Eagles Win Game of Give-and-Take, 41-14

The Philadelphia Eagles gave ground to Vinny Testaverde, but mostly they took from him.

Testaverde passed for 324 yards but threw 5 interceptions and the Eagles trounced the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 41-14, Sunday.

“Sometimes I didn’t know why he threw the ball at all, or why he didn’t just throw it away,” said Eagle safety Terry Hoage, who had 2 interceptions and also scored a touchdown when he ran 38 yards on a fake punt in the third quarter.

“He’s just got to get used to seeing a lot of formations and not just throw the ball up there.”

Randall Cunningham completed 7 of 12 passes for 156 yards and 2 touchdowns, and the Philadelphia defense held the Buccaneers to 43 yards rushing while ending a four-game losing streak in season-opening games.

Cunningham, who did not play in the second half, threw a 37-yard scoring pass to Mike Quick to begin the rout and later threw an 8-yarder to rookie Keith Jackson to help the Eagles to a 34-0 halftime lead.

“It was the greatest first half of football that I’ve ever been associated with, but it was the sorriest second half I’ve ever seen,” Philadelphia Coach Buddy Ryan said. “We couldn’t run the ball and they hit a couple of long passes on us.”

Tampa Bay lost for the ninth consecutive time over two seasons and Testaverde was booed much of the game by 43,502 fans at Tampa Stadium.

Testaverde did connect with Bruce Hill on a 42-yard touchdown pass play and hit Mark Carrier on a 59-yard scoring play, both in the third quarter, but it was far too late.

“It’s terrible feeling embarrassment and rejection,” the 1986 Heisman Trophy winner said. “I was well prepared for this (game). Coach (Ray Perkins) can’t go out and play for me, so there is nobody who can take the blame except me.”

Ryan felt so comfortable with the halftime lead that he didn’t put Cunningham back into the game in the second half.

Matt Cavanaugh played the second half at the quarterback for the Eagles, completing 6 of 14 passes for 92 yards with an interception.

Perkins, Tampa Bay’s second year coach, said he was embarrassed by the Buccaneers’ performance and if his players weren’t as embarrassed as he was, then “they need to get out of town.”

Perkins added, “I don’t think we’re as bad as all the embarrassment that was shown today. I think the Eagles are a good football team--I question whether they are great. Today we just didn’t exhibit the type of play that even gives us the right to call ourselves a football team. Vinny didn’t throw the ball very well today and I take the blame for that.”

Cunningham did it all in the first half. He opened the scoring 2 1/2 minutes into the game with his 37-yard strike to Quick, and a 53-yarder to Quick set up Anthony Toney’s 2-yard scoring run that made it 14-0.

Cunningham’s 8-yard pass to Jackson came late in the first quarter, and he ran 2 yards for a touchdown 30 seconds before halftime.

Dean Dorsey had field goals of 23 and 26 yards as the Eagles scored on 6 of 7 first-half possessions.

The Eagles added a special teams touchdown midway through the third quarter when Hoage took a short snap off in punt formation and ran 38 yards to make it 41-7.

Hoage set up Jackson’s scoring catch by returning an interception 24 yards to the 5-yard line.