The Eagles and the NFL as we know it have been around for approximately 80 years, and you’d think by now just about everything that could happen on a footy field has already occurred.
But look at all the things that happened for the very first time in 2011…
Two guys on the same team— LeSean McCoy and Mike Vick— averaged over 8 yards a carry (minimum 10 carries each) in the same game (September 12, 2011 against the Rams in St. Louis). McCoy rushed 15 times for 122 yards (8.13 ypc), and Vick rushed 10 times for 98 yards (9.8 ypc). That same-team combination had never happened before in the history of the NFL.
I wouldn’t mind seeing it happen again, but the McCoy-Vick tag team effort which resulted in two guys from the same team each rushing for over 8 yards-per-carry in the same game?— it was a league first, and it may never be seen again for a long time.
More unexpected “firsts” the NFL saw in 2011 after this short break…
[Okay—I’m back with the research that will blow your mind. A corned beef sangwich from the Irish restaurant in town (“Au Poutin Still”) and a G&T chaser surely helps…]Here’s more stuff that happened in the NFL for the first time ever in 2011… and can you top this in 2012? Somebody maybe will…but I doubt it…
– A receiver caught at least 2 TD passes in his team’s first 4 games (Calvin Johnson, Detroit)—probably never will be done again…
– A receiver caught a TD pass in all eight of his team’s regular season home games (Jordy Nelson)— don’t hold your breath on that repeat!…
– A rookie QB completed 10 passes in one game to another rookie (Andy Dalton to A.J. Green)… unbelievable!
– A return man took a kickoff AND a punt to the house within one minute of clock time (Ted Ginn)…that may never be duplicated!
– A QB passed for 400 yards and rushed for 75 in the same game (Mike Vick)…that was a first…
– A QB rushed for 14 TD’s in a season (Cam Newton)…never been done before…
– A QB threw 15 fourth quarter TD passes in a season (Eli Manning)….give the blue devil his due…
– A rookie defensive lineman returned an INT for a TD in a playoff game (J.J. Watt)….never happened before…
– A team played nine straight games decided by 3 or fewer points (Cowboys)… another first in NFL history…
– A team won a game by 20 or more points after trailing by 20 or more points in the same game (Patriots vs. Bills)…
– A team compiled the best regular-season record in the NFL despite finishing last in Total Defense (The Green Bay Packers)…
– A team scored exactly 4 points in a quarter (the Rams)… hard to program that!
– A game had two QB’s combine to pass for 1,000 yards (Matt Stafford and Matt Flynn)…
– A return man scored 3 times off punts in his first 8 NFl games (Patrick Peterson)…
– A QB amassed eight 350-yard passing games in a single season (Drew Brees)…
– An NFC team committed as few as 10 turnovers in a single season ( San Francisco 49ers)…
– A week featured 8 kicks returned for TD’s (Week One)…
– A game featured a kicker from each team booting a field goal of 57 yards or longer (Matt Prater and Robbie Gould)…
They say there’s nothing new under the Philly sun in Philly football… But I say, after examining the evidence of all the new stuff that happened in 2011, the sky’s the limit… The Eagles are just as eligible to change history in 2012 with “firsts” of their own…Expect the unexpected, ladies and gentlemen… NFL Footy is an art, not a science.
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