The Morning After

Posted: September 26th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 94 Comments »

Okay, we’re all in a bad mood.  Heck, I was too depressed to even heat up some Pop Tarts this morning.  You know thing aren’t right when that happens.  After yesterday, we’ve got the right to be in a bad mood.

The Eagles lost.

They lost to the Giants.

It was a sloppy game.  Another sloppy game.

We blew a 4th quarter lead.  Another 4th quarter lead.

And so on.

I’ve re-watched all of the defensive snaps.  I’m about half way through the offense.  In some ways the game was better on tape.  In others, it was worse, much worse.  My biggest frustration is with all of the missed tackles.  Ahmad Bradshaw is a tough guy to bring down, but he didn’t have a particularly great day yesterday.  There are times when he makes some moves and you’re really impressed.  Yesterday he didn’t have his A-game as a runner, but our guys struggled with tackling him all game long.

Missed tackles by Kurt Coleman, Jarrad Page, and Jamar Chaney were the worst.  Those guys turned short plays into big gainers and/or TDs.  I understand that some skill players are going to do special things.  Heck, look at Shady.  He makes guys miss every week.  But I guess that’s the point.  Coleman’s miss on Victor Cruz should never happen.  Kurt had him lined up and should have made a routine play.  Cruz did nothing special.  The mistake was all on Kurt for making a horrible, horrible attempt.  That play haunted us the rest of the game.

The Giants were near FG range on Jacobs’ TD catch.  They were moving the ball on that drive.  On the Cruz TD we had them inside their 30.  There was no guarantee that drive would amount to anything.  The Giants haven’t shown the ability this year to consistently put long drives that result in TDs.  You must make them go the long field.  Kurt’s idiocy gave them a 74-yard gift.  Huge, huge turning point in the game.

* * * * *

A lot of people are very down on this team right now (maybe 99.5% of Eagles fans with +/- margin of error of .5%).  I completely understand the angst, frustration, and doubt that people are feeling.  I do.

I am obviously frustrated with the team, but still have feelings of optimism as well.  I know that makes me a delusional homer/idiot/delusional idiot/nut job, but hear me out.

At the 11:43 mark of the 4th quarter yesterday we led 16-14.  The Giants had 232 yards of offense to that point (205 in the 1st half, 27 in the 3rd Qtr).  Those yards came on basically 4 plays:

Jacobs 40 yd TD catch
Cruz 74 yd TD catch
Bradshaw 37 yd run
Bradshaw 26 yd run

4 plays led to 177 of 232 yards.  We’d largely controlled the game, aside from our mistakes.  I’m not excusing the mistakes.  We made them and they cost us 14 points.  But…to that point, we’d kept things under control and had taken the lead.  Unfortunately that’s when Andy went for it on 4th/1 and gave the Giants renewed hope.  Horrible, horrible decision by Big Red.  The Giants may still have won the game, but that call really changed things instantly.

My point in all of this is that our biggest problem is our own mistakes.  That is something that can be fixed.  Last year no matter what the coaches did Dimitri Patterson was still going to be Dimitri Patterson.  Hakeem Nicks killed him.  Cruz got us for 2 TDs yesterday, but they involved a horrid tackle attempt and our CB missing the ball by maybe 2 inches.  That’s far different than having a player who simply can’t match up with the opposing player.

I understand that there is no guarantee the mistakes will get fixed.  Some teams never get fully on track.  I have faith in Andy Reid and the players, plus I’m an optimist by nature.  I realize many of you completely disagree and think we’re headed for a mediocre season.  That’s possible.  The Vick injury sure makes the next 2 to 3 weeks complicated.

Let’s not forget that Reid has been backed into a corner before.  The 2003 team started 0-2 before rallying to go 12-4.  That team dealt with a slew of injuries.  The 2006 team was 5-6 at one point.  Donovan had a torn ACL and Jeff Garcia had looked pedestrian in his 1 1/2 games as the QB.  That team then won 5 in a row and even a playoff game.  The 2008 team bottomed out at 5-5-1 after a rough defeat in Baltimore.  That group went 4-1 and just missed a trip to the Super Bowl.

Set us aside.  Green Bay last year was 3-3 and couldn’t stop the run. They made some adjustments on offense and defense and finished okay as I recall.  The 2007 Giants started 0-2.  Steve Spagnuolo was a first time Defensive Coordinator and his unit gave up 80 points in the first couple of games.  He was under major pressure, but the team kept tweaking things until they finally clicked.  That group beat the mighty Pats in the Super Bowl shocker.

The season isn’t over.  The sky isn’t falling.  The Eagles aren’t an awful team.  We’re 1-2 and playing sloppy football.  Reid and his coaches know this is now a critical point.  They can’t be as patient with players.  They’ll make whatever changes they feel will help the team.  They’ll make schematic adjustments to help the team.

If the coaches make the right changes and the players respond, we’ll be okay.  If not, we’re in for a long year.  Reid has a track record of making the right adjustments and getting things worked out so that should give you some sense of optimism.  Next Sunday can’t get here soon enough.

