Adrian Fedkiw
Talk about having a case of the runs.
Donovan McNabb rushed for 125 yards and a touchdown, including a 54-yard scamper which set up David Akers’ go-ahead 30-yard field goal with 3:10 remaining, as the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Washington Redskins 23-20 in Week 13 of the 2000 season.
At the time, the 125 yards was the most for an NFL quarterback since the Chicago Bears’ Bobby Douglas put up 127 yards on the ground against the Oakland Raiders in 1972. And McNabb would’ve surpassed him had it not been for the three kneel-downs at the end of the game.
That Douglas mark has since been surpassed by the Atlanta Falcons’ Michael Vick (173 yards) and San Francisco 49ers’ Colin Kaepernick, who exploded for 181 yards against the Green Bay Packers in the 2012 NFC Divisional Playoffs.
Good thing McNabb had those legs. He threw for just 137 yards on 19-of-30 efficiency with a touchdown and an interception. No other Eagle ran for more than 25 yards and that was by Darnell Autry. He had been filling in for an injured Duce Staley, who suffered a season-ending foot injury in Week 5.
McNabb escaped and sprinted down the right sideline on that 54-yard run, but missed a wide-open Chad Lewis in the back of the end zone on third down later in the drive.
Jeff George, who was 25-of-43 for 288 yards and two scores, guided the Redskins into field goal range on the Redskins’ ensuing possession, but Eddie Murray missed a 44-yard field goal to the right. The defeat was the beginning of a four-game losing streak.
The Eagles moved into sole possession of first place at 9-4, a half-game ahead of the New York Giants because they had a bye week in Week 16. Yeah, you read that correctly, we definitely don’t see that anymore. Philadelphia lost to the Tennessee Titans a week later, while the Giants didn’t lose the rest of the way to take the division. New York then beat the Birds in the NFC Divisional round.
The Redskins got a second life on their opening drive when Damon Moore was called for a defensive delay of game on fourth down. Skip Hicks, starting in place of an injured Stephen Davis, galloped for 25 yards along the right sideline on a screen before George fired a 36-yard TD strike to who would become an Eagle a year later, James Thrash.
Thrash muffed a punt a few minutes later to give the Eagles the ball in prime field position at the 11 and McNabb found Jeff Thomason in the right flat off of play-action to knot the game at 7-7. David Akers added a field goal midway through the second quarter for Philadelphia’s first lead.
Champ Bailey intercepted McNabb later on in the frame after being in better position than Charles Johnson on a deep ball along the right sideline. The pick led to Stephen Alexander’s 19-yard touchdown in the back left corner of the end zone and a 14-10 Redskins lead.
A muffed snap gave the ball to the Eagles at the 9:16 mark of the third and they scored a play later on McNabb’s 21-yard touchdown run along the left sideline to swing the pendulum back into the Eagles’ favor. That play became infamous for McNabb’s deke on Mark Carrier at the 15-yard line.
The teams traded field goals over the next four possessions before Murray missed his 44-yarder to seal the win for the Birds.