B West Resting up for G-Men

Birds running back Brian Westbrook did not practice Wednesday and might be limited for the rest of the week.  Westbrook is nursing a badly sprained right ankle and swollen left knee, said Wednesday that he probably won’t practice much this week.  Instead he will prepare for the Eagles’ divisional-round playoff game against NFC East rival, the New York Giants with an intensive regimen of weightlifting, stretching and running in a pool.

Westbrook said he will start against the Giants on Sunday, but only after taking a round of anti-inflammatory medication on Saturday night and Sunday morning to get the pain and swelling to a tolerable level.  Look for B West to torch the G-Men as he usually does.
GO BIRDS!

NFC East Sunday Night Game was Biggest Ever

The NFC East divisional matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants this past Sunday drew the most viewers ever for a Sunday Night Football game.

The Cowboys’ 20-8 win Sunday on NBC attracted 23.1 million viewers, the network said Tuesday.

The game earned a 13.7 rating and 21 share to make it the 3rd highest rated Sunday Night Football game ever.

NFC East Round Up

With starting running back Brandon Jacobs out with a knee injury, the Giants took to the air to win their sixth in a row.  Manning threw for three touchdowns in his return to the scene of his Super Bowl MVP performance and the New York Giants beat Arizona 37-29 to snap the Cardinals’ seven-game home winning streak.

Manning completed 26 of 33 for 240 yards with no interceptions as the Giants moved to 10-1, tied for the best record in the NFL.

Terrell Owens broke out with seven catches for 213 yards and the Dallas defense played great when it had to, helping the Cowboys beat the San Francisco 49ers 35-22 Sunday.  Tony Romo was 23-of-39 for 341 yards and three touchdowns in his second game playing with a splint protecting a broken pinkie on his passing hand.

Dallas (7-4) has won consecutive games for the first time since starting 3-0. With Seattle coming to Texas Stadium on Thursday, the Cowboys could distance themselves even more from their recent 2-4 rut and could go steaming into December in prime position for a wild-card playoff berth.

Clinton Portis gained 143 yards on 29 carries, including key runs late that helped preserve the Redskins’ first victory in almost a month, 20-17 over the Seattle Seahawks.  It ended a two-game losing streak for Washington (7-4), which hosts the division-leading New York Giants (10-1) on Sunday.

NFC East Round Up

This week featured a huge division game between the New York Giants the Dalals Cowboys.  Dallas again without their QB Tony Romo failed to do muich on the offensice side of the ball.  New York however, didnt have much of a probelm.  They jumpd out to an early 14-0 lead and never looked back.

Eli Manning threw three touchdown passes, Brandon Jacobs rushed for 117 yards and a score and the Giants defense took advantage of an out of sync Romo-less offense to intercept three passes in a 35-14 victory on Sunday.

PITT @ WASH  MNF

Washington takes on the Pittsburgh Steelers tonight on MNF.  I need the Pittsburgh D to step up big and shut down Santana Moss to hold on to win my fantasy football game.  Come on Steelers.  A Steelers victory would also bode nice for the Birds.

Eagles Cruise

After giving up a 90 yard bomb to delinquent wideout Koren Robinson on the Seahawks first play from the scrimmage, the Birds D got their shit together and put together a shut out the rest of the way.

Donovan McNabb rebounded from his usual ball in the dirt and early throwing problems to complete 28 of 43 passes for 349 yards and two touchdowns.  B West carried the ball 20 times for 61 yards rushing.

Philadelphia (5-3) won their third in a row to stay two games behind the first-place New York Giants in the NFC East, and move ahead of Dallas (5-4) for third in the division. The Eags get the New York Football Giants next week on nationally televised Sunday Night Football at 8:15 PM ET with AL Michaels and John Madden.

NFC East Wrap Up

NYG 21   PIT 14

The Pittsburgh Steelers, stretched thin by injuries and their own mistakes, repeatedly kept the New York Giants out of their end zone. A game the Steelers were controlling turned dramatically when they couldn’t stay out of that end zone themselves.

Eli Manning threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Boss with 3:11 remaining for the Giants’ only touchdown after they tied it several minutes before on a bizarre safety.  The defending champs are now 6-1 and atop the NFC East.

WASH 25   DET 17

Santana Moss scored twice, including a punt return for 80 yards early in the fourth quarter, scoring what proved to be Washington’s game winning touchdown in a 25-17 win over the Detroit Lions on Sunday.

The Redskins are now at 6-2 for the first time since 2000 with the win.

TB 9   DAL 13

In a slow day of offense in Big D the Dallas Cowboys edged out Jeff Garcia and the Bucs to take a 13-9 victory.  Brad Johnson went 19-for-33 for 122 yards with 1 TD and no interceptions filling in for Tony Romo.  Terrell Owens had five catches for 33 yards. He has only 11 catches and 100 receiving yards in his past three games. The Cowboys move to 5-3 with the win.

