Detailed Game Review – PHI 24, CLE 14

Overall, a good game for the Eagles. There was one major problem area, the O-line. I listened to national talk radio today just ripping the OL left and right. I think they missed the point of the problem…experience. Jason Kelce and Danny Watkins don’t lack talent. They are just learning on the fly. They were exposed at times last night, but the mistakes are fixable. Nick Cole made mistakes last year. He had experience and lacked talent. Watkins will learn and will get better. Mike Vick himself said you can’t expect guys with a couple of games under their belt to look like Pro Bowl players. It takes time. The line got better from the 1st Qtr to the 2nd. They learned. They adjusted. They started to pick up on things. That progress is huge.

The time to panic is when your players cannot physically compete. You can’t fix that. There were no issues on the OL where our players were physically over-matched on a regular basis. DT Phil Taylor had a few plays where he moved guys around with ease, but on other plays he was blocked with little to no problem.

Yes, it was concerning to see Michael Vick take a beating. You never want the franchise QB to get pounded like that. However, this was the time and place to let the young linemen play. Vick has plenty of time to rest before the opener. The coaches can work the the linemen on physical execution errors in the ensuing 2 weeks of practice. The coaches can work with the whole line on how to deal with blitzes and stunts. That was a huge problem early in the game. Again, that’s fixable. You need all 5 blockers to see the same thing and then adjust accordingly. Last night we had 5 guys seeing 3 or 4 different things. Can’t have that.

Vick managed to overcome the sloppy blocking and looked okay. He really needs Jeremy Maclin back in the lineup to get the passing attack where it needs to be. The offense did execute well in the Red Zone, even if 2 of the 3 scores were QB runs. That’s the way you beat the blitz. And Cleveland was blitzing. Analyst Brian Baldinger talked about how conservative Dick Jauron is, but Jauron was opening up the playbook last night. He sent LBs a lot. He blitzed CBs. He did lots of stunting and looping. That was anything but a vanilla defensive attack.

We didn’t complete a pass to a WR until the 5:30 mark of the 1st half. That isn’t a huge deal, but it isn’t good. The passing game isn’t clicking at all right now, beyond Kafka to the 3rd stringers and Vick to Shady. That bugs me, but I don’t want to make too much of it. No Maclin and an O-line in flux will cause passing game problems.

The defense was terrific. They pressured the QB well and were solid against the run. The Browns offense had really been clicking prior to last night’s game. It was good to shut them down. Only 103 yards of offense. 2 of 8 on 3rd downs. 0 for 1 in the Red Zone. 3 sacks. 1 takeaway. That’s good stuff.

Bobby April’s Special Teams units have quietly been outstanding in the preseason. They are covering kicks, blocking FGs, and playing well overall. The young P and PK are inconsistent, but not in such a way that they’re causing any major problems. Henery has yet to try a long FG, but he’s not missed a kick in a live game so far.

OFFENSE

* Very good blocking on Brown’s TD run. Todd got combo block. Hit DT initially and helped Kelce get control of him. Todd then got ILB and kept him from affecting play. Kelce stuck with the DT from the 13 yard line down to the 3. Jason Peters had the most sloppy block of anyone on the play and his DE almost made the tackle. Jason Avant had the best block of anyone. He drove his DB up the field and then out of the play. Brown ran hard and hit the alley the guys made for him. TD.

VICK — Mike was better than last week, despite the fact he played under heavy pressure early on. 10-18-98. Ran for TD. He isn’t connecting with the WRs, but that should change when Maclin returns. I was impressed with the fact that Vick never really showed frustration with the young O-linemen.

YOUNG — So-so game, but I was hoping for better. Vince did have to deal with heavy rains, which didn’t help matters. He was 9-12-58. Take away the 14 yard pass to Hall and he’s got 44 yards on 11 attempts. That’s too much dink ‘n dunk for a guy like Young when playing against backups. The pass to Hall came on a broken play where Young ran to buy time. He and Hall have connected like that a couple of times this year. Vince also ran for a TD.

