Miracle at the Meadowlands Redux - Eagles Get Huge Win Over Giants
New With 8:09 left in the fourth quarter of the game, it looked like it was all over. The New York Giants led 31 to 10, having just driven down the field and scoring on Eli Manning’s 4th touchdown pass of the game, this one to Kevin Boss. The Giants had begun their drive on the Eagles 47 after a Desean Jackson fumble that would have been overturned (The ball popped out after Jackson hit the turf, and he was clearly touched on his way down) had Andy Reid thrown the challenge flag. Reid did not challenge the call, and the Giants responded by stretching their lead to 21 points. The Giants defense had been dominating the game, and it looked as if the Giants had seized control of the NFC East. And then the Eagles began the greatest comeback in their history.
After a short Jorrick Calvin return, the Eagles scored on a 2 play, 75 yard touchdown drive. Brent Celek scored on a 65 yard strike on Michael Vick’s second touchdown pass of the game. The Eagles lined up as if they were going to kick deep, but David Akers’ perfectly placed onsides kick landed in the arms of Riley Cooper, and the Eagles took over on their own 42 yard line. Giants’ coach Tom Coghlin said that the kickoff team had been warned to be on the lookout for an onsides kick, but to a man, the Giants broke backwards as Akers kicked the ball, leaving Cooper to catch the ball uncontested. 5 plays later, Vick scampered in off tackle for a 4 yard touchdown run, narrowing the score to 31-24.
The Eagles defense stiffened and by using all three of their timeouts, the Eagles forced the Giants to punt the ball back after only burning two minutes and twenty seconds. Rookie punter Matt Dodge was able to pin the Eagles back on their own 12 yard line. After two quick incompletions, the Eagles faced 3rd and 10. As they had consistently done during both games they faced the Eagles this season, the Giants blitzed a defensive back from the outside to contain Vick inside the pocket. This time however, Aaron Ross blitzed from the outside and then tried to make an inside move on Eagles’ tackle Jason Peters. Vick took advantage of the opening and shot down the sideline for a 33 yard gain. After a 13 yard pass to Jason Avant followed by an incompletion, Vick once again shredded the Giants for another long run of 22 yards down to the Giants 20. It was Vick’s third run of over 20 yards in the quarter, and it took the clock to the two minute warning. Two plays later, Vick threw his third touchdown pass of the game to Jeremy Maclin. The 13 yard pass was Maclin’s second touchdown reception of the game, and Akers’ extra point tied the score at 31-31.
The Giants still had all three of their timeouts and would receive the ball with one minute and sixteen seconds remaining in the game. Eli Manning had plenty of time and the ability to use the entire field to drive his team to a winning score. D.J. Ware returned Akers’ kick to the Giants’ 36, setting the Giants up with excellent field position. But Manning threw two incompletions and was sacked by Trevor Laws on third down. The Giants ran the clock down to 14 seconds remaining and took their first time out. After the referees huddled to determine exactly how much time was left on the clock, Dodge took a high snap and kicked a line drive punt towards the waiting Desean Jackson.
After the game, Coach Coghlin stated that Dodge had been instructed to punt the ball out of bounds, but the high snap interrupted Dodge’s rhythm, and he felt rushed to get the punt away. The punt was a line drive with extremely little hang time. Jackson fumbled the initial catch at the 35 yard line, scooped the ball up, and took a step back to compose himself. The Giants’ coverage team, perhaps reacting to Jackson’s fumble, bunched up in the middle of the field, and Jackson took advantage of the coverage breakdown by bursting up the middle of the field as if shot out of a cannon. He stiff armed Dodge at midfield, got a tremendous block from Jason Avant on Giants’ linebacker Zac DeOssie, and sped down the far sideline. He ran parallel to the goal line, burning out the last second of the game before he crossed into the end zone, scoring the game winning touchdown, and created perhaps the most exciting ending to any Eagles’ game in history.
The Eagles were outplayed for fifty-two minutes on Sunday. For those fifty-two minutes, it seemed as if the Giants were putting a strangle hold on the NFC East title. But everything changed in those last eight minutes, and Sunday was a perfect example of how having offensive weapons like Michael Vick, LeSean McCoy, Jeremy Maclin, and Desean Jackson no game is ever completely out of reach. The Eagles’ record stands at 10-4, far exceeding anyone’s pre-season expectations. Could this be the year the Eagles make another Super Bowl run? After today’s miraculous snatch of victory from the jaws of defeat, anything is certainly possible.
