Detailed Game Review – DET 26, PHI 23 OT

Posted: October 17th, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 65 Comments »

If…

* Brent Celek catches the TD pass instead of dropping it
* the officials don’t flag Brent for OPI on the TD pass he did catch
* Brandon Hughes doesn’t look at the QB instead of focusing on Tony Scheffler on deep pass play late in the game
* Mike Vick puts a little loft on his late 3rd down pass to Jeremy Maclin
* Vick doesn’t make a poor throw to DeSean on 4th Qtr post route that was an INT instead of a tD
* Nate Allen doesn’t get hurt late in the game
* Mac doesn’t slip after catching a pass inside the 5
* Shady McCoy makes sure he goes down inbounds instead of landing out on play on final drive of regulation and the clock keeps rolling
* Akeem Jordan realizes the ball is under him after forcing a fumble on PR in OT instead of letting Logan get it back
* the coaches don’t call 3 deep pass plays on the 3 downs in OT

If those things had been different, we either would have won or would have made it that much harder on the Lions to come back. Instead, the Eagles suffered a letdown at almost every critical moment of the final 5 minutes and much of the 4th Qtr.

I’d love to say this loss is on Juan Castillo or Mike Vick or Andy Reid, but it really was a team effort. Felt like just about every player out there had a hand in it. Up 23-13 with 5 minutes left and we blew it. It was hard to watch on Sunday and just as bad to re-watch. Actually gave me an upset stomach since I knew what was coming.    

COACHING

There’s not a lot to say with normal items (timeouts, challenges, going for it on 4th down, etc). There just weren’t many moments like that in the game. I know some people wanted Reid to use his timeouts late in the game to see if we could get the ball back, but I didn’t feel that was a no-brainer. Also worried about the Lions scoring a TD on that drive instead of a FG. I did like the fact that Andy didn’t try to ice the kicker.

The team started slow, but that wasn’t a lack of effort or anything like that. Poor execution. That was also tied to a questionable offensive gameplan. Marty and Andy knew the Lions secondary was vulnerable. And they were right. There were chances for big plays. Marty and Andy failed to focus on a couple of issues.

First, they should have anticipated the Lions coming in fired up. They were 1-3. The press was getting on them quite a bit. There was a report in Pro Football Weekly that questioned Ndamukong Suh’s effort and toughness. Guess what? Suh played with a real chip on his shoulder. Thanks, PFW. Marty/Andy thought the OL could block the Lions due to the lackluster play by the DL so far. They should have anticipated a much stronger effort, which is what we got.

Second, the Steelers just showed everyone last week how confused our OL can get with well-designed blitzes. The Lions like to blitz vs Vick. If you go vertical, you better hope it is on a play where they don’t blitz or where the OL and skill players block it correctly.

This stuff wasn’t happening and Vick took a beating early in the game. The holes in the secondary might have been there, but the time needed to exploit them wasn’t. The coaches did adjust, seems like late in the 2nd Qtr. The offense woke up and went and scored a TD. The offense was terrific in the 3rd Qtr. There were 2 drives. Both ended in scores and covered a good amount of ground. The problem was that both ended in FGs instead of TDs. That grew the lead to just 13-6 instead of 17 or even 21 to 6.

In the 3rd Qtr, Vick played well. Made smart decisions. Got the ball out on time. Made a couple of terrific throws. The OL did a good job. They knew they needed to block for 2 seconds instead of 4 or 5. Things got rolling.

This shows you that Marty/Andy can call small-ball plays. Vick can execute them. The OL can block guys in that style of offense. We got away from it in the 4th Qtr and OT. I understand why they did it, but not in a logical sense so much as I understand why people with bad habits do those types of things knowing they aren’t good or productive. Marty/Andy had been patient in their mind. They’d played small-ball and now was the time to strike. They went deep and it got picked off. Ironically, it was a short pass to Mac that delivered the long TD that they so badly craved.

In OT they got greedy again, looking for the quick strike. Un-freaking-believable. Possibly the worst 3 plays of the Andy Reid era, and I don’t say that lightly. We had 2 sacks for -21 yds and a bad incompletion on 3rd down. We gave the Lions 21 yards of field position. Imagine if we had just punted on 1st down. The Lions would have been backed up to about their own 30 instead of starting around midfield. Unbelievable.

As for Juan and the defense…great job for 3 quarters. The 4th Qtr/OT…not so much. 286 yards, 20 points. In Juan’s defense, losing Nate Allen really did hurt. Colt Anderson looked lost on defense. You can flip that and blame Juan/other coaches for not having Colt more ready to play on defense.

We were doing many of the same things in the 4th Qtr that we did earlier. We needed to mix some things up and throw a curveball at the Lions. Juan did try a couple of blitzes, but one was slow and one came on a run play and proved completely ineffective. Those weren’t the only 2, but the point is that we weren’t dictating anything to the Lions. They weren’t confused by anything. If players beat them on the field, so be it. I don’t think we out-schemed them on D at all.

