Wow, Even For Philadelphia

I wouldn't say yesterday was the best win in the history of the franchise, but this is still pretty amazing:

Bob Ford: Despite win, Eagles reek of defeat

SAN FRANCISCO - It isn't a good sign when an NFL team supposedly good enough to make a deep run in the playoffs needs a come-to-Donovan meeting after just five games of the regular season.

That's what happened last week, when Donovan McNabb gathered the team after the Washington loss and everybody held hands - when they weren't pointing fingers - and sang campfire songs and pledged to stick together.

It shouldn't be necessary to motivate professional football players that way, but the Eagles are apparently an exception this year.

...

Yesterday, the Eagles freshened their record with a very strange 40-26 win over the San Francisco 49ers, but in many ways there is still the odor of ultimate defeat about the team. If it takes a full-blown team meeting and a week of rah-rah to dispense with the 49ers, again, that's not a good sign.

There are three kinds of teams in the NFL:

1. The couple of really good ones who generally don't lose to anyone (except when they do).

2. The handful of really bad ones who generally don't beat anyone.

3. Everyone else.

The Eagles are clearly in category three right now, which means saying they "reek of defeat" after a win like yesterday's seems a little bizarre.

Here's the other strange thing about this one:

The Eagles do have injury issues, but those weren't critical yesterday. Correll Buckhalter filled in very well for Brian Westbrook, the receivers were fine, and Max Jean-Gilles plugged the guard spot of Shawn Andrews. On defense, where there were no injuries, there weren't any excuses, either.

First of all, tossing out the freebie touchdown on the blocked field goal means the Eagles' defense only gave up 19 points.  That's not a wonderful game, but it's not terrible either, especially when you factor in a dominating fourth quarter that basically won this team the game.

Secondly, to wave off injuries to your best player, best lineman and both starting wide receivers with the notion that they weren't "critical" is ridiculous.  Yes, Buckhalter played a heck of a game yesterday.  I should have to do a public mea culpa for suggesting this summer that I thought he might be the odd man out this fall.  That was stupid.

But the truth is that if you give Westbrook the same blocking you gave Buck yesterday, he probably does even more with it.  And maybe you convert that third-and-one from midfield in the third quarter if you have Shawn Andrews out there.  And with Curtis and Brown, maybe you can pick up one or two more fourth-quarter first downs to salt the game away.

Frankly, I think it's amazing that anyone would just shrug off the fact that the Eagles won a game by 14 points in which they were missing more than two-thirds of last year's offensive production (67.4 percent).  And sure, you might argue that the game-ending interception return was fluky, but then take away the blocked field goal, which was even more so, and call it 33-19. 

It wasn't pretty.  It wasn't always comfortable.  But it was a win by a seriously depleted team that over the next two weeks may finally be able to get healthy.  No reek here.

Comments

[Gabe from BountyBowl]

Okay, so that's one fewer post for which I'm on the hook today.

Bob Ford requires an intervention. Horrible. Just horrible.

[James Fayleez]

The 49ers are a horrible, young team. For them to even be in the game with us says more about how bad we are then how good they are.

Ford is right on point.

[BFH]

James -- You're quite off, my friend (channeling my McCain there).

The Niners aren't the talentless bottom-dwellar they were two years ago.

Any win on the road in the this NFL is a worthy one.

I'm not one who is overly optimistic about the rest of the season, but that was a good win. This team has had more than its share of bad luck and late game misfortune.

[BrianS]

While this win didn't impress me very much, it was important to win this, and they did.

Combined with losses by Dallas and Washington, and now a week off for some guys (cough Westbrook and Andrews cough) to get healthy and for the coaching staff to make some adjustments, and this was something they can build on.

Everyone was pretty impressed with the Eagles after the Dallas game. I'll take an ugly win over a pretty loss any day.

[James Fayleez]

"Any win on the road in the this NFL is a worthy one."

