Game 1 Thoughts
football season is finally here! a good victory for the birds and a good tuneup for the real start of the season next week. looking forward to seeing the standings after the first week. i expect the eagles to be the only team with a win.
- what is it with the eagles and opening day? is it a rule that every season has to start off with a bout of agita? the texans came out fired up and the eagles seemed to be in a bit of a daze at the start. no one panicked though and things settled down nicely.
- T-who? donte' turned in a pretty nice game for just getting here. seems like he's going to be a nice fit as the number 1 receiver here. he probably doesn't have the ball skills that me-o does, but seems like he may have better hands. also, he seems like a more well rounded receiver than anyone has been describing, making catches inside and outside and on deep balls and short balls.
- the first eagles TD was a beauty. what a ball fake by don and what a nice route by stallworth. two professionals at work, hopefully the start of something big. remember, stallworth is only 26!
- on the opening drive of the game, how in blazes does lito let jeb putzier get behind him? that drive should have been 3 and out rather than a TD. you can't have a nobody TE blowing past your starting cornerback. turns out that lito still isn't feeling right on that ankle. i hope he doesn't come back until he is able to cover the jeb putziers of the world.
- greg lewis did a nice job on kick coverage today. twice on kickoffs, he held the corner against a blocker and forced the runner inside into coverage.
- our QB can play a little, no? if you listen to the constant anti-mcnabb bleating of the WIP morning dipsh*ts, you'd think we had brad goebel QB'ing our team. the guy is a legit top 5 QB in the league.
- how about those second team d-ends? the entire d-line played pretty well today. i am hoping that was at least equal parts them being good rather than it being mostly the texans o-line sucking. whatever the cause, the d-line played on the houston side of the ball for much of hte game.
- the jackson 5 played pretty well too. they gave don plenty of time to throw and blew the texans off the line on enough running plays to allow westbrook and buckhalter to combine for 25 rushes and 121 yards. not too shabby.
- wow, buckhalter really is back. he ran harder as the game progressed and broke several tackles. wow. an eagles back who can break a tackle. that's been almost a myth for several seasons.
- i think david carr could have been a good player if he hadn't been stuck on a dom capers coached team for his whole career. it's possible he may become productive under kubiak, but he throws a nice ball and seems pretty nimble.
- linebackers played ok i thought. mccoy didn't make any glaring mistakes and was able to blow up a couple of plays because of his speed.
- the only concern i came away with is the secondary. i think the pressure the defense can apply is going to hide their flaws, but really dawkins is the only star in that secondary. lewis can't cover and has no ball skills. sheldon keeps getting caught looking into the backfield (happened against terry glenn last season). who knows what is going on with lito, he's been in a funk since his pro-bowl season. i don't know, i have a feeling the secondary is going to be the achilles heel of this team.
thoughts on other games
- did everyone see the "shut the f-up" look that jason fabini gave to me-who as he was trying to "fire up" his teammates who weren't paying any attention?
- young eli the overhyped is throwing balls all over the place today. he's thrown some short balls accurately, but he wouldn't have any completions over 10 yards if his receivers weren't all 6' 5" or taller. how can don take so much crap for his occasional worm burners, when guys like eli are chucking the ball without any idea of where it's going? anyone else out there think that cataldi and crew actively root against mcnabb for making him look foolish for that draft day stunt? cataldi definitely seems petty enough.
- everyone's preseason NFC favorite, the carolina panthers, took it on the chin at the falcons. true, they didn't have steve smith in the lineup, but we're not talking about a QB here. he's a wideout. seems pretty weak for a team with superbowl aspirations to be derailed by a wideout sitting out the game.
- what is it with the eagles and opening day? is it a rule that every season has to start off with a bout of agita? the texans came out fired up and the eagles seemed to be in a bit of a daze at the start. no one panicked though and things settled down nicely.
- T-who? donte' turned in a pretty nice game for just getting here. seems like he's going to be a nice fit as the number 1 receiver here. he probably doesn't have the ball skills that me-o does, but seems like he may have better hands. also, he seems like a more well rounded receiver than anyone has been describing, making catches inside and outside and on deep balls and short balls.
- the first eagles TD was a beauty. what a ball fake by don and what a nice route by stallworth. two professionals at work, hopefully the start of something big. remember, stallworth is only 26!
