Now that’s how you start a football season. If the fans weren’t optimistic going into the season they certainly will be now after a 38-3 beatdown on the St. Louis Rams.
I was at Lincoln Financial field for the opener and actually had the opportunity to watch the game from two different vantage points. The first half I was 24 rows up from the field, section 122. Absolutely fantastic seats, but it was HOT down there today.
The second half I was up in the Club Suites right behind the endzone. Free food, drinks and cooling air conditioning was a nice way to watch the Eagles cruise to an easy opening day victory.
Today many questions were answered (to a degree – gotta remember the Rams do suck) for the Eagles. Here’s a few thoughts from the game:
Offense
- Donovan looked 100% healthy and sharp. 63.6% completion percentage, 361 yards and 3 touchdowns. He evaded rushers, put throws on the money and spread the ball well. Three different receivers had over 100 yards.
- B. West is the man and still on top of his game. 19 carries, 91 yards, 4.8 yards per carry and a touchdown. The crowd went crazy when he broke for 18 yards, capping it off by leveling free safety Oshiomogho Atogwe with that stiff arm we have all come to love. For a smaller back he packs a hell of a punch, and he gets to use it often because defenders always try to tackle him high because of his size.
- DeSean Jackson is going to be special. He started the game off with a very tough 47-yard reception and finished the game with 6 catches for 106 yards. He got completely robbed on a sure touchdown pass when the defender draped himself all over Jackson before the ball got to him and the referee didn’t throw the flag.
Defense
- Asante Samuel and the secondary are going to force turnovers – it’s just a matter of time. Samuel had three pass deflections, one that would have easily led to a walk-in touchdown. He actually looked like he was purposely batting the ball down rather than going for the interception. Once his feel kicks in those deflections will become turnovers. Dawkins also had a near-interception, as he looked very youthful flying in to stop the Rams on yet another third down.
- Third down conversions: The Rams were 0-11. This was a big problem for the defense a year ago. The Birds’ D, did a great job of getting off the field.
- The run defense was stout. Holding a top-three running back to 40 yards on 14 carries.
- Defensive play of the game: Sheldon Brown popping the $%*& out of Stephen Jackson, sending his helment and chin guard flying 10-feet in the air. That play happened directly in front of where I was sitting, and I could hear the hit with perfect clarity from the stands.
Special Teams
- DeSean Jackson – 97 punt return yards, including a 60-yard burst putting the Eagles on the 9-yard line (only to be wasted with a field goal – RUN THAT ONE IN FIVE!) That would have been the longest run by a return guy (excluding Brian Westbrook’s 64-yard return) all of last season. He also had a nice 18-yard return that he almost broke but was tripped up by his laces. This kid is really going to help the Birds in the field position game.
All and all, could you ask for a better season opener for the Birds?
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Great start, great finish, and now great taste– thanks to a Papa John’s Pizza deal. With five touchdowns, I am going to get five free toppings on my large pizza and just pay $8.99. The taste of victory. NOW BRING ON THE COWBOYS!!!!
that dawkins near pick, was actually taken from Samuel… but #22 did look good…he’s sure got a nose for the football.
And DeSean does look special… nearly broke one…and it’s only a matter of time…. we’ve now got speed where we want it… (see #22 above also)
what a way to start the season! can’t wait for the monday night game next week.
couple additional thoughts:
Stewart Bradley looked great, he seemed to always be around the ball.
McNabb looked better than I’ve ever seen him. I can only think of one pass that was poorly thrown the whole game. He was drilling people in their numbers, looked mobile. Watching him yesterday, I couldn’t help but think that screw next year, he should be our QB for the next 5.
What got into Darren Howard? If he plays like that all year, our D-line depth will be outstanding.
Our next 3 opponents (cowboys, steelers, bears) all looked fantastic yesterday, so we will really get a good look at where we really are. hopefully we can come out of there 3-1. 2-2 wouldn’t be a disaster, as the rest of our schedule is pretty tame. If we come out 4-0? I might lose my mind.
McNabb certainly looked healthy…and phenomenal. The big thing for me was the fact that 90% of his passing yardage was to the wide receivers. That group was probably the biggest question mark coming in, so to see 3 of them rack up 100 yards is a great sign.
