The big play is back. After struggling to find a rhythm or an identity offensively through the first part of the season, the Eagles have become a more lethal offensive outfit of late - look no further than their three scoring plays of more than 40 yards in Week Eight. Part of the blame goes to injuries - QB Donovan McNabb, RB Brian Westbrook, several O-linemen and WR Kevin Curtis all have missed multiple games. But now that the health has improved somewhat and the Eagles are growing into their skin, they are more capable of unleashing 40-point games, as they did Sunday against the Giants, in any given week.

The PFW spin

Ask any coach, and they'll tell you that everything starts up front. Rhetoric or not, they have a point. Look at the Redskins and their offensive struggles; the Chiefs, Raiders, Lions, Buccaneers, Rams and so on. All of those teams have trouble on the offensive line, and all of them have struggled to be anywhere close to effective offensively.

And that was the way things were going up front for the Eagles, too. They had lost ORT Shawn Andrews, whom Andy Reid believed was going to be a Pro Bowler this season, and brother Stacy Andrews, who was slow to recover from offseason knee injury. Then they lost OLG Todd Herremans - perhaps the most underrated member of the starting unit. OLT Jason Peters missed time. It led to rushed throws, missed blocks and poorly developed chemistry on the line.

The low point was Week Seven in Oakland, when the Eagles allowed six sacks and got out of an offensive balance with 52 called pass plays and only 14 runs. But in two games since then, the line has bounced back with two solid efforts, and in the case of Sunday's win, a very good one against a deep and talented Giants front.

Credit Reid and OL coach Juan Castillo, one of the best in the biz, for coaching up the guys who are in there now. ORT Winston Justice, already labeled a bust, has been one of the core guys up front. They have used an unorthodox but surprisingly effective three-OG rotation at right guard and rotated at left guard until Herremans returned.

And now, with the line performing better the past two games, the Eagles have been able to get the ball into the hands of their impressive, young cadre of playmakers on offense. It starts with DeSean Jackson, whose speed might have been underrated, hard as that is to believe. The Eagles are doing a great job of getting him free of press coverage, and with the line protecting well, McNabb can throw it in Jackson's vicinity with confidence that he'll haul it in.

Don't forget about WR Jeremy Maclin, RB LeSean McCoy and TE Brent Celek, too. Those three, plus Jackson, combined for 278 yards on 24 touches against the Giants. Throw in reliable slot WR Jason Avant, a great blitz buster, and it's hard to know how to defend the Eagles. Do you blitz to get pressure and (hopefully) take away the deep ball? Not when McCoy, Maclin and Jackson have gained yards after the catch so well and Celek and Avant can sit down in open spaces. So do you play coverage, dropping seven or eight? Even with safety help, Jackson is lethal. And McNabb has shown that he is very effective historically when he has his feet set and time to throw.

"To beat a team like the Giants, (scoring quick) is what we needed to do, and we talked about it a lot during the week that if we got two or three more big plays than they got then we would win," Jackson said after the game. "Anytime you got playmakers like we have Celek, (FB Leonard) Weaver, McCoy, Jeremy (Maclin) - it's tough to defend us."

It's a tough dilemma for opponents. Perhaps Dallas' four-man pass rush with change some of that next Sunday, but the same was said about the Giants' defense.