We pass 50 times a game and line does nice job pass blocking. All of a sudden we want them to block like steelers? It is not the line but the coach.

great point, these guys practice to do one thing and then struggle when asked to switch gears.

I think its less about the players and more about the coaches and the complete lack of dedication to the run. Remember back to the year when McNabb got hurt and Garcia got the credit for the win streak they went on. The real work horses though were the O-line and Westbrook. It took the line that year to get together but they what seemed to get them together was a real dedication to running the ball. They got better the more they did it.

Practice makes perfect in everything. You can't ask them to drop back and pass block nine straight times then ask them to run block once and expect great results. They're a big line let them wear down the opposing defense by attacking them not sitting back. The only way they're going to get that physical attack is by doing it.

Professional athletes are professional athletes, just as football lineman are football lineman. The iggles lineman are no different than any other pro team, just a little better or a little worse. It is all about the coaches, starting at the head coach and the message he sends by his words or perceived actions. The head coach evaluates the line coach based on the performance of the line. I think ole Andy likes what he sees.

I am so sick of reading what the offense, the offensive line, the offensive coaches etc. did or didn't do, what they called etc. I was at the game. The Defense was horrible. They couldn't stop the run, the pass or anything else. The O put up over 450 yards of offense. I don't care if they rushed for 0 and passed for 450 or vice versa, they moved the ball up and down the field. They put together 5 scoring drive, 3 FGs and 2 TDs in another teams stadium. The D gave up 5 scoring drives, 4 TDs and 1 FG. Why aren't we griping about the Ds inability for the second week in a row, with the game on the line in the 4rth Q to get a three and out? Remember last year in the NFCC game, we had the lead, we came back, and the D couldn't hold it. We were down by 5 with 7+ minutes left and the Chargers moved the ball down and scored. Why didn't our D hold the Charger's to FGs?????? I thought the O Line did an outstanding job - you hold off Merriman and Castillo for 48 plays!

True the offense stunk this game. But people keep talking about the offense becuz for how many years has the offense stuggled. For the MOST part in the Dmac and Reid era..we can all agree that our DEFENSE had been our strong point. Our DEFENSE has kept us in games. Last year our defense was ranked 3rd in the NFL! We had a bad game against Arizona. Offense struggled early and finished strong and our defense was up and down! This year except, the Saints and Charges game our defense has been hard nose. The Dallas game was flukish. Bad refs. FACT!

This game our defense stunk. We had Dimitri Patterson and Ramseeze starting in our secondary. We had Gocgong as a MLB! We could we do. U can't expect to have Ford Tauruses perform like BMWs! It's just not gonna happen. Injuries are not an excuse, but a reality! They happen and u SUFFER a little when u lose key players. The offense has had the same problems year after year. Bad playcalling, inconsistent McNabb, Redzone (we all know about this) and short yardage (we know about this too). This year as of LATE, our defense is having some troubles! Which is not good. How long has our offense had troubles in the redzone and on short yardage?! It's not a brand new problem. This is same old! Our defense is stinkin' up to date. We are gonna get some players back, Jordan and Hanson..and Brown will get healthy soon! But what's gonna fix our playcalling, redzone and short yardage problems? I'll be waiting for ur answer!

^^ Co-sign the Defense not stepping up AGAIN.. we finally started to come back and score some points in that game sunday and the Defense AGAIN gave up a long scoring drive and killed way too much time off the clock.. How much can you demand from an O-Line when your key players being hurt??

I'd usually agree with you just not this week. Time and time again I've seen when they've lost these close games I've seen the offense actually take the lead just to see the defense let it go. Everyone likes to blame the QB and the offense when they can't make that last second heroic game winning drive when others teams seem to but to me a lot of those other teams wins come from the defense actually making a stop.

This week however...the defense was just too beat up for me to pile on. Everything behind the D-line was not what it should be. Are they partially responsible for the loss though? Of course but if I want to complain about something its the absolute lack of any kind of dedication to the run game.

