On a day when the Philadelphia Phillies clinched the National League East, found their way into the playoffs after a 14-year hiatus and dethrowned the Mets, the Philadelphia Eagles, for the first time in a long time, were not the lead story in Philadelphia. But the Eagles were a story yesterday, a story that could be found under "TRAGEDY" in any local library. The Eagles were embarrassed in a 16-3 defeat to their NFC East rivals, the New York Giants. The Giants defense, lead by Osi Umenyiora's 6 sacks (note: that is not a typo, Umenyiora had 6 sacks), sacked McNabb a total of twelve times and forced him to fumble twice. The receivers returned to the form of the first two weeks and refused to get opened and when they did they dropped the ball. The defense was again impressive, surrendering only 10 points (the Giants D scored a touchdown on a fumble return and then missed the extra point), intercepting an Eli Manning pass in the red zone, stuffing the run and containing Plaxico Burress, although Burress did catch a touchdown on a jump-ball play over the head of Sheldon Brown (sounds pretty familiar, doesn't it?) So on a day where the Birds could have been the icing on an extraordinarily delicious Philadelphia sports cake, they again looked dreadful. So the question remains, how good (or bad) are the 2007 Philadelphia Eagles?
Once again, I don't believe the Eagles are as bad as they appeared to be last night, but they are light years behind their week 3 performance in which they scored 56 points and simply dominated. I would first, due mostly to the gleeful mood the Phillies, like to focus on the psitive. It shouldn't take very long and it'll be best to just get it out of the way. The defense. The D gave up only 83 net rushing yards on 27 rushes for an average of 3.1 yards per attempt. Omar Gaither recorded an interception in the red zone and there was even a JEVON KEARSE SIGHTING! That's right, Kearse, who recorded a half sack in week one's loss to Green Bay and no tackles since that game, recorded 3 tackles, including a sack. This brings Kearse's season toals (after 4 games) to an underwhelming 4 tackles, 1.5 sacks. The defense also held Plaxico Burress and Jeremy Shockey to a combined 41 receiving yards on only 5 catches. Beyond the defense, the only bright spot was Correll Buckhalter. With Brian Westbrook sidelined after straining his abdomen while juking out a Lions defender last week, Buckhalter rushed for 103 yards on 17 carries and caught 4 balls for 35 yards. The lone bright-spot on the offense, Buckhalter proved the Eagles offensive strength is running the ball, with or without Westbrook.
Now for the bad. For the readers who do not have much time I suggest going to whatever prior engagment now and returning when there is more time to read. The Eagles looked like my beloved Temple Owls last night, in that there was a lot of bad. As do so many games in the NFL, the game was decided by the battle at the line of scrimmage last night. The offensive line allowed the Giants' defense to pickup a record 12 sacks Sunday night, six of which were by Osi Umenyiora. Matched up against 2006 second-round draft choice Winston Justice, Umenyiora dominated in every way imaginable and beat Justice like he were a criminal. Out with a knee injury, the Artist Formerly Known As 'Tra', William Thomas is the Eagles' best pass-blocker and was desperately missed last night. Although Justice is the top O-line prospect and will probably develop into Kevin Kolb's blind-side protector one day, there should have been a change at half-time when it became obvious he could not contain Umenyiora. Todd Herremans has experience at left tackle and could have been shifted to that position and been replaced at guard by Max Jean-Gilles. This may not have made a difference, but Justice didn't need to be John Madden and Al Michaels' whipping boy once it became clear Umenyiora was too much for Justice. The rest of the o-line wasn't much better but Justice is the goat on this Monday. But it wasn't all the line's fault. They did an excellent job of run-blocking and selling Buckhalter's cutbacks and McNabb's counters and pitch fakes. The playcalling was again Andy-esque, as there were 31 pass plays and only 23 rushes. The net yards per pass play was a mere 0.2 yards, which was actually an overall improvement from the halftime total of -0.4 yards per pass. The rushing plays, however, averaged 5 yards per attempt and accounted for 8 of the Eagles' 16 first downs. Buckhalter alone gained over 100 yards and averaged over 5 yards per