This wasn't exactly the fight that it was billed to be.


The game against the Redskins would essentially be the start of the playoffs for the Eagles. With the Giants at 5-2 and the Cowboys finally winning a game against more than a "tomato can" team, the pressure is on this Philly team to produce week in and week out.

They've gotten off to a good start beating the 'Skins 27-17, but there were still a lot of areas that need to be improved upon before the Eagles can compete with the Giants, or even the Cowboys.

They'll get their chance over the next two weeks, and these next two weeks could either make or break the Eagles year. If they can win these next two games, they've got a lot of momentum heading into winnable games against the Chargers and Bears, and could get on a roll.

If they lose these next two, however, it could be a very long season.


Quarterback | Grade: B-

Donovan McNabb was far from perfect, but he was effective and did enough to win the game. 15-25 with 156 yards and one touchdown is not spectacular by any means, but it should be good enough for him to get his confidence back after getting abused by the Raiders defense last week.

He was still sacked three times, but it was no fault of his own.

The only thing I see from McNabb is that he's still skipping passes. The worst was when DeSean Jackson was wide open across the middle on a play that could have kept the drive alive, but it landed five yards in front of him, giving him absolutely no chance to catch the ball.

Skipping passes is a reflection of a breakdown in mechanics. It will be up to McNabb and quarterbacks coach James Urban to watch the film, find out where his mechanics are breaking down, and fix it before they face a tough Giants defense next Sunday.


Running Backs | Grade: C

The attempts still aren't where I'd like them to be, but that's what you get with an Andy Reid offense, so we have to be happy with the 18 attempts they actually got. LeSean McCoy had 14 of them, Westbrook had three (due to leaving the game early with a concussion), and Leonard Weaver had one carry for one yard.

Again, the awful yards per carry number of 2.8 (not counting Mike Vick or DeSean's great run) is mainly on the shoulders of the offensive line, but the backs also need to hit the hole a lot faster.

McCoy and Westbrook are both very good running backs, but they have to stop dancing around in the backfield and just hit the hole and go. It's getting a bit ridiculous seeing these guys lose one or two when they could have easily fallen forward for at least one or two.


Receivers/Tight Ends | Grade: C

It's tough to grade the receivers fairly because of the lack of a passing game, but it's not good when only two receivers, Jeremy Maclin and Jackson, have seven of McNabb's 15 completions. Jason Avant seems to be staying in the locker room with a total of zero receptions over the past two games, and while little is expected of Reggie Brown, at least one catch would be nice.

Brent Celek did have three receptions, but only for eight yards, with a long of six. That's incredibly unimpressive for the guy who in the first three weeks looked like he was coming into his own and could be on his way to earning a Pro Bowl nod. He has got to step up for McNabb, and not only for his roommate and buddy Kevin Kolb.


Offensive Line | Grade: D

The only play keeping this unit from completely failing the game was the bomb to DeSean Jackson in the second quarter for a 57 yard touchdown.

Outside of that play, McNabb was harrassed and the running backs either had no lane, or didn't have it for very long. Jason Peters was awful against Andre Carter, Todd Herremans was abused by Albert Haynesworth, and while the other three weren't quite as bad, the talent they were facing wasn't quite as good on that side of the ball, either.

But on that pass to Jackson, McNabb had to first pump-fake to Jeremy Maclin, allowing Jackson to pull a double-move on Carlos Rogers and get behind the defense. That's a long-developing play, and McNabb had all the time in the world.

It took about five or six seconds to develop, but McNabb probably could have stood there for 10 seconds if he really had to. It was a good play, and it shows how good the line can be. Unfortunately, that wasn't the story of the game, and outside of that play, they were inconsistent, seemed confused, and got pushed around by Washington.


Defensive Line | Grade: B+

After a down game against the Raiders, the defensive line rebounded well against a Redskins offensive line that has been decimated by injuries this season. They've been hit hard, and the Eagles didn't allow them to gain any confidence on Monday night.

