Michael Vick is Captain Comeback!!!

Posted: September 9th, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 85 Comments »

Or maybe Admiral Interception.  Very rough game for Mike Vick and the offense, but give them credit for coming up big in the key moments.  Look back in Eagles history and you see plenty of games where we find a way to come up just short.

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Just last year we had chances to win late vs ATL, SF, BUF, and others.  Didn’t happen.  After falling down 16-10, Vick and the offense finally got going.  There was a missed FG and a TD drive after that.  You don’t ignore the failures of the first 3 quarters, but you have to love the clutch plays late in the game. Think about the times when the situation was reversed.  There have been a few games where the Eagles were great for 3 quarters and then fell apart late and lost.  The refrain is always “Why can’t we be clutch?”  Today, they were.

The defense was outstanding.  The Browns had just 210 yards.  Brandon Weeden was 12-35-118 with 4 INTs.  The defense had 10 passes defensed (knockdowns or INTs).  Those weren’t just errant throws.  The coverage was tight.

Just yesterday I wrote about the run defense.  It was even better than I hoped for.  Trent Richardson was 19-39.  If I had told you before the game to think about a Browns rookie and the numbers 19, 39…you’d have guessed I was writing about Weeden’s year of birth.   The DL was very good and the LBs were even better.  Great assignment football.  Good tackling.

Back to Vick for a second…my hope is that he was rusty today.  Andy Reid said that was the case.  The problem with that idea is that rusty or not, you can’t make horrible decisions and force the ball into coverage.  Rusty is generally more about erratic passing and sloppy fundamentals.  We’ll know next week if today was an aberration due to the short preseason or if Vick is just going to be erratic the whole year.

HEROES

Shady McCoy

Brent Celek

DeMeco Ryans

DRC

Nnamdi Asomugha

Jason Babin

Kurt Coleman

 

ZEROES

The OL…for part of the game

Michael Vick

This isn’t the way I wanted to start the season.  Not even close.  The good news is that we played well in the Red Zone.  We came back to win a game.  We played terrific team defense.  The offense needs a lot of work, but lack of talent isn’t an issue.  Mudd and the OL must clean up the blocking.  Vick must pull his head from his butt and quit throwing to the other team.

Bad style points, good result.  Rough start to 2012, but I’m encouraged in the sense that the team has lost a lot of these games in the past.  Good teams find a way to win even on ugly days.  Are we a good team?  We were when it counted.  For that, I’m thankful.

_

  • Anders

    How does this compare to last season? seems we made a 180 flip on what unit sucked. Also underrated hero, Chas Henry for his booming punt there reversed the field and in general really good punting.

    • Crus57

      I was impressed with Henry, but I’ve seen too many warm weather heroics from Rocca to think he’ll keep that up all season.

    • http://twitter.com/daniel_suraci Daniel

      This is exactly how I remember the eagles last year on offense as well, except last year there was more flukes and less just ‘badness.’

      The eagles D looks vastly improved on the run. I’m reluctant to say anything on the pass because even though they looked decent today, it wasn’t a really test.

      • Anders

        The Eagles pass D wasnt just decent, it was stinking good.

  • Baloophi

    (Totally off topic) – Akers just hit a 63 yard field goal. Hit it off the cross-bar, up, and then over. Very impressive.

    • Arby1

      Reminds of the SF game last year, – on a day when Henery missed a very makable FG. BTW, Akers just tied a record for the longest kick in history – tied with Tom Dempsey of the Eagles.

      • Matthew Butch

        Except Akers matched Henery’s two misses that game. Not sure why everybody forgets that.

        • Arby1

          Akers is my all-time favorite Eagles specialist. That’s why I conveniently forgot that..

  • Crus57

    Henery missed a 40 something yarder today, Akers just equalled the NFL record with a 63 yarder (ok he hit the crossbar and then it went over but still..)

