The unthinkable has happened twelve weeks into the 2000 NFL season. The Philadelphia Eagles are in first place in the NFC Eastern Division. What! First Place, I reiterate! Today's Heroes: Everybody.... From Donovan McNabb to Mike Caldwell to Brian Dawkins to Darnell Autry. Almost every player on the Eagles roster had a hand in this win. It all started out slow for the Birds as Donovan McNabb was intercepted on the fifteen yard line halfway through the first quarter. Then, with only minutes left in the half on a long prolonged drive, Cecil Martin fumbles away what appeared to be the go ahead touchdown on the goal line. The Eagles D held the Cards, then Brian Mitchell returned the punt just over the 50 yard line to give the Eagles great field position for Donovan to begin the 2 minute drill. He quickly led the team into scoring position and capped the Eagles' drive with a short 1 yard pass to Jeff Thomason to give the Birds a 10-3 halftime lead.

Philadelphia again lost the toss to begin the game (Eagles have lost 10 of 12), so began the second half with the football. McNabb orchestrated a long 8 1/2 minute 65 yard drive straight down the football field. Donovan McNabb capped the drive with a brilliant dash to the endzone. Four different Cardinal defenders had a shot to stop McNabb and they all failed. It was one of those plays that will be highlighted after Donovan retires 15 years from now. Donovan was simply sizzling throughout the afternoon on a cold day at the Vet. He completed 25 of 34 passes for 210 yards with 1 TD & 1 INT. The Eagles have now won three games in a row for the first time since 1995. Donovan made only one mistake and he never made another one the rest of the day as the Eagles stomped the Cards in "Our House", on the cold hard turf of Veteran's Stadium.

Now for the other side of the ball. The Eagles defense was simply in one word "AWESOME". They pressured Jake Plummer all day long sacking him 7 times and ending the day with 8 alltogether. Jake Plummmer was only sacked 14 times in the previous 10 games for the Cardinals. Before Dave Brown relieved Jake Plummer, the Cards only had 51 yards passing an 88 total yards offense. Even Mike Mamula had another sack, his 4th of the year. But it was Corey Simon, Brian Dawkins and Jeremiah Trotter leading the rush who each 2 sacks and a number of each tackles to add to the stats. The defense completely held the Cards in check all through the afternoon. This was a total team effort for a playoff bound team. It was a win over a team that they should beat. It was a win sandwiched between 2 OT wins over the Steelers & Cowboys with a huge showdown rematch against the Washington Redskins next week. The Eagles are now 8-4 with only a total team collapse between them in the post season. Two more wins will almost certainly propel them for their first post season action since their 14-0 loss to the 49ers back in 1996. This time, the Eagles could have a home game on December 31st. A home game in "Our House" on the Vet's unforgivenly hard surface with a possible temperature of 10°. Should our opponent be the Lions, Saints or Buccaneers, we will hold a big advantage with the winter weather as both; Detroit and New Orleans are domed teams and with Tampa Bay's loss in Chicago today, they are now an all-time 0-18 when the temperature drops below 40°. Hopefully we don't end up with the Giants. The Giants should win at least 2 more games, so they will either be division champs or hold the home field edge amongst the wildcard teams and host a home playoff game in late December. Next week will be a real guage to see how far the Birds have come this season. So.....