My Thoughts Eagles/Bengals

The Eagles faced a bit of a test last night as their starters went the full first half and had to play against a nice Cincinnati Bengals team. The Bengals may have fizzled in the playoffs yet again last year, but they are back and will be a tough out this year. I guess all those years of drafting in the top 10 eventually produces results.

Let’s take a look at what happened last night:

What I liked…

-Kevin Kolb did an ok job last night. Once again, he made some beautiful passes that seem really easy for his receivers to catch. He moved around a little bit (because he had to) and made some plays. It’s frustrating that he couldn’t get into the end zone, but there were a lot of fingerprints on that.

-I’m not seeing domination from Brandon Graham just yet, but I’m seeing something. He’s getting a good push at times and he’s at least showing that he’ll be able to get something done at this level. I want to call him KillaGraham, but he’s not ready for that name yet.

-This defense is better than last year. I think that’s safe to say. I’m not saying it’s great or that they’ll dominate people, but the Bengals have a pretty filthy offense and the D played with them.

-Read about Dallas Cowboys’ kicker David Buehler and his practice %’s on field goals. Then come back and tell me how much you absolutely love David Akers.

-Nate Allen was great on the deep ball. Excellent coverage.

-I almost forgot to mention DeSean Jackson. He’s so good that I take him for granted now. It really doesn’t look like his feet touch the ground, which is good for him. Less wear and tear on the knees. But seriously, he does look like he’s playing the game at a different speed than everyone else. While he is just flat-out faster than everyone else, the calm demeanor tells me that everything is very slow in his head. Can’t be a better combination.

-I’m just a huge Riley Cooper fan.

-Looks like Terrell Owens can still play, huh? Palmer is much better throwing the ball to him than Ochocinco.

…and not so much…

-Nate Allen got run the hell over.

-Kolb has looked decent, but he has got to stop forcing balls into coverage. I’ve said it before and you’ll probably here me obnoxiously repeat it as we go through the season: Three pretty balls < One INT. Picks are killers. -Please be ok, Jeremy. Please be ok, Jeremy. Please be ok, Jeremy. -This offensive line is an unmitigated joke right now. The middle of the line gets absolutely not push whatsoever. If it's not letting pass rushers through on passing downs, they are getting whooped on running plays. It's really difficult to evaluate the progress of LeSean McCoy when there is nowhere for him to run. -How about those coverage teams? Great job by Quentin Demps to simultaneously commit a penalty on a fair catch and still manage to keep the play going so they could get an extra 30 or so yards out of it. That's skill. And once again, returners in general were getting tackled too far down the field. That would be great to get Akers hurt because he had to make a tackle in a preseason game. Until further notice, I want Akers to kick the ball off, then just run to the sidelines. -If you think Michael Vick is the answer at QB for this team, then I'm just not sure what you are watching. He didn't complete a pass to his own team until there were only a couple minutes left in the third quarter. He looked decisive and smooth throwing those interceptions. Just what you want. It's just so frustrating to hear all the people talking about how he's finally back this year. He's finally back to what? Not being a very good QB like he was before? Yeah, he's back to that alright. -Did Ernie Sims play last night? I didn't get a copy of the program. -Ellis Hobbs has been ok, but let's hope he doesn't get hurt. Joselio Hanson is alright in the slot, but I don't want him starting outside. -Why is it that announcers and the media in general have to compare any white receiver to Wes Welker? They said that Jordan Shipley isn’t really like Welker because he’s not as fast. Soooooo…..why make the comparison then? “This guy is EXACTLY like Walter Payton, except he’s really tall, thin, can’t balance a checkbook, not very strong and is a punter. Other than that? CARBON COPIES.”

-That third and one looked awfully familiar.

-I think I loved the fact that I counted four illegal formation penalties. At least two were on Jason Peters and it might have been three. Why does he insist on being so far off the line of scrimmage? Notice that even when he is lined up right, he pulls out early. He’s very lucky that he doesn’t get more false start penalties. He’s not awful, but something about him really bugs me.

-Is Carson Palmer overrated? I think he’s a nice QB, but is he elite? I have to give a big “no” on that one. He almost got Chad Johnson killed last night.