Iggles Blog - Philadelphia Eagles Blog

Bears Video Rewind

I'm going to have a bit of a different posting schedule this week due to some business-related travel.  Video rewind tonight while I still have DVR access -- and the fresh scars to not want to watch MNF -- and then other stuff later in the week.

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There wasn't a smoking gun.  I re-watched every snap of that game looking for what it was the Bears did differently on defense -- or we stopped doing on offense -- to find out how a team could go from looking competent to stagnant over the course of four periods.  Didn't find anything.  The Bears did the same stuff all game ... we did the same stuff all game ... but an unfortunate mix of poor plays, bad decisions and puzzling playcalls handed this team the first head-scratching loss of the 2008 season.

But you knew that already, in general terms, so let's talk specifics.

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The Bears' offense did three things early to try to throw the Eagles off balance:

1. They went no huddle;
2. They used fake snap counts to get our back seven to tip their hands on blitzes; and,
3. They used formations and personnel packages to try to isolate our linebackers in coverage.

Point #1 is the simplest.  If you go without a huddle, the defense doesn't have time to make substitutions.  That keeps the base defense on the field and also gives less time for the coaches to get their fancy blitz packages in.

Point #2 seemed to get us all game.  Orton would go to the line, bark out an extended hard count, watch how our guys moved around, then adjust playcalls accordingly.  On several occasions -- though not every time -- this paid off, as the new play neatly avoided the pressure we were bringing.  I wondered both last night and again tonight why we don't do a better job checking out of those blitzes once we tip our hand.  (And also if we could be slightly better at, you know, not tipping our hand.)

Point #3 is a little more involved.  Early in the game, the Eagles were flipping the cornerback when the Bears went to a twins formation (putting both cornerbacks on the same side as the two receivers).  I don't remember seeing Johnson do this much in the past, but it has the advantage of putting your two best cover guys in the vicinity of the opponent's two best receivers.  I'm guessing the thinking was avoiding an LB on Hester match-up.

The problem is that the Bears were using those guys basically as decoys.  They lined up two tight ends on the other side, with those guys being the primary target on the play.  That put an athletic tight end like Greg Olsen on an unproven pass defender on Chris Gocong, and is exactly what caused the first touchdown.  Olsen ran a little wheel route (out to the flat then upfield) and Gocong was left well behind. 

The Bears stayed with this look -- hitting on it a couple more times -- until their possession that started at 11:40 in the second quarter.  On first-and-10 from the Philly 47, they came out in that same look, the Eagles didn't flip the corner, and Orton called a timeout after checking out the coverage.  I'm guessing that the change is what got him.

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Also on that Olsen touchdown, that was a catch, guys.  The ball may have moved a millimeter in his hands as he brought it in, but he clearly had control while the first foot was down.  As a football fan, I'd be disappointed to see some kind of hyperlegalistic review that took that away.

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Speaking of hyperlegalistic reviews, please explain to me why this:

Draws an illegal formation penalty while this:

 

Is perfectly fine?

They're lined up the exact same way in both shots.  But somehow, the officials thought the first formation was illegal while the second one was just peachy.  (For your viewing convenience, I've highlighted the douchebag ref who called the penalty that cost us the roughing the passer call in the first picture.)

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Now, I understand you may say that you prefer hyper-legalistic officiating that gets in the way of the game on the field.  You're in favor of those kinds of weak sauce calls.

Ok great, but then where was Mr. Call Everything On Special Teams during the only big Devin Hester return of the night:

Look, I don't know if he would have made the play or not.  And it's not like the Bears' anemic offense scored on this drive anyway.  I'm just tired of our special teams getting called for stuff all the time that I see opponents getting away with. 

Both ways, ref, both ways.

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While we're on the topic of whiny ref complaints, didja notice that Lance Briggs managed to plant vicious helmet-to-helmet hits on both Buckhalter and Booker in this game?  Did you also notice that no flags were thrown either time?  (Totally defensible.)  Did you also notice that Madden and Michaels neglected to mention on both occasions that the hits, while aesthetically pleasing, were both somewhat at odds with "the emphasis that [the commissioner's] office has placed on developing and enforcing rules designed to protect players from injury, including concussions." (Not defensible.)

No fine came last week on the H2H hit that gave Hunt his concussion.  That was a fair decision, in my mind, due to the way in which Hunt somewhat lowered his shoulder to take on the blow.  Briggs, however, should be a little lighter in the wallet this time next week.

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A couple weeks ago in the Cowboys video rewind, I questioned why Brodrick Bunkley wasn't making more disruptive plays.  He seemed fine holding his ground, but wasn't doing anything beyond that.

Two weeks later, I think we have our answer:  it wasn't Bunk -- Cowboys center Andre Gurode is just really, really good. 

I've watched Bunkley very closely the past couple weeks.  The guy's been making plays all over the place.  Against Chicago, he was frequently matched up against center Olin Kreutz, who by reputation is one of the better centers in the league.  Bunk whipped him.  Not every time and not in every situation, but enough to confirm the Pittsburgh observations.  I take it back, Bunk.  Keep doing your thing.

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Given that a talented offensive skill position player would have been helpful to have on hand on Sunday night, the tackle combo of Patterson and Bunkley is still just really a pleasure to watch.  Let's get Bunk locked up to his long-term deal so we can enjoy these guys working together for the next 10 years.

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Which is why it was so %@#!$ surprising to see both of those players on the sideline for the most important defensive snap of the game. 

I'm not kidding.  Fourth quarter, 2:43 on the clock, only one timeout left for the good guys, Bears bring in three receivers so we respond by bringing in our entire nickel personnel package.  Not just an extra corner.  Not another safety.  The whole shebang.

Which means, ladies and gentlemen, the play of the game is upon us and the Eagles roll out Darren Howard and Dan Klecko in the middle of their line and as a bonus leave a safety back deep, only putting seven men in the box. 

The Bears ran for 10 yards.

Of all the boneheaded coaching decisions in this game, that might have been the boneheadedest.  Of COURSE they're not going to pass.  They're the friggin Bears.  And if they do, heck, it's gonna be quick, knock it down and save a timeout. 

No.  We bring in the lightbutts, who promptly get shoved out of the way.

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhh.

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Second place:  why did we not challenge this:

His elbow was clearly down.  And don't tell me you need the video to be sure.  This may even be a couple of frames after he hit the ground, but I wanted to bend over backwards to be fair.

Note the down and distance.  That's potentially a four-point play right there.  What a coincidence.

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The guy making that tackle is Omar Gaither.  I thought Omar was a little tentative to start the year.  It probably didn't help that he was coming out so often for Sean Considine (that would kill anyone's confidence).  But he really seemed to be playing downhill in this game.  He posted nine solo tackles in this game and made a handful of plays, defined as doing more than just catching the guy when he gets to you.

I was really impressed with Gaither in this game.  I think he played the best of all the linebackers.  And I'm not just saying that for reasons that will become apparent tomorrow.

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Other defensive notes:

• Dan Klecko's first-quarter sack came on something of a weird play.  RT John Tait blocked him for a two-count, then passed him outside to the tight end, even though no one was rushing up the middle and the tight end already had his hands full.  Strange read by Tait.
• The route that victimized Quintin Mikell for the touchdown was the same one (fake corner, then post) that DeSean Jackson used to get open for his first NFL touchdown.
• Also, Q slipped on that play.  That's not a good thing, obviously, but he wasn't straight up beaten.  Coverage was pretty good other than the slip.
• We're a very screenable defense.  That surely goes with being so young.
• Cole showed a nice inside-outside move in that third-quarter sack/fumble the offense miraculously managed to turn into three points.
• When Mikell made that third-quarter interception in the endzone, I loved seeing Bradley and Dawk immediately telling him to stay down.  I hate when guys make picks and then bring it out to the seven yard line, thus killing the momentum of the play.

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For the offense, is it cool if we just pretend that game never happened?  That this once-mighty scoring attack did not, in fact, start possessions at the Bears' 41, 35, 28, and 31 yard lines with only six points to show for it?

No, you want breakdowns.  Pushy readers.  Onward.

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Chicago safety Mike Brown is a better player than I realized.  On the Eagles' first play of their second drive, he came flying out of the secondary to hold Buck to a two-yard gain when everyone else was blocked up.  (It may have helped his play recognition, however, that this was the play where Herremans false-started by pulling outside Thomas, so the Eagles decided to huddle up and run the exact same play to the other side.  Tricky.)

Brown also ended the Eagles two-minute drill at the end of the second quarter by coming all the way across the field to drop Jackson for a short gain after he ran an underneath route with two other receivers running off all the coverage.  Serious range displayed there.

Brown was also responsible for separating Schobel from the ball down by the goal line on the Eagles first touchdown drive.  I could probably separate Schobel from the ball though -- Boo! ... drop -- so we won't give him too much credit there.

