First place in the NFC East is clinched once again for the fourth consecutive year. But now it is only November and the Philadelphia Eagles are the champions of the NFC East. Only two other teams in the history since the advent of the 16-game schedule have won their respective division in November. The last team was those 1997 49ers. The real question is how really good are these Eagles? Or how bad are the rest of the division rivals? I think you can say that it is a little of both. The Eagles are now clearly head and shoulders better than the rest of the division. The Eagles are also probably the best team in the NFC too. They play the Green Bay Packers this week at the Linc. The Packers destroyed the high-powered Rams last week on Monday night, 44-17. The only other team besides the Packers maybe capable of beating these Eagles is the Atlanta Falcons. At 9-2, the Falcons are good, but have not been lighting up the scoreboard. They are only pretty good for one reason, Michael Vick. The Packers are tied with the Vikings at 7-4 in the NFC North. If Philly beats Green Bay this week and wins one out their last 4 games, they will at least clinch a first round bye. Still on the schedule after Green Bay: Dallas at home, at Washington, at St. Louis (Monday night) and home against Cincinnati. All four games should result in wins. Dallas, no shot! Washington, not even a prayer. St. Louis, remember that the Eagles are 8-1 on Monday night games. Cincinnati is 0-42 on the road against teams with winning records. If Philadelphia wins this week, they can start to rest some of their veterans who need some rest.

Back to last game in the Meadowlands. The Eagles again held a slim 7-6 lead at the half and scored 20 points in the second half, winning 27-6 going away. The last two weeks, Philly outscored their opponents 41-0 in the second half. For the first time since 1990, the Eagles did not allow a touchdown in 2 consecutive games. This game also represents the largest margin of victory at the Giants since 1966, when the Eagles beat the Giants at Yankee Stadium 31-3 on Oct. 23. The decision to start Eli Manning against this Eagles team may have been a mistake. The Birds ransacked poor Eli into poor decisions all game long. He finished the game only completing 6 of 21 passes for 111 yards. He was only 2-11 in the second half. He also threw 2 big interceptions, no TD’s and was sacked 5 times. Corey Simon and Darwin Walker also finally stepped up and had big games. Both had sacks and Simon finished with 5 tackles. It was Jeremiah Trotter who caused general chaos on the Giants’ sidelines after he hit Manning on his way out of bounds. He finished the game with 9 tackles and was a real dominating force at middle linebacker. It is now his job to lose. Hopefully, Andy and Joe Banner decide to keep him along with Corey Simon around after this season.

McNabb took the Eagles offense quickly downfield after the second half kickoff. The ensuing 10-play 53-yard drive ended with a David Akers 47-yard FG. The defense quickly took total control when Brian Dawkins intercepted a Manning pass at the Giants 47-yard line. Five plays later, Akers added kicked a 42-yard FG, which extended the Eagles lead to 13-6. The Giants offense was again held to a two first downs before they were forced to punt again. The Giants only managed 88 total yards in the second half. If not for Tiki Barber and his 110 yards on 19 carries, this game would have been over in the first half. On third down, both Walker and Simon forced fourth down after sacking Manning. The Eagles defense stayed out on the field for the punt in case the Giants tried any trickery. Jevon Kearse came up big again blocking the Jeff Feagles punt. Hugh Douglas recovered it on the 28-yard line. With 1:41 left in the third, Brian Westbrook scored from 1-yard plunge into the end zone increasing the lead to an almost insurmountable 20-6 lead.

Brian Westbrook had one of his best games of the season finishing with 127 total combined yards. He caught 5 passes for 53 yards and added 74 rushing yards on 18 carries. He also scored two TD’s. The last TD resulted from a great 31-yard pass and run play halfway through the fourth quarter. Todd Pinkston added 75 yards on 3 catches and his teammate in Terrell Owens had 4 timely receptions for 64 yards. Owens failed to catch a TD for only the second time this season. The Eagles offense out-gained the Giants 390-272 yards and controlled the clock for almost 34 minutes. The Eagles were highly successful again on third down, converting 7 of 15 (47%). But everyone agrees that even though it is “nice” to win the division again, it will mean nothing unless they win 2 late January games on the way to Florida. Here is a breakdown of the other best 3 starts ever in Eagles history and what resulted in the end.