Eagles edge Niners in sloppy Sunday night game

It wasn't pretty, but I'm pretty sure the Eagles will take a win any way they can get it. In a sloppy Sunday Night game, the Eagles barely edged the Niners, 27-24, in a game filled with turnovers and mental mistakes.

Kevin Kolb had a strong first half for the Eagles, completing nearly all of his passes as he led the Eagles on three scoring drives. In the second half, things didn't quite go as smoothly, as Kolb was erratic and the Eagles offense failed to score a touchdown. While he didn't have any interceptions, Kolb did force a few passes into coverage and was still reluctant to look more than a few yards downfield even when he had time to make a throw. It's safe to say, while he did have his moments, Kolb didn't do enough to earn back the starting job from Michael Vick.

Of course, the glue that's holding the Eagles offense together right now is LeSean McCoy, who, broken ribs and all, rushed for 92 yards and a touchdown and added 46 yards receiving. For most of the night, McCoy was the best player on the field, darting through whatever small holes the line created and often picking up an extra yard or two after contact. While he did make a mental error late in the game, falling down before picking up a critical 1st down, McCoy gets a pass because of how dynamic he was throughout the night.

As for the Eagles defense, they did an excellent job shutting down Frank Gore, who managed only 52 yards on 18 carries, but they gave up way too many yards in the passing game and made Niners quarterback Alex Smith actually look competent. Clearly the Birds were missing Asante Samuel because whenever Smith had time to throw, he picked the Eagles secondary apart. Although the Eagles did manage to pick him off twice, if Smith was anything better than just a below-average quarterback, the Eagles would have been in serious trouble.

The win puts the Eagles at 3-2 as they head back home to take on a good Atlanta team. If they want to beat the Falcons, they are going to have to play much better than they did on Sunday night. With the schedule that gets incredibly difficult after their Week 7 bye, the Eagles are going to have to be better on both sides of the ball if they want to stay competitive.
(AP PHOTO)