NFL Football

I'd say Donovan McNabb's job is in jeopardy. The Philadelphia Eagles gave the rest of the NFL a smidgen of hope Sunday night: they showed that the New England Patriots can be vulnerable. Asante Samuel returned an interception 40 yards for a touchdown and had a second pick to shut off a late Philadelphia drive as the Patriots beat the Eagles 31-28 Sunday night to run their record to 11-0. It was only the second truly competitive game of the season for New England, which trailed 28-24 midway the fourth period. A 69-yard drive, capped by Laurence Maroney's 4-yard run, put the Patriots ahead of the 22-point underdog. Then Samuel's second interception finished the job. James Sanders added an interception in the final seconds to officially close it out. But at least the Eagles were competitive against a team which had won its first 10 games by an average of 25 points. The Patriots had a seven-point lead twice, 7-0 and 14-7 but that was as large as either team led all game. And the Eagles led for much of it in a contest in which A.J. Feeley, a career backup replacing the injured McNabb at quarterback for the Eagles, outplayed Tom Brady for most of the game. Philadelphia cornerback Lito Sheppard turned Randy Moss, moving in on Jerry Rice's single-season mark for touchdown receptions, into nothing more than ordinary. It was the Patriots' smallest margin of victory this season, and it comes just a week after a huge blowout of the Buffalo Bills and their largest victory margin.

LaDainian Tomlinson reached another milestone and the Chargers got a much-needed win. Philip Rivers quieted the boo-birds and rediscovered Antonio Gates, throwing two of his three touchdown passes to the All-Pro tight end and leading San Diego to a 32-14 win over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. Tomlinson had a quiet day until his 36-yard run early in the third quarter pushed the reigning league MVP past 10,000 career rushing yards, making him the 23rd player in NFL history to reach the milestone and the third in less than a month. The Chargers (6-5) won for the fifth time in seven games following their shocking 1-3 start. This was the first time in a while that so many things went right for the Bolts. The Ravens (4-7) lost their franchise-record fifth straight game. Quarterback Kyle Boller was sacked four times.

The Minnesota Vikings know how to make Eli Manning look bad, and this time they did it in front of big brother, Peyton. With Peyton watching in the stands, Darren Sharper, Dwight Smith and Chad Greenway picked off passes by Eli and returned them for touchdowns in leading the Vikings to a 41-17 victory over the New York Giants on Sunday. The Vikings (5-6) have picked off Manning eight times in the two games, scoring on four of those picks and coming close on another. Sharper scored on a 20-yard return, Smith rumbled 93 yards and Greenway followed from 37 yards just a few plays later as the Vikings set a team single-game record for interception returns for touchdowns. Sharper's interception came after Manning and tight end Jeremy Shockey had a miscommunication on a blitz read. It seemed Sharper was the only one who knew where the pass was going. Smith's score came on a tipped pass and Greenway's TD came with Manning under pressure.

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