I do have to say here that the Lions really benefited from the bye week. They had fresh legs. It seemed like they did a great job with self-scouting and scouting us. The Lions were one of the worst running teams in the league through the first month. They decided to get creative and make that work. They had 28 runs and did a mixture of RBs, WRs, and even QB runs. That put pressure on our Safeties to come up vs staying back. The Lions burned us with bootleg pass plays. They knew our DEs crashed hard to the inside. We got burned on that at least 3 times.

As for the Lions D, they seemed to know our offense really well. I don’t know if we have some serious “tells” or what, but the Lions were in perfect position on a lot of plays. Kudos to them for scouting so well and the players for listening and being in the right position.

OFFENSE

* 8 of 17 on 3rd downs. Very good at small-ball.

* Only 1 of 3 in the RZ. That hurt in a big way.

* Penalties helped us a lot. Detroit had 16-132 yds. Seemed like most came on their defense.

Players

QB 

VICK – Long day. 28-46-311. 1 TD, 2 INTs. 9-59 as a runner. There were times when he looked really good. Watch the 3rd Qtr and you’ll see Vick the playmaker. Took a real pounding in the 1st Qtr. Detroit hit him low, high, and everywhere in between. Vick always got up. Super tough. The 2 INTs were bad. One came on a throw to Avant over the middle. Mike was hit as he threw. Can’t force a ball over the deep middle like that if you aren’t sure you can make a good throw. The pressure caused the INT, but he’s got to know he can’t put that ball up for grabs. Other INT was worse. Called a deep post in the 4th. Vick had a clean pocket. DeSean ran a perfect route. Open for a TD. Vick didn’t step into the throw cleanly and the ball stayed straight. He needed to lead DeSean to the middle, that’s what the post route is. Goes inside, not straight. INT. Only thing I can say in his defense, was throwing into the wind. Still, bad throw. We should have had a big play TD. Instead, gave the ball to the Lions.

I did like Vick’s running. Got out of bounds. Got max yards before doing so, but didn’t expose himself to big hits. Was aggressive, not greedy.

Vick could have saved us all a lot of grief if he had just gotten a bit of air under his throw to Mac on 3rd down late in the game. Mac was wide open. Had room to run. Vick threw the TD to Mac with loft, but on this 3rd down the pass was flatter. I think Vick got excited when he saw him and rushed the throw. Suh was able to bat it down. Could have made a huge difference. I don’t know that Mac takes that for a TD, but would have got for at least 25 yards and helped us to eat more of the clock.

* Vick did a great job with hard counts. He got the Lions to jump, over and over.
* Vick was sloppy on the final drive of the half. Threw a ball to Shady on the right side. LB tackled him easily and forced us to burn the final timeout. Vick would have been better served to throw the ball out of bounds. The next play Vick threw to Avant on the left side. I’ve blamed Avant for not getting out of bounds, but the throw was part of that. Pass needed to lead him wide. Avant had to adjust to the pass, was tackled in. That ate up clock and killed the drive.
* Vick threw some terrific passes. Hit DJax with a slant that was perfect. The TD to Mac was an easy throw, but those can be the hardest to make sometimes. Best pass might have been throw to DJax down the right sideline. Touch. Accuracy. Ball went behind the CB and in front of the S.

RB/FB

SHADY – No room to run. 14-22 on the ground. 7-26 as a receiver, but did have a short TD. Solid job of blocking. Left the game for a bit after landing hard on his knee. Scared us all, but only missed a handful of plays.

B BROWN – Good game. 5-4 as a runner. Didn’t have room. Almost busted a 3rd Qtr run for a 15-yd TD. Got 5 on the play and was a step away from firing through a gap and into the open. DB got him. Took over for Shady when he got hurt and did fine. Had his best blocking day so far. Looked pretty good in pass pro. 16 snaps.

HAVILI – Good blitz pickup on play late in half where we got the PI call and got inside the 5. Was open a couple of times as a checkdown target, but Vick was looking downfield. One play Havili was open by 10 yds. Would have been a nice play. Had a couple of good blocks on run plays, but we didn’t do too much running from the I-formation. 24 snaps.

TE

CELEK – Rough day. Dropped 3 passes by my count, 1 being a TD. Had a TD wiped out by OPI call. Took some big hits in the legs. DBs were going low on him. Brent struggled to get up after a couple of hits. Got helmet knocked off while blocking late in the half. Possible penalty, but no call. Would have put us in FG range. Beaten for sack by Avril when left as 1-on-1 blocker in passing situation. Other than that, he had a great game. Did catch 4 passes for 33 yds. 2 of the drops came in traffic, but Brent has to make those plays if he’s going to be a top flight TE. The TD drop was painful. No excuse on that. The OPI call was bogus. There was contact, but it was within 5 yds. Brent did push off, but didn’t extend his arms. He was bigger than the other guy and just out-muscled him. That’s not my version of OPI.

HARBOR – Quiet game. Tried to get him the ball on a special play. Had Clay line up right and then go in motion. Was doing a variation of the wheel route. Instead of him faking outside, he just raced up the field. The thought was that by having him go in motion, he’d already be on the move at the snap and could get deep. Defender stuck right with him. Give the defender credit there. Good play design. Caught 2 passes for 9 yds. One pass was with Clay out wide. Quick throw to him. Fought for a couple of yards, but couldn’t break free.

