Game 6 Thoughts
well... a win is a win is a win i guess so that's good. the finish was incredibly dramatic and exciting, so that's good. so... someone tell me why i'm so grumpy. certainly, i'm less grumpy than if they had lost the game, which i'm sure my wife is thankful for :) in general though, i'm pretty unhappy with today's game, i must say.
- first and foremost... run the ball you fat f*ck!!!!!!!! this is one of the reasons why i hate the west coast offense. yes, there are variations of the west coast offense that run the ball more than reid's offense (gruden/mariucci/holmgren e.g.), but even then, none of them are the power running, smash mouth types of running games that i like. west coast offenses use too many draws, traps, and delays imo. the most entertaining offense i ever saw was the redskins offense circa joe gibbs 1.0. power running game to tighten things up and throw deep over the top. that was entertainment. this dink and dunk passing garbage sucks.
- donovan mcnabb continues to make the same mental mistakes over and over. most people bitch about him being inaccurate. really, when you look at the numbers, that doesn't really bear itself out. yes, he does throw the ball at receivers feet on occasion, but most qbs have throws get away from them from time to time. most other qbs lose the ball high, mcnabb errs to the low side. either way, that doesn't bother me. what does bother me is the mcnabb continues to make the same mental mistakes over and over. first of all, he took 3 bad sacks today that were not the line's fault. there is no reason for him to have taken those sacks -- he should have thrown the ball away all three times. not only did it cost the eagles yardage and ultimately cost the eagles 3 points, but he is also taking hits unnecessarily. i don't begrudge his choice to not get the sports hernia fixed right now, but since he has chosen to play through it he needs to avoid taking hits. second, and the much MUCH bigger issue is his throw to lj smith at the end of the first half. this is the same FREAKING type of throw that he made to dorsey levens at the end of the first half of the playoff game vs minnesota last season. yes, neither of them cost the birds the game, but it's totally unacceptable for him to be making those rookie mistakes at this stage of his career.
- speaking of the end of half play, the offense was called for a penalty because lj didn't get set before the snap. why didn't he just set himself right where he was tackled? there was no reason for him to run down the line to line up next to runyan. the only requirement is for him to be on the line covering runyan. it was going to be a kill the clock play anyway. why line up all nice and purty?
- andy called a horrible game. andy did the right thing by going for it on 4th and 1 at their 30. what was that play he called?!?! run the ball you fat f*ck!
- it's becoming increasingly clear to me each week... westbrook is not an every down back. he doesn't get you enough tough yards. with him, it's feast or famine and he's a big reason why the birds lead the nfl in 3 and outs. you have to move the chains and the guys who move the chains get you 3-5 yards a pop. football outsiders' analysis indicates that westbrook only has a "successful" run on less than 35% of his runs. yes, honeybuns and the turnstiles have an impact on this, but westbrook does not break tackles either so that is a match made in hell. westbrook makes lots of people miss, but he cannot break arm tackles from anyone, not even corners.
- deep balls? hello? do we have them in our offense still? andy? don? hello? i doubt that andy is not calling deep plays. don is either not feeling mentally comfortable with what dallas and san diego did on defense or he's not physically comfortable throwing the deep ball anymore (in which case he needs to just get the f'n surgery). don't know what it is, but we're not throwing deep enough.
all right, enough bitching about a win. maybe the mikell block and ware return will spark the team like westbrook's punt return did a couple of years ago, who knows?
some other thoughts and observations.
- the first play of the game, the chargers split out lorenzo neal wide left... gee you think they're going to run to that side? eagles stop tomlinson in his tracks. was that play setting up this one? early in the second quarter, neal goes in motion to the right and michael lewis drifts out with him. lewis continued peeking in the backfield and made no attempt to cover neal. neal runs an out and up and catches a pass 20 yards downfield.
- overall, the defense played really, really well today. the d-line really controlled the line of scrimmage and kept blockers off the linebackers. san diego's starting center was out today and i think they missed him, but i don't think it would have made a difference
- darwin walker did make a difference, however. he was very active and obviously juiced to get back in the game. my new favorite fat guy mike patterson didn't make any flashy plays, but i thought he held up well on run defense.
- kearse was a factor, which was nice to see -- though the way he celebrated his sack seemed a little over the top to me. one nice play drawn up by JJ that phil and i both noticed. kearse lined up across from the right tackle as the o-line got into their set. simoneau comes up to the line and takes kearse's place and jevon moves out farther left. at the snap, simoneau shoots the gap between the tackle and guard, causing the tackle to block down on him. this frees kearse up with a free run at brees. he didn't get there in time, but he did get a mamula.
