Bring On The Rematch

All right, they won the first one.  That sucked, but the chances were there.

Here's the thing.  After the Eagles crushed the Rams, we had no idea what kind of team they were.  The Rams suck, the Eagles got rolling and those things just happen in the first week of the season.

But after this Dallas game -- a game the Eagles played without both starting wide receivers, a big LDE who would really have come in handy, and Shawn Andrews for much of the time -- we now know, this team is legit. 

That's going to be a hard loss to swallow.  I have no idea what McNabb was thinking on that botched handoff to Westbrook.  Seems like one of those plays you run a million times and shouldn't have problems with it.

I'd remind folks, however, that Romo had his own set of baffling mistakes in this game.  They'll quickly be forgotten, of course, since his team won, but those things happen.  Sadly, this one went a long way towards costing our guys this game.

The one real negative about the effort tonight was the defense.  Of course, Dallas has some playmakers.  We weren't going to shut them out.  But the variety of big plays and blown coverages just really wasn't something we wanted to see.  Especially because once the Eagles got burned a few times, Jim Johnson seemed to tighten up out there.  Rather than sending the house to help out a game front four that wasn't getting pressure, he kept playing coverages, desperate to find something that would stop the bleeding. 

Nothing did. 

The big key right now for the team (and the fans) is going to be putting this game behind us quickly.  We've got Pittsburgh coming to the Linc next week, and inasmuch as Dallas is (for now) the class of the NFC, the Steelers looks like they might be the best team the AFC has to offer.  The players are going to have to quickly get over a bruising, deflating loss.  Otherwise, we're gonna get wiped next week.  The fans better show up on Sunday too.

So ... bottom line.  This loss sucks.  I'm feeling surprisingly rational about the whole thing right now, but I'm not going to want to get out of bed tomorrow. 

Here's the thing, though.  We just lost the first game we played against Dallas. 

Now we need to win the next two.

Comments

[Eagles Fan in San Fran]

Well said, Derek.
I compare this to the Pats game last year - showed that we were capable of beating the best, even if we didn't quite do it.
It is a statement game to the NFL: McNabb and the Eagles are back and, to borrow from Dennis Green:
"The Cowboys are who we thought they were! And that's the way we took the damn field. Now if you wanna crown them, then crown their ass! But they are who we thought they were, and we let 'em off the hook!"

Damn, I wish AR would stand up just once and say something like that, but I'm sure we'll just get the usual, "we were just a hair off - I need to put our team in a better position to win" coach-speak.

[Michael]

There were so many positives here. But the one thing I can't shake is how much the end of the game reminded me of their Super Bowl loss. They had one final drive and couldn't put it together.

The great teams and quarterbacks live for that two minute drill. But the look on our team's face said they were afraid of losing, not hungry to win.

I'm sorry to be negative now, but that troubles me.

[PhillyFriar]

There were two negatives from this game: (1) the pass defense; and (2) the kickoff coverage unit.

For the first, JJ will have to make adjustments going forward; IMO, he should risk the occasional big play in exchange for actually putting pressure on Romo. And for the second... well, your guess is as good as mine.

But overall, you have to feel pretty good about how the team looked. If they play like this week in and week out, then they'll be just fine.

[Derek]

Kick coverage was brutal. Seems like all our opponents hit the 25 untouched while our guys have to make three moves just to get that far.

[Eric]

They have to seriously think about replacing Akers next season. He improved some in the 2nd half, but kicks to the goal line or more is not acceptable.

[johnnyshaka]

More and more apparent that Dawkins has lost a step or three...time to give him some help or sub him out in passing situations because he got burned too many times. Not that he was the only one who looked foolish out there...but he stood out to me more so than any other.

The offense looked great for most of the game and it's really too bad they couldn't punch it in early on instead of settling for FGs. Obviously the final couple of possessions were tough to watch but I can't help but think that that the "old" McNabb would've taken off on a couple of those occasions and picked up a couple of first downs. Regardless, I'm not hanging this one on McNabb...he had a solid game.

Like others have said...the defense looked terrible in the second half...no pressure and that made it damn near impossible to cover all of their weapons.

[Eric]

'It doesn't matter what they say about me now,'' Owens said. ''The Lord has obviously blessed me with a lot of talent.''

Seriously, does this guy have major insecurities? Who said you don't have talent? The entire week McNabb, the secondary, and Reid were saying he's one of the best ever. Give it a rest. I swear his parents' belittled him growing up.

No to mention I think he's a closet homosexual. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

[Downunder]

Hi, how has Sav Rocca punted in the two games this season, is he showing signs of improvement?

[Richie C]

Can someone tell me the difference between an injured L J Smith and a healthy one?

[Derek]

Sav's numbers so far this year have been great, but he had two weird, low, line drive kicks last night that just looked strange.

[Shooglez]

Rather large pill to swallow. Seems like we've been on the losing side of the close games for a while now. We need to win these. Agreed, next two games need to be won.

[GFF]

Rough. I never thought that Colin Cowherd would be bringing me consolation, but... good to hear an intelligent outsider say: the Eagles are for real; never been more impressed with a team that lost; Cowboys are talented but Eagles are way better coached; if he were starting a locker room, with Brady out, he'd start with McNabb or Peyton; Cowboys always fade while Eagles get better; etc.

[Dallas was rthe best team]

Although Dallas will soon rein as the best in the NFC east I have to say. The Eagles have gotten much better over last year. Its a long season and this is only week 2. Please Eagles' fans stay true. You got a bad a$$ WR in Jackson. He's just young. I agree with the comment about Dawkins. He has seen better days. You will beat Pitt though. I saw them against the Browns and they dont have the offense to beat Philly. See you in December....