Young And Jackson Lead The Way To Hard-Fought Eagles Victory Over The Giants

The Eagles just have a knack for shining in the Primetime spotlight against NFC East opponents. With Pro Bowl quarterback Michael Vick and young, talented wide receiver Jeremy Maclin on the sidelines in a must win situation, the chances didn’t look good for an Eagles win.  Backup quarterback Vince Young was the man at the helm for Sundays night’s critical NFC East showdown which would effectively ended the Eagles season with a loss.

Second-year wide receiver Riley Cooper and former New York Giants wide out Steve Smith needed to step up and fill the void left by Maclin.  Game-breaking speedster DeSean Jackson was back in the lineup after serving his suspension for being late to a special teams meeting the week before and the question going into the game was what kind of effect DJax would have.

Going into the game Young had spectacular numbers against the Giants which was one of the only bright spots to keep in mind with the contest approaching. The mood surrounding the team all week in the media wasn’t positive and in essence we all assumed this team would be embarrassed on National TB.

But Young and the practice squad offense had other plans in mind. The big and athletic quarterback had a shaky start to the game throwing an incomplete pass to a wide open Shady McCoy right out of the gate. The “uh-oh” feeling hit Eagles fans everywhere right after that play but Young remained calm and began the process of settling down from that moment on.

He clearly didn’t have his timing with Jackson early on in the game as he attempted a deep pass that came up short which led to the first interception of the season for Prince Amukamara. As bad asVick was last week him being in the game might have made a difference on that play.

Towards the end of the first quarter the Eagles had a huge opportunity on a 3rd and 1 to pick up a first down and move into field goal range. Instead Evan Mathis whiffed on a block of Giants defensive tackle Chris Canty and the Eagles were forced to punt. Mathis was the weak link on the offensive line all night and this play could have come back to haunt them, if the results were different at the end of the game.

Jackson starting leaving his mark on the game in the 2nd quarter when he came up with a nice catch but landed awkwardly. He went to the locker room with an issue concerning his knee but thankfully returned to the contest. Later in the quarter, Young finally connected deep to DeSean on a 50-yard pass play which was then negated when DeSean was flagged for taunting the Giants sidelines.

New York had a penalty for hands to the face so that, combined with DeSean’s penalty became an offsetting situation which would result in a repeat of downs. If the Giants never were flagged on the play it simply would have been a penalty on the Eagles for taunting which would have been a result of a loss of yards from the spot of the catch.

The situation didn’t seem fair but unfortunately those are the rules and the play needed to be done over. This play could have cost the Birds in a major way but thankfully didn’t. DeSean needs to keep his composure going forward and just get back to the huddle especially with the season he’s having because he’s not in a position to make mistakes like this one.

Later in the quarter he redeemed himself with a great punt return which originally I thought he took to the house but apparently he stepped out of bounds. Because the return occurred within the last two minutes of the half it was only reviewable by the officials. The replays looked like DeSean didn’t step out but the call stood and it eventually led to the first touchdown catch of the season for Steve Smith.

Certainly this must have been a game on Smith’s mind and he showed up when he needed to tonight and had a huge touchdown to get things going for the birds in the endzone department. This was Smith’s only reception of the night for 14 yards but it was one that left a mark.

Riley Cooper finally started making his presence felt with a catch on the opening drive of the second half. Cooper had an outstanding game finishing with 5 receptions for 75 yards and the game winning touchdown late in the game. Cooper had a spectacular 19 yard catch over the top of Giants corner back Aaron Ross.

Young then took a shot to Cooper in the endzone but Cooper almost looked like he had no idea the ball as heading his way as he allowed Ross to grab an interception. Cooper had the last laugh though with a huge 18 yard reception in the 4th quarter followed by his late game touchdown to ice it.

The Eagles receivers all night exploited the inexperienced Giant linebackers by using crossing patterns throughout the game. In the 3rd quarter DeSean Jackson had a huge 29 yard catch on a crossing route and you had to wonder why couldn’t they play using these kind of routes all season long. DeSean’s speed is killer to any defense and clearly it doesn’t need to be just on a deep route. You can send him over the middle when the safeties are playing back because any matchup with him on a linebacker is going to equal a big gain for the Birds.

Brent Celek once again was a safety valve for the Eagles tonight. He was targeted 6 times in this game catching the ball all 6 times for 60 yards. Celek is showing this season that if he’s involved this offense can be effective. Any time you want to utilize the middle of the field Celek has to be considered as a primary target. In the 3rd quarter Celek had a huge catch on 3rd and 7 deep in Eagles territory to move the chains and keep the drive going.  On this play Vince Young showed great patience and eventually found the safety valve over the middle.

LeSean McCoy fnished with 113 yards on 23 carries with most of that coming late in the game on a 60 yard run on the final drive of the game. The bottom line is McCoy had more touches tonight which is what Andy Reid needed to do in order to be effective. McCoy passed 1,000 yards rushing on the season in this game and showed everyone no matter how ineffective he is early on eventually he’ll break one.

The huge key in on offense in this game though was DeSean Jackson. He finally had a game where he led the team in yards receiving with 88 and he topped it off with 3 punt returns for 54 yards. Jackson loves returning punts at Metlife Stadium and once again he showed tonight that his presence alone on offense will shake up defenses.

I’m not sure how the contract situation will play out and if we are in fact in the final days of DeSean for all the stupid taunting penalties he has a game breaking play is always in his pocket as well. No one knows for sure how much money his agent Drew Rosenhaus is demanding for him but the Eagles need to do everything in their power to keep him in green. The offensive performance was completely different tonight with Jackson out on the field compared to last week against Arizona.

Tip your hat to Young though. His performance this evening was the difference maker. Early on in the game he was shaky but he settled in and played his game. He now improves to 3-0 against the Giants. Mike Vick is still the starter for this team going forward and will be starting next week against the Patriots if healthy but Vince Young did a fantastic job filling in.

Although the former Texas Longhorns star threw three interceptions he passed for 258 yards and threw 2 TD’s to Cooper and Smith. He stayed poised throughout the game and never seemed to show any panic. He used his legs when needed and proved his value tonight as a backup QB on this team. Young converted 6 third down plays on the game winning drive capped by Riley Cooper’s big catch to take the lead. They finished the game 9 for 17 on third downs which was huge for a team that was inconsistent the last few weeks on offense.

The offense was impressive in this game and kept its cool under pressure throughout. Reid did a nice job of using crossing patterns to throw off the Giants linebackers and more of this should be utilized going forward. Although McCoy didn’t have the success we thought he would most of the game Andy Reid stuck with him enough to keep him on the mind of the Giants defense. If Young does in fact start against New England next week I expect to see more of the same from the offense.

This team still has a long way to go to be back in the playoff hunt but the bottom line is a light is still on and we still have meaningful football in Philadelphia for another week. Next week Tom Brady and the Patriots come to town so again the pressure will be on. The Eagles are clearly capable of winning against the Patriots but they are also very capable of losing. It’s a toss up as to which birds team will show up but for now a win over the NY Giants is always a good thing so enjoy.