Got a team that's just generally feeling the blues? Count on the Detroit Lions to bring a bit of sunshine to the darkest days.
When you're as desperate to feel better about yourself as the Eagles, dealing out a 56-21 thumping will get it done.
"It just adds a lot," running back Correll Buckhalter, who rushed for 43 yards and a touchdown, said of the Birds' dismantling of Detroit. "It just lets you know what type of team you can have when everybody is having fun and every man is taking it upon himself to give 100 percent.
"When you do that and you know the man next to you is doing that, great things can happen."
On the surface, the Eagles were never in panic mode. Despite unexpected losses to Green Bay and Washington to start the season, there were no signs of additional levels of stress.
Since the taping was done before the season started, the firestorm that arose from Donovan McNabb's HBO interview couldn't be attributed to the quarterback's reaction to his slow start.
Still, 0-3 was not something anyone associated with the Eagles could reasonably believe this team would be able to overcome.
A loss to the Lions would have made last week seem like a tempest in a teapot compared to the hurricane of controversy that would have blown into town.
In 2003, the Eagles overcame an 0-2 start and still made it to the NFC Championship Game, but 0-3 is something different.
The only time the Eagles started 0-3 under coach Andy Reid was his first season, when they finished 5-11 in 1999. A team with Super Bowl aspirations does not start 0-3 against three beatable opponents.
"I have been 0-3," Reid said. "I don't want to be there."
I'm not sure how many people actually believed Reid's spin after the Eagles' strong fourth quarter in last week's loss to the Redskins - noting it was encouraging.
But he looked to be on cue after the Eagles scored their most points since beating Detroit, 58-37, in the 1995 NFC wild-card game.
