The Detroit Lions improved to 2-3, after defeating the Philadelphia Eagles 26-23 in overtime.

A key defensive pass interference against the Eagles put the Lions at the one-yard line with an opportunity to win the game. Stafford and the Lions were unable to score and settled for a 19 yard field by kicker Jason Hanson to force overtime.

The Eagles won the toss but were unable to move the ball forward. Quarterback Michael Vick was sacked twice for a total of -21 yards. On the ensuing punt, the Lions started their drive at midfield. Quarterback Matthew Stafford connected with Calvin Johnson for a 17 yard gain on 1st and 20 from Philadelphia’s 44 yard line to put the Lions in field goal range. Two plays later, Hanson nailed a 45 yard field goal for the win.

The Lions were led by Stafford, who completed 22-of-45 passes for 311 yards, one touchdown and one interception. This was Stafford’s 3rd game throwing for over 300 yards this season. Stafford punched in his second rushing touchdown of the year in the fourth quarter.

Calvin Johnson led the Lions with six receptions for 135 yards. Johnson, has compiled 100+ yards three times this season. However, he only has one touchdown and was held without a touchdown for a second consecutive week. Stafford’s lone touchdown pass was to wideout Nate Burleson for his second of the season in the fourth quarter. Burleson finished the game with four catches for 24 yards.

Young running back Mikel Leshoure led the Lions ground attack with 15 carries for 70 yards. Leshoure also caught three passes for 24 yards. Detroit has still yet to develop a consistent run game.

Michael Vick continues to struggle turning the ball over. Vick fumbled and had two interceptions and completed 28-of-46 passes for 311 yards and two touchdowns. Vick also ran nine times for 59 yards.

Eagles fans held their breath in the 3rd quarter when running back LeSean McCoy left the game with an apparent lower leg injury. McCoy returned, and finished the game with 14 carries for 22 yards. McCoy also caught seven passes for 26 yards and a touchdown in the second quarter.

Jeremy Maclin led the Eagles receiving core with six receptions for 130 yards and a touchdown in the 4th quarter. This was Maclin’s first 100+ receiving game of the season. Receiver DeSean Jackson also caught five passes for 74 yards.

The Lions will be back in action next Monday, October 22 in a pivotal division rivalry game against the Chicago Bears. As for the 3-3 Eagles, they will be welcoming the undefeated Atlanta Falcons to Lincoln Financial Field.

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With the Giants defeating the Jets just moments after this game started, one would have expected the Eagles to be the team that would play uninspired football after their playoff hopes had diminished. Ironically enough, the Cowboys, who at the very least could have played for the sake of guaranteeing a better seed than the Falcons, were the team who did not show up. One can easily point towards Tony Romo’s injury early in the first quarter, sidelining him for the remainder of the game, but the real reasons for the loss leave plenty to be concerned about.

Going into the game, the match up that was likely to be the most critical was the Cowboys’ tackle tandem of Doug Free and Tyron Smith vs. the Eagles’ DEs Trent Cole and Jason Babin. Being able to keep these two pass rushers in check is what was going to allow the Cowboys to rely on the deep ball in order to expose the poor safety play that has plagued the Eagles all season long. Unfortunately, both Smith and Free had their hands full for seemingly every play.

While Stephen McGee did not play badly considering he was under duress for a majority of the game, the lack of pass protection is ultimately what led to his being unable to let the deep routes develop. It obviously did not help that the Cowboys were unable to establish any type of threat on the ground as the ancient Sammy Morris managed just 29 yards on 13 carries.

An Air Coryell offense like Jason Garrett’s is the type of offense that needs a decent running game and good pass protection to work. As much as this may be true for any type of offense, it is especially so with an offense like Jason Garrett’s, since the Coryell offensive system relies on stretching the defense with the running game in order to open up vertical passing lanes.

Without any type of running game the defense will never feel obligated to stack eight in the box at the expense of being vulnerable to deep passes (a staple to Garrett’s offense being effective). Lack of pass protection will without a doubt, make it very difficult for deep routes to develop, and as such both, elements of the Cowboys’ offense were rendered ineffective. Ultimately, this is the reason that the Cowboys struggled to move the ball on Saturday.