WR

MACLIN – 6-130. Highlight was the 70-yd TD. Wasn’t covered due to blown assignment. Best play other than that was a quick pass to the left side where Mac fought through a tackle and added about 15 RAC yds. Strong. Showed good burst up the sideline on that.

D JACKSON – 5-74. Used to stretch the D quite a bit. Was open for some big gainers, but he and Vick couldn’t connect. Got the ball on an end around, but the backside DE was waiting for him and lost yds. Bad call. That play needed to be a few plays later so that you could see if the DE was biting or playing contain. DeSean made a couple of terrific catches along the sideline.

AVANT – 2-21. I have ripped Jason for not getting out of bounds late in the half, but I owe him a partial apology. Bad throw from Vick really made it tough on him. I still think he could have fought harder to get out, but I don’t know that he would have made it.

COOPER – Made 2 catches in the game. Caught the ball cleanly. Tough to tackle. Let’s mix this guy in some more.

OL

BELL – Bad job on shovel pass on 3rd/1. Went for wrong DL and hit Shady in the backfield. Looked confused. Did a good job on the short TD pass. Pushed DT to inside, then got on LB. Had a few plays in the 2nd half where he really struggled. Failed to block inside guy on a pass play. On pass play in OT he got knocked to the ground by rusher. Bell is showing that he can be a functional LT. His mental mistakes are now the biggest issue. Gets confused on who to block and that cost us at some key moments.

MATHIS – Threw blitzer to the ground early in the game. Had the best game of any OL. Had a great block on early run in the 3rd Qtr. Downblocked the NT and opened huge hole for Shady right up the middle. Got 11 on that play.

REYNOLDS – Played his best game at PIT. I hoped he would build off that. Yeah…not so much. Bad game. First thing to mention is snap issues. There were 3 fumbles/mis-snaps. One was with Vick under Center. Other 2 were in shotgun. On one of those, you could see Vick pick up his foot. Normally you do that in an obvious way. Vick did it 2 to 3 inches. Wasn’t a signal to Reynolds, but he thought it was and snapped. Not good when the C/QB exchange has 3 bad plays.

That aside, the blocking wasn’t consistently good. Reynolds struggled with seal blocks on the 2nd level. He struggled vs Suh on a couple of plays. He just doesn’t have the quickness or strength to deal with Suh 1-on-1 in some situations. Reynolds was sloppy in pass pro. He did a good job on short TD to Shady. Pushed DT to inside, then got LB. Reynolds did pretty well in the 3rd Qtr as the offense got some rhythm and he built up his confidence.

WATKINS – So very, very frustrating. Part of me wants to sit here and rip Danny for the missed blocks and sloppy plays. Then you watch the 3rd Qtr and see him make some perfect blocks. Textbook stuff. And that’s run and pass. Up and down game. Struggled at times with Suh, both run and pass. Sometimes it was power that got him. Other times it was a quick burst.

HERREMANS – Disappointing. What the hell happened to Todd Herremans? Biggest mistake came on 1st/10 in OT. Flat out missed block of Avril on pass play and that ended in a sack. Crucial play. Crucial situation. Avril didn’t use some ungodly explosive move. Standard pass rush. Todd just got beat. Can’t have that from the guy who should be your top OL. Didn’t have a strong game overall, run or pass.

KELLY 

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DEFENSE

* Lions were just 3 of 13 on 3rd downs. They beat us with “chunk” plays.

* 2 of 4 in the RZ.

* No sacks.

* 1 Takeaway. QB overthrew his WR so it isn’t like we created that with pressure or a special play. Just caught the ball.

* A note about the lack of sacks…once again we saw a team that had a very specific plan and the discipline to stick to it. Ran draws. Threw screens. Used bootleg passes. Ran end arounds. Threw 3-step drops with some cut blocking. Used 6 OL in some sets. Used double teams on the DEs. There were very few plays where DEs had one blocker to beat on a 5 or 7-step drop. Still, there were some of those plays and the guys up front didn’t get to Stafford when the Lions took chances.

PLAYERS

DL

COLE – Got pressure when single blocked in the 1st half. Helped get in on a TFL on 3rd/3 run play. Wasn’t credited with a tackle all day. Had a free run at Stafford in the 4th Qtr, but tripped and fell. Ugh. Struggled to get good pressure on the final couple of drives. Burned on bootleg play early in the game.

BABIN – Got pressure on 3 specific pass plays. Credited with being in on 3 tackles. Got mad at Jason when he bought fake and was burned on bootleg. Got really mad when he did it a 2nd time. Finally played that right in the 4th Qtr and Stafford had to rush the throw and the pass was into the ground. Disappointing game.

LANDRI – Came alive in OT. Drew a holding call that I hoped might keep the Lions out of FG range. Didn’t work. Was very active and around the ball in OT. Got some penetration on earlier short yardage play and helped the play to fail. Credited with a TFL in the game. Didn’t see much pressure on Stafford.

JENKINS – Another guy who had a quiet game. Didn’t get regular pressure. Credited with a couple of tackles. I expected him to show up when the Lions got down 10 and he could just turn it loose. Didn’t happen. Discouraging.

