LeSean McCoy took a QB option pitch on 4th-and-1 from the 50 yard-line late in the game and took it to the house to put the Eagles ahead to stay after trailing 17-16. It was a brilliantly simple play-call that nobody would expect with Vick under center and the game on the line…
This game was like a post-modernistic art class — all over the place. Both teams played athletically well enough to win—and to lose. There were enough giveaways and takeaways by both sides to justify a new football metric: derivative futures…
Yet in the end (and you had to get all the way through to the end to determine the outcome of this game), it was the Eagles’ overall defensive performance, coupled with some great run-blocking by offensive linemen — and not so much Vick — that carried the battle.
Which is not to say Vick was a slouch. He threw for 258 yards and zero interceptions, and picked up a rushing TD on a nice bootleg. But the New York defense took him out of his comfort zone for most of the second half. The Giants’ coaching staff did a nice job of designing what is known as a “Zero Blitz”… leaving the middle lanes wide open but forcing Vick on his deep-drop rollouts to move to the wrong side—his right.
The strategy was extremely effectve and no doubt will be copied by other teams the rest of the way. Now it’s up to Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg to adjust and counter.
Meanwhile, it was an entertaining game — but only if you didn’t care which team won or lost. This battle was harsh on the nerves of both Eagles and Giants fans.
For instance, the normally sure-handed slot wide-out Jasan Avant dropped a sure TD on one of the most open and uncontested passes you’ll ever witness in the first half. The Eagles had to settle for 3… and then, just barely, as David Akers seemed to be teasing the right goalpost all night long with his hold-your-breath attempts.
Then it was New York’s turn. Hakeem Nicks seemingly beat the Eagles’ cover defense down the right side for a big 50-yard gainer in the first quarter…but inexplicably did not keep his right foot in bounds on the catch—and he had plenty of foot-locker room to do so.
DeSean Jackson dropped a TD throw in traffic as he split a zone coverage in the end-zone— granted, a much higher degree of difficulty than Avant’s opportunity, but Jackson visibly displayed his belief he should have caught the thing.
How about Michael Vick missing Jackson on a wide-open left sideline route early by overthrowing him by just a hair? That one would have gone for a sure 6…
Perhaps the worst giveaway, though, will be laid at Eli Manning’s feet…er, head. With the game on the line late in the 4th, and the Giants mounting a furious comeback after losing the lead, Manning made a great decision to pull the ball down under pressure and take off…it was a great run that would change the game…until Eli decided to dive instead of slide to stop the clock. Yep, he did it again! The ball skittered away from Manning when he dove to the turf, without any contact by a defender. Kids and quarterbacks out there, when you don’t slide feet-first to stop the clock, and you lay the ball down without contact, by rule that is a live ball…
Eli should have known better. He did the same damn thing last year against Philly, and it cost him the game then, too.
Eagles defensive end Darryl Tapp pounced on it. Giants coach Tom Coughlin challenged the fumble but lost.
“Once I saw the ball, all I could think about was picking it up and securing it,” Tapp said. “I just wanted to do whatever I could to help us win.”
That was one of five turnovers forced by an aggressive Eagles defense. Manning threw three interceptions and lost a fumble. Running back Ahmad Bradshaw also coughed up a fumble.
Eagles cornerback Asante Samuel snared two interceptions and recovered a fumble. He now leads the NFL this season with seven interceptions. Four of his picks were against Manning and his brother Peyton, the Indianapolis Colts’ quarterback.
“Those guys are both great quarterbacks and competitors,” Samuel said. “I have a lot of respect for them. I was just focused on trying to make plays.”
I will choose to remember this game as the one where the Eagles’ overall defense overshadowed Vick as the most important force in the game. It’s actually remarkable to me that the Eagles held Manning to less than 160 yards total passing, and also held the great running game of the Giants to under 70 yards for the game.
There was a moment of doubt about the Birds’ defense. Still leading the Giants 16-3 late in the 3rd, the Eagles secondary seemed to get lost, and the Giants’ second-ranked offense finally got untracked. Manning followed a 31-yard pass-interference penalty on Eagles safety Quintin Mikell by hitting tight end Travis Beckum for a 2-yard touchdown pass that cut the Eagles’ edge to 16-10.
The Giants’ top-ranked defense stepped up early in the fourth to set up another touchdown. Defensive end Justin Tuck smacked the ball away from Vick on a strip-sack and defensive tackle Barry Cofield recovered the fumble at the Eagles’ 27-yard line.
Manning needed just two plays to give the Giants their first lead of the game. He found running back Brandon Jacobs on the other side of the field for a 22-yard gain and then tossed a 5-yard TD pass to wide receiver Derek Hagan to put the Giants ahead 17-16.
That’s when, with about 5 minutes left in the game, McCoy (who had been held to only 13 yards rushing in 9 carries to that point), pulled off the 50-yard surprise option play behind some great run-blocking by Jason Peters, Todd Herremans, and Winston Justice…all of whom had a great blocking night, despite the 3 sacks allowed to Tuck on the right side—who, truth be told, earned every one of ’em the hard way.
Trailing 17-16, the Eagles were faced with a fourth-and-1 at midfield. Quarterback Michael Vick nearly lost control of the snap from center Mike McGlynn, barely grabbing it with his fingertips. Then he pivoted and pitched it to McCoy, who burst free behind a nice block from left tackle Peters and easily outran Giants linebacker Michael Boley to the end zone while the crowd roared.
“We’ve had that play in the book for two weeks, but we obviously didn’t need it last week (during a 59-28 win at Washington),” McCoy said. “I saw Jason pulling out, I saw where number 59 (Boley) was, and I just knew I was going to rock it out and get us that touchdown.”
Vick then hit wide receiver Jason Avant for the two-point conversion pass to give the Eagles a seven-point lead.
Manning almost pulled off the late rally, but for the ignominious head-first slide to nowhere… which ultimately resulted in a 3-point kill shot for Akers and the final score.
Still, the Giants had a tremendous effort against an equally speedy opponent. Even with all their injuries right now, the Giants are an extremely talented and athletic team. And defensively they really had something going with the safeties and corners blitzing…other teams will copy…Eagles need to adjust…any suggestions?
The Giants (6-4) hit hard but they hit fair…it was a clean game. CB Ellis Hobbs suffered a high-impact neck compression injury on a helmet-to-helmet contact and had to be gurnied off after about a 25-minute delay in the broadcast of the game…scary…but he is okay today and moving about well… just real sore. Lucky. But in reviewing the incident, it’s clear to me the hit was completely an accident of two opposing forces meeting in space…and Hobbs was not defenseless by any stretch as he was returning a kick.
Jeremy Maclin emerges as the prime-time star receiver for the Eagles (now 7-3) after this one. Maclin had 9 catches for 120 yards and was crucial to the Eagles’ possession game plan. Maclin is finally starting to get the attention of the NBC commentary crew in the booth. That recognition should spread around the media this week.
The linebacking crew for the Eagles looked very coherent against Manning’s game plan. It seems OLB’s Ernie Sims, Moise Fokou, and MLB Stewart Bradley had a real good idea almost every time of where Manning was going to run a play and when.
That’s another reason why I give the game-ball to the Eagles defense on this one.
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