I know I am not the only Eagles fan frustrated and disappointed with yesterday’s 23-17 loss to division rival Washington. Thank God the Phillies won their first round series right before the Eagles game finished to soften the loss – significantly.
I really don’t want to talk about everything that went wrong against the Redskins specifically. Rather what is wrong with this team overall one third of the way through the season. Should we assume the first game against St. Louis simply masked serious deficiencies on offense that are now being exposed as the season goes on? Was the Pittsburgh win a fluke defensively? After the last two weeks these are a couple of the questions running through my head. Maybe you all can help me out with a few more.
Here are a few things to think about going into a must-win game (we can not fall 3 games back in the loss column in our division) against the 49ers next week.
- For the first time in the Andy Reid era is our offensive line something we need to worry about? This thought obviously comes after three possessions (7 total plays) inside the 3-yard line that only resulted in field goals the last two weeks. We couldn’t get 1 inch let alone 1 yard after strong drives. Don’t we have one of the biggest offensive lines in the NFL? When you look at the final scores of those two loses, there is the difference right there. Our starting tackles are 34 and 33 years old with no real depth behind them – that is scary. What the hell is going on?
- 3.5 yards per carry (Westbrook is only 3.8 yards per carry) as a team rushing the ball is going to make it difficult to continue being successful with the pass. This is another sign our offensive line hasn’t been getting the job done.
- David Akers is 3-14 (1-4 this year) on field goals 40+ between last season and this year. But when Andy Reid is questioned after today’s game about it he simply responds (paraphrase) “He’ll be fine.” Ummm, NO! That response is not good enough for me. For me David Akers has lost it until proven otherwise. And I wouldn’t trust him kicking a meaningful field goal late in a game. That is bad news for the rest of the season
- The Eagles being number 1 in the NFL in sacks is deceiving. Why? Many of their sacks come as a result of constant blitzing. We aren’t getting good or consistent pressure on the quarterback with our front four straight up.
- Our tight ends are horrible in every way. In my opinion this is the weakest position on the team. They are completely incapable of run-blocking which is certainly part of the reason for the lack of goal line success. They aren’t getting open in the red zone which is the money area for tight ends. And all the hype of L.J. Smith’s speed hasn’t translated into success attacking the middle of the defense down field.
- Brian Westbrook’s health is a big concern. Word is Westbrook has two broken ribs which would explain why he was being examined on the sideline yesterday after holding and pointing to his chest and torso area. I really don’t have much confidence in Correll Buckhalter, and Lorenzo Booker is still an unkown to me.
- Why the hell do we always give up points right before the half? If someone has a good answer to that I would love to hear it.
Who is Handling the Offensive Play-Calling for the Eagles Now?
Andy Reid? Marty Mornhinweg? Regardless, it’s obvious whoever it is hasn’t been getting the job done. The first place we look when the offense struggles is the quarterback. We often look to make Donovan the scapegoat. That’s fine if you want to do that. But I think we are past that now. We need to turn our venom towards the coaching staff who continues with the same ole line “I/we gotta do a better job” to every question after every loss. NO F’ing Duh! We know you gotta do a better job. The question is why, and how are you going to address it so we don’t have to hear you spew this nonsense after next week’s game.
Why aren’t we attacking down field with DeSean Jackson? I mean, we aren’t even taking shots. We have a quarterback with one of the strongest arms in the NFL. Jackson had 1 catch for 8 yards yesterday. I don’t think we are going to win if that is the production we are getting from our healthiest playmaker.
Note: This is why we don’t go into much depth with football on this blog. Without the luxury of the coaches’ film I have no idea if Jackson couldn’t get open against man coverage, was being double-teamed and not open or he simply wasn’t getting plays called for him besides those damn end-arounds.
Here is what I do know. The Eagles’ coaching staff are fantastic with their game preparation on both sides of the ball during the week. This is evidenced by them getting good starts to games with the scripted game plan. The problem arises when their opponents recognize what they are doing and make adjustments. That’s when the Eagles start to struggle. Why didn’t we stack up against the run that was killing us by wearing down our defense and see if Jason Cambell could beat our supposedly great secondary down field? He had a 55% completion percentage in the game and 6.1 yards-per-pass-attempt in the game. Nope. We let them play the game within their strengths instead of forcing a young quarterback to figure out our defensive pass schemes.
This makes me question Andy Reid’s in-game management and ability to adjust on the fly as game situations change. Is it simply stubborness to change “we are just going to stick with the plan and it will work out” or a weaknesses in his ability to recognize changes in the game and make the proper adjustments? That I don’t know.
Hopes for a successful season back in the playoffs are quickly deteriorating for me. The Birds are in the toughest division in football, already 0-2 in the division and haven’t even played the Giants, who look as strong as they did during their championship run in the playoffs last season.
Is my negativity and lack of optimism premature?
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
i think you raise some excellent questions. however, having a banged up Westbrook really hurts the offense. the eagles are not the same team when he is hurt. also, the 3 losses are by a combined 14pts. 2 were on the road (1 vs Dallas, a top 3 team). and Washington is a surprisingly a very good team. im trying to make excuses but i think the eagles will be fine going forward. ill be surprised if they dont win the next 3 games.
i believe it to be strategizing and adjusting by the coaches.
our first drives, when we use Reid’s “script” seem to go about 100 times better than our drives later on the game. the defense adjusts to us, and we haven’t been adjusting back well.
that being said, i fully expect us to win the next 3 games (49ers, Falcons and Seahawks) and be 5-3 heading into a huge Giants game.
