Many of you followers of the Philadelphia eagles don’t remember all the Meadowland Miracles like myself. I don’t really know how to explain all this too, but when it comes to many moments in sports and particularly when talking about the Phillies, Flyers and eagles, I remember situations that most have a hard time envisioning in the past. How many of you remember back in 1992 on the next to the last game of the season, the Eagles were playing the Redskins at the Vet with the game’s winner a guaranteed spot as wild card in the playoffs. Do you remember how the Eagles finally won that game? The Birds were up by 4 points (17-13) and the Redskins were at the Eagles 5-yard line. On that faithful last play, it was Eric Allen who knocked down a Mark Rypien pass and the Eagles clinched a playoff berth. Two weeks later, we saw the late great Reggie White signaling a safety after he sacked the Saints QB Bobby Hebert in the end zone in the closing minutes of the franchise’s first road postseason win since the 1949 NFL Championship Game in Los Angeles. I don’t remember that 1949 game as I was born in 1964. Now we go back to the miracle games in New Jersey. Most of us saw the 2003 game when Brian Westbrook ran back an 84-yard punt return in the last 2 minutes of a game that the Eagles trailed 10-7. If you remember also, McNabb was sacked about a ½ dozen times and only threw for 63 total passing yards the entire game. That game set up an Eagles 9-game winning streak, before they first lost to the 49ers and eventually to the Carolina panthers in the NFC Championship Game. If you are old as me or older, you will remember the original “Miracle of the Meadowlands”; otherwise you just heard from your peers or saw the replays on TV.

It was another cold, windy day back on November 19, 1978 with the Giants winning 17-12 in the closing seconds of the game. All QB Joe Pisarcik had to do was kneel down and the game would be over. Pisarcik fumbled the ball as he attempted to give it to the former Miami Dolphin Larry Csonka. Herman Edwards infamously picked up the ball and he ran it back for a 26-yard TD return. The Eagles won 19-17 and would eventually clinch their first playoff berth in 18 years. Afterwards, tens of thousands of Giants’ fans would hold a protest rally where they proceeded to burn the rest of the 1978 season’s tickets to the Giants games. Most of you however probably don’t remember game in 1988 that the Eagles won on blocked FG attempt. It was another late November day (Nov. 20) with both teams fighting to make the playoffs. With the game tied at 17-17 in overtime, the Eagles were lining up for a potential game-winning FG from 31- yards out. Kicker Luis Zendejas kicked the ball, which was blocked by the great Lawrence Taylor. But it was the Birds’ DE Clyde Simmons picking up the ball and he ran it in for the game-winning touchdown. Philadelphia won that game 23-17 in OT and eventually would clinch the NFC East after beating the Dallas Cowboys in the season’s finale. The Birds went on to lose to the Chicago Bears in the most unforgettable playoff game, “The Fog Bowl”, even though Randall Cunningham threw for over 400 yards.

That brings us to the future, with the Eagles trailing 24-10 and Michael Vick just completed a long 31-yard pass to DeSean Jackson. On the play, Jackson dove to the ground to avoid full contact from LB Jonathan Goff. Goff though, had grazed Jackson’s back as the receiver fell to the ground and the ball came loose. The NFL rule says that on tackle/touch, the player can’t lose the ball caused by the ground. The refs ruled however that Jackson was never touched, thus the play was ruled a fumble as Kenny Phillips recovered the ball for the Giants. Still, coach Andy Reid had the challenge flag in his hand and seemed poised to challenge the play, but never dropped the red hanky, though replays clearly showed he would of won that challenge. So instead of the Eagles moving the ball into scoring position to possibly cutting the lead to 24-17, the giants quickly led by Eli Manning used the short field to their advantage and 8-plays later, Kevin Boss caught an 8-yard pass for a TD and a now almost insurmountable 31-10 Giants lead. What happened next was a total collapse of a New York Giants team that had the Eagles in a firm death grip. The Eagles would score 28 unanswered points in the last 7 ½ plus minutes. Even in the end, the game should have gone to overtime. That could of given the Giants a second wind to gather themselves and still have a chance of winning the game. But Jackson’s walk-off punt return TD made that reality a total nightmare for both players and fans of team in blue. It was also the first time in the 90-year history of the NFL that a team won a game on a return of any kind on the very last play of a game.

