Eagles at Bears Preview II
I don't think there's much point in doing these previews anymore. This team's just way too inconsistent so basically you've got to do 2 previews:
Preview A: Bad Eagles (aka Oakland Eagles)
This team will move the ball up and down the field. Score 20-25 points and lose a close game on either a turnover returned for a TD or long return punt/kickoff return.
Preview B: Really Good Eagles (aka NYG Eagles)
This team wins by 17-20 points via 2-3 timely turnovers and several quick strikes by 5/DeSean. The game's never really in doubt after 1Q and the team just coasts to a W.
There is no middle ground. Or at least there hasn't been a middle ground recently. There is no Good Eagles team. I'd blame the inconsistency on age, but I've already shown this isn't a young team. I guess you could blame it on coaching or lack of leadership or "other".
The fact is though that now (late November) is when Andy Reid coached teams start to gel and put on win streaks. He has won at least 5 of the last 7 games 6 of 9 times since 2000 and barely missed last year (4-2-1 ). Can he do it again?
Preview A: Bad Eagles (aka Oakland Eagles)
This team will move the ball up and down the field. Score 20-25 points and lose a close game on either a turnover returned for a TD or long return punt/kickoff return.
Preview B: Really Good Eagles (aka NYG Eagles)
This team wins by 17-20 points via 2-3 timely turnovers and several quick strikes by 5/DeSean. The game's never really in doubt after 1Q and the team just coasts to a W.
There is no middle ground. Or at least there hasn't been a middle ground recently. There is no Good Eagles team. I'd blame the inconsistency on age, but I've already shown this isn't a young team. I guess you could blame it on coaching or lack of leadership or "other".
The fact is though that now (late November) is when Andy Reid coached teams start to gel and put on win streaks. He has won at least 5 of the last 7 games 6 of 9 times since 2000 and barely missed last year (4-2-1 ). Can he do it again?
Labels: football
posted by Chasing10K at 6:06 PM
11 Comments:
interesting post. some food for thought --
good eagles : bad eagles
healthy jason peters : jason peters lying on the ground writhing in pain
mcnabb gets protection : free rushers on every play.
Really? I didn't notice Peters being worth the money they paid him when he was out there.
I'd put the Good Eagles: Bad Eagles disparity more on the defense's lack of turnovers recently.
And welcome back, TMG. Nice to see you back in these parts of the interweb.
i don't think it's that peters has been playing so well as much as the cascading effect he has on the line when he's out.
when peters is out and everyone has to shift. almost every position goes from being manned by an average to above average player at that position to being manned by a below average player for that position.
i don't know why mcnabb played so poorly in the redskin game since he seemed to get decent protection that night, but most of the time he's struggled this season, he's been running for his life.
no qb plays well against consistent pressure.
on the plus side, winston justice looks like he can play, huh?
McNabb wasn't pressured at all vs. San Diego. I thought the patchwork line did a nice job, especially on Merriman. I get down on Don, but it is almost situational when he struggles. if you can keep him out of time crunch situations when they're down and tight red zone coverage when he needs to squeeze balls into tight windows, then he is pretty good. He is really not good at all from the 15 going in and I don't understand that as he used to really excel down there. Maybe it is his reluctance to tuck and run now. It seems like McNabb changed as a QB when he (or Andy) made the decision that he is not to be the prototypical running QB and he must be a pocket passer. What made him a threat were those legs and the fact that he can throw darts on the run. Now that he takes half his game away, especially in situations where he could quickly gallop for a 10-15 yard TD, he seems to be a different guy. I know he's been hurt and is getting older, but when he does scramble, he seems to be pretty darned effective to this day.
I dunno. It starts and stops with the OL, but the QB still needs to put the pigskin in the end zone from the 15 at least 2 of the 3 times in the red zone.
And is anyone wondering if Andy did his homework on the Andrews twins, Ingram, and Peters. Those FA pick ups have been bustity-bust-bust-busts to this point (Shawn A being a positional change bust). Not like Red to miss like that on OL, so wondering if this is all coincidence or they really did a poor job of gauging injury recoveries and heart. is this a medical staff issue or an Andy issue?
Bumble
I think it's got to be game planning more than McNabb's playing down there. The Eagles are a bit at a disadvantage though vs. most teams as they don't really have a WR with enough height for the corner fade.
I'd say it's time to bring the shuffle pass back. That was their bread-n-butter 2-3 yard line play. Then they over-used it, but I haven't seen it for a while. Could've sworn they were going to bust it out last week but it never came (and would've worked on at least 1 of the trips down there as the D was pretty spread out).
Maybe. And I am sure that his injury this year when he scrambled makes him even more gun shy, but goodness gracious the man needs to use the weapons that are his legs. Even the threat of a scramble draws in the LB and opens up TE and RB in the middle.
We'll never know.
I am really, really, REALLY hoping for Good Eagles tonight.
Haven't seen Good Eagles so far. Turnovers are killing us.
A W is a W. I thought Don did a nice job in the face of intense pressure. I am starting to have a major beef with the fat guy from this angle. Why are the same people making the same stupid penalties over and over? They absolutely shoot their toes off all game with holds and interference. It has to stop.
Maybe he is hurt badly, but I think 22 needs to man up and get back out there. kudos to the patchwork secondary for hanging in!
Cutler blows. He is awful. Always was. 10 cent head.
Bumble
Cutler is the modern day Jeff George.
Good call Big Dog !! Cutler cried his way out of Denver over nothing like a big pu$$y, so he'll get no sympathy from me.
The Eagles beat a bad team tonite, the Bears really aren't that good, but I'll give the Eags credit b/c they're pretty banged up on both sides of the ball. Good thing cutler missed those 3 WIDE OPEN GUARANTEED TD'S -- sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. Mc5 played pretty well, 23 for 32 is pretty solid with a few wormburners thrown in for good measure. The fact that only 32-36 pass plays were called is HUGE...why it happens so seldom is beyond me. This whole o-line thing is mess. Peters is awful, bad penalties, missed blocks, ugh! he's stealing money. Reid blew it huge on the Andrews sisters and Ingram. I put that on Andy more than the med staff. I think he brought this bunch of yahoos in specifically because he thought they would get Shaun's head straight and he would anchor that line. Didn't quite work out that way.
Captain
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