Blame Playcalling for Eagles’ Pathetic Outing Versus Cowboys

When reviewing the Eagles’ 24-0 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, two stats jump off the page more than any other.

Eagles pass attempts: 36  (With four sacks, that number moves up to 40.)

Eagles rushing attempts: 10

Game.  Over.

In a game where Andy Reid’s team chose to blitz far less than average (after coming into the game averaging nearly 50 percent of its defensive snaps blitzing), and the defense allowed the Cowboys to control the ball for over 40 minutes, the offensive playcalling set the defense up in such a no-win situation.

When a team throws 80 percent of the time , they become predictable defensively.  

I’m not discounting the impact of losing center Jamaal Jackson the week before in the win against Denver, because asking Nick Cole to establish a season’s worth of rapport with Donovan McNabb in a week’s time was a losing proposition to begin with.  (And such, that botched snap between Cole and McNabb in the second quarter was almost to be expected, although preferably McNabb would have at least fallen on the ball instead of allowing the Cowboys to recover).

But regardless of how large the Cowboys’ ever-growing lead seemed to be, by all but abandoning the running game, Reid waved the white flag to the NFC’s No. 2 seed and said, “See you next week, Dallas!”

As Chris Berman on ESPN so kindly put it, the Eagles should have been down 21-0 by the middle of the second quarter (if not for the Asante Samuel tip/Joselio Hanson interception).  But they weren’t — they were only down two scores for most of the first half and 17-0 by halftime.  

That is no reason to abandon the run game!  There’s still 30 minutes left, and by going pass/pass/pass/punt, it’s only putting an already-tired defense back out on the field.

Furthermore, as much as I’m a McNabb homer, even I’ll admit he didn’t have one of his finest days accuracy-wise on Sunday.  And that was evident from early on, when he overshot a wide-open DeSean Jackson on a deep ball that would have been the quick strike 6 points the Eagles famously feast off of, and a wide-open Jeremy Maclin soon thereafter.

If your quarterback isn’t having his finest day, and your offensive line is caving to the pressure of an oversized Dallas D-line, isn’t that the time to put the ball in your running backs’ hands?

Reid and Mornhinweg completely neglected Pro Bowl fullback Leonard Weaver and rookie running back LeSean McCoy, the two guys who had carried the Eagles’ running game in their six-game win streak, by feeding them the ball one time each.  Two carries for two of the Eagles’ most potent weapons from November and December.

And Michael Vick, who was being reported as “probable” in the days leading up to the game after recovering from his hamstring injury, was quickly downgraded to the No. 3 quarterback on Sunday, eliminating all chances of offensive trickery from his part.

Even if Vick lacks the explosive burst he needs to get around the corner and run for a huge gain… the Cowboys don’t know that!  They still have to respect his run and pass game.  And are the Eagles not confident enough in Vick as a quarterback in Week 17 of the season that they’d put him in for a few plays in a game that could win them a first-round playoff bye?

The only feasible explanation is that Reid and Mornhinweg didn’t want to reveal all their cards to the Cowboys, at the risk that they’d end facing them in Dallas again next week for a first-round playoff matchup.  (Surprise… they are.)  

But to what extent did they go to make sure that they didn’t reveal the offensive genius that brought them a six-game win streak where they averaged over 30 points per game?

Reid and Mornhinweg better go back to the drawing board… and fast.  The Eagles head back to Dallas for an 8 p.m. game on Saturday.

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NFL Dropped The Ball By Flexing Bengals/Jets Instead Of Eagles/Cowboys

This upcoming Sunday, two playoff spots and one division title are up for grabs.

Instead of choosing the Eagles/Cowboys game, where the winner will be the clear-cut division champion of the NFC East, NBC decided to move the Cincinnati Bengals/New York Jets game to the 8:15 night slot on Sunday .

While the network may be deterred because the Cowboys were just on Sunday night (in a 17-0 blowout of the embarrassing Redskins), for NBC to flex the Bengals/Jets instead of the Eagles/Cowboys is simply ludicrous.