* * * * *

There’s a lot to talk about in regard to yesterday so I’ll be covering items differently than in a normal week.


94 Comments on “The Morning After”

  1. 1 Derek Campbell said at 4:12 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    This should help with getting in a better mood. Vick’s hand isn’t broken.

  2. 2 Anonymous said at 4:18 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Great news on Vick. Heck, all the injury news was optimistic. Vick could play vs SF. Even Maclin has a chance to play Sunday, although hammies can be tricky.

  3. 3 Jon Blank said at 4:42 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Unfortunately Andy’s brain is still pronounced dead.

  4. 4 Anonymous said at 4:13 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    No mention of Casey? Those great instincts, smarts and bloodlines that were touted so highly by many all summer. What we’ve seen is a guy who is overmatched physically and too inexperienced to compensate for it.

  5. 5 Anonymous said at 4:17 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    I’ll cover Casey in the DGR. His blown coverage on Jacobs was terrible. Gift TD to the Giants.

  6. 6 Jon Blank said at 4:45 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    I saw on another blog (I’m sorry, I showered before I came back here) that even though the Giants hit the exact same play last season for a big gain, Matthews was shown no video on that for his preparation. I find that inexcusable. I guess that’s what happens when Andy is smarter than everybody else.

    Is it bad that I’m hoping the Rams completely tank so that Spags might be available to take over our defense next year?

  7. 7 Anonymous said at 5:22 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    So what if he never saw the tape from last year. The skins did the same thing to us with Fred Davis last year as well. It was very clear that they had play action and Casey saw it as clear as day. He got sucked inside a bit in a bad position and when he finally looked for the RB it was too late. If casey had of stayed with him he probably would of held the back in or at least would have been in a position to better cover Jacobs. That was very bad discipline on his part. Heck he could of peeked behind a bit and seen the routes going to the other side of the field and saw that the vacated area was a huge temptation for the RB in a one on one situation. That play was inexcusable regardless of whether or not he was a rookie or not.

  8. 8 Jon Blank said at 5:34 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    My point was, how are the plays that the Giants used last season under the same coordinator to burn the guy that used to play Casey’s position not part of his preparation study? That is ridiculous. Casey’s inability aside, Juan is only setting him up to fail.

  9. 9 Anonymous said at 5:39 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Oh I agree on that point fully as well. I am just more focused on Casey not playing or executing his basic responsibilities. Sorry if my post seemed as though it was attacking your logic. Not at all. I can live with Casey vacating space because he goes with a man in his zone or is confused by a TE release vs. the RB release (which do I cover). But he was playing on the weak side and there was only one vertical play to defend and he knew it.

  10. 10 Jon Blank said at 8:07 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    http://bloggingthebeast.com/2011/09/25/video-breakdown-the-giants-burned-the-eagles-badly-two-straight-years-on-the-same-exact-play/

    “After the game, I had a chance to ask Matthews if he remembered seeing that play in film study this week. He hadn’t. Bad job by the Eagles’ defensive staff. When a play works so well the previous year, I find it hard to believe they didn’t have their defense ready for it. Obviously, the Eagles weren’t, and it cost them an early 7-0 deficit.”

  11. 11 Anonymous said at 10:19 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Jon, I don’t doubt that this happened and agree that it should have been discussed. However, I think that play was a very basic one that Mathews or any starting LB in the leagues should have diagnosed without the film study.

  12. 12 Anonymous said at 7:44 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    quick question, how do you know Casey wasnt shown any video in preparation? Did he say, “I never saw that before?” Yeah, a running back, delaying for 2 counts, slipping out of the backfield and running a wheel route? Evolutionary stuff…..imagine pulling that off…wow…..that Kevin Gilbride must have been up all night to come up with that.

    Riduculously weak excuse…embarrassing.

  13. 13 Jon Blank said at 8:08 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    http://bloggingthebeast.com/2011/09/25/video-breakdown-the-giants-burned-the-eagles-badly-two-straight-years-on-the-same-exact-play/

    “After the game, I had a chance to ask Matthews if he remembered seeing that play in film study this week. He hadn’t. Bad job by the Eagles’ defensive staff. When a play works so well the previous year, I find it hard to believe they didn’t have their defense ready for it. Obviously, the Eagles weren’t, and it cost them an early 7-0 deficit.”

  14. 14 Anonymous said at 2:33 AM on September 27th, 2011:

    Gotcha, thanks for the response, sorry for being a dcik….I hope Casey followed up his, “I never saw it before” with “it doesnt really matter that I hadnt seen it, it was clear what my responsibility was and I failed to carry out my assignment and it cost my team 7 points”

  15. 15 Anonymous said at 7:44 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    quick question, how do you know Casey wasnt shown any video in preparation? Did he say, “I never saw that before?” Yeah, a running back, delaying for 2 counts, slipping out of the backfield and running a wheel route? Evolutionary stuff…..imagine pulling that off…wow…..that Kevin Gilbride must have been up all night to come up with that.

    Riduculously weak excuse…embarrassing.

  16. 16 Tyler Phillips said at 4:15 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Update: Vick has hand contusion, no break.

