Posts Tagged ‘Football’

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Philly Sports News: Revisiting some memorable Eagles-Steelers games

September 22nd, 2016 by Kyle Lutz | Comments Off on Philly Sports News: Revisiting some memorable Eagles-Steelers games | Filed in Eagles, Football, General, NFL, Sports

Over the years, despite the fact that neither team plays in the same conference as the other, the Steelers and Eagles have had some memorable games. This is in addition to the fact that, 73 years ago, the Eagles and Steelers temporarily combined to be one team, the Steagles, due to both teams having lost many of their players to World War II. Since both teams started playing each other in 1933, surprisingly, the Eagles have a 46-28-3 record vs. Pittsburgh. One of the 77 games was added to the Eagles’ 10 greatest games DVD that came out seven-years ago.

On November 12th, 2000, at Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium, the Eagles put together a late fourth-quarter comeback to win in overtime, 26-23. With 3:55 left in the game, trailing 20-13, the Eagles were able to stop Hall of Fame halfback Jerome Bettis on 3rd down. Despite the stop, 13 seconds later, Pittsburgh kicker Kris Brown kicked a 40-yard field goal to increase their lead to 10. Kick returner and running back Brian Mitchell ran back the ensuing kick for 23 yards. After three-straight completions, and a lucky unnecessary-roughness call, on a fade route, Donovan McNabb caught Mitchell for 13 yards and a touchdown.

Then the Eagles successfully executed an onside-kick attempt, recovered the ball, and, as time expired, went on to tie the game at 23 all. During their last two drives, they were able to score 10 points in just two-and-a-half minutes. That year, the Steelers’ defense only allowed 13 passing touchdowns (McNabb had two of them that game, and 0 turnovers), and their unit ranked in the top 10 in several categories, including takeaways. 10:44 into overtime, with a 42-yard field goal, Eagles’ kicker David Akers won the game.

2000- Final Score- Eagles 26-23

In 1947, the 8-4 Steelers suffered their first ever playoff loss, 21-0 to the Eagles. A year later, vs. Chicago, the Eagles would win their first-ever championship. In that 1947 season, Pittsburgh was an even-keeled team, on both offense and defense. They ranked seventh in the league in both points for and points against (240-259). In October of that season, at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh beat Philadelphia 35-24, despite Eagles’ Hall of Fame halfback Steve Van Buren rushing for 133 yards. Leading up to their December divisional-round postseason game, the Steelers that season had three games with 30 or more points, including 38 at the Polo Grounds, yet in their playoff loss, they were shut out and only mustered 154 total yards. Two Pro Football Hall of Famers started that day for the Eagles (halfback Steve Van Buren and center/defensive end Alex Wojciechowic).

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Five Greatest Quarterbacks to Never Win a Super Bowl

February 7th, 2016 by Kyle Lutz | Comments Off on Five Greatest Quarterbacks to Never Win a Super Bowl | Filed in Football, General, NFL

Some of the best quarterbacks in NFL history, whether it be Peyton Manning, Tom Brady or Joe Montana, have held the precious Lombardi Trophy, however some haven’t been so lucky. Here are some of the best, who were great, but who never had the chance to win one in their career. Unfortunately for some, they never had great supporting casts around them, or, for other reasons, they didn’t make it far enough as they would’ve liked to in the playoffs.

05. Dan Fouts- Chargers

Although he only has 12 more career touchdown passes to interceptions, which doesn’t seem all that even for a good quarterback, Fouts was an underrated signal caller. He started out in 1973, behind some atrocious Chargers’ teams in the mid-’70s, before they finally made the conference championship game in 1980. He was a six-time Pro Bowler, led the league in passing yards four years in a row (1979-82), and set an NFL record, too, by becoming the first QB ever to throw for more than 4,000 yards in a season three years in a row.

Back in the ’70s, NFL teams favored running games to passing, thus a quarterback who could accomplish that feat in that era was eye opening. Fouts was enshrined into Canton, into the Hall of Fame, in 1993, despite having only three career playoff wins.

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Super Bowl 50 Preview, Analysis and Prediction

February 1st, 2016 by Kyle Lutz | Comments Off on Super Bowl 50 Preview, Analysis and Prediction | Filed in Football, General, NFL

In the first Super Bowl without roman numerals attached to the title, it should be a good one, with two of the best quarterbacks in recent history squaring off against each other. One of the two’s a future hall-of-famer, and arguably the best signal caller in NFL history, in Denver’s Peyton Manning, who’ll most likely retire after the game (at age 39), and the other’s a future-MVP (who could very well win it after this year) in Carolina’s Cam Newton.

Carolina finished with one of the best regular seasons in NFL history this year, starting their season 14-0, and ending up as the NFC’s # 1 seed, at 15-1. They led the league in most All-Pros selected, with six, and Pro Bowlers selected, with 10. With their 15-1 regular-season record, they became just the sixth team in NFL history to accomplish the feat, since the league adopted a 16-game-schedule format in 1978, and just the seventh team to win at least 15 or more games in a season (in 2007, New England went undefeated).

Out of those seven teams, only two (the ’84 49ers and ’85 Bears) teams won the Super Bowl. Carolina’s head coach, Ron Rivera, was a backup linebacker on that ’85 Bears team. This is his fifth year coaching the team, and only his second winning season so far. On the flip side, Denver’s head coach, Gary Kubiak, is in his first year with Denver, after coaching Houston for eight seasons from 2006-13. This season was Kubiak’s reunion with Broncos’ GM/executive VP of Football Operations, and Hall of Famer, John Elway, after the former backed up the latter in Denver years ago (1983-91).

