It really was demolition day at Lincoln Financial Field Sunday afternoon for the San Francisco 49ers. You can also call it: a trouncing, a mauling, a cakewalk or whatever, but the Eagles led by Donovan McNabb and Terrell Owens scored early and often on their way to victory over the Niners 42-3. The Eagles set a number of team records including a record 583 total yards. This record has held for almost 40 years, when way back on Nov. 7, 1965, the Eagles lost to the Browns 38-34, but gained 582 yards at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland. There were other records too, but they will be mentioned in the “Stats of the Week” box below and to the left. So to all those bandwagon people that jumped ship after last week’s disappointment in Atlanta, come on back. It would numerous injuries and extremely bad luck to derail this Eagles team from making the playoffs and trying to repeat it’s only goal of repeating as NFC Champions.

This game started off really quickly and in fact on the very third play, McNabb and T.O. struck for seven. McNabb found Owens wide open along the left sidelines for a 64-yard long bomb and an early 7-0 lead. The Eagles got the ball back after forcing the Niners 3-and-out. The Eagles however, also went 3-and-out and were forced to punt. It would be only 1 of 2 times all game that the Birds would punt the ball. Every other drive ended with a TD (6 all told), a fumble (1) or a missed FG (1). The Eagles drives ended with touchdowns 60% of the time if you don’t count the 2 drives at the end of the half and game.

The offense was unstoppable as Donovan McNabb had his best career game to date and finished with a QB rating of 155.4. He only threw 29 passes total, completing 23 for 342 passing yards and 4 TD’s. He also had zero rushing yards on zero carries. His running mate in Brian Westbrook had 120 combined yards with 89 of them on the ground. T.O. had 5 catches for 144 yards and 2 TD’s. Conversely, he had zero choreographed celebrations, as he just stood there on both touchdowns and looked at the crowd. Tight end LJ Smith also had a huge game. He caught a career-high 9 passes for 119 yards and had a touchdown too. Even Greg Lewis added 4 receptions for 39 yards and scored his first regular season TD. Finally, Lamar Gordon added his first Eagles touchdown (rushing), while bruising his way to 40 total rushing yards. This was definitely the day of the Eagle; those 2004 NFC Champion Philadelphia Eagles.

As good as the offense was, the defense was just as equal, holding the 49ers to just 142 total yards. In fact, they forced 3 INT’s alone in the first half, QB Tim Rattay completed only 2-of-9 passes for 13 yards and a “BIG FAT” (0.0) for his QB rating. He ended up with only a rating of 21.3. Pretty pathetic! The return of Jeremiah Trotter also meant that the Niners could only muster 58 yards rushing. The defense also sacked Rattay 3 times. Jim Johnson’s D really didn’t blitz too much as their coverage was excellent with Lito, Dhani and Roderick all recording INT’s. On the whole, this game showed complete control of an inferior foe. This is what was expected and the Eagles did not disappoint. Though the Eagles are still tied for last place with Dallas, this statement game only shows one thing: It will not be long before the Philadelphia Eagles are in first place and the rest of the division will be chasing the Eagles. Or perhaps the entire NFC will be chasing once again.