Eagles Survive to go to 7-4

In a game they had no business winning, the Eagles found a way to overcome an eight point 4th quarter deficit and pull out a dramatic 27-24 win over the Washington Redskins. They were outmatched in almost every statistic of the game except the most important one; the scoreboard. While this wasn't a must win for the Birds it does go a long way to keeping them on pace with Dallas in the NFC East race as well as help solidify their grip on a wildcard spot in the playoffs.

The main problem in today's game was third down conversions. The Eagles' defense could not get the Redskins off the field allowing them to convert 47% of their third downs attempts with several being long yardage situations. Offensively, Philadelphia struggled with their own third downs, converting only 5 out of 15.

The Redskins struck first in this game scoring on a Jason Campbell 1 yard run after a long drive. The Eagles answered with a David Akers field goal and a 35 yard touchdown pass from Donovan McNabb to a wide open DeSean Jackson to take a 10-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. Washington added another touchdown on a 4 yard pass from Campbell to Santana Moss while the Philly settled for two more Akers field goals to open up a 16-14 lead at the half.

The second half is when the problems began. The Redskins regained the lead on the only points of the third quarter when they scored on a 10 yard pass reception by TE Fred Davis. The Eagles could only manage a few three and outs as they looked completely out of sync. Early in the fourth quarter, Washington added three more points after intercepting McNabb deep in Eagles' territory to open up an eight point lead.

On the next Philadelphia possession the offense finally began to click when McNabb found Jason Avant for a 46 yard reception down to the Redskin 44. From there they were able to move the ball to the Redskin's one yard line where Eldra Buckley punched it in for the score. LeSean McCoy added the two point conversion on a great second effort when after catching a short pass from McNabb, he bulled his way into the end zone to tie the game at 24 with a little more than seven minutes to play. 

The Eagles defense rose to the occasion down the stretch getting the ball back to the offense with a little more than five minutes left in the game. They were able to drive the ball deep into Washington territory on a 35 yard pass to Jeremy Maclin who was pushed out of bounds at the 28 yard line. After running the clock down to just under two minutes, Akers added his fourth field goal of the game, a 32 yarder that gave the Eagles the lead for good at 27-24.

This was the kind of game that showed both the Eagles' weaknesses and their strengths. They allowed a team that has struggled to score points all season long to put up 24 points and keep the defense off balance for most of the game. Yet, when they needed to make a crucial stop at the end of the game they came through. The offense was inconsistent for most of the game, but was able to move the ball against a solid Redskin defense when they needed to the most. This time of year it really doesn't matter if you win ugly as long as you win. Today that is exactly what we got.