Eagles Pluck Cardinals

For a team supposedly in the thrall of Jake Plummer's fourth-quarter magic, Philadelphia faced the Arizona Cardinals feeling good and came away feeling better. "(Coach) Andy Reid said he felt that we were going to get one today," Brian Mitchell said after his touchdown with the opening kickoff steered the Eagles toward a 21-7 win that kept them one-half game ahead of New York in the NFC East.

The Eagles, victimized by five of Plummer's 13 fourth-quarter comebacks, held him in check throughout a scoreless second half, and Donovan McNabb threw two TD passes as Philadelphia scored its most points since beating Dallas 40-18 on Sept. 30.

"We tried to get back to what we did earlier in the season, and connected on some different routes and got everyone involved," said McNabb, who was 19-of-33 for 238 yards.

Plummer threw 21 of his 41 passes in the fourth quarter, gaining 154 yards.

But the Eagles, who ranked No. 1 against the pass coming in, stopped three serious drives, sealed the win with a fumble recovery with 2:55 to play and made it official with an interception on the first play of Arizona's fourth possession with seconds to go.

McNabb's scoring passes covered 8 and 54 yards to James Thrash, and Mitchell scored on a 94-yard kickoff return for the Eagles (4-3).

It was Mitchell's 12th kick-return touchdown of his career, tying him with Eric Metcalf for first in career TDs on kickoff or punt returns.

"It was important to get back on the horse and win," Reid said about last week's 20-10 loss to Oakland. "We wanted to mix the short and long game and take some shots downfield. We were able to hit a couple, and that helped us."

Tywan Mitchell scored on a 2-yard pass from Plummer in the second quarter. But the Cardinals (2-5) otherwise spun their wheels.

Arizona beat the Eagles 21-20 four weeks ago in Philadelphia as Plummer hooked up with MarTay Jenkins on a 35-yard scoring play in the final seconds.

Philadelphia punted to Arizona on the first play of the fourth this time and set up to defend its 14-point lead.

Arizona's four possessions ended in a punt-forcing sack, downs, Pittman's fumble and Damon Moore's interception on the first play.

Pittman ran for 83 yards in Philadelphia, but had 43 this week. On the last of his 18 carries, Barry Gardner knocked the ball loose, and Derrick Burgess recovered with 2:55 to play.

"When we're in position to score and you don't, then all of your other thinking has to start changing," coach Dave McGinnis said.

Brian Mitchell took the first kickoff up the middle, eluding kicker Bill Gramatica's arm tackle at midfield.

"It was good to finally start a game with some momentum on our side," Mitchell said.

Gramatica dislocated his left shoulder on the attempted tackle, but was fitted for a shoulder harness and returned. He was forced into double duty when punter Scott Player turned his left ankle 2:35 into the second quarter.

That was one of the injuries that figured into the Eagles' two second-quarter TDs.

On his first punt, Gramatica booted a 41-yard that Mitchell returned 22 yards to the Arizona 35. The Eagles scored in seven plays for a 14-0 lead with 2:44 left in the first half.

Plummer answered with a 52-yard pass to David Boston, setting up his scoring throw with 1:05 to go, but McNabb trumped that by passing the Eagles 69 yards in three plays – an incomplete pass and completions of 15 and 54 yards to Thrash.

Thrash easily beat rookie cornerback Michael Stone on the scoring play with 33 seconds to play. Stone was playing because Corey Chavous hyperextended his left knee on Philadelphia's previous kickoff return.

"We've got the weapons, but we've got to get something going early," Tywan Mitchell said. "We can't keeping waiting until the fourth quarter."

Notes:
Brian Mitchell holds NFL career records in five other kick-return categories. ... The TD catch was the first in Tywan Mitchell's two-year career. ... McNabb, sacked an NFL-high 22 times coming in, was sacked three times. ... Sanders had 87 yards receiving, passing Bobby Joe Conrad for fifth in franchise history with 5,896 yards total. ... Eagles sacks leader Hugh Douglas had two for a season total of 4.5.

(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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Author: 6 ABC - Action News