Going into Solider Field in Chicago to face the Bears, it was pretty much common knowledge that Donovan McNabb, who went to Mt. Carmel in Chicago, had never lost in his hometown, winning a 2002 playoff game there 33-21, and then a 2004 season game there as well, 19-7. And judging from the back and forth action of Sunday Night’s game, it looked like it was one or two more plays away from continuing that trend in the first half, as the offense found the end zone pretty easily with two touchdowns, but at the same time, so was the Bears offense, who put up three of their own to take a 21-14 halftime lead.
Then in the second half, Dr. Jekyll pulled a Mr. Hyde.
Neither defense budged much, and with the Eagles already down seven points, the teams traded field goals and the Eagles added a second, meaning they only came out with three up but still fell by four, as the Bears defeated the Eagles 24-20 on Sunday Night Football on NBC. The loss for the Eagles not only puts them at 2-2 on the season with both losses coming in primetime affairs but also both on the road, but it temporarily puts them at the bottom of the division, with the Giants idle at 3-0, and when Washington beat Dallas 26-24, it made both teams 3-1, putting them 0.5 games behind New York and us 1.5 games behind. Turning points of the game included DeSean Jackson’s first punt return muff recovered by the Bears, which cost us a touchdown, two missed field goals by David Akers from 50 and 47, and also a 4th down and goal situation for the team with about 3:30 left in the game, failing to convert and basically ending our game. Despite all this however, the Bears were far removed from their mistakes, with four total turnovers, three of them in the 3rd quarter, but the Eagles only managed six points on these gifts.
Quarterbacks: McNabb, the Chicago native with his father and mother, Sam and Wilma respectively, in attendance and with both star runner and receiver Brian Westbrook and pro bowl right guard Shawn Andrews both out for the game, the focus was even more squarely on McNabb then usual. And this provides the ultimate scope into how the game played out: for the most part, this was pretty good, but it did come with some bad spots as well. For the game, McNabb hit 24 out of 40 passes at 60% completed for 248 yards with a touchdown and an interception while being tagged with two carries at minus five yards, one of which was a kneel down prior to the half, and the other a slip and slide thanks to Max Jean-Gilles. I’ve also been trying to figure out who was the fault of the interception, whether it was him or Jackson, the intended receiver, and have pretty much figured it was a total error in communication: while McNabb pointed inwards after the fact, his throw didn’t seem all that far inward its self.
McNabb Grade: B (85%)
Running and Full Backs: Having figured that the Eagles were going to keep passing the ball at any rate and that they had taken out another running back from our platoon, Correll Buckhalter made them pay for that mistake later on in the game. After getting only six carries for four yards in the first half, he ended up missing a few plays after he made the tackle on Bears safety Kevin Payne, who pulled in McNabb’s only interception of the game, and in the second half, he ran ten times for 62 yards, totaling 16 carries for 66 yards at 4.1 a run and our second touchdown of the game. And while he also caught two passes out of the backfield, including a 19-yard blooper saving it from being intercepted, his biggest missing attributes were his pass blocking skills. Because let’s face it, we gave flack to Tony Hunt for his blocking as a rookie last year, but Lorenzo Booker looked just as terrible in there, as he got two carries for seven yards and caught one pass which lost three yards due to a miss block by HIM. Hunt had two catches for 26 yards and a carry for one yard, while Jackson also lit up the backfield with two carries for 35 yards on receiver reversals.
Buck Grade: A (93%)
Hunt Grade: B (83%)
Booker Grade: C- (70%)
Wide Outs and Tight Ends: Funny how things work out in this offense: Hank Baskett, who led the unit with eight catches and 85 yards a week ago against Pittsburgh, was held to the bottom with two others at one, as Jackson collected five catches for 71 yards and a touchdown (and his first of the season, his second had he not passed the ball backwards in Irving) while Reggie Brown matched him in catches and had 65 yards and could have had two more catches, but he had a beauty of a 31-yard catch down the left side of the field, our longest pass play. Jason Avant collected four catches for 29 yards, most of them while laying on the ground, and Baskett and Greg Lewis both collected one catch each. Oh, and here are a few facts about the starting tight end from last night, Brent Celek: fact, he caught three passes, which in one game was HALF of what LJ Smith did in three games previously. Fact, he is making 3.7 million dollars less this season then Smith is. And fact, Tony Gonzalez said he would take a trade…get my drift? Oh, and as usual, we saw our fair share of receivers get hit in the hands and drop the ball, or like with Matt Schobel, have a catch on the numbers and drop it for fear of getting hit.
Unit Grade: B- (80%)
Offensive Line: For the most part, the offensive line did pretty good despite once again missing Andrews due to a lower back injury. His replacement, Jean-Gilles, allowed the replacements for Pro Bowl defensive tackle Tommie Harris, those being Israel Idonije and Marquis Harrison, to only one sack and did pretty well plowing down for the running game. Two of the teams three penalties, however, did come against the offensive line as Jon Runyan and Todd Herremans were both called for false starts, but the match-ups between Tra Thomas and Alex Brown and Runyan and Adewale Ogunleye produced only one half sack (from Adewale helping out Daniel Manning) and they pretty much had the vindication of having their faces put on milk cartoons with the usual “missing” details following it up. A lot of the time, McNabb got plenty of passing time, and the run blocking when they did run later on in the game was good too. Oh, and don’t forget this effort came against the FEARSOME Bears superstar defense!
Unit Grade: A- (90%)
Defensive line: I said from the outset to Bears fans who tried to question me about Matt Forte’s success and his yards from scrimmage that we would shut him down: we were not the #1 defense against the run (44.7 yards a game) and per carry (2.8 a run) for nothing, and shut them down we did do very well. That said, they ALSO got after Kyle Orton to a certain degree of harassment seen in the case that Marc Bulger is trying to present against the Eagles in NFL football court, but he should feel lucky…Big Ben is suing us for severe harassment in the NFL court! I take back everything I said about Trent Cole prior to the Steelers game as the guy is turning into himself again, leading the unit and finishing second on the team with eight tackles and a sack which forced a fumble as well. Broderick Bunkley posted three run stopping tackles while Juqua Parker also had three tackles (two solo and one assist) and posted another solo sack, putting him at 3.5 on the year so far. Mike Patterson and Dan Klecko also posted a tackle apiece but both were memorable for one reason or another: Patterson actually overpowered right guard Roberto Garza with one arm and used the other to tackle Forte, and Klecko got a sack, posting his second of the year. Trevor Laws also posted the first tackle of his career, and Darren Howard became the first player NOT named Asante Samuel to pick off a pace on what SHOULD have been Parker’s second sack of the game on Orton. Oh, and while is may have been slightly higher then the average, we gave up 78 yards rushing on 26 carries for three a run, and Forte had 43 yards on 19 carries.
Unit Grade: A (95%)
Linebackers: Despite what I said at the end of the column for the Steelers game, I made the general mistake of listening to Al Michaels and John Madden call the game, and while listening to pure genius (like Madden talking about how there were no leftovers from Wilma’s cooked team dinner on Saturday despite not understanding how he made the scene if it was our own team only) they did say one thing I agreed with: the linebackers are always around the ball and making plays nonstop. Omar Gaither led the team with nine tackles, most of them in stopping Forte or Jones in their tracks, while also recovering the forced fumble from Cole, while Stewart Bradley had four tackles and a recovered fumble on the botch between Orton and Kevin Jones, and Chris Gocong had three tackles while being the only non-lineman to collect a sack, even though Howard was also in the backfield to supervise his work. One thing I did notice about Gocong in particular, though, was his pass coverage and instinct tackling were both far better: outside that “touchdown” by Greg Olsen, he did much better against the tight ends.
Unit Grade: A (95%)
Secondary: Sloppy coverage by Samuel on Devin Hester and the failure of the safeties to figure out who was supposed to be covering Marty Booker may have been the only mistakes otherwise from the secondary, which held their 3rd quarterback to under 200 yards passing for the game (Orton had 199 yards). Quintin Mikell had five tackles and would become the first secondary member not named Asante to collect an interception on the season while Brian Dawkins had three tackles and Sheldon Brown had two tackles, and Asante Samuel and Lito Sheppard had one apiece. And the fact that Samuel and Sheppard only had one tackle each when they were mostly lined up on Hester and Brandon Lloyd prior to his injury speak wonders about their ability to cover arguably their most prolific weapons.
Unit Grade: A- (90%)
Special Teams: David Akers was ridiculous today, and I do NOT mean that in a way that he was good. TWO missed field goals, being down four points, makes ALL the difference between winning 26-24 and losing 24-20, and if he cannot hit them from 50 and 47 while others easily can, then it is time for him to move along and we need someone else. On the positive, Sav Rocca did fairly well punting again, averaging 44.2 yards a punt and blasting one which went 65 yards and then forced Hester to retreat another eight yards once he made the catch to his own 2-yard line. Quintin Demps averaged 24 yards a kick return on four, Jackson nine yards a punt return on four and his fumble, and our coverage teams allowed 24 yards a kick return average between three return men, and Hester ZERO yards per average on punts.
