10/14 — Good news: The Jets' defense opens the second half by pitching a three-and-out, its first of the day, at the Philly offense.

Bad news: The Jets' offense also goes three-and-out. And then Ben Graham hits a bad punt, a 3.4-second hanger that takes a backward hop and is downed at midfield: 28-yard gross, 28 net. And again the home team has to step up to prevent this game from getting out of hand.

And again the defense gives up a short third-down situation — this one third-and-3 — and again the Birds pick it up with Donovan McNabb hitting Reggie Brown open off the slant to the Jets 27. This is getting old.

DT Dewayne Robertson needed some medical attention, but he jogs off and Sione Pouha comes on.

McNabb beats the Kerry Rhodes blitz from out of deep center field with an 11-yard completion to Curtis, a potentially new Jets/Titans-killer. First-and-10 at the 16. But a run, then D-Rob, back in the game, chases McNabb into throwing it away. At least a manageable third-and-7, but the Birds are 7-for-10 on third downs on the afternoon. The crowd gets loud.

And the Jets hold when McNabb tries to find TE Matt Schobel in the end zone but Schobel runs into Rhodes and the pass falls incomplete.

Akers hits from 31 yards. Today's kickers are 2-for-5 toward the east end zone, 2-for-2 toward the west. And Philadelphia opens a TD lead.

Eagles 13, Jets 6

The Jets move to midfield and have a third-and-3 of their own. But this play becomes Pennington's first INT of the game. Out of the shotgun he tries to get Brad Smith singled up on CB Sheldon Brown. But Brown has great coverage and Smith can't break it up. The Eagles end another Jets drive and take over at their 30.

And again they move down the field methodically, either with McNabb slingshots to Reggie Brown or Brian Westbrook controlled bursts after stringing out the defense, moving to first-and-10 at the Jets 12.

The best that can be said about the Jets D this day is that it bends but at least hasn't broken yet in the red zone. PDs by David Barrett on first down and Jonathan Vilma on third down bring on Akers again for a 25-yard field goal, good. Three red zone trips have resulted in just two Eagles FGs. But the latest one allows the visitors to turn this into a two-score game.

Eagles 16, Jets 6

The Jets pick up a big third-and-2 on Pennington's dart to TE Chris Baker for the first down to the Jets 35. The reason this is so big: The east end zone has been evil not just to the kickers but to the passers. This completion ends the third quarter and allows the Jets to go with the wind rather than into it.

If this doesn't help the Jets offense, there may be no helping it today.