NFC East Roundup

NYG 29   SF 17

Brandon Jacobs ran for two TDs, Eli Manning threw for one, Michael Johnson had two interceptions and the Giants managed to make fewer mistakes than the terrible San Francisco 49ers in a 29-17 victory on Sunday.

The victory was the fourth straight at home for the Giants (5-1) and it sent the 49ers (2-5) to their fourth straight loss.

WASH 14   CLE 11

Led by Clinton Portis and his ground attack that amounted for 175 yards and a score the Redskins pulled out the ugly victory after losing to St Louis the week before. 

The Washington defense gave up only 236 yards and nearly didn’t allow a touchdown for the second straight week. Carlos Rogers, nursing a calf injury, held Braylon Edwards to four catches. Demetric Evans knocked away a fourth-down pass near the goal line. Andre Carter had a sack for the Redskins (5-2), who have won five of six and bounced back from last week’s last-play loss to the St. Louis Rams.

STL 34   DAL 14

Tony Romo told the coaching staff after pregame warmups he wasn’t going to be able to go with a broken right pinkie. He was in uniform however backing up the veteran, Brad Johnson.

The 40-year-old backup quarterback couldn’t keep up with the surging St. Louis Rams’ offense, throwing three interceptions. Steven Jackson ran for 160 yards on 25 carries with three touchdowns and the Rams (2-4) looked like contenders instead of sad sacks for the second straight game under new coach Jim Haslett in a surprisingly easy 34-14 victory on Sunday.  Dallas fell to 4-3 on the year with the loss and seem to be falling apart, more on that to come later.

Romo Out a Month

Not only did the Cowboys lose in a thriller to the Cardinals on Sunday but they also lost their starting QB Tony Romo to a broken finger on his throwing hand for ‘up to’ four weeks.

Romo broke his right pinkie on the first play of overtime in a 30-24 loss at Arizona on Sunday.

According to ESPN.com’s Michael Smith, the Cowboys had no plans Monday to sign a veteran quarterback or trade for one before Tuesday’s trade deadline.  Veteran Brad Johnson looks to be the starter for now with Brooks Bollinger backing him up.

The Cowboys will travel to St. Louis to play the Rams this Sunday before hosting the Bucs the following week and then playing division rival, the Giants at the Meadowlands the week after that.

Eagles Win Ugly

Finally our defense stepped up late in a game and helped the Eags score 23 4th quarter points to take a weird and wild victory from the 49ers in sunny San Francisco yesterday.  Donovan’s players only meeting didn’t seem to stir up much sense of urgency from the get go for the Birds on Sunday and it looked as if Eagle fans were in for another sickening feeling in their stomachs as San Fran scored 10 unanswered right before the half yesterday including a returned blocked field goal.

Being that this game was a must win we somehow someway found a way to pull it out and get the W.  A huge victory for the birds as two NFC East teams lost on Sunday (Dallas and Washington) with New York still yet to take the field until tonight.  For a minute there (well a few) I was really beginning to doubt our chances of making the playoffs this year the way we looked against a BAD San Francisco team.  I’ll give them some credit… well no I won’t, they’re terrible.

Onto the only positives from this game:  Donovan threw for 280 yards and two scores minus his best RB (B West) and his top two WRs (Kevin Curtis and Reggie Brown). Oh and David Akers MADE A FIELD GOAL.

Player of the Game: Juqua Parker –  5 tackles, 1 sack, 1 INT for TD

Fast Facts: McNabb past Ron Jaworski on the Eagles’ career list for yards passing and pass attempts.

Donovan’s Embarrassed

Donovan McNabb made a post on his blog yesterday about the teams efforts the past two weeks and was highly critical of his own play in the the loss to divisional foe Washington Redskins last Sunday.  The way most of it is worded it seems Donovan is pretty upset with the outcome of the game and the way he performed.  I like the fact that he mentions how the ‘time is now’ and these close games early in the season WILL come back to bite us in the ass come playoff time.  We need all the wins we can get, especially in the NFC East, the hardest division in the entire league.

Some of the highlights from Donnie’s post after the jump.

I’m embarrassed with the way I played. I didn’t do enough to win the game for my team. I take that to heart. I want the ball in my hand when the game is on the line and, if I have it, I have to make a play. I’ll take that responsibility. All three of our losses were within a score so one play could have made a difference – a fumble, an interception, calling an audible, not calling an audible.

I’ve made mistakes and I’ve owned up to them. I’m sure that some of my teammates and coaches might feel that they also could have done better. But a play here and a play there is costing us precious division and conference games that can bite us down the stretch.

I’m better than this and I’ll prove it. I know my team is too. Now we have to prove it.