Eagles Soaring Behind Garcia
By Tim Sullivan
WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer
As it turns out, Jeff Garcia isn’t quite finished just yet. He just needs a supporting cast around him, that’s all.
He had one in San Francisco, and became a Pro Bowler. He didn’t have one in Cleveland and Detroit, and became expendable.
But he has one in Philadelphia — a running back, a tight end, a quality line and a host of young, hungry receivers. And as a result, he is 3-1 as a starter and has the Eagles (8-6) in the No. 1 wild-card slot in the NFC, should the season end today.
“It has been a lot of fun,” Garcia said. “A year ago, I really was not thinking that this could happen for me.”
But to steal an overused cliche, what a difference a year makes. When Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb went down last month, it appeared the season would go with him.
After all, that’s what happened last season when Mike McMahon took over for McNabb.
But the thing is, Garcia isn’t McMahon. He is a mobile, accurate, sturdy, ad-libbing quarterback who has made the most of his opportunity. Leading the Eagles to a 36-22 victory over the Giants on Sunday, Garcia marched the Eagles 80 yards with relative ease for the winning score in the fourth quarter.
Now, the Giants’ defense completely collapsed around him. But, either way, he did make plays, he did silence the crowd, and who knows, he may have buried the Giants once and for all.
“It was about togetherness as a team. It was about having fun as a team and winning as a team,” Garcia said. “That was really what it was about. There were times when the defense had to step up and come up with a big play. There were times when the offense had to do their thing. There were times when special teams had to do their thing. When you talk about an all-out effort, that was really what we got.”
They’ll need another one on Christmas Day. That’s when they play the Cowboys (9-5) in Dallas in a game that could — and probably will — decide the NFC East. Monitor the line all week on WagerWeb.com. By the way, something tells us that Garcia will have a huge hand in the game, win or lose.
“He is a competitive little son of a gun. Thirty-six years old; I’m glad he has that amount of energy at thirty-six, but that can be trouble at times,” Eagles coach Andy Reid said. “He’s bounced back and played well.”
And of course, let the storylines begin as Terrell Owens and Garcia face each other as opponents this week. The former 49ers tandem had a few too many rifts during the years in the Bay Area, and this seems like a perfect week to dig them all up.
But the Eagles, quite frankly, don’t care.
“Jeff has done a great job. I’ve said it pretty much for three weeks now that he’s been in there,” running back Brian Westbrook said. “He comes in, he doesn’t make many mistakes, he runs this offense, he leads the team, and with him back there we have a chance of winning and that’s what we need.”
We’ll see if he can keep it up.
BREAK UP THE BILLS: As long as we’re digging up old sports cliches, how about the standard: “This is a team you do not want to play down the stretch.” If you’ve heard this one lately, chances are it was in connection with the Bills (7-7), who have won four of five and just posted their first shutout of the season, a 21-0 whitewash of the Dolphins.
It’s too bad Buffalo isn’t in the NFC, or else it would be alive and well. As it is, the Bills have been reduced basically to spoilers. But, let’s face it, they’ve been pretty good at it. And the biggest reason might just be quarterback J.P. Losman, who has thrown for seven touchdowns in the past three weeks.
“When you have your quarterback in control of everything,” receiver Lee Evans said, “it helps your offense out a lot.”
Buffalo plays host to Tennessee (7-7) Sunday. Monitor the line all week on WagerWeb.com.
EXTRA POINTS: Don’t buy into the Jake Delhomme Era coming to an end in Charlotte, a rumor that made the rounds over the weekend. Even if John Fox drafts a quarterback, it probably won’t be until late in the draft. And let’s face it, Delhomme has taken an expansion franchise to two NFC title games in a three-year span. … Backup QB Tarvaris Jackson could get the call for Minnesota on Thursday night against Green Bay, in place of Brad Johnson.