The Eagles had to fight until the end to put away the Redskins late in the game yesterday.  Donovan McNabb was solid completing 21 of 35 passes for 260 yards with 1 TD pass and 1 INT.  Lesean McCoy was very busy against the Skins with 17 carries for 76 yards (4.5 ypc) and he also caught 4 passes for 25 yards (6.3 avg).  Fullback Leonard Weaver pitched in with 6 carries for 44 yards (7.3 ypc)yesterday.  Jason Avant led the way for the Eagles thru the air with 5 grabs for 94 yards (18.8 avg) in this game.  WRs Jeremy Maclin (5 rec, 63 yards) and Desean Jackson (2 rec, 41 yards, TD) also helped out in the passing game.  The Eagles finished up with 381 total yards on offense (123 rushing, 258 passing) in this game.

The defense was so-so yesterday for the Eagles.  LB Will Witherspoon (6 tackles) and CB Sheldon Brown (6 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss) led the way for the Eagles on D yesterday.  CB Asante Samuel pitched in with 2 INTs but he didn’t make any tackles which was kind of odd.  The Redskins finished up with 303 total yards on offense (82 rushing, 221 passing) in this game.  The Eagles are now 7-4 on the year.

These two teams always seem to play good games regardless of records.  The Redskins and a very banged up team right now but they have proved the last two weeks to be a very dangerous opponent so the Eagles better not overlook them.  The Redskins will likely try to run a pretty balanced offense this week.  Rock Cartwright will be the main man in the running game for the Redskins and he is a good player despite opening the season #3 on the depth chart.  Jason Campbell will likely be under a heavy rush from the Eagles who already have 30 sacks this season so the passing game will likely be kept short.  That means that the Redskins WRs and TEs are going to have to be willing to go over the middle and it will be interesting to see if they have the stones to do so as it’s a pretty soft bunch.

Head Coach Andy Reid of the Eagles is so set in his ways that the Eagles will likely continue to throw the ball a lot this week despite the fact that the Redskins are only allowing 161.6 yards passing per game this year.  The thing that will help Donovan McNabb the most this week as he has deep weapons in Desean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin and short guys in TE Brent Celek and RB Lesean McCoy in the passing game.  That will make it hard for the Redskins to key on anyone in the passing game.  The Redskins are allowing 128.4 yards rushing per game (4.4 ypc) so Lesean McCoy could have a big game if the Eagles give him the ball enough.

PREDICTION:  EAGLES 20, REDSKINS 14

26-year old WR Jason Avant is finally stepping up for the Eagles.  He has played in 10 games this season for the Eagles and he has caught 27 passes for 380 yards (14.1 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  Avant has not played as much on special teams as usual as he has 2 tackles and 1 forced fumble this year.  Look for that to continue as long as he is playing well offensively.  Avant has now played 4 years for the Eagles and he has caught 89 passes for 1,092 yards (12.3 avg) with 7 TD grabs.  He also has 22 tackles and 1 forced fumble in his NFL career.  It’s about time that Avant has stepped up because the Eagles have been waiting for him to do so.  Hopefully he will keep up the good work.

Despite having 3 turnovers, the Philadelphia Eagles (6-4) were able to take down the Chicago Bears (4-6).  The Eagles got off to a good start and were up 10-0 after the first quarter, but the Bears held them scoreless in the second and got three Robbie Gould field goals to make it a 10-9 halftime score.  The Bears got another Gould field goal to open up the second half scoring.  Donovan McNabb and the Eagles answered though and retook the lead when he hit DeSean Jackson for a 48-yard touchdown pass.  McNabb ended up with 244 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception on 23/32 passes.  Michael Vick was very effective in his few opportunities.  He had a big 34-yard run in the 1st quarter that led to the Eagles first quarter field goal.  LeSean McCoy added 99 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries.

The Eagles defense did not do a good job stopping the Bears’ running game.  They let Kahlil Bell rush for 81 yards on 4 carries, including a huge 72-yard run.  It was Bell’s first action of his career, and the Eagles were not able to contain the rookie.  They were able to contain Matt Forte to only 34 yards on 14 carries, but the Bears ended up with 126 rushing yards as a team.  The Eagles did a great job attacking the struggling Jay Cutler.  Cutler was off all night and the Eagles held him to 171 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception on 24/43 attempts.  Sean Jones got the interception off Cutler on the Bears final drive.  After the Eagles scored with a little over 5 minutes left in the game, Jones ended any hopes of a Bear’s comeback when he intercepted a deflected Cutler pass.  It was not a very sharp game for the Eagles, but they did enough to get the win.

