Eagles-Colts: Live Notes and Updates From the First Half

Tonight, the Philadelphia Eagles traveled to Indianapolis for a preseason match-up against Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts. After falling to the New England Patriots 27-25 last week, the Birds hope to bounce back in their second game of the preseason.

For the first time, I thought it would be fun to run live updates during the game, marking key plays for the Eagles.

Enjoy!

First Quarter

15:00—A nice opening kick for David Akers as Akeem Jordan makes the tackle for the Eagles. The Colts will start at their own 19-yard line.

14:50—Peyton Manning throws a quick screen pass to Jacob Tamme for 13 yards. Not the best start for the Eagles defense.

13:13—Dallas Clark just caught a 20-yard reception from Manning to gain the first down and enter Eagles’ territory. The defense is struggling already and we haven’t even played for three minutes. Hopefully, the defense plays better in the first half than they did last week against the New England Patriots.

11:35—Once again, Manning is able to find a wide open receiver as he dumps it off to Reggie Wayne on 3rd-and-4. He gains 14 yards for the first down.

11:01—Manning just threw a nice ball in the end zone to Tamme, who should have hauled it in for a touchdown. Luckily, Jordan was there to deflect it for the Eagles.

10:52—Another third down conversion for Manning and the Colts. This time, he finds running back Joseph Addai on the left side to get inside the five-yard line.

10:22—Manning tries to get Anthony Gonzalez on the slant, but Asante Samuel is there to break up the pass. So close to an interception!

10:17—A missed interception leads to a Manning-Gonzalez touchdown in the corner of the end zone the very next play. Now that Marvin Harrison is gone, Gonzalez has a chance to have a breakout season, which could be dangerous for the rest of the league.

The Colts get on the board first and lead the Eagles 7-0. Manning finishes the drive 7-of-10 for 70 yards and a touchdown. Luckily, this is only a preseason game and means nothing in the standings.

10:13—Quintin Demps returns the kickoff to the 30-yard line. Let’s see if Donovan and the rest of the offense can help tie this game up.

9:25—After running back LeSean Jackson gets stuffed on the first play for the Eagles offense, McNabb finds DeSean Jackson for nice seven-yard gain.

8:54—There is nothing more frustrating than a wasted penalty flag. After McNabb overthrows Kevin Curtis on 3rd-and-2, it appears the Eagles will catch a break and gain an automatic first down for the pass interference. Unfortunately, the refs decided there was no penalty on the play and the Eagles are forced to punt.

7:25—It appeared the Eagles were about to stop the Colts on a 3rd-and-6 after the blitz forced Manning to dump the ball off rookie running back Donald Brown. Brown looked like he was going to fall short until he broke a tackle and ran for the first down.

6:52—Talk about a break! Jason Babin forces a fumble from Manning and Jordan recovers the ball for the Eagles. Hopefully, the offense can take advantage of the turnover.

6:12—McNabb is looking good this drive as he is able to get a couple of short passes to Jason Avant and McCoy.

5:02—Looks like I spoke too soon, as McNabb gets sacked by Dwight Freeney and fumbles the ball. Freeney must feel pretty good causing a fumble on his former Syracuse teammate. Keyunta Dawson recovers and the Colts will take over at their own 24-yard line.

4:50—Wow. First play after the fumble recovery, cornerback Ellis Hobbs falls for Reggie Wayne’s moves who is wide open down the left side of the field. An easy 76-yard touchdown pass and the Colts now lead 14-0. Manning is now 10-of-14 for 167 yards and two touchdowns. Not bad for the first 10 minutes of the game.

4:38—Hobbs tries to make up for his blown coverage and makes a nice kick return to the Eagles 39-yard line.

3:22—McNabb finds Curtis for a gain of 12 yards to get inside the Colts’ territory. Let’s see if the Eagles can take advantage of the drive and put some points up before the Colts run away with the game.

2:17—Nick Cole gets called for a holding after McCoy runs for a short gain. Looks like the Eagles are looking at a 1st-and-20.

1:11—McNabb finds Jackson deep down the middle for the 39-yard touchdown! Looks like all of that hard work and determination to become the No. 1 wide receiver in the offseason is paying off for Jackson. If you think this kid is going to have a sophomore slump, you better think again. Now, the Colts’ lead is cut in half to 14-7.

1:05—Curtis Painter enters the game for Manning at quarterback. Let’s see if the Eagles can handle this Purdue stud better than they did Manning.

00:21—Painter’s first pass of the game is a 12-yard reception to Austin Collie. Looks like that will be the last play of the quarter.

Second Quarter

15:00—Nothing like starting off the second quarter with a false-start penalty on the Colts’ Tony Ugoh.

