EAGLES SUFFER BLOW TO PLAYOFF HOPES AFTER LOSS TO RAVENS
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Andy Reid was visibly shaken after the loss to the Ravens. Photo by contrastphotography.com
The game between the Eagles and the Baltimore Ravens yesterday was like a batch of Fred Sanford’s Gorilla cookies – just plain ugly.
So ugly was the Eagles offense in the first half that head coach Andy Reid – sensing the season slipping away – substituted 2007 second-round pick Kevin Kolb for five-time Pro Bowler Donovan McNabb.
The substitution only served to make it worse as the Eagles fell apart in every sense of the word, losing to the Ravens 36-7, virtually eliminating themselves from the playoffs.
Washington, Dallas and the Giants all won their games on the same day.
McNabb turned the ball over three times in the first half and completed just eight passes on 18 attempts for 59 yards. The 10-year veteran was intercepted twice, fumbled and was sacked twice.
The first quarter started with each team’s drives that went nowhere. The Ravens moved the ball on its second possession with Le’Ron McClain rushing for 31 yards, but the short-lived drive ended in a punt.
The Eagles started to move the ball on their last drive of the first quarter and, as the drive drifted into the second quarter, were actually threatening to open the scoring when (are you sitting down?), on a pass play, when 6-foot-5, 265-pound defensive end Jarrett Johnson stripped McNabb of the ball and barreled his way to the Baltimore 45-yard line.
Ravens rookie quarterback Joe Flacco was unable to move the ball and the Eagles got it back on their own eight yard line.
McNabb turned the ball over again when he threw an interception on a third-and-one from the 17; this one was picked off by cornerback Fabian Washington.
Again, the Eagles defense came up big driving the Ravens backward 27 yards on a stuffed run by Ray Rice – tackled by Mike Patterson and two sacks: One by Victor Abiamiri and the other by Trent Cole.
The Eagles offense went three-and-out on its next two possessions.
After a Sav Rocca 44-yard punt, Ravens returner Yamon Figurs ran the ball back 18 yards. Tacked on was a 10-yard tripping penalty by of all people, long-snapper Jon Dorenbos, giving the ball to the Ravens on the Eagles 28-yard line.
The Birds defense again was tough, allowing just two yards on three plays, holding the Ravens to a 44-yard field goal by Matt Stover.
Then the turnover bug hit McNabb for the third time in the first half when he threw a pick to Ed Reed who returned the ball to the Eagles six-yard line.
Three plays later it was 10-0 Ravens and the end of the day for McNabb.
Reed was asked if was surprised McNabb was benched for the second half.
“Yeah of course,” Reed said. “We were asking ourselves what happened, why did they put another guy in? I figured he was hurt or something. McNabb is more than a capable quarterback. But that’s Philly’s decision. We don’t get into that.”
The Eagles made it 10-7 when rookie free safety Quintin Demps returned the ensuing kickoff 100 yards for his first career touchdown. It was the longest kickoff return by an Eagles rookie and tied the fourth-longest in team history.
Mercifully, the half ended with the score 10-7.
The third quarter was not much better.
Flacco wasn’t much better, getting sacked twice and leading the Ravens mostly in reverse.
Kolb put his signature on the game by throwing not one, but two brutal interceptions. Samari Rolle grabbed the first one that set up
Flacco led a drive to the 24-yard line where it stalled and Stover booted a 42-yard field goal making the score 15-7.
On their next possession, the Ravens scored on a 53-yard TD pass from Flacco to Mark Clayton to make it 22-7.
Now reeling, the Eagles, behind Kolb, drove 69 yards to the Ravens one-yard line. After a failed sneak, Kolp tried to thread the needle to DeSean Jackson in the back of the end zone.
The veteran Reed stepped in front of the pass, grabbed it deep in the end zone and raced down the sideline 108 yards for a score, shedding would-be tacklers like he was greased.
It was longest interception return in NFL history. He broke his own record of 104 yards set in 2004. It was the fifth interception return for a score in Reed’s career. Reed now has accumulated over 1063 yards on interceptions, seventh most in NFL history.
After the game finally came to an end, Reid said his usual coach speak about how it all starts with him, but this time was different, this time he was visibly shaken, like a coach on the verge of losing his team and maybe his employment.
“If our football team doesn’t play better than it did today, it is about me,” Reid said.
The coach said he put Kolb in with the hopes it would get “a little bit of a spark and get things done.”
Obviously the coach was wrong.
EAGLES NEST EGGS: The last time the Eagles scored on a kickoff return was on November 11, 2001 at
The previous rookie record for longest kickoff return was a 99-yard touchdown by Wilbert Montgomery on December 11, 1977 against the Giants.
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WR DeSean Jackson led the team with five receptions for 47 yards. He now has 47 catches this season, which is the fifth-highest single-season total among Eagles rookies and the most by a rookie wide receiver since Don Looney caught 58 in 1940.
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Sacks are Stacking Up…The Eagles have registered 20 sacks in three games against the AFC North this season (9 on September 21 vs. Pit., 8 on November 11 at Cin. three on November 23 at Baltimore.
In those three games, the Eagles held their opponents to a combined 22 percent (11 for 50) on third-down conversions (2-13, 4-20, and 5-17)…DE Victor Abiamiri, a Baltimore area native, registered his first career sack, becoming the 15th different Eagle to do so this season…DE Trent Cole posted one sack and now has 32.5 for his career, tying Ken Clarke for 10th place in team history. Cole has at least one sack in each of the last three games…S Quintin Mikell picked up his career-high second sack and third forced fumble of the season. Mikell now has career highs in tackles, sacks, interceptions, and forced fumbles in 2008.
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DE Juqua Parker played in his 100th career game (59th with the Eagles)…T Jon Runyan played in his 139th consecutive game as an Eagle, tying Ken Clarke for the fourth-longest streak in team history…WR Hank Baskett set a career-high with 23 receptions this season.
Al Thompson can be reached at al.thompson@footballstories.com