Of the six sacks that the 'Skins line allowed, five of them were by the defensive line. Jason Babin had one, Brodrick Bunkley had one, Chris Clemons had one, and Trent Cole had two, moving his season total to 6.5 and continuing his streak of having at least a half-sack in every game this season.

Then in the running game Clinton Portis, Rock Cartwright, and Jason Campbell were only able to manage 62 yards on 19 carries due in large part to the big men in the middle, Mike Patterson and Bunkley.

If the Eagles want to win next week against the hated Giants they'll have to keep up the great play from the defensive line. If the Eagles are forced to blitz and take their linebackers out of coverage, Eli Manning can hurt them. If they're able to sit back and let the front four get pressure, they can react to Brandon Jacobs and confuse Manning.


Linebackers | Grade: B+

Akeem Jordan and the newly-acquired Will Witherspoon led the team with eight tackles, but SAM linebacker Chris Gocong was only able to muster a lackluster three tackles. So with only a seemingly average output from this unit, why the high grade?

Two words, four syllables: Will Witherspoon.

In his Philadelphia debut, Witherspoon won over every Eagles fan watching, and at the same time had every Rams fan scratching their heads wondering where that guy was when he was in St. Louis.

Either way, he's an Eagle now, and his opening act has him firmly entrenched as an Eagle.

On top of the eight tackles he had an interception, a touchdown, a sack, and a forced fumble. That all sounds good separately, but when you consider the interception and the touchdown came on one play, as well as the sack and the forced fumble, it just makes it that much better.

Can he be productive in the middle all season long? That has yet to be seen. However for now it certainly looks like the Eagles got a steal in this guy.

As far as the other two guys go, Jordan has been flying around all season long and making plays, even coming down with two interceptions. Chris Gocong has been a disappointment, and must step it up if he doesn't want to be in jeopardy of losing his job to Moise Fokou next season.


Secondary | Grade: B-

Overall, the secondary did a pretty decent job against Jason Campbell and the Redskins receivers. However, it just seems that for all the pressure that was put on Campbell that the secondary should have been able to take advantage of him better than they did.

The secondary didn't have an interception, although it was Quintin Mikell who tipped the ball up for Witherspoon to snag it and walk it in for six.

Outside of that, Campbell went 29-43 with 284 yards and two touchdowns. Really, that's a bit too much for a quarterback who had pressure in his face all day. Joselio Hanson seemed to be struggling with knee problems all night as he appeared to grasp at it a few times, but hasn't appeared on the injury report so it may have just been an in-game issue.

Sheldon Brown and Asante Samuel have been great in coverage all year, and are the number one cornerback tandem for interceptions with seven between the two, so it's difficult to complain too much.


Special Teams | Grade: C+

Sav Rocca, outside of one very bad kick, had a good night with four punts inside the 20. He started the year off pretty rough, but has gotten his act together since then.

David Akers was 2-for-2 on his field goal attempts and didn't miss any of his three extra point attempts, so it was a successful night for him. After two misses in Oakland, he needed a good, solid night to get his feet back under him.

The kickoff return team did not do a very good job of staying on their blocks and giving Hobbs a lane as he only averaged 18 yards on two kickoff returns with a long of only 19. That's not nearly good enough and if it keeps up the Eagles will lose games because of field position.

The kickoff return team was okay, but not great, allowing a 26 yard average per return. Eldra Buckley continues to be the special teams MVP.


Coaching | Grade: B+

So the run-pass ratio was not 50-50 as most fans would like it to be, but that's to be expected with Reid calling the shots. It was around 42 percent run, and 58 percent pass. It's still too much passing, but the passing plays didn't seem nearly as crazy and, let's say, "Madden-like" as they did last week against the Raiders.

Sean McDermott did a good job of getting in Jason Campbell's face by mixing up man and zone along with a steady amount of blitzes, but he didn't go crazy with it. They were well-timed and attacked the weak spots of that Redskins offensive line.

We'd all love to see more running, but now with Westbrook down, and most likely out, don't expect to see it. All we can hope is that Reid will continue to run between 40 and 45 percent of the time, with short, effective passes taking up for the majority of the passing.

We can hope.