- on the opening drive of the game, how in blazes does lito let jeb putzier get behind him? that drive should have been 3 and out rather than a TD. you can't have a nobody TE blowing past your starting cornerback. turns out that lito still isn't feeling right on that ankle. i hope he doesn't come back until he is able to cover the jeb putziers of the world.
- greg lewis did a nice job on kick coverage today. twice on kickoffs, he held the corner against a blocker and forced the runner inside into coverage.
- our QB can play a little, no? if you listen to the constant anti-mcnabb bleating of the WIP morning dipsh*ts, you'd think we had brad goebel QB'ing our team. the guy is a legit top 5 QB in the league.
- how about those second team d-ends? the entire d-line played pretty well today. i am hoping that was at least equal parts them being good rather than it being mostly the texans o-line sucking. whatever the cause, the d-line played on the houston side of the ball for much of hte game.
- the jackson 5 played pretty well too. they gave don plenty of time to throw and blew the texans off the line on enough running plays to allow westbrook and buckhalter to combine for 25 rushes and 121 yards. not too shabby.
- wow, buckhalter really is back. he ran harder as the game progressed and broke several tackles. wow. an eagles back who can break a tackle. that's been almost a myth for several seasons.
- i think david carr could have been a good player if he hadn't been stuck on a dom capers coached team for his whole career. it's possible he may become productive under kubiak, but he throws a nice ball and seems pretty nimble.
- linebackers played ok i thought. mccoy didn't make any glaring mistakes and was able to blow up a couple of plays because of his speed.
- the only concern i came away with is the secondary. i think the pressure the defense can apply is going to hide their flaws, but really dawkins is the only star in that secondary. lewis can't cover and has no ball skills. sheldon keeps getting caught looking into the backfield (happened against terry glenn last season). who knows what is going on with lito, he's been in a funk since his pro-bowl season. i don't know, i have a feeling the secondary is going to be the achilles heel of this team.
thoughts on other games
- did everyone see the "shut the f-up" look that jason fabini gave to me-who as he was trying to "fire up" his teammates who weren't paying any attention?
- young eli the overhyped is throwing balls all over the place today. he's thrown some short balls accurately, but he wouldn't have any completions over 10 yards if his receivers weren't all 6' 5" or taller. how can don take so much crap for his occasional worm burners, when guys like eli are chucking the ball without any idea of where it's going? anyone else out there think that cataldi and crew actively root against mcnabb for making him look foolish for that draft day stunt? cataldi definitely seems petty enough.
- everyone's preseason NFC favorite, the carolina panthers, took it on the chin at the falcons. true, they didn't have steve smith in the lineup, but we're not talking about a QB here. he's a wideout. seems pretty weak for a team with superbowl aspirations to be derailed by a wideout sitting out the game.
Labels: football
posted by The Mean Guy at 9:09 PM
9 Comments:
As the philosopher Chris Griffin once said "Get outta my head! Get outta my head!"
Pete we saw the same exact game. I too came away very concerned about their secondary. They will get expolited badly by teams with good WR. Lito just looks bad-slow, lackadaisical, not really into the game. Maybe he's out for a while, which may not be bad since Rod Hood looked A-OK to me.
The lines lived up to their billing. Very impressive. Even though Houston was bad, they still got used. Good lines make bad lines look bad. That's what they did today.
Stallworth is very fluid-runs well, soft hands, seems to split seams nicely and he made a really tough catch where he laid out today. I may buy his jersey.
I am very very concerned about that return game. They have no KR, and get 36 the hell off the field on PR. Let him kill you on screens and reverses, not get blown out on a meaningless punt return. They need a better plan B immediately. Use Moats-put stickum on his hands.
Watched a lot of Dallas and G Men today. Both are good, but both can be had. Dallas D started really quickly but once the Jags cleaned up their scheme, they looked much slower. Their O line is so-so, Bledsoe is still Bledsoe-needs 10 seconds to perform. TO can still catch and run and Witten really scares me. They did seem on the verge of a major blow up all day. Let's get these guys to 1-3 or so and watch them quit. I was a huge Jags fan today and they didn't let me down.
