Going Against Greatness
Posted: December 6th, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 104 Comments »The Eagles go against Tom Brady on Sunday. With him being 38 years old and the Eagles only facing the Pats every 4 years, this could be their final chance to take down the surefire Hall of Famer.
Brady first beat the Eagles in 2003, 31-10. The next meeting came in the Super Bowl following the 2004 season. New England won that game 24-21. The teams didn’t play after that until the middle of the 2007 season. Brady beat a feisty Eagles team led by A.J. Feeley 31-28. The most recent meeting was a 38-20 Patriots win back in 2011.
It would be cool to see the Eagles beat Brady. He will go down as one of the Top 5 QBs in NFL history. You don’t get to face guys like that very often. There is no shame in losing to them, but beating them is something that sticks with you for a long time.
One of my favorite Eagles wins came in 2010 when the Eagles beat Peyton Manning and the Colts 26-24. Manning had dominated the Eagles in 1999, 2002 and 2006. Those games were miserable beatdowns. His 2010 Colts weren’t exactly a juggernaut, but that didn’t matter to me at all. Beating Peyton was glorious.
The Eagles have had mixed results when facing great QBs over the years. The 2 guys they did the best against were Brett Favre and Troy Aikman. The Eagles beat both players multiple times and forced them into some bad performances. The pounding the Eagles put on Aikman in the 2000 season opener was the beginning of the end of his career. Favre lost to Philly in 1993, 1994, 1997, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.
There were only 2 games against Joe Montana. The Eagles beat him in 1983 after knocking him out of the game with a concussion. The Eagles beat Steve Young in 1994. He got benched as the Niners lost 40-8.
For my money, John Elway is the greatest QB of all time. Amazingly, the Eagles owned him, winning 4 of 5 games. In 1992 they held him to 59 yards passing and shutout Denver 30-0. In 1995 Elway was knocked out of the game when William Fuller and Mike Mamula sandwiched him with a big hit.
What about some current QBs? The Eagles lost to Big Ben in 2005 and 2011, but beat him in 2008. Aaron Rodgers is 3-0 against the Eagles, including a playoff win. The Eagles have beaten Drew Brees 3 times. They beat him as a Charger in 2005 and then with the Saints in 2007 and earlier this season.
One thing that helped in all those games is that the Eagles had some great defensive coaches. Those defenses were run by Marion Campbell, Buddy Ryan, Bud Carson, Ray Rhodes, Emmitt Thomas, Jim Johnson and Sean McDermott. Bill Davis did lead the Eagles to their first shutout in 18 years last season and he did beat Drew Brees earlier this year, but putting together a game plan to beat Tom Brady will be a huge challenge.
I’m really interested to see how the Eagles play vs the Pats.
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A source tells @TheRealDGunnCSN Cedric Thornton (ankle) will not play against the Patriots: https://t.co/DMi9FiZiL0 pic.twitter.com/rRliyYJMMa
— Comcast SportsNet (@CSNPhilly) December 6, 2015
This might not be a bad thing. With Thornton out, Brandon Bair will be active. Bair is very good at batting passes, which is key when playing Tom Brady. The Pats are a passing team and Brady is a pocket QB. Big, tall DL can give him problems.
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My most memorable game against Peyton Manning was that 1999 game. It was 44-3 in the 4th qtr and Donovan McNabb threw his first career TD pass. And Jim Mora friggin challenged the call. The TD was upheld and I cursed him to never win a playoff game. And he didn’t.
[…] Going Against Greatness – Iggles BlitzThe Eagles go against Tom Brady on Sunday. With him being 38 years old and the Eagles only facing the Pats every 4 years, this could be their final chance to take down the surefire Hall of Famer. Brady first beat the Eagles in 2003, 31-10. The next meeting came in the Super Bowl following the 2004 season. New England won that game 24-21. The teams didn’t play after that until the middle of the 2007 season. Brady beat a feisty Eagles team led by A.J. Feeley 31-28. The most recent meeting was a 38-20 Patriots win back in 2011. It would be cool to see the Eagles beat Brady. He will go down as one of the Top 5 QBs in NFL history. You don’t get to face guys like that very often. There is no shame in losing to them, but beating them is something that sticks with you for a long time. […]
Feel bad for Ced. Really worked hard to make himself an NFL starter. Hope some team overpays him this off-season. Pretty cool story.
He’ll get some cash somewhere.
I am pretty positive that we will be facing Brady one more time this season…
We’ll see his face on the TV a few times probably.
Thanks for that. I needed a good laugh to start my day.
You’re very welcome, mate.
