Eagles at Redskins: Second Half Collapses

Philadelphia Eagles (6-6) vs. Washington Redskins (4-8)
1:00 p.m. FedEx Field
Well, there isn’t much more to say about the Redskins this year. It’s a shame they’ve played this lousy because it looks as if a mediocre record would have been good enough to make the playoffs this season in the terrible NFC. Heck, a 9-7 record could probably get you a bye week.

The game last week against Atlanta was an example of the way Washington has played all season. Start strong, get conservative on both sides of the ball, surrender the lead then get pounded with the opposing run game. Flashes of hope and promise here and there. Followed by an entire quarter of awful play.

Here are the Falcons, a team on a four-game losing streak (including losses to bad teams), that was being ripped in and out of the locker room in every which way and the Redskins still manage to make them look good. Michael Vick can’t complete a pass in over a month and even had trouble getting the simple play signals right during their losing streak. In fact, the only signal he didn’t screw up was the one he gave his fans a couple of weeks ago. But he comes in to Washington and the Redskins defense lets him run, and pass, all over them. Michael Jenkins hasn’t done anything all year, so of course the Skins allow him to go wherever he wants uncovered, including the end zone.

The Redskins get up 14, and it’s like a switch is flipped on the Redskins sideline. Once that lead is established, the Redskins run the ball every play, except for the obvious throwing downs, and play vanilla defense so they don’t get beat by a big play. Instead, the let the Falcons, one of the more offensively inefficient teams in the league, march down the field on a 98-yard drive. You can’t play conservative like that in the NFL anymore. It doesn’t work. There used to be a time that you could get up 14 points and sit on the lead and the ball. Running the ball no longer is a prerequisite to winning football games. You need to run the ball to set up the pass and the kill shot to win games.

For the third straight week, Jason Campbell looked nothing more than average. If you want to call it that. Great blind heave on that third down play in the third quarter. That play single-handedly turned the game around. Those are mistakes that only college quarterbacks and Aaron Brooks make. I’ve been saying since the day the Redskins drafted him that Campbell was nothing special. Now it looks like my call is coming true.

Now don’t go believing ESPN when they say Campbell has looked great. They have to say that. All their talking heads have been calling for Campbell over Brunell for the last two seasons. They can’t afford to have Campbell look bad because that will make them look bad. They will stick up for Campbell like they’ve never stuck up for a Redskins player before…until it becomes convenient to slam him. I’m here to tell you that Campbell has looked bad. Period. Look at the stats. Look at some of the mistakes he’s making. These aren’t the normal young quarterback mistakes. These are dumb, high school quarterback caliber mistakes.

So the Redskins get to play spoiler this season. The Eagles make their annual trip to Landover to continue their attempt to squeeze into the playoffs. The fact that the Eagles and playoffs are in the same sentence should tell you how bad the NFC is (unless the sentence was “The Eagles have no chance in hell at the playoffs”). Since we last saw Philadelphia, their porcelain quarterback Donovan “Time for my yearly injury because I don’t want to be blamed for this losing team” McNabb suffered yet another wound. This time it’s a torn ACL. So Jeff Garcia, who apparently is still in the league when he’s not fruiting it up around town, has taken over. The Eagles did manage to pull a minor upset over equally desperate Carolina last week to bring their record to an impressive 6-6. Garcia has looked much better in his two games than McNabb has looked in the last two seasons. Hmmm…maybe, just maybe, the problem last year wasn’t Terrell Owens. But no one could have told you that (except me, of course). Garcia has brought a slight glimmer of hope to the Eagles who were left for dead three weeks ago. Philly fans have rewarded him for that the only way they know how: booing.

Unlike last week, when the Redskins were facing a QB due for good game, the Skins will face Garcia, who is prime for one of his patented 10-30, 98 yards and 2 INT performances. The key to stopping Philadelphia and Garcia is to stop Brian Westbrook. With McNabb out, the only player on Philly’s offense that is even remotely talented is Westbrook. Stop him, and Garcia will be useless. You can bet the Redskins front seven is looking for some form of redemption after last week’s embarrassment.

The Eagles will not make the playoffs. I’ve been telling you this since day one. I’ve been telling you this since when they were 4-1. I told you, at least I told all you disgusting Philly fans, not to get too excited. But no! The Eagles had too many flaws, on both sides of the ball, to make the playoffs. Even if they were a decent team, their second half schedule was too tough. This is the first of three straight road games in the division for Philly. Then they finish up with Atlanta. At best, I see two wins. The only way they make the playoffs is if Carolina, Atlanta and the Giants all continue to tank. And with Carolina playing New York this weekend, at least one of those teams will be 7-6 (hopefully Carolina). And even on that slight chance that Philly makes the playoffs, how far do you think they’re actually capable of going? Nowhere except for whatever city they have to play their first round game in, which would be their final game of the season. Hopefully the Redskins can make sure the Eagles season ends in December by officially re-eliminating them from the sorry NFC race.