    Well, I tend to agree with you for the most part about the D. Cruz made one outstanding play that ball was a lollipop and isn’t caught probably 85/100 times. The other was just a god awful tackle attempt by Coleman who just um decided to suck at the worst possible time.

    However, why in the world can Jarrett not even be active? wasn’t he supposed to be a great tackler, you know, as opposed to the swinging gate that is Coleman so far this year. How could he possibly be worse than Page or Coleman. Our Safeties are probably the worst set in the entire league with those 2 out there.

    Next, Casey Matthews has been awful. AWFUL. He should not be starting or even seeing the filed outside of ST. Rolle has made a bigger(positive) impact on 1/10 of the snaps.

    Also, I think these 4th Q Defensive issues are more to do with us not being able to rotate the DL like we want. Of course Vick going out both times and demoralizing the entire team can’t be understated.

    Its all “fixable” but in those past years you had a proven DC in JJ who you could trust to turn things around. Castillo…well we don’t have a choice but to wait and see.

  17. 17 Anonymous said at 4:37 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Definitely agree on Jarrett. I really do not see any downside with playing him. Coleman has been ridiculously bad. He can’t cover or tackle. Jarrett can’t be worse–it would be impossible. As for Page, like Tommy said, he seems like he is in position in coverage, but just can’t make the play. Killing me, I had high hopes for the guy. In any case, get Coleman out and if we have to, deactivate him gameday.

    As for Matthews, apparently he wasn’t paying attention at the much talked about “dinner conversations” with the Matthews family growing up. Castillo will have to find a new one liner…..maybe Juan could bring up Casey’s hair and allude to the fact that Trou Polamalu has long hair and he is a great player?

  18. 18 Derek Campbell said at 4:45 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    I’ve been curious about Jarrett too. I was really excited to see Nate Allen on the field (until he missed a tackle and got pushed over by Fokou).

  19. 19 Tyler Phillips said at 5:12 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    My biggest question with Jarrett is why? We aren’t exactly running JJ’s exotic schemes here. its a Wide 9, 4-3. Rush 4/5 cover w 6/7 alot of the time. With 1 S used mainly in run support on running downs…which is what I was told was Jarrett’s strength…

  20. 20 Anonymous said at 4:28 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    I tend to believe that Casey Matthews will be benched and that your boy Brian Rolle will get the start vs. the Niners.

    Also more of Keenan Clayton in the nickel D seems more and more likely.

  21. 21 Anonymous said at 4:31 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Rolle made good thing happen when he was in there. I’d give him a chance.

  22. 22 Anonymous said at 5:19 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    He was the only LB yesterday who looked like he belonged in the league.

  23. 23 Anonymous said at 5:31 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    So far, Rolle seems to be the only LB (including Matthews, Chaney, and Fokou) who has made plays. I have no idea if he can play at a high level as a starter, but I think it is fairly safe to say, we have one of the worst group of linebackers (if not THE worst) in the league right now, so why not shake things up.

  24. 24 Anonymous said at 4:33 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Last Monday I was more depressed, this week I’m more angry, not Philly style angry. Nonetheless we need to see some changes.

    Two things Tommy, why does it seem a lot of players have regressed from last year? Has a guy like Coleman lost his edge, last year he had to fight to even make the team this year he’s been bad.

    From only watching live it seems like we use a lot of zone coverage, why not use more man coverage with these CBs?

  25. 25 Jon Blank said at 4:46 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    I think its Juan.

  26. 26 Tyler Phillips said at 5:25 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    2 of our top 3 CBs are better in man-press than zone/off man. but i really don’t think that’s the issue. Castillo has 0 feel for when to bring the heat. I bet they wish they had Mikell back. There is no leadership on this D

  27. 27 Anonymous said at 6:04 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    He’s the Dmitri Patterson of the coaching staff. His hire as a DC is far and away the most head scrathing decision for me of the Reid era, and there have been many.

  28. 28 Anonymous said at 7:09 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Castillo is implementing Reid’s defense mixed with Washburn’s Wide 9, which I why I suspect they promoted internally

  29. 29 Anonymous said at 7:58 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Keep in mind though…Castillo didn’t seem to know what a SAM or WILL was, or the difference between a SS and FS. Now, obviously, the guy has probably forgotten more about football than I’ll ever know … but I still find it strange.

    I think I’d give Fish a call if I were Andy.

  30. 30 Anonymous said at 3:15 AM on September 27th, 2011:

    That’s odd but I always assumed Castillo had a very elaborate system where those things are different. In the wide 9 Will and Sam are supposedly different than in other defenses. Of course we were told his D would be simple.

  31. 31 Anonymous said at 4:35 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Tommy

    My concerns:

    1. I think the safeties are horrible.
    2. I am tired of waiting for good linebacker play and the Eagles to finally add a true playmaker in the linebacker corp and for their “speculations” to prove incorrect again about the LBs.
    3. The defensive coordinator: Why do I think we made a big mistake not hiring a veteren DC.

    Can you console me that I am not right?

