- The Washington Times - Sunday, September 16, 2012

PHILADELPHIA — With the game on the line, Michael Vick made all the right decisions — again.

Vick scored on a 1-yard TD run with 1:55 left, helping the Philadelphia Eagles overcome a slew of turnovers to beat the Baltimore Ravens 24-23 on Sunday for their second straight comeback win.

The Eagles are 2-0 for the first time since Donovan McNabb and Terrell Owens led them to the Super Bowl in 2004.

“In the moment, you have to be at your best,” Vick said. “It’s got to be an any-means-necessary mentality.”

Rookie kicker Justin Tucker made field goals of 56, 51 and 48 yards for the Ravens, but Joe Flacco couldn’t get Baltimore (1-1) in his range in the final minute.

Flacco overthrew Ray Rice on fourth and 1 from the Ravens’ 46, and the Eagles ran out the clock.

Vick threw four interceptions at Cleveland last week, but rallied the Eagles to a 17-16 win.

He did it again, though the replacement officials almost made a costly mistake.

Down 23-17, the Eagles started at their 20 with 4:43 left. Vick threw passes of 24 and 13 yards to Brent Celek. A 19-yard pass to Clay Harbor coupled with a roughing-the-passer penalty put the ball at the 3.

Vick then threw incomplete as he was being hit by Haloti Ngata, but the play was ruled a fumble and it was recovered by the Ravens. A replay overturned the call, and Vick scored on the next play.

“There’s some serious calls the refs missed,” Baltimore’s Ray Lewis said. “It’s just the way it is, man, all around the league. We have to correct that. These games are critical. Guys are giving everything they’ve got all across the league. But these are calls, with the regular refs, if they were here, we know the way the calls would be made.”

The Eagles committed three turnovers in the red zone in the first half and lost two starting offensive linemen in the second. They have nine turnovers in two games, a major reason why they only have 41 points despite totaling 942 yards of offense.

“We have to get better at it,” coach Andy Reid said. “You have to take care of the football. You have to throw the football to the right person. This isn’t something we planned on having.”

The Eagles improved to 5-9 in home openers under Reid and won one for the first time since 2008.

Vick finished 23 of 32 for 371 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Celek had eight catches for 157 yards and DeSean Jackson had seven receptions for 114 yards.

This was a homecoming of sorts for Flacco and Ravens coach John Harbaugh. Flacco, who was 22 of 42 for 232 yards, grew up in nearby Haddon Township, N.J. Harbaugh spent 10 seasons as an assistant under Reid before going to Baltimore in 2008.

Tucker almost made them winners.

An undrafted rookie out of Texas, Tucker beat out veteran kicker Billy Cundiff in the preseason and has made all six of his field goals in the first two games.

Tucker’s 56-yarder at the end of the first half sent the Ravens into the locker room up 17-7 and tied the franchise record set by Wade Richey in 2003. His 51-yarder early in the fourth made it 17-14.

Cundiff was 1 for 6 from beyond 50 yards last year, and missed a potential game-tying, 32-yarder against New England in the waning seconds of the AFC championship game.

“I think we’ll be just fine coming out of this going forward,” Harbaugh said.

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