EAGLES NEWS

Coming off a bye week the Birds were 9-0 under Andy Reid coming into today. So it was even money they would make it an even 10-0 today against the Falcons. Thanks to some solid defense, some of the old Mcnabb magic with the legs, and the return of Brian Westbrook to the starting lineup they were able to do just that. After a slow start Donovan Mcnabb wound up completing 19 of 34 passes for 253 yards while rushing 6 times for 25 yards and a TD. Westbrook was equally effective with 22 carries for 167 yards and 2 TDs, and 6 catches for 42 yards. Meanwhile the Bird's defense was solid limiting Micheal ,the Burner, Turner to just 58 rushing yards on 17 carries and intercepting Matt Ryan twice. Early on Atlanta actually had the lead as Ryan hooked up with Roddy White on a 55 yard TD pass for a 7-0 lead late in the 2nd quarter. Mcnabb answered a few minutes later capping off a long drive with a 3 yard QB draw to tie it at 7. Then after a defensive stop with just seconds left in the first half Mcnabb hit Desean Jackson for a 20 yd gain to set up a David Akers field goal for a 10-7 lead. Early in the 3rd quarter another long Eagles drive ended with a 16 yard Westbrook TD run for a 17-7 lead. The Birds had a chance to put it away late in the 4th quarter but couldn't push across the goal line and had to settle for another Aker's field goal and a 20-7 lead with just under 6 minutes left. Ryan answered with a long Falcons drive and another TD pass to Roddy White to cut the lead to 20-14. After the Birds failed to run out the clock on the ensuing drive, Adam Jennings muffed the resulting punt or at least the officials though he did, and although replays clearly showed he never touched the ball there was nothing Atlanta could do about it, as they were without a timeout and there were just over 2 minutes to play. So the Birds got the huge break and the ball and took advantage of it as Westbrook danced 39 yards for another TD, to finish off the 27-14 win. So the Eagles move to 4-3 overall and although they remain last in the division they are still right there now in the early stages of the race to the NFC playoffs.