Rocca Grade: A (95%)
Coverage Grade: A- (90%)
Returns Grade: B- (80%)
Akers Grade: F (55%)
Coaching: Two weeks ago, I called out Rory Seagrest and Jim Johnson after their units’ disgusting effort in the Dallas game, and both responded with flying colors in beating Pittsburgh and continued yet again in Chicago for the most part (minus Bonehead Akers and Jackson’s sit down muff) but this week it is time to call out Andy Reid and Marty Mornhenwheg. Now, I understand that Brian, LJ, and Shawn were missing from the game against Chicago and for the most part against Pittsburgh, but those three shouldn’t take our offense from scoring 38 and 37 points a game down to 15 and 20 points a game just like that. I mean, it isn’t like Max hasn’t played that badly in Shawn’s absence, it isn’t like Correll isn’t capable of seeing 20 carries or so a game (although Brian rarely does himself though) and LJ well…he sucks anyway. But I am failing to understand why, on 66 total plays on offense, 43 FREAKING TIMES we called for a passing play, as opposed to only 23 RUN PLAYS! That makes the pass-run ratio 68-32 percent, and I was only KIDDING after the Steelers game when I said our team would become 70-30 if Brian were to miss the Bears game. Do Andy and Marty have that little confidence in Correll and the others that we must always do this when Brian is out?
Jimmy J Grade: A (95%)
Rory Grade: B (85%)
Andy and Marty Grade: C (75%)
Ripper’s Three Game Balls:
3. Correll Buckhalter: Despite being screwed over on his carries, Correll did what Correll could do though, touching the ball 18 times for 89 yards and a touchdown rushing, even tough he missed time in the 3rd quarter due to an injury.
2. Trent Cole: Eight tackles from our pro bowl defensive end and a sack and forced fumble show that is in fact back!
1. Omar Gaither: Second great game he had, leading the team in tackles with nine and also picking up the fumble from Trent: played shadow on Forte and Jones.
Honorable Mention: Punt coverage unit and DeSean Jackson (kept off the list only due to his fumble on the punt)
Numbers and Stats of Interest:
-Entering the game, Donovan and Andy were tied with former 49ers Coach Bill Walsh and Quarterback Joe Montana for most wins by a head coach and quarterback who started their careers off together in the same year with 75. Obviously, they will have to wait another week to break that mark.
-Points off of turnovers hurt the Eagles: on four turnovers, the Eagles offense only posted two field goals, and on two turnovers, the Bears posted a touchdown.
-The third quarter was brutal to the Bears: they netted only two yards of offense, committed three turnovers, and couldn’t post a 1st down from the start of the half to the 12:39 mark in the 4th quarter.
-Despite losing only by four points, the Eagles never led in the game: the score went 7-0 Bears, 7-7, 14-7, 14-14, 21-14 at the half, 21-17, 24-17, and 24-20.
-Jon Runyan and his 24-game streak without a penalty call against him was snapped in the 1st quarter when he was hit with a false start call.
-How many stadiums can say both the time clock AND the play clock froze at the same time? From the 13:14 mark to the 10:23 mark in the 4th quarter, it did at Solider Field, then again, it is a pretty old stadium.
If a couple of things would have turned our way instead of the way of the home team Bears, the Eagles could easily be 3-1, but as it stands, they now have two primetime losses both by four points, and dating back to the start of 2007, our primetime games record is 0-6, 0-4 on the road and 0-2 at home. The team needs to regroup and get some of that early season adrenaline pumped back into the offense once more, and the defense cannot get discouraged by the lose because they played too great to lose the game. The Washington Redskins are next, and they won in Irving…can they repeat the act in Philadelphia?
Monday, September 29, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Eagles Vs Steelers Review
Suffice to say, after what happened in week two, the pass defense and special teams both had a lot of explaining to do. And, on top of that, they also had to reinvent themselves in the matter of five days (since the Monday Night Game nearly lasted until way early Tuesday Morning, for us on the East Coast at any rate) and get ready for a team who was storming in at 2-0, that being the Pittsburgh Steelers. In fact, the situation kind of reminded me one of them old Looney Tunes cartoons, featuring Wily E. Coyote and the Roadrunner, wherein, the Eagles after week two looked like Wily E. would, flying down into the pit and blowing up. But in a rather unusual paradox, the collective units dusted themselves into a dust pan and went back to the Acme Factory to be turned into a machine.
And at this point, it was Big Ben who became Wily E.
All cartoon kidding aside, both special teams and the defense showed up to bail out the offense, which struggled as the game went on after losing three players to injury (although one would return) and both the D and teams stepped up to the plate as the Eagles defeated the Steelers 15-6 at the Linc, dealing not only the Steelers their first loss of the season, but also the first loss in our new(er) stadium (built in 2003, we played at Heinz Field in our last season game with Pittsburgh in 2004). One would almost have to feel for Ben Roethlisberger (who will be referred to as Big Ben from here on out, because trying to copy his name from this game book to spell it is infuriating to my simple mind) who seemingly was in the scope of 11 hunters as if he was nothing more then a deer on the first day of hunting season. And going into this game, all I heard from the local Pittsburgh media was how GREAT the offensive line looked as opposed to 2007...uh, are you SERIOUS? Oh, I know, maybe it was because they are used to stopping 3-4 defenses who play base, and not 4-3 defenses that incorporate more blitzes then you have chances to throw a clean pass? Oh, and the antics of Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin and Big Ben after what happened when he was in the end zone have caused me to contemplate a new award for my column, which I might use when I see fit…THE CRYBABY OF THE GAME AWARD! Seriously, was there THAT much of a need to put on THAT kind of spectacle over the call when Walt Anderson made it? It was the right call: I know it and you two sordid kids know it too! Now then, on to the review!
Quarterbacks: Let me start this section my saying that I have never been afraid of the future. I embrace this change over from TV to digital TV programming on February 24th, 2009, I look forward to seeing who becomes the new President of the United States, and yes, I want to see if the conspiracy theorists who said the world was going to end in 2000 are right when they say it will NOW be 2012. But one thing scares me about the future, and that is Kevin Kolb playing in the present! I know he looked pretty good against St. Louis in the last nine minutes in week one, but damn it, that was the Rams, and this is the Steelers! That pass he forced to Hank Baskett, and the mega-hard pass he tossed that hit LJ Smith in the hands and ended up with Troy Polamalu was too awkward to see as well. If you are wondering why I am talking about this now, reason is Donovan McNabb got hurt and missed a few plays to start the third quarter, as Kevin hit two of three for 18 yards and the pick off, while McNabb, who appeared to hurt his shoulder on a duo sack on the last play of the 1st quarter but remained in the game until the half, was 24 of 35 for 68.6% with 196 yards and a touchdown and an interception for an 80.2 QB rating. Honestly, when McNabb returned in the third quarter, I was singing Halleluiah praises! Although, the only question I have for McNabb was, “What were you looking off when you hit Bryant McFadden on the numbers?” That isn’t a pass Donovan is very often known to throw as he missed Jackson by about 10 yards over his head.
McNabb Grade: B (85%)
Kolb Grade: C- (70%)
Running and Full Backs: You could tell it was going to be one of them days where nothing was going to go right here. On the final play of the first drive, Tony Hunt was put out of the game with what appeared to be a concussion after Steelers End Orpheus Roye CLEARLY led with his helmet to hit Hunt in the helmet, forcing a “fumble” but more importantly injuring him. And after the final play of the 1st quarter when McNabb landed oddly, the first play of the second quarter saw Brian Westbrook land hard after he tried to jump over tackle Tra Thomas so he didn’t tramp on him, and in effect hurt his ankle landing. Now according to Westwood One Radio and NBC, the GOOD news is that he didn’t break his ankle according to the MRI he had taken after the incident, but I am not sure just how long he will miss. In his place, Correll “General” Buckhalter carried the ball ten times for 43 yards on the ground, but his most valuable hand came in catching the ball (sound familiar at all?) as he caught six passes, good for second best on the team, with 44 yards and the game’s only touchdown, a nifty little leaping move where he did a Rob Van Dam like single kick motion to the head of a Steelers safety. Westbrook had five carries for 12 yards before his injury with no catches, while Lorenzo Booker ran the ball five times for 11 yards and grabbed two passes as well as Hunt did before he hurt his head as well.
Unit Grade: B- (80%)
Wide Outs: Yeah, notice I DIDN’T add tight ends here (wonder why). One little thing about us spreading the ball around is that someone is always going to have the “big” game: where as we had three receivers top 100 yards in week one and DeSean Jackson did it again in week two, Hank Baskett took the lead this week, as he roped in eight passes for 85 yards, finally getting more opportunities to stretch the field and use his size to his advantage. Now, all we need to do is get that working in the red zone now! Speaking of Jackson, he caught five passes for 40 yards and had a receiver reverse which COULD have done some damage, but instead only went for one yards on the run. Jason Avant had two receptions for 24 yards, including 19 of them on a 3rd and 17 situation in the second quarter, and Greg Lewis had one grab for four yards. Oh, and that playmaking tight end of ours that is eating up 4.5 million with the franchise tag was good enough to drop a pass which was in his hands in the end zone: guess he was afraid of getting hit, but he did anyway. And on top of THAT even, it says Reggie Brown played today, but it is funny, I only remember him staying inside on a pass route when Donny threw it outside.
Receivers Grade: B- (80%)
Offensive line: Going into the game, I was pretty sure that facing yet another 3-4 defense would bear a pretty similar result as the Dallas game did last week, but to my surprise, with the exception of Jon Runyan not being able to slow down Lamar Woodley, that wasn’t what I saw. In fact, out of the Steelers three total sacks, only one half of a sack was obtained by a defensive lineman as Travis Kirschke split one with linebacker Larry Foote. And yeah, the team only managed 65 yards rushing for the game, but you have to factor in that we only ran the ball 23 times as opposed to passing it 38 times as well. And you also must consider that the team also didn’t get in any practices with Jamaal Jackson, who’s brother was killed by a drunk driver, and Shawn Andrews missed the game with an injury, putting Max Jean-Giles in at right guard, and they didn’t miss a beat at all. Impressive, considering they form a 1-2 punch inside at C-RG.
