Couple Video Things, And A Note About The Redskins

By the time you read this on Friday, I'll be thoroughly in the midst of enjoying several fun hours of flying with an energetic 10-month-old.  At least it won't be like the last time we flew, when our flights were massively delayed and the later it got the louder our daughter wanted to "talk" to everyone around her. 

No rewind this week, obviously -- and likely none next week since I won't be at home -- but I did have to chart the second half of the game, so I have a couple more things to share.

The first is another one of those filmstrips, like we did yesterday with the McNabb throw.  I did frame-by-frame on the play where Gocong chased down Josh Cribbs from all the way across the field.  It's not quite as cool as the Avant thing, but still has a couple interesting points.

Notice in the first couple frames how much quicker Trent Cole is off the snap than everyone else on the line.  I've mentioned this before, but this is a really underrated part of his game.  He's so rarely offsides, and yet once that ball is snapped, he's gone before anyone else has even moved.

Of course, on this particular play, he was unblocked and crashed inside on the running back as Cribbs ran the read option.  There's no way to know if he was supposed to do that or not, but either Cole or Jordan should have been outside on Cribbs.

Fortunately, the play wasn't that huge, since Gocong came flying across from the opposite side of the formation to chase down Cribbs.  Note that the NFL hash marks are just about six yards wide, which gives you a pretty good sense of how much ground he covered and how quickly he covered it.  This was an incredible play.

Click for full size:

 

Another interesting play is this innocuous looking completion to Donte Stallworth on Asante Samuel.  When I watched it back, I noticed that both Akeem Jordan and Brian Dawkins looked frustrated at the end of it.  This wasn't because Samuel gave up the catch, it was because the Eagles were running a "robber" look, with Jordan supposed to drop right into the lane where Dorsey threw the ball.  It was a fantastic defensive call, but Jordan blew the drop and the pass was completed.

Just another one of those invisible coaching things that are very hard to pick up on in real time.

(I realize the quality of these videos is getting worse and worse.  Part of it seems to be a recent slingplayer software change, but by far a bigger issue is the extent to which YouTube is compressing these.  They look much better locally.  I'll be working on finding a new video hosting solution for next year, but for now, if you watch it a couple of times, you'll see what I mean about Jordan.)

- - - - - -

I also want to make a few points about the Redskins.  First of all, I don't think this will be nearly as easy a game as many Eagles fans seem to think.  I'm getting the sense that most of the Philly area has already put this one in the win column and is looking forward to the Dallas game as the season-definer.

Vegas isn't that high on Washington.  FO doesn't have this one being that close either.  (But the geek vote is split, with AFS calling this one much closer.)

The Redskins just aren't a great match-up for the Eagles.  Their zone-blocking scheme is always tough for this Eagles defense, I think because our scheme is built so much on gap discipline and it's hard to keep those gaps when everything's getting stretched out and moved.  It's much easier when they just try to run right at or around you.

Campbell is also quite good at playing the three-step game, which can negate the pass rush and put a lot of pressure on the linebackers in coverage. 

I'm not saying the Redskins are all that good.  And the offensive line injuries are going to be tough to overcome, particularly at LT where Chris Samuels usually handles Trent Cole just fine by himself.  But I liked the Cardinals match-up coming at home with such a short break.  I loved the Giants set-up with that long prep time, fresh legs, and the lack of Plaxico Burress.  And since we've all been forced to watch the Browns on national television like 17 times this year, we all knew they sucked.

This match-up I don't like as much.  Our guys need to play well early to keep Washington from getting any hope going.  Otherwise ...