Donovan McNabb entered the Philadelphia stadium to a standing ovation and left to a chorus of boo and a 17-12 win. It was hardly the revenge performance he was hoping for, but it was good enough to get the ‘W’ and put his team at the top of the NFC East, for now.

What was headlined to be a great quarterback dual quickly turned into a defensive game and a turtle race.

With Michael Vick leaving in the first quarter after a chest/rib injury, the Eagles explosive offense was put into the hands of McNabb’s replacement, Kevin Kolb. What followed was a sluggish passing attack and a lackluster second half.

This game was not even close to living up to the hype and right away you could just tell that it wasn’t going to play out as scripted.

The dominating performance by Jeremy Maclin and DeSean Jackson went right out the door as soon as Vick left the sidelines and entered the locker room for X-Rays. Latest on Vick’s injury BTW is possible broken ribs and an MRI is scheduled Monday. Back to ‘Mac’ and ‘Jack’ the two receivers combined for a mere total of 36 offensive yards and were held out of the end zone for the first time this season.

The Redskins, on the other hand, came into this game as the worst team in the league in 3rd down conversions, and ended up converting 5-11 of their opportunities and were even able to complete a 56-yard pass on a 3rd and 14.

The majority of Kolb’s 22 completions came from 3 to 5 yard draws and screens that slowly racked up to his 201 yards. He finished with a 76.0 passer rating, 1 touchdown and an interception on the very last play of the game, a Hail Mary that bounced right off the hands of one of his receivers. His stats aren’t that bad, but the Eagles offense was anything but explosive and did little to dismantle the Redskins defense.

Kolb wasn’t the only one wearing green who had a mediocre showing though.

Donovan McNabb looked every bit of an average quarterback in this game, connecting on 8 of 19 passes and puttering up a total of 125 yards through the air. He finished the night with a 60.2 rating, his lowest passer rating and lowest completion total in more than 20 games.

The one thing to be said for McNabb is that he was able to use his feet to find the first down at some crucial times during this game. It wasn’t exactly Vick-like, but he did manage to pick up 39 essential yards, including a big run in the fourth quarter that allowed his team to chew down the clock.

And even though this game was painfully slow, it was still close enough to keep fans watching, and wondering ‘what if’ Vick didn’t get injured?

Would the Eagles win that game? What would the score have been? Would we have had the offensive shootout that we were all hoping for?

Nobody can answer those questions, but that’s just a fact of life for an NFL fan.

Used with permission of the author.

Logan Rhoades is a Los Angeles-based writer and contributor to Sports Climax. With an extensive knowledge of ESPN topics and celebrity gossip, he is known for mixing sports and pop culture to entertain his readers. Follow him on Twitter @loganrhoades.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

It doesn’t matter who you root for this weekend, the game of the week is going to be the Washington Redskins vs. the Philadelphia Eagles. With a plot good enough for a Christopher Nolan screenplay, this matchup looks to be as exciting as Ladainian Tomlinson’s Electric Glide music video.

Since the first game of the season, these two teams have completely flipped positions.

McNabb and the Redskins started the season off strong with a close win against the Dallas Cowboys on Monday night, but are now entering this weekend with back-to-back losses.

On the flip side, the Philadelphia Eagles are now 2-0 after losing their season-opener against the Green Bay Packers, thanks in large part to the return of the Michael Vick show.

With the majority of the media focusing on the return of both quarterbacks, McNabb to Philly and Vick to the starting position, the real question remains which quarterbacks will show up on Sunday.

Will we see the Pro Bowl McNabb or the Super Bowl puke McNabb? Will we see the same Michael Vick that we saw in week two or the frustrated Vick who thinks with his feet?

Despite how they have performed so far this season, we cannot overlook the fact that these two stars tend to lose their shine in the heat of the moment.

Yes, Vick is playing ungodly well lately, but we can hardly compare the Detroit Lions and the Jacksonville Jaguars to a team out for blood. The Washington Redskins, along with Donovan McNabb, will come out of the tunnel with the taste of vengeance on their minds and a fire in their hearts.

Unfortunately for them though, the Eagles are the better team.

With one of the best wide receiver duos in the game (DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin), Vick has transformed into a pass-first quarterback. He is reading the field better than he ever has and checking all of his options before going for the run.

His ability to scramble in and out of the pocket to stay away from pressure is allowing him to elongate plays and tear apart secondaries. And with a strong running back in LeSean McCoy, the defense has to respect the ground game as well.

What all of this means is that the Philadelphia Eagles offense is that they’re tough to stop. That doesn’t mean they can’t be though.

The Redskins know that they have to pressure the Philadelphia offensive line and get to Vick early to set a tone for the rest of the game. If they can do this and upset the timing between Vick and his receivers, then the Redskins have a chance to pull of a road win in front of the one of the harshest crowds in the NFL.

It doesn’t matter if Donovan McNabb has the best game of his life on Sunday. If the Redskins allow Vick to find enough time to set his feet and throw the ball, then the Eagles will walk away from this game with a victory and a great start to their season.

Used with permission of the author.

Logan Rhoades is a Los Angeles-based writer and contributor to Sports Climax. With an extensive knowledge of ESPN topics and celebrity gossip, he is known for mixing sports and pop culture to entertain his readers. Check out his blog and Follow him on Twitter @loganrhoades.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC