EAGLES NEWS

The Birds kept on rolling tonight at the Linc as they welcomed the Cleveland Browns to town. With the Browns nursing one of the worst defenses in the league and an offense down to its 3rd string QB, this one was destined to be no contest. However, thanks to some stupid Eagles plays in the red zone, namely two turnovers right at the goal line, the Browns were able to keep it close for a while, before the Birds finally pulled away late. Statistically the Eagles crushed the Browns on offense, with 21 first downs, and 418 total yards, but they were only 2 for 9 in the red zone, so the final score wound up much closer than it should have been. Individually, Donovan Mcnabb completed 26-35 passes for 290 yards and 2 TDs, and one very meaningless interception, and Jason Avant the proverbial 3rd down reciever, had a big night with 5 catches for a 101 yards. Finally, Brian Westbrook was not effective on this night has he had been the last 2 weeks, rushing 16 times for just 53 yards, but the constant threat of him in the backfield or splitting out for a pass, was enough to open up the rest of the offense and allow it to often move down the field seemingly effortlessly. Defensively, it was another stellar night for Jim Johnson's boys, as they held the Browns to just 196 yards of offense, and 0 offensive TDs, while intercepting Ken Dorsey twice. The individual most directly responsible for that performance was Trent Cole, who harassed Dorsey all night, forcing him to throw before he wanted to, again and again. The Eagles opened the game by driving straight down field for a Mcnabb TD pass to Kevin Curtis and a 7-0 lead. Cleveland responded with a Phil Dawson field goal to cut it to 7-3. David Akers booted a 24 yd field goal to finish the first quarter with the Eagles ahead 10-3. It stayed that way until late in the 2nd quarter when Asante Samuel intercepted Dorsey and then raced 50 yards for a TD and a 17-3 lead. The Birds then had a golden opportunity to go up 24-3 at the half, but Mcnabb was intercepted in the end zone on the final play of the half, just underthrowing a fade route. Finally with a little over 3 minutes to play in the 3rd quarter the Eagles managed to add to their lead, but had to settle for another Akers field goal to make it 20-3. Early in the 4th quarter Akers booted yet another field goal for a 23-3 lead. A few minutes later Mcnabb fired a TD pass to Greg Lewis for a 30-3 lead and his night was done. A couple minutes later Kevin Kolb came in to finish out the game and watched Brandon Mcdonald intercept him and return it 24 yds for a score to cut it to 30-10 and that would be about all she wrote. So the Eagles move to 8-5-1 overall and for now remain alive and well in the playoff race.