Wild Card Game Thoughts
what a great game. a tense playoff matchup that was back and forth all game. hard hitting, big plays, and the eagles pull it out in the end. a good game to watch in person.
- garcia managed the game well. he seemed a little jittery at first, but he settled down, made some nice throws, took some big hits, and didn't make any killer mistakes.
- eagles d-tackles didn't have a particularly good game. hardly any push on the pass rush and got pushed off the line quite a bit.
- the lito loss is a pretty big one. nice work by andy and crew having a seasoned player like william james in reserve.
- great game by westbrook. that first run was simply sensational.
- koy detmer = difference maker.
- great game by the receivers. some really tough catches made by reggie brown and LJ.
- what was the deal with the punt that was downed at the 1? i thought i heard the ref say that it was because the ball was illegally touched, but that doesn't really make much sense. thinking about it now, is the receiving team allowed to touch the ball with impunity if a punt is first touched by the kicking team? i seem to recall seeing a rule like that enforced before.
- considine is the worst player on defense right now.
- that's eagles football, baby. mash. mash. mash. score. seems like there was a running team lurking in there all along. all we needed was our all-pro QB to blow his knee out to find it.
- really bad game by the refs. good thing the eagles won the game, otherwise i'd be pretty salty over 2 missed blows to garcia's head (that's 30 yards) and a missed pass interference on the deep ball to reggie brown.
- lack of pass rush is a concern. they'll need to be able to pressure brees without blitzing.
go birds!
- garcia managed the game well. he seemed a little jittery at first, but he settled down, made some nice throws, took some big hits, and didn't make any killer mistakes.
- eagles d-tackles didn't have a particularly good game. hardly any push on the pass rush and got pushed off the line quite a bit.
- the lito loss is a pretty big one. nice work by andy and crew having a seasoned player like william james in reserve.
- great game by westbrook. that first run was simply sensational.
- koy detmer = difference maker.
- great game by the receivers. some really tough catches made by reggie brown and LJ.
- what was the deal with the punt that was downed at the 1? i thought i heard the ref say that it was because the ball was illegally touched, but that doesn't really make much sense. thinking about it now, is the receiving team allowed to touch the ball with impunity if a punt is first touched by the kicking team? i seem to recall seeing a rule like that enforced before.
- considine is the worst player on defense right now.
- that's eagles football, baby. mash. mash. mash. score. seems like there was a running team lurking in there all along. all we needed was our all-pro QB to blow his knee out to find it.
- really bad game by the refs. good thing the eagles won the game, otherwise i'd be pretty salty over 2 missed blows to garcia's head (that's 30 yards) and a missed pass interference on the deep ball to reggie brown.
- lack of pass rush is a concern. they'll need to be able to pressure brees without blitzing.
go birds!
Labels: football
posted by The Mean Guy at 9:55 PM
12 Comments:
Man, the playoffs are fun. Makes me feel bad for doubting the Walrus, but good because the Walrus is coaching the Birds. Now it's revenge time on New Orleans.
- Behan
The refs also missed the face mask on our guy on that long pass to Buress. Many other holds not called. Reid even said something about it by saying "I wouldn't want to comment on the officiating".
Big miss by considine on that 3rd & 12. I actually think Lito being out is a blessing in disguise. Against a team like N.O., I think James is the better choice.
While I missed the energy of the crowd, being sick, I'm glad I got money for the ticket and didn't stand in the cold rain.
- Joe
Romo's botch makes Reid look like a genius for bringing the Neckbeard back. Despite his in game gaffes, Reid does such a great job in planning (another example was being ready to go all back-ups in ATL game) that we take a lot of things for granted.
We need to stop spotting the other team 7 points on opening drives. Getting a bit silly.
I truly think that this was the worst possible match-up for the Eagles in the first round and I stated that at a post awhile ago. With a couple of exceptions, this is always a heavyweight slugfest with the Giants....I don't like them, but respect them. A lot. Getting this win was freaking humongous...it was ginormous. No one can cover Plaxico, thank goodness Tiki is retiring, thank goodness Petitgout was out, as well as Eagles killer Toomer and Strahan. I hate to say this, but I almost feel everything is gravy from here on out....I think that this is a bad, bad match-up for the Aints. You are giving a hungry team, who is pissed off that you edged them early in the year a second chance. I don't love the match-up from the Eagles perspective, but I think that the Eagles beat these chumps. To me, they receive the ball, run the ball down their throats, shut up those freaking poseur fans, score and that half drunk, jambalya eating, Hurricane slamming, Muffaletto munching, morons shut the hell up and put the bags back on their heads....you get up on these guys and they will fold....shut down McCallister, don't let Bush burn you, they are toast...they can't stop us. F--- these piles of slop!!!
