Sloppy play dooms Eagles in Reid's return

Source: Philadelphia Daily NewsSept.迷你倉 20--TURNED OUT, feting Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb wasn't the really awkward, painful part of the night, after all.Reid and the now-3-0 Kansas City Chiefs visited the Eagles, and Michael Vick was so overcome by nostalgia, he performed like the guy who spent much of last season's stretch drive watching Nick Foles play quarterback. Vick threw a pair of interceptions, including one for a pick-six, and looked out of sync most of the night, completing only 13 of 30 passes for 201 yards in a 26-16 loss. It didn't help that his formidable offensive line got pushed around a lot, by a fierce KC rush. Vick limped off the field after losing a fumble with 1 minute, 37 seconds left, but he said afterward he was OK.The Eagles' quarterback situation now bears scrutiny. The Eagles gave Reid the welcome-back present of five turnovers. They now are assured of going more than a calendar year between home victories, having last won in their stadium on Sept. 30, 2012, against the Giants.Eagles coach Chip Kelly blamed Vick's protection more than Vick, which is the sort of thing Reid used to do, as well. The result called to mind Reid's domination of former pupil Brett Favre whenever the Eagles would play the Packers. But more than anything, it looked like last year's 4-12 Eagles, and the turnover machine Vick can become under pressure, no matter what offense he is running."You can't win a football game when you turn the football over like that," Kelly said as his team completed its three-games-in-11-days slog. "I'm not blaming it on anything except our poor execution."Vick's regression, unwelcome as it might have been, didn't necessarily doom the season, even with that visit to Denver looming Sept. 29. The moment that could have done that came on the final play before the 2-minute warning, when LeSean McCoy's 11th carry (for his 66th yard) ended with former teammate Akeem Jordan and safety Kendrick Lewis landing on McCoy's right leg. The key to the Eagles' offense stayed down, in obvious pain. He took his helmet off as team orthopedist Peter DeLuca probed his lower right leg. Reid actually came out to check on him. Kelly stayed on his sideline, talking to Vick.Eventually, McCoy jogged off, but when he got to the bench area he took a sharp right turn and jogged toward the locker room X-ray machine. McCoy jogged back out of that tunnel a little more than a minute into the second half, though, to applause as loud as what McNabb got at halftime, when his No. 5 was retired. And he brought the Eagles back within 23-16 on a 41-yard touchdown jaunt with 11:36 left, as dispirited fans were already trickling through the Linc's portals.McCoy intoned the words "right ankle sprain" afterward, which didn't keep him from running nine times for 92 yards in the second half."When it happened, the way I landed, I felt pain right away. I couldn't press on it," McCoy said after the Eagles' eighth home loss in a row. "I had that type of injury before; that's why I thought it was something serious ... The X-rays looked good; they didn't see anything on there. I still was in pain. A couple of runs, I could feel it ... I'll get treatment on it and I'll be fine."The evening began with a scoreboard acknowledgement of Reid, the winningest coach in Eagles history, as Reid jogged onto the field wearing that jarring-looking red XXXXXXXLL polo shirt."You put it out of your mind the best way you possibly can," Reid said afterward. "Fourteen years is 14 years. That's a long time for a chubby, old guy ... Coming back, I didn't really think much about it until the game was over ... It's all kind of settling in right now, not exactly sure how I feel other than I'm glad we won the game."Neither Reid nor McNabb was booed -- by halftime, Vick had done a tremendous job of making the crowd nostalgic for Donovan's shoetop-high passes -- much to the dismay of national media who'd arrived with their Santa Claus references loaded and ready.The early going was like nothing anybody predicted. The Eagles' 30th-ranked defense kept the score from getting out of hand, making play after play, as the Birds continually turned the ball over, starting with the first time they touched it. Damaris Johnson muffed a fair catch on the KC punt after the initial series, the Chiefs recovering at the Eagles'文件倉8.Then, after the defense held for a field goal, on the third Eagles offensive snap, Vick tried to throw the ball through linebacker Derrick Johnson to Brent Celek, with predictable results. Johnson tipped it to Eric Berry, who scored easily. It was 10-0 and the Chiefs didn't have a first down.Vick said afterward he was angry at himself because he'd known what he needed to do -- throw to the other side, where he said there was single coverage -- but instead he tried to force a ball."If I just throw the fade on the other side, it never happens," said Vick, who ended the evening with a 49.4 passer rating."I solely take responsibility for what happened tonight," Vick said."We gave up too much pressure tonight," Kelly said. "A lot of times they're rushing four and they're getting to the quarterback extremely quickly ... We can't put Mike in a lot of bad situations, and I think we've got to clean that up."Vick and Riley Cooper just missed on a long third-down completion, but again the defense gave up nothing, and this time, the Eagles' offense did something, thanks to a 61-yard Vick run, the longest of his 11-year career. Vick then threw a perfect pass to Jason Avant for a 22-yard TD. Even that came with an asterisk.After the TD, Kelly tried one of those wild and crazy two-point conversion plays he used to run at Oregon. The Chiefs were not flummoxed, and stopped Zach Etrz short of the goal line.Reporters were curious all week about the wrap center Jason Kelce was wearing on his right thumb, which Kelce apparently injured in Sunday's loss to the Chargers. Kelce appeared on the injury report with the notation "thumb," but he wouldn't say anything more. He practiced, and started. Then, on first-and-10 from the Chiefs' 49, Kelce snapped the ball off right guard Todd Herremans' shoulder, instead of to Vick. Kansas City linebacker Justin Houston recovered, and the Chiefs were on their way again, except the Eagles' defense clamped down again, and Ryan Succop missed a 51-yard field goal.Kelce said afterward he'd thought Vick was under center. He later shotgunned high and hard, and Vick ended up chasing down the first snap of the second half. Kelce said he wouldn't blame the wrap, which was not the same thing as saying it didn't bother him.Andy's offense didn't exactly set the Linc on fire. Two more field goals, one set up by Vick's second interception, made it 16-6 at halftime."I will credit our defense, I thought they played with a lot of heart," Kelly said. "I thought they played with great effort."In the second half, the Chiefs found a little more traction, after an Eagles drive stalled at the Kansas City 11, and Alex Henery kicked a 29-yard field goal.The Eagles did not solve all their secondary problems in 4 days. Alex Smith, who started out 2-for-8 on third-down conversions, discovered that slot receiver Donnie Avery was open all day over the middle, just as Eddie Royal had been Sunday for San Diego. Avery had seven catches on seven targets, for 141 yards.Kansas City managed a touchdown after a 48-yard field goal miss by Henery, his second miss in two games. It was a big momentum swing, and people started to leave.McCoy rewarded those who stayed on -- 20 carries, 158 yards -- but he couldn't play quarterback or safety."Part of our job offensively is we need to hold on to the ball and sustain some drives, so that we can get some plays run and try to get their defense gassed ... We're not running enough plays," Kelly said. "We just can't go out there and throw an interception that's returned for a touchdown, and then get a drive going and put the ball on the ground. We call them self-inflicted wounds. We've got way too many of them to be a successful football team."BirdseedDefensive lineman Vinny Curry was active for the first time this season and managed one of the Eagles' five sacks ... Three times after long Eagles gains, Chiefs players crumpled to the turf, slowing the tempo ... Jason Peters had a really long night against former Penn State star Tamba Hali ... Eagles safety Patrick Chung, toasted several times in the first half, eventually left the game with a shoulder injury.On Twitter: @LesBowenBlog: ph.ly/EagletarianCopyright: ___ (c)2013 Philadelphia Daily News Visit the Philadelphia Daily News at .philly.com Distributed by MCT Information Services存倉