Eagles / Packers Game Recap

Why am I so excited right now?

The Eagles won a game they should have, once again putting together only one half of solid football -- although they mixed it up this week by making the second half the good one.

The run of sand-poundingly stupid plays continued.  And I'm not just talking about the two Buckhalter fumbles (the first of which looked like it might have been on McNabb).

The injury situation is disconcerting, not to say dire.  Brian Westbrook's balky knee kept him on the sidelines.  Cornerbacks Lito Sheppard (ankle) and Rod Hood (heel) sat this one out.  Starting wide receivers Reggie Brown (shoulder) and Donte Stallworth (hamstring) both left the game with injuries that didn't exactly look minor.  With Stallworth, you could tell early on he wasn't 100 percent.  There was one deep ball in particular where he had a step on his man, McNabb put it out there for him to run under, Donte reached back for that next gear ... and it wasn't there.

And yet, I've got a really good feeling right now.  The team may not be in any shape to play the Cowboys next Sunday, but right now our quarterback is playing better than anyone else in the league, our defense is finally showing signs of life and the Eagles are 3-1 for the first time since, well, last year, but I'm sure this year will turn out completely differently.

For Being Such Smart Guys...

Since this is now unfortunately a regular weekly feature, let's get it out of the way first.  Despite the fact that the Eagles ended up winning this one handily, there were plenty of stupid plays:

• Darwin Walker - roughing the passer when he threw Favre to the ground long after the pass was away.  You can't even look at a quarterback funny any more in this league, what makes a player think he'll get away with driving one into the ground?
• Buckhalter/McNabb - fumbled the #*%^$! handoff at the Packers' five-yard line.
• Buckhalter - next drive, fumble at the Packers' three-yard line.
• Reid/McNabb - running the two minute drill at the end of the first half, pass complete to Reggie Brown who manages to get one foot out of bounds, stopping the clock at 1:11 ... and yet the Eagles STILL have to call timeout in order to avoid a delay of game penalty.  Fortunately, the Iggs hadn't called any of those infuriating first quarter timeouts, so they still have three at this point.
• Offensive line/McNabb - huge sack on McNabb on third-and-long right before half time, which took the Eagles out of Akers' field goal range and let directly to:
• Harbaugh?/Akers?/Reid? - Akers audible-ing(?) to a fake field goal and completing an 11-yard pass to Matt Schobel.  Unfortunately they started the play on the 47 yard-line...
• Reid - second half, another blown timeout after a change of possession WHEN THE CLOCK WAS STOPPED.
• Joselio Hansen - I don't want to be too hard on Hansen, who played a decent game for a guy who was clearly a target of the GB game plan.  However, when the opponent is backed up on his own 11 yard-line and faces a second-and-20, that is not the time for an illegal contact penalty.

Jamaal Jackson also blew a couple protection calls tonight, one of which looked like it led to McNabb chewing him out a bit on the field.  But hey, nobody's perfect.

Donovan McNabb is Ridiculous

The guy is putting it all together.  He leads all quarterbacks in yards, touchdowns and yards-per-attempt while still only throwing one INT on the season. 

He even chipped in two rushing TDs tonight just to show everyone who snickered when I drafted him why he's such a damn good fantasy QB.  (Take THAT Baby Mannings!)

McNabb didn't play a flawless game tonight.  He still chucked up a couple of those nose-divers that look pretty good right until they bounce two yards in front of his receiver.  However, there is no quarterback in the league playing better football right now, and it was nice to hear the guys in the post-game show start tossing the letters M-V-and-P around.

By the way, someone better start that MVP chant next weekend at the Linc, assuming all the booing doesn't completely take it out of you guys. 

The 'D' Is Back (Maybe)

Ok, it was just one game, but nine points allowed to what had been one of the league's hottest offenses is a pretty good result.  More importantly, the Eagles defense showed tonight it wasn't a one-trick pony, playing well even though the Packer game plan called for lots of quick drops that neutralized the Eagles' pass rush.

