Philadelphia Eagles Miracle II

Philadelphia Eagles This is the last of three plays nominated as the most memorable play in team history. Philadelphia Eagles In the previous two days, we featured the first Miracle at the Meadowlands against the Giants in 1978 and Wilbert Montgomery's touchdown in the 1980 NFC Championship Game. Philadelphia Eagles Please vote for your choice as the Eagles' most memorable play. Philadelphia Eagles When Kevin Boss scored on an 8-yard touchdown pass from Eli Manning, the New York Giants had a 31-10 lead with 8:12 left in the fourth quarter. That gave the Giants, according to the formula, Philadelphia Eagles a 100 percent win probability for that game against the Philadelphia Eagles. When Michael Vick hit tight end Brent Celek for a 65-yard touchdown a couple of minutes later, the Giants’ win probability stayed at 99.9 percent. When Vick ran 4 yards for a touchdown with 5:32 left in the fourth quarter, the Giants still had a 97.8 percent chance to win the game. Even after Vick tied it with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Maclin with 1:16 to play, Philadelphia Eagles the Giants had the ball with a chance to win. But two incomplete passes and a sack later, New York had to punt with 14 seconds left. You get the point. The Giants had the game in the bag. The Eagles came back from 100 percent dead in the water and won it thanks to what was quickly dubbed Miracle of the New Meadowlands, Philadelphia Eagles for the new Giants stadium had just opened across the parking lot from the site of Herman Edwards' 1978 miracle fumble recovery. This time around, the winning play itself was almost as improbable as the three-touchdown spree that set it up. Giants punter Matt Dodge was kicking from his own 29-yard line. All he had to do was avoid Eagles return man DeSean Jackson. Instead, Dodge kicked it right to Jackson, Philadelphia Eagles who fumbled the punt, picked it up at his own 35-yard line and started to run. He didn’t stop until he was approaching the goal line, Philadelphia Eagles where Jackson changed his course of approach to make sure the clock ran down to zero before he crossed the line. Philadelphia Eagles "I was thinking to myself, like, 'They're not going to kick it to me,'" Jackson said. Philadelphia Eagles "I was thinking he was going to kick it out of bounds. But it got to me. Philadelphia Eagles From there, I just used my instincts and my speed to get into the end zone." Philadelphia Eagles The 65-yard return ended a 28-point Eagles comeback rally and gave them a tiebreaker edge on the Giants for the NFC East title. That meant Jackson’s return contributed to the last of Eagles coach Andy Reid’s nine playoff appearances with the team. An era was ending, Philadelphia Eagles but it was delayed by Jackson’s improbable return and the Eagles’ statistically impossible comeback, Philadelphia Eagles end.

