Now THAT is what I call an 11-1 team. The Eagles showed up today in a big way, defeating the Packers 47-17. They looked like many Eagles fans have expected them to look all season, with their offense running on all cylinders and their defense getting the necessary stops in the red zone and taking advantage of all of the opponent's mistakes. (And talk about mistakes – the Pack did not have a good day. Was that Cesar Crespo running around in Brett Favre’s uniform?) McNabb threw 14 straight completions to start the game, which is a new franchise record. He ended the day passing for 464 yards and 5 touchdowns. T.O. caught the ball 8 times for 161 yards and one touchdown. The story of the game may have been Brian Westbrook, a crucial part of the Eagles offense last season whose injury was a huge reason why they lost the NFC Championship game to (vomit) Carolina. It still hurts to say that. Westbrook had 11 receptions for 156 yards and THREE touchdowns, and rushed for another 37 yards. The man can catch, the man can run – he was 100% unstoppable today.

Ok, enough gushing. I could revel is the glory of that ass-kicking for a long time.

At least until next Sunday. :)

Anyway, my dad called at halftime. At that point it was 35-3 and the game was all but over. My dad asks if I think there's any way Andy Reid lets McNabb and T.O. see a lot of playing time in the second half. "No way," I tell him. "He knows how injury prone this team is. He'll yank them and if Green Bay somehow starts closing the gap, he'll let them come back in."

When the second half began, and T.O. and #5 trotted back out onto the field, my boyfriend saw a look on my face that he hadn’t seen since the 8th inning of Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS. Don’t get me wrong – nothing would make me happier than beating the Packers by 18 touchdowns. Well, actually, there is one thing: Going into the playoffs with a completely healthy lineup. Imagine the possibilities! And so I spent the rest of the second half watching with my eyes half closed, screaming “Get up! Get up!” every time an Eagle went down. Hell, at one point a fan in a Cunningham jersey fell on his way up the stairs to get another beer and I just about had a heart attack.

Now that the game is over, and McNabb, T.O. and Westbrook have all their limbs intact, I can admit it – maybe I overreacted. Maybe.

It was the 4th quarter before Andy Reid put Detmer in the game for McNabb, and luckily for him, there were no devastating injuries, though Nate Wayne did reinjure his hamstring and Burgess left the game in the first half. But this game has put the fear in me, and in all Eagles fans. We all saw it today: when this team is healthy, they are a damn good football team. It’s the staying healthy that is the tricky part. And as recent history has taught us, when the Eagles start playing great football, someone is about to end up in a body cast.

Hopefully that fan in the Cunningham jersey will take one for the team.