Eagles Make the Most of Giant Mistakes for a 17-14 Victory

With four quarterbacks bumbling their way through Sunday’s game, it wasn’t surprising that Philadelphia safety Mike Zordich stole the ball and the spotlight.

Zordich returned a fumble 58 yards for a touchdown and also intercepted a Tommy Maddox pass at the Philadelphia 40 to snuff out a late New York rally, leading the Eagles to a 17-14 victory over the Giants.

“We stepped up when we needed to and took the responsibility to make the plays that had to be made,” said Eagle safety Greg Jackson, a former Giant. “Zordich made a couple of big plays and we got some key sacks.”

Philadelphia (4-3), winning its third in a row, had six sacks against Dave Brown and Maddox, his replacement, and limited the Giants (2-5) to 66 second-half yards in a sloppy game.

Playing in winds gusting from 15 to 25 m.p.h., both teams had four turnovers and together combined for 415 yards of offense.

“Right now we are that bad,” Giant wide receiver Mike Sherrard said. “The defense is playing well, causing turnovers and stopping them when they have to, and we go out there and waste time and punt the ball. It’s frustrating, because you don’t want to look that bad out there.”

Despite their ineptitude on offense, the Giants actually had a chance to pull the game out in the final minutes. Trailing, 17-6, Keith Elias forced a fumble by Eagle punter Tom Hutton with a strong rush and Omar Douglas ran 41 yards with the recovery for a touchdown. Rodney Hampton, whose fumble led to Zordich’s touchdown, ran for the two-point conversion, getting the Giants within three points with 4:45 to go.

The Giants held on the next series and got the ball back at their 20. After a penalty pushed the Giants back to the 10, Maddox drove them to the Eagles’ 43.

But when Zordich intercepted a scrambling Maddox’s cross-field pass with 53 seconds to go, the game was over.

“It was a good win, but we’re still making it much too hard on ourselves,” said Philadelphia Eagle Coach Ray Rhodes, who has turned the team around in his first season after Philadelphia lost its last seven games and finished 7-9 in 1994.

“The first time you want to have a good debut and this wasn’t it,” said Maddox, who replaced Brown on the Giants’ second series of the second half. He finished six for 23 for 49 yards with three interceptions, and was frequently booed.

Giant offensive coordinator George Henshaw said Brown, who finished nine for 18 for 82 yards, was lifted because he blew a few play calls and the coaches hoped Maddox would spark the offense.

It never happened as the two quarterbacks combined to complete only 15 of 41 passes for 131 yards.

Eagle tailback Ricky Watters was the best offensive player on the field, rushing for 122 yards and scoring the game’s only offensive touchdown on an eight-yard run on the second play of the second quarter for a 7-0 lead.

Kurt Gouveia then forced the fumble by Hampton, playing with a broken right hand. Zordich picked it up on the second bounce and ran untouched into the end zone for a 14-0 lead.

Eagle starting quarterback Rodney Peete was four for seven in the first half for 47 yards. He did not play in the second half because of a concussion.

Peete was replaced in the second half by Randall Cunningham, who completed three of nine passes for 26 yards.