  32. 32 Anonymous said at 4:38 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Wow 76% of the Giants yards came on 4 plays? That’s cause for some optimism I guess but you’ve got to wonder how a coach that preached and preached “we gotta teach these kids the fundamentals” could then field a defence that couldn’t tackle a five year old. It’s hard in my mind to mesh the performance we put at times against the falcons which at times was dominant with the play in the rest of the falcons and giants games.

    Any news on Parker/Tapp? Getting Tapp back in the rotation in particular will really give the edge back to our D-line and a bit more pressure is only going to help. Though as we are currently on track for 64 sacks maybe that isn’t an issue..

  33. 33 Anonymous said at 4:39 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    At times at times at times

  34. 34 Anonymous said at 4:39 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    At times at times at times

  35. 35 Eric Weaver said at 4:39 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    The only consolation I have is that Reid’s teams always start slow.

  36. 36 ike said at 5:53 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Yes. And no SB title.

    I understand the Eagles are “competitive” every year. More times than not, since 2004, the Eagles have made the playoffs.

    But, except for the remarkably hot run the D-Mac had in 2008, the Eagles playoff teams were eminently beatable. They were not SB worthy teams — at least on paper.

    Also — How’s McDermott looking now?

  37. 37 Anonymous said at 4:39 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    I know I love AR’s qoutes a little too much but when he gets snarky with the reporters, it somehow makes me feel a little better.

    “I can’t tell you this is the most fun I have in a day right here, explaining how not fun it is to not win a football game”

  38. 38 Anonymous said at 4:44 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    That was actually a good moment.

  39. 39 Anonymous said at 4:57 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    I’ve got to disagree. AR’s style is wearing real thin with me. It’s 13 years now of the same ol’ same ol’ at his press conferences. I’m tired of hearing “I’ve got to do a better job of getting the guys in position to _______ ” (fill in the blank). Your team just stunk it up in an important game, the reporters and fans aren’t idiots, and we deserve to hear about your thoughts behind some of those major decisions that failed to produce. Man up, Big Red, speak the truth.

  40. 40 Eric Weaver said at 5:35 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    No offense, but we, as fans, don’t really deserve anything. I know because we buy merchandise and put our hearts into following the team makes us feel like justification for that opinion, but it’s just not factual.

    Andy only owes explanations to the people that hire and fire him.

  41. 41 Anonymous said at 5:50 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    No offense taken, this is an Eagles board, after all. Yea, your’e probably right and, I have to admit, I’ve always respected the way Reid shoulders things and never publicly blames his players. I’ve been a big supporter of his over the years because his strengths seem to outweigh his weaknesses. But because the game has put me in a pissed-off mood today, I’ll argue the point anyway.

    A press conference, by definition, is intended to communicate a message to one’s larger audience. I think Reid does owe the media and fans some clarification as to his thinking and game philosophy. Even if he doesn’t necessarily “owe” us anything, it would be a gesture of respect and appreciation to speak honestly and directly. I’m becoming convinced that his abruptness is a cover to justify the fact that he may not have a good answer to many questions.

    One more thing, you’ve got a great avatar.

  42. 42 Anonymous said at 7:41 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    We don’t deserve anything as fans? We buy the merchandise, we buy the the tickets, we watch the games on tv. The Eagles get great ratings which generate lots of revenue. Without revenue there is no league. The reporters are trying to get answers for the fans. Sometimes they come up with dumb questions but a lot of times Andy comes up with dumb answers.
    The owners pay the salaries sure, but where do you think they get the money? Hell yeah we deserve something.

  43. 43 Anonymous said at 7:41 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    We don’t deserve anything as fans? We buy the merchandise, we buy the the tickets, we watch the games on tv. The Eagles get great ratings which generate lots of revenue. Without revenue there is no league. The reporters are trying to get answers for the fans. Sometimes they come up with dumb questions but a lot of times Andy comes up with dumb answers.
    The owners pay the salaries sure, but where do you think they get the money? Hell yeah we deserve something.

  44. 44 Anonymous said at 11:31 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Actually, we don’t “deserve” to hear anything. We’re fans, not owners or team administration. Everything he says to inform the fans also informs all of the Eagle’s opponents. Of all the things to complain about re: Andy, giving vanilla press conferences is the very least significant, yet it’s the one that most fans harp on continuously.

  45. 45 Anonymous said at 4:50 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Why not try Colt Anderson at safety?? right now they might as well throw crap at the wall and hope it might stick…Castillo as DC at that time seemed to me a real head scratcher…and now seems to be a super dumb decision…any LB’s on the street they may pick up…heck now they might as well pick up anyone who can play better than the 3 jokers they have in the middle

  46. 46 Anonymous said at 7:06 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    + 1 hear hear on Colt

  47. 47 chris cornett said at 4:54 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    The Eagles were not prepared mentally for this game; they thought it would be a cakewalk over the depleted Giants. I live in Central Jersey in the overlap between the Philly and NY Media Markets. . The game from last December has been in the Giants heads for 9 months now, they have been hearing it from the Fans and the NY Media which has been killing the Giants for
    9 months. They wanted revenge at any cost, after the game the Giant’s players and coaches were celebrating like they won the Super Bowl.

