Round 3: '91-Eagles hold off '05-Chargers and head to semi's

There is an old saying in football, “Defense wins championships”. That statement couldn’t have had more truth to it than it did tonight. The San Diego Chargers came into the game knowing that the Eagle defense would be a challenge and points would be hard to come by. From the opening kickoff though, the mindset would change dramatically on the Eagle sidelines as they also felt comfortable that they had the defense to shut down the Chargers high octane offense. On the opening kickoff the Chargers would start at their own 20 yard line after the kick sailed past the end line. The Eagles defense knew that coming in to the game that if they could shut down LaDanian Tomlinson and make the Chargers one dimensional that it would make things much easier on them. With that in mind the Eagles came out with run defense and keyed on the star running back. The Chargers though had other idea’s as Drew Brees (17-29-170-1TD-1INT) came out with play action and found Antonio Gates for a 19 yard gain. Two plays later after Tomlinson’s run netted 0 yards on first down, Brees went play action again and this time burned the Eagle defense by connecting up with Keenen McCardel for a 46 yard gain all the way down to the Eagles 10 yard line. 2 plays later, Tomlinson took a Brees 4 yard flare pass in for he score to give the Chargers the quick lead 7-0. “We were shocked that they moved down the field with so much ease” said all-pro DE Reggie White.

Both teams exchanged punts for the rest of the 1st quarter as the Charger defense was out performing the Eagle D. In fact so much so, that the Eagles did not make a 1st down until its 3rd series of the game. “We felt like we were trying to move a mountain out of our way” said QB Jim McMahon about the Charger defense. In the second quarter the Chargers would turn the ball over at their own 39 when Wes Hopkins would recover a Lorenzo Neal fumble. Once again the mountain could not be moved and Philadelphia had to punt. A series later after another Charger punt that was equivalent to me going out there and punting gave the ball to the Eagles at the Charger 36. Philadelphia would get as far down as the 14 and the drive stalled. Ruzek would kick a 31 yard FG to put the Eagles on the board. The half would end at 7-3.

During half time adjustments were made by the Eagle coaching staff and they knew that if they had any chance at all to win it would have to come by way of the passing game as the running game did not exist. In fact the running game was so poor that Tomlinson had more yards (56) for the game than the Eagles did the entire game (53). Philadelphia would put together a nice 10 play 56 yard drive to start the second half that would again result in a Ruzek field goal to get them within 7-6. “With a game like this, every opportunity to score you take it” said McMahon. San Diego would take the kickoff and give the ball right back to the Eagles on the 17 yard line when Seth Joyner recovered the Turner fumble on the return. “Damn, I should have secured that ball better” said Turner after the game. Again that brick wall defense of the Chargers would not give ground and once again the Eagles had to settle for a Ruzek field goal of 22 yards. For the first time of the game the Eagles led 9-7. “Cashing in on mistakes is so important” stated McMahon.

At this point no one in the stands or on the field thought that 9 points would win this game. The Eagle defense started flexing its own muscles and once again forced a punt. The Eagles would start at its own 28. Ruzek would kick his 4th FG of the day later on in this drive and now the Eagles led 12-7 with a quarter to play. After another Charger punt on its next possession, McMahon would make his first and only mistake of the day. Drayton Florence would step in front of a pass intended for Micky Shuler at the Eagle 24 give the Chargers the break they needed. It was now the Eagles defense’s time to turn up the heat.

Expecting a pass play on 1st down Reggie White sacked Brees for an 13 yard loss all the way back to the Eagles 44. Two plays later they had moved back to the Eagle 35 and faced a 4th and 8. The Chargers sent in the FG unit as the clock still had plenty of time to go. The fake was on, and it ended up costing the Chargers dearly. Phillip Rivers would make a nice pass down field but the ball would pop up in the air and John Booty would race 79 yards to pay-dirt to give the Eagles a 19-7 lead with still almost 10 minutes to play. “I just ran as hard as I could” said Booty. “No one was going to touch this Booty if I could help it”. San Diego got the ball back two more times after that and each time the Eagle D rose to the occasion. For the game, the Eagles had 239 yards total offense compared to 229 for the Chargers. LT missed almost half the game when he left late in the 2nd. His injury at the time was not told to anyone. Great defensive battle and now the Eagles advance and wait on the winner of the Cincinnati-Miami winner.
-contributed by Bill Vogt-