EAGLES THRASH BUCS IN MCNABB’S RETURN

Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterback Donovan McNabb made his return to action after missing two weeks due to a broken rib, and never missed a beat as he threw for 264 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions.  More importantly, the Eagles manhandled the visiting Tampa Bay Buccaneers, winning by a final score of 33-14.  The Eagles improved to 3-1 on the season, while the Bucs dropped to a dismal 0-5.
 
NFL pointspread players who ‘invested’ in the Eagles as -16 home favorites cashed their tickets after the game.  The Eagles are now 3-1 against the spread, while the Buccaneers are 1-4 against the number.  The 47 points scored went OVER the total of 42.  The Eagles have exceeded the NFL total in all four of their games this season, while Tampa has gone OVER in 3 of 5.

After the game, McNabb talked about how quickly he returned to form:

"I felt pretty good. I thought it was a slow process. I didn't think the first touchdown would happen that fast. I was able to move around and be very effective doing different things, pick up a couple first downs with my legs. I was able to let defenses know that can happen."

Bucs’ coach Raheem Morris, seeming more over his head as an NFL coach with each passing week, did the only thing he’s done well so far this season—makes excuses for yet another non-competitive loss:

"Obviously we were outplayed today by a better football team. They outplayed us across the board, they made bigger plays than us. I tried to be more aggressive because we were playing a better team today. We've got strides to make. We have to go back and evaluate what we've done.”

Tampa Bay QB Josh Johnson threw for 240 yards and two touchdowns, though he was intercepted three times—two in the red zone.  After the game he too seemed overwhelmed with his job of playing quarterback in the NFL:

"I'm blaming myself right now. Three turnovers, two of them in the red zone. They were bringing everybody. They were bringing more than we had protection. They had an extra guy every time. The coaches in the locker room said they had never seen anything like that before.”

Philadelphia will travel west this weekend to play another struggling team, the Oakland Raiders.  The Eagles are -14 road favorites with the total set at 40’.  They’ll play at Washington the following Monday before returning home to take on the New York Giants on November 1.  Tampa Bay will host the Carolina Panthers this weekend.  The Bucs are a +3 home underdog with the total set at 39’.  Tampa Bay will play New England at home the following week before a bye.