Closing out this series of Mike Brown plays, if you're a football geek and plan to re-watch the game, compare the running play described above to the first running play of the second half.  Everything else was the same, but this time Brown had walked down into the box away from playside.  He saw things just as quickly, but from down there he didn't have the same angle and got caught up in the trash.  It ended up being a 25 yard gain.  It's just funny that bringing a safety up actually weakened the run defense.

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Continuing the obsession with this play, why has it taken this long to get the guard pull into the running game?  And why are we finally rolling it out now, when the guy that play was basically designed for is still on the bench with back trouble?

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Let's talk about something good instead.  Check out this one route by DeSean Jackson.  Yes, it was zone coverage and the corner has to keep outside leverage, but as you can see pre-snap, there are literally no other receivers on this side of the field, so the cornerback shouldn't be leaving DeSean:

Now watch what he does to that cornerback:

That, folks, is separation.  (And it looked even more impressive before YouTube's crappy compression got to it.)

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Now let's take a quick look at two guys so many people seem to think are just as good as LJ Smith.  Here's a look at the blocking of Brent Celek on a third-and-short play in the middle of the second quarter:

That came just before the missed 50-yarder by Akers.  And yeah, Hunt's block wasn't great either, but it's pretty tough to stop a guy when he can just run right through the massive crease the guy next to you opened up.

As for the other other tight end here's the end-of-game goal line play everyone wants to see:

Yeah, we don't even need the fancy slo-mo stuff on that one. 

Oh, you wanted one more look?  Here ya go:

I don't even know what to say.

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Other offensive notes:

• Madden kept talking about how well McNabb was reading the cover two, which is true, but I continue to be impressed by DeSean Jackson's innate understanding of exactly where to be against that defense.  He and McNabb have great chemistry on that throw to the sideline hole.
• McNabb flashed some nice ball-handling skills on those end arounds to Jackson.  I know, I know, you just want him to work on handoffs...
• Buck doesn't really have that great running back vision.  One cut, hit the hole and go.  He's a great change of pace, but there are some plays he's just not suited for, like that shotgun draw we've been running so well with Westbrook.  Buckhalter completely ignored his blocking on that play when they ran it with him, even though it was definitely there playside. 
• As my brother pointed out, it must be killing Tony Hunt to see all this potential running back playing time going to someone not nominally a fullback.  
• By the way, on the season it's Tony Hunt -- 5 receptions, 40 yards.  Lorenzo Booker -- 5 receptions, 10 yards.  Sure glad we brought in the home run threat.
• Finally, I'm all in favor of the mix-and-match "package" thing while we're waiting for Curtis to get healthy, but why on earth would we ever put out a two-receiver package that includes Greg Lewis?  Aren't there like three guys who'd be better choices to put across from Reggie Brown?  Or at least one?

Steelers Video Rewind

The Eagles finally ran the defense against the Steelers we thought we'd see all year:  an aggressive blitzing front backed by what could be the top cornerback threesome in the league. 

Better late than never.

Recall that in the first game against the Rams, the Eagles spent most of the day in their base defense.  This was surprising -- given what we saw last year and the addition of Asante Samuel -- but made sense since the Rams' entire offense seemed to revolve around running the football.  When Johnson did bring in extra DBs, he rolled out a three-cornerback/three-safety dime package, sitting both his outside linebackers. 

Against the Cowboys we saw more of that 3x3 look, albeit not with great success.  Apparently Eagles fans weren't the only ones annoyed by Sean Considine's performance against Dallas -- the guy didn't make it onto the field against the Steelers, except on special teams.

What we saw instead was a traditional nickel package, with Bradley and Gaither staying on in passing situations and Lito Sheppard subbing in for Chris Gocong.  The handful of times the Eagles went with the dime, they brought in Joselio Hanson, not Considine.

I did some snap counts this week.  Out of about 60 defensive plays, I counted:

Nickel -- 36
Dime -- 5
Blitz -- 22

Which means we're right back to 2007 with the personnel groupings and blitz tendencies. 

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The interesting wrinkle in all of this is that the coverage in the secondary wasn't actually that great.  Asante Samuel, in particular, had a number of balls caught on him (two right after I was telling a couple visitors how outstanding he was). 

But I think the reason for that performance is that Johnson told his guys to avoid the big play, allow the underneath stuff, and just tackle well.  The few times we got to see the corners in coverage, it certainly looked like they were bailing deep, content to give up the short stuff if necessary.

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Of course, it wouldn't be a Jim Johnson defense if he didn't pull something crazy out of his hat.  This week, the nutty thing was a 3-4 look using 4-1-6 personnel.  Explaining it would take all the fun out of it, so just watch this video, noting early on that 1) Juqua Parker is stationed as the MLB pre-snap, 2) the line slants left to get penetration and flush Ben from the pocket, and 3) JP is just waiting for that to happen so he can crash down and get a free path to the QB:

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I also want to single out Bunkley for some of the work he did, particularly early when the Eagles weren't playing quite as much nickel (a package in which he usually comes out for Darren Howard).  Maybe the difference was just the offensive line he was facing, but Bunkley seemed much more active. 

On his fumble recovery, watch how far back he pushes Hartwig, completely collapsing the pocket and putting himself in great position to recover the fumble:

Now that's the Bunkley I remember seeing a couple preseasons ago. 

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Here's an interesting game.  Take a look at the following screenshot (click to enlarge) and see if you notice anything a little off:

The blue line makes it easier to see.  Notice how JP is set up a little bit off the line in comparison to the other three guys?  I saw that and immediately thought "zone blitz," which is exactly what came on this play.  Watch the tipping, JP.

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Other thoughts on the defense:

• The difference between Asante Samuel and Sheldon Brown couldn't have been more clear in this game.  Samuel's amazing, leaping interception was a huge play.  Meanwhile, Roethlisberger basically threw one right to Brown late and he couldn't hang on to it.  Doesn't make him a bad corner, but he sure doesn't have Asante's ball skills.
• One or both Eagles safeties were in the box for what seemed to be the vast majority of this game.  Those two are great up there.  Several nice plays in the run game.
• As natural as Stewart Bradley looks playing linebacker ... that's how unnatural Gocong looks next to him.  Again, I'm not knocking a guy for being midway through a tough transition.  But he's not there yet.
• Both Cole and Parker are much better at dropping into coverage than they used to be.  Last year they looked like fish out of water.  This year, much more comfortable.
• This defense never gives up.  All 11 guys hustle to the football on every play.  Missed tackles aren't as important when three guys are there to pick you up.  Patterson in particular is a sideline-to-sideline defensive tackle, which sounds nuts but it's true.
• Trevor Laws looks like he belongs out there, but still haven't see him make a play.  He's not getting that much time though.
• Couple really good plays on that last Pittsburgh drive, including the knockaway by Asante and the great sideline tackle by Mikell to keep his man inbounds.

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With the special teams, I skipped the kickoffs.  Keeps the blood pressure down.

As promised to the Aussies, here's a clip package for Sav Rocca in the 4th quarter.  (Apologies for the awful sound.  Found a recording workaround but it's stopgap at best)

Also, I timed that 64-yarder with my trusty online stopwatch.  Numbers were clustered in the low fives.  That's awfully rare.

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On the offensive side of the ball, let's just skip right to Kevin Kolb.  The INT clearly wasn't his fault.  It clearly wasn't LJ's fault either, since the cornerback made contact way before the ball got there and should have been called for pass interference.

But check out this throw on the next drive:

See that linebacker, #56, dropping back into coverage?  Kevin Kolb sure didn't. 

That right there is the problem with young quarterbacks.  There's too much they haven't seen and they're too easily tricked into those kinds of mistakes. 

On each of Kolb's three passes, he appeared to make a pre-snap read and then go right to his number one option.  That's not a bad way to play for a young guy, but it's kind of like plinking out chopsticks while McNabb is playing the Rach 3 next door. 

Oh yeah, and he completed that pass.  Nice zip on that ball. 

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We'll give equal time to a McNabb screwup next.  Remember the low ball to LJ in the end zone?  He had to squeeze it in there because the coverage was all over the tight end ... which means it wasn't in the middle of the field, where Booker was breaking across for what would have been an easy catch and run (click for full size):

Everyone was flowing into the end zone.  Booker had an easy first down and possible touchdown if McNabb had stuck around for one more read. 

I bet if that running back lined up wide had been Brian Westbrook, he would have gotten the football.

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The Eagles are doing something strange in blitz pickup that I think they need to get rid of soon.  My brother was in town this weekend and picked up on this in real time.

Twice the Eagles had running backs go right past a blitzing linebacker to run pass patterns in the flats.  The first time, with Booker, McNabb tried to get him the ball but couldn't with the LB in his face.  The second time, with Buckhalter, McNabb was looking to the other side of the field and ended up getting drilled by the unblocked LB.

I get the whole "put everyone in the pattern and make them stop us" philosophy, but they're going to get McNabb killed doing this.

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And that's not even mentioning the awful missed blitz pickup by Booker that caused the McNabb interception.

