aj feeley

FOXBOROUGH -- You'll see in two weeks if the Patriots will pay for their terrible defensive effort on Sunday night.

Kyle Boller of Baltimore won't likely be talented enough nor have the material to pick apart the Patriot secondary next week, but Ben Roethlisberger will the following week. All he will do is watch film of the Patriots against Philadelphia on Sunday night, see all those slant-in pass routes that A.J. Feeley was able to complete, and start licking his chops. And unless the Patriots remedy the situation in time, Pittsburgh will run in, around and through the Patriot defense and ruin the Patriots' quest for a perfect season.

Both sides of the Patriots were exposed on Sunday night, a game the Patriots eventually won, 31-28 over the Eagles at Gillette Stadium. The Patriots, 24-point favorites and expected to run silly over the Eagles, instead were ambushed by a speedy, blitzing defense featuring an Eagle secondary which showed the rest of the league how to cover Randy Moss, and an offense which showed the rest of the league how to attack the Patriot defense.

Suffice it to say that all talk of a 16-0 regular season will probably go away, for now.

The Patriots, who had a division championship dumped in their laps when Buffalo lost at Jacksonville earlier in the day, looked like they would actually bombard the Eagles as everyone thought right off the bat. On the third play of the game, Feeley tried to hit Brian Westbrook in the right flat, but Asante Samuel stepped up and picked off the ball, then took it 40 yards for a touchdown to make it 7-0 Patriots before most everyone was settled in their seats. 24-point favorites? Was that all?

The next offensive possession for the Eagles set the tone for the rest of the evening. Feeley, who was the Miami quarterback in 2004 when the Dolphins rallied from down 28-13 to shock the 13-1 (at the time) Patriots at home on a Monday night, began by rolling left and hitting Jason Avant for 21 yards in front of zone coverage by strong safety James Sanders. From there came an 11-yard pass to Reggie Brown and a 15-yard pass to Greg Lewis, both on slant-in routes. A ten-yard pass to Kevin Curtis and a nine-yard rollout to Brown set up a one-yard touchdown run by Westbrook to tie the score as Gillette Stadium looked on in shock.

What was so shocking was how easily Feeley moved the Eagles down the field. The Patriots are notorious for giving large cushions to wide receivers, especially against Indianapolis, and hope to hold them to field goals. The Patriots perhaps didn't count on Feeley having a great night (27 of 42, 345 yards, 3 touchdowns), and didn't game plan to play the receivers more tightly or more physical. Whenever the Patriots give big cushions to receivers, they usually are gambling that their front seven can wreak havoc on the quarterback, but on this night, the Eagle offensive line killed the Patriot front seven and protected Feeley incredibly well. Feeley was then able to find open receivers all over the place all night long.

The Eagles ended their third offensive possession with a little déjà vu. On third and eight at the Patriot 28, Feeley had time to launch a deep pass over the middle to Lewis for a touchdown. He was in single coverage by Eddie Jackson, just signed off the practice squad. Again, it was a deep slant/post pattern, and it was eerily reminiscent of a catch Lewis made late in Super Bowl XXXIX against Dexter Reid which made it 24-21 Patriots. Once again Lewis got singled up with an inexperienced Patriot defensive back, and the result was a touchdown.

Two drives later, Feeley and Lewis hooked up again. Trailing 17-14, Feeley hit Lewis for 27 yards on a deep right pattern with Rodney Harrison in coverage, then later hit Lewis on a slant-in right side for a touchdown with Randall Gay in coverage. The Eagles had an unthinkable 21-17 lead late in the first half. Except for Samuel, none of the Patriot defensive backs could stop Feeley hitting the receivers on in-cuts pretty much the whole evening.

Gay would give up one more touchdown, an eight-yard scoring toss to Brown to make it 28-24 Eagles late in the third quarter. Again, it was on a slant-in from the right side, and Gay didn't have the correct defender angle. The Patriots at this point were near desperate, trailing with just over a quarter left in the game and unable to stop the Eagle pass offense.

Complicating things was Jim Johnson's defense, which took away Moss pretty much the whole evening. Josh McDaniels helped a lot by employing a lot of four wideout packages the entire game, which pretty much made run stoppage a non-factor for the Eagle defense. The Eagles could then employ a dime package for most of the game, and that, plus some nice physical play by Lito Sheppard, took Moss out of the game (he was called for pushing off on what would have been a third quarter touchdown).