The network execs over at NBC are hoping that the 8-7 Jets, led by rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez, will take control of their playoff fates and beat the AFC North champion 10-5 Bengals to earn one of the wild card spots in the AFC.

Here’s the problem with that logic: The Jets haven’t shown any sort of consistency all year.  And oh yeah, there are four other 8-7 teams in the AFC (the Baltimore Ravens, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Houston Texans, and the Denver Broncos) all playing for their playoff lives on Sunday as well.  Why choose one of the games where the opponent is likely to rest its starters?  

The Jets, along with the Ravens, have the win-and-you’re-in situation… but what happens if they lose?  (Besides thousands of angry letters from Philly and Dallas fans coming to NBC Studios on Monday morning.)

Houston faces off against AFC East champion New England on Sunday: If the Patriots don’t rest their starters, wouldn’t two of the league’s most high-powered offenses (and two of the best receivers in Andre Johnson and Randy Moss) be more entertaining than Derrelle Revis shutting Chad Ochocinco down all day?

Well-respected Sports Illustrated  writer Peter King addressed this flexing issue in his weekly Monday Morning Quarterback column today , saying that the by the end of 2013, the league must flex equal number of NFC (Fox) and AFC (CBS) games, and they’ve already flexed four more NFC games than AFC.

Luckily, the Patriots, Colts, Steelers, Ravens, Texans, Jets, Dolphins, Chargers, and Broncos aren’t going anywhere for a while.  The NFL will have plenty  of entertaining, flex-ible matchups in the next three years in the AFC.  

On the flip side, the Eagles and Cowboys face off in a rematch of last season’s Week 17, another game that had playoff implications.  Last year, after the Oakland Raiders shocked the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 1:00 game to kill their playoff dreams, the Eagles and Cowboys faced off in Philadelphia in a win-and-you’re-in game.  

The Eagles trounced the Cowboys, 44-6, in one of the worst losses in Cowboys franchise history.

Now, the tables are turned.

The 11-4 (4-1) Eagles head to the new $1.2 billion Cowboys Stadium to take on the 10-5 (3-2) Cowboys, with the NFC East title going to the winner.

This is the kind of matchup that Jerry Jones dreamed of when he broke ground on a stadium that cost more than a billion dollars (one with a 90-foot HD projection screen hanging over the field like the Death Star).  If he can’t drop $25 million on a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight (that may never actually take place), he’s glad to have America’s team back in the playoffs, fighting for their first playoff win in nearly 15 years.

And you can damn well believe that Jones wants a first-round playoff game at Cowboys Stadium, which will happen if the Cowboys win Sunday night.

For the Eagles, winners of six straight, the stakes are even higher.  If the Vikings lose tonight against the Chicago Bears (not to jinx Brett Favre or anything, but he hasn’t won a game where the starting temperature is below 38 degrees in over five years) or next week at home against the New York Giants, and the Eagles beat the Cowboys, they’ll sneak in as the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoff picture and earn a first-round bye.

With center Jamaal Jackson tearing an ACL last night and being lost for the season, and critical corner Sheldon Brown banged up during the game as well, you better believe the Eagles want that bye to get all their players healthy for their eighth playoff run in 11 years under Reid.

And if the Eagles manage to steal the No. 2 seed and knock the Minnesota Vikings down to No. 3, the once-terrifying prospect of heading to the rowdy Metrodome suddenly becomes welcoming Favre into the freezing cold of Philadelphia in January.  If the Vikings lose tonight (or Favre has another poor performance in the cold), a cold-weather playoff game could spell serious trouble for the Vikings. (Don’t forget: Brad Childress was an offensive coordinator before coming to the Vikings…under Andy Reid and the Eagles).

The league dropped the ball by flexing the Bengals/Jets game instead of a game with serious NFC playoff implications.

