Mike Vick has come a long way.

Michael Vick may have won the Powerball last night at the Linc. The much-maligned quarterback put on one of best the shows of his career in leading the Eagles to a thrilling 26-24 win over the defending AFC Champion Indianapolis Colts.

Vick no doubt won over some more fans here and around the country. The nine-year veteran was 17 of 29 for 218 yards, a TD and no interceptions. He was sacked three times, all in the fourth quarter.

Vick also rushed for 74 yards on 10 carries and another TD.

A free agent at the end if the year, Vick may have punched his ticket to a major contract somewhere.

“They gave him opportunities to make those plays by leaving seven guys in protection and giving him time,” Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney said. “It’s hard to get back there first of all, trying to beat seven. And you’re only rushing four or five and the couple times we did bring the blitz, they did a good job of picking it up. He then just used his God given talent to make some plays happen.”

Vick admitted this was a big one.

“Yeah, this game was more emotional because we knew how big it was going to be, how tough it was going to be to win this game,” Vick said. “Two weeks of hard work and preparation and guys dedicating themselves everyday, watching extra film, doing whatever it takes to give us an advantage. It was very gratifying. I think for us to be able to pull it out and put it together on both sides of the ball is fantastic.”   

The Eagles jumped out to a 13-0 lead after the first quarter starting with a three-play, 72-yard scoring drive that featured a 62-yard run by LeSean McCoy and a nine-yard touchdown pass to DeSean Jackson who ended up with seven catches for 109 yards.

The Eagles though continued to struggle in the Red Zone and settling for David Akers field goals instead of touchdowns.

The Birds defense was opportunistic, Asante Samuel jumped Reggie Wayne’s route intercepting the ball at the Indianapolis 42 and returning it to the Colts nine-yard line.

The Eagles were again unable to make friends with the end zone.

After struggling for most of the first quarter, Payton Manning was able to put together an 11-play 76-yard drive for a touchdown to start the second quarter. Manning hit Jacob Tamme with a three-yard TD pass to make the score 13-7

After Akers’ third field goal of the half the score was 16-7 Eagles.

The Colts made another run at the end of the first half, moving the ball to the Eagles 40-yard line.

Wide receiver Austin Collie went on a crossing route and appeared to catch a pass about 25 yards downfield. He was hit by safeties Quintin Mikell and Kurt Coleman.

Coleman was in for rookie Nate Allen who had been knocked of the game early in the second quarter.

Collie did not move at all after he dropped the ball and lay motionless on the field for over 20 minutes before he was taken off on a stretcher.

(It was learned later that Austin suffered a concussion but was otherwise okay).

Mikell was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct – hitting a defenseless receiver was the call – interesting since Austin had the ball in his hands when he was hit.

Referee Carl Cheffers was asked after the game why there was a flag thrown on the play.

“Well, if he is completing the catch, his second foot is not down yet or it’s just down, we still give the defenseless receiver protection,” Cheffers said to a pool reporter. “So if it’s a bang-bang play, with his second foot coming down, he still gets protection on the play. The fact of the matter is, is that the ball was incomplete. So, he has protection throughout the entire process on that play because we don’t even have a completion – at no time did he have possession and become a runner to where he would have transitioned out of being a defenseless receiver.”

Two plays later the Colts made it 16-14, first a 33-yard completion to Blair White, then a six-yard touchdown run by Javarris James.

Vick’s offense went three-and out. That wasn’t as bad as what the normally productive Sav Rocca did, hitting puny 18-yard punt handing Manning the ball at midfield 1:04 left in the half.

The four-time NFL MVP marched the Colts to the Eagles 19-yard line when the drive stalled.

Adam Vinatieri drilled a 37-yard field goal to give the visitors a 17-16 lead going into the locker room

The only scoring of the third quarter was a 44-yard field goal by Akers.

The Eagles were driving as the third quarter came to a close. A Colts holding penalty gave the Birds a first down at the Indianapolis 13-yard line to start the fourth.

A five-yard completion to McCoy was followed by an eight-yard completion that looked close enough to crossing the goal line for Andy Reid to challenge.

It did not work. But two sneaks by Vick (one TD Challenged) did and the Eagles took a 26-17 lead with 13:47 left in the fourth quarter.

After a Colts drive that stalled, the Eagles got the ball at their own 11-yard line (after an illegal black negated a solid Jackson return). That drive stalled at midfield with 6:05 left.

Rocca hit a good punt that pinned the Colts at their 15 with 5:57 left.

Manning opponents know too well what happened next.

The future Hall of Famer took the Colts on a 16-play, 85 yard drive that ended with a James one-yard touchdown run with 1:52 left.

But Vick and Jackson put together enough plays to give Manning just 40 seconds and the ball at their 26 yard line.

Even for the great Manning, this was a little too much to ask. The game ended with Samuel netting his second pick of the game and third career interception of Manning.

Samuel was asked if picking Manning was special.

“Oh yeah, definitely,” Samuel said with a wide smile. “One of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game, it feel good to me. I’ve been battling for this for years in new England. He’s a hell of a player, a hell of a competitor so I’m glad we got the win.”

So are a lot of people in Philadelphia.