Can you say 6-0 Philadelphia Eagles? We should or at least could have. Actually though, they are only 4-2, but should at least be 5-1 or could have been 6-0. But they are not! You look back at 2 plays in particular in this game in New Orleans and all you can do is shake your head and say, what if? First and foremost is that play with just 3 minutes left bin the game. The Saints had the ball on Eagles 35-yard line and were in a 3rd-and-10 situation. On the play, Trent Cole beat his man and sacks QB Drew Brees for the Birds first apparent sack of the game. But, the Eagles were flagged for playing with 12 men on the field. So instead of 4th-and-15 from the 40-yard line, the Saints got a redo play with only 5 yards for the first down at 30-yd line. Instead of punting the ball back to the Eagles, the Saints converted on the extra third down play and then proceeded to run down the clock. The Saints got one more first down and then the quarterback took three kneel downs as the Eagles were out of timeouts. With 3 seconds left, John Carney kicked the game-winning FG from 31-yards out. What should have been another chance for McNabb and the high-powered offense became a feeling of helplessness as the Saints milked away the last 3 minutes of the clock. It was a tough, tough loss to swallow, which should not have been. At worse, it should have been a loss in overtime.

Bad play #2 involved the special teams. The Eagles David Akers had just kicked a 47-yd field goal to cut the Saints lead to 10-3 with 3:03 left in the half. The Eagles defense came out and shut down the New Orleans offense with 3 plays and out possession. The Birds’ Dexter Wynn was back for the punt return and called for the fair catch. But Ryan Moats was caught in no-man’s land, as he got too close to Wynn. He ultimately collided with the returner causing him to fall backwards. Meanwhile, the football careened off the back of Wynn’s leg causing a fumble. Terrance Copper recovered the muff at the Eagles 19-yard line. Four plays later, Brees connected with rookie Marques Colston with a 7-yard pass, which he turned into a touchdown. That gave the Saints a 17-3 lead at the half. What could have been a 10-6 score turned into a 17-3 lead. If McNabb drove the Eagles successfully on the 2-minute offense the game would of favored the Eagles even more. These two mistakes were killers and both were almost unforgivable. Good teams simply should never make these kinds of mistakes. The Eagles are a good team, but they made two terrible mistakes.

The Eagles took the opening drive of the second half and scored a TD on just 3 plays. The TD was a spectacular play by Reggie Brown. McNabb connected with Brown about 20 yards downfield. After the catch, it appeared that Brown was trapped by 4-5 defenders, but he turned and cut across the field and raced diagonally to the endzone for a 60-yard TD reception. Brown finished the game with 6 catches for 121 yards. On the Eagles next possession, McNabb drove the team on a quick 76-yard drive that only took 3:51. The final play saw McNabb roll out to his right and he found a wide-open LJ Smith for a 4-yd TD pass. That tied the game at 17-17. Later on, it was DT Juqua Thomas tipping a Brees pass that ended up in Darwin Walker’s arms for his first ever INT. Walker returned the ball down to the Saints 15-yard line. On first down, the Eagles ran the WR end around to Reggie Brown. Brown scored another touchdown, this time his first career rushing TD from 15-yards out. That gave the Eagles a 24-17 lead and it seemed that the Eagles were now in control. Drew Brees however came right back on a 5-play TD drive of his own tying the game at 24. The key play was a 48-yard pass to Joe Horn for his second TD of the game. On the play, the Eagles Michael Lewis got caught out of position and then was turned around when Horn made a fake move to the inside and cut back away from him. Lewis’ mistake was costly, but the 12-men of the field penalty was the killer. So what should have been a 6-0 Eagles team is actually only 4-2, but at least they are still in first place by themselves.