(And this Eagles fan hopes the Birds don’t do the same; instead, here’s hoping they beat the Cowboys and steal that No. 2 seed away for a first-round bye!) 

 

 

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Why Risk Bringing Brian Westbrook Back This Season?

Brian Westbrook hopes to play this weekend in the Eagles‘ game against the New York Giants, despite suffering two concussions in a three-week span earlier this season.

This news comes with Westbrook expressing concern this week about the permanent damage he could be doing to his brain by returning to the field this year.

It all leaves me left to wonder…why risk it, Brian?  

Use your brain.  While you still can.  And shut yourself down for the season, before it’s too late.

On Oct. 26—all of 43 days ago—Eagles nation had to watch Westbrook lay motionless on the turf of FedEx Field after a vicious collision between his head and Redskins‘ linebacker London Fletcher’s knee.

Then, just three weeks later, Westbrook returned for the Eagles’ 31-23 loss to the Chargers…only to suffer another concussion during the third quarter.

After the Chargers game, Eagles coach Andy Reid said, “In these types of situations, football is secondary.  You’ve got to look at this kid and for his future, and make sure everything’s OK for him before he gets back out there.”

If that’s so…why risk bringing him back at all this season?

Westbrook spoke out on HBO’s Joe Buck Live this week about fearing for his future, after fellow NFC East back Clinton Portis landed on IR on Tuesday because of a concussion he sustained on Nov. 8 of this year.

“I’m worried about it,” Westbrook said on Tuesday. “Concussions have been all over the headlines and all over the papers, and it has been on the top of my mind since the Redskins game on the 26th of October.”

Let’s re-hash.  Portis has been shut down for the season after sustaining one concussion on Nov. 8.  Westbrook has suffered two—one on Oct. 26, one on Nov. 15—and has been practicing this week with every intention to play against the Giants on Sunday.

Why bother coming back?  Why risk permanent, life-altering damage for a shot at the playoffs?

For those of you who haven’t read Malcolm Gladwell’s piece about concussions, take 10 minutes out of your day, do yourself a favor, and do so immediately.  His article came out in the middle of October, (coincidentally?) right when the NFL seemed to start paying closer attention to head trauma in their players.

He details the collective injury history of a lineman from the University of North Carolina in 2004, who also suffered two concussions in a season.  

UNC tracks each of their practices and games with a system called HITS by placing six sensors in each player’s helmet that track the force and placement of each hit to the head.  On one day of two-a-days during training camp, this lineman experienced two hits with the approximate force of a car slamming into a wall at 25 mph…and 31 hits altogether.  

He sustained a concussion during the evening session of the two-a-day, from a hit that was two-thirds the force of the two he encountered that morning.

Gladwell revealed, “A football player’s real issue isn’t simply with repetitive concussive trauma. It is, as the concussion specialist Robert Cantu argues, with repetitive subconcussive trauma. It’s not just the handful of big hits that matter. It’s lots of little hits, too.”

With that in mind…the question bears repeating.  Why risk further injury by coming back this season, Brian?

Arizona QB Kurt Warner and Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger both sat out of games two weeks ago due to post-concussion symptoms, despite both intending to play throughout the week.  

Steelers receiver Hines Ward even initially expressed dismay at Roethlisberger’s inactivity, saying the team was split “50-50” over whether Roethlisberger should have played in a crucial divisional game against the Baltimore Ravens.  

Ward brought up his own injury history, saying, “I’ve been out there dinged up.  The following week, [I] got right back out there.  You know, Ben practiced all week…To find out that he’s still having some headaches and not playing and it came down to doctor’s didn’t feel that they was gonna clear him…It’s hard to say, unless you’re the person…”

Football trains athletes to get into the warrior mentality, where they prove their toughness by playing through injuries.  But unlike a broken limb or a torn muscle, which can always eventually heal, an injury to the brain can have permanent, unseen ramifications.

The NFL is finally more aware of the dangers posed by head injuries, and they’re forcing players to play it smart.  