On the defensive side of the ball the Cowboys seemed to be favoring a lot of zone coverage, as Rob Ryan often likes to do. Unfortunately, there were several instances in which various defenders looked completely lost, which is a recipe for disaster for a zone defense. Often times a receiver would be passed off only for someone to blow the coverage, while other times it would appear as if nobody in the secondary even knew what they were supposed to do.

While the Cowboys did do a half decent job at getting pressure, they did not do quite good enough in order to contain an elusive, mobile QB like Michael Vick. As a result, Vick was able to expose all of the poor discipline by the Cowboys’ defense whenever they were in zone. This would prove to be so effective for the Eagles that anyone who watched the game would completely forget that the Cowboys managed to contain LeSean McCoy in the running game.

The lopsided nature of this game is of course bad for the Cowboys’ momentum going in to next week’s game against the Giants for the NFC East divisional title. However, the concerns that arise from this game transcend both momentum as well as Tony Romo having to play next week with an injured hand. There are also question marks surrounding Rob Ryan’s ability as a defensive coordinator due to the inconsistent play of the defense in recent weeks.

Even if Ryan is not the one who deserves the blame, the quality of the talent that the Cowboys have on defense contributes to these concerns. Lastly, it remains to be seen whether or not Doug Free and Tyron Smith will be able to keep Jason Pierre-Paul and Justin Tuck in next week’s game, especially after the poor job they did at protecting Stephen McGee on Saturday.

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Backup quarterback Vince Young and the Philadelphia Eagles were unable to keep up the offensive attack on a strong New England Patriots defense, losing at home to their visitors 38-20.

On paper, Young seemed to have a very good game; he threw for 400 yards in the game on 26 completions for one touchdown and one interception. Receiver Jason Avant was Young’s main target, making eight receptions for 110 yards and the only touchdown. New England’s quarterback Tom Brady also had a great game, throwing for 361 yards on 24 complete passes for three touchdowns.

Wes Welker was Brady’s most successful receiver, making eight catches for 115 yards and two touchdowns. Deon Branch also helped move the ball downfield after his receptions, making six catches for 125 yards. The Eagles’ rushing game was not too successful with Young and running back LeSean McCoy rushing for a total of 71 yards in the entire game.

Patriots’ running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis was able to make his runs count, rushing for two touchdowns on 14 attempts. The first quarter started out quite well for the Eagles, with McCoy rushing in for a touchdown on the Eagles’ first offensive possession. Four minutes later, field-goal kicker Alex Henery kicked a 43-yard field goal to give the Eagles a ten-point lead.

However, the Patriots were able to get on the scoreboard in the final two minutes of the first quarter after Green-Ellis ran for a four-yard touchdown. The Patriots got back the lead early in the second quarter when Green-Ellis ran in for his second touchdown of the night, after the Patriots were able to move the ball downfield in under two minutes with only four plays.

The Patriots widened the distance between the Eagles six minutes later when Brady threw a 41-yard touchdown pass to Welker, making the score 21-10 halfway through the quarter. The only points obtained by the Eagles came off the boot of Henery with two minutes left in the half, but was equaled by a 45-yard field goal kick from Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski.

The only offensive action that came in the third quarter came from the Patriots when, after eight plays that took the team 69 yards, Brady threw a 9-yard pass to Welker for his second touchdown of the night and strengthened the Patriots lead 31-13.

Receiver Rob Gronkowski widened the Patriot’s lead even further halfway through the final quarter after making a 24-yard touchdown catch from Brady after the team spent seven minutes with possession. However, although there was no sign of a possible comeback, the Eagles had the last say in the game after Avant caught a one-yard pass from Young in the final minute of the game, making the final score 38-20.

The Philadelphia Eagles (4-7) travel to Washington on Thursday to face the Seattle Seahawks, while the New England Patriots (8-3) head back home to face the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.

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At the beginning of the year, the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles shared aspirations of winning a super bowl. The Patriots had Tom Brady, and the Eagles were hopeful after their multiple, big, free agent signings had been labeled a “dream team.”