Unit Grade: A- (90%)
Defensive Line: Now THIS Ladies (Uh, I don’t think we have any here on the board however) and gentlemen was the force we ALL had envisioned when we kept who we did to rotate and cycle linemen in and out. Out of the defense’s nine total sacks, the defensive line pushed out 6.5 of them and out of the 11 quarterback hurries, they accounted for nine of them. Creating mismatches with the “improved” Steelers offensive line at large was Juqua Parker, who threw Right Tackle Willie Colon aside like he was thin air as he collected five tackles to co-led the line and also 2.5 of the sacks and also posted four hurries, two tackles for a loss, a pass defense, and a forced fumble while Trent Cole posted up five with him and a sack and QB hurry, although his was at the expense of face masking Big Ben (I dare say, his head on a swivel was pretty good looking though). Darren Howard, who has become the 3rd end of sorts for us, posted two tackles, a sack and a half, two quarterback hurries, and a tackle for a loss while Broderick Bunkley had one tackle for a solo sack and a hurry while he also recovered Parker’s forced fumble on Big Ben, while Dan Klecko had two tackles, a hurry, and split a sack, and Mike Patterson had one assist tackle. Oh, and on top of the sacks and hurry contributions, I would also say that holding the Steelers ground game to ONLY 33 yards rushing and forcing six total tackles for a loss in the run department is huge as well, considering Willie Parker ran for 100 or more yards in weeks one and two.
Unit Grade: A+ (100%)
Linebackers: Moving back to WILL linebacker probably meant that Omar Gaither would have less of an overall impact on the game, except for when you run across a team that makes a living out of running to the outside with guys like Willie Parker, and sending their tight ends like Heath Miller weak. Pittsburgh would be that team, and Gaither played like he was at MIKE in 2007 again, dishing out seven tackles, two quarterback hurries, two pass defenses, one and a half sacks, and one tackle for a loss while Stewart Bradley had six tackles (all solo) but also included three tackles for a loss, mostly VIA putting a hurting on Silly Willie. And of the one most irrelevant, Chris Gocong contributed one tackle to the game: either teams are afraid to run anything at him, or Bradley and Gaither just still everything from him!
Unit Grade: A (95%)
Secondary: Now then, just WHO is washed up again? If you tell me Brian Dawkins is washed up one more time, I swear I will hit you in the head with my pretty yellow and red colored two-sided fiberglass hammer! I got to think that Parker, Big Ben, Miller, and Nate Washington would ALL agree that Dawkins is anything BUT freaking washed up on Sunday as he collected seven tackles, a sack which also forced fumble and as an added bonus, he ALSO picked his own up, and he also collected two tackles for a loss as well. Quintin Mikell, who joins him as his fellow head pounding safety in crime, actually lead the team with eight tackles while Asante Samuel had five tackles on the game with two pass defenses and collected his second interception in as many games, covering Washington like a blanket and reading Big Ben like a book (nothing new, go back and look at them Patriots-Steelers games). Lito Sheppard had three tackles while both Joselio Hanson and Sheldon Brown were limited to only one tackle, a testament to how well they covered, but on the other hand I am upset because I REALLY wanted to see Brown rack Hines Ward like he did Jackson and Bush (Evil Grin)!
Unit Grade: A+ (98%)
Special Teams: Another unit that got chewed up and spit out by the writer last week did FAR better this week then it did last week, most notably in coverage of Steelers punt and kick returns. David Akers hit two field goal tries both conveniently from 31-yards away while Sav Rocca used his new found accuracy as well as his booming foot, punting five times (all in the second half) averaging 44.4 yards a kick while netting only one yard less a punt, putting three of them inside the twenty, and uncorking a 64-yarder when we were pinned inside our own 15-yard line. In fact, only ONE of them punts were returned by Santonio Holmes for five yards: two were fair caught, one sailed out at the six yard line, and another was downed at the Steelers 10-yard line. Quintin Demps had two kick returns averaging 29 yards per clip while Jackson had two punt returns of his own, averaging 5.5 yards a return while fair catching three of them.
Unit Grade: A (95%)
Coaching: I am not sure what Jim Johnson and Rory Seagrest did or said to their respective units (with Jim, I am sure it was colorful) but whatever they did or said worked for this week. The blitzes were aplenty on defense, and the pressure from the front seven was what we should come to expect, almost like a “Gang Green” type dominance. And Rashard Mendenhall only averaged 24 yards a kick return, as did Carey Davis on one, and you already know Holmes’ numbers. Just a far better job today by the staff, I really applaud them two coaches in particular.
Unit Grade: A (95%)
Ripper’s Three Game Balls:
3. Donovan McNabb: The interception put a damper on his day in which he overthrew Jackson, but he pitched the only touchdown in the process and also returned from a pretty hard fall he took.
2. Sav Rocca: One thing (and probably the only thing) that Phil Simms said that I agreed with was, “Sometimes, your punter can be your team MVP.” And two times when the game was still close in the fourth quarter prior to that safety and the field goal did Rocca walk into this moniker: his 63-yarder was a thing of beauty, as was the one which sailed out right by Holmes at the Steelers six yard line.
1. The ENTIRE Defense: Nothing was weak: when you pressure the quarterback from the front four, the linebackers can free lance, and the secondary can cover and read plays easier. A truly and simply amazing domino effect!
Honorable Mention: The Steelers line (for sucking) and Correll Buckhalter
Numbers and Stats of Interest:
-With his touchdown pass to Correll Buckhalter in the second quarter, Donovan passed Ron “JAWS” Jaworski for first place on the Eagles franchise list for most touchdowns in his career here: the completion gave him his 177th TD pass.
-McNabb started the game off completing his first 15 passes. Also, his passes without an interception streak was snapped at 122 straight passes.
-The Eagles first safety of the year came under dubious but well called circumstances: Big Ben was pressured by Cole in the end zone, throwing the ball away and still inside the pocket with no receiver in sight. Since he was in the end zone already, the penalty has to be enforced from where he was, thus giving the Eagles the safety and, at that point, a 12-6 lead.
-It was a rough first drive to open the 3rd quarter for Pittsburgh: on a drive which only lasted 1:05, the Steelers were flagged FOUR times on three plays, two penalties in a row on second down (delay of game and false start), and two at the same time on third down (illegal forward pass and holding). Funny thing is on the holding and false start, left guard Chris Kemoeatu was the guilty party. Yeah, you know, the guy they BANKED on replacing an 8-time pro bowler in Alan Faneca.
-Parker’s 20 yards rushing was his worst such total as a starter since week seven in 2006 against the Baltimore Ravens, when he ran for 28 yards.
Well, that does it for this column, as we leave this game behind and look forward to our Sunday Night Football game at Solider with the Chicago Bears. Yep, you know what this means…TV on for the action, muted, Field Pass on for Merrill Reese and Mike Quick for audio because my IQ drops when I hear John Madden and Al Michaels announce a game.
And at this point, it was Big Ben who became Wily E.
All cartoon kidding aside, both special teams and the defense showed up to bail out the offense, which struggled as the game went on after losing three players to injury (although one would return) and both the D and teams stepped up to the plate as the Eagles defeated the Steelers 15-6 at the Linc, dealing not only the Steelers their first loss of the season, but also the first loss in our new(er) stadium (built in 2003, we played at Heinz Field in our last season game with Pittsburgh in 2004). One would almost have to feel for Ben Roethlisberger (who will be referred to as Big Ben from here on out, because trying to copy his name from this game book to spell it is infuriating to my simple mind) who seemingly was in the scope of 11 hunters as if he was nothing more then a deer on the first day of hunting season. And going into this game, all I heard from the local Pittsburgh media was how GREAT the offensive line looked as opposed to 2007...uh, are you SERIOUS? Oh, I know, maybe it was because they are used to stopping 3-4 defenses who play base, and not 4-3 defenses that incorporate more blitzes then you have chances to throw a clean pass? Oh, and the antics of Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin and Big Ben after what happened when he was in the end zone have caused me to contemplate a new award for my column, which I might use when I see fit…THE CRYBABY OF THE GAME AWARD! Seriously, was there THAT much of a need to put on THAT kind of spectacle over the call when Walt Anderson made it? It was the right call: I know it and you two sordid kids know it too! Now then, on to the review!
Quarterbacks: Let me start this section my saying that I have never been afraid of the future. I embrace this change over from TV to digital TV programming on February 24th, 2009, I look forward to seeing who becomes the new President of the United States, and yes, I want to see if the conspiracy theorists who said the world was going to end in 2000 are right when they say it will NOW be 2012. But one thing scares me about the future, and that is Kevin Kolb playing in the present! I know he looked pretty good against St. Louis in the last nine minutes in week one, but damn it, that was the Rams, and this is the Steelers! That pass he forced to Hank Baskett, and the mega-hard pass he tossed that hit LJ Smith in the hands and ended up with Troy Polamalu was too awkward to see as well. If you are wondering why I am talking about this now, reason is Donovan McNabb got hurt and missed a few plays to start the third quarter, as Kevin hit two of three for 18 yards and the pick off, while McNabb, who appeared to hurt his shoulder on a duo sack on the last play of the 1st quarter but remained in the game until the half, was 24 of 35 for 68.6% with 196 yards and a touchdown and an interception for an 80.2 QB rating. Honestly, when McNabb returned in the third quarter, I was singing Halleluiah praises! Although, the only question I have for McNabb was, “What were you looking off when you hit Bryant McFadden on the numbers?” That isn’t a pass Donovan is very often known to throw as he missed Jackson by about 10 yards over his head.
