Deserve's Got Nothing to Do With It

Tomorrow, the good folks in the greater Washington area are going to comfort themselves with the fact that even though their Redskins lost to the knuckle-dragging Philadelphians, their quarterback of the future Jason Campbell had another solid game against a division rival, completing 68 percent of his passes for 215 yards and three touchdowns.

Meanwhile, in Philadelphia there will be an awful lot of fans who, though grateful for an out-of-nowhere win that (perhaps briefly) keeps the season alive, will be concerned/vindicated by the erratic performance of quarterback Donovan McNabb, who completed 71 percent of his passes for 251 yards and four touchdowns.

Wait for it...

Two things are exceptionally clear at this point.

1) McNabb isn't perfect.
2) These days, perfection is the only thing that will even momentarily silence the braying jackals.

As to the first point, that fourth-quarter fumble, after the Eagles had miraculously stopped the Redskins and given the offense a chance to win the game, was an awful play.  It would have been an awful play for a rookie, let alone a nine-year veteran like McNabb. 

Me of little faith, I thought that was the ballgame. 

McNabb also missed a wide open receiver in the end zone on the second two-point conversion attempt.  He threw behind Baskett on a slant into the end zone on the first conversion attempt and missed an open Brent Celek on a big thid-down play down the sideline. 

Unless I'm forgetting anything, that pretty much wraps up the "plays McNabb messed up" list today.  (Should McNabb have taken that big sack earlier, either?  No, but I'm not sure blaming a quarterback every time he gets sacked from quick pressure up the middle is really the most realistic way of parceling out blame.)

To counter-balance his four mistakes, you have four touchdown passes, 33 points from the offense and a 20-point explosion in the fourth-quarter after -- let's be honest -- pretty much everyone in the tri-state area had written them off for the day. 

Atta boy, Donovan.  Now how about a good old fashioned blowout next week against Miami?

(Oh, and just a second ago, as I typed this, Tony Romo held the ball too long and got stripped in the pocket.  Jerry Jones should see if he's signed that contract yet.)

- - - - - -

Having gotten the McNabb crap out of the way ... HOW 'BOUT THAT VICTORY!!

Damn.  Wow.  Amazing.

This was exactly the kind of game I wasn't sure these guys could win any more.  Sure, if they kept things close and ran the ball a lot, maybe they could make a couple of plays and hang on for a win.  But 20 points in the fourth quarter?  Three huge friggin' stands by the defense when it looked like this thing was going to slip away??  Another outstanding grab by Reggie Brown on a chuck-and-pray ball by McNabb???

The weirdest thing about this game was how for so long it looked like the same old story we'd seen all year.  The defense played pretty well, the offense scored some points, but in the end the sum total would be just enough to lose. 

Honestly, I think the Eagles were only three plays away from having that happen. 

1)  The illegal contact penalty on second-and-20 when the Eagles really had no chance of converting.  That penalty set up the 46-yard bomb to Reggie.

2)  The fourth-quarter how-do-you-not-have-six-guys-covering-him screen pass to Westbrook.

3)  The ball to Randle El on the sideline when the Redskins were trying to drive in the fourth quarter.  To me, it looked like he secured the ball with his feet inbounds, despite the initial bobble.  The Redskins were out of timeouts (doing their best Eagles' clock management impression) and couldn't challenge the play.  If that play happens one minute later it's a booth review and who knows what happens. 

That's it.  That's the difference between winning and losing.  And yeah, I don't want to take anything away from Westbrook or McNabb or Reggie Brown or the defense for that great fourth-quarter stand, but none of that would have mattered if not for one huge screen pass and two fluky plays.

Which doesn't make me even one percent less happy about this win.   

As for the Redskins, I'm not sure what was up with their fourth quarter playcalling.  All game Campbell had looked perfectly comfortable picking the Eagles' formerly-vaunted secondary apart.  Then it looked like Washington got too conservative, trying to run the clock out rather than trying to score.  I don't think that defensive stand happens if the 'skins aren't so predictable with the play-calling down by the goal line late.

