Inside the Eagles: Week 9

This was a huge win for the Eagles as they beat the Seahawks in Seattle 26-7. With a Dallas loss to the Giants, the Eagles (now 5-3) moved into 3rd place in the division. Washington will play Pittsburgh tonight. If they lose, Philly will be a half a game behind them for 2nd.

Offense:
They looked pitiful in the first quarter. They called a plethora of pass plays and McNabb started the game 3-13, with a pick. However, Donovan McNabb was sharp from the second quarter on. He finished with 349 yards and 2 TD's. He also threw an interception in the first but that was soon forgotten with the day he had. Brian Westbrook didn't have a phenomenal day but he played well enough to keep Seattle's defense off balance. He had 61 yards on 20 carries but also had 6 catches for 35 yards.

Brent Celek stepped up huge to fill in for the injured LJ Smith, who had a concussion. Celek had 6 catches for 131 yards as he got the ball in the open and just rumbled his way down field. Kevin Curtis also had 6 catches fir 83 yards and Reggie Brown's only catch came on a 22 yard TD pass from McNabb in the 2nd.

Grade: B

Defense:
The unit here played amazing despite one terrible play in the first. Seneca Wallace hooked up with Koren Robinson for a 90 yard TD that made Brian Dawkins and Lito Sheppard look ridiculous. After that, the defense really tightened up to keep Seattle out of the end zone for the remainder of the game.

Omar Gaither led the team with 6 tackles and added a sack. Darren Howard picked up 2 sacks as well and Chris Clemons added 1 on the final play of the game.

The unit held Seattle to 233 yards total. The Seahawks running backs Maurice Morris and Julius Jones combined for 84 yards on 18 carries. Most of those came on a 28 yard run by Morris in the 4th. Wallace was dropped 4 times and pressured even more, forcing bad throws.

Grade: B+

Special Teams: DeSean Jackson had 5 punt returns, averaging a solid 10 yards. Quinton Demps had only 2 kick returns, breaking off a 44 yarder in the first. Most notably was David Akers who nailed 4/4 field goals. Sav Rocca was great again too as he averaged 41.1 yards a kick and dropped 2 punts inside the 20.

Grade: A-

Eagles best number: 131 (receiving yards by Celek)
Eagles worst number: 6-16 on third downs.
Eagles best play: McNabb hit guard Todd Herremans for a 1 yard touchdown and it put them ahead for good.
Eagles worst play: the 90 yard touchdown pass by Wallace to Robinson
Turning point: After giving up the touch down, McNabb was able to drive down the field to connect with Brown for the 22 yard score. Other than that, Seattle basically sucked all game.

3 stars:
Offense: McNabb
Defense: Gaither
Special Teams: Akers

The Eagles will play a HUGE game next Sunday as they host the 7-1 division rival Giants.