McNabb Bests Birds with Vick Sidelined

Donovan McNabb didn’t look great Sunday but he did enough to carry his new team past his old team Sunday as the Redskins beat the Eagles 17-12 in what was dubbed the "McNabb Bowl."

It was supposed to be a battle of a resurgent Michael Vick and inspired McNabb but wound up as a battle between a scuffling backup and a messy McNabb in his first game against the Eagles after being traded during the off-season.

D-Mac didn't leave the Linc without taking one last shot at his former team.

The NFLonFox tweeted: "In the locker room, McNabb to his teammates: 'Everybody makes mistakes in their lifetime and they made one last year.'"

McNabb was the story coming into the game but afterwards the story could be Vick and his banged up ribs.

Vick left the game late in the first quarter after he hurt his ribs and chest when he was sandwiched by DeAngelo Hall and Kareem Moore on a 23-yard scramble that wound up being called back thanks to a holding call on backup guard Max Jean-Gilles.

With Vick out Kevin Kolb stepped in. McNabb’s once heir-apparent did little to impress despite 201 yards, one TD and one interception on 22-for-35 passing.

Kolb far out did McNabb’s 8-for-19 for 125 yards, one score and one INT, but in the end McNabb -- thanks in large part to a potent 169-yard running attack -- got the win. Part of that running attack was McNabb's doing as he partied like it was 1999 as he scampered for 39 yards on five runs. His biggest run was an 18-yarder late in the game that helped keep the drive going and kept the Eagles offense off the field.

A last ditch effort by Kolb to find Jason Avant in the back of the end zone wound up falling out of his hands sealing the win for D.C.

The Eagles other failures included only sacking McNabb once and giving the Skins plenty of second chances while getting penalized eight times for 80 yards. Also, veteran safety Quintin Mikell notched a team-high seven tackles but he was extremely suspect during the Redskins opening scoring drive getting flagged for a 15-yard horse-collar tackle and then getting run over by Ryan Torain two plays later for the first TD of the game.

And coach Andy Reid’s clock management came under scrutiny again after the Eagles somehow got a delay of game penalty following a timeout late in the first half. Instead of going for it on fourth down and goal at the 1, the Birds settled for a field goal to cut the lead to 17-6.

Reid tried to explain what happened on that play.

"The whole thing is my fault. I am trying to explain [to the media] the thought process. You have to be aware of when the play clock starts. The point is that we had a play called for [4th-and] inches, and the inches weren’t inches when the play clock started."

Shady McCoy was really the Eagles only standout star as he led the team with 64 yards rushing and 110 yards receiving. He also hauled in an incredible 12 passes -- many on check down passes by Kolb.

As for how the fans treated D-Mac... He was cheered during pregame introductions than booed or mocked -- depending on if he was missing receivers or not -- for the rest of the game.

McNabb tried to sum up his reception from the fans:

"You didn’t expect them to cheer for me the whole game. That just wouldn’t be right. I was just happy about the way that they gave me a standing ovation early and then we buckled our chin straps and then the boos came. I think all of the quarterbacks got booed today."

If the Eagles had won they would have opened a commanding two-game lead on the Skins in NFC East. Instead the Birds head into a Sunday night battle against the winless 49ers in San Francisco at 2-2 and tied with the Skins.

Contact Us