Considering the lack of long-term research regarding football players and head trauma, the NFL’s new stance comes not a second too soon.

“That’s my biggest concern. How am I going to be when I’m 50 or when I’m 60?,” Westbrook wondered on Tuesday. “Will I have all these brain diseases and will I have a problem remembering things?…Now, I’m trying to get myself together with the help of the doctors as well as coach [Andy] Reid and the training staff. Now, the most important thing is to get 100 percent healthy—and not play football…until I’m 100 percent healthy.”

And yet…coach Reid (who just signed a contract extension on Wednesday that will keep him in Philadelphia through 2013) brought Westbrook back to practice on Wednesday to run plays with the scout team.  While he’s now unlikely to play against the Giants on Sunday, the Eagles do appear to intend to bring Westbrook back this season.

Westbrook’s comments on Wednesday echoed his team’s sentiments.

“You want to play the game,” Westbrook said. “It’s weird. You see the situation with boxers and they just want to fight the next fight and you ask them why they want to come back and I think it’s because of the love of the game. You feel like you can still play. In my situation, I still think I can play, still think I can produce.

“Really what I’ve learned from the doctors is that I don’t have a high risk of getting a concussion by coming back after healing completely. That’s the number one thing. You have to heal completely before you come back. I want to play football. That’s what I love to do.”

Gladwell ended his article with an anecdote from Kyle Turley, a former lineman who played for the New Orleans Saints, St. Louis Rams, and Kansas City Chiefs in his nine-year NFL career.  Turley recalls a time when a concussed teammate of his passed out after a game in the cold tub (“I don’t know anyone who has ever passed out in the cold tub,” Turley said), then denied that anything was wrong.

Gladwell surmises, “That moment in the cold tub represented a betrayal of trust. He had taken the hit on behalf of his team. He was then left to pass out in the cold tub, and to deal—ten and twenty years down the road—with the consequences. No amount of money or assurances about risk freely assumed can change the fact that, in this moment, an essential bond had been broken. What football must confront, in the end, is not just the problem of injuries or scientific findings. It is the fact that there is something profoundly awry in the relationship between the players and the game.”

For the sake of Brian Westbrook‘s long-term well-being and for any Eagles fans who hope to ever see No. 36 put on an Eagles uniform again…it’s become time to pray.

It’s not time to pray that Westbrook fulfills his reckless dreams and returns to the field this season.

It’s time to pray that Westbrook comes to realize that the consequences of returning this season far outweigh any potential benefits.  

And it’s time to pray that the Eagles don’t jeopardize one man’s future for the sake of football, no matter how far they go this season.

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Eagles’ Win Over Redskins Was a Moral Defeat

The Eagles ‘ win over the Redskins Sunday moved the team to 7-4 overall on the season (3-1 in the division) and firmly into the driver’s seat for one of the two NFC wild card spots.

But in reality, it was about as close to a defeat as a win could be.  

In fact, while the Redskins get credit for another moral victory for keeping the game so close, the Eagles can soundly call Sunday’s performance a moral defeat.

Bill Simmons introduced me to the idea of a moral defeat in this reader mailbag of his , where a reader from Illinois proposed:

“[What’s] a phrase for a team that plays poorly and barely wins a game that it should have won in a landslide? Why not ‘moral defeat’? It’s the exact opposite of a moral victory — an inferior team playing out of its mind and almost toppling Goliath, but being satisfied ultimately with coming so close. You say moral defeat, and everyone knows what you mean: a win so ugly it feels like a loss.”

That definition sums up the Eagles’ most recent win over the Washington Redskins perfectly.

Yes, the Eagles won by three points, came back in the fourth quarter after being down eight, and showed some heart to move to 7-4 on the season…but why were they in that position in the first place?

Well, for starters: Andy Reid, a man who has outsmarted himself countless times, may have outdone himself yet again this season by opening Sunday’s game with an onside kick.

