Game Preview
Philadelphia Eagles at Cincinnati Bengals
sunday, november 16, 2008 - 1:00 pm
*Eagles look to rebound against woeful Bengals*
Philadelphia (5-4) at Cincinnati (1-8), 1:00 pm EST
CINCINNATI (Ticker) -- After suffering yet another close loss to an NFC East opponent, the Philadelphia Eagles will try to make some hay outside the division.
With their division title hopes all but over, the Eagles visit the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday in the first of three straight games outside the NFC East.
Philadelphia (5-4) doesn't see another division foe until playing at the New York Giants on December 7 - and that may be a good thing.
The Eagles dropped to 0-3 this season against their NFC East rivals following last week's 36-31 home defeat to the Giants.
Philadelphia allowed New York to rush for 219 yards, and coach Andy Reid was criticized for his play-calling at the end of the game.
The Eagles let another potential win slip away. While Philadelphia's five victories this season have come by an average of 18 points, its four losses have been decided by an average of 4.8 points.
Now three games behind the Giants in the division, the Eagles are in a scramble just to make the playoffs. They trail NFC South contenders Tampa Bay and Atlanta by one game in the wild card race.
"I know what I have as far as coaches and players, and I know what we have to do," Reid said "And we're going to go do it."
However, the Eagles also may have a reason to be worried about the health of running back Brian Westbrook, who was bothered by rib and ankle injuries earlier in the season.
Westbrook was limited to just 26 yards on 13 carries against the Giants and caught only three passes for 33 yard. On the Eagles' final series, he failed to pick up a first down on consecutive carries on 3rd-and-3 and 4th-and-1.
"I'm not going to say he's 100 percent, but at the same time, he's good enough to where he can be effective as long as we take care of business up front," Reid said.
The fortunate thing for the Eagles is that they have a chance to get well against the Bengals (1-8), who finally won their first game of the season last week with a 21-19 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Ryan Fitzpatrick threw a pair of touchdown passes to Chad Johnson, allowing the Bengals to avoid the second-worst start in franchise history. In one game, Johnson doubled his output for the season.
Fitzpatrick will make his fifth consecutive start Sunday as Carson Palmer remains sidelined with an injured right elbow.