Eagles Steamroll Hapless Chiefs

Dannie and I were down at the game yesterday and got a first hand look at Michael Vick’s debut (yawn), Kevin Kolb’s emergence and Randall Cunningham’s induction into the Eagles’ Honor Roll.

Here’s what I took away from the seats…

The Good Stuff

• Andy Reid drives a lot of us nuts sometimes, but these are types of games that make wonder why ANYONE would consider firing him anytime soon. His ability to scout, draft and develop talent, manage the salary cap, and draw up quality gameplans during the week means that we can play without our starting QB, RB, WR, RT and RG and absolutely crush the opposing team without missing a beat. It’s come to the point that we expect it, something few other teams could say. It doesn’t matter if it was against the Chiefs. This has been true for the majority of the Reid era. It’s why we win with back-up QB’s, it’s why our O-Line can almost always withstand injury, and it’s why we’ve gone deep into the playoffs several times without our main offensive weapon (Owens in 2004, Westbrook in 2003 and McNabb in 2006). Sure, we can get on Reid for his clock management and sometimes cutesy play-calling. But let’s not forget that there are 31 other teams trying just as hard as we are, and only and handful have had the long-term success we have enjoyed.
• This game looked a lot like our opener in that we won primarily because of the dominant play of both our offensive and defensive lines. The offensive line gave Kolb plenty of time all day, and gave up 0 sacks and 0 QB hits. They also led the way for a 4.2 rushing average for LeSean McCoy. The D-line, led by Trent Cole and Broderick Bunkley, pressured Cassell all day (3 sacks, 5 hits) and stuffed the run (3.4 average, 2.8 if you take out the 22 yard reverse).
• Brent Celek, pro-bowl TE? Celek is 2nd among TE’s in receiving yards (245) and T-1st with 2 TD. He has shown some impressive run-after-catch skills and is a tenacious competitor. Hopefully when McNabb gets back, he looks for him as much as Kolb did.
• DeSean Jackson’s 21.6 yards per catch is 1st in the NFL among players with at least 10 catches. This kid might be the next Steve Smith, he just moves at a different speed than anyone else on the field. Also of note, Jackson’s jersey was by far the most popular jersey worn at the stadium yesterday (myself included).
• Kevin Kolb played well enough yesterday that I’m not really concerned about losing McNabb again. For the most part, Kolb was dead-on (though like McNabb, when he missed, he missed bad) and did a very good job of avoiding any pressure by simply stepping up in the pocket. If McNabb isn’t truly 100% for the Bucs or Raiders, we might as well rest him up and let Kolb do the work. My quick comparison of Kolb and McNabb? Kolb is more accurate on the 10-15 yard routes but will certainly throw more picks than McNabb. Donovan has a better deep ball, won’t throw as many picks and can make plays with his legs, including evading the pass rush long enough for someone to get open. However, he can be streaky and isn’t deadly accurate on shorter throws. McNabb is still the #1 guy on talent, and considering Kolb still hasn’t shown he can play under pressure (bad picks against Ravens and Saints), it’s not even close.
• LeSean McCoy looked very impressive for a rookie running back. He’s not as elusive as Westbrook used to be (few are), but he appears to be a good between-the-tackles guy as well. He needs to work on going North-South a little more still, but I think he showed Andy he can handle a big responsibility
• Quintin Mikell is playing like a pro-bowler as well. He is all over the field and on a team that has some suspect tacklers, he is one of the best at wrapping guys up.

The Bad Stuff

• In Stacey and Shawn Andrews, we have a whole lot of years and a whole lot of money spent on 2 guys who we clearly don’t need based on the play of Nick Cole, Winston Justice and Max Jean-Giles. I think most people assume Shawn will be released next year, but 3 years into his career, I have no idea what to think of Stacey.
• Did we sign Michael Vick just to hand the ball off? 2 passes and 1 run. My guess (and my hope) is that we know we handle the Chiefs, Bucs and Raiders using half the playbook and won’t fully break out Vick until about Week 7.
• As I mentioned above, as well as Kolb played, we still haven’t seen him shine in a true pressure situation. That was a cake walk from start to finish yesterday.
• I think Jeremy Maclin will be a good player for us, but from what I’ve seen in the first 3 weeks, he doesn’t have (or hasn’t shown) the blazing speed or elusiveness he was labeled with during the draft.
• We have had several 3rd or 4th and short situations this year and I don’t believe we have used FB Leonard Weaver in a single one. In fact, I believe Andy went 5-wide on a failed 4th and 1 yesterday. With our line and his size, he should be getting the ball in 60-75% of those situations.

Right now after 3 weeks it looks like the NFC is a bit tougher than initially expected. The Saints, Giants and Vikings look great, and several other teams look formidable. I’d rank the NFC as follows…

1. Giants
2. Saints
3. Vikings
4. Eagles
5. Packers
6. Falcons
7. 49ers
8. Cardinals
9. Bears
10. Cowboys
11. Seahawks
12. Lions
13. Redskins
14. Panthers
15. Rams
16. Bucs

So those are my thoughts after the Birds Week 3 – what did you guys think?

September 28, 2009