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Sometimes you can tell a team just isn't fooled by a play.  The Eagles came out on one play in four wide with a solo back, trips right.  The back then motioned to the outside of the single receiver side, my guess would be in hopes of sliding the cornerback out and a linebacker over into coverage.  The Steelers instead brought the safety down on to the slot, keeping everyone else in place.  The Eagles then tried to run a WR screen to Jackson on the trips side, and while it picked up a few yards, Pittsburgh shut it down quickly, the in-place linebackers crashing outside hard and looking for all the world like they knew what was coming.

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Reggie Brown didn't seem to be close to 100 percent.  He's taken some hits in the local press this week for not appearing to want to leave his feet for a couple passes, but in truth they were nowhere near him.  He just looked two steps slower than McNabb was used to and you could even see in his running stride that he wasn't cutting it loose.  Hopefully he's good to go by Sunday night.

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I'm constantly amazed by the extent to which the smallest decisions can have such a huge impact on a football game.  The Eagles' second drive of the third quarter -- the McNabb Returns drive -- ended on a third-and-nine play where at first glance it looked like Don overthrew Avant, but on the replay seemed to be because Avant stopped his route.  I'm sure both guys had their reasons for what they did, but if completed, that pass would have put the Eagles in field goal range.

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Here's a neat little variation on the Eagles' typical screen play.  In real time I thought Buckhalter had just made a great move and read.  But watching it a few times again, you can actually see that the screen action is totally different from the usual.

Generally, the Eagles' (and all other teams') linemen hustle to the outside on a screen play to get in front of the back and wall of potential tacklers.  On this play, however, the two screen blockers waited a little longer, then ran out to screen guys off from the outside in and set up an interior cutback lane.  Buckhalter sells the play with a hard outside fake before coming back inside:

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Other offensive notes:

• After seeing Troy Polamalu tackle DeSean Jackson with his back I now think I've seen everything.
• I've mentioned the problems with Hunt at fullback a couple of times.  The nice thing is that he's a much more effective weapon with the football than the typical guy in his position.  First drive, Hunt turned a little swing pass into a seven-yard gain and first down because he didn't just lower his shoulder on the first guy to come tackle him, the way real fullbacks are contractually obligated to do.
• Max Jean-Gilles continues to not be Shawn Andrews.  I saw one play in particular where the center Jackson made an initial block on the lineman in MJG's A-gap, then went to the next level.  The problem is that MJG isn't as quick as Andrews, so he couldn't seal the guy off in time quick enough to make the play, as he seemed to be trying to explain to Jackson after the fact.  MJG also wasn't road-grading as many guys as his reputation would suggest.
• Pittsburgh brought a couple of three-man rushes at McNabb.  He burned both of them for big gains.  I don't think we'll be seeing much of that this year.
• On the flea-flicker, the problem for the Eagles is that the backside linebacker stayed put and attacked his gap, rather than flowing over to playside.  So when Westbrook flipped the ball back to McNabb, there was someone bearing down on him almost immediately.
• DeSean Jackson and Donovan McNabb seem to have good chemistry when it comes to hitting the outside soft spot in cover-2 coverages.  We saw another completion in that area this week.
• I want to call out a really great playcall.  On the McNabb Returns drive, the Eagles ran Booker up the middle for five yards on first down.  Second and five is a throwing down for this offense, so the Steelers brought a double blitz right up the middle ... only Marty (or Andy) had dialed up an off-tackle running play that then went for 11 yards.  Sweet, sweet playcall.
• I hold my breath every time Buckhalter gets tackled low.  I also hold it every time McNabb gets tackled anywhere.

Cowboys Video Rewind

I have some good news and some bad news.

The good news is that I don't think we need to go mothballing those Brian Dawkins jerseys just yet.

The bad news is that while the Eagles definitely have the offensive firepower to stay with anyone in the league, the defense does not look like it has the pieces in place to be a truly dominating unit. 

Let's start with Dawkins.  Obviously I spent a lot of time scrutinizing his every play on the field:

• On the first defensive series, Dawk walked down into the box and then spotted a run early, knifing into the backfield and dropping Barber for a two-yard loss.  This was a very important play, particularly because Bunkley got blown up (more on him later).  Dawk looked plenty quick here.
• Dallas' second possession was the kick return and the third was the quick interception.  On the fourth series, it was Dawk (again down in the box) who was the first to recognize what had happened in the end zone with Romo.  He quickly charged the play and forced the second fumble that gave the Eagles their touchdown.  It's fair to say that if the player in Dawk's position had been a little less quick to see what was happening and charge Romo, then the Cowboys might have gotten out of that with just an incomplete pass.
• Fifth series was the semi-long drive that ended with the Owens touchdown against Dawks.  Three points on this play:  1) Terrell Owens on the goal line is a tough cover for anyone, as evidenced by the PI called against Asante later in the same situation;  2) Even had Dawk covered Owens perfectly, the Cowboys would still have scored because someone (looked like Mikell) neglected to cover the fullback after play action -- he was wide open on the other side;  3) After watching the play 20 times, I think it's at least possible that Gaither was supposed to provide inside help on that play.  I'm not saying I'm even 50 percent confident in that assessment, just that there's a chance.
• Couple series later came the long pass to Witten.  Dawk didn't look good on this play and it's the one that's given us all the most angst, but it's worth mentioning that this was zone coverage, a couple other guys could have helped out, and it was a pretty nice throw by Romo.  Also, it wasn't just a straight line sprint.  Dawk kind of got himself turned around a bit -- he wasn't running full out.
• Next series was the great play by Dawk on the sideline to knock that ball away with his helmet.  Good speed to get outside.
• And then nothing on the next couple drives before my recording cut out.

After watching all this again, I think it's pretty clear that Dawk isn't quite the player he used to be.  He's just not as explosive.  With that said, I'm far, far less concerned about him than I was Tuesday morning.  He looks fine.

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While we're on safeties, a quick word -- only one -- in defense of Sean Considine on that big play to Owens.  Something I missed in real time is that Romo actually pumpfaked to sell the deep in and go that TO ran.  He still got burned, there's no question, but if the guy fakes the in route and the QB pumps, you can see why Considine bit.   

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The next guy I focused in on was Brodrick Bunkley.  Just as a reminder, this guy was the 14th overall selection in the 2006 draft.  That's the Pro Bowl section of the draft. 

The positive with Bunkley is that for the most part he can stand his ground.  I only noticed a couple of plays where you could really say he lost (including the 11-yard Barber run that set up the short Owens TD when Bunk was absolutely annihilated by Andre Gurode).  The difference between Patterson and Bunkley on any given play is what happens after the initial engagement.  Bunk stands the guy up, holds his ground, and then generally just stays stalemated.  Patterson actually finds a way to get off the block and make some plays. 

I don't want to sound too critical of Bunkley.  He doesn't get run over.  He doesn't abandon his lane responsibilities.  He always hustles to chase things down side to side.  But the fact of the matter is that if you can't ever get penetration, you're pretty much a non-factor on passing downs.  That's a significant problem.

I noticed something else with Bunkley too.  A lot of times the Cowboys were choosing to have Gurode take Bunkley one-on-one.  That's not really an easy block for a center, since he has to slide immediately to cut the guy off, who isn't directly in front of him.  Gurode is a Pro Bowl player -- deservedly -- so he can do it, but with all of Bunk's quickness, how is it that he never really got by him?

I went frame-by-frame with the DVR pre-snap on a handful of plays.  What I noticed is that Bunkley -- despite the fact that he's the closest person to the ball -- is generally the last defensive linemen moving off the snap.  Cole was first (unsurprisingly), then Patterson, then Parker, then finally Bunkley.  (Howard was about as slow as Bunk).  We're not talking about huge time differences here, but every bit helps.

Finally, as the game went on, Johnson started calling a few more stunts with Bunkley up front, including one where he looped around both the tackle and the end on his way to the quarterback.  They had some minimal success the first couple of times, leading me to write "maybe this is the way to use him on passing downs," but then they became less effective as the Cowboys got used to seeing them.

Again, I'm not saying Bunkley is "the problem" with this defense, but given where he was drafted and his obvious physical abilities, I thought we'd be seeing more from him by now.

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The linebackers really didn't shine in this game.  I didn't watch their every snap, so mostly just saw them when they screwed stuff up, but Gaither was pretty invisible, Bradley was a little up and down and lost more physical battles with linemen than I've seen before, and Gocong continues to struggle with recognizing what's happening out there sometimes.

We've remarked before on Gocong's tendency to get sucked in by counter action.  It happened again this game a couple of times.  Barber's 18-yard run to open the second half came on a counter where both Gocong and JP came inside.  With that said, the Cowboys tried to run the exact same play three plays later (flipped formation) and this time Gocong recognized it immediately and sliced into the backfield to blow it up.

It's funny.  Last year, with two solid cornerbacks, Jim Johnson played a ton of nickel.  This year, when he has three "starters" to play with, he keeps his linebackers out on the field a lot more.  My guess is that he's trying to get these guys as many reps as possible now so that by the end of the season they have the experience needed to play at a higher level.  

