Philadelphia Eagles at Seattle Seahawks

Sunday, November 02, 2008

*McNabb leads Eagles past Seahawks*

SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Donovan McNabb threw for 349 yards and tight end Brent Celek had a career day as the Philadelphia Eagles dominated the Seattle Seahawks, 26-7, on Sunday.

Tackle Todd Herremans checked in as eligible and caught a touchdown pass and David Akers punched in four field goals for the Eagles (5-3), who committed only one penalty while winning their third straight game to climb out of the NFC East basement.

McNabb completed 28-of-43 passes, including six to Celek, who set career highs with six catches and 131 yards. The third-year tight end entered the contest with eight catches this season and had never come through with more than three in a game. His 131 yards were the most ever by a tight end in an Eagles regular season game.

"The one thing that I've seen is (Celek's) work ethic, and he is not a guy that gets upset or complains in any way," McNabb said. "He just waits for his opportunity. Given the opportunity, he has flourished with that. Today we had him as the first read on some routes or he was an option. He picked up big yards, and then we went right back to him with the streak, which he didn't get into the end zone, but he got close."

Celek caught a 27-yard strike from McNabb in a second quarter drive that ended with Reggie Brown's 22-yard TD catch to pull Philadelphia even at 7-7.

"They were in man-to-man coverage a lot and it meant that we had to beat (their) guys," Celek said. "They were blitzing a lot. The line and the backs did a great job of picking it up and Donovan did a great job of throwing the ball."

McNabb found guard Todd Herremans on the next drive to give the Eagles the lead for good.

"We ran it practice on Friday and we had a lot of fun with it," McNabb said of Herremans' touchdown play. "I told him that if we get a certain type of defense, you will be wide open. I came out on a fake, and they jumped our main guys, and Todd broke free and his eyes got as big as a Seahawk. The only thing he could do was secure the catch."

"Todd Herremans' touchdown, we practice that a little bit," Eagles head coach Andy Reid said. "I was glad to see that he made the catch and that (Brent) Celek had a record day."

McNabb started the game with seven straight incompletions and was 3-for-13 for 57 yards and an interception in the first quarter before completing his next 13 attempts for 138 yards and two TDs.

"You look back in the first quarter, and things were just kind of off," McNabb said. "Just a couple of miscues. We were able to settle down and get things going and get a bead on what they were trying to do in certain situations, which we had an answer for."

Akers connected for two field goals in each the third and fourth quarters to complete the scoring.

Philadelphia held the Seahawks to 233 total yards, limiting them to just 4.5 yards per pass attempt.

Seneca Wallace started his third straight game in place of the injured Matt Hasselbeck and completed 12-of-28 passes for 167 yards, 90 of which came on a first-quarter touchdown pass to Koren Robinson - the longest play from scrimmage in Seattle (2-6) franchise history.

"(The Eagles) are aggressive, and we don't usually start off early in the game with a double move," Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said. "We tried it, and they bit, and it worked out well. Koren (Robinson) made a nice run after the catch."

The Eagles' defense allowed 88 yards for the rest of the half following the record reception.

"They really weren't doing too much defensively that we hadn't seen on film," Wallace said. "But we just didn't make enough plays and put ourselves in position to win the game."

The Seahawks have now lost three in a row at home for the first time since the 2002 season.