Sunday, September 7, 2008 Philadelphia Eagles 38 Lincoln Financial Field St. Louis Rams 3 The Eagles produced their most dominant season-opening victory in 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Pts team history with a 38-3 triumph over the St. Louis Rams at Lincoln St. Louis 0003-3 Financial Field. Philadelphia scored touchdowns on their first two Philadelphia 14 7 10 7 - 38 offensive possessions of the game as they racked up 522 total yards of offense in the rout. Among the many stars on offense were QB Phila - B.Westbrook, 1 pass from McNabb (Akers) (6-80, 2:44) Donovan McNabb, who threw for 361 yards (his highest output ever Phila - L.Smith, 5 pass from McNabb (Akers) (11-82, 6:20) on opening day), RB Brian Westbrook (91 rushing yards and 2 total Phila - H.Baskett, 90 pass from McNabb (Akers) (3-92, 0:54) TDs), and a trio of wide receivers - rookie DeSean Jackson, Hank Phila - T.Hunt, 1 run (Akers) (9-56, 4:43) Baskett, and Greg Lewis - that each eclipsed the 100-yard mark de- Phila - D.Akers, 23 FG (4-4, 0:57) spite the absence of starters Kevin Curtis (sports hernia) and Reg- Phila - B.Westbrook, 6 run (Akers) (7-76, 3:51) gie Brown (hamstring). On defense, the Eagles registered 4 sacks, StL - J.Brown, 46 FG (6-52, 3:06) allowed just 40 yards to star RB Steven Jackson (14 attempts), and shut out the Rams on all 11 third down chances. McNabb capped TEAM STATISTICS STL PHILA off an 80-yard drive on the opening possession of the season with a First Downs 8 28 one-yard shovel pass to Westbrook. That score was set up by a 47- Net Yards Gained 166 522 yard completion to Jackson on the game’s 2nd play from scrim- Rushes/Yards 15/36 32/108 mage. Later in the first quarter, McNabb fired a strike to TE L.J. Net Yards Passing 130 414 Smith for a 5-yard TD and a 14-0 lead. The score looked to remain Att/Comp/INT 26/14/0 39/26/0 that way heading into the half as the Eagles were pinned at their Sacked/Yards Lost 4/28 0/0 own 10-yard line facing a 3rd-and-8 situation with 1:00 remaining in Punts/Average 10/48.5 4/41.5 the quarter. But McNabb dropped back and rifled a long completion Fumbles/Lost 1/0 1/0 to Baskett, who raced for a 90-yard TD. The Eagles added a 1-yard Penalties/Yards 9/66 4/41 TD run by Tony Hunt and a 23-yard FG by David Akers in the 3rd Time of Possession 24:50 35:10 quarter to build a 31-0 advantage. They upped their lead to 38-0 with 3rd Down Efficiency 0/11 8/14 a 6-yard scamper by Westbrook early in the 4th quarter. The Eagles shutout bid was foiled in the 4th quarter by a 46-yard field goal by RUSHING: EAGLES - B.Westbrook 19-91-1TD, L.Booker 5-9, Rams K Josh Brown. C.Buckhalter 2-5, T.Hunt 2-3-1TD, D.McNabb 1-3, K.Kolb 3-(-3) ... RAMS - S.Jackson 14-40, D.Hall 1-(-4). Notes: The 35-point win was the Eagles largest margin of victory on RECEIVING: EAGLES - D.Jackson 6-106, G.Lewis 5-104, L.Smith 5- opening day in team history, topping a 38-7 win vs. the Giants in 1964 39-1TD, J.Avant 3-45, H.Baskett 2-102-1TD, B.Celek 2-15, B.West- … The Eagles 522 total net yards was their highest opening day total brook 2-1-1TD, T.Hunt 1-2 ... RAMS - R.McMichael 5-77, S.Jackson in team history (the previous mark of 454 was set in 2004 vs. NY Gi- 3-34, D.Hall 3-13, D.Looker 1-21, T.Holt 1-9, D.Bennett 1-4. ants) … The Eagles scored a TD on their first possession of the sea- son for the first time since 2000 at Dallas … Jackson, Lewis, and PASSING: EAGLES - D.McNabb (starter) 33-21-361-0-3TDs, K.Kolb Baskett became the first trio of receivers to each top the 100-yd 6-5-53-0-0TD ... RAMS - M.Bulger 26-14-158-0-0TD. mark in a NFL game since Kansas City’s Derrick Alexander, Tony INTs: EAGLES - None ... RAMS - None. Gonzalez, and Sylvester Morris hit the trifecta at Oakland on 11/5/00. SACKS: EAGLES - S.Bradley 1.0, D.Klecko 1.0, Q.Mikell 1.0, The last time an Eagles trio recorded that mark was at Washington D.Howard 0.5, M.Patterson 0.5 ... RAMS - None. on 12/18/60 with Timmy Brown (5-128), Tommy McDonald (2-116), and Pete Retzlaff (5-110) … Jackson’s 203 all-purpose yards (106 EAGLES TURNOVER RATIO: