Philadelphia’s philosophy yesterday was simple: We’ll stop LaDainian Tomlinson and make someone else on the San Diego Chargers beat us. It worked, with a little help from a wild late play.

That play, a blocked field goal by Quintin Mikell that Matt Ware returned 65 yards for a touchdown with 2:25 left, allowed the Eagles to flee Southern California with a 23-20 win despite another poor showing from Donovan McNabb and the offense.

McNabb did log 287 passing yards, but it took him an Eagles record 54 attempts to do it, and he threw two interceptions. The slew of attempted passes, of course, is directly related to the ground, or the distinct lack thereof: Running back Brian Westbrook had 10 carries for 25 yards yesterday, which kept the Eagles dead last in the league at only 57.5 yards a game.

The story of the day, though, was how Philadelphia dominated Tomlinson, who came into the game averaging more than 108 yards per game on the ground. Cornerback Sheldon Brown and safety Michael Lewis made the Eagles’ game plan clear from the beginning by crowding the line of scrimmage and tackling Tomlinson for a loss on each of the Chargers’ first two offensive plays. Philadelphia did that all day, holding Tomlinson to just seven yards on 17 carries. Worse still for San Diego’s young running back was that the Eagles prevented him from scoring a touchdown in his 19th consecutive game, which would have broken Lenny Moore’s NFL record, which Tomlinson matched last week.

It doesn’t take long for NFL coaches to see – and copy – what works, so the Chargers should expect the defenses they face in coming weeks to focus on Tomlinson and take their chances with the passing game. That means quarterback Drew Brees will have to make opponents pay for crowding the line of scrimmage. Brees completed 23 of 40 passes for 299 yards yesterday, but he also tossed two interceptions and didn’t throw downfield consistently enough to make Philadelphia alter its defensive schemes.

At 3-4, San Diego is the best sub-.500 team in the league. The Chargers’ three wins came by a combined 59 points, while their four losses came by 12 points, and in all four they lost a fourth quarter lead. But close losses or not, San Diego has now lost as many games as it did all of last season, and in the crowded AFC, a playoff berth is looking less likely.

The Eagles’ 4-2 mark allows them to keep pace with the Redskins and the Giants in the NFC East, which has become a much more competitive division than anyone expected. (Dallas fell to 4-3 and into the cellar yesterday when Drew Bledsoe threw an interception on the second-to-last play to set up the Seahawks’ game-winning field goal.)

As for the Eagles, they might still be the NFC’s best team, but they won’t win the race for the NFC East without drastically improving the running game.

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Fifteen years after they last made the playoffs, the Cincinnati Bengals looked to take a huge step toward the postseason yesterday at home against AFC North rival Pittsburgh. Instead, a 27-13 Steelers victory showed the Bengals still have work to do before they can be considered among the NFL’s elite.

Cincinnati’s biggest problem is its defensive line. Coach Marvin Lewis has an aggressive defensive scheme, but aggressive defenses sometimes lack the discipline to clog holes on running plays, and yesterday Steelers running backs Willie Parker, Jerome Bettis, and Verron Haynes combined for 42 carries and 220 yards.

With that much success running, Pittsburgh didn’t need to throw. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, probably still sore from a hyper extended knee suffered two weeks ago, compiled only 93 passing yards on nine completions – six to tight end Heath Miller and three to receiver Hines Ward.

Miller, chosen in the first round of this year’s draft, has clearly become an important new weapon in the Steelers’ offense. Last season, Pittsburgh didn’t have a single tight end catch as many as 10 passes. Miller has 13 catches and three touchdowns in just the past three games, and he also blocks well on running plays.

Despite managing just two sacks, Pittsburgh’s pass rush frustrated Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer all day. Most teams run a 3-4 defense blitz mostly with their outside linebackers, but Pittsburgh loves to blitz from the inside, which creates matchups against centers and guards, who usually aren’t as deft at pass blocking as tackles. It worked well against Cincinnati.

The Bengals still haven’t shown they can beat a good team – their five wins have come against teams with a combined 9-22 record. At 5-2, they retained their lead in the AFC North over 4-2 Pittsburgh. But the Steelers remain the division favorites.

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Jeff Garcia made his first start with the Detroit Lions yesterday and led his new team to a 13-10 win over his old team, the Cleveland Browns.

Garcia lost his starting job in Cleveland last year, but he was clearly the better quarterback on the field yesterday, completing 22 of 34 passes for 210 yards and no interceptions. Cleveland’s new quarterback, Trent Dilfer, had a terrible day, completing 10 of 19 passes for 73 yards and three interceptions.

Garcia, looking fully recovered from his preseason broken leg, had the kind of efficient game the Lions hadn’t gotten this year from previous starter Joey Harrington.

Detroit isn’t a good team, but it is a first-place team in the dreadful NFC North. At 3-3, the Lions are tied with the uninspiring Chicago Bears atop the division. Lagging behind in nightmare seasons are the 2-4 Vikings and 1-5 Packers, who played a grudge match yesterday for cellar rights, with Minnesota emerging with as 23-20 victors.

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In a game featuring the NFL’s only remaining unbeaten team against the league’s only remaining winless team, Indianapolis 38, Houston 20, was a predictable final score. But the teams went into halftime tied at 14, and in the first half Houston exposed the way other teams will attack Indianapolis.

Texans running back Domanick Davis had 22 first half carries, and the Colts’ defense struggled to stop him. That kept Peyton Manning and the offense off the field and kept the score down.

In the second half, the Texans’ offense wasn’t effective, and the Colts’ offense was. Peyton Manning’s numbers – 21-of-27, 237 yards, two touchdowns and an interception – continue to lag behind his record-setting 2004 season. But Edgerrin James gained 139 yards, and Indianapolis is 7-0, with only their bye week left before a Monday Night matchup with their greatest nemesis, the New England Patriots.

Mr. Smith is a writer for the statistical Web site FootballOutsiders.com.