Men versus boys! Teachers versus students! Experienced versus the young! These are all the headlines written by the media after the Eagles disposed of the Detroit Lions 30-13 at Ford Field yesterday. I would rather make this comparison instead: the inexperienced versus a very good, very well coached team. The Lions were 2-0 going into this game, but the 2-0 Eagles had other plans. The Eagles had already beat both the Giants and Vikings in front of national audiences and could be on their way to their biggest start out of the gate in Philadelphia Eagles history. All 3 teams that have been beaten by the Birds this season are a combined 6-0 when not playing Philly. Whereas the Lions opponents are now 4-2. Don’t take anything away from Detroit, but they have been the bottom of the barrel over the last 4 or 5 seasons. The Eagles on the other hand are one of the 2 best teams record wise the past 4 seasons under Andy Reid and have been to the playoffs 4 straight years and been to the NFC title the past 3 years. The Eagles are a very hungry team and they know what it will take to get back. Though home field advantage has not been kind the past two seasons, they would rather still play at the Linc than in a dome or at Seattle. At 3-0 and Chicago on the docket next, they should go 4-0 going into the bye week. Then coming off the bye, Andy Reid is 5-0, so logic has them at least 5-0 after they beat Carolina. The Eagles will also have the revenge factor in their favor against the Panthers and it is a home game. The Eagles could go a long way before losing and they should be able get to the playoffs for a fifth straight season, thus keeping alive their ultimate and only goal of playing in the Super Bowl.

The game started out with plenty of fireworks. Except, the home team was the target of these explosive devises. This day belonged to the Eagles right from the start and dominated throughout the entire game. The Eagles out gained the Lions 402 to 256 yards. McNabb out passed Harrington 356 to 199 passing yards and his QB rating is the NFL’s best at 122.0. He also completed 69% of his passes completing 29 of 42 total passes. He also threw 2 more TD’s and ran another one in on a 1-yard QB sneak. Donovan McNabb has been responsible for 10 total touchdowns this season, passing for eight. Another startling stat is that he now has 2 300+ yard games passing and another at 256 yards. He only had 2 all last season and finished this game with a QB rating of 110.0, his lowest this season. He started the game out completing 17 of 19 passes, 2 for TD’s and a 21-0 lead just 9 minutes into the second quarter. The Eagles took the crowd right out of the game from the start. In this game, McNabb completed passes to 7 different receivers, including 6 to Terrell Owens for 107 yards and 1 TD. Owens now has 5 on the season. It looks all too easy.

The third touchdown will always be remembered with a T.O. like celebration. Except, it was not Terrell who caught the ball, but long snapper Mike Bartrum. His last TD catch occurred way back on Nov. 11, 2001 against the Vikings. Bartrum proceeded to get into position after scoring the TD that he knows best. That is the position of snapping the ball. He was immediately flagged for excessive celebrating and the Eagles were assessed a 15-yard penalty on the kickoff. Andy Reid was probably thrilled with the 21-0 lead, but was mad as hell with the penalty. The Lions did score a TD late in the first half. The drive was successful because Harrington connected with young star Roy Williams on 4 passes for 63 yards. Going into the second half, the Lions were only down 21-7. That would not last as the Eagles struck time and time again on three separate long drives. All three ended in David Akers field goals. That only increased the Eagles lead to 30-7 before Roy Williams struck again. He caught the pass over the middle and bounced off four tacklers before running into the end zone for a 29-yard TD. Detroit went for 2 and failed, leaving the score at 30-13 where neither team struck again. The Eagles offense was unstoppable and the defense was indefensible. Jevon Kearse led Jimmy Johnson’s blitz happy defense with 3 sacks, one forced fumble, 4 tackles and many numerous hurries and pass incompletions. Now we too know why he is nicknamed “The Freak”. How can any team prepare for the Eagles when both offense and defense are in synch like they were on Sunday in Detroit? Teams like Dallas, Washington, Chicago and even Pittsburgh will have their hands full trying to figure how to defend against this team with as many weapons as we have both offensively and defensively. Only way the Eagles will lose to a bad team anymore this season is if they turn the ball over and play down to that team’s capabilities. I don’t see that happening in the next few weeks either.