NOV

28

The Eagles held electric New England wide receiver Randy Moss to a season-low 43 yards on Sunday. Moss still leads the NFL in yardage and touchdowns, and he seemed on pace for another solid day with five catches in the first half against Philadelphia, but he did not catch a single ball after halftime. Most importantly, he and quarterback Tom Brady never connected on one of the bombs that have come to symbolize their record-threatening 2007 season. "We did not want to give him a big one," defensive coordinator Jim Johnson said. "That was our number one goal. And we did a pretty good job of that." The Eagles' strategy called for safeties Brian Dawkins and J.R. Reed to keep Moss in front of them at all costs. Reed started in relief of safety Quintin Mikell, who suffered an MCL sprain against Miami. "They go over the top to Moss a lot, so I was going to make sure I took him out of the game," said Reed, who turned his kick returning duties over to Correll Buckhlater in the second half in order to concentrate on defense. "That worked and then they started throwing screens and went to a different game plan, but we took care of the deep ball." As Reed alluded, the Eagles' focus on Moss had consequences elsewhere on the field. Patriots wideout Wes Welker gutted the Eagles with short routes, catching 13 passes for 149 yards, both career highs. Also not insignificantly, the Patriots pulled out a 31-28 victory, improving to 11-0 and dropping the Eagles to 5-6, tied with five other teams one game behind Detroit for the second wild-card playoff berth in the NFC. Still the one: Eagles running back Brian Westbrook didn't have one of his bigger days, at least in his terms, but he still leads the NFL with 1,459 yards from scrimmage and 71 first downs. He's also fourth in the league in rushing with 901 yards. Westbrook led the Eagles with seven receptions against New England, going for 40 yards. He also rushed the ball 17 times for 52 yards and a hurdling, highlight-reel touchdown ...

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