Even (0 fumbles, 0 INTs/0 fumbles, 0 receiving & 97 punt return yards) were the most ever for an Eagles INTs) rookie in his debut. Ken Keller posted the team’s previous high of 192 at Los Angeles on 9/30/56 … Among Eagles rookie receivers on Weather: Sunny, 80 degrees opening day, Jackson’s 107 receiving yards was the second-highest Wind: WNW 11 mph total in team history behind Don Looney (115 yds. on 8 catches at Playing surface: Grass GB on 9/15/40) … Jackson was the first Eagles rookie WR to start Time: 3:00 on opening day since Calvin Williams in 1990 and was 4th rookie to start on opening day under Andy Reid, joining RG Shawn Andrews (2004), DT Corey Simon (2000), and RT John Welbourn (1999) … Bas- kett’s 90-yard TD grab gave him three of the top 10 longest plays in team history (89, 87, and 90-yard TDs). The last player to have 3 TD catches of 87 yards-or-more was 49ers WR John Taylor (97, 92, and 95 yards), who achieved that feat between 1989 and 1991 … The Ea- gles defense did not allow a 3rd-down conversion (11 attempts) for the first time since 12/21/02 at Dallas (0-12) … Westbrook moved past Duce Staley (4,807) and into 3rd place in team history in career rushing yards … The Eagles held Steven Jackson to his lowest rush- ing output with 10-or-more attempts since 12/24/05 (16-28 vs. SF). Monday, September 15, 2008 Dallas Cowboys 41 Texas Stadium Philadelphia Eagles 37 In a high-powered Monday night shootout at Texas Stadium, the 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Pts Cowboys outlasted the Eagles, 41-37. The game featured seven lead Philadelphia 6240 7-37 changes, 717 total yards of offense and numerous big plays, but the Dallas 14 10 7 10 - 41 deciding sequence of events occurred midway through the 4th quar- ter with Philadelphia holding a 37-34 lead. Perched at the Cowboys Phila - D.Akers, 34 FG (9-44, 4:16) 33-yard line and poised for more points, Eagles QB Donovan McN- Dal - T.Owens, 72 pass from Romo (Folk) (6-86, 2:58) abb fumbled a handoff attempt to RB Brian Westbrook that ended up Phila - D.Akers, 44 FG (10-48, 4:48) in the hands of the Cowboys with 8:52 to play. From there, Tony Dal - F.Jones, 98 kickoff return (Folk) (0-0, 0:13) Romo and the Cowboys marched 67 yards on 7 plays to take the lead Phila - B.Westbrook, 6 pass from McNabb (Akers) (1-28, 0:10) for good after a one-yard TD run by RB Marion Barber. The Eagles Phila - C.Gocong, fumble recovery in end zone (Akers) failed to drive past midfield on their final two possessions as they Dal - T.Owens, 4 pass from Romo (Folk) (8-56, 4:39) lost their final regular season meeting at Texas Stadium. The Cow- Phila - B.Westbrook, 1 run (Akers) (5-72, 2:24) boys took a 14-6 lead in the first quarter after a pair of big plays (a Phila - D.Akers, 22 FG (11-57, 4:57) 72-yard TD pass from Romo to Terrell Owens and a 98-yard kickoff Dal - N.Folk, 51 FG (3-45, 0:42) return by rookie Felix Jones) lit up the scoreboard. But the Eagles Dal - M.Barber, 17 pass from Romo (Folk) (9-79, 6:02) responded with two touchdowns early in the 2nd quarter that took Phila - B.Westbrook, 1 run (Akers) (11-74, 5:51) just 14 seconds of clock time. Eagles CB Asante Samuel first inter- Dal - N.Folk, 47 FG (8-40, 3:48) ception as an Eagle set up a 6-yard TD pass from McNabb to West- Dal - M.Barber, 1 run (Folk) (7-67, 4:17) brook. Then on the Cowboys ensuing possession, Romo fumbled the snap in the end zone, picked up the ball, but was hit and forced to TEAM STATISTICS PHILA DAL fumble again by Brian Dawkins. Chris Gocong pounced on the loose First Downs 23 20 ball in the end zone for his first career touchdown to give the Ea- Net Yards Gained 337 380 gles a 20-14 lead. After another touchdown by Owens, the Eagles Rushes/Yards 23/78 24/68 responded with what seemed like a 61-yard TD pass from McNabb Net Yards Passing 259 312 to rookie DeSean Jackson. A challenge by Cowboys head coach Att/Comp/INT 37/25/0 30/21/1 Wade Phillips, however, showed that Jackson actually flipped the Sacked/Yards Lost 4/22 0/0 ball the behind him before crossing the goal line.