EAGLES NEWS

The Eagles faced off with the Redskins at the Linc this afternoon. At 2-2, and last in the NFC East this was almost a must win for the Birds and early on they played liked it. In fact in the space of a minute with about 7 left in the 1st quarter, the Birds quickly jumped to a 14-0 lead and all signs pointed to lights out for the Skins, but it was not to be. Washington was not fazed by the early deficit and slowly but the shortly they wore down the Birds, amassing over 200 yards on the ground, while keeping the Birds to just one first down in the second half until midway through the 4th quarter. Basically the Skins won the battle on both sides of the line, for much the game, and Birds really never executed with any sort of precision after going up 14-0. Sadly, this is how they have performed all season long except week 1, with quick starts, lax until it is almost too late and then either they pull it out at the end or they don't. Frankly that's just not good enough and I am sure Andy Reid knows it. Hopefully he'll he do something about it, before it is too late, although it may be already. Anyway, let's move on to a quick run down of the game. With about 8 minutes to play in the first quarter Brian WestBrook ran it in from 9 yards out for a 7-0 lead. Then about a minute later Desean Jackson returned a punt 68 yds for a TD and a 14-0 lead. In the 2nd quarter, 3 Shaun Suisham field goals, including one that probably shouldn't have happened, made it a close 14-9 at the half. With 8 minutes to play in the 3rd quarter, Anton Randle El fired an 18 yard TD pass to Chris Cooley on a fake, for a 16-14 Skins lead. About a minute into the 1st quarter Clinton Portis capped off a long Skins drive with a 4 yd TD run for a 23-14 lead. The Eagles answered with a long drive of their own, but had to settle for a David Aker's field goal ,after Westbrook was stuffed on 3rd and inches from the 3 yard line, to cut the lead to 23-17. Unfortunately, the Birds never got a chance to drive for the lead, as the Skins ran out the clock from there, with a few inexplicable 3rd down escapes. So the Birds are now 2-3 overall and last in the NFC East. With the Redskins and Cowboys now at 4-1 and the Giants at 4-0, the Birds have a lot of work to do if they still hope to make the playoffs.