You got a glimpse of the Eagles future with Nick Foles taking over for an injured Michael Vick. The Birds offense started off the game playing well, but in the end they lost to the Cowboys 38-23. The Eagles surrendered 21 points via a punt return, interception return and a fumble recovery for scores.
It wasn’t a total shock that the Eagles lost the game because of turnovers. Their entire season has suffered greatly because of turnovers. It was fitting that turnovers took them down.
Their demise happened suddenly. It took about five plays for the Eagles season and the career of Andy Reid as the Birds coach to burn to the ground. It was almost like a house that had been soaked with gasoline. The time the match was lit, the season, Reid’s tenure, Michael Vick’s time with the Birds all burned up in seconds.
The Eagles were fighting for their lives after losing quarterback Michael Vick to a concussion injury. Rookie Nick Foles had stepped in and directed the Birds on a scoring drive which had given them a 17-10 lead.
Lincoln Financial Field was rocking and the Birds were trying to pull off a miracle, but they just couldn’t avoid the mistakes and turnovers which have plagued them all season.
One of the plays which was a major part of the change of momentum from the Birds to the Cowboys, occurred on a third down play when the Eagles defensive line had Tony Romo in their sights. First it was Fletcher Cox, then Cullen Jenkins, then a couple of other defensive linemen. They all missed Romo. He ducked underneath them, faked a throw to get them off of their feet, the slipped out and found an open Miles Austin for the first down.
A few plays later, Romo connected with Dez Bryant from 30 yards out and the Cowboys had erased a 17-10 lead and tied up the score. It was a great catch by Bryant, who caught the ball despite having Domique Rodgers-Cromartie draped all around him.
A series later, the awful Eagles special teams gave up a 78-yard punt return for a touchdown. Next up was an interception return for a score, then a fumble recovery. On the interception, Foles was off target on a slant route to DeSean Jackson. He could have made the catch even though the ball was behind him.
Vick was very sharp on the first drive. He completed 4 out of 5 passes for 59 yards with the longest being a wide receiver screen to DeSean Jackson for 31 yards. Jackson made a great run on the play by cutting back to his right for a gain which took the ball down to the seven yard line.
Vick threw an alley-oop to wide receiver Riley Cooper, who did a great job of going up over Claiborne for the score.
Unfortunately after the Eagles drive, the Birds defense went in and gave up a long drive to the Cowboys which tied up the game.
You have to scratch your head about the play which Mornhinweg called on 3rd down when the Birds got the football. They lined up in an empty backfield and tried to run outside to the right side. I guess they were expecting a blitz from the left side.
King Dunlap did a lousy job of trying to block the defensive end to the right side. The defensive end turned the play inside and Vick was tackled in the backfield.
Ernie Sims of all people put pressure on Michael Vick on a blitz and it forced him to over throw LeSean McCoy. Dennis Kelly blocked outside and let Sims come right up the middle to put pressure on Vick. You always block the inside guy because the outside guy will take longer to get there.
Check me out on 94-WIP tonight at 10 pm. I’ll be breaking down this game.
I have this vision that 40 years from now, I’ll be in a nursing home watching Andy Reid coaching his 54Th season with the Eagles without a championship. He will have completely eliminated the running game, having no running backs on the roster. All of the lineman will weigh less then 250 lbs. Furthermore, despite being the head coach, GM, offensive and defensive coordinator, special teams coach, strength and conditioning coach, and travel coordinator, Howard Eskin, Dave Spadaro, Charlie Casserly, and others will state emphatically that it is not Reid’s fault that the Eagles will have been below .500 for 20 straight years and that he deserves another chance.
lets see Reid from BYU = I gotta do a better job
Romney from BYU = Im gonna create 12 mil jobs
BOTH ARE LOSERS & GOTTA GO
Fuck You
Will Andy be fired this week? Its possible. This loss or another one will force Lurie’s hand.. I know for a fact hes contemplating it. Sad sad way to go out Andy. Possibly with his worst record as the Head coach. A flawed offense, flawed offensive coaching philosophy, flawed/crippled offensive line, bad defense and a mistake (as i mentioned) putting Bowles in a compromising position in the middle of the year with a flawed defense that lacks the “want to” attitude. This team under Andy is done. I usually don’t say this bc the teams of the past, even last year, showed some life. This team is dead. There is no reviving this one. Sad sad reality. I go hard for this team each and every day and week but I can’t defend them now. They are 3-6 and last in the nfc east. They would have to win out in order to have a slim chance at the playoffs. But with a bad defense, bad oline, flawed offensive philosophy they will not have a chance and will be bounced in the first round so I don’t even want to see this team make the playoffs. Their are some serious changes that need to be made with this personnel/coaches and front office.
There will be no Firings/Coaching Changes until after the Season.
Who is going to Coach the Eagles with 7 Weeks left.. You Play it out and then make wholesale changes on Dec 31st (The first Monday after their last Game of the Season)
Until the Front Office is changed with the real hiring of a Football Exectutive
Nothing anytime soon will change.. Once Coach AR and Staff are gone,
I don’t have a lot of COnfidence in GM Roseman making these Calls on who to Hire.. He does not have the Football IQ or Respect/Authority that a Proven Coach would need to work for..
Eagles should Hire Bill Polian since Owner Lurie will keep Roseman around since Lurie will not but him out with 4 Years left on his Contract
POlian probably has 3 Years Left by make him President of Football Operations, let him call the Personnel/Coaching Shots and help mentor/groom Roseman and then Polian can let Lurie know in a 2-3 Years Time whether Roseman is a legitimate NFL GM (which I think he’s not)
If Roseman ends up calling the Shots this Off-Season and for the remainder of his Contract, you can write this Eagles Franchise off the books for the next Decade and I am not blowing smoke either, Roseman is not an Legitimate NFL GM..
All you need to know about how little Reid cares about this season can be summed up in a few short words … King Dunlap and Demetreus Bell are still on this roster. Dunlap is a flat out stiff and Bell couldn’t care less. He barely puts in minimal effort. You can watch it for yourself on tape. His guy goes around him on every play and he just stands there watching. And Dunlap is just a joke. I remember people on here talking about how he was going to be our next Pro Bowl tackle and I kept laughing at them saying he shouldn’t even be on the roster.
For the sake of sending a message to the team and trying not to kill your QB’s Reid should have cut these guys weeks ago. There are absolutely two scrap heap or practice squad guys out there that deserve playing time more than these two worthless oafs.
I hate this team and am totally embarrassed to call myself a fan anymore.
Eagles and Coach Mudd get rid of Serviceable OT Winston Justice (For $$$ reasons) and promising OT Austin Howard
But pay Demetress Bell ($9 Miilon in 2012) and Re-sing King Dunlap
Besides Coach AR ineptness, lot of the blame for this OL mess is Coach Mudd and GM Roseman for they made these choices
How can you say Bell and Dunlap don’t care? Didn’t you see Bell’s spin move last week where he completely turned around to face the QB as the pass rusher was coming full speed ahead. He must have been working on that move since they gave him his millions in the summer.
..OR Did you notice Dunlap’s tenacity in trying to stop that Dallas return for the touchdown? He really tried on that one and its not like Dunlap has a big enough body to knock out a couple of cowboys running down the sideline. You cant blame the poor guy for that.