Wow, what a horrible performance. Instead of going on an all-out rant, I’ll just list all the HUGE mistakes they made today. Or at least the ones that come to mind first, please feel free to add on… because there are more I am forgetting, and these are just moments, not things like “the running backs missed several blitzes”.
- Not challenging Greg Olson’s TD that made it 7-0. Was clearly not a catch. Not sure what the people upstairs were looking at
- DeSean Jackson muffs punt leading to 2nd Bears touchdown
- David Akers misses 50-yard FG
- DeSean Jackson lets punt go at 20-yard line because he’s scared to catch it. Eagles get ball at 4
- Asante Samuel falls down on TD to Hester
- McNabb and Jackson miscommunicate, throws it directly to defender
- David Akers misses 47-yard field goal
- Settle for field goal after 1st and 10 on CHI 12, including McNabb tripping on absolutely nothing
- Settle for field goal after causing a fumble on the CHI 31
- Pooch kick gives the Bears the ball at the PHI 40, they only have to move 40 yards for a (game-winning) FG
- Run the same exact play 4 straight times from the CHI 4, end up with 0 points
- Again, don’t challenge the Buckhalter run. It was close enough to warrant it
- To top it off, Reggie Brown flips the ball into the sidelines instead of giving it straight to the ref on the final play of the game
Much, much more blame to go around, but it’s very late. Suddenly, the Redskins game next week has become very important. Feel free to rant in the comments. Good thing we have the Phils to distract us.
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Throw away those summer magazine rankings. And Dave Spadaro spins. The pedestrian Orton over the celebrated McNabb. Shouldn’t happen. But not a particularly surprising occurrence, given the Reid/McNabb legacy to date.
Play calling on last drive: cautious and unimaginative. Credit Bears defense too – nice stand.
Geez, what an awful loss. Agreed, jjg, about the play calling, yet another Reid special. How do you not call a QB sneak there – that play always works for us. However, when watching the overhead replay, notice how Schobel, on the left side, does not block anybody – anybody being the Bears DE who came around the pile to wrap up Buckhalter and stop the play. Nice.
And why even put Schobel in that position? He’s not on the team for his strong blocking, so why not just put in another OL? if you want to go for the power run, go all out.
olsen’s TD def should have been challenged. but i think saying “it was clearly not a catch” is philly fan blindness. if you take the view that he had possession simultaneous w/ the first foot being down, then it clearly was a catch.
Morty, Good points about Schobel, but judging from 7 or 8other deep blue hats near Buck, another block or 2 had to be poorly executed. The ends’ forearm rake was key to the stop though.
Misplaced apostrophe – dang! Oh well, rather that than a 50- yarder off the post.
I’m tired of all the dropped passes. McNabb was on target on several throws that either went through receivers’ hands or bounced off their chest. Many drops led to punts instead of first downs.
Andy Reid blow that game for us with his bad play calling when it counts. His game time decision making has hurt this team every year. He doesnt have the control over dropped passes, interceptions, fumbles but he does have control over first and goal and calling up the same play 4 times in a row. That Bears team would not have had a chance stopping 4 play action calls in a row, their secondary just isnt that good to cover all our options. We made this average Bears team look good bc of Andy’s game time decisions.
jjg: The Bears had it stacked up, but I think there was room to Buck’s left, were it not for the aforementioned forearm. They only needed a gotdamn 1/2 yard!
And methinks we need a new kicker as well, no?
Morty, Akers lustre is fading. Seems like a great teammate. But kickers have one mission – make kicks. Is Tony Franklin soaking his foot somewhere in Texas this morning? I hear Happy Feller hasn’t been the same since Philly days. And whatever became of Roger Ruzek? If Sam Baker can drill 4 on Thanksgiving to down Lions, I wonder if he’s still up to the task? If trend continues, quiet tryouts will commence.
I agree with A. McKie I think the Olsen TD was closer to “clearly a catch” than “clearly not a catch.” Good play call to get a mismatch on Gocong there.
