A Deep Breath

There are two ways of evaluating this disgusting mess of an 0-2 start.  You can say the record speaks for itself, McNabb sucks, Reid doesn't know jack about coaching or assembling a roster, the receivers are terrible, the defense is mediocre and anyone not named Brian Westbrook should be trudging down Broad Street in sackcloth and ashes, asking -- no, begging -- for forgiveness.

The other way of doing this is by surveying this carnage, taking a realistic assessment of what's worked and what hasn't, and trying to figure out what that means for the rest of the season.   

If the first option sounds pretty good to you, here are the phone numbers.  I imagine the waits are currently pretty long.  I might try the second one here and see what happens.

Positive: The overall performance of the defense.  Last year at this time, we were all going nuts because the Eagles had managed to blow a game to the Giants despite holding Tiki Barber to 51 yards and taking a 17-point lead into the fourth quarter.  We didn't know it at the time, but it was a sign of things to come (the lead-blowing part, not the run-stopping part).

This year's defense has shown signs of significant improvement.  Like the offense, the unit is a work in progress, but running backs are already discovering that the soft underbelly of years past is no longer there against the Bunkley/Patterson tackle combo.  In week 2, Omar Gaither flashed the ability we saw last year as he led the team with nine tackles.  Chris Gocong doesn't have a long list of highlights yet, but on the other hand, he's yet to be taken advantage of, either.  That's more that could have been said for Dhani Jones.  Takeo Spikes has been more solid than explosive, but once again we haven't really had that on the weakside since Shawn Barber v1.0. 

These were all question marks going into the season.  With the possible exception of Spikes, the results have been better than we could have anticipated.

Negative: The poor performance of Jevon Kearse.  Seriously, what the hell is going on here?  I was going to lump all the defensive ends into this category, since it seemed like the team couldn't get any pressure at crucial points in the Washington game, but it's pretty tough to criticize Trent Cole for "only" having two sacks in two games so far, just like it's pretty tough to criticize JT Thomas for "only" having one sack in his limited role. 

Scroll down this page and take a look at the defensive stats.  Seven million bucks buys you one assisted tackled in two games?  He spent the whole night going against a backup and couldn't get on the stat sheet against Washington. 

Is it just that his knee isn't fully recovered yet?  Either way, maybe it's time for Juqua to get some more snaps.  I'm not saying you start him, but the best players need to spend more time on the field.

Positive: Some parts of the offense are working.  Those parts are "Brian Westbrook running" and "Brian Westbrook catching."  Moving on...

Negative: Everything else about the offense seems broken.  You can't argue that the offense has been good, or even average.  So far, it's kind of a mess.  But I don't buy the argument that the problems are talent-related and can't be fixed.

The first problem with the offense has been the offensive line.  Not that they've been bad, but they haven't been as good as they were last year.  In 2006, the Eagles ran for 4.8 yards a carry.  This year that's down to 4.4.  That's still slightly above average, but it's not good enough. 

In pass protection, things were pretty rough the first week, but improved significantly against Washington -- the problem in that game wasn't McNabb not having time.  I would suggest that this continued improvement is likely a reason for optimism.  The line should approach the level of play from last season.

The rest of the passing game has a number of issues.  LJ Smith isn't healthy and should clearly be sitting out until he is.  I just don't see how having him out there, limping around and risking further injury, is a good thing for either the Eagles or LJ.

The rest of the issues seem to be timing-based.  Consider this, the one guy with whom McNabb seems to be comfortable is Jason Avant.  That's probably because Avant is playing a possession role where he's not trying to beat guys deep.  He's getting to the right spots in the zones, he's running very throw-able routes and it doesn't hurt that he catches everything that comes his way. 

For everyone else, the timing is off.  Consider that one pass McNabb rifled to Reggie last game on either a slant or post down by the end zone.  It was a Nolan Ryan fastball and Reggie couldn't hold on to it.  Now there are two possibilities there.  The first one is that McNabb just threw it that hard because that's what he does.  But it was single coverage.  Donovan didn't have to worry about any help coming from the middle of the field.

What I think actually happened is that McNabb got off the timing in his progression of reads.  Because he was a little late recognizing it, he tried to make up for it by gunning the ball in there.  McNabb may not believe in rust, but that's clearly what it seemed to be.

As for Curtis, the biggest problem is that McNabb still hasn't figured out exactly where he's going to be.  Hopefully that turns around soon.  I also think the Eagles need to use him differently.  The guy's spent his entire career in the slot, he probably knows a thing or two about playing there.  Maybe he should get some breaks from going against press coverage on the outside all the time.  Stay with your two WR look, but put Westbrook on the outside and Curtis in the slot and you've got a mismatch somewhere.  Either the corner has to slide out to Brian or you have to put a linebacker or safety on Curtis.  Either way the other team has issues.

