Onsides kick key among many turning points

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - David Akers has played more games as an Eagle than anyone in the history of the franchise, 187 in the regular season and 18 more in the playoffs. He was here in 2003 when Brian Westbrook returned a punt 84 yards with a little more than a minute to go to stun the Giants.

And now?

"This just blows it away," said Akers, on the day when the Eagles scored 28 points in the second half of the fourth quarter, including a 65-yard punt return by DeSean Jackson to end it, 38-31.

"Westbrook had been the greatest game I had ever been a part of, coming back," Akers said. "But it's the amount of scoring - 28 points in, like, 8 minutes. I've never seen anything like that.

"[They say] the Bills' was the greatest comeback with Frank Reich [coming from 32 points down in the third quarter to beat Houston in overtime in a 1993 playoff game], but this has to go down as the greatest comeback in NFL history - especially with all of the meaning behind it."

It was a game with more turning points than the most diabolical maze, but a big one was the successful onsides kick executed by Akers and recovered by Riley Cooper with 7:27 remaining. It was a complete surprise to the Giants, who were still leading by 31-17 at the time.

"It was a great call by Andy Reid and [special-teams coordinator] Bobby April," Akers said. "We work on that all the time. When they give you a five-man front, it's basically five men on our left versus their two . . .

"We executed well. The ball got a good bounce. It went right around 10 [yards] and Riley was able to come right behind and catch it at the high point, right at the 10-yard mark."

Akers said he hadn't really tested the field at the New Meadowlands Stadium for its bounceability - but that artificial fields in cold weather are pretty predictably true. He said he was aiming for a 3- or 4-yard spot, right around the number "40" stenciled on the turf.

"I'm not sure how close I was," Akers said. "But once I saw [Cooper] catch it, I was pretty excited."

And that wasn't the half of it for the man who has witnessed just about everything around here.

"I've never seen anything like this before," he said. "I can't believe that just happened, basically."