Winter squanderland: Eagles' failure to take charge is catching

LANDOVER, Md. - Maybe it's time to bench Donovan McNabb again, just to fire everyone up.

We kid, we kid.

McNabb was not the Eagles' biggest problem, or even close to it, on the day they were handed the controls to their playoff destiny and promptly drove off a bridge.

McNabb was what he has been a lot the last 4 years - victimized by seven drops and by inept playcalling, unwilling to try to ignite a spark with his feet, and in the end, not quite up to getting it done.

"We just didn't make any plays," said right tackle Jon Runyan, who is 35 and is quite possibly facing his last week in an Eagles uniform. At this point, their playoff hopes dangling on a ridiculously slim thread, Runyan isn't going to yammer nonsensically about pieces of pie, or suggest, as Eagles coach Andy Reid actually did, that neither the offense nor the defense was good enough to win on a day when the Redskins' only touchdown came at the end of an 18-yard drive set up by a turnover.

"You've gotta make the first one to make the second one. It just didn't happen," Runyan continued. "The biggest issue is, you've got to catch the ball. That's been the story most of the year, and it's popped up again. That's been the story around here for many years."

Not many fans will disagree there. Kevin Curtis (calf) and Hank Baskett (knee) were missed on a day when DeSean Jackson looked more like a rookie and less like a star, dropping the tying touchdown pass in the right corner of the end zone with 57 seconds remaining. If the defense could be faulted, it would be for the interceptions Quintin Mikell and Asante Samuel dropped, plays that could have provided a spark.

But there was another story that heavily contributed to the Eagles' painful offensive ineptitude in a crushing, 10-3 loss to the host Washington Redskins, who had lost five of their previous six and had nothing to play for, other than pride.

When the offense didn't click into gear right away, Reid forgot the "effective balance" that had fueled three successive victories.

Reid and/or offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg did not call a running play between 7:26 remaining in the third and 3:48 remaining in the game. That meant 15 successive pass plays, if you were keeping score at home, then a designed pass on which McNabb took off because everyone was covered on third-and-9 from his 21. He went out of bounds at the 26, well short of the first down. The next possession began with a 3-yard Brian Westbrook run.