The Real Reasons We Won
Posted: October 1st, 2012 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 89 Comments »Forget about tough defense, good offense, or FG kicking. The real reasons we won involve me. That’s right. I deserve a special game ball.
First, I wore my lucky Eagles underwear. I didn’t have them on last week since they were in the laundry basket. This week they were clean as a whistle (give or take) and led us to a glorious victory.
Second, I switched back my Sunday breakfast place. In the first 2 weeks I went to a local joint that tends to get crowded. Last week I ventured elsewhere to avoid the crowds. This week I went back to the crowded joint and spent 15 minutes waiting for a table. That’s the kind of sacrifice that helps lead a team to the big game. Right?
I won’t take all of the credit. The players and coaches can have a bit. I’ll admit they did their part.
Go back to my pregame post on reasons to be optimistic for an Eagles win. I talked about:
* OL should improve. It did.
* Marty/Andy fear the Giants D, will run a more balanced offense. They did.
* Giants have trouble sustaining drives vs us. They did. Only 3 of longer than 50 yards.
* Andy has been very successful vs Giants. Happened again.
* We’ve been very good on SNF recently. Happened again.
Michael Vick played a terrific game. I’ll write up a post or column on him. This was really critical. I don’t want to go into Baldinger hyperbole and say this game was a career crossroads for him, but it was more important than a lot of people realize. Vick only made a couple of mistakes in the game. He played smart. He didn’t turn the ball over. This was the version of Vick that Andy loves so much.
Shady was huge. The running game in the 1st half wasn’t working. The coaches were trying to burn the Giants with draw plays and some other runs. Worked great last year. Problem is that the Giants watched the tape and knew what to do. Andy/Marty made a great in-game adjustment by using the I-formation. That changed everything.
I haven’t had a chance to study the tape yet so I can’t get into too much depth here. The key to the I-formation is that you get a FB on the field and he can serve as a lead blocker. The RB can read his blocks and cut accordingly. Also, the I-formation is great for play-action passes. The RB and FB can stay in to block or they can release on short, safe routes.
The I-formation helped get the offense going and then we could go back to some spread sets and doing different things. I thought the coaches did a good job of focusing on short and intermediate passes. Shady’s running also opened up some holes for Brent Celek.
The offense only scored 19 points and that is a concern, but did gain 422 yards. They didn’t turn the ball over. They also had to deal with lousy field position all game long. Only 2 drives all night started beyond the 20 yard line (our 30, our 44). That’s rough.
I’ll get into the goal line plays in the DGR. I like the fact they stuck with the run. Looked like Shady made at least one bad read. And give the Giants some credit. They tightened up when they needed to. The one play I absolutely hated was 3rd/GL late in the game. I can’t stand rolling the QB out like that. The play rarely works for us. I would have preferred to see them go shotgun with 4 WRs and a RB. Run a QB draw with Vick going behind the RB.
The OL deserves a lot of credit for doing their part. They struggled early, but then got it going as the game wore on. Amazing how a little success can boost your confidence and help you get in a rhythm. I didn’t see Dallas Reynolds with any major issues. Todd Herremans was the key culprit early on. I don’t know what was wrong with him. Luckily he got going. Demetress Bell was about what we figured. He played okay enough for us to win, but he’s still not someone you want on the field.
The defense had an odd night. They only gave up 17 points. That’s good. They did let Eli throw for 300 and didn’t sack him once. That’s hardly impressive. There was a lot of pressure on Eli early. As the game progressed, it got more hit and miss. Eli is tough to sack. He holds the ball, but has an uncanny ability to throw the ball away at the last second. He did that a few times.
As for giving up the 300…we did a good job in coverage a lot of the time. Eli made some great throws and the receivers, especially Domenik Hixon, made big time catches. This wasn’t a case of Giants running around wide open, play after play.
Our zone coverage must improve. Brandon Boykin and the LBs must do a better job. There were some plays when guys got lost by the defense. The good news is that this is something you improve through experience and coaching. Has nothing to do with physical skills.
Kurt Coleman must quit attacking the LOS on play-fakes. He needs to hesitate and truly identify run vs pass. His aggression has cost us the last couple of games. Before you get ready to send him packing, almost all Safeties get caught being nosy and get burned.
The KO coverage was atrocious. I hope the biggest problem was not having Colt Anderson or Akeem Jordan, our 2 best STers. Don’t let that totally overshadow Alex Henery going 4 for 4 with a new holder. He hit his first really clutch kick as an Eagle and also nailed a 48-yd FG. This is why the Eagles wanted this guy. He was big time at Nebraska. Very clutch.