Can’t supply substantiation, but I’m of the belief that Andy Reid, despite getting a lot of credit for being a sharp tack, is a rather ordinary mind. As a head coach, seems like a defensive chess player in his essence, rather than a progressive genius of any sort. (The highly doubted as ready) Zorn (who was a creative QB) outcoached him up and down the field yesterday. Eagles are appearing somewhat robotic and trancelike from Reid’s reliance on the low-risk move. If his pre-game and halftime talks resemble his press conference manner of speaking, inspiration isn’t his bag either. Missing on offense -a co-catalyst to complement Westbrook, a take-charge leader at quarterback, a field confidence/playmaker named Owens, a high-quality tight end and the commitment to establish a running game.
JJG – I agree I don’t see Reid as the motivational type from the outside looking in. I have no idea what his locker room talks are like and the players never speak of it which could be a bad sign in of itself.
Players who are motivated by their head coach say so. I haven’t heard much of that from the Eagles players have any of you?
Dannie, Even his strong supporters, like former players Douglas and Reese, don’t mention a motivational or inspirational quality when defending “Big Red”. His calling cards seem to be (1) preparation, (2) a reliabilty that springs from a regimented, hard-working approach and (3) a degree of loyalty to those who buy in to his system. His vaunted “West Coast” offense has seen better days; (ironically) is lacking innovation, spark.
Not buying the injury excuse — sure, Westbrook and Andrews are critical components to the offense, but let’s be fair: the Skins were playing without 4 of their top defenders, including Jason Taylor and Shawn Springs. This really looks like poor coaching…bad game-planning and the in-game adjustments are just completely non-existent. I also agree with those who are saying that AR’s conservatism is robbing the team of its swagger. And he keeps saying it’s his fault — when will he start calling out some of these guys instead of deflecting the blame onto himself [thereby reducing the players' accountability]. I’m getting really tired of the act. Now going on 4 years of basically mediocre football. That night in Jacksonville feels like ancient history.
Finally, I don’t know what’s giving anyone confidence that the Eagles will sweep through these next 3 games. SF and Atlanta are no worse, really, than the Bears. Atlanta plays a lot like the Skins — slick powerful running game behind zone blocking, controlled underneath passing, and a solid, stay-at-home D. They just beat the Packers at Lambeau and will be coming off their bye. SF at home has shown that they can put up some numbers and create turnovers and just played the Pats pretty tough out there. And Seattle, while they look hideous right now, has a whole month to work things out, and I think it’s fair to say that they won’t be as bad then as they are now…they’re too talented and well-coached to continue like this. I don’t know…at this point, two out of the next three would feel like a meaningful accomplishment…4-4 at the halfway point and then try to run the table in the 2nd half like the Giants did last year. It’s not much to hang on to, but I fear it’s all we got.
JMKinLA-
The Reid/McNabb marriage is on the rocks. Friends Lurie, Banner and Heckert are hoping against hope. Syracuse is not the best place to pick a mate. It’s sinking in for Andy. 10 years is a long time. People change. The light is gone from both sets of eyes. Parting is such sweet sorrow. They’ll always have Niagara Falls.
Some worrisome quotes I’ve heard lately out of the Eagles…
To the question to both Andy Reid himself and players:
Does he (Andy Reid) still have the locker room? The consistent response has been “I think so.”
You THINK isn’t the confident response you want coming from the coach himself let alone his players.
Don’t see necessary esprit de corps on sidelines, the mark of a winning team. Has probably lost the room to an impairing
extent through repetition’s attrition and undelivered promises. Can’t imagine Lurie cutting Reid loose anytime soon though.
A revival of Reid’s coaching fortune minus McNabb, or a McNabb resurgence to elite playing form without Reid – which is the more likely occurrence? I think the answer could provide some direction for the Eagles.
Am not fully convinced but I wonder if McNabb’s considerable ego – and tapdancing around it by virtue of Reid’s unswerving support – has tired and demoralized his teammates to a point of distracted, inconsistent performance. One shouldn’t have such an effect – in theory.
At this point Im so frustrated with this team its hard to put blame on one thing. Lets first start with the players. Why do we hang on to players that are aging and/or not producing. Our OT have been great, but they are old and are not getting the push they used to and/or getting beat. Those goal line pushes might have been great calls on Andy’s behalf but not full-filled by the O-line. We had 10 draft picks this year and did not even address our sorry tight ends. All three of them are junk. Our Kicker has missed 3 field goals in two games that any younger kicker in the league can consistantly hit. Missing those kicks puts our tired D back on the field and in bad position. I like Akers, but he is just a kicker, he has only one job, he stinks, dump his A$$.
Coaching-This team has to much talent to keep hearing Andy say, “that was my fault” “we can do better then that”, then fix it! Its been ten years and every time he has taken over the play calling we have no offense in whole second half. Total frustration.