Anyone who knows me well knows that one of my favorite lines when it comes to sports or games in general is “Its always better to be lucky than good”, and today the Eagles were much luckier than they were good as they beat a Redskins team that is a shell of what it was when the season started, missing many of their best offensive players like Portis and Cooley and their big-ticket defensive player in Albert Haynesworth.  Its so bad in D.C these days that their starting running back, Rock Cartwright, hadn’t started a game since the 2003 season against these same Eagles.

The Eagles were good when they needed to be as they marched down the field in the 4th quater down by eight and not only scored a touchdown, but also tied the game when “Shady” McCoy willed himself into the endzone for the two point conversion.   This drive came after the Redskins picked off Donovan McNabb deep in Eagles territory but could only manage a field goal.  After another Eagles stop on defense the birds marched down the field again, eating up as much of the clock as they could to put David Akers in position to put them ahead 27-24 on his 16th straight field goal.  The Eagles then clamped down one more time on defense to seal the victory and go to 7-4 to stay a game behind the Cowboys in the NFC East and keep the top seed in the NFC Wild Card race over the Green Bay Packers.

The Eagles were lucky as well.   They were very lucky that on that final drive Juqua Parker wasn’t called for a roughing the passer penalty on his WWE takedown move on Redskins Quarterback Jason Campbell on the fourth down play that gave the Eagles the ball back on downs.  The ball had been thrown, and I’m not sure why Parker felt the need to put the guy on his back.  It was a stupid move that could’ve cost the Eagles in the end.   The Eagles were also just basically lucky that it was the Redskins they were playing while they went through another weekly string of inept offensive series during the third quarter and not a good team like the Vikings or Saints – two teams that Eagles may have to beat on the road in the playoffs if they want to get back to the NFC Championship Game or possibly, dare I say it, the Super Bowl this season.   Let’s face it, the Eagles played a team that is missing most of their offensive line, three of their skilled offensive position players (two of them at running back) and their best defensive lineman and they struggled to beat this team.  Each time they got a lead, they let the Redskins come right back and march down the field until that final possesion.  They cannot do that against better teams, and they can’t do it in the playoffs or they will be lucky to get past the first round and they won’t make it past the second round.   If I had to hear Eagles color man Mike Quick or 1090 am’s Brian Baldinger say one more time that the Redskins could’ve won a bunch of their games this season because they were so close I was going to rip my radio right out of the dashboard (I was traveling roundtrip from Wilmington to Severna Park so I had both the Eagles and Redskins broadcasts on at different points of my trip and I watched the game on Tivo when I got home).   The bottom line is that the Redskins didn’t win those games and they were 3-7 coming in and the Eagles, if they are as good as many of the fans think they are, should’ve won this one in a walk.  Insert my line about luck again here.

The Eagles did show some bright signs.  Jason Avant and Shady McCoy looked great, and Leonard Weaver busted out some big runs as well.  David Akers has seemed to shake off the Oakland game and has converted every field goal since and has been booting some deep kickoffs.   There were some bad spots as well.  New millionaire Winston Justice all but killed one drive by himself, and Andy Reid’s decision to insert Mike Vick on third and one rather than just continue to feed the ball to McCoy even had the radio announcers scratching their heads (Vick didn’t make it, but Weaver lept over the pile on fourth down).   Later in the game Vick came in and despite having a clear field to run behind Celek, he decided to try to throw it and tossed a laser behind Celek for an incompletion.   Speaking of Celek, he had a run late in the game of dropping anything that got close to him.  He needs to catch even the passes that aren’t right in his gut – its what the good receivers in the NFL do.   Although this play would’ve gotten called back because of a penalty, anyone recall the fake reverse where McNabb hid the ball so well that he was all by himself and then proceeded to underthrow Jeremy Maclin who just sprinted right past the Redskins secondary? The play was designed to hit the receiver in stride, and McNabb’s poor throw made Maclin have to stop and come back for the throw.  Same thing happened last week on the touchdown to Jackson.  McNabb just cannot hit receivers in stride on the deep ball.  The only time I’ve ever seen it is on those quick slants the Eagles run from time to time.

I know many of you are thinking “get off this team, they won and that’s all that counts”.  Okay, I’ll agree that at the end of the day getting the win is the most important win, and you’ll obviously take an ugly win over a well played loss.  No argument there.  The problems begin when those same folks believe that this Eagles team is going to make a run for the Super Bowl and I don’t see it happening unless they start playing consistent football and not just in the first and fourth quarters like the past two weeks.   They could very well work out the kinks and go on another run to the NFC Championship Game.  As a fan I want that more than anyone, but I’m not going to look at this team through Green and Silver glasses in the mean time.  I want to be proved wrong – I want Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb to win a Super Bowl together here for the Eagles.   Two of my worst football memories are watching Reggie White of the Packers holding up the Super Bowl trophy after beating the Patriots and then watching Dick Vermeil win one three years later for the Rams.    Reid and McNabb brought the Eagles back from the depths of football wasteland, and I want nothing more than for them to complete the job, and since McNabb isn’t getting any younger or more durable why not this year.   I hope they prove me wrong.