A 2-TD hole after 1 Quarter

Even with a new offensive play-caller, the Redskins first-quarter woes continued.

It took the Eagles only four plays to score. Philadelphia ran a fake dive to running back Brian Westbrook, who barreled into the right side of the line. Receiver DeSean Jackson took the handoff from Donovan McNabb and ran around the left end, sprinting down the sidelines 67 yards into the endzone. The Redskins’ secondary, especially free safety LaRon Landry, bit too hard on the fake and had no chance at catching up to Jackson.

The scoring drive consisted of four plays, 81 yards and lasted just one minute, 54 seconds.

The other score of the quarter came courtesy of the Eagles’ defense. On 2nd-and-8 from the Redskins’ 11-yard line, Jason Campbell’s pass was batted at the line of scrimmage by safety Quintin Mikell. Linebacker Will Witherspoon pulled it out of the air and returned it nine yards for a touchdown, giving Philadelphia a 14-0 advantage.
The game was supposed to debut the Redskins’ new offense, under the direction of new play-caller Sherman Lewis. Through one quarter, they didn’t fare much better than the previous version. They had just 47 yards of offense in the opening quarter on four possessions.

Offensively, the Redskins had three first downs in the opening quarter – one on their first offensive play of the game, an 18-yard pass to Chris Cooley, another aided by a defensive holding penalty on Philadelphia and the third coming in the final seconds of the quarter via a pair of Clinton Portis runs. Portis finished the quarter with 18 yards on six carries. With the costly interception, Campbell finished the quarter with a 24.3 passer rating.

The Eagles suffered one major loss. With 7:03 to play, Westbrook turned a first-down dive play into a five-yard gain. On the tackle, though, linebacker London Fletcher’s knee inadvertently hit the back of Westbrook’s head. The running back lied motionless on the field for several minutes. His brother, Redskins cornerback Byron Westbrook stood over him, as trainers tended to the injured running back. When other players were waved away, Eagles’ coach Andy Reid motioned for Byron to remain.

Brian Westbrook eventually walked off the field, and but he suffered a concussion on the play and is not expected to return.

There were two notable lineup changes. On defense, safety Chris Horton started in place of Reed Doughty and saw the majority of the playing time in the opening quarter. And on offense, Fred Davis started as the Redskins opened up with a two tight end formation.

Cornerback DeAngelo Hall missed the first play of the Eagles’ second offensive drive while a visor was taken off his helmet after a conference with Hall, secondary coach Jerry Gray and field judge Clete Blakeman.

Defensive tackle Cornelius Griffin left in the first quarter with a sprained elbow, but returned to the sideline. Cornerback Byron Westbrook and linebacker H.B. Blades suffered knee injuries in the first quarter. Their returns are questionable.

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