Still, Gocong, two games, three solos ... that's not much production.

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Overal theory on the two defenses:  When the Cowboys defense stopped us, it looked like a guy made a great individual play and beat the man in front of him.  When our defense stopped the Cowboys, it looked like everyone did his job and the scheme worked.  I'm a little concerned by the apparent difference in up-front talent on the two units. 

- - - - - -

Closing out the defensive part of this rewind, I have another theory about JJ.  During the game, none of us could figure out why he wasn't blitzing more.  However, during the drive at the beginning of the 4th quarter, Johnson actually dialed up a fair number of blitzes.  The problem was that Romo recognized them quickly and kept efficiently hitting his hot receivers.  He didn't seem at all flustered.

With that said, it was a blitz that finally ended that series (third-and-nine, blitz came, Romo unloaded to Witten, Dawk stopped him short of the sticks), but I think Johnson may have thought that the Cowboys had probably spent three months preparing to beat the Eagles' blitz, their offensive gameplan was built around that idea, so he would try to cross them up by sitting back and instead playing coverages.

Yeah, it didn't work, but that's my theory. 

- - - - - -

On special teams, just a couple of points:

• Akeem Jordan had a terrible game.  On the Jones' TD, Jordan moved to his right to try to shoot through a gap in the wall.  That's what opened up the lane for Jones.  From that point, it was just about speed.
• Jordan also had one of the stupidest penalties I've ever seen.  Remember the punt touchback where the Eagles still had a block in the back called against them?  I figured, you know, two guys locked up, these things happen ... No.  Jordan was running downfield, the punt was clearly deep, and he just shoved the Cowboy in front of him to the ground.  Stupidest penalty I've ever seen.  I hope he got his ass chewed for that one.
• Hunt blew the block on the one semi-promising sideline return by Demps.
• Akers looked good, though.  That's positive, right?

- - - - - -

On the offensive side, there wasn't as much to review.  Everything pretty much worked, with a couple of minor exceptions.

A few points:

• Jamaal Jackson is the clear weak link on the offensive line.  It's not easy handling those nose tackles right on top of you, but Jackson was the one guy who got beaten multiple times by DTs on the way to McNabb.  Jackson is also playing way too heavy.  A promising screen pass was snuffed on the first series because Jackson was too slow to get out to Zach Thomas.
• I saw perhaps two runs all game with a fullback lead block.  Everything came out of one back sets or shifts into one back sets.  I know Hunt got hurt, but still, the Eagles have a problem at fullback. 
• Still not convinced?  Watch the game again, fast forward to the 1:56 mark and tell me who Tony Hunt blocks on this play. 
• The answer is Jamaal Jackson.  Knocks him on his can, too.

- - - - - -

Other observations:

• The Cowboys continually motioned tight ends and wide receivers to the outside of Owens to give him different match-ups.  It "worked" in the sense that the Eagles would slide the CB out to the new guy, but Owens actually seemed to do most of his damage on the plays he was outside.
• Klecko always stands out when he rotates in.  If he could teach Bunkley how to penetrate like he does, we'd really have something.
• The Cowboys ran the slowest-developing screen pass in history and STILL none of our linebackers recognized what was happening, even though all four linemen seemed to.
• From the waist up, Todd Herremans looks like a tight end.  The guy seems to be in incredible shape.
• DeSean Jackson did not catch that ball on the first drive.  He never secured it.  The people criticizing Reid for not challenging that call are wrong.   
• Officiating was as terrible as everyone has said.  In addition to all the other calls, the refs also missed a clear facemask as well as an illegal chop block (defender already engaged) on Jon Runywan.  The facemask came on the play where Westbrook was hit late out of bounds with no call, so that one evened out.
• Jackson ran on to the field after Westbrook cleaned up his fumble mess.  Presumably to thank him for picking him up. 

Rams Video Rewind (Part II)

Reviewing the second half of the Rams game was a little strange.  By the fourth quarter, backups were in across the board and we moved to really topical questions like "How does Todd Herremans look as a future left tackle?"

- - - - - -

At any rate, the third quarter kicked off with two great plays by Mike Patterson.  In this first video, I've highlighted Patterson both times pre-snap.  On the second play, I also highlighted the Rams TE/WR who motions down and delivers a nasty crackback block on Juqua Parker.  Doesn't matter because Patterson still makes the play:

The Eagles were in nickel for both those plays, which was a switch from the first half that saw them mostly stay with a full set of linebackers. 

On third and long, Johnson went to his new (in the sense that I don't remember it) dime package, which looks something like this:

...................37

26......20...27....55......24....22

............DE..DT..DT..DE

It's a three-safety look that allows JJ to call all kinds of exotic coverages.  It's easy to see from the above how you're in a cover-three, but you can also drop one of the safeties and move into a cover-two quite easily.  It's also a great blitzing set because you have all those quick guys on the edges.  Which is exactly what they did on third down, with both Mikell and Dawkins rushing (flip the alignment above) and Bulger forced to go to his hot read for less than a first down (and great hustle by Bradley on the play getting out to make the tackle).

- - - - - -

On the Eagles' first offensive series we saw the shotgun spread handoff to Westbrook on first down.  It went for nine yards and got me wondering if the Eagles have that play set up to either go to Westbrook or be play action every time, or if they have a read in there for McNabb on the end.  If he were five years younger, I wouldn't mind seeing it.

Anyway, it's skipping ahead a bit, but the Eagles ran the same play for their final touchdown.  Here's how that looks (with bonus narration, but still no game sound):

- - - - - -

Incidentally, I put a stopwatch on Sav's next punt and got in the neighborhood of 4.2 seconds on a 48-yard effort.  Nothing extraordinary, although he put it right on the sideline.  Maybe the Eagles' coverage units are just really fast these days.

- - - - - -

Sticking with STs, on the Rams' first punt the Eagles went with the formation where they double one gunner and leave JR Reed back by Jackson to act as his sort-of lead blocker.  Reed definitely went after the wrong guy and Jackson had nowhere to go.

I mention that only because on the next two punts the Eagles doubled both gunners and ditched the "personal protector" concept.  Those were the returns that went for 18 and 60 yards.  Worth pointing out.

- - - - - -

The other interesting thing about the second half is how obvious it was that the Eagles have decided to go with a fullback by committee approach.  I think Buck may have done just as much lead blocking as Hunt did.  And of course the Klecko play by the goal line, after which Moose (former FB himself) raved about Klecko's form, saying he's not just a big guy, he knows what he's doing.

Hunt had a terrific power run on the last drive when the Eagles needed two yards to keep the chains moving.  He was stoned in the backfield but never stopped fighting and picked it up.  He also made a nice play in kick coverage when he split a double team and got the stop.

The only problem I see with both these "fullbacks" is that it seems like 80 percent of the time they try to take a guy out low.  Once linebackers start picking up on that trend, we're going to see Westbrook get pasted by a guy who just jumps over the block.

- - - - - -

Other random things I noticed:

• Andrews had a couple of messed up plays, but he's still Shawn Andrews.  I don't know if anyone in the league is better at blocking the initial point of attack and still getting out in time to screen the linebacker.
• Cute series where Avant and Baskett kept waving the rookie up closer to the line to avoid an illegal formation penalty.
• Celek looked great solo-blocking a DE in pass protection.  Everyone on the Eagles looked great all day though, so take that for what it's worth.
• I think Akers third-to-last kickoff might have been that weird spins-like-a-top model we saw in the preseason, rather than the traditional end-over-end ball.  Hard to tell on TV, but it sure looked weird.  Would love to know what he's going for there.
• The first play I noticed Chris Clemons he was getting buried by a double team on an off-tackle running play.  He got penetration on the next two plays, however (unblocked on the second).
• Buckhalter wears a white towel on his right hip.  That's how you can tell Hunt (29) and Buck (28) apart at the fullback spot.  Unless they're going right to left, in which case you're screwed.
• Considine still needs to think about wrapping those bigger players up, rather than just hitting them.  McMichael kind of jacked him up a bit.
• Shawn Andrews and Todd Herremans looked much better at tackle than Nick Cole did at guard.  I don't think OT depth is an issue for this team.
• Stewart Bradley's hurdling sack was quite something, wasn't it?
• Lorenzo Booker looks, to me, and only on first glance, a little bit like, well, Jeremy Bloom, in the extent to which once contact is made, he no longer has any say in where his body will end up.
• Kevin Kolb sure looks like a real quarterback when he's playing with guys who know what they're doing, doesn't he?  Nice to see him come in and immediately lead a clock-killing nine minute that ended with kneeldowns.  Beautiful.

- - - - - -

And with that, we close the book on the Rams (picture Bob Uecker here).  It's on to the Cowboys.

