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.
An entire organization of losers!!!— shawnmac- 8-8 will seal reid and vicks fate... Im so tired of this team falling short in winnable ball games— eaglesfan4lyfe
- 3 more turnovers this game. Leading the universe in turnovers, and some still defend the dog killer. Bias much?— atb124
- Still trying to figure out how this one is Vick's fault. Sure, turnovers don't help. But the defense isn't making any big plays; forcing turnovers. Two games in a row they held the lead down the stretch. Two games in a row the defense let up. And regarding overtime, no one is saying you need a TD on your first possession. The team is allowed to play field position. Just look at the third and long, all the receivers had routes that went to first down marker. No check down, no underneath route. Reid's coaching is "offensive", pun intended.— beegal99
- Bluto must go.— Wilhelm Von Humboldt
- You can just see Andy as he's being told by Lurie that he's fired, talking over him the whole time, muttering "gotta get better, starts with me, gonna take a look at that there, time's yours, need to fix that...."— Mr. Magee
- well this team s***s bad and they aint goin anywhere now .oh dont worry though there best days this year are still ahead of em in the last 3 or 4 weeks when nothings on the line and they are well out of contention they will play like a strong contender and emty promises for next year,and the year after ,and the year after,well you get my drift.this is the most media over rated team ive ever witnessed step on a nfl football field.— arkdad212
- Vick since start of 2011: 26 TDs, 42 Turnovers.— gordon7
- Everyone calm down, Andy's gonna put them in a better position to win!!!! I'm just kidding...this whole organization needs to be fired, head coach, O & D coordinators, GM and QB.— daqueen123
- The locals lowly IQ's continually overrating the talent on this club is what is laughable. Outside of Philthidelphia- the rest of the nation knows it's a .500 team- plain & simple. The record is congruent with the talent. Keep drinking.— Northcountry
- Trade Vick, Play Nick.
Fire Juan, Hire Anybody.
Sack Fat Andy, Hire the Chin.— WestonF01 - Fire Reid now, why give him another minute on the Eagles sidelines. As for all you Sixers fans, that team has no chance to win a title. A playoff series win is a call for a parade in this town. Only 4 or 5 teams are granted a chance to win in that fixed league They're mediocre like the rest of the teams in this town.
From the shrill defense of Charlie Manuel and Ryan Howard by the media and fans, to deluded Eagles fans, we've come to accept .500 as the benchmark for success. Enough! Fire Reid and Manuel and bring in some people who can manage their sports.— Repubrebirth - First of all, nobody accepts .500 as the benchmark for success, there are literally hundreds of people commenting about how bad this team blows. Secondly, your comments about Howard and Manuel are asinine. You're an idiot
— DixonBunz - Dixon, I won't resort to the "you're an idiot" attacks because I don't know you. You presented no defense for Manuel and Howard, so I won't even bother with the Howard argument. If you want to have a real discussion without resorting to name calling, cool. If not, you're just a punk poster who doesn't see the need to rant against mediocrity.
Let's see, 81-81 with a manager who lost enough games for them to miss the playoffs and not only is he coming back, but fans shout down those who wanted him gone. Reid isn't gone and the team was 8-8 last year and are 3-3 this year. Seem like it's become an acceptable standard to me since no one is held to account. Can you respond without being a punk?— Repubrebirth - Nope, you're an idiot.
— DixonBunz
