What a game! I can't even begin to describe how much we needed this one. After losing 5 of the last 6 and even worse looking like a team that didn't care anymore the Eagles truly showed up tonight. This team came out at home and said we aren't going to get embarrassed in primetime again. In the end we always want wins, but I really think more than anything Eagels fans want to see pride and effort. We didn't feel like like we were given that the last few weeks. This is the pride, the effort, and fire we've been begging the team to show us the past few weeks. Great performances from Stallworth, Trotter, Westbrook, and of course LITO!
This game game sure didn't start off like a classic as the teams combined for more punts in the first half than any other game in the NFL this year. When it looked like it was going to go into the half 7-7 the Panthers scored a heart breaker to put themselves up by a TD.
The second half was another story. Garcia stepped up and Jake Delhomme didn't. The Eagles put up 16 points in yet another Carolina 4th quarter collapse. Who knew that the Eagles "big play offense" didn't go down with McNabb? The Garcia highlights for the half were certainly the 30 yard TD which was really a fantastic fake on Stallworth's part and the 40 yard Reggie Brown TD where Brown just flat out torched the Carolina defender.
Defensively, the two big turnovers were thanks to two fantastic Eagles efforts. First was was the pressure brought by Juqua Thomas that forced a bad Delhomme throw that led to the Dawkins INT. Then was the play of the game on fantastic coverage by Lito in which he played very physical against a much bigger guy in Keyshawn and was able to muscle him off the ball and grab the game winning INT. That make 2 game winning INTs for Lito this year.
Good job stopping the run, great job forcing turnovers in big moments, and great job through the air offensively. The Eagles really gave me a treat on my birthday this year!