  • http://twitter.com/rollo_e Raul Estrada

    Even the game-winning TD was dangerous. Just 15 more weeks of this and the MV7 experience is over.

  • http://twitter.com/rollo_e Raul Estrada

    I’m giving MV7 a few more weeks (preseason time frame) to get it right. If he still sucks by W5, it’s a wrap.

    • D3Keith

      I don’t know if it’s ever gonna be a wrap on his PT, at least this season, the Eagles have to ride with him. But it might then be high time he’s accepted for who he is, that he’s not going to change.

  • http://twitter.com/LHGarrett Liam Henry Garrett

    I always love your enthusiasm and positivity, Tommy, and I always defend and hope the best for Vick, but Shady is who really got our offense going in the 4th. And that 2nd down down pass-play at the goal-loine should have been EASILY picked by the Browns, so I’m not giving Vick personally too many clutch-points.

    That said, it was good to see the guys stick together, keep their energy up, and pull it out together as a team. (Nevertheless, I can’t remember the last time I’ve felt so depressed after a win. Vick needs a head doctor or Robin Williams from “Good Will Hunting” or something.)

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kanin-Faan/100000790557328 Kanin Faan

    I have never before seen a veteran quarterback play this bad without being benched. :D

    • ACViking

      Ah, you conjure up the days of Norm Snead and Pete Liske.

      • BC1968

        Ahh, the good old days. Norm who now? lol

    • Toby_yboT

      McNabb definitely had some days against teams like Pittsburg, Ravens, Bengals… maybe not turnovers like Vick but just as bad in different ways.

      • Dave_King

        To be fair… Cleveland is also in that division.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kanin-Faan/100000790557328 Kanin Faan

        Donovan had some bad days in ten years but nowhere close to this.
        Im glad Reid stuck with Vick and that noones started up the Foles bandwagon.
        Next week vs Ravens will be very interesting in a stomach-churning, teeth-chattering kind of way…

  • Pitmanite

    Think you had a brain fart and left Andy Reid’s play calling off your Zeroes list. Predictable as hell with the passing. You have a shaky o-line, a QB with accuracy/decision making issues and you just keep firing away. The defense knows you’re going to throw it every time, so they just pin their ears back and come firing off the line in an all out assault.

    It just drives me nuts. He’ll throw it 15 times in a row regardless of whether or not we’re having success, yet Shady could be averaging 5 yards per carry and he’ll run it once, then throw it 5 times in a row, run it once then throw it 6 times in a row where we have two consecutive “3 and outs”. How about you say, “Sh*t, my QB is horrible right now, my o-line is under heavy pressure, I’m just going to run this damn ball 10 times in a row.” WE WILL NOT WIN A SB WITH VICK IF ANDY DOESN’T BALANCE THE OFFENSE…PERIOD. WE DO NOT HAVE PEYTON MANNING BACK THERE.

    Anyway, I’m off to clear my head. Time for a relaxing bubble bath while listening to Joyce Meyer.

    • TommyLawlor

      I’ll address that in the DGR or another post tonight. This was just a quickie so I could watch the 2nd half of the late games.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Dan-Jones/503635695 Dan Jones

      At least it meant there was enough time on the clock for the go ahead touchdown drive……..

    • A_T_G

      Or maybe Marty did a brilliant job of setting up the run by passing so much?

      He knew Shady would be there when he needed him and didn’t want to work him too hard in the opening week. He was playing it cool, letting the Browns think they had him and then, BAM, he unleashes the secret weapon.

      Sure, it was the secret weapon that everyone knew about and expected to see much more often but, be honest, you didn’t think McCoy was getting the ball, did you? Sometimes it is tough to recognize genius in real time.

      • Dave_King

        I like the idea… but I would rather work Shady hard opening week than Vick. Let Mike be the secret weapon instead…

        • ChaosOnion

          The Vick Secret Weapon has a tendency to blow up in ones face.

