 |
| |
|
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
||
 |
|||
EVENTS
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |
Hugh's huge play Sack on King by Douglas turned game for Eagles
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Hugh Douglas didn't like the hit as much as the result. With the Philadelphia Eagles trailing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 3-0 in the second quarter Sunday, Douglas turned the game around by sacking Shaun King and forcing a fumble. Mike Mamula recovered at the Bucs 15, Donovan McNabb ran in from 5 yards out four plays later and the Eagles were on their way to a 21-3 playoff victory. "The hits don't feel good, but to know it changed the momentum of the game, that felt real good," Douglas said. "I'm at a loss for words." Douglas, coming off a 15-sack season that earned him Pro Bowl honors for the first time, had two sacks and four tackles. But he wasn't celebrating much after the game. "We won the game, but we're not settling for this," Douglas said. "All we know right now is we want to keep the dream alive. If we want to go any further, we have to go through Giants Stadium. I'm not ashamed too say it, we're trying to go all the way." Philadelphia plays the New York Giants in an NFC divisional playoff next Sunday. The Eagles weren't expected to get past the Buccaneers despite having home-field advantage and cold weather on their side. Oddsmakers listed Philadelphia as two-point underdogs. But Douglas and the rest of the defense outperformed one of the top defenses in the NFL. "We know what we can do," Douglas said. "They have a great defense, but we have some defense here in Philadelphia, too. We just go out and play football." In Douglas' case, he goes out and keeps playing and playing. "He's full of energy," head coach Andy Reid said. "I thought he exhausted his efforts today, and he actually came out the last play or so at the end of the game, but he is so full of energy from the time we get to the stadium until it's over." The momentum-swinging sack might have been a result of a messed-up blocking scheme. The Bucs ended up having 5-foot-8, 185-pound Warrick Dunn blocking the 280-pound Douglas. "I was trying to get to him before he threw the ball," Douglas said. "For some reason, the tackle blocked down. I just hit him." Douglas was a rookie on the New York Jets when they went 1-15 in 1995. He's endured 3-13 and 5-11 seasons and played for a winning team just once before this year. He's not thinking about any of that now, however. "This is only the first step," he said.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