-MISC-
* FB Stanley Havili played his best game and did some good things.
* Mardy Gilyard made the tackle on the opening KO and I think one more. Hidden hero.
* That was absolutely OPI on Barden late in the game. I don’t know why Collinsworth was so hesitant to acknowledge that.
* Good showing by DJax. Love the way he’s playing this year.
* Nice catch ‘n run by Damaris.
* Fletcher Cox looked like our best DL. He was the best guy wearing #91 on the field, not Justin Tuck.
* Brandon Hughes came in and played well. Glad to see him embrace the challenge.
* DRC says he “isn’t a knee-taker”. Run out of the endzone like that again and you’ll be dealing with a “knee-breaker”. Dumb.
Doesn’t it feel good to be 3-1? That 1-4 mess from last year was awful, just awful. We’re not perfect, but finding ways to win is huge. That ability to be clutch can stick with a team all year. That said, I sure could use a couple of blowout wins to make my life easier.
_
It’s only weird if it doesn’t work……on that note..its still funny wearing lucky underwear for a football game.
I never claimed to be rational. Or sane.
Haha I loved those commercials
I liked the one where the guys turn the beer labels forward.
Not to burst your bubble, but last week I was unable to watch the game (out of town at a conference/festival and they only had CBS late games) -except for a few drives in the second half through an illegal stream. During that stretch the Eagles put up 6 and were driving when I had to leave.
This week, like weeks one and two, I was able to watch the whole game.
The results are clear.
I will be making space for my Lombardi trophy in February.
How dare you, sir!!! My underwear deserves that trophy.
A few thoughts
– I think this team genuinely gets along well. See pics of offense congratulating defense and vice versa. Should serve us well all season.
– DJax is fun to watch
– Coleman = Michael Lewis
I do think this team has a good vibe and that is important.
Lewis fell apart because he made really bonehead decisions. He was biting on play fakes when the opposing team was in a clear passing situation. His worst moment came in the Dallas game (TO Bowl) in 2006. Lewis let a WR get by him in a game we led by 5 or 6 points on 4th/very long in the final minute. That is one of the dumbest football things ever. No matter what, you don’t let someone get behind you. He did and then had to interfere because of that. Set Dallas up, only to have Lito rescue him.
I remember that play vividly. Lewis is lucky Lito bailed him out or he might have had to go into witness protection.
i would also like to add that i stayed sober this game which may have helped us win. the AZ game drove me to drink fairly quickly and probably led to the GL fumble returned for a TD. we might have had a chance to come back in that one.
clearly, no more booze for me during game day.
The OL played as if they were sober. Hey…maybe that was the problem last week.
Hey Tommy,
Some thoughts before the DGR –
disqus ate my last well written comment and i dont want to retype it all… the short version… (now it logs me out and makes a mess of this post when i log back in. ugh.) and this one too, thankfully copy/pasted this time.
1) on the last GL series, do you think that vick’s play was planned to take time off the clock to force the giants to timeout? do you think vick would have taken the TD if he saw it?
2) our kickoff returns are awful. can we just take a touchback every time?
3) gilyard was the one who saved a likely TD on one of the KOR in the second half, i believe.
4) what is up with boykin getting matched up against the other team’s best WR? we saw it with az & fitz. teams are doing this trying to get the matchups they want.
what can we do about it?? thanks for your great work on the DGR, as always.
It was Gilyard, though when he was standing back to camera on the sidelines with DRC and another DB, I could have swore that Samuel had returned.
Absolutely we would have taken a touchdown. There is no way you pass up a chance to go for two and have a 7 point lead in exchange for a two point lead and forcing them to burn a TO.
I have just finished watching the game. I think that had Shady followed Havili on 2nd and goal he gets in.
In the 1st quarter, Bell looked awful, the best way to run behind him is to run in the opposite direction.
Maclin; hurt or is Amukamara that good?
I think that Casey Emo Matthews new hair color scared the bejesus out of our ST guys. Very cunning work by Emo, as he made quite a few STs tackles as a result. Some one needs to tell him that it is not a good look.
Anyone who thinks that offensive PI on Barden was questionable should be banned from watching football for life.
No, they can watch. They just have to do it with someone draped over their back with both arms wrapped around their head.
There were two things that really bothered me.
1. Nnamdi kept coming up to play bump and run, but was not getting a jam at the line of scrimmage (either he would miss or just would not attempt it at all). You can’t play bump and run, without the bump which is why he kept giving up easy catch and runs. He does not have the acceleration of DRC so he can’t afford to miss his opportunity to jam at the line of scrimmage.