McNabb Grade: B (85%)
Kolb Grade: C- (70%)
Running and Full Backs: You could tell it was going to be one of them days where nothing was going to go right here. On the final play of the first drive, Tony Hunt was put out of the game with what appeared to be a concussion after Steelers End Orpheus Roye CLEARLY led with his helmet to hit Hunt in the helmet, forcing a “fumble” but more importantly injuring him. And after the final play of the 1st quarter when McNabb landed oddly, the first play of the second quarter saw Brian Westbrook land hard after he tried to jump over tackle Tra Thomas so he didn’t tramp on him, and in effect hurt his ankle landing. Now according to Westwood One Radio and NBC, the GOOD news is that he didn’t break his ankle according to the MRI he had taken after the incident, but I am not sure just how long he will miss. In his place, Correll “General” Buckhalter carried the ball ten times for 43 yards on the ground, but his most valuable hand came in catching the ball (sound familiar at all?) as he caught six passes, good for second best on the team, with 44 yards and the game’s only touchdown, a nifty little leaping move where he did a Rob Van Dam like single kick motion to the head of a Steelers safety. Westbrook had five carries for 12 yards before his injury with no catches, while Lorenzo Booker ran the ball five times for 11 yards and grabbed two passes as well as Hunt did before he hurt his head as well.
Unit Grade: B- (80%)
Wide Outs: Yeah, notice I DIDN’T add tight ends here (wonder why). One little thing about us spreading the ball around is that someone is always going to have the “big” game: where as we had three receivers top 100 yards in week one and DeSean Jackson did it again in week two, Hank Baskett took the lead this week, as he roped in eight passes for 85 yards, finally getting more opportunities to stretch the field and use his size to his advantage. Now, all we need to do is get that working in the red zone now! Speaking of Jackson, he caught five passes for 40 yards and had a receiver reverse which COULD have done some damage, but instead only went for one yards on the run. Jason Avant had two receptions for 24 yards, including 19 of them on a 3rd and 17 situation in the second quarter, and Greg Lewis had one grab for four yards. Oh, and that playmaking tight end of ours that is eating up 4.5 million with the franchise tag was good enough to drop a pass which was in his hands in the end zone: guess he was afraid of getting hit, but he did anyway. And on top of THAT even, it says Reggie Brown played today, but it is funny, I only remember him staying inside on a pass route when Donny threw it outside.
Receivers Grade: B- (80%)
Offensive line: Going into the game, I was pretty sure that facing yet another 3-4 defense would bear a pretty similar result as the Dallas game did last week, but to my surprise, with the exception of Jon Runyan not being able to slow down Lamar Woodley, that wasn’t what I saw. In fact, out of the Steelers three total sacks, only one half of a sack was obtained by a defensive lineman as Travis Kirschke split one with linebacker Larry Foote. And yeah, the team only managed 65 yards rushing for the game, but you have to factor in that we only ran the ball 23 times as opposed to passing it 38 times as well. And you also must consider that the team also didn’t get in any practices with Jamaal Jackson, who’s brother was killed by a drunk driver, and Shawn Andrews missed the game with an injury, putting Max Jean-Giles in at right guard, and they didn’t miss a beat at all. Impressive, considering they form a 1-2 punch inside at C-RG.
Unit Grade: A- (90%)
Defensive Line: Now THIS Ladies (Uh, I don’t think we have any here on the board however) and gentlemen was the force we ALL had envisioned when we kept who we did to rotate and cycle linemen in and out. Out of the defense’s nine total sacks, the defensive line pushed out 6.5 of them and out of the 11 quarterback hurries, they accounted for nine of them. Creating mismatches with the “improved” Steelers offensive line at large was Juqua Parker, who threw Right Tackle Willie Colon aside like he was thin air as he collected five tackles to co-led the line and also 2.5 of the sacks and also posted four hurries, two tackles for a loss, a pass defense, and a forced fumble while Trent Cole posted up five with him and a sack and QB hurry, although his was at the expense of face masking Big Ben (I dare say, his head on a swivel was pretty good looking though). Darren Howard, who has become the 3rd end of sorts for us, posted two tackles, a sack and a half, two quarterback hurries, and a tackle for a loss while Broderick Bunkley had one tackle for a solo sack and a hurry while he also recovered Parker’s forced fumble on Big Ben, while Dan Klecko had two tackles, a hurry, and split a sack, and Mike Patterson had one assist tackle. Oh, and on top of the sacks and hurry contributions, I would also say that holding the Steelers ground game to ONLY 33 yards rushing and forcing six total tackles for a loss in the run department is huge as well, considering Willie Parker ran for 100 or more yards in weeks one and two.
Unit Grade: A+ (100%)
Linebackers: Moving back to WILL linebacker probably meant that Omar Gaither would have less of an overall impact on the game, except for when you run across a team that makes a living out of running to the outside with guys like Willie Parker, and sending their tight ends like Heath Miller weak. Pittsburgh would be that team, and Gaither played like he was at MIKE in 2007 again, dishing out seven tackles, two quarterback hurries, two pass defenses, one and a half sacks, and one tackle for a loss while Stewart Bradley had six tackles (all solo) but also included three tackles for a loss, mostly VIA putting a hurting on Silly Willie. And of the one most irrelevant, Chris Gocong contributed one tackle to the game: either teams are afraid to run anything at him, or Bradley and Gaither just still everything from him!
Unit Grade: A (95%)
Secondary: Now then, just WHO is washed up again? If you tell me Brian Dawkins is washed up one more time, I swear I will hit you in the head with my pretty yellow and red colored two-sided fiberglass hammer! I got to think that Parker, Big Ben, Miller, and Nate Washington would ALL agree that Dawkins is anything BUT freaking washed up on Sunday as he collected seven tackles, a sack which also forced fumble and as an added bonus, he ALSO picked his own up, and he also collected two tackles for a loss as well. Quintin Mikell, who joins him as his fellow head pounding safety in crime, actually lead the team with eight tackles while Asante Samuel had five tackles on the game with two pass defenses and collected his second interception in as many games, covering Washington like a blanket and reading Big Ben like a book (nothing new, go back and look at them Patriots-Steelers games). Lito Sheppard had three tackles while both Joselio Hanson and Sheldon Brown were limited to only one tackle, a testament to how well they covered, but on the other hand I am upset because I REALLY wanted to see Brown rack Hines Ward like he did Jackson and Bush (Evil Grin)!
Unit Grade: A+ (98%)
Special Teams: Another unit that got chewed up and spit out by the writer last week did FAR better this week then it did last week, most notably in coverage of Steelers punt and kick returns. David Akers hit two field goal tries both conveniently from 31-yards away while Sav Rocca used his new found accuracy as well as his booming foot, punting five times (all in the second half) averaging 44.4 yards a kick while netting only one yard less a punt, putting three of them inside the twenty, and uncorking a 64-yarder when we were pinned inside our own 15-yard line. In fact, only ONE of them punts were returned by Santonio Holmes for five yards: two were fair caught, one sailed out at the six yard line, and another was downed at the Steelers 10-yard line. Quintin Demps had two kick returns averaging 29 yards per clip while Jackson had two punt returns of his own, averaging 5.5 yards a return while fair catching three of them.
Unit Grade: A (95%)
Coaching: I am not sure what Jim Johnson and Rory Seagrest did or said to their respective units (with Jim, I am sure it was colorful) but whatever they did or said worked for this week. The blitzes were aplenty on defense, and the pressure from the front seven was what we should come to expect, almost like a “Gang Green” type dominance. And Rashard Mendenhall only averaged 24 yards a kick return, as did Carey Davis on one, and you already know Holmes’ numbers. Just a far better job today by the staff, I really applaud them two coaches in particular.
Unit Grade: A (95%)
Ripper’s Three Game Balls:
3. Donovan McNabb: The interception put a damper on his day in which he overthrew Jackson, but he pitched the only touchdown in the process and also returned from a pretty hard fall he took.
2. Sav Rocca: One thing (and probably the only thing) that Phil Simms said that I agreed with was, “Sometimes, your punter can be your team MVP.” And two times when the game was still close in the fourth quarter prior to that safety and the field goal did Rocca walk into this moniker: his 63-yarder was a thing of beauty, as was the one which sailed out right by Holmes at the Steelers six yard line.
1. The ENTIRE Defense: Nothing was weak: when you pressure the quarterback from the front four, the linebackers can free lance, and the secondary can cover and read plays easier. A truly and simply amazing domino effect!
Honorable Mention: The Steelers line (for sucking) and Correll Buckhalter
Numbers and Stats of Interest:
-With his touchdown pass to Correll Buckhalter in the second quarter, Donovan passed Ron “JAWS” Jaworski for first place on the Eagles franchise list for most touchdowns in his career here: the completion gave him his 177th TD pass.
-McNabb started the game off completing his first 15 passes. Also, his passes without an interception streak was snapped at 122 straight passes.
