Birds save their season with stand in Green Bay
It wasn’t fourth-and-26, the Freddie Mitchell moment sparking the Eagles to a win over the Green Bay Packers in the 2003 conference semifinals.
But on a Thursday night in Titletown, the Eagles tripping over their own feet, a chilly 67yard kickoff return by rookie Miles Sanders breathed life into a season that until that moment had no heartbeat.
Overwhelmed by Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers in the first 16 minutes, the Eagles looked like they were going to get run out of Green Bay. They trailed, 10-0, but it could have been 14-love. Worse, defensive end Derek Barnett sent Packers running back Jamaal Williams out of the game on a gurney, the personal foul fueling the opponent.
In the time it takes the emergency room doctor with the paddles to yell “clear,” Sanders shocked his team back to life with a big play.
Picture the pick-six by Patrick Robinson that kick-started a run of 38 straight points and a blowout of the Minnesota Vikings in the 2017 NFC title game at Lincoln Financial Field.
But all Aaron Rodgers and the Packers won’t be able to forget is the sight of Nigel Bradham picking off a Rodgers pass in the end zone in the final seconds Thursday night, somehow preserving a 34-27 Eagles victory.
This on a night where Rodgers seemingly was moving the Packers at will, though the Birds had made an unlikely stand on the drive before.
Sanders’ play wasn’t nearly as endearing as all that, 35-year-old Packers kicker Mason Crosby bodying him out of bounds at the 35-yard-line of Green Bay, appropriately enough.
But it gave Carson Wentz something to work with and for all practical purposes, triggered a run of 20 straight Eagles points.
It also turned the contest into a classic “let’s see you top this” showdown between Wentz and Rodgers. Wentz had three TD passes, Rodgers a pair in just three quarters.
But back to Sanders’ spark. Even the Philly defense got involved, Barnett coming up with a strip-sack of Rodgers and Brandon Graham recovering at the 17 of the Packers with 1:53 left in the first half. Barnett’s tomahawk chop made Rodgers get his throwing hand checked out.
Just like that the Eagles led, 20-13. They systematically dismantled coordinator Mike Pettine’s exotic defenses featuring as many as seven defensive backs.
And on this Thursday night it wouldn’t have happened without Sanders, who’d spent a chunk of his Penn State career backing up Saquon Barkley, and Sanders’ fellow running back Jordan Howard (87 yards rushing, two TDs).
The Eagles entered the game with a 3-0 Thursday night record under Doug Pederson. It was partly because they played Eli Manning and the New York Giants twice, and partly because the quick turnaround after a contest Sunday cried out for simplicity in the game plan.
“Sometimes your game plans are a little simpler,” is how Pederson phrased it. “You kind of get back to core stuff and maybe that’s a wakeup call for us as coaches to keep that in mind as we go.”
It doesn’t get more basic than a solid run game, and the Eagles revisited it in the first half. Watching 300-plus pound offensive linemen crash into defensive backs downfield is a mismatch any coach will take.
But penalties, missed assignments and good defense can interrupt the rhythm, leaving a team at the mercy of its backup plan. For the Eagles, Plan B is the hurry-up offense, and when it’s clicking the opposition fakes an injury to slow it down, as the Packers did in the second half.
The Eagles overcame a ton of adversity, and folly, the latter provided Thursday by the officiating crew headed up by Clay Martin. The capper was ruling a touchdown on a Packers fumble return in which Carson Wentz clearly was down following a quarterback sneak. It was embarrassing for the crew, and the league that no one saw what happened.
In the second quarter Zach Ertz was flagged for an offensive interference penalty wiping out a six-yard scoring pass to Alshon Jeffery. Ertz was blocking Packers linebacker Preston Smith away from the play and upon review, the Eagles got the score.
Luckily the officiating didn’t have as much of an impact in the second half, a battle royal between Wentz and Rodgers.
The Eagles led by a point at the half. Rodgers got the Packers back in front in the third quarter, Wentz brought the Eagles back to tie it and added another TD for a 34-27 lead.
A goal line stand by the Eagles stopped the Packers at the 1-yard line in the fourth quarter.
Then disaster struck, Avonte Maddox, the most reliable Eagles cornerback, taking a helmet-to-helmet hit from teammate Andrew Sendejo with 1:06 remaining. The Eagles already had lost Sidney Jones to injury. Ronald Darby didn’t play at all due to a hamstring issue.
Eagles and Packers players circled and prayed over Maddox, who was carted off on a gurney.
Bradham saved the game for the Eagles, as he gathered in a tipped pass with 20 ticks remaining, completing the win.
It would surprise no one to see the Eagles and the Packers square off in the playoffs. Of course, getting there isn’t going to be easy, particularly for an injury-depleted Eagles team chasing the Dallas Cowboys.
If the Eagles want to personally say hello to Jennifer Lopez and Shakira when they perform during the Pepsi Super Bowl LIV halftime show at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, they’ve got a lot of work to do.
Contact Bob Grotz at bgrotz@21st-centurymedia. com; follow him on Twitter @BobGrotz.