Michael Vick said he was embarrassed enough. His Philadelphia Eagles trailed the New York Giants by three touchdowns in the fourth quarter, and the quarterback didn’t want to go home humiliated.
“We just said to ourselves, ‘Listen, we’re just going to go out there and play for pride above anything else,’” he told reporters after the National Football League game in East Rutherford, New Jersey. “They may beat us 49-25, but we’re going to play with pride, and we can’t complain. And that’s all I want.
He got it. Vick led the Eagles to a four-touchdown comeback in the game’s final eight minutes, erasing a 21- point deficit on the way to a 38-31 win that gave Philadelphia first place in the National Football Conference East division.
Vick completed 21 of 35 passes for 242 yards, three touchdowns and an interception in the game, and ran for a touchdown and 130 yards -- 94 of them in the fourth quarter. Giants quarterback Eli Manning completed 23 of 39 passes for 289 yards, four touchdowns and an interception.
“I’ll tell you what, my heart’s a little weaker after this one,” Eagles coach Andy Reid said. “He hung in there and he kept battling, got hit a few times and he came back with those long runs. Special.”
Vick threw an interception on his second play of the game and finished the first half with six completions for 33 yards and 23 yards rushing. The Giants attacked him with extra defenders and hit him multiple times.
“I got a little frustrated and felt like I was trying to do too much,” Vick said. “The coaches kept telling me, ‘Stay aggressive. Stay aggressive.’”
Giants Up 31-10
By the time receiver DeSean Jackson fumbled the ball away at midfield, leading to a Giants score that put New York ahead 31-10, Vick was trying to use that aggression to get the Eagles back into contention.
“I just knew we needed three touchdowns to be back in the game,” he said. “Every down counts. Every possession counts and you have to go out there and block everything else out.”
The Eagles’ first points in the fourth quarter came on a deep pass over the middle to tight end Brent Celek, who broke away for a 65-yard touchdown to bring the Eagles within two touchdowns. Vick said that’s when the game changed.
“Once we made a couple of plays downfield, I saw the momentum shift,” he said.
Philadelphia recovered an onside kick and Vick ran for 35 yards to put the Eagles in scoring position. Then he ran again for a 4-yard touchdown.
Vick’s Tying Toss
The Eagles’ offense returned to the field with about three minutes left. Vick broke away for runs of 33 and 22 yards before finding receiver Jeremy Maclin for a 13-yard touchdown pass. The extra point tied the game.
Now it was the Giants who were upset.
“That’s as frustrating as it gets for anybody, a defensive team or anyone, to be in position and to be doing what your responsibilities are and the quarterback just slithers his way out of there,” Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. “He made huge plays against us.”
The Giants’ offense killed all but the game’s final 14 seconds and New York punted. The kick went straight to Jackson -- something Coughlin said he’d hoped to avoid because of the receiver’s ability to score in the return game. As the ball sailed overhead, Vick couldn’t believe the luck.
“I was saying to myself, ‘Why would he kick it to DeSean?’” Vick said.
Jackson fumbled the ball, recovered it, dodged a tackle and broke free for a 65-yard game-winning touchdown. He ran slowly cross-field along the length of the end zone to use up the remaining time.
Praise for Vick
After the game, Jackson praised Vick for leading the comeback.
“It’s such a blessing to have Mike Vick on our team,” he said. “Those big runs he was having were unbelievable, especially with the defense doing things purposely to stop him from running,” Jackson said.
Vick returned the praise of Jackson and added some for the rest of the team, which he called one of the best he’s ever played with.
“By far, this was one of the greatest comebacks of my career,” he said.
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