You would think after putting the smack down on the defending champion St. Louis Rams on Monday night the Redskins would have been ready for their battle with

the Philadelphia Eagles. A game that would determine who would take charge in the NFC East. Well, they were definitely ready for one thing.....to get embarrassed. The Redskins let one player beat them. Who was that one player? you ask. Donovan McNabb. McNabb was known as the "Hokie Killer" during his historic career at Syracuse, referring to the annual butt-whooping that he would lay down on Virginia Tech. Well, now he can officially be declared the "Redskin Killer".

I was extremely happy when Donovan McNabb was drafted number two overall in the 1999 NFL draft, the highest a black quarterback had ever been drafted. I was a huge fan of his during his career at Syracuse, but at the same time I knew at some point the Redskins would be in trouble. Turns out my hunch was right. The Eagles are without a doubt a team on the rise. Their defense is one of the best in the NFL. It is very hard to establish your offense against them. On offense they upgraded their offensive line tremendously, but only had two threats on the offensive side of the ball: McNabb and running back Duce Stanley. When Duce Stanley was out for the year with a foot injury a lot of people figured the Eagles would plummet. The Eagles have no serious threat at wide receiver, and, without a running game, no one figured they'd survive the loss of Stanley. But an easy schedule and a mobile quarterback have the Eagles sitting in first place. The Redskins defense matched up very well with the Eagles offense. The Skins after all have one of the best defenses in the NFL. With no receivers the Eagles could hardly throw on Washington's superstar corners Deion Sanders and Champ Bailey (Bailey had one interception), and, without Stanley, the Eagles had no running game against the Skins tough front seven. But if there is one weakness to the Redskins defense it is their inability to stop mobile quarterbacks. McNabb is not only a mobile quarterback; as soon as he crosses the line of scrimmage he becomes a running back. McNabb torched Washington for 125 yards rushing. That's right, a buck 25. The Redskins shut down every aspect of the Eagles offense except the one that mattered most. Of course James Thrash fumbling a punt didn't exactly help either, but McNabb single handedly beat the Redskins by himself and made it extremely difficult for the Skins playoff hopes. The Redskins still have to play the Giants, Cowboys and Steelers while the Eagles have a schedule so easy it would rank at the bottom of the BCS.

Now don't get me wrong. McNabb torched the Skins, and he'll probably be doing it for the next decade, but two factors seriously contributed to the Eagles win. The one person on the Skins defense that could have stopped McNabb wasn't on the field. LaVar Arrington suffered a concussion on a special teams play and was out for the game. LaVar was the one guy on the field strong enough and fast enough to keep up with McNabb. He doesn't try to tackle you; he tries to rip your head off. Trust me, a few hits from LaVar and McNabb would have thought twice before putting on the jets. The other factor was Stephen Davis not playing because of a fractured forearm. Davis is the best running back in the NFC, period. And there isn't a running back in the league that is more important to his team than Davis is to the Skins. Without Davis the Skins offense just can't function. The play action is non existent and the Skins were unable to burn the clock because they couldn't establish a running game. The Skins rushed for a total of 44 yards. Davis would have had that in one quarter. However, all the excuses in the world won't cover the fact that the Skins just flat out blew it, and their win over the Rams means jack crap now.