Anyone who thought that every game would be easy, then those people are living in a dream world. I had a feeling during the week that the Cleveland Browns would take the Eagles late into the game keeping it close till the very end. You can’t get any closer than a game-winning 50-yard FG in OT. Yes, there were some questionable missed penalties by the Browns offense, one that resulted in a touchdown, which gave the Browns their only lead of the game at 24-21. The referee Tom White totally blew that call on Brian Dawkins for roughing the quarterback on a critical 4th down play that would have given the Eagles the win in regulation. With the score still 31-24, the Browns were given a second life and Jeff Garcia took advantage. Garcia willed his team the rest of the 32 yards as the Eagles defense was on their heels. He single-handedly scored the tying TD with 2 different QB sneaks. The first one gave the Browns a first down on the one-yard line. On third down, Garcia was flushed from the pocket and challenged Dawkins head on at the goal line. It could of ended in disaster, but Garcia somehow wiggled through the hit and he fell into the end zone for a touchdown. Garcia got up unhurt. Game Tied: 34-34! Though the Eagles still had 30 seconds left, this game was headed for OT. McNabb however threw up one last “Hail Mary”, which was almost caught by Todd Pinkston. It was ultimately knocked down by the Browns’ secondary.

The game started as usual for Philly with Donovan McNabb hooking up with Todd Pinkston for a big play. On the very first play, Pinkston caught a long pass for a 65-yard gain. On the next play, McNabb connected with Chad Lewis with a quick over the middle pass for a 10-yard TD just 37 seconds into the game. Cleveland struck right back with a 9-play drive of 66 yards climaxing with an 11-yard run by Willie Green. Late in the second quarter, his running partner Lee Suggs ran through some sloppy tackling and scored another TD from 13 yards out. The Browns as a team rushed for 165 yards on the day with: Suggs rushing 15 times for 78 yards and Green getting 64 yards on 14 carries. Garcia added another 21 yards. The most important stat for the Eagles was the adjustment of Jimmy Johnson’s defense to hold Cleveland to only 42 yards on the ground in the second half. Cleveland rushers gained 123 yards on 17 carries for a 7.2 yards/carry average in the first half. In the second half, Philly held the Browns to a 2.4 yards/carry average on 17 more rushes. And 19 of those were courtesy of Jeff Garcia running for his life after being flushed from the pocket. The Eagles did sack Garcia 3 times during the game. Lastly, the Eagles had not allowed a rushing TD in the last 4 games, they allowed 3 yesterday. It’s the first time in 10 games that the defense allowed more than 2 rushing TD’s.

On the Eagles side, McNabb had another big game, completing 28 of 43 passes for 376 yards and 4 TD’s. It was his second highest career passing game. His best occurred 4 years earlier in this same stadium when he threw for 490 passing yards. His 4 TD’s also tied a career high. McNabb also was forced to improvise when his best weapon in Brian Westbrook left the game with a chest contusion. On the first play of the Eagles second possession in OT, he escaped the Browns rush and scampered down the sideline for a huge 28-yard run. A couple of Levens runs later, David Akers completed the Eagles sixth victory with his 50-yard FG. Donovan McNabb was at his best, completing passes to 10 different receivers with Pinkston getting tops at 6 for 100 yards. But it was the first half show of Mr. T.O. that gave the Eagles an 11-point lead in the second quarter. First McNabb hit Owens for a 39-yard TD reception that gave the Birds a 14-7 lead at the time just 1:53 after Cleveland tied the game. Then 2:08 later, T.O. struck again. He reeled in another long bomb for a 40-yard TD. He now has 8 on the season. He also finished with 109 yards on only 4 receptions, but it is post-TD celebrations that are grabbing all the attention. On the first one, he simply ran over to a sign that read, “T.O. has B.O.” and heaved the ball right into the center of it. He tore down the second sign after his next TD. This sign made reference to a rat after his comments in Playboy magazine. It did net him 15-yards on an unsportsmanlike penalty. All in all, it was a great gut-wrenching victory in a very hostile atmosphere. You need a few pressure cookers to keep your team ready when that opportunity arises. With New England beating the Jets 13-7 up in Foxboro, the Eagles and Pats are the only 2 undefeated teams left. Both teams are now 6-0 and the saying goes, “AND THEN THERE WERE TWO!”