Eagles beat Saints 38-23

38? We could have used some of these points earlier in the year... Who knows, we might have been playing for a playoff spot instead of playing spoiler.

Headline time...

Payback is a... you know

I said this last week here and on the BGN Live podcast... I really wanted to beat the Saints. I especially wanted to do it down in their house where they not only beat us twice last year but knocked us out of the playoffs. It's only fitting that we got to end their season this year in dominant fashion.

Oh and speaking of satisfying... how funny was it that the Buckhalter TD was set up because Hollis Thomas got pancaked and Mark Simoneau couldn't get off a block? That's just poetic justice right there. Simoneau especially today was just brutal...

Is McNabb back?

Last week, despite a rather lackluster game stats-wise, I praised Donovan for doing the kind of subtle "game manager" type things that I've been screaming for him to do all year. Today, he did all those thing and he put huge numbers. He was moving around well, he was feeling the blitz better than I've seen all year, he threw the ball away when he needed to, and he really seemed to see the field well. He was putting the ball on target to open receivers the minute they came out of their breaks. He was threading balls in little windows and reading the coverage before it even set up. Other than I guess the Detroit game this was the sharpest I've seen McNabb, and by proxy the Eagles offense, look all year. His final numbers 24-35, 263 yds & 3 TDs. Very impressive.

Numbers starting to pile up

Well, in the first season that we've had a double digit sack guy since Hugh Douglas the Eagles got their first 1,000 yard WR since TO. Kevin Curtis went over 1k in an impressive 6 catch 78 yard and 2 TD performance. One of those TDs he caught and the other he recovered after that bizarre fumble that flew halfway down the field...

Brian Westbrook inched to within a couple yards of the Eagles all time single season yards from scrimmage record and he's just a few catches shy of the Eagles since season receptions record. Speaking of receptions, the Fox announcers said that this was the first time in Eagles history that 3 members of the offense had 50 or more catches.

A good day for the young guys

What a big day for Stewart Bradley. He played a lot early because the Eagles D was in nickel so much, but after Omar Gaither was hurt Bradley took over as the starting MIKE and really was at times a force. It's noticable how big Bradley looks out on the field. He made a couple big stops on that goal line stand plus he registered a sack and an INT after that spectacular hit from Sheldon Brown. Sheldon has a knack for doing that against the Saints.

I thought Broderick Bunkley was very active and very disruptive up the middle, Max Jean Gilles absolutely ran over Hollis Thomas on the Buckhalter TD and generally looked solid all day, I liked seeing Jason Avant make some tough over the middle catches, Brent Celek had a couple catches but most impressive were some of his blocks. Rookie Akeem Jordan actually led the team in tackles, but I honestly can't remember actually noticing him.

Finally...

Merry Christmas Reggie Brown!