Watch out NFL! If the Eagles defense plays like they did on Sunday all the time along with the offense playing great as did in the first three games, this team is almost unbeatable to win against. Yesterday, the Eagles defense brought their “A” game, while the offense brought only their “B” or maybe only their “C+” game and they still won by 22 points. The offense was only on the field for 21 ½ minutes and still scored an easy 23 points. Akers was a perfect 3 for 3 on FG’s and J.R. Reed added another great scintillating special teams play to start the game. To start the second half, Andy Reid called on the Eagles special; the onside kick and Jeremiah Trotter recovered it. Special teams and defense was what carried the Eagles to victory in their revenge on the mind game against the Carolina Panthers. Reed gave the Eagles great field position at the Panthers 43-yard line. He took the opening kickoff for 66 yards down to the 28-yard line. The only bad thing was that there was a flag thrown on the play, but not for holding or blocking from behind. It was an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Eagles security director Butch Buchanico, who ran in front of the linesman following the play when the ref ran into the back of Butch causing the official to fall down. Still, the Eagles had great field position and David Akers kicked a 48-yard FG when McNabb was sacked on play 6 of the drive on third down. It was the Panthers only sack of the game. When the Eagles got the ball back, McNabb hit Owens on a long sideline pass for a 53-yard gain. Three plays later, Dorsey Levens dives into the end zone from 1-yard out for a 10-0 lead with 3:40 left in the first quarter. Consequently, it was Levens first touchdown as an Eagle since week #2 of the 2002 season.

During the second quarter, McNabb again hit Terrell Owens on a big pass. T.O. was wide open on a crossing pattern across the middle and ran it for 51 yards. He finished the day with 4 catches for 123 yards. but for the first time as an Eagle had no touchdowns. McNabb, who was not at his best, completed only 53.8% of his passes and had a QB rating of only 64.4. He only threw for a total of 209 passing yards, but was only 5 of 8 and 30 yards in the second half. The Panthers defense took away the rushing game focusing their play against Brian Westbrook. He only had a total 90 combined yards. 42 of his yards came on his last touch, which went for the games last touchdown with 2:08 left. Can you believe that Carolina dominated in both time of possession (38 to 21 minutes) and total yards (344 to 283 yards) and still lost the game 30-8? The Eagles are now off to a perfect 5-0 start, the first time since 1981. In fact, the Birds joined an elite group of seven teams over the past 70 years to win five consecutive games and winning by at least 10 points in each of those victories. It was another strange win for the Eagles who dominated on the scoreboard, but still allowed Carolina to hold onto the ball for a large amount of the game. It is all too easy right now.

The Philadelphia Eagles won this game with an intimidating bone-crushing defensive effort. The defense was led by that madman in Brian Dawkins who finished with 5 tackles, 1 big sack and 2 defended passes. Between his hits and the hit that Jevon Kearse delivered on Jake Delhomme, the Eagles defense held the Panther quarterback with a 38.4 QB rating. Delhomme completed 24 of 42 passes for 205 yards, with over half of them coming during garbage time late in the 4th quarter. The Eagles defense brought the heat forcing Delhomme to throw 4 INT’s, with 1 being returned for a dramatic TD return of 64 yards by Lito Sheppard. On the play, the entire defense led the way downfield blocking every Panther out of the way. Carolina did not score until 2:48 left in the game with a 2-yard fade pass to Mushin Muhammad. Two plays earlier, Kearse almost made a sensational INT pick when he dove at a pass covering the tight end Michael Gaines. Too bad, the Eagles did not finish the game with a shutout. The last shutout by a Philly defense was back on December 1, 1996 when the Eagles beat the Giants 24-0. Well anyway, you can’t find much wrong with a team who are a perfect 5-0 and have the Cleveland Browns next week. The Eagles will be favored to win this one too.