Well, the Philadelphia Eagles finally climbed the mountain to .500 with a 17-9 victory over the Buffalo Bills. A bittersweet win that ended a very disappointing season. The Eagles should not be on the outside looking in. They gave away at least 2 sure wins and could or should have won 2 others. They lost on opening day due to 2 terrible special teams’ gaffs. They also lost to the Chicago Bears midway through the season when they allowed one of the NFL’s worst offensive teams to drive the field in 96 yards under 90 seconds left and the Bears had no timeouts. They could also have beaten both the Patriots and Seahawks if not for two foolish passes by backup QB AJ Feely that resulted in 2 late-game INT’s deep in enemy territory. At worst, these Birds should be 10-6 and playing in Giants Stadium next week. But that is two big ifs that did not materialize.

The Eagles scored most of their points in the first half and 1 TD in the second half, while holding the Bills out of the endzone all game long. The Eagles defense again was superb and held an opponent touchdown less for the second time in two weeks. The Bills QB Trent Edwards was held to just 133 passing yards. Donovan McNabb on the other hand, threw for over 300 yards. He completed 70.7% of his passes (29-of-41) for 345 passing yards. The Bills defense was equally good holding the Birds star running backing Brian Westbrook to just 42 rushing yards on 7 carries. Buffalo did manage 138 rushing yards led by Marshawn Lynch who gained 105 yards on 22 carries. Lynch did have a 56-yd run late in the 3rd quarter, which helped set up a Bills FG. Other than the 56-yd run, the Eagles rush defense played a stellar game. The Eagles defense though failed to register a sack, fumble or INT the entire game. But they still won.

Late in the first quarter, McNabb drove the team 12 plays for 72 yards. A two-yard pass to rookie Brent Celek culminated in the game’s first TD. Celek finished the game with 3 catches for 18 yards. Westbrook had his biggest gain of the day with a nice 19-yd pass that gave the Eagles a 1st-and-10 from the Bills 20-yd line. Five plays later, Celek caught his TD pass. Buffalo answered late in the second quarter with a nice 14-play, 66-yard drive that took 8:11 off the clock, but failed to score a TD and settled for a 29-yd FG with 1:57 left in the half. McNabb ran a very efficient 2-minute offense, completing a 21-yd pass to Jason Avant, an 8-yd pass to Reggie Brown, an 11-yd pass to Kevin Curtis and a long 26-yd pass to Greg Lewis. That setup a David Akers 38-yd FG to make it 10-3 at the half. After another Bills FG late in the third quarter, the Eagles answered again with a 71-yard TD drive. Once again, the hero was Kevin Curtis who became the first player in NFL history to recover fumbles for TD’s in 2-consecutive weeks. On this play, Reggie Brown caught a 33-yd pass, but was hit and coughed up the ball in the end zone. Curtis pounced on the ball to give Philly a 17-6 lead. Buffalo answered with a FG that was setup by that 56-yard run by Lynch. Both teams held serve during the fourth quarter. Curtis finished the season with 77 catches for 1,110 receiving yards. His total receptions were 4th in franchise history and became the 2nd Eagle in the Andy Reid era with over 1,000 receiving yards. The other was T.O. They still need another quality wideout for next season to be able to compete for the Super Bowl. We shall see, so stay tuned…