Rams Video Rewind (Part I)

The funny thing about doing this week's video rewind is the complete absence of any storylines.  Usually I take my cue for what to focus on from whatever the past week's controversies were.  This week, if you're an Eagles fan, there were no controversies.

So this rewind is going to be a little different.  Rather than organizing things thematically, we're just going to bounce around a little bit.  Comments and videos throughout.

- - - - - -

One note on the videos.  I picked up a new rig in the offseason, with the primary purpose being to allow me to do a bit more editing on these things without having to wait two hours for the processing to complete.  Unfortunately, the bubblegum and bailing wire program I use to capture the raw video was giving me trouble with recording the sound.  So for this week, we're going all Charlie Chaplin.  Should be better for you folks at work anyway.

- - - - - -

Two guys I did pay particular attention to were Shawn Andrews and Tony Hunt.  The latter for obvious reason and the former because I saw a couple times during the game when I thought he screwed things up and I wanted to double-check.  Both guys were a factor on the first play of the game when the Rams sent a blitzer right through the B gap on Andrews' side.  Shawn let him go to double-down on the DT and Hunt had to pick him up.  No problems there.

A couple plays after the big throw to Jackson, the Eagles tried a receiver screen with the little guy that actually had a chance to go big if Hank Baskett hadn't uncharacteristically whiffed on the CB he was supposed to block.  Everyone else was locked up on that play.

But that's OK, because all that did was set up a sweet two-play series where the Eagles went run/shovel pass to punch it in for the TD.

One thing I've always wondered is why Reid's offense, which is so creative in the passing game, can be so vanilla in the running game.  It may be a thing where he feels like with only so much practice time you have to focus on one area and just execute your handful of plays in the other, but I've always thought they could do a bit more there.

So it was with great relish that I watched this run by Buckhalter that involved:  1) a fake pitch to Westbrook, 2) a sweet inside trap by Herremans, and 3) Runyan and Andrews rumbling downfield to take free shots (I tacked on the TD shovel pass just for kicks):

- - - - - -

Although the Eagles' second drive also ended with a touchdown, there were a few hiccups along the way. 

Chris Long showed great football smarts on the first play in ignoring a fake DeSean Jackson end-around and shutting down the run up the middle.  On the second play, the Eagles demonstrated that it's still hard to run screens to Westbrook when everyone you play spends the week practicing to stop it.  They tarted this particular one up with a fake fullback dive and a fake end-around and it still went for no gain.

Third down was the conversion to Avant ... and that's when things got a little interesting.  On first down, the Eagles started in the I and ran a pretty typical outside run over Tra Thomas.  Hunt was at fullback and rather than take his man high, he went low.  It didn't work and ended up leaving that linebacker in a position to get the first hit on the tackle.  (Although neither he nor the guy who actually made the play got any credit, which instead went to the defensive lineman #96 who was only in the area because Todd Herremans was in the process of pancaking him.)

The next play, the Eagles again came out in the I formation -- but this time no Tony Hunt.  Correll Buckhalter was your fullback and the cagey veteran demonstrated the correct way for an undersized "fullback" to submarine a linebacker.  Third play in the series, two backs again.  This time Hunt in front of Buck.

Moral of that story?  I have no idea what's going on with the Eagles backfield.

But actually, that's ok, because when it's all said and done their best running formation is clearly a one-back set that allows the lineman to handle the point of attack and those big wide receivers to just swallow guys up downfield.  Like, say, this:

As they mentioned in the broadcast, McNabb changed the direction of that play pre-snap.  Good choice. 

That's one video where it's too bad you can't get the volume, because it sounded like Fox had a Belichick mic on Jackson, the sound was so good.

Also, what happened to this "point of emphasis":

Grasping the facemask by all players, including offensive players, will continue to be strictly enforced. Specific attention is to be given to the runner who twists, turns, or pulls the facemask of the defender who is trying to make the tackle.

Runners and tacklers are to be treated identically when this occurs. This action is a personal foul and a 15-yard penalty.

Is it an open hand kind of thing?  As in, you're allowed to do pretty much whatever you want as long as you don't close your fingers up and "grasp" the facemask? 

Because the way Westbrook finished that run was pretty violent.  A defensive player would probably be suspended a month for doing that, the way they call things now.

- - - - - -

The next few drives saw not much offense, another mediocre block by Hunt, some more time at fullback for Buckhalter, a cleeeeeear defensive pass interference penalty against Jackson that went uncalled, and an on-screen graphic referring to "Jason Avante."

It's bad enough he gets called Jason "AY-vent" by the announcers, now he's part of Ye Olde Philadelphia Football Clubbe.

- - - - - -

On the 90-yard touchdown to Baskett, I don't have much to add other than to point out that the Rams actually burned their last timeout on our first-down play so they'd have another chance to score...

That worked out well.

- - - - - - -

As for the defensive side of the ball, the Eagles weren't on the field long enough to get much of a look at the new stuff, but we definitely saw some glimpses:

• I realize it's the Rams, but Johnson played a straight 4-3 far more often this year than he did last, at least in the first half.  Last year, 2nd-and-6 was a nickel down.  In this game, the linebackers stayed on.
• At one point, the Rams went double tight end, no receiver on one side and Quintin Mikell came up to play the "cornerback" position, while Sheldon Brown moved back into a "safety" position.  Combine that with the fact that our dime package -- at least on this day -- appeared to involve three cornerbacks (Asante, Lito, Sheldon) and three safeties (Dawkins, Mikell, Considine) and I think it's safe to assume Johnson's going to do a bit more mix-and-match back there than he has in years past.
• Which is good, because (sorry guys) Mikell did nothing to suggest he's not going to continue being a concern in coverage.  He's great making plays around the line, but I hope we don't see him matched up with the likes of Witten too often next week.  (Although that pass interference penalty was completely bogus.)
• Samuel gets amazing breaks on the ball.  He just closes things down so quickly.  I'm curious to see how he does with a big guy like Burress, but I think we may finally have our answer for those Santana Moss, Steve Smith types.
• You just don't move Brodrick Bunkley.
• Bunkley had one amazing play where he took on a double-team, refused to move, then spun around quickly into the hole and stopped Stephen Jackson dead in his tracks with his back.  It doesn't show up well on the tiny computer video, but if you record the games, it's the 7:33 mark in the second quarter.  I had to watch it a few times to make sure I was seeing it correctly.  He just stones one of the league's most powerful runners.  With his back.  And maybe an elbow.
• Stewart Bradley is so clearly the best linebacker we've had around here since the days of young Trotter that it's only surprising he's not getting even more attention around town.  He's big, he's fast, he doesn't get washed out of plays.  People are wondering which guy gets the next big extension before he seems to need it?  Bradley is now my guess.
• As for last year's crush, Gocong looks much better than he did in 2007, but he still doesn't look like a guy who's played linebacker his whole life (which make sense because...)  On first-and-10 of the Ram's fourth drive, Gocong got sucked in by some backfield action and ended up fading out of his gap responsibility.  Mikell shut things down pretty quickly, but that was the rare misstep on a day when the Eagles looked nothing like the rampant over-pursuers we've seen in season openers past.
• The second down play in that series was the Bunkley reverse tackle, while the third demonstrated why -- even on third-and-one -- it's: a) really hard to run against eight defenders standing in eight gaps and b) you should never, ever leave Trent Cole unblocked on the theory that one of these days he might take a play off.

- - - - - -

As for the special teams, I'm frankly amazed at how good they looked.  They did some things differently, like I can't remember Reno Mahe ever getting one of his gunners doubled and a point man blocking in front of him, but the biggest change was on the coverage teams. 

I know, I know, it's only one game.  But when you punt four times, down three inside the 20 and allow one return for -2 yards, you're doing something right.

Another early call:  the season-ending leader in special teams production points for 2008 will be Quintin Demps.  That guy is a friggin' ball magnet.

- - - - - -

Last thing for tonight.  It was almost eerie how the play in this final video came just a couple minutes after we got our first look at the Brady knee injury. 

Look, I understand how Pats fans feel.  Trust us, we've been there.  (Bryce Paup, anyone?)

But I've watched the Brady play like 20 times now and I don't see how you can think it was anything other than just an unfortunate accident.  It's not like Brady was standing still and the kid lunged out at him.  He was just scrambling his way forward as Brady stepped up in the pocket.  Unfortunately for Brady and the Patriots, they ended up meeting in a bad way. 

So anyway, take a look at a very similar play during the Eagles game.  It's the one where Trevor Laws gets yanked to the ground when he has a clear free shot at Bulger.  Watch what happens next:

If Bulger had stepped into his throw, rather than flinging it off his back foot as he did all day (a topic for tomorrow's rewind, incidentally), we might have been looking at two QBs out for the season, not just one.  It's still not a dirty play.

Steelers Video Rewind (Part II)

We're on to the second half of the Steelers video rewind today.  We covered the starters in part one, so now let's move to the backups.

- - - - - -

I started with the offensive tackles.  Both Winston Justice (RT) and King Dunlap (LT) looked very solid in pass protection, but merely fair with run blocking.  They are two very different players, however.

