Jags Game Thoughts

^{- Posted by Derek -}

Wife's out of town, leaving me as solo dad for a couple days.  Not much time here, so focusing on quick hits you (hopefully) won't get everywhere else:

Stacy Andrews is the real deal.  I was a little disappointed to see him get such limited action -- fingers crossed that was the plan all along -- but when he was in there, he was really, really solid.  We knew he was a big dude who could move people, but we learned tonight that he can also really run.  He was pulling all over the place.  Most encouraging thing I've seen this offseason.

I don't get the Nick Cole thing.  He just doesn't look good to me.  Missing blocks in the open field, not really dominating at the point of attack.  With the news that Herremans is going to be out for a few weeks, this all gets very, very interesting.  I wonder how quickly The Enigma could get prepped to play left guard.

I like the way McDermott's using Gocong.  When Gabe and I finally met face-to-face for the first time ever last weekend -- that's right -- he pushed me on the idea that I wasn't worrying enough about the impact of the new defensive coordinator.  That may be so, but I love the flexibility he's showing with Gocong.  If you have a quick-twitch freak who's much better playing downhill, rather than reading and reacting, it's probably not a bad idea to get him right up into the action.  McDermott did that tonight more than a few times, both inside and outside.  If Gocong takes a big step forward this year, this could be why.

Joe Mays lost his job tonight.  You can put up with some issues in coverage if the guy is dominating in the run game.  Mays is not dominating in the run game. 

Two rookies switching places.  As Maclin gets more comfortable in the offense, he plays faster and faster.  As being the focal point of every practice and getting all the extra reps takes its toll on McCoy, he's looking a step slower.  Shouldn't be a problem once the real games begin.  Just don't forget how fast he was a couple weeks ago when he was fresh.

A few thoughts on the red zone.  1) Ok, that sucked.  2) On the other hand, things should get somewhat better when Weaver comes back and they give up the crazy pass happy ways of the preseason (58 - 19 last night).  3) They're clearly not going to give away what they plan to do with Vick down there.  4) They really are going to miss Ingram.  5) I actually like the idea of the "extended handoff" they ran to McCoy, but that was some seriously crappy blocking.  6) Shouldn't we at least try splitting Jackson out by himself to one side where he can go inside or outside on a corner who frankly has zero chance to stay with him?  Put trips up top, Jackson at the bottom, then build things off the slant.  Generally, I'm a big believer in the theory of throwing to your best guy when you need a play.

Weirdness from the two early quarterbacks.  McNabb looked much faster than we've seen in a few years, while Vick looked a little slow.  But if teams are really going to mush-rush three against Vick and drop a guy into a spy position (like the Jags did) he will need to throw the ball.  And since he should have all day to do so, that might not be a bad thing.

Jason Peters' only real problem is unrealistic expectations.  Of course, if Reid hadn't called him the best left tackle in football, we might not have those unrealistic expectations.

There's a fine line between being fired up and preening.  I'd respectfully suggest you should look a couple steps behind you, Asante.  Or at least that's how it came across on television.

Admit it.  This no longer looks quite as crazy as you first thought, does it?

Lastly, get ready for this week's manufactured controversy.  Key line:  "I know what we were trying to do [with Vick] and we were able to get that done."  Not to mention McNabb put up McNabbian numbers as the Eagles offensively dominated this game.  Don't worry, though, none of that will stop anybody.  We shall have sports talk this weekend.

In Other News, They Also Played a Game Tonight

^{- Posted by Derek -}

So, basically, Joe Banner was right.  Once the starters for both teams went out, the Eagles flat out dominated this game.  That's what happens when you have the league's best roster, I guess.

Of course, before that point, things were a little ugly.

Even by the sloppy standards of a first preseason games, it wasn't hard to find areas of concern.  Watching the way a patchwork offensive line "protected" Donovan McNabb, you had to wonder if the Vick signing wasn't at least partially motivated by a desire to solve the healthy quarterback problem through sheer force of numbers.