Reid’s done this crafty move before, with mixed results.  In 2000, Reid caught the Cowboys off-guard and rolled to a 41-14 romp, perhaps signaling the impending changing of the guard in the NFC East that occurred in the early part of this decade.

Three years later, it backfired when the Cowboys’ Randall Williams (why always the Cowboys?) recovered the Eagles’ game-opening onside kick and ran it back 37 yards in three seconds for the fastest touchdown to start a game in NFL history.

And yes, I know that some NFL statistics websites (like advancednflstats.com , for example) will come out with charts or probabilities that prove a game-opening onside kick is a smart percentage play because the other team likely won’t expect such tomfoolery.

But isn’t there a point where you’re outsmarting yourself?  Maybe the other team isn’t expecting a game-opening onside kick because it’s not the logical decision? 

When you’re facing a divisional rival that you soundly beat earlier in the season with no major tricks up your sleeve, why, for the love of sweet, newborn, eight-pound Baby Jesus , would you give that team any breath of life the second time around?  

I don’t care if the ratio of recovering the surprise onside kick is above 50 percent. If the Eagles wanted the ball that badly to start the game, they could have simply elected to receive after winning the coin toss!

Instead, they found themselves down 7-0, two minutes into the game, against a suddenly potent divisional foe.

Make no mistake, the Redskins have been playing better since bringing Sherm Lewis out of the Bingo halls and into the play-calling booth, scoring a huge upset over Denver and giving Dallas the scare of a lifetime last week.  

But no one’s mistaking Jason Campbell for Peyton Manning any time soon, and with Clinton Portis still recovering from a concussion, the Redskins started a third-stringer named Rock Cartwright as their running back.

Had the Eagles simply kicked a typical kickoff to open the game, there’s no reason to believe that the Redskins’ offense would have run roughshod over the Eagles’ D.  

Instead, Reid put his players in a difficult position within the first two minutes of the game, and they had to focus on battling their way out of an early deficit.

The Eagles still looked on their way to another Raiders-esque tankjob, before Donovan McNabb rallied the troops in the fourth quarter to steal a win away from the ‘Skins.

“I was proud of him just stepping up and talking over,” Reid said. “He was into it. He said, ‘Hey, we’re scoring.'”

Reid’s lucky to have McNabb, a seasoned veteran who could corral his young team and march them down the field at a crucial time in the game.  

But the Eagles were missing a key element to their offense on that game-tying drive, as speedy receiver DeSean Jackson got knocked out with a concussion in the third quarter after scoring on a wide-open touchdown in the first quarter. With Brian Westbrook nursing himself back to health after suffering two concussions in four weeks, an injury like this to Jackson was virtually the worst-case scenario for the Eagles (besides a season-ending injury).

Overall, the Eagles may have managed to sneak out a victory on Sunday, but this game came as close to a defeat as a victory could possibly be.  Against a team they should have comfortably beaten, the Eagles sloughed their way through nearly 60 minutes of play before pulling together at the end.  

It goes down as a win in the W/L column, but does this win inspire any confidence in this Eagles team for the upcoming five weeks?

Welcome to the world of the moral defeat, Philly.

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Eagles Bye Week Questions

The bye week in the NFL is traditionally time to kick back and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your team.

With the Eagles being one of the lucky (or unlucky, depending how you look at it) recipients of the earliest bye in the NFL in Week Four, it’s hard to come up with conclusive opinions thus far. 

Backup QB Kevin Kolb has been under center for two of the three weeks, thanks to Donovan McNabb’s broken ribs that he sustained in the season-opening thrashing of Carolina (and Kolb leads the Eagles in passing yards—never thought I’d live to see that day in 2009). 

The starting offensive line that the Eagles had coming into training camp is now all but a dream, as RT Shawn Andrews has been shut down for the second straight season (placed on IR last week to make roster room for Michael Vick), LG Todd Herremans continues to rehabilitate from a stress fracture he suffered in the preseason, and RG Stacy Andrews continues to work back into starter shape, alongside Nick Cole and Max Jean-Gilles.