I can agree with this statement, but this game showcased what are some of the team's RECURRING problems. Even after 10 years.

"Hey, guess what, we learned how to run the fade route!"

Last year it was the shotgun.

[Derek]

If the order of that game had been different (put the fourth quarter first, say) then few people would be complaining about the outcome, which ended up not really being that close. I think it's good that they had to come from behind though. Learning experience.

As for how bad the 49ers may be, you take away Westbrook, Andrews, Curtis and Brown and I'm not sure the talent gap is all that wide.

After all, make the 49ers play without just Frank Gore yesterday and how much would we have killed them by, even with all our non-walking wounded?

[bigmyc]

There was plenty of "stinkiosity" to go around. The early play of the safeties was a concern, the Dline continued to afford gaping holes to the second tier 49er Oline, special teams are still a work in progress and Donovan, ohhh yes, Donovan tried to stick to his routine with that mind bogglingly inexplicable gift to Takeo in the forth quarter....

There was plenty of reek. This team is good enough to win that game, but better than the way they went about it.

I guess I just have lofty expectations based upon what I've seen them do quite often.

[BFH]

One thing that is certainly bothersome... tight ends continue to ROMP all over this defense.

Vernon Davis had been praised for nothing but his blocking before yesterday.

[ravi]

don't see how you can kill donovan for that int. an objective view of that play would have to pin the blame on l.j. for giving up on his route, and showing his (usual) lack of toughness over the middle. but of course, it didn't stop l.j. from whining as usual after the game....

there's probably no shot of it happening, but i am praying for tony gonzales. even if he's only half the player he was in his prime, he's still FAR, FAR better than our "franchise" tight end.

[Eagles Fan in San Fran]

I look on it as a positive response to adversity.
The Eagles were on their way to a convincing stranglehold victory until Nedney hits that 53 yarder followed by the FG block for a TD. Rather than 17-16, it could have easily been 20-6 at half.
Then Martz made his half-time adjustments and all of a sudden it was 26-17 SF before you know it and then 5 throws a rare pick (to Spikes of all people - aaarrrggghhhh!!!).
Face, we all thought it was "game over" (and "season over") at that point.
But give them credit - they came back hard on both sides of the ball. Yea, still big red zone problems (Tony Gonzalez, anyone?), but they got the job done in the end.
I expect them to beat ATL coming off the bye and the big game might actually be going to Seattle the week after (they may get caught looking ahead to the G-men game that follows).
Bottom line: At this point, I'd rather be us than the Romo-less 'Boys (wow, how things can change in a week!).
Now let's go root for a G-men loss tonight to complete a perfect week!

[Eagles Fan in San Fran]

Oh, by the way, just a thing on Vernon Davis. Relatively speaking, he didn't kill us - those 6 catches for 75 yards were really just 2 catches for 71 yards (a 24 and 57 yarder).
He is a beast to bring down in the open field (see the 57 yarder), but he doesn't run routes well and is a "ball-dropper".
Bottom-Line: He still makes LJ look like an All-Pro.

[Derek]

I just think the weekly tight end comparisons are funny. It's not like LJ plays linebacker.

[Cory S]

Amen Derek. This was a road win vs. a very good defense, and a Mike Martz offense.

We're going to look back on these three early losses as a historical footnote. The storyline will go something like this...

*CUE DRAMATIC NFL FILMS MUSIC AND DEEP-VOICED NARRATOR*

"The Philadelphia Eagles of 2008 faced early adversity. With losses mounting early in the season, they turned to their veteran leadership to turn the season around. Before a key road victory at San Fransisco, Donovan McNabb brought the team together with a players meeting."

[Cut to snazzy-tie reporter talking about how Donovan is a leader, best QB in the history of the franchise, etc., and how he was the catalyst to the first Super Bowl ever for the then-beleaguered franchise.]