That or Reid's a closet PETA guy and he wants to put a rusty Mike Vick back there to get his butt killed.

We're also fresh out of healthy tight ends, now that Celek seems to have this week's version of the injury they tell us isn't that bad while they pretend Dr. James Andrews isn't on the other line.  Although "tight end" Eugene Bright did make a nice block on special teams.  He also got completely confused on a third-and-short running play, pirouetting in the hole and placing himself squarely in LeSean McCoy's line.

The first team defense looked pretty decent.  The touchdown drive was really just the one big penalty and by the time the Pats scored at the end of the half, the Eagles starters were off the field.  Not much of a pass rush, though.  And the starting linebackers seemed a little out of sorts.

Credit must of course be given to Sheldon Brown, however.

If you're looking for the big issues, I think you can focus on:

• The mess that was the line.  When Winston Justice looks like the best guy out there, you have problems.  And even there, the one non-inane thing Hugh Douglas managed to shout all night echoed this point here in the way Justice leaves himself open to an inside move.  I will say this, though -- I now feel better about Justice starting at tackle than I do about Nick Cole starting at guard. 
• Jason Peters, who gets his own bullet.  Way to show up in great shape and dominate, dude.  You may not have heard, but fans in this town ... they're a little short with guys with big contracts who don't seem to have it together on the field. 
• The tight end situation.  Covered above.
• Sav Rocca.  Let me guess, the new guy didn't like his form and so now we're screwing with his mechanics.  So long, consistency.
• David Akers.  Man, that was a crummy miss.  I guess we'll find out tomorrow what happened, but even with pressure, it didn't look to me like the ball was tipped.

There were a few other guys who didn't blow us away.  Joe Mays didn't make anyone forget about Stewart Bradley.  And I'm not even going to put Quintin Demps and That Other Guy in the same sentence after the way Demps sideways-ed his way into taking on that one block, before getting driven backwards and pancaked.

If you want positives, you have to start with the backfield.  Jiminy Christmas that's a talented bunch.  LeSean McCoy is absolutely the real deal, although both he and Maclin need to learn how to avoid taking some shots at this level.  Leonard Weaver, man, he might just be my new favorite player.  After that running-catching-blocking-tackling debut, I'd say the hyperventilation was all very much in order.

Eldra Buckley disproved all the camp reports (okay, just GCobb) about how he couldn't catch the football, finishing the night as the team's leading receiver.  Even Lorenzo Booker managed what would presumably be his first ever positive DVOA performance since joining the Eagles.

And Brian Westbrook wasn't even on the field.

Bears mentioning.  (And how nice is it at this point that the Eagles re-did Westbrook's contract in such a way that the veteran doesn't have to be the least bit worried about the rookie stealing his paycheck any time soon.  That's excellent.)

A few other guys I thought looked good:

• Dan Klecko and Josh Gaines.  They're both caught in a numbers game at that position, but Klecko just makes plays and Gaines did a more than credible job inside for a former collegiate defensive end.  Keep an eye on #65 in future games to see what I mean.
• Macho Harris.  Not that he did anything all that great, but the refs screwed him by calling out the wrong number on that ST holding call.  Harris, #35, was just doing his job while Sam's favorite new player Moise Fokou, #53, was busy wrestling his guy to the ground and stealing his lunch money.  Harris got to enjoy both a rebuke from the booth and a lecture from new ST coordinator Ted Daisher, all while his protests were falling on deaf ears.
• DeSean Jackson.  He's quite obviously McNabb's go-to guy now (first pass!).  Just as obviously, he deserves to be.  And now that Vick is here to take all those reverses, we can just worry about getting him the ball downfield.

Two final notes:

• On the Jason Peters sack, LeSean McCoy had a really nice blitz pick-up in the middle.  Not that it matters when the eleventybilliondollar left tackle gets beaten around the edge.
• I really liked seeing the way the starters were crowded around the ball at the end of the game, rooting the youngsters on.  There's a good spirit on this team.  They seem to enjoy playing football and, more importantly, really seem to enjoy playing football with each other.  That's a good sign.

