When week six kicked off this morning the Oakland Raiders were 31st in the league at defending the run, giving up 161 yards per game and allowing seven touchdowns on the ground during the first third of the season.

Not that the Raiders are a great pass defending team either – despite the presence of stud cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha they are just middle of the pack. But the silver and black had given up six passing touchdowns, or one fewer than they had allowed on the ground.

So how does Eagles coach Andy Reid attack the struggling Raiders? Despite the presence of aging-but-still-great Brian Westbrook and rookie LeSean McCoy, Philadelphia’s Donovan McNabb threw 46 passes while the entire team managed just 14 runs.

Somehow this imbalance happened despite the fact that Westbrook got 50 yards on his meager six carries. It continued despite the Eagles never trailing by more than a single score – yes, that’s right – one solid drive and the Eagles still had a chance to win that game today. But they didn’t. The Raiders scored the upset of the day, 13-9.

But they failed to ever even challenge what to this point had been a nearly nonexistent run defense all season.

Granted, the Eagles are probably more of a passing team than a running team. Granted again that Westbrook is injury prone and McCoy is inexperienced. This 75 percent pass/25 percent run split for Philadelphia was an inexcusably poor attempt at balance against a team they should have been able to bury on the ground.

I’ll grant you, this is the NFL. On any given Sunday any team can win, blah, blah, blah. But this was an Eagles team that had a chance to capitalize on the New York Giants’ first loss of the season by putting the wood to a team that has barely shown up for a game since the first week of the season. And they answered by laying an egg of mythic proportions. A good team not only wouldn’t lose a game like this but it wouldn’t be close.

I didn’t get a chance to see a lot of the game. It doesn’t matter. I don’t care if the Raiders were selling out to stop the run on every play – they’ve failed to do so all season and the Eagles are the first team this season that hadn’t capitalized.

In Tampa this afternoon, Carolina – a lesser team than the Eagles to this point in the season – was also going against a team weak against the run. Their two running back studs imposed their will on Tampa. It wasn’t a blowout but DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart both eclipsed 100 yards. The duo combined for three touchdowns. And in the deciding moments, the Panthers executed a 16-play, 8:03 drive in which Stewart and Williams took handoffs on 15 of them. The drive culminated in the winning touchdown with less than a minute to play.

I would like to think Westbrook and McCoy would have been able to team up and provide similar results for the Eagles this afternoon in a game the Eagles should have won – and needed to win in order to keep pace in the NFC East. Great teams, no, even good teams – good teams do not lose games like the ones the Eagles lost today. Whether it was play calling or audibles at the line, the Eagles’ leaders on the field and the sideline didn’t even give the team a chance to capitalize.

What irritated me the most was the part of the game I did see. During the last few minutes the Eagles had plenty of time to mount the one drive they needed to steal the game back. Yet it was almost like they were in a panic. With three to four minutes left there is still plenty of time to mix in the run. But they still threw every time – and the Raiders stopped it as if they knew it was coming.

Fourteen carries – 11 by two very solid running backs – is simply not enough against a team allowing 161 yards per game on the ground. It’s especially not enough when there isn’t any point in the game where said opponent is up by more than a single score.

This game was lost by the play mix. And it’s games like this that come back to haunt borderline playoff teams when the seedings come out in January.