Too little, too late? McNabb, Eagles feast on Cardinals

(AP Photo/Tom Mihalek)

What a difference a week makes, huh? Four days ago, the entire city of Philadelphia was ready to ship Donovan McNabb and Andy Reid out of town after another terrible game filled with poor execution and bad decisions. Now, after crushing the Cardinals on Thanksgiving Day, the Eagles have injected a little bit of hope into an otherwise lost season.

The Eagles were the perfect dessert to our Thanksgiving meals as they romped the Cardinals 48-20. McNabb set the tone early with a strong first drive that led to a touchdown and then the defense stepped up and picked off Kurt Warner twice in the first quarter as the Eagles jumped out to an early lead and never looked back.

While much will be made of the resurgance of Donovan McNabb in this game, Brian Westbrook also had one of his best games of the season, rushing for 110 yards and tying a team record with 4 touchdowns. We saw the Westbrook of old tonight as he showed very little effect from the injuries that have been slowing him down all season long.

The defense also deserves credit for slowing down the Cardinals passing attack. The Eagles blitzed early and often and threw off Warner's timing with his receivers. By getting ahead early, the Eagles also turned the Cardinals into a one-dimensional team as they abandoned the run, and a Jim Johnson defense can always tee off on a team when they drop back to pass play after play.

Count me amongst those that didn't believe the Eagles would turn it around. I picked the Cardinals to win this week and even benched Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook in one of my fantasy leagues. Boy, do I feel stupid now. McNabb may have saved his career in Philadelphia, but one has to wonder if he stepped up amongst all the adversity or if he played well because all the pressure was off the team. When the pressure is on McNabb, we have all seen how he crumbles. With the Eagles likely out of the playoff hunt, the pressure is completely gone.

What a great way to cap off Thanksgiving. After stuffing ourselves with food we got to relax and digest and watch our football team crush a pretty good Cardinals team. Let's see if this momentum can carry them to a possible run that puts them back into the playoff picture.