Game 13 Thoughts
another loss, but a very heartening game, at least for this philadelphia eagles fan. i saw enough good things yesterday that i continue to be optimistic about andy's ability to turn things around.
- the eagles B side should have won this game and would have with even an average nfl QB (and would have easily won with a healthy mcnabb). mike mcmahon continues to prove that he does not belong in the nfl.
- the defense played with a lot of heart and showed me that big red hasn't lost the team, but they could not get off the field. no pass rush = lots of time for manning to sit in the pocket = many third down conversions. this has to be the top priority for the personnel guys this offseason. if the eagles had strahan and umenyiora, instead of kearse and cole this would still be a playoff team.
- mugsy bogues (moats) is freaking fast! he wasn't quite as effective in the second half because the giants adjusted for him (he takes everything outside like westbrook does) and andy decided to run play action bootleg off the moats sweep. unfortunately, the giant ends were impressively disciplined on each of those bootlegs. i think they ran it 4 times in the second half and there was a defensive end in mcmahon's face every time he turned around.
- i'm starting to think that greg lewis is tanking on purpose. it's well known that he was TO's best friend on the team. by my informal count, he's caught 1 out of the last 10 passes that hit him in the hands. if he's not tanking it, there is something odd going on with him.
- did anyone else notice something odd with the opening coin flip? gerry austin said "the call is heads," then flipped the coin and announced "it's tails," then gave the ball to the giants. everyone in my section heard the same thing. did anyone watching on TV notice this?
- i have always thought, and continue to think that eli manning will amount to nothing more than a journeyman nfl quarterback. the eagles had 3 picks yesterday and could have easily had at least 3 more. he has some things going for him, don't get me wrong. he has a good arm and it seems like he can make good throws when he gets time, but i don't think that's all you need to succeed as an nfl QB. i continue to think that his demeanor and general sourness are going to be a problem for him. case in point, giants have second and one at the 4 in the third quarter (i think this is when it happened) and one of the offensive linemen false starts. manning throws the ball into the ground and starts flailing his arms like he's pouting. his teammates aren't going to put up with BS like that for too long. maybe i'm reading too much into it, but i've never been a big fan of his body language. the other problem he has is that he's not tough in the pocket. the eagles had no rush on him for most of the game yesterday, but whenever someone got anywhere near him, he got *very* skittish. he won't stand in and take a hit to make the throw and a couple of times, he just chucked it up for grabs while moving backward.
- how about that hit by sheldon on shockey late in the 4th. wow.
- who the heck is donald strickland?
- coughlin negated a strahan sack by accepting a holding penalty. i didn't see exactly where the ball would have been spotted, but it seemed like it was an 8 yard sack. i'm not quite sure why coughlin chose 1st and 20 over 2nd and 18, seemed like a mistake to me.
- mahe takes a lot of heat from me, but he was productive yesterday. of course, "the sure handed mahe" fumbled on one of his punt returns yesterday, but at least he didn't have any drops.
- parry got pancaked several times (what else is new), but he did have a nice kickout block on the first moats touchdown.
- thankfully, i don't recall seeing spach on the field.
bottom line, i was entertained, they showed that the giants aren't anything special, and they continued moving toward a good draft pick.
- the eagles B side should have won this game and would have with even an average nfl QB (and would have easily won with a healthy mcnabb). mike mcmahon continues to prove that he does not belong in the nfl.
- the defense played with a lot of heart and showed me that big red hasn't lost the team, but they could not get off the field. no pass rush = lots of time for manning to sit in the pocket = many third down conversions. this has to be the top priority for the personnel guys this offseason. if the eagles had strahan and umenyiora, instead of kearse and cole this would still be a playoff team.
- mugsy bogues (moats) is freaking fast! he wasn't quite as effective in the second half because the giants adjusted for him (he takes everything outside like westbrook does) and andy decided to run play action bootleg off the moats sweep. unfortunately, the giant ends were impressively disciplined on each of those bootlegs. i think they ran it 4 times in the second half and there was a defensive end in mcmahon's face every time he turned around.
