Eagles Whip Cardinals

Even with a 24-0 lead, the Philadelphia Eagles didn`t feel secure -- not against the Arizona Cardinals and Jake Plummer.

Arizona had beaten the Eagles five straight times. In the last four, Plummer brought the Cardinals back from a fourth-quarter deficit, but this time the climb was too steep.

With Duce Staley out for the season with a foot injury, the Eagles relied on Darnell Autry, Brian Mitchell and Stanley Pritchett to share the running load.

Their play, combined with Donovan McNabb`s passing and running, allowed Philadelphia to improve to 4-3 and stay a game out of first in the NFC East.

The Eagles took a 17-0 halftime lead in front of a crowd of just 38,293 in 73,000-seat Sun Devil Stadium. They were up 24-0 after McNabb`s 9-yard pass to Chad Lewis with 9:16 left in the third quarter.

The Cardinals (2-4) cut it to 24-14 on Plummer`s 10-yard scoring pass to Michael Pittman with 10:47 to play, but McNabb`s 59-yard pass to Charles Johnson set up Autry`s 1-yard touchdown run to make it 30-14.

Philadelphia`s running backs managed just 36 yards on 13 carries in last week`s 17-14 loss to Washington. But the trio combined for 109 yards on 29 carries against the Cardinals. "We did it a little bit by committee, had different guys in there in different situations," Philadelphia coach Andy Reid said. "We mixed and matched a little bit, and overall I think they did OK with it."

Arizona tried all kinds of defensive schemes against McNabb, who completed 24 of 34 passes for 226 yards and rushed for 35 yards in seven carries. Nothing worked.

"The main thing was our inability to tackle Donovan McNabb," Cardinals coach Vince Tobin said.

Arizona had trouble tackling anyone. "Even in their running game, we had people there and we didn`t tackle them," Tobin aid.

In the first half, Philadelphia had 127 yards rushing on 20 carries, 16 first downs and a 20:05 to 9:55 advantage in time of possession.

"It`s very frustrating," Pittman said. "If you`re not out on the field, how can you score?" For the game, the Eagles had the ball 39:34 to Arizona`s 20:26.

"It was good because we were on the field and Jake was not on the field," Lewis said. "That was what we wanted to do -- eat up the clock, get good drives and keep him on the bench where he can`t hurt us."

Philadelphia used 7:47 in a 17-play, 83-yard touchdown drive that ended with McNabb`s 3-yard run with 30 seconds in the half. The drive stayed alive when the Eagles set up for a 50-yard field goal, but holder Koy Detmer nonchalantly flipped the ball over his shoulder to kicker David Akers, who ran 15 yards to the Arizona 17.

"I was thinking `Don`t drop the ball,"` said Akers, who hadn`t run with the ball since a fake punt in high school.

The Cardinals offense, which has not scored in the first quarter in 23 games, took the opening kickoff and drove to the Eagles 28. But David Boston was clobbered far behind the line of scrimmage on a reverse, fumbled and Philadelphia`s Corey Simon recovered. McNabb scrambled 24 yards to the 1-yard line, then Pritchett ran it in.

Arizona scored when Plummer connected with Boston on a 70-yard pass play. The last 10 yards, Boston turned and taunted the defenders and a 15-yard penalty was stepped off on the kickoff. Tobin was not happy with Boston, who did something similar on a long touchdown catch in San Francisco.

"That has no place in the National Football League. He`s been told that many, many times," Tobin said. "Whether you call that youthful exuberance or whatever, it`s just something that you can`t have happen on the football team. It shows just a total disrespect for the game." Boston was apologetic and said his emotions got the best of him.

"I thought it was a bad play on my behalf," Boston said.

Game notes
The Cardinals lost linebacker Rob Frederickson with a shoulder injury in the first half and wide receiver Frank Sanders with a back injury in the third quarter. Cornerback Aeneas Williams left with a dislocated thumb in the first quarter, but returned to play sparingly later. ... The Eagles` Dameane Douglas was called for holding twice on the same play -- a punt return with 7« minutes left in the game.

(Courtesy Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2000.)

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Author: AP