t.o. a no-show in philly

thanks to some stellar contributions from donovan mcnabb, lito sheppard, and jim johnson, the eagles came up with a huge win over dallas (sucks) yesterday. the victory put the birds a game and a half up on the giants in the nfc east with a date at 4-1 new orleans on sunday.

the above photo was taken during one of the rare instances during the game when terrell owens was not crying, moaning, groaning, or posing on the sidelines. owens' final line went something like this: three catches, two drops, 14 hissy-fits, and zero impact on the game. the most noise 'the player' made was during his post game press conference when he not-so-subtly-but-never-explicitly threw drew bledsoe under the bus with his series of "you saw the game" quotes. granted, bledsoe is less mobile than david blaine frozen in a block of ice, but 'the player' needs to realize that maybe attacking every quarterback he has ever played with is not the best way to win ballgames. then again, he probably doesn't care. the moral of the story is, i hate t.o.

someone who actually does care about winning was on fire again yesterday, as the man known as 5 played his fifth straight sick game. it doesn't mean all that much, but mcnabb is on pace to throw for 5100-plus yards and 35 touchdowns with a 107.2 passer rating through five games. more importantly, donnie mac continues to make game-changing plays when his team needs them most. after the birds came out flat in the first-half last week, mcnabb made a couple huge runs that sparked the birds to rout green bay. against dallas (sucks), 5 broke a tie ballgame with one of the best deep throws i've ever seen (off his back foot somehow?!) to hit hank baskett in stride for an 87-yard TD, giving the birds a 31-24 fourth-quarter lead.

the eagles then proceeded to give me four simultaneous heart attacks with micheal lewis' inexplicable coverage breakdown/pass interference on 4 and 18. luckily, drew bledsoe stinks.

one more note, the defensive line played out of their minds yet again. trent cole is an absolute animal, he picked up his league-leading 6th sack. darren howard was the best player on the field for the majority of the game, notching two of the birds' seven sacks.

despite the disturbing lack of focus (again) at the end of the game, all-in-all a great win for the birds. they seemed stay relatively healthy as well. saints on sunday, i'll keep a watch on the injury report (especially with regards to westbrook) during the week.


inquirer game story: birds 38 cowboys 24