Andy Reid’s streak of wins following the bye week is intact after the Eagles downed the Colts 26-24 Sunday.
The Birds overcame injuries and flag-happy referees to beat Peyton Manning’s team.
QB Michael Vick led the way. He completed 17 of 29 passes, threw a TD and ran in another score in his first game back after missing three games with broken ribs. Vick impressed with his feet rushing for 74 yards on ten attempts.
"We try to make a statement week in and week out and not only do we have to beat the Indianapolis Colts, we have to strive to beat every team that we line up against," Vick said after the game. "This is a tough league. We played against one of the best today -- one of the best teams in this league and one of the best quarterbacks, hands down. We [were] able to pull it out so that gives us a great deal of confidence moving forward."
Vick got help from another Bird returning from injury. DeSean Jackson -- coming back from a concussion -- caught seven balls for 109 yards and ran three times for 20 yards.
The game was marred by injuries. The Eagles lost G Max Jean-Gilles to a concussion and S Nate Allen to neck and back injuries.
But the injury sure to be most talked about in the coming days was the concussion suffered by Colts wideout Austin Collie. On a pass over the middle the second-year player was sandwiched by safeties Quintin Mikell and Kurt Coleman.
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Collie dropped almost immediately and lost the ball for an incompletion. Mikell was tagged for a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty but replays showed the Coleman clearly made a helmet-to-helmet hit on Collie.
After Collie was stretchered off the field Manning and the Colts would take just two plays to cut the Eagles lead to two.
In total the Birds were flagged for 13 penalties for 110 yards compared to seven penalties for 59 yards for Indy.
Later in the game the refs also called a 15-yarder on the Birds that led to a quick colts score. With the game on the line and Indy facing a 4th and 18 on Philly’s 46 yard line, DE Trent Cole was called for hitting Manning in the helmet on a play when Cole had stripped Manning to seemingly seal the game. Instead Manning got a new set of downs and five plays later Javarris James ran in to cut the lead to 26-24.
In the end Manning finished 30-for-51 passing for 287 yards and a score. But his two interceptions would cost the Colts especially Asante Samuel’s pick to seal the win for the Birds.
The Eagles are now 12-0 after the bye week under Andy Reid. Next up for Big Red’s boys is a Monday night showdown in D.C. against Donovan McNabb and the Redskins.
And talking about Reid, how funny was the video of 13-year-old Andy Reid in the punt, pass and kick competition from the early 70s? He was a giant at the time it seems -- nearly twice the size of the other kids. In case you missed it, watch it here.