I just love all the headlines from the game. The New York Post said it best with the back cover; “32 years after The Fumble, Giants lose to the Eagles in … THE CRUMBLE!” There’s a great photo of Jackson running past the Giants coach Tom Coughlin holding the ball up high and Coughlin is shown throwing away (or down) his play book in total disgust. On the front page it says, ‘GIANTS DOG IT’ – Epic collapse against Vick and the Eagles. There’s a photo of Michael Vick being chased by two dogs (a Bulldog and Chihuahua) dressed in Giants’ uniforms. The NY Daily News had a picture of Giants punter Matt Dodge laying on the turf after Jackson ran by him for the game-winning TD – the headline read – ‘BRUTAL!’ – Giants blow 21-point lead in epic flop to Eagles. And on my favorite paper, the Philly Daily News had two scores on top; [Giants 31, Eagles 10] and [Eagles 38, Giants 31] with the former being scribbled out with red ink. The main headline read; ‘ON, DASHER’ – as the photo had Jackson running towards the end zone for the final 10 yards. The back cover has a great shot of Jackson laughing on the ground with his teammates celebrating around him. The back cover headline read – MIRACLES NEVER CEASE – It’s the greatest of Birds’ epic comebacks at the Meadowlands.

It was in all certainly, “The Miracle at the Meadowlands IV”. It was also a great early Christmas present for all us Eagles’ fans too. And all Philly has to do now, is beat a sorry, injury-riddled Vikings team in the wintry elements at the Linc on Sunday Night Football. With Michael Vick starting at QB, the team is an astounding 5-0 on prime-time games this season. They have already beaten the Giants, Redskins, Cowboys, 49ers and Texans in the nighttime air. After Boss’ TD, it surely looked hopeless and I actually threw down a paper from last week’s game summary in disgust on my laptop computer and muttered a few choice words, just like Coughlin would do in approximately eight minutes. The eagles had plenty of fight as Vick hit tight end Brent Celek in stride as he ran away from the Giants Justin Tuck and a horde other defenders for a 65-yard TD play. Just like that, it was 31-17. Then Coughlin made his biggest mistake of the game directly as he sent out the return team minus his hands’ players. It was a huge mistake for the Giants as Andy Reid as he called for the onside kick if the Giants’ hands team remained on the sidelines. The play was perfectly executed as rookie Riley Cooper easily caught a perfectly placed onside kick by David Akers. Riley also went totally untouched on the play. Unbelievable! Vick then completed a 13-yard pass to Jackson for a quick first down. Then he ran straight down the field for a huge 35-yard running play down to the Giants 9-yard line. Three plays later, Vick followed his blockers untouched into the end zone for an easy 4-yard TD run off-tackle. It was now 31-24 with still 5:32 left in the game. The Giants did manage to make two first downs and forced the Eagles to use up the rest of their timeouts. But eventually, the Giants were forced to punt the ball away after Eli Manning threw an incomplete pass to Derek Hagan, who was well covered by Dimitri Patterson on that third down play.

Philadelphia got the ball back on their own 12-yard line with just 3:01 left in the game and no timeouts. That is when the Giants ultimately relived what was once known as the “Michael Vick Experience”. The Giants did force two incompletions, but on third down, Vick escaped the pocket and ran for a huge 33-yard gain along the left sidelines before he was forced out of bounds at the Eagles 45-yard line. A quick 13-yard pass to Jason Avant put the Birds in New York territory. Two plays later, Vick did another Houdini escape, this time ducking a potential sack and running straight forward for another 22 yards to the Giants 20-yard line at the 2-minute warning. Vick amassed 92 yards on the ground just in the fourth quarter (130 total). After a short pass completion to Celek, Number 7 found Jeremy Maclin open at the three, and he juked and danced past a Giants defender and into the end zone for the touchdown. The game is now tied at 31-31. Eli Manning had plenty of time (1:16) with all 3 timeouts and really good field position at their own 36-yard line. After two incompletions, the Eagles Trevor Laws sacked manning for big 7-yard loss. Fourteen seconds remained as punter Matt Dodge punted the ball back to the Eagles. Coughlin told his rookie punter to boot the ball out of bounds. He failed miserably and the rest is history as DeSean Jackson did the impossible – he scored on a 65-yard punt return for the game-winning touchdown. The Eagles won and are now primed to win out and get a possible #2 seed, which comes with a first-round bye in the playoffs. It is hard to put into words what just happened but we all saw it – and now I have a copy of it on DVD to watch for all of prosperity….