With that, I'm going to cut if off.  I've got more notes, but I'll save them for the video rewind coming Monday.  And when I saw "video rewind coming Monday" I mean "I'm going to be a bachelor this weekend and I can guarantee you the video rewind is coming Monday."  Should be fun.  I love breaking down these preseason games.

One More Week

That certainly worked out a lot better than the last Eagles' playoff game in a dome against a team with a power rushing offense.

The funny thing is it seems like a lot of Eagles fans aren't even that fired up about this win.  I could be misreading the zeitgeist, but I had the intergoogle open during the game and there was a LOT of gnashing of teeth going on.  Even though the Eagles led most of the way and disaster was always potential, rather than imminent.

The Eagles didn't look dominant today, but is that what we expected?  They were playing on the road against a team that won 10 games and trotted out a really impressive run defense.  Their coaching staff knows the Eagles almost as well as they know themselves.  Their defensive gameplan was particularly well-devised.  I just hope Steve Spagnuolo was too busy interviewing for head coaching positions to take notes.

In the end, the Eagles pulled out a 12-point win.  The defense only went net minus seven, and didn't allow a point after halftime. 

They also -- and this was huge -- came out hitting at the beginning and kept knocking heads all the way through the last possession.  That was really fun to see.

The other guys will ably cover the story lines and recaps, but I do want to make one more point.  DeSean Jackson ran out of bounds a couple times today on punt returns when it looked like he maybe could have toughed out a few more yards.  Dodging the punter looked particularly bad.

But you guys have to think back to the beginning of the year, when Jackson took a LOT of big hits because he was still learning the ways of the NFL.  He wasn't going to make it through the season, so during the bye week, it seemed like the coaches really focused on getting him to get down and avoid the big hits.  I imagine the conversation went something like, "Dude, you're inrreplaceable.  Get the %$#!#@ down." 

We need DeSean healthy.  If he's not out there, this offense loses it's big-time deep threat and the guy who requires a whole lot of double teams when he's running down the sidelines (we saw again today how successful throwing those passes to Kevin Curtis generally is). 

So cut him some slack.  It's not a toughness issue.  He's just trying to stay in one piece so he can help this team win. 

Thoughts On The Giants Win

Ok, so first of all, these folks out there who are all, "Face, we won," should really find another place to go with their show-upping-ness.  It's pretty simple.  I'd much rather be wrong about the Eagles than watch them lose.  Any time.

With that said, I still don't think I'm wrong.  In fact, I think today provides a validation of exactly the argument I've been making for weeks:  In tough situations, it's not enough to be a really good team, you need to have enough great players who can make plays.  Without Plaxico Burress (or Brandon Jacobs in the second half), the Giants' offense didn't have that player.

I've been talking about Burress all week, and today we saw why.  The Giants just aren't the same team without him.  Not just because of the plays he makes, but because of all the attention he commands that opens things up for everyone else.  Without Burress, the defensive puzzle becomes a lot easier to solve.

You saw Eli Manning on Sunday.  The one everyone has anointed as "just as good as Peyton."  What a joke.  Take away the guy's stellar running game and his wide receiver security blanket, and he's just another quarterback.  Makes some plays, blows some others.  Nothing special.  And with a continued penchant for just chucking the ball -- Favre-like -- deep down the middle of the field when he's under pressure.

You win with playmakers.

- - - - - -

So the obvious next question:  If lack of talent has been the primary problem with the Eagles this season, why did they do fine in beating one of the league's best teams today?

Well first of all, someone had to win today.  And after the Eagles came out and punched the Giants in the mouth for 60 minutes, the boys in blue didn't look like they had much interest in doing so.

Also, let's be clear, I never said the Eagles had "no talent."  I said there were positions they needed to upgrade.  I said their "insufficient talent base across the roster can be covered up at midfield, but gets exposed by the goal line."  I called them "least talented team in the NFC East."  When I really dug down into the roster to talk about specific players, I wrote: "Most of these guys are pretty good -- it's just that not enough of them are elite."  Finally, I also said there was "room for future optimism."

