Eagles all but dead for playoffs after tying Bengals in Cincinnati

CINCINNATI - Andy Reid tossed aside the defibrillator paddles and turned off the life-support machinery at 4:51 p.m., Eastern Standard Time.

Actually, it was just his headset that Reid discarded at the end of the Eagles' 13-13 tie (read: loss) yesterday at Paul Brown Stadium. Same difference, though.

The Eagles' playoff hopes died in Cincinnati. Not officially, perhaps, but every other way. Reid, for the first time in memory, looked lost and haunted afterward, instead of unreadable or obdurate.

"I've never been in a tie, so I don't know how this works in the standings," Reid said, after the Eagles' first deadlock in exactly 11 years, since Nov. 16, 1997, 10-10 at Baltimore. It was the NFL's first tie since Nov. 10, 2002, Pittsburgh at Atlanta, 34-34. "I know it's not good enough. We need wins, and this is not a win."

Donovan McNabb threw 58 passes without ever getting on a roll, completing just 28, looking as ineffective and ordinary as he has ever been when healthy. McNabb compiled a 50.9 passer rating amid three killer interceptions, and acknowledged afterward he'd had no idea there wouldn't be a second overtime at the end of what had to be the ugliest 15-minute extra period in the history of the NFL.

Just a guess: You'll be hearing a fair amount of discussion of McNabb's obliviousness over the next few days. The quarterback was not the only Eagles player who thought the game was going to keep going when the final gun sounded. But none of the other guys who didn't know were taking the snaps from center in the dying minutes.

The Eagles faced third-and-1 three times yesterday and threw three times, all three attempts incomplete. Bengals players talked afterward of how easy the Birds' tendencies were to decipher. Unable and seemingly unwilling to run the ball on what was the NFL's 25th-ranked rushing defense coming into the day, the Eagles gained 68 rushing yards (on just 18 carries) and spent the whole afternoon trying to establish offensive rhythm by throwing over and over again into a swirling crosswind and a blitzing, stunting defense that came in ranked 10th against the pass - a very good ranking for a unit on a 1-8 team.

The Birds would have lost if Bengals kicker Shayne Graham hadn't faded a 47-yard field-goal attempt wide right, the ball plopping to the turf with 7 seconds left in OT.