Where do you start? How about a few comparisons? First off the Eagles dominated the Dallas Cowboys for 55 minutes of the game and with 3:44 left in the game, the Eagles held a 20-7 lead and it seemed as though the Eagles would move up to 5-4 and trail the Giants by a single game for the division lead. But even before that, the Eagles had a 17-7 lead with just under 14 minutes left in the game. McNabb methodically moved the team on 11 plays and 68 yards before they stalled at the Cowboys 4-yard line. Akers booted a 20-yard FG to boost the lead to 20-7. Dallas got the ball back with 9:12 left and failed to do anything. Philly then proceeded to get a couple more first downs and at the same time shaved over 5 minutes off the clock. Dallas got the ball back with just 3:44 left now and still down 2 scores.

Drew Bledsoe then moved the ‘Boys on just 4 plays the total length of the field (72 yards). Bledsoe to Johnson for 15 yards; Bledsoe to Glenn for 11 more yards, again via the pass. Then Marion Barber rushed for a huge 26-yard gain. And lastly, on play 4, Bledsoe connected with Glenn again for a 20-yard TD pass. This all took 40 seconds. The score was still in favor of the Eagles at 20-14. All the Eagles really needed were one or two lousy first downs. Dallas had already used all their timeouts. First play, Lamar Gordon ran for 3 yards. Then total disaster struck McNabb and the Eagles on perhaps the most ill fated pass in recent Eagles history. McNabb tried to throw a quick sideline pass to rookie Reggie Brown and completely under thrown the pass. I don’t know who’s fault it was, but Roy Williams was waiting in ambush and intercepted the pass and then proceeded towards the end zone. Williams scored the on the play and gave the Cowboys a 21-20 lead. The Linc went eerily silent, just like the Vet 2 years ago when Ronde Barber returned an INT on a potential TD drive late in the fourth quarter of the NFC Championship Game. To add more salt to the Eagles wounds, McNabb was also injured on the play after he attempted to tackle Roy Williams, but was blocked down.

Two plays, 2 devastating plays, which were over two years apart will be remembered forever as McNabb’s 2 worst passes. But this second one should never have happened. I don’t totally disagree with calling for a pass play there, but Donovan must realize that Brown was totally covered and he should of either thrown the ball away or throw the ball to somebody else or even run the ball on second down. He chose the wrong person to throw to and probably threw away the whole season. This was a sledgehammer blow to the gut. It should have never happened. All the Eagles needed were one lousy first down! And even if they did not get that first down and were forced to punt, Dallas would of gotten the ball back with approximately 90 seconds left and somewhere around 80 yards with no timeouts. And other than those 4-plays on 40 seconds and a 58-yard pass to Peerless Price, you would think that the Eagles would of held on for the victory.

Now that the season seems wasted, what is next? We later found out that Donovan McNabb’s injury on the infamous pass will cost him the rest of the season, virtually guaranteeing that Philadelphia will not participate in this year’s playoffs for the first time in 6 years. How cold it already feels, as we will have no football in January. At least I’ll save some money on playoff tickets this year. Even after that disastrous play, the Eagles had plenty of time and all 3 timeouts left. McNabb threw 3 terrible looking passes for incompletions and was booed off the field. The Eagles held Dallas on a 3-and-out. In came Mike McMahon and suddenly the Eagles were moving the ball again. And for a small instant, it appeared that the Eagles would win anyway on a short FG after Reggie Brown appeared to have caught a long pass inside the Dallas 20-yard line. But the ball rolled away after he fell to the ground. Akers came in for a miracle FG attempt of 60 yards. It fell short, just like the Eagles season!!