I Goofed

Redskins 17 - Eagles 12  

Andy does it again with his wonderful clock management skills.  What does he have to say for himself this time?  I goofed.  Oh, okay Andy you goofed.  I forgive you.  Let's resign you for another 12 years!  

From the opening kick off, the Redskins just seemed to want it more.  They hit harder, had more energy, and were much more disciplined.  I attribute that to coaching.  Andy didn't have his team ready to play or his team isn't willing to lay themselves on the line for the win.  Take your pick, but when I read quotes from DeSean Jackson saying he was telling Mike Vick not to take those kinds of hits, it makes me think about how he has played these past few weeks.  Yes, Jackson is very explosive and he makes big plays, but his body language on the field shows me he wants no contact with the defense what so ever.  The Redskins came into our house and bullied us around and knocked players out of the game.  Mikell was run over for the skins first touchdown and the defense had 2 blown coverages, one of which, McNabb missed a wide open Fred Davis, and Cooley scored on the other.  

The Eagles defense was so bad in this game that it's surprising they only gave up 17 points.  Shannahan was playing for the win.  He knew McNabb and the passing game was a liability, so they played a very smart and safe game by limiting the passing attempts.  Even when McNabb threw our defense the ball we struggled to make the interceptions.  McNabb gift-wrapped the one for Nate Allen, which I assumed was intentional at the time to give us a chance to get back in the game.  If I'm not mistaken we went three and out on that drive.  

Kolb looked scared and he certainly looked like a bad rookie QB.  He threw almost 3 or 4 balls that should have gotten picked off, but were dropped and the only passes he was completing were screen passes or dump passes to the FB or McCoy.  McCoy had 12 catches and played with broken ribs.  Of all the players on the offense he seemed to be the only person playing with heart.  It was a shame that he ended up fumbling the ball away on a potential scoring drive.  Regardless, we beat ourselves in that game.  Dropped passes (not to throw Avant under the bus), penalties, clock management, and missed tackles paved the way to our 2nd loss.  The 49ers are not a bad team and with us playing in San Francisco, that doesn't bode well for our record.  I hope I'm wrong, but the Birds will lose badly to the 49ers and everyone will want to see Kolb back on the bench.

Eagles D Minus Gaither Able to Escape Florida With a Win

Eagles 28 - Jags 3 

  Too bad we can't play Jacksonville twice a year.  I just wanted to touch on a few things this week. 

• Andy's Time Management
• Andy's Play Calling
• Gaither and Stewart Bradley
• Jackson's soft 150 yd game
• Receiver Drops in General 
• Jorrick Calvin in the return game
• Parker, Cole, and Laws all solid up front
• Samuels sitting on routes again
• Vick's accuracy and 3rd down efficiency

  Andy blew all his time outs in the first half with over 4 minutes still to play.  I'm still confused at his decision to challenge the 4th and short call.  I'm happy with his decision to go for it on 4th down, but what bothers me is Andy's only 2 runs called on that drive were 3rd and short and 4th and short where they didn't get it.  I thought they were running too much Mike Bell and not enough McCoy.  Also, it seems like our only running plays are coming on delayed hand offs from the gun.  Where's the rest of the running playbook Andy?  Perhaps you can make it up to me by running a shovel pass against the Redskins on a 2nd and goal from the 4 yard line.

  I would just like to bring up the fact that Bradley replaced Gaither this week and as a result the defense played much better.  Bradley was able to get off blocks and jump in the right lanes and his pursuit was excellent.  Jordan also made an awesome read on a screen play and almost had a pick.  Overall, much improved play from the linebackers.

  Yes, Jackson had a great game on the stats sheet, but he made some pretty bonehead plays out there.  The unsportsmanlike penalty he took on the punt return was ridiculous.  If you are going to take a penalty for blocking after calling for a fair catch, you better lay someone out!  Also, he had a drop on a catchable ball and didn't keep his feet in on another.  It seemed like he was just trying to avoid taking a hit on the one.  Regardless, what was most upsetting was the 3rd down play that he ran backwards instead of following Celek's block for the first down.  None of these mistakes were game changing, but the score could have been a lot higher and had he made 1 or 2 more plays, Kolb might have gotten onto the field for the 4th quarter.

  Jorrick Calvin looked pretty explosive in the return game.  I would be okay with having him back there full time instead of risking injury to Jackson.  I wouldn't be surprised to see him return one for a touchdown next week against the Redskins, who suffered an injury to their punter this week.  I'm sure the touchdown will be called back for a holding or blocking from behind penalty, but we can have a brief celebratory moment.

  In limited playing time Parker is putting up amazing sack numbers.  He leads the team with 4 sacks.  The Jags may want to call Tra Thomas for help, because Trent Cole was in the backfield all day.  Cole had a multi sack game and with pressure coming from Laws on the inside, Garrard was harassed all day long.  The Eagles should be able to get the same kind of pressure next week and knock McNabb out of the game.  I see the Eagles defense coming out hungry and forcing McNabb into the mistakes we know he is capable of making.  Banner was on the phone last night with Jimmy Rollins.  He asked him about his availability to field some of McNabb's ground balls on Sunday now, since the Phillies are already clinched.