Fast forward to Week 12, and the Patriots are in position to win the AFC East, securing home field advantage throughout the playoffs while the Eagles are sitting at 4-6, two games behind the Cowboys and Giants for first place. The Patriots’ final six games do not include a team with a winning record, and the Patriots are rolling after two straight blowout wins over the Jets and the Chiefs, outscoring the teams 71-19.

“We’re 7-3. I don’t think we’re really where we hoped to be at this point,” said Tom Brady. The Eagles would love to be where the Patriots are right now. They are looking to keep their momentum going following their 17-10 upset over the Giants at MetLife Stadium last Sunday. “You see the excitement and the smiles on the guys, and that’s what we need, what we have to have,” said Eagles quarterback, Vince Young.

Young looks like he will make his second straight start in place of the injured Michael Vick in the first meeting in almost five years between the two teams. The last meeting in 2007 saw the Patriots winning a close one, 31-28, behind Brady’s 380 yards and a touchdown.

Brady has recently been finding his tight end, Rob Gronkowski, who has 20 catches for 310 yards and five touchdowns in the Patriots past three games. Brady feels the team needs to make more improvements down the stretch, alluding to the slow start by the offense who was trailing Kansas City 3-0 in the first quarter.

“We’re going to need to play better than we did offensively (Monday), if we want to start making serious improvements down the stretch,” Brady said. The Patriots will need the defense to continue its recent good play. The defense which gives up a league high 404.2 yards per game has only allowed 357.7 yards over the past three games. “We have the possibility of being a pretty good defense as long as we play well and get better each week,” tackle Vince Wilfork said. “(We) can’t get complacent. That’s one thing we can’t do.”

The defense will have a tough test this week, facing an Eagles offense that features two superstar wide receivers, the league’s leading rusher LeSean McCoy, and even though he is not in the same caliber as Micahel Vick, Vince Young still provides problems with his ability to run the ball. “Both guys have been productive, and they have a lot of weapons to utilize,” New England coach Bill Belichick said.

“They do a good job of getting them the ball.” Young will have to improve from last week when he went 23 of 36 for 258 yards, two touchdowns, and three interceptions. He should have some help as DeSean Jackson hopes to play this week and Jeremy Maclin, who missed last week’s game, hopes to play as well.

The key for the Eagles will be how their defense, who has played better as of late, is able to handle Tom Brady and the Patriots. The Eagles have three  amazing cover corners in Nnamdi Asomugha, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, and former Patriot Asante Samuel, as well as a good pass rush which could cause some problems for the Patriots who are a pass first team.

New England will have to focus on the run a little more. Last week, they rushed for 157 yards on the ground, and facing a team that has struggled against the run, they will want to continue to build on that as they make their run toward a top seed in the AFC.

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The Philadelphia Eagles controlled the game on Sunday through offensive and defensive standouts, defeating the Dallas Cowboys 7-34. The Eagles’ defense was able to stop any opportunities the Cowboys had in the rushing game; Dallas made ten rushing attempts for a total of 85 yards.

This was mostly due to the efforts made by Eagles defense Jamar Chaney and Asante Samuel, who made a total of 10 tackles throughout the game on the Dallas offense. The Eagles used their rushing attack effectively throughout the game to move the ball up field for scoring chances; Lesean McCoy ran for a total of 185 yards on 30 attempts for two touchdowns.

Quarterback Michael Vick also carried the ball on several runs, going for a total of 50 yards on seven attempts. The passing game was where Dallas fell short during the game. Quarterback Tony Romo threw for 203 yards on 18 completed catches, along with throwing for one touchdown and one interception.

Receiver Laurent Robinson made the touchdown catch, getting 103 yards in the game off of 5 receptions. Vick helped carry the team on to victory, throwing 28 passes all together for a total of 279 yards and two touchdowns. Receivers Brent Celek and Jeremy Maclin both caught touchdown passes, adding up for a total of 148 yards off of ten receptions.

Kicker Alex Henery also provided points for the Philadelphia victory, kicking two field goals and four extra points for a total of 10 points in the game. The Philadelphia Eagles (3-4) face off at home against the Chicago Bears on Monday, November 7th, while the Dallas Cowboys (3-4) travel back home to welcome the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.

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