LANDOVER, Md. - DeSean Jackson bounced up and down, equal parts frustration and disgust. He had no business being this open, no business being a good 5 yards ahead of the last Washington defender downfield in the game's waning minutes, his team down by a touchdown.
Donovan McNabb did not see him. He threw a short pass to Reggie Brown that was swatted away.
Given all the drops, the low throws and overthrows of the Eagles' 10-3 loss to the Redskins yesterday, maybe it would not have mattered.
A few minutes later Jackson found himself almost as open down the left sideline, and this time McNabb found him. Jackson fell awkwardly and the ball ricocheted off his shoulder.
This time, McNabb bounced up and down, equal parts frustration and disgust. And when Jackson dropped a perfectly laid end-zone throw inside of the final minute, a throw that would have likely led to overtime, the quarterback clenched his hands together, stuck out his tongue, licked his fingers and looked up to the crossed stars.
"I'm asked to win the game every week," he had argued during the Eagles' resurgence when it was suggested that players like Brian Westbrook and Jackson and Brian Dawkins had become more prominent cogs to the Eagles' fortunes. And while the recent three-game win streak is just the latest refutation of his premise, McNabb's play in those final minutes reinforced another one:
He is often asked to rescue games like yesterday's.
Games in which in which injuries sludged up their high-octane offense, games in which intensity and focus disappeared. Dropped interceptions by Quintin Mikell and Pro Bowl-bound Asante Samuel cost the Eagles at least three points and as many as 10. Five receivers dropped passes. Some, like Jackson, dropped several. After converting 66 percent of their third downs in the three victories that resuscitated their playoff hopes, the Eagles were 3-for-14 (21 percent).
"It cost us an opportunity to get into that rhythm," McNabb said. "You can't win ballgames that way."
Truth is, there were times in the past when he could win ballgames like that anyway, when he found Freddie Mitchell in that playoff game against Green Bay, a game in which he was miserably inaccurate for the entire first half. If we have learned nothing about McNabb over the decade of his unevenly spectacular existence here, it is that he is often the personification of Forrest Gump's box of chocolates. One week, he's a great-tasting caramel. The next week, he's got that pink filling.