32 SCHMITT — Quiet game on offense. Wedgebuster on KORs.

25 MCCOY — Terrific game. Shady looked to be in mid-season form. He had 7 catches for 69 yards. He caught a variety of screens and dump-off passes. Shady got RAC yards and moved the chains a couple of times. Only ran for 12 yards, but that had more to do with blocking than Shady.

36 BROWN — Good game. This was the best we’ve seen Ronnie in an Eagles uniform. Played with the 1s and the 2s. Had a 13-yard TD run in the 1st Qtr. Took the ball left and followed his blocks. Then fought his way in for the score. Ran hard when needed. Other times he let his blocks develop. Good vision. Showed some elusiveness when out in space. Caught 3 passes as well.

27 D. LEWIS — #3 RB. Good showing. Ran 9 times for 41 yards. Great vision, body control. Able to get to the hole and then through the hole. Had a couple of pretty good pass blocks in the game. Didn’t completely shut down the blitzers, but slowed them enough to let the QB have time to get the ball out. Dion is aggressive on those blocks. No hesitation. He also plays bigger than he is. Worlds better than Ryan Moats ever was. I can’t tell you how impressed I am with Lewis.

14 R. COOPER — Quiet game.

81 AVANT — Caught one pass. Had another come his way. Very good block on Brown’s TD.

16 C HALL — Caught a pass on VY scramble. Got false start penalty in early 3rd.

17 JL HIGGINS — Bad drop in early 3rd. It was pouring down rain, but VY hit him downfield for a good gain. Johnnie Lee just dropped the ball. Had holding call on run play and that negated a nice run by Brown. Had a couple of other throws come his way, but didn’t have any catches.

11 MOSS — Ran a good route and got open for catch in the late 3rd. Caught a pass from Vince over the middle. Went down to secure the throw.

87 CELEK — Caught 2 passes for 15 yds. After first couple of series he started blocking more on pass plays to help handle the blitz.

82 B HARBOR — Got to carry the football on TE end around we ran on 4th down. Cool play that I first saw Mike Martz run with Ernie Conwell 10-12 years ago. Harbor has excellent RAC skills. Hand him the ball and see what he can do. Showed good vision, running instincts. Got 5 yds on the play. False start in the 3rd Qtr.

88 D LEE — Caught 3 short passes. Caught a short pass in the right flat. Had to fight for the 1st down. Had the ball stripped, but the refs ruled Lee had already gotten forward progress and the play was dead. Had an awful block attempt late in the game. Not sure if he was supposed to trap a DT or if the guy just happened to be in Lee’s way. Lee had no interest in blocking the dude. Dion got tackled for loss.

85 C INGRAM — Played some in the 4th Qtr.

* 2nd/3. Simple blitz by CLE, but Watkins, Dunlap are confused. Danny blocks down, King blocks out. Blitzing LB comes free after Vick. Annoying to see, but a fixable mistake.

* CLE blew up 1st Qtr run with stunt by DE where he looped inside. No one messed up. Perfect call by D on that play.

* Odd 1st/10 pass play. CLE blitzed. Initially good protection. Watkins pancaked ILB. He had been helping on DT. Kelce didn’t have good angle and the DT came free up the middle to hit Vick as he released the ball. Sloppy blocking, but give CLE credit for executing the blitz well. If Watkins sticks with the DT, there was a RB to get the LB, but the RB wasn’t a lock to pick him up.

* Celek, Peters whiffed on LB and that led to TFL.

* Play where Vick was hit and LB called for Roughing the Passer…no one was clearly at fault. Shady executed fake and had 2 rushers to choose from. He went for outside guy (better angle). That left looping LB free. Peters had followed his DE to the inside. Shady probably should have gotten the LB, but I’m not sure he saw him fast enough to make a good block.

