It’s been a long time since the 2011 Eagles entered the aftermath of the NFL’s lockout with more optimism than any other team in the league. After landing a slew of big name stars mostly on the defensive side of the ball, the Birds were picked as the preseason favorite to represent the NFC in this year’s Super Bowl by most spectators. But the seemingly “dream team” season has turned out to be a complete nightmare.
The underachieving Eagles have tried to mix around players, packages and play calls but the consistency has just not been there. With the organization personnel to blame, it looks as though major movements will be in place following this year’s disappointing season that still has 5 weeks left.
Tonight they will take on the Seattle Seahawks who have the same record, 4-7 but are inferior to the Birds when it comes to talent. But we’ve learned quite a few times this season that the Eagles can play down to a bad football team. How else do you explain them losing to the Arizona Cardinals? I hope the Eagles defense will be more prepared for this game than they were for the Patriots.
The decision to make former offensive line coach Juan Castillo the defensive coordinator is starting to look more and more like the worst decision Andy Reid has made sense he was named the team’s head coach in 1999. Reid figured this would be smooth transition for Castillo, but it has been nothing close to that. With each and every loss, Castillo seems to roll the dice the following week and try to put together a lineup that can consistently perform.
While the men in midnight green have had their problems on the offense, the defense has been highlighted as the side of the ball that has everybody scratching their head. Defensive lineman Cullen Jenkins, Jason Babin, Trent Cole, and Mike Patterson combined with corners Nhamdi Asomugha Dominique Rogers-Cromartie, and Asante Samuel, looks like a very good assortment of talent for an NFL defense.
For most of the season, the youthful linebackers and safeties have been the defense’s Achilles heel, but the aforementioned All-Pro players have also taken their turns making mistakes and surrendering big plays.
They reached a low point last Sunday afternoon , when they were completely dismantled by Tom Brady and the Pats. Deion Branch and Wes Welker were the standout stars in the game accounting for 240 receiving yards while each one of their receptions went for a combined average of 17.6 yard per catch. The secondary must have forgotten they were playing the Patriots. While you have to tip your cap off to Brady, arguably the best quarterback of the decade and future Hall-of-Famer, it was just hard to fathom how the Pats receivers could catch pass after pass without having a single Eagles defender within 10 yards of them.
After the getting off to an early 10-0 where the Eagles showed signs of an outstanding defensive stand, it all went downhill after the 8:19 mark in the first quarter. Following that point in the game the Pats strung together a streak of successful touchdown drives, while giving running back LeSean McCoy and QB Vince Young nothing to work with on offense.
Defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins spoke on that segment in the game when things just started to go wrong for the Birds and how New England was able make such a change in tempo. “I don’t think we still know what changes they made,” Jenkins said. “They came out and started adjusting on us. They spread it wide a little bit, threw the quick pass on us. Didn’t really give us a chance to huddle. It’s just something we didn’t adjust well enough to. It turned fast on us and once it turned, we weren’t able to get it back.”
Jenkins is simply exposing the incompetence of Castillo. The Patriots make an adjustment and the Birds never recover. Brady and the Patriots have been using the no-huddle offense for years, but the Eagles are unprepared when they utilize it during the game.
The Birds were simply outplayed at this stage of the game and the AFC power carried that performance all the way out through the remainder of the game.
“They just had so many different formations and Brady, he’s like a coach out there on the field,” safety Nate Allen said. “They just executed better than us tonight.” It wasn’t just execution that was lacking in this one. Game planning and preparation was also a major problem in the New England game. They shouldn’t be having such poor performances like this so late in the season.
The Eagles are in the middle of the ranks amongst the NFL in most defensive categories. The one standout statistic has been their ability to get to the quarterback as they are tied for seventh. While the numbers don’t indicate this team has necessarily a bad defense, the statistics that count the most are the figures in the win and loss columns.
What can we expect tonight? Being away from Lincoln Financial Field is positive for this squad with the season going the way it is. They’ll be able to focus on playing football and not hearing the “Fire Andy” chant.
Seattle quarterback Tavaris Jackson isn’t any good and his best receiver Sidney Rice won’t play because of a concussion. The Birds must keep an eye on running back Marshawn Lynch. He’s big physical back, who could wear down the Birds defensive front and allow Seattle to control the game.
Castillo should stack the box with defenders, take away Lynch, and dare the Seahawks to throw the football.
The Birds defense should play better and they should get a win tonight, but how many times have we said that this season, only to be disappointed.
3 Weapons for Eagles to worry about when the Seahawks have the ball
#1) Speedy WR D Baldwin has 15 catches over 20 + Yards
#2) Return Specialist/3rd Down RB Leon Washington can break a big play from anywhere on the field
#3) TE Zach Miller has had a down season, but watch him flash his Pro-Bowl form versus the Eagles LB’s & Safeties)
Seahawks are a pretty good Screen-Play team which always gives the Eagles problems as does playing versus a mobile QB (which T Jackson can be at times) look for a lot of roll-outs, and lots of swing passes out to Lynch and Washington and the short intermediate routes to the TE, but T Jackson does have a strong arm and will throw some deep routes/throws versus this suspect Eagles Secondary..
