BY MIKE WOLVERTON SPORTS GUY It was the Running Into the Kicker penalty early in the 3rd quarter that was the last straw. Before that, a couple of borderline calls had gotten the referees on the crowd’s bad side, but when the zebras bought Colts punter Pat McAfee’s kick-and-flop, the crowd had had enough. A big early lead gone, still bitter about the Phillies, this was the Philadelphia Sports Collective’s first chance to vent after two weeks stewing about the Eagles collapse against the Titans and the Phillies flameout. Oh, and the Sixers poor start (just kidding!). Now the crowd had a target: the refs. I heard the Continuation Boo after the re-punt and knew that the refs might not be left alone for the rest of the game. The question: could the home crowd intimidate the refs into a makeup call somewhere down the line?And just as I finished writing that, the refs sorta gave Vick the benefit of the doubt on a probable Intentional Grounding penalty. Was this the official’s peace offering? Were they saying, “Are we good”? Maybe that mollified the faithful, but more likely they got over it when the Birds scored on that drive, retook the lead and went on to victory.Vick looked very sharp. The Eagles overcame the great mismatch of this contest (Eagles O-Line against Colts pass rush) by having Vick drop way back behind the line of scrimmage, and Vick did a tremendous job of escaping the pocket for big plays when the rush was too much. I don’t have a dog in the Vick-vs.-Kolb fight, but for this one game, Vick was the much better option. Kolb might have been killed by that pass rush.
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Please tell me you saw the footage of the 1971 Punt-Pass-and-Kick competition [SEE ABOVE], starring Eagles head coach Andy Reid. This was purported to be the 13-year-old age group, and at the front of the line, leading a string of Lilliputians, was Andre the Giant, er, Andy Reid. He must have been six times the size of those other kids. If he was that big at 13, then I’m surprised he’s as small as he is now. Next week, the Eagles visit a wounded animal backed into a corner, i.e. a Monday night trip to Washington, where Eagles fans, Redskins coaches, Redskins fans and maybe even players have turned on #5. It should be an interesting night.