I'd usually agree with you just not this week. Time and time again I've seen when they've lost these close games I've seen the offense actually take the lead just to see the defense let it go. Everyone likes to blame the QB and the offense when they can't make that last second heroic game winning drive when others teams seem to but to me a lot of those other teams wins come from the defense actually making a stop.

This week however...the defense was just too beat up for me to pile on. Everything behind the D-line was not what it should be. Are they partially responsible for the loss though? Of course but if I want to complain about something its the absolute lack of any kind of dedication to the run game.

Edit: don't take my first paragraph as saying its always the D's fault but there have been more than a few games where the O put up the points to win and the defense didn't do the job.

What may be omitted from the post is run blocking by the line - it stinks. They don't open up enough holes often enough - inconsistant and have been for years. Year in and year out ole Andy drafts big 'O' lineman, but for some reason, can't put together two good running games in succession. I don't blame the line at all-they do what they are coached to do.

The defense is a result of not having quality back-up players at some positions. When S Bradley went down and J Mayes got the call, well you know the rest. They lost Gaither and had to put Gocong in the middle and Mosie outside.
Fact is Gocong couldn't start for most other teams and Mosie can't play - because he is AWOL I guess Mays can't either. This is a sad description of poor drafting with Mosie & Mays.
Gocong plays to the best of his ability, but is a small defensive end, not a linebacker.

I think our O-line could be more physical without a doubt but I agree with navy, the D should've been able to step up and get a 3 and out or at least only give up one first down instead of letting the Chargers use the entire clock and then score. The D has MANY injuries but at a pro level, everybody should be able to step up and make plays.

Ok. Defense was not good. Is there a rule somewhere that says you can excuse the offense failing miserably in three trips to the red zone and that defense will have to compensate for it? We are talking about 1 (ONE) friggin yard to get in 3 attempts. The failure to do so can’t be turned around to point fingers at the defense. The offense gained 34 yards on 12 plays in 3 drives in the first quarter and punted each time. Is that to be excused because of the final yardage? Then they ended up kicking 2 field goals in the 2nd quarter after failing in the red zone. Then they punt once more and kick another field goal in the 3rd quarter. 3 field goals in three forays into the red zone. Defense gave up only 330 yards despite being a lot more banged up than offense and missing key people. I don’t understand the mentality of pointing fingers at defense to excuse the failure to gain 1 yard on 3 plays. The head coach is responsible for this loss.

The TEam is responsible for the lose - the head coach did not let the wide reciever get behind him - Asante did. The head Coach did not jump offside, the CB did. The head coach did not fail to see Westbrooke wide open 2X in the red zone, the QB did. The Head Coach did not get blocked, GoCong did, all game. IN my lowly and very humble opinion, scoring 23 points, accumulating over 400 yards of offense, over 20 first downs etc. against a team that is now a division leader, in thier stadium, I consider a pretty good showing. Giving up 31 points (remember, there were no turnovers, no long returns, no short fields like NO) and allowing the oppont to hold the ball for almost 7 minute when we are down by 5, I don't consider a good showing. There is no rule saying anything about snything in the red zone, they scored TDs (bad for our D) we kicked FGs (bad for our O) so I say, bad for our Team. Too cliche to blame it on the HC - there wasn't a single person in Qualcomm Stadium that didn't thin...

Chargers scored 1st TD on 6 plays going 40 yards. Not short filed I guess. They went 59 yards in 3rd quarter for a TD. Not short field I suppose.

Oh, blaming defense for losses isn’t cliché. Fatso rode on some great defenses under Jim Johnson. When defense is down several players, it is fashionable to point fingers at them. Who picks players to go 1 yard on 3 attempts? Who creates the plays? Who runs the plays? What is that he learned from loss vs. Bears last year when they couldn’t go 1 yard in 4 tries? It was fashionable to point fingers at D after loss in NFCG last year. It is as if once offense gets the lead, they are not responsible to get a score with 3 minutes left. Defense did a good job giving up 330 yards on the west coast while not having starting MLB, OLB, nickel corners. If the offense didn’t gag on 3 trips to red zone we might have won the game. Since they put up 450+ yards offense, I won’t blame them. I completely blame fatso for this. Whatever happened against Raiders? Was D to blame for that loss too? This team’s offense has been riding on the Defense coattails for 11 years.

