Jags Game Recap

Well, it took awhile.  But the Eagles finally got things rolling and took care of business against a one-dimensional* Jacksonville team that won't be sniffing the playoffs this year. 

Through three weeks, we know a few things:

Mike Vick can win ballgames.  I think we saw more of the "true" Mike Vick today.  He's not a guy who's going to complete 65 percent of his passes all season.  That was fluky.  But what he will do is run the offense, make a bunch of plays and act like a stabilizing influence for a young team with a shaky offensive line.

Right now he's basically a younger, left-handed Donovan McNabb, who also happens to run a lot faster (maybe because he's not lugging around 10 years of baggage).  I'm pretty psyched about that.

The defense is just fine.  All those folks who slandered the defense this week in the service of their pro-Kolb arguments really owe that half of the locker room an apology. 

No, Jacksonville isn't the world's stiffest test,but  when you limit a team to fewer than 200 yards of offense with only one turnover, that's a dominating performance.  The front 4x2 (you can't call it a front four when eight guys are in the rotation) had a dominant day and it looks like the franchise wanted to address Sam's concerns regarding the investment they made in Tapp.

Beyond that, we all had serious concerns about the Sheldon Brown-less secondary heading into this season.  I still think Miles Austin hangs two bills on us this year, but at least so far opposing teams haven't figured out how to gash us back there, even when they manage to give the QB some time.

Put it all together and we're good enough to win a bunch of games.  They're just going to out-talent a lot of the teams in this league.  That's a good thing.

But then there's that whole other tier of teams.  Not just the three or four at the top, but the 10 or so that can beat anyone else on any given week.  Games against those teams come down to playmakers (check) and the ability to execute in tough situations with a limited number of mistakes (incomplete).

Gotta clean up the penalties**, figure out ways to have success in short yardage, and continue building consistency among the youngsters and new arrivals.

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Next week's going to be a great test.  I'm looking forward to it. 

If not, perhaps, what we're about to go through the next six days.  Heaven help us.

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* Penalties.

** Yes, I know what the research says.  Don't care.