The Philadelphia Eagles continued their winning ways beating the Carolina Panthers 25-16 yesterday at Ericsson Stadium. The Eagles improved to a now NFL-best 9-3 with the #1 conference seed in their own hands. That means, if they were to win out, the Eagles would have the home field advantage for the second straight year. They play the hated Dallas Cowboys next on December 7. If the Eagles win, they would open a 2-game lead and will have at least clinched a playoff berth. By the way, weather forecasts for Sunday are for cold, wind and possible snow. They are also predicting a major snowstorm for both Friday and Saturday. The 104th annual Army-Navy game is scheduled for 4pm at Lincoln Financial field. This will be a big test to see how the field holds up with extreme weather conditions. This could favor the Eagles even more as Dallas does not have a good running game. The Eagles are hungry for a revenge win as they lost in Dallas in week 5 of the season. The Eagles do however sport a pretty good running game featuring a 3-headed monster of Staley, Westbrook and Buckhalter. The current game featured Stephen Davis who rushed for 115 yards on 23 carries. It was the fourth straight game, which the Eagles defense allowed a 100-yard rusher. The ex-Redskin only had 27 yards on the ground after halftime though. The big story of the game was the Eagles red zone defense and special teams.

It all started out bad as Donovan McNabb was intercepted on the second play from scrimmage. Carolina failed to take advantage of this mishap and settled for a 3-0 lead, after John Kasay kicked a 20-yard FG. It would also be the last FG he would make all afternoon. He missed 3 others and an extra point. His counterpart, David Akers was a perfect 4 for 4 on FG attempts. He would later be named the NFC Special Teams’ Player of the week for his efforts. After the FGF by Kasay, McNabb drove the field on a 10-play, 68 TD drive capped by a short 2-yard plunge by Duce Staley. The Eagles would never relinquish the lead anymore. McNabb had another solid game, completing 69.2% of his passes. He finished 18-for-26 and 182 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT. He was sacked only 3 times against perhaps the best defensive line in the NFC. The Eagles were once again outgained 336 to 283 yards, but the defense came up with a number of big plays when it mattered most. Right before the end of the first half, they stopped Carolina inside the 20-yard line on 4 straight plays. On 4th-and-1, Brandon Whiting stuffed Davis short of the first down, preserving an Eagles 10-3 lead at the half. The Eagles defense continues to stop opposing offenses in the redzone. This week, Carolina was stopped on 3 separate occasions without even scoring a single point.

Philadelphia added an Akers 48-yard FG 7:16 into the third quarter to increase their lead to 13-3. Panthers QB, Jake Delhomme connected with Steve Smith for a 24-yard TD catch to cut the lead to 13-10. Donovan McNabb showed his resilience, driving the Eagles downfield on an 11-play 61-yard drive to setup Akers from 38-yards out. Then the defensive play of the game happened. A blitz by Nate Wayne caused a sack and fumble, which was recovered by Darwin Walker deep in Carolina territory. Two plays later, McNabb connected with James Thrash for an 8-yard pass. Thrash squirmed his way into the end zone for a 10-yard TD play. Andy Reid called for the 2-point conversion and Chad Lewis dropped a sure pass for the 2 points. This play could of cost the Eagles, but Lewis redeemed himself soon afterwards. The score then read 22-16 in favor of the Eagles. With just under 3 ½ minutes and in a third-and-9 situation, McNabb was flushed form the pocket by linebacker Greg Favors. He rolled out to his right and threw a perfect pass downfield to Lewis for a big 29-yard gain. The Eagles would milk down the clock and Akers added a 29-yard FG to extend the Eagles lead to 9 points with only 25 seconds left on the clock.

The Panthers would then attempt a play for the ages as time ran out in the game. They scored an apparent TD on play that featured 10 laterals and 2 fumbles. Too bad for the 2-3 illegal laterals that caused the play to be called back on penalties. The Eagles would have won anyway on the play anyway. The Eagles won in the end, 25-16, showing the rest of the NFC that they are indeed the team to beat for the NFC Championship. They are now both a NFL-best 23-7 on the road and 43-17 overall since the start of the 2000 season. Maybe, just maybe this is the year they will get their turn to hold up the Vince Lombardi trophy.