  My bittersweet defensive player, Asante, is at it again.  He was squatting on routes over and over again.  He was lucky Garrard didn't have time to run a double move, b/c that would have been an easy touchdown.  Asante did have a INT, but again I see the Cowboys or Giants exploiting his aggressiveness.  The other knock on Samuels is his sad tackling skills.  He is either hit or miss.  He should know by now that a shove is not going to tackle MJD.

  Vick at times can look amazing and at other times leave you scratching your head as to who he was trying to get the ball.  He made some amazing throws where he stitched them in perfectly.  He flicked his wrist off his back foot and put a nice ball up for Jackson.  He hit Maclin and Celek in stride.  Then he throws a ball that sails over everyone or a ball that is short and in the ground where no one is around.  I think Vick had an excellent game overall, but I still find it amazing that he didn't turn the ball over yet.  His receivers dropped some catchable balls, but that's how we do things in Philly.  Vick should have another good game this week and be able to move the ball much like he did against the Packers.  Both run a 3-4, so it comes down to our wonderful offensive line again.  Game on!

Andy Reid Just called a Time Out So you can read this blog...

Eagles 35- Lions 32

Somehow Andy always finds a way to make these games go down to the wire.  The Eagles were up 35-17 and just needed to hold defensively and run the clock out on offense.  Gaither, who sucked all day, gave up a huge gainer on a pass to Petigrew, which setup a Best run for a TD.   35-24 at this point.  In my 12 years of watching Andy run the offense I have seen maybe 1 game where he chose to run the clock out.  It wasn't this game!  Andy decided to call 1 running play and 2 passing plays.  On the last passing attempt Vick realized too late that he should stay in bounds and got wrecked.  After getting up he spiked the ball moving them back another 15 yards.  What is that Andy always says... "Putting players in a position to be successful"  Yea... calling a pass play on 3rd down when they need to keep the clock running.  I guess Andy was hoping for either a completion or a Lion's sack, since they had 6 of them this game.  Well the Lion's got the sack and the clock to stop!  

It shouldn't have come down to a chance for a game winning drive by the Lions.  Riley Cooper has got to catch that onsides kick.  The Eagles dodged a bullet when Hanson made a nice defensive play.  I was glad to see the Eagles not playing that prevention D on the last drive.  Congratulations to Ernie Sims who won his 1st game in the last 30!

Juicy Tidbits to take away from this game:

• Gaither sucked, whether it was run defense or pass defense
• Graham had his first sack, but left the game with a shoulder injury
• Jackson had over 100 yards receiving
• McCoy was over 100 yards rushing and had 3 TDs on 16 carries
• Vick's hard count in first half, drew 2 offsides calls
• Lions 2nd Drive was all running plays for a TD, no surprise here as Gaither couldn't get off blocks
• Jackson's overturned catch, overturned momentum
• Special Teams continues to make special penalties
• Andy made 2 nice 3rd and 1 play calls
• Andy burns another time out
• Jason Peters is down again
• Nate Allen had another pick
• Parker looks like a fresh monster coming off the end
• Eagles are 2nd in the NFL in rushing yards on only 48 attempts
• Eagles are 15th in passing on 68 attempts... 20 more passes for those of you keeping track
• Eagles offensive line is last in the league giving up 12 sacks in 2 games, on pace for 96 sacks 
• Defense is giving up 29.5 pts a game good for 2nd to last

  The defense looked very similar to the defense that ended last years season.  We can only hope that Stew will be back next week, so Gaither can get back to not paying attention during practices.  The defense missed a lot a tackles and took terrible angles.  I thought if the Lions came out in their third drive and ran a play action pass, that could have been dangerous, because we came hard selling out on the run from the snap.

  Have you noticed Jason Peters gets injured more than any other Eagle?  The man was in and out of the game with different injuries throughout the first half.  The only positive you can take away is that he will be back to do this again next week and it limits the amount of false start penalties he can have.

  Bobby April's special teams units have absolutely sucked in the first 2 weeks.  They continue to take stupid penalties.  Coleman was called for a 15 yd taunting penalty in the first half on punt coverage.  In the 2nd half they were called for catch interference.  Last year this was a common thing for guys like Macho Harris or Demps.  Neither of them are on the team now.  It's a shame, because Rocca is punting the hell out of the ball only to have them kill the field position advantage.

