In contrast to last season, the Eagles march to the playoffs has been a relatively easy affair. After the team’s 27-13 win over the 49ers at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, the team will be playing post-season football and will have a good shot at winning the NFC East. They even have an outside shot of getting a first round bye, but it would take victories in their final two games and for the Vikings to drop the next two out of three.
Leading up to today’s 4:15 pm match-up, the odds were stacked in the Eagles favor. In the past few years, they have dominated the 49ers. Additionally, San Francisco has been atrocious on the road this season, currently sitting at 1-6, and they flew cross-country for this match-up after a Monday night victory.
Once again, the Eagles opened up the game with a score, coming on a 19-yard TD catch from DeSean Jackson. This was the second-year wide receiver’s shortest touchdown reception of the season. Jackson was once again an offensive lynch pin, grabbing six passes for 140 yards. This pushes him over 1,000 yards for the first time in his career and he is the third receiver under Andy Reid to do so.
During the preseason, Jackson said he planned to double his reception total from last year (62), and although it doesn’t seem likely since he currently has 56, he has significantly increased his overall production. With two games left, he sits at 1,087 in receiving yards, especially impressive since he missed the Washington game.
The team has been great at setting the tone early this season. This was their ninth touchdown to open a game, and they have a total of 51 opening drive points. This leads the league and is also the most under Reid’s tenure.
LeSean McCoy added to the onslaught, running for 48 yards and a touchdown, while breaking the team’s rookie rushing record. Tight end Brent Celek picked up 73 yards on four catches, including the play that stuck a fork in the game.
Not enough good things can be said about these guys, especially Celek, who played with a bad back. Injury or not, he plays the type of football that Philadelphians love – tough and hard-nosed with a focus on working his tail off every time he touches the ball. He has the makings to become the league’s next great tight end.
The defense, sans the third quarter when they just threw in the towel, redeemed themselves for their sloppy play from the previous week. Quintin Mikell, Asante Samuel, and Tracy White all pulled down interceptions off of 49ers quarterback Alex Smith. This was White’s first career pick, while this was the 8th of the season for Samuel, who leads the team and is tied for second in the league. Keep in mind that these weren’t all bad passes from Smith – these guys were just intelligently jumping routes.
Outside of Frank Gore, who ran for over 100 yards, the defense kept the Niners in check and actually made big tackles. Chris Clemons picked up one sack while Trent Cole added two to his team-best total of 11.5.
Leonard Weaver, who continued his great run to end the season – he had two catcher for 18 yards and rushed for 52 yards on 17 carries, ended the second quarter with his head up his ass, costing the team 4 points.
As the team was quickly marching down the field following the White interception, Weaver got into it with the 49ers’ Ahmad Brooks. The fight, which took several seconds off of the already waning clock, had to be broken up by Reggie Brown. At least Brown is good for something.
McNabb, who played well, did under throw the ball a number of times and was picked off twice. Another interesting point to make is that both he and Smith had roughly the same amount of attempts and completions, but McNabb’s total passing yards was 306 – more than 100 more than his counterpart. It all came down to weapons, and #5 utilized them well.
For the eighth time in Reid’s 11 seasons as head coach, the Eagles are going to the playoffs. They’ve won 10 games for the first time since ’06 and have a chance to close out their best season since ’04.
While getting the first round bye is highly unlikely, the Eagles have two tough games ahead of them, including next week’s home match-up against the Broncos, which is likely to be bittersweet with the return of fan favorite Brian Dawkins, who signed with Denver in the off-season.
Injury notes: Michael Vick left the game in the first quarter with a bruised thigh. Sheldon Brown has a possible lower right leg injury, although he returned to the game in the third quarter.
