NOTES FROM THE NOSEBLEEDS: The broken dreams team?

The Eagles were supposed to be the "Dream Team," but after Sunday's loss to the New York Giants they might as well call them the "Broken Dreams Team," or at least, "The (Questionably) Broken-Hand Team."

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NOTES FROM THE NOSEBLEEDS: The broken dreams team?

POSTED: Tuesday, September 27, 2011, 1:00 PM

Sports nut Massimo Pulcini rounds up a week of everything Philly sports. Hey bat-a, bat-a, bat-a ...

BIRDS FALL TO GIANTS, VICK INJURED — AGAIN!

The Eagles were supposed to be the “Dream Team,” but after Sunday’s loss to the New York Giants they might as well call them the “Broken Dreams Team,” or at least, “The (Questionably) Broken-Hand Team.”

In Philly’s first divisional matchup of the year, the Giants drove down I- 95 to visit the Eagles for their home opener of the 2011 season. Philly entered the game confident, riding the wave of optimism that came with the news that Mike Vick (pictured right) would be starting despite last week’s concussion. Meanwhile, the Giants came into the matchup a little gimpy due to some key players like Pro Bowl DE Osi Umenyiora, receiver Mario Manninghan, and first-round draft pick Prince Amukamara being ruled out due to injury. However, the G-Men were hungry to redeem themselves after last year’s “Miracle at the Meadowlands” and their performance on the field was quite indicative of that.

New York came out shooting, scoring two in the first quarter. Both scoring plays — the first a 40-yard Eli Manning pass to the hefty Brandon Jacobs, the second a 74-yard catch-and-run by Victor Cruz — were due to terrible execution by the defense. The first score came after rookie linebacker Casey Mathews bit on a play fake and got burned by Jacobs deep. The second touchdown was the result of poor tackling, as safety Kurt Coleman and All-Pro corner back Nnamdi Asomugha failed to take down Cruz after their initial contact. Cruz broke free and sprinted down the sidelines to make it 14-0, Giants.

The Eagles fought back, though, responding with an Alex Henry field goal, and then again with a beautiful drive capped of with a Shady McCoy 11-yard scoring run. McCoy would prove to be the only bright spot of the day for the Birds, as he finished with 128 yards and a score. The Birds kicked a field goal as time expired in the second quarter to make it 14-13 at halftime, cutting the Giants lead to one point.

The second half started well for the Eagles, but their drive stalled and they had to settle for yet another field goal to take the lead, 16-14. That field goal, Henry’s third of the day, proved to be the Eagles’ last points of the game.

During the third quarter, after Vick completed a 23-yard pass to Jeremy Maclin, the Eagles quarterback was hit hard by the Giant’s Chris Canty. As a result of the hit, Vick fell hard on his right, non-throwing hand. Once the offense left the field, Vick ran into to the locker room much to the confusion of fans. He would return to the field briefly before returning to the bench for the remainder of the game with what was being called a broken hand.

For the second week in a row, this left Mike Kafka to enter the contest in relief of Vick with a lead. For the second week in a row, the Eagles blew it.

Kafka threw a pick on his first attempt, and the Giants responded with another Cruz reception for a score, this one on Jarred Page and Asomugha right on the goal line. Big Blue scored once more with a Bradshaw 18-yard TD reception to seal the Giants’ victory at 29-16.

The loss leaves Eagles fans wondering what can be done with their team who has such lofty goals and expectations. There are clear issues at linebacker, safety and along the interior of the offensive line. The teams are exploiting all of these glaring holes.

However, there is some good news to all of this — on Monday afternoon, coach Andy Reid announced that Vick’s hand isn’t actually broken, but rather bruised.

"Blood vessel sitting over the bone, made it look like there's a fracture," Reid said.

This means that Vick may be ready to go for next week’s pairing with the San Francisco 49ers if the swelling goes down, but the Birds will need more than just Vick to show up next week if they hope to win the game and turn this season around.

PHILLIES END SKID, EARN 100TH WIN AGAIST BRAVES

For the past week, the Phillies didn’t look like the team that had clinched the best record in baseball. In fact, they didn’t look like much of a team at all — especially during the embarrassment of getting swept by the lowly Washington Nationals.

That all ended on Sunday, however, as the Phillies we all know and love returned to form in a 9-4 win over the New York Mets. It was Roy Halladay’s 19th win of the season and a strong showing by the lineup, which was at full strength for the first time since the Fightins’ clinched the division a little over a week ago.

Hunter Pence homered in the first and Halladay went six innings strong to get the Phils a win and some much needed momentum entering the playoffs, which start on Oct. 1.

On Monday night the Phillies won their 100th game of the season, as Cliff Lee (17-8) pitched six strong innings, Jimmy Rollins (pictured above) homered and Raul Ibanez drove in two runs to beat the Braves, who need to win to earn a wild-card slot in the playoffs.

The Phillies close the regular season with two more games against the Atlanta Braves, in what could possibly be a preview of the first round of the National League Playoffs Divisional Series. To celebrate the end of the regular season, here’s a little gift from Hunter Pence’s twitter (@HunterPence3) showing the first-year players who had their clothes taken from the clubhouse and replaced by costumes that they had to wear on the trip to Atlanta. Don’t expect any calls from the WWE, Vance Worley.

IN OTHER PHILLY SPORTS NEWS

➤ The Temple Owls football team responded after a heartbreaking loss to Penn State last week, defeating Maryland 38-7 on Saturday. Junior running back Bernard Pierce scorched the Terrapins for 149 yards and five touchdowns — three in the first quarter alone. "It's a great program win," first-year coach Steve Addazio said. "You have to respond in college football and I think that we showed that we can compete and we can play with anybody. We're awful proud of that." ➤ While the NBA is locked out, Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, and Chris Paul have been taking their talents across the country for a series of high-profile pick up games. The three All-Stars came to the City of Brotherly Love to play the Team Philly, consisting of Pennsylvanian Tyreke Evans, 76er Louis Williams, and Philly’s own Hakim Warrick. Before a crowd of 8000 at The Palestra at UPenn’s campus, Team Philly defeated Anthony and company, 131-122. ➤ On Monday afternoon, the NHL officially announced from Citizens Bank Park that this season’s Winter Classic, the NHL’s annual outdoor hockey match, would be hosted in Philadelphia at our pro baseball arena. The game will be played on Jan. 2 at 1 p.m. and would pit the Flyers against the rival New York Rangers. This will be a great matchup featuring new Flyer Jaromir Jagr (pictured right) playing against his former team.

(massimo.pulcini@citypaper.net)

(@massimopulcini)

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Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

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