Monday Night Lights

Intensity

Precision

"It's a thin line between love and hate..."

The Persuaders - Thin Line Between Love and Hate

Last night the Philadelphia Eagles managed to stay alive in the playoff hunt, by defeating the hapless Cleveland Browns 30-10 on a soggy Monday Night Football. This as every game from now on, was a must win for the 'Birds. Donovan McNabb threw for 290-yards with two touchdowns, Brian Westbrook had 53-yards on 16 carries, but it was his chasing of Brandon McDonald that made a big difference before the end of the 1st half. Had McDonald scored off the interception of McNabb, things could have been to say the least interesting. McDonald scored on his second interception, picking Kevin Kolb off in the 4th quarter...but by then it was too little, too late for the Browns, as their record falls to 4-10.

I had an opportunity to catch up with McNabb and Westbrook after the game. Here is the final score on our conversation:

GAME TIME: Talk about the 3-game win streak:

Donovan McNabb: "[They don't remember how you play] early in the season; they always remember how you are playing toward the end, and hopefully things will work out well, but we have to enjoy this win now and get ready for Washington next week...and see where it takes us."

GAME TIME: How do you feel about the way things have been the past couple of weeks?

Donovan McNabb: "I'm always happy. I'm happy to be out here just playing football and that's the most important thing. That's something that I told myself...that no matter what situation I'm in...I'm going to have a ball out here, and the people around me are going to enjoy it too! You will always see a smile on my face and hopefully that will [translate] to our play. But right now we are excited about where we are and we are going to enjoy this win, in this nice rain."

GAME TIME: What happened out there tonight, what did the Eagles do best?

Donovan McNabb: "It's always good when you kind of have a balanced attack defense that's really firing off. I think offensively, we are getting back to what we know and that's the most important thing. I thought we got a little away from things, but now we're on key and guys are making plays, getting back to business-trusting they guys, the guys trusting me. We're [putting] the ball out there and guys are catching it and getting up field. [We're] establishing the run and giving [Brian] Westbrook an opportunity. So, it's important that time of possession is something that we are keeping their offense off of the field and we are coming out with points. Yeah, we know we didn't score a touchdown from the red zone, but that's correctable. We've had that problem earlier on and we corrected that so we know that we can correct that and get going."

GAME TIME: What does the team have to do to make the playoffs?

Brian Westbrook: "We are just going to continue to play hard and win our next two games. At this point all we can do is control what we do on the field. We are going to go out there and play hard against the Redskins next week...try to get a win, and hope for the best."

GAME TIME: What was the team focus tonight?

Brian Westbrook: The focus was on us not playing the team's record, but playing the team. Based on their record they were not so good, but we saw what they could do on tape, and we knew that they were a good team. We had to go out there and give everything we had. We started out fast. We were not getting in the end zone like we should have, but we played well in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarters. Our defense got in the end zone for us and that always helps."

GAME TIME: How will the team correct the problems in the Red Zone?

Brian Westbrook: "We keep pushing. They did a couple of things out there against us, but we will keep pushing. We will continue to keep working. We will fix those problems."

GAME TIME: Talk about your younger brother's team the Washington Redskins:

Brian Westbrook: "They are a very good football team. They have not been playing well as of late, but they are still a very good football team, with a lot of talented players. We have to go down there and get a win in someone else's house and that is always a challenge for us."

GAME TIME: Talk about the play of Donovan McNabb over the past three weeks:

Brian Westbrook: "He's very accurate. He's been doing a great job of throwing the ball over the middle. We have not been going as deep as we had in the past. He is doing a great job of getting the ball to the receivers and that is what we expect. He continues to lead this team. He is the guy that we need and that is what we expect from him."

Anything can happen in the NFL, and at 8-5-1, the Eagles could very well make the playoffs. It's one game at a time...as they prepare to battle against the Redskins next week at FedEX Field. I don't make predictions, I just cover the games. The only thing I can say, is that it's going to be another classic NFC East fight to the finish, and the winner has an opportunity for the post season and the loser can start preparing for next season.