12/10/12
Wow…I don’t know what to say after this game. I was
preparing to write about another Eagles loss, but instead I have to change that
approach. The Eagles came into this game on an eight game losing streak, their
longest losing streak since 1968. Their record was 3-9. Their last win was at
the end of September. The Bucs were coming off a tough loss against the Denver
Broncos last week. They were coming home this week and were honoring the 2002
team that won the Super Bowl. The Eagles were without Michael Vick, LeSean
McCoy, Mike Patterson, and Kurt Coleman in this game. The Bucs did not have any
significant injuries to report.
The first quarter was extremely boring to watch if you like
offense. However, if you like defense, you would have to be impressed with how
the Eagles played. Last Monday, the Eagles fired defensive line coach Jim
Washburn. According to reports, he was being insubordinate with the other
coaches on Andy Reid’s coaching staff. In this game, you can tell a different
scheme was installed by interim defensive line coach Tommy Brasher. He
abolished the wide nine scheme that former defensive line coach Jim Washburn
installed for the defensive line. Brasher’s scheme was just a basic 4-3
defense. His scheme proved to be a big factor in stopping the run and
pressuring the Bucs’ quarterback Josh Freeman. There were a lot of
three-and-out drives because the defense was too good for both teams. There was
no score after the first quarter. If you saw this game you would have thought
like I did that this could be a low scoring game. The Eagles had only 22 yards
of offense in the quarter compared to the Bucs’ 36 yards. Brent Celek had to
leave the game after the first play of the game due to a concussion.
In the second quarter, the Bucs could not generate anything
on offense. This was surprising to me that the Eagles defense was STIFLING an opponent’s
offense. On the other hand, the Eagles generated offense late in the quarter.
On their second drive of the quarter, Alex Henery made a 28 yard field goal to
put the Eagles on the board first to make it 3-0. Jason Avant had an amazing
one-handed 20 yard catch that put the Eagles into field goal range. On their
next drive, they scored a touchdown to make it 10-0. Nick Foles ran the slowest
10 yards you could imagine seeing to get into the end zone. Avant had another
big play in which he caught a wide open 39 yard pass thrown by Foles. The
Eagles tried to get three more points on the board before halftime, but Henery
missed a 58 yard field goal that clearly had the distance, but hit the left
upright. If he wanted to, he could have attempted that field goal from at least
65 yards and make the kick. That missed kick snapped a streak of 21 consecutive
field goals made. At halftime the Eagles led 10-0. This was the first time all
season that the Eagles shutout ANY opponent through the first half.
The third quarter began and the offense was still not
performing well for the Bucs. That is until Damaris Johnson muffed a punt for
the Eagles that landed on the Eagles five yard line. When that happened, the
Bucs finally got on the scoreboard with a one yard touchdown pass from Freeman
to Mike Williams. That made it a 10-7 game. The Eagles tried to respond with
points of their own, but Henery, who missed a 58 yard field goal to end the
first half, missed another field goal that should have been easy for him to
make. He missed a 31 yard field goal that went wide left. At the end of the
third quarter, the Eagles were surprisingly still leading 10-7.
The Bucs finally decided to get the offense working in the
fourth quarter. They scored a touchdown on their first drive of the quarter
when Freeman threw a 13 yard pass to Vincent Jackson. Jackson also had a big 40 yard catch that
Freeman bombed to the Eagles 27 yard line. The Bucs were winning 14-10. On the
Bucs next drive, they scored another touchdown on a Doug Martin four yard run. Jackson caught another big
pass. This time it was a 28 yard pass that set the Bucs up at the Eagles 12
yard line. The Bucs moved ahead, 21-10. Could the Eagles come back from this
large of a deficit? The Eagles answered back with a touchdown of their own.
Foles threw an 11 yard pass in the end zone to Clay Harbor,
who was replacing Celek in the lineup. The Eagles were down 21-16 after that
touchdown and tried to go for the two point conversion. Unfortunately they
failed and the scored stayed the same. The Eagles needed one more defensive
stop to give them one more chance to have the ball on offense. They
successfully stopped the Bucs offense and had no more timeouts left. The Eagles
had to score a touchdown with 2:44 left in the game. Did they do the
unthinkable and win a game for the first time in over two months? Yes they did.
Jeremy Maclin caught the game winning touchdown pass from one yard out when
time ran out. The biggest catch in this game was from Avant who caught a 22
yard pass at the Bucs one yard line on fourth down with two seconds left to go
in the game. The Eagles won 23-21.
Overall, the Eagles played their best game since they won
against the New York Giants back in September. Foles is proving that he can be
the quarterback of the future for the Eagles especially since they couldn’t
rely on the running game much like they did in the past few games. The defense
was the biggest surprise in this game for the Eagles in general. Quite frankly,
this win does not mean much in the standings because the Eagles were officially
eliminated from the playoffs. But, in the end, a win is a win and that is
always nice.
What are your
thoughts on Foles? Sound off and stay tuned to my next entry on Thursday when
the Eagles host the Cincinnati Bengals.
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