Defense heeds Runyan's stop sign
LANDOVER, Md. - It takes a lot to make a grown man like Takeo Spikes cry during a football game. Quarterback Donovan McNabb and tackle Big Jon Runyan did it.
Right after the Eagles held the Redskins to a field goal with a heroic goal-line stand, and then stole the lead with a 57-yard screen pass for a go-ahead touchdown and a one-point lead, the offensive stars addressed the defensive stalwarts.
"We need one," McNabb said.
"Come on. One stop," Runyan begged.
"I haven't even held a conversation with Runyan" during a game, Spikes said. "I kind of got teary-eyed. If he's going to talk to me, I don't want it to be about this."
Buttressed thus, and with the wound of the Bears debacle still festering - Chicago mounted an 97-yard, game-winning touchdown drive to beat the Eagles on Oct. 21 - Spikes and Co. took the encouragement to heart: "We were, like, 'There's no possible way you're going to let these guys come back. Not after Chicago.' "
The Redskins got the ball back with 3 minutes, 16 seconds to play at their 25. Juqua Thomas tackled Clinton Portis for a 3-yard loss, Jason Campbell threw two incompletions and Mike Patterson dropped Campbell - the Eagles' only sack - and forced a fumble that Brodrick Bunkley recovered.
"It hurt," Spikes admitted, referring to Runyan's message. "But that's what you need. That's when teams grow: When they hold each other accountable."
Really, the game was won when the Eagles held inside their 7-yard line on six straight plays, setting up Brian Westbrook's 57-yard screen-pass touchdown.
What led to the stand, and what came after it, were nearly as important.
The Eagles finally kept the Redskins' intermittent no-huddle scheme from scoring, which it had done on each of the three drives Washington used it. The initial scoring drive came in the second quarter - the first time the Redskins used the strategy this season.
"They did some things against us they hadn't shown on film, like the hurry-up," said safety Brian Dawkins.
Lately, the defense had buckled when teams caught it unprepared.
"Normally, we'd find a way to lose that football game," said cornerback Sheldon Brown.
Not this time.
Spikes was in on the tackle that forced the fumble by Ledell Betts that thwarted the Redskins' fourth-quarter drive – one that might have sealed the win.
The Eagles immediately gave the ball back – McNabb held on too long, got sacked and fumbled – but the defense, some momentum going its way, held inside the 7.
Said defensive coordinator Jim Johnson: "About time."
Game of inches
David Akers was a couple feet short with a 53-yard field-goal attempt with 5 seconds to play in the second quarter, which would have tied his season's longest; Akers kicked a 53-yarder in the Meadowlands against the Giants on Sept. 30.
"I thought I hit it pretty good," Akers said. "I was looking at it, and saying, 'It's not wide.' I was surprised it came up short. Sometimes, you've just got to swing a little bit harder."
Akers' first successful field goal in the NFL was a 53-yarder on Oct. 24, 1999 in Miami, when he was the team's kickoff specialist.
X-Man inspireth
Apparently, after the Eagles' score with just over 2 minutes to play gave them an eight-point lead, veteran safety Brian Dawkins insisted on taking the field on kickoff coverage to help ensure no game-altering runback.
Dawkins, a 12-year veteran and collector of X-Men comic books, was a special-teams dynamo as a young player. However, he now is 34. Yesterday was his second start after missing five games with a neck stinger.
"The 'X-Man' was out there, running down there on kickoffs," marveled cornerback Sheldon Brown. "When you have Dawkins running out there on kickoffs, it jacks everybody up!" *
