The Eagles played the Washington Redskins in this week’s Sunday night matchup. ESPN isn’t ABC, and Sunday night isn’t Monday night. In other words this is less special nationwide, but critical for us, a family of Eagles fans.
It started terribly as the Redskins returned the opening kickoff most of the way down the field and then quickly scored. Then, amazingly, the Eagles returned the favor, scoring seconds later on their first possession. It looked like this would be a wide open shout out.
Bad guess on my part.
Helaine, who scours the Internet for anything good about the Eagles or bad about their opponent, knew there was bad blood between these two teams after Philadelphia had been accused of running up the score the first time they met. Some rumors said the Redskins would play dirty.
Bad guess on her part.
What we ended up watching was an ugly game. Donovan McNabb, one of the top few quarterbacks in the league looked awful. He drilled he ball to the carpet and gave up a critical interception. Terrell Owens, the Eagles trash talking wide receiver, fumbled the ball trying to stretch out a play within spitting distance of the end zone.
I like the ESPN announcers, but by halftime they were starting to sound like ‘homers’ rooting for the Redskins. I find that annoying. At least I did tonight.
The game had heartbreak written all over it. I knew it was bad because Helaine turned down the sound on the TV. Though the Eagles led, the Redskins continued to threaten until an interception in the final seconds locked it up.
The final score: Eagles 17 – Washington 14. It could have easily been the reverse.
The Eagles are now 12-1, much better than anyone could have imagined or asked for. Tonight they were referred to as the only true Super Bowl contender in the NFC. Yet this game only went to reinforce our worry that one off night, one blown play, could end it all.