Skinned
After the Eagles defeated the Washington Redskins yesterday 33-25, in a game I can best describe as entertaining with a splash of pure torture, I made an attempt to understand what I just witnessed. Yea, no luck there. I tried other methods. I put myself in the place of a die hard Eagles fan (which of course I am…more on that later) and focused on the good things that happened.
The Good
McNabb has a pretty good day going 20/28, 251 yds, 4TDs and no picks, Brian Westbrook was Brian Westbrook (a good thing) rushing for 100 yds, receiving for 83, scoring three TDs total, the team was only flagged for five penalties, and LJ Smith remembered to apply krazy glue to his gloves at halftime so that he wouldn’t fumble the next time McNabb threw an 80 mph laser at his feet. And they won, bringing their record to 4-5 with an 0-9 Miami Dolphins team on deck that would probably struggle against Notre Dame. We’re staring down 5-5 in an NFC that was best be described by my uncle as ‘fucking trash’. I’d also like to give FOX kudos for showing limited straight-on camera angles of Kenny Albert’s mutated face and droopy right eye. Kenny may end up being the first broadcaster in television history that is required to wear a pillowcase over his head during broadcasts. It’s gonna be an unbelievably difficult challenge looking at him 15 years down the road….I can only hope that whomever cuts the eye holes in the pillowcase remembers to make the right side hole two inches lower than the left. We love you Kenny!
The Bad
This is the city of pain right? Did you really think that Kenny Alberts’ ghastly, family-photo-ruining face was the low light of the game? Let’s see, where do we start….well first off, the defensive pressure on Jason Campbell was completely non-existent. If you showed me his stats prior to the game (23/34, 215 yds, 3 TDs, no picks) and the fact that the Eagles had ONE sack (one more than they had the week prior vs. Dallas , great progress guys) I would have called for a 10+ point Eagles loss easily. The Redskins essentially gave this game away to the Eagles. They had 11 penalties (four of which resulted in Eagles’ first downs), they missed an extra point which, theoretically, would have tied the game at 27 and allowed to Eagles to kick the extra point after Westbrook’s first receiving TD, and they allowed James Thrash to be their leading receiver. James Thrash! This cannot be ignored. There is a distinct possibility that James Thrash is competing with Greg Lewis as the NFL’s worst wide receiver. Can you imagine the water cooler talk around every lifeless office in Southeastern Pennsylvania if the roles had been reversed?
Worker1: “Dude, I can’t believe the Birds pulled that one out yesterday!”
Worker2: “Oh man I know….what a game. Two fuckin touchdowns for Glue!! He was so open on another one too. He should have had three. I was wearing my Greg Lewis jersey for good luck.”
Worker1: “Who would have thought Greg Lewis had so much potential? Jesus Christ, his hands, the way he ran those routes, his vision on the field….the Skins had no idea what was coming. I have a feeling he’s going to step up for us this year.”
Worker2: “We are so going to the playoffs! We may have found the receiver we needed, seriously”
Worker1: “Yea hopefully they’ll let him return punts. Maybe kickoffs too.”
If you’re the Eagles watching film of this game and you see James Thrash burn you for two touchdowns, something has to change. There isn’t a corner in the league that can’t cover Thrash. This is a guy who was only playing because Santana Moss was hurt. This is a player that even in his ‘prime’ was below average. Do you just forget about him on the field and think he won’t get thrown to if he’s open? I was appalled.
There was another thing that I noticed at the end of that game which infuriated me…..first let me say that no coach in the NFL knows how to manage a clock properly. None. I think everyone realizes this. Look no further than the Eagles-Buccaneers game last year when McNabb threw a ball in the middle of the field with time running out at the end of the half, and when Westbrook ran a TD into the end zone with 34 seconds left in the game when he could have easily ran across the goal line and eaten 8-10 seconds off the clock, thus not allowing Tampa to drive the field for a game winning field goal. Are these things you think of in the heat of the battle? Why not? Why not give yourself every advantage possible? It all begins with coaching. Wasted timeouts, useless challenges, horrible play calls….Players need to be taught how to handle certain scenarios if and when they occur. Case in point: Yesterday with the Eagles leading 26-25, Washington fumbles the ball on their own 25 yard line, squirming its way back to the 10 yard line, with 2:24 left in the 4th and no timeouts. My guess is that 95% of the Eagle fan base didn’t realize that on the very next play the Redskin defense completely allowed the Eagles to score so that they could get the ball back down by 8 and over two full minutes, plus the two minute warning, to drive the field and get a TD and two point conversion. Now, the chance of that actually happening, which it didn’t, was slim; however, the Eagles had been getting no pressure on Jason Campbell all game and they were moving the ball down the field on us consistently. To me, the smarter play would have been to kneel on the ball, kick a 27 yard field goal (the Eagles began the drive on the Redskin 10 yd line), and take the clock down to roughly 35 seconds. You kick a dribbler down the middle of the field and make them drive 65-70 yards on us for a touchdown. Even if Akers misses the kick, Washington still needs to drive 65-70 yards with no timeouts and kick a field goal with a kicker who looked shaky all day.
The Verdict
They won a game against just as shitty a team as they are. I’ll say this after every single week they win….there is a -28% chance the Eagles win the Super Bowl this season. While I do not expect them to lay down, it is still bittersweet when they win. I feel this team, if it wants to remain competitive in a shit conference, must address many gaping holes on defense. This needs to be done via the draft. With each victory they lose roughly two draft spots and the small possibility re-emerges that McNabb remains under center next year. This is bad on both counts.
Donovan McNabb contract documentation
2007: $8,835,000 (5.5 mil base salary)
2008: $9,635,000 (6.3 mil base salary)
2009: $9,206,000 (9.2 mil base salary)
2010: $10,006,000 (10 mil base salary)
I subscribe to the belief that McNabb needs to be elsewhere next year and that this team will only benefit if Kevin Kolb is under center. The young nucleus we should have for the next 5-7 years (Kolb, Westbrook, Hunt, Avant, Reggie Brown, Celek, Andrews, Jackson, Cole, Bunkley, Patterson, Gaither, Cocong, Sheldon Brown, Sheppard, Mikell) needs a new leader. Are the Eagles ready to take a 9.6 million dollar cap hit to bring him back next year? Doubt it…..
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