-The Eagles first safety of the year came under dubious but well called circumstances: Big Ben was pressured by Cole in the end zone, throwing the ball away and still inside the pocket with no receiver in sight. Since he was in the end zone already, the penalty has to be enforced from where he was, thus giving the Eagles the safety and, at that point, a 12-6 lead.
-It was a rough first drive to open the 3rd quarter for Pittsburgh: on a drive which only lasted 1:05, the Steelers were flagged FOUR times on three plays, two penalties in a row on second down (delay of game and false start), and two at the same time on third down (illegal forward pass and holding). Funny thing is on the holding and false start, left guard Chris Kemoeatu was the guilty party. Yeah, you know, the guy they BANKED on replacing an 8-time pro bowler in Alan Faneca.
-Parker’s 20 yards rushing was his worst such total as a starter since week seven in 2006 against the Baltimore Ravens, when he ran for 28 yards.
Well, that does it for this column, as we leave this game behind and look forward to our Sunday Night Football game at Solider with the Chicago Bears. Yep, you know what this means…TV on for the action, muted, Field Pass on for Merrill Reese and Mike Quick for audio because my IQ drops when I hear John Madden and Al Michaels announce a game.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Rippers Retro: Game Two: Eagles vs Cowboys
RipperEagle Reviews:
Week 2: Eagles @ Cowboys
By RipperEagle (RE96)
Week 2: Eagles @ Cowboys
By RipperEagle (RE96)
When someone who was just a casual football fan saw that the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys were playing on Monday Night Football in week two, they would probably just dismiss it as just another game. But the true fans of both the Cowboys and the Eagles know what the matches mean, and being that it was the 98th all time meeting between the two teams and that it took the main event slot was more important. Now, going into the game, there were many opinions as to what the score would be: these ranged from a Dallas blowout to a Philly blowout and everything in between. But, according to ESPN, 47 states in the US took the Cowboys to win the game against two states (apparently, New Jersey came up undecided) and after quarter one, they would have been right. But in the second, the Eagles made their case for winning the game and actually led at the half 30-24.
But, that’s when it all fell apart.
The Cowboys scored the only touchdown in the third quarter and also outscored the Eagles 10-7 in the final frame, and the Eagles only turnover cost the team as the Cowboys pulled out a win in a frantic match-up 41-37. The win moves Dallas into a tie for first place with the New York Giants at 2-0, while the Eagles are now tied with the Washington Redskins for second place at 1-1. Now, as I like to be a straight shooter, I will not be all giddy and try to say that we ALMOST won the game, because the bottom line is that we had as many leads in this game as they did, and it was up to US to keep our leads in tact, but we couldn’t do that, so I will be thoroughly honest with this.
Quarterbacks: You know when the Donovan McNabb of old is back? When he gets to scrambling around like he did and alluding defenders right and left, mostly linebackers because the big slow line couldn’t handle them. And granted, he didn’t get away from them all (he got sacked four times) but he got out of some that the McNabb of 2005, 2006, or 2007 wouldn’t have been able to do. His passing numbers ended up 25 of 37 (67.6%) for 281 yards and a touchdown while he ran five times for 20 yards and was tagged with two fumbles on two botched handoffs to Brian Westbrook, the latter of which was never picked up and killed the team. As a passer and considering that AGAIN he was missing his “two best receivers” and facing guys like Ken Hamlin, Anthony Henry, Adam Jones, Mike Jenkins, and even a 75% Terrance Newman, he didn’t do all that bad, but again, his oft ill communication on handoffs came back to kill the team later on.
McNabb Grade: A- (90%)
Running Backs: I might as well have just changed this title to Westbrook instead, because he was the only one who touched the ball in the game from a running aspect. Westbrook ran the ball 18 times for 58 yards and got across the plane two times rushing while also catching six passes for 45 yards and another touchdown. My only question in regard to his receptions is this: how come we went back to using him that much after what happened last week when the staff said we needed to take the load off of using him 1,000 times a game for that? As for the others, Correll Buckhalter and Lorenzo Booker had two catches each, Buckhalter tallying 15 yards and Booker eight yards. So if you are counting it up at home, Westbrook totaled 24 touches for 103 yards and three touchdowns. No usage of Tony Hunt as a receiver or a rusher in this game either.
Unit Grade: B+ (88%)
Wide Receivers & Tight Ends: The ineffectiveness of the receivers to get open downfield created a lot of problems for McNabb trying to pass the ball, as he couldn’t find someone open or even breaking away on most of his sacks. DeSean Jackson once again went over 100 yards receiving for the game as he had 110 yards on six receptions and would have had a touchdown had he not pulled a bonehead and thrown the ball away at the one yard line, putting it at a 61-yard touchdown reception. After him however is where the drop-off occurs: Greg Lewis had three catches for 36 yards, while Jason Avant and Hank Baskett had two catches each. Oh, and that big difference making tight end of ours? Yeah, LJ Smith had one big reception, which matched that of Brent Celek.
DeSean Grade: A (94%)
Grade after stupidity: B (84%)
Everyone else Grade: C- (70%_
Offensive line: Wow, what a difference a week makes for this unit. Last week, their praise and acclaim were both in heaps, this week however, they looked extremely slow and left McNabb on the run all the time. In fact, not only was the pass blocking rather weak, but there were a few instances where Westbrook came away with a loss of yards or zero to one yards. Now, I know playing a 3-4 defense is harder because there are four backers, but come on, how come Jason Hatcher, Jay Ratliff, Chris Canty, and Marcus Spears kept appearing in the backfield time after time? And what is this that I heard during the third quarter, that Shawn Andrews had an issue with his back, which is why Max Jean-Gilles came into the game? Oh well, we don’t know for sure: didn’t you get the memo, Mike, Tony, Ron, and Suzie are too busy talking about everything OTHER then the game on hand!
Unit Grade: D+ (69%)
Defensive line: Well, Broderick Bunkley brought it against the Cowboys running game, the question is, where was everyone else at? I know that Tony Romo did a good job of getting the passes off quickly, which forced the defensive line to get close but not close enough for a sack, but half of the time, it looked like Mike Patterson and Trent Cole were just simply out of position, and the latter looks nothing like the pro bowler he was last year. Bunkley had four total tackles while Juqua Parker had two tackles, Darren Howard and Patterson had two each, and Cole had one lousy tackle. Well, it IS only two games in, I am sure Trent will be able to find someone that he can get three sacks against to make up for it, or something like that.
Bunkley Grade: B+ (89%)
Everyone else Grade: C (75%)
Linebackers: Oh, what’s that I see? Jason Witten, riling off seven catches for 110 yards against us? Yeah well, I don’t see any reason to be surprised really. I mean, come on, don’t you know we can’t ever seem to cover this guy or even slow him down? The assignment mostly fell on Omar Gaither at WILL, who responded with five total tackles, while Stewart Bradley had four total tackles and Chris Gocong had an assisted tackle but also had the defensive play of the game. Romo, buried back at his own three yards line thanks to a bad kick return and then a penalty for a false start, went to hand the ball off to Marion Barber, but the ball slipped out of his hands before it got to him, and when he tried to pick it back up, he was hit and lost it, with Gocong scoring his first career touchdown.
Gocong Recovery Grade: A+ (100%)
Unit Grade: C (77%)
Secondary: Sheldon Brown had eight tackles to lead the team, but make no mistake, they weren’t up against the run, all of them. A lot of them came in coverage because Romo ended up hitting 70% of his passes for 312 yards, three touchdowns, and hit Terrell Owens three times for 89 yards and two touchdowns, the first score of which went right past Brown for 72-yards. Brian Dawkins had six tackles and a forced fumble on Romo in the end zone for the touchdown by Gocong, while Quintin Mikell had five tackles, and Sean Considine and Lito Sheppard both had two tackles. Asante Samuel also had two tackles, but he pulled in his first interception as an Eagle, and the first actual turnover forced by the defense this season, as Romo nailed him on the numbers after saving his pride from suffering a sack from Howard. And one might argue that the secondary struggled because of the lack of pressure 75% of the time or so from the defensive line, but still, with the guys we have, there is no excuse for these kind of efforts.
Unit Grade: C (75%)
Special Teams: Wow, was this truly a mixed bag or what? On one hand, David Akers was Mr. Automatic, hitting all three field goals he tried (from 34, 44, and 22, respectively) and also all four extra points to tally 13 for the game, and Sav Rocca also uncorked his foot to the tune of three punts for 48 yards an average and a long of 61 yards. And Quintin Demps averaged 25 yards a kick return on six, with a long of 47 yards in the final quarter, and Jones only averaged three yards a punt return on two for Dallas. But on the other hand, the coverage team on kicks were horrendous, allowing Felix Jones to average 41 yards a kick return on six of them with a 98-yard touchdown return in the 1st quarter, and the blocking for DeSean on punt returns was very poor, drawing penalties on two of his returns.
Akers and Rocca Grade: A (95%)
Demps Grade: B (85%)
Blocking and Coverage Grade: D+ (68%)
Coaching: You know when your coach doesn’t care, or when you kind of think ONE team is taking the pay off to lose the game on purpose? When your quarterback and running back, who just gave the game away, are laughing about it on the sidelines. And you know something else too? I am not sure what Jim Johnson and all of his respective position coaches were looking at, because if they DID make changes, they were half @$$ at best! Oh, and Rory Seagrest REALLY needs to get them guys to block and cover a bit better too, because it won’t get any easier with Santonio Holmes and Devin Hester in the next two weeks.