Dunlap reminds me of Flozell Adams.  He doesn't always look pretty out there, but once he gets his meat hooks on the rusher, it's pretty much over.  He's so big he just engulfs the guy. 

Justice is much more of a technician these days.  There were still some issues with his overall performance, but you can see how much work he's put into his technique just by watching him for a series or two. 

One thing I noticed in particular was how fast he was getting off the snap.  Remember last year in that terrible Giants game, one of Justice's biggest problems was with the silent snap count.  It seemed on almost every play that Osi Umenyiora was moving long before Justice was. 

That's no longer an issue for the third-year man out of USC.  Justice was very fast off the ball in this game.  So much so that a couple times I almost thought he jumped early.  This isn't a great video, because I didn't want to fire up the editing software, but you can get some sense in this short clip of what I'm talking about:

(He may be getting a little too deep, too early, however, which sets him up for an inside move.)

Both Justice and Dunlap had bobbles with guys who busted out nice speed moves.  Dunlap had his man run around him once for some decent pressure and Justice fell for a bit of a head fake, but Kolb still had time to complete the pass.  For the most part, though, they did their job keeping their man clean on passing downs.

The run game wasn't as good.  On one run by Tony Hunt, Justice tried to cut his man at the line and missed, while Dunlap got too high on his way to the second level and was seriously blown up by the linebacker.  I counted three missed blocks by Justice in the run game.  Two were whiffs on linebackers and one was a poor block where his man just rode him down the line to plug the hole. 

Here's a quick video showing one of those whiffs.  I think it's interesting mostly because it gives the running back a chance to show that, yes, he can make people miss.  As a bonus, I also included the very next running play, where it wasn't Justice missing the block, but boy was it bad:

Yeah, that was DeSean Jackson.  Maybe he has a "no blocking" clause in his contract. 

- - - - - -

As with part one of the recap, I didn't intend to look at any other linemen, but Nick Cole really grabbed my attention. 

Not in a good way.

Cole was driven well back into Kolb's face on at least two plays, once by a backup nose tackle and once by a blitzing linebacker.  That's bad, folks.  It's one thing to get beaten on a blitz.  That happens.  But an offensive linemen should never, ever get blown up like that. 

Cole also looks very overweight.  Mike McGlynn (I believe that's the right Mike) got some time at center with the third team on Friday.  I wouldn't be surprised to see him have every opportunity to wrest that job away from Cole by the end of the preseason, if he can learn the calls in time.

- - - - - -

A few other notes on the offense:

• On the first two plays with Kevin Kolb, the Eagles went with two tailback personnel.  On the first play, they shifted to put Booker split alone to the bottom, hoping to get him matched up with a cornerback or safety (didn't work because the Steelers didn't flip the corner).  On the second play, Booker just lined up as a wide receiver from the get go.
• On the third play of that series, the Eagles saw just how hard it is to run a decent screen pass with an offensive line full of backups.
• McNabb was interviewed during Kolb's second series.  He didn't make a dumb joke or say that his shoulder was fine, but he did say: "We were able to establish the run game early, which kind of softened up their defense."  From your lips to Andy Reid's ear, big guy.
• The DeSean Jackson fake reverse only picked up three yards because the defensive end crashed inside and shut down the run play.  The funny part about that play is that I'm not sure the DE ever saw Jackson coming.  Too bad they didn't hand it to him.
• TE Kris Wilson is one unlucky dude.  He was wide open on the wrong end of the ground ball Kevin Kolb threw that spurred the "how strong is his arm" discussion between the announcers.  He was also the guy A.J. Feeley badly overthrew in the end zone for what should have been the winning touchdown.  The guy was only a couple of bad QB plays from having a lot of people notice him.
• So if it's a "worm burner" when McNabb does it, what do we call Kolb's version?  Because that ball wasn't moving fast enough to cause more than a slight blush.
• On the swing pass Tony Hunt didn't catch, the announcers said that Kolb threw it too hard.  That's kind of true, but I think the bigger problem is that Hunt didn't get wide enough on his route after feigning a role as a pass protector.  That seemed to be what Kolb was saying, anyway. 

- - - - - -

One last word on Hunt.  I realize he's not the fastest guy on the field, but I just really don't understand why anyone wouldn't love the guy.  Watch how many guys it takes to bring him down on this simple little swing pass:

That's how he plays every single snap, folks. 

- - - - - -

On the defensive side, the backups showed just how carefully they had been paying attention by coming in and doing exactly what the starters did on their opening series -- get sucked inside and do a terrible job setting the edge against the run. 

On the first play, McDougle was moved at least five yards out of the hole by the offensive tackle.  "Mac" had a better game from that point forward, but at least one other defensive end besides Trent Cole has to be stout against the run this year.

Rocky Boiman also got obliterated on this play.  Anyone else realize the guy is only 236 pounds?  That may fly in Indy's scheme, but it drastically limits what he can do here.  He better be really, really good on special teams if he wants to stick around in Philly, especially with all the other good young linebackers around him.

On the next play, J.R. Reed got trapped inside, just the way Gocong and Mikell had been on the first series.  I detect a trend.

- - - - - -

Speaking of talented young linebackers, everyone noticed a couple guys:  Joe Mays and Andy Studebaker. 

It's funny, these guys are like mirror images of each other.  Mays is the short, slow (for an NFL linebacker), instinctual guy who just knows how to play the game.  Studebaker looks like a freakishly gifted athlete who has a long way to go before he feels comfortable at linebacker.

It wasn't all positives for Mays.  He's the guy who blew the sack on Charlie Batch after he came in free on a blitz.  He also looked very slow in identifying where the ball was on the next running play, which made me wonder if his height could be something of an issue at this level.

As for Studebaker, you're taking the good with the bad with this guy until he figures out how to play the LB position.  He's a heck of an athlete, but I saw at least one play where one of the secondary guys had to move him into the right pre-snap position.  He also takes a lot of false steps out there while he's identifying the play, which is to be expected until he truly figures out what he's doing.  (Gocong looked very similar last year in the preseason and he'd had a year to study.) 

I don't think there's any chance he doesn't make this team, though.  He's just too good an athlete and he makes too many plays to let him go.

- - - - - -

Other defensive thoughts:

• Trevor Laws reminds me of Mike Patterson.  Not a huge guy, but he plays with good leverage.  He looked pretty good out there.
• Dan Klecko is one-dimensional, but the good thing for him is that it's a dimension the Eagles need.  He can't stand up at the point of attack if you run right at him, but he seems to use his hands well and can actually get penetration from the DT position.  Since Kimo is gone (for now) and "one-gap penetrator" is pretty much the best description for the MIA Montae Reagor, you have to think there's a pretty good chance he's sticking around.
• Side note, the Eagles still have five guys listed as left DTs and only one listed as a right DT.  Guess Bunkley's position is safe.
• J.R. Reed can play.  He made a couple nice plays and also looks like he's figured out how to disguise/time his blitzes.  He looks approximately 200 percent more aware than Considine does.
• Bryan Smith showed nothing in this game.  He looked small, slow and out of it.  As fast as Winston Justice was off the snap, that's how slow Smith was on the other side.  It was just one game, but that was my biggest disappointment from everything I saw.
• On the flip side, I have no idea what it means, but Jerome McDougle was clearly the best player on the field for much of the second half of that game.  He was a little loosy-goosy at times, but as a pass rush specialist who can play on the right side, he should be just fine.

- - - - - -

Finally, two quick notes on the special teams play. 

First, I saw the Eagles double both gunners on at least two of their punt returns in this game.  I may just have a bad memory here, but I don't remember seeing that much in the past. 

And no, it didn't work either time.  Note to the guys trying to make this team based on their special teams' contributions, when you double a guy on the outside, he really, really shouldn't be the one who makes the tackle in the middle of the field.

Also, on a night when David Akers was (mostly) bombing the ball, the punters were pretty terrible.  Rocca's first punt traveled 42 yards (not good), his second 48 (better), his third 35 (into the end zone), and his fourth 37 (ditto).  If you're scoring at home, that's a net average of 23.0 yards. 

The only good news for Rocca?  Backup punter Richmond McGee wasn't better, averaging just 35.0 yards on his three efforts.

Busy week for the special teams coaches. 

Steelers Video Rewind (Part I)

Now we get to the good stuff. 

I underestimated just how much I was going to get sucked into the Olympics coverage when I said I would do the Steelers rewind over the weekend.  Between the basketball, volleyball, swimming and other random sports, I didn't even watch one minute of the PGA this weekend.  Can't remember the last time I completely blew off a major. 

And while we're on the topic, suck our backwash, France. 

I didn't totally abandon the Iggs, though.  I made it through the the starting series for both the offense and defense.  So I'll cover the #1s today, and then come back later with the guys further down the depth chart.

- - - - - -

On the starting offense, I wanted to focus on the two guards to see if one guy looked like he had an advantage.  I ended up watching all the linemen since, um, they happened to be in the same place on the replays. 

