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PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- The Philadelphia Eagles' defense made sure that their offense would not need another late-game rally. The Eagles shut down Jake Plummer and the Arizona Cardinals and continued their surprising season by moving into first place in the NFC East with a 34-9 victory. Coming off a 5-11 season and a last place finish in the East, the Eagles (8-4) have won three straight and five of their last six games to move one-half game in front of the New York Giants (7-4) atop the division. "We don't care about it right now, we care about it at the end of the season," Eagles coach Andy Reid said. "That's the important part of it. You start patting yourself on the back and that's when you get your tail kicked. It's important that we continue to take each week as its own and shoot for being first at the end of the season." Philadelphia also won at least eight games in a season for the first time since going 10-6 in 1996, the last time it qualified for the playoffs. In beating Dallas and Pittsburgh in each of the last two weeks, the Eagles rallied late in regulation before winning in overtime. But with a smothering defensive performance today, Philadelphia found little resistance from its divisional rivals. The Eagles' defense recorded a season-high eight sacks and held Arizona to 210 total yards. Linebacker Mike Caldwell turned the only Arizona turnover into a 26-yard interception return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. "Defensively we really came out and took the fight out of their offense," Reid said. "Anytime you can have eight sacks in a game and have them dispersed among the players we did, from the secondary to the linebackers to the defensive line, that's a credit to the defense." "I felt like going into the game, defensively, we could dominate," Eagles cornerback Troy Vincent said. "Anytime your offense is scoring points, there's no reason why your defense can't go out there and dominate." Plummer did not make it through the entire game and was knocked out of the contest late in the third quarter with a left hand injury. Donovan McNabb led the offense for the Eagles, throwing for one touchdown and running for another score. Philadelphia outscored the Cardinals, 24-6 in the second half and recorded its first series sweep of them since the 1996 campaign. The Cardinals (3-8) fell to 1-3 under interim coach Dave McGinnis. "They sacked us eight times," McGinnis said. "They played better defense than we played offense. That's what happened. You have to be able to protect your quarterback. You have to be able to move the ball down the football field. We had a lot of downfield routes called but if you don't have time to throw the ball down the field, you have no chance." After the Caridinals took the lead midway through the first quarter on Cary Blanchard's 42-yard field goal that deflected off the right upright, Philadelphia squandered a chance to get even on its ensuing possession. McNabb led the Eagles down the field, but was intercepted by linebacker Rob Fredrickson at the 15. The Eagles second-year signal caller redeemed himself on the first drive of the second quarter, leading his club 64 yards in 12 plays. The drive, however, stalled and David Akers booted a 38-yard field goal to tie it. With under three minutes left in the half, the Eagles committed another costly turnover deep in Arizona territory when fullback Cecil Martin fumbled and linebacker Ronald McKinnon recovered in the end zone. Arizona lost three yards on its next possession, giving the Eagles an opportunity to move in front before halftime and they took full advantage. A 33-yard pass interference penalty on safety Corey Chavous helped the six-play, 48-yard drive and gave the Eagles the ball on the Arizona 15. Six plays later, McNabb tossed a one-yard touchdown pass to backup tight end Jeff Thomason to give Philadelphia a 10-3 lead with 23 seconds left before intermission. McNabb hung in in the first half to complete 12-of-16 passes for 132 yards despite getting sacked three times by defensive end Simeon Rice. Philadelphia, which held the Cardinals to 59 total yards in the first half, made a statement on offense to begin the third quarter. The Eagles embarked on a 15-play, 65-yard drive that took 8:32 off the clock and seemed to deflate Arizona. McNabb kept the drive alive with an 11-yard pass to tight end Luther Broughton on 3rd-and-9 and a seven-yard pass to fullback Stanley Pritchett on 4th-and-3 before culminating the march with a seven-yard TD run around right end. McNabb completed 25-of-34 passes for 217 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He completed passes to nine different receivers and also caught a pass himself off a batted ball. Plummer, who has engineered three of his career 12 fourth-quarter comebacks against the Eagles, would not have a chance for No. 13. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Plummer was sacked by safety Brian Dawkins and left the game holding his left hand and ribs. Dawkins and linebacker Jeremiah Trotter had two sacks apiece for Philadelphia. Plummer went 8-of-15 for 51 yards before leaving. Akers drilled a 46-yard field goal with 9:02 remaining to extend the Eagles' lead to 20-3 and it was not long before their defense put the game out of reach. On his second possession, Brown was intercepted by Caldwell, who returned the ball 26 yards for a touchdown to give Philadelphia a 27-3 bulge with 7:40 remaining. "I think with our team, we really go out there and work well together," Caldwell said. "Our offense did a great job today. They controlled the ball today and kept us off the field. We were able to go out there and play fresh." Arizona reached the end zone for the only time with under five minutes left on Brown's 44-yard scoring strike to David Boston. Brown completed 11-of-13 passes for 140 yards and Boston had six catches for 94 yards. Darnell Autry capped the scoring for the Eagles with a one-yard run with 1:57 to play.
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