Eagles Win NFC East Title At Vet

Even without Donovan McNabb, the Philadelphia Eagles are two wins away from staying home for the playoffs.

A.J. Feeley threw for two touchdowns and the Eagles clinched the NFC East with a 34-21 win over self-destructing Washington on Sunday, improving to 4-0 since their quarterback broke his right ankle Nov. 17.

Philadelphia (10-3) can clinch homefield advantage in the NFC by beating the Cowboys and Giants on the road in their final two games. That would be a huge advantage in crumbling Veterans Stadium, where winds swirl and crowds are among the loudest in the NFL, especially in the postseason.

But the ultimate goal -- getting to the Super Bowl for the first time since the Dick Vermeil-led Eagles got there after the 1980 season -- may not be so easy. They likely will need a healthy McNabb to do that.

Washington (5-9) was just as sloppy as it has been in most of Steve Spurrier's dismal first season as coach.

On the second play from scrimmage, Stephen Davis broke loose toward midfield but had the ball knocked away by Brian Dawkins, and Michael Lewis recovered for Philadelphia. Davis separated his right shoulder on the play and did not return.

That didn't lead to a score but two other Washington fumbles did. Champ Bailey fumbled a punt for the second week in a row to set up a 28-yard field goal by David Akers, and Carlos Emmons had a 44-yard fumble return for a score in the third quarter.

The Eagles took a 7-0 lead on Feeley's 38-yard screen pass to Duce Staley, going 65 yards in four plays. Staley also went in from 1 yard out in the second quarter to give the Eagles a 17-0 lead.

Philadelphia was never really threatened after that, even when Washington cut a 17-0 lead to 17-7 on Patrick Ramsey's 15-yard TD pass to Chris Doering with 1:55 left in the half.

The Eagles went back up by 17 when Emmons picked up Ramsey's fumble five minutes into the third quarter and rumbled 44 yards to make it 24-7 while several Redskins watched passively, thinking Emmons had been touched down.

Feeley, who was 16-of-28 for 220 yards, then put things away with a 6-yard TD pass to Antonio Freeman that made it 31-7 with 1:55 left in the third quarter before two late scores by Washington.

Ramsey's 30-yard TD pass to Rod Gardner 2:08 into the final period made it 31-14. Four minutes later, Ramsey threw his third TD pass, hitting Derrius Thompson from 21 yards out to cut it to 31-21.

Akers added a 45-yarrd field goal with 2:29 left.

This was supposed to be the last game at the Vet, but the win ensures that Philadelphia will have at least one playoff game before moving next year to its new stadium across the street.

Philadelphia's Brian Mitchell moved past Walter Payton into second place on the all-purpose yardage list behind Jerry Rice.

For more Sports features, visit our Sports page.

Article continues below

---

advertisement

---

Author: Copyright 2002 by NBC 10. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.