carry, and although he lacks Westbrook's explosiveness, was able to rip off several long gains on the ground and warranted more touches. But I suppose that would just make too much sense. It seemed as if Reid, or Marty Mornhinweg, or a 14-year old kid playing Madden08, had his back turned to the action while calling plays, because as the passes failed for so very many reasons and the run opened up as if Westbrook were playing, the decision makers continued to drop McNabb back to pass and opened him up to a season's worth of abuse that he will need more than just the bye week to recover from. The receivers again disappointed with an effort that saw Reggie Brown and Kevin Curtis combine for 38 yards on 5 catches. Correll Buckhalter lead the team in receiving and Brent Celek contributed with 3 grabs for 31 yards. On a positive note, Celek seems to be getting comfortable running his routes and catching the ball over the middle in LJ Smith's absence. Reggie Brown looked as if he overcame his season-long slump when he caught a touchdown from McNabb, wide opened in the corner of the endzone. It was not to be, however, as McNabb had scrambeled past the line of scrimmage before floating the pass into Brown's waiting arms. Brown finished the night with 3 grabs, a season high, bringing his pre-bye week totals to 8 catches for 81 yards and 0 TDs.
Injuries also forced Reno Mahe into service in the offensive backfield and actually picked up a first down on an over the middle turning route. Where the ridiculousness began is when Mahe was left in the backfield as a blocker, while Thomas Tapeh stood on the sidelines, leading to a near crippling sack by (who else?) Osi Umenyiora. While Mahe may serve a purpose on special teams (I don't see it but Andy keeps telling me he does), but to put him on offense as a blocking back is simply ludicrous. In the punt return game Mahe returned three punts for an average of 6 yards and fumbled. If Mahe is going to fumble I don't understand why he is on the roster when this team could use a lot of other things. Another personnel decision that seemed questionable, although didn't hurt the team, minus the only Giants offensive touchdown, was the Sheldon Brown/Plaxico Burress matchup. While it is true offenses often dictate matchups, it just doesn't make sense to put the 5'10" Brown up against Burress' 6'5" 230 pound frame. Will James, (6' 0") was acquired last season to add size to the cornerbacks, so why not line him up in man coverage against Burress and let Brown defend the small and speedy Amani Toomer. James has been forced onto the field because of Lito Sheppard's ankle injury, so why not utilize him in the most effective way? Once again, this match-up didn't lose the game for the Eagles, but it just seems nonsensical.
Penalties were quite problematic for the Eagles last night, as Philadelphia was flagged 15 times for a back-breaking 132 yards. Andy Reid needs to get his team under some semblance of control because the Eagles simply aren't good enough to be giving up 132 yards worth of field position every week. The D-line's aggression has been their reason for success but the offsides need to stop, as do the pass interferences, face masks and the focus penalties: illegal formation, WR false starts, et-cetera.
When the offense isn't producing, special teams needs to step up to ensure the defense is not faced with defending a short field on every possession. Sav Rocca, acclaimed for his cannon-like kicking leg in the pre-season, had 4 punts for a 33.8 average at the half and finished the game with 8 punts for a 36.5 yard average. The defense will not be able to consistently keep opposing offenses off the board when they are starting from near mid-field. Either Rocca needs to find his homerun kicking power he displayed to win the punting job or Dirk Johnson, recently released by the Bengals, should be brought back to the team. If holding for Akers is a great concern I would suggest releasing Reno Mahe to make room for Koy Detmer to hold. The punting games was bad last night and hasn't been very good all season.
I have not yet watched any replays of the game, and all of the analysis above is gut reaction from watching a terrible game on Sunday Night. There is, in all likelihood, a lot more blame to be passed around, but at this point I have neither the time nor the energy to go into the rest. Here's hoping that the bye week gets this team healthy and focused and ready for a late season run. In the mean-time, GO PHILLS!!
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