- i'm starting to think that greg lewis is tanking on purpose. it's well known that he was TO's best friend on the team. by my informal count, he's caught 1 out of the last 10 passes that hit him in the hands. if he's not tanking it, there is something odd going on with him.
- did anyone else notice something odd with the opening coin flip? gerry austin said "the call is heads," then flipped the coin and announced "it's tails," then gave the ball to the giants. everyone in my section heard the same thing. did anyone watching on TV notice this?
- i have always thought, and continue to think that eli manning will amount to nothing more than a journeyman nfl quarterback. the eagles had 3 picks yesterday and could have easily had at least 3 more. he has some things going for him, don't get me wrong. he has a good arm and it seems like he can make good throws when he gets time, but i don't think that's all you need to succeed as an nfl QB. i continue to think that his demeanor and general sourness are going to be a problem for him. case in point, giants have second and one at the 4 in the third quarter (i think this is when it happened) and one of the offensive linemen false starts. manning throws the ball into the ground and starts flailing his arms like he's pouting. his teammates aren't going to put up with BS like that for too long. maybe i'm reading too much into it, but i've never been a big fan of his body language. the other problem he has is that he's not tough in the pocket. the eagles had no rush on him for most of the game yesterday, but whenever someone got anywhere near him, he got *very* skittish. he won't stand in and take a hit to make the throw and a couple of times, he just chucked it up for grabs while moving backward.
- how about that hit by sheldon on shockey late in the 4th. wow.
- who the heck is donald strickland?
- coughlin negated a strahan sack by accepting a holding penalty. i didn't see exactly where the ball would have been spotted, but it seemed like it was an 8 yard sack. i'm not quite sure why coughlin chose 1st and 20 over 2nd and 18, seemed like a mistake to me.
- mahe takes a lot of heat from me, but he was productive yesterday. of course, "the sure handed mahe" fumbled on one of his punt returns yesterday, but at least he didn't have any drops.
- parry got pancaked several times (what else is new), but he did have a nice kickout block on the first moats touchdown.
- thankfully, i don't recall seeing spach on the field.
bottom line, i was entertained, they showed that the giants aren't anything special, and they continued moving toward a good draft pick.
posted by The Mean Guy at 7:13 AM
7 Comments:
My discontent with the Eagles was very well documented last week. I agree with what you wrote this week, Mr. Mean Guy. And let me complement some of your sentiments.
My only Andy gripe was that Moats was invisible second half. Why not keep running this kid? I know he likes to get to the corner, but he must learn to string it out and turn it upfield. If he doesn't he will never survive in this league.
While many are drastically concerned with the offense, I am very concerned with the defensive front 7. The pocket simply does not collapse for any QB. Realistically any QB, even the basically god-awful McMahon, can pick a team apart with that much time. Patterson is the only guy that I see as a contributor in the future. Rayburn doesn't do much, anymore, but he probably is just a solid back-up, rotational guy. Cole is too light and the Freak, oh boy, what has he done this year? And that Giants team lost both starting Tackles and had Bob Whitfield, who I think used to block for Lynn Cain and Bubba Bean in Atlanta, was playing. He looks like a guy who should be playing in a prison league. Smoking during defensive series. No pressure at all.
I watched Dhani Jones on one play specifically and he got sucked in and pancaked on a sweep near the goal line. He is horrible and Keith Adams is a special teamer, solid back-up.
Has anyone noticed that when the Eagles blitz, it is completely and utterly ineffective. It takes too long to get to the QB and all year the QB either dumps it to a back or gets it to a TE/WR who is wide open.
Greg Lewis is a 3rd or 4th receiver. I know the TO thing has probably soured them, but they really need a quality #1, or realistically 2 solid #2's. Right now they don't have even that. Billy McMullen has been getting better all year (after botching that punt that got blocked) and Reggie Brown has done okay. Did anyone notice that huge pass that Reggie Brown dropped near the end of the game that killed a drive? Very catchable.
