Ready for prime time, just not the final minute of the first half

The Eagles held up their end of the bargain. They easily dispatched the Browns on Monday Night Football, 30-10.

Here's where their playoff hopes stand. As you might expect, shey still have to win their final two games, against NFC East rivals the Redskins and Cowboys.

But they still need help. If either the Falcons or Bucs lose a game and the Eagles win out, the Birds are in.But one of them has to lose. Best bet is the Falcons falling in Minnesota Sunday.

Last night didn't hold much in the way of excitement, except for one thing.

OK, I'm getting greedy. Yes, the Eagles blew out the Browns, basicaly playing no cruise control.

But can someone explain to me this team's problem with the final minute of the first half. They did it again last night. Let's just say that the hurry-up two-minute offense is not this team's forte.

Donovan McNabb, who otherwise played another dynamite game, again was up to his old tricks in the final minute of the half. Hurry up? This team takes an eternity between plays. Bottom line. They wond up on the 1-yard line with no timeouts left. That probably brought a smile to Andy Reid's face. That meant he couldn't risk a run that got stuffed and not having enough time to get the field goal team onto the field.

So Andy passed - and Donovan threw it right into the hands of a Brown DB. And again, the Eagles came within a herculean Brian Westbrook effort of having a scoring opportunity blow up in their face at the end of the half, leading to points to the othe rteam.

Westbrook took the angle and ran the guy down.

But why is it this team still cannot run a two-minute drill 10 years into the Reid-McNabb era?

Last night it didn't matter. The next two weeks they likely aren't going to be that lucky.

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