Lipps Puts on Show, but It Isn’t Enough : Eagles, Led By Cunningham, Win, 27-26

Every time the Philadelphia Eagles tried to hand the Pittsburgh Steelers an upset victory, Randall Cunningham would turn around and yank it right back.

Luis Zendejas kicked an 18-yard field goal with 1:15 left as the Eagles, helped by two costly Pittsburgh penalties that led to Cunningham scoring runs, rallied four times Sunday to beat the Steelers, 27-26.

Cunningham ran for touchdowns of 12 and 7 yards on broken plays and set up Zendejas’ game-winning field goal by improvising a 41-yard completion to Cris Carter. The Eagles (6-5) overcame 3 second-half turnovers and Steelers’ receiver Louis Lipps’ one-man offensive show to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Reggie Singletary preserved the victory by blocking Gary Anderson’s 57-yard field goal attempt on the final play.

“I don’t think there’s any question that he (Cunningham) won it for us,” Eagles Coach Buddy Ryan said. “He came up with a big makeshift play (the pass to Carter) when we had to have it. There’s no question this was a much tougher game than we had looked for.”

Anderson’s fourth field goal of the game and his 12th successful attempt in a row, a 41-yarder with 3:06 to play, gave the the Steelers a 26-24 lead. But Cunningham quickly hit Keith Byars for 6 yards and Jimmie Giles for 17 yards to the Steelers’ 49. On a third-and-10 play, Cunningham rolled out and found Carter open down the right sideline after cornerback Luis Sanchez fell down.

“He (Carter) was the third or fourth receiver on the play. The ball was supposed to go to (Michael) Haddix,” Ryan said. “Those are the kind of plays he’ll make for you. We had a few turnovers almost kill us, but you take these wins any time you can get them.”

The Steelers settled for Anderson’s fourth field goal after managing only 5 yards on 3 rushing plays. Lipps caught an 89-yard touchdown pass, threw a 13-yard scoring pass to Merril Hoge on an end-around, and set up an Anderson field goal with a 11-yard reverse and a 20-yard catch, but the Steelers (2-9) still lost for the ninth time in 10 games.

Cunningham, who was 25 of 41 for 276 yards, earlier improvised a 12-yard touchdown run on a third-and-10 play with 13:14 left, giving the Eagles a 24-23 lead.