+1.

That's what I'm saying. Fact our defense wasn't good these last two games. Fact, we are missing key players right now and are getting most of them back soon! But kickin' a defense while there down is hilarious. For years and years our offense has stuggled and our defense has kept us in the game, and won us MANY MANY games. We have men down on defense right now so the offense WILL HAVE TO STEP UP! No more slow starts, no more inconsistent McNabb and no more bad playcalling and game management! Our offense is gonna have to help our defense as the defense has helped out Dmac and the Off. countless times throughout the Dmac and Reid era. Lets gp Offense..let's see what u guys can do know that our defense is down for a change right now!!

Dude - blame whoever you want, vent all you like. The theme of the posts was 'demand more from the O Line'. The O line did a great job against Merriman, Phillips and Castillo. The O in general moved the ball well and scored points. The Chargers were tough against the run, weak against the pass - so we passed? And you are missing a key point. On several of the plays in the red zone - Westbrook was WIDE OPEN, McNabb didn't see him. And I said to blame it on the Team, not the O or the D, the Team. We can haggle over the definition of short field - one a not very good punt, the other - 3 penalties that helped the Chargers, bottom line is the D needed to keep them out, the O needed to put it in.

The Eagles can't demand jack from their O-Line, as far as running the ball, until they decide to run the ball more than 12 to 15 times a game. The point is that running the ball, successfully or not, wears down a defense so of course if you get late in a game there's a possibility that the o-line may not get that yard. Aside from the fact that they aren't practiced at run blocking in the game against that actual opposing D-Line they've been getting launched on for the entire game haven't been allowed launch back to abuse the defensive line.

On top of all of this it looked like the running game, for short yardage was working fine to keep the sticks moving, but they refused to stay with it, I guess because it didn't break a big play...which is dumb.

Bottom Line,
It's hard to expect the Eagles O-Line and Coaches to have a smash-mouth mentalitly for rushing the ball when the Head Coach and O/Coor don't really value a balanced scheme between rushing and passing.. Rushing the ball effectively is about committment,abo ut a mentality that our front line will control your front line and A Reid and M Mohrerwig have never really believed in this philosophy or have stayed with it long enough to make it work.. If you don't reun early and soften up the middle of the field and the line of scrimmage, then it becomes very difficult to do later in games or in short-yardage situations.. The O/L are like anyone else,they need to get into a rythm and have confidence in doing so,it's hard to do when you only do it 12-15 a games and half those times are when
there is 8-9 Defensive players at the line of scrimmage.. It will never happen for the Eagles while AR is at the helm which is why they never will win a Championship/Su per Bowl

In reading these posts, I will say G DAMN Paulman, I take back all the comments in regards to some of your ridicolous statement. You have hit it right on the head. Oline, D-line, LB's, WR's, QB, DB's, whatever you want to blame on it all comes down to the coach! the coach puts the team together with the GM. Banner and Reid are Clowns. Best roster in Football huh? What happens when a player goes down? Trotter, Fokou, Gocong? Please. I'm surprised they didn't sign LJ this week! The fact lies that the coach, as he states IN EVERY POSTGAME, that he needs to put his team in the best postiion to win. WELL? when do this start to happen. Our coach is an ex o-lineman and values them extremely high, yet he allows them to take the majority of the blame when it comes Running the rock. We ran the ball with Garcia, why does he insist on throwing the ball 55 times against the 24th ranked Run D. Someone commented that Reid did what there D allowed since there pass D was ranked so low...

and there run D was so high!

Sorry, Completely backwards. Jammer and Cromartie led the 5th ranked Pass D entering Sunday's game!
Your boy Merriman and Phillips held ground with the 24th ranked Run D. Yet we pass the ball 55 TIMES and run 13 TIMES. Yeah blame who you want but intelligence clearly lead's to the HC taking the blame, YET AGAIN!