TAPP – Up and down game. Liked what I saw for parts of the game. I don’t know if the LT relaxed with him in the game, but Tapp got pressure on a couple of plays. Did see him get knocked to the ground at least once. Credited with 1 tackle.

GRAHAM – Good game. Played 18 snaps. Got pressure on several of them. Still most effective with the bull rush. Credited with 1 tackle. Disrupted TE screen by sticking with the TE and forcing the QB to throw the ball into the ground.

COX – Thrown out in 2nd half for punching player on extra point. Dumb. Admitted as much after the game and said he’d never do that again. Had some success with pushing the pocket. Had a sack wiped out when he was called for hands to the face. Had some good moments overall, but failed to push the pocket as much as we needed. Credited with batting down a pass. Could have really used his presence in the 4th Qtr, but Fletch was ejected for punching someone after an extra point. Un-freaking-believable.

HUNT – Only played one snap.

THORNTON – Solid vs the run. Had a couple of tackles. Still not doing much as a pass rusher. Made a good tackle of Stafford on QB draw late when the Lions tried to catch us off guard.

LB

KENDRICKS – Very good game in coverage. Was all over Lions TEs. Credited with 4 solo stops. Run defense was sloppy. Got in the wrong gap a couple of times.

RYANS – Good game. A force in the middle. Had 10 solo tackles, 13 overall. 3 were TFLs. Made good stops on a couple of 3rd/short plays. Just missed another one when he got out wide on pass play, but wasn’t able to keep the RB from getting to the marker.

JORDAN – Solid showing. Had good coverage of RB on pass about 10 yds upfield. It was still completed, but Akeem was right there. Solid job in run D. Credited with 3 tackles. Did a better job than Chaney of shedding blocks.

S

ALLEN – Pretty solid game, but with some luck involved. One aspect of Nate’s game that is starting to really bug me is diagnosing plays. Bit on play fake early on that could have resulted in big play to TD to the TE. Nate looked dumbfounded that it was a pass. There were some run plays where he was slow to read and come up. There was an end around where he should have seen the receiver get the ball, but Nate was slow to react to that. None of these plays amounted to much. Just not a good sign. I said Nate had a good game simply because he helped to control Megatron for 3 Qtrs. It wasn’t as if Nate did anything special. Stayed deep and reacted to the ball when it was in the air.

Got isolated on Megatron on 4th Qtr pass play. He ran drag route. Nate stayed back, but followed. CJ got the pass and Nate came up quickly to make the stop. CJ just pushed him away and went down the sideline. Nate took a poor angle on the play. Too flat. Needed to give up the 5 yd pass, but contain CJ. Didn’t.

COLEMAN – Solid game. Had 6 solo tackles. Flew around and was very active. Stayed deep and helped in covering Megatron on several plays. Showed good discipline in not getting beaten deep on fakes. Came up quickly in run support on a few plays. Didn’t show good ball awareness. That ties into the lack of turnovers. Safeties need to see the ball and play it when they can. 1st Qtr pass play Kurt was so locked in to hitting Megatron that he didn’t even see the ball near him. Wasn’t a sure INT, but might have been able to pick it off. Had another play later in the game when he looked dialed in to the receiver and showed no awareness of the ball.

C. ANDERSON – First time on defense in a while and it showed. Made a big mistake on the deep ball to Scheffler. We were in Cover 2. Safeties must stay deeper than the deepest. Colt bit on short route, left Hughes alone deep. Had a penalty in the end zone late in the game. DRC almost picked off a pass on that play. I was screaming at him for dropping when they showed the replay and Colt clearly ran into a WR. Dumb. Looked lost on that. Missed tackle in run support. Not a good day.

CB

NNAMDI – Good game. Held Megatron to 1 catch through 3 Qtrs. Nnamdi had an INT in that stretch so it was 1 catch for each guy. Broke up 3 passes. Paid attention to the scouting reports and knew which routes to jump, which to stay back on. Was in on 5 tackles. The times when CJ did beat him for catches, Nnamdi was playing loose due to being in a zone or CJ just made spectacular grabs.

DRC – Did a solid job overall, but struggled when in the slot on CJ a couple of times. Got beat for key gain that set up the winning FG. DRC bought inside fake. CJ then broke hard outside and had all the separation he needed. DRC was credited with breaking up an earlier pass to another WR. Helped blow up a run play to his side. Got beat deep, but the pass wasn’t completed. DRC had good coverage initially, but stumbled. Got lucky on that. Could have been a TD.

BOYKIN – Credited with 4 tackles. Covered well on a couple of plays.

MARSH – Looked like he came in the game late. 7 snaps.

HUGHES – Bad game. Made 2 big mistakes in coverage. Got burned for huge gain by Scheffler on broken play. Brandon had good initial coverage, but turned his head back to the QB to look for the ball. Assumed Scheffler was going inside. Instead, Tony whipped around and went outside and then down the field. Got separation and was able to haul in a deep ball for 57 yds. All the momentum of the 23-13 lead evaporated in that moment. Got burned on another 4th Qtr pass play. 3rd/long. Bit on short fake and got burned on wheel route for TD. Should have stayed back and given up the 5 yd pass. Who cares? Ugh.

