What was supposed to be a promising season back in August has quickly changed into one of desperation. The Eagles lost this one mainly due to ineffective Donovan McNabb and a passing offense that could not get any of its receivers open. The pass defense had a small letdown as it could not get enough pressure on second-year QB Jason Campbell. Campbell wasn’t great, but only made one mistake and was sacked just once. He threw for 209 passing yards, but also escaped the rush and gained 39 yards on 6 carries. The other QB in McNabb threw for more yardage (240 yards), but also threw 17 more passes. McNabb completed 28-46, while Campbell connected on 16-29 passes. Very similar numbers and both QB’s had a passer rating around 75. The big difference was red-zone efficiency and bad timeout usage. Philadelphia failed to score a touchdown and ended up settling for 4 David Akers FG’s. The Redskins scored 2 TD’s and added 2 more field goals. Washington won 20-12. The difference of settling for FG’s instead of at least 2 touchdowns completed the difference.

The Philadelphia rush defense held it’s own once again, limiting Clinton Portis to only 69 yards on 17 carries. His counterpart in Brian Westbrook had a 5.6 yds/carry average gaining 96 rushing yards on 17 carries and also added another 66 yards via the air. That is a total of 162 yards for Westbrook, but the majority of yardage was between the 20’s. So when will Andy Reid get it. They move the ball so easily when Westbrook has the ball in his hands, then they get inside the 20-yd line and they forget whom #36 is? The Eagles red-zone offense better start to figure it out or else the eagles will be 0-5 before they know it. Reggie Brown and Kevin Curtis were invisible again with both combining for just 59 passing yards. In the pre-season, it seemed that McNabb found his two receivers rather easily, especially Curtis who seemed to catch everything. Both receivers are not totally at fault, though they both must fight harder to get open. But it still takes a quarterback to throw accurately to them downfield. And that has not taken place. In this game, McNabb did not complete a pass over 19 yards to any of his receivers. McNabb dinked and dunked all right to Westbrook and a few of his receivers. But he just not finding any of his receivers open downfield. He has shown that he has not completely recovered from last season’s injury as he just doesn’t seem to handle the pressure from the Redskins’ pass defense and when he did have an alley to gain some yards, he refused to take advantage and either threw the ball away or completed a short pass, which resulted in few if any yards.

On the other side of the ball, the Redskins seemed to be unstoppable at times last night, though they only managed 337 total yards (Eagles had 340). The game was won on third down plays that killed the Eagles. Washington converted on over 50% (8-15), while the Eagles only converted on 25% (4-16) of their third downs. At least special teams showed a major improvement. There were no fumbles on kickoffs or punts. Though Reno Mahe only handled the ball twice, once calling for the fair catch. Correll Buckhalter took the majority of kickoff returns, running back 4 of 5 for 102 total yards. Ultimately though, this game was lost right at the end of the first half. The Eagles led 6-3 with just 1:42 left in the half. Campbell completed a bunch of quick passes and drove the Redskins right down the field to the Eagles 8-yd line, but then some gaffs and indecision by coach Joe Gibbs and the Redskins seemed reluctant to settle for just 3 points. NO, NO, NO! Andy Reid called a timeout. Washington changed its mind and Campbell found TE Chris Cooley for a backbreaking TD and a 10-6 lead. The field goal was only a chip shot from 25 yards out. You don’t freeze a kicker from that distance. Ouch!

The misuse of Westbrook, the indecisions of McNabb plus his inaccuracy and the Eagles defense pass defense on third downs allowed Washington to escape with a 20-12 win. The win also put the Redskins in first place (tied with Dallas) and the Eagles in last at 0-2 (also tied with the Giants). Andy Reid better figure this out quickly and if he doesn’t, it may be too late soon. McNabb must find a way to get the ball to his starting receivers. Perhaps the letting go of Donté Stallworth is coming back to haunt them. The Eagles need to run the ball more and whatever happened to Tony Hunt? Andy, wake up and run the ball?? We don’t want to go through 2005 again. It is not fair. At least the Phillies are finding ways to win (13-11), though they almost gave us a heart attack in the game at St. Louis.