Andy Reid and other coaches always say you're not as bad as you think you are when you lose and you're not as good as you think you are when you win. That's true but most of the time in the NFL teams lose games more than teams win games.
For instance on Sunday night, Donovan McNabb gave up two turnovers in the first half which resulted in 14 easy Cowboys points because he held onto the ball on the first play of the game and forced a throw near the end of the first half. If he throws the ball away on the first play and throws it away on the interception, the Eagles could have gone in at the half, tied up or down by only 3 or 7 points. It still would have been a game. I don't think they would have beat Dallas any way because the Cowboys offense would still have outscored them in the second half, but against most teams they would still had a chance to win.
I knew turnovers were going to be a key to the Birds chances in the Dallas game, knowing that the Eagles sputtering offense can't afford to turn the ball over. The defense didn't play well against Dallas, so what would have been a close game turned into a rout. Donovan has to accept the fact that the Eagles aren't a high scoring team. He can't take chances with turnovers regardless of how many times they get stopped and are forced to punt. If you stay away from turnovers you have a chance to win most of your games in the NFL, regardless of how bad you are.
The same will be true on Sunday against the Skins. McNabb needs to be careful with the football and not feel too bad about throwing the ball away. Without the help of turnovers, the Eagles won't score more than 17 points and the same is true of the Skins. The Birds should accept that and make sure they don't give the Skins anything with turnovers or bad special teams play.
There are three places which have really gone down for the Birds and they are red zone offense, lack of turnovers by the defense and special teams play. The previous Andy Reid teams would be sitting here at least 5-3 or possibly 6-2 having not played that much better than this current Eagles team. They would won at a couple more of their close games because of better play in those three forementioned areas.
A healthy Donovan McNabb would have used his legs to help the Birds get in the end zone more often. A younger and healthier Brian Dawkins would have made a few more plays to set up short Eagles drives. Fiinally, special teams coach John Harbaugh would have helped the special teams steal some field position by forcing a turnover or two and returning a kick for a score.
The problem with that reasoning is the fact that McNabb can't run like he used to, Dawkins can't run and hit like he used to, and special teams coach John Harbaugh is now the secondary coach. Unfortunately, they don't have enough playmakers on either side of the ball to make up the difference. Bottomline, the Eagles aren't as good as they used to be.