14:12—Painter somehow finds Tamme in the middle of the field on 3rd-and-6 for the first down. The Colts are now a perfect 4-of-4 on third down conversions. Even with Manning resting on the sidelines, the Eagles continue to struggle stopping the Colts offense.

13:06—Ugoh receives his second penalty of the drive as he is called for chop blocking. Now the Colts are looking at a 2nd-and-25.

12:00—Looks like Ugoh’s penalties helped the Eagles as the Colts are forced to punt. Let’s see if A.J. Feeley can help tie this game up at 14 as McNabb rests for the night as he finishes 5-of-7 for 77 yards and a touchdown.

10:30—Surprise, surprise. McNabb gets interviewed on the sideline and the questions surrounding Michael Vick come out and how he is performing. Let it go guys, McNabb wants to focus on the game and worry about Vick when the time comes.

9:20—Not only did Hobbs get hurt on that last drive, but Feeley left the field a little shaky too. If he goes down and Kolb is out, they may be forced to keep Temple’s Adam DiMichele on the roster. The last thing this team needs to deal with is more injuries!

7:39—Tammy just picked up his fourth reception for a gain of 23 yards. Once again, the Eagles fail to stop the Colts on a long third-down possession. If defense wins championships, then the Eagles have a lot of work ahead of them.

6:32—The frustration continues as running back Chad Simpson rushes up the middle to the Eagles 11-yard line for the first down. Looks like the Colts are about to add on to their seven-point lead.

5:05—The Eagles do what they do best on third down by showing blitz. Painter dishes it off to Simpson quickly, who tries to push for extra yards before the ball pops loose. Unfortunately, Ugoh recovers at the six-yard line and the Colts kicker Shane Andrus kicks for three, increasing the lead to 17-7.

4:42—Jeremy Maclin takes the kick back to the 30-yard line. Unfortunately, Charleston Hughes is called for holding and the Eagles will start from their own 20. On a positive note, Feeley is back in the game so his injury must not have been that serious.

4:00—Feeley feels the pressure of the Colts defense as he under-throws a pass to Maclin for the incomplete pass on 2nd-and-5. Luckily, he finds Hank Baskett the next play on the right side of the field for the first down.

3:25—Eldra Buckley makes his first run of the night for the Eagles as he gains four yards. Last week against the Patriots, he finished with two touchdowns, one on the ground and one in the air. As far as making a name for yourself during preseason is concerned…so far so good for Buckley.

2:20—Feeley finds Buckley for a screen pass that turns into a 19-yard gain. Unfortunately, the play means nothing as the Eagles are called for a holding penalty.

2:00—Well, they just took a commercial break for the two-minute warning. They just showed a clip of Jeffrey Lurie’s press conference after the signing of Vick. Does anyone else get the vibe that Lurie sounds unhappy about the Eagles signing Vick?

1:50—Reggie Brown is called for an illegal formation but the Colts decline the penalty since it would have been fourth down. Does anyone else think Brown could be cut by the time the season starts in September? With Jackson, Curtis, Maclin, and Baskett, Brown has a lot to prove if he wants his name to be on the 53-man roster.

1:43—The Colts take over at their own 25-yard line. On a more important note, I saw a commercial for Fox’s “The Cleveland Show,” a spin-off from Seth MacFarlane's hit show “Family Guy.” All jokes aside, does this mean that Cleveland will no longer be a character in Family Guy and just focus on his new show? I’m quite curious to see how this goes down in the fall.

1:35—Getting off topic again, one of the Fox announcer’s just did an impression of a pirate while the camera was focused on Manning stretching before the game. His impression sounded like, “Arrgh, I want to go back to training camp.” How about fewer pirate impressions and more broadcasting of the game?

1:15—Maclin tries to dazzle away from the defenders, but he gets tackled at the 34-yard line without gaining any yardage.

00:48—Another unnecessary penalty for the Eagles as they called for having only six men on the line while trying to run a quick two-minute drill.

00:34—See what happens when I call out Brown? He hauls in a 27-yard reception from Feeley to get the Eagles in field-goal range. Looks like they will be able to get one more play off before a field goal attempt, assuming they don’t accidentally run the clock out.

00:00: Well, looks like I spoke too soon. Feeley has been playing long enough to know that if your team has no time outs as the clock is winding down, find the receivers near the sidelines. Instead, he dumps the ball off to Buckley in the middle of the field for a nine-yard gain as time expires. The half ends with the Colts leading 17-7.

This article was originally published on NFCEastFootball.com

Dan Parzych is the Eagles Fan Voice For NFLTouchdown.com