Eagles Week 11 Recap: How To Lose A Football Game By The New York Giants And The Philadelphia Eagles

On to the bullet points:

• Over the past few years, the Eagles have played some close and very ugly games against division rivals.  I don't recall many of them being wins.  They won this one.
• The Eagles game-winning TD was scored on a TD where Vick bobbled the snap, somehow got the ball to McCoy on the toss, who proceeded to go untouched into the endzone.  Whether or not the toss was planned or impromptu because of the bobbled snap may never be known, but the result was incredible regardless (VIDEO).
• While this was not the greatest reffed game I've ever seen (Ron Winter, ladies and gents!), if the Eagles lost, they would have had no one to blame but themselves.  It should have been a blowout by the end of the first half, and the only thing that prevented that was 2 drops in the endzone, with one of those (the Avant one), being one of the worst drops I have ever seen in an NFL football game.  Like seriously.  I think he is making the not top-10 for this one.  The ironic part:  Jason Avant is known for his sure-handed hands.
• Michael Vick committed his 1st regular season turnover since December 24, 2006 when he fumbled a ball in the 2nd half that was recovered by the Giants.  He still has not thrown an interception since that December 24, 2006 game against the Panthers.  He had 2 INTs that day.
• The Giants game-planned for Vick as well as they could.  They got pressure, they got in his face, they used their speed and were aggressive and it sort of worked.  Well comparatively speaking, it worked.  I mean, Vick did not set a bunch of records with one of the single greatest individual performances tonight.  That being said, they came in the best defense in the NFL averaging 270 yards given upper game, and the Eagles torched them for 400.
• The Bears employ a similar defense and will likely employ a similar strategy next week.
• Asante Samuel had an interesting night in New York.  2 INTs, a fumble, and a helmet-to-helmet hit that will almost assuredly see him receiving mail and a bill from Roger Goddell sometime this week.
• Odd stat:  Asante Samuel has 4 combined INTs this season against QBs named Manning.  That's a record.  And he still has 1 game to go this season.
• Teams the Giants have beaten:  Panthers, Bears, Texans, Lions, Cowboys, Seahawks.  Teams the Giants have lost to:  Colts, Titans, Cowboys, Eagles.  The only team the Giants beat with a winning record is the Bears.  The Bears are 7-3, yet I have not heard anyone say how they are a threat in the NFC.  Flying under the radar a bit?  Yeah, but I do not think their record is indicative of how good I think they are.  As far as the Giants, the Giants are not a bad team, but they are yet to prove themselves by beating a quality opponent.  Like I said, they are not bad, but I can't consider them one of the best until they beat a real quality game.
• Ellis Hobbs got knocked out with a helmet-to-helmet hit by Tollefson on the opening kick.  It knocked him out cold on the field for a full 10 minutes.  That helmet-to-helmet contact was in a situation though where it is not a penalty, and the refs were right by not throwing a flag.  X-rays were negative and he was moving around a bit in the locker room, so that is very good news.
• Not Eagles-Giants related, but a quick buy or sell from me on some NFL teams.  Buy the Patriots.  Buy the Jets (they may be lucky, but they are also very good, even Sanchez, who was great on that last drive today).  Buy the Packers.  Sell the Bears.  Buy the Falcons.  Sell the Buccaneers.  Sell the entire NFC West and toss it in a gigantic shit hole.  As funny as NFC West jokes are, one of those four piss poor excuses of a football team are going to play in the playoffs.  And that's a shame.
• How the referee could tell that Ahmad Bradshaw's forearm or wrist, and not his hand was down is beyond me?  Keep in mind, it must be conclusive to overturn.  What was conclusive about that?
• The end of game Eli Manning fumble was (shockingly) called correctly by Ron Winter.  Manning dove (not slid), Samuel never touched him, and the ball came out before any Eagle touched him.  Eli Manning committed a similar turnover in a similar situation against the Eagles last year.
• The Eagles are now alone in 1st place in the NFC East, 1 game ahead of the Giants, 2 games ahead of the Redskins, and 4 games ahead of the Cowboys.  The Eagles have 1 remaining game against the Giants to play and both Cowboys games still to play this season.
• I really can't stand Shawn Andrews.  The guy is lazy, plays on Twitter all day when not practicing (a frequent occurrence for him), and constantly throws the Eagles under the bus for reasons I still don't get.  The Eagles did everything they could to help him with his situation here, including bringing in his horrible brother Stacy to play with him, paying him big money to recover from his issues, and all he does is trashes the Eagles organization.  They stuck with him longer than most other teams would have, and this is how he shows his thanks.  It has nothing to do with the fact that he is a Giant now, just everything to do with the fact that he has proven himself to be an all-round lazy and terrible human being.
• Both teams tried to beat themselves tonight.  The one that did it slightly less in less critical times was the team that won.
•  And lastly, the win probability chart. (advancednflstats.com)