  Andy continues to baffle me.  He calls 2 amazing plays for 3rd and 1 this week, but for a 4th and 1 call last week he chose a QB draw out of a shot gun.  This week he rolled Vick out to the right and had him throw back left to Celek for a first down.  In the 2nd half they faked the FB dive and pitched it out wide to McCoy for the first down.  Then Andy goes and takes a time out when they commit a full start penalty.  The ref went over to Andy and explained to him that it was a full start and that they can't award him the time out instead of the penalty, but stubborn Andy said he didn't care.  He still took the timeout.  Needless to say we punt the ball and the Lions score on a poorly pursuited screen play.  Next Andy blunder goes to the hurry up offense.  They have 2 time outs and have quite a ways to travel for a field goal.  Andy decides to run the ball up the middle on the first play.  At this point they burn another time out.  If it wasn't for the amazing pass from Vick to Jackson the Eagles would have missed out on points that drive.

  My last point for this week is the QB controversy.  Vick was sacked 6 times this game.  Maybe 2 of those sacks were his fault for holding on to the ball, but the other 4 he had no where to go with the ball and little time to do that.  Vick also evaded at least 3-4 other sacks and extended plays for big yardage.  Do you think Kolb would have lasted this entire game had he started?  When Kolb starts next week against Jacksonville, Jack Del Rio will be sending everyone.  I see Kolb taking sacks, hurrying throws and running for his life unless they can sure up the offensive line and Reid balances the play book.  The Eagles had better balance this week against the Lions and you can only hope Reid doesn't abandon the run game early.  The Eagles don't seem to play well at Jacksonville, and I'm sure they will be looking ahead to the game against McNabb.  Get excited for the QB carousel experience next week!

- Victim93

Also, be sure to check out the Manning bowl mix that DJ Steve Porter put together.  Very catchy and creative, whether you hate the Mannings or not.  DJ PORTER

Vintage Andy Reid

Packers 27 - Eagles 20

What a start to Andy's 12th year with the birds.

• First play is a trick play, resulting in a 5 yd penalty
• No running plays on first series
• QB knocked out of the game by half time  
• Mismanaged the clock at the end of the first half to give the packers the ball back for another 3 points
• Used all the timeouts in the 2nd half with 5 minutes left.  
• Put Bradley back into the game, when clearly Bradley looked like a fly that was just smacked out of the air.
• 4th and 1 QB draw call

I say vintage Andy Reid, because a normal coach would have tried his hardest to establish a running game for his new young quarterback.  Not Andy.  I watch how other teams make it work with young quarterbacks and the ones that are successful have numbers like 12/17 passing.  Had Kolb survived the first half I bet he would have had 50 attempts throwing for the game.

With how hard the packers were blitzing and coming after Kolb, it would have been smart at that point to ditch his pass heavy game plan, but again Andy is stubborn.  If Andy wanted to pass at this point, he needs to use quick passes.  Slants and screens.  He could have run some delay hand offs and just get the packers to ease off the gas pedal defensively.

How can you expect Kolb to get into a rhythm when you keep pulling him out and putting in ick for trick plays?  Does Andy feel like the only way his team can run the ball is when Vick is in the game and they run a trick play?  Is Andy being stubborn or just disrespectful towards the packers D-fense, which was one of the best in the league last year.?

The eagles started the game with really no idea how their O-line would hold up against a great 3-4 defense.  As a coach you need to play to your teams strengths.  Put in plays at the beginning of the game that will build the team's confidence.  High percentage plays.  Give Kolb easy throws to make.  WR screens and hb screens are high % throws and they counteract an over aggressive defense.


Now, you are running a 2 minute offense and the Pack have 2 timeouts at this point.  You can't afford to go three and out.  As they just scored a touchdown.  Andy goes three and out.  Now the packers have the ball back and march down for a last second field goal.

The eagles came out in the second half with a much different game plan.  Who knows, had buckley not fumbled on that opening drive, it may have been a different game.  The reason why the Eagles can be successful with Vick, is because he makes his own running plays.  Andy just calls passing plays, and Vick will bring the balance.  He will run the ball for 100 yards a game and teams will have to start respecting our rushing attack.  That is what was opening things in the passing game.  The packers had to start respecting and playing run, and holy cow we moved the ball!
 
This brings me to the fourth down play.  I'm pretty sure we had a timeout to think that play up.  It takes me back over the years of unsuccessful 4th and 1 plays from Andy Reid.  Giants Chase Blackburn stuffed us, and the bears stuffed us, and I'm sure the cowboys stuffed us.  The redskins stopped our 4th and goal drive to win the game on prime time 2 years ago.  Andy, obviously this seems to be an area where you need to do a better job.  Maybe start by putting your players in a position to be successful.  The eagles were beating the packers to the edge all game with speed.  The strength of the packers d-fense has been their interior line.  Andy calls his play... a qb draw into the heart of the packers d-fense with McCoy as the lead blocker.  LOL.  That is a play my sister would choose in madden.  She also knows nothing about football.  Vick is the most dangerous weapon you have out there next to Jackson.  If you are going to line up in the shot gun, make the packers think pass or get him out on the edge where he can pass or run for the first down.

With as bad as Andy called the game, they were still in it to the very end.  To me, this is what hurts the most.  Knowing that if we had a different guy calling the game, perhaps things would have ended differently.  I'm sure next week Andy will find a way to keep the lions in the game.