I am more upset with the play calling than anything else. I don’t think the Birds attacked down field enough giving Jackson (or anyone) more opportunities to make a big play.
JJG I see you like to find any opportunity to go after McNabb but get real. McNabb played well enough to win as an individual, but his offensive unit didn’t make enough plays to win that game. Team sport remember. Reid as you said was “cautious and unimaginative” completely taking the ball out his best offensive players hands when they had a chance to win the game. Simply running a play-action bootleg to single McNabb on defensive back would have been a winning situation for the Birds. Had he gotten opportunities to throw or run it in for the win and failed then maybe it would be warranted to take your pot shots at the quarterback.
The Eagles were clumbsy all around not only did McNabb and Samuel trip but Reggie Brown fell when he was wide open and McNabb put the ball right were his numbers should have been and I believe it was Baskett fell and McNabb threw the ball to him (perfectly) while he was sitting on the grass.
If Westbrook played he would have found the endzone. On the run with Tony Hunt he had a rather big freeway to the endzone and he danced his way into a 1-yard loss. He forgot he was in there to put his head down and pound it in, not side-step his way into 3 defenders. And Buckhalter mistakenly thought he was B. West for about a minute when he tried to dive over the pile from 4 yards away.
Terrible game when you lose getting 4 turnovers. I said way back when that I was worried about Akers and last night sure didn’t help ease my concerns.
Dannie, Always excuses. Maybe Big Red has learned to hesitate on McNabb in big red zone. I agree that you roll him out and give him chance to choose options there – or sneak it. After 9 seasons of banking and heralding his ability, Reid opts for another in crunch? Maybe he believes in O-lineman more at this point, being a former one himself. His play-calling decisions should tell you somethin’ about his present take on McNabb.
I think everyone has hit the nail on the head here. Did the equipment guy forget the right cleats or what? I feel like 50% of the plays an eagles receiver/defender was slipping on that awful grass. Ones that come to mind Samuel on the TD pass, Reggie Brown twice, the latter McNabb still put the pass low enough to catch, and the invisible “trip” McNabb took coming out from under center. I thought they would have made adjustments and went with longer spikes but I guess not.
Why they didn’t either QB sneak, run a pitch left, or bootleg on the 3rd or 4th and goal boggles my mind. The Bears had all 11 defenders crahsing the middle of that line on 4th down. McNabb bootlegs and walks into the endzone untouched. Or pitch the ball to Buckhalter and spread the defense out. From the overhead view the offensive line got a great push initially on 4th down and a QB sneak would have worked perfectly. By the time the handoff took place the defenseive ends and everyone else had already crashed on the line and the play was doomed. If your gonna be a west coast offense, run the west coast offense. And by the way, PSU is at #6, where is Notre Dame???
JJG, always predictable. Big Red get’s just as much blame for the Eagles lack of championship success as McNabb. His perceived coaching mistakes and poor play-calling are just as well documented as McNabb’s shortcomings.
I think the play-calling last night has more to do with Andy’s stubborness (possibly derived from his days as a smash mouth offensive lineman as you said) more than a lack of confidence or trust in McNabb’s ability. That is a coaching flaw. “They stop me once, twice but they can’t possibly do it two more times” was his thinking.
Rather than outcoaching the Bears with better tactics i.e. mixing up the play calls, potentially opening things up for the run, Reid screamed we are going to run before doing it in that situation.
He chose to put the ball in a rookie running back’s hands (offensive line DID open a hole to the pie line as I said and Hunt completely missed it) and an on again off again back-up running back. Yet you still want to find a way to place excess blame on McNabb.
Look when McNabb sucks I say he sucks – last night he didn’t. Overall I think he is a very good QB and I guess we differ on that thought which is fine. Today I think the direction and weight of your blame are misplaced – which isn’t really much of a surprise because I think it’s clear you are on the McNabb hate side of the fence as an (Eagles fan?). If we are going to single out an individual in a team sport I would point toward Reid after this week 4th loss not the QB.
#6 on today’s Centre County hearing docket? Just kidding, I’m a JoePA and PSU fan. They look good, but haven’t met a stiff test yet.