Three takeaways from The Philadelphia Eagles' camp

Philadelphia Eagles There is a commitment to improving the special teams play. Last year, of course, was Chip Kelly’s first in the NFL. Philadelphia Eagles That meant enormous changes for the Eagles, from the way they train and practice to the styles of offense and defense they play. It is understandable that Kelly would focus on special teams more after spending a season in the league. The Eagles added Bryan Braman, Philadelphia Eagles a linebacker who excelled on special teams in Houston, and cornerbacker Nolan Carroll, Philadelphia Eagles an excellent gunner on coverage teams. Safety Chris Maragos was a special teams regular for Seattle last year. Darren Sproles, who will see plenty of time on offense, is a first-rate return man. Of course, the Eagles also brought in kicker Carey Spear to compete with Alex Henery. But it has already become clear that Henery is way ahead of Spear when it comes to field goals. Philadelphia Eagles Ideally, the Eagles would like to see Henery improve his kickoffs, getting closer to the league average for touchbacks. “The top [kickers] in the league are in the 70s [percentage-wise],” special teams coordinator Dave Fipp said. “We’re looking at the 60s as a pretty good number, I think. Alex has been very accurate over his career on field goals, 48 yards or less. There were only two guys who were ahead of him in the National Football League.” Ultimately, the Eagles are willing to trade some short kickoffs for that acumen on field goals. If Henery can improve a bit on kickoffs, that will help. But so will covering those kickoffs better. That’s where Braman, Carroll, Maragos and Jason Phillips come in. Phillips was added last year as a core special teamer, but tore his ACL in training camp. Nick Foles has the strongest arm, by far, of the four quarterbacks here. You have to go back to Donovan McNabb’s rookie year, when Koy Detmer and Doug Pederson were in camp, to find as wide a margin between one quarterback and the rest. In fairness, Mark Sanchez is still on a “pitch count” after surgery to repair his right shoulder last year. Matt Barkley, who was coming back from shoulder surgery last year, does not exactly have a cannon for an arm. For 15 years of McNabb and Michael Vick, the Eagles always had a quarterback with a high-caliber arm. It may be that arm strength is not as important as other attributes in Kelly’s offense, but the coach says otherwise. “We focus on everything,” Kelly said. “There's not one thing that we look for and say, ‘You know, he has a quick release but it's OK, he doesn't have a very strong arm.’ I think you want the whole package in terms of what you're looking for. I think it's a combination of how accurate a thrower he is; and I'm not going to say, ‘Hey, I want to take this guy, he can get it out of his hands really quick but he's inaccurate when he throws the football.’ So there's a lot more that goes into it than one thing.” There looks to be enough speed on offense even with DeSean Jackson gone. When they were teammates, Jeremy Maclin was the possession receiver while Jackson was the big-play guy. Coming off his second ACL tear, it isn’t reasonable to expect Maclin to become the game-breaking burner that Jackson was. But Maclin has decent speed and still hasn’t played in Kelly’s offense. So it remains to be seen how the coach utilizes Maclin’s skill set. Sproles and rookies Jordan Matthews and Josh Huff all have very good speed. While Sproles is a running back and not a wide receiver   something Kelly made a point of emphasizing several times   he is a guy with a history of making big plays in the passing game. Matthews and Huff will likely contribute more as the season goes on, they become more comfortable and Kelly becomes more familiar with their potential. Philadelphia Eagles Riley Cooper, the other starting wide receiver, Philadelphia Eagles got plenty of deep balls thrown to him last year. He benefited from defenses focusing on Jackson, Philadelphia Eagles but it looks as if there are enough weapons for Kelly to put strain on defensive coordinators even without Jackson, Philadelphia Eagles.

The Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson

DeSean Jackson Is a good release In the aftermath of the Eagles' decision to release wide receiver DeSean Jackson, there was more speculation than explanation available. That's how wide receivers coach Bob Bicknell got drawn into the conversation.  During a mid-December game in Minnesota, Bicknell and Jackson were seen shouting at each other on the sidelines. It was the kind of scene that plays out every week in the NFL. But when a player gets released just a month after playing in the Pro Bowl, a scene like that suddenly seems more important.  Like most of coach Chip Kelly's assistants, Bicknell is not available to the media most of the time. All of the assistants talked Monday, so it was the first time Bicknell was asked publicly about Jackson.  “Honestly, I don't remember too much about that [Minnesota] situation,” Bicknell said. “It wasn't something that was carried too long. I think it does happen from time to time.  “I never had a problem with DeSean Jackson. I enjoyed coaching him. I enjoyed the year I had with him. As a coach, you move on so quickly. Once that decision was made, I moved on. I wish him nothing but the best. He did everything I asked him to do.”  Jackson produced career highs in catches (82), yardage (1,332) and touchdowns (nine) in his only season under Bicknell and Kelly. Now it will be Bicknell's task to replace that production without Jackson or slot receiver Jason Avant, who left as a free agent.  “I think it comes from everybody,” Bicknell said. “It comes from everybody being a little bit more comfortable in the offense. We've always had good guys in that [meeting] room. I have great confidence we have a lot of guys in that room who can make plays.”  Riley Cooper returns as one starter. Jeremy Maclin, who tore an ACL in training camp last season, returns to the starting lineup. Draft picks Jordan Matthews and Josh Huff provide different skill sets. Arrelious Benn and Brad Smith are veterans with chances to contend for playing time.  “A lot of guys are fighting for that position now,” Bicknell said. “They're all out there making a lot of plays. Jordan Matthews is a pretty fast guy. Brad Smith is really good with the ball in his hands. I don't look at it like, we can't go deep.”  The Eagles also added running back Darren Sproles, who has excellent speed. He's not in Bicknell's meetings, but he's one more player who will get the chance to help replace what the Eagles got from Jackson.  As for Bicknell, he said he had no issues with Jackson.  “I never had a problem with DeSean,” Bicknell said.Good luck to him.