From Tim, G – What happened to the days when this team was a force and unbeatable in Prime Time games? Wasn’t there a stretch of time when Andy Reid was like 7-0 in Prime Time Games? He always seemed to get his teams up for the spotlight.
– I know I don’t speak for a lot of the fans, but I am almost starting to dread late games because we have to wait a few extra hours to be humiliated and let down for the next seven days.
– One thing I think this team is really lacking is creativity and finding new ways to make big plays. I remember a time when opposing defenses didn’t know when the Eagles might throw a trick play in the game. I.E. Opening the game with an onsides kick, reverses, fake punts, half back passes, etc… I believe Andy did these things as a young coach who was short on talent and had to find ways to get a spark out of his players and create mismatches in his favor. Now, that he is back to where he is short on talent in some key positions I would love to see some “trickery”, and not the same old flea flicker we’ve been seeing for three years now. Is Andy/”Mr. Redundant” so sure of himself and his “talent” that he doesn’t think these types of plays are needed? Is he such a great game planner that he doesn’t need to catch opposing teams off guard?? Isn’t that something that helped catapult him to his early success with extremely mediocre players on offense?
– Continuing on that theme, is it me or does this coaching staff like to show opposing teams our weaknesses week in and week out? It’s almost like they are telling defenses to overload the line of scrimmage to put pressure on Donovan so that he can make an errant pass or worse turn the ball over. Are they setting Donovan up to fail so they can force him out at the end of the season as so many people have insisted? I am having a hard time believing that, but how can you explain the team going in with game plans that are easily predictable and are obviously not successful right now? When will the crossing pattern by wide receivers be stopped? T.O. is still running across the middle as we speak. This has always been a Jim Johnson D killer, and seemingly one that is never executed by our own receivers.
– A few years back the team started using the phrase “ONE” to describe the dream of the city and team to win a championship. Today I think the “ONE” means one playmaker on each side of the ball and one dimensional. It’s easy to see that teams are game planning right now to take away two players on the Eagles, and when they do that successfully it’s very hard for the Eagles to win. The two players I’m speaking of right now are Brian Westbrook and Trent Cole.
– I know Brian tied the team record with 14 catches yesterday, but it wasn’t a dominating performance this team needs in order to be victorious. Can we for once come out and start a game with 3 or 4 straight running plays to allow the road graders on the line to set the tone immediately? I would think a defensive lineman getting pancaked on the second play from scrimmage will likely keep him on his toes for plays to come. But what do I know….
– I noticed that the Cowboys used a lot of two tight end sets to allow one to stay in and double team Trent Cole along the side of Flozell Adams. I don’t know the exact stats, but I would say a large majority of the time he was on the field there was help to keep him contained, therefore allowing no pressure on Romo.