Over the last few years the Eagles’ west-coast offense has become the Westbrook-coast offense. Half of McNabb’s attempts were dinks, dump-offs, and swing passes to Westbrook. That’s not including the times he has lined up in the slot.
If the wide receivers can command the respect of the secondary it will open up seams and holes underneath for Smith and Westbrook to exploit. Plus, the more balls the wide receivers catch, the less Westbrook needs to catch. As much as we want Westbrook to touch the ball on every play, it’s a bit much to ask. Limiting his catches should keep him healthier and make him a more productive runner for the entire season.
This was my first eagles game where i had seats, lower lever 114 row 23, was a blast.
Great victory, I feel the team and the fans really needed this win. But lets not put our team at the superbowl just yet, the Rams are one of the worst teams in the league and it is hard to tell if we were that good or were they that bad. Next game will be the real test when we take on the cowgirls on monday night prime time football. Go Birds.
Eagles looked phenominal at every position. Every question was answered yesterday. What people like to call a “Statment Game”. I don’t want to rain on anyones parade, but they also beat the poop out of the Rams last year (even worse than yesterday). So the real test comes Monday night. They need a performance like yesterday against the Boys. Eagles open up at +7. I am all over that!
Did the Recliner GMs forget about baseball? j/k
TO — Don’ t think they played the Rams last year. One real blowout win last year was 56-21 against the Lions [game 3].
If one was to nit-pick, there are only 3 things that come to mind. One was the 2 [or was it 3?] outright drops by LJ Smith. They didn’t really cost them yesterday, but in tight games against top opponents, they will pay the price if he doesn’t get his act together. The second is that Desean Jackson needs to learn to turn upfield on his returns. He can’t give ground in the NFL like he did in college and expect to outrun people. Taking nothing away from the 2-3 good returns [and one great one] he did have, again, when the Birds are fighting tooth-and-nail for field position in tough tilts with likes of the Cowboys, Steelers and Giants, he cannot reverse field and leave us deep in our own territory, as he did [I think it was twice, maybe three times] yesterday. Sometimes, he just has to put his head down and take the 2-3 tough yards. And, finally, notwithstanding BW’s usual histrionics, Iwe haven’t seen much of a sustained running game through the pre-season and then yesterday. Even with BW’s numbers, the YPC was under 4 [as it was for every pre-season game] and Booker didn’t look very good. Not too worried about this now, but there will come a time when they will need to rely on a consistent running game and we haven’t seen it yet.
Also, did you notice?…
- All those crying about AR letting McDougle walk…he punctuated his Giants debut with a roughing the kicker penalty while Darren Howard wreaked havoc all day and even Chris Clemons came in for a nice pass-block.
– Tony Hunt appeared more than serviceable at FB…can only get better as the season progresses, and with Klecko leading on goal line carries, it seems like Hunt will easily suffice in the FB role.
– Agree with those praising the linebackers, especially Stewart Bradley. If there was any doubt about whether his spark at the end of last season was an aberration, there shouldn’t be any now. The guy is a bona fide NFL MLB…and will only get better.
– And, finally, given the Brady news of today, isn’t nice to know that the Eagles have a strong, young developing quarterback who is mastering the system behind McNabb [just in case] who seems like he’ll give them a chance to win if he has to play???
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gcl138, you hit it right on the money. when i watched the game, all i saw was a bad team making every mistake possible; penalties, secondary miscommunication and mix-ups were all exploited by the eagles. I’m not discrediting the birds’ performance; just dont read too much into it. yeah desean jackson is special!!
What was the mix the eagles drink on the side line, their showed the water guys pouring something in the water bottles and the guys were drinking it.
Jkay – I disagree with you saying don’t read to much into it. One of the things that I pay attention to and experienced when I played ball in college is what level a team plays at when they are clearly the superior squad.
When a team crushes a weaker opponent it is often overlooked and push to the side with comments like “don’t read to much into it” or “well they were suppose to do that.” BUT, when they play down to the level of the competition a big deal is made, even though they come out with a victory.
It’s equally as important to read into games in which a teams blows out a weaker opponent because, well as the Phillies proved last night the better team doesn’t always do what they are suppose to do. So when they actually perform the way they should like the Birds did on Sunday equal attention should be paid to that as when the struggle. Let’s not take for granted when our teams play well. God knows it doesn’t happen all that often.