- speaking of simoneau. simoneau played a lot more than adams after gates started eating up the bullet over the middle. mark did a much better job on gates than adams did and made the play on trotter's interception with his hit on brees.
- LJ fumbled again! that lucky SOB got away with this one when the play got called back as a result of randall godfrey's roughing the passer penalty. i reiterate, LJ is a fumble waiting to happen and i cringe every time he catches the ball.
- interestingly, merrill and mike quick both thought the birds got a favor from the refs on that roughing call because godfrey got there as don was throwing the ball. i'm pretty sure the roughing was for godfrey driving mcnabb into the turf -- which i think the league made illegal after tony siragusa drove rich gannon into the turf and knocked him out of that playoff game a few seasons back -- rather than the timing of the hit. overall though, i thought the refs were pretty bad. for a while it looked like they were trying to fix it for the birds, but the bad calls all evened out in the end.
- in a show of solidarity, honeybuns and the turnstiles made sure they each got called for a penalty so no one would get singled out for praise or criticism.
- wow, did greg lewis take a shot!
- lito plays off the receiver too much. i don't blame him for the long pass to caldwell on the chargers' third possession, but lito counts on his closing speed too much methinks. sheldon brown is always in the right position. looked to me like dawkins scolded lito after a slight overthrow by brees on a long pass cost the chargers a touchdown early in the game. on the same play, dawkins gave the receiver and elbow to the middle of the back as they both fell to the ground. yikes, what a mean mother f-er! that elbow would have broken most normal people in half.
bottom line, i don't see the birds learning from their mistakes and i do see them making the same critical errors over and over. i should be happy that they won in dramatic fashion today, but my irritation over don's poor decision making, LJ's poor ball protection, and andy's play calling is overwhelming that right now. i can accept the fact that they're not going to blow every team out of the water like they did last season. what i cannot accept is that they keep making the same stupid mental mistakes over and over. this team is going nowhere if it doesn't get it's head on straight soon. if the cowboys game wasn't enough of a wakeup call, then i don't know what it's going to take.
- first and foremost... run the ball you fat f*ck!!!!!!!! this is one of the reasons why i hate the west coast offense. yes, there are variations of the west coast offense that run the ball more than reid's offense (gruden/mariucci/holmgren e.g.), but even then, none of them are the power running, smash mouth types of running games that i like. west coast offenses use too many draws, traps, and delays imo. the most entertaining offense i ever saw was the redskins offense circa joe gibbs 1.0. power running game to tighten things up and throw deep over the top. that was entertainment. this dink and dunk passing garbage sucks.
- donovan mcnabb continues to make the same mental mistakes over and over. most people bitch about him being inaccurate. really, when you look at the numbers, that doesn't really bear itself out. yes, he does throw the ball at receivers feet on occasion, but most qbs have throws get away from them from time to time. most other qbs lose the ball high, mcnabb errs to the low side. either way, that doesn't bother me. what does bother me is the mcnabb continues to make the same mental mistakes over and over. first of all, he took 3 bad sacks today that were not the line's fault. there is no reason for him to have taken those sacks -- he should have thrown the ball away all three times. not only did it cost the eagles yardage and ultimately cost the eagles 3 points, but he is also taking hits unnecessarily. i don't begrudge his choice to not get the sports hernia fixed right now, but since he has chosen to play through it he needs to avoid taking hits. second, and the much MUCH bigger issue is his throw to lj smith at the end of the first half. this is the same FREAKING type of throw that he made to dorsey levens at the end of the first half of the playoff game vs minnesota last season. yes, neither of them cost the birds the game, but it's totally unacceptable for him to be making those rookie mistakes at this stage of his career.
- speaking of the end of half play, the offense was called for a penalty because lj didn't get set before the snap. why didn't he just set himself right where he was tackled? there was no reason for him to run down the line to line up next to runyan. the only requirement is for him to be on the line covering runyan. it was going to be a kill the clock play anyway. why line up all nice and purty?
- andy called a horrible game. andy did the right thing by going for it on 4th and 1 at their 30. what was that play he called?!?! run the ball you fat f*ck!
- it's becoming increasingly clear to me each week... westbrook is not an every down back. he doesn't get you enough tough yards. with him, it's feast or famine and he's a big reason why the birds lead the nfl in 3 and outs. you have to move the chains and the guys who move the chains get you 3-5 yards a pop. football outsiders' analysis indicates that westbrook only has a "successful" run on less than 35% of his runs. yes, honeybuns and the turnstiles have an impact on this, but westbrook does not break tackles either so that is a match made in hell. westbrook makes lots of people miss, but he cannot break arm tackles from anyone, not even corners.