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ST’s

MCBRIAR – Good numbers. Averaged 56.6 per punt. First kick was low and got returned 48 yds. Got better after that.

HENERY – Good game. 4 touchbacks. 3 of 3 on FGs, including a 49-yd’er. Wind may have helped the touchbacks and McBriar’s punts.

KOR – Boykin’s best game, but still nothing to get excited about. Had 31-yd return to start the game for us. His longest KOR yet. Did pretty well on a couple of others. Still isn’t going all out. Too much thinking and reading. Needs to just run.

Boykin let us down late in the game. We needed a good return, but he didn’t have good blocking and was hesitant himself. Only got 12 yds on that. Getting 25 would have really helped.

PR – Mardy Gilyard took the place of Damaris Johnson. Caught punts well. Almost broke one for a good return.

MISC

* Polk, Cooper had key blocks on first KOR, which was the longest of the year.

* Havili had a good block on next KOR (up the middle)

* Fletcher Cox was thrown out for punching a player on extra point in the 4th Qtr. DUMB.

* Akeem Jordan forced a fumble on punt in OT. Ball was actually beside/under him, but Akeem didn’t know it. Before he could get his hands moving, Logan grabbed it and got control. So close. Would have put us at the 50 and given us a huge chance for OT win.

GAMEBOOK


65 Comments on “Detailed Game Review – DET 26, PHI 23 OT”

  1. 1 TommyLawlor said at 4:03 PM on October 17th, 2012:

    Sorry for the quiet day. My DGR work from yesterday got delayed by Juan’s firing. I considered not doing an extensive DGR, but then got caught up as I did write things out. So many mistakes, so little time…

  2. 2 The_Reddgie said at 4:15 PM on October 17th, 2012:

    Dude, I have to give you a lot of credit for having to re-watch these games. It’s like watching a beloved family member get maimed and injured in a car crash over and over and you can’t do anything about the outcome, even though you know it is coming. Just sit there and wait for the inevitable awfulness to occur. Thumbs up brother.

  3. 3 TommyLawlor said at 4:18 PM on October 17th, 2012:

    And this was one where Aunt Judy got torn to pieces.

  4. 4 Matthew Verhoog said at 5:34 PM on October 17th, 2012:

    At least there were parts of the game that were good. More like watching old video’s of cute kids, but knowing how they turned out.

  5. 5 Ty-Philly said at 5:12 PM on October 17th, 2012:

    Must have been hard knowing that 1 big play, sack or not blown coverage, and Juan might still be here

  6. 6 The_Reddgie said at 4:22 PM on October 17th, 2012:

    “The holes in the secondary might have been there, but the time needed to exploit them wasn’t.”

    Minionwheg needs to have this tattooed across his goddamned forehead, or get some intern to just follow him around all day long repeating this in his ear every 30 seconds. Everyone, and I mean literally EV-ER-Y-ONE who has watched the Eagles this year knows this and yet he won’t tailor a game plan that starts small and THEN goes after the big plays once the Defense starts to expect/anticipate the quick hitting pass plays. Asinine.

  7. 7 Ty-Philly said at 5:11 PM on October 17th, 2012:

    100% agreed

  8. 8 A_T_G said at 11:28 PM on October 17th, 2012:

    But… he couldn’t see it if it was on his forehead. Maybe print it on the soles of Vick’s cleats. That way every time he gets driven into the turf, Marty can say “Oh yeah, that’s right. Well, just one more try…”

  9. 9 scott_mather said at 4:26 PM on October 17th, 2012:

    Do you suspect Damaris Johnson might be the first one on the chopping block if a cut needs to be made, or was this more of a “light a fire under the guy” deactivation?

  10. 10 TommyLawlor said at 4:37 PM on October 17th, 2012:

    This was more about getting Riley Cooper active. He’s a key play on multiple STs units. Damaris is just PR. Don’t think this was a slap at Damaris at all. Gilyard got the nod because he’s acceptable PR and good at covering KOs, punts.

  11. 11 ACViking said at 4:51 PM on October 17th, 2012:

    Thanks, T-Law.

    Putting together that DGR took some real discipline.

    Great job.

    This is one of those times I had no interest in hearing bad news immediately.

  12. 12 TommyLawlor said at 4:52 PM on October 17th, 2012:

    One of the reasons I do them is for future reference. In 2 years we might have forgotten Brandon Hughes mistakes or Suh’s batted pass or whatever. Won’t be able to see all that stuff at ESPN so I write ’em out.

  13. 13 ACViking said at 4:55 PM on October 17th, 2012:

    Thank you, again, for your commitment. You have many, many fans.

  14. 14 Jeppe Elmelund van Ee said at 5:00 PM on October 17th, 2012:

    Tommy,

    I almost didn’t read this. Not because I suddenly don’t manically want to read everything you write. But I just felt sick to my stomach, when I read the title of your post. Did I really want to put myself through this again??

