NOT A BRAD' JOB
P HILADELPHIA — Someone asked Sam Bradford if it were OK to win as ugly as the Eagles did against the Giants on Monday night at Lincoln Financial Field.
“A win is a win,” Bradford gushed soon after the Eagles had posted a 277 victory to end the Giants’ threegame winning streak. “Our goal was to get a win and that’s what we did.”
That’s about all the Eagles did right. Clearly, the Giants gave Bradford and the Eagles an easy way out, committing enough turnovers (three), penalties (12) and mistakes (endless) to hand Philadelphia its third victory in four games.
“You can’t play like that,” a frustrated Tom Coughlin said of his team’s performance. “That’s bad football.”
It was terrible football by both teams. Bradford threw three interceptions and still won. The Eagles committed four turnovers and still won.
Some of Bradford’s interceptions were as ugly as you’ve ever seen. Yet thanks to a mistakeprone Giants’ defense and special teams, the Eagles claimed a relatively stressfree victory in the nationally televised NFC East rivalry.
“Both sides had a lot of penalties and turnovers,” Coughlin said. “But they did more with their opportunities than we did.”
Hopefully, the Eagles will return the silver platter the Giants used to hand them this game. Bradford, the quarterback Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo drafted when he was the head coach with the Rams, completed 24 of 38 for 280 yards and one touchdown. But the Eagles weren’t exactly the epitome of precision, as it was mistakes by the Giants that proved more costly than anything the Eagles did on offense.
It began in the first quarter when a senseless roughing-the-passer penalty by Giants defensive end Damontre Moore kept Philly’s first scoring drive alive and led to a 32yard touchdown pass from Bradford to wide receiver Riley Cooper.
Philadelphia’s second touchdown came on a 17yard interception return by cornerback Nolan Carroll after he pirated a pass from Giants quarterback Eli Manning.
The Giants helped Bradford again midway through the third quarter. It looked as if the Giants’ defense had forced a punt that would give its offense the ball back. But Nikita Whitlock was called for running into the kicker, giving the Eagles a first down. Eight plays later, Philadelphia running back DeMarco Murray ran in from 12 yards out for a touchdown that gave the Eagles a 247 lead.
It wasn’t as if Bradford were doing a lot to hurt the Giants. He was inconsistent, underthrowing and overthrowing receivers. Safety Brandon Meriweather intercepted a thirdquarter pass that wasn’t within 20 yards of an Eagles receiver.
“To be where we want to be, I have to play much better,” Bradford said.
But if Bradford weren’t doing much to hurt the Giants, the Giants were doing plenty to hurt themselves. With three minutes left in the third quarter and the Giants needing some momentum, Moore sacked Bradford on the Eagles 1. It was nearly a safety, but the play was nullified and the Giants were assessed a 10yard penalty for having 12 men on the field.
Of course, that led to another Eagles’ scoring chance after Bradford completed a 37yard pass to Miles Austin. But the Eagles were finally denied points when Bradford’s throw into the end zone for tight end Zach Ertz was intercepted by free safety Landon Collins.
It’s hard to figure where the Eagles are. Like the Giants, they are 33 and a work in progress. A 3917 victory over the Saints week created a lot of positive energy and renewed confidence. And a 2417 victory over the Jets in Week 3 when they were 02 looks more impressive now that it’s the lone loss of the season for rookie coach Todd Bowles. They travel to face the 50 Panthers while the Giants return to MetLife to play host to the Cowboys in another game within a division a long way from being settled.