As for Notre Dame, staying NBC-aligned worked for a while, but no football conference has caught up with them in these
changing times. Small (about 8,000) proud bastion of legendary greatness is finding it increasingly difficult to compete with Div. 1 giants. Opponents no longer quake at sight of on-rushing golden domes. BC is probably a better program at this point.
the problem last nite was clearly play calling last nite—why not go for it on fourth and inches instead of putting akers out there for a 52 yard field goal clearly out of his range…thats a big play in the game in my opinion..
in addition to that, the eagles absolutely abandoned the run game in the third quarter, i dont care if they are only averaging 3 yards per carry, you need to run the ball in the NFL so there isnt 5 defensive backs on the field on first and second down—which the bears were doing…the eagles best drive of the second half was when they finally began to balance the play calls on their last drive and they went 75 yards or something like that—
couple other things i would like to point out in addition to big red costing us another win—the eagles in the last three games in the second halves, have only scored 18 points total–thats 3 points per quarter folks, not good
–also, desean jackson made a few mistakes last nite and i hope philly fans are not on him about it, he is a rookie, you cant expect a rookie to carry you on the road in the NFL, its just not gonna happen—i blame eagles management again for not gettting a wide receiver like we all know they need—and maybe that wide receiver would have allowed them to throw the ball on the goal one of those four plays last nite…
Mole – I agree. Jackson is going to be explosive and he is going to make his mistakes as he grows and learns. Gotta take the bad with the good with him for a while.
We don’t have a inside-the-5 pass catcher is exactly right. Doesn’t even have to be a receiver, I would actually love and prefer for us to go out and get a top notch tight-end at this point. I think our receivers are good enough to win, especially with McNabb healthy and throwing the best he has in years. But we don’t have that big guy who can make tough catches in traffic or go over the top on fade routes in goal line situations. We also don’t really have that up the seam guy either. If we added a real threat at tight end I think the offense becomes exponentially better in all phases.
J Dubbz-
I normally keep my ND football passion away from the blog, but since you asked…
It’s great to see PSU at #6. This should convince Joe Pa he’s good to go for another 7 years just like their last good season did. I hope they roll the big 10.
Notre Dame had their best game in awhile against Purdue, and are showing real signs of coming on. The FINALLY run blocked better, and that really opened up the passing game. Clausen is light years ahead of where Brady Quinn was at this point in his career.
Almost all of Notre Dame’s best players are FR and SO. We aren’t completely over the “Ty Hangover” just yet, but next year will be the first that all 4 classes were recruited by Weis. 75% of our players that play are underclassmen, so if we can finish the year 8-4, watch out for next year.
Pete I think ND football is ceratinly on the rise. I just wish we could get the good ole’ ND/PSU rivalry going more often. Looks like ND would have to join the Big 10 to get that going though. What are the chances of that? Slim I assume.
Anybody else think Jason Witten would look perfect in an Eagles uniform?
Dannie, Plenty of blame to go around last night – with Reid getting a lion’s share. My ‘Orton over McNabb’ line was to underscore the folly of overblowing one individual’s effect in a team sport, especially one as unreliable in key moments as McNabb. Names don’t win games, execution does. A given – he’s throwing the ball pretty well this season. A misgiving: future tight spots. He may be the Jim Hart of his generation.
Pretty passes, lots of yards, lots of TDs, no ultimate win.
1) Why go for a 50 yard FG ? that makes no sense when you know for a fact Akers just doesn’t have it for that anymore. Go for it on 4th down, or punt it. Remember the LAST game? Sav could’ve pinned them back under 10.
2) Fullback anyone? Andy doesn’t value this position, thus we don’t have anyone that can create a lead block. That showed big time as we couldn’t get 1 yard last night.
3) #10 is about our entire offense, we rise and fall with how he plays, but still Andy will tell you a great WR doesn’t matter
JJG...You really are brutal on McNabb. You can’t be serious with the Jim Hart comparison. If you want to be on him for not delivering in big games or not leading the Eagles to a championship, that’s fine. Just be fair, put him in the class he belongs, and compare him to guys like Jim Kelly or Warren Moon—very good quarterbacks who were not able to deliver a title for their team.