  48. 48 Daniel Miller said at 5:02 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    I really wanna see Jarrett and Rolle on the field.

    I’ve seen enough of Matthews for now. He needs to be Danny Watkins-ed for a minute.

  49. 49 Anonymous said at 5:04 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    If we can´t find 3 new LBers we won´t go far. It´s not all on the rookie Mathews. It´s Chaney, it´s Fokou and the rookie doesn´t help. They played poor again yesterday. Still better then the two weeks before but the little upgrade was small. At the moment I don´t see an intern solution to the problem. Only solution: Put Samuel and Nnamdi on an isle. Bring two Safeties in the box and hope for the best. That´s the way to cover up your lack of quality at the LB position.

  50. 50 Anonymous said at 5:07 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    It’s too early to panic (it’s almost always too early to panic in this league), but it isn’t too early to start making some determinations. One simple determination that isn’t premature is that the front office’s allocation of positional resources in terms of player acquisitions was flatly absurd. The linebackers, safeties and offensive line simply aren’t good enough– predictably– and the additions of a backup QB, fourth WR and nickel CB aren’t nearly enough to compensate for that reality. It’s fine to say it: the offseason spending spree was ill conceived and poorly executed. We strengthened strengths and ignored weaknesses.

  51. 51 Anonymous said at 9:08 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Strengthened our strengths? CB cost us the season last year, we didn’t have enough QBs on the roster and, okay, yeah, WR was a strength.

    Our top two picks went to OL and safety, along with 3 FAs that have seen starting roles.

    It has been discussed to death whether or not there were LBs that would have fit. Obviously we all wish we had a better group.

    We signed a lot of good pieces, many of which have contributed. To say our off season was absurd because we didn’t correct every weakness is unfair.

  52. 52 Anonymous said at 9:24 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Bringing in one CB made perfect sense. Getting a young, talented CB for Kolb was a great move. Making that move and then also signing Namdi made little sense. At that point, CB had become a position of strength. Hanson was a more than capable nickel back.

    If they knew they planned to bring in Namdi, than the target for Kolb compensation should have been at another position. Both acquisitions are logical in isolation, but wasteful in tandem.

    The 3 FA additions you refer to at LB and S were scraps, not targets. Let’s not act like they built this roster hoping that Jarrod Page and Kyle DeVan would be starters.

    I don’t say the offseason was absurd because they failed to correct every weakness. I say it was absurd because they failed to even address the team’s most glaring weakness, their two biggest acquisitions came at the same position, a position that already included one of the best players on the team, and because the plan at safety seemed to ignore the entirely predictable outcome of Nate Allen being far from fully recovered.

  53. 53 Anonymous said at 5:17 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Tommy,

    Life long Eagles fan up here in Canada, north of the border. Love your work — enjoy your analysis of the team and your site is one of the few places fans can turn when things aren’t going great to get a sense of realism and optimism instead of the usual gloom and doom.

    Question for you — if you were in charge of this team, what changes, if any, would you make to the personnel on the field. Through Jarret out there to see what he can do at safety? Start Rolle and bench Matthews? Also, I’ve always been a Andy Reid supporter – always have been and probably always will be. When he goofs, you can usually see his mistakes coming a mile away, and that can be pretty frustrating. But I always admire his refusal to throw anyone under the bus in the press and for some reason enjoy the way he brushes the local reporters off at press conferences. What do you think about Reid? From what I read sounds like you are a supporter as well. You ever think we should look somewhere else for a coach?

  54. 54 Anonymous said at 6:21 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Reid is fine as the coach. He’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

    I’m a fan of his, but he and I don’t see eye to eye on a lot of things. My biggest problem with Andy is that he likes to outsmart teams. Remember the scene from The Princess Bride when the one guy is trying to figure out which glass to drink? “I know that you know that I know this so I’ll do that.” That’s Andy to me.

    Football is a brutal, physical game. There are times when you need to set brains aside and use brawn. Get a hat on a hat and win the battle physically. We don’t do that enough in my book.

    I respect the heck out of him for all the success, but he’ll never be my favorite coach. Right now my favorite NFL coach is Sean Payton. All time it is Tom Landry. I’m also a big fan of Paul Brown (greatest coach of them all) and Bill Walsh.

  55. 55 Jon Blank said at 6:50 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Everything rings true, except the first line sounds like Andy talking about one of his failed experiments.

    “Greg Lewis is fine back there returning kicks”

    “Mark Simoneau is fine in there”

    “Juan Castillo is fine there”

    “Our WR are fine back there”

  56. 56 Anonymous said at 9:11 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    If only we had some Rodents Of Unusual Size to give a shot at playing safety…

  57. 57 Anonymous said at 6:21 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Reid is fine as the coach. He’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

    I’m a fan of his, but he and I don’t see eye to eye on a lot of things. My biggest problem with Andy is that he likes to outsmart teams. Remember the scene from The Princess Bride when the one guy is trying to figure out which glass to drink? “I know that you know that I know this so I’ll do that.” That’s Andy to me.

