People To Whom I Owe Apologies

Since I still can't post the videos and I stole some of the material for yesterday, we won't really call this a video rewind.  But I've got some stuff.

First off, I owe apologies to three people:

Max Jean-Gilles -- I've been hard on MJG a number of times over the past few years, mostly because he seems to lack the commitment needed to pull a Shawn Andrews -- before all that -- and get his weight down to a more athletic level.  Couple that with his general inconsistency whenever he does get a chance to play and you have one frustrating player.

When Jamaal Jackson went down, I lamented the fact that Nick Cole would have to play center, but thought the biggest issue would come at the right guard spot, which was to be manned by MJG.  I was wrong about that. 

Big Max played a very nice game last week.  Sure, RG is a decent play to hide someone and he spent a lot of time helping on double teams in pass protection, but with the exception of the one false start penalty, I'm not sure I saw him make another mistake all game.  His run blocking was good and his pass blocking seemed fine.  There were much bigger issues elsewhere on the line.

Sean McDermott -- I started this yesterday, but I want to continue it today.  I still don't think he put together the world's greatest gameplan, but plays like this were not his fault:

Trips right with a tight end.  The slot corner -- in this case Joselio Hanson -- is playing an outside technique.  Prior to the snap, he motions to the middle linebacker (Akeem Jordan) to make sure he's ready to help inside.

At the snap, the three receivers run slants / posts.  Jordan bites on Witten and starts to follow him across the formation, before slamming on the brakes and trying to get outside.  Too late, easy completion to Crayton, nothing Joselio can do.

Jordan got benched for a play after that one.  How's that for ironic ... bring in Trotter because of his pass defense.

Another one:

Cowboys run a strong side counter.  Both Fokou and Mikell get sucked inside.  One of those things shouldn't have happened -- and it looked like it was Fokou's fault.  The runner bounces it outside, no one is there to provide contain, and a big gain is only erased because of a holding penalty (which wasn't even really necessary).

Things like this happened all day.  Like the first touchdown, in which they had double coverage on Witten, but neither guy was all that close to him.  Or the later one with Mikell's coverage mix-up.  It's up to the coordinator to get his guys to play well -- so he's not totally off the hook -- but the scheming was much better than it appeared live.

I was impressed, as well, with some of the success the Eagles had when they actually did unleash the hounds in this game.  Late in the second quarter, when Fokou's personal foul penalty gave the Cowboys first and 10 on the Eagles' 34 yard line, McD finally said "screw it" and started sending people.  Forced a field goal.

Jeremiah Trotter -- Yes, like all of you, I was very excited about Trotter's play in this game.  But I didn't go far enough.  Trotter was frickin' amazing.

You know he's only 32?  It seems like he's an old fart, but with a couple years off and some new knees, he looks like the same old (young) Trotter out there.

I guarantee there are a few guys on the Cowboys -- including Marion Barber, Andre Gurode and most definitely Kyle Kosier -- who remember just two things about this game:  1) they pretty much had their way with us, and 2) Trotter hit the hell out of them.

More cowbell, McD.

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Some other stuff that wasn't as good:

• I think the Eagles need to give Winston Justice a bit more help this game.  We're going to live and die based on letting Peters do his solo act, but Justice did not look at all comfortable out there.
• On the play that ended the first half, McNabb threw the ball behind Westbrook.  He managed to catch it, but the lost momentum got him tackled in bounds.
• Sheldon actually wasn't supposed to have inside help on the play he committed pass interference.  Joselio was either guessing or just made a mistake.
• Rocca actually had a nice day in terms of distance, but the failed opportunity to pin the Cowboys -- after the timeout -- really hurt.
• Yes, Jason Peters spent most of the second half false-starting, in a legal manner, I guess.
• Macho Harris had a terrible game.  He looked lost in coverage and he didn't even seem all that keen on hitting people, which is usually a strength of his.  I guess we ping-pong back to Sean Jones this week.

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Last bit, about the offense.  Marty took the blame Thursday for the offense's inability to score points.  That wasn't just a magnanimous, player-protecting gesture.  Dallas seemed to be a few steps ahead of us, like on this play, a crossing route to DeSean Jackson:

The Eagles have in their basic 3WR personnel, but they split everyone out wide.  Dallas is in nickel, but just from a numbers standpoint, this seems like advantage Eagles, especially inside, where three WRs are working against two LBs and a CB.

Unfortunately, Dallas has seen this show before.  The two X's above in the black rectangle are both linebackers.  The cornerback sits in the middle of the field.  Avant and Maclin run a crossing release that attempts to create enough confusion to allow DeSean to get underneath them cleanly for a route across the field.  Westbrook and Celek run deep routes to clear the underneath zones.

The problem is that not only has Dallas figured out a way to put a CB on DeSean -- they've even managed to give him enough of a head start (because he already is where DeSean wants to go) that he can actually run with him across the field.  McNabb finds Jackson on one of the few reasonably uneventful completions of the day, but Jackson gets dropped for a minimal gain.  That's a well designed and executed defense.

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I've asked someone if he can post a couple more videos for us tomorrow.  If he can, I'll be back with highlights on two more plays to which diagrams can't really do justice.