    Reading through it, I like one thing especially! I am really glad that our draft class seems to be so good. I hope Roseman and Reid (if he stays) have learned from this, and keep drafting BPA. If you have 2 or 3 drafts like the one we just had (including finding your future signal caller), that is what makes a championship team! Hopefully Foles will be that guy, and in 10-15 years, we’ll be talking about this draft with great memories.

  15. 15 Corry Henry said at 5:04 PM on October 17th, 2012:

    I’m sure this is a great write up, but I can’t really bring myself to read it. This game was a HUGE disappointment.

    Offtopic: Tommy, what’s your take on Chris Williams? I remember you were high on him. I believe “dancing bear” was your description.

  16. 16 TommyLawlor said at 5:21 PM on October 17th, 2012:

    Really good at Vandy. Reid, Castillo loved him. Huge disappointment in the NFL. Not sure the Eagles would have any interest.

  17. 17 A_T_G said at 8:15 PM on October 18th, 2012:

    You should have told him there was a paragraph about Williams near the middle of your post.

  18. 18 Matt said at 5:30 PM on October 17th, 2012:

    ProFootballFocus had Todd Herremans on their “Team of the Week” thing. They said that even though he gave up a sack and two hurries, he played positively in the other 56 occasions. Did you see something that they may have missed?
    Also which safety would you say is having the better season?

  19. 19 OldSoul said at 5:46 PM on October 17th, 2012:

    how are Winston Justice, Mike McGlynn, etc. grading out. From profootballfocus:

    When you think of the top pass protecting tackles in the league, how long is it before the name Winston Justice springs to mind? It’s gone largely unnoticed but in his 173 pass blocks he’s given up just two hurries, compared to his teammate Anthony Castonzo who has given up 19 quarterback disruptions on his 247 pass blocks. Quite the discrepancy. Castonzo is far from the bottom, so this more an indication of how rock solid Justice has been and how important it is the Colts keep him healthy.

  20. 20 SteveH said at 3:15 AM on October 18th, 2012:

    This… is hard to believe lol.

  21. 21 TommyLawlor said at 6:05 PM on October 17th, 2012:

    Possible I was so angry at the blown block in OT that I looked with biased eyes.

  22. 22 TommyLawlor said at 6:32 PM on October 17th, 2012:

    Re-watched some of his stuff. I’m not agreeing with 3 bad plays, 56 good ones.

  23. 23 OldSoul said at 5:42 PM on October 17th, 2012:

    One thing that amazes me is the extreme lack of Birds batted passes on their DL versus Vick’s seemingly 1-3 per game. Given that Vick’s #1 read is probably Maclin on the 3rd down play, what harm is there doing a quick pump fake to the outside to get the DL on their heels/arms up? Is he just not taught to do that? Why isn’t our DL not doing what Suh did? Especially Jenkins/Landri/Babin since they’re nowhere near the QB…

  24. 24 A_T_G said at 11:22 PM on October 17th, 2012:

    I see where you are coming from, but I can’t imagine drilling ways for Vick to hold the ball longer is a top priority at practice.

  25. 25 Mac said at 10:03 AM on October 18th, 2012:

    They could use the technique the Pats used to get Brady ready to play the stinkin Giants in the SB. Have guys waving brooms around in front of him as he tries to complete a pass.

  26. 26 SteveH said at 5:51 PM on October 17th, 2012:

    I think the most exciting part of this game was watching Bryce Brown level a blitzer on two different occasions. Its like he’s growing up right before our eyes. If I was Tommy I would have watched that and just pretended the rest of the game didn’t happen.

  27. 27 A_T_G said at 11:24 PM on October 17th, 2012:

    See, there IS an advantage to having a rookie cut his teeth behind a line that allows countless free rushers. Lots of opportunities.

  28. 28 SteveH said at 3:14 AM on October 18th, 2012:

    Bryce Brown is going to be a grizzled veteran in the pass blocking department by the end of the season at this pace.

  29. 29 Ben Hert said at 1:02 PM on October 18th, 2012:

    Just plug him on the line. Mudd guy…small, quick athletic, right?

  30. 30 Peter Kozicky said at 7:26 PM on October 17th, 2012:

    Whats your take on Chris Williams?

  31. 31 shah8 said at 8:00 PM on October 17th, 2012:

    Mathis got off the snap and blocked so hard, it almost looked like he was intentionally letting a free rusher overpursue on that play, and shady was merely taking advantage of some fooled sucker DL. That really was a good play.

  32. 32 P_P_K said at 8:31 PM on October 17th, 2012:

    I was looking forward to this because I just knew the Eagles couldn’t have really blown that 4th quarter lead. Surely this DGR would detail the proper outcome and we’d be enjoying a 4-2 season going into the bye. Sigh…

  33. 33 austinfan said at 8:48 PM on October 17th, 2012:

    What is sad about the playcalling is it’s like ground hog day.

    2008, the OL is falling apart as Tra is old, Runyan is playing on one leg, and MJG, well, is MJG. They are hapless against the Bengals and humiliated by the Ravens, 5-5-1, AR wakes up, realizes that McNabb can’t run anymore and his OL can’t block anymore, and calls a lot of short routes for DeSean, Curtis and Avant, and the two TEs, and Westbrook actually gets to carry the ball. That carries them to the NFCCG, 6-1 during that stretch.