2. McBriar needs to speed up his punting routine, I am surprised he didn’t get one blocked, but believe me, some team will get one, if he does not pick up the pace!
Nnamdi was jamming well. How do you think he was called for illegal use of the hands 2wice. The issue is that a jam brings you closer to the WR. So at the point the WR breaks the jam, he is running forward and the DB has to react. Aso was never a burner. He was always great at man-to-man. He hasn’t been bad. He’s got 1 TD thrown on him. He has given up a couple of completions. But, he’s not out of position. And you saw him make plays last night. The D in total has given up 6 TD’s. Six! He’s doing a good job.
That is what I am saying. The times he missed the jam or didn’t attempt it were the times he got called for illegal use of the hands. He knew he had been beaten and was trying to “fix” it. He is doing a good job, i just didn’t understand getting so close to the WR and not even trying to jam him or wiffing (which is worse b/c his momentum would carry him away from the WR, without the chance to slow him down). Its cool though. I was very impressed with how Hughes played in his place (not that i want hughes out there all the time). Everyone knew the gmen would attack him, but he was up to the challenge!
Thoughts about Nnamdi? I don’t know enough about coverages to make an informed observation, but there’s obviously some things going on that aren’t right. Are these issues with his coverage skills, or communication problems with the safeties? Again, I don’t feel like I understand it well enough to say that he’s been screwing the pooch out there, but these things don’t seem to happen with DRC and I was wondering why.
A big problem has been safeties biting on play fakes like a drug addict to coke, leaving NA with no safety help when its clear from the way he realeases the WR that he expected it. You dont see the same problem because he is fast like hell (he can run with Jackson as maybe only him and Peterson can do)
As we are making claims for the reason the Eagles won, I would like to say that in the Baltimore game my stream froze with Shady looking like he was going to fail on 4th and 1, it started up again as we punched in the go ahead TD. Last night, I woke up for the final drive, the stream froze just as a flag was thrown at the 3 yard line to follow the 2 prior infractions by Aso. I wasn’t sure I wanted the stream to start again, it did just as Tynes effort was wide left. Luckily, I had perched myself in the throne room for this drive, rather than wake my beloved. With that timeout called, I was able to use the same said throne. Who’d of thought that Andy has laxative qualities?
That second kick scared the shit out of me, too.
I got the impression the coaches were afraid to let Vick throw in the first goal-line situtation. But I think they should have stuck Polk in there at some point just to see.
So…you think Spagnuolo wishes he took the Eagles job?
while i think it might make some sense to bring in a runner like polk to try to punch it in, i think there is significantly more risk involved when you are taking a guy off the bench that hasn’t played all game, or much at all in the season for that matter. he is ice cold at this point. we’d be lucky if he didnt fumble the ball!
I thought that Hughes played well too, but he seemed to be playing off, certainly wasn’t getting jams in on release.
Also, what other seasoned Eagles’ Fan saw us lined up with split backs on the GL on our last drive and said to themselves “Here comes the shovel pass”!! Man, we used to run that play all the time on the GL back in BWest’s days.
What seasoned Eagles’ Fan saw the Giants line up and attempt a shovel pass near mid field and think: A bit of our own medicine?!
I loved that play. The Giants and any other team outside of the Packers looks silly running it. But against JPP, you don’t test him that way. He’s that good and quick off the ball.
Hah, I know I did. I saw disaster coming.
The Eagles are now 7-1 since Vick came back from his injury. What does it all mean, man?
Super Bowl.
Or at least the Outback Bowl.
Does anyone know how to find out when the game airs on NFL Network replay? Thanks.
What’s your feeling on the Pitt game? The last time we won is in ’08 w/a Buckhalter TD. But, other than that The Steelers have had our number.
As the Steelers have overturned their offensive roster, it’s still Ben’s show to run. And he’s playing well thus far. Big, strong. Gotta get a hat on him throughout the game.
The last time we played them was in 08′
Not true. We beat them in 1997, 2000, and 2008. They beat us in 2004. We’ve won 3 of 4. Reid has won 2 of 3.
That said, I’m not sure this is a good matchup for us.
I think we are better against 4 down lineman defenses. 3-4 seems to give us trouble, as did AZ. Will Mudd’s style help with this versus Castillo’s style?
AZ isnt really a 3-4, its more like 2-4-5
Yeah, I just meant less than 4.