    • bridgecoach

      Lay off Andy Reid. There was nothing wrong with the play calling aside from the horrific judgment Vick used when executing it (and us). Shady was involved early, Vick was making his throws. Each turnover looked like a horrible lapse that should easily be corrected with a little discipline. Andy kept climbing back on the horse and the offense was moving the ball – and the penalties kept moving the ball back. Play calling wasn’t the problem today. Discipline and Judgment was a problem.

      • Pitmanite

        I’m sorry sweetie but based on your response, it looks like your discipline and judgement are just as bad as Andy’s. Is this Spadaro posting under the alias of bridgecoach? I’m sorry Dave, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, I’m just stating the obvious. Seriously, it’s not your fault…it’s not your fault…it’s Andy’s.

        • BC1968

          Seriously though, your argument is very valid about Reid. You work with your team’s strengths and it sure as hell wasn’t Vick today, it was Shady. Broken record though.

        • SteveH

          There there… it will all be over soon… lol.

    • BC1968

      Pics or gtfo

  • Arby1

    Vick was really bad, made poor decisions all day. Unless Dunlap suddenly develops into a much better player, Vick will be facing this kind of pressure every week. There was an interesting stat that flashed on the screen about passing percentages with the blitz. Vick’s numbers weren’t very good. Is this rust? He’s a 10 year vet. This is not how a veteran QB plays (Tommy, I’ll refer you to your own Edwards critique from PS).

  • TommyLawlor

    Forgot to put Chas Henry on the list. Great game. His big punts were a big help in keeping the Browns from getting easy points.

    • Anders

      He apparently made a team record for best gross average in a game.

  • ian_no_2

    Weeden isn’t one of the better QBs right now, Trent was banged up a little, the receivers weren’t great, but the Browns have a good OL. What I’m getting at is this D looks wonderful. Even DRC made a good tackle and played the ball well as he’s done in the past.. no one will know where to go with the ball (Nate Allen). Castillo seems to have turned a corner, and most teams can’t play OL as well as the Browns. That’s the main takeaway here. The offense will get its act together at some point this year.

    • Anders

      I think the Browns have the best OL in the NFL and our DL was getting good pressure.

      • bridgecoach

        That is an interesting point.

  • http://twitter.com/corry_k Corry Henry

    I’m not giving Vick and the Offense a pass (they were god awful), but how much of a factor is it that the top 3 coaches for the Browns (HC, OC, DC) have all spent time in Philadelphia?

    • A_T_G

      Honestly, not much. They weren’t tricking us or reading our plays. They were playing pretty vanilla and Vick was throwing the ball right into coverage.

  • Mark823

    Yes most of the game was pretty bad, but the Eagles actually made big plays in the clutch. They failed to do that last year, I’ll take a game like this over the games last year. The defense was good, and you would think Vick will get better. I’m already excited for next week, that will be a big test.

    • Matthew Butch

      I agree- I know the previous 3 quarters sucked. But so did a lot of games last year. But they came back and made plays when they had too. And they won. I’ll take that any day.

  • ACViking

    Re: Heroes / Goats

    GOAT #1: Mike Holmgren

    The Eagles’ pass defense ran up great stats. But I think it’s fair to say that Cleveland’s drew the short straw on rookie opening day starting QBs.

    Holmgren gets the goat award because, depending on whom you believe, he had a shot at get RGIII but gamed the Rams a bit too much (I know Shanny and Fisher are close, but Holmgren had more to work with).

    If RGIII was playing QB today, I don’t think the Eagles win.

    And unless Richardson and Weeden show some sparkle — like Luck and RGIII today — Holmgren and the Cleveland coaches are gone.

    Goat #2: OC MM. And AR for not insisting on more runs.

    Reid actually said in the post game that after the 2 fumbles early, they got away from running the ball.

    Wouldn’t the natural question to ask be: “Gee, Andy, you abandoned the running game after 1 fumble and a second phantom fumble. Why didn’t you turn back to the running game after Vick’s first 2 *real* INTs?

