Still On Track

Eagles fans seem to be of two minds right now, and I think I know why.  Leaving aside all the issues of Reid, McNabb and who-wants-who-gone, I think the downer dudes are spending a lot of time staring at these standings right here.  There's clearly a big three right there at the top that we're not a part of, but then there are also all those other teams that don't ever seem that good who are still ahead of us. 

I mean, really, the Cincinnati Bengals?  And, boy, there's a lot of space between us and Dallas.  

The happier folks are looking at these standings instead.  Sure, we're not catching the Saints or Vikings, but the only thing that means is it will be hard to be home for the NFC Championship game.  We're just one game back in the division, we play the Cowboys again, they don't have an easy schedule and if the playoffs started today, we'd be in anyway.

Life is pretty good right now.

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There's a weird sort of harmonic convergence going on right now with McNabb and the team, actually.  Again, leaving aside all issues of where we go from here, you just can't say McNabb's having a bad year.  Look at his numbers.  Even by the nutty standards of this year's quarterback play across the league, compare him to the other guys.  (And imagine how much higher his QB rating would be if not for a league-leading number of INTs that didn't really seem to be his fault.)

McNabb has been solid.  The weekly game of trying to pin all the world's shortcomings on him is just lazy analysis by people who can remember every poor throw, but forget everything else that happens on the field.

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Now, about that prediction.  Didn't work out that well.  Given the way the Redskins season has been going and the way their head coach seems like a dead man walking, I didn't expect them to show up and play with as much pride as they did yesterday.  That Dallas game seemed like a back breaker.

Turns out, these guys are still playing hard.  Which raises an interesting question.  We know Danny Boy's going to be looking to solve his problems once again by overpaying some legendary coach.  Heck, this time it might even work. 

I'm not so sure I'd make that decision, though.  As long as Zorn has an undermanned group showing up to play each week, you might be better off just trying to get healthy and really focusing on rebuilding the talent base.  That really didn't look like a disastrous sort of team.

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So you know how it sort of seems like Jason Campbell sucks against the rest of the league, but always plays well against us?  It's not really accurate, but there's maybe (a little) truth in it.  Campbell is 0-5 against the Giants and 1-3 against the Cowboys, but 3-4 against us.  The fact that his numbers are worse against the Eagles than they are against those two other teams?   Must just be noise ...

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It's amazing how much better this offense looks with an effective running game, isn't it?  When you're not asking the passing game to convert every single third down as you sprinkle in a run here or there to "keep 'em honest," all of a sudden drives are easier to sustain.

And here's a bigger-picture question.  Let's accept for the moment that we have no idea how good a defensive coordinator Sean McDermott is, but he's probably not as good right now as Jim Johnson was.  Seem fair?

Ok, so in that situation, how much more damaging are three-and-outs this year than they have been the last couple?  Especially as the Eagles play mix-and-match across the back seven to try to get enough healthy bodies in the right places to make some plays?

Seems to me, if you go pass-pass-pass-punt with a veteran coach and his experienced defense, they'll just shrug and say it's time to take care of business again.  Do it with a newer guy (who may need more time to figure out adjustments) and a younger defense (with guys who need more immediate coaching) and it seems like you're asking for trouble.

I don't know, something to chew on.

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I wasn't as big a fan of Leonard Weaver's demonstrative plea to run the football down by the goal line as I was McNabb's similar display a few weeks ago.  That's the kind of thing that can quickly get out of hand, which you know McNabb and Co. realize, since they all acted like the original flipout never happened.

I'm a huge fan of Weaver.  We could use a couple more Weavers on this team, actually.  But there's a time and a place for everything.

I'm also very much on board with the Eldra Buckley goal line package.  Even on the play he got stuffed, he hit the (non)hole as hard as anyone I've ever seen.  Give that dude even a little crease and he's going to pound it in there.  Keep doing it.

Also, glad we finally decided that maybe we should run one of those over the left side.  Since we've got Jason Peters and all.

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The boo birds were magnificent yesterday, by the way.  One of the pleasures of being a Philly fan who doesn't get to attend that many games in person is hearing the crowd at the stadium booing at the exact same time I'm booing at home. 

I actually think Eagles fans have gotten a little soft the last couple years, but they were on fire yesterday.  My favorite "boo" was definitely the one when Reid blew a timeout to get the two-point conversion called.  You could argue that the timeout was the right move -- after all, they scored on the play and Reid had a good enough explanation for how they'd already used up some of their two-point plays -- but to even put yourself in that position is a bad move.  If you don't make the conversion, you NEED to have that timeout to get the ball back.

The next time someone does one of those "McNabb sucks because he never (except the last two times) has any fourth-quarter comebacks" things, they should try to do an overlay on how many of those late drives were hamstrung by not having enough timeouts left.

Also, given the way Celek's thumb is "sprained" (as in, they'll fib about it the rest of the year and then we'll get the real story in May), I bet the crowd wishes they could have a couple of those boos back.

If we've learned anything from Andy, though, it's that you have to keep firing, even if you miss on a few.

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The biggest difference between the two teams yesterday -- besides the quarterback position -- was clearly London Fletcher.  You can look up and down the Eagles' defense for reasons why they're not playing as well this year, but it seems to me if you put one of those legitimate, veteran MLBs in the middle of that whole deal, these guys would be three PPG better.

Will Witherspoon has played six games for the Eagles this year, at two different positions and without much in the way of prep time to learn what he's supposed to be doing out there.  He has 35 tackles for us so far.

Gocong has played 10 games.  He has 32.  

There are three safeties who have more tackles than Gocong. 

Here's a good one -- Gocong, 27 individual tackles.

Asante Samuel, 26.

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We'll let Reid have his say.  The game-open OSK was still a strategically dumb idea.  Not just because you don't need it against the Redskins, but because you might need it against someone else.  That's out the window now.

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Can we please STOP talking about this?  It should be like a no-hitter in baseball.  NO one mentions it.

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Finally, it's time to stop talking about Avant in terms of the speed he doesn't have.  The question for any WR is if he can get open.  Avant's ball skills are so good, he gets open even when he's not open.

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Finally finally (since I just saw the link to the Mosley item at right), I agree with Mosley.  Juqua should have been flagged on that last play.  And if the game's in Washington, he just might have been.