BY MIKE WOLVERTON SPORTS GUY Last night’s game was there for the taking, but it didn’t get took. Here’s my positive spin: the Eagles don’t start playing their best football until their backs are against the wall (see last year, the Garcia year, more). Well, their backs are much closer to the wall now than they would have been if they had finished off the Cowboys last night. Another positive: tackle Jason Peters got hurt, got x-rayed, got re-taped, sucked it up and got back in there. And Peters played a good second half. This in contrast to the game in Oakland, where an injured Peters looked capable while standing on the sidelines but never came back in. He took some crap for that, but got the message. Hats off, Jason.
More surprising positivity: yes, it was disappointing to lose such a winnable contest in such a key game. Yes, they also lost to the Raiders. But let’s look at the Eagles’ season after eight games. They’ve played 2+ games without McNabb and four games without Westbrook, and yet would make the playoffs if they started tomorrow. Maclin is emerging, Jackson is a star, and Kolb has shown himself to be capable. They really only have to fend off the Giants to make the playoffs, and the stiffs from New York just wheezed their way to a fourth straight loss (yes, I just dismissed the Packers, 
Bears and Panthers). If the Eagles beat the Giants on Dec. 13th and win four others along the way (Bears, Skins, Niners and SD/Den) then they’ll make the playoffs. I hope I don’t run out of Eagles Kool-Aid before then.
Lastly, why do players insist on “helping” their teammates with their celebration after a touchdown? At the very moment that the Eagles took their first (and only) lead last night (12-10 in the 3rd quarter), Jason Avant gave a little of their momentum away. He came up behind touchdown scorer Brent Celek as Celek raised his right knee in the air. Avant Celek was doing the Captain Morgan Guy). What was Avant thinking? “I know I am killing my team, but I’ve got to get in on the Captain Morgan!” grabbed his leg and lifted the knee a little higher, drawing a 15-yard penalty for “demonstration”. First of all, what was that? (Actually, I went back and looked at it and about the fourth time I figured out that