Those goal line play calls were dumb, but for those of you who don’t recall, McNabb did get a little banged up last week. Reid, being the conservative guy he is, decided to keep our season alive rather than put it in danger by risking an injury to our only capable QB. Sure McNabb could have gotten in the end zone with a QB sneak, but at what cost? Chances are that he would have been fine, but if he wasn’t all you people that think you’re professional football coaches, would be complaining about the play calling even more. Bottom line is Reid is more worried about his QB getting hurt than he is about winning the game. He needs to give the play calling up again.
Mike, McNabb said before the game he was nearly 100% and he was obviously good enough to play yesterday. But what you have to understand is by being conservative he lost a game. You play that way a couple more times and the season will get away from you with the Division being as good as it is. You can’t piss away opportunities to win like that.
Here is something I would have loved to see and would have made McNabb look a million times better in the eyes of his detractors (maybe) – change the play and call his own number. Instead of running the same play 4 times recognize what the Bears were doing and audible or at the very least call timeout and smack Andy in the face and say “look this isn’t going to work they are stacked against it lets draw something else up.”
Leadership and guts personified.
bski, Hart threw for 34,000+ yards (17th all-time) and 209 TDs (23rd all-time) for mediocre-to-good St. Louis Cardinals squads in 70s. Was one of league’s better passers for a long stretch. “D-Mc” has thrown for 26,000+ and 177 TDs. Don’t distort my message; as stated clearly in my post, by those measures and the players’ comparable empty trophy hands, the comparison is apt – and is not anywhere near a “brutal” estimate of #5. Hart threw a pretty pass, as does Dannie’s hero. McNabb is a lot more careful re interceptions than was gunslinger Hart. If you want to prematurely elevate McNabb to Jim Kelly and Warren Moon’s rank, go ahead. (And I won’t call you muttonhead.)
i dont blame mcnabb solely on this one, i am a big critic of mcnabb but this isnt entirely his fault—bad play calling—but i will say, the two games they have lost, they were in a position to win both games and the so called leader of this team hasnt made a play to do so in either, muffing the handoff vs dallas, tripping over his own feet last nite—not sure how you guys classify him as a top tier qb on this blog—there is no way a true leader loses BOTH of those games, one is excusable—for an example, look at peyton manning week 2 vs. minnesota…refused to lose.
JJG....I meant brutal in a more general sense, but the comparison is still off. Hart put up his numbers in 176 games over 17 seasons, where McNabb has tallied his in 122 games over 9+ seasons. Also, Hart’s career QB rating is 66.6. He had several years in the range between the high 50s to high 60s. McNabb’s career QB rating is 86.2, which is significantly higher. Other than a 60.1 in his rookie season, McNabb has consistently been in the 85 to 95 range every year.
I realize that McNabb has been on better teams than Hart during their respective careers, but don’t you think that at least part of the reason that McNabb’s Eagles teams were better than Hart’s Cardinals teams is due to McNabb himself?
bski, There are statistics and there is sense. It’s been said that one is very poor indeed if all that one believes in is that which can be touched or quantified, even in the little realm called sports. Understand that my comparison is on, if only in my opinion. If you’ll excuse me, I have to catch a flight to O’Hare for Mama McNabb’s leftovers.
bski-
you are speaking to someone who believes McNabb to be the 6th best QB in EAGLES history. Anything short of a Super Bowl victory WITH McNabb orchestrating the game-winning drive will not change his mind.
mole -
the colts are 1-2 and Manning is 24th in the league in passer rating. might want to pick a different example.