    Doesn’t really matter. AR — while more genial then I remember — would have kept calling pass plays because the Eagles weren’t scoring.
    _________________

    HEROES

    1. JUAN CASTILLO. His defense gave up 9 points, and if Vick has no turnovers the team might have pitched a shutout. His playcalling improved as the game went on. (Weeden was easy pickin’s, though. Next week, Flacco and the Ravens will pose a nice test).

    2. Nnamdi was in zone coverage on that nasty 24-yard slant pass early in the game. After that, Juan seemed to have him playing much more press defense. And Nnamdi was great.

    2. DRC had 2 and should have had 3 INTs — and 1 TD against (1st Q, Weeden missed badly on a corner route). DRC’s in a contract year, so I’m thinking he’s gonna deliver a hell of a year.

    3. NATE ALLEN . . . While Coleman had 2 picks, Nate Allen had very good game. Lots of sure tackling. Very good in man coverage. I believe T-LAW’s predication that Allen will be much improved this year is on target.

    4. Every player involved in the Eagles’ run defense. ‘specially DeR. He looked like he was fired out a cannon on a bunch of those runs. His pass defense, though, will be challenged by teams with better QBs and TEs.
    _______________

    As an aside, after the performance of Weeden and Richardson today, versus RGIII, my view is that the Browns’ new owner has already made his decision about Holmgren’s future.

    • Anders

      RG3 faced one of the worst D last season, while the Browns played one of the best Ds and one there improved in the off season

      • ACViking

        Weeden generally had more time to throw the ball than Vick and he, Weeden was still, lousy.

        So maybe the Saints defense isn’t very good. But the Browns put together a pretty good pass-blocking scheme for this game.

        Weeden had his chances but didn’t capitalize. RGIII did.

      • teltschikfakeout88

        Anders, you are searching. It is week 1 and last year was last year. The Saints D may in fact be very bad this year…..however last year or even game 1 won’t tell us one way or the other. Bottom line our O stunk up the joint and the Saints D played very badly. As for our O, do I have some concerns…hell yes I do….especially along the O line where we did not execute our basics very well…..I hope we don’t need to get Vick to throw the ball 50 times a game to average 17 points a game….in fact I don’t want to see that many attempts in a game by him the rest of the year……MV’s arm might fall off due to fragility.

    • bridgecoach

      Agree. Nate Allen should be on the Hero List. Terrific game from our safeties and linebackers. Prop to them and to Juan for the turnaround. Lets keep up the good work as the competition improves.

    • Mac

      As much as I was furious with Vick and the play calling… I had a great time watching our defense play tough and athletic football.

      Aren’t coaches supposed to manage the game?

      Let’s see… we are facing a Browns team that is depleted at LB, and not super effective at run defense even when they were all healthy. Sure sounds like a great time to open the flood gates and pass all day long!

      Is Juan our future at HC?

  • http://twitter.com/sjampendk Patrick

    Wow, that was the perfect example of the term, penalties and turnovers kills you. Our defense dominated the Browns, didnt give up a TD and as ACViking mentions, only Vicks turnovers put them in bad positions(Credit to Henry for the punts, apparently he made a team record). We dominated every offensive stat – first downs, 3rd down efficiency, total yards, running yards, passing yards. To bad we also won the stats for most penalties and turnovers.

  • Neil

    Please remember the offense let the defense down just as much last season. Now that the defense has come together it’s time for a new quarterback.

    But seriously, while I believe Vick can pull his head out of his ass at any time (IE, anything can happen), doesn’t the most likely possibility at this point seem that 2010 was a mirage? He is a much better passer than Atlanta, so it took defenses a season to catch up to him, but he clearly is not so improved, still flawed enough that he is ineffective now that people have tape of his new game.