With the exception of the NFC East remark -- I'm not so sure about Washington, but still pretty darn sure about NY and Dallas -- I'd stand by every single one of those statements.  My two main points all along have been:

1. The players, not the coaches, are mostly at fault for the depressing results this year.
2. The Eagles are short some of the truly elite performers needed to make a legitimate Super Bowl run, not just a backdoor playoff appearance.

How did the Giants game argue against those two points?  On point #2, I don't think the game really told us anything.  One win, as satisfying as it may be, doesn't speak to a Super Bowl run.

Point #1 is a little more complicated.  Focusing just on the offensive side of the ball for a moment, it's a little hard to square Sunday's results with what we've seen the rest of the year.  Why were the Eagles so effective running the football?  It wasn't just the big gains, it was the way the Eagles were able to get three yards when they needed three yards.  Or five when they needed five.  Or one when they needed one.

Was is schematic?  Nick Cole?  A finally-healthy Brian Westbrook?  The morale-boosting effects of Marty/Andy sending the running playcalls in pairs and multiples? 

I'm leaning towards the BW answer myself, but I'm sure we'll be spending a few days sifting through arguments for all of the above. 

Beyond the running game, think about the other plays that were made.  LJ Smith faking guys out and fighting for first downs.  A great catch by Kevin Curtis before he got his bell rung.  Where has this stuff been all year? 

Did Andy change something in his pre-game speech that suddenly got people to concentrate and play really well?  Or are too many of these guys just maddeningly inconsistent, for whatever substitution-based or individual reason?

- - - - - -

Something else to mention here.  As great as it was to watch the Eagles pretend to be the Pittsburgh Steelers for four quarters, the offense was almost a touchdown below its season's scoring average today.  And all it took was one bad special teams play and one too-soft defensive series at the end to make this a one score game. 

The Giants are good and all, but that really is something of a concern. 

- - - - - -

The Eagles are thisclose to controlling their own destiny.  As commenter Eric pointed out, if the Eagles win out and Atlanta loses one of its last three, they're in the playoffs.

Amazing.

I think B is a lot more likely than A, at this point, but it's still intriguing.

- - - - - -

Lastly, please shoot me if I ever write anything this condescending:  "Now, Andy, looking ahead to next Monday night against Cleveland, you might want to run the ball because, in case you didn't notice, your back is back."

WHAM

That, folks, is the sound of the door slamming shut on the Eagles' 2008 season. 

Oh sure, the team will talk a good game this week.  How they're not out of it yet.  How they just need to make a little run.  How anything can happen in the NFL.

Nope.  It's over. 

The wheels are off, the lights are out, it's time to close the book on Kellner.

Andy Reid admitted as much at halftime when he benched Donovan McNabb.  Yeah, McNabb was playing like crap again today.  There's no question. 

However, after Kevin Kolb came in and did his best Mike McMahon impression, it was just as clear that Donovan would have given this team its best chance to win today. 

McNabb's had a hell of a run here.  I doubt his career is even close to over.  But even if he trots back out next week as the starter, his career in Philadelphia is done.  We're just waiting to see what date goes last on the tombstone.

But it's time to find out what Kolb can do.  I doubt he's as bad as he looked today, but he's not getting any better sitting on the bench.  Throw him out there, let him get a taste of those NFC East opponents this year so he's better prepared next year for what's coming.  Find out if he's got it.

It's also time to get all those other young guys into games, starting next week against the Cardinals.  I want to see Booker.  I want to see Demps.  I even, yes, want to see Winston Justice. 

Reid isn't going anywhere, folks, so this isn't the end of the Andy Reid era.  It is, however, the end of the second third McNabb era.  The one that kind of ended up sucking, most of the time. 

I don't blame McNabb.  Those of you who do will probably be a lot less vocal today, after the anointed one came in and looked like crap.  But in the end, it doesn't really matter.

