LeSean McCoy (#25) eludes Colts LB Pat Angerer as he got off to a great start with a 62-yard run on the first play from scrimmage…McCoy ended up with 95 yards rushing in 16 attempts, while QB Mike Vick had 10 carries for 74 yards and a TD…about as close to a balanced run-possession offense we’ve seen from the Eagles in many a season. Vick also completed 17 of 29 passes for 218 yards and a TD.
The Peyton Manning hex over the Eagles has been broken…but the “Illegal Contact” jinx remains.
I shouldn’t complain. I should be celebrating a huge win that validates the young rebuilding Eagles as a legit contender for post-season eligibility.
But the NFL Rules Committee needs to take quick action to clarify (and train its referees to recognize) the difference between an accidental or incidental head shot, and an illegal one…
As good and tough as Peyton and his Colts are, they were saved by the bell on two amazing game-changing penalties against the Eagles that should never have been called. The Eagles actually won this game going away. It should have never gotten so close.
The first game-changing error happened in the second quarter. The Colts were trailing 16-7 at the time. Everything was firing on all cylinders for the obviously up-tempo Eagles. Peyton was on the verge of a three-and-out when it appeared WR Austin Collie fumbled or muffed a pass reception across the middle with three defenders converging upon him.
At the last instant prior to impact— Collie lowered his helmet to ward off the defenders.
Strong safety Quintin Mikell grabbed Collie about the shoulders…and free safety Kurt Coleman made a play for Collie’s waist. But when Collie lowered his own helmet, he created the perfect circumstance for an accidental collision with Coleman’s helmet. There was absolutely no intent by Coleman to drive his helmet into Collie’s headgear. In fact, a good defense attorney might argue it was Collie’s intent to spear Coleman.
Unfortunately, the accident occurred, the ball was fumbled but blown dead, the play was whitewashed as an “incomplete pass”, and the refs conferred as Collie lay motionless on the ground.
My biggest fear at the moment was Collie had suffered a severe spinal injury. Nobody wants that to happen. And it took a very long time for the docs and trainers to secure Collie on a gurney for his trip to the hospital…a real nightmare scenario, not just for the players and fans who observed in shock, but also for Roger Goodell, again faced with just the kind of scene on a national TV feed he doesn’t want.
Colts team president Bill Polian told CBS Sports mid-broadcast that Collie was awake and alert in the locker room and the preliminary diagnosis was a concussion. I was glad for that news… Collie should be okay.
But back to the game after the long delay, I was then amazed to see the Colts awarded with a first-down and possession of the ball at the point of the “foul”… What foul? Are you kidding me?
The refs decided Collie had received an illegal helmet-to-helmet hit from Mikell. Of course, they completely missed the fact it was Coleman’s helmet, not Mikell’s, that had made contact with Collie’s helmet. Also, they summarily dismissed the video evidence that Collie had lowered his own helmet as a battering ram.
It changed the game. Peyton got a new life, and the Colts got a new motivating spring in their step. Manning threw a 33-yard pass to Blair White on the next play, and a legit facemask call on Mikell put the ball at the 6-yard line. Javarris James ran in from the 6 to cut it to 16-14. Philadelphia then went three-and-out, and the Colts went ahead on Adam Vinatieri’s 37-yard field goal before the half ended.
The Eagles regrouped for the second half. The Birds went ahead 19-17 when David Akers kicked his fourth straight field goal midway through the third quarter. A short drive included a pair of 9-yard catches by Jeremy Maclin. On their next possession, a holding penalty on right tackle Winston Justice negated a 56-yard TD pass from Vick to Brent Celek. But Vick kept the drive going with a 22-yard pass to Maclin on second-and-26, and a 32-yard run on the next play. A few plays later, Vick dove in from the 1 to give Philadelphia a 26-17 lead.
But the second worst call of the game was about to strike the Eagles. This one let Peyton off the hook again after a great defensive effort by the Birds. With about three minutes left, the Eagles appeared to have thwarted Indy’s drive when Manning got sacked and fumbled on fourth-and-18… but a penalty on Trent Cole for “slapping” Manning in the helmet as he reached for the ball gave the Colts a first down.
Look at the tape of the play if you get a chance. The notorious “head slap” is but a mere brushing of a fingertip upon the very top of Manning’s helmet as Cole maintains his balance in doing everything athletically possible to avoid any body contact at all with Manning.
Just unbelievable. I felt at that point we could lose the whole damn game because of two really incompetent calls by the refs…And if this is what pro football is becoming, do I really want to continue caring about the outcome of the games?
Sure enough, the Colts cut it to 26-24 on Javarris James’ 1-yard TD run with 1:50 left.
With all their timeouts left, I felt the Colts would disdain the onsides kick. As fortune would have it, they did kick the ball deep to us. Vick and the offense made a critical first down to maintain possession and eat up clock as DeSean Jackson ran for 11 and 6 yards on consecutive end-arounds (nice calls by OC Marty Mornhinweg).
Still, Manning got the ball back at Indy’s 26 after Sav Rocca’s punt with no timeouts left and 40 seconds remaining. But cornerback Asante Samuel made his second interception to ice it, as the Eagles’ defense came roaring back to take what should have been theirs all along—a virtual shut-down of Peyton Manning’s offense.
That’s my beef: this was a definitive win by the Eagles over a very good Colts football team in nearly every phase of the game. Yet it will look like a lucky survival of a close match in the scorebook.
And about that horrible call on the unfortunate play that injuried Collie? The Boston Globe and USA Today are all over it on the morning after… Turns out two of the Colts also agree the hit was accidental and the furthest thing from intentional or unnecessary roughness.
Colts safety Aaron Francisco told reporters he didn’t consider the hits by either Mikell, who struck Collie first, and Coleman, who struck Collie as part of a chain reaction, as illegal.
“When a player gets hit by two guys, not really simultaneously but one after another, it’s kind of hard as a defensive back to keep your head out of the way,” Francisco said. “That guy is getting hit towards you, you don’t know where his head is going to be or whatever.”
Colts cornerback Jacob Lacey told ESPN that what happened to Collie didn’t violate the NFL’s mandate against hits to the head or neck area.
“It was a football play, it looked like a clean hit,” Lacey said. “You don’t wish that on anybody, or want anybody to be hurt or anything like that. But it looked like a clean hit. The first guy kind of gave him that momentum to swing into the other guy.”
And I add my two cents to the argument: Collie lowered his helmet while driving forward, and drove his own head into the play.
I hope the NFL gets scrutinized enough on the Collie call that it summons the Rules Committee to begin establishing some sort of renewed common sense in what it defines as the “integrity and fairness” of the game.
As for me and our fellow Eagles fans right now: Wow, we finally beat Peyton Manning! I want to celebrate… but those lousy unfair calls against Mikell and Trent Cole have left a bad taste in my mouth.
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