Eagles seem delusional in loss to Redskins

The Redskins converted third-and-9 three times in the final half; the Birds, who got their only sack early, from Brian Dawkins, couldn't get to Campbell and couldn't cover the middle of the field, where both offenses set up shop.

Of Washington's 17 completions for 194 yards, nine were to tight ends (for 112 yards) and three more were to backs, for 20 yards, which left them with 62 yards' worth of completions to their wideouts, much of that on wide-receiver screens. Santana Moss was shut out, but it didn't matter; Portis ran for 145 yards on 29 carries, and the Eagles couldn't get the ball outside either, though McNabb was never sacked, and seemed to have time on most throws. Jackson caught one pass for 8 yards, a career low for the blazing rookie.

"Nothing fancy," Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson said. "They blocked us. We couldn't get off blocks . . . A lot of times we had an eight-man front and we didn't do a good job with it."

"Early on, we had a lot of energy," said Reggie Brown, who caught four passes for 84 yards. "We were executing, we were doing things right, we were making plays. I don't know where that went . . . I think they were pretty consistent in what they did, throughout the game. They didn't really show us anything we couldn't handle. They're a good defense, but we just weren't connecting."

It can get late early for the only team in the NFC East with more than one loss. The Birds travel to face San Francisco, which also is 2-3, next week. Then they have their bye. Reid is 9-0 the week after the bye, but he has lost six of his last seven going into it. *