McNabb, Mikell Doubtful, Alexander to play.

Donovan McNabb and Quentin Mikell are listed on the Eagles injury report as doubtful for Sunday's game. Shaun Alexander will be back in the line-up for the Seattle Seahawks.

Donovan McNabb is doubtful for the Eagles' game against Seattle on Sunday after missing practice again Friday. The five-time Pro Bowl quarterback has been sidelined since spraining his right ankle and injuring his thumb in a win over the Dolphins on Nov. 18.

"He's working like crazy," coach Andy Reid said. "It's his lateral mobility, his ability to push off right or left and keep himself in a safe position. Until he has that, he can't go out there."

A.J. Feeley would get his second consecutive start if McNabb can't play. Feeley is coming off a strong outing in a 31-28 loss to New England in which he had career bests in completions (27) and yards passing (345) and threw for three touchdowns. But he also had three interceptions, including one that was returned for a score.

Full Article: ESPN

I think this would be good for Feeley. If McNabb cannot play and Feeley does well again, the Eagles may shop McNabb this offseason, thinking they can go with Feeley until Kolb is proven ready. Feeley has proven he can play in last Sunday and in the past and I personally think he will fair better than the oft-injured McNabb right now.

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Close, But No Cigar

Patriots 31, Eagles 28

If for some reason you were stuck in a barn, you missed the Eagles' best and most well-prepared performance of the season. For those stuck on the '22 point underdog' you would have seen the Eagles pull off the most unthinkable upset according to NFL history. Why the Eagles were ranked as the Patriots worst opponent thus far, I'm still not sure, but they played great football the entire game.

After AJ Feeley's pick 6 on the third play of the game, we all thought the rout was on; however, AJ played great football for the rest of the way. Feeley finished with 27 completions for 345 yards passing. He also added 3 touchdowns (along with 3 interceptions) as he was able to spread the ball to 8 different receivers. AJ Feeley was sacked only twice as he got the ball out quickly, something Donovan McNabb continuously fails at. The Eagles were also 8-13 on third down conversions. The Patriots overcame our offensive attack, but our offense did outscore the Patriots offense. AJ Feeley played well enouh to deserve another start until McNabb is 100%, obviously he was too injured to even be at the game.

Jim Johnson's 'joker scheme' seemed to work very well and I'd be happy to see them institute that in the future. The only problem we had was the fact that we do not have a quality third corner to stop Wes Welker. Will James, who is still injured and Joselio Hanson is not the answer. The NFL is now a pass-happy league and it seems there is now more of a need for 3 quality corners.

Time to work back to .500. It is such a weird feeling to know if we had won that game, we'd have the 6th seed in the playoffs. Thank you Kurt Warner and Jason Campbell for help keeping us alive.

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Roose's review of PHI/NE

Going into this game as the 24 for point underdogs, no McNabb, and a depleted secondary, the Eagles were sure losers on Sunday night. In fact, the Patriots were highly anticipated to embarrass the Eagles like they have to almost every other team they faced this year. No one expected the Patriots to only beat the AJ Feely and the Eagles 31-28.

For the first 3 plays, it looked as if it was going to be a blow out when on the 3rd play of the game, Asante Samuel picked off Feely's pass and returned it for a touchdown. Philly then marched down the field and tied it at 7. The teams alternated with scoring until it was 24-21, New England, at halftime.

The Eagles looked poised to tie the game up at 31 in the 4th when on 2nd and 4, Feely went deep to Curtis but overthrew him. The pass was picked off my Asante Samuel in the endzone ending the drive and the hopes for the Eagles upset. The final score was 31-28, Patriots.

There was a lot of good that came out of this game. New England is beatable and Andy Reid set a "blueprint" for success against New England:

1) Hit Brady - The Colts did it first and it worked. The Eagles did it better and it was masterful. You need to be able to rush only four guys and keep the rest in coverage. What the Eagles did was mind blowing. They rushed three guys most of the night and hit him over and over. It was beautiful.

2) Press Moss - One on one. Get physical and make him work for everything. Bring the safety in for help on deep balls and let your CB go to work. The problem with this is having a good enough CB to stay on him the whole game. Sheppard and Brown proved they were good enough.

3) Attack the Middle - The Patriots give up the middle of the field on defense. They let you catch and then make the tackle. The problem most teams have is buying the quarterback enough time to get the recievers open. If you can protect the quarterback you can hurt them in the middle of the field. The line was amazing all night. Feely had time and he got into a rhythm.

4) Keep Tom Brady Off of the Field - Mostly by doing a lot of numbers 1&2 and keeping long scoring drives going. Once Brady gets in a rhythm its all but over. Keep him over there, off the field and then once he gets on the field, hit him in the mouth. The Pat's are going to score, just do these things to try and stop them from doing it so often.

I see New England falling. They are beatable. Let's go Steelers. End Brady's dreams.

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Eagles win...without McNabb

Eagles 17, Dolphins 7

Yesterday, the Eagles beat the winless Miami Dolphins behind good defensive play and a career-best performance for Brian Westbrook. Donovan McNabb was injured in the second quarter when he was dragged down from behind. The injury update is that he has a sprained ankle. News on when he will return will be reported later, but the good news is that X-Rays are negative. Before McNabb left, he was having one of the worst games of his career as he threw two red zone interceptions, though he did have a 46 year flea-flicker TD pass to Reggie Brown called back on a LJ Smith holding penalty. AJ Feeley later came in and threw another red zone interception and also fumbled in the red zone, but it was negated by a defensive offside penalty.

Brian Westbrook carried the Eagles in the second half. He finished the game with a career high 32 carries for 148 yards. If AJ Feeley remains the starter, expect much more of the same and expect Westbrook's new salary desires to rise.

The defense put up a shut-out as Miami only scored on a punt return by Ted Ginn, Jr. Our special teams has been atrocious all year. I think of all our problems, they will be the biggest reason why this team will not make the playoffs. They constantly give the opposing team good field position.

Next week, the Eagles (+17) take on the Patriots in Foxboro.

Take this week for what it was: A win, their first winning streak, and they're finally .500 and tied for third in the division.

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Eagles at Hot Spots

Brian Westbrook, Jevon Kearse, and Lito Sheppard attended Jay-Z's sold out concert at the Filmore at the TLA on Monday night.

AJ Feeley was asked to leave a blackjack table at the Borgata early Tuesday morning.

Reached yesterday, Feeley confirmed the incident, said he apologized to casino employees before leaving for losing his cool and looks forward to returning to the Atlantic City hotspot. Feeley said the dispute started when a friend of his wasn't given enough time to buy insurance on the dealer's hand, which had an ace showing.

The Borgata "doesn't comment on these types of rumors," a hotel spokesman told us yesterday.

Source: Philadelphia Daily News

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