In the end, the Denver Broncos routed the Philadelphia Eagles with a 4th quarter runaway, 49-21. This game was really the tale of three different games. Denver’s offense led by Jake Plummer stormed out to a 28-0 lead. It all happened very quickly too as the Eagles defense was helpless in their early game attempts to stop the Broncos. Four different Broncos scored touchdowns: (1) Michael Anderson scored on a 2-yard run with 10:21 left in the first quarter; (2) Kyle Johnson caught a 6-yard pass with 4:35 left in the first quarter; (3) Rod Smith got his touchdown on a short 2-yard pass at 12:22 of the 2nd quarter; (4) Stephen Alexander made it 28-0 with another short pass of 3 yards with just 7:17 left in the half. Denver scored on drives of 74, 50, 60 and 48 yards respectively in that order. This all happened before Donovan McNabb and the Eagles recorded their first pass completion. However, he did complete a pass to the other team, when John Lynch intercepted a pass to help setup the fourth touchdown play for the Broncos.

Donovan McNabb started out cold as ice and those thoughts of should he get the surgery or not resurfaced in almost every Eagles’ fan. Five possessions, all five were 3-and-outs. McNabb threw 11 passes and all went incomplete except for that one INT. The Eagles offense managed a paltry total of just 16 yards and one first down. The stats were staggering in Denver’s favor. They outgained Philly 306-22, led in first downs 13-1 and lastly controlled the clock, 18+ minutes to just 4. Then a funny thing happened. McNabb started completing passes and drove the team quickly down the field on a 6-play 80-yards TD drive, which only took 2:37 on the clock. Denver had a 28-7 lead going into the half.

At the start of the third quarter, the Eagles got the ball and McNabb was sacked forcing another punt. The Eagles defense came alive (temporarily) as they held Denver and forced a punt. The Eagles next possession started on their own 11-yard line. On first down, Westbrook ran up the middle but was tackled for a 2-yard loss. Then McNabb threw a short pass to Terrell Owens along the sidelines. Champ Bailey had coverage and somehow missed on the tackle. T.O. took it to the house for a 91-yard TD. That made it 28-14 with over 24 minutes left in the game. Two possessions later, it was Westbrook for a quick 5 yards. McNabb hit T.O. for 46 yards all the way down to the Denver 18-yard line. Three plays later, Westbrook took a screen pass for 18 yards and the lead was shrunk to 28-21. Only one other team in NFL history came back from a 28-point deficit in the regular season and won. The 1980 49ers were losing 28-0 to the Saints and came back to win 38-35.

Could the Eagles really come back? They had a chance with 19 minutes still left in the game. The Eagles defense forced 3 straight pass incompletions and McNabb drove the Birds 35 yards on six plays. On play number 7 disaster struck again as Donovan tried to force a sure touchdown pass to rookie Reggie Brown, but under threw the ball. It was intercepted by Domonique Foxworth in the end zone. Then the Denver offense got rolling again scoring 3 straight touchdowns, outgaining the Eagles 211-36 in the last 10 minutes. It turned out to be another ugly loss, just as they lost in Dallas 3 weeks ago. This one hurt a little bit more as the Eagles really had a chance to pull the game out, but failed. How can you win and compete when your defense allows 564 yards. You also don’t win when the opposition scores 49 points. If the playoffs are still in the cards, this defense better get its act together.