What happened?
Donovan McNabb returned from his broken rib and didn't miss a beat, throwing for 264 yards and three touchdowns as the Eagles beat Tampa Bay for the first time since the 2002 regular season.
The Good:
Donovan McNabb looked just fine in his first game back from a broken rib, completing 16 of 21 passes for 264 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for 30 yards.
Jeremy Maclin started in place of Kevin Curtis and was excellent, catching six passes for 142 yards and two touchdowns.
The defense was outstanding, with Asante Samuel intercepting two passes, and Sheldon Brown picking another one off. They also stopped the Bucs twice on fourth down conversion attempts and sacked Josh Johnson three times.
The Bad:
Brian Westbrook only had six carries for 18 yards on the ground.
DeSean Jackson caught just one pass for a yard.
The Eagles only managed 76 yards on the ground, with Donovan's 30 yards leading the team.
The Ugly:
The Eagles committed 10 penalties for 111 yards.
The Breakdown:
This was the exact type of game that Donovan McNabb needed to have in his return from his broken rib. It didn't take him long to make an impact, because on the second play of the game, he found Jeremy Maclin for a 51 yard touchdown pass, and it was clear that he was back. By the time he left the game midway through the fourth quarter, he had thrown two more touchdown passes, rushed for 30 yards and led the Eagles to a blowout win over Tampa Bay.
The running game wasn't great yesterday, however. Brian Westbrook only picked up 18 yards on six carries, while LeSean McCoy had 14 yards on six carries. All things considered, there were a fairly balanced run and pass calls, but the passing game was far more effective than the running game was. Luckily, the Eagles didn't really need to run the ball that well yesterday.
What really struck me about the game was how many stupid penalties the Eagles had. They picked up ten calls, costing them 111 yards for the game. If not for the defense stopping the Buccaneers almost every time they made it inside the red zone, this game would have been a whole lot closer than it ended up being. The Eagles forced Josh Johnson into two interceptions inside the ten yard line, and also stopped the Bucs once on a fourth down try in the red zone as well. While the defense didn't get to Johnson as much as I would have liked, they did have him on the run for most of the game, and did sack him three times. There were a couple of times where Johnson managed to break free of the containment for a gain on the ground. He ended up leading the Bucs with 40 yards on five runs, so it was a good job by the defense in keeping the Tampa running backs under wraps.
Overall, it was a solid game, but there were some mistakes that need to be fixed for when the Eagles actually have to play some solid teams. So far this year, the three teams the Eagles have beaten have a combined total of one win and 13 losses. It hasn't exactly been a tough schedule so far, and it's not going to get any harder next week. The Eagles travel to Oakland to take on the Raiders. If that game doesn't at least look like this one did, it's going to be a problem.
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