All season long, the Eagles have overcome their inability to cover the tight end. Today, the tight end bit them in their hindside.

Raiders tight end Zach Miller torched the Eagles for six receptions and 139 yards, including an 86-yard touchdown from JaMarcus Russell in the first quarter. Former Eagle Tony Stewart added two catches for 11 yards.

Miller’s touchdown was the only score of the game, and the early dagger shot at the eagles defense.

Justin Fargas and the Raiders ran past the Eagles, 13-9, on Sunday.

The Eagles couldn’t get anything going and looked confused and lost in all phases of the game.

The offensive line was in shambles and allowed six sacks, including two each to Richard Seymour and Trevor Scott. Starting left tackle Jason Peters went down with a knee injury in the first quarter, and was replaced by King Dunlap. Seymour then Dunlapped him all game and wreaked havoc on Donovan McNabb.

Injuries were the theme of the game for the Eagles. In addition to Peters, the Eagles had Omar Gaither, Brodrick Bunkley, DeSean Jackson, Victor Abiamiri and John Dorenbos leave the game with injury.

Jackson was able to return. Gaither, Peters and Abiamiri all had sprained knees and will have MRIs on Monday, said coach Andy Reid.

The Eagles were simply not ready to play.

“The Raiders were better prepared than us today in all phases,” said Reid. “They outcoached us and outplayed us.”

Donovan McNabb and Andy Reid again managed to misuse timeouts and mismanage the game clock. They used all three timeouts with five minutes left in the first half.

Then, when driving late in the half, Donovan called a timeout, resulting in a penalty. Your Daily Philadelphian wonders if he knows that overtime is sudden death.

The normally reliable David Akers was off his game as well, missing two field goals. One of his misses came after an Asante Samuel interception hat had the Eagles offense start at the Raiders 29-yard-line in the first quarter.

Squandered opportunities killed the Eagles all day long.

While the defense forced two turnovers as Quintin Mikell also recorded a pick, the fact is that JaMarcus Russell took advantage of the fact that they can not cover a tight end. Russell, who had averaged just over 100 yards a game for the season, was 17-of-28 for 224 yards and the touchdown to Miller.

McNabb finished the game 22-of-46 for 269 yards.

The Eagles (3-2) face the Washington Redskins (2-4), a 14-6 loser to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.

Based on the way the Eagles defense has played this year, Washington Pro Bowl tight end Chris Cooley is salivating right now.

Raiders tight end Zach Miller is off to a torrid start on Sunday.

JaMarcus Russell just hit tight end Zach Miller for an 86-yard touchdown. Miller hauled in the pass and then followed his blockers to the house.

Jeremiah Trotter couldn’t cover Miller on the play, and reminded some of Levon Kirkland and Joe Jurevicius.

In any event, the Raiders now lead, 7-3, and the Eagles offense has shown almost no sign of life through the first quarter.

The Los Angeles Clippers and Arizona Cardinals have been bumped down the list of professional sports most dysfunctional organizations. The top spot now belongs to the Philadelphia Eagles opponent for this week — the Oakland Raiders.

In the last year, owner Al Davis fired one coach he accused of being a liar and replaced him with one who is under investigation for knocking out one of his assistant coaches. Tom Cable also faces sanctions from the NFL if he is found guilty of assaulting defensive coach Randy Hanson.

On the field, the Raiders aren’t much better and the Eagles should set the tone for a banner Philly sports day that will culminate with a Phillies win over the Dodgers on Sunday night (weather permitting).

Brian Westbrook will look to help the Eagles run past the Raiders on Sunday.

Quarterback — Edge: Eagles. Raiders QB JaBustus Russell  is averaging 121 yards passing per game with an impressive 4:1 touchdown-and-interception ratio. Oh, yeah, four is the number of interceptions he’s thrown. He actually has thrown twice as many picks as Lord Favre. That’s pretty bad. By comparison, Eagles signal caller Donovan McNabb has thrown five touchdowns and one interception in two games this year.

Running Back — Edge: Eagles. Darren McFadden, the Raiders version of Reggie Bush, is out with an injury. Justin Fargas and Michael Bush are left to carry the load. Bush is an underrated, bruising back. However, with no passing game to speak of, the Raiders run game will go nowhere. Brian Westbrook and Shady McCoy should each get a touchdown this weekend.

Wide Receiver — Edge: Eagles. Javon Walker is a has been who doesn’t even appear on the team’s official depth chart. Darrius Heyward-Bey is a never will be. Heyward-Bey, Oakland’s first round pick this year, has two more receptions this year than his grandmom. The raiders top producing wideout is Louis Murphy, who has ten more receptions than Heyward-Bey. For the Eagles, rookie Jeremy Maclin had his coming out party last week, and teams with DeSean Jackson to give opposing defenders nightmares due to the wideouts’ speed. Jason Avant is an underrated slot receiver.

Tight End — Edge: Push. For the Raiders, Zach Miller is a solid, young receiver. Put him in an Eagles uniform with McNabb and Kolb throwing to him, and he’d probably be as productive as Brent Celek. The Eagles young gun is clearly have the better year. However, this is about production this week, and the Eagles linebackers have not stopped a tight end all season.

Offensive Line — Edge: Push. OK, it’s not really a push, but your Daily Philadelphian started feeling sorry for the Raiders. Give the Eagles the edge here, too. Robert Gallery is out for the Raiders. He is their most noteworthy lineman.

Defensive Line — Edge:Push. The Raiders line up two ancient, walker-dependent cagey veterans at defensive end in Richard Seymour and Greg Ellis. The two have combined for six sacks so far this season. Eagles starting defensive ends Trent Cole and Victor Abiamiri have combined for 4.5 sacks. The run stopping ability of each club is comparable.

Linebacker — Edge: Push. This is more of an indictment on the Eagles inability to cover a tight end than it is an attempt to give the Raiders any props.

Secondary — Edge: Eagles. Nnamdi Asomugha is a very good corner back, but he doesn’t get much publicity because he plays in a Black Hole for a team that has been lost for years. The usual suspects of Samuel, Brown and Mikell are clearly a step above the Raiders secondary.

Special Teams –Edge: Eagles. DeSean Jackson is always the x-factor. Plus, we’ll take David Akers over Seabass these days.

Wildcat — Edge: Raiders. They don’t run the gimmick offensive formation as much as the Eagles.

PREDICTION: Eagles 37, Raiders 16. The game is only this close because Andy Reid will call off the dogs by the start of the fourth quarter.