Witherspoon, D-Jax Lead Birds to Monday Night Glory

Eagles win injury-plagued game 27-17

The Eagles defense and newly acquired linebacker Will Witherspoon picked up a sloppy offense to lead the Eagles to victory.

Witherspoon scored in his first game with the Birds while wideout DeSean Jackson scored twice as the Eagles beat the Redskins 27-17 in D.C.

Jackson scored on a 67-yard end around run and caught a 57-yard touchdown pass. Despite the big plays Andy Reid's offense only managed 11 firstdowns and 262 total yards.

The real hero in a messy game was the Eagles defense. They earned three turnovers that all resulted in points and sacked Skins QB Jason Campbell six times.

Witherspoon, acquired in a trade with the St. Louis Rams on Tuesday, started at middle linebacker because of Omar Gaither's season-ending foot injury. The new guy returned an interception nine yards for a touchdown and knocked the ball away from Campbell for a fumble that set up a field goal.

Safety Quintin Mikell helped with both turnovers, blitzing to tip the pass that Witherspoon picked off and recovering the fumble after Campbell was stripped.

The lasting image from this game could be the injuries. No fewer than seven injuries were announced during the game. Some were minor, but both teams lost a major offensive cog early on.

Eagles running back Brian Westbrook was hurt when his helmet collided with linebacker London Fletcher's right knee at the end of a five-yard run. The running back remained on the ground for several minutes before he was helped up and led off the field directly to the locker room.

Cooley, who caught passes on the Redskins' first two offensive plays, was hurt on the first play of the second quarter. He walked to the sideline, but was later carted off to the locker room.

Nearly all the scoring came in the first half of as the Eagles (4-2) bounced back to form after last week's jarring loss to the Oakland Raiders.

Things weren't peachy in D.C. Monday. Sherm Lewis might want to go back to bingo. The new Skins' Offensive consultant was with the team for only three weeks after being lured out of a retirement consisting of bingo-calling and Meals on Wheels.

His first try at calling the plays proved as unsuccessful as when head coach Jim Zorn was handling the task. Zorn was stripped of the duty by the front office after last week's loss to Kansas City, causing so much consternation that the front office then felt the need to announce that Zorn won't be fired anytime soon.

The play-calling changes made no difference. The makeshift offensive line again failed to protect Campbell or create room for Clinton Portis, who rushed for only 43 yards and at one point chucked his helmet on the sideline in frustration.

The Eagles led Washington by 27-10 at halftime -- Campbell's consolation touchdown pass to Fred Davis in the final two minutes was the only scoring in the second half.

The loss dropped the last-place Redskins to 2-5.
 

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