Early on it became clear that the Packers were going to try to keep Favre in one piece by shelving the long passes and going with the quick-hit game.  The Eagles adjusted after a series or two and began squatting on those short routes, disrupting the timing and not giving Favre much room to throw the ball.  For the night, the great one was only 22 of 44 for 205 yards and two interceptions.  Not a dominating pass defense performance, but more than adequate once McNabb finally located the keys to the offense in the second half.

Run defense was pretty good too.  The 99 yards on 26 carries was, again, not dominating, but the Eagles managed to avoid giving up any big runs.  The longest carry for the Packers was 10 yards. 

I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention the fantastic goal line stand by the second unit after much of the Philadelphia viewing audience had left the stadium or gone to bed.  Starting with first-and-goal on the two yard line, four straight running plays, four straight denials by the Eagles' backups.

The starters on the sideline looked so proud.

Toto, I Don't Think We're in Philly Anymore

I was watching the Texans-Dolphins game this weekend with a couple of Houston fans when Mario Williams got the first sack of his NFL career.  There was absolute pandemonium, both in the living room and on the TV screen.  That crowd couldn't have been happier to see the kid finally get off the schneid, even though every single person there would have taken Reggie Bush or Vince Young ahead of Williams in the draft.

It struck me that that's not exactly the way that same scene would have gone down in Philly.   I couldn't decide whether the crowd would have booed him for taking so long to get there or given him the derisive "yay, you finally did your friggin' job" cheer that comes out when a guy like Pat Burrell gets hit by an inside fastball, avoiding the inevitable strikeout.

Either way, I miss youse guys. 

Reggie Brown's Hands

Reggie, please start catching the ball.  I like you.  You don't want to start hearing the Pat Burrell cheers.

Maybe They All Have Contract Issues?

For reasons unexplainable, the Eagles still have not put together a complete football game this season.  If you take the first halves of the games against the Texans, Giants and 49ers, and the second half of the Packers game, the Eagles have outscored their opponents 79-20.  In the opposite halves the Eagles have been outscored 53-38.  Maybe these guys feel they're only getting paid enough to play 30 minutes of good football?

Reid's Challenge

I can't fault Reid for his challenge on the play where the Green Bay receiver appeared to have the ball for two steps before Brian Dawkins lit him up and jarred it loose.  These days, I don't think anyone really knows what is and what is not a completed catch in the NFL.  Might as well take a shot, since there could be a rule that taking two steps while someone is simultaneously holding your arm is not sufficient if you then get decked and drop the ball out of bounds.

Call it the Dawkins Exemption.

Well, They're Not Benching Me, I Might As Well Cover Someone

One of two things happens when a young guy gets thrown into the fire as a cornerback in the NFL.  Either his confidence gets completely shot because he's being picked on every play or he stays out there long enough to realize that, you know, this is just what I've been doing my whole life, maybe I do belong out here. 

The latter occurred with emergency CB starter Joselio Hansen tonight.  Early on he looked a bit shaky, but as the game progressed he started to settle in and did a pretty nice job.  That was good to see.

He's still roadkill if he's matched up against Owens or Glenn next week, however.

We're Gonna Start Calling Him "Cingular" 'Cause His Coverage Is So Good

Ok, not really, but Michael Lewis has been taking a lot of heat for some pretty awful coverage moments so far this season.  Honestly, he's deserved it, but he looked better last week and I decided this week I would make him a point of focus by watching every play he had in coverage.  Here are the plays I saw:

First drive (third-and-six) - Nice hit coming over the top to help out Dexter Wynn.  Ball slightly overthrown and incomplete.

Second drive (third-and-goal) - Good coverage on Driver in the slot at the back of the end zone, forcing Favre to throw it high and deep so that Driver can't get his feet down.  If the coverage is even a little bit not as good, that's a touchdown.  This was a very good play by Lewis.

