Next Day Thoughts

Ok, let's do this...

Sav Rocca was better than he looked to the naked eye.  Eagles fans have been wondering where all those booming 60-yard kicks have gone since the preseason, but Rocca hasn't really been bad, just inconsistent.  The one everyone is going to remember was the 33-yarder near the end of the second-quarter that didn't do a good enough job pinning the Redskins deep.  If he'd gotten that down near the end zone, Joe Gibbs might have sent in three straight running days and called it a half.  But here are his punts on the night:

45 yards -- no return
39 yards -- no return (muffed)
33 yards -- no return
56 yards -- 8 yard return
43 yards -- 9 yard return

That gave Sav a gross average of 43.2 and a 39.8 net.  I think he's focusing very much on hang time right now, which is why we're seeing shorter kicks but no returns.  He needs to get a little more consistent -- although it's fun watching punt returners who have no idea where to line up -- but compare those numbers to Dirk's last three years and you'll see it's not that bad.  Maybe he'll be the first guy to break the mythical 40.0 net barrier.

What's it take to get a holding call?  On the list of reasons the Eagles lost last night, this one blown call doesn't make the top 10, but I'm tired of seeing our linemen getting mauled out there with no calls.  Take a look at the big scramble Campbell had at the end of the first half to set up that bizarre touchdown series.

Jamaal Jackson isn't the only guy in the league you can call holding on, Mr. Carollo. 

Something's up with the offensive line.  It's not just that William (Tra) Thomas left the game with back spasms and had to be replaced by Winston Justice.  The Eagles also activated eight linemen for the first time in a while, getting Max Jean-Gilles on the active roster and sitting Tony Hunt.  That may just have been due to pre-game concerns about Thomas' back, but you never know.

No one's complaining about Jim Johnson's schemes right now, are they?  There were all kinds of interesting things happening out there last night.  I saw Sheldon Brown playing the deep middle and both safeties up in the box.  He had coverages where both starting cornerbacks were covering Santana Moss.  He continued to present a moving target by constantly swapping packages and players.  He's also still running that zone-blitz where Trent Cole drops and then has a hard time trying to cover somebody.

Well, three out of four ain't bad.  The defense has looked pretty good so far, but whatever failings they do have are not the fault of the coaching.  Which leads to...

The defensive line has a problem.  The Redskins were playing with a backup right tackle and a backup right guard, and yet the Eagles couldn't get any pressure on Campbell when they just brought the four down linemen.  I plan to focus on Kearse when I re-watch the game, but at first blush, he's not giving them anything out there.  JT Thomas is easily outplaying him right now in his limited action.  And Trent Cole spent most of the night getting stoned too, although Chris Samuels is a pretty good left tackle.

Especially until Lito gets back, the Eagles desperately need to get some pressure up front.  Especially with the folks coming to town next week.

Omar Gaither is coming around, just in time.  After a slow start in the preseason and game one, Gaither last night again looked like the player we saw flashes of last year.  The Eagles middle linebacker had eight solos and one assist, to pace the team with nine tackles.  That's big.  Gocong continues to be mostly invisible.

That Dawkins hit made me sick to my stomach.  I'm grateful he was able to walk off the field.  Just goes to show, even when a guy's been playing football for decades, sometimes mistakes happen.  Thankfully, we're not looking at another Kevin Everett situation.

Finally, McNabb is going to be fine.  Post-game smiles or not, I'm sure he hears the howling that's just now beginning to build.  Here are the facts:

1. He's only 10 months from major knee surgery.
2. During much of his rehab time, he wasn't able to play, practice or prepare.
3. This is a timing-based offense, which means even small issues will cause big problems.

The guy's Superman, but he's not actually, SUPERMAN.  I thought he showed significant improvement over the Green Bay game.  So much, in fact, that I wonder whether keeping him on the shelf for so much of the preseason was a good idea.  He's struggled the first two weeks and the rest of the organization hasn't stepped up enough to bail him out.  Is that a phone booth over there?