Brian Westbrook has already sustained one of his trademark injuries (he sat out last week’s game against the Chiefs to give his ankle more time to rest), opening the door for second round pick LeSean McCoy to show what he could do.

And with Kevin Curtis once again sidelined, rookie WR Jeremy Maclin was given the chance last weekend to start alongside WRs DeSean Jackson and Jason Avant.

With that in mind, let’s look at the biggest questions the Eagles face in the stretch run of their season (granted, their stretch run happens to stretch for 13 games).

 

1) The health of their QBs:

This is, by far, the most important issue the Eagles must confront for the rest of the season.  McNabb is a fighter, through and through (how about when he broke his fibula playing the Cardinals on the third play of the game… and finished the game with four touchdowns?), but his cracked ribs could become a dominant issue of the 2009 season.

Unlike Matt Hasselbeck of the Seattle Seahawks, who only suffered a partial crack in Week Two, McNabb’s bottom rib cracked all the way through. Neither Andy Reid nor I are doctors, but from his explanation, McNabb needed to remain more-or-less immobile, especially at first, to allow the rib to gel back into place.

Luckily for the Eagles, they seem to have a competent backup with Kevin Kolb, the third-year pro who just became the first starter in NFL history to throw for 300-plus yards in his first two starts (although, give Reid’s pass-happy offense and the Chiefs’ gawd-awful some credit for that one).

But Eagles fans don’t pay hundreds of dollars each week to see Kolb…they pay to see No. 5. While the Eagles have a relatively easy schedule coming out of the bye (tilts against Tampa Bay, Oakland, and Washington in Weeks 5-7) that could give McNabb more time to rest if necessary, Eagles fans are praying they see McNabb out on the field sooner, rather than later.

 

2) The Mike Vick/Wildcat Element

On a related note to their revolving turnstile of quarterbacks, I couldn’t go any further without mentioning QB Michael Vick. Once arguably the most electric, explosive, dynamic player in the NFL (and this was only three or four years ago!), Vick is now firmly set on the road to redemption with the Eagles this year. While he’s not speaking to churches or school children about the evils of dogfighting, he provides the Eagles with the ultimate Wildcat option.

In fact, Vick’s gone so far as to say that he was the “originator” of the Wildcat in Atlanta. While that may or may not be true (really, can you take credit for being such a non-threat passing that running became your best option?), Vick does provide the Eagles and offensive coordinator Marty Morningwheg a new and exciting toy.

If Vick can retain some of his explosiveness that he demonstrated during his pre-jail days, he certainly can gain the Eagles some tough yards on the ground and through the air. Thinking back to the Eagles’ propensity to fail on third-and-short conversions last year, it’s hard to say Vick doesn’t add an extra element of danger to the team.  (Seriously. Put him in on 3rd-and-2 and watch the defensive coordinator on the other sideline have an aneurysm trying to figure out the play call.)

Given the Eagles’ love of the Wildcat so far (by Reid’s count, the Eagles ran 12 plays in the formation against the Saints, and got Vick on the field for 16 plays last weekend), it’s hard to say whether they’ll maintain this torrid pace of single-winging it when McNabb returns.  But it’s sure worth watching.

 

3) The offensive line

This one hurts. Literally.

No RT Shawn Andrews. No LG Todd Herremans for a few more weeks—he’s aiming to get back by the Redskins game, but that might even be a stretch. No RG Stacy Andrews in the starting lineup.

The Eagles are relying on a hodge-podge of quick fixes to patch up their offensive line.  So far, it’s worked. Backup RT Winston Justice has filled in admirably thus far. Nick Cole and Max Jean-Gilles have both stepped up in years past, and have managed to do so this year.

But can this patchwork line really hold up all year? What happens if the Eagles’ prize of the offseason, LT Jason Peters, goes down? With former LT Tra Thomas now playing for Jacksonville, the Eagles might have former RT Jon Runyan at the front of their Rolodex, as Runyan continues to search for a team and the Eagles continue dangerously thin in front.

