Eagles Trounced by Explosive Saints

I felt pretty good about this game heading into halftime – even with us down 4. Then, I blinked, and we were down 31-13 and the game was history.

Given the ugly final score, 48-22, I think a lot of fans and writers will be inclined to over-react about this game. But, I don’t feel all that different about the team than I did before hand.

First of all, the Saints are the best offensive team in football. Just as we couldn’t think our defense was that good after playing the Panthers, we can’t think they are that bad after playing the Saints. If you give the Saints 2 free possessions starts at our 20 yard line – they are going to score touchdowns, they simply have too many weapons, and Drew Brees is simply too good to defend.

Second of all, this game essentially came down to 3 plays.

1. The ridiculous non-holding call on the Saints final drive of the first half.
2. The Ellis Hobbs fumble.
3. Kevin Kolb’s first INT.

These 3 plays led to 21 points for the Saints and the loss of 2 possessions for the Eagles. Eliminate those mistakes – and the result might have been different.

Let’s go to my quick thoughts on the game…

Good Stuff

• Kolb, though mistake prone (see Bad Stuff), showed that he is good enough to be a solid back-up QB. He had several tremendous throws under pressure and showed the best deep ball I’ve seen him throw on the Jackson touchdown.
• Brent Celek, Kolb’s favorite target, continues to show good hands, and great toughness after the catch. He is an emerging fan favorite.
• The many variations of the wildcat offense were exciting and for the most part, worked. I think the offensive gameplan was very good – trying to keep the defense on their toes to open it up a little for Kolb. Very creative stuff from Reid and Marty.
• Our upcoming schedule: vs. KC (0-2), BYE, vs. TB (0-2), at OAK (1-1). We should absolutely win all 3 of these games. The next 2 weeks will give McNabb time to get healthy, and by the end of the next 4 weeks, we should be 4-1 and both our offense and defense will be playing at a higher level after having more time to adjust to the new O-Line and defensive coordinator.

Bad Stuff

• We miss you, John Harbaugh! Special teams was atrocious. We had a penalty on almost every single special teams play and the fumble by Ellis Hobbs to start the 2nd half opened the flood gates.
• Tackling. For whatever reason, we couldn’t wrap up guys.
• Asante Samuel. Look, I don’t fully understand zone coverage and all the stuff cornerbacks do – but it certainly seemed like Samuel was about 10 yards away from a lot of big completions. He also might be the biggest culprit of the poor tackling parade, constantly trying to tackle players by just hitting them, not wrapping them up.
• The defensive line, which looked dominant against Carolina, was very average. They got to Brees a couple times, but not nearly enough to disrupt his rhythm.
• Kevin Kolb has shown in every appearance that he has made that he doesn’t just turn the ball over, he made really bad turnovers. The pick on our 20, and the pick going into the endzone were both throws you cannot make.
• After averaging over 5 yards per rush last week, we only averaged 4.0 this week.
• Westrbook is hurt – not very surprising. It’s clear his body won’t be able to make it through the season.

So – that’s all I got. What did you guys think? Are you terribly concerned after this loss?

September 21, 2009