Dog, I whole heartedly agree that it's all gravy now. I'm not as up on the match-up as you are. Especially since the schedule-makers hosed us with only 6 days between games.
MG, I am pretty sure once the defense touhces a punt is in essence "dead"....I never knew that until Sunday and I think that the "illegal" touch is incorrect nomenclature. Goes to show that those officials didn't realize that either, which is kinda scary.
Illegal touch is poor word choice. You se ethis at times in college, although not sure why as the return man cannot advance the ball since it's dead. i swear some knuckleheads just do it to generate juice.
Basically the ball is dead once the kicking team touches it in bounds. The return team can then touch it with impunity because it has already been downed. If the ball touches the receiver first and he fails to down it before losign control, obviously it's a live ball and can be recovered.
The fat guy has his stuff together, I regret having railed against him so loudly, but he didn't have a super game plan for chunks of that game yesterday. They came out flat again and could've been buried had the Giants scored in the first quarter. Then they take the second half kickoff and run three uninspired plays and give the ball right back. Then they move the ball to the giants 4 and he throws twice vs. running. Then he never adjusts any coverage to help with Plaxico because they eagles cannot cover him. he also had too many three and outs in the second half when up by 10, then 7.
All of that said, he came to his sense in the last five minutes and pounded the ball. Then he positioned it in the middle of the field and left no time vs. kicking on third down. Great finish, good 2nd and half of 4th quarters, lousy 1st, 3rd and half of 4th quarters.
The Saints are an offensive machine. Brees looks great and they can score in a lot of ways. The home crowd will also help. To me this is a shoot out. The Birds will give up 24-28 points, they just need to score 29 points. I think the keys to the game are.
1. Take a lead early and force the Saints to play from behind. Not too many guys on that team have playoff experience and may panic.
2. Establish 36 and pound them with 3,4,7,5,6 yard runs all day. eats clock and keeps Brees sidelined.
3. No more stupid pass interference penalties. Too many easy gains yesterday. make the saints earn every yard.
4. Better returns than they've seen. They need to get to the 30 and even 35 to shorten that field.
5. Garcia must play better than yesterday. he was not his sharpest for most of that game. I need to see the guy who played dallas and New York in December.
Tough game no doubt about it, but I agree with Big Dog, the G men scared me much worse than the Saints.
Joe, lay off the Robuitussin baby. Lito being out does not help in any way and is nothing but bad. He is a presence who has athleticism to make big plays. I actually see him being better vs. a guy like Joe Horn than Plaxico. His absence will be exploited by New Orleans.
Bumble
Bumble is pretty much dead on with assessments yesterday....however, the Eagles made enough positive plays to win and Westbrook is a stud. Here is my assessment....I think the Saints are in deep trouble....I may be the only one in the Delaware Valley that thinks this, though. This team played their B game and won an emotional game against a villain....I am beginning to think that Eagles v. Giants is up their with Bengals v. Steelers, Raiders v. Chiefs, Yankees v. Red Sox, Ohio State v. Michigan, UCLA v. USC, and Texas v. Oklahoma...seriously...it is a huge match-up....here's what I think:
1. Brees is a good QB. However, since his days at Purdue I don't think he's clutch....if I am Johnson I will send a variety of blitzes and stunts his way and get in his undersized face.
2. Young receivers and Joe "Fantasy Football Bust" Horn....don't scare me at all.
3. A Defensive that features Mark Simoneau and Hollis Thomas...sorry doesn't scare me at all...plus I think they start 3 white guys at LB.
4. Secondary that features Mike "the Pass Interference Predator" McKenzie...sorry not worried.
5. Sean "I am a cocky bastard who showed Bobby Hoying how to throw bounce passes during my tenure in Philly" Payton and McCallister and Bush....okay this is where I get a little worried....however, McCallister is incredibly stoppable and Bush is a rookie. Payton's own arrogance will be his downfall.
Eagles 30 Saints 10
So I'm the only one that's worried? NO's o-line is better than people think and they have a shot of controlling the game as much as the Eagles. Brees has one of the quickest releases in football so the blitz is more likely to backfire than anything else. I'd like to see JJ get really creative with some zone "blitzes" though which is probably the best way to force turnovers.
I think you've all drank the kool-aid.
- Joe
see me next Monday....I just don't think the Saints are all that....don't be surprised if the Eagles beat them up.
I hope you're right. Maybe I'm still so shell shocked from this season that I'm artificially lowering my expectations.
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