JJG…I can accept that. It’s just that you brought the statistics into the discussion and I responded in kind. I hope you know by now that I am in no way a blind follower of numbers.
pete, all you do is look at statistics/numbers—why dont you try to evaluate heart/desire etc…the intangibles
my point was not that manning is having a great year—but his heart and will to win that game showed in the fourth quarter vs minny…and if he would have gotten the ball last in the jax game he would have won that too…
just another 7 pt or less game that mcnabb lost—whats that take him to 22-27 in his career??? sounds like a great qb to me…defense has carried this team for years and looks like it will continue to do so this year…
mole-
do you honestly believe that Eagles lost last night because Donovan didn’t have the heart? Really? That’s your assesment? That a guy who has spent his entire life playing football, trains as hard as anyone in the offseason, playing a game in his home town, decided he didn’t really WANT to win the game?
you can see poise and and at time, leadership problems with mcnabb, but to question his heart infers that you know him personally, which you do not. he’s played through broken ankles, sports hernias, and last night, a chest contusion without complaint. Did you question Iverson’s heart as well? One other question: You think McNabb is sitting last night with the same injury Westbrook had? Absolutely not.
we don’t say that McNabb is the best QB in the league here. we don’t disagree that he has to prove he can consistantly perform in the clutch. But, we also don’t (in any sport) point to the SAME player after EVERY loss and then IGNORE the SAME player after EVERY win. That shows that there is clearly some other form of dislike going on here, not an objective assessment of a player.
22-27 in 7 point games sounds like a stat to me… In a game where there are TWENTY-TWO starters, it is absolutely ludacrious to associate a win-loss record with 1 player. Brian Dawkins and Tra Thomas are 22-27 in 7 point games as well. Dawkins was equally responsible for the Cowboys loss with his inability to guard Witten and Thomas was equaly responsible for yesterday with his inability to move his man 1 yard on 3 consecutive plays.
Impossible to blame this on McNabb. He did everything he could do to throw and will the Eagles to victory last night. Absent his best RB, best OL, best WR and best TE, he was able to move the team up and down the field. And the red zone issues were not his. No, let’s open our eyes, folks. This one is ALL on Andy Reid. And putting the [non] challenges aside, he — as so often happens — played this game to not lose rather than to win. With the talent the Eagles have, there’s not excuse for it. First, with a kicker who has proven that he is now way less than 50% likely to make a 50-yard kick and your offense moving up and down the field at will, why do you not go for it on 3rd and 1 at Chicago’s 34-yard line? Just passive, spineless, dumb. Then, what is there to say about the goal line calls at the end…except that there wasn’t anyone within a mile of that stadium or a TV who doesn’t know that you can’t run it into the center of the Bears defense 4 straight times. Besides that it’s a bad decision in any case, you’re playing right into the strength of their defense [they couldn't defend the pass all night] and depending on your own weakness — back-up RB who was already dinged up earlier in the game and missing your biggest and best interior lineman. You just can’t pin this one on Donovan — he’s the reason they were in a position to win. But did Reid even give him a chance? Now, I guess he knows how Winston Justice feels. This one was all on Reid. Stubborn, blind and, sorry to say, too often clueless Andy Reid.
Of course I meant 4th and 1.
Pete – take it easy on your READERS.
mole – I know what you mean about McNabb, he’s got all the talent in the world, but he has such a hard time slipping into that zone that comes so easily for less talented but clutch quarterbacks. I know what you mean about Manning and other QBs: His team is away, they’re trailing, it’s the 4th quarter, and they need to go down the field and score or it’s game over. First down, they hike the ball, the QB drops back, and then he makes this pass… And you’re like, “Is it me, or did that seem particularly easy?!? Where the hell was the defense that was shutting him down all game long?!?” It’s the next down, and again, he makes something happen, FIRST DOWN! So it’s two great plays in a row now, and you can see that his teammates can see that their guy’s feeling it, that he’s on a hell-or-high-water mission to get to the other end of the field. Everyone around the QB is thinking, “Holy crap, we’re gonna do this!” The receivers feel like they’re faster, that they’ve got superglue on their hands, and that they can make any and every catch. The tackles and guards, instead of thinking, “We can’t let them get to our guy”, they think, “These puny, fat mother-effers are NOT getting past me, so help me (deity of your religion)!” The defense, their a$$holes start to pucker up, and they get super-jittery – this offense has them on their heels. And the crowd, they’re like the Mets fans at game 162, and the Marlins have just taken the lead. And that’s it, that’s the ballgame. The QB finishes up carving up the defense, they score, and they win.
