More Questions Raised Than Answered

On a night when all the focus was on the linebacking corps, Chris Gocong and Omar Gaither did little to reassure a nervous fan base that everything was under control in the middle of the field.

Gocong especially continued to ... um ... do whatever is the opposite of shine.  He's still struggling to get off blocks and when he's matched up with a ballcarrier in the open field, it's often not a pretty sight.  On more than one occasion this evening Gocong had a bead on a guy who then dropped him with an NFL-caliber shake move.  Of the 22 positions on the field, right now Gocong is the biggest worry.

Gaither struggled somewhat in his first action as a starter, but I'm still much less worried about him.  His biggest problem is going to be that the Eagles cut Trotter before conventional wisdom had settled around the idea that the old guy didn't have it any more.  In the eyes of the fans, he's playing against a ghost more than anything else.  Every mistake he makes is going to be magnified.

Of course, the biggest bonk of the night once again came from Sean Considine, who actually appeared to hit Heath Miller early on a deep pass play up the seam, but caused so little damage that Miller easily caught the ball and then took off down the field.  On the Wingheads board, "mprincz" compared the play to a bug hitting a windshield, but truthfully bugs do more damage than that.

There were some bright spots.  McNabb continues to look sharp and Kevin Kolb made some nice throws.  The defensive line caused all kinds of (unrewarded) havoc.  TKO made a huge play down on the goal line, forcing a fumble and saving seven points.  And Sav Rocca came out very strong, dropping his first three punts inside the 10-yard line, before cooling off a bit.

But the story of the night was once again mistakes.  Passes dropped by receivers and cornerbacks.  Blocks missed all over the place, particularly at right guard, where Nick Cole continued the three-game streak of fill-ins who are not -- and never will be -- half as good as Shawn Andrews.  Screen recognition was particularly bad, with the Eagles' youngsters looking like they need some practice time in that area.

With that said, I don't think this game was as bad as it looked on first viewing.  On defense, Jim Johnson unveiled a whole new bag of tricks.  On one series he had Juqua Thomas playing as a standup linebacker on every play.  At another time, he stood up Kearse and Cole on the edges and just had two down linemen.  He also ran a fair amount of three-man fronts, with some blitz packages that we've never seen before.  It didn't all work, but it's an indication that the salty old dog hasn't run out of new ideas, and the preseason is the time when you try those things out.   

The offense had some hiccups, but when you're playing without Westbrook -- who showed up for only one series -- and Andrews -- who should be healthy by the start of the regular season -- you're just not going to be as strong. 

The best news was no major injuries.  And the poor play by the linebackers gave Wingheads "JaxEagle" the best line of the night:

"rumor is that the eagles are in negotations to sign free agent jeremiah trotter..."