The big picture takeaway is that all three members of the interior line looked very, very solid.  It is certainly true that MJG has a power advantage over Herremans.  He has a squatter, more powerful build that gives him almost automatic leverage. 

But don't discount Herremans' speed advantage over Jean-Gilles.  The Eagles don't pull as much with their guards as you might think they would, but they constantly rely on them to get to the second level in the running and screen games.  You can't just be big if you want to play inside on this line.

- - -

While both guys, again, were solid, a couple plays illustrate their differences:

• First drive, 2-6-PHI 35, the Eagles ran Buckhalter behind MJG and the big fellow just absolutely buried his man at the point of attack.  Awesome power block.
• Next play, though, is where the Eagles ran a screen to Buck.  All three interior linemen were supposed to slip out, so we got a good comparison shot of the three racing against each other.  Herremans left Jackson and MJG standing still.  The latter two guys never made it downfield and the screen went nowhere.  To be fair to MJG, he got bumped by a blitzer who ran through him to McNabb, but he still looked a little lumbering. 

- - -

Both MJG and Herremans looked good in pass protection.  The interior guys are often blocking three-on-two, but regardless, the pressure wasn't coming up the middle.  When there were problems, it was from the edges.  The tackles had a few issues.

- - -

On the play where Runyan fell down and then got called for tripping, MJG did a great job coming off his interior double team to get a knockdown shove on the guy racing over Runyan.  That was a very heads up play. 

- - -

It wasn't all good news, of course.  First-and-10 on the start of the Eagles' second drive was a run up the middle.  Both guys were supposed to slip off and get to the second level.  MJG couldn't get through the traffic and Herremans just badly whiffed on the LB he was going for.  Their two guys combined for the tackle. 

MJG also cleaned two guys off the pile later than was probably legal.  On the one hand, you like the hustle and aggression, on the other, those 15 yarders are killers.  He needs to clean that up a bit.

- - -

Other things I noticed about the offense:

• The first and 10 play on the Eagles' first trip into the red zone was the pass in the flat to Buckhalter after Booker ran off the coverage.  It only went for three yards, but that's because second-year linebacker Lawrence Timmons made a truly fantastic play to come off his coverage of LJ and run down Buckhalter after the pass was made.  Not many guys in the league are making that play.  That was impressive.
• McNabb really did seem to be focused on not taking sacks in the red zone.  He threw a couple balls away down there where he typically would have tried to buy more time for someone to get open.  Now whether that's because it was "only" the preseason or because avoiding negative red zone plays is something they've been working on, we won't know for awhile.
• On the McNabb sack, the Steelers ran two separate stunts.  The inside guys picked up theirs but Tra Thomas whiffed on his. 
• Finally, on Booker's second run that set up the third-and-goal pass to Davis from the three-yard-line, the key block was made by Brent Celek, who appeared to dominate a defensive end one-on-one.  That could make a big difference in the run game this year if he can keep that up.

- - - - - -

On the defensive side, I pretty much ignored the secondary -- since Samuel wasn't out there -- and focused on the front seven.  Thoughts on the:

First Drive

We've seen this stuff before.  It looks in real time like the Eagles are getting dominated at the point of attack, then you watch it in slow motion later and it's clear that there were specific breakdowns, not general collapse.  Examples:

• Second play (Lito's facemask play), both Gocong and Mikell were lined up right outside the DE at the very spot the run ended up going.  Both guys let themselves get engaged and then locked up inside.  This was especially bad for Q since he seemed to have outside contain. 
• Third play, run left, Cole absolutely held his ground but it was Gaither this time who couldn't get off the block from the pulling OT.  Bradley showed good speed to run the play down, but Gaither can't get swallowed up like that now that he's on the outside.
• Fourth play, Gocong again set up just outside JP on the LOS, Pittsburgh ran a counter and Gocong got badly sucked inside by the backfield action.  JP was also blocked one-on-one by a TE, but the real problem was Gocong's bad read on the counter step.

And then, just like that, the switch flipped and the Eagles remembered how to play football.  The next two plays netted zero yards, with Bradley making a nice play getting off a block and holding his ground in the middle on the first one and Gocong attacking the fullback with his shoulder and blowing up the second one. 

Which then got us to the worst play of the day.  Now look, I know everyone loves Brian Dawkins.  I do too.  But some of the excuses people are making for him on that touchdown are downright ridiculous:

• "The CB blitz was too obvious" -- Well of course it was obvious.  The Eagles wanted Roethlisberger to do exactly what he did:  see the blitz coming and hit Santonio with a quick pass, which should then have been tackled for a short gain.  This would have forced a field goal.  It's a very solid call on third-and-10.
• "Dawkins shouldn't be matched up against a #1 receiver" -- He didn't have to cover Holmes.  With the CB coming in unblocked, Pittsburgh had almost no time to let routes develop.  All Dawk had to do was come flying in and make the tackle, the way he's done thousands of times before.  Instead, he came in tentatively, didn't attack the ballcarrier, and then looked frighteningly slow trying to recover on the play. 

Guys, let's not kid ourselves.  That was Trotteresque.  And I mean old Trotter. 

If that play didn't concern you, then you really are an optimist. 

Second Drive

I realize the Steelers made some substitutions after the first series, but the Eagles' defense looked much better the second time around. 

I'll admit it.  I was especially impressed ... with ... Stewart Bradley.  The guy is absolutely a man in the middle.  He also seems to have good speed and looks very fluid in his pass drops.  I'm not sure I saw a blocker win an engagement with him all night. 

The only problem with this three and out is that I would like to have seen Quintin Mikell really attack the ball on that pass Batch threw down the seam to Holmes.  He broke it up, but we need turnovers this year, not just passes defensed.

Third Drive

Another three-and-out, but at least we got to catch a glimpse (for one play) of the 4 DE nickel package Jim Johnson is trotting out this year.  Playing at the right tackle spot, Darren Howard actually did  get some penetration.  He wasn't there in time, but it was more than the starting DTs could manage while they were out there. 

JP showed nothing on this or any other play to suggest he's anything more than a very valuable third-down guy.  If Victor Abiamiri really is out for the year, the Eagles need to figure out a new Plan B. 

Oh, and Bradley broke up the pass on that third-down nickel play.  Just one more nice effort by him, coming off his first coverage, reading the quarterback, and diving in front of the ball. 

Omar came over and jumped on him in congratulations.  I guess these guys weren't overstating how much they like each other.

Other observations from the starting defense

I want to talk a little bit about Lito here.  Obviously he had that stupid 15-yard facemask penalty (which is really going to hurt his YPSP for the preseason), but let's look at a different play. 

It's still the preseason so I'm not doing the full video song and dance here, but check out this play and then come back to the commentary below:

A few things to note here, the first being that JP was blocked one-on-one by a tight end and got completely locked down.  That's not good from your starting LDE. 

However, what I really want to look at here is the coverage.  Notice that Lito is the one who makes the tackle, so you figure he had the coverage.  If one of the FO game charters were scoring that at home, I assume they'd hang that one on Lito and give him a 19-yard completion to mess up his YPA.

But watch that play again, particularly the replay from the pocket.  Look at how Lito is playing that coverage as if he has inside help.  He's staying to the outside to take away a flag-type route, relying on someone else to cover the middle zone.  Unfortunately for Lito, that someone else never materializes.

Now watch the video one last time and see if you can figure out what's supposed to happen there.  It looks to me like the linebackers correctly play their short coverages, but why are two guys covering the tight end over the middle?  Seems like one of those guys should be somewhere else. 

My guess?  It's hard to read the numbers on YouTube, but #37 Sean Considine looks to me like he misread the routes and didn't get the depth he was supposed to in the middle of the field.  That's why the middle was so open.  And why the coverage didn't work.

And probably why Lito threw Hines Ward to the ground with so much oomph.

He was pissed that someone thought that was his fault. 

Again, that's just my guess based on how things played out, but it illustrates the difficulty of assigning blame on some of these secondary-type things when we don't actually know what the call was. 

- - -

So Quintin Mikell still lacks ball skills.  Brian Dawkins is now aging in dog years.  And Sean Considine is (allegedly) doing the one thing a "heady" type ballplayer shouldn't be:  making mental mistakes.

Boy, we sure are loaded at that safety position.

- - -

More when I finish the video.

A Very Special Video Rewind

Last week, the NFL Network dug into the archives to give us a very special game of the week -- the 2003 NFC Championship game between the Carolina Panthers and the Philadelphia Eagles. 

This continues to be something of a defining game for this franchise.  It was a game in which Andy Reid's quarterbacks threw 36 passes while the running backs had only 24 carries despite the fact that the ground game was extremely successful, Donovan McNabb was injured in the second quarter, and Jame Thrash and Todd Pinkston proved without a doubt that they had no business being in anyone's starting lineup.

