Eagles Soaring

No one, however, is talking about playoffs, or possibly playing a home game in January.

"If you start looking ahead, you`ll be in trouble," coach Andy Reid said Monday, one day after the Eagles improved to 8-4 with a 34-9 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. "If they take it one game at a time, everything will be OK."

The Eagles, winners of a total of eight games the previous two seasons, have far exceeded expectations in the second year of Reid`s rebuilding program.

Philadelphia is a half-game ahead of the New York Giants (7-4), and one game ahead of the Washington Redskins (6-4), who play at St. Louis on Monday night.

However, if the Eagles and Giants both win out, New York takes the division because they hold the tiebreaker with two victories against Philadelphia.

"How many games do we have left, four? Talk to me then and I`ll start getting excited about being in first place," defensive end Hugh Douglas said. "We`ve got four more games to play and anything could happen at this point. You just have to maintain your focus no matter what you do."

The Eagles have won three straight for the first time since 1996, the last time they made the playoffs. It doesn`t get any easier the next two weeks.

Philadelphia plays at Washington on Sunday, then returns home to face the Tennessee Titans on Dec. 3. Both should be difficult games.

"Our focus now is to go to Washington and to prepare for them because in that first game, we should have won it," quarterback Donovan McNabb said.

The Redskins beat Philadelphia 17-14 with a last-second field goal Oct. 8. The Eagles aren`t changing their approach, even though teams will be coming after them now.

"You better do the same things that got you here and keep doing it," Reid said. "Right now, (first place) doesn`t count. It counts at the end of the season."

Philadelphia finishes its schedule with a game at Cleveland, a bye and a home game against Cincinnati. Washington is the priority right now.

"We are going to go there and try to steal one from them like they took one from us," running back Darnell Autry said.

Despite dominating the Cardinals on Sunday, the Eagles once again couldn`t score points early. Philadelphia has just three first-quarter points in the last four games.

"I want to make sure we finish strong, but I would like to get some more at the beginning," Reid said. "You want to start fast and finish strong and if you can keep that mentality, keep that production, and keep the reality of that production alive, that`s important."

Though the Eagles didn`t score early, Reid was pleased his team played with emotion from the start. Philadelphia was coming off consecutive overtime victories against Dallas and Pittsburgh, and easily could have been flat against Arizona.

"We grew and matured," Reid said. "We came out emotional and maintained a high level of emotion throughout the game, and that`s showing a step forward."

(Copyright 2000 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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Author: AP