Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Fred Taylor rushed for 103 yards and a
touchdown on 15 carries, as the Jacksonville Jaguars grinded out a 13-6 win
over the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field.
Maurice Jones-Drew added 77 yards on the ground and also had three catches
for 20 yards for the Jaguars (4-3), who bounced back from a 27-7 loss at the
hands of the Houston Texans.
David Garrard was 10-of-17 for 87 yards in the absence of the injured Byron
Leftwich, and picked up an additional 36 yards with his feet. In all, the
Jaguars racked up 209 yards on the ground and held the ball for 36:51 to the
Eagles 23:09.
Donovan McNabb ended 18-of-34 for 161 yards without a touchdown or an
interception for Philadelphia (4-4), which has dropped three in a row heading
into its bye week.
"The game was completely my responsibility for not getting my football team
ready to play," said Eagles head coach Andy Reid. "It was embarrassing on my
part and the job that I did and it trickled down to the players and the
coaches. You're not going to win football games in the National Football
League playing like we did there. We've got to get it together here and we've
got a week to figure it out."
Brian Westbrook collected 106 total yards, and Donte Stallworth returned from
a hamstring injury to grab three catches for 56 yards.
After a Philadelphia three-and-out and a 29-yard punt by Dirk Johnson on the
opening series of the game, the Jaguars took over at midfield and quickly
cashed in on the solid field position. Garrard passed just once on the scoring
drive but did rush twice for 19 yards before Taylor broke off a 15-yard TD run
to make it 7-0.
"We knew it was going to be a battle in the trenches today, just because the
wind was blowing the way it was," Garrard said. "They were coming at us the
whole time, and our offensive line was just steadfast. They didn't allow them
to do too much to us, but they were working their butts off trying to make
plays just like they are asked to do."
The Eagles offense continued to sputter from there and did not pick up a first
down until about six minutes into the second quarter.
Philly was still able to stay in the contest, however, as a 54-yard touchdown
run by Taylor late in the second was nullified by a penalty to keep it a
seven-point deficit at the half.
Josh Scobee's 40-yard field goal with 6:09 left in the third quarter extended
Jacksonville's advantage to 10-0. The visiting team again got the ball near
midfield and used Jones-Drew's six straight runs to move into scoring
position.
Philadelphia finally got on track on the ensuing possession, engineering a
13-play, 59-yard march that David Akers capped with a 25-yard field goal.
Scobee, though, countered with a 27-yarder to again make it a 10-point game.
The Jags relied heavily on the ground game again, using eight runs to two
passes, before Scobee split the uprights with 6:42 left in the contest.
The Eagles mustered a 28-yard Akers field goal with 31 ticks on the clock, but
failed to recover the onsides kick.