How the Patriots eventually prevailed stemmed from a combination of Tom Brady being Tom Brady when he needed to be, how fortunate that the Patriots did trade for Wes Welker, and two very foolish passes by Feeley late in the contest. Brady and Welker connected three times on the game-winning drive in the fourth quarter for 38 yards on the very same slant-in routes the Patriots could not stop on defense. Laurence Maroney made a token appearance here and there during the second half after sitting the entire first half on the bench, and did score the game-winning touchdown on a four-yard run up the middle. But Welker, who finished with 13 catches for 149 yards, was clearly the difference in the game and the main reason the Patriots were able to hang with the Eagles in a struggle.

Sheppard was able to sustain great pressure on Moss, holding him to only 43 yards on five catches. If there is a silver lining for the Patriots, if this game showed that Moss can be stopped, the Patriots still won despite this and have a slew of other weapons in their arsenal. The widespread usage of empty backfields meant that the Eagles didn't have to respect the run, something McDaniels might want to keep in the back of his head when facing great defenses in the next two weeks (Baltimore, Pittsburgh).

Brady was never intercepted, though he was sacked three times. Feeley's last two passes were picked off, which nailed down the win for the Patriots. A questionable 29-yard pass towards Curtis was overthrown and intercepted by Samuel in the end zone. And at the end of the game, a left sideline floater for Brown was picked off by Sanders to end the game. Brady was able to deliver the goods once again amidst adversity, another testimonial to his greatness and further cementing his status as likely league MVP at season's end.

But Bill Belichick has lots to be concerned about. His secondary is in need of reprogramming immediately, either that or the philosophy on playing off the receivers needs to change. As for Moss, as long as the Patriots continue to win, he won't mind. But it may be three weeks before Moss gets back on his assault of Jerry Rice's one-season touchdown reception record.

If the Patriots can survive the next two weeks still undefeated, then start talking 16-0. Until then, the Patriots have plenty to worry about over the next two weeks. FOXBOROUGH, Mass. ― Backup A.J. Feeley nearly became the first quarterback to knock off the Patriots this season.
Like all the others New England has faced, he fell short.

But Feeley came a lot closer than the rest of them Sunday night, despite throwing interceptions on his last two passes that sealed the Patriots' 31-28 win over Philadelphia.

The Eagles apparently weren't intimidated by New England's domination of its previous 10 opponents.

"There wasn't a point out there where I felt I was confused," Feeley said. "We put ourselves in position to win and, unfortunately, I lost it for us."

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Philadelphia | Eagles | New England | Patriots | New England Patriots | Philadelphia Eagles | Andy Reid | Asante Samuel
He played in place of Donovan McNabb, who missed the game due to ankle and thumb injuries but will start when he's ready, possibly next Sunday against Seattle, coach Andy Reid said.

Making his first start since Dec. 2004 and the 14th of his career, Feeley completed 27 of 42 passes for 345 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions.

"He was calm and cool and slow and steady," tight end L.J. Smith said. "You've got to like his fire. We feed off that."

Feeley rebounded from his second pass, an interception that Asante Samuel returned 40 yards for the first touchdown of the game.

"It's not the way you want to start, but there's four quarters to play," Feeley said. "It wasn't on my mind after that."

He didn't turn the ball over again until his next-to-last pass.

With a second-and-4 at the Patriots 29-yard line and the Eagles trailing 31-28, he was under pressure and lofted the ball to the right side of the end zone toward Kevin Curtis. Samuel intercepted.

"He tried to stick it in there and let go of it," Reid said. "It came out too soft."

The Eagles got the ball back after a punt but on their next play with 18 seconds left, Feeley threw an interception to James Sanders on the left sideline on a pass intended for Reggie Brown.

For much of the game, it was Philadelphia's defense that caused problems. It put Tom Brady under some of the most intense pressure he's felt all season. He was sacked three times, matching his season-high.

"The only chance we had was to pressure," Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson said. "Even if we didn't get to him, we had to throw off his timing and get him to move around in the pocket."

Despite the loss, the Eagles (5-6) remain in the NFC playoff hunt and drew consolation from nearly beating the NFL's best team.

"If we keep playing the way we played today, we can still win out," offensive tackle Shawn Andrews said. "We're a physical group and we can play with anybody."