Either way, it's over.  Time for Act IV.

Just Good Enough To Lose

Look, there's a certain nobility to a scrappy bunch of upstarts manning up and playing its guts out against a superior team, only to lose in the end due to a critical flaw they just can't fix. 

Which is fine, except it forces us to concede the following:

• The Eagles aren't as good as the Giants.
• The Eagles do in fact have a critical flaw.
• In the end, the Eagles are just good enough to lose to anybody.

You see something I'm missing?  The Eagles just aren't a complete team.  They can't run the ball.  They don't have a real fullback.  Their starting SAM is a liability.  The kicker is, unfortunately, still a question mark.  They have six different wide receivers who play, which is, when you think about it, completely ridiculous. 

Ok, I can see how you would want to use Baskett in the red zone.  And Avant has his abilities -- although he's stopped catching everything that comes his way.  But seriously, if you need to take parts of six guys to make two starting wide receivers, then clearly you're at the very least trying something that's never been done before in the history of the NFL. 

Westbrook remains one of the most dangerous weapons in the game, only it doesn't matter because no one blocks for him. 

And of course no one's missed the irony of the EAGLES FINALLY CHOOSING TO RUN THE BALL THE YEAR THEY CAN'T DO IT.

On the other hand, say what you want about the playcalls, but how is it that Andy Reid -- Mr. Everything Starts Up Front -- has built a team completely incapable of running for one yard?  

That's far more damning if you ask me.  In fact, did you see the look on Steve Spanuolo's face after we chose to do the one thing everyone in the stadium knew we couldn't do?  Here it is:

   

That, folks, is a man confused by what he just saw.

Since When Is 19 Points Not Enough?

Not to be an ungrateful wretch, but I wasn't all that fired up about yesterday's effort.  Am I turning into just another Negadelphian?  I don't think so, and here's why.

You can't quibble with the result.  Throw out the one dumb play by Lito "I clearly believe my next contract will be directly proportionate to the number of INTs I have this year" Sheppard, and the Eagles were up 26-0 in points and 419-143 in yards.  That's a butt whupping of such completeness that the local papers in Seattle are writing things today like this:

NOT SINCE JIMMY Buffett failed to find his lost shaker of salt has anyone in pop culture seemed as bewilderingly forlorn as was Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren on Sunday.

Aside from his years-ago power struggle with former president Bob Whitsitt, Holmgren is as low as he's been in his decade in Seattle.

Final season, no veteran quarterback, no rushing game, spotty defense, 2-6 at midseason and no prospects of beating a good team.

"They are trying hard. ... It breaks my heart," he said with a soft heaviness in his voice. "It breaks my heart."

At least it came at the hands of an old friend, right coach?

So why am I underwhelmed?  Because it's clear the Eagles can play even better.

McNabb is streaky, we all know that.  So you have to take the handful of "where was that ball going" drives along with the ones where every throw is an on-the-money laser.  That's why the sideline reporter in last week's game said she talked to Reid at halftime about what he needed to do about his offense and Reid told her he just wanted to see McNabb keep firing.  He knows that a slow start often just means a hot finish.

But the problem is that when things aren't going well for the offense, the result is just really, really ugly.  It's not like they run the ball for four yards, have an imcompletion, then pick up a short first down before then going three-and-out from there to punt.  Nope, it's incomplete, stuff, incomplete, punt.  And it's maddening to watch.

When that comes against an opponent like the Seahawks, it's no harm, no foul.  You could spot 'em three touchdowns and still come roaring back.  But against the good teams, that approach will get you buried before half time.

Consider this:  the Giants are clearly the class of the conference right now.  They couple a dominating pass rush with a powerful rushing attack -- a combination that makes it very, very hard to come back against them once they get ahead.  You won't have the ball that often because they'll control the clock, and when you do and have to pass, they'll release the hounds and break down your protection.  Slow start = death in those games. 

So yeah, the effort yesterday was more than adequate to beat the Seahawks.  But apply that template to some of the other good teams around the league and it doesn't look as good.