Giants look really good to me in some areas where the Eagles are weak. Hate to say it, but they have a lot of skill on offense and can really run the ball with a great run blocking line. Tiki may go for 150 next week. Eli is bad under pressure and the Birds have to exploit that. The vaunted pass rush also wasn't that impressive from the G men, but you aren't running on them-they fly to the ball. I do think the Colts are a bit over-rated, but Peyton throws better under a rush than any QB I've ever seen. He single-handedly won that game and did the Birds a favor. I honestly see a Birds loss next week, they're not ready to win that game yet, but I feared a blowout before and now I think it'll be a 24-17 type of affair with the Birds on the upswing and plugging away at what could/should be a 6-2 type of start.
I like what I saw. Could've done without the early Maalox moments, but they dominated from 2 minutes in the first half on. First drive second half was awesome.
Bumble
One of the local writers pointed out they didn't do any pre-snap motion all game. Maybe they kept their pre-season playbook in place for one more game considering the opponent.
Trent Cole is a monster. Move over Freak.
Bumble and I talked...that was about a systematic as a win as you will ever see....it wasn't as close as the score really indicated...I wasn't anxious after the first series by the Texans....also, this isn't your father's Texans...I think that Carr is a decent QB who is in a bad career situation....although I think Kubiak is going to help his career...he's big and strong, throws a nice ball and has got wheels. They couldn't run at all, and their offensive line blows. He is going to be like Archie Manning down there. Andre Johnson is a stud, though. Boy are they going to regret not picking Bush...or leveraging that pick to get some more players....that is going to kill them for a couple of years.
It's only one game, but Stallworth has a tangible impact on this team. If nothing else, Donovan likes to throw to him. Boy, is he an upgrade over Stinkston....having him in the line-up makes the other receivers look that much better....Greg Lewis has a role, Baskett has a role....how about Schobel??...LJ Smith had a great game, how about the diving catch in the first half and no fumbles....Buck looked great, Westbrook looked great, pass to run ratio was great....Don threw for over 300 yards and threw for 3 TDs...he ran with a purpose, not scrambling to scramble...that alone, plus Stallworth stretching the field...oh man, I am just so excited about things....I just find myself praying that no one gets hurt.
Did anyone ever see Big Red before the Stallworth TD? They flashed to the sideline and you see Big Red look at another player or coach and say "watch this"...I knew something was coming....
It's one game, but it's an important game...dominating, systemtic, relatively healthy, and a game that they have to win. It's good to see them back to the Eagles Pre-TO.
I've been very positive on my outlook for this season, Dog, but we need to keep in mind that was the Texans they just whallopped. They need to do that against the Gints this weekend for me to be convinced they're truly back to 2000-2004 level of play.
I've been very positive on my outlook for this season, Dog, but we need to keep in mind that was the Texans they just whallopped. They need to do that against the Gints this weekend for me to be convinced they're truly back to 2000-2004 level of play.
I think Lito being hurt can do nothing but help th Eagles. I've said it before that I think I could outfake him. While he was in there, he looked aweful. Hood did a fine job, though I too, am a little worried about our secondary. I think they really need to tighten up on 3rd downs. The Texans converted way too many and they're not a good team.
I think the giants are going to be trouble. I think they're going to be able to use their running game to put up some major yards in. As far as their TEs and WRs, I think our d-line will be able to get to Eli before he does too much damage there. Like someone said earlier, he needs 10 secs to do anything and I don't see our guys giving him that time.
Donovan is back. Although his couple throws on the run weren't pretty, at least he didn't take the sack and didn't get hurt trying to avoid it. He's fast and nimble again. When he was in the pocket, he was great. Donte' is the real deal. That route for the TD was beuitiful. Great acting job by everyone else too. I liked the fact that Donte' blamed himself for the catch he had to dive for "Donovan threw the ball where I was supposed to be, and I wasn't there yet, but I got there eventually. I have to work on that". Great. Just great. The interception was a carbon copy of one in pre-season where Reggie Brown didn't come back to the ball, that should change as he gets experience. Not #5's fault.
I'm excited. I see the Eagles at 9-6 making the playoffs. I see the Giants getting the Division. I see the redskins and cowgirls at 8-8, or maybe even 7-9.
- Joe
I think the giants are going to be trouble.
I see the Giants getting the Division.
so are the giants in trouble or are they going to win the division?
They are going to BE trouble. As in trouble for the Eagles. And other teams, though I don't care about them.
Come on Peter, you can't understand my ramblings by now?
- Joe
me fail english? that's unpossible!
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