Hopefully the whole Campbell looks like a world-beater against the Eagles thing doesn't continue for the rest of his career. 

Man, what else?  So much happened in that game.  On the other hand, I'd really like to focus on the day's other big NFC match-up, so for now I'll just mention one last thing.  James Thrash. 

Three points:

1)  Getting blitzed by former Eagle Terrell Owens is one thing.  Getting blitzed by former Eagle James Thrash is another.

2)  Why do career backups always seem to have career days against the Eagles?

3)  When you can't cover James Thrash by yourself, maybe it's time for you to join Jevon Kearse on the bench.  Unfortunately, since one of Lito or William James pretty much has to play, we'll go ahead and flip a coin next week.

Ok, crap, two three four more things.  How critically important is LJ Smith to this offense?  If the Eagles don't sign him next year, I'm going to be twice as pissed as I was about the Stallworth thing and even slightly more annoyed that I was by the Paul Posluszny thing.  (Gaither looks great out there, doesn't he?  How does a guy go from "undersized, but great instincts and playmaking ability" to "couldn't tackle his mom in the open field"?  Is it just a confidence thing?  Like he's on his heels and rather than just driving through guys he's being too tentative?)

Two, Tony Hunt had one carry and played the bare minimum the Eagles could use him.  Speaking of confidence, the coaches clearly don't have it in him just yet.

Three, Victor Abiamiri started in place of Jevon Kearse.  No one saw that coming.  VA responded by completly avoiding the stat sheet.  Did the Eagles even bother putting a left defensive end on the field today?  You wouldn't know it from their numbers.  Against the third-string right tackle.

Four, I just noticed 12 tackles from Spikes.  Nice game. 

Comments

[Boss Hot Sauce]

Brian Westbrook!

What else need be said?

[BrianS]

Donovan McNabb refuses to go quietly into the night.

I thought he looked very inaccurate in the first half, and I felt terrible for him because it was obvious he was playing his ass off out there. I haven't seen him run like that since last season.

He was great in the 2nd half. I thought the TD to Reggie was actually under thrown and Brown, who had separation, made a nice adjustment, but I don't want to take away from McNabb at all.

A great, gutty game.

[Dan]

Might want to revisit that barb about Romo, who when asked about the problems early, replied that they were throwing new and exotic looks at him, took a bit of time to decipher, and once deciphered, the 'boys went out there and took care of business in a rather yeoman like fashion.

And no, McNabb wasn't "great" in the 2d half.

All he managed to do right was dump the ball to Westbrook on a screen, then later hand the ball to him on a up the middle running play.

McNabb, if you guys happened to forget, was up for being the supreme goat of the game, what with his late turnover.

How many turnovers did he have again?

How many has he had all season, now over the last two years, now over the last three seasons.

McNabb of course has time and occasion to prove himself. The season isn't over, and the Redskins and Giants are coming back to them, {Giants courtesy of the 'boys this evening}.

So the Eagles can still get to the playoffs.

Let McNabb prove himself, let Reid prove himself, let them all prove themselves.

And we'll be the judge. And that's only right, 'cause we're from the area, we are the "Philadelphia" that they represent.

There was one thing worthy of praise.

And that was the defensive stand in front of the goal line. THAT prevented the game getting out of hand, THAT kept the game within reach of Westbrook's late game heroics, THAT kept the season alive. AND WHEN THEY PERFORMED THAT STAND, there were no guarantees, there were no assurances they could get back in the game, in fact, the defense had all the reason in the world to be demoralized. But they shrugged off despair and doubts, and went out there and made a stand.

[Dan]

One thing too about the game, .............. it sure got entertaining late, that's for damn sure.

[Dan]

Furthermore, have you tried actually blogging DURING the game.

It's pretty easy dashing off a comment or two during a commercial, during a stoppage. You'd be surprised what you could get in during a half time.

Not to mention it allows your visitors to exchange comments, complaints and observations during real time play.

It might increase your hits.

Might want to try it. But if you've a party going on, or at some pals house watching the game, ........... be a bit hard to manage it.