Coaching Grade: D (65%)
Ripper’s Three Game Balls:
3. DeSean Jackson: Despite his goof up (which didn’t hurt anyway because Dallas wasn’t bright enough to pick the ball up) he still got over 100 yards as a receiver on only six grabs, one going for 60-yards.
2. Brian Westbrook: The Mighty Mite got another stellar effort with three touchdowns and always was around the ball.
1. Donovan McNabb: Wins the top ball two weeks in a row from me: he could have just crumbled under the immense pressure from the Dallas D, but he didn’t, and he kept finding people right and left with the little time he got.
Honorable Mention: Asante Samuel and David Akers
Numbers and Stats of Interest:
-With his game tonight, Jackson becomes the first rookie receiver in NFL history since our very own Don Looney back in 1940 to start his career off with back-to-back 100 yard receiving games (guess working with Jerry Rice did him good).
-Dallas committed ten penalties for the game, marking the second straight week they were in the double digits (in Cleveland last week, they were flagged 11 times).
-During the game, the lead changed hands SEVEN times: after Philly took an early 3-0 lead, Dallas led 7-3, then Philly led 20-14, then Dallas led 21-20, then Philly led 27-21, then Dallas led 31-30, then Philly led 37-31, then Dallas led and won 41-37.
-McNabb had 281 yards passing for the game: in comparison, he had 297 yards in the first half of the season opener against the Rams last week.
-The Eagles were three of five inside the red zone scoring touchdowns, and three of four with goal to go: in comparison, the “best red zone D last year” allowed Dallas to score three out of three in the red zone, and two of two from the goal to go.
-The game set the record for most points scored both on Monday Night Football and also Eagles-Cowboys history with 78 total points.
Despite being a very hard fought game in which it was painful to watch us lose, the Eagles STILL need to work on a LOT of things if they want to keep going towards their goal, namely coverage on kicks and punts (both ours and the opponents) the offensive line HAS to handle the 3-4 better, and our secondary can’t keep getting beat deep like they did tonight. Oh, and I would also like to see this defensive line do a LITTLE bit better then it did tonight as well.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Eagles VS Rams Review
The thrill of the season opener for both the players and the fans had to be tapered by the resistance to overshoot the outcome of it, as the Philadelphia Eagles kicked off their 76th season in the NFL at Lincoln Financial by hosting the St. Louis Rams, who last year were 3-13 but hammered by injuries. But yet you can only taper so much before the enthusiasm settles in and it is go time, and now that it is all said and done and week one is finally in the books, you only continue to contain the amount of words you could use to describe Sunday’s performance. Among them words you could choose dominating, you could choose controlling, you could choose overpowering, or you could choose magnificent as the Eagles started the season 1-0 as they rolled all over the Rams 38-3.
So much, then, for those starters being rusty huh?
The Eagles stormed out of the gates with two touchdowns on their very first two drives of the game, and even when they slowed down and punted three straight drives after that, the Eagles defense made sure that the Rams weren’t bound to be playing catch-up anytime soon. And Special teams, which had been lacking some solid return man and cover guys, looked pretty darn good on Sunday as well, in particular a little punt returner and receiver named DeSean Jackson. The win solidifies what we all expected to see from the Eagles in the opener without giving off too much against the fact that they only did it because they were playing the Rams because let’s face it, Marc Bulger and Steven Jackson are multi time pro bowlers as is Torry Holt, and they ALL played every single minute in the game on the offensive side of the ball for St. Louie.
Quarterbacks: Wow, when the receivers alluded to the fact that Donovan McNabb was once again the Donny Mac of old, they sure as heck weren’t lying about it. During the first half alone, McNabb accumulated 297 yards passing and hit anyone that had a set of hands and wore white jerseys: for the game he completed 21 of 33 passes (for 63.6%) with 361 yards (as of the two Monday night games, the most yards of any quarterback in the first 14 games) and three touchdowns to get a QB rating of 131 for the game. The best thing about him during the game might have been something not in the passing numbers: he was never sacked and was able to roll where he wanted to and found who he wanted while also running one time for three yards. In fact, the Eagles felt he did SO well they sat him late and gave Kevin Kolb meaningful season time in the game, and he did not disappoint either: Kevin nailed five out of six passes for 53 yards and had a rating of 103.5. As a whole, the two who numerically follow one another combined for 414 yards and were never sacked once during the game.
Unit Grade: A+ (100%)
Running & Full Backs: It was just another day at the office for Brian Westbrook…or was it? The mighty back who led the team and all backs last year with 90 receptions got more touches running the ball far more as opposed to his receiving touches, as he ran 19 times for 91 yards and posted a touchdown while only catching two passes for a yard and another touchdown to total 21 touches for 92 yards and two touchdowns. Lorenzo Booker had a limited role in his first season game as an Eagle, carrying the ball five times for nine yards while Correll Buckhalter carried the ball two times for five yards, and in his first game as the fullback, Tony Hunt ran two times for three yards including a goal line touchdown and caught a pass for two yards. The unit averaged 3.4 yards a carry, but no one other then Westbrook (4.8) even cracked the 3-yard mark.
Unit Grade: B (85%)
Wide Outs and Tight Ends: Remember when the members of the Philly media made it a big point to remind everyone who would listen that without the services of Kevin Curtis and Reggie Brown that we had no one to throw the ball to? I’ll bet that after that game, they were going into hiding or were trying to duck what they said in hopes of not hearing it from the guys they questioned. THREE Eagles receivers all topped the 100-yard mark, and be it as cheap as some of them may have been, it still happened, as Jackson razzled and dazzled in his first season game with six receptions and 106 yards (and including his punt return numbers, he had 14 total touches and 203 yards total) as Greg Lewis hauled in five catches for 104 yards and LJ Smith had five catches as well with 39 yards and a touchdown. Jason Avant had three receptions for 45 yards while Brent Celek had two catches for 15 yards, both coming from Kolb. But it was Hank Baskett who had the catch and run that stole the show with a 90-yard touchdown catch that put his 84 and 87-yarders to shame from back in 2006: for the game he had two catches and 102 yards.
Unit Grade: A (93%)
Offensive Line: Well now, with the way they dominated today, you would just as soon forget that William Thomas had back issues and that Shawn Andrews had off the field issues that kept him to only one preseason game and missing training camp. Donovan and Kevin collectively had enough time to place a call to Domino’s, sit and wait for their delivery, pay and tip the driver, and then eat their pizza all in the same duration with the big men in front laying out blue jerseys right and left. In fact, not only did they not allow a sack the whole game, but according to the NFL game book, they only allowed two tackles for a loss and not even ONE quarterback hurry on either #4 or #5. And remember folks, guys like Max Jean-Giles and Nick Cole were in when Kevin was in, so we DID replace some people. My one and only MINOR complaint is that the 3.4 yards a rush for the running platoon needs to improve a bit from that number.
Unit Grade: A (95%)
Defensive Line: Now then, how smart were Andy Reid and Tom Heckert to keep Darren Howard instead of “J-Mac”, and how smart was the person who moved Dan Klecko back to defensive tackle and goal line lead blocker? In fact, 1.5 of the four total team sacks came from two guys that we were all pretty sure wouldn’t be on the roster at this point, but now we are better for it. Klecko contributed a sack, a tackle for a loss, and a quarterback hurry but was also a good road block and also a lead blocker for Hunt‘s touchdown. Howard combined with Mike Patterson on a sack and while both got a hurry for it, Howard got the tackle for a loss. And the other linemen saw scat work come there way while the above three stole the show: Trent Cole had three total tackles (2 solo and 1 assist) Broderick Bunkley and Juqua Parker combined on a Jackson tackle, and Chris Clemons had a pass defense. But the short of the long is this much: the entire unit worked to allow a former pro bowl selection in Jackson only 40 yards rushing on the day.
Unit rating: A- (90%)
Linebackers: Okay, so Jimmy Johnson might be going a little bit sinew at his rather experienced age, but he proved the “experts” foolish for doubting that Stewart Bradley wasn’t ready to be the man at MIKE. Both Bulger and Jackson were in danger when #55 was in the area as he co-led the team with nine total tackles (8 solo and 1 assist) and also posted two tackles for a loss, a sack, a QB hurry, and also had a pass defense to his name. In fact, Bradley was such a PIG in the stat column that Chris Gocong and Omar Gaither were pretty much cruising on easy street with one tackle apiece, and Akeem Jordan also found his way in for one tackle as well.
Unit Rating: A- (90%)
“Big Blue” Rating: A+ (100%)
Secondary: And so we understand now why Quintin Mikell, even with a healthy Sean Considine, is the starter at strong safety and why Sean is #2 there because the man makes plays everywhere on the field. Mikell co-led the team with nine tackles (7 solo and 2 assist) with a sack, a tackle for a loss, and a forced fumble which, unfortunately, we did not pick up from Bulger. Brian Dawkins covered everyone without much discrimination and logged a tackle and a pass defense, while Sheldon Brown logged two tackles, including a bell ringing shot to Jackson which channeled his hit on Reggie Bush in January of 2007 (and also, isn’t Jackson a Drew Rosen-dork client?) while Joselio Hanson, Lito Sheppard, and Considine all had one tackle each, Considine with a loss on hitting Jackson. And just to prove that the Eagles defense is a stigmatism for a lack of turnovers, interception machine Asante Samuel in his first game as an Eagle had three pass defenses, but two of them were easily intercepted by him if he was a PATRIOT.
