Vick, Eagles Deliver "Miracle"; Pentagon Monitoring Korean Crisis
CHETRY: Twenty-six minutes past the hour. It's been 32 years since the Miracle at the Meadowlands left the Giants at a franchise low. Well, this morning, the Giants have a new miracle to deal with after the Philadelphia Eagles soared -- scored 28 fourth quarter points to beat them. DeSean Jackson's punt return for a touchdown as time expired. This is what you're seeing here, really sealed the disaster for Giants fans and, of course, for the team. Joining us from Atlanta to talk about the new Meadowlands miracle and the performance of Eagles' quarterback Michael Vick, former NFL running back Jamal Anderson. Good morning, Jamal. Great to see you.</s>JAMAL ANDERSON, FORMER NFL PLAYER: Great to see you, too, Kiran. How are you?</s>CHETRY: Full disclosure, I come from a Philadelphia Eagles family. I married into it. OK? It was not willing on my part at all. But they had changed the channel. I mean, a lot of my relatives said I can't watch this disaster, they're getting killed and they were quite surprised when they watched the highlight reel. Break down for us what exactly was going on in that game.</s>ANDERSON: Unbelievable. The Philadelphia Eagles were essentially out of this game, Kiran. I mean, you look at this game up until the fourth quarter. The Philadelphia Eagles were dominated on the ground. They were dominated defensively. In fact, Michael Vick had been pretty much contained. Then, all of a sudden, the fourth quarter comes and Michael Vick takes off. Essentially puts up al of his stats in the fourth quarter, threw for nearly 250 yards, another 130 yards rushing, and then, of course, we saw the last play of the game. The Giants' punter punts the ball right down the football field to DeSean Jackson, who picks it up right there in the middle of the football field and breaks down the middle, through a couple of New York Giants and into the end zone. And the most painful part -- right here at the end, he kind of stalls and makes sure he takes all the time so the Giants can't come back. Completing an amazing comeback in the -- in the fourth quarter where they scored 31 points on the Giants.</s>CHETRY: I mean, what's amazing now, I mean, you can look at the flip side and say the Giants did really well and played a really good game. And, you know, everyone's saying Michael Vick, he's so great. He's so great. Why did he let them get into a 21-point deficit going into the fourth quarter?</s>ANDERSON: Well, the New York Giants have a fantastic defense. I mean, you know, Osi Umenyiora and that defensive line. He's been doing a very good job the past couple of weeks of containing quarterbacks, getting to quarterbacks. And then knew -- we knew that was going to be a difficult thing for Michael Vick. They showed a possibility to get to him when they played in -- in Philadelphia the first time around and Vick and the Eagles were able to beat them. So it was surprising that they were -- they were able to be as successful, but they followed a similar game plan that the Chicago Bears did a couple of weeks ago against Vick. But look what happens.</s>CHETRY: Yes.</s>ANDERSON: Can I just hold this guy for three quarters? You got it.</s>CHETRY: Right. And this is the interesting thing. I mean, both in his personal life and what you saw in the field. I mean, people had written him off. I mean, he was --</s>ANDERSON: Right.</s>CHETRY: -- he was in Leavenworth. He was, you know --</s>ANDERSON: Right.</s>CHETRY: -- he was a convicted -- you know, he was a convicted dogfighter. He was the most reviled person in sports. And now he's a winner. He's an MVP contender. It's a redemption story and he sort of --</s>ANDERSON: It is.</s>CHETRY: -- lived that out yesterday. I mean, down 21 points. Who would -- who would think that they could come back and then win it?</s>ANDERSON: No, that's absolutely true. And you think about this right now, Kiran. Here's a guy who was in Leavenworth, like you said. Think of this turnaround the past 18 months, up Friday and in fact today this morning, Michael Vick is leading the Pro Bowl voting, the fan Pro Bowl voting for all players in the</s>NFL. CHETRY: Right.</s>ANDERSON: That's more votes than Tom Brady. That's more votes than Peyton Manning. That's more votes than the defending Super Bowl MVP and Super Bowl champ Drew Brees, three of the most popular players in the NFL, three of the top players in all of football. He is leading the Pro Bowl voting.</s>CHETRY: Right.</s>ANDERSON: So you're talking about this comeback and what he's been through going from being a pariah. And, in fact, you know, you're a Philadelphia Eagles fan. There were a lot of people in Philadelphia who were angered when Michael Vick was picked up by the Eagles.</s>CHETRY: Yes. They dubbed (ph) never to watch again. How times have changed.</s>ANDERSON: Yes.</s>CHETRY: How times have changed. Just really quickly, I want to ask you about this brouhaha about the dog situation.</s>ANDERSON: Right.</s>CHETRY: The president of the Humane Society came out. Vick was asked in an interview, would you want to own a dog again? And he said some day he hopes he would like to do that.</s>ANDERSON: Right.</s>CHETRY: The Humane Society backed it and people are furious. What to make of this?