*/END NFL FILMS MUSIC*

It's gonna be great guys. Can't wait. :)

[BFH]

Yeah, the problem isn't that LJ isn't as good as the tight ends that are killing us.

The problem is the tight ends are killing us.

[Derek]

Someone should ask LJ how many yards he thinks he could put up against this defense...

[Eric]

You know what I hope they fix during the bye? The back side blocking on those plays to the right. DEs and OLBs are consistently busting threw on draws and stretches and coming all the way across the line.

Please teach these TEs to block better.

[bigmyc]

Well, I'd like to know what he said.

It looked to me that Donovan did his usual, "lock on the reciever for dear life" thing and threw the ball right where the LB was standing. What I saw was L.J. "shocked" to see that McNabb was actually gonna throw the ball with Spikes standing right there and had to adjust....didn't it look to anyone that L.J. was braking off the route to avoid this?????

That's what I saw. Either way, gang, that hit Spikes in the bread basket.

[Andrew]

Bob Ford is upholding the proud Philadelphia tradition of being the only place where you can "experience the thrill of victory and the agony of reading about it the next day."

[Andrew]

Cory S

I like your way of thinking. It matches mine.

The music is playing my head.

[Andrew]

Cory S

The NFL music in my head comes with a highlight of David Akers booting a 54 yarder to win the Super Bowl and him being mobbed by his teammates.

[ravi]

"his usual lock on the receiver for dear life"? it really can't be that usual for a guy who is in the top 5 lowest int percentage of ALL TIME.

look, you can criticize mcnabb for his tendency to hold the ball too long, take unnecessary sacks, and occasionally throw some balls in the dirt (which isn't quite as bad as people make it out to be, considering it contributes significantly to his low int percentage).

but you can't have it both ways. and it irritates me when the same people who kill donovan for not getting rid of the ball, for not throwing it downfield and just checking down instead (even on third and long), then turn around and criticize him on plays where he actually trusts his receiver and puts the ball out there for the receiver to make a play.

the bottom line on that play - LJ had a route that was clearly designed to run over the middle. mcnabb anticipated him running his route and threw the ball there. yes, 5 probably didn't see spikes, and can be faulted for that. but there is NO excuse for giving up on that route, which lj clearly did. and if the excuse is that he was "shocked" to be thrown the ball, then he is an even bigger headcase than i thought. and then to turn around after the game and cry about not getting enough opportunities to catch the ball is a joke.

LJ has plenty of ability, but he has zero mental toughness, and while he has improved his blocking, he too often gets blown up, or makes mental mistakes, particularly in the red zone (like lining up on the wrong side on the critical 3rd down last week and getting thrown backwards by justin smith yesterday)....

one of the most overlooked reasons for our red zone struggles the last few years is we don't have a reliable tight end. think about how chad lewis, and even jeff thomason, were always safe targets near the goal line in years past. and yes, i know lj made a nice td catch yesterday. but that's generally been lacking....and i like celek, but he's not a frontline starter in this league.

sorry for the long post, but my main point is that we absolutely need to make tight end a priority in the offseason, provided we are still running AR's offense. i'd love to get gonzalez, but doubt it's gonna happen.

[Phil]

Speaking of LB - what happened to Patrick Willis? I don't remember them calling his name at all.

I think we need to give Reid (or the OL or whomever was responsible for taking care of Willis yesterday) a little bit of credit for taking care of their best defensive player.

[Derek]

I thought it was a bad throw by McNabb, but you absolutely can't bail out on your QB like that.

As for Willis, he did lead them in tackles, but was mostly quiet.

[Eric]

McNabb is actually first in lowest INT% of all-time. Still top 5, but yeah, the best.

[Coray S]

"The NFL music in my head comes with a highlight of David Akers booting a 54 yarder to win the Super Bowl and him being mobbed by his teammates."

YES! Love it. I can see it now. Big Red runs on to the field and jumps on top of the pile as somewhere TO does situps and cries.