    You’d think he would have learned something, or from the years 2000-2003 when he didn’t have anyone to get deep other than Pinkston a half dozen times a year. Yet he managed to win 12 games a year with an offense guaranteed to put fans and opposing defenses asleep. Or maybe 2006 when they were struggling when the Redskins taught the league how to shut down McNabb, just drop your safeties deep and force him to sustain a long drive. Then Garcia took over and gee, a QB who can sustain a long drive with short passes!

    It’s like AR wants to win a national championship, gee, just winning isn’t good enough, I need some 44-14 victories, so let’s get an early lead then pile on. Problem is the rest of the league actually watches film.

  34. 34 iskar36 said at 11:43 PM on October 17th, 2012:

    This is probably not the post to ask this on, but do you think you could write about how the offense has changed in the last couple of years? We have talked multiple times about how it changed in 2004 and 2005 after TO was here, but we haven’t talked about any major changes in this offense since then? I know there have been some minor tweaks, but have we made any significant changes to the offense in recent years? It seems to me, every season we are having the same discussion about running the ball more, getting better results in the redzone, using the short-intermediate stuff occasionally and then forgetting about it at inopportune moments of the game/season. Are we doing that using different schemes or has the scheme been fairly stagnant as of late?

  35. 35 Christian Therealw said at 3:47 AM on October 18th, 2012:

    God just read this. Can´t believe it: The late Jim Johnson was the defensive coordinator on most of those teams. Big Red hasn’t won a playoff game w/o Jim.

  36. 36 Mac said at 9:56 AM on October 18th, 2012:

    I suspect God knew about this all along. I heard he called JJ up to heaven to coach his defense.

  37. 37 A_T_G said at 3:03 PM on October 18th, 2012:

    Well done.

  38. 38 GermanEagle said at 5:37 AM on October 18th, 2012:

    Tommy

    Since it’s the bye week can you please dedicate a longer post to the following question:

    If the game is on the line, who would you rather have on the field in the last series, our O or D?!

  39. 39 Davesbeard said at 6:20 AM on October 18th, 2012:

    Ooo tricky, both have won us games, both have lost us games. I’d say that with Bowles at DC, I’d pick the D right now. Don’t trust Vick/our O-line.

  40. 40 Davesbeard said at 6:17 AM on October 18th, 2012:

    Bryce Brown “Looked pretty good in pass pro”

    Serious understatement from what I saw! (Though admittedly I probably only saw the good plays)

    On multiple occasions he /completely/ levelled a blitzing safety and then bullied him into the ground. I’ve never seen an Eagles RB do that before.

  41. 41 RIP Worms said at 9:25 AM on October 18th, 2012:

    Agreed. In a game with very few positives for the long term future of this franchise, Brown’s pass blocking stood out to me. I assumed it would be a full year before he became even a functional pass blocker. Seems way ahead of the curve on that aspect.

  42. 42 A_T_G said at 7:25 AM on October 18th, 2012:

    I mentioned this the other day, but it was two “load more comments” deep. On the 1st and goal with 9 (or whatever) seconds left and the defense playing so poorly, was I the only one hoping that the DBs grab, hug, take down anyone that resembled a receiver? Take the penalty, take some time, Lions can’t risk going again before they kick.

  43. 43 aerochrome2 said at 10:22 AM on October 18th, 2012:

    Interesting idea– it seems like it would work although the league has seemingly tried to crack on down similar end-game loopholes.

  44. 44 GermanEagle said at 9:44 AM on October 18th, 2012:

    I was just watching the pats vs hawks highlights and Tom Brady and also Wilson had lots of time in the pocket behind their respective offensive lines.

    I am not saying that Vick would look like Brady in NE, however it would really be interesting to see Brady behind our O line which is arguably the worst in the NFL…

  45. 45 Mac said at 9:54 AM on October 18th, 2012:

    What was once a strength is now a weakness, and our OC/HC haven’t been able to compensate for it yet.

  46. 46 GermanEagle said at 9:58 AM on October 18th, 2012:

    It’s really a shame that MM cannot adjust. Bellichick would call more runs and quick passes if he had an O line like ours with the Pats…

  47. 47 Mac said at 10:05 AM on October 18th, 2012:

    As much as I hate Belichick, I love the way he and Brady find the one weak spot in a defense and just hammer the shit out of it until they can stop what they’re doing.

  48. 48 GermanEagle said at 9:56 AM on October 18th, 2012:

    OT:

    Has anyone seen Brandon Gibson’s catch against the dolphins in the last quarter?! WOW, probably the catch of the year…

  49. 49 Austinmax said at 10:22 AM on October 18th, 2012:

    Tommy – a few questions:
    – why did the Eagles get rid of Winston Justice?
    – why is Bobby April not being taken to task – ever since he has come – the ST has been putrid…and those blaming he does not have proper personnel is BS – other teams ST coordinators do it with whatever hand they are dealt – so why not April?
    Playcalling changed after TO came to town…Reid and his cohorts fell in love with the big play and became passaholics…I blame Reid and his offensive assistants for cutting Mcnabb’s career short….Mcnabb was a good QB – if only AR had used the running game more Mcnabb would have had a better career…AR and MM fail to tailor the offense to the QB’s strengths….and this will finally doom AR

  50. 50 P_P_K said at 12:51 PM on October 18th, 2012:

    Was Winston gone because he wasn’t a “Howard Mudd guy?” That’s why we got rid of JJ.

