While the Eagles certainly shouldn’t be doing any bragging about this latest win, it’s still a win and there were some bright spots. But keeping things in perspective, it was the Jets,
and they have way more complaining to do than the Eagles. Funny, I haven’t heard the term “Mangenius” thrown around up here this year. They are a bad team, but what difference does it make? Anyone who has seen the Patriots this year and the level at which they are playing knows that none of this matters. As I’ve said before you either win it all or you don’t. And neither of the two teams at the Meadowlands yesterday has to concern themselves with winning it all. So, let’s take a look:
What I liked:
-Donovan McNabb looked sharp yesterday. He was fitting the ball into tight spaces and overall he had a good day. Again, it was the Jets, but still. People talk about his lack of mobility, but for a guy coming off an ACL, I don’t think it’s all that bad. It’s not what he was of course, but it’s not like he’s Drew Bledsoe.
-I’m calling Kevin Curtis “All Or Nothing” from now on. Kevin “All Or Nothing” Curtis. It’s either a big game from him, or nothing at all.
-Welcome, Reggie Brown to the “what I liked” portion of the wrap-up! Six catches for 89 yards, he better be careful or someone will think he’s an NFL receiver. All kidding aside, the third-down catch to move the sticks before the two-minute warning was huge.
-Brian Westbrook lives in the “what I liked” section. I can’t think of a player in the NFL who changes his offense so much when he is in there. Without Westbrook, this offense is pedestrian at best.
-William “Tra” Thomas. Because his name isn’t Winston Justice.
-The offense at the end of the game. I mentioned Brown’s big catch before the warning, but after that the Eagles ran the ball down their throat. The Jets’ D was spent and the Eagles pounded them.
-Defensive adjustments. The cutback killed the Eagles in the first half, but Jim Johnson tweaked some things and it just wasn’t there in the second half.
-Reno Mahe. Nice little return there, that’s more than they get out of you most games. There is something to be said for Mahe. He isn’t spectacular but he’s plays the role of punt returner very intelligently. He doesn’t do things like, I don’t know….say, dive for a punt in a sea of coverage men only to fumble it and set up the game-winning field goal.
-Sheldon Brown. He just quietly does his job every week. This week he made a couple of huge plays and was a key to the win.
…And not so much:
-The first half run defense. Thomas Jones, who entered the game averaging 3.3 yards per carry (that stinks if you are scoring at home), turned the Meadowlands into his own personal race track.
-The Jets’ decision to run a QB sneak on 3rd and 1 at the end of the game. I’m hardly an X’s and O’s genius, but unless you have a big, athletic QB (and Pennington is neither of those), you don’t run a QB sneak with a full yard to go. That’s a play when you need inches not a full three feet. It wasn’t even close. Jones could have picked up that one yard. That was one of the worst play calls I’ve seen this year.
-Can someone (anyone) please explain to me what Darren Howard does? I saw his #90 jersey in the game yesterday, but that was about it. For all the talk of cutting Kearse, Howard is the real disgrace.
-The Eagles haven’t won a game this year when both teams were wearing normal uniforms. Now THAT is a stat.
-McNabb’s interception. McNabb takes excellent care of the ball, but when he makes a mistake he makes it count. He doesn’t do that often, but that was a potential killer.
-The special teams. Which aspect you say? Pick one! Akers is usually automatic, but I’m not sure what his deal is in that stadium. He didn’t just miss those two field goals, I think I saw Jets head coach Eric Mangini duck. Sav Rocca hit one nice punt and that’s because the wind was at his back. Otherwise, he’s been whatever. The kick/punt coverage units have scared me all year. That shouldn’t be a problem against Chicago because they don’t have any returners that scare you. They should be fine there.
-The fact that Akers was even asked to kick those field goals. Where are the TD’s? That game should have been over at halftime.
-Red zone offense. It’s been discussed to death, but I had to at least list it.
-Sunday night highlight options on television. “Football Night in America” just doesn’t do it for me. While I like a lot of those guys individually, I just can’t get into that show. It has a “we’ll do this show because we’re getting paid, but don’t expect us to like it” aspect. I don’t need the opinions of eight different people on why the Bengals are struggling. Show me the highlights and let me decide! Show me fast guys catching passes for touchdowns. Show me guys getting hit. Show me two-minute drills. I want more highlights and less discussion.
-I’m just going to keep it going with the television stuff. ESPN has to be joking. Do they think their audience is a bunch of 11-year olds? That is the saddest excuse of a pre-game show I’ve ever seen. I want to know which ESPN executive watches Emmitt Smith and thinks, ‘wow, that’s great insight. It wasn’t exactly English, but he’s right, Travis Henry will probably be the breakout rookie this year despite being in the league for seven years. Do we have Emmitt signed long-term? If not, can you make that happen?’ They are insulting everyone watching if they think that we value that knucklehead’s opinion. Not only is he a dope, but I think he took English classes from Charlie Manuel. And what’s with that 10-year old kid? His acting makes Pauley Shore look like Al Pacino. The script isn’t funny and he can’t pull it off anyway. But, I love how they all chuckle in the studio when it comes back to them as though Berman and TJ really thought it was hilarious. The segment on Bill Belichick’s hoodie I think set a new low even for that joke of a network. Wow, that was quite a tangent.
micahw@feverpitchmedia.com
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