Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Too much time and Tom on the Eagles’ hands
From the beginning of the regular season until 5:48 remained in the playoffs, the Eagles of 2004-05 could do little wrong. It was at that point that they would elect to do little of anything.
Though trailing the developing dynasty that was the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX by 10 points in Jacksonville, Fla., there were the Eagles, with the ball at their 21, with their star receiver Terrell Owens in the midst of a signature game, and with a defense that had supplied plenty of chances. All they had to do was hurry. And? “I don’t know,” tight end L.J. Smith would say, “what happened.”
What happened was that the Eagles would take 30 seconds to run their second play, then 18 seconds, then 33, 34, 3, 6, 8, 33, 35, 6, 14 and 5, refusing to run a hurry-up offense. So disinterested did coach Andy Reid seem in managing the clock that microphones would catch coach Bill Belichick on the New England sideline thinking out loud that maybe the wrong score was being flashed on the end zone boards.
Finally, with 1:55 left, Donovan McNabb hit Greg Lewis with a 30-yard touchdown pass, which, with the David Akers placement drew the Eagles within three. But by then, it was panic time. New England recovered the on-side kick and held possession until 0:55 remained. After a punt, the Eagles took possession at their 31, McNabb threw three incomplete passes, and it was over … all except for the criticism.
Headlines everywhere screamed out “What’s the Hurry?” Columnists fumed. Talk show lines were jammed. Rumors spread, including one about McNabb vomiting in the huddle, even if no video of that surfaced from the dozens of TV cameras and hundreds of still photographers in the stadium.
As for Reid, who didn’t know what to do when the time was his, he basically shrugged.
“Well, we were trying to hurry up,” he said. “It was the way things worked out.”
They worked out as the experts assumed, with the Patriots prevailing, 24-21. Tom Brady would pass for two touchdowns and 236 yards, including 133 to game MVP Deion Branch. But even though they sacked McNabb four times and generated three interceptions, it was not easy for Belichick’s favored Patriots. One reason was Owens, who in his first game back from ankle surgery caught 122 yards worth of passes.
McNabb did complete 30-of-51 passes for 357 yards and three touchdowns, including a six-yard connection with Smith for the early lead. But with 1:10 left in the half, Brady tossed a four-yard scoring pass to David Givens to force a 7-7 tie, and the Eagles seemed sluggish after an elongated, 25-minute halftime, which was highlighted by a Paul McCartney mini-concert.
Mike Vrabel scored in the third quarter for New England and Brian Westbrook answered, but a two-yard Corey Dillon score with 13:44 left put the Patriots up to stay. Adam Vinatieri made it a 10-point lead with a 22-yard field goal with 8:40 left, but the Eagles had plenty of time. Or so it seemed. “I believe we were at least two touchdowns better than New England that year,” Jeremiah Trotter would say, years later. “But we had four turnovers and lost by only three points. You can’t have turnovers against a Bill Belichick and expect to win. You can’t turn the ball over and win no matter what game you’re playing in.”
In a Super Bowl, the players can’t make mistakes. The coaches can’t either. “We’ll get over it,” Reid would say a day later. “We’ll get through this thing and we will come back and learn from it.”
Reid would be gone by the time the Eagles next played in the Super Bowl in 2018. Time flies.