  51. 51 Ark87 said at 12:59 PM on October 18th, 2012:

    Winston had JUST gotten a starter’s contract then got some sort of knee surgery, which if I recall kept him out of training camp as Howard Mudd was establishing his blocking schemes and techniques. He couldn’t break back into the starting line-up, he was making too much to be a back-up. Frankly, the state of offensive lines in the nfl is quite bad. Winston is a starter in this league. So he’s off on another gig. Picked up a 6th round pick for him. Boy we could use him this season though

    I’ve got to imagine that Bobby is on the hot seat. Someone has probably had a brutally honest conversation with him this week. The only reason he isn’t gone is because we have no in-house improvements. Outside help will need an off season to really figure out his personnel and get them doing what he wants them to do.

  52. 52 Ark87 said at 10:36 AM on October 18th, 2012:

    Cautiously optimistic reports that Jason Peters could be back this season. The guy is in tip-top shape. The guy is driven, which I have to admit that i didn’t think he had it in him. If he gets back on the field this season, I’m getting #71 jersey. Coming back this season would be nothing short of heroic. Obviously I’d be skeptical about how good he’d be this year fresh off such a devastating injury.

  53. 53 Mac said at 10:41 AM on October 18th, 2012:

    Agree 110%

  54. 54 P_P_K said at 12:48 PM on October 18th, 2012:

    Considering his size and age, I am just hoping he will be 100% next year. I’d hate to have him hurry back and get re-injured. Sorry to be a bummer.

  55. 55 Ark87 said at 1:08 PM on October 18th, 2012:

    Like I said, I’d be skeptical on it. How good would he really be? Is it wise to rush this sort of thing? I say this, I admire the hell out of the guy for it though. He see’s his unit struggling and is doing everything in his power to get back on that field. Like I said, I didn’t think he was that sort. He comes off aloof in interviews and unfocused on gameday (false starts). He just seems like that effortlessly talented sort. He’s busted his butt to be a big man in a small-man’s O-line. He’s really changed my opinion of him over the past 2 years.

  56. 56 eagles2zc said at 11:37 AM on October 18th, 2012:

    Everyone had a hand in the loss, but the two miscues from Hughes were sickening. I couldn’t believe Hughes stayed flat on that wheel route.

  57. 57 A_T_G said at 8:24 PM on October 18th, 2012:

    I resent that. I had nothing to do with this loss.

  58. 58 PRoach17 said at 12:05 PM on October 18th, 2012:

    Tommy,

    Been reading your stuff for a while now, really enjoy you and Jimmy’s H2H show. Thanks for some great stuff. Question: With the bye week and no Eagles football until week 8, would it be possible for you to take a look at the film from when Bowles was Interim coach at Miami? Maybe give us a short preview of some of the looks/changes the defense might be showing against Atlanta? Or do you think that the D won’t change significantly enough to bother?

  59. 59 Ark87 said at 12:10 PM on October 18th, 2012:

    The dolphins were a 3-4 defense when he was the interim head coach I think (I think they just switched to a 4-3 this season).That would make it a tough comparison. That is also a worry for me. Might be able to get an idea what kind of coverages he likes? Even that is personnel based. Especially in this situation, no time for development, got to scheme to what you got.

    i think the defense will look pretty much identical to before to the common fan + or – how sharp the players are executing that day. The hope is that the play calls and adjustments will be more astute as the game goes along

  60. 60 PRoach17 said at 1:07 PM on October 18th, 2012:

    That was pretty much what I thought:

    “i think the defense will look pretty much identical to before to the common fan + or – how sharp the players are executing that day. The hope is that the play calls and adjustments will be more astute as the game goes along”

    Still thought I would put something out there. Also, you’re right that they were a 3-4. I forgot they made a switch this season, totally eluded me.

  61. 61 Ark87 said at 1:25 PM on October 18th, 2012:

    I’m still curious to know more about his “football DNA” so to speak. Love to hear Tommy’s opinion on that. General philosophies. Who he emulates, etc.

  62. 62 PRoach17 said at 1:34 PM on October 18th, 2012:

    Agreed. Definitely worth a look to some extent. You have to be able to pull something from his body of work.

  63. 63 A_T_G said at 4:46 PM on October 18th, 2012:

    For what it is worth, Spuds asked him in the video on PE site. He named the coaches he played for first, but I think he went on to name everyone he worked under. Probably tells us more about his PR skills than his coaching style. Names Excalibur me at the moment.

  64. 64 A_T_G said at 8:26 PM on October 18th, 2012:

    Excalibur?! I love autocorrect. This was escape.

  65. 65 BC1968 said at 1:47 PM on October 18th, 2012:

    If Steve Martin was the coach, they would’ve punted on first down.