Posted on 12/06/2004 9:03:15 AM PST by Libertarian4Bush
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Donovan McNabb usually puts up these numbers playing video games.
McNabb threw a career-high five touchdown passes in the first half and finished with a team-record 464 yards passing, leading the Philadelphia Eagles to a 47-17 victory over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
Brian Westbrook had 11 catches for 156 yards and three TDs and Terrell Owens caught eight passes for 161 yards and one score. McNabb set a team record by completing his first 14 passes and finished 32-of-43.
"Statistically, it felt like playing a video game," McNabb said. "We were clicking on all cylinders. We spread the ball around. Everyone contributed. We sent that message out that week in and week out we come ready to play."
Meanwhile, Brett Favre threw two interceptions that led to Philadelphia's first two scores. His streak of games with a TD pass was snapped at 37, second in NFL history to Johnny Unitas' 47 straight.
The four-time NFC East champion Eagles (11-1) matched the best start in team history. They have won nine games by a double-digit margin and hold a two-game lead over Atlanta for first place in the conference.
Since losing to Pittsburgh 27-3 last month, the Eagles have won four in a row by at least 20 points, outscoring their opponents 151-50.
"I don't think there's any defense that can stop us," Westbrook said. "We can only stop ourselves with penalties and mistakes."
The Packers (7-5) snapped a six-game winning streak, but remained tied with Minnesota for first place in the NFC North.
"We can throw this one in the recycle bin," Favre said. "We didn't play very well. We didn't give much of an effort."
A rematch of a thrilling playoff game 11 months ago, this one never lived up to its hype. The Eagles scored four TDs in the second quarter, led 35-3 at halftime and rested most of their starters with 8:18 left.
The Packers were 72 seconds away from going to the NFC championship game last January, before the Eagles converted a fourth-and-26, tied the game in regulation and won in overtime. Philadelphia then lost the NFC title game for the third straight year, while Green Bay fired its defensive coordinator and agonized over the loss throughout the offseason.
For one quarter, this game was competitive.
McNabb lost a fumble inside Green Bay's 25 on Philadelphia's opening possession, but Favre was intercepted by Brian Dawkins on the ensuing drive.
Three plays later, McNabb and Owens connected on a 41-yard catch-and-run TD. Owens caught the ball at the 26, streaked down the left sideline, broke one tackle and leaped into the end zone for his 14th touchdown, breaking the team's single-season record.
"I just thank God for Donovan. It's special. I can't put into words what he means to me," Owens said.
Favre drove the Packers to Philadelphia's 15 early in the second quarter, but was intercepted by Sheldon Brown at the 7. McNabb then led the Eagles 93 yards, tossing a 9-yard pass to Westbrook for a 14-0 lead.
McNabb threw a 41-yard TD pass to Westbrook on Philadelphia's next drive, giving the Eagles a 21-0 lead. McNabb executed a perfect play-fake to fullback Josh Parry, who has no carries this season, and hit a wide-open Westbrook in the flat.
McNabb's 6-yard pass to L.J. Smith gave the Eagles a 28-0 lead, and his 12-yard toss to Westbrook made it 35-0 in the second quarter.
David Akers kicked four field goals in the second half.
Packers backup quarterback Craig Nall threw TD passes of 1 yard to William Henderson and 17 yards to Javon Walker in the fourth quarter.
Favre finished 14-of-29 for 131 yards. Running back Ahman Green wasn't a factor in his first game after sitting out with bruised ribs last week.
Eagles coach Andy Reid broke Greasy Neale's franchise record with his 67th win in his sixth season in Philadelphia.
"We're certainly not as bad as we looked," Packers coach Mike Sherman said. "We're a lot better than we played."
Game notes The 1949 Eagles finished 11-1, before winning the NFL championship. They started 11-1 in 1980, finished 12-4 and lost the Super Bowl. ... Green Bay hasn't won in Philadelphia since 1962, losing seven straight. ... McNabb has a career-high 28 TDs passes this season. ... Owens became the first Eagles player to reach 1,000 yards receiving since Irving Fryar in 1997. He broke the team record with his seventh 100-yard game. ... Favre's record streak of starts moved to 220, counting playoffs, and is almost 100 more than Ron Jaworski's previous NFL quarterback mark of 123. ... Favre has thrown seven picks in his last five games
That would require an NFC team capable of playing with the Eagles. So far, none exist.
Owl_Eagle
”Guns Before Butter.”
He won a Super Bowl in Baltimore with Trent Dilfer and no offense to speak of.
Football's a funny game like that.