    Football is a brutal, physical game. There are times when you need to set brains aside and use brawn. Get a hat on a hat and win the battle physically. We don’t do that enough in my book.

    I respect the heck out of him for all the success, but he’ll never be my favorite coach. Right now my favorite NFL coach is Sean Payton. All time it is Tom Landry. I’m also a big fan of Paul Brown (greatest coach of them all) and Bill Walsh.

  58. 58 Anonymous said at 5:20 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    I’m not that upset. Don’t get me wrong. My stomach was in knots all yesterday afternoon and evening and I couldn’t even bring myself to watch the highlights of the other games. But for some reason, I’m sanguine.

    For one thing, I can see that are offensive weapons – if not the offense – is terrific. Wow, talk about weapons. Shady, Jackson, Maclin, Avant and, of course, Vick. The Eagles are almost scoring by accident. If they can ever get their act together, they’ll score 30 points a game. No running team will be able to even stay close.

    One thing that does concern me is the hits that Vick is taking. During the off-season, everybody worried about Vick’s health. But the most vicious hits on him are occurring when he’s in the pocket, not when he runs. Weird.

    The defense? I don’t know. Everything is new this year. The wide nine, the linebackers, even figuring out how to use three elite cornerbacks. Of course I’m frustrated with the mistakes. But I can also see a world of potential. This is the kind of defense that could improve every week and start to peak at the end of the season.

    Conclusion? I don’t have one. The Eagles had better not lose too many games early or there won’t be a postseason. But are they a lost cause? No way. They’re all potential. Now let’s see if they can live up to that potential.

  59. 59 ike said at 5:21 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Tommy:

    Here’s the last sentence of your post:

    “There’s a lot to talk about in regard to yesterday so I’ll be covering items differently than in a normal week.”

    Sorry, but is a word missing after the word “about”? I can’t figure out what your driving at.

  60. 60 Anonymous said at 5:28 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    I hope Reid doesn’t spend the rest of the season alternating between overly aggressive calls and overly conservative calls.

  61. 61 Anonymous said at 6:04 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    And why not? Extremism is what sells in America today. Don’t you watch TV?

  62. 62 Anonymous said at 6:05 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Play calls are only overly aggressive or overly conservative when they don’t work. When players execute play callers suddenly become geniuses. My favorite example is Sean Payton regularly applauded for starting the second half against the Colts in the Super Bowl with an onside kick. Analysts say he was a genius to catch the Colts off guard. If Hank Baskett would have squeezed the ball like he does Kendra’s booty, analysts would still be saying that was the worst coaching decision in Super Bowl history. I was yelling at the TV don’t do it when Reid went for it on 4th and 1. But if Shady would have followed the hole instead of trying to cut it back, he easily would have had the first. Heck, if he made a guy miss and took it to the house the ESPN analysts would still be talking about what a great aggressive play call Andy Reid made. Play calls are easy to second guess after the outcome of the game.

  63. 63 Matthew Verhoog said at 6:48 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    I actually said, the moment the white Mike came in “play action bomb to De-sean”, 15 seconds later, “idoit Reid, How could you call such a moronic play”

    Doesn’t it seem like most of the worst things that happen occur when we are forcing the ball to Desean?

  64. 64 Shane Madigan said at 5:32 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Tommy – Any idea what happened to the OL late in the game? Kelce appeared to shift to LG and JJ came in at C. Announcers seemed to miss it as well and have not seen anything on it this morning either.

  65. 65 Michael Abrams said at 5:54 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    I heard Mathis got injured and that was the backup plan. Not sure about his status now.

  66. 66 Tyler Phillips said at 6:03 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    they said it was cramps. maybe i heard wrong?

  67. 67 Anonymous said at 7:04 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Andy said cramps in yesterday’s press conference, if you coughed you missed it..

  68. 68 Anonymous said at 5:55 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Evan Mathis was injured

  69. 69 Anonymous said at 6:03 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Evan Mathis got hurt. Kelce shifted to LG, JamJax to C.

  70. 70 ike said at 5:49 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    So who should the Eagles have drafted in 2010:

    DE Brandon Graham

    or

    S Earl Thomas?

    Forget Graham’s injury (and how well Jean-Pierre Paul and Carlos Dunlap have done).

    Graham’s been replaced by Babin — who seems more explosive and better situated for the “Wide 9” than Graham, whom I don’t recall showing the kind of explosion off the the ball that we see from Cole and Babin.

    [I know Jim Washburn loved Graham coming out of UM. Washburn really liked T’eo Nashim, too.]

    Same goes for Nate Allen. He had a couple nice games early in the season, but before his injury, he’d sunk to mediocre.

    In fact, I seem to remember after Coleman replaced Allen, the fan-blogs were touting Coleman as an upgrade.

    I won’t get into the Sean Lee v. Nate Allen debate — given that Lee apparently had injuries coming out of Penn State. But the 2nd round of the 2010 draft had some nice talent — including DE Carlos Dunlap, TE Rob Gronkowski, DT Lamarr Houston, and LB Daryl Washington.

