Knee Jerk Reactions: Eagles Beat Cowboys
By Andrew Porter
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – All week. All day. I couldn't wait for this game.
Full disclosure: I went to see Wolf of Wall Street at 3:45pm just to help pass the time. Watching football yesterday in the afternoon was torture.
A little long, but very entertaining.
On to the game...
- ...phew! Deep breath (fuming on three hours of sleep).
- Could it be? Am I dreaming? Playoffs? Did somebody say playoffs?
- But...but...but, they said the defense is "awful, worst secondary in the NFL, Nick Foles isn't good enough, Eagles have no depth, the tempo isn't sustainable, Billy Davis stinks, Chip Kelly's gimmick offense won't work in the NFL, eight wins at best..."
- ...boy were they wrong.
- The Philadelphia Eagles finished the season 10-6 and are 2013 NFC East Champions.
- Let me say that, or type that, one more time.
- The Philadelphia Eagles finished the season 10-6 and are 2013 NFC East Champions.
- Wow.
- Chip is my hero.
- With that being said, 4th and 1 from the 1! Get in the end zone!
- The past two or three games Kelly seems to be putting DeSean Jackson in motion a lot more, often running behind Foles and all the way across the field before the snap, mostly as a decoy.
- Mychal Kendricks was the best player on the field last night, for either team, on offense or defense.
- Kendricks aka "The Angry Bird" finished with the game with 12 total tackles (including multiple tough open-field tackles on Jason Witten), a forced fumble, and an interception.
- Not to whine or anything, but Dallas, despite holding and grabbing all night, was only called for ONE penalty for five yards.
- In fact, the penalty was a fourth quarter delay of game penalty, which was actually a clock malfunction where 15 seconds was mistakenly taken off the clock.
- It was impossible to miss because NBC commentators Cris Collinsworth and Al Michaels cried about it for three plays. In fact, Michaels went as far to say the Cowboys got "screwed."
- Pretty sure Collinsworth bet the Cowboys.
- Early 4th quarter, Eagles up 17-16, Dallas had the ball. It was 4th and 1 from the Eagles 40 yard line and Connor Barwin knocked Orton's pass down, one of the more under-the-radar monumental plays in the game.
- Later, Dallas had the ball mid way through the 4th quarter, down 24-16, in a must-convert 4th and 9 situation from the Eagles 32.
- Davis has been incredible with this defense all season long, but called an all-out blitz, leaving safety Patrick Chung one-on-one with Dez Bryant.
- Result: 32 yard Cowboys touchdown. 24-22 Eagles now and two-point conversion coming.
- A key pass breakup, on a questionable play call, by Cary Williams ensued.
- Seeing the various faces of Jason Garrett and Jerry Jones throughout the night was awesome.
- Oh, did anyone catch the shot of slobber on Kelly's chin during the game?
- Did I mention Chip Kelly is the man?
- Donnie "Long Ball" Jones' 56 yard punt with 2:00 left in the 4th quarter gave the Eagles some breathing room, but it was almost set up too perfectly for one those heartbreaking, typical, Philadelphia sports classic losses...
- ...1:49 left in the game. Eagles 24, Cowboys 22. 1st and 10 for the Cowboys at the Dallas 32. We all were thinking it. My stomach hurt. Dan Bailey at the buzzer, for the win.
- I mean, Bailey couldn't miss last night. He was dead perfect on every field goal he kicked. He would have made a 60+ yarder I think.
- But then...big play Brandon Boykin happened!
- Boykin finished the season with six interceptions, tied for second in the NFL by the way.
- NFC East division champs.
- Shady with his belt.
- The team rejoicing.
- Merrill Reese in jubilation.
- TEN wins...
- ...and the playoffs.
- Did anyone see the Drew Brees birthmark-looking eye black on Kelly's cheek during his post game presser?
- By the way, Chip Kelly is the man.
- Merrill Reese on 94 WIP Monday morning: "Kelly is the most charismatic coach that we have had since Dick Vermeil."
- 10-6 in Kelly's first season as head coach, a far cry from last year's 4-12. Incredible.
- That six-win improvement ties the largest improvement from one season to the next, in franchise history.
Credit to Reuben Frank (@RoobCSN) and the Eagles (@Eagles) for some of the stats to follow:
- Nick Foles had 27 touchdowns and 2 interceptions in equivalent of ten games...5th most touchdown passes in team history.
- Foles' passer rating of 119.2 is the third highest in NFL history.
- Foles becomes the first QB in NFL history to throw at least 250 passes with five or fewer INT's in each of his first two seasons.
- LeSean McCoy broke the Eagles all-time single season rushing record, finishing the season with 1,607, most in the NFL.
- McCoy also broke Brian Westbrook's franchise record of total yards from scrimmage.
- McCoy became the 13th player in NFL history with 1,600+ rushing yards and 50 receptions in a season.
- DeSean Jackson had a career high in receptions (82) and receiving yards (1,332) in a season, and tied his career high for touchdown catches (9) in a season.
- Brent Celek had 10 total touchdown receptions from 2010-2012. His career high for touchdown receptions in a season was eight, in 2009. He had six this season.
- Riley Cooper never had more than 23 catches, 248 receiving yards, and 3 TD's in a season...until 2013.
- This season, Cooper finished with 47 catches, 835 receiving yards, and 8 TD's.
- He is in a contract year.
- The Eagles broke the team record for total net yards in a season.
- The Eagles broke the franchise record for most passing yards in a single season.
- The Eagles surpassed the 2001 St. Louis Rams for most 20-yard plays in season.
- The one constant? The Chippah.
- Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints come to town on Saturday night for a wild-card playoff game at the Linc.
- Both Brees and Foles went to Westlake High School in Austin, Texas.
- The Eagles are early 2.5 point favorites.
- The Saints are 8-0 at home and 3-5 on the road this season.
- Since the Denver game, the Eagles are allowing only 20.1 points per game, seventh best in the NFL.
- Do we believe it yet?
- It's not a fluke. This team is for real.
- Do we expect them to beat the Saints and win a playoff game? Maybe not. Can they? Sure.
- Either way, we have had way more fun this season than anyone could have imagined...
- ...and man, Saturday, January 5th 2014 is going to be one heck of a day in Philadelphia, win or lose.
Andrew Porter is the Audio Roadshow Coordinator for SportsRadio WIP, editor and writer for The School Philly, and a contributing sports blogger for CBS Philly. You can follow him on Twitter @And_Porter.
