Eagles win after moving tribute to Garrett Reid

The best moments of the Eagles' preseason opener Thursday night were the tribute to Garrett Reid and the spontaneous chant of "An-dy! An-dy!" that went up when the video scoreboard showed a message from the head coach and his family, thanking fans for their support following son Garrett's death.

"I take it as a compliment to my son and my family," Reid said afterward, when asked about the chant. "It's a humbling thing."

Reid was visited before the game by Steelers owners Art and Dan Rooney, general manager Keith Colbert and coach Mike Tomlin.

The football part — at least the first half, featuring the players who most matter — did not go so well. At all. The worst thing that can happen in a preseason game? An injury to Michael Vick. So, of course, on the third play of the second quarter of an eventual 24-23 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers (achieved on Alex Henery's 51-yard field goal with 12 seconds left), Vick, under pressure, tried to hit tight end Clay Harbor over the middle. On his follow-through, Vick slammed his left, throwing thumb into center Jason Kelce's helmet. Vick jogged off in obvious pain, and he went to the sideline cradling his left hand. Head athletic trainer Rick Burkholder and team orthopedist Dr. Peter DeLuca huddled over Vick on the bench.

But then Vick got up and pulled on the black hairnetty thing he wears under his helmet, apparently ready to go back into the game. That did not happen; Reid decided he had seen quite enough of his most irreplaceable player in a game that meant nothing. And never mind that the Eagles' first-team offense had run just six plays, for a long gain of five yards.

At halftime, the Eagles announced X-rays on Vick's thumb were negative, and in the press box, we started watching the game again, instead of keeping binoculars focused on Vick every second.

"I heard a pop. I thought it was broke," Vick said later. "I tried to get back to the sideline as fast as I could ... thankfully (the pop) was because of the collision, not because of a broken bone."

Reid likened the Vick injury to a "stinger on your thumb." Vick said he expects to be on the field when practice resumes Saturday.

"He hit it pretty good. Right away I was concerned about his hand. He was in some pain, but the X-rays came back negative, and he should be good to go," Kelce said. The center said he could feel the blow against his helmet.

So, there was that. And a 13-0 halftime deficit, thanks to a defense that — stop us if you've heard this before — couldn't get off the field on third down, and couldn't tackle consistently.

Second-year safety Jaiquawn Jarrett got a surprise start, with Nate Allen (hamstring) sidelined, and it is hard to see how Jarrett could have been any worse. Most egregiously, he took an awful angle and launched himself into rookie defensive end Vinny Curry, preventing Curry from closing on Steelers running back Jonathan Dwyer, who was in the process of rambling 33 yards. Jarrett was not the only culprit; DeMeco Ryans, the new sheriff in the middle, fired blanks on the 14-yard run just before the 33-yard run.

"We had some missed tackles, so we have to tackle better," Ryans understated.

The Steelers kept the ball the first 9 minutes, 48 seconds of the game, running a mere 16 plays to cover 52 yards before kicking a 46-yard field goal.

The Dwyer run set up a Steelers touchdown and a 10-0 deficit. The most disturbing part of the whole thing was that the Birds' defense — which was, indeed, missing starting defensive ends Trent Cole and Jason Babin, plus Allen — gave up a one-yard fourth-down conversion after allowing eight yards on third-and-9, gave up 17 yards on third-and-11 (Jarrett in coverage), and coughed up a third-and-16 conversion when Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie was called for unnecessary roughness on Pittsburgh backup quarterback Byron Leftwich.

Eagles backup QB Mike Kafka gave plenty of ammunition to people who suspect he isn't up to the job when, on the first series after Vick left the game, he hit Steelers defensive end Al Woods in the breadbasket with a pass. Woods trundled 53 yards to the Eagles' 4.

It got way better when the deep subs started playing one another. Specifically, it got way better when third-round rookie quarterback Nick Foles took the field against the Steelers' scrubs in the third quarter. First, Foles ran away from pressure and launched a bomb to an uncovered Damaris Johnson, a 70-yard TD. The ball zipped 45 yards through the air, thrown on the run, which was kinda cool.

Even cooler was Foles' next throw, 44 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown to former Rams receiver Mardy Gilyard. Foles completed six of 10 passes with a terrible Brett Brackett drop, for 144 yards and the two TDs. His passer rating was 143.8.

"I felt comfortable and stepped up in the pocket," Foles said. He said it was his first time in an NFL stadium. Good that he made the most of it.

Reid was impressed with how Foles kept his eyes downfield.

The Eagles took a 21-20 lead with 5:26 left when wideout Jamel Hamler — way down the depth chart, but pretty good in camp — caught a Trent Edwards pass on fourth-and-2 and danced through defenders 16 yards to the end zone.

The Steelers took the lead again with a 43-yard field goal just after the two-minute warning, but then Edwards led the Eagles 46 yards in 11 plays and Henery converted with room to spare, no timeouts left.

Reid obviously would have liked to have seen that level of efficiency from his starters, on either side of the ball.

"The blocking and tackling wasn't good enough," Reid said. "We've got to work on that. There's a certain attitude you have to bring to the table there."

MACLIN HAMSTRUNG

Eagles wideout Jeremy Maclin suffered a hamstring injury in warmups and didn't play. This led to a lot of opportunities for undrafted rookie wideout Damaris Johnson. Johnson caught four passes for 85 yards through three quarters. He also had a 55-yard punt return called back.

LURIE SETTLEMENT?

The New York Post printed a gossip item that said court papers could be filed next week, settling the divorce of Eagles owners Jeffrey and Christina Lurie. The paper said Jeffrey Lurie has agreed to give Christina "a sizable chunk of the team," currently valued at more than $1 billion.

BIRDSEED

Defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins and running back Dion Lewis suffered hamstring injuries ... As expected, Eagles left tackle Jason Peters has filed a lawsuit in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court against the firm that made the Roll-A-bout device that collapsed under him, reinjuring his Achilles' tendon ... Rookie Brandon Boykin brought his first kickoff return out of the back of the end zone, 46 yards ... Defensive end Phillip Hunt racked up two early sacks.