I can’t shake this nagging feeling that the Pats weakened receiving corps won’t be a problem today because they’ll have some type of scheme going to take advantage of Billy Davis by gashing us on the run.
John Elway is the greatest quarterback of all time? Please. He was great, but he’s not as good as Brady, Manning (Peyton), or Brees from this era, Montana from his own era (or part of it) and Staubach from just before his era.
Long discussion for the offseason.
good stuff Tommy, my vote for all-time greatest and my personal favorite QB is Brady. It’s a discussion that can go on for days
Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Jaws is calling for Damaris Johnson to tear up the Eagles today. I wonder how many times on key 3rd downs I can yell “watch the slant”, yet the D won’t cover it?
Yup, our CB will play off with outside contain and allow the slants and crosses all day long as usual. It is crazy how Chip/Davis have never adjusted to this.
Davis
and they wonder why we can never get first downs on slants underneath
Break out your abacas…
Pretty sure Montana came in on relief or something like that at the Vet and came back from down a bunch in the 4th to win. Just looked it up week 3 1989 season. Kept ’em in check most of the game… Then Jerry Rice awoke in the the last quarter. I remember all the heart broken games in some way.
That was an all-time f-ing choke job.
no. Jerome Brown went out with an injury in the second half. Brown was dominating the Niners line. After he went out, Montana had all the time he needed to complete passes.
That lead should not have been lost due to one injury. Next man up.
Yes, it’s funny because I just read about this game last night, I think it was the Mike Tanier article.
He mentions our defensive coaches, and forgets one of the best?
True, Andy finding and hiring JJ was one of his best moves. Most media and fans were puzzled since they did not know JJ’s credentials, but Reid knew and had kept track of JJ for years before becoming HC. Reid knew he would do a great job and was the right fit. Being the DC here finally gave JJ the recognition he deserved.
“Reid knew and had kept track of JJ for years.”
I never heard that. I don’t think their coaching paths ever crossed. I’m not even sure if they ever coached on teams that played against each other. I think you may be embellishing your memory here.
Reid had an immediate list of guys he wanted to hire for his staff as a head coach. JJ was on that list. I don’t know how he knew of JJ, but he wanted him as his first choice DC.
No, Reid knew of JJ’s work in Indy and had him on the list of who he wanted to hire if he became a HC. Reid supposedly knew of JJ during his whole tenure in Indy, but always told the story of when GB played Indy in 1997 (JJ was DC by then) and how tough the defense was to play against. That made him take more notice of JJ as a DC and thus led him to do more research/confirm JJ was the real deal and add him to his list of coaches. He would say everyone he talked to would absolutely rave about JJ. When the staff in Indy was fired after the 1997 season, JJ went to Seattle for one season as LB coach and then Reid talked him into joining his staff.
I was going to say that too. Pretty sure Tommy leaving him off was just an error.
Fixed.
I was so focused on not skipping the lesser guys that I skipped one of the best.
Sorry Tommy. Didn’t mean to bust on ya.
Going back to the “Swamp Fox” was a bit funny.
Guy sucked as a head coach but he was damn good at defense.
I think Andy Reid has beaten every team in the league (including the Eagles and Chiefs), except the Patriots.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=400554325
Yeah, that was a beautiful beatdown.
they beat pats last year – when everyone was wondering if brady was over the hill.
So it looks like We will be without 2 starters on our D line. Might wanna pick up Blount in Fantasy Duel today!!
Yeah I saw that. Not good. I think losing Logan will hurt more than losing Thornton though.
https://twitter.com/GeoffMosherNFL/status/673510996841922560
When did Logan Hurt His knee? When he was joking around with Jameis?
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If Bennie doesn’t play, this is going to be a disaster
Probably. And yes to disaster. Make sure to pick up Blount in your fantasy.
Will likely be a disaster regardless
Speaking of Qb’s, i wonder if Chip has any interest in Carson Wentz
That’s 100% a guy (and a type of QB) of whom I’d like to see more analysis. I can’t wait until he’s in the Senior Bowl.
He kind of reminds me a little bit of……Cam Newton???
Touche
I’d hope for a drastic reduction in the rushing attempts and higher NFL completion % / reading of the D skills.
i’ve only watched a couple videos of him, the tall lean frame reminds me of Cam, and Wentz is a gazelle when he runs, can be tough to bring down. He struggles a bit throwing the ball deep, but has plenty of arm. Has some accuracy issues on even intermediate passes, i think a lot of that is from not setting his feet because he seems to be throwing on the move alot. I like him better than Lynch and lately there has been talk of Wentz moving into the late first round…but thats just speculation and gossip at this point. I do think he is a guy who has to sit a year, huge project with a lot of upside
Sounds like the type of guy you’d take with your pick at the top of the 2nd round……………………..oh.
or trade back in the first and pick up more picks, take Wentz later in the first, and maybe you pick up a 2nd or another 3rd somehow
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/nfl-draft-scout/25363115/meet-the-prospect-north-dakota-state-qb-carson-wentz
This guy has his comp as Big Ben.