Unit Grade: A (92%)
Special Teams: What a difference the off-season can make for one unit: just nine months ago, the Eagles employed four or five different kick return men with little to no results, and also a slow but steady punt returner with guys who couldn’t really cover very well. Now all of a sudden, that has gone by the way side (well, except for the kick return aspect of it) as Jackson excited with his moves on punt returns, averaging 12.1 yards a return on eight with a long of 60 yards, getting back to the Rams nine yard line saved only by a tackle from Rams punter Donnie Jones. David Akers made his one and only field goal attempt of the game and all five extra points, while Sav Rocca used his boot for four punts and an average of 41.5 and net of 42, and also shocking us with his three punts inside the twenty. Of course, this is also in large part due to the two times Quintin Demps knocked the ball down and two subsequent times Jordan downed it deep. Jordan notched two tackles on teams, while Hanson, Considine, Avant, and Hunt all had one apiece. Oh, and Dante Hall, at one time called the “Human Joystick”, averaged 18 yards a kick return on five of them: apparently, someone broke the stick and didn’t replace the controller.
Unit Grade: A (95%)
“D-Jack” Grade: A+ (99%)
Coaching: Flawless execution on all three fronts, and the means to stay aggressive and not let up on the Rams late is good in my book. Oh, and as far as the pass calling ratio yesterday, we ran 71 total offensive plays, 39 of which were passes and 32 of which were runs, so it turns out to be 55-45 pass-run. That is not too shabby at all in my opinion, and the gun slinging was very effective, so we could have stood to do it even MORE if Andy felt it necessary to! Oh, and for the love of God, would some PLEASE tell Samuel it is OKAY to catch passes that hit you in the hands?
Unit Grade: A (95%)
Ripper’s Three Game Balls:
3. Stewart Bradley: Handled his first game of the new season at MIKE with ease, and dominated both Marc and Steven like they were average players.
2. DeSean Jackson: Amazing at receiver and punt returner: begs the question, along with the others, as to WHY we need a big name receiver after all.
1. Donovan McNabb: The man proved that with time, the ability to make decent receivers look like all-pros is as easy as slapping makeup on a decent looking girl and turning her into an Eagles Cheerleader!
Numbers and Stats of Interest:
-The Rams finished the game 0-for-11 on third down attempts, and also finished with 3.7 yards a play on offense: in contrast, the Eagles doubled that number with 7.4 yards per play on offense.
-Only one time did the Rams succeed in passing into Eagles territory, which was during their early fourth quarter drive for their only points of the game.
-The Eagles receivers averaged 15.9 yards per catch.
-After being criticized for not punching in touchdowns inside the red zone, the Eagles settled that issue with four touchdowns on five red zone attempts.
-The Eagles average starting field position was at their own 31 as opposed to the Rams, who started off on average at their own 17.
-Out of the nine penalties committed by the Rams, six of them were false starts, and four of them were committed by four different linemen.
And with that, this column is closing out with three words on my mind right now: BRING…ON…DALLAS!
So much, then, for those starters being rusty huh?
The Eagles stormed out of the gates with two touchdowns on their very first two drives of the game, and even when they slowed down and punted three straight drives after that, the Eagles defense made sure that the Rams weren’t bound to be playing catch-up anytime soon. And Special teams, which had been lacking some solid return man and cover guys, looked pretty darn good on Sunday as well, in particular a little punt returner and receiver named DeSean Jackson. The win solidifies what we all expected to see from the Eagles in the opener without giving off too much against the fact that they only did it because they were playing the Rams because let’s face it, Marc Bulger and Steven Jackson are multi time pro bowlers as is Torry Holt, and they ALL played every single minute in the game on the offensive side of the ball for St. Louie.
Quarterbacks: Wow, when the receivers alluded to the fact that Donovan McNabb was once again the Donny Mac of old, they sure as heck weren’t lying about it. During the first half alone, McNabb accumulated 297 yards passing and hit anyone that had a set of hands and wore white jerseys: for the game he completed 21 of 33 passes (for 63.6%) with 361 yards (as of the two Monday night games, the most yards of any quarterback in the first 14 games) and three touchdowns to get a QB rating of 131 for the game. The best thing about him during the game might have been something not in the passing numbers: he was never sacked and was able to roll where he wanted to and found who he wanted while also running one time for three yards. In fact, the Eagles felt he did SO well they sat him late and gave Kevin Kolb meaningful season time in the game, and he did not disappoint either: Kevin nailed five out of six passes for 53 yards and had a rating of 103.5. As a whole, the two who numerically follow one another combined for 414 yards and were never sacked once during the game.
Unit Grade: A+ (100%)
Running & Full Backs: It was just another day at the office for Brian Westbrook…or was it? The mighty back who led the team and all backs last year with 90 receptions got more touches running the ball far more as opposed to his receiving touches, as he ran 19 times for 91 yards and posted a touchdown while only catching two passes for a yard and another touchdown to total 21 touches for 92 yards and two touchdowns. Lorenzo Booker had a limited role in his first season game as an Eagle, carrying the ball five times for nine yards while Correll Buckhalter carried the ball two times for five yards, and in his first game as the fullback, Tony Hunt ran two times for three yards including a goal line touchdown and caught a pass for two yards. The unit averaged 3.4 yards a carry, but no one other then Westbrook (4.8) even cracked the 3-yard mark.
Unit Grade: B (85%)
Wide Outs and Tight Ends: Remember when the members of the Philly media made it a big point to remind everyone who would listen that without the services of Kevin Curtis and Reggie Brown that we had no one to throw the ball to? I’ll bet that after that game, they were going into hiding or were trying to duck what they said in hopes of not hearing it from the guys they questioned. THREE Eagles receivers all topped the 100-yard mark, and be it as cheap as some of them may have been, it still happened, as Jackson razzled and dazzled in his first season game with six receptions and 106 yards (and including his punt return numbers, he had 14 total touches and 203 yards total) as Greg Lewis hauled in five catches for 104 yards and LJ Smith had five catches as well with 39 yards and a touchdown. Jason Avant had three receptions for 45 yards while Brent Celek had two catches for 15 yards, both coming from Kolb. But it was Hank Baskett who had the catch and run that stole the show with a 90-yard touchdown catch that put his 84 and 87-yarders to shame from back in 2006: for the game he had two catches and 102 yards.
Unit Grade: A (93%)
Offensive Line: Well now, with the way they dominated today, you would just as soon forget that William Thomas had back issues and that Shawn Andrews had off the field issues that kept him to only one preseason game and missing training camp. Donovan and Kevin collectively had enough time to place a call to Domino’s, sit and wait for their delivery, pay and tip the driver, and then eat their pizza all in the same duration with the big men in front laying out blue jerseys right and left. In fact, not only did they not allow a sack the whole game, but according to the NFL game book, they only allowed two tackles for a loss and not even ONE quarterback hurry on either #4 or #5. And remember folks, guys like Max Jean-Giles and Nick Cole were in when Kevin was in, so we DID replace some people. My one and only MINOR complaint is that the 3.4 yards a rush for the running platoon needs to improve a bit from that number.
Unit Grade: A (95%)
Defensive Line: Now then, how smart were Andy Reid and Tom Heckert to keep Darren Howard instead of “J-Mac”, and how smart was the person who moved Dan Klecko back to defensive tackle and goal line lead blocker? In fact, 1.5 of the four total team sacks came from two guys that we were all pretty sure wouldn’t be on the roster at this point, but now we are better for it. Klecko contributed a sack, a tackle for a loss, and a quarterback hurry but was also a good road block and also a lead blocker for Hunt‘s touchdown. Howard combined with Mike Patterson on a sack and while both got a hurry for it, Howard got the tackle for a loss. And the other linemen saw scat work come there way while the above three stole the show: Trent Cole had three total tackles (2 solo and 1 assist) Broderick Bunkley and Juqua Parker combined on a Jackson tackle, and Chris Clemons had a pass defense. But the short of the long is this much: the entire unit worked to allow a former pro bowl selection in Jackson only 40 yards rushing on the day.
Unit rating: A- (90%)
Linebackers: Okay, so Jimmy Johnson might be going a little bit sinew at his rather experienced age, but he proved the “experts” foolish for doubting that Stewart Bradley wasn’t ready to be the man at MIKE. Both Bulger and Jackson were in danger when #55 was in the area as he co-led the team with nine total tackles (8 solo and 1 assist) and also posted two tackles for a loss, a sack, a QB hurry, and also had a pass defense to his name. In fact, Bradley was such a PIG in the stat column that Chris Gocong and Omar Gaither were pretty much cruising on easy street with one tackle apiece, and Akeem Jordan also found his way in for one tackle as well.
Unit Rating: A- (90%)
“Big Blue” Rating: A+ (100%)
Secondary: And so we understand now why Quintin Mikell, even with a healthy Sean Considine, is the starter at strong safety and why Sean is #2 there because the man makes plays everywhere on the field. Mikell co-led the team with nine tackles (7 solo and 2 assist) with a sack, a tackle for a loss, and a forced fumble which, unfortunately, we did not pick up from Bulger. Brian Dawkins covered everyone without much discrimination and logged a tackle and a pass defense, while Sheldon Brown logged two tackles, including a bell ringing shot to Jackson which channeled his hit on Reggie Bush in January of 2007 (and also, isn’t Jackson a Drew Rosen-dork client?) while Joselio Hanson, Lito Sheppard, and Considine all had one tackle each, Considine with a loss on hitting Jackson. And just to prove that the Eagles defense is a stigmatism for a lack of turnovers, interception machine Asante Samuel in his first game as an Eagle had three pass defenses, but two of them were easily intercepted by him if he was a PATRIOT.
