The Eagles lost to a terrible team. The Seahawks are just the latest piece of evidence that the NFL, and specifically the NFC, stinks. The fact that an 8-4 team can only win by four points against a 5-7 team,
when said 5-7 team turns the ball over four times, is a disgrace. The Eagles did everything possible to give the Seahawks an easy victory and it still came down to the final seconds. This makes the Eagles season even more frustrating when you look at all the close games that they should have won. It started with Green Bay and now includes Chicago, Seattle and yes, even New England. Let’s take a look at what happened:
What I liked:
-What else can you ask Brian Westbrook to do? I read a story the other day about the cloning of animals. So, you have to figure that one day down the road someone will clone a human. Political debate aside, who should be the first person we clone? Stephen Hawking? A favorite philanthropist and humanitarian? Bill O’Reilly (kidding, don’t yell at me on email)? My vote is for Brian Westbrook. I want to clone him several times and put him all over the offense and special teams. We will need many Westbrooks to start, as well as replace the other Westbrooks when they inevitably get hurt. All these Westbrooks will also be given first choice of where to sit in the cafeteria.
-While the defense was guilty of many things (which I’ll get to in a minute), they clamped down towards the end when it counted. Sheldon Brown, after missing an open-field tackle on Nate Burleson earlier in the game, got it together and was a force down the stretch. He forced a fumble. He knocked down a 3rd and 7 pass. He did what no one else seemed capable of doing all day when he picked off Matt Hasselbeck.
-I thought Kevin Curtis played pretty well. Yes, he probably could/should have caught the 4th-down pass that was a little high, but it was catchable. He caught six passes for 111 and a TD, which is nice. It just seems he’s a little miscast as a wideout when I think he’s most effective in the slot. Overall this season he’s been a nice player, just not a big enough difference maker.
-J.R. Reed I find to be a pleasant surprise. For a third stringer, he really isn’t that bad. I find myself liking him more than Sean Considine, which isn’t saying much. Sure he’s not someone I would ever want starting, but there could be much worse.
-The kickoff returns were much, much better on Sunday. Not to be negative, but I thought it was more of a result of Seattle’s poor coverage.
-I’ve waited too long to give praise to William Thomas and Jon Runyan. Runyan has been pretty darn good for a guy with a busted tailbone. As for Thomas, I don’t think I’ve heard his name called all year. For an offensive lineman, that’s ideal. I don’t want to hear their names because it means they are either getting killed or committing penalties. The only time I’ve heard Thomas’ name was when Winston Justice played against the Giants. Then we heard how he was hurt and Justice isn’t supposed to be playing.
…and not so much:
-Where do I start? Let’s start with the gameplan. It’s rainy and footing is poor. The conditions are not good. So what do they do? Throw it 42 times with a backup QB. Seattle is not a dominating team, the fact that the offensive gameplan was so ill conceived is amazing to me.
-We all know A.J. Feeley is next on this list. Should he have been asked to throw that many times? Of course not. But it’s safe to say that you should still pay attention to where you are throwing it. Four INT’s and three were absolute killers. Lofa Tatupu is a nice player, but Feeley made him into an all-world player. The final INT was right between the 5 and the 1. But it wasn’t just the picks, his decision making was suspect all day. I’m not sure what the exact play call was on all the deep routes, so I’m not sure if he was supposed to be doing that or if that was the receiver he decided to try and hit. I’ll bet it was a combination of both. I’m not genius, but has anyone noticed that Greg Lewis and Curtis are small? Meaning, don’t throw up a ball for them to go and get when they are double covered. Heck, when there are single covered even. It was absolutely baffling to me that Feeley continued to look for home runs on short down and distance situations. I haven’t seen a QB force that many throws into tight coverages in quite some time. These were simply not receivers that looked open at any point. Terrible, terrible game. All of you McNabb haters that want him gone, I’ll say it again: Careful what you wish for. Even during McNabb’s bad games, he doesn’t throw four INT’s.
-Matt Hasselbeck was far from good and deserved to be intercepted a couple more times. Takeo Spikes absolutely has to catch that. The same goes for Omar Gaither. There was a ball up the sidelines that Will James could possibly have had, but his ball skills are so bad that I don’t expect much. I never thought Kimo von Oelhoffen would actually fall on Hasselbeck’s fumble and sure enough, he didn’t. He is a veteran and has to make that play.
-Where has Trent Cole been? He’s performing his annual disappearing act after eight games. The zeroes in his stats for the month of November are interrupted by a lone “1” in the hurries category. No sacks, forced fumbles or fumble recoveries. It seems like during the first half of the season we always talk about what a beast he is. Then he goes silent. It’s a 16-game season, my friend. If you want to be known as one of the best, you have to play well in the bulk of the games.
-Lito Sheppard is hurt again. And he was horrific when he was out there. He couldn’t cover and he couldn’t tackle. Where is the criticism of this guy? He’s been hurt and/or lousy.
-I don’t have a problem with going for it on 4th down at the end of the first half. But the play calling was a disgrace. Throwing in the back of the end zone for L.J. Smith on 2nd down? Are you serious? So then, on fourth down, the ball was at the one-inch line. Your QB is 6-3, 220 lbs. What’s the easy play? Sneak it! When you are that close, you have to remember that by handing off, you are going backwards to go forward. Feeley would have gotten in.
-Reggie Brown just doesn’t do enough to justify that contract extension. Two passes for 26 yards. Either he desperately needs some serious speed and/or talent on the other side of the formation, or I’m starting to think he’s just not good enough.
-I’m putting this in specifically for my friend Kevin, who I thought was going to blow a gasket on the 48-yard field goal attempt. In those field and weather conditions, you might as well just go for it on fourth down. An incomplete pass is seven yards better for field position than a missed field goal. More brainless decisions.
Send frustrations to micahw@feverpitchmedia.com