    • holeplug

      “so it took defenses a season to catch up to him, but he clearly is not so improved”

      Starting to look like this is true. Having flashbacks to when teams figured out Ryan Howard can’t hit left handed pitching.

  • Neil

    If Vick doesn’t have a confidence-inspiring performance in week 2, I play Foles. Simple. If we’re going to be a 500 team two years in a row we may as well give the experience to the guy who might be a good quarterback one day.

    Instead I fear Andy Reid will take the fall as Lurie let’s his 98% fan dictate his behaviour (kinda like how he compromised the authority of Reid with his retarded press conference) because Reid’s gamble on Vick being able to grow into a quality quarterback in his system (learning how to read defenses, call protections, the intellectual aspects) goes up in flames. After that point all we can do is pray that the next coach doesn’t sabotage the real promise of Foles (which he has shown under the tutelage of Reid), leaving us in sub500 quarterbackless purgatory for an indeterminate amount of time.

    It’s sad because Foles seems like the perfect quarterback for Reid/Mornhinweg, similar to how Kolb was. He’s slightly less accurate than Kolb but much better at handling pressure (lightyears ahead of Vick), but, more important than anything else, he is, like Kolb, the kind of quarterback who is willing to operate within a system and within his limitations. Not being gifted below the waist will do that to you, I guess, unless you’re RG3.

    • A_T_G

      Boy, that got a little personal at the end there. I wonder if Whitney would agree?

      http://www.playerwives.com/nfl/arizona-cardinals/kevin-kolbs-wife-whitney-kolb/

    • BC1968

      Lightyears ahead of Vick doing what now? When did see Foles play in a regular season game? If Lurie let 98% of the fans dictate his behavior then Andy would’ve been gone years ago. I’m not trying to defend Vick, and I’m a Reid fan, but your comments to seem to match up with reality.

      • BC1968

        *your comments don’t seem to match up with reality.

      • Neil

        Lightyears ahead of Vick reacting to pressure during a play. Not reading it presnap because you’re right. But remember how Vick looked skittish all preseason and now in this first game and how Foles didn’t; though a couple of his throwaways were pretty much intentional grounding and that one shovel pass to nowhere was boneheaded. That’s still a lot better than Vick has looked, and Foles has the excuse of being a rookie. Foles made a comment postgame at one point about using his periphery to see the rush, and it’s backed up in his play because I don’t remember him ever looking anywhere but downfield.

        Vick’s running ability is great, except that it appears that he’s slowing down, and he never had the need to develop a very acute sense for where pressure is coming from because he could react and allow his speed to break someone’s ankles. Tommy’s point about Vick being the first quarterback to get a playoff win at Lambeau is interesting, but, really, is he still that kind of athlete? Now he might turn 25% of his scrambles into good runs, while the rest are some combination of running into a defender, holding onto the ball just long enough to take a massive hit or making an illadvised or inaccurate throw.

        The Lurie comment’s a reference to what he said during an interview in a preseason broadcast. He said he’s 98% fan, 2% owner.

        I want Andy to stay too because I know if he’s fired he’s going to have at least five teams courting him, while we’re left to find someone as good.

  • A_T_G

    So the guy who won the starting QB job gets injured week 1. Can Kolb step up and do to Skelton what Vick did to him?

    • Dave_King

      Kolb-torious doesn’t have the same ring. I like Kolbsanity though.

  • ACViking

    Re: PK Alex Henery

    He’s missed 3 FG attempts inside 50 yards in 3 of the last 4 games.

    Replays show that each one looks almost identical to the others. All three were pulled left. What’s up there?

    • ICDogg

      Meanwhile Akers hit a 63 yarder

  • http://twitter.com/alex_karklins Alex Karklins

    Seeing great defense and anemic offense from the Eagles gave me flashbacks to Brad Goebel and Pat Ryan. Ugly, ugly stuff for long stretches, there. Lucky to get the win today.

