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.
What an absolute disgrace. Do you want to know the key to the loss? They stink, that's the key. Reid has been saying for a very long time that Vick is ready, that Vick will be ready. Yeah, ready for the boot. Reid had also said that the defense will be O.K. O.K. for what? The whole franchise should have gove extinct a long time ago. Next week is the bye week? How about we extend that bye for the rest of the year and next year too. Oh, what the hey, let's get rid of all of them. It's time for a good ol' fashioned house cleaning. The season started out with replacement refs, maybe the Eagles should be replacement players.— rebekah- I'm not shocked at all by how this season is turning out. They've been nothing but mediocre since 2004, and Lurie should have moved on from Reid four years ago. When Reid was losing championship games, yeah, you give him another year. But those days are long gone. He is nothing more than a 500 coach at this point. This team is still young. Bring in a new vision and and see if they can get it done. Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do this season except watch and wait. Bring on the Sixers.— Hemingway
- I don't understand why the "experts" on the NFL Channel and ESPN keep picking the Eagles as a superbowl contender. This team is the most inconsistent and worst coached team in the NFL. Time to clean house and start over. The Eagles are going nowhere with Micheal Vick and his biggest fan, Coach Reid. Why is management so blind to what's been happening over the last few years?— Ron T
- I thought of these guys hoping for a collapse to get a coaching change as crazy but after this week maybe they are on to something...Cant keep watching this. Same as last year. What have they done, really, to make anyone think they are a contender?— iskabobpatel
- a pathetic organization top to bottom! 53 years and counting.....a true lesson in futility.......— tjwin23
- So wait... the defense is given a 10 pt lead with 5 1/2 minutes to play, and all everyone here can talk about is "Bench Vick!"??? Is Vick playing defense? As for not being able to read a blitz, he read it perfectly on the 70 completion for a TD to Maclin. He read it perfectly on both attempted TD passes to Celek (one drop, one bad penalty). At the end of the day, the defense couldn't stop a 1-3 team with 5 1/2 mins to go. So when calling for people's heads this week, gotta look at the defense who collapsed for the second straight week -- and even worse this time.— kimbafuzz
- Thank you! Furthermore, we're not even talking about the fact that the playcalling called for Vick to pass instead of handing the ball off at the end of the game! Megatron gets loose against double coverage, the Lions' receivers look like Pro Bowlers, and Vick is to blame? Over 300 yards passing, 70 yards rushing, and he's the one at fault? On the play action pass, Herremans gets beat and Vick has to take a sack, but Vick is at fault? What!!?? — asonepraise
- Thank you kimba. It's about time someone is level headed. I have been wondering the same thing. I just think people personally don't like Vick. — Lpboys
- Why are we stuck with Andy Reid and Michael Vick? There's no answer for it. 13 years of incompetence with Reid, it's not all of a sudden going to get better this season. Fire his fat *** and take the dog killer with him.— Repubrebirth
- As far as I'm concerned, this is an 0-6 team. There are more disappointments coming down the road.
Poor execution, bad playcalling, bad luck. What else is new?— EmanuelP - GO SIXERS!!!!!
smh.
i hate this eagles team.
all these high potent skill players on offense and no brains on how to use them.
waste of time.
disgusting.— bloodymess - Does this team stink or what ?
Does this team stink or what ?
Does Vick stink or what ?
Does Reid stink or what ?
Does the offense look like a bunch of morons or what ?
Does the defense look like a bunch of morons or what ?
Is the owner of the team a complete moron in keeping Reid and Vick ?
Does this team stink or what ?— candidly - three stooges gotta go...andy,,marty,,casillo,,,,,vick s a loser with a big L,,,bench him,,cannot win games with field goals..gotta score more td s,,,,iggles are a low scoring team with no punch in the offense,,lurie is just as bad as the team for giving those stooges another yr to coach this pathetic team— hardball
- And your still the Juan
Who calls the plays
Still the Juan
Who makes us ache
No one is having fun
And Your Still The Juan
You are.....— camasbud - 8-8 will seal reid and vicks fate... Im so tired of this team falling short in winnable ball games— eaglesfan4lyfe
