In a playoff-style atmosphere at Lincoln Financial Field, the Philadelphia Eagles prevailed on a David Akers 28-yard FG with 4 seconds left in the game. It was also the grand return of perhaps the most beloved Eagle of all-time in Brian Dawkins. There were lots of positives, but unfortunately there were plenty of negatives too. It was the sixth straight win for the Eagles, who now sit at 11-4, a ½ back of the Minnesota Vikings for that highly coveted #2 seed that comes with a prize of a first-round bye. But with the NFC East Championship game now looms in six days at the NFL’s ultimate palace in Dallas Cowboys Stadium. It will be the Eagles first ever game at the new stadium. Dallas easily took care of their own business last night, beating a now really ugly and/or bad Washington Redskins team 17-0 and setting up the big match for next Sunday. The NFL even moved the game up to a 4:15 start time. How about those men in blue? The stinking New York Giants layed the biggest egg perhaps in their team history. In the last game at Giants Stadium, a game with playoff implications, a game that the Giants needed to win to have a chance, Carolina 41-9 whipped them just as the Cowboys got lit up last year against the Eagles. By the way, the Giants are now officially eliminated from post-season play after both Green Bay and Dallas had won their games. How about those Saints losing to the lowly Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20-17 in OT! With both New Orleans and Minnesota stumbling, perhaps the winner of the Eagles-Cowboys game will be the favorite to win the NFC and win a trip to Super Bowl ILIV in Miami.

With the win, the Eagles improved again to 11-4, their most wins since the 2004 Super Bowl season and their sixth 11-game season since 2000. The Denver Broncos on the other hand, have now lost 7 of their last 9 games after starting the season 6-0. At 8-7, they now need some help next week to qualify for the playoffs. The AFC divisional winners are all confirmed now (Indianapolis, San Diego, New England and Cincinnati). There is a big logjam of 8-7 teams all vying for the two wild card spots with Baltimore and the Jets only needing to win their last game to automatically punch their ticket to the post-season. Denver, Pittsburgh and Houston all sit at 8-7 and need some help from others, while both Jacksonville and Miami at 7-8 need a considerably more help in order to make the playoffs. For the Eagles, it is just a matter of improving their chances of winning in the playoffs when they actually begin for the team, now either the weekend of Jan 9/10 or Jan 16/17. Philadelphia wants to win and reward it’s devoted fans with at least one, if not 2 home playoff games. And since it is also the Dallas Cowboys who they play next week, it should not be very hard to get the juices going and the team to come out and play hard either.

This game against the Broncos was basically a tale of two halves. Philadelphia dominated the first 38 minutes and held a 27-10 lead. Denver came back and scored 17 straight points thanks to a McNabb INT, a Macho Harris fumble and variety of other penalties on the Eagles defense and special teams. The Broncos eventually tied the game at 27 all with 6:05 left in the game. Before all this, it was a Jason Avant circus catch for a 15-yard TD reception that gave the Eagles a 27-10 lead. After that, it became a battle of field position for the Eagles offense. A week after recording his lowest QB rating in an Eagles win in 4 seasons, McNabb started the game completing 17 of 24 passes for 282 yards and 3 TD’s. This was all against a defense that entered the game ranked 2nd in the NFL against the pass and had allowed just 15 TD passes in it’s first 14 games. The first 2 quarters featured Brent Celek catching 3-long passes for 35, 34 and 47 yards, respectively. The last long catch resulted in a TD that put the Eagles up 17-7. It was one of a number of mistakes that the Denver defense made. On this play, Brian Dawkins was supposed to keep tabs on the right side zone, but left the zone to cover DeSean Jackson, who ran a crossing pattern away from Celek. Celek went untouched into the end zone. The Eagles later got the ball back and McNabb masterfully led a 12-play, 49-yard drive that ended with a 45-yard FG to make it 20-7 at the half. The drive took 6:33 and left just 26 seconds on the clock in the second quarter.

The second half started out with a Champ Bailey interception of a McNabb pass meant for Jackson. Jackson was held in check virtually the entire second half, though he still caught 4 passes for 33 yards and had an early game 2-yard TD catch. Denver’s big-time receiver in Brandon Marshall was also stopped throughout the game, though he did manage 8 receptions, but gained just 39 yards on those 8 catches. It was Jabar Gaffney, who led Denver in passing yardage with 69 yards on 7 catches and 2 TD’s. It appeared that Philadelphia was going to win this game going away with Asante Samuel’s 9th INT of the season. But a bad penalty by Macho Harris gave possession to the team at their own 1-yd line. Three plays and out and a short 40-yard punt by Sav Rocca and the Broncos had the ball at the Eagles 25-yard line after another personal foul penalty on the special teams. After Gaffney’s 7-yd TD cut the lead to 27-17 just a few minutes later, Harris again was the goat as he fumbled away the ensuing kickoff. Knowshawn Moreno scored a TD on a short 16-yard pass and run. That made it 27-24. Midway through the fourth quarter, a 46-yd FG tied the game. But near the end of the game, a 27-yard scamper by McNabb on 3rd-and-25 changed the field position in the Eagles favor, though they were forced to punt 3 plays later. The Eagles defense quickly regained possession of the ball and then a sensational catch by rookie Jeremy Maclin, helped setup the game winning FG by the wily old veteran kicker in David Akers, who easily made the 28-yarder with just 4 seconds left in the game. End of game. End of story!!