Eagles survive longest day
Eagles 30, Broncos 27
Eagles survive longest day
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
On the longest day, partly because of injuries but mostly because of an unending series of flags and officiating conferences, the last conference went the Eagles’ way.
Aided immeasurably by a key call with 59 seconds left, when referee Mike Carey overruled one of his officials and decided that Jeremy Maclin got both feet down on a really close play along the sidelines, the Eagles beat the Denver Broncos, 30-27. David Akers kicked the game-winning field goal with 4 seconds left.
In pulling it out in the end -- after blowing a huge lead in the third quarter on the day that Brian Dawkins returned to Philadelphia -- the Eagles left open the possibility that they could win the NFC East later tonight if Dallas were to lose at Washington.
The Eagles were cruising at halftime, 20-7. They were cruising well into the third quarter, 27-10. But then it all began to unravel, thanks largely to a Macho Harris penalty that flipped the field position and then a Harris fumble on a kickoff. By the time the Eagles ended the third quarter with a particularly ugly three-and-out, their lead was down to 27-24.
Then it became two wildly swinging fighter, mostly swinging and missing. But the field position was working more for the Broncos, and a 46-yard field goal with 6:05 left made it a 27-27 tie.
From there, the Eagles went on a drive that featured a Donovan McNabb conversion of a third-and-25 with a 27-yard scramble. But that was it, and Sav Rocca punted the Broncos back to their 9-yard line. The Broncos got nothing done and punted it back. From there, the Eagles got the benefit of the big officiating call in the end.
What was originally an incompletion was, instead, ruled to be a 27-yard pass that put the Eagles into position for Akers to make the game-winning field goal.
499, sorry I didn't get to see the whole game [returning from Carolina] but I did see the most of the second half. It seems that the Es abandoned the run because of the O line situation. They don't trust the line to open holes when there are players out of position. They could barely protect DM which may underscore how under rated JJackson is. Max is a waste. Big, but can't run block. Everytime the O line suffers an injury they go back to a pass happy O. Think about it. No? The Eagles have played best and run the ball best when the same 5 O lineman are in there. Celek disappeared because he had to block too. Pray that JJackson is OK or we are dead. Just when we need the O line to be a cohesive unit we get this.— tpizza- You guys really care where granny is? Why?— tpizza
They weren't aided by a call. He made the play and yes where's grandpa? Rich wouldn't be here if he could help it either.— MIKEZ
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- Absolutely nobody but yourself loves you grandpa, and the fact I'm even acknowldn'ing your stupid, flipping comments makes me want-to-hurl, but McNabb and his Eagles won today, exactly the same way they have for the last 6 weeks, how they need too, and hello playoffs...and somebody told me to stop calling people out, however, phillyfaninphoenix...uppperdeck, white trotter jersey, come fine me!— Bleue
- Absolutely nobody but yourself loves you grandpa, and the fact I'm even acknowldn'ing your stupid, flipping comments makes me want-to-hurl, but McNabb and his Eagles won today, exactly the same way they have for the last 6 weeks, how they need too, and hello playoffs...and somebody told me to stop calling people out, however, phillyfaninphoenix...uppperdeck, white trotter jersey, come fine me!— Bleue
- Nobody loves you crotch sniffer, you're food for thought.....Eagles won, whatever the score was...and that's that.....Next week, Dallas cowgirls lose, and we get the 2nd seed when NY wins thier game against Minn....and if not, we will do better with no bye week and just keep the momentum going!!!!! Go Birds!— Bleue
- chuck, 2 of those fumbles were with the backup center in....so, not all mcnabbs fault on that.— ssmith0
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- Mc Nab rumbled down to the sideline for the first down. Vick when he is back will be the wheels at qb. bring on them Dallas queens!— EagleFan
- Taunting dallas fans is what it is all about! log in at the Dallas news and let them know what to expect next Sunday. I would like to have a repeat of last years game. Of course we don't have T. O. to kick around any more.— EagleFan
Mike Carey definitely is one of the best officials and definitely did blow that call on Macho's hit. I'd still take him in a game over most though, he's usually very fair.- Harris makes us miss Buckhalter - but alas he was too fragile. I do not see how they can keep Harris on special teams in this capacity. We can afford no mistakes through this run. Beating Dallas gives us our best shot to make it to the show. Harris has to go.— ruserious