Fourth drive (third-and-six) - terrible camera angle, but it looked like Lewis was lined up at LB with Considine deep.  This is another way to help Lewis in coverage: let him play short with Considine behind him at safety.  Good call by Johnson.

Sixth drive (first-and-ten) - Nice close and tackle when playing Driver in the slot.  The Eagles acted like they were giving the free completion to Driver and then shut it down for a short gain.  If I could question anything here, I thought he could have been a little quicker moving towards the receiver at the snap.  He played it a little safe.

Second half - Lewis is staying really deep in his coverage.  He might honestly even be sagging a bit too much, but he's not going to get beaten deep this way. 

And then it happens.  Favre overthrows Driver over the middle of the field and it's a free pick by Lewis, but WAIT, there's a penalty, do it over. 

Couple of plays later, Favre sees Driver (?) open on a post and puts the ball out there for him ... where Lewis, who was in great position on the help side and might even have been trying to bait Favre into that one, slides over and makes the interception, tying him with Jeremiah Trotter (chuckle) and LaJuan Ramsey (guffaw) for the team lead with one INT apiece.

If They Counted Yards-Per-Play...

...Greg Lewis would be leading the league.  Every week Reid gets him on the field for a couple of plays and every week Lewis seems to surprise people who think our fourth receiver can't possibly be this fast.  I love the way we're using him.

On the second touchdown he ran a crossing route and then scooted into the end zone after McNabb found him all alone.  This play occurred approximately 20 minutes after my brother said, "I don't understand why the Eagles aren't running more crossing routes.  Those absolutely kill the Packers.  They can't cover them at all."

I'll slit my wrists if the Brown/Stallworth injuries mean Lewis has to start next week, but for now I'm thrilled with what he's giving this team.

(Just kidding Mom and Dad.)

An Open Letter to Jim Johnson

Dear Jim,

We, the citizens of Iggles Nation, absolutely love everything you've done with the Eagles' defense since you've been here.  With one teeny, tiny, little exception.

There may be some defensive ends who can drop back and play pass coverage effectively.

None of them plays for the Eagles.

Sincerely,

Iggles Fans

Other Thoughts

Correll Buckhalter runs awfully straight up and down.

The numbers aren't that different, but the special teams look much better this year, particularly in coverage.

Matt McCoy = Death To Screen Passes

The Packers have given us a taste of how the rest of the league is going to try to attack this defense.  Short drops, quick passing, take our defensive line out of the equation.  Now we'll see how our guys respond.

Funniest play of the night.  Near the end of the first half, the Eagles faced second and 10.  The Eagles go max protect, with Donte Stallworth running a 'clear' route down the sideline and Hank Baskett running a deep 'out' underneath from the slot.  Only two receivers in the pattern, until late in the play when the running back flared out.  Meanwhile, the Packers dropped eight into coverage and played zone behind their three down lineman.  This left seven blockers staring at three rushers, with three linebackers and the weakside CB just standing there waiting for someone, anyone to run a route at them.  The end result looked like about a dozen guys standing in one place while the receivers did their thing on the outside.  McNabb completed the pass to Baskett for a first down.

David Akers throws a nice, catchable ball. 

Loved the "reverse" screen to Buckhalter, but absolutely hated the punt from the Packers' 45-yard line on 4th-and-1.  You can say you don't need a big back for your offense, but then you can't turn around and punt in that situation and KEEP saying you don't need a big back for your offense.

Next Week

I mean, do I really need to say it?  Here come TO and the Cowboys.

Hopefully the Eagles will have enough healthy bodies to field a complete team.

Comments

[dunny]

nice Peter King format dude...you left out the coffee part though

[Saltzie]

Just wanted to say I love the blog.

And that I worried about the blitzing in the first half -- seemed like the Packers kept picking it up...too much like last year.

Keep up the good work!

props on your line "We're Gonna Start Calling Him "Cingular" 'Cause His Coverage Is So Good" line and props on admitting that your boy Joselio can't cover T.O. or Glenn. At least your honest!