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Redskins face struggling Eagles

Nov 11, 2007 - 11:52 AM Philadelphia (3-5) at Washington (5-3) Sunday 1:00 pm EST

LANDOVER, Maryland (Ticker) - The Washington Redskins look to add to the frustration of the Philadelphia Eagles when they host their NFC East rivals on Sunday.

The Redskins did a good job of frustating the Eagles in a 20-12 victory at Philadelphia in a Monday night game on September 17.

It was primarily the defense which was responsible for the win. Washington held Philadelphia without a touchdown, sacked Donovan McNabb three times and limited the Eagles to just 4.6 yards per pass play.

With the Eagles dink-and-dunk offense, McNabb completed 28-of-46 passes for 240 yards. Brian Westbrook did present some problems, amassing 162 total yards (96 rushing, 66 receiving).

Jason Campbell made enough plays for the Redskins, throwing for 209 yards and a touchdown. He made the game-changing play with nine seconds left in the first half, tossing a 9-yard TD to tight end Chris Cooley to give the Redskins a 10-6 lead.

Clinton Portis, who rushed for 69 yards, all but sealed things with 6-yard TD run less than five minutes into the fourth quarter.

The Redskins will be seeking another big game from Portis, who rushed for a season-high 196 yards and a touchdown as the Redskins rallied for a 23-20 overtime triumph last week against the New York Jets.

With the win, the Redskins reached the midway point with a winning record for just the second time since Joe Gibbs returned as coach in 2004. They also were 5-3 in 2005 en route to reaching the playoffs.

"We've finished the first half of it, we're 5-3 and that's kind of the way you evaluate it," Gibbs said. "We had two real disappointing losses in there and we had two overtime games where we came back to win."

Washington will be looking to improve offensively in the second half of the season. The Redskins have scored just two offensive touchdowns in the last two games and 14 on the season. A wide receiver has yet to catch a TD for Washington this year.

While Washington is two games behind the Dallas Cowboys and one behind the New York Giants in the division, the Eagles have little hope of reaching the postseason.

After winning the division for the fifth time in six seasons in 2006, the Eagles reside in the basement of the division. They have lost all three of their divisional games by at least eight points.

In front of a national television audience, the Eagles suffered an embarrassing 38-17 home loss to the Cowboys last Sunday night.

Donovan McNabb was one of the chief culprits against the Cowboys, losing an early fumble and throwing a pair of interceptions.

"It's frustrating," McNabb said. "It's not like we're playing bad, we're just not capitalizing on those opportunities we're given, whether it was in the red zone or eliminating mistakes.

"It's just not coming together the way we want it to. You can't go out and play well one week and then the next week you find yourself on the short end of it. We need to get a winning streak going and it has to happen now."

A winning streak looks like it may never come for the Eagles, who still have road games left against the unbeaten New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints and Cowboys.

Washington is looking to sweep Philadelphia for the second time in three seasons.