We're At A Loss For Storylines (Michael Vick! Michael Vick! Michael Vick!)

For all of you who were claiming that you preferred the straight blowout to the nailbiter, enjoy.  There was drama in Pittsburgh, in Washington, in Miami, but down in Atlanta, not so much.  Were I not an Eagles fan and didn't enjoy every last minute of a blowout, I might even suggest that this was a lousy piece of NFL product. 

Luckily for me, I am an Eagles fan, and everything I saw out there was just lovely. 

This was not the week that the plucky backup QB was going to confound a complacent Eagles defense that itself was frustrated by a stuttering Eagles offense.  The Birds rolled 34-7, and were it not for a few penalties and other sundry red-zone failures, the final score could have been even uglier.  The Falcons did not offer the Eagles much of a challenge this afternoon.  Aside from a couple well-covered punts, what exactly did the Falcons do well today?  Yikes. 

Some quick-twitch post-game thoughts: 

Let's get this out of the way quickly.  Michael Vick's exploits this afternoon were cheered lustily at my apartment.  I'll admit to actually being a little shocked at the degree to which Andy Reid embraced the Vick thing today.  This wasn't exactly "It's just like any other game, no big deal."  Nope.  This was about Michael Vick from the moment he led the Birds out of the tunnel.  While we didn't see much to convince us that Vick is a different player than he was a week ago, I have to say that I enjoyed the theater of handing Vick some gimmes in front of his former employers.  In a sense, it's slightly cruel that Falcons fans had to sit through that game and watch Vick (who totally sold out their franchise via his arrest) succeed for the very first time, but I haven't really forgiven the Falcons for the 2005 opener.  So there.  (See, I'm a bad person.)  

This was the wrong week to face the Eagles defense In fantasy football.  From the first series, it was pretty clear that Chris Redman didn't have his best stuff this afternoon.  While there were occasionally Falcons receivers running free, Redman wasn't accurate and the Falcons' only significant drive was aided by a couple boneheaded penalties from the Eagles, and it still fizzled on the goal line.

Drives that were not significant.  How much face did the Falcons save with that final touchdown?  An earlobe?  Half an eyebrow?  (I mean, what else are they supposed to do, right?  I know, I'm just being mean.)   

I guess Asante Samuel took Domo's backhanded compliments to heart.  Sure it wasn't always textbook, but this looked like one of the weeks that Asante Samuel acknowledged that he was responsible for producing violence as well as interceptions.  Good for him.  Maybe he's saving the effort to actually wrap guys up for the division game next week. 

The Leonard Weaver play.  And here we thought we had seen Leonard Weaver's big-play ceiling in the Giants' game.  But no!  As if the one-handed snag wasn't enough, Weaver then actually outrun a few guys across the field.  I even liked the presence of mind to wrap the ball up at the end of the run (when it looked like Weaver was finally gassed).

Executive decision: we need a shipment of those special giant helmets.  A head injury for Peters means that three of the Eagles' best offensive players will be on the injury report this week with concussiony symptoms.  This sounds like a great opportunity for the Eagles to lead and innovate with the fancier helmets.  Or something.  Mostly it'd be nice if not quite so many people were getting brain injuries. 

Additional homecomings.  After a costly drop on third down in the red zone early in the game, University of Georgia product Reggie Brown made a couple nice grabs, including bailing out Michael Vick's underthrown floater.  On a day when the Birds were thin at wideout, this was a good thing.  I guess we can all thank his awkwardly amortized contract for all that?

His hamstring had at least 83 yards in a straight line left in it.  Solid afternoon from Sheldon Brown.  I think I saw him get his hands on at least two balls that he didn't catch, and then he made a huge play on a fourth down to score his touchdown.  I guess his bum leg wasn't actually so bum that he couldn't make it all 83 yards.

It doesn't count as a lost challenge, but still.  So Andy Reid threw the flag on a play where replay wasn't possible?  Is that what happened?  I feel very fortunate that making that sort of error doesn't cost you a timeout as well.  I mean, I would be more critical of Reid's decision if I could actually claim to understand all the rules, but I don't.  (If they published said rules, I would have less of an excuse there, but, well, you know.)

And finally.  Do we think Andy Reid is at least considering pulling the Matt McCoy "We're just sick of you being an idiot out there, and yeah, you were a second-round pick, but we're done with it" instant waiver move on Quintin Demps?  Might still be some daylight between here and there, but it has to have crossed his mind, right?  

Go Birds.