This was a strange game to watch. We saw the best and worst of the Eagles in this game. As has been the trend when Michael Vick has been healthy, the Eagles' offense was very efficient moving the football. They garnered 260 yards through the air and 160 more on the ground, averaged 11.8 yards per pass and 4.8 yards per rush. On the flip side of that, the Eagles turned the ball over 4 times, which has been their achilles heel this year, leading the entire NFL in turnovers. The Eagles also got out to a big lead early in the game and at one point led 28-0. This hasn't been strange for Philly this year, but they did about everything in their power to allow the Jets back in the game, turning the ball over three times in the 2nd quarter, which led to 13 Jets' points. Lucky for them, the Eagles' defense was in charge for most of the game and limited the Jets to a touchdown and a couple field goals on those turnovers, which occurred in Philly territory.
Michael Vick had a very efficient game. It was one of his best games of the season. He was picked off once, but it was on the last play of the first half when the Eagles were near midfield and tried to get lucky on a hail mary. He finished 15 of 22 for 274 yards (12.5 per attempt) with a touchdown and a rating of 107.0. He ran the ball 5 times for 32 yards (6.4 per) and a touchdown, surprisingly his first rushing touchdown of the season.
LeSean McCoy was pretty well bottled up for most of the game until he broke through with a 33-yard touchdown run early in the 4th quarter which sealed the deal for the Eagles. He finished with 18 carries for 102 yards (5.7 avg.) and 3 scores. Vick hit 6 different receivers in the game and while stars DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin were kind of quiet (combined 8 catches for 85 yards), tight end Brent Celek caught 5 passes for 156 yards (31.2 avg) and a touchdown, including a 73-yard catch which he ran to the 1-yard line.
The defense played very well, limited the Jets to 241 yards of total offense, including some yards and a late touchdown in scrub time. The Jets completed 16 of 29 passes for 147 yards, an average of just 5.1 per attempt. They only averaged 3.5 yards per rush, as they gained 94 yards on 27 carries. They also forced 4 turnovers and came away with 4 sacks, 3 by Jason Babin. One of the turnovers went back for 6, as defensive end Juqua Parker returned a fumble 47 yards for the opening score of the game and the Eagles never looked back.
If it weren't for the turnovers, this would have been the Eagles' best all-around game of the season. However, those 4 turnovers can't keep happening. It's pretty amazing that the team was able to score 45 points when turning the ball over 4 times and that's taking into consideration the fact that Andy Reid pulled his big names from offense with 12 minutes to play in the game.
At 6-8, the Eagles need some things to happen for them, but still aren't mathematically out of the NFC East race. Dallas leads the way at 8-6. With the Giants' loss today to the Redskins, they fell to 7-7. Philly plays at Dallas next Saturday and with a win, would improve to 7-8, one back of Dallas and at the very most, one back of the Giants. This is when the Eagles will need help, though. They'll need the Giants to lose to the Jets next Saturday to fall to 7-8 and a tie with the Eagles. The Eagles will need to defeat Washington in their final game to improve to 8-8 and for the Giants to defeat the Cowboys. In that unlikely scenario, all three teams would finish 8-8, with Philly sweeping Dallas and splitting with the Giants. The Giants would have swept the Cowboys, so the race would be between Philly and New York. The next tie-breaker is divisional record. If New York defeats Dallas, they will finish 3-3 in the NFC East and if Philly beats both Dallas and Washington, they will finish 5-1, which would vault the Eagles to the playoffs. Again, this is unlikely, but more likely than it was just a week ago. The Eagles need four games right now (beat Dallas and Washington, for the Jets to beat the Giants and the Giants to beat the Cowboys), but given today's craziness of the unbeaten Packers losing to the Chiefs and the winless Colts upending the Titans, anything is possible.
Michael Vick had a very efficient game. It was one of his best games of the season. He was picked off once, but it was on the last play of the first half when the Eagles were near midfield and tried to get lucky on a hail mary. He finished 15 of 22 for 274 yards (12.5 per attempt) with a touchdown and a rating of 107.0. He ran the ball 5 times for 32 yards (6.4 per) and a touchdown, surprisingly his first rushing touchdown of the season.
LeSean McCoy was pretty well bottled up for most of the game until he broke through with a 33-yard touchdown run early in the 4th quarter which sealed the deal for the Eagles. He finished with 18 carries for 102 yards (5.7 avg.) and 3 scores. Vick hit 6 different receivers in the game and while stars DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin were kind of quiet (combined 8 catches for 85 yards), tight end Brent Celek caught 5 passes for 156 yards (31.2 avg) and a touchdown, including a 73-yard catch which he ran to the 1-yard line.
The defense played very well, limited the Jets to 241 yards of total offense, including some yards and a late touchdown in scrub time. The Jets completed 16 of 29 passes for 147 yards, an average of just 5.1 per attempt. They only averaged 3.5 yards per rush, as they gained 94 yards on 27 carries. They also forced 4 turnovers and came away with 4 sacks, 3 by Jason Babin. One of the turnovers went back for 6, as defensive end Juqua Parker returned a fumble 47 yards for the opening score of the game and the Eagles never looked back.
If it weren't for the turnovers, this would have been the Eagles' best all-around game of the season. However, those 4 turnovers can't keep happening. It's pretty amazing that the team was able to score 45 points when turning the ball over 4 times and that's taking into consideration the fact that Andy Reid pulled his big names from offense with 12 minutes to play in the game.
At 6-8, the Eagles need some things to happen for them, but still aren't mathematically out of the NFC East race. Dallas leads the way at 8-6. With the Giants' loss today to the Redskins, they fell to 7-7. Philly plays at Dallas next Saturday and with a win, would improve to 7-8, one back of Dallas and at the very most, one back of the Giants. This is when the Eagles will need help, though. They'll need the Giants to lose to the Jets next Saturday to fall to 7-8 and a tie with the Eagles. The Eagles will need to defeat Washington in their final game to improve to 8-8 and for the Giants to defeat the Cowboys. In that unlikely scenario, all three teams would finish 8-8, with Philly sweeping Dallas and splitting with the Giants. The Giants would have swept the Cowboys, so the race would be between Philly and New York. The next tie-breaker is divisional record. If New York defeats Dallas, they will finish 3-3 in the NFC East and if Philly beats both Dallas and Washington, they will finish 5-1, which would vault the Eagles to the playoffs. Again, this is unlikely, but more likely than it was just a week ago. The Eagles need four games right now (beat Dallas and Washington, for the Jets to beat the Giants and the Giants to beat the Cowboys), but given today's craziness of the unbeaten Packers losing to the Chiefs and the winless Colts upending the Titans, anything is possible.
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