Its the TEAM - not the HC - the TEAM that lost. As I posted earlier, did the HC let the Charger reciever get 10 yards behind him? No - the pro bowl cornerback did. Did the HC jump offsides? No the DL and CB did. You blame it on the head coach when the team gets beat 35-3 or 42-7 and is clearly not prepared to play. The O was ready - they put up over 400 yards of passing against the #5 ranked pass defense. The D just kept making mistakes, but I can be semi-forgiving because they are getting crushed with injuries. Special teams - would have liked some better punts,, I understand the frustration with the lack of a balanced attack - hell dude - my college team is Navy - they run 60 times and pass 3 times (but they did beat Notre Dame!)

It was a team loss. Both the offense AND the defense stunk, and I believe that was noticeable to everyone as they watched the game. What is common to these problems? It is another year where the Eagles just don't have that killer instinct. But yes, perhaps that is because of coaching and the systems in place.

Ok stop. Your team is navy and ran 60 times because ND has THEE WORST D IN COLLEGE. Period. And that is all Navy does, hence they will never be an elite team. Your right it is a team problem in alot of areas, but come on you have now named those two plays twice. Offsides and the DB getting beat. I will give it depending on which time. Sheldon getting beat by Floyd to set up first and goal or Nannee owning Asante for the TD? both crucial but lets be honest Asante is who he is. he is a ball hawk and played bad that play. the question is who do you want playing the right side instead of him? When it comes down to it, yeah the TEAM lost! Clearly, but the coach as he always says needs to put his players in the best position to win. You do not win games with an unbalanced offense like that. You don't. Look at Andys stats of games he goes into the 4th up, and down. 100 wins is for the rats. We want Championships and he can't call plays in the clutch, which is what champi...

championship teams do! win in the clutch!
For more inquires see NE or PITT. Great coaches, Great balance, NO WILDCAT BS! the man outthinks himself, causing pain to the fans, year in and year out! If people think it will change with KOLB, hahaha, what happens when Kolb plays like he did in Baltimore! I KNOW. HE WILL CALL 80/20% pass plays vs. run.
WHY? THIS IS ANDY, week in and week out. He won't change. He feels that he is better and even if its it written on paper, he can still rewrite it! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

GO BIRDS, CRUSH THE BEARS!!!

Are you serious? You dare to make any comments about Navy - not elite? start off with players needing to have a 3.75 GPA and 1200 on your SATs and having to serve in the military for 5 years (list any other college team that had a former player KIA in Iraq?) - follow that up with height and weight standards. They are 8-3 with losses to Ohio State, Pitt and Temple - and they played Ohio State and Temple to the end. The starting O line averages 265 pounds - about 35 pounds lighter then ND DLine - bowl game for the 7th consecutive year. They are elite because they do what they do VERY, VERY well. MAybe the Eagles could use some on Navy's least penalized team in the nation discipline? Navy runs every game 60 times and has actually gone whole games without throwing a pass. I can handle your uncreative, cliche, non-thought provoking comments hating Andy Reid, but you even come close to saying anything other then how great any of the service academies are and we will have a virtual war of...

ohh virtual war of words. Thats Discipline, elite,whatever your bogus words are. Listen in no way was the comment directed towards the Navy players or our service men/woman. If anything for you to even assume that I was putting down our service cadates is on you sir. I simply stated, all they do is run! Maybe the elite comment wasn't justified since you are right they are what they are, and have made 7 consecutive bowl games, while playing well year in and year out. Please don't start a virtual war of words. Give it a rest. Again I vented on your comments regarding two plays in a game that was decided on many, many more! truthfully I respect the colleges that graduated 90% of there players and like ND, navy is one of them. Again my comment meant nothing towards there academics, you sir, made the assumption. and another note. There Oline can weigh whatever they want, ND is horrible on D. Doesn't matter if Desaean's are lined up along the line! Anyone can run! Maybe you s...

You should put some of your Navy passion for running the rock, and stop sticking up for the birds lack there of.