Week 13 Eagles Recap

The game was a blowout. The crowd left early. Donovan McNabb was benched. There was only one difference between this game and the clusterfuck last Sunday........It was the Eagles blowing out the Cardinals.

As far as excitement for the neutral fan, this game lacked it except for early in the 4th quarter when the Cards looked like they might make a comeback. However, an Anquan Boldin fumble followed up by a McNabb TD pass to DeSean Jackson quickly ended that.

For Eagles fans, this game was everything we wanted. Donovan McNabb wasn't the gunslinger QB he sometimes wants to be. Instead, he was the efficient QB who didn't make mistakes, completed short and underneath routes with high accuracy, and we even saw some old-school Donny Mac with his ability to use his legs to make plays.

So why were the Eagles so successful today yet so hideously atrocious in their past two games? They ran the football! And not only did they run the football, they ran the football successfully and Brian Westbrook was back on top of his game. In fact, Westbrook became the first player since Lydell Mitchell of the Baltimore Colts in 1975 to run for 100+ yards and score two rushing touchdowns and two passing touchdowns.

And while Anquan Boldin had a bad case of the drops for the Cards and that hindered them heavily, credit must not be taken away from the Eagles-D that forced Warner into 2 early interceptions and never allowing the dangerous QB to get into a rhythm.

The Eagles have salvaged their season......for now. The future is not pretty for the Eagles. If they make the playoffs this year, they will have indeed earned it as their last 4 games in order are at the New York Football Giants, home vs. Cleveland on Monday Night Football, at Washington, and finally home vs. those pesky Cowboys (a game which could end up either meaning everything or nothing, depending on how things go for both teams). It won't be an easy road. The Eagles will in all likelihood have to win out. But if they somehow, someway overcome the odds and make the playoffs, any sportswriter or skeptic that says that they did not deserve it is one that is surely high on crack.