Mike Vick scores winning TD from the one. Photo by Pete Lerro contrastphotography.com

The Eagles
have turned the ball over an eye-opening nine times during the course of their
first two games this season.

Statistics
being what they are, who wouldn’t think the Birds would be 0-2 after that many
giveaways?

Despite
bestowing enough charity with the ball to be considered a nonprofit; the Eagles
(2-0) walked away with their second consecutive one-point win, this time a
24-23 verdict over the highly touted Baltimore Ravens (1-1).

“I wouldn’t
believe so,” LeSean McCoy said when he was asked if he thought the Eagles would
be 2-0 with so many turnovers. “If you told me I’d have two turnovers in two
games, I wouldn’t believe it. So it is something we’ve got to work on.”

McCoy was
referring to his performance which was pedestrian by his standards, rushing for
81 yards on 25 carries and a touchdown. The four-year veteran fumbled the ball
for the second time in two games this season.

McCoy was
asked if it is a good thing that Eagles can play badly and still pull out wins.

“It’s
nothing to brag about,” said McCoy, who also caught two passes for eight yards.
“The message here is we have to turn the turnovers around.”

The Eagles first
drive of the game was a real dozy. Much criticized Eagles quarterback Mike Vick
displayed a dazzling display of precision, hitting his first five passes, leading
the Eagles to the Ravens’ 12-yard line. Then Vick reverted to the Cleveland
game.

Vick took
the snap and rolled to his right to avoid the rush. Just as he neared the out
of bounds line, the left-handed Vick threw the ball off balance and across the
grain into the area of the end zone where tight end Clay Harbor was standing.

The Problem was
Ravens strong safety Bernard Pollard was standing right in front of Harbor and
intercepted the pass with relative ease. Pick No. 5 for the season for Vick.

“I can’t
really say how I feel in those situations,” said Vick. “To come out and get off
to such a great start and then to have it all negated by a turnover when you
know there are better decisions that could have been made. You can’t always hit
a home run. Sometimes you have to get singles and doubles and that is what I
have to learn to understand. I just force too many balls sometimes.”

This time
the quarterback’s sin was washed away two plays later when Trent Cole sacked
Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco, jarring the ball loose, and recovered by
defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins at the 15-yard line.

Vick kept
the Ball in Eagles hands and the Birds went right back to work with McCoy going
from the one-yard line.

Vick said he
cringes when he thinks about the lost opportunities that are caused by the
Eagles own mistakes.

“Just
thinking about it makes me sick to my stomach as far as how many times we turned
the ball over in two games,” Vick said. “We just have to do a better job
holding on to the football. I have to do a better job with my decision making
and everything will work itself out. I believe in my guys outside and I believe
in my guys in front of me.”

The Ravens
responded with a seven-play, 58-yard drive that tied the score. Vonta Leach
scored from the five for the Ravens.

The Eagles
were forced to punt on their next drive as were the Ravens. Raven head coach
John Harbaugh, a former special teams coach for the Eagles, tried a fake punt
using former Eagles safety Sean Considine as the runner. The trick did not work
handing the ball to the Eagles with a short field.

What did the
Eagles do? Why they turned the ball over on a fumble by rookie running back
Bryce Brown.

The Ravens
marched right down the field and scored on a beautifully thrown touchdown pass
from Flacco to Jacoby Jones from the 21, completing a 70-yard, four-play drive
that was highlighted by a 43-yard run by Ray Rice (99 yards, 16 carries, TD,
six catches, 53 yards).

The Eagles
were able to stop another Ravens drive and get the ball back. Sadly for Eagles
fans, another solid drive crashed and burned at the nine-yard line when McCoy had
the ball jarred loose and recovered by linebacker Ray Lewis.  

Rookie
kicker Justin Tucker connected on a team-record-tying 55-yard field goal as
time ran out at the half giving the Ravens a 17-7 lead going into the locker
room.

As it turned
out the Ravens would make it into the end zone again, settling for two more
long field goals by Tucker (51, 48).

Flacco
finished the game with 232 yards on 22 of 42 passing, a TD and an interception.
Vick was 23 of 32 for 371 yards a TD pass and two interceptions.

The Eagles
scored 10 point in the third quarter on a 23-yard off-balance throw from Vick
to a diving Jeremy Maclin to make the score 17-14.

A 23-yard
field goal by Alex Henery tied the score after three.

The Eagles
defense bent a few times in the final quarter but did not break, holding Baltimore
to the two field goals, the last of which was made with 4:43 left in the fourth
quarter.

Then Vick
engineered a 10-play, 80-yard drive that ended with Vick darting into the end
zone to put his team up 24-23 with 1:55 left in the quarter.

Vick added 34
yards rushing on 10 carries. Vick was sacked twice.

Tight end
Brent Celek was outstanding catching eight passes for 157 yards, DeSean Jackson
chipped in with seven reception for

114 yards.       

“We were
confident we were going to drive down the field and score,” said center Dallas
Reynolds, who came in to snap after Jason Kelce left the game after suffering a
knee sprain. “We didn’t have anything else on our minds except driving down and
scoring.”

That
confidence was backed by two questionable calls by the substitute referees who have
officiated the NFL schedule for the second consecutive week.

The first
was an offensive pass interference call during the Ravens fourth quarter drive on
Jones in the end zone after veteran receiver appeared to have caught a 25-yard
touchdown pass that would have effectively ended the game. It was a huge call
as the Ravens had to settle for a field goal.

The second
call was made on a second and goal from the one yard line. Vick went back to
pass and appeared to be sacked by Ravens defensive end  Haloti Ngata forcing Vick to fumble and
recovered by the Ravens. All Flacco would have to do is take a few knees and
the game was over.

But a review
was made and the referees ruled Vick was in the act of throwing and gave the
ball back to the Eagles who scored two plays later and win the game.

“How can you
overturn that?” Ravens All-Pro linebacker Ray Lewis said at his locker after
the game. “You have to have certain types of evidence to overturn that. You
can’t overturn that just because someone (Vick) tried to push the ball with
their hand.

“Once again
if the regular refs are here, that call doesn’t get overturned,” said Lewis, who
was then asked if the Eagles could have blamed the substitute referees has they
lost.

“Absolutely. Not just these two teams. It’s all around the league. There
are just things that are happening. Looking at the film and looking at the games
and you say ‘wow’ … how can you call that pass interference? How can you not
call that? It is nothing about them
per say or directly attacking them. We need the guys who do their regular job. The time is now …
the league is being affected by it. 
Address the problem; get the regular referees in here. Let the games
play themselves out.”