We did fine against the Ravens and we do fine against the Skins and Cowboys. I think the difference between 3-4 and 4-3 are none existent now compared to 5 years ago. I mean we play a 4-3, yet we often use a formation where atleast 1 DE does not have his hand on the ground giving us a 3-4 look or when we go to short yardage we got with 3 DTs and 1 DE for essentially a 3-4 look again.
I liked the called QB runs. I counted at least two by design outside of the red zone. I think that run threat helped slow the Giants pass rush. That, and the fact that outside of JPP, the Giants pass rushers are starting to show their age.
It also allowed Vick to be himself within the offense. Him scrambling made the LB’s back off and the Giants out of blitzing. The was able to see the field better and the progression of the WR routes. I love that Andy/Marty called a few “read-n-run” plays for him. Let him drop back make 1 or 2 reads and get out of the pocket.
The runs were refreshing, but those other runs by to the outside by Shady and his blockers seemed like they really took a lot out of the rush. Well, that and the no-huddle.
I’d like to see more Havili, but I still do not trust Bryce Brown at all.
Why do you not trust Brown? yes he had that fumble, but Shady have had 2 already.
I posted this on the last topic but it’s my first comment so I want your reaction Tommy. “Hi tommy, I’m new Here, I follow your blog on a daily basis since I heard of it. Tough to find from France. I just wanted to say that this game is the reason why I’m a fan of American Football, just a great and exciting entertainment no matter what happens (sure it’s great that the birds pulled this one off). But I also wanted to point out that M.Vick managed that game very well. He was very criticized for his lack of awareness and field vision but I really like the fact that He didn’t want to make the big play (especially on the last drive when he takes the sack instead of risking an int). Finally except the last touchdown drive where our pass defense was awful, I think it was another great game from our defense. The only thing we miss was a big sack. Sorry for my english.”
Welcome. Feel free to share your thoughts on Room of Death or A Very Long Engagement. Those are two of my recent favorite French films.
As to the game…it was a classic and Vick did play well. He made smart reads and good decisions.
Your English is much, much better than my French so no worries.
The real reason why we won is because I did the trip to see the game in the stadium from Paris, France. My 4th Eagles game in the US and we won each time. I m starting to think that Mr Lurie should invite me during the playoffs.
It’s great to know that Eagles Nation is actually Eagles International. Your English is fine. I live not too far from Montreal, Canada. The only French I can speak is to say, “I don’t speak French.”
– McBriar had an average game but I loved his flop in the 1st quarter.
– Nnamdi was in position to intercept the ball had Barden not interfered with him. It may have been a good decision by Barden.
– I still hate Victor Cruz. I hope he and the Giants get into a major contract dispute
lol that flop was something i expect to see in a ‘football’ game. err…i mean soccer.
I remember hearing the crowd cheer when he fell down. On the replay it showed that he didn’t even get touched. That cunning bastard.
I agree that it likely was an INT had Barden not interfered as he did, and that would have been game over. But of course he will be the one blamed rather than Eli, who threw a wobbler.
Eli actually took the blame for that throw post-game, so good for him.
It was his fault. Nnamdi had a really good chance at intercepting that ball. Eli might have gotten bailed by his receivers on 2 interceptions.
McBriar had great distance but no HT. It seemed like it was his fault that he constantly out-kicked coverage and wound up averaging only 35 yards net. Hopefully that’s something he can improve and it’s not from compensating for that foot injury.
With 49 seconds left in the game the Giants were in FG range and the let the clock run down to 27 seconds. I was screaming in my head at Andy for not taking a timeout so that the Eagles would be left with some time to make a play on offense. Good gamble by Andy. Calling a timeout would have given NYG the option to run the football. The Giants got greedy and it cost them.
What I was really happy to see (until that final Giants drive) was the overall lack of penalties at bad times by the Eagles. There were very few drive killers, and, aside from Jason Babin’s hands to the face, pretty much all of the penalties at least made sense. Having more situations where it was 2nd and 7 rather than 2nd and 15 was a big difference maker in a tight game. There were fewer situations that called for a “Hero.”
Having more neutral and positive games allowed for the plan of picking spots to actually make sense.
Kudos to Vick. That might have been the best game that he’s played as an Eagle. I hope that he’s able to build on that and continue to get better. I’m really excited if he’s able to do that.
Really? What about the Redskins game in ’10? What about the MM2?
