The Philadelphia Eagles got run over by a “BUS”! A “Bus” named Jerome Bettis who rushed for 149 yards on 33 carries. This was supposed to be the game that Duce Staley showed up the Eagles, but he was deactivated just 30 minutes before game time. It would become the game of games for Bettis as he was unstoppable all game long. The Pittsburgh Steelers as a team rushed 56 times for 252 yards. The Eagles only had 23 rushing yards. It was their lowest total since they only ran for 22 yards on the ground against the Buffalo Bills back in the third week of 1998 in a 26-0 loss. The Eagles 113 total yards was their lowest offensive output since December 11, 1994 in Pittsburgh. In that game, the Eagles only had 109 yards with Randall Cunningham at QB in a 14-3 loss at Three Rivers Stadium. That season, Philly started out 7-2 before they lost their last straight seven games with Rich Kotite as head coach. This Eagles team is not headed towards the cellar, but hopefully towards Jacksonville. One loss does not end a season except in January. This team is still destined to go to the playoffs. This team is also the heavy favorite to have the home field advantage, which generally is more important in the NFC, except for the last two seasons. Thanks to Indianapolis and Chicago, the Eagles have a 2 game lead on everybody (really 3 games with the Eagles owning all the tiebreakers) except for Atlanta. The Falcons are still 6-2 and are on the bye week. The Eagles play a bad Dallas team next Monday night. Don’t forget that these Birds usually win after a loss. They are an impressive 16-2 since 2000 after losing the previous game. Lastly, Philly is also 7-1 on Monday nights under Andy Reid.

On Sunday in Pittsburgh, the Eagles got of to a very rocky start that only got worse until it was obvious that this was one for the “L” column. On the first play, Ben Roethlisberger connected with a 12-yard pass to Dan Kreider. After that it was Bettis for 3, 16, 9, no gain and 6 yards on five straight running plays. For a tiny moment, it seemed, as the Philadelphia Eagles would hold them to a FG attempt after Sam Rayburn sacked Roethlisberger for a big 8-yard loss. But on third-and-13, the Steelers converted on a broken play as “Big Ben” escaped the pocket and ran for 16 yards. Hines Ward ran in the next play for a touchdown on a called reverse. The Steelers were and running with a 7-0 early lead. Pittsburgh converted 53% of their third downs on the day (8 for 15). The Eagles went 0 for 8. The Steelers dominated every stat except for turnovers, which the Eagles won 2-1. Pittsburgh out gained Philly in total yards 420-113. They also controlled the clock for almost 43 minutes. That is 70% of the entire game. As bad as McNabb looked, it wasn’t entirely all his fault. It was more the defense’s fault, as they could not stop the Steelers runaway offense. McNabb finished with a 55.7 QB rating, completing 15-of-24 passes and only 109 yards passing. Roethlisberger had an average day himself, throwing for a total of 183 passing yards (11-of-18 passes) with 2 TD’s, 1 INT and 1 fumble. He didn’t have to be great today as he had plenty of support to make his job easy.

This will be one game that the Eagles better forget quickly. The defense was downright dreadful and the offense really had no shot to get on track. This game was over in the first quarter. Philadelphia only had possession of the ball for 2:43 of the first 19 minutes. The Steelers had a 206 to 3 advantage in total yards. The Eagles did not even get a first down until McNabb completed a 10-yard pass to LJ Smith. The score was already out of hand at 21-0, but this pass helped setup the only score for the Eagles all game long. A David Akers FG made the score 21-3. Then Brian Dawkins tried to breathe some life back into the team when he intercepted a pass and returned it 32 yards out to the Eagle 39-yard line. The Eagles offense then went 3-and-out again. In the second half, McNabb started to get into rhythm until he threw an ill-advised pass as he was being sacked. James Farrier intercepted the pass and returned it 41 yards to the Eagles 38-yard line. That was the final nail in the coffin. On this day, nothing went right for the Birds and everything smelled of roses for the men in black. This was just one game and there are 8 more to go before they really count. And that last game will count the most, especially if it ends with a win. Hopefully with a Dallas team reeling even worst than the Eagles, a win will be ripe for the taking down in the “Big D”.