Michael Vick led a fourth quarter comeback to lead the Philadelphia Eagles over the Houston Texas 34-24 on Thursday Night Football. If the Giants or Bears had set out a blueprint for how to slow the Eagles offense a bit, the Texans either didn’t get it or couldn’t execute it as Vick lit them up for 302 yards passing, 48 yards rushing, and three total TDs (2 passing, 1 rushing). It was Vick’s third 300 yard passing game of the season and fifth game with a QB rating over 100.
LeSean McCoy was the other offensive star with 130 yards from scrimmage and two TDs. DeSean Jackson, who had underwhelmed the past couple games, caught three passes for 84 yards.
As good as the Eagles offense was, the defense was almost that bad. The Eagles had built a 10 point lead at the half, but the defense just melted down in the third quarter giving up 14 straight points and surrendering the lead. The two Texans drives in that quarter went for a combined 24 plays and over 12 minutes. It was excruciating to watch the Texans move methodically down the field toward the red zone, where they’d inevitably score against the league’s worst red zone defense. Vick and the offense bailed them out in this game, but we can’t gloss over the fact that there’s real problems on that side of the ball. Any win in December is good, but if we want to win some games in January the defense simply needs to be better.
Next up for the Eagles is a 10 day rest then a trip to Dallas to take on the Cowboys on Sunday Night football. After playing their 4th game in 17 days tonight, it’ll be a much needed rest for this Eagles team. Notes on the game after the jump.