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| Brian Westbrook runs past a diving Marcellus Rivers on his way to the game-winning touchdown, a 84-yard punt return with 1:16 to play. |
Seven years before DeSean Jackson’s 65-yard punt return for a touchdown as time expired that gave the Philadelphia Eagles a 37-31 win over the New York Giants after being down 31-10 with 8:17 to play in the game, the Eagles had another last-minute punt return for a touchdown to stun the Giants in the Meadowlands and was the start of a special career for second-year man Brian Westbrook.
The Eagles had a tumultuous season up to this point as they entered the game with a 2-3 record, after dropping their first two games of the season and having to deal with controversial comments that leveled on quarterback Donovan McNabb by Rush Limbaugh.
If head coach Andy Reid and the Eagles, who entered the season as Super Bowl favorites after making it to the NFC Championship Game the previous two years, were going to live up to their preseason hype, they needed a win in New York.
However, their opponent, the New York Giants, needed a win as well as they also entered the game with a 2-3 record.
The Giants also entered the season as favorites to contend in the NFC after making the playoffs the previous season and three years removed from a trip from to the Super Bowl under head coach Jim Fassel, and a core that featured quarterback Kerry Collins, running back Tiki Barber, and defensive end Michael Strahan.
The biggest problem with the Giants was their special teams, an issue that had risen in the epic collapse in their playoff loss the year before where long snapper Trey Junkin had two bad snaps on field goal attempts, including one on the potential game-winning field goal attempt that ultimately lead the Giants to a 39-38 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
The Giants’ special teams problem would come back to bite them again in their second game of the season when after making what was thought to be the game-winning field goal with 14 seconds left against the Dallas Cowboys, kicker Matt Bryant kicked the ensuing kickoff out of bounds allowing for the Cowboys to get into field goal range and make a game-tying field goal, which was made by Billy Cundiff from 52 yards out, sending the game into overtime which the Cowboys won 35-32.
Bryant was then injured two games later and replaced by Brett Conway, who missed two field goals the week before in a loss to the New England Patriots, continuing New York’s kicking woes.
However, it would not be field goal kicking that would be the undoing of the Giants in this contest.
The Eagles got the ball to start the game but on the 4th play of the game, running back Correll Buckhalter fumbled the ball after a hit by Giants linebacker Michael Barrow, with safety Shaun Williams recovered the loose ball for New York, giving the Giants the ball at their own 49-yard-line.
The Giants got to the Eagles’ 39-yard-line when Collins fumbled the ball, which was recovered by his wide receiver, Ike Hillard, but 20 yards back at the Giants’ 41-yard-line, a play that eventually killed the drive and forced New York to punt the ball back to the Eagles.
The Eagles drove 89 yards in 10 plays for the game’s first touchdown,with the big plays on the drive being a 41-yard pass interference penalty on Giants cornerback Ralph Brown and a 25-yard pass from McNabb to tight end L.J. Smith which two plays later led to Westbrook’s six-yard touchdown run that put the Eagles on top 7-0 with 3:14 left in the first quarter.
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| Donovan McNabb had a rough day against the Giants as he completed only nine of 23 passes for 64 yards and threw one interception. |
The Giants drove into Eagles territory on their next drive but facing a 4th-and-9 at the Eagles’ 39-yard-line, Fassel decided to play field position and punt the ball back to the Eagles as Jeff Feagles was able to pin Philadelphia back its own nine-yard-line.
The Eagles went three-and-out, punting it back to the Giants who took over at the Philadelphia’ 45-yard-line but were only able to travel eight yards to the 37-yard-line.
With no faith in his kicker to make a possible 55-yard field goal, Fassel sent the punt unit back out as Feagles once again was able to pin the Eagles back as Philadelphia was forced to take over at their own four-yard-line.
The Eagles were able to flip the field position back in their favor as Westbrook gained 32 yards on two carries before Philadelphia had to punt the ball back to the Giants, who took over at their own 12-yard-line with 5:28 left before halftime.
That is when the Giants put together their best game of the game thus far as Collins completed four passes for 41 yards to drive New York to the Eagles’ 28-yard-line where they had a 1st-and-10 when disaster struck for the Giants.
Collins found tight end Jeremy Shockey for a nine-yard gain when Shockey was hit by Eagles linebacker Nate Wayne, forcing a fumble that was recovered by defensive end Brandon Whiting at the Philadelphia 17-yard-line with 1:46 left in the 1st half.
However, three plays later, McNabb was picked off by Giants defensive back Will Allen, which led to a 39-yard field goal by Brett Conway to cut the Eagles’ lead to 7-3 as the first half came to a close.
After both teams punted on their opening drives of the second half, the Giants took over at their 38-yard-line when they put together a 12-play, 62-yard drive, with most of the yardage coming on the ground as Tiki Barber gaining 31 yards on six carries and Collins running for 11 yards on a 3rd-and-10 at the Eagles’ 28-yard-line.
The drive culminated with a one-yard touchdown pass from Collins to Shockey to give the Giants their first lead of the game, 10-7 with 5:19 left in the third quarter.
It was still 10-7 early in the 4th quarter when the Giants took over at their 37-yard-line and put together another impressive drive with their running game, this time with Dorsey Levens being the catalyst on the drive as he carried the ball seven times for 49 yards to lead the Giants to the Eagles’ five-yard-line.