    Clearly, the draft is a crap shoot every year. And injuries are impossible to predict. But that decision continues to reverberate. Or not.

    By the way, I missed the game yesterday. Did Philip Hunt do ANYTHING?

  71. 71 Anonymous said at 6:03 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Hunt played about a dozen snaps. LDE. Got pressure on one play and affected a deep ball Eli was throwing.

    I still have high hopes for Nate Allen. I liked him a lot heading into the 2010 draft. Earl is very talented, but has some issues of his own. He can be a little too much like Asante when it comes to tackling. He’s a finesse S.

  72. 72 Michael Abrams said at 5:59 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Here’s my brilliant idea for fixing LB. Trade a late-round pick to AZ for Stew Bradley. They clearly don’t want him (he’s a backup now). We’d have to convince him to restructure his contract, but that shouldn’t be too hard, since he’s obviously getting released by the Cardinals after this year, and would love a chance to play. He may not light it up, but he can at least be solid, especially against the run. This is at least as good an idea as that trade for Will Witherspoon.

    You listening Howie? Bring back Disco Stew!

  73. 73 Michael Abrams said at 6:05 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    …or maybe Jeremiah Trotter is still in shape? God, I miss 2004, when they finally put Trotter back in the middle to fix our run D (read: Simoneau) and he kicked ass so hard he made the Pro Bowl on a half season’s worth of work. That was just pure awesome sauce.

  74. 74 Anonymous said at 6:03 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    I think we’re being too hard on our secondary. Yes they did not have a good day, but keep in mind that this wasn’t just any WR, rather this was the great Victor Cruz. Did you see his muscles? How do you really expect our secondary to be able to stop such a physical specimen.

    Also, I know it looks like our defense didn’t perform that well overall, but if you took away the 40 yd TD pass to Brandon Jacobs, the 74 yd and 28 yd TD passes to Victor Cruz and the 18 yd TD pass to Ahmad Bradshaw, you’d see the defense played pretty darn well. I mean the Giants had 51 total plays and so take away these 4 and you’d see we didn’t pretty well on the other 47. Oh and I know Ahmad Bradshaw average 5.7 ypc, but if you take away his 37 yd run in the 2nd quarter then he’s only have had 49 yds on 14 carries for an average of 3.5 ypc. So again, just take away that one play and we had a really good day.

    Oh and one last thing. I know we didn’t have a good day in the red zone, but keep in mind we were playing against like 5 backups on the giants defense and rumor has it that those backups were actually better than the starters, so we need to take that into account.

    Basically, my point here is minus a few plays we looked d*mn amazing so let’s not beat the players or coaches up too much.

  75. 75 Anonymous said at 6:36 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    The point in breaking things down is to try and understand where the problems are and how they can be fixed. If the Giants moved the ball up and down the field on us all day, we’ve got major issues.

    If they got significant chunks in just a handful of plays, we need to focus on what went wrong on those plays. Who was at fault? Coaching involved? Scheme? Talent? You fix what you can and adjust.

  76. 76 Anonymous said at 8:12 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    I hear you, I’m just messing around. I tend to use sarcasm to deal with the hurt of the losses. For some reason it just makes me feel better…sniffle, sniffle.

    Even though I think we have inferior LBs as a whole, I honestly don’t think we’ll get a true read on this team until about 10 games into the season. I think we added so many new parts w/ either FAs or switching positions that it’s going to take significant time to gel. I just hope we haven’t blown too many games by then to put us out of the playoffs.

    In the meantime, I’ll continue to say things like, “don’t worry guys, i hear that Howie Roseman says he’ll get this LB situation fixed for next year. He’s promised that he’s earmarked all of his picks in the 6th & 7th rounds solely to fix the problem.” Is thing on? Crickets, anyone?

  77. 77 Tyler Phillips said at 6:09 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    there is word Aaron Curry is being shopped. I’ve heard 4th rd range. If we can get him to restructure, why not?

  78. 78 Michael Abrams said at 6:27 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Curry’s never produced. A world of talent but no results. I’m afraid it would be Ernie Sims all over again.

  79. 79 Anonymous said at 6:41 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Admittedly, I haven’t watched a lot of Curry in Seattle, but the man is a great athlete. He should be a very good cover LB. He won’t be asked to rush the passer here, just “fill your gap” and “cover the TE”. Works for me.

  80. 80 Anonymous said at 6:32 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    The Eagles will make calls to see what’s available. Curry got benched, but still played a lot yesterday. Is Pete Carroll really down on him or is he trying to motivate Curry? Big difference.

  81. 81 Steven Dileo said at 6:18 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Come on Tommy, what is your honest opinion of Casey Matthews? I think its time to bench him. Same could be said for Fouku as well.

  82. 82 Steven Dileo said at 6:18 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Come on Tommy, what is your honest opinion of Casey Matthews? I think its time to bench him. Same could be said for Fouku as well.

  83. 83 Anonymous said at 6:56 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Last year it was Fokou, Chaney and the Shark. So what is the difference this year?

