While it certainly wasn’t pretty and the Vikings were the latest team to hang around too long in a game against the Eagles, they did get the “W” and have shown signs of life.
The win on Sunday just made the other losses even more frustrating when you think of what this team’s record could be. The Eagles are still coming up a little short in delivering the knockout blow when they have a chance, but I won’t complain about that today. So let’s look at the game:
What I liked:
-Regular readers of this site know that I tend to carry Donovan McNabb’s water, so why should I stop now? He completed 63.9% of his passes for 333 yards, one TD and zero INT’s. I can’t stress the lack of interceptions enough. In fact, he now has the lowest percentage of interceptions thrown in NFL history, which is an amazing stat for a guy whose accuracy is constantly under fire. He is slowly but surely getting back to his usual form.
-While the Vikings defense bottled up the run very well all day, Westbrook was still a factor as he got into the end zone twice. He’s surprisingly effective at the goal line for a guy his size.
-Reggie Brown did an excellent job on Sunday. He got open and caught the ball consistently. His catch on the sidelines came at a big time and it was only surpassed by…
-…Kevin Curtis! While Curtis didn’t have the numbers that Brown had, his sideline catch was equally important and one of the best I’ve ever seen. Randy Moss was the talk of the NFL all week for his catch in the end zone last week in which he used just his inside arm. Curtis did the same thing against the Vikings, but did so while wrestling the ball away from Cedric Griffin. This is the first we’ve seen Curtis make a tough catch like that, so maybe McNabb trusts him more in those situations now.
-Sav Rocca had a nice game, but I think he owed the team one anyway.
-I thought Matt McCoy was brilliant. Just kidding. He made an insanely stupid 15-yard penalty and today finds his rear end on the waiver wire. Nice knowing you. He makes my “What I Liked” list because the team finally got rid of him. Put him on the list of failed second-round draft picks for this regime. I wonder if he’ll be in “Hawk Down Mode” in free agency. Anyone remember that one?
-I liked the kick return coverage. I’d also like to personally thank Vikings stud RB Adrian Peterson for his great kick return to open the second half. If you missed the game, Peterson caught the ball at the one-yard line and promptly stepped out of bounds. Actually, he was inside the one. Brad Childress did an excellent job of compounding the problem by challenging the ruling on the field. He lost of course. Isn’t there anyone in a booth upstairs to tell the coach not to bother?
-I’m going to note the good job of Reno Mahe. He had one nice return, but didn’t fumble. Sometimes it does take a return-game debacle like the opener in Green Bay to remind us not to take Mahe for granted.
-Trent Cole has turned into a player. Please stop rotating Darren Howard in there.
-The run defense was excellent in slowing down Peterson. He averaged 3.5 yards per carry, which isn’t good if you are scoring at home. He busted a few decent runs, but was stopped for nothing more often than not.
-The snap/hold combination of Dorenbos and an Australian guy scared me at the beginning of the season. But they have done a great job of holding for Akers in a year where he’s out there way too much.
-I have to include the Vikings defensive tackles here. Kevin Williams and Pat Williams (who I thought may have injured QB Tarvaris Jackson during the week by trying to eat him) are monsters in the middle. They are a brick wall and set up the rest of that D.
…And Not So Much:
-I don’t want to be picky, but I would have loved if McNabb could have connected with LJ Smith in the end zone early on.
-Those penalties are killers. Knock off the penalties. This team isn’t good enough to overcome dumb penalties.
-One penalty in particular annoyed me (aside from McCoy’s). I didn’t have the audio at the sports bar and they didn’t give us a good shot of it (I think it was Sheldon Brown), but I would love to know how you line up literally ON the line of scrimmage. You are staring right at the ball! I saw it right away before the snap and I’m a dope. Get out of the neutral zone!
-I like Kevin Curtis, I do. But I think he hears footsteps too often.
-I’ve mentioned this before and I’ll keep saying it: Please get someone besides Correll Buckhalter to return kickoffs. He is just completely ineffective and provides no threat to do anything other than get tackled on the 23-yard line. If you consider that doing something.
-This defense needs more turnovers. What happened to that nasty defense that used to bring relentless heat and force mistakes?
-Jevon Kearse had a big sack at a big time, but otherwise is useless. If he was a rookie free agent find from a small school – as opposed to a sixty-some million dollar signing – I’d be happy with what they have in him. But he’s not. And he stinks.
micahw@feverpitchmedia.com
