EAGLES NEWS

The Birds welcomed the Broncos and old friend Brian Dawkins to the Linc this evening for an important game with playoff implications for both teams. Denver needed the win stay safe in the AFC wild card race, while the Birds needed the win to stay on course for an NFC East title and a possible 1st round bye as the #2 seed in the NFC heading into the playoffs. Offensively, it was another explosive afternoon for the Birds, at least in the 1st half anyway. Still, despite a 2nd half dropoff they Eagle's amassed 394 yards and 30 points, with Donovan Mcnabb throwing for 322 yards and 3 Tds. Brent Celek with 4 catches for 121 yards and a TD and Jeremy Maclin with 6 catches for 92 yards, were Mcnabb's favorite targets and they had to be as Desean Jackson was covered up most of the game by Champ Bailey, and made just 4 receptions for 33 yards on the day. The Eagles mixed in plenty of runs, mostly by Brian Westbrook who finally returned to the field following the 2nd of two concussions he suffered 6 weeks ago. Lesean McCoy and Leonard Weaver also got their fair share of carries, but Westbrook was big story on ground, as gained 39 yards on 9 carries and looked good doing it. So he'll be a useful asset for the Birds come playoff time. Defensively, the Birds were solid for the 2nd week in a row, limiting Denver to just 241 yards offense, with just 70 on the ground and only 189 passing yards from Kyle Orton whom the Eagles sacked 3 times and intercepted once. Unfortunately, they also committed 9 penalties and allowed Denver to stay in the game throughout with some poor tackling. Early it was just about all Birds, as Mcnabb fired a 2 yd TD pass to Jackson and a 47 yd TD pass to Celek and David Akers booted 2 field goals for a 20-10 Eagle's halftime lead. Midway through the 3rd quarter Mcnabb added a 3rd TD pass to Jason Avant for a 27-10 lead. Then with 2 quick TD passes by Orton and a field goal, off defensive stops and an Eagle's turnover on a kickoff return, Denver was able to rally all they way back to tie it up at 27 midway through the 4th quarter. The two defenses held for a while after that, before a 26 first down scramble by Mcnabb changed the complexion of the game with under 3 minutes to play, as it finally reversed the field position in the Eagle's favor. After stopping Denver on downs the Eagle's were able to start their next drive in Denver territory. After a short run by Lesean McCoy, Mcnabb hit Jeremy Maclin on 2nd down for a 27 yard completion down to the Denver 13. Maclin made an incredible catch along the sidelines to complete the play and set up Akers for the game winning field goal attempt a few plays later. With only 4 seconds Akers booted a 28 yard field goal for the 30-27 win. So again it wasn't pretty the Eagles move to 11-4 overall and are now just 1 win over the Cowboys next week from a division title and at least the 3rd seed in the NFC.