  84. 84 Anonymous said at 7:16 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    It was relieving to hear Eskin say that Vick was out for four weeks, I somehow knew that the injury wouldn’t be bad.

    re: Andy’s job: The signing of Vick helps Reid’s job security considerably, because Reid is considered the key to Vick’s success, and he’s successfully transferred to his second franchise quarterback. Without question, since Andy has player personnel pull, that was a consideration. The whole offensive system that is breaking team records is of Andy’s design with Andy’s coaches: Marty would do the same thing. Also, they have sold out every seat since Andy came here.

    If you couldn’t lose in sports no one would watch. The Eagles going into this season had all the makings of a team that would start slow, tweak some problem spots, and get hot going into the playoffs. Whether they do that remains to be seen, but it ain’t anywhere near over.

  85. 85 Anonymous said at 7:17 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    The defense giving up big plays is a big problem. You can take no solace from the fact that outside of the big plays we played well. Eagles opponents are attacking the LBs and Safeties with the idea that they will make mistakes. They have been consistently correct and are getting those big plays as a result. It does not seem like an easy fix.

    Shady was great yesterday (except for the fourth and one) but the line was getting consistently beat. Particularly on that goal line stand. The offensive line was a big problem.

    I can’t help but wonder. The Eagles went out and hired to rock stars for their defensive and offensive line coaches. But these changes effect the entire offense and the entire defense dramatically. If you go to the wide 9 you need good linebackers because the o linemen might cause disruption in the backfield but are often times going to overshoot the run. The way the offensive line plays you need a QB who gets rid of the ball on time and can read the blitz. Vick doesn’t really do those things. He is still learning the basics of the position. So I’m wondering how Mornhenwig and Castillo are getting along with their respective line coaches and who is really running the show. The play so far suggest something is at least lacking in the coordination and communication.

  86. 86 Anonymous said at 7:41 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    That’s the thing, you don’t need good LBs in this system. You only need “OK” ones to make it work effectively. Essentially: Fill your gap and make the routine tackle. The problem is, our LBs are terrible.

  87. 87 Anonymous said at 7:52 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    You don’t need great linebackers but you need good ones.

  88. 88 ike said at 7:28 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Anyone care to weigh on how the Eagles would be doing if McDermott were still the D.C.?

    And lets assume Washburn came on board, too.

    Just curious what the mood is.

  89. 89 Mac said at 7:56 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    I’d like to throw a “what if” in the ring… What if Steve Smith catches the ball on the 10 yrd line? What if he doesn’t and it lands on the turf… Eagles get 3 or 7 points early in the game. Changes the 4th and 1 call to a punt…

    I’m not dropping this loss at Steve Smith’s door step, but damn. That was bad… and it was the first big momentum changer.

  90. 90 Steven Dileo said at 8:19 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    what if Travis Beckum hadn’t fell down less than 2 feet to the 1st round marker? Lots of what ifs in this game

  91. 91 Gary said at 8:00 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    I remain equally optimistic Tommy. I can’t believe how many Eagles fans think the sky is falling and the season is over. 1-2 is hardly a death sentence. We have to kick some ‘Niners butt this week though.

  92. 92 Steven Dileo said at 8:22 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    Because we gambled at our LB and Safety positions and got burned badly. I really don’t see how those positions can get fixed.

  93. 93 Steven Dileo said at 8:24 PM on September 26th, 2011:

    I think we’ll go to the NFCCG and lose. History dictates that.
    Whenever we open vs. the St. Louis Rams we make it to the NFCCG and lose.
    We only go to the Superbowl when we start 2-0/

  94. 94 Anonymous said at 12:06 PM on September 27th, 2011:

    Another week goes by, and another week that Matthews looks less like he belongs on the playing field. Every time Rolle is in he’s around the ball. It’s like I said last week, Casey just doesn’t make plays, and even worse, he’s a liability.

    I wonder what’s up with Jarret? At this point Page is a liability. I’d rather see the rookie in there making mistakes than a slow vet who can’t seem to get the job done. And we won’t even get started on Coleman. Boy has he regressed lately.

    Sure, it’s only week 3 and not time to panic, but the problems with this team defensively stem from 5 of 11 players. That’s nearly half of your defense, and the entire middle of the field. Don’t think for a second that Wash, Dall, GB won’t exploit those guys. Wash has Davis playing well and Cooley slowly coming back, we all know about Witten, and Findley will have a field day. Think about the last two games. If only we could stop a big play here and there, we’d win right? But’s exactly the point, they can’t consistently defend with that many holes. I fear that unfortunately they are too weak at too many spots to mask the deficiencies. Every team in the NFL has problems right now and I don’t know enough about every team to pin point if there are solutions for each of them. But how many teams are starting 3 7th round picks, a 4th round rookie who looks lost, and a cast off from another team up the middle of their defense? Unless they learn quickly, Rolle is sufficient, and Allen and/or Jarret are upgrades, it’s going to be a bumpy season.

    Oh yeah, I haven’t mentioned that there’s no way Vick finishes the season at this pace…There is ALOT of work to do over the next few weeks for this team to even think about being a serious playoff contender.