Peyton Manning certainly has experience, whether that’s a good or bad thing, in postseason games, as he ranks second all-time in quarterback postseason starts. Next Sunday’ll be his 27th career postseason start, which will keep him in second place, four games behind his rival Tom Brady, who he beat in the AFC Championship Game a week ago. Manning is 13-13 in those games, with one Super Bowl win, while Brady is 22-9 in 31 playoff starts, with four wins.

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Cowboys- 38- Eagles- 27- Post-Game Recap

December 17th, 2014 by Kyle Lutz | Comments Off on Cowboys- 38- Eagles- 27- Post-Game Recap | Filed in Eagles, Football, General

(AP Photo)

Team Stats

Dal Phi
First Downs 26 19
Total Yards 364 294
Turnovers 1 4
Time of Possession 41:55 18:05
First Downs 26 19
Passes for First 17 11
Rushes for First 6 5
Penalties for First 3 3
Third Down Efficiency 5-13 5-11
Fourth Down Efficiency 0-0 0-0
Total Yards 364 294
Total Plays 76 53
Avg Gain Per Play 4.8 5.5
Net Yards Rushing 115 75
Rushes 42 21
Yards Per Rush 2.7 3.6
Net Yards Passing 249 219
Comp-Att 22-31 17-28
Yards Per Pass 7.3 6.8
Times Sacked 3 4
Yds Lost To Sacks 16 33
Interceptions 0 2
Punts 5 3
Punt Average 41.0 52.0
Penalties 11 8
Penalty Yards 79 95
Fumbles 1 3
Fumbles Lost 1 2

The Eagles on Sunday night didn’t exactly come out the gate with flying colors, as they not only faced a 14-0 deficit after one quarter, but were in the negatives, yardage wise, at -5.

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Eagles’ kicker Cody Parkey’s on his way to a Pro-Bowl season

December 11th, 2014 by Kyle Lutz | Comments Off on Eagles’ kicker Cody Parkey’s on his way to a Pro-Bowl season | Filed in Eagles, Football, General

(Yong Kim/Philly.com Staff Photographer)

It would be his first, and a well-deserved selection for Parkey, too.

The Eagles’ rookie kicker’s only 22 years old, and was an undrafted free-agent out of Auburn, one that was picked up by Indianapolis this past May. Parkey was signed by the Colts to be their kick-off kicker, since every-day kicker Adam Vinatieri, at age 41, accepted a more limited role with the team, due to his age. Parkey was described, coming out of Auburn, as a kicker with a big leg, and one that was considered as one of the top kickers in this past-year’s draft.

Three-months later, he was traded by Indianapolis to the Eagles for running back David Fluellen, who was also undrafted. Each team’s trash ended up being the opposite team’s treasure, after the trade went down. Oddly enough, both were released just prior to the trade, but it was approved, due to the releases not being official until 4 PM of that day.

Fast-forward a bit, Parkey’s made tremendous strides and has been fantastic thus far this year, making Eagles’ fans easily forget about the failed experiment that was Alex Henery, Parkey’s predecessor, who’s now a free-agent. Henery had signed with the Lions, following his release from the Eagles three-weeks prior, on September 22nd, replacing Detroit’s struggling kicker, Nate Freese.

Shortly after, however, after three field-goal misses in one game vs. Buffalo, Henery was cut again, following the Buffalo game two-weeks after his signing. He had gone just 1/5 in his two games with Detroit, and 0-2 from 40-49 yards. Despite his criticisms in Philadelphia, in three years, from 2011-13, with the team, he went 74/86 in field-goal attempts; an 86% efficiency. But he was mostly criticized for his weakness, in not being able to be consistently good on long field-goal attempts and kick-off returns, many of which weren’t touchbacks or deep kicks.

Back to Parkey, first off, to give you an idea of how great he was at Auburn, too, he went 15/21 (71.4%) on field-goals in his collegiate career, and impressively led all of college football in that time span in touchbacks, with 69. Despite his success, he was only 1/4 (25%) in 50+ field-goal attempts, although this year he’s improved dramatically in that category, going an incredible and perfect 4/4, including a 54-yard field-goal on October 26th at Arizona. His leg strength, and deep field goals, have been very impressive, surprisingly good, and vital to the team’s success thus far this year. Parkey’s also been extremely clutch, too, as shown by the numerous 50+ made field-goals this season.

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Eagles-Giants Preview

October 13th, 2014 by Kyle Lutz | Comments Off on Eagles-Giants Preview | Filed in Eagles, Football

Who- New York Giants (3-2) at Philadelphia Eagles (4-1)
When- 10/12, 8:30 PM EST, NBC
Where- Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, PA
Forecast- High of 56, partially cloudy, 4 MPH, SE winds
Odds- Eagles by 3; over/under at 50.5

(AP Photo)

The Giants head into Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday night riding a very impressive three-game win streak, in which they’ve outscored the opposition, by over a two-to-one margin, 105-51. New York in that time span’s averaged a very-impressive 35 points/game, while the previous two games this year they only scored 14 points in each game, both losses. While they’ve certainly been packing it on, and playing solid football, as of late, offensively speaking, they haven’t exactly played solid or playoff-caliber teams during their three-game win streak. They first beat Houston 30-17, while Houston has some issues on the offensive side of the ball and is still in rebuild mode.

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Eagles- 37- Redskins- 34- Post-Game Recap

September 25th, 2014 by Kyle Lutz | Comments Off on Eagles- 37- Redskins- 34- Post-Game Recap | Filed in Eagles, Football, General

AP (Photo)

Team Stat Comparison

WSH

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