12/14/12
The Eagles were on an emotional high since they had a
comeback win last week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bengals were
coming off a last second loss against the Dallas Cowboys. They need to win all
of their games to stay alive in the playoff race for one of the wildcard seeds.
The rest of the Eagles games may be meaningless, but they are a team that won’t
quit because they want to see how rookie quarterback Nick Foles can perform the
rest of the way. The Bengals have a good 1-2 punch on offense in quarterback
Andy Dalton and star wide receiver A.J. Green. They also have a good defensive
line since they have the most sacks in the NFL.
The first quarter started when the Eagles went back to their
turnover ways and Jeremy Maclin caught a six yard pass and Carlos Dunlap
slapped the ball out of Maclin’s hand and caused him to fumble the ball. The
Bengals recovered the ball and they were in good field position on the Eagles
44 yard line. Just like that the Bengals scored a touchdown on a one yard rush
by BenJarvus Green-Ellis to make it a 7-0 game. Not a good start for the Eagles.
Green-Ellis started the drive with a 29 yard run, which proved to be the big
play of the drive. On the next Eagles drive, they had their punt blocked by Dan
“Boom” Herron and the Bengals recovered the ball at the Eagles 11 yard line.
Fortunately, the Eagles held the Bengals to a 24 yard field goal made by Josh
Brown and it was a 10-0 lead. That was the score at the end of the quarter.
The second quarter started out with the Eagles scoring a
touchdown on an 11 yard catch by Riley Cooper to cut the deficit to 10-7.
Maclin redeemed himself from that fumble he had in the first quarter and caught
a 46 yard pass that put the Eagles on the Bengals 11 yard line. Then something
unthinkable happened after the Eagles scored a touchdown. For the first time in
five games, the Eagles forced their opponent to turn the ball over. Brandon
Graham sacked Dalton and made him fumble the
ball and Trent Cole recovered the ball for the Eagles. Their last forced
turnover happened against the New Orleans Saints in week nine. That turnover
led the Eagles to a 22 yard field goal that Henery made to tie the game at 10.
On the Bengals next drive, Dalton fumbled the
ball again. This time Cullen Jenkins sacked Dalton
and Darryl Tapp recovered the ball for the Eagles. Henery was asked to kick
another field goal, this time from 20 yards and he helped the Eagles take the
lead 13-10. That was the score at halftime.
The third quarter went downhill for the Eagles after Foles
had a streak of 169 passes without an interception snapped when Leon Hall
intercepted a pass that Foles underthrew to Maclin. Dalton
ran 11 yards for a Bengals touchdown that made the game 17-13. You would have
to wonder if that interception would change the momentum of this game. It sure
did because Foles fumbled a handoff attempt to Bryce Brown and the Bengals
recovered the ball for another touchdown by Wallace Gilberry to make it 24-13.
The fourth quarter began and the Eagles fumbled the ball again.
This time Clay Harbor lost the ball when Foles completed a 16
yard pass to him. Chris Crocker recovered the ball for the Bengals on the
Eagles 13 yard line. Josh Brown kicked a
32 yard field goal and made it a 27-13 game. The Bengals kicked off to the
Eagles and a third consecutive fumble happened. This time Cedric Thornton
muffed the kickoff return and Taylor Mays recovered the ball for the Bengals on
the Eagles 33 yard line. After that turnover occurred, Dalton
threw a five yard touchdown pass to A.J. Green. That made the score 34-13 and
was the final score.
Overall, the Eagles defense looked better than they have
looked this entire season. They sacked Dalton
six times in the game and forced two fumbles. Foles didn’t have a spectacular
game, but he did not have a poor performance. The Eagles need to figure out how
to get that running game to exist again. The Bengals played with a sense of
urgency. They wanted to win to keep their playoff hopes alive. Their defense
may not have looked like the sack masters that they were, but they came through
in other ways. They forced the Eagles to turn the ball over five times with one
of those turnovers turning into a defensive touchdown.
How can the Eagles
get their offense going in the right direction? Sound off and stay tuned until
next time…
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