The Philadelphia Eagles (5-4) and Chicago Bears (4-5) are facing off at Soldier Field Sunday, and both teams have been looking bad lately.  The Bears have looked a lot worse, and their quarterback Jay Cutler has been playing awful.  That doesn’t meant he Eagles can relax though, as they are still without Brian Westbrook and will be without him for the next few weeks due to his concussion symptoms still lingering.  LeSean McCoy will get the bulk of the carries, but the Eagles have not been running the ball much so I don’t know if he will get the ball all that much.  McNabb has had to throw the ball a ton, and it has lead to some interceptions.  The Bears give up only 195 passing yards per game, so McNabb will need be careful with his throws as the Bears have a decent secondary.

The Eagles’ defense needs to look to get some turnovers, as that is about the only thing the Bears have been doing lately.  Jay Cutler threw 5 interceptions last week and the Bears only managed to score 6 points.  Cutler will be trying to limit those interceptions, so he will most likely throw a lot of short passes and screens.  Matt Forte has been ineffective as a runner, but he has been great for Cutler on screen passes.  He caught 8 passes for 120 yards last week, so the Eagles need to be ready for the screen pass.  This is a tough one to pick for me, as both teams have been playing poorly lately.  With the Bears seemingly falling apart though, I will go with the Eagles in this one.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  Philadelphia Eagles 28, Chicago Bears 24

The Eagles lost veteran running back Brian Westbrook for the second time in three weeks due to a concussion.  This time the Eagles will likely shut down Westbrook for a while to ensure his health.  Westbrook has played in 6 games for the Eagles this season and he has carried the ball 47 times for 225 yards (4.8 ypc) with 1 TD run.  He also has caught 19 passes for 156 yards (8.2 avg) with 1 TD grab this year.  In other years the loss of Westbrook would have been huge but rookie Lesean McCoy will be able to replace Westbrook without the team losing much if at all.  McCoy has played in 9 games this year for the Eagles and he has carried the ball 86 times for 353 yards (4.1 ypc) with 2 TD runs.  McCoy also has caught 23 passes for 181 yards (7.9 avg) this year for the Eagles.  Look for McCoy to do a good job for the Eagles the rest of the way as the team’s main running back.

The Philadelphia Eagles (5-4) could not keep up with the San Diego Chargers (6-3) in their game Sunday, as field goals were not enough.  The Eagles were only able to get three field goals through the first three quarters, while the Chargers were able to reach the endzone four times in that period.  Donovan McNabb and the offense finally got some more things going in the fourth quarter, and made it a 28-16 game early in the final period on a McNabb touchdown pass to Jeremy Maclin.  McNabb was able to get the Eagles even closer, making it a 28-23 game when he hit Brett Celek for a touchdown with 7 minutes to play.  They were not able to get anything else though, and the Chargers added a late field goal to seal it.  McNabb had a huge day, but did throw one pick.  He ended up with a ridiculous 450 passing yards and two touchdowns on 35/55 pass attempts.  McNabb had to throw it so much because the running game could not do anything, finishing with 29 yards as a team.

The Eagles defense did enough to keep the Eagles in the game and give McNabb a chance to comeback, but it wasn’t enough.  They did not do a good job against the Chargers running game, which has been struggling all year.  LaDainian Tomlinson has his best game of the season, rushing for 2 touchdowns and 96 yards on 24 carries.  They also let Philip Rivers go 20/25 for 231 yards and 2 touchdowns.  Both of his touchdown passes were for 20 yards, so the Eagles could not stop the big play when it was needed.  The Eagles put up a good fight, but without a running game they just did not have enough weapons to match the high-powered Chargers’ offense.

The Eagles have signed 25-year old CB Ramzee Robinson.  Robinson played in 13 games for the Lions last year and he compiled 24 tackles and defensed 1 pass.  He has now played in 19 games in his two year NFL career and he has made 31 tackles and defensed 1 pass.  This is the Eagles scraping the bottom of the barrel to try to find some help for their depleted secondary.

The NFL has suspended cornerback Joselio Hanson for the next four games for use of a banned substance.  Hanson has played in 8 games this season for the Eagles and he has made 29 tackles, has 1 tackle for a loss, 5 passes defensed and 1 interception.  This suspension coupled with Ellis Hobbs’ injury has seriously hurt the depth of the secondary for the Eagles.

The Eagles have lost CB/KR Ellis Hobbs for the year due to a back injury.  Hobbs played in 8 games this season for the Eagles and he returned 20 kickoffs for 481 yards (24.1 avg).  He also had 11 tackles this season for the Eagles.  The Eagles will try to replace Hobbs on kickoff returns with rookie WR Jeremy Maclin.  Maclin has returned 2 kickoffs for 35 yards (17.5 avg) so far this season.  Maclin has also caught 25 passes for 337 yards (13.5 avg) with 3 TD grabs this season.  Maclin should do a good job for the Eagles in his new role returning kicks.