So it depends where you're watching, with whom you're watching, .................. and what you're drinking during the game.

[BGNJason]

As mad as I was with LJ for his careless ball control... I agree that he needs to be back. And if he's not he needs to be replaced with another playmaking TE, which I'm not sure will be there in free agency anyway.

For an offense that needs playmakers, the last thing the team should do is subtract one of the playmakers they actually do have. Especially considering all the cap room they'll have. At the very least, he should be franchised. The tag is very cheap for a TE(only more than kickers I believe) and would give them time to negotiate with him exclusively.

[rtadoyle]

So, all season long, we've been killing McNabb for not getting the ball into the hands of people that can make plays. And now McNabb gets the ball into the playmaker (as well as Reggie + LJs hands) hands and you're killing him?

Also, who lead the team in YPC? Why, that'd be Mr. No Mobility, Donovan McNabb who rushed for 37 yards on 7 yards a carry (5.3). In fact, he led the entire game in yards per carry, not just the Eagles. Did he have a fumble? Yes.

He had one fumble, and one interception. And yes, the fumble COULD have cost them the game. But guess what, this is one game that the Eagles offense and the Eagles defense did just enough to win. In fact, this is the rare game where the offense did more then it should have had to do, due to a poor showing by the defense.

As for turnovers:
2007- McNabb - 315 attempts, FOUR interceptions. ESPN says 1 fumble, but I don't think they have yesterdays stats up - so would that be two fumbles?
2006-316 attempts, 6 ints (over 10 games). 1 fumble lost.
2005- 357 attempts. 9 interceptions. 5 fumbles. This was a terrible year, but he was injured from game 1!

Anyway - all 3 years - 988 pass attempts. 9 interceptions. 8 fumbles (including yesterday, pretty much all in 2005).

In comparison, this season alone, the following QBs have 9 interceptions or more.

Derek Anderson
Jay Cutler
Marc Bulger
Phillip Rivers
Brian Griese (and he hasn't exactly started the entire season)
Vince Young
Eli Manning
Damon Huard

Oh yeah... and some guys named Peyton Manning, Carson Palmer, and Drew Brees.

Except for Brees (371 attempts) + Palmer (328 attempts), Donovan is beating them all in number of attempts.

You can knock Donovan for finding ways to get the ball into the end zone this year. But you can't knock Donovan for turnovers, unless you compare it to the rest of the league.

[rtadoyle]

Crap, it's early, butchered the last stat. Obviously not 9 ints over 3 years.

More appropriately:
In his worst year, Donovan's matched production of this year's considered 'elite' quarterbacks in the INT department. His fumbles haven't been excessive, barring 2005.

Donovan's been protecting the ball far more then other QBs. He's had 19 INT's over 27 games. Which is below average, if not FAR below average. And remember, Donovan usually throws more per game then 95% of the QBs in the league. Donovan's on pace to have fewer INTs this season then the QBs mentioned above ALREADY have.

[rtadoyle]

Oh, fun little stat from the daily news today-
"-- McNabb didn't throw an interception against the Redskins. It was his sixth interceptionless game of the season. He has not thrown an interception in 12 of his last 19 regular-season starts"

[Wibert Montgomery]

Well, that was one to savor. I was in the far upper reaches of that shit hole of a stadium and can tell you that one came to us courtesy of the karmic wheel. We had one of the big stadium speaker directly above us. I can tell you that those jokers play the music at that place at a volume level that is truly unbelievable - scratch that unbearable. However, what was totally clear and very audible was the crowd noise they were pumping in on almost every defensive third down - plain as day when you are sitting next to one of the speakers. It was clearest at the outset of the game when folks were still trying to get to there seats and the crowd just wasn't making as much noise but it continued throughout the game.

Billychick would be proud because that is just plain cheating - not to mention lame. If your crowd can't be bothered to yell for your lame ass team, you lose your home field advantage. I know it costs $100 dollars for the cheapest seat in the joint and another $80 to park and $8.50 (no shit) for a beer but that doesn't mean that The Danny should have someone else take care of the yelling for you.