63 D WATKINS — Rough game. Made too many mis-reads and mental mistakes. Some comments are here, some are listed above. First play of the game he had a good run block of college teammate DT Phil Taylor. Watkins won that battle cleanly. Tried to slow block Taylor on screen, but Phil tossed Danny aside (really impressive strength) and then disrupted the timing of the play. Still worked, but Taylor almost blew it up. Good block of ILB on run to his side. Danny squared up, made contact, and stuck with the block. Missed block of ILB DQwell Jackson on inside run. Got to him quickly, but failed to make clean contact with DJ. Very good block of DT on 3rd/long pass play. He and Kelce got the guy together, then Danny stayed with the block when Kelce peeled off. Got fooled on 1st down pass play. LB walked up and sold blitz. Danny bought it. Let DL go free and LB didn’t blitz. Forced Vick to throw the ball away. Good pass block of #74 on play right after Sammie’s INT. Gave some ground, but kept control of the defender. Used his hands really well. Excellent pass block in the mid-2nd. DT tried a spin move off Dunlap and Watkins was right there to pick him up. Sustained the block very well. Got penalty for being upfield on screen pass. Timing of play was off, but Danny still looked over-aggressive.

65 K DUNLAP — Solid in pass pro. Wasn’t dominating the LDE, but generally kept control of his guy. Gave too much ground on early 3rd down, but it didn’t end up affecting the play. Got false start penalty in mid 1st. Had a good block on 3rd/15. DE shot to the inside, but King got hold of him and stuck with the block. Allowed Vick to move cleanly to another launch point. Gave too much ground on other 3rd down pass and King was pushed back into Vick’s area. Dunlap had good block on 3rd/3 and gave Vick time to survey the defense. King stayed with the block for the whole play. Solid block on Vick’s TD run. DE went hard to the inside. King didn’t let him get free, but also didn’t hold the guy. The block was good enough that Vick could cleanly bounce outside and then take off. Got badley beaten on 2nd down late in the half. The DE moved him off the ball, then headed inside to Vick. Mike got the pass off, but under heavy pressure. Responded with good block on 2nd/long. CLE ran a stunt and King got the DT cleanly and locked him up.

62 KELCE — Got the start at C. First play he used swim move to get by DT and up to block LB on draw play. Athletic move. Got manhandled on 3rd down play. Tried to block Phil Taylor. Phil had fired upfield and Jason couldn’t get clean shot on him. Taylor tossed Jason aside and planted Vick hard. Ball came out and CLE recovered. Had good block of Taylor on Shady run that went to the left. Got help from Watkins initially. Made reach block of Taylor on run to that side early on. Wasn’t able to cleanly get on Taylor and was called for holding. Good block on early 4th down play. Was trying to pull to his left. DT started upfield. Jason kept a hand on the DT to keep him from the runner. Then Jason took off up the field and got in the way of a DB so that the runner could get 5 yds on the play (TE reverse, by the way). Had poor block of edge rusher on complicated pass play. Bad snap threw off the timing and it resulted in an incomplete pass and Vick taking another big hit.

67 J JACKSON — Backup C. Looked solid. Got upfield and had good block of ILB on run play. Didn’t have any major mistakes that I could tell.

68 A HOWARD — Only played a little. Left the game with an inflamed knee. Didn’t look good while in the game. You could see he wasn’t moving well. Too upright. Did a lot of reaching.

69 E MATHIS — Backup LG. Another solid game. Didn’t stand out. Uses his hands well and gets in good position. Doesn’t get much push in the run game, but is solid in pass pro.

76 R WELLS — Backup RT. Did a good job with his hands. Pulled well on short run play. Made good down block on blitzer to his inside. That kept VY clean and let him scramble to the outside. Later in the 3rd did the same thing and Vince ran for a TD on that play. Has better feet than I expected. Looked solid in pass pro.

77 M MCGLYNN — Played C in the 4th Qtr. Failed to get push on 3rd/1 run. At least occupied the DT so Lewis could sneak by him. Does a lot of shoulder blocking. That tells you he’s not getting into proper position where his body is squared up in front of the defender. Just isn’t impressive this year.

