Overturned TDs tarnish Sterling effort
PHILADELPHIA — On back-to-back plays, Sterling Shepard thought he had scored a touchdown.
The first play was overturned. The second one was never even reviewed. And on the play after each of those incomplete passes, the Giants were turned away on fourth down.
“There’s plays you wish you had back,” Shepard said after the Giants fell to 0-3, falling to the Eagles 27-24 on Jake Elliott’s 61-yard field goal as time expired.
With the Giants trailing by a touchdown and at the Eagles 2-yard line late in the first half, quarterback Eli Manning found Shepard near the right pylon of the end zone for what looked like a touchdown. But after the review, it was ruled the ball didn’t cross the goal line before Shepard went out of bounds.
“I got to get in the end zone right there, that’s the bottom line,” he said. “I probably would just fall back in the end zone if I could take it back.”
On the next play, Shepard got his feet down in the back left corner of the end zone, but when he landed and hit the ground, the ball came loose. Under the rules, that’s an incomplete pass even though it was clear Shepard had control of the ball. Upon bringing it in, he sprinted toward the Giants sideline, believing he had scored.
“I thought I caught it and I thought I made a touchdown,” Shepard said. “Just got to get up with the ball. ... I know the rule. I just wish I could have it back. Squeeze [the ball].”
Shepard felt the officials let Eagles tight end Zach Ertz get away with a similar play, calling a pass a reception when the ball came loose upon hitting the ground.
“One’s a catch, one’s not a catch,” he said, somewhat exasperated.
Shepard did rebound well from the two plays, finishing with a career-high 133 yards receiving — 66 more yards than he produced in the first two weeks of the season — on seven receptions. He also caught a 77-yard touchdown pass from Manning in the fourth quarter to give the Giants their first of two fourth-quarter leads, the second-year wideout turning a 12-yard slant pattern over the middle into six points.
“I kind of ran out of gas at the end,” he said. “But I was able to fight to get in.”
However, the Eagles would rally, and the lost touchdown earlier on would haunt the Giants. But Shepard took positives from the hard-fought defeat, espe- cially after Big Blue scored 24 fourthquarter points.
“I think we’re going to be OK,” he said. “At least we found something that works for us as an offense. If we play the way we played in the second half a full game I think we’re going to be dangerous.”