Star running back Ricky Watters reverted to his haphazard ball-carrying form - that is, one-handed, in the guts of the defense - and coughed up a key fumble. His backup, Charlie Garner, has a potentially scary injury - a bruised left ankle that benched him after a scintillating string of carries in the third quarter. The Eagles are a sorry 3-3 at home.
There's more.
The defense is leaking on third downs; it allowed Washington to convert nine of 17 attempts. The offensive line is leaking, period; it surrendered three sacks against Washington, five last week in a 24-17 loss to the visiting Bills.
And for the second consecutive week, the Eagles lost late. This time, after driving the team 52 yards in 51 seconds, Detmer failed to connect four times from the Redskins' 20-yard line.
That failure gave the 'Skins sole possession of first place in the NFC East. A connection - to Irving Fryar on first down, Mark Seay on second, Chris T. Jones (so close!) on third or Freddie Solomon (Freddie Solomon?) on fourth - and the Eagles would be perched atop the division with the 8-3 record.
Then again, had the Eagles scored a touchdown last week after being first-and-goal at the Bills' 9 late in regulation, then beaten Buffalo to the punch in overtime, they already could have that elusive eighth win.
Jones sat silently at his locker for a long time after the game, thinking those very thoughts.
``Losing like we did the last two weeks,'' he later said, ``those losses feel like . . . ''
Well, bad. Detmer's hurting, too.
``Once again, I'm sitting here this week saying, `We didn't get it done in the end zone,' '' he said. ``When we got it down there in the red zone the last couple of weeks. I haven't gotten it done.''
The defense feels their pain.
``I point the finger at myself,'' said cornerback Troy Vincent, who had his worst game as an Eagle.
