The Birds came into this game knowing that they were cooked, if they couldn’t win their offensive battle against the New Orleans defense in addition to winning the special teams battle.
On the defensive side they wanted to keep the Saints offense off balance and under control. Some how some way they needed to disrupt the timing of the Saints.
Although they tried desperately, they weren’t able to get New Orleans out of rhythm and that cost the Eagles the game.
Drew Brees was hit a few times but for the most part, the rush wasn’t able to get there.
The coverage was able to take away all of Brees’ options, so he was always able to get rid of the football.
Sean McDermott dialed up all the blitzes he could put out there but the Saints seemed to stay a step or two ahead of them.
I didn’t like the way the cornerbacks played off of the Saints receivers. I wanted to see them play in more press technique so they could force Brees to hang on to the football.
The Saints put pressure on your defensive backs in pass coverage, but they may have put even more pressure on the Eagles linebackers. Their running backs do a great job of catching the football and doing something with it after they get their hands on it.
Special Teams – Chris Clemons is getting ridiculous with all of the penalties on the special teams. Unfortunately he wasn’t the only one on the special teams making mistakes.
The punt team got a penalty after a good Sav Rocca punt and theyhad to punt again, but it put the Saints in better field position by 20 yards.
The fumble by Ellis Hobbs was a killer. The defender came up from behind him and ripped the ball out of his hands.
Offensive Team – I think this game has to give the Eagles more confidence in Kevin Kolb. After the game, Reid said Kolb would be the starting quarterback again next week if McNabb can’t go another week.
It was good to see him have success with that long touchdown pass to begin the game. He wound up throwing for nearly four hundred yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions.
He’s still got a lot to learn but he got a chance to learn some it today.
He telegraphed a couple of throws but you’ve got to give the kid credit for doing a good job in his debut. He got a groove and got the ball moving.
DeSean Jackson is being used in all types of ways. That was a great route he ran on the touchdown pass where they had a receiver come across the field to bait safety into stepping up.
The Eagles coaches had seen the safety stepping up all week long, so they set him up early. Once the safety took the step forward toward line of scrimmage, it was foot race that DeSean was going to win.
All in all DeSean did a great job of making plays out of the wildcat which were quite successful. They were throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the Saints defense in the first half.
It seemed they were using it in the first half because they didn’t want to put too much of the responsibility on Kolb.
Nice game for Jackson who caught four passes for 101 yards. I expect him to continue to shine.
I also like what we’re seeing out of tight end Brent Celek. It’s true that quite a few of his catches were during garbage time, but
