sixth time this season.
For the 11th time in 15 games, the Eagles led at the half (20-7). They are 11-0 when they’ve led at the half. They’ve outscored opponents, 273-142, in the first half. The Broncos outscored them, 17-7 in the third quarter. The Eagles have been outscored in the third period this season, 72-100.
Donovan McNabb, who threw three touchdown passes Sunday has thrown at least one TD pass in 10 straight games, tying his career high, which he did two previous times, the last in 2004 (including playoffs).
TALKING POINTS
What we’re talking about after Eagles’ win over the Broncos:
The return: Brian Dawkins did his “Weapon X” routine exiting the Broncos’ tunnel, rolling forward, rolling backward with a pike, shoving a cameraman out of the way (the cameraman was inside the players’ high-five alley) and delighting a stadium full of people wearing his old Eagles No. 20 jersey.
The return, Part 2: Running back Brian Westbrook, having missed seven of the last eight games with two concussions, looked tentative in his limited action.
The catches: Tight end Brent Celek, one-handed, lefthanded, down the middle; Jason Avant, a tipped TD pass; and Jeremy Maclin, the game sealer, dragging both feet at the 13, incomplete at first, then reviewed and reversed.
The fear: The Broncos clearly were scared of combustible punt returner DeSean Jackson, kicking short and poorly.
The number: The Birds finished Game 15 of 16 with a new single-season record of 429 points, 13 more than the previous record, set last season.
The QB: Donovan McNabb continued his spotty December play, dangerously inaccurate despite going 20-for-35 with three TDs and an interception.
The Macho Man: Macho Harris fumbled two kickoffs and lost one of them. He also committed a questionable unnecessary-roughness penalty on Asante Samuel’s interception return.
- Marcus Hayes
Les
Bowen has covered the Eagles for the Daily News
since 2002.
Before that, he spent nearly 13 years covering the Flyers. It took Les
only a few seasons after the switch to figure out that there was no
penalty box at the Linc, and that the time really wasn't his, despite
what Andy Reid kept saying. Les came to Philadelphia and the Daily News
from Charlotte in 1983. In the intervening years, he has pretty much
lost track of NASCAR, and his accent. He, his wife Barbara, and their
two sons live in Haddon Township, New Jersey.
E-mail Les at bowenl@phillynews.com
and follow
him on Twitter.
Paul
Domowitch has been with the Daily News since 1982.
He has spent most of his nearly 3 decades with the paper covering the
Eagles and pro football. For the last 10 years, he’s been a
selector for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A native of Wilkes-Barre
and a graduate of Wilkes University, Domo started his career in Texas,
working first for the Midland Reporter-Telegram (1976-78), and then for
the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where he covered some god-awful Texas
Ranger baseball teams. His first beat at the Daily News actually was
boxing, which he covered just long enough to lose 2 sports coats to
blood spatter before moving on to football. Domo and his wife Shelley,
a University of Oklahoma grad who still hasn’t gotten over
that Fiesta Bowl loss to Boise State 5 years ago, have 2 terrific
daughters -- Allison, 28, who is an attorney in South Jersey, and Amy,
25, who works in administration for a professional baseball team.
E-mail Domo at PDomo@aol.com and follow
him on Twitter.
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