- deep balls? hello? do we have them in our offense still? andy? don? hello? i doubt that andy is not calling deep plays. don is either not feeling mentally comfortable with what dallas and san diego did on defense or he's not physically comfortable throwing the deep ball anymore (in which case he needs to just get the f'n surgery). don't know what it is, but we're not throwing deep enough.
all right, enough bitching about a win. maybe the mikell block and ware return will spark the team like westbrook's punt return did a couple of years ago, who knows?
some other thoughts and observations.
- the first play of the game, the chargers split out lorenzo neal wide left... gee you think they're going to run to that side? eagles stop tomlinson in his tracks. was that play setting up this one? early in the second quarter, neal goes in motion to the right and michael lewis drifts out with him. lewis continued peeking in the backfield and made no attempt to cover neal. neal runs an out and up and catches a pass 20 yards downfield.
- overall, the defense played really, really well today. the d-line really controlled the line of scrimmage and kept blockers off the linebackers. san diego's starting center was out today and i think they missed him, but i don't think it would have made a difference
- darwin walker did make a difference, however. he was very active and obviously juiced to get back in the game. my new favorite fat guy mike patterson didn't make any flashy plays, but i thought he held up well on run defense.
- kearse was a factor, which was nice to see -- though the way he celebrated his sack seemed a little over the top to me. one nice play drawn up by JJ that phil and i both noticed. kearse lined up across from the right tackle as the o-line got into their set. simoneau comes up to the line and takes kearse's place and jevon moves out farther left. at the snap, simoneau shoots the gap between the tackle and guard, causing the tackle to block down on him. this frees kearse up with a free run at brees. he didn't get there in time, but he did get a mamula.
- speaking of simoneau. simoneau played a lot more than adams after gates started eating up the bullet over the middle. mark did a much better job on gates than adams did and made the play on trotter's interception with his hit on brees.
- LJ fumbled again! that lucky SOB got away with this one when the play got called back as a result of randall godfrey's roughing the passer penalty. i reiterate, LJ is a fumble waiting to happen and i cringe every time he catches the ball.
- interestingly, merrill and mike quick both thought the birds got a favor from the refs on that roughing call because godfrey got there as don was throwing the ball. i'm pretty sure the roughing was for godfrey driving mcnabb into the turf -- which i think the league made illegal after tony siragusa drove rich gannon into the turf and knocked him out of that playoff game a few seasons back -- rather than the timing of the hit. overall though, i thought the refs were pretty bad. for a while it looked like they were trying to fix it for the birds, but the bad calls all evened out in the end.
- in a show of solidarity, honeybuns and the turnstiles made sure they each got called for a penalty so no one would get singled out for praise or criticism.
- wow, did greg lewis take a shot!
- lito plays off the receiver too much. i don't blame him for the long pass to caldwell on the chargers' third possession, but lito counts on his closing speed too much methinks. sheldon brown is always in the right position. looked to me like dawkins scolded lito after a slight overthrow by brees on a long pass cost the chargers a touchdown early in the game. on the same play, dawkins gave the receiver and elbow to the middle of the back as they both fell to the ground. yikes, what a mean mother f-er! that elbow would have broken most normal people in half.
bottom line, i don't see the birds learning from their mistakes and i do see them making the same critical errors over and over. i should be happy that they won in dramatic fashion today, but my irritation over don's poor decision making, LJ's poor ball protection, and andy's play calling is overwhelming that right now. i can accept the fact that they're not going to blow every team out of the water like they did last season. what i cannot accept is that they keep making the same stupid mental mistakes over and over. this team is going nowhere if it doesn't get it's head on straight soon. if the cowboys game wasn't enough of a wakeup call, then i don't know what it's going to take.
posted by The Mean Guy at 9:30 PM
2 Comments:
You're just bitter that you left the game early, Pete.
...Although, at least you didn't pull a George Costanza-trample the women and children to escape the fire alarm like certain people in our section (Joe)
sadly, i'm not disappointed at all that i missed that blocked kick. i left not because i lost hope that the birds could win the game (i stayed for westbrook's punt return and 4th and 26), but over frustration with the call on 4th and 1. i'm relieved that they won the game as it puts them in better position if they are able to right the ship prior to the playoffs, but i don't see them improving on the mental aspects of the game and this irritates me incredibly. i'm not sure why, but it does.
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