Unit Grade: A (92%)
Special Teams: What a difference the off-season can make for one unit: just nine months ago, the Eagles employed four or five different kick return men with little to no results, and also a slow but steady punt returner with guys who couldn’t really cover very well. Now all of a sudden, that has gone by the way side (well, except for the kick return aspect of it) as Jackson excited with his moves on punt returns, averaging 12.1 yards a return on eight with a long of 60 yards, getting back to the Rams nine yard line saved only by a tackle from Rams punter Donnie Jones. David Akers made his one and only field goal attempt of the game and all five extra points, while Sav Rocca used his boot for four punts and an average of 41.5 and net of 42, and also shocking us with his three punts inside the twenty. Of course, this is also in large part due to the two times Quintin Demps knocked the ball down and two subsequent times Jordan downed it deep. Jordan notched two tackles on teams, while Hanson, Considine, Avant, and Hunt all had one apiece. Oh, and Dante Hall, at one time called the “Human Joystick”, averaged 18 yards a kick return on five of them: apparently, someone broke the stick and didn’t replace the controller.
Unit Grade: A (95%)
“D-Jack” Grade: A+ (99%)
Coaching: Flawless execution on all three fronts, and the means to stay aggressive and not let up on the Rams late is good in my book. Oh, and as far as the pass calling ratio yesterday, we ran 71 total offensive plays, 39 of which were passes and 32 of which were runs, so it turns out to be 55-45 pass-run. That is not too shabby at all in my opinion, and the gun slinging was very effective, so we could have stood to do it even MORE if Andy felt it necessary to! Oh, and for the love of God, would some PLEASE tell Samuel it is OKAY to catch passes that hit you in the hands?
Unit Grade: A (95%)
Ripper’s Three Game Balls:
3. Stewart Bradley: Handled his first game of the new season at MIKE with ease, and dominated both Marc and Steven like they were average players.
2. DeSean Jackson: Amazing at receiver and punt returner: begs the question, along with the others, as to WHY we need a big name receiver after all.
1. Donovan McNabb: The man proved that with time, the ability to make decent receivers look like all-pros is as easy as slapping makeup on a decent looking girl and turning her into an Eagles Cheerleader!
Numbers and Stats of Interest:
-The Rams finished the game 0-for-11 on third down attempts, and also finished with 3.7 yards a play on offense: in contrast, the Eagles doubled that number with 7.4 yards per play on offense.
-Only one time did the Rams succeed in passing into Eagles territory, which was during their early fourth quarter drive for their only points of the game.
-The Eagles receivers averaged 15.9 yards per catch.
-After being criticized for not punching in touchdowns inside the red zone, the Eagles settled that issue with four touchdowns on five red zone attempts.
-The Eagles average starting field position was at their own 31 as opposed to the Rams, who started off on average at their own 17.
-Out of the nine penalties committed by the Rams, six of them were false starts, and four of them were committed by four different linemen.
And with that, this column is closing out with three words on my mind right now: BRING…ON…DALLAS!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Season Preview: Defense
Shut-Down CB......check
Pass Rush Specialist....check
Defensive Line Depth......check...
The three things the Eagles were lacking last season have been corrected. On the first day of Free Agency the Eagles went out and signed CB Asante Samuel. He was the automatic starter. The next day they signed DE Chris Clemons. The potential of this kid is great. 8 sacks last season while only playing 37% of the defensive snaps. With more playing time and Jim Johnsons blitzing schemes, look for a couple more sacks. Then they drafted Trevor Laws and added Dan Klecko. This solidifies the DT position.
The Eagles kept 6 DE's on the roster. Trent Cole leads the way. With 13 sacks last year, look for him to possibly increase that number this year. Juqua Thomas (Parker) is on the other side. He is a solid player. Victor Abriami injured his wrist early in preseason. He will miss the first couple games. When he returns, he adds size to the line. Rookie Bryan Smith has all the tools to be another Cole. All he needs is time to develop. Darin Howard is back again and can be used inside or out. It's a solid unit that will get some pressure and create plays.
Brodrick Bunkley and Mike Patterson form a standout DT team. With Laws and Klecko backing them up, it might be the best DT rotation we've had since the Gang Green days.
The LB's are all young. Three years is the maximum experience level for any of them. But they will be good. All three of the starters are 245 or more. All have speed. It's just the experience I am worried about.
MIKE Stewart Bradley looks promising. In the two games he played last season as the starter he looked incredible. For hi to carry that over into this season would be great. He looks like a future Pro-Bowler. Omar Gaither moves over to the Weakside spot. It's a spot he played his rookie year. He has the experience there to be a great player. Chris Gocong again fills the Strongside spot. Another year in the system now, he looks more comfortable.
The backups are all young also. But again they show potential. Rookie Joe Mays was a standout in preseason. Some feel he could easily be inserted as the starter at MIKE. Akeem Jordan, like Bradley, played well last year at the end of the season. He can play all three spots if necessary. And Tank Daniels was brought back in after being cut by the Giants. He knows the Eagles system already. He is a ST standout. Someone we haven't had since Ike Reese.
The CB situation the Eagles have is a great one. Lito Sheppard was shopped around after the addition of Samuel, but the Eagles could not get a fair price for him. With Samuel, Sheldon Brown and Sheppard, the Eagles have three Pro-Bowl caliber CB's. Look for more take-a-ways than last season from this group. Joselio Hanson rounds out the CB position. He is a solid CB who plays mainly in the nickel and dime packages.
Brian Dawkins is back perhaps for his last season. The All Pro S leads this group with his attitude and experience. Quinton Mikell starts opposite Dawkins. Q had a solid season last year filling in for Sean Considine. Considine is back, but not the starter. He will see time though, as will JR Reed. Both these two add different elements to the position. Considine is a good cover Safety, while Reed is an excellent blitzer. Demps is the final S on the team. He will not see too much action there this season barring injuries. He will be used mainly on Kickoff returns. He is an explosive player. A year in the system and he will be ready to go.
Pressure, takeaways and redzone defense. Three keys to this years team. A top 5 defense in the league? It's quite possible. Growing pains for the LB's might be the only major setback we have. But overall this defense looks like the most solid one the Eagles have had in quite a while.
Pass Rush Specialist....check
Defensive Line Depth......check...
The three things the Eagles were lacking last season have been corrected. On the first day of Free Agency the Eagles went out and signed CB Asante Samuel. He was the automatic starter. The next day they signed DE Chris Clemons. The potential of this kid is great. 8 sacks last season while only playing 37% of the defensive snaps. With more playing time and Jim Johnsons blitzing schemes, look for a couple more sacks. Then they drafted Trevor Laws and added Dan Klecko. This solidifies the DT position.
The Eagles kept 6 DE's on the roster. Trent Cole leads the way. With 13 sacks last year, look for him to possibly increase that number this year. Juqua Thomas (Parker) is on the other side. He is a solid player. Victor Abriami injured his wrist early in preseason. He will miss the first couple games. When he returns, he adds size to the line. Rookie Bryan Smith has all the tools to be another Cole. All he needs is time to develop. Darin Howard is back again and can be used inside or out. It's a solid unit that will get some pressure and create plays.
Brodrick Bunkley and Mike Patterson form a standout DT team. With Laws and Klecko backing them up, it might be the best DT rotation we've had since the Gang Green days.
The LB's are all young. Three years is the maximum experience level for any of them. But they will be good. All three of the starters are 245 or more. All have speed. It's just the experience I am worried about.
MIKE Stewart Bradley looks promising. In the two games he played last season as the starter he looked incredible. For hi to carry that over into this season would be great. He looks like a future Pro-Bowler. Omar Gaither moves over to the Weakside spot. It's a spot he played his rookie year. He has the experience there to be a great player. Chris Gocong again fills the Strongside spot. Another year in the system now, he looks more comfortable.
The backups are all young also. But again they show potential. Rookie Joe Mays was a standout in preseason. Some feel he could easily be inserted as the starter at MIKE. Akeem Jordan, like Bradley, played well last year at the end of the season. He can play all three spots if necessary. And Tank Daniels was brought back in after being cut by the Giants. He knows the Eagles system already. He is a ST standout. Someone we haven't had since Ike Reese.
The CB situation the Eagles have is a great one. Lito Sheppard was shopped around after the addition of Samuel, but the Eagles could not get a fair price for him. With Samuel, Sheldon Brown and Sheppard, the Eagles have three Pro-Bowl caliber CB's. Look for more take-a-ways than last season from this group. Joselio Hanson rounds out the CB position. He is a solid CB who plays mainly in the nickel and dime packages.
Brian Dawkins is back perhaps for his last season. The All Pro S leads this group with his attitude and experience. Quinton Mikell starts opposite Dawkins. Q had a solid season last year filling in for Sean Considine. Considine is back, but not the starter. He will see time though, as will JR Reed. Both these two add different elements to the position. Considine is a good cover Safety, while Reed is an excellent blitzer. Demps is the final S on the team. He will not see too much action there this season barring injuries. He will be used mainly on Kickoff returns. He is an explosive player. A year in the system and he will be ready to go.
Pressure, takeaways and redzone defense. Three keys to this years team. A top 5 defense in the league? It's quite possible. Growing pains for the LB's might be the only major setback we have. But overall this defense looks like the most solid one the Eagles have had in quite a while.
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