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November 26, 2007

Game story: Remember the Eagles

BY SHALISE MANZA YOUNG
Journal Sports Writer

FOXBORO – Tedy Bruschi wants his youngest teammates on the New England Patriots to remember last night.

Wants them to file away that feeling of having to scratch and claw, to embrace that fear, no matter how small it might have been, that the Patriots might lose to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Wants them to know that the 31-28 win New England edged out over the Eagles is not the aberration – it is the 30- and 40-point wins and the luxury that they afford which are the aberrations.

“I hope a lot of the guys that are new here know this is how it is. This is reality. This is how you win in November and December,” Bruschi said, his brown eyes wide. “We’ve squeaked out games before – I know I’ve been a part of all of ‘em. The blowouts are the aberrations to me.”

The veteran linebacker knows better than almost every other player in the New England locker room what it takes to tip the scales of victory into the Patriots’ favor and has been a part of tight games throughout his dozen years with the team.

He also knows that championship teams are forged through victories like these.

That is a feeling shared by Asante Samuel, who was the star of the game for New England, running back an interception on the Eagles’ first possession to give the Patriots an early 7-0 lead, and ending a potentially dangerous drive at the end of the game with an end zone pick.

“I know what it feels like, a lot of us know what it feels like to pull it through at the end,” he said. “It was kind of close but we never gave up. We never give up.”

Samuel received the ultimate compliment from coach Bill Belichick after the game: Without Samuel’s two interceptions, Belichick said, “I don’t know if we’d have won. Probably not.”

The franchise cornerback picked off Eagles’ starter A.J. Feeley on the third play of the game, plucking Feeley’s wobbly ball and running it back 40 yards for his fifth interception and first touchdown of the season.

The free-agent-to-be – New England has agreed not to franchise him again in 2008 if the team wins 12 games or if he plays in 60 percent of the defensive snaps – then ended a successful drive for the Eagles, who had picked up 58 yards in seven plays. On second-and-4 from the New England 29 and around four minutes left to play, Feeley looked to the end zone rather than trying to run down some clock or get close enough for an easy game-tying field goal.

Whether it was a bad read by Feeley or a bad route by receiver Kevin Curtis, the ball was thrown way over Curtis’ head and Samuel was there at the back of the end zone for the touchback.

Samuel’s now-infamous tattoo may not actually say “Get Rich,” but the cornerback certainly is going to be just that after his performance last night.

“Asante, to me, is the best corner in the league,” Rodney Harrison said. “Week in and week out, he makes plays.”

Before Samuel’s second interception basically sealed the game, the surprising play of Feeley had been the story of the night.

Though Feeley ended the night with three interceptions (James Sanders picked him off at the end of the game), anyone who came here to Gillette Stadium thinking of all the ways the New England defense would pick apart the Eagles offense with him at the helm wound up being disappointed.

Making his first start since Dec. 26, 2004 with Donovan McNabb suffering from both ankle and thumb injuries, Feeley was efficient and decisive for much of the game, spreading the ball around to eight different receivers and completing nearly two-thirds of his passes.

One of the biggest wins in Feeley’s seven-year career, much of it spent as a backup, came against the Patriots, a 29-28 come-from-behind Monday Night Football win on Dec. 20, 2004 when he was with the Dolphins. Miami scored twice in four minutes in that game, and Tom Brady forced a throw as he was being sacked that was intercepted and led to the game-winning score.

Clearly Feeley was channeling those good vibes again last night.

“I thought he did a heck of a job,” Eagles coach Andy Reid said. “I know he threw a few picks there, (but) he stayed aggressive, got the ball out fast and made a couple plays down at the end there. He took a shot at the end and gave it everything he had on that last one and (Samuel) snagged it. He stayed aggressive and stayed competitive.”

But when Feeley needed to be at his best, it was the New England defense that was at its best, as has been the case so many times before.

The Patriots, though, were more than willing to give Philadelphia credit for its play. The Eagles’ defense, led by coordinator Jim Johnson did a good job in getting pressure on Brady, and their West Coast offense was run with a crispness that had the Pats on their heels.

“When there’s pressure, you can’t sit back there and hold the ball and we knew that. They hit us with some blitzes we hadn’t seen from them,” receiver Donte Stallworth said. “We knew it wasn’t going to be one of those games we’ve been fortunate to play (this season).”

No aberration here, just a nice, “normal” win for New England.

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 1:26 AM | Permalink