What We Saw
Each week in the Eagles Playbook, 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 those things panned out yesterday:
1. The Redskins' blitz: Coming into yesterday, the Redskins had just six sacks in four games. They weren't able to sack or get much pressure on Donovan McNabb yesterday. Even so, the Eagles quarterback still had an bad game, completing just 58.6 percent of his passes, a season low.
2. Tale of the takeaway: The Eagles came into the game having forced nine turnovers, but got none against the Redskins. That's not surprisingly since Washington had not turned the ball over in four previous games. Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell, who fumbled 13 times last year, has not thrown an interception in 153 attempts.
3. Gathering Moss: Despite the $56 million addition of Asante Samuel, the Eagles already have given up six touchdown passes, all of them coming in their two losses. Coming into yesterday the thought was that they had to contain red-hot Santana Moss, who had 22 catches in the 'Skins' three wins. The Eagles handled Moss very well - he caught no passes. But, they couldn't stop tight end Chris Cooley, who had eight receptions for 109 yards and a touchdown.
4. Red-zone blues: The Eagles were 1-for-2 in red-zone efficiency yesterday and have now converted just two of their last eight red-zone opportunities into touchdowns.
5. Third-and-long: The Eagles entered the game fourth in the league in third-down defense, but had trouble getting off the field in their losses to the Cowboys and Bears. The Cowboys and Bears converted six of 15 third-down situations of 6 yards or more. In the Eagles' two wins, their opponents were 1-for-18 on third-and-6 or more. Yesterday, the Redskins were 3-for-7 in third-down situations of 6 yards or more and were 11-for-19 in third-down conversions overall.
