By The Skins of Their Teeth

Just win baby. Right?

The Eagles will get beaten up on talk radio this week for this performance against Washington. But remember this - they won. 27-24. Said so right there on the scoreboard.

There was plenty to not like about this game, and the Eagles really don't look very Super Bowlish right now. But I'm going to say it's okay. It might blow up in their faces at any moment, but, for now, it's okay.

Now, the preliminaries are done. The Eagles have lurched through the first phase of the season - the part in which your only job is to not get eliminated - and succeeded. There's a great bit of philosophy in John Feinstein's 22-year-old book Season On The Brink about the Indiana Hoosiers. Bobby Knight spent the first two months of the season trying to get his team "in position to get in position." All he wanted to do was keep improving and keep his chances alive.

Well, that's the job in today's NFL too. Keep improving. Don't get buried. Have a chance when the calendar turns to December. Check, check and check.

We'll focus on next Sunday's game in Atlanta over the next few days (and there's plenty to worry about - huge gaps in the defense, DeSean Jackson's concussion, whether the young 'uns will continue to mature, etc.). But in the meantime, the Eagles are 7-4 and in the playoff picture.

Now, the real job begins.