    • ACViking

      No Eagles coach could ever be so inept again in choosing back-up QBs as Kotite was 1991. (And I doubt we’ll ever see a defense as good as 1991 again. It was 43 years between Eagle defenses that dominated like the ’91 team.)

      In fact, I don’t believe we’ll ever see another NFL coach make personnel decisions at the most important position on the field as utterly inept — is there a word that means worse than “inept,” really worse — than what Kotite did to his team and the fans that year.

      No wonder Jerome Brown wanted to beat the crap out of Kotite.

      Just think if the players hadn’t stopped JB. The Eagles might have actually won the SB that year.

      • http://twitter.com/alex_karklins Alex Karklins

        Well, the most egregious decision was bringing in Pat Ryan. Goebel was a rookie, so you didn’t know what you would get. McMahon was good, but made out of glass, and Jeff Kemp was actually kind of OK. Using 5 different QBs was just bizarre.

        But the Eagles did win the game yesterday, so let’s hope Vick can push the reset button for next week. He’s certainly a lot more talented than the whole 1991 QB platoon put together.

  • SteveH

    Yeah I gotta say on the whole clutch play angle… Vick should have been intercepted on the 2nd and goal play. If he does I gaurantee this article has a whole different angle to it :) .
    I think you should mention Damaris Johnson as a hero also. Every time he was back there fielding a punt all I could think of was Greg Lewis, but Damaris didn’t fumble a single time! Looking kind of like Greg Lewis and not fumbling punts is commendable no?

    • ACViking

      Don’t forget . . . on the game-winning drive, Vick also fumbled after scrambling on 3rd-and-10, but recovered.

      Cleveland had two chances on that last drive to put a stake in the Eagles’ heart.

      DIdn’t happen. Whereas last year, you had INTs being tipped off the foot of Avant and off deflections on screen passes. And need I mention HB option passes just inside the A-gap with the pass going backward?

      • SteveH

        I can’t knock vick as much for the fumble. Was a critical spot in the game and fighting for extra yards there made sense. 4th and short is a lot easier to convert than 4th and 3 or whatever it would have been if he had just gone down.

    • iskar36

      Yea. Calling Vick clutch in this game is a bit of an overstatement. The Browns gave us that win by not making a play they should have been able to make. Vick was more lucky than clutch in this game.

  • aub32

    Not sure if anyone mentioned this, but can we also dub Desean Jackson a hero. He played hard and made some tough catches. Although, the reason he deserves to be a hero this week is for his smart play in knocking that ball away from Haden late in the game. Good WRs know that sometimes you have to become the defender. If Riley Cooper had did the same a couple years back against the Pack. Vick gets another shot to beat the eventual SB champs

    • Dave_King

      Should have been offensive PI though, I think. He put one hand around Haden’s neck and jumped off him to swat it down. Nice play though.

  • http://twitter.com/Jason_A_Hines Jason A Hines

    I totally agree with Tommy’s analysis here. I think we are being too hair-triggered on Vick here. Considering that he didn’t have a preseason, I think it’s plausible for him to have to catch up on the speed of the game. That to me explains a lot of those INTs where he was throwing into windows that closed faster than he expected. Also, I think Vick was a little rattled by the earlier play of the o-line, which was really bad for about a half. You can’t make any excuses for 4 picks (I don’t want anyone to think I’m trying to give Vick a pass), but I think the problems can be explained and it’s not necessarily some issue that cannot be rectified.

  • FreeReggieEvans

    Tommy, need your opinion:
    1. Was it “erratic” play, or can Vick simply not read a blitz. My untrained eyes saw him do fine when they brought 4 or played man, but his solution to the zone blitz seemed to be to throw to the wrong team.
    2. I was yelling to put in Foles in the fourth quarter. Does that make me a bad person?

    (also, the Cleveland punter was really really strong)

  • http://twitter.com/PhiIs_Goodman Phils Goodman

    It also could have been an aberration for Vick that had little to do with rust. Sometimes players just have terrible games.