77 J VANDERVELDE — Backup RG. Let stunting DE get by him and flush QB. Picked up stunting DT and had good block of him on pass play. Sloppy trap block on run in mid 3rd. Lacked pop and couldn’t sustain the block. Effort guy. Plays his tail off. At times looks overmatched. I think he needs a year of development.

72 S JOHNSON — Took over at LT when Howard went out w/ knee injury. Spencer is an effort guy, but struggled in pass pro. Doesn’t have NFL feet. Ends up reaching way too much. Also bends at the waist more than you want. Not a natural knee bender. Gave up sack, FF in mid-4th.

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DEFENSE

* CLE gashed us on early run. LT Joe Thomas got Casey. Fokou got pancaked by pulling blocker. Chaney got lost in traffic.

58 COLE — Brought outside pressure and forced Colt to step up on play where Patt got his sack. Got the favor returned. Trent’s sack late in the half was created by pressure up the middle.

98 PATTERSON — Got the start. Played the NT spot, as expected. Recorded sack to open the 2nd drive. Used push-pull move on the LG and got by him. Wrapped up McCoy for short loss. Got held on the play, but fought through it for the sack. Great to see that.

68 HARGROVE — #2 LDE. I don’t think he had any snaps at DT. Has good initial quickness, but doesn’t have the athleticism to be a good edge rusher. Looks better inside. I think the coaches wanted to see if he could play LDE if needed. Can handle that, but won’t thrive outside.

97 JENKINS — Solid game. Starting DT. 3-Technique (UT). Disruptive in the middle. Came free on a stunt to open the 2nd Qtr and hurried McCoy into throwing to the sideline. Sammie was waiting for the ball and picked it off. Drove the LG back into McCoy and forced an early throw on 3rd down. Led to punt.

93 BABIN — LDE. Drew holding call late in the half. Didn’t have any tackles or sacks. Flew all over the field. Seemed to use spin moves an awful lot in the game.

55 D TAPP — Backup RDE. Helped tackle RB on draw. Helped bottle up a run by taking on pulling blocker to his side in the backfield. Played a little at DT in Nickel. Flew upfield from RDT and got pressure on McCoy. Flushed him and created sack for Hunt.

73 LANDRI — Took over at NT when Patt left the game. Mr. Hustle. Flies all over the field. Split a double team late in the half and his pressure created a sack for Trent. Very quick off the ball all night long. Split a double team and got upfield for sack to open the 4th Qtr. Had a great celebration. Crawled on the ground and then acted as if he threw a grenade. Nutso, but awesome.

64 M FAVORITE — Clogged up a run play in the early 2nd. Didn’t get much of a pass rush. Made diving tackle of RB at 7:07 mark of the 4th. RB had moved through traffic and was upright when Favorite dove on him from behind. Talk about your unpleasant surprises. A few plays later Marlon was the center of the signature moment of the 21st Century — the Favorite Flop. The QB was flushed on a pass play and scrambled up the field. Marlon saw this and took off in pursuit. He decided he might be faster flying through the air than traveling by foot. Favorite dove for the QB. He got within a yard, but that’s it. Favorite then came crashing to the ground. Mark Spitz wishes he could dive like that. It was grace on steroids, with a lot of jiggling added for effect. I have seen heaven and it is awesome.

Proof of greatness:    GIF File.     Still photo.

76 P HUNT — Good game. Came into the game in early 2nd Qtr at LDE. Showed good hustle in pursuit on 3rd down pass. Was in position to tackle WR if Coleman hadn’t done it. Got good pass pressure on 3rd down late in the half. Stayed under the RT’s block. Got pressure on another pass late in the half. Went through RT’s outside shoulder and drove him back toward QB. Got a sack on the next play. Inside pressure really created the sack, but Hunt was there to clean up. Shifted over to RDE for the early part of the 4th and wasn’t as effective. Moved back to the left side and flew by the RT, causing the QB to run for a loss. Used a hard inside move late in the game to flush the QB and create the Favorite Flop. I was impressed that Hunt wasn’t just a speed rusher. Physical for his size.

