Let me rub my eyes again. Nope. I can still see very clearly. This was another miracle finish, but not against those New York Giants. The Eagles may have been lucky to win this particular game, but the defense played good enough to have won this game outright as the Birds dominated well into the third quarter. In the end with Philadelphia losing 17-13 and the Eagles went for it on a 4th-and-1 situation with just 3:37 left and failed. Instead of a simple QB sneak which a healthy McNabb would probably convert 90% of the time; Reid called for a short pass play. The resulting pass to Lamar Gordon fell short and so it appeared the Eagles chances of winning this game too. On third down, the Chargers were faced with a third-and-short play. They ran LaDainian Tomlinson into the middle and once again the Eagles defense stopped the NFL’s best back dead in his tracks. San Diego brought on the field goal unit for what appeared to be relatively easy FG attempt. That would force the Eagles and McNabb to score a TD just to send the game into OT. The Eagles Quintin Mikell came through unblocked and blocked the FG. The ball took an unreal bounce right into the waiting arms of Matt Ware who snatched the ball into his arms at full speed. In one motion, Ware had a convoy of blockers leading the way to the end zone for a 65-yard return and a 20-17 lead. It later turned out that the Eagles blocked the FG with only 10 men as Darwin Walker failed to get on the field.

Though the Eagles seemed to have won the game now, it took one more great play on defense to clinch victory. QB Drew Brees led the Chargers quickly down the field with no timeouts. They managed to get into FG range, but then Brees completed a pass to Reche Brown down to the Eagles 18-yard line with just 1:34 left and that would put San Diego into position to win the game outright with a touchdown. On the play, CB Sheldon Brown tackled the wideout and in one motion, he stripped the ball and it fell to the ground just before his knee would touch. This time Darwin Walker was on the field and recovered the ball. Game over. This game should have never had come down to two miracle-type plays in the closing minutes. The Eagles once held a 10-0 lead and were totally dominating their AFC foes. They left another 13 or more points on the field with 2 INT’s, a fumble and a bumble. The bumble came in the last 10 seconds of the first half. And the ball was on the Chargers 13-yard line. With no timeouts left thanks to both Reid and McNabb for wasting them away, the Eagles had to pass the ball in the end zone or out of bounds. They did neither as McNabb completed a pass to LJ Smith for a 9 yard gain. The Eagles attempted to line up quickly and spike the ball. The refs flagged the Eagles for a false start, as they did not line up fast enough with just 1 second left. The resulting penalty ended the half with the Eagles up 7-0.

What the Eagles did do right was stopping the San Diego rushing game. They held LaDainian Tomlinson to only 7 yards on 17 carries. It was his lowest rushing output in his career. It also broke the all-time NFL record for lowest rushing yards by a running back with 17 or more carries. Led by the Jeremiah Trotter, who won the NFC Defensive Player of the week award, the Eagles game plan to stop San Diego started with stopping Tomlinson. LT had negative yardage entering the fourth quarter. As a team, the Eagles held all San Diego rushers to only 21 yards. It all started with the Eagles front four dominating the line of scrimmage. On the other side of the ball, Donovan McNabb was both good and bad. At one point during the game, McNabb completed 23-straight passes, but was only 3-for-11 for 14 yards on the Eagles last six possessions. He still threw for 287 yards. Drew Brees was even worse during the first 34 minutes, but still finished with 299 passing yards. In the end, it was the Eagles special teams, which ultimately won the game. After 2 or 3 poor outings, special teams played 100% better and if not for them, the Eagles would have a 3-3 record. The Eagles won and are now tied for first with both the Redskins and Giants.