</s>ANDERSON: You've got to put it in context. Just like he said, some day, part of the -- you've got to listen to what he said -- part of the rehabilitation process, which, in fact, is true, is once again owning a dog and proving that you are capable of owning a dog and housing a dog with your family. He wants to do it for his family. He wants to do it for his children. And, in fact, part of his rehabilitation process, proving that he was convicted of such heinous crimes against dogs that if he can own a dog again and be a successful owner, completes the full turn around. He's done everything else on the football field and off the field. So, why not? Down the line, I certainly understand it. So, people kind of relax. He's not talking about getting a dog tomorrow. He's saying down the line.</s>CHETRY: Still a lot of anger and high emotion around that.</s>ANDERSON: True. Very true.</s>CHETRY: You can't take away his game on the field. Jamal Anderson, thanks so much for joining us this morning.</s>ANDERSON: My pleasure. Thank you.</s>CHETRY: Coming up in about an hour, we're going to talk more about this. Wayne Pacelle, the president and CEO of the Humane Society, will be joining us to explain those comments of Michael Vick wanting to be a dog owner.</s>ROBERTS: And meantime, crossing the half hour, it's time for this morning's top stories this morning. A new study says millions of Americans are drinking tap water contaminated with a suspected cancer-causing chemical called hexavalent chromium. That is the same chemical, if it sounds familiar to you, that was made famous in the film "Erin Brockovich." The study was done by an organization called the Environmental Working Group. They found the chemical in the drinking water in 31 out of 35 cities they tested.</s>CHETRY: Do they know if you use a filter if it can take it out or not?</s>ROBERTS: I'm not sure if it does or if it doesn't.</s>CHETRY: Pretty scary. Well, police in Britain arresting 12 suspected terrorists in early morning raids in several cities, part of large scale counterterrorism investigation. Police say that suspects ranging in age from 17 to 28 posed a threat to public safety. There was no word on what the target might have been. According to our Nic Robertson, they were Pakistani nationals, but not -- Pakistani descent, but not sure if they were nationals or if they were British citizens.</s>ROBERTS: And the Korean Peninsula on pins and needles this morning. Despite the threat so far, there has been no signs of retaliation by the North after South Korea's live-fire military exercise overnight. Those drills took place not far from the island that Pyongyang attacked last month.</s>CHETRY: With nearly 30,000 U.S. troops in South Korea, the Pentagon, of course, has a huge stake in what happens in the region.</s>ROBERTS: And, of course, they're watching developments very closely this morning. Our Barbara Starr live at the Pentagon. And, Barbara, you've been working your sources all weekend. You've got some new information to share with us.</s>BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, John and Kiran. If you want to know just how seriously this was taken here at the Pentagon, we have just learned that overnight last night, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, came into the Pentagon and spent a good deal of time here inside the building monitoring the situation as it unfolded. It is very unusual for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs to work on a Sunday night inside the building. That is the level of concern that the Obama administration had overnight about these exercises. I've asked senior Pentagon officials if they now consider it all over and done with. And they say no. That they will continue to watch very closely for any North Korean reaction despite the statements from Pyongyang that it's in their words not worth reacting to. They have been down this road so many times with the North Koreans. They still believe the regime is unpredictable. They will watch and watch around the clock -- John, Kiran.</s>CHETRY: So, this confrontation may be between the North and the South, but, of course, as we said, the U.S. has a lot of stake. I mean, would we get into the military aspect of this if forced?</s>STARR: Well, their hope, of course, is that hostilities do not break out. The U.S. has plenty of fire power in the region. But the military strategy by the Obama administration so far is to stay out of sight -- to monitor, to try and basically hold the South Koreans' hands behind the scenes saying stay calm, don't, you know, don't go over the cliff on this one. And the U.S. has kept its intelligence and reconnaissance assets up and flying 24/7, satellites, reconnaissance aircraft, watching constantly for any North Korean movements. They haven't seen much of anything out of the unusual in this time frame. One of the decisions was that the U.S. wouldn't move in with an aircraft carrier or some of the typical things you'd think they might do because they didn't want to be party to any unforeseen provocations. They wanted to keep it as low key as they possibly could -- John, Kiran.</s>ROBERTS: All right. Barbara Starr for us at the Pentagon this morning, watching the situation -- thanks. We'll check back with you a little later on. Well, we're in the final week of Christmas shopping now. You just got a few days left. How your smartphone could help you find that last-minute deal you're looking for.</s>CHETRY: Teens and texting. We know they do it a lot. But could it be harmful to their health? The first part of our series on cell phone addiction. Thirty-five minutes after the hour.