Yea Wentz is the bastard love child of Cam and Dalton
https://twitter.com/caplannfl/status/673551621607952384
wait teams bench poorly performing players?
thats crazy talk
Terry Bradshaw, Michael Strahan, and Jimmy Johnson
KILL YOURSELVES FOR PICKING THE GIANTS TODAY!
Go Jets!
First it was a good sigń that chip was happy during a press Confrence?
Now it may be a good thing that Thornton is out vs such a physical run game led by #BLOUNTforceTrauma? Stop it!!!
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I do agree that it’s a good thing that Bair is playng, but not when it comes at Thorntons expense.. Truth is, Bair probably should be playing instead of Taylor Hart, who hasn’t been bad, but he hasn’t made the plays we seen Papa Bear make in flashes when he got to play…
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Normally I would agree that it’s no shame losing to all time greatness like Brady, but that goes out the window when you are trying to end a 3 game losing streak and try to save our season . I don’t give a shit if the Patriots roll out Montana and Rice in their prime against us today, better find a way to claw, scratch, bite, whatever it takes to find a way to win..
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Now if we took care of business against Miami, tampa, Detroit, then there would be no shame in losing to Brady.. But that went out the window when we imploded just like we did last year after the 9-3 start… So disgusted
It’s game day and it feels like 2012 all over again, wishing that we DIDNT play today which is a feeling I’m not very familiar with as a die hard eagle fan.
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Even when we didn’t have a GREAT team, I wake up Sunday morning and it feels like Xmas knowing that the Eagles play… Yet today I wake up with NO EXCITEMENT wishing we didn’t play today..
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I can understand feeling this way during the mess of a 4 win 2012 season, but it Takes a special type of Dysfunction to fuck this team up so bad that we are 1 game out of first place yet I feel like it’s 2012 wishing we didn’t play today.
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I have enjoyed average or bad eagle teams in the past, always supported them. Always looked forward to Gameday… Chip and this team managed to take that away from me… Why im giving 4 hours of my time to this disgrace, I have no idea… I feel bad to the big contingent of Eagles fans that apparently traveled to Foxborough to support this mess of a “team”… Apparently, all the Eagles fans at the Patriots game today decided to all wear #20 DAWKINS jerseys as solidarity, which is probably more solidarity than the Eagles have shown this week.. huge Legion of fans who bleed Eagles green and we will be treated to another week of the Hurry Up offense, seeing How Quickily Our offense can go 3 and out and get back to the bench…
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Thankfully this game won’t be nationally televised exposing how pathetic we are to the entire country again…
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Wonder how many plays before Jason Peters raises his hand and asks to be taken out of the game this week.. Personally, If Dennis Kelly has to come in the game, I would sub Bradford out of the game, and let Sanchez take the beating with Dennis Kelly in the game..
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The gutless play makes me sick
It is the 4:25 game on Fox, so it’s pretty much a National game
Hardly.
Most the US gets Carolina at New Orleans.
http://506sports.com/nfl.php?yr=2015&wk=13
Foles with another ugly INT
I’m not sure I’ve seen a pretty INT, but a slightly off-target deep ball is a prettier INT than a pick-six on a screen pass, like Jay Cutler just threw
haha, i’m sort of going back to last week and factoring in his game vs Cincy…..it’s been a rough 5 quarters
shady doing shady things
don’t know how ol Blandino is going to spin the horrendous call in Minnesota
I want to do bodily harm to that man…
Giants would be a sure first ballot dumpster fire without ODB.
And Beckham will be a first ballot HoFer. I am still gutted that we didn’t get a chance to draft him.
Probably wouldn’t throw it to him anyway
the last two times the Giants have beaten the Jets in the regular season, they have gone on to win the SB
Usually when Team gets embarressed on National TV like we did, the team shows up to FIGHT the next week and puts together a respectable effort the next game…. Unfortunately, our players have responded by Fighting with fans and the media all week…
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Not Many Players took the chance to publically support their coach or teammates… Embarressment like we have suffered should unite a team, bring out some Nasty in our team…. We saw NONE of THAT this week from our players. Guys aren’t sticking together, guys don’t seem to intent on fighting their way out of this mess..