This game will be won and lost at the Line of Scrimmage, as most games are.. Lets see if the Eagles DL can beat up and outplay this Seahawk OL which they should on paper, but we have seen way too many times all season the inconsistent play of the DL as well as the entire team.. Prior Games versus the 49ers,Bills,Bears& Cardinals who are all teams where their OL were considered a weakness, the Eagles DL did very little to have consistent pressure on their QB and in fact, Alex SMith, R Fitzpatrick,J Cutler and John SKelton all looked like All_Pro’s against this Deefense due to the poor play by the D/Line and then subsequently the LB & Secondary.. but it really starts up front, No Pressure and the Eagles Defense folds up like a cheap suit and if they can’t pressure Seahawk QB T Jackson, then they deserve to lose the game in my opinion..
Paulman – I agree with you on the D-Line. Great at times and some games they do not get an inch of push. This is why Castillo and Washburn need to stop being so stubborn and take a page from the late great JJ. Everyone loves to criticize Reid and Marty about their stubborn ways with pass, pass and pass again approach and I think they sedeserve the criticism for lacking to run more……but lets be honest and give Washburn the same treatment. Yes he has done a better job this year than what we had last year. But he also influences Castillo to not blitz. We cannot just sit back and rush 4 90% of the time and think that is ok!!!!! It hasnt worked all year. Evertime we blitz we make something happen and get our D off the field. DRC and namdi are getting alot of criticism this year but they are not being asked to do their strengths. Both of those guys are top 5 man to man CB’s in the NFl but are below average in zone coverage……..Why not play man to man with some blitzes thrown in there and have them do what they are best at and earn their money?
Lets put it this way………The Eagles have Namdi and DRC and they are not being used to their fullest. Its kind of like putting a Nascar on an Indy race track.
We have a head coach that made his O line coach the D coordinator, and a assistant head coach who selected to kick in overtime when he was a head coach.
Reid is going to be back next year…I don’t wont him back but he’ll be back. He has been one of the reasons this team is now worth as much as it is and since Vick is our QB at least for the next 2-3 years that obviously kinda screws things up. What are you gonna teach the guy a whole new system? That would be great idea. By the time he gets it down he will retire.
I think the Eagles lose tonight and win out the rest of their games. But for tonights game why not just play some of the younger guys since this season is over anyway. I want to see Marsh and more of Brandon Hughes who got exposed last week by Brady. Its essential that these guys get some time on the field as we look forward for next year. I mean why isn’t Jarrett on the field? You drafted him early so he needs to play now in these games. Who cares if he make mistakes lets see what we got with him. You should even throw Mathews back out there…i dont like him never did but what good is having akeem jordan out there starting. That guy isnt going to be here next year most likely so let this Mathews crybaby play so we can boo his ass more and maybe he will toughen up…
BTW, my mvp for this pathetic season (outside of Sahdy) is Colt Anderson. This guy is a special teams stud. He plays an old school philly style of football that most of the guys on this team shy away from. For whatever its worth, our special teams have been much better against returns this year compared to what they were…Colt Anderson is why…maybe we should just play this guy on defense atleast he’ll hit somebody
Great points Stillman about letting the Secondary play man to man more often and blitzing a LB or Safety once in a while to give the other teams more looks..
I see very few stunts or even the dreaded zone-drop, but the point is, against good teams and even the inexperienced QB ‘s that the Eagles have lost too (Skelton,Fitzpatrick,Alex Smith) you have to get after them and you have to give them different looks.. You keep doing the same thing, Good Teams and QB’s will change their protections and routes and adjust to it (like the Pats did ) . .
Stillmatic I agree, I’ve just been so lost on the Defensive calls play after play….the worst part is that they don’t like to and aren’t good at atckling in the secondary esp. our corners…so why give the opposing WRs 10 yards to work with to catch a quick 3 step drop and put them in position to tackle. blows my mind..game after game seeing some of the defensive calls..Castillo is a joke..The steelers owned the Pats this year because they played man to man all game and roughed them up on the line. Ofcourse we do the exact opposite and get torched
Let’s not give the defense all the blame
Where was the offense after the first two scores
the biggest problem with the defense is the safeties… Allen and Coleman wouldnt start for any other team in the NFL…. we need legit NFL safeties and the defense will be much better…everyone attacks the middle of the field on us..
the offense lead by Young is awful …Young’s lack of accuracy is the issue…. its another loss
Fraid not! The defense knew the Seahawks would run and couldn’t stop them with 8 men in the box. Juan dufus and his fundamentals can’t teach his players to tackle. Vince Young thought he didn’t have a bad game and Andy said the players gave effort. Not only are they poor liars, they are totally unskilled at their profession and grossly overcompensated. They are as pathetic as pathetic can get. Take this ill concieved preseason plan and
trash it along with members of the FO, coaching staff and players.
Why is Casey Matthews in on goal line defense. He is worthless.
Coleman is horrible and puts his head down on every attempting contact and has no idea where the runner is.. NAte Allen is not strong of tough enough..
Your Right Jott, These Safeties are not NFL Caliber..either are the LB’s and where was DE T Cole Tonight, did he even play, he sucks to, as does CB’s Samuel and Asmo who can’t tackle worth a crap…. MLB Chaney can’t make a tackle on every play…