Zagging the Ziggs

A few things I'm not seeing mentioned in most of the coverage today:

Lito Sheppard really blew that free shot on Bulger he had in the third quarter.  It didn't matter, because Klecko got him a second later, but that was a gift sack he missed.

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McNabb and Kolb completed passes to eight players yesterday.  None of them were named Lorenzo Booker.  The former Dolphin also rushed five times for nine yards.  I am, like the rest of the town, slightly over-excited about DeSean Jackson, but what has happened to our other big offensive pickup?

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Domo nitpicks McNabb a bit:

"I know I'm being picky here considering that he threw three TD passes and finished with a 131.0 passer rating, but McNabb should have run the ball in for a touchdown on that third-and-goal play from the Rams' 5 late in the third quarter rather than force the ball to covered tight end L.J. Smith. McNabb would have had an easy touchdown." 

That's all likely true, but if he had done it, he would have taken a heck of a shot from a couple of linebackers. 

McNabb seems to be playing a different game this year with his body.  He's getting rid of the ball in the pocket rather than hanging on forever to make a play, he's trying to avoid the huge hits, and he's not getting downfield to get knocked around. 

The thing is, when it's the preseason or the team wins 38-3, nobody minds this.  But at some point this year, McNabb is going to do one of these things in a situation where a different choice might be important.  It will be critical at that moment to remember that keeping McNabb healthy is one of a handful of keys for this being a Super Bowl season.

The guy hasn't lost his nerve.  He's just trying to keep his body in one piece so he's there for his teammates (and us) in January.  (You may want to print this part out and save it for later.)

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The coverage on the punts was great yesterday, but I think the key might be that Sav has really figured things out.  You don't have multiple guys down the field, turned around looking to catch the ball unless you're putting in some serious hang time.  I'll need to put a stopwatch on him later to see, but just going from the gut, those seemed like towering punts. 

Anyone who was there who can comment on that?

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Westbrook only got credit for one fumble, officially, but it looked like he lost the handle on back-to-back plays out there.  I realize you have to keep the big guy healthy, but that's the problem with so little prep time in preseason.  Luckily it didn't burn them.

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Maybe the wind was blowing the wrong way, but does anyone else think the Eagles didn't put Akers out there to try a 58-yard field goal at the end of the first half mostly because they didn't want him to get the heat from the fans for missing what would admittedly have been a very, very long attempt?

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The refs seemed to be mostly a non-factor yesterday, but one of the biggest improvements we saw from the Eagles was their four penalties for only 41 yards.  Both are comfortably below last year's pace.

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Stewart Bradley's sack got the Eagles' linebackers halfway to the total number they managed last year (Gocong's '07 sack came as a rush end).

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Speaking of Bradley, he and Quintin Mikell accounted for 15 tackles.  The rest of the team had 14 combined.  I don't even know how that's possible.