It was also a game in which McNabb went a long way towards solidifying his status as a big game choker for many Eagles fans, despite the fact that:

1. His skill position teammates -- outside the running backs -- were terrible.
2. He was injured during the game.
3. None of his three interceptions was his fault.

It was also the game I most fear right now, because it might just be the model for what this year's team is facing.  This isn't the 2001 team, young and cocky, on the ascent and maybe just a year away.  Nor is this the 2002 team, proven, battle-tested and the favorites to advance to the Super Bowl. 

And no, this isn't 2004 again.

Like the 2008 team, the 2003 Eagles featured on offense Brian Westbrook, Donovan McNabb ... and that's pretty much it. 

Yeah, I don't want to talk any more about that either.

So sit back and take a walk down memory lane with me, as we relive one of the worst losses in the history of the franchise.  Here's the story...

- - - - - -

We open with a montage of many players who are no longer on the Eagles.  Todd Pinkston and Chad Lewis.  James Thrash, Hank Fraley, Duce Staley and Darwin Walker.  Ike Reese, Corey Simon and skinny Donovan McNabb.

This is one thing I think many, many Eagles fans forget.  Because we've been here all this time, we sort of feel like the players have, too.  Go back and watch a game from four years ago, though.  Most of those guys aren't still around.

And in the cases of Todd Pinkston and James Thrash, we all say: "Thank God."

...

The first appearance of Jake Delhomme.  Remember when people convinced themselves he was a legitimate NFL quarterback?  All we heard for months after this stupid game is what a gamer he was and how he was the next Brett Favre and blahblahblah until his continuing suckitude finally got everyone to shut the hell up.

And yes, Eli Manning, I'm looking at you.

...

Here's what was most painful about this game.  Do you remeber how many chances the Eagles missed out on?  I sure didn't.

On the very first play of the game, Panthers kick returner (Kevin?) Dyson runs into his own man and the football pops up into the air ... and then right back into his hands.

Think about how different things would have been if that ball hadn't magically come right back down to him.

... 

L.J. Smith playing special teams.  Been awhile

...

First Carolina offensive play, power run right at Darwin Walker.  Old No-Gap gets blown four yards off the line of scrimmage.  Like seeing an old friend who hasn't changed at all.

...

On that same play, Jeremiah Trotter gets destroyed by a friggin' tight end. 

Oh wait, that's actually Nate Wayne.

Please to explain why Nate @#$%! Wayne was wearing #54.

...

Mark Simoneau, Ike Reese.  The aforementioned Nate Wayne.

...

Narrator:  "The Eagles offensive strategy was simple.  Keep the football in the hands of their playmaker, Donovan McNabb."

Actually, no, they meant to spread it around, it's just that none of the receivers could get open.

...

Troy Vincent, Bobby Taylor, Brandon Whiting.

...

Still a scoreless ballgame.  McNabb drops back from the 46-yard-line and lofts a perfect pass to Duce Staley breaking down the sideline ... who has the ball clang off his hands at the 10 yard line. 

Stupid choking McNabb.

...

First drive of the second quarter.  DeShaun Foster fumbles the ball short of a first down on a third-and-one play. 

But wait, tight end Jermaine Wiggins is following the play and scoops it up for a first down. 

Oh my God this is all coming back to me.

...

First Carolina touchdown.  Delhomme gets blitzed, backpedals, and heaves a wounded duck off his back foot to a double-covered Muhsin Muhammad.  Unfortunately, the big receiver is the only one in the end zone who sees what's happening and he comes back for the badly underthrown ball.

So that didn't start with Manning and Burress.

...

The narrator keeps giving us helpful little stats, like this one:  "The Eagles had one completion to a starting wide receiver.  Nine yards to James Thrash on this play."

Then Pinkston dropped a ball in his gut after McNabb raced out of the pocket to avoid the rush. 

Skipping ahead a bit with the narration:  "The Eagles receivers let down Donovan McNabb, dropping six of his passes, many that could have produced first downs."

Yes, yes they did. 

...

A couple plays with Duuuuuuuuuuuce running over guys.  Staley had 79 yards on 13 carries.  Buckhalter had 48 yards on 11 carries.  For the love of God, why didn't we run the ball more???

I will never understand this one.

...

AND THERE'S THE DIRTY F-ING PLAY BY GREG FAVORS.  No call by the refs.  Horseshit non-call.  McNabb was on the ground and he just drove through his legs in a move clearly intended to injure a defenseless player.  Try that on Favre or a Manning and you'd face summary execution.

Between that non-call and the mugging all day by the cornerbacks, this was one of the worst officiated games I've seen in my life that didn't involve some sort of missed sideline call or down-by-contact.

...

Koy Detmer takes the field.  It wasn't funny then either.

And of course, McNabb comes back after one play.  Tough son of a gun.  Remember that.

Akers nails a 41-yard field goal.  We have a ballgame.

...

Michael Lewis. 

...

Here's the first INT.  One-on-one coverage on James Thrash at the top of the field.  McNabb makes the right read and throws him the ball to the inside, since that's where he has position.  However, Ricky Manning steps in and picks the ball off.

On the replay, you can clearly see how Thrash doesn't fight to keep inside position after McNabb makes the throw.  He pretty much hung his QB out to dry on that one.

Terrible play by Thrash.

... 

Freddie Mitchell.

...

Skipping ahead a bit to the second McNabb INT, past a few more plays where Reid refuses to run the ball (although I swear Childress is calling plays on one of the sideline shots we see). 

This one was very well broken down by the NFL Films crew:

"Todd Pinkston, #87, was supposed to run a quick slant.  Fearing the defender had taken away this route, Pinkston decided to break off his pattern and run to the outside instead.  McNabb threw it right to Manning."

So no, not McNabb either.  Try to remember that next time you're citing the man's postseason statistics. 

He would have been better off if the Eagles actually had let Lito Sheppard play wide receiver that year (more on him later).

...

Brentson Buckner:  "Hey, HEY, #5 is hurt.  If we shut down this running game, it's over with."

...

Narrator:  "A defensive stop could not jumpstart the Eagles' offense.  And their receivers could not get open."

Cut to Carolina Announcer:  "You're right though, these Eagles' receivers, they're not getting open."

...

Third INT -- McNabb drilled Thrash in the gut, he got popped by Mike Minters and the ball went right to Ricky Manning.

For those keeping score at home, that's three interceptions, none of which was McNabb's fault.

...

Here's an interesting play from down in the red zone that set up the Panthers' second touchdown.  

Narrator:  "Then the Panthers caught the Eagles in a mismatch.  Backup cornerback Lito Sheppard lined up against Steve Smith.  In single coverage.  Jake Delhomme caiught it.  The coaches spotted it.  And the Panthers exploited it."

Pass interference against Lito Sheppard.  Ball on the one yard line.  Panthers ran it in from there.

...

With 14:18 left in the game, the Eagles needed a miracle, and they looked to have gotten one when Steve Smith fumbled the ball on the Carolina 45-yard-line while fighting for extra yards. 

Replay then showed his knee was down. 

Just one more play that could have made a difference.

...

After that play, Jake Delhomme never threw another pass all game.

...

Jerome McDougle.

...

Koy Detmer enters the game a second time for McNabb after Donovan took another shot on a play where the Eagles didn't run the ball.  Koy promptly passes the ball to Bobbie Williams. 

The offensive guard, Bobbie Williams.

A little hard to blame him, though, since none of the receivers had a prayer of getting open.

...

Something else I'd forgotten.  The Eagles actually drove to the 11-yard-line with about six minutes left.  Then Koy Detmer threw the last, fatal pick. 

...

Some final quotes:

Narrator:  "Carolina had taken away Philly's woefully inadequate wideouts...  The Eagles receivers looked overmatched -- incapable of making a play." 

Merrill:  "And the Eagles are running out of season."

Narrator: "The Eagles had no miracle workers.  They had Todd Pinkston and James Thrash."

Narrator:  "A cold despair settled over the stadium.  The entire city, in fact."

Cowboys Film Review

This is a fantastic look at how the Eagles defensed Romo and the Cowboys from the Dallas Morning News.  I'm jealous.  It's that good.  I'm not even going to paste any excerpts because there's no excuse for not clicking that link.

----------

The link comes from Certified McNabb Hater Dan from the comments.  The piece is so good, I'll even re-post his review complete with Anthony Spencer dig:

It makes for fascinating reading about how Jim Johnson adjusted to what the Cowboys did to them last time.

And how they thwarted Romo throwing to an area vacated by blitzers inbound on him.

Very interesting.

And for those who would like to see what the ANTHONY SPENCER draft pick meant for the Cowboys, go read some of those blog entries.

But Dan, of all people you should be happy about the tradedown for Kolb :)

Someone Else's Video Rewind

Bob Brookover has required reading for anyone who wants to comment on McNabb's performance this past week against the Giants.  I'm not going to quote any of it.  Read the whole thing.

Then feel free to come back here and bitch in the comments about how you still think he's wrong.  Specifics, please.