Recap: Hall of Fame Game

Wow.  Impressive opener to the season last night for the Eagles starters.  The backups didn't look great, but it was a little difficult to tell what that meant since the Philadelphia starters came out so early and the two teams got out of phase. 

But the first five or six minutes of game action were a fantastic start to the season.  Here are my other thoughts on what we saw.

(But first, prayers and best wishes for Eagles running back Bruce Perry, who went down in the 4th quarter and was taken off immobilized on a stretcher.  That guy just can't buy a break.)

Head Coach

What we saw: A very, very nice series of play calls on the first drive.  Reid directed a nine-play, 61-yard touchdown drive that featured some very effective power running and a great mix of run and pass.  Big Red (who looked more like Big Blonde under that baseball cap) also had his guys ready to play.

Clock management was pretty good too :)

Quarterbacks

What we saw: McNabb looked sharp on his only drive -- 3-for-3 to three different targets (Brown, Baskett and Westbrook).  Number 5 is going to be fine.

The other guys... Ugh. 

Garcia didn't look good, but some of that was due to the problems of the offensive line, particularly in the first quarter when the Eagles backups were going against the Raider starters.  Detmer still looks done to me.  Chang didn't get his touchdown, but he's still got the INT touch.  I still thought he looked better than Detmer, particularly given that he was out there with the true scrubs. 

Running Backs

What we saw: Westbrook looked strong and quick.  He's ready.  Mahe looked better running the ball than I remember and I feel safe with him back there handling punts.  We'll see what happens with Perry.  He had trouble hanging on to the ball before he got hurt and didn't seem to be running that well.  Thomas Tapeh did not look to me to be an effective lead blocker, but he may have a role as the "big" tailback.  Have to see more there.

Offensive Line

What we saw: The starting unit looked very, very impressive.  They were opening big holes and getting a nice push off the snap.  Winston Justice looked athletic out at left tackle, but most of the other backups seemed to struggle.  Not much running room after the starters came out. 

Still, though, if the starters stay healthy this is looking like a very good line.  I also loved the heavy goal-line package with Hank Fraley lined up as a tight end.  The Packers have done great things with a similar package the last few years.

Wide Receivers / Tight Ends

What we saw:  Not much.  McNabb was effective spreading the ball around, but we really didn't see anyone get down the field in the first couple of quarters.  Baskett didn't look star-struck and made a nice move on an early slant route, but we caught only a fleeting glimpse of these guys. 

If we've learned anything from experience it's that without the threat of the deep ball to back up defenses, you're going to struggle some times in this offense.  It will be interesting to see if we are able to get the ball down the field more in later preseason games when McNabb and his starters stick around longer. 

Matt Schobel, the new number two tight end, showed some good speed.  The tight ends also seemed to be working well in the running game. 

Defensive Line

What we saw: Pressure pressure pressure pressure pressure...  I'm telling you now, the re-birth of this Eagles defense starts right here with this front four.  In fact, it's not even really accurate to call it a front four when you can bring in guys off the bench likes Trent Cole (a sack), Juqua Thomas (three sacks) and Jerome McDougle.  Darren Howard looked like the real deal and it may be my imagination, but Kearse looks even bigger than I remember. 

This is one hell of a unit.

On the downside (and it's a small downside), Ed Jasper look old, slow, heavy and out of shape.  I don't think he's making the final roster.  I also thought the rookie (no not that one, the other one, LaJuan Ramsey) actually looked like he had some giddy-up. 

Linebackers

What we saw: Trotter being Trotter.  Matt McCoy looks really small to me out there.  I looked it up and he's listed at 5-11, 230 lbs.  Starting strong safety Michael Lewis is 6-1, 222, and on the field he looks much bigger than McCoy.  I don't know, this looks like another one of those Mark Simoneau situations where maybe the guy plays well early in the season, but taking on those big blockers every game starts to wear him down.  He had nice speed, but I wonder how he'll stand up to the pounding.

Omar Gaither made a couple of nice plays as well, later in the game.

Secondary

What we saw: Rod Hood still looks like a starting-caliber cornerback.  There's no way we'll be able to keep him after this season unless we can make the draft pick asking price too high.  The starters weren't around long enough to see much from them, but I liked the way Jim Johnson had his safeties playing up tight and aggressive early in the game.  Further down the depth chart, the only guy who stood out to me good or bad was Dexter Wynn, who did not look good.

Overall

This was a great way to start the season.  The Eagles came out strong, the starters dominated what may not be a very good Raiders team, and Donovan McNabb looked like he was back to being our Pro Bowl caliber guy.  Oh, and Akers looked healthy again :)

On the downside, we'll need to see more out of our second and third-stringers before we'll be able to feel too comfortable about them.  And tonight didn't do much to bring clarity to the wide receiver position.

I'd be lying if I didn't tell you I was excited as hell watching that dominating first quarter, though. 

Bring on da Browns...