Eagles collapse into the bye
The Eagles seem incapable of putting anybody away early. Maybe that will change, maybe some day, but as the evidence mounts, it does not seem likely. They are a good offense, but mistake-prone. They are a stingy defense, but make few big plays. The result is agony. Get used to it -- and double up on the prescription for nitroglycerin pills during the bye week.
Eagles collapse into the bye
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
The Eagles seem incapable of putting anybody away early. Maybe that will change, maybe some day, but as the evidence mounts, it does not seem likely. They are a good offense, but mistake-prone. They are a stingy defense, but make few big plays. The result is agony. Get used to it -- and double up on the prescription for nitroglycerin pills during the bye week.
The Eagles are 3-3 after Sunday's 26-23 overtime loss to the Detroit Lions, and about 90 percent of the day was spent sweating blood. They trailed early, pulled ahead, but kept giving back opportunities to put the game away. And in the end, after the Eagles could do nothing with the first possession of overtime, the Lions won it when Jason Hanson kicked a 45-yard field goal after 4 minutes of the extra period.
The boo s were directed at both Eagles coach Andy Reid and quarterback Micahel Vick as they exited the field about a minute apart. It was a badly-played game by both teams, and it was a bad result for the home team, and now the Eagles have to let it lay there for 2 weeks.
The first half left everyone asking two questions as the Eagles and Lions ran off the field: 1) How are the Eagles leading by 7-6 and, 2) How is Vick able to run at this point, no less walk. Fox was reporting the gruesome numbers: 10 hurries, 10 hits, 8 knockdowns. It might have been the worst one-half beating Vick has taken all season, which is saying something.
Lions linebacker Stephen Tullo ch was a particular nemesi s. After one vicious Tulloch hit in the second quarter, a couple of plays before his 2-yard touchdown pass to LeSean McCoy, Vick was att ended to on the sideline by team medical personnel. But he came back out. He always seems to come back out.
The second half witnessed what has become a common phenomenon for this Eagles team: much better offensive line play in the third and fourth quarters than in the first and second. It was an afternoon where the Eagles could never really get their running game going, but in pass protection, things tightened up considerably.
And so, with that stability, the offense was able to get a rhythm going in the third quarter, finally. They moved the ball, and Vick hung in the pocket nicely, and the quarterback hits went way down -- but the Eagles could not score touchdowns.
On two drives, tight end Brent Celek -- who got the heck beat out of him, as he does most weeks -- dropped one catchable touchdown pass and had another touchdown catch nullified because he was ruled to have committed offensive pass interference by shoving off the defender.
The Eagles settled for Alex Henery field goals instead -- of 26 and 32 yards -- and then Henery added a 49 field goal early in the fourth quarter to give the Eagles a 16-6 lead.
The Lions came back and scored their first touchdown of the game, with 10:30 remaining in the fourth quarter, on a 1-yard run by quarterback Matthew Stafford. That made it 16-13, but it was even worse for the Eagles because defensive tackle Fletcher Cox was ejected from the game after d raw ing a personal foul penalty on the extra point.
And then it got really interesting.
On the first play of the next drive, Vick had DeSean Jackson open on a deep post pattern, but he under-threw the pass and it was intercepted by the Lions’ Chris Houston. Suddenly, the Lions had the ball on their 34-yard line with 10:21 to play. But the Eagles held, the Lions punted, and then -- finally -- the Eagles broke it open with 5:18 left to play when they caught the Lions in a big blitz and Vick hit wide receiver Jeremy Maclin with a 70-yard touchdown pass.
Did I say broke it open? What I meant to say was, the Eagles gave themselves a few seconds of breathing room before the Lions marched right back down the field and scored on a 17-yard touchdown pass to Nate Burleson. That cut the Eagles’ lead to 23-20 with 3:32 remaining.
Oh, and then the Eagles went 1-2-3 punt.
You know, just to make it even more interesting.
Again, the Lions marched. A great catch by Calvin Johnson, originally ruled an imcompletion but overturned by replay, got the Lions to the 25-yard line with 1:12 remaining. The Lions ran on the next two plays and got it to the Eagles' 9-yard line. But then safety Colt Anderson, playing in place of the injured Nate Allen (hamstring), was called for pass interference in the end zone.
On first-and-goal from the 1, though, the Lions threw two incompletions and settled for a 19-yard field goal to send the game to overtime.
All of which set up the ending.
- And hire who?
— wordsword - I don't believe what I just saw— stoky
- 5-5 won't save Reid's hide.
The defense blows a 4th quarter lead for two consecutive weeks.
Reid's play-calling not only gets his QB killed, but also loses the game.— Lonewolf11 - Blow this team up. They suck.— rwilson065
- To expect anything different at this point is silly. The QB, the coaches - they are who they are. DNA.— EaglesWest
- Now will you idots get rid of Reid and Vick! They cause that team to become terribale! Loose to the Lions! You really think they can beat good teams when they can't beat the Lions, Cards, and almost to the Browns!— lost eagle
- Outcoached again and this time by the lowly Detroit Lions! Quick, play the standard "We gotta do a better job with that" post game tape! I think 8 and 8 seems optimistic at this point. At least Arrogant Andy will be gone next season!— cooperhawk
- Reid's two big decisions, Juan and Vick, will cost him his job. And as Reid always correctly states..."Its on me"— Kioto
- I get your point, having been a "Fire Andy advocate for many years. But I disagree that this is on Andy. He's has been the same imept coach for a long time. This is on Lurie.
— mkat33 - "inept coach for a long time . . ."
. . . and winningest coach in franchise history.
. . . and a record that 70% of NFL cities would love to have over the last 10 years.
Yeah, I know . . . "but he hasn't won a SB!"
And just how many coaches have?
— wordsword - Wordsword,
Apparently, you are content with just being competitive, and "winning more games in the last X years than any other team". There is NO TROPHY for that! After a certain amount of Winning, the expectation of fans (and hopefully of Lurie, although I'm not convinced he is) is to IMPROVE over time, and continually GET TO THE NEXT LEVEL.
Reid has not done that. He plays lip service after every loss with "gotta do a better job", but he does the same stupid things each game.
Time to clean house! You also probably will say "would you rather have Kotite?" as that is the only other alternative. Think outside the box, man! Expect more from your team and coach, instead of settling for, and defending, the same old nonsense.
Reid is probably the laughingstock among other teams - so predictable that it's easy to game-plan against him.
— jman - Complete fiasco!
- Their next six games are against Atlanta, New Orleans, Dallas, Washington and Dallas. If they don't win at least four of those games -- goodbye Vick and Reid. The Eagles continue to be over-rated and everyone seems to believe it!— Ron T
- NONE of those games is a gimme including the Washington game. The Redskins have improved while the Eagles have only gotten worse. And they've been consistently scoring in the high double digits. The Eagles, I'm afraid, will be lucky to come out of that series 1-3 and I'm not terribly sure where they're going to get the 1 from. There's no reason to expect a dramatic turnaround with this team. — essell
- CG25, I bow to your football knowledge. This Andy Reid led team is pathetic beyond any description. Andy Reid HAS to make the change at QB in order to save this team, or we are completely screwed. I don't even think Andy can save his season at this point, as he is clearly going to ride Vick until it's far to late. Such a shame. Will continue to watch this team only to watch the unraveling of this team be completed. Mike Vick is clearly going to cost this team EVERYTHING they are working for. He cannot sustain drives when he needs to, continues to turn the ball over at an extremely alarming rate, but for whatever reason he is being allowed a chance that he quite frankly has NEVER earned. This madness needs to stop. Unfortunately, it definitely won't.— papabear702
