The Philadelphia eagles visited Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA Sunday night as 24-point underdogs. Even the Philly writers, like Les Bowen predicted a 52-13 victory for the team in dark blue. In fact, the whole country and world thought that this would be cakewalk for the Patriots on their way to a perfect 16-0 season. The Eagles were just a small, tiny blip on the radar or worse, road-kill. I accepted the game as a loss too before it even started. Just look at last week’s game against the Miami Dolphins? The Eagles were stinking up the joint, just as Eli Manning and the Giants were against the Vikings. McNabb had completed just 3-of-11 passes for a measly 34 yards with 2 INT’s. Feeley came in for McNabb after the starting QB was knocked out of the game and fumbled the ball on his first series. The Eagles eventually persevered and ultimately kept the Dolphins winless, mainly due to an offense that did not score a single point. So, everybody expected the worse against the New England Patriots. The Pats had been scoring an average of 41 points per game, while limiting the opponents to just under 17 points. So 41-17 would be an average score. They had just beaten the Buffalo Bills 56-10 the last week. Nobody expected Philadelphia to play close, except the Eagles themselves.

New England played a flawless game in that they made not even a single mistake, as they had zero turnovers. Asante Samuel, who returns the ball for a 40-yd TD return, intercepts the Eagles QB AJ Feeley on third down on their first possession. It was 7-0 with just 1 ½ minutes been played so far. The rout appeared to be on. Except one thing, the Eagles next possession took seven minutes off the clock and tied the game at 7-7 when Brian Westbrook hurtled the goal line pile on a 1-yard TD run. Feeley was right on target with his passes as he led the team downfield on this 14-play, 77-yard TD drive. Feeley completed a 21-yd pass to Jason Avant. Then Reggie Brown caught a pass for 11 more yards. Fifteen more to Greg Lewis on 3rd-and-7. Play after play, AJ completed pass after pass to Eagles’ receivers right down the MIDDLE of the field. And though Feeley threw 3 INT’s on the day, he still completed 27-of-42 passes for 345 yards. His QB rating was still a respectful 83.9. Tom Brady had a 90.9 and was sacked three times and completed just 63% of his passes. The Eagles defense brought constant pressure forcing Brady to get rid of the ball more quickly than he is accustomed to. The score at halftime was just 24-21 Patriots, though Philadelphia had a 28-24 lead halfway through the fourth quarter.

The Patriots at times moved the ball well right down the field, but there was not that drive after drive effect that New England had peppered opponents with in most of their games. The Eagles defense did force punts and held them on fourth down a few times too. The Eagles punter only had to punt 3 times himself. What you saw was AJ Feeley taking his team on these long time-consuming drives which ended in either a TD or FG. There were not many 3-and-outs as what usually happens when Donovan McNabb is the quarterback. The Eagles defense held the NFL’s top receiver in Randy Moss to just 5 catches that resulted in 43 yards and no TD’s. It was the other receiver in Wes Welker that torched the Eagles secondary. He finished the game with 149 yards on 13 receptions. The Eagles defense also held the Patriots running game to just 48 yards rushing. The Eagles Brian Westbrook led the team with 92 yards (52 rushing, 40 receiving). AJ connected twice for big TD passes to Greg Lewis in the first half. After a 78-yard Patriots TD drive, which gave New England a 14-7 lead, Feeley found Lewis deep for a 28-yard TD. Lewis made a great diving catch on the play. Late in the second quarter, Lewis caught an 18-yd pass to give Philly a 21-17 lead.

The next question is who starts next week? AJ or Donovan. If McNabb is not healthy, it will be an easy choice. Feeley stood in the pocket, took some shots, but still completed pass after pass. Late in the third quarter, New England’s kicker failed to kick a 32-yard FG. First play after that, Feeley found TE LJ Smith wide open for a 32-yard pass completion down the middle for 17 yards. Later on a third down, Reggie Brown culminated the drive with an 8-yd TD catch. The Eagles led 28-24 and all the pressure shifted on the Patriots perfect season bid. The Eagles defense held on a fourth down try, but they could not take advantage. The Patriots next possession lad to a TD and gave New England a 31-28 lead with 7:20 left in the game. The Eagles offense then moved the ball right up the field, but an ill-advised pass to Kevin Curtis on a deep post ended with another INT for Asante Samuels. Te Eagles defense held the Patriots one last time, but only had 26 seconds left in the game and no timeouts. Anyway, the Eagles made a huge statement to the league that they stood shoulder to shoulder and almost slayed the NFL’s dragon. It should give the team plenty of confidence to play the rest of the season.

Even with the loss and a 5-6 record, the Eagles are in good shape to still make the playoffs. They had plenty of help this week as the Giants, Cardinals, Lions, Redskins and Panthers all lost. And Chicago should of lost if not for some real stupidity by the Denver Broncos. The Eagles have Seattle, Giants and Buffalo at home still, while they must travel to Dallas and New Orleans late in the season. The Eagles could conceivably go 4-1 and finish 9-7. That should be enough to make the playoffs as a wild card team. They would then probably play Tampa Bay or Seattle on the road in the first round. Both games would be winnable, putting them into the Divisional Playoff round as they played last year and lost at New Orleans. But they cannot afford top lay any more eggs like they did against both the Giants and Cowboys earlier this season. Just play like they did against the Super Bowl favorites and you have a chance to win every game.