What Might Have Been

Astute Eagle fans will instantly recall - and regret - the long McNabb-Westbrook catch and run down the Redskins sideline last week as the exact same play the Eagles ran - and didn't convert - during the NFC Championship vs. Carolina.

On that play from the ghost of conference championships past, it was Duce Staley on the same "bubble" route whose outstretched finger tips the pass fell just past. Staley's number was called because Westbrook had ruptured his tricep (or was it bicep) tendon against, ironically, the Redskins at FedEx Field in the last regular season game of that season.

Oh what might of been. In that Panthers game, Staley would have had a long, long gain...if not a TD. It certainly would have tilted the field position advantage and been worth at least a FG. For those McNabb-critics who complain he came up short in all those title games, it's worth remembering that Westbrook didn't play in that one - and it probably cost them the game. it certainly cost them on the play in question. Five years later Westbrook is still making that catch. Five years ago, Duce Staley couldn't.

the rest, as they say, is history.