Eagles-Vikings Live Blogging: Second Quarter Goodness

> Down 6-0 at home, Buck and Aikman are praising Tarv. Words fail, really.

> Quarter starts with ordinary kickoff return yardage and a Trevor Laws false start penalty that negates another good run stop on Peterson. First and five has Tarv throwing it away from pressure, and it was from the entire line; encouraging. Taylor is winched down by Mikell for a yard loss, and we're looking at third and six. Can they get the three and out? Nope, as Tarv makes a genuinely good throw to Rice over Sheldon Brown. Damn.

> First down goes to Shiancoe on the right, easy throw and catch for 7 yards. Second down is a deep ball to Berrian that had no chance due to good coverage; a younger Dawkins might have made that catch, but it would have been a great play. Second third down of the drive has Tarv missing from the gun, but we get one of those five seconds late flags on Brown that makes me lose a little more hair. The Vikings have the first down at the Eagles 48.

> Deep toss to AP gets six on the right, his best carry of the day -- he's now at 5 carries for 8 yards. Vikings are getting a pretty big pulse here from the defense not getting off the field on the earlier third downs. Second down has AP for 2 up the middle, and Asante Samuel is down, which is highly worrisome, given that he was questionable before the game and looks utterly done right now. Berrian gets scarier without Samuel, and the way he looks right now, he's not looking very likely to return anytime before next year. Ouch.

> After Samuel goes off, Peterson takes it to the house on a play where the only person who could have tackled him was the umpire. Crap, crap, crap. The point after makes it 7-6 Vikings, and that was just about the worst thing that could have happened there.

> Dawkins is shown yelling on the sideline, as you might imagine he might be doing. Demps takes the kickoff back to the 28. Eric Bienemy is the Vikings RB coach. Damn you, Bienemy, for making me remember the Bobby Hoying Era once again! Years of therapy for nothing!

> Westbrook for nothing to the right, and more commerce happens after a Viking injury. We're at the hour-plus mark for less than 20 minutes of actual play. I heart the NFL!

> McNabb is sharp today, and hits Curtis with a perfect ball for 11; he was in no way open on the slant. An out ball to Jackson is uncalled PI, as Aikman credits him for the jump. I guess it is a good play if it's not called. Have I mentioned how much I hate Fox? The Vikings take another timeout on defense, and this game might take five hours. Seriously, I'm not sure why I don't just DVR these games and retain my sanity.

> On second and 10, from the gun, McNabb has all day and settles for Avant on the right for five. He also telegraphed it, but without a problem. A big third down here to keep some momentum, and Jackson is wide open for a right-side fly route for 34 yards. If McNabb is going to be this sharp all day, the home team is in trouble.

> Bdub to the right for three; a little more room there, but he goes down on first contact again. An inside handoff from the gun does better, and it's third and 2 from the 14. But on the third down, Curtis slips on the goal line, and the Eagles settle for Akers connecting from 31 yards. 9-7 Eagles, but there's points being left on the table here, and it's worrisome.

> Maurice Hicks shrugs off an Omar Geither hit on special teams to start his team from the 29. Big series here, and Peterson starts it with a 6 yard gain up the middle; he's starting to find a lot more room with less penetration. Samuel returns, and Jim Kleinsasser can't corral a short middle pass. Third and four, and I'm still dreaming of a three and out today. Can we get one here? Nope, because Samuel jumps a ball to Rice for the TAINt. Woo hoo! Tarv had pressure there, but it was a terrible ball, and Chris Clemons launched Tarv at the close of the play. The Eagles draw a 15 yarder for excessive celebration, which seems to always happen when the defense scores, and just that fast, it's 16-7, Eagles. Samuel makes the free agent contract look fantastic, and that's on a bad hip, too. Wow, wow, wow.

> Hicks brings back the extra-long kickoff to the 35, and the defense has to come right back and see if they can make this one have Less Drama, Please. Peterson to the right for a loss of a yard as the Eagles are running three safeties on obvious running situations. AP gets five, all of it after initial contact, and with 5:30 left in the quarter, it's another very big play to see if they can get off the field and keep momentum... and Sheldon Brown makes a terrible play in coverage, giving Berrian an extra 20 yards in RAC. Aikman praises Brown's coverage there. Words fail, really. If the Eagles have been able to get any kind of traction on third down, this game would be a rout.

> AP to the right nothing; more line penetration. Tarv hits Wade to move the sticks; damn. Taylor gets 8 and the Vikings are very close to answering the touchdown with one of their own. On second and 2, Taylor sets up first and goal at the six, and at the two minute warning, Minny has already ran for 100 yards on the day.

> Taylor to the 3 on first, and Reid takes his first timeout of the day (!) to save time for the offense. Who are you, and what have you done with our non-beloved Fat Man? AP then gets his second of the day on an easy one to the left, and the run defense is really starting to become worrisome. Up 9, you had to know that was what they wanted to do, and the defense couldn't stop it. If the offense doesn't start scoring touchdowns instead of field goals, this could suck hard. Eagles 16, Vikings 14, with 1:51 left and two timeouts. Hope you had the over.

> Demps fakes the reverse and takes it to the 25. A lot on McNabb here to turn the momentum back. From the gun on first, he finds Avant for 13 to the right, and Fox reports that Darren Sharper looks done. Useful. A questionable run call in the two minute drill leads to the second time out and no gain. That was as bad as a sack, really, and having seen the Niners and Giants game, I don't want to see a last-play field goal attempt.

> Celek for 10 with the clock running, but on third and 1, McNabb goes deep for Curtis and gets picked. Indefensible play call given the down and distance, and Curtis was in no way open. A simple sneak moves the chains and keeps the promise of points alive, and instead, turnover. Good grief.

> Taylor stopped on first down and the Vikings should let the clock run after the arm punt. Tarv makes things more interesting with an incompletion. Eagles still have a timeout and the Vikings do have terrible punt coverage, so this might not be meaningless. With 29 seconds left in the half, Taylor is tackled for their first three and out of the game, and Childress has learned well from the feet of the master. Wow.

> Jackson gets it back to the Eagles 44. Eighteen seconds left, so there's a chance. McNabb to Westbrook for a quick nine yards that only took five seconds; useful. Second down has McNabb missing Westbrook from short range, and there's eight seconds left. That didn't help. On third down, Westbrook can't get out of bounds, and that's it. Guh. Eagles 16, Vikings 14, and I think both teams fans are reaching for something at this point. Back after the half.