When it mattered, a big show of hands in Eagles’ win

PHILADELPHIA » Before the second quarter was even 13 commercial breaks old Monday night, the Eagles were down to fewer receivers able to play than they had listed on their practice squad.

Alshon Jeffery did something untoward with his footwork, and a foot didn’t take very kindly to it. Off he went on a cart. And with that the Eagles - arrogant enough to start all of three wide receivers in this game against the (then) two-win Giants - were down to a pair.

And what a pair.

You think Greg Ward and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside had any prayer of creating separation? Carson Wentz might have prayed for it, but he soon would be praying for safe harbor, especially after tackle Lane Johnson joined Jeffery in the injury tent with an ankle issue that would end his evening, too.

With that, the Eagles’ playoff drive seemed over, too, since seven points looked like a mountain covered by mud ... running downhill. That made their 23-17 victory all the more difficult to believe.

At the end, it was a wide open Zach Ertz catching a winning two-yard pass in overtime, cause for an eruption of celebration in a Lincoln Financial Field that a couple of hours earlier seemed ripe for a coaching impeachment trial.

It was about then that Eli Manning, voted the player most likely to be laughed at before the game, decided to not keep running down the second-quarter clock and instead dropped back for a who-cares deep shot.

And of course rookie Darius Slayton caught it and ran right by Ronald Darby again, loping into the end zone for a 17-3 halftime lead. That was after Slayton, a fifth-round draft pick out of Auburn, had already made Darby play the part of fool by skillfully sidestepping him after a catch in the first minute of the second quarter, then running through Darby’s arm-tackle attempt en route to a 35-yard score.

That had broken a scoreless tie in a game that had every bit of the look of one that could have ended that way. Instead, Eli, the 38-year-old two-time Super Bowl winner and many-time super loser to the Eagles who had been benched the previous 10 weeks, decided to play the part of real quarterback.

As for Wentz, he just had too few receivers to play with.

Jeffery’s foot injury compounded the injury absence of Nelson Agholor. That had been anticipated all week and still the Birds’ front office didn’t move to bring anyone in to act as the receiving cavalry.

So the Eagles started this latest must-win game against a long-lost team (ask the Dolphins how much that mattered last week) with three wide receivers.

It would quickly go to two, and there would be a couple of bitter reminders of their sad state.

They would be in the form of Giants receiver Golden Tate, who has been reduced to an occasional pass catcher and punt returner. Then there is the memory of Mack Hollins, waived last week in a move to protect guard Sua Opeta, because the Birds thought he was about to be signed off the practice squad by another team.

So after their defense was torched by Slayton to the tune of five catches for 154 yards and two touchdowns in the space of 30 minutes, Wentz was left with backup runner Scott for a few catch-and-sprints that set up none other than Scott for a thirdquarter TD.

For a while it didn’t appear as if that would matter. Almost by magic, however, tight ends Ertz and Dallas Goedert awoke. Whiteside pulled off a circus catch for 22 yards. Goedert made another huge first-down catch. And finally, on third and goal and the rush near, Wentz drilled a twoyard scoring pass to Ertz and the game would soon be tied.

And in overtime, it would be a pass to Miles Sanders, a 25yard run by Scott and a pass to Joshua Perkins and then a pass to Ward that would move the Eagles deep into Giants territory. It would lead to a second two-yard TD catch by Ertz, and as much of a bailout as Wentz and the Eagles could have prayed for.