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The key point in all of this is that there are entirely credible explanations for what's gone wrong so far that don't require believing that McNabb is suddenly a terrible quarterback. 

Here's a comparison.  Say you had a wide receiver, let's call him Breggie Rown, who had a track record of success in this offense, to the point where the team gave him a healthy contract extension and the fans thought he was an up and coming player.  If Breggie suddenly had trouble hanging on to the football, what would be your initial reaction?  Would you say, "Man, Breggie needs to catch the @#%$!@% football"?  Or would you say, "Clearly Breggie just isn't a good wide receiver any more and we need to bench him and play someone from the practice squad instead"?

My guess is you'd say the former.  So why is it, when McNabb misses a few guys and clearly displays his rust from time off, people say "Oh, he just doesn't know how to play quarterback any more, let's bench him and put in the rookie"?

I guarantee you, the only people in football who approve of the idea of benching McNabb are the defensive coordinators he'll be facing in the next 18 games.

Comments

[Mark McCann]

Usually I agree with your posts but this time I think you are off with your McNabb sentiment. The guy has struggled since the Super Bowl, so this is a little different then his poor start in 2003. I hope he turns it around, but I have my doubts.

Regarding Reggie Brown, remember that he has had most of his success with QBs other then McNabb so maybe they need time to get on the same page. Further, McNabb’s struggles and Brown’s youth grants him more leeway.

That said, Reid has lost both of these games.... Staying with the pass throughout the Redskins game was inexcusable.

[Ajay]

I completely agree with this viewpoint. I think it has something to do with the QB position in general, where fans feel that when the starter's performance is sub-par, there must be a better chance fielding another guy on the roster with perhaps less talent, but almost certainly much less experience. However, this being Philly, everything is magnified. McNabb is not suddenly Rex Grossman, and Andy Reid hasn't suddenly forgotten how to coach a football team. This thing will turn around.

I regularly peruse the output of the Philly media, and take it with a grain of salt. However, McNabb's recent comments about how it's harder to be a black QB in the NFL is somewhat of a distraction at this point in the season. While that may be true, playing QB in the NFL is tough -- you take the credit for wins, and the blame for losses. I'm sure when they lose, Brady and Manning take on just as much heat. Yes, McNabb now has the "pressure" of having his replacement on the roster, but the reality is, the NFL is a business. The team has to protect itself. McNabb needs to return to concentrating on playing ball and forget what everyone else things. As Reid mentioned in his post-game press conference, he believes in McNabb and doesn't plan on replacing him anytime soon (read unless he gets injured, or some other unforeseen catastrophe). The FO doesn't give a rat's ass what fans think (thankfully, I might add), and Reid does whatever he knows best. Despite the loss to the Skins on Monday night, I am glad not to be a fan of a franchise that is being run like a real life fantasy team.

Regarding Kearse, JT seems almost as talented if not more explosive in the last couple of games. That being said, I'd love to be able to see whether Jevon's lack of production is because of his knee/lack of bulk, or him facing double teams, etc. Perhaps in upcoming games when we have a lead (I'm optimistic, I know), Victor should get a few snaps at DE.

[Me]

Mark, check out his stats from last year: http://www.nfl.com/players/donovanmcnabb/careerstats?id=MCN017517

[Rich]

I'm starting to get the distinct feeling that the team and coaching staff have always put far too much pressure on McNabb to make plays. Going back to last year even, it seems like other players do not step up when McNabb is on the field.

The pressure from the coaching staff is evident from game stats alone. How many games has McNabb had 45+ passing attempts? How many of those games have the Eagles ended up winning? I'd be very surprised if they were over .500.

When another quarterback is put in, the entire gameplan changes. This is evident going all the way back to McNabb's first injury and the surprising play of A.J. Feeley. It seems that once 5 is out, the rest of the team realizes that they need to start making plays. Anyone else notice this?

I'd love to see what would happen if this coaching staff devoted itself to a power running game. I don't mind a 3 and out on three straight runs if it can help to set up the pass later. By putting some of the burden on Westbrook/Buckhalter/Hunt, how can McNabb not improve?

[Ajay]

A correction to my earlier comments based on McNabb's PC, it appears the HBO interview was taped far in advance of the season. So it just looks like another media ploy to sensationalize meaningless news and create unnecessary controversy.

Regarding a power running game, I don't think the Eagles (now and in the recent past) are built to run that kind of offense. However, I do agree that when McNabb is in the game plan becomes a little imbalanced. While this puts pressure on McNabb (at least when he's rusty), it plays off his strengths when he's on target (such as during that monster month of September last year), which puts a lot of pressure on opposing defenses. However, in a situation like now, when McNabb is working to get his timing/accuracy back, the gameplan should be tweaked to account for this.