  • ceteris_paribus1776

    outside of a handful of games two years ago, Mike Vick has been highly erratic. His pocket presence is awful, and he routinely struggles with the blitz. Add to that it the pressure he seems to be putting on himself to succeed and the game is coming at him faster than it was in 2010. His decisions are less crisp and exact. He’s appears to be unsure of his reads. Not the sort of progress you’d expect from your quarterback.

  • The_Reddgie

    Tommy, when you do your DGR, can you keep a QB clock on Vick? Some are saying that he was pressured all day, but I contend that some of that pressure was from him holding on to the ball way longer than he should’ve been and if he had thrown the ball at the end of his drop, he wouldn’t have had so many Browns in his grill. Thanks bro.

  • P_P_K

    Can Tommy or someone with tape tell me what was going on with the O line? Was there a consistent pattern with the penalties? Why was Vick under so much pressure? Are there problems with Mudd’s system?

    • ceteris_paribus1776

      I think Vick was under so much pressure for mainly 2 reasons: 1) He doesn’t feel pressure very effectively, and 2) the play-calling was predictable as usual and it’s a bit easier when you only have one think to keep in mind as a defensive front. The Oline didn’t seem to play particularly well from my vantage point, but neither Vick nor Reid/MM did them any favors either.

      • P_P_K

        Agreed. But there was such a comprehensive breakdown– was there anyone on the line without a penalty? — that I wonder if Mudd’s system itself could be a probem. Or at least it’s application to the current Eagles.

        P.S. I had to look up what your poster name means. Cool.

  • ICDogg

    I don’t want to get carried away about it but Avant *did* indicate that players were going to cheat because there were replacement refs.

    And those refs may have been making a statement when they called all of those ticky tack things especially early in the game.

  • iskar36

    In terms of the defense, you can only play the team you have in front of you, and with that in mind, the defense played spectacularly. This is absolutely a game you can build off of and gain confidence from. Having said that, it will be interesting to see what we are able to do against a more talented offense. The Browns offense didn’t have anything that really tested our talent. Some of the other offenses we face will have much better talent.

    It was definitely a good game by our defense. Not allowing a td is never an easy task, regardless of who you are playing. I just don’t think we have seen enough from our d to start hyping them to much.

  • RMB1969

    Why won’t these coaches run the ball?!?
    AR: “We had fumbles and that early and we got away from it…”
    Average Fan (Me): Really? You had interceptions too but that didn’t stop the constant ineffective passing attempts.
    AR: “Well we thought we saw some things there from the past game and they were giving us some coverages we thought we could take advantage of…”
    Average Fan (Me): I thought I saw a massive amount of ineffectiveness from the passing attack from the past several drives. But that never caused them to “get away from” chucking it.
    I mean, I’m no football expert but I distinctively saw MV throwing interception after interception. Dude was throwing into double coverage, rolling towards the sideline and throwing across his body into the middle of the field like some kind of rookie – it was infuriating.
    As soon as they start running the ball they start gaining momentum, start gaining yards, start controlling the line of scrimmage. Why can’t they start a game like that even one time?
    I realize the NFL is a passing league but you need to run SOMETIMES to keep defenses honest. There needs to be some GD balance! Not to mention, why can’t you just adjust as an offense and go with whatever is working against a team on that particular day?!?!? This team is loaded with talent and should be able to run or pass at will on almost any team in this league but the coaching staff makes them a one dimensional pass-only team…by choice. Thereby making their oppositions’ defensive task much easier.
    AR is always preaching about how games are won and lost up front (on the line), but instead of allowing his O-line to come out and establish the LOS by running and punching a team in the mouth and getting them back on their heels a little bit, they always have the Oline dropping back into protection.
    It’s the same old thing year after year – I shouldn’t get worked up about it because everyone knows he’s not going to change (AR) but I can’t help it. Coach has put together a team that is absolutely STACKED – and he is hamstringing this offense with the obsessive passing.
    RUN THE BALL

  • http://twitter.com/ProtoTyler Tyler Phillips

    I have this theory about opposing D’s that has been marinating for the better part of a year now. I really think they are intentionally baiting MM and AR into attacking with low percentage plays, all the while knowing that they can’t help themselves.
    Am I crazy?
    It just happens so frequently that it can’t be by accident.The other team strategically leaves the deep areas(read: low percentage plays) of the field that we love to attack “open”?