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I am still in disbelief that chip could have created such a terrible mess like this. I have supported this team thru plenty of losses, but HOW we are losing is a disgrace. You see so little fight out on the field, so little heart..
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To have put so much importance in Culture, and then see how gutless this team plays is so demoralizing., This is the ULTIMATE TEAM game, if we don’t stay together, remain united in the face of adversity, we aren’t even Gving ourselves a chance to turn it around
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the Scariest part of all this is that if this team could implode like this, and be so Dysfunctional while only being 1 game out of first place, what the fuck would this mess look like If we were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs? How much more gutless would this team be?
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Sometimes it’s importnt to not over react, and STAY THE COURSE…. But I do t know that STAYING THE COURSE is the answer to fixing this mess.. Chip has to do SOMETHING to unite this team and put some fre in their belly and I don’t know what the answer is.. Does he need to cut someone and throw his ass out n the street in December to get these guys attention? Benching underperforming playërs? Make changes and run some new plays that put key guys in best position to succeed, for example, allowing Murray to run under center and play him to his strengths may be enough to excite him and light a spark? I have NO IDEA what the answer is to this mess, but im fairly confident STAYING THE COURSE is going to steer us directly ihto a giant iceberg..
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Chip has to do something to unite this team and give it a Spark. I don’t know what the answer is.. Adding Gun Powder and Hot Sauce to their smoothies?
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Whatever happens today, we BETTER not see a team that quits, stops fighting, hangs its head… Stay together and play with some fuckin Heart for 60 minutes and I can live with the results….. You kNow it’s a mess when you have to beg for Moral Victories and hope to actually see some right….
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if Bradford was ever going to look like that QB we saw in the preseason against Green Bay, this sure would be a great time to rally his troops and get these guys to play
schaub pick 6
Another one…he set the record for most consecutive games with a pick 6 last week…he’s really trying to cement his legacy..i wonder how long hes gonna keep this streak going?
well looks like seattle is out of their funk
So… If the Giants lose today and the Cowboys win and we lose, we’ll STILL only be 1 game back of the NFC East lead.
Do you really want to win the NFCE this year?
eh. It would provide a little late season excitement even we get bounced right away.
Id rather have a shot at a QB in the draft
Depends… I was excited about the growth I was seeing from Bradford from the Carolina game up until the Dolphins game. If he steps into the lineup picking off where he left off and bulds on it showing more progress each week, While galvanizing the troops, uniting us, and basically resssurect us from the Dead, I would like to see us win the division, but ONLY if we are shockingly seeing them play their best ball of the year down the stretch…
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If we aren’t going to see signifcant growth in importamt areas, Id rather get the high draft pick and hope Chip can get an impact player at a critical positipn of need like J. Ramsey FSU S/CB…
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I wouldn’t bet on him, but I’m also not ready to give up on SAM Bradford yet. I’m actually more Impressed with the Monster hits he was able to endure this year, more than im upset about him missimg two games wth a concussion/shoûlder sprain. The Hits our OL was letting QB take, would have Probabky injured, VICK, FOles, sanchez, Barkley, basically any QB we had since “FATnabb”, say what you will about Donovan, but atleast he could take a hit
Getting ready with some pregame shopping
http://i.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/photoshop/8/8/6/125886_v1_mobile.jpg
Everything fits except the Ramen Noodles.
Fitzpatrik is NOTHNG Special at QB, but he is much better than any of the slop the Texans have.. Getting rid of Fitzpatrik for a cleveland reject and Ryan Mallet is just one of the many ways Bill Obrien has made a mess out of his first HEADCoach opportunity in the NFL
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I could see both Chip and Obrien have to Faceplant and learn before they can go on and lead some other franchise to Success…
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I’m Starting to not be a fan of These Head Coaches who also function at the Offensive Coordinator….in Our Situation, less than 10 years after coaching in New Hampshire, Chip Kelly has become the GM, HEADCoach and Offensve Coordinator of a major franchise in a crazy football media market. If LURIE believes in him THAT MUCH, he may have to give Chip a FEW MORE years to grow into a guy that stands a chance to do all 3 jobs at an above average level in the Pro’s… It May end up being a case like Marvin Lewis and Jason Garrett who got REALLY Long leashes to grow into guys who could be successful at This level… I could see a scenario where Chip gets a contract extension after next season without ever winning a playoff game which probably won’t be popular idea for fans and philly media, but a good owner has to know better than us overreacting fans and media
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On some level, I kind of respect what Jerry Jones did with jason Garrett, he saw potential to become a quality pro coach, and gave him a long leash, inspite or losses to allow Garrett to grow into a good pro coach… I wouldn’t be surprised If LURIE looked at chip the same way, yet things got complicated because chip exceeded all expectatins with his 2013 season… No matter what, NEXT year was always going to be the pivotal decision year because chip signed a 5yr contract, and no coach allows himself to be a lame duck and go into his last season without an extension… Which is why LURIE certainly ismt ging to fire chip after this year.. After Next season, LURIE has to either Extend Chip, or he has to trade him, or they will announce a mutual split and chip wI’ll leave before his 5th season…. Assuming Chip shows some improvement next year, I would assume he will get an extension. If he finds his franchise QB it will be like a 4yr extension, if we are still struggling without a QB its more likely to be a two year extension…i do think chip is bright enough to grow into a Great coach,but it will require evolving in some areas, checking his ego, not care if the changes he makes proves the Haters were right about his philosophies not working, grow as a pro personnel Evaluator,and of course he will have to find a franchise QB, although im not ready to say that Bradford CANT be THAT Guy..
