Jeremy Maclin’s Gatorade Crash Echoed Jim McMahon Play 23 Years Ago

Almost 23 years ago against the same Cardinals team, Jim McMahon took a sideline Gatorade bath similar to the one Jeremy Maclin got yesterday.

Although the Eagles lost a frustrating game to the Cardinals on Sunday, Jeremy Maclin had his best game of the season: He caught 12 passes for 185 yards and a pair of touchdowns. And he had the best comic relief in the game as well. During a punt return, Maclin was pushed out of bounds and right over a table filled with Gatorade! He then crashed into another table, knocking that aside and splatting face-first onto the ground.

Almost immediately it reminded me of another play: Almost 23 years ago, against the very same Cardinals in Arizona, Eagles QB Jim McMahon was hit out of bounds late and crashed into a gatorade table. McMahon actually hit the bottom of the table, and was doused with a Gatorade bath, instead of Maclin’s Slip’N Slide move.

“I got hit under the table,” McMahon said after the game, “and all the stuff fell. It was kind of a nasty feeling for three hours — all sticky.”

Jim McMahon Gatorade Bath

After the November 1991 game, the Eagles talked about how that late hit by Ken Harvey — and the trash talking the Cardinals were doing — motivated them in the second half. “I think the thing that really upset us the most was how they treated Jim on the sideline,” running back James Joseph told the Inquirer. “We’re just not going to take that. He’s our leader. We want him in the game.”

Unlike yesterday, the Eagles rolled to a 34-14 win against the team then called the Phoenix Cardinals. That 1991 season was one with a revolving door QB situation: Randall Cunningham was lost for the season in the opener, and Jim McMahon was one of four other quarterbacks to go under center that year. The defense led the league in yards allowed in rushing and passing — and led in total yards allowed by more than 400 yards. (McMahon now struggles with early dementia from repeated blows to the head.)

The Eagles lost, 24-20, yesterday, but are still 5-2 and in second in the NFC East.

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