Fifth Down: The 61-Yard Miracle at the Linc!

Sep. 25, 2017

The Philadelphia Eagles after three games are 2-1 and this was one of these wins that fans will be talking about 30 years from now, it was a classic. It had it's ups and downs but the Eagles find away to pull it out. The New York Giants unfortunately are now 0-3 after that heartbreaking loss. Sorry, not sorry Giants fans!

The first half of the game only saw one score and that was a touchdown by the Eagles. The TD came early in the second with a one-yard run by LeGarrette Blount up the middle. The Eagles get one of two interceptions in the middle of the second by Rasul Douglas. The Giants had a touchdown (caught by Sterling Shepard) called back with 32 second left that would of been the tying TD going into halftime but it was revered as Shepard didn't cross the plane of the goal-line. And on the same exact drive it looked like they had scored again (Shepard again) but Shepard wasn't able to keep both feet in bounds. The Giants on fourth and goal go for it and the Eagles defense stopped them! It was 7-0 going into halftime.

The third quarter, started with the Eagles missing a 52-yard field goal by Jake Elliott. The Eagles second drive of the second half ended in a three-yard touchdown pass by Carson Wentz to Zach Ertz. It was 14-0 after three quarters of football in South Philly, it was looking like the Eagles were gonna ran away with this and the Giants were gonna be 0-3 not so fast.

The fourth quarter, started and in just five plays Eli Manning threw to Odell Beckham in the end-zone for a 10-yard touchdown to cut the lead in half. The Eagles got the ball and on the first play Carson Wentz passes to Zach Ertz and he fumbles the ball. And Eli Apple recovers the ball. In just four plays this time Eli Manning threw another TD pass to ODB to tie the game at 14. The Eagles next drive ended in a punt and in just two plays the Giants takes the lead 21-14. Eli threw another touchdown pass (he's third of the game/fourth quarter) this time it was a 77-yard TD to Starling Shepard.

At this point it seemed like the Eagles were about to lose after blowing a 14 point lead at home. However, the Eagles drove down field and on four plays in about minute and an half they tie the game at 21; it was a 15-yard TD run by rookie running back Corey Clement (Who grew up as an Eagles fan). What a moment for Clement scoring a his first NFL Touchdown in an EAGLES JERSEY!!! The Giants drove down field and re-took the lead at 24-21 with just little over three minutes left in the game. Jake Elliott tied the game at 24 with under a minute left. The Giants failed to get in field goal range to try to win the game, they punted the ball with 13 seconds left. Carson Wentz threw a 19-yard pass to Alshon Jeffery and he got out of bounds with one second. The rookie kicker, Jake Elliott who is just playing in his second NFL game came into the game to try a 61-yard field goal try. The Giants even put Odell on the field just in case he had missed to give ODB a chance at a run back. Elliott kicked the ball and made the KICK AND THE EAGLES WON THE GAME! Eagles win 27-24 in a crazy and epic fourth quarter!

Finally, my thoughts on yesterday's game was it was a game to remember that's for sure. It was the kind of game you'd expect from an Eagles and Giants game, it was another classic by these two. The Eagles had a 14 point lead only to blow that away, the Giants took the lead twice the fourth but weren't able to get in position to set their young kicker, Aldrick Rosas up for a game-winning field goal. The fact a rookie kicked this makes this even better. The play-calling in this game was horrible once again! Doug Pederson going for it on fourth and eight yards to go late in the second quarter instead of going for the punting is beyond me. WHAT THE HELL IS HE thinking, he clearly wasn't thinking at all. Why would you give the Giants the ball middle-field and give them a chance to tie the game and give them momentum. The Eagles didn't get the first down instead, Wentz got sacked.

I'll give the Eagles credit they did a better job of running the ball more instead of throwing the ball 40+ times. I believe that Doug Pederson needs to give up the play-calling and just coach the game, why not give the play-calling duties to Frank Reich. The Eagles next game is against the Los Angeles Chargers in LA, it's not gonna be an easy game for sure especially coming off an emotional game like this and traveling cross country.