Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett congratulates Mike Vick after Vick and the Eagles offense rallied in the 4th quarter to seal the deal. Vick seems relieved he is still in one piece after taking a dozen shots to the head, chest and body during the contest — some of them illegal but not called.
The Eagles are now 9-4 and can be counted as serious contenders… but they’re 2-0 in Rope-a-Dope matches.
With a dynamic flow of early scoring with big plays, allowing the opponent to hang around, then finishing off a tired opponent with a strong flurry of haymakers, this game played out in an eerily similar way to the Houston game the week before.
Maybe this is the true M.O. of these young Birds: to rope-a-dope older and bigger opponents by getting them tired, absorbing their best shots early until, in the end, the opponent has nothing left…
Vick and the offense absorbed some shots. The Eagles defense laid back on the ropes for some body blows, too, mostly in the 3rd quarter when the Cowboys (just as the Texans had done) took a brief lead.
But Andy Reid seems to have his guys tuned in to a 60-minute game plan. They seem to get faster and more proactive with big plays as the game gets longer.
The haymaker against the Cowboys was Vick’s short pass to DeSean Jackson with less than 12 minutes left that turned into a 91-yard touchdown—the longest career play for both players—with a comedy ending that drew a penalty (I wish DJax would just take the ball into the end zone and hand it to the official…but then it wouldn’t be DJax, would it?).
“I knew he was going to have an opportunity to get some yards. I knew I put the ball in the perfect location,” Vick said. “I just didn’t know he was going to take it 91 yards. … Basically won the game.”
Vick also threw a 60-yard pass to Jackson on the first play of the game. Jackson, who sprained his ankle on the 91-yarder, had four catches for 210 yards, third-most in franchise history. LeSean McCoy ran 16 times for a career-high 149 yards, including a 56-yarder that is the longest run against the Cowboys this season.
Imagine that! Vick finished off the gassed Cowboys defense with a bonafide Running Game… and McCoy and the offensive line blocking for him looked fresh, eager to put the final stamp of certification on this come-from-behind win.
“You saw tonight the Eagles can do it by throwing the ball down the field,” Garrett said. “They can also do it by throwing a six-yard hitch.”
“Once we started rolling, we were rolling. We finished it. We put the foot on the gas and kept pushing away,” McCoy said. “We’ve got so many playmakers that can make plays when it’s time to.”
McCoy’s not kidding or bragging. Word is getting around the league that the young Eagles are for real. Of course Vick’s resurgence is a big part of the buzz. But Reid and OC Marty Mornhinweg are giving Vick all the offensive pieces and play-calls he needs. The Birds are never out of the game offensively…they just go to the rope-a-dope and lull you into a false confidence if you’re defensing them.
Vick ran for a touchdown and was 16 of 26 for 270 yards. But take out Jackson’s numbers, and Vick’s other 12 completions produced only 60 yards. The Cowboys defense held up in spurts but could not generate an antidote to the Big Play flu that killed them in the beginning and at the end.
QB Jon Kitna tested the Eagles defense and was 24 of 35 for 242 yards, with two TDs and two interceptions. The INT’s were backbreakers, one made by Dimitri Patterson on a sideline route that could have been called interference. “You’re proud of how you fight. It doesn’t make me feel better about losing,” Kitna said. “We gave that team too many plays on the offensive side of the ball that you can’t recover from.”
Dallas got to 30-27 on a nice Kitna touchdown pass to TE Jason Witten with 4:22 left, but Philadelphia never gave the ball back. McCoy caught a 6-yard pass before runs of 12, 19 and 13 yards on consecutive carries. Then on third-and-1 after the 2-minute warning, he picked up 6 yards and Vick then kneeled twice to end it.
Haymaker delivered. Rope-a-dope complete. Opponent exhausted.
One small problem with the rope-a-dope strategy is you have to lay on the ropes and absorb a body-pounding yourself until your opponent is physically spent. And Vick and the Birds took a pounding in the middle rounds. The Cowboys sacked Vick twice and blasted him with hard hits all night, including one that drew a penalty for a helmet-to-helmet hit. On one hit to the upper chest I saw Vick visibly shaken and grasping at his clavicle area. I don’t think he threw another clean spiral after that hit. Two of his more wobbly passes were intercepted and led to 10 points for the Cowboys. Possibly Jeremy Maclin should have caught one of those balls, which was a little high but catchable.
On defense, MLB Stewart Bradley got knocked out of the fight, and probably the rest of the season, with a dislocated elbow injury. Rookie LB Jamar Chaney came in to replace Stew in the middle. The Eagles are going to be fixing that hole where the rain gets in all week in practice. Also, rookie DE Brandon Graham left the game with a torn ACL…he is done for the season.
As the game ended, a weird image was caught by the NBC cameras: Cowboy RB Tashard Choice asking Vick to sign a glove for his nephew. That didn’t go over very well among Dallas fans. But to me it symbolizes how life has changed for Mike Vick and the Eagles. People are noticing how good we really are, and darn it, people really like us…
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