The Eagles need to get a solid NFL-experienced back-up QB for next year. Donovan has been hurt a lot it seems over the past 5 years to warrant this.
I like Todd Herremans. He is going to be a solid NFL player.
Overall, I thought that the Eagles fought well and didn't embarrass themselves. Considering how mediocre the NFC is, I don't think that the Eagles will be down very long at all. If I am a Giant fan, I am hating the fact that Eli is just an average QB while his brother is a Hall of Famer. Eli is the third best Manning QB.
manning throws the ball into the ground and starts flailing his arms like he's pouting. his teammates aren't going to put up with BS like that for too long.
I seem to recall Tony Eason acting the same way....
(Of course, Marino did it too. Here's hoping Manning ends up more like the former than the latter.)
coughlin negated a strahan sack by accepting a holding penalty. i didn't see exactly where the ball would have been spotted, but it seemed like it was an 8 yard sack. i'm not quite sure why coughlin chose 1st and 20 over 2nd and 18, seemed like a mistake to me.
On TV they said it was a seven yard sack. I agree, and Joe Buck actually made a legitimate substantive comment on the same issue. Aikman must have been passing him notes.
I think you got the better end of the ticket trade, Pete (although I seem to have contracted bird flu, so I probably wouldn't have been able to go anyway). The crowd sounded great from my couch. I lost count of how many false starts the Giant's o-line had.
Spach was involved on 1 special teams tackle.
I think the Freak might be double teamed plus chipped on every play cause the rest of the line is below average.
I was kinda surprised too at the noise in the stadium. Guess that just shows us fans will support a good effort despite a cruddy season.
I still think it's too early to start judging Eli. Think he might end up somewhere between the extremes. Frankly, he looks a lot like an early (and more recent) Favre right now. Not sure if that's good for us or not.
Has anyone noticed that when the Eagles blitz, it is completely and utterly ineffective.
i think some of that is because bullet and dhani aren't very good blitzers, but i think it's primarily because teams haved figured out when JJ likes to blitz. he's going to have to spend some time in the offseason trying to figure out what his patterns are and adjust.
(Of course, Marino did it too. Here's hoping Manning ends up more like the former than the latter.)
true, though i don't recall marino ever being as skittish in the pocket as eli has shown the last few weeks. maybe eli is the next coming of jim "chris" everett?
I think you got the better end of the ticket trade
seems so. i guess it just goes to show you never know. i hated giving up a monday night game, but it worked out well...
by the way, it's phil's fault that the season turned sour! :) when i tried to trade the redskins game at the start of the season, phil poo poo'd it and said the game would be meaningless because the birds would have home field clinched by then. obviously the football gods were offended...
I still think it's too early to start judging Eli. Think he might end up somewhere between the extremes. Frankly, he looks a lot like an early (and more recent) Favre right now. Not sure if that's good for us or not.
i think somewhere between the extremes is about right for him. he'll be a decent nfl QB, but never a top 5 guy imo. i think he looks like favre does now because favre is afraid to take a hit these days. the younger, painkiller-addicted favre was never afraid to take a hit. i don't think eli has the courage of the young favre.
Bullsh!t! They should have had home field locked up by now. That's the truly frustrating thing about this season. Footballoutsiders had the Eagles (not the Colts) as the best on paper coming into the season with a 4% shot of going undefeated.
Blame TO, Reid's bad play calling, and the defensive struggles for the bad karma before you get to little old me.
No one mentioned whether they saw the coin flip SNAFU on TV.
Phil, it's your fault. It's my fault, Pete's fault, etc... Hell, it's freakingVladimir Putin's fault too. This year is such a crap hole compared to the last 5, that everyone deserves a little blame.....
- Joe
Only the people getting paid by the Iggles should be blamed, not those tossing $800 per seat per year towards them. There's no freakin way that I'm excepting any blame. They want to refund me for a couple games (starting with that MNF game and both preseason ones) and I'll seriously consider taking some of the blame. Otherwise, no way.
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