Though the Philadelphia Eagles went down to defeat again at the hands of the Jacksonville Jaguars this time, all is not lost in Eagleville. If they rebound off the bye week like they have done historically under Andy Reid's guidance, then they will still have a chance to eventually win home-field advantage during the playoffs; the key to getting to the Super Bowl in the NFC. They still must then face the Giants, Bears and 49ers; all teams in the same hunt. The only team which the Eagles don't control are the Green Bay Packers, who are now 4-1 after crushing the Bears on Monday night. The most important aspect for the Eagles is to beat those teams from the NFC and all should fall in place. Two losses versus the AFC teams, should not hurt their chances of their ultimate goal of getting to the "Big Dance" in San Diego. But yesterday, sloppy plays continue to hurt when the Eagles looked ripe to win the game. Not only did special teams hurt the cause, the defense made a couple of major blunders along with not getting enough pressure on Brunell. And yes, the offensive line stunk again allowing Donovan McNabb to be sacked 5 times and hit another dozen times, though McNabb did run 12 times for 100 yards. The quarterback still should not be the leading rusher week after week. In the end, it was just too many mistakes which they were unable to overcome. Now they go into the break at 3-2, not 4-1 like everybody hoped.

Big mistake #1 came right after Donovan McNabb led a brilliant drive downfield and gave the Eagles a 7-6 lead late in the 2nd quarter. With only 1:15 left in the half and Jacksonville ready to punt on fourth down, the Eagles' special teams were flagged for having too many men on the field. Result? First down for the Jags, which led to a Jacksonville touchdown and 14-7 lead at the half. Big Mistake #2 came on the final play of the third quarter when Bobby Taylor missed an easy tackle on Jimmy Smith and he ran down the field before Brian Dawkins tackled Smith inside the five yard line. Result? Jacksonnville touchdown and lead now 21-10. Biggest Mistake of ALL! With 6:23 left in the game, the Eagles special teams did it again. They let another return for a touchdown, the third in 4 games. This time, it was Bobby Shaw who returned a Sean Landetta punt for a 69-yard touchdown and now a 28-10 insurmountable lead. Super Bowl contenders just should not play this sloppy against inferior foes and never should their special teams be responsible for so many return touchdowns in a season, let alone 5 games.

Donovan McNabb who played OK despite being sick and puking his lunch as he lined up during the fourth quarter led the Eagles on 2 late game touchdown drives only to make the score close. He finished the day passing 48 times with 28 completions, 2 TD's and 0 INT's. Not bad, but he was running for his life most of the game and never had a chance to get into his rhythm that we are used to seeing. The offensive line better gets it's act together soon as their next two opponents; the Bucs and Giants will also bring plenty of heat to McNabb. The fans in the friendly confines of Veteran's Stadium will let the O-Line know it if they are not doing their job sufficiently. Indications are that both Corey Simon and John Welbourn will both be back against Tampa Bay in two weeks. Simon will help in providing pressure on defense and the latter from preventing pressure on offense. Now the most important stretch of games against the teams they must beat to get home-field advantage and an almost sure ticket to the Super Bowl are up next. If they have aspirations of going to the Super Bowl, they should go at least 4-2 or 5-1 in the next 6 games. Of those six games, only 2 are on the road, though the game against Chicago is really a road game for the Bears too as they continue work on Soldier Field. But first up are the Bucs and Giants, both at home with the latter coming in 3 weeks on Monday Night under the bright lights of a national audience. Two very familar foes who have not fared well last year or lately against the Eagles. But that is why we play the games. Let's get it going and hopefully everything will still work out and many of us will still have Super Bowl trophies dancing in our heads come January.