EAGLES NEWS

The Birds came into this afternoon's matchup with the Redskins in Washington riding high off a three game winning streak and in control of their own destiny, following a loss by the Tampa Bay Bucs earlier in the day. Many thought a win would be assured against the struggling Redskins, but that would not be case. While the Eagles defense had another impressive game limiting the Redskins to just 249 total yards and 10 points, despite Washington's average starting position of inside the Eagle's 48 yard line. If not for the Eagles defense the Birds would never have even had a chance to win the game as the Offensive did nothing all night long with just 275 total yards of offense and 3 points, including almost nothing in the 2nd half until it was nearly too late. Basically the Birds just kept trying to throw on every play when they probably should have been running the ball and it cost them. Late in the first half Shaun Suisham booted a 33 yard field goal for a 3-0 Skins lead. Halfway through the 3rd quarter Mcnabb was hit and fumbled the ball the away deep in Eagle's territory, setting up Clinton Portis for a 1 yd Td run a few plays later, for a 10 -0 lead. Finally late in the 3rd quarter the Eagles offense came up with their only quality play of the day as Mcnabb hooked up with Brian Westbrook for a 30+ yd completion, eventually setting up David Akers with a 22 yd field goal to cut the lead to 10-3. After a bunch of 3 and outs the Eagles got the ball one last time and at last put together a drive when they needed it the most. They actually had first and 10 inside the Skins 20, with 12 seconds to play, but a completion to Reggie Brown came up just inches short of tying the game at 10 and caused the remainder of the clock to run out, to cap off a disheartening loss to the Skins. So the Birds drop to 8-6-1 and now must win next week and get losses from the Buccaneers and either the Vikings or Bears to reach the playoffs. In other words their playoff hopes are kind of slim now, but hey it could happen.