It wasn’t pretty but another fourth-quarter comeback from Donovan McNabb kept the Eagles in the NFC playoff hunt as they downed the Redskins 27-24 Sunday.
It wasn’t pretty because the Eagles made some dumb mistakes including bad play calling and penalties. (Sounds like a broken record, huh?)
They basically gave the Skins the lead early by opening the game with a failed onside kick that put the Skins on the Eagles 19-yard line to start.
"I want to stay agressive, said Head Coach Andy Reid after the game. "We thought we could sneak one in there."
The Eagles also lost 60 yards on seven penalties. The worst being when tight end Brent Celek negated an early TD by committing offensive pass interference in the end zone.
The Eagles defense also had trouble getting off the field as they allowed the Skins to convert eight of 17 third downs.
But in the end, D-Mac and the offense picked up the slack late in the game -- again -- as the Eagles overcame an eight-point fourth-quarter deficit to win.
McNabb lead a 10-play, 90-yard drive that resulted in an Eldra Buckley one-yard score and LeSean McCoy two-point conversion that tied the game at 24.
The star of the drive was Jason Avant who caught a couple big passes for 66 yards on his way to 94 yards for the game.
The Eagles wideout credited his QB.
"Donovan was accurate and some guys stepped in," he said. "We're just thankful to have a good quarterback like him."
McNabb leaned on Avant after DeSean Jackson was lost in the second half after he suffered a concussion.
After the Eagles defense held the Skins in check, No. 5 lead his team down the field 66 yards in 10 plays to set up David Akers' game-winning 32-yard field goal with 1:48 left on the clock. Akers finished the game four for four on field goal attempts.
For a guy who wasn’t known to get it done in the clutch, McNabb has now led his team to back-to-back fourth-quarter comebacks.
McNabb went 21-for-35 for 260 yards, one score and one interception.
The Birds' veteran signal caller spoke about leadership after the game.
"I'm kind of the lone wolf... when you have rookies, you have young guys... you have to (speak up)," he said.
No. 5 got some help from his friends -- "it's just a total team effort," he said.
Asante Samuel picked off two Jason Campbell passes including an acrobatic grab that set up an Eagles' field goal. And with less than two minutes left the Birds defense held Campbell's Skins in check again to assure the victory.
And, McCoy rushed for 76 yards on 17 carries in place of injured starter Brian Westbrook.
The win put the Birds alone in second-place in the NFC East at 7-4 while it dropped the lowly Skins to 3-8.
Next up for Philly is a showdown with the fellow Wild-Card-hopeful Falcons in Atlanta next Sunday.
