Bob Ford | Birds execute - and deserve praise

It happened a little late, perhaps misjudging the actual end of the exhibition season, but the Eagles began to play for real yesterday.

"Now people are getting to see the team we all talked about," Donovan McNabb said.

That's exactly what was on display in Lincoln Financial Field, a team that matched the accepted preseason wisdom - explosive on offense, a little iffy on defense.

The parade routes still are unmapped, though. A 56-21 ritual beatdown of the Detroit Lions is still merely a thumping of a bad football team until proven otherwise.

Until the Eagles rack up yardage and points against a good defense, opening the kind of lead that props up their own defense, then yesterday's game is just a 536-yard tease.

That said, however, it is permissible to give a little "wow" about yesterday.

Wow.

The Eagles deserve that much. They deserve it after McNabb earned the highest rating possible in the arcane passer-rating statistic in which completions plus touchdowns are multiplied by HBO appearances, then added to career surgeries and divided by knee braces worn.

They deserve it because apparently Kevin Curtis can get open after all, because Brian Westbrook can come back from a tweaked knee, because the defense survived without Lito Sheppard and Brian Dawkins, and because they probably didn't deserve all the criticism that was heaped upon them the previous two weeks.

"Like I said before, You're never as good as you think and never as bad as you think," coach Andy Reid said. "Things get carried away and they snowball."

Detroit did a face-plant in that snow as the Eagles scored touchdowns on six of their seven full possessions in the first half, building a 42-21 lead that made the rest of the afternoon moot.

The Eagles' defense grabbed some of the momentum and, except for two long completions to Roy Williams, did well enough against a pretty decent Detroit offense.

"I hate to give up big plays, but I was happy," defensive coordinator Jim Johnson said.

But if the Eagles weren't necessarily as good yesterday as the 35-point winning margin would indicate, does that also mean they weren't as bad as they seemed in losing to Green Bay and Washington?

Reid never doubted them. At least that's his story and he's sticking with it. He took blame for the first loss, having flubbed the punt-return portion of the roster test. Then, after last Monday's loss to Washington, Reid declared that the Eagles were just "a hair off."

That seemed a ludicrous notion at the time, but he might have been right. It turned out to be the hair of a lion's mane, however.

"We're going to go and watch this film, and as soon as we're finished watching it, we're going to burn it up and throw it in the Detroit River," Lions safety Kenoy Kennedy said, an understandable if not ecological reaction to the outcome.

Kennedy and the rest of the Detroit secondary, particularly cornerback Stanley Wilson, saw enough of Curtis to last a lifetime. Just six days after being branded an average receiver who couldn't get downfield, Curtis gained 221 yards and caught three touchdown passes, including one for 68 yards and one for 43 yards.

"I practice against him all the time," Eagles cornerback Sheldon Brown said. "People ask me, 'How good is Kevin Curtis?' and I say, 'He's good. Don't look at me like I'm crazy. The man can play.' "

Overall, the game was a good reminder that all truths discovered in the first weeks of the NFL season are subject to further review. The Eagles didn't turn into the Raiders during the off-season, just as yesterday's win didn't transform them into the Patriots.

But it was a move in the right direction, and none too soon.

"It looked like we were getting killed out there," Curtis said, "but when we're practicing, we know we can be the team we were today."

The difference?

"It was just execution," McNabb said.

Just that simple, as if it had nothing to do with the opponent, or with the knee brace that McNabb discarded yesterday, or with the defense finally getting pressure on the other quarterback, or with wanting to get off the field quickly because of the hideous uniforms some marketing dope made them wear.

Maybe all of that.

"We know we can look like garbage one week and come back the next week and look great," said Brown, acknowledging that the work is not all done yet.

Yesterday, though, as McNabb suggested, the Eagles were finally the exciting team everyone had talked about. And for the first time this season, they were even worth talking about.

Sack Attack

The Eagles' defense sacked Lions QB

Jon Kitna nine times yesterday, second most in franchise history.

11

at Cowboys

Sept. 15, 1991

9

Sept. 23, 2007

December 16, 1984

8

(13 times)

Last time vs. Giants, Sept. 17, 2006

nolead begins

DE

Trent Cole

31/2

DT Brodrick Bunkley2

DE Juqua Thomas2

S     Quintin Mikell1

DT Mike Patterson1/2