Comments

Two questions come to mind. First, on the penalties, does anyone know whether the crew from last night's game tends to call a below average number of penalties? There were shockingly few calls. Second, on Hunt, could this be a repeat of the Bunkley situation last year? As I recall (although this may be wrong), Bunkley looked good last pre-season and then saw very little game time. Is it possible Hunt is out of shape or having a hard time learning the plays? I can't figure out why, after his performance in pre-season, he isn't in there.

[Helmfish]

Wow, blaming a lack of penalty calls you hope would break in the Eagles way... sounds worse than the bellyaching coming out of Seattle after their Superbowl flub a few years ago. Face it, this isn't the Eagles year, and at best it's a transition year between McNabb and Kolb. The window on the Superbowl has slammed shut for the time being, and now we're cycling back around to the Redskins and Cowboys being the dominating teams in this division.

[dan]

No matter how much I dislike the Eagles, I've always had mucho respect for Dawkins. He's been a Cowboy killer in the past and is a damn hard hitter. I hope he is OK.

[BGN]

I had a feeling that with a guy like Randle El back there that the coaching staff told Rocca to kick em sky high. Like you said, ARE brely got a chance to return one.

On the defensive line, I thought there was a lack of pressure on the QB... but I thought they did a reasonably good job against the run. It especially seemed like the DTs were pushing the Redskins interior around.

I'm glad you brought up the offensive line. To me, it looked as if McNabb needed an extra split second out there... On the other hand, maybe he is getting enough time but the WR's aren't getting open. Hard to say without the coach's tape, but one or both of those aspects is way off of where it should be.

[Tom G, ballssticksstuff.com]

Ooops, that was me above... Didn't mean to be anonymous.

[ughnotagain]

Well living in ravens land - I hate games like that. McNabb looked hurried to me and not very confident. I only saw him encouraging his teammates once. I was very disappointed with the play calling AGAIN. The corners looked soft and lost. To top it off the announcing was aweful. Tony Kornheiser is really annoying, calling it a great victory for the redskins at the beginning of the fourth quarter - did he play football (he seems like he may have been a ball boy)?

[Al Fama]

I'm sorry I have the utmost respect for Andy Reid, but I have to lay this loss at his feet. I understand that this is Andy's offense, it has been the same offense he has run for 9 seasons and he is not going to change, but we can always hope.

I agree that McNabb will be fine, he is a hurt player who is being asked to (once again) carry the team. It makes absolutely no sense to me, why a struggling quarterback should be asked to pass 46 times and you only run the ball 20 times, especially when Westbrook was averaging over 6 yards per carry. I'm dumbfounded, but once again it's Andy's offense and he's not going to change.

Of course this teams needs to turn things around and fast, but I honestly believe they could be a contender if a few things would change. The way I see it, at this moment the Eagles need 3 things:

1. Take some pressure off your hurt quarterback and run the friggin' ball! This will not only give McNabb time to recover and possibly get some of his confidence back, but it will also open things up down the field. I am sick of hearing that the Eagles need better receivers, hell this is the offense that made an aging Garcia look like one of the best quarterbacks playing the game; could it possibly be that he wasn't asked to BE the offense?

2. Other players on the team need to step-up (I hate that phrase). When McNabb went down last year, it was like something clicked in all the other players' heads and they pulled together as a team, not just one guy sitting back there throwing the ball around.

3. This offense needs a leader, that unteachable skill which causes the other players around him to play their best. This is what I think Garcia (and Koy Detemer for that matter) had which is just lacking in McNabb. It was very telling when the ESPN side-line reporter (I forget which one it was at the moment) said that the coaches were trying to fire up the players going into the half, and the only person responding to them was Kolb. This, to me shows a lack of leadership. (Which Kolb might have.)

Of course, I'm just a Philly native in Columbus, OH so I may not be able to read the team very well.

Once again a great blog.