NFL Recap (Arizona-Philadelphia)
Posted: Sun October 19, 1997 at 6:16 p.m. EDT
PHILADELPHIA 13, ARIZONA 10 (OT)
Chris Boniol kicked a 38-yard field goal with 26 seconds left in
regulation and booted a 24-yarder 4:02 into overtime to give the
Philadelphia Eagles a 13-10 victory over the Arizona Cardinals.
After rookie Jake Plummer, who was making his NFL debut, came
off the bench to engineer a go-ahead 98-yard scoring drive for
the Cardinals (1-6), the Eagles began the next series at their
own 20 with 3:07 to play.
Rodney Peete was off on his first throw, but completed three
straight passes to reach midfield. Following another
incompletion, he hit Freddie Solomon for 17 yards and scrambled
up the middle for 16 more to the Cardinals 13. After two
incompletions and a sack, Boniol converted from 38 yards out to
tie it, 10-10.
Arizona won the coin toss in overtime and reached the Eagles 40
on an 18-yard scramble by Plummer, but the drive stalled due to
a questionable intentional grounding call.
"His (referee Bob McElwee) explanation was you got to have a
player in the area," said Plummer. "But I know Larry Centers is
number 37. He's our fullback and I threw right towards him. You
could say it was a rookie mistake, but it's his judgement. I
can't really say he made the wrong call. It's tough, we just
needed a few more yards to kick a field goal."
"It was a terrible call, it was one of the worst calls I ever
saw," said Centers.
Peete completed three passes in a row to bring the Eagles to the
Arizona 37 and, one play later, hit Charlie Garner down the
sideline for 27 yards to the 7 to set up Boniol's game-winning
field goal.
"It wasn't a play where he (Garner) was the first read," said
Peete about the 27-yard pass. "We had run that play earlier in
the game and the Cardinals put a linebacker on him who played
way off and Charlie ran a hitch. When we went to that same
formation again, the linebacker went out and covered Charlie
again, this time a lot tighter. When that occurred, it was an
automatic read between Charlie and myself that when the
linebacker is that tight, Charlie is supposed to take it up the
field."
The Eagles (3-4) improved to 3-0 at home this year and have won
six straight against the Cards in Philadelphia. It was their
first game of the season against a team that is not currently
over .500.
"It wasn't pretty, but we were able to finally do the things we
needed to do to win a ballgame which we needed to win," said
Eagles coach Ray Rhodes. "This wasn't a beauty contest, but the
thing I got out of this game as a football team was the fact
that our backs were up against the wall and we had to come out
and fight in order to win."
Peete, making his first start since September 30th, 1996 in
place of the benched Ty Detmer, completed 23-of-36 passes for
298 yards with two interceptions. He improved to 13-5 as the
Eagles' starter.
"Quite naturally, Rodney was a little bit rusty, but he made
some key throws near the end of the football game," added
Rhodes. "We'll give him another opportunity and then we'll go
from there."
Arizona has lost five straight overall and six in a row on the
road. Six of the Cardinals' seven games have been decided in
the final minute or overtime.
"We've had a lot of tough losses this year," said Arizona coach
Vince Tobin. "After a while you run out of things to say. We
didn't bounce back and put ourselves in a position to win."
Stoney Case, playing in just his fourth career game, started at
quarterback for the Cardinals and completed 11-of-22 passes for
94 yards. He made his season debut in last week's loss to the
New York Giants when Kent Graham suffered a sprained right ankle
late in the first half.
"I just have to wait until they call my name again," said Case.
"I want the chance to make some more plays. My confidence
hasn't slipped at all. A couple of things didn't go my way."
Plummer replaced Case with 10:26 to go in the fourth quarter and
Arizona trailing by four points. Starting at his own 2, he went
4-for-6 for 89 yards on a 14-play drive, including a 31-yard
scoring strike to Kevin Williams with 3:07 remaining. Plummer,
a 1997 second-round draft pick out of Arizona State, finished
5-of-9 for 98 yards and rushed three times for 22 yards.
"I felt like I wanted to look at Jake," said Tobin about
inserting Plummer into the game. "We hadn't scored any points.
He threw tremendously in practice. I was just looking for
something to get us into the win column. He moved the football
and gave us a chance to win."
After a scoreless first quarter, Ricky Watters capped a 10-play,
72-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown plunge 3:10 into the
second. Boniol and newly acquired Cardinals kicker Joe Nedney
missed 40-yard field goals in the quarter and the score remained
7-0 at halftime.
The Cardinals finally got on the board 5:24 into the third
quarter on Nedney's 23-yard field goal. The score was set up by
Eric Swann's recovery of a Peete fumble at the Eagles 33.
Watters rushed for 83 yards on 24 carries, while Irving Fryar
caught five passes for 85 yards. Philadelphia recorded a
season-high seven sacks.
Arizona's Rob Moore had six receptions for 101 yards. Larry
Centers led the team in rushing with 37 yards on 11 carries. The
Cardinals were outgained, 407-235.
"Without a doubt, if we don't come away with this, who knows
what can happen to a team," said Eagles safety Michael Zordich.
"It's a good way to win. To show some character, to stay
together and be able to fight back."
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