Archive: November, 2009
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
An Eagles-Redskins game tends to be an untidy bit of business. History seems to demand inelegance when these two teams meet. This one was no different.
But the Eagles won, 27-24.
That’s two in a row. That’s a 7-4 record. I’m not going to pretend to know what it means. I’m not going to pretend to understand starting a game at home in which you are a nine-point favorite with an on-sides kick -- an on-sides that failed, spectacularly, and led to an easy Washington touchdown. I’m not going to pretend to understand how the Eagles’ defense, which was murdered on third down by a Washington team down to its second tight end and its third running back, is going to hold together for the rest of the season.
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
The sense all along was that the Eagles were going to have to win a shootout Sunday if they were to beat the San Diego Chargers. The sense was right even if the result was wrong for the Eagles. Final score: Chargers 31, Eagles 23.
It was a wild, wild, wild game. The Eagles' defense, decimated now by injuries, would have its hands more than full all day with the Chargers. LaDanian Tomlinson, thought to be dead, awakened. And the Eagles' secondary, already missing its third and fourth cornerbacks, lost starter Sheldon Brown with an apparent hamstring problem. There was every reason to believe it was going to be a shooting gallery, and it was. The Chargers held a 28-9 lead at the end of the third quarter and it all seemed to be over by the body count.
And then the Eagles resuscitated themselves. Their offense would go for almost 500 yards for the day, as Donovan McNabb led them back. They had moved the ball between the 20's all day, only to be stymied in short-yardage situations and red-zone situations; yes, this is a recording. Still, the Eagles kept coming. A touchdown pass to a wide-open Jeremy Maclin was followed, with 7:12 to go, by a six-yard touchdown pass to tight end Brent Celek. The extra point brought the Eagles back to 28-23 and the thousands of Eagles fans who made the trip to Qualcomm Stadium made themselves very much heard.
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
Join the Daily News' Rich Hofmann for a live Eagles chat at 1:30.
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
Having spent about an hour looking at old World Series records, you will forgive me if I'm a tiny bit off here. But it will be only a tiny bit, and the lesson remains:
That is, that Game 5 will be the hardest game for the Phillies.
It is a little bit complicated because all of the World Series have not been seven-game series and some have included ties. But, in my best attempt to compare apples to apples, it seems obvious that for the team trailing by three games to one, as the Phillies are now, that Game 5 is the toughest.
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
Prior to today, the greatest day in Philadelphia sports history was Sunday, October 19, 1980. It was a day that began as this one did, with an astounding Eagles victory.
This one in 2009 -- Eagles 40, Giants 17 -- was borderline absurd. I mean, nobody saw this coming. This was a game for first place in the NFC East. This was a game between evenly-matched rivals. This was a game between a Giants team that had lost two straight games and an Eagles team that could make explosive plays but couldn’t really sustain anything on offense.
The suspicion -- and by that I mean, everybody’s suspicion -- was for a train wreck kind of a game, with both teams hitting each other in the head and staggering around, trying to hit on something. Playing without running back Brian Westbrook (concussion), their historic Giant-killer, and with an offense line that has been mix-and-match, and with a quarterback (Donovan McNabb) who hadn’t looked very sharp the last two games, it was hard to see the Eagles doing anything really methodical on offense.