 

4) The RB situation/Leonard Weaver

This situation became much less worrisome last weekend after seeing how second round pick RB LeSean McCoy out of Pitt could handle a starter’s load.  Much like incumbent RB Brian Westbrook, McCoy is a small, speedy back who won’t be pushing piles of defenders around any time soon, but will instead rely on cut-backs for his success.

Still, with Westbrook already suffering tenderness in his ankle that he had surgically repaired in the offseason, would the Eagles feel comfortable moving forward with McCoy as their lead back, potentially? Career RB Correll Buckhalter has moved on, as he’s locked into a timeshare with Knowshon Moreno in Denver. Second-year RB Eldra Buckley, who ran well in the preseason, is the only other running back on the roster, which could spell trouble for the Eagles if Westbrook’s ankle injury is more severe than he’s letting on.

More troublesome for me, personally: Where the hell is Leonard Weaver? The fifth-year pro, after four productive seasons on the Seahawks, was supposed to provide the Eagles with their first real fullback in over a decade. Instead, Weaver has disappeared offensively, happy to simply provide blocking support in the run game.

That’s great, and certainly needed, as the Eagles’ running game looks to get on track while incorporating elements of the Wildcat.  But Weaver should look to become more involved with the offense, as he’s a decent pass-catching back (at least on short routes) and has the leg power to move the pile. There’s no reason he shouldn’t be touching the ball five times a game, rushing/receiving combined.

 

5) The vaunted NFC East

This could ultimately prove to be the Eagles’ largest obstacle: their division.  As usual, the NFC East is off to a torrid start, with only the Redskins dragging their feet.  Regardless, an 8-4 total division record after three weeks is nothing to scoff at, even if a number of those wins came against AFC West and NFC South teams (keep in mind, the Giants have faced the Cowboys and Redskins already, meaning NFC East teams have only lost to two teams outside of the division in three weeks of play).

The Giants look like they’ve returned to Super Bowl form already, with the questions surrounding them about WR already evaporating due to inspired play from (the other) Steve Smith and Mario Manningham.  With a renewed focus on the ground attack last week (where they simply pounded the Buccaneers for over 200 yards), the Giants appear strong on all aspects of offense, defense, and special teams. Hard to see a fault with this team three weeks into the season.

The Cowboys have already gone through one Tony Romo crisis this season, but rebounded nicely with a 21-7 thrashing of the Panthers on Monday night. If Eli Manning hadn’t led the Giants down the field in the two-minute drill against the Cowboys two weeks ago, the Cowboys are the 3-0 team in charge of the NFC East, with everyone all smiles in Jerry-ville. 

While their pass defense has looked especially susceptible (Smith and Manningham are good, but that good?), the Cowboys have the three-headed running back monster of Marion Barber, Felix Jones, and Tashard Choice. Despite injuries to Barber and Jones, the ‘Boys should be in the division race all season long.

The Redskins appear to be the exception to the strength of the NFC East this year, with just about the worst 1-2 start anyone could imagine.  After failing to score a touchdown against the Rams in a 9-7 home win, the ‘Skins headed to Detroit to hand the Lions their first win in 20 tries. 

Head coach Jim Zorn, who was hired for his offensive prowess, has not gotten QB Jason Campbell, RB Clinton Portis and the rest of the Redskin offense chugging yet. A few more weeks like last week and D.C. fans could be calling for Zorn’s head.

 

So where do the Eagles stand?

Going into their bye week 2-1 was all they could have hoped for, given the injuries suffered in the preseason and early in the season.  No one could have imagined how toxically bad Jake Delhomme would be, but the loss to the Saints was nearly unavoidable when McNabb went down.

The Eagles start the “second half” of their season with three cupcakes: Tampa Bay at home in Week Five, a trip to Oakland in Week Six and their first division game at Washington in Week Seven. For a team that went Super Bowl dreamin’ in the preseason, the next two (if not three) are absolute must-win games. 

