Eagles corral the Colts
Eagles 26, Colts 24
Eagles corral the Colts
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
They all mean the same thing, these NFL games. It says so in the standings every day. A win is a win, a loss is a loss, a tie is a tie, and all had better be forgotten in time for the next weekend. It is the way of their world.
But that is in the accounting sense. In the cosmic sense, some of these games do mean more than others. Count this one among them: Eagles 26, Colts 24.
What the Eagles have done is identify themselves as a contender with this win. With a 5-3 record now, two of the Eagles’ wins are against the handful of teams in the two conference’s higher echelons (Indianapolis and Atlanta). And coming as this one did, after a game at Tennessee that they absolutely gave away, marks this Eagles teams as both pretty good now and also as pretty resilient. Those are two good things to be.
Playing in his first game back from what he now has described to CBS as three broken ribs, Michael Vick was dynamic again, with 218 yards passing and 75 yards rushing. On the first play of the game, Shady McCoy had a 62-yard run on the first play of the game that announced to the world that this day might be different. And wide receiver DeSean Jackson showed no signs of the concussion he suffered 3 weeks ago, with seven catches for 109 yards and a touchdown.
Still, it was the Eagles’ defense that will walk away from this game with the greatest psychic benefits. First, they pressured and bottled up Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, who had tortured the Eagles in three previous career games. Even more important, in some ways, they played a calm, buttoned-up, non-panicky game after their collapse against Tennessee -- even when presented with all manner of obstacles, including a couple of key penalties with which they angrily disagreed.
The end was messy, to say the least. The Colts scored with 1:50 remaining to bring them to within 26-24 -- on a drive that continued only because Trent Cole was called for an inadvertent love tap to the back of Manning’s helmet as he was in the process of stripping him of the ball.
After the Colts kicked off, an 11-yard end around to Jackson got the Eagles a first down. Then another end around to Jackson got them 6 more yards. And with the Colts calling their timeouts, and the Eagles needing one more first down to ice the game, a false start penalty on guard Nick Cole on third-and-2 pushed them back 5 yards, and a Vick scramble came up short -- officially, it was a sack for zero yards -- and the Eagles were forced to punt.
Which left Manning on his 26-yard line, with 40 seconds to play, no timeouts, and needing a field goal to win. But he didn’t get it, instead forcing a throw over the middle that was intercepted by Asante Samuel with 6 seconds remaining.
In all, there was nothing particularly attractive about it, filled with penalties and mistakes on both sides -- blown coverages, blown opportunities, you know. Along the way, there was a frightening (but, thankfully, not catastrophic) injury to Colts receiver Austin Collie that highlighted both the fragility of players in a brutal sport and the difficulty with which defenders and officials are attempting to deal with the new realities concerning concussion prevention.
But in the end, it was a W. And for the Eagles, maybe, a little bit more.
The officials were awful during this game. I was sorry to see Collie get hurt in the game but with that said. Did any one notice Indy called a similar play after the injury and some of the DBs kind of gave up on the hit???? If this is the type of NFL Goodell is trying to bring then I might as well start watching Rugby.............smh— cedrickc- every week i say it was the worst officiated game i've ever seen.— sgamble077
- Might as well dress Payton with high heels, lipstick, bra and stockings. What a horrible call by a horrible ref. Go Birds!— wildwood_frank
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L11, yep. Seems like the NFL can't differentiate between a deliberate head shot with intent to injure from accident due to the way the receiver is running. And Cole grazes Manning's helmut = a first down? That is more absurd than the Collier call. Not sure where the answer lies. You have to protect the players from the other ones who have no problem maiming someone but giving the refs MORE discression may just cause more delays and more confusion. Difficult situation.— tpizza- I'm all for equal opportunity and letting people with disabilities into the workplace, but the NFL's decision to go with blind refs just isn't working out.— Corey301
- The NFL needs to get serious about dealing with the rampant use of steroids and HGH. In another 15 years we're going to see plenty of 400lb o-linemen, as well as other heavier, faster players, and more and more injuries. The main culprit is the NFL's tolerance of PEDs.— p-diddy
- That was funny @wildwood_frank— cedrickc
Welcome Back, Welcome back, Welcome Back Vick and Desean.- Oh, and wiff? Hahahaha, I have visions of wiff curled up in the dark in the fetal position, sucking his thumb, mumbling some undiscernable babble while he weeps on a well used and stained poster of Kevin Kolb.
Couldn't happen to a better ex-Eagle fan.— tpizza - Comment removed.
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- Worst officiated NFL game I ever saw. Are some of these refs paid off? It's about time some investigative reporters start asking this question?— jimqk
- The Trent Cole penalty was complete bull. The refs almost took this away from us. Vick looked like the star for VT on that 32 yd gallop. Had he cut that last defender it would have been 6. We can win the SuperBowl this year. GOOOOO EAGGGGLESSSS!!!!!— DonovanMcNabb
- wolf4carlos2luv-kolbsballs, Emell is correct. Wiff won't be seen or heard from until he sobers up from this one. But OOOOOOOOH is he gonna be in for a long week. Manning masterpiece my arse. 31-13 indeed. That's why I call him Nostradumbarse. And though I have a copyright on the term "wiffocrite" feel free to use it at will. I mean it's applicable on a daily basis. Kidding aside, great win against Manning and the league. EAGLES!!!
— tpizza
