Week 15 Wrap Up
It was better late than never for the Eagles as the pass rush and run defense finally showed up in the second half to force two fourth-quarter turnovers and put the Birds on the good side of a back-and-forth 36-22 contest. Thanks to some lucky bounces and a copious amount of penalties, neither team was able to take control of the game until Trent Cole high-stepped his way into the end zone with just under three minutes remaining. The Giants opened the scoring with a rare touchdown from Tiki Barber, but the Eagles answered back with scores from Correll Buckhalter and Brian Westbrook to take the lead at halftime. Jay Feeley connected on three straight field goals to put the Giants up 16-14 in the fourth. Westbrook ran into the end zone for a second time before the teams exchanged turnovers and the Giants took over with a Brandon Jacobs touchdown. The Eagles responded with a long TD completion to Reggie Brown, followed by a 2-point conversion to take a 7-point lead. Cole came up with the dagger, and the rest is history.
Post Game Positives
Brian Dawkins
Dawk was a one-man wrecking crew
for the Eagles today. Not only did he lead the team in tackles, but Dawkins
forced two fumbles and came up with a deflected pass to end three
Play-Calling
(Offense)
Once again, Marty Mornhinweg and Jeff Garcia put together a very smart game. Garcia spread the ball around to eight different targets. Most notably, Correll Buckhalter and L.J. Smith were significantly involved compared to previous weeks. L.J. made the most of his opportunities, gaining 54 yards on four catches. Buckhalter had arguably his most effective outing of the year, receiving the bulk of the carries in the game’s opening stages while Westbrook served as a decoy. Garcia was able to pick on Giants cornerback R.W. McQuarters all day, and he knew it. McQuarters was totally overmatched by Reggie Brown, and got burned for two first downs and a touchdown. We saw a balanced attack today, and aside from his inexplicable pick, another great game from Jeff Garcia.
Offensive Line
This unit turned in an outstanding effort, especially the
interior linemen. Todd Herremans and Jamaal Jackson
created a wide open lane for Buckhalter on his
touchdown run, and the Eagles’ backfield duo had little difficulty running up
the middle all afternoon. Westbrook and Buckhalter
combined for 145 yards on the ground. As usual, the line’s great protection
gave Garcia plenty of time to make decisions. The Giants’ lone sack was not the
O-line’s fault; it resulted from Buckhalter getting
beaten by Carlos Emmons. The only hiccups were
Post Game Negatives
Penalties
The Eagles and Giants both played sloppy games today, but at
least the Giants cleaned their play up by the second half. The Eagles, on the
other hand, couldn’t seem to get enough yellow flags. When all was said and
done, the Birds were flagged 12 times for 103 yards. And even with two or three
questionable calls, that’s still 9 or 10 penalties on the Eagles. Even more
disturbing than the sheer number of flags was their tendency to cluster. Think
of the following sequence: Garcia scrambles for a first down, but spikes the
ball and gets set back 15 yards. On the ensuing series, he throws a bullet to McQuarters to give
Corners vs. Burress
Eagles fans found themselves cursing Plaxico Burress after week two, and early on it looked like he would deliver on his pre-game comments regarding the Philly secondary. With six catches for 120 yards, the secondary had no answer for Buress’s size. All Eli Manning had to do was throw at Burress and he could reasonably expect a completion. The reason that Burress didn’t kill the Eagles is that they kept him out of the end zone, even if it meant taking penalties. This was one of the cases where Dawkins bailed out his teammates when they weren’t on top of their game.
Pass Rush
We don’t mean to sound like a broken record, but the pass rush was once again sporadic and late to arrive this week. When they finally did put pressure on Manning, they only got one sack and despite their best pressure, Eli was usually able to complete or throw away his passes. Everyone knows that Eli, though he has shown some maturity this year, is still young and susceptible to rookie/sophomore mistakes. The Eagles did nothing to frustrate Manning in the early and middle phases of the game when they could have seized control with a two- or even three-score lead that a big stop could have provided. It was not until the run defense appeared that Manning was under any pressure to throw. We’d like to see more consistency from the Eagles’ pass rush and more selective blitzing from Jim Johnson in the future.
Closing Remarks
The Eagles got the W today thanks to a little bit of everything; a solid running game, a prudent passing game, a great fourth-quarter effort, some odd decisions from their opponent, and a few lucky bounces that went their way. If college football has “Separation Saturday,” then today was the NFC East’s Separation Sunday. The Eagles, only a couple weeks removed from questions of their playoff prospects, are now in the wild card driver’s seat and even have a chance to take the division. Even though you may have cringed at some of the football you saw at Giants Stadium, this was undeniably the most exciting Eagles game of the year.