- - - - - -

Other notes on the game.

The Eagles wide receivers are back to their problems with man coverage.  It was great to see some offense from the tight end position, but until Curtis got things going late, we saw a lot of the same "separation" problems on the outside that we've seen before. 

I'm not sure how much to read into Celek's big day.  On the one hand, you set the franchise record for receiving yards at your position, you've had a pretty good game.  On the other, he was basically uncovered on the first two big catches (44 and 27 yards).  I know the town's going to get really excited, since the majority of folks here have been itching to get rid of LJ for a long time, but if Celek can match the numbers in this one game over his next three games, I'll be very, very surprised.  Still, I've said all along that I thought Celek looked like he knew what he was doing, but he'd had every opportunity to make an impact with all the time LJ's missed the last year and a half and he'd never done it.  Yesterday, he did it.

Yes, yes, the red zone thing sucks, but I don't think we can overrate the importance of what we're seeing with David Akers.  Look, I don't know if it's leg strength or technique or getting a better feel for the wind or whatever.  All I know is that early in the season, Akers came to the ball looking like he hoped he'd make the kick and now he's coming to the ball looking like he knows he'll make the kick.  Even the short kicks he was making early in the season were often to one side or the other.  Yesterday the goal posts could have been four feet wide and he still would have made 'em.  This is a very good sign for January.

This should be the Westbrook/Jackson show.  On the Eagles first three drives, Westbrook got two handoffs, Jackson had one ball thrown his way ... and Curtis was the target of four incompletions.  I'm not blaming Curtis for not coming up with those terrible throws -- and did you think maybe McNabb had a hand injury after the first couple drives like I did, sheesh -- but I'm not sure "establish Kevin Curtis" should be our number one priority while the guy's coming back from his injury. 

It's time to ditch the power short-yardage running game.  For whatever reason, it's just not happening this year.  I'm guessing Reid doesn't want to send his guys the message that he doesn't have faith in their ability to control the line of scrimmage, but look at the line he's got right now.  Tra Thomas does great work outside with DEs, but he's more of a turn and move blocker than a power guy.  Herremans is a tackle trying to play with leverage inside.  Jamaal Jackson does a nice job with the line calls but doesn't win many individual battles.  MJG can be beaten inside with quickness, but is a power blocker.  Jon Runyan doesn't have the same mauling ability he did five years ago.  None of the tight ends is a dominating run blocker.  And the fullbacks ... yeah. 

So let's stop trying to play 1950's football inside.  On third and two, start going to three wides, shotgun, or even five wide formations with Westbrook able to motion back in.  Ditch the WWI offensive mindset, spread the defense out, and let Westbrook and Buckhalter use their ability to explode through small creases instead.

- - - - - -

Last note for now.  Here's a scary number for you:

Factoid. The early Vegas line last night made the Eagles (5-3) a three-point favorite over the Giants (7-1) in Sunday night's showdown in Lincoln Financial Field.

Hmmm...

Eagles Win! Eagles Win!

A Character Win

The Season is just three weeks old and already the Eagles have played three of those games that good teams play.

The first week's demolition of the Rams was the Taking Care of Business Game.  Bad team, home game, Eagles dominated the way they needed to.

Last week against Dallas, we saw the Good Loss.  Up-and-coming team plays a hard-fought struggle against the class of the league, comes up a bit short, but proves it belongs in the conversation.

Today ... well, today we saw the Character Win.  The Eagles had every reason to fold in this game.  Tough, AFC opponent.  Short week to prepare.  Injuries to key performers like Westbrook, McNabb (for awhile), Andrews and the guys who were already hurt. 

This is a game that the Eagles teams of the last few years would have found a way to lose.  A missed field goal.  That final killer turnover.  Maybe the true gut punch -- the end of game "we can't get off the field" drive. 

But not this team.  The defense today was nothing short of dominating.  If they played somewhat passively against the Cowboys, today they attacked, attacked, attacked. 

