EAGLES NEWS

It was a dreary day for Birds this late afternoon and early night, as Donovan Mcnabb returned to the Linc for the first time. Unfortunately, Mike Vick went down with a rib injury late in the 1st quarter of this one and the Birds never recovered. Before Vick's injury, the inspired Redskins, trying to win one for Donovan, jumped out to a 14-0 lead and the Eagles' Vickless offense would ultimately lack the firepower to overcome the deficit. Kevin Kolb was serviceable in place of Vick, throwing for 201 yards and a TD, but he couldn't hit anything down field and that cost the Eagles in the end. With the Eagles offense sticking to the intermediate passing game with Kolb at the helm, Lesean McCoy turned out to be the Eagles best weapon on the day, with 16 rushed for 64 yards and 12 catches for 110 yards.

McCoy also fumbled the ball away in Redskin's territory, early in the 2nd quarter, costing the Eagles some valuable points. Other than Vick's injury the Eagles theme on the day was mistakes. First Washington took the early 14-0 lead on a TD pass from Mcnabb to Chris Cooley because Stewart Bradley failed to ensure that right personnel was on the field. Next Vick was injured on a first down scramble that ultimately went for naught thanks to a holding penalty. Also thanks to the penalty wound up settling for an Aker's field goal to cut it to 14-3. Later in the final seconds of the half the Eagles had the ball on 4th and goal from the inside the Redskin's 1 yard line and were poised to go for the TD, but thanks to the play clock starting too early, Andy Reid arguing to long about the spot of the ball, and Kolb not paying attention to the play clock the Eagles were flagged for a delay of game and again settled for an Aker's field goal to cut it to 17-6.

By the time Kolb's short range passing finally led to a TD pass to Brent Celek, cutting it to 17-12, there was only about 4 minutes left in the game. Unable to throw down field, Kolb could not get the Eagles in the position to score in either of his final 2 drives. His desperation heave into the end zone as time expired was nearly caught by Jason Avant but that was only really remaining drama as the Eagles fell 17-12. Mcnabb wasn't great, with only 125 yards and 1 TD, but he didn't make mistakes and the Eagles did so he and Skins and the Birds get to go back to the drawing board. There's no word on the severity of Vick's injury but if he misses even a couple games then it will be a long season for the Birds this year.