Eagles End Disappointing Season With A Win
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ (CBS) — It was nothing more than cosmetic dressing to a season in which great promise was attached, and little was gained—besides another 10-6 finish, though this time no NFC East division crown and no playoffs came with it.
But the Eagles did beat the New York Giants, 34-26, on Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
The win didn't apply any added salve to the three-week collapse that have the Eagles jammed in this no-man's quandary of being good enough to beat sub-.500 teams and not yet at the elite level.
When asked why his team will be watching the playoffs instead of in the postseason, Eagles' coach Chip Kelly responded, "I know we have the same record, but everyone else has a better record. We didn't win enough games in our division obviously to beat that and the two wildcard teams are going to go 11-5, if they go, depending on what happens in the Detroit-Green Bay game. Looking at that, I would say we didn't win enough games.
"Each game has its own rhyme and rhythm to it, and it goes in certain ways. Every game in this league is going to be close. You usually look at the numbers and most things come down to the end of the game, we made one more play than (the Giants) did and that was the thing. Last week, Washington made one more play than we did. That's how it is. It's how the season started, we're down 17 to Jacksonville, and the next week we're down double digits to Indianapolis and go down and kick a field goal with no time left on the clock, and the next week we're down by double digits again against Washington and came back and won. Each week has its own storyline and it's always going to be close. You have to always gut it out."
When it counted, the Eagles didn't gut it out.
Beating the Giants answered few questions that will need to be addressed in the off-season. The Eagles' secondary—the scourge of the season—was torched by Eli Manning for 429 yards and a touchdown. Odell Beckham was as advertised, making 12 receptions for 185 yards, including a 63-yard touchdown.
Offensively, the 34 points gave the Eagles a single-season record 474 points, surpassing the 442 points that they scored last year.
A few were confirmed, however. If not for the Eagles' special teams, they wouldn't have been playing any meaningful games in December. A James Casey blocked punt in the third quarter and Trey Burton touchdown return in the third quarter proved to be the play of the game. It was Burton's second blocked punt return for a touchdown and the Eagles' 11th TD return this season—the highest in Eagles' history, highest in the NFL this year and third-highest in NFL history. Safety Nate Allen came up with a big play, intercepting Manning and stomping the Giants comeback.
The Eagles' porous secondary carousel did continue in the first half against the Giants, this week enabling Rueben Randle to look like Jerry Rice. Randle caught five passes for a career-best 134 yards in one half. He finished with six receptions for 158 yards.
"We have to get this pass defense better and we will," defensive coordinator Billy Davis said. "It's broken right now, and we have to fix it. We've improved in so many areas. All of it is something we're looking at. The vertical pass and the big plays are what we have to put our passion and focus on this off-season."
Mark Sanchez finished 23-for-36 for 292 yards, with two touchdowns and an interception. But the Eagles made a lot of mistakes. They were penalized five times for 35 yards in the first half. Sanchez threw another interception, and with the ball sitting at the Giants' 9, they were hit with a delay-of-game penalty when they couldn't get a play off in the waning seconds of the half and had to settle for a Cody Parkey 32-yard field goal.
Late in the second quarter, Cary Williams missed an interception in the end zone that was thrown right into his hands—and dropped. The Williams drop allowed Josh Brown to kick his third field goal for a 16-14 Giants' lead with 2:02 left in the half.
The Giants used a mere 2:49 and six plays with the opening kickoff to take an early lead. Eli Manning made mincemeat of the maligned Eagles' secondary, needing just four passes to go 80 yards—the big reception a Manning-to-Randle 43-yard connection between Nolan Carroll III and Nate Allen, who both never looked back to see where the ball was—a recurring problem all season with the Eagles' secondary. At times, Carroll was exposed at cornerback, and Jaylen Watkins had his hands full with Beckham, at times staying with him and another time fell and was burned for the 63-yard TD reception.
"I thought I played well overall," Carroll said. "That first drive, I was just getting the feel of the game. Once I did that, I felt fine the rest of the game. I felt comfortable, like my old self. The thing was not let (Beckham) get free released, so we pressed him. We knew Eli was just going to lay it out there, so we wanted to disrupt the timing of their routes. Everything was deep. This feels really good to get 10 wins in this league and there's nothing that we can't get corrected next year. We treated this like a Super Bowl for us. We wanted to play for each other, because we know this won't be the same team next team. We can only build on next year."
Just when it looked like it would be one of those days—another case of the Eagles lying down in a meaningless game—the Eagles responded.
The Eagles scored on consecutive drives to take a 14-10 lead after one quarter. At the outset, Sanchez looked good, completing four of his first five passes. On the Eagles first drive, Sanchez saw Jordan Matthews over the middle with a play-action pass. Matthews averted one Giant defender and ran by what seemed to be two disinterested Giants down the sideline for a 44-yard touchdown. On the following drive, Sanchez then connected with Brent Celek for a 1-yard TD pass. That score was made possible thanks to a 41-yard pass interference call—and a Sanchez pass that landed in the hands of New York's Stevie Brown.
LeSean McCoy finished with 17 carries for 99 yards, but left the game in the fourth quarter with a left knee injury. Kelly said that McCoy asked to re-enter the game.
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