Roethlisberger was shot by half time.  You could see the look in his eyes.  The way he lost faith in his linemen to keep him clean.  The Eagles defense destroyed his will.

Tonight and tomorrow, everyone's going to say that this game suggests the Eagles' defense has reclaimed the form of earlier this decade.  That may be true.  But today's effort reminded me far more of those truly dominating teams back in the late 80, early 90s that made pummelling the quarterback, the first, second and third priority and figured everything else would take care of itself.

A word about Brian Dawkins before we get to some other, darker subjects.  What a warrior.  That last, flying leap of a sack -- which could only have come from Dawk -- was the play that finally iced a game that was still within reach.  Seven tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and what I am guessing was one impassioned pre-game speech to his defensive teammates ...  Yeah, let's keep this guy around a little longer.

- - - - - -

And now, the scary parts:

• No word on this point re: the severity of Westbrook's injury.
• On the Eagles' first two drives, they managed 129 yards of offense and looked like they could  move at will.  From that point on, Philadelphia managed only 131 more yards.  Westbrook went out in the middle of the second drive, but once Pittsburgh realized he was done, things changed rapidly for this Eagles' offense.
• Tony Hunt took a vicious helmet-to-helmet shot on the play that knocked him out of the game, but that's two in a row he's started and not finished.
• Reggie Brown still looks nothing close to full speed.

Without Westbrook, this offense still isn't scaring anyone.  And a pretty good defense is coming to town next week.

- - - - - -

Reed making that 53-yard field goal -- his career long -- after CBS showed the "1/4 since 2005 on kicks over 50 yards" graphics was the least surprising thing I've ever seen.  No one misses kicks against the Eagles.

- - - - - -

Finally, and I put this here because I didn't want to end on a bad note, how f-ing good is Sav Rocca?  With all due credit to the work of the defense, Rocca's 64, 54 and 37 (down to the 7) yard punts in the 4th quarter were the Eagles offense.  If he doesn't flip the field position and pin the Steelers deep, there's no safety, no free kick, and maybe no gimme field goal. 

Game ball to the punter, in this one.

Bring On The Rematch

All right, they won the first one.  That sucked, but the chances were there.

Here's the thing.  After the Eagles crushed the Rams, we had no idea what kind of team they were.  The Rams suck, the Eagles got rolling and those things just happen in the first week of the season.

But after this Dallas game -- a game the Eagles played without both starting wide receivers, a big LDE who would really have come in handy, and Shawn Andrews for much of the time -- we now know, this team is legit. 

That's going to be a hard loss to swallow.  I have no idea what McNabb was thinking on that botched handoff to Westbrook.  Seems like one of those plays you run a million times and shouldn't have problems with it.

I'd remind folks, however, that Romo had his own set of baffling mistakes in this game.  They'll quickly be forgotten, of course, since his team won, but those things happen.  Sadly, this one went a long way towards costing our guys this game.

The one real negative about the effort tonight was the defense.  Of course, Dallas has some playmakers.  We weren't going to shut them out.  But the variety of big plays and blown coverages just really wasn't something we wanted to see.  Especially because once the Eagles got burned a few times, Jim Johnson seemed to tighten up out there.  Rather than sending the house to help out a game front four that wasn't getting pressure, he kept playing coverages, desperate to find something that would stop the bleeding. 

Nothing did. 

The big key right now for the team (and the fans) is going to be putting this game behind us quickly.  We've got Pittsburgh coming to the Linc next week, and inasmuch as Dallas is (for now) the class of the NFC, the Steelers looks like they might be the best team the AFC has to offer.  The players are going to have to quickly get over a bruising, deflating loss.  Otherwise, we're gonna get wiped next week.  The fans better show up on Sunday too.

So ... bottom line.  This loss sucks.  I'm feeling surprisingly rational about the whole thing right now, but I'm not going to want to get out of bed tomorrow. 

Here's the thing, though.  We just lost the first game we played against Dallas. 

Now we need to win the next two.