Eagles cling to playoff hopes

Big win over Cleveland keeps unlikely playoffs warm

Well it wasn't a Rembrandt but they did what they needed to do. By beating Cleveland 30 to 10 the Eagles kept themselves within a prayer of the playoffs. The win was their third in a row. Give credit to Andy Reid and his staff for once again getting his team to play better in December. They have been consistent with that during his tenure. Frankly they must win 2 more to end 10-5-1. 10 and ½ wins will get them in over any 10 and 6 Wild Card team.

Donovan McNabb had a pretty good day. The first half he was very effective in fact. He tallied up 290 passing yards on a 26 for 35 day. He also had an 8.2 yards per attempt average to go with 2 TD throws. His TD to Kevin Curtis was very nice to watch. His errant fade throw for an INT to end the first half was forgettable however. That accounted for the 1 INT put on his box score for the day.

Congrats to Jason Avant on his first big stat day as a receiver and he made some nice grabs too. The 5 catches for 101 yards was his first 100+ yard day. In fact McNabb made good use of all the receivers I thought. He go the ball to 9 different Eagles.

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I would rather not see the Desean Jackson QB formation ever again. And not because he choked trying to throw a TD pass and threw an INT. Jackson has been a tremendous bright spot all season but he does not have any asset that would make me line him up at QB. “He's fast you say?” That is a reason to use him in and end around or a reverse not to line him up at QB. He does not have running back or QB skills. Which is the kind of skill you need for the now famous “wildcat”. Cleveland's return man Cribbs actually was a NCAA QB and has a running style like a QB. Jackson runs like a wide out and should be used as a wide out. End of story. I'd would rather see Westbrook take a snap than Desean any day.

Running the ball was something else they did fairly well at on Monday night. They rushed for 134 yards. Corell Buckhalter actually lead the night with 55 yards on just 9 carries. West-36 had 53 yards but it took him 16 carries. And it is nice to have someone who at least looks like an NFL fullback in Kyle Eckel who had a nice fullback like day with 28 yards on 9 carries. All in all 38 throws and 33 rushes was another rare day of balance from Philadelphia.

Well now it's do or die time. Next game is the stumbling Redskins who will be playing for pride and division hatred.

By Andy Natalie
ProFootball-fans.com Staff Writer