  • Mac

    I said it before and I’ll say it again… most fans have been barking at the wrong coordinator.

    MM time’s yours…

  • RMB1969

    Why won’t these coaches run the ball?!?
    AR: “We had fumbles and that early and we got away from it…”
    Average Fan (Me): Really? You had interceptions too but that didn’t stop the constant ineffective passing attempts.
    AR: “Well we thought we saw some things there from the past game and they were giving us some coverages we thought we could take advantage of…”
    Average Fan (Me): I thought I saw a massive amount of ineffectiveness from the passing attack from the past several drives. But that never caused them to “get away from” chucking it.
    I mean, I’m no football expert but I distinctively saw MV throwing interception after interception. Dude was throwing into double coverage, rolling towards the sideline and throwing across his body into the middle of the field like some kind of rookie – it was infuriating.
    As soon as they start running the ball they start gaining momentum, start gaining yards, start controlling the line of scrimmage. Why can’t they start a game like that even one time?
    I realize the NFL is a passing league but you need to run SOMETIMES to keep defenses honest. There needs to be some GD balance! Not to mention, why can’t you just adjust as an offense and go with whatever is working against a team on that particular day?!?!? This team is loaded with talent and should be able to run or pass at will on almost any team in this league but the coaching staff makes them a one dimensional pass-only team…by choice. Thereby making their oppositions’ defensive task much easier.
    AR is always preaching about how games are won and lost up front (on the line), but instead of allowing his O-line to come out and establish the LOS by running and punching a team in the mouth and getting them back on their heels a little bit, they always have the Oline dropping back into protection.
    It’s the same old thing year after year – I shouldn’t get worked up about it because everyone knows he’s not going to change (AR) but I can’t help it. Coach has put together a team that is absolutely STACKED – and he is hamstringing this offense with the obsessive passing.
    RUN THE BALL

  • Kevin_aka_RC

    I thought Juan Castillo called a great game. He didn’t blitz Weeden and made the inaccurate quarterback throw into coverage (making tight throws). Blitzing may have given him easy reads.

  • izzylangfan

    I posted a note about a month ago where I discussed my opinion of Vick at Atlanta. The gist was don’t let him run, put some pressure and he throws the dumb pass down the middle to seal the game for his opponents. So now I ask what happens when you take a run-first quarterback and try to make him a pocket passer – going against who he is? Can the brilliant faculty of the Reid-Mornhenweg Quaterback University have success with Vick? And if not, can they teach Foles to not underthrow the long pass.

    More questions.

    If they want to double cover Jackson with a safety making him a decoy and frequently do the same thing with Maclin why didn’t the Eagles take advantage with throws underneath. In that game winning drive they finally discovered Avant but where were the slot receiver, tight ends and safety valve backs during the rest of the game?

    Perhaps all the players but Vick had decent games but wasn’t the play calling the worst we have ever seen?

  • izzylangfan

    I know I should have said this before the weekend but I did believe it. The Saints are unlikely to be a great team this year. While the league only fined and suspended about four players and four management personnel, the whole team now knows that at least half the defense and, and many more managers are slime buckets. They knew exactly what was going on with the bounty system. And didn’t Sean Payton just turn your stomach with his I’m sorry I knew but I’m going to aggressively defend myself approach. Knowing that they were personally sleezy and that the team is thoroughly perfused with oozing slime has got to effect the players.