When Andy Reid called a timeout and watched as Lawrence Tynes's kick sailed wide, the entire crowd in Philadelphia got nervous. But it was short-lived, as Tynes missed on his next attempt, giving the Eagles a 19-17 victory over the New York Giants.
"When you're surrounding by 66,000 people that probably wanna rip your head off, yeah," Eagles coach Andy Reid said to the Associated Press when asked if he regretted calling a timeout to ice Tynes on his first try.
The Eagles improved to 3-1 on the season and became the first team in NFL history to have each of their first three wins by two points or less according to information by the Elias Sports Bureau.
Although the Super Bowl champion Giants have lost eight of the last nine games to the Eagles, New York kept Philadelphia in check most of the game. Michael Vick had 241 passing yards and a touchdown for the Eagles, while LeSean McCoy led the way with rushing for 123 yards on 23 carries.
"The O-line found themselves as the game wore on," Reid said. "They were able to block well enough to where McCoy had big yards."
The first half had little scoring, with the Eagles up 7-3 at halftime. The Giants tied the score at 10-10 on a touchdown to Victor Cruz in the third quarter, but it was an interception by Eli Manning that turned the game around.
Late in the third quarter Manning threw an interception in the end zone to Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, which led to a field goal by the Eagles to go up 16-10.
Manning had another strong game for the Giants, passing for 309 yards and two touchdowns, including a 6-yard score to Bear Pascoe to take a 17-16 lead in the fourth quarter.
The Eagles were able to drive down the field and Alex Henery converted on a 26-yard field goal to take a 19-17 lead with just 1:49 left in the game.
Manning took the Giants down the field with no timeouts and was helped by two pass interference penalties to get into field goal range. The Giants had the ball on the Eagles' 27-yard line, but got called for an offensive pass interference penalty on Ramses Barden that moved it back 10 yards to the 36.
"I thought it was on him," Barden said of cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha. "But I know he's a competitor, and he came to play tonight. We were both fighting for position and it's just one of those things."
The Giants sent Tynes out for a field goal attempt on third down, because they had no timeouts left in the game. Before pushing the kick wide, Reid attempted to ice the kicker by calling a time out.
"I don't believe in icing the kicker," Vick said. "You let him kick it and if it's in, it's in. You can't play games. I don't know where that started. We got to end that tradition."
Luckily for the Eagles, Tynes missed his second attempt. It was his first miss of the season and came a week after he was names NFC Special Teams Player of the Week.
The Giants did a good job throughout the game of mixing run and pass plays, gaining 366 total yards. Domenik Hixon returned from injury and caught six balls for 114 yards and Cruz added nine catches for 109 yards and a touchdown.
The only touchdown in the first half came on a 19-yard pass from Vick to DeSean Jackson. The team used the no-huddle offense to drive down the field against the Giants, who gave up 7.7 yards per pass during the game.
The loss dropped the Giants to 0-2 in the NFC East for the first time under coach Tom Coughlin.
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