But on 3rd-and-goal from the five, Collins was sacked by Eagles linebacker Mark Simoneau and lost the football which was recovered by Eagles defensive tackle Corey Simon, giving Philadelphia the ball at the Giants’ 10-yard-line with 7:50 left in the 4th quarter.
However, the Eagles offense had to be stuck in neutral the whole 2nd half as they gained only 10 yards and had not made a 1st down on their three drives in the 2nd half.
Philadelphia thought it had something going when Buckhalter gained the Eagles’ first 1st down of the half when he ran for 11 yards on 3rd-and-1 from the 19-yard-line, but they would go no further, in fact the Eagles almost turn the ball back over to the Giants when McNabb fumbled the ball on 3rd-and-11 from the 29-yard-line, only to have left guard John Welbourn recover the loose ball for Philadelphia and preventing the Giants from having a chance to have the ball deep in Eagles territory.
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| Giants head coach Jim Fassel saw another special teams breakdown cost his team a victory. |
Instead, the Eagles punted the ball back to the Giants who took over at their 32-yard-line, only to have the Philly defense force a three-and-out, forcing New York to punt the ball back to the Eagles who took over at their 24-yard-line with 2:50 to play in regulation.
But like the entire 2nd half, the Eagles offense as McNabb threw an incomplete pass on 1st down, which was followed by a Westbrook run for no gain, and then followed with a sack of McNabb by Giants defensive end Kenny Holmes for a five-yard loss as the two-minute warning hit.
With all three timeouts in his pocket and his offense facing a 4th-and-15, Reid decided to gamble and punt the ball back to the Giants, who took over at the Eagles’ 44-yard-line after Eagles punter Dirk Johnson’s punt only traveled 25 yards.
Fassell decided to keep the ball on the ground and force the Eagles to burn their timeouts as Collins handed the ball three times to Levens who ended up losing two yards on three carries, setting up a 4th-and-12 situation for the Giants with 1:34 to go.
With the Eagles offense being unable to do anything since their touchdown drive, the greatest chance Philadelphia had was for Westbrook to get a long punt return into Giants territory and hope McNabb could muster enough offense to set up a potential game-tying field goal.
To neutralize that threat, Fassel was hoping Feagles would directionally kick the ball, hoping it would go out of bounds and away from Westbrook.
As Feagles took the snap, the Eagles sent all the rushers they could in hopes of blocking the punt, but Feagles was able to kick away, though it was not a good one as it got very little hang time and ended up in the hands of Westbrook as he grabbed on a bounce at his own 16-yard-line.
When Westbrook got the ball, he was able to miss David Tyree(yes, that David Tyree) who overran the play and taken out by a Eagles blocker allowing Westbrook to get going as he broke through the tackle Carson Dash at the 20-yard-line, and then able to find some space along the left sideline.
Feagles attempted a diving tackle at the Eagles’ 35-yard-line, but his attempt was futile and when Westbrook blew past Marcellus Rivers at the Giants’ 45-yard-line, there was nothing but clear space for him as he completed a 84-punt return for a touchdown that gave the Eagles a 14-10 lead with and left the Meadowlands in a state of shock with 1:16 left to play.
The play was reviewed to see if Westbrook stepped out of bounds, but he did not, so the Giants were forced to come from behind as they took over at their 36-yard-line with 1:12 to go and needing a touchdown to win.
The drive got off to a good start as Collins hit Amani Toomer for 20 yards on the first play of the drive to put the Giants at the Eagles’ 44-yard-line.
But after Collins went 1-of-3 for six yards on his next three passes, the Giants were faced with a 4th-and-4 at the Philadelphia 38-yard-line.
Collins took the snap, dropped back, and fired a pass intended for Shockey, only to have Eagles defensive back Bobby Taylor knock it down, forcing a turnover on downs and allowing for McNabb to take a knee to run out the clock allowing the Eagles to come away with a 14-10 win, despite just 134 yards of total offense.
The Giants recovered from the stunning loss to win their next two games to get back up to .500 at 4-4, but then lost their final eight games to finish the season 4-12, ultimately costing Jim Fassel his job.
In the offseason, the Giants would hire Tom Coughlin as head coach and acquired Eli Manning via a draft-day trade. The pair would lead the Giants to two Super Bowl titles.
As for the Eagles, the shocking win was the turning point in their 2003 season as their victory of the Giants would be the first in a nine-game winning streak that helped earn Philadelphia its third straight NFC East title and the NFC’s #1 seed.
In the playoffs, the Eagles pulled off another miracle victory when they defeated the Green Bay Packers 20-17 in overtime, thanks to a 4th-and-26 conversion in the final minutes of regulation that led to the game-tying field goal.
But the Eagles would lose the following week to the Carolina Panthers 14-3 for their straight NFC Championship Game loss, though they would finally break through the following season as they defeated the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Title Game, only to lose 24-21 to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX.
As for Westbrook, he would remain with the Eagles through the 2009 season until his release in the offseason, then played with the San Francisco 49ers for the 2010 season, which was his ninth and final season in the league.
In 2015, Westbrook was inducted into the Eagles Hall of Fame as he is currently the team’s all-time all-purpose career yards leader with 9,785 yards, with 5,995 coming on the ground which makes him currently third on the Eagles’ all-time career rushing yards list and 13th in career receiving yards in 3,790 yards on 426 catches.
But he will be best remembered in Philadelphia for his punt return touchdown against the Giants in 2003.
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