Eagles Dominate Redskins

The Washington Redskins' eight possessions inside the Philadelphia 40 produced no touchdowns and a lot of agony.

When the Eagles weren't stopping the Redskins, the Redskins were stopping themselves. They had eight dropped passes, two offbeat wide receiver penalties, two missed field goals and two interceptions near the end zone.

The Eagles had far fewer chances, but converted almost all of them -- and that's why they're on the brink of winning the NFC East after Sunday's 20-6 victory.

"Just keeping people out of the end zone -- that's our main thing," said safety Brian Dawkins, who had both interceptions and made a touchdown-saving tackle on Rod Gardner. "Deep down, that's hurting them inside because they know they figure they should have more points than that."

The victory gave the Eagles (9-4) a 6-0 road record and a three-game lead over the Redskins (6-7) and New York Giants (6-7) with three games remaining. One more Eagles victory or one Giants loss will give Philadelphia its first NFC East crown since 1988.

"We can't get comfortable with ourselves," said running back Duce Staley, who had eight catches for 73 yards. "There's still more fighting to do."

The Redskins had drives reach Philadelphia's 21, 20, 7, 35, 30, 20, 16 and 1. All they had to show for it were field goals of 47 and 25 yards by Brett Conway. They outgained the Eagles 362-287, little consolation for a team has only faint wild-card hopes remaining.

"You can't let a good team hang around like that," coach Marty Schottenheimer said. "They continued as they have throughout the season, they fought to the bitter end.

"And it indeed is a bitter end."

Donovan McNabb overcame a career-high three interceptions to complete 16 of 34 passes for 235 yards and touchdowns to Freddie Mitchell and Todd Pinkston.

The big play was the 62-yard pass to Pinkston, which gave the Eagles a 17-6 lead midway through the third quarter. McNabb faked a reverse to James Thrash, then spotted Pinkston crossing wide open between cornerback Fred Smoot and safety David Terrell.

Two early Redskins drives were stalled by a pass interference call on Gardner and a late hit by Derrius Thompson. Conway hit an upright for the third time in two games, one of two first-half misses. Michael Westbrook's drop inside the 20 that negated a big gain was just one example of a bad-hands day all around.

Even late in the fourth quarter, the Redskins failed to capitalize when Darrell Green extended his NFL record with an interception in his 19th consecutive season, or when Bruce Smith stripped Staley -- both inside the 35. The Eagles shut out the Redskins in the second half and are allowing a league-low four points per game after halftime.

The Eagles got rolling early in the second quarter with a 66-yard drive that included a fourth-and-1 sneak by McNabb, setting up a 4-yard throw for rookie Mitchell's first career NFL touchdown.

That put the Eagles ahead 7-6. David Akers made it 10-6 with 4r seconds remaining in the half with a 40-yard field goal set up by Eric Metcalf's fumbled punt return.

After Pinkston's touchdown, Akers added a 49-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter.

Much of the pregame hype focused on Redskins linebacker LaVar Arrington's plan to shadow the versatile McNabb, just as he did when the Redskins beat the Eagles 13-3 three weeks ago.

Arrington had an interception off a tipped pass, but he spent most of the time chasing Staley on screen passes.

"They found a play that was working for them," Arrington said. "He beat us with his arm. That's what he tried to do the first time, and he did it this time."

Notes:
Brian Mitchell's 19-yard kickoff return in the second quarter made him the third player in NFL history with 20,000 all-purpose yards. Jerry Rice and Walter Payton are the others. ... Redskins fullback Bryan Johnson made his first career start, replacing injured Donnell Bennett. ... Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta flipped the coin. ... Most serious injury: Lewis strained his groin and will be day-to-day. Most unusual injury: Eagles linebacker Mike Caldwell strained his calf running out of the tunnel before the game -- but he started and played the whole game.

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Author: 6 - ABC, Action News