The way Seattle and St Louis are going right now either one could win the NFC West at 7-9. How sickening is that, not just a sub-500 team in the playoffs, but a sub-500 team with a home game because they won the division. 5-7 is in the hunt for a wild card spot in the NFC, a 7-9 team is highly likely.
The flattening of the divisions made it more likely, all you need is 4 mediocre teams in the same division to send a 500 or below team to the playoffs. Before you needed 5. The amazing part is that so much of the NFC is so bad. Really the Eagles are the only legit team in the conference, the Pack and Falcons come the closest to being competitors but as we saw yesterday they're too streaky and when they're bad they're simply horrendous. Outside of those three the entire conference is crap. Which is bad for the envtual Superbowl representative, having gone through a season with little or no competition to then run into either the Pats or Steelers (or whoever upsets them, lots of solid contenders in the AFC, I learned last night to hope Jacks doesn't make it because I don't think my boys can beat them again) it's going to be hard to gear up.
That's what they said last year before the Carolina Panthers came into Philly and whupped them.
Yeah, the Brian Billick-led Mob Town Thugs (a.k.a. the Raisins) built up a big lead against Cincinnati last time I saw the score yesterday. I'm sure they held on to win...
The Falcons are 9-3 and yet have given up more points than they have scored this year.
Some sports fans take it too far and feel the need to act like a bunch of dolts. That goes for ones that post in an open forum such as FR or in the stands as spectators.
That D is still too young. It takes experience and smarts to make a good defense. Right now Indy is getting by on rep, Payton can be stopped, I can't believe all the trickery Fischer used yesterday, spending all week telling your players they can't compete with the other team (which is what you do when your game plan revolves around trickery) won't win you a game. In the end the Colts are a finesse team, and a couple years ago the Pats showed everybody how you beat a finesse team (for the Superbowl): punch em in the mouth, frequently and often.
BTW the Panthers have a decent shot of making the playoffs after a 1-7 start, they should be favored in all their remaining games. If they do make it in, and if they are healthy, watch out.
Best of luck to the Eagles, but I want term limits, a flat tax and school vouchers right now.
Losing big and winning squeakers is a sure sign of weakness.
it's funny you mention that - I was just kinda scratching down the numbers and trying to figure out probabilities.
a 4-team division plays 64 games, 24 of which will be in-division (12 actual GAMES, counting for 24 in the standings. those 24 will break even at 12-12, leaving an aggregate range of 12-52 (.1875) to 52-12.
in a 5-team division, you'd have 15-15, meaning you could have 15-65 (.231) to 65-15.
so yes, it seems that the possibilities are more extreme in the current arrangement, although there IS the variable now of there being half as many wild card slots PER division, making THAT tougher to get. I'm too tied up in other stuff to tackle that statistically, maybe some other enterprisign FReeper will.
as for "facing no competition", it's possible that the eagles' schedule looks easy because they MAKE it look easy. happened in 1985.
the same as the inentions of the 15 packer fans who would have posted it had they actually showed up to play. the same as the intentions of the idiot packer fan FReepers who had already buried the "overrated black quarterback" in philly before 4th-and-26 last year. pick your motive, you're going to anyway. just assign it to everyone fairly.
I'm an Eagles Fan, but I'm not counting on a Superbowl appearance just yet. There's still too many holes in that offensive line. McNabb is just one blindside hit away from watching the playoffs.
The Eagles were a 12-4 team... the Panthers were an 11-5 team. The Eagles were favored, but nobody thought Carolina was roadkill going into that game. Nobody.
This year's a little different. The Eagles are overwhelimingly superior to everybody in the NFC; they're 9-0 in the conference, with all 9 wins coming by double digits. Unless the Eagles lose their offensive and defensive MVP's in the last game of the season and McNabb in the NFCCG (like last year), nobody in the NFC can play with them.
Teams that wrap up home field relatively early don't have a particularly great record. In 1994, the Chiefs were the overwhelming favorite, only to lose to Indianapolis in the first round. The 95 Broncos lost to Jacksonville, the Vikings lost to the Falcons. All of those teams were as dominant as Philly is this year. Teams that have a relatively easy time of it in the regular season, sometimes can't handle the pressure when they finally get in a close game during the playoffs.
Has an 11-5 team ever failed to make the playoffs? Under the current format, I mean?
Yup, you're the standard Eagles fan--piggish, brutish and loutish.
for a drinking game, yes. but for quarterback, not any more. there was a time when he was the best in the league, but that time has long passed. his first INT of the day was the worst decision anyone made in the whole NFL on Sunday.
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