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always been a bigger fan of Defense than Offense.. After Chip era, Id like to see us go with a Defnsive HEADCoach
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I wouldn’t mind seeing one of the Harbaugh brothers, preferably JOHN become the Next coach of the Eagles. but it’s probably not very likely that in the next 3 years the Ravens feel that John Harbaughs message has become stale and that they need a new coach..
So who else is about to start pre-gaming this? Whiskey in hand.
They don’t deserve my Johnny Walker blue,,
Mine isn’t quite so fancy. They totally deserve the quality I’m putting down.
I feel you… My routine is celebrating a win with a glass of Blue. And unfortunately all I have is that and some wine in the house.. If I had something cheaper, Id be chugging it right with you..
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ugh David Johnson with the TD catch, really liked him
Corradelle Patterson high stepping at the 30 yard line while returning a kickoff for a TD…..while also being down 5 touchdowns. Gee, wonder why this guy always seems to be in the doghouse
WTF ELI!!!! how does this asshat a 2 time SB MVP?
is*
Is it wrong to have a man crush on DeAndre Hopkins?!
Nah, that dude is phenomenal… Id take him over ODB right now.
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Id give ANYTHING on our roster to get that kid
miles austin inactive!!!!!!
Christmas has come early
Enter Jonathon Krause
WOW… I want to know WHY? I’ll be dissapointed if it’s because of an injury. I’m hoping it’s because chip grew a pair, decided to have some self respect for himself and our team and Finally bench Miles Austin… It’s one thing to make mistakes, but this washed up cowboy straight up proved he didn’t even want to be on the field. from not making the slightest effort to make a play on the ball, to Not even turning his head so the QB can’t even throw it to him. The lack of effort in getting his second foot in bpunds on that should be TD catch.. Have some self respect and this bumble. WTF do we have to lose? Freddie Martino can’t possibly do worse when Austin gave zero effort and set the bar so low
hightower inactive, logan active.
mariota just ran for a 90yd td
Goddamn Matt Ryan is driving me nuts… He can’t get it to Julio, sad.
Heard some interesting things about the horrible state of Refereeing from Ray Diddy:
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apparently there were complaints that Refs were getting too old and couldnt keep up with the speed of the game so the NFL decided they needed an infusion of youth and Today, there are 23 Refs in the NFL with 2 years experience or less…. Probably not the best time to make its so difficult to interpret the rule book…
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TODAYS Ref crew that was demoted to working our game was the same crew we had in the 2013 playoff game with the Saints, and Going into that playoff game, the Home team had won every single game this ref crew worked in 2013.. Sadly the trend didn’t hold true into the playoffs
What Happened to all the Goofy Signs we would use to call our plays? Nothing says pro football like big sigń with a cheesesteak picture used to call plays. Lol
BIGTIME Brandon Marshall. Amazing the wonders top TALENT can do for a QB… When you rack up a 100 Recieving yards with Fitzpatrik as your QB, THATS TALENT!!!
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Great to see Marshal.and the jets tie the game with 21 seconds left on the clock.
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if the Jets hold on, and manage to win this game in overtime, it be a huge crushing blow to the Giants… Forget us trying to win the division, it gives me great pleasure to see Giants choke away games at the very end no matter what our record is…
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As eagle fan, I deserve a little enjoyment in my life. A comeback, overtime collapse by the Giants would go along way to making this Sunday a little less of a disaster
So much for Derek Gunn’s sources. Thornton playing just fine.
[…] Enjoy this game. You don’t beat elite QBs very often. […]
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