Eagles 15 Steelers 6

In a game that Stillers QB Ben Roethlisberger spent a good portion of the game on his back (sacked nine times) or running for his life, in what ultimately became a game of field position, the Eagles prevailed over their cross state rivals 15-6.

QB Donovan McNabb, delayed his return in the second half, and backup QB Kevin Kolb, got a chance for a few snaps. Despite McNabb's delayed return, he was pretty effective today, completing 24 of 35 passes, but only for 196 yards, and one touchdown. With that TD pass, McNabb surpassed infamous QB Ron Jaworksi for most TD passes by an Eagles QB (176). Most of McNabb's passes were short dump offs, and anytime he tried throwing the long ball, it was too long, too short, picked off, or off target.

One big concern is the apparent ankle injury to RB Brian Westbrook who left the game early in the first quarter. Looking at replay's of the injury, it looks like he stepped on one of his own players and may have tweaked it a little bit, but perhaps there is more to it, as he didn't return to the field of play for the remainder of the game.

Any questions that were raised (including your's truly) about Brian Dawkins ability to keep pace, was put to rest as he came up big today, compiling five tackles, two assists, one sack and one forced fumble.

My player of the game was former Australian rules football player turned NFL punter Sav Rocca, who came up with a couple of booming punts three of which pinned the Stillers deep in Eagles territory, one of which led to a two point safety. Kicker David Akers secured the victory with a late 31 yarder field goal

Overall a pretty lackluster offensive performance by both teams, the Eagles defense came up big today, getting in quarterbacks faces, and holding the Stillers less than 200 yards of total offense.

Next week the Eagles travel to Chicago to face the 1-2 Bears in a Sunday night prime time game.

Let's hope the Westbrook injury isn't to serious, Buckhalter and Bookers are good backup and role players but the absence of Westbrook was definitely felt today.

--gfo