I was so mad at Vick for running out of bounds on his 1st down run on the last drive. Also Maclin went out of bounds when he didn’t have to on that drive. And the Eagles ran at least one play on that drive with significant time left on the play clock with a live clock. Too much time for Eli.
yea, we could have really run a lot more time off the clock on that drive.
we had two timeouts remaining, but at the same time…. theres *about* 2 min left in the game…
if you try to take more time, theres a chance that you run out of time before you can score!
Whilst I agree, I think that it was more important that we were making yards than whether we were getting out of bounds or not.
I was particularly delighted to see Vick go out of bounds rather than take a hit which he inevitably would have had he stayed in bounds.
Would’ve been nice to give Eli even less time but I don’t there was enough yards in the field left to take the whole clock out, and all it takes is for him to hit a couple of deep balls over 30 seconds and we would be done. Not ideal but obviously happy with the way it played out in the end.
yea, i agree completely.
*at the time*, we didnt know how the drive was going to work out. it was important to stop the clock while we could. thats standard 2+ min drill offense.
by not getting out of bounds, we risk:
1) we may run out of time before we can take the lead and lose the game
2) having to hurry up on offense too much could lead to simple mistakes – a bad snap for example.
3) going down in bounds opens you up for a hit which brings a risk of a fumble.
4) once vick has gotten enough yards, i’d rather him not take a big hit. if he is fighting for the first down, ok. but if he’s already got enough, no reason to fight for it. take what you are given.
I was moving this weekend and had to record the game on a DVR in a short-term rental apartment. I sit down to endure the action last night and the DVR stopped with about a minute left in the game (DRC had just interfered on 4th an 1). I assumed – like any other battle-hardened Eagles’ fan – that we would blow it.
Some part of me thinks that had the DVR not run out, Tynes would’ve hit the field goal…
Now that’s a true horror story…DVR stopping short.
DVR stopping short = FG stopping short. Coincidence? I think not.
It’s thanks to you and your dvr that we won the game. Are you pissed at Tommy for claiming it was him an his undies?
Gosh. I’d send Coleman packing if we see more of that over-agressive nature. It’s killing the team. The problem is there’s literally nobody to replace him, except for the kid Sims.
Yep, he’s the best we have, unfortunately.
“OL should improve. It did.”
That is half true. The OL was losing on just about every single play until the last drive of the 2nd half when they got some help from the coaching staff in the form of the no-huddle offense, chip blocking and beefier protection packages (a lot more of Harbor and Havili).
Kudos to Tommy for predicting exactly how we’d do things against the Giants as far as being more balanced. Unfortunately, it’s not going to last 🙁
It could, conceivably, especially because it seems like Vick is especially comfortable with it.
McNabb was also more comfortable with it. AR only calls games like this against the Giants and Cowboys or when the backup is not named Vick
Dan Graziano over on the NFC East blog on ESPN wrote this and I like it:
“They are The Most Interesting Team in the World: They don’t always win
games, but when they do, they give you heart palpitations along the way”
I literally had a lot of heart palpitations during the game! Thought it was my high blood pressure but just the 2012 Eagles.
http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/multimedia/videos/Spudcam_Dawkins_Honored_With_Win/63ef77c3-344e-4887-b30c-2a0ef4260cd5 I love this, it looks like Dawk would be ready to play. I bet he would not bite on playfakes as bad as Coleman.
Seeing him there, I really wondered if he could still play. Hell he could just be the SS and play like a 3rd LB and have Allen as the FS.
really funny story about Lesean Mccoy:
http://deadspin.com/5947863/lesean-mccoy-used-to-say-his-last-name-while-juking-people-in-practice
Hahaha this has made my day.
I think my favourite part of the game was when Shady juked so hard he literally broke Kenny Phillips’ knee.
while i hate to see any player get injured, the anecdote itself is somewhat amusing. the whole ‘cutting so hard he breaks defenders ankles’ thing has some serious merit to it after that.
Tommy,
What’s up with Hughes going in when Aso went down? I was under the impression that Marsh was the primary backup at least on the outside. Is his development struggling?
Marsh was injured at the start of the season and Hughes have played really well. I think its just the coaches rewarding good play.
Tommy–can’t wait for helmet 2 helmet! I think I’m addicted.
Same.
Taking a knee after that pick would have been the smart play. However, did you see how quickly DRC was able to catch Salsaman from behind? I’m willing to let him take a shot after a pick. No one is going to catch him if he can get past the line of scrimmage.
One thing that has me worried from this game: the offense looked solid. They were balanced and it paid dividends. The run game was held in check early, but we stuck with it. It helped the Oline, it made play action work, it opened up running plays as the game wore on. How long until Marty and Andy forget that lesson, again? It will be painful.