"In think in the first half that the defense played very solid football," coach Andy Reid said. But he acknowledged that the offense struggled. "You can't have that many drops and expect to move the ball consistently. And we have to cut down on the penalties."
Donovan McNabb sat down for the evening at halftime with a dreary 11-for-24, 98-yard stat line, spiced by several ugly drops and a dumb decision on his part to throw a third-down pass when he was at least a yard past the line of scrimmage, with open field in front of him and no more than 2 yards to go for the first down.
"It was kind of pudding for the receivers," McNabb said, when asked about the first-half rain. "For me, it was about working on ball placement. I just tried to get the ball in a position where they could come down with it and possibly pick up yards."
Brian Westbrook gained all of 14 yards on five carries, behind a scrambled offensive line. It's probably time to drop the illusion that the Birds will somehow be OK if right guard Shawn Andrews doesn't shake his bout with depression and return to Pro Bowl form. Max Jean-Gilles was dreadful last night, with three penalties and a whiff on a block that doomed a promising screen play. Todd Herremans, starting at left tackle in place of Tra Thomas (back spasms), also seemed to struggle with run-blocking, as did sub Scott Young, who filled in at Herremans' normal left-guard spot.
The sole first-half good news was the play of the first-team defense, which surrendered only a field goal in a half of work against Carolina's offensive starters.
The Eagles' special teams once again were dreadful. Returns looked confused, balls squirted loose, penalty flags flew, and the only touchdown of the first half was gift-wrapped by an awful attempt at a fake field goal.
