My Trial By Erosion Of Words

Philadelphia Eagles- 38
New York Giants- 31

“No matter how much we are down, we will never quit. We will not quit!”- Michael Vick, Philadelphia Eagles Quarterback, in the huddle when the Eagles were down 31-10, December 19, 2010

Unbelievable.

UNBELIEVABLE.

The Eagles were down 31-10 with 8:17 left in the game. You aren’t supposed to win when you’re down by that much that late. You’re supposed to give up and look to next week.

Not this team though.

The Eagles have been a resilient team all year. In losses to the Packers and Bears that should have been blowouts, they battled back and made a game of it.

In wins over the Cowboys and the first game against the Giants, they came back from small deficits and won.

The Eagles had NO business winning this game at all. For two and a half quarters they were bad.

They couldn’t move the ball and the Giants were dominating on offense, seemingly having their way with the Eagles, particularly Dimitri Patterson (more on him later).

Yet somehow they did it. It started with a 65 yard TD pass to Brent Celek to cut the lead to 31-10. Then a 4-yard touchdown run by Michael Vick to make it 31-24. Then an 8 yard TD pass to Jeremy Maclin.

And then DeSean Jackson happened. A 65 yard Punt Return for a touchdown while time was expiring sealed it. The only time in history that an NFL game has ended on a punt return.

38-31 Eagles. Suck. On. That.

Some Thoughts:

• This game will be remembered forever because of DeSean Jackson’s punt return touchdown as time was expiring, but Michael Vick made it possible. If anyone didn’t understand the impact that Vick has on this team, now they do. Vick told the team in the locker room at halftime that they’d comeback (then again, what else was he going to say?). According to an article on Yahoo Sports, Vick told the team in the huddle when it was 31-10, “No matter how much we are down we will never quit. We will not quit.” Michael Vick is this team’s leader. No one can dispute that, nor should they. Vick’s play in the final 8:17 was unreal. So many great runs on the final two drives to set up touchdowns. When he ducked under Giants Safety Deon Grant’s sack attempt and ran 35 yards, it was a thing of beauty. The only performances I’ve seen by an Eagles quarterback that rivals Vick’s performance was the game when Donovan McNabb threw four touchdown’s while playing with a broken ankle against the Arizona Cardinals in 2002, as well as McNabb’s performance against the Packers in the 4th and 26 game.
• I’m going to be completely honest about a few things. At halftime, I said the Eagles would make a comeback to make the game interesting, but they wouldn’t win. I, and every other person in the world, thought the game was over when Giants Tight End Kevin Boss scored a touchdown to make it 31-10 in the fourth quarter.  I didn’t think they were coming back at all at this point. I’m glad they proved me wrong.
• More importantly, I’m going to be honest about this: On that final punt, I said to the person next to me that DeSean Jackson should just let it bounce because I was afraid he’d drop it. Well he did drop it, so I was right. And we’ll leave it at that….. Or we won’t, because I didn’t expect him to return the punt for a touchdown. I’m shocked that the Giants kicked it to him. So was Giants head coach Tom Coughlin.
• Any comeback of this magnitude requires the team that wins to not only play flawlessly when coming back, but it also usually requires the other team to choke. And that’s what the Giants did. How were the Giants not prepared for the onside kick after Celek’s touchdown? The play calling on the Giants final drive? Atrocious. Why are they passing on all of those downs? KICKING TO DESEAN JACKSON?! I’m glad that it all happened, but wow, the Giants really choked this one away. That falls on Tom Coughlin.
• Dimitri Patterson. Man, what an awful game. Mario Manningham abused him in the first half. He did improve in the second half, but for the most part he was pretty bad. Hopefully he improves, otherwise teams are just going to go his way every play.
• Jamar Chaney was solid in his very first start at Middle Linebacker in place of the injured Stewart Bradley. That was a pleasant surprise to say the least.
• Losing Free Safety Nate Allen is tough. It won’t cripple the Eagles, but it does hurt. Allen ruptured his patellar tendon in his knee on a freak play where he just slipped. He didn’t make contact with anyone on the play. This is the second week in a row that the Eagles have lost players on the defense on plays where they just slipped the wrong way and didn’t make contact with anyone. Last week, fellow rookie Brandon Graham tore his ACL.
• I said before this game that this particular match-up would show where the Eagles are in the NFL hierarchy. If they won, they could be considered a legit contender to go to the Super Bowl. Had they lost, they were probably destined for a first or second round exit in the playoffs. Well, I still don’t know if the Eagles are a contender based on what they showed in the first three quarters of this game, but it can be said that they are certainly a team that is capable of making some noise in the playoffs and that you shouldn’t count them out in any game.

All I have to say is that was one hell of a game. At about 3:00, I was questioning whether this Eagles team was ever that good to begin with and I was scoreboard watching, hoping that the Lions beat the Buccaneers (they did) so that when the Eagles lost, they’d still have a playoff spot. At about 4:30, I was ecstatic over what I had just witnessed.

Fly Eagles Fly!

(Photo Courtesy of ESPN.com/Getty Images)