There have been some moments on this list that have ended games for Philadelphia teams as games were tied near the final moments, but there have been very few that have taken victory out of the jaws of defeat. For Brian Westbrook, this moment against the Giants was just that.
Moment #12: Brian Westbrook performs another Miracle at the Meadowlands-October 19, 2003
The 2003 NFL season had not started out well for the Philadelphia Eagles. They opened Lincoln Financial Field with a horrible 17-0 loss against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, then followed that up with a 31-10 beatdown at the hands of the New England Patriots. After an early bye week, the Eagles bounced back with wins against Buffalo and Washington, but a bad loss to the Dallas Cowboys had Philadelphia sitting with a 2-3 record six weeks into the season. For a team that had made back to back trips to the NFC Championship Game, this was not good enough, and now they had to head to northern New Jersey for a game against the New York Giants.
The Giants were also sitting at 2-3 after six weeks, as they were at the beginning of their worst season since 1995. However, at the time, it was clear that this game was one that would set the tone for the rest of the season for both teams. Both the Eagles and Giants had beaten Washington and lost to the Cowboys, so a loss in this game would put a team at 1-2 in the division, making it nearly impossible to catch whichever team would be in front of them.
The game did not start out well for the Eagles, as Correll Buckhalter fumbled the football away on their opening drive. Second year running back Brian Westbrook would make up for it on the next drive, as he capped a 10 play, 89 yard drive with his fourth touchdown run of the season. For the next 35 minutes, the game belonged to the New York Giants. New York controlled the pace of the game, slowing it down into a defensive struggle that resulted in turnovers from both teams. Even with their offense unable to get anything going, the Eagles still held a 7-3 lead at the half, but that would change in the third quarter. The Giants drove 62 yards in 12 plays, ending the drive with a Kerry Collins touchdown pass to Jeremy Shockey. The Eagles couldn't even get out of their own way on offense, and the defense kept them in the game with a sack/fumble of Collins at the Philadelphia ten yard line midway through the fourth quarter.
From there, the teams exchanged punt after punt until the Giants set up for yet another punt with just 1:34 to play. The Eagles sent nine players after Jeff Feagles, with only Brian Westbrook and Ike Reese back to return and block. With the way that the Giants had held the Eagles on offense after the first quarter, all New York had to do was stop Westbrook on the return, and it looked like the game would be theirs. Feagles got the punt off towards the sideline, where it bounced at the 20 and was fielded by Westbrook at the 16. After a block by Reese, Westbrook broke a tackle at the 20 and then got through another Giant at the 35. Suddenly, there was no one in front of him, and it became a footrace to the end zone. Let me tell you, when you were racing against a young Brian Westbrook, there was no way you were going to catch him, and that's exactly what the Giants found out. Westbrook took the punt 84 yards to the house.
The crowd at Giants Stadium went from celebrating a Giants win to, as Merrill Reese put it, a "state of shock." Amazingly, the Giants managed to make it into Philadelphia territory on their last drive of the game, but Kerry Collins couldn't complete a pass on third or fourth down, and the Eagles had won an improbable game. When you look at the numbers, there really is no way to say that the Eagles should have won. The Giants controlled the ball for almost 36 minutes, and Donovan McNabb completed just nine passes for 64 yards and an interception. His quarterback rating for the game was 29.1. The Giants outgained the Eagles by 200 yards, but when it came down to making one last play, New York couldn't do it, and Brian Westbrook could.
There's no getting around this, either. This game, and more specifically, that return, turned around the Eagles' season in 2003. After the win against the Giants, the Eagles wouldn't lose another game until Week 16 against the San Francisco 49ers. They finished the year with a 12-4 record and home field advantage in the NFC playoffs. Unfortunately, Brian Westbrook was lost for the playoffs in the last game of the year, and the Eagles would lose their third straight NFC Championship to the Carolina Panthers, 14-3. As for the Giants, they would win just two more games the rest of the year, and would finish with a 4-12 record. Jim Fassel was fired and replaced by Tom Coughlin following the season, which in turn started the Giants on their turnaround at the end of this decade.
Fine, the return wasn't all good. Stupid Giants winning the stupid Super Bowl!
I have a personal story about this moment, too. I watched this game in my suite in college during my sophomore year. One of my Eagles fan friends had a bet with one of my Giant fan friends on the game. Right before the punt return, the Eagles fan paid up and left. He didn't want to see the Giants win, and have the other guy rub it in his face. Well, once he got back to his dorm room and saw what happened, he came right back. He walked into the room, didn't say a word, and just stuck his hand out. In went the money he had given the Giants fan, along with the money for winning the bet. It just made that moment even sweeter for me.
Of course, this wouldn't be complete without audio from the great Merrill Reese. Take it away, Merrill:
I'll be going back to the baseball diamond for moment #11. With just one more separating us from the Top 10, things are going to get even more fun. This one comes from the 2008 regular season, and was possibly the sweetest double play to end a game I have ever seen.
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