On Philadelphia's last offensive play of Monday night's game with Atlanta, Eagles wide receiver Terrell Owens ran down the right sideline, but Falcons cornerback DeAngelo Hall was not just in coverage, he was so tight he was in Owens's shadow.
Owens, who is 5 inches taller than Hall, did not even have room to raise his arms to catch a pass.
Back upfield, Donovan McNabb barely had enough time to get his right arm up to pass. He was on his heels when he let the ball go and then on his back, knocked down by Falcons tackle Rod Coleman.
The pass was underthrown and incomplete, and the Eagles were losers, 14-10.
That final play was a snapshot of the entire game. The Falcons, using an eight-man front, harassed McNabb and ruined his rhythm while covering his targets downfield.
"We controlled the tempo of the game," said Atlanta linebacker Ike Reese, who played for Philadelphia for seven seasons before signing with the Falcons in the off-season. "Holding that offense to 10 points is not an easy thing to do."
The Eagles, meanwhile, were not helped by having to play without Jeremiah Trotter, their Pro Bowl middle linebacker, who was ejected along with Kevin Mathis, the Falcons' backup cornerback, after they exchanged punches at midfield before the game.
The Falcons did not let the Eagles' three most potent weapons -- McNabb, Owens and running back Brian Westbrook -- beat them. Hall kept Owens (seven catches, 112 yards, no touchdowns) from making the big play, and different linebackers took turns punishing Westbrook (12 carries, 47 yards) as he tried to get outside.
"They have two playmakers," Reese said. "You know where the ball is going the majority of the time. You make sure you cover them."
After their off-season feud, Owens and McNabb slapped hands with each other in warm-ups, but they never connected on a play that could have turned the game around. Owens's longest gain was for 23 yards.
McNabb completed 24 of 45 passes, threw an interception and turned the ball over on a sack when Hall suddenly appeared in coverage and forced McNabb to hold the ball too long, resulting in a hit and fumble.
Eagles coach Andy Reid said Tuesday that McNabb woke up stiff from the numerous hits he took from the Falcons' rush. Officially, McNabb was sacked twice, but he was knocked down a number of times.
"We knew he was hurt," Reid said. "It was not nearly as bad last night when he was playing as it was when he woke up this morning. It stiffened up on him. But he felt comfortable playing. He never said a word about it; he just went out and did his thing."
On another play, McNabb was under pressure when he threw a pass across the field to Westbrook that was ruled a lateral and recovered by the Falcons.
"They gave us an eight-man front, and normally when teams do that, we are very successful throwing the football," Reid said.
The Falcons were able to concentrate on rushing McNabb and containing Westbrook and the other receivers because Hall did not need a lot of help covering Owens.
Hall, a first-round draft pick in 2004, chased Owens from one side of the field to the other and down both sidelines. The Falcons did not have to ruin the balance of their defense to help Hall on every snap.
"We didn't change the defensive scheme, we just said, `He's your man, deal with him,'" Atlanta linebacker Ed Hartwell said. "We didn't double-cover anybody, and that was big."
The Eagles might not have needed to come back if David Akers, a three-time Pro Bowl place-kicker, had not misplaced his touch. Akers, who ranks second in league history in field-goal percentage (83 percent), missed two field-goal attempts of 49 yards. He also made a 44-yarder.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite