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.

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???

–

Did the Recliner GMs forget about baseball? j/k

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. 

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.

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.

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)