Plummer Does It Again

The “Comeback Kid” made another comeback at the expense of his favorite foil.

Jake Plummer threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to MarTay Jenkins with nine seconds left, lifting the Arizona Cardinals to a 21-20 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.

With no timeouts, Plummer led the Cardinals 74 yards in 1:04 for his fifth fourth-quarter comeback victory over Philadelphia and 13th in his NFL career. He completed passes of 16 and 28 yards to Jenkins before connecting on fourth and 10 for the game-winner.

It was the first time Plummer rallied his team to victory in the fourth quarter since beating Dallas, 32-31, on Sept. 10, 2000.

“I pumped the ball to David [Boston], the whole secondary was biting on the pump, so I threw it back across the field where I knew I had a guy there,” Plummer said. “It was just like we drew it up.”

Plummer was 18 for 32 for 238 yards and two touchdowns and one interception. Jenkins had six catches for 119 yards, and Michael Pittman had 83 yards rushing.

The Cardinals (1-2) had lost nine in a row dating to last season.

“It was a desperation pass, he underthrew it and the guy made a great play,” Eagle safety Damon Moore said of the game-winning touchdown.

Jenkins beat Pro Bowl cornerback Troy Vincent for the winning score.

“They were really overlooking us,” Jenkins said. “They were looking forward to their bye week and their upcoming opponents. We were offended by that.”

Vincent said he never saw the ball coming.

“We were in a zone, I saw a receiver coming free, didn’t see where the ball was and ran back and tried to make a play,” he said.

Donovan McNabb threw two touchdown passes to Todd Pinkston, and Correll Buckhalter had 134 yards rushing for Philadelphia (2-2).

The Eagles, coming off two victories by a combined 46 points, fell behind, 14-0, in the first quarter. But McNabb rallied them with scoring passes of 13 and two yards to Pinkston, and David Akers made field goals of 42 and 28 yards.

Bill Gramatica missed a 30-yard field goal attempt that would have tied the score on Arizona’s first possession in the third quarter. Then Plummer drove Arizona from its 22 to Philadelphia’s 12 before throwing an interception to Jeremiah Trotter with 9:54 remaining.

“With a guy like Plummer, you can’t let him hang around,” Eagle defensive end Brandon Whiting said. “You have to put him away when you have chances.”

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Comeback Cardinal

Jake Plummer has led Arizona to five fourth-quarter comeback victories over Philadelphia:

Sept. 20, 1998: 17-3, at Phoenix--Trailing 3-0 with 14:20 left in fourth quarter, Plummer leads team on three scoring drives, the last an 86-yarder in nine plays capped by touchdown with 1:52 left.

Dec. 13, 1998: 20-17 (OT), at Philadelphia--Cardinals tied the score at 17 after Plummer drove team 66 yards in 10 plays, and they won after an overtime drive of 58 yards to the 14, setting up winning field goal.

Sept. 12, 1999: 25-24, at Philadelphia--From Eagles’ 43, Plummer leads Cardinals to the four, from where Chris Jacke kicks winning field goal on final play.

Dec. 5, 1999: 21-17, at Phoenix--Plummer moves Cardinals 80 yards in 16 plays, ending with four-yard touchdown pass to David Boston with 4:31 to play.

Oct. 7, 2001: 21-20, at Philadelphia--Plummer moves Cardinals 74 yards in 1:04, ending with 35-yard touchdown pass to MarTay Jenkins with nine seconds to play.