The Eagle has landed, and very hard!

Eagles and Bengals tie in a game of Ick vs Poo!

It is always amazing how no matter how many times you watch a sport there is always something that surprises you or makes you shake your head. Or in this case makes you want to lose your lunch. The first half of this game was horrific. Not that the rest of the game was much better.

And not to single out the Eagles because the Bengals were very active in making this an embarrassment to the NFL. This was a game with contradictions also.

Take for instance exhibit A; Donovan McNabb. It should go without saying he has had a very good career. He has even been great at times. In taking a casual glance at the stats from Sunday you might say "wow Donovan threw for 339 yards." Thus the contradiction or the illusion if you will. That may be the worst 300+ yard passing day I have ever seen. He was 28 for 58. Yes I said 58! Okay so many questions come to mind. Let's just ask one though. Why in the name of all that is good would you need to throw the ball 58 times against the Bengals if you are a Super Bowl contender? So are we still not as bad as our record says we are? Okay that was 2 questions.

Closer examination of the 339 yard day reveals an alarming reality. That is 5.4 yards an attempt. That is sad. In other words anyone who throws the ball 58 times should throw for 300 yards by accident. Add the 3 ugly interceptions and McNabb had a day to forget. Only he didn't let us forget it by adding the nonsensical "I didn't know there were ties" comment. Of course he was not alone with that statement. Who cares at that point? It's not going to untie the game so they should have kept that their own little secret. Sort of a locker room bonding or maybe a rallying point.

Then you had a 3 for 18 3rd down conversion fiasco. Adding salt to the severed wound was the fact that on all 18 plays they attempted to throw. You know, the Eagles run the best screen in the NFL but it has become so predictable now when they are going to do it that I believe 10 friends and I could stop it.

And Brian Westbrook? Premier running back but he is not effective right now. Clearly hampered. And his game is predicated on explosiveness and bursts of quickness with above average speed. Right now he is off. That said he had a decent day with 14 carries for 60 yards. But the Eagles once again fail to keep teams guessing. Running 18 times and throwing 58 times is absurd. The fact the game ended 13 to 13 demonstrates there was never a time to panic and abandon running the football.

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You know over the last few years I have heard opponents openly comment how the Eagles are intentionally one dimensional. When your opponents are that sure that they say it publically you have a serious problem.

The defense was respectable for the most part. 8 sacks and only yielding 56 rushing yards on 30 attempts. But there were times T J Houshmandzadeh was virtually uncovered. How do you not account for a premier NFL receiver? All in all holding a team to 13 should be enough to win.

Frankly there really isn't much more to say about this game. This was a burnt dinner. There isn't any good way to salvage it to make it taste better. In fact this is one of those times you chuck the burnt cooking out the back door and watch the animals reject also.

Next week they travel to Baltimore. This could get ugly.

Andy Reid says he's going to fix it. Of course he says that every week.

By Andy Natalie
ProFootball-fans.com Staff Writer