Eagles Beat The Lions, 35-32
By Joseph Santoliquito
The Eagles were looking for the perfect panacea to cure the many, many ills they saw in the first 30 minutes of their season last week against the Green Bay Packers. We present to you the perfect panacea: The Detroit Lions. And the perfect solution, Michael Vick. It wasn't exactly pretty. In fact, it was downright sloppy at times, but the Eagles prevailed, 35-32, over the Detroit Lions to even their record at 1-1.
Vick at times was tremendous, finding time in the pocket and creating situations that you have to wonder whether or not Kevin Kolb would have been able to accomplish. Vick was 21-for-34, to 284 yards, and two touchdowns for 108.0 quarterback rating. Though the offensive line had its problems with the Lions' pass rush, the piecemeal front did a credible job with run blocking (especially Mike McGlynn, who did a nice job at center) enabling LeSean McCoy to have his first career 100-yard game rushing in the NFL, with 16 carries for 120 yards and TD runs of 4, 14 and 46 yards.
It's been a strange season the opening two weeks, with both Dallas and Minnesota starting at 0-2, and who knows what else is in store in the coming weeks. But for now. the victory over the Lions showed that Vick is the answer for the Eagles–and there's no question he's the most entertaining player the Eagles have had since Randall Cunningham.
The playcalling was much better. Vick's ability to attack the edge caused many problems for the Lions' defense. He threw very well from the pocket, and his running and passing accuracy created gaping holes for McCoy to run with great success. McCoy's three rushing touchdowns was the first for an Eagles' tailback since Charlie Garner accomplished that in 1995. Vick also got DeSean Jackson involved, as the second-year dynamo hauled in four catches for 135 yards, and a touchdown, averaging 33.8 yards a reception.
The ugliness, and there are a number of themes there, too, came with giving the woeful Lions a chance to win in the fourth quarter, and still amass 444 yards of total offense–under the direction of Lions' backup quarterback Shaun Hill. We're not talking about Tom Brady or Peyton Manning here. We're talking about Shaun Hill!!
"We're not graded on how pretty they look, and that one down the stretch didn't look too pretty, but the main thing is we win the game, and there was some nice things down the stretch that I saw," Eagles' coach Andy Reid said. "LeSean and DeSean made some big plays and Michael Vick made some big plays, and defensively we had some turnovers that helped. There are some plenty of things otherwise that we need to work on.
"I saw some good things from Vick, and some things Vick needs to work on. He was like a kid in the candy store before the game, and to see the excitement and sparkle in his eye was amazing. We had some big plays, and we had a couple of big plays, and that was smooth, that was a good thing. The offense put some things together and we had a nice mix going, using a couple of good things going and keeping them off-balance a bit. I will tell you I thought [Vick] did a super job in there. I thought he was poised and handled the pocket when he need to throw from the pocket. I thought they threw a lot of things at Michael and I'm proud the way he handled them."
So for another week the debate will rage on, Vick or Kolb, Kolb or Vick. It makes for great conversation and it makes for great barstool debates, but the bottom line falls with Reid, and the stubborn Eagles' coach has already come out publicly and said that he's committed to Kolb, who's been given the OK to play, along with middle linebacker Stewart Bradley, next week after both suffered concussions in the opener.
It looks like the Eagles will continue on without a real definitive answer at quarterback, based on how Vick has played in the first two games, and considering who the Eagles will play in the second and third games this season, against Detroit and next week in Jacksonville. Kolb may be the anointed starter, but it seems the overwhelming evidence goes to Vick, who managed the game very well in his first NFL start since 2006. In six quarters, Vick has put up 52 points. He braved being sacked six times, often eluding the strong Lions' pass rush and blitz packages, avoiding things that Kolb likely would not have escaped.
Does Reid really want to put Kolb behind this unstable front?
A feel-good sidenote is that the victory marked the first time in 30 starts that Eagles' linebacker Ernie Simms was on the winning side.
But the ultimate feel-good story was Vick reaching back and showing what he can do–when given the chance.
"It was great going out there and making plays today, and having the opportunity to make plays for this team," Vick said. "As a unit, we started off slow and we were able to fight back. The first drive was able to set the tone. I didn't think they'd blitz that much. You have to be able to make the plays against the blitz. I felt I had a great performance, and the only thing I'm thinking about is the plays that I left out there on the field. It's been a long road for me, and it's been tough. I think about what happened to me all of the time. Throughout it all, I had to be resilient. I had to keep fighting. I thought about what I've been through on the bus ride over. I had to overcome a lot of adversity and a lot of self-inflicted wounds, things that I caused to myself. You have to keep fighting and believing . You have to understand what's the most important thing in life and I think I know that now "
