Eagles good enough to upend winless San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO - Kevin Kolb sure looked like a starting NFL quarterback last night.

And LeSean McCoy, cracked rib and all, looked like a stud running back.

But did the Eagles, who lost another couple of starters to injury early in their 27-24 victory over the hapless, winless San Francisco 49ers, look like a good team?

Well, no. What happened was, the 49ers' incompetence bailed out Sean McDermott, King Dunlap, Eldra Buckley and Andy Reid, all of whom had issues at critical times. If San Francisco quarterback Alex Smith and running back Frank Gore hadn't combined for five turnovers, the Eagles would have become the first team to lose to the 49ers this season.

As it was, they tiptoed home with a 3-2 record. Next week they face the 4-1 Falcons, who might be considerably less generous, but hey, that's next week.

Kolb, making the first road start of his career, with Michael Vick suffering from a rib cartilage injury, completed 21 of 31 passes for 253 yards and a touchdown. His passer rating was 103.3.

McCoy ran 18 times for 92 yards and a touchdown.

"That's what you mean when you say, 'battle,' " Kolb said, when asked about the ever-changing injury situation. "I was very confident going into today."

"I'm proud of my guys. It's been a long day today," Reid said, after lauding the 49ers' comeback ability. He called McCoy "a tough nut."

"He wanted the ball," Reid said of McCoy, who also caught five passes for 46 yards. "He wanted the ball and wanted the ball."

"I'm in a little bit of pain, but not too much," McCoy said. "A lot of guys were banged up."

Reid said Kolb "managed the game well, he was accurate, had no hesitation to put the ball into tight holes, and he did it with conviction. I thought he stepped up and played like we know Kevin can play."

"There's going to be a maturation process that takes place when he plays," said Reid, who announced that Vick remains the starter, though he said he doesn't know right now if Vick will be able to play against the Falcons. "You don't step in, in 1 year, and set the world on fire. That's not how this thing works."

Reid agreed that the Birds had several chances in the second half to take full control, and never did it; in fact, they needed an interception by rookie Trevard Lindley with 28 seconds left to nail down the win.

"We need to do that," said Reid, who faulted "a little thing here or there," including strong defense in a couple of clutch situations against Eagles tight end Brent Celek. Celek, targeted nine times, caught three passes.

"When you've got opportunities like that, you've got to finish."

The first drive of the night was another exercise in watching the Eagles' defenders unable to get a key stop.

Just as last week, the "D" was put in a bad position by a huge runback - Ted Ginn Jr. went 44 yards up the left side with the opening kickoff - and the 49ers started from their 49, appropriately enough.

During that drive, San Francisco converted third-down situations of 1, 10 and 8 yards, all with ease. Mostly they pounded Gore into the line, then threw when they had to. Defensive tackle Brodrick Bunkley went down on the second snap with a left-elbow injury and was replaced by Antonio Dixon. It took 11 plays for Smith to make it 7-0 on a 7-yard pass to Michael Crabtree.

The Birds had to drive 75 yards to tie it up, but they did so, even overcoming a Todd Herremans hold on what would have been McCoy's 3-yard TD run on first and goal. Instead, two plays later, Kolb spun out of a sack, scrambled right and found Celek at the 1. Celek carried Niners rookie safety Taylor Mays into the end zone. During the drive, Dunlap replaced Jason Peters at left tackle; Peters suffered a left-knee injury and didn't return. Reid said he would undergo an MRI.

The Eagles had just given up their fourth successive third-down conversion when new strongside linebacking starter Moise Fokou came flying in like a guided missile from the left side, jacked Gore in the air and separated him from the ball. Joselio Hanson recovered at the 49ers' 45.

The Eagles might have been driving to another touchdown, but Dunlap was abused by an inside move from Justin Smith, Smith sacking Kolb and setting up third-and-10 from the 49ers' 20. A dump to fullback Owen Schmitt kept Kolb perfect at 9-for-9, but left the Birds 4 yards short of a first down. David Akers converted a 33-yard field goal for a 10-7 lead.

Then San Francisco turned the ball over again, Smith back-footing a bomb to Ginn that Dimtri Patterson had all the way.

The Eagles made it 17-7 after a 22-yard DeSean Jackson punt return set them up at their 47. They scored three plays later, on a 29-yard McCoy cutback run, his route sealed off beautifully by Herremans and Mike McGlynn. (On a later return, Jackson would "twist" his knee, he said afterward, but he indicated he was OK.)

At that point, Kolb was 11-for-12 for 116 yards and a touchdown, with a 134.7 passer rating.

The 49ers drove back down for a 50-yard Joe Nedney field goal that made it 17-10 with 43 seconds left in the half.

Then Dunlap gave up another sack and Kolb fumbled the ball away, but Nedney missed a 40-yard field goal with 2 seconds left.

The Eagles had two good chances to add to their lead in the third quarter, and they found ways to avoid doing so. First, Reid ordered a punt from the Niners' 33, passing on a chance for a 51-yard field goal. Then, faced with third-and-1 on San Francisco's 30, Reid called a Wildcat shotgun run by little-used running back Buckley. Buckley bobbled a high snap, then missed the hole, running up the back of his linemen. He did not get the first down.

Field goal? Quarterback sneak? Of course not. Fourth-and-1 pass to Celek, which was broken up, as Reid noted.

Next time into Niners' territory, a Herremans false start led to a missed 53-yard Akers field goal attempt.

But San Francisco again bailed out the Eagles. Brandon Graham was chasing Smith down near the left sideline. He reached in as Smith twisted to try to throw the ball away. Smith lost the ball. Quintin Mikell picked it up and ran 52 yards for the first touchdown of his 8-year career. It was the kind of thing that only happens to 0-5 teams.

"We practice that every week, scoop-and-score drill," Mikell said. "The whole time I was running I was thinking, 'I hope this was a fumble.' I didn't want to line up and have to run another play."

Ah, but the Eagles' defense, missing concussed playmaking corner Asante Samuel, wasn't content to take this gift and head for the airport. Smith, booed vigorously by his home crowd, was 25-for-39, 309 yards, three TDs, two INTs), then led a pair of touchdown drives, the last set up by another ridiculous kickoff return (Ginn going 61 yards before Akers angled him out of bounds). Had Kolb not authored a drive for a 45-yard field goal in between, this would be a very different story.

Finally, Trevor Laws pressured Smith into throwing up a balloon that Lindley hauled in, the first pick of his career.

"I was behind him and I saw it floating in the air," Nate Allen said. "I was just thinking, 'Please catch it, Trevard.' He made a good play on it."

The Birds' next two opponents, Atlanta and Tennessee, both won yesterday, while the Eagles were waiting in the lingering Pacific twilight for their game to begin. The Falcons dispatched the Browns, 20-10, and the Titans surprised the Cowboys, 34-27.

For a team missing several key players, last night's effort was no disgrace, but it didn't provide much of a template for the future.

"At the end of the day, man, we had some injuries and we had some guys who stepped up. At the end of the day, that's big," Mikell said.

Jeremy Maclin noted that this was a lot like the Detroit win, closer than it needed to be.

"The positive thing is, we won both games," he said.

For more Eagles coverage and opinion, read the Daily News' Eagles blog, Eagletarian, at www.eagletarian.com.

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