72 C THORNTON — Solid game, but didn’t build on last week. Can fly off the ball, but he was a bit out of control at times. Needs to work on that. Chased QB Seneca Wallace out of bounds behind the LOS in the 3rd. Should have been called a sack. Good hustle by Ced. Lucked into tackle of RB on short yardage run. Used spin move and RB was right there to be tackled. Got very sloppy on 4th/1. Tried to spin off block again and fell on his butt. That’s not short yardage D.

65 C WILSON — Played LDE in the late 3rd. Also played on the right side. Nothing special.

51 CHANEY — Very good game. Really stood out in pass coverage. Broke up early pass in the endzone. CLE tried to abuse Chaney. They split the RB out wide. Chaney had him in man coverage. McCoy put the ball to that side. He left it up high where the RB could try to make a tough catch. Chaney was with Hillis stride for stride and saw the ball easily. Chaney got a hand up to knock it away. Sammie wanted to pick it off, but Jamar knocked it the other way. Good hands, awareness on the play. Helped Rolle get RB on Iso run in late 1st. Broke up pass to TE in the early 2nd Qtr. Tackled WR after catch over the middle and held him to just 3 yards. Hit Hillis as he tried to haul in a pass over the middle. Pass was incomplete. Strong, physical hit by Chaney. Had one coverage mistake. Late in the half Jamar got caught watching the QB and Hillis put a move on him to get open over the middle. This led to a big gain.

50 MATTHEWS — Much better game. Only played in the base defense at MLB in the 1st half. Covered well on first pass of game, then broke up the 2nd pass. That was a short throw to WR over the middle. Casey was able to get a hand on the ball without interfering. Good awareness, cover skills. Pursued Hillis out wide on run. Took good angle and was there for the play. Made the mistake of going high. Got a stiff arm. Fought through that and forced Hillis out, but gave up 7 yards. Should have held him to 2 or 3. Needed to go low. Was unblocked on inside run. Worked through trash and got RB for no gain. Simple play, but a good confidence booster. Casey showed some emotion afterward. One thing I liked is that when Casey was in a gap, but ball bounced in another direction, he went after it. There was no watching. He pursued well. Made a good read on a draw play and flew up quickly. Got the RB and held him to just 2 yards. In the 2nd half Casey played only in the Nickel defense. Had an impressive stop of run play. Shed block of #77 and grabbed RB up the middle. Had a chance for real good tackle on draw play. Read it quickly and flew up to the LOS, but could not get on the RB cleanly.

53 FOKOU — Called for PI on early pass to WR in his area. Moise gave the guy a nudge before the ball got there. Good call. Went low on run to get Hillis by the feet and slow him down. Good stop on run to his side. Fought through OL block and grabbed RB as he tried to go by.

59 B ROLLE — My man. Played with the #1 Nickel D. Blew up 1st Qtr run. Took on FB, then tackled the runner for short gain. Tackled TE after catches over the middle a couple of times. No RAC yards. Came up quickly on QB scramble in the mid-4th and chased him out of bounds for sack. Made good tackle vs inside run late in the game. Looked good in the Nickel D.

57 K CLAYTON — Got TFL to open the 3rd Qtr. Flew in from backside and got RB who had dropped the ball. Gift play. Got in passing lane on the next play. Reached for ball, but couldn’t get it. May have affected WR’s vision as he wasn’t able to make the grab. Did not have a good night as run defender. Went back to being a finesse LB. Chased down RB from behind and made an impressive tackle. Keenan is great in space or when chasing the ball, but he’s not as good in the box when he has to get through traffic and deal with blockers.

56 A JORDAN — #2 MLB. Made good wrap-up tackle of WR after catch over the middle. Looked like he lost TE on downfield catch.