The schedule gets considerably more difficult after the Redskins game. That game kicks off three straight weeks of NFC East bloodbaths for the Eagles, as they welcome the NY Giants and Dallas Cowboys to Lincoln Financial Field in the beginning of November in back-to-back games. 

The Eagles then head to San Diego and Chicago, before returning home to play Washington. After Washington, two more tough road games against Atlanta and the New York Giants, before their final two-game homestand: a Week 15 clash with the NFC West-leading San Francisco 49ers and a Week 16 showdown against Denver (can you say Brian Dawkins’ homecoming) and their final regular season game, a trip to the Cowboys’ new $1.1 billion stadium.

As you can see, after the Redskins’ Week Seven game, the Eagles officially have zero “gimme” games on their schedule, making winning these next three that much more important. If the Eagles head into their date with the Giants at 5-1, they’ve got a shot at making some noise later in the season.

But McNabb and Westbrook need to get healthy, or the Eagles’ playoff dreams may be grounded this year after Week 17.

 

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The Dawn Breaks: Maclin Signs to a Five-Year Deal

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On a gloomy Monday where all Super Bowl dreams seemed to go and die after WIP first reported a season-ending ACL tear for Stewart Bradley, not all news out of Eagles camp was bad news. First-round pick Jeremy Maclin ended his eight day holdout and signed a contract for five years late Monday night, with $15.5 million with $9.5 million guaranteed, a source close to the Philadelphia Daily News reported.

The Eagles drafted Maclin with the 19th pick in the NFL Draft.

Ripples were felt immediately, as the Eagles hadn’t used a first round pick on a wide receiver since “Fabulous” Freddie Mitchell in 2001 (whose best contribution to the team, along with “Fourth and 26,” was his quote afterwards—“I’d like to thank God for giving me such great hands”).   

Maclin comes out of Missouri as a two-year All-American, who gained 2,833 all purpose yards this season—fifth most in NCAA history.

For those Eagles fans in need of a ray of sunshine on this gloomy day, here are a few other statistics from Maclin’s career to think about.

–  IIn his freshman year (2007), he caught 80 passes for 1,055 yards, nine touchdowns and had a 13.2 yards per catch average.

–   His sophomore year, he did himself one better, catching 102 passes for 1,260 yards and 13 touchdowns (with a 12.4 ypc).

–   In his two years at Missouri, he rushed the ball quite well, carrying 91 times for 668 yards and six TDs.

–   He broke 1,000 yards on kick returns both years at Missouri, scoring a touchdown each year; he also scored on three punt returns in his two years at school.

–   He set an NCAA freshman record in all purpose yards in 2007 with 2,776 yards…only to better himself with his sophomore campgain of 2,833 all purpose yards.

–   Maclin scored 33 touchdowns in his two seasons at Missouri.

–   He caught the game-winning pass in overtime this year in the Cotton Bowl against Northwestern, capping a comeback victory. 

 

The bottom line here is that the Eagles landed a hugely versatile player that some projected as a top-10 pick at No. 19. The kid knows how to play and how to perform on a big stage. 

However the Eagles want to use him—as a wideout, a Wildcat hybrid receiving-running back option, a reverse option (like the Eagles ran a number of times with Jackson last season, mostly resulting in a loss of yardage), a decoy or a kick/punt returner—Maclin will be expected to perform at a high level the minute he steps on the turf at Lehigh tomorrow. 

Maclin should give Donovan McNabb yet another versatile weapon to work with—and with Brian Westbrook, LeSean McCoy, and Desean Jackson lining up alongside Maclin, McNabb arguably has the ideal castmates for the West Coast offense run in Philadelphia.

For the Eagles, a team suffering from the loss of defensive coordinator Jim Johnson last week and now Bradley’s season-ending ACL tear, Maclin’s signing comes as a splash of brightness on an otherwise very cloudy day.

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