They certainly could play with the Patriots for most of the game, after New England had beaten nine of its first 10 opponents by at least 17 points.

And Feeley played well enough to get the Eagles within range for a field goal that would have tied the game with less than four minutes to go. Then he got careless and threw the pass that Samuel intercepted.

So he joined Peyton Manning, Tony Romo and eight other quarterbacks who couldn't beat the Patriots.

"A win would have been great, but we can't talk about it," Feeley said. "It's tough. I take full responsibility for the whole deal."

A. J. Feeley
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For the Miami Dolphins placekicker, see Jay Feely.
A. J. Feeley Philadelphia Eagles ― No. 14
Quarterback
Date of Birth: May 16, 1977 (1977-05-16) (age 30)
Place of Birth: Caldwell, Idaho
Height: 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Weight: 220 lb (100 kg)
National Football League Debut
2001 for the Philadelphia Eagles
Career Highlights and Awards
No notable achievements

Career History
College: Oregon
NFL Draft: 2001 / Round: 5 / Pick: 155
Teams:

Philadelphia Eagles (2001-2003)
Miami Dolphins (2004-2005)
San Diego Chargers (2005)
Philadelphia Eagles (2006-present)

Stats at NFL.com
Adam Joshua Feeley (born May 16, 1977 in Caldwell, Idaho) is an American football quarterback in the NFL who plays for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Contents
1 Early career
2 College career
3 Pro career
4 External links



[edit] Early career
Feeley played high school football at Ontario High School as a quarterback in Ontario, Oregon. In four years, he passed for 5,428 yards and 54 touchdowns. In addition to football, he also played baseball and basketball, and was recruited by Big Sky Conference colleges to play basketball. He opted, however, to play college football for the Oregon Ducks.


[edit] College career
Feeley was a four-year letterman at Oregon, and saw most of his playing time in his sophomore and junior years. He was a nominee for the Davey O'Brien Award as a junior, throwing for 1,951 yards and 14 touchdowns before being sidelined with an elbow injury. However, most of his senior year he was a backup to starter Joey Harrington, who was drafted by the Detroit Lions, and now plays for the Philadelphia Eagles.


[edit] Pro career
Feeley was taken in the fifth round (155th overall) of the 2001 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles. He spent most of his time in Philadelphia as a third-stringer, backing up Donovan McNabb and Koy Detmer. His first professional action came on January 6, 2002 when he came off the bench and rallied the Eagles to a 17-13 win in a meaningless late-season game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

When McNabb and Detmer went down with injuries in the middle of the 2002 season, it fell upon the young Feeley to preserve the team's Super Bowl aspirations. The most sober hopes were that Feeley would be just good enough to allow the Eagles to slip into the playoffs. Instead, he guided the team to wins in four of his five starts before McNabb took over in the playoffs.

Feeley did not see a snap in 2003, but he showcased himself enough the year before to draw suitors from around the league. He was traded to the Miami Dolphins in March 2004 in exchange for Miami's 2004 2nd round pick (used by Philadelphia to select wide receiver Reggie Brown), and penciled in as the Dolphins' starting quarterback for 2004. Feeley was a disappointment, throwing more interceptions than touchdowns with a 61.7 quarterback rating. He and Jay Fiedler traded starts towards the latter part of the season. He finished the season with career highs in pass completions and attempts (191-for-356), yardage (1,893), touchdowns (11), and interceptions (15). Relegated to a backup role in Miami, he was traded to the San Diego Chargers midway through the 2005 season, but did not see any action all year.

Feeley was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles to replace Koy Detmer on August 30, 2006 shortly after being released by the Chargers. When McNabb was lost for the season on November 18, 2006, there was speculation that the more youthful Feeley might be named as the new starting quarterback, but head coach Andy Reid went with Jeff Garcia, who led the Eagles to a late-season turnaround and division title. Feeley did play most of the Eagles' meaningless regular season finale against the Atlanta Falcons, leading the team to victory with 321 passing yards and three touchdown passes.

Feeley signed a three-year contract extension with the Eagles on February 25, 2007. He is now signed through the 2010 season.

Starting in place of an injured Donovan McNabb on November 25, Feeley threw for 345 yards and three touchdowns with three interceptions in a 31-28 game loss to the New England Patriots.