If Donovan McNabb was a Red Sox fan, this football season might be completely different.

Throughout yesterday's 20-17 win over the Chargers, McNabb showed that he is still very much limited by his sports hernia. The pain noticably limits his mobility, as well as his ability to throw deep. At this point, even the most stubborn and optimistic of fans have to believe what some of us have believed all along: those two weeks of rest would have been better spent recovering from surgery.

Two season ago, after the Red Sox won the World Series, Keith Foulke opted not to have surgery to repair the cartiledge in his knee. The decision proved to be the wrong one, as Foulke went 5-5 last season with an ERA of 6.23 and 4 blown saves before succumbing to surgery in early July and again in early October. On his weekly radio show, Foulke said that he regretted his decision to forego surgery in the offseason. "At the time, I felt strong and said, 'No, I don't want it.' Looking back, I wish we'd done it early."

Had McNabb opted for surgery after week 2 or 3, there's no telling what the Birds' record would be. But we do know one thing: McNabb would be well into his 6-8 weeks of rest and rehab, and the odds of him returning, healthy, for the last 5 or 6 games of the season would be good. The Eagles currently hold a somewhat misleading record of 4-2: how much worse could it have been with Detmer in the pocket?

Yesterday, on a day when Jim Johnson's stellar defensive game plan was perfectly executed, the Eagles were a blocked-field-goal-returned-for-a-TD-AND-a-recovered-fumble away from losing the game. On a day when the Birds held LaDanian Tomlinson to 7 yards on 17 carries - something which no one has been able to do all year - the Eagles offense was unable to generate much of anything. They got the ball inside the San Diego 25 yard-line five times and only came away with one touchdown. Their final first down of the day came with ten minutes remaining - in the third quarter! If we truly think that Koy Detmer couldn't have give us anything more than that, then he's stealing a paycheck.

Thanks completely to the Eagles defense and special teams, a major bullet was dodged yesterday. Jeremiah Trotter was incredible, Quintin Mikell and Sheldon Brown stepped up in a big way, and Jevon Kearse...well, he may not have fully returned to form, but I finally noticed him during the game, and that has to count for something. But the offense continues to be a problem, and say what you will about Andy Reid's penchant for passing, scoring points will be a problem until McNabb conceeds and has surgery.

If only McNabb was a Red Sox fan....