With naysayers suggesting that the Red Skins would lose to the Philadelphia Eagles yesterday, the Washington Redskins not only showed up in the City of Brotherly Love, they showed out.
At least for the first half of the game.
Winning the game 17-12 before an audience that welcomed the return of its former son, Donovan McNabb, with a standing ovation during the start of the game, the Skins where determined to do battle. (At least for the first half of the game).In a game where all eyes were on McNabb and Michael Vick to see who would be the better quarterback on the day, it was McNabb who prevailed.
Vick would leave the game in the first half after being taken down by Kareem Moore and DeAngelo Hall. Reports later indicated Vick injured rib cartilage rib cage (no broken bones).
Vick had no comment after the game and waved off reporters wanting to get confirmation from the QB who showed a lot of promise the last few weeks. It wouldn't be the last tribulation for Philly's quarterbacks.
With Vick out of the game, having passed for 49 yards pre-injury and game exit, Kevin Kolb (McNabb's first string replacement) had to step up. On paper, it looked like did, passing 22 for 35 for 201 yards (surpassing McNabb), a touchdown (equalling McNabb), and an interception. Kolb also had numerous incomplete passes.
McNabb didn't have the best day either, but the win against his former team surely overshadowed that.
The veteran quarterback threw a mere 8 for 19 for 152 yards, with 1 interception, and a touchdown pass to tight end Chris Cooley.
Cooley, who stated earlier in the week on a DC sports talk show, said he believed his team "had a 75% chance of winning the game."
Standout Brandon Banks, who we reported was waived last week, returned to the squad this week, still showing what he can do on the field by running 57 yards on a punt return that actually put the Skins in scoring motion during the first quarter.
Welcome back, Brandon.
The Skins still have those "uh, oh" moments in the final minutes of games where it looks like the game will not go in their favor, and yesterday was no exception.
In the last second of the game Kolb threw a pass in the end zone that could have seen Philly win, were it not deflected and intercepted by Skin's CB DeAngelo Hall.
Yet, another nail biting moment reminiscent of the Dallas game where in the final seconds a pass from Tony Romo to Miles Austin in the end zone could have cost the Redskins the game, were it not for a holding call on the Dallas offense on Skins' Brian Orakpo.
Despite the way Sunday's game was won - it was still a win - putting the still very questionable Redskins at No. 1 in the NFC East.
On the win, while holding the game football, McNabb said "this right here defines team. And this is something we can feed off of going into the rest of the season. We are No. 1 in the NFC East, and we're going to stay up there."
That DJ Khaled song sounds pretty good right about now as I ask, Can you stay there? Can you stay there?!
Noteworthy
The Skins v Philly game was the highest-rated and most-watched TV program in the Washington, D.C., DMA for the week of Sept. 27-Oct. 3 earning a a 33.0 rating and a 56 share locally. It was the second most-watched Redskins game since 2008, behind only this season’s Week 1 contest against Dallas, which aired on NBC’s Sunday Night Football and delivered a record 37.0 rating and 57 share.
