Deserve's Got Nothing to Do With It

Tomorrow, the good folks in the greater Washington area are going to comfort themselves with the fact that even though their Redskins lost to the knuckle-dragging Philadelphians, their quarterback of the future Jason Campbell had another solid game against a division rival, completing 68 percent of his passes for 215 yards and three touchdowns.

Meanwhile, in Philadelphia there will be an awful lot of fans who, though grateful for an out-of-nowhere win that (perhaps briefly) keeps the season alive, will be concerned/vindicated by the erratic performance of quarterback Donovan McNabb, who completed 71 percent of his passes for 251 yards and four touchdowns.

Wait for it...

Two things are exceptionally clear at this point.

1) McNabb isn't perfect.
2) These days, perfection is the only thing that will even momentarily silence the braying jackals.

As to the first point, that fourth-quarter fumble, after the Eagles had miraculously stopped the Redskins and given the offense a chance to win the game, was an awful play.  It would have been an awful play for a rookie, let alone a nine-year veteran like McNabb. 

Me of little faith, I thought that was the ballgame. 

McNabb also missed a wide open receiver in the end zone on the second two-point conversion attempt.  He threw behind Baskett on a slant into the end zone on the first conversion attempt and missed an open Brent Celek on a big thid-down play down the sideline. 

Unless I'm forgetting anything, that pretty much wraps up the "plays McNabb messed up" list today.  (Should McNabb have taken that big sack earlier, either?  No, but I'm not sure blaming a quarterback every time he gets sacked from quick pressure up the middle is really the most realistic way of parceling out blame.)

To counter-balance his four mistakes, you have four touchdown passes, 33 points from the offense and a 20-point explosion in the fourth-quarter after -- let's be honest -- pretty much everyone in the tri-state area had written them off for the day. 

Atta boy, Donovan.  Now how about a good old fashioned blowout next week against Miami?

(Oh, and just a second ago, as I typed this, Tony Romo held the ball too long and got stripped in the pocket.  Jerry Jones should see if he's signed that contract yet.)

- - - - - -

Having gotten the McNabb crap out of the way ... HOW 'BOUT THAT VICTORY!!

Damn.  Wow.  Amazing.

This was exactly the kind of game I wasn't sure these guys could win any more.  Sure, if they kept things close and ran the ball a lot, maybe they could make a couple of plays and hang on for a win.  But 20 points in the fourth quarter?  Three huge friggin' stands by the defense when it looked like this thing was going to slip away??  Another outstanding grab by Reggie Brown on a chuck-and-pray ball by McNabb???

The weirdest thing about this game was how for so long it looked like the same old story we'd seen all year.  The defense played pretty well, the offense scored some points, but in the end the sum total would be just enough to lose. 

Honestly, I think the Eagles were only three plays away from having that happen. 

1)  The illegal contact penalty on second-and-20 when the Eagles really had no chance of converting.  That penalty set up the 46-yard bomb to Reggie.

2)  The fourth-quarter how-do-you-not-have-six-guys-covering-him screen pass to Westbrook.

3)  The ball to Randle El on the sideline when the Redskins were trying to drive in the fourth quarter.  To me, it looked like he secured the ball with his feet inbounds, despite the initial bobble.  The Redskins were out of timeouts (doing their best Eagles' clock management impression) and couldn't challenge the play.  If that play happens one minute later it's a booth review and who knows what happens. 

That's it.  That's the difference between winning and losing.  And yeah, I don't want to take anything away from Westbrook or McNabb or Reggie Brown or the defense for that great fourth-quarter stand, but none of that would have mattered if not for one huge screen pass and two fluky plays.

Which doesn't make me even one percent less happy about this win.   

As for the Redskins, I'm not sure what was up with their fourth quarter playcalling.  All game Campbell had looked perfectly comfortable picking the Eagles' formerly-vaunted secondary apart.  Then it looked like Washington got too conservative, trying to run the clock out rather than trying to score.  I don't think that defensive stand happens if the 'skins aren't so predictable with the play-calling down by the goal line late.

Hopefully the whole Campbell looks like a world-beater against the Eagles thing doesn't continue for the rest of his career. 

Man, what else?  So much happened in that game.  On the other hand, I'd really like to focus on the day's other big NFC match-up, so for now I'll just mention one last thing.  James Thrash. 

Three points:

1)  Getting blitzed by former Eagle Terrell Owens is one thing.  Getting blitzed by former Eagle James Thrash is another.

2)  Why do career backups always seem to have career days against the Eagles?

3)  When you can't cover James Thrash by yourself, maybe it's time for you to join Jevon Kearse on the bench.  Unfortunately, since one of Lito or William James pretty much has to play, we'll go ahead and flip a coin next week.

Ok, crap, two three four more things.  How critically important is LJ Smith to this offense?  If the Eagles don't sign him next year, I'm going to be twice as pissed as I was about the Stallworth thing and even slightly more annoyed that I was by the Paul Posluszny thing.  (Gaither looks great out there, doesn't he?  How does a guy go from "undersized, but great instincts and playmaking ability" to "couldn't tackle his mom in the open field"?  Is it just a confidence thing?  Like he's on his heels and rather than just driving through guys he's being too tentative?)

Two, Tony Hunt had one carry and played the bare minimum the Eagles could use him.  Speaking of confidence, the coaches clearly don't have it in him just yet.

Three, Victor Abiamiri started in place of Jevon Kearse.  No one saw that coming.  VA responded by completly avoiding the stat sheet.  Did the Eagles even bother putting a left defensive end on the field today?  You wouldn't know it from their numbers.  Against the third-string right tackle.

Four, I just noticed 12 tackles from Spikes.  Nice game.