Oh, By the Way, the Eagles Are in First Place

Share

Somewhat lost in the aftermath of Sunday's huge victory over the Ravens, which was awesome enough in its own right before anything else came along to sweeten the pot, the good fortune continued to swing the Eagles' way later on that evening. Dallas and Washington each would go on to drop their respective games against NFC West opponents, leaving Philly the only remaining unbeaten in the East, and thus alone at the top.

The Cowboys (1-1) looked strong when they upended the reigning Super Bowl Champs in the season opener at the Meadowlands, but even with an extra four days between games, their trip to Seattle was not so successful. A fumble on the opening kick return followed by a blocked punt after a three-and-out on their first possession gave the Seahawks (1-1) an early 10-0 lead, and their defense put the clamps down from there, limiting Big D to less than 300 yards of offense in a 27-7 L. Tough to play from behind like that when you're on the road.

Conversely, the Redskins (1-1) raced out to a 21-6 lead in St. Louis, and appeared as if they might impress for a second week in a row. They couldn't keep the Rams (1-1) off the scoreboard though, and a hilarious fourth-quarter meltdown cost Washington a reasonable shot at overtime. RG3 had the Skins on the move late, but WR Josh Morgan got upset that the other team was playing football too, and chucked the football at a defender after the whistle. The ensuing 15-yard penalty knocked them out of field goal range, resulting in an embarrassing 31-28 defeat.

Elsewhere, the Giants (1-1) won a crazy 41-34 shootout in Tampa Bay where Eli Manning threw for over 500 yards, nearly half of that coming in the fourth quarter. But by virtue of their loss to the Cowboys, New York is sitting at .500, perhaps lucky to even be there after Sunday.

Then again, if anybody's been lucky, some might say it's the Eagles at 2-0 by the narrowest margin possible -- two points.

The Giants are back in action again on Thursday, continuing their tour of the south in Carolina against Cam Newton and the Panthers (1-1), who knocked the Saints to 0-2 this week. The Cowboys head home for the first time this season, welcoming the Bucs (1-1) off of the loss to the G-men that has to have taken some of the wind out of their sails. And the Redskins will host the Bengals (1-1), who are coming off a W over those Browns.

As for the first-place Birds, they now head to Arizona to face a surprisingly 2-0 Cardinals team after their shocking win over the Patriots in Foxboro. While Eagles fans should know better than to take this opponent lightly after last season, when the schedule came out it looked as if this might have the makings of a game to bulk up the win total in advance of their big Sunday night tilt against the Giants in Week 4. Make no mistake, Sunday was no fluke. The Cards are tough, as will be staying on top of the NFC East.

Contact Us