mole – are those the intangibles you’re talking about? I didn’t know a better way to describe it…
lol yea zack that’s one way to put it—again, great players at all levels can call their own number if you are the leader of a team—you see it all the time in the pros, but a goal line story that sounded off in my head last night is below…
pete-i’m fairly certain you remember 2005 when matt leinart called an audible at the line on 4th and 9 and hit dwayne jarret for 65 yards–then instead of kicking a field goal to tie it, he calls his own number and QB sneaks the ball into the endzone—that is HEART pete—-they were playing notre dame that day….
mole-
now that was just mean. i’m still recovering from that game.
i guess we just differ on the definition of “heart.” what you just said I would call “poise.”
Zack – Let other readers speak for themselves, please. Mole is a long-time great personal friend of mine and we argue about sports everyday like this. The back and forth between him and Pete is amicable without question – trust me I know.
Pete made no attacks on him personally (which is something we don’t and won’t do here – that certainly would be out of line) rather everything was directed towards his argument which is the definition of good debate.
I am just curious – are we going to debate the merits of Donovann McNabb after every Eagles post now? Just want to prepare myself that’s all.
King Hill, Ralph Guglielmi, Jack Concannon, George Mira, Pete Liske, Norm Snead, Rick Arrington, John Reaves, Mike Boryla, John Walton, Joe Pizarcik, Matt Cavanaugh, Brad Goebel, Jeff Kemp, Jim McMahon, Bubby Brister, Ken O’Brien, Pat Ryan, Ty Detmer, Bobby Hoying, Rodney Peete, Doug Pederson, Koy Detmer, Jeff Garcia - there’s no getting around it, Donovan McNabb is better than all of the aforementioned Eagles quarterbacks! And Norm Van Brocklin, Sonny Jurgensen, Roman Gabriel, Ron Jaworski and Randall Cunningham agree.
pete–ha nothing personal bud–was thinking of goal line pushes and that is the first one that came to mind..
Mole- aren’t you the same kid that used to praise how good McNabb is? What happened, did you lose mony on Sunday night?
whos that white mike?…
see what happens when you come on here once every three weeks, you dont see all that was posted—and even if you read above, i said the game is not mcnabbs fault that they lost, BUT he could have been the reason they won…
and i think he is a really good regular season quarterback as i pointed out before–not gonna repeat myself, read the other blogs—just whenever there is pressure he comes up lame…
and no i didnt bet the eagles sunday night–not without the key to their team—i made that mistake on a sunday nite game last year w/out westbrook, mcnabb ended up getting sacked 12 times or something?!?!?…
Dannie, I’ll just put that in the “wish I’d known” bin… I just don’t want people to not want to comment because you guys are ready to jump their throats unless it’s a logical and well-phrased argument. Some people just aren’t the best writers. I don’t consider myself particularly skilled, like bski, jjg, or Dave T, but I do my best. I actually prefer reading comments to writing them. HOWEVER, it’s your website fellas, do you what you wanna do.
Here’s something I’m surprised you and Pete haven’t come up with – why don’t you guys face off against each other on certain topics? Because it’s kind of boring that you guys agree on a lot of things. But it’s gonna be things you guys genuinely disagree on.
Zack – that is a good idea that we will definitely look to do. Trust me Pete and I disagree a lot it’s just back and forth over the cubes. Will try and bring some of that to the blog as well.
Thanks for the idea.
this is my first time writing, but i’m on this site all the time. it’s one of my best procrastination methods for school and work.
how effective can our offense be if we don’t get andrews back (i won’t even ask about b-west)? and can l.j. be the tight end we need–especially in the red zone–or should i keep my expectations for him low all season?
Max – I agree low expectations for L.J. I was shocked they put the franchise tag on him. Don’t think he has proved he is worth that at this point. Giles has done a pretty good job, but we obviously need the Big Kid back in the line-up he is an all-pro.