42 COLEMAN — Good game. Aggressive in run support. Made strong, sure tackle of WR after DRC went for ball and missed. Cleaned up missed tackle by DRC on 3rd down. Forced punt. Took out WR after good gain on WR screen. Kurt flew up and flipped the guy. Nice cut tackle. Kurt then got up and gave CLE the finger wag, as if to say don’t try that on me. Forced a punt. Almost picked off a pass late in the half. Broke on a pass near sideline. Got his hands on the ball, but then couldn’t get his feet down and secure the ball at the same time.

29 ALLEN — Played in the 2nd half. Good hustle. Played hard. Chased down RB who got free in the late 3rd. Made clean tackle of WR who got by Hughes over the middle. Made good tackle of WR on screen pass late in game. Was aggressive about hitting and tackling.

26 J JARRETT — Backup FS. Had 2 tackles. Had a chance to pick off a pass in the endzone in the early 4th, but one Brown was able to hit it and another caught the ball for a TD. Didn’t stand out, but also looks fine. Isn’t making big mistakes. Does fly up quickly in run support.

25 J PAGE — Got the start at SS. Had okay coverage of TE on downfield pass. Got turned around while the ball was in the air, but went up high to try and get a hand on the ball. Missed it, but may have affected the TE. He didn’t make the catch as the ball came down. Didn’t have a lot of solo stops, but came up aggressively to get in on tackles. Had some nice hits. Hit WR Greg Little hard in the lower legs. Clean, but tough. Made good open field tackle of Hillis after catch and run.

22 SAMMIE — Picked a pass to open the 2nd Qtr. McCoy was under pressure and Sammie anticipated the throw, jumped the route.

24 NNAMDI — Played RCB and in the slot. Looked like LB in the Dime. Lined up over the TE. Gave up a couple of short completions to his side (RCB). Gave up long completion to his side, but there was a flag. Refs called Off. PI on the receiver.

23 DRC — Had good coverage on initial 3rd down and forced McCoy to overthrow the pass. That was from the slot. Tried to pick off pass to inside receiver. Just missed the ball. Missed tackle of WR in flat after short throw. Sloppy, but didn’t hurt us.

27 HUGHES — Impressive game. Dime CB with the starters in this game. Played there instead of Hanson. Played RCB in an early dime look. Also saw some slot in the Dime. Good press coverage on early pass play when out wide. Good run defender. Will tackle. Solid night in coverage. Stuck right with his guys. Looked very good in the slot. Showed good awareness. Had a downfield pass thrown to his guy in the late 3rd, but the receiver couldn’t get both feet in and it was incomplete. Had tight coverage of WR down the sideline in the mid-4th. Broke up the pass, but was called for PI. Highly questionable. There was hand fighting, but both guys were making contact. Missed tackle of WR over the middle and gave up a couple of extra RAC yards.

31 C MARSH — LCB. Missed another tackle of WR after short throw to his side.

35 LINDLEY — Played RCB. Broke up pass with good break on the ball. Was playing off. Read the route and broke quickly to close to the receiver at the same time the ball got there. Gave up TD late in the game to big WR (6’5). Lindley had pretty good coverage, but he wasn’t able to get a hand on the ball.

STS

* Opening KO — Colt dove for RS, but just missed. Akeem made the tackle.
* 2nd KO — Colt Anderson made a good tackle. Fokou was flying in just after that.
* 3rd KO — Lee made good tackle.
* 4th KO — Hughes, Jordan made the tackle.
* Clay Harbor hustled to recover muffed punt downfield.
* DRC blocked a FG by flying off the edge. Impressive speed.
* Coleman, Clayton, and Colt got in on tackle of PR.

MOSS – Fair caught first punt. Returned 2 for a total of 9 yds. Made a smooth catch late in the half when it was raining hard.
HIGGINS – Returned one punt for short gain.

Henery — 1 of 1 on FGs. Didn’t get great depth on his KOs.
Henry —- Averaged 43.5 on 4 punts. Had one hit at the 5-yd line. Ball didn’t die or bounce back. Got into the endzone for a touchback. Had 2 punts that were downed inside the 20.

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