From an analysis standpoint, the emphasis after this game shouild be that it’s very early. Andy Reid doesn’t show all of his cards in preseason games. The red zone problems are worth mentioning but I think they can be remedied by elimination of the penalties and some serious preparation for that place on the field by the coaching staff, which we will get when the season starts.
I did have a problem with the way the offense seemed to be getting beaten up by a tough Cincinnati Bengals defense. I think the best description of the butt-whupping came on third down and one on the Bengals 45 yard line in the first quarter. The Eagles needed one yard to put themselves in position to take the lead.
Demetrius Patterson had picked off a pass near the fifty yard line and put the offense in great position to score and take control of the game.
Remember my next point the entire season, the Eagles won’t have a good year if they’re playing from behind most of the time. They’re built to get the lead and force teams to throw the ball. They don’t have a big enough defensive to withstand, 40 plus rush attempts per game.
They’ve got to go down and score touchdowns in these type situations during the season.
On the 3rd and one situation, they tried a power play off the leftside behind left guard Max Jean-Gilles, left tackle Jason Peters, tight end Brent Celek and fullback Leonard Weaver. It was no contest. The Bengals got off on the snap of the football and were in the Eagles backfield.
The penetration on the left side cut off right guard Stacy Andrews who was trying to pull from the other side. Defensive tackle Tank Johnson was three yards into the backfield. He beat Jean-Gilles off on the snap of the ball.
At the point of attack which was behind Jean-Gilles, Peters and Celek, each missed their blocks. They were each deep in the backfield which gave the play no chance. Former Eagles linebacker Dhani Jones was cutting LeSean McCoy’s legs out from under him four-yards deep in the backfield and fellow linebacker Keith Rivers was coming over to make sure McCoy wasn’t getting that first down.
Weaver didn’t do much of a job on the strong safety either. He didn’t attack him.
The third tight end on that play was Clay Harbor and he didn’t take on his man up high. He was trying to cut linebacker Rey Maualuga on that play and will be called for a penalty if he does it during the season. The youngster doesn’t seem to have any confidence in his ability to block a linebacker or defensive lineman.
This was time for the Eagles to step up but they didn’t. The Bengals defense obviously showed up with a mindset to play some tough football but the Birds blockers didn’t have the same mentality.
Cincinnati has a good football team and more specifically they have a good defense. They’re very physical and these are the type of teams the Birds will have to beat if they want to be playing in the post season.
The Eagles punted the ball on fourth and two on the Bengals side of the football field.
On another note: Why not go for it on fourth and two on the Bengals 46 yard line in the first quarter of a preseason game? Wouldn’t be a good test for this young offense? Everybody knows they can punt the ball from that point, but can this offense get a first down against a good defense, away from home.
Just a thought, but does anybody agree with me.
Good diagnosis G..
I think Weaver is a good player, but not All-World like many think he is and definitely not worth the big Contract he signed last offseason. He looks a 1/2 step slower and really is indecisive at times whether its blocking or running, He caught a little screen pass and had lots of open field to his left and instead he cuts to the right and runs right into his own blocker (MGJ).. His vision and natural instincts don’t seem to be all that great to me…
Not going for it on 4th & 2 was just plain silly, we all know that Akers is pretty solid and consistent as a FG kicker, but the call that really got my blood boiling was when the Eagles had 1st and Goal late in the 2nd Period at about the 8 yard line ,when the had their best drive of the game going, and Kolb just completed 3 nice passes in a row, Then they split Kolb out wide and have a direct snap to McCoy which lost about 2 yards and their momentum.. Are you kidding me, if you want your starting QB and Offense to improve in the Red-Zone then give them the opportunites to throw the ball into the end-zone, not some gimmick High-School play that doesn’t work versus good teams..
G, Reid’s teams are built to play in the NFC west. He has been able to get away with playing finesse football for a decade b/c the division was down. Now with the Cowboys, Giants and Redskins all bolstering a run first, punch you in the mouth mentality, I’m not sure our defense will be able to sustain 4 quarters of 12 play drives nor will our offense be able to sustain drives and give our defense a rest without a run game of some sort. Kolb looks good, but the Eagles pass happy offense is hit or miss and it does eat enough time off the clock overall. On a good note, I did like the way Kolb ran the two minute at the end. And I loved the fact that we had some timeouts to use at that point.
Doesn’t eat enough time off the clock*
We are soft . They want these small fast guys but time and time again we get beat up physically by other teams. Cowboys did it to us last year 2 weeks in a row . Our offensive strategies and problems continue and are the same ones every year. So when talked about doing things over and over getting the same results he must of been talking about something else. Reid get no blame, cant change and unfortuely us fans will suffer. The scape goat McNabb is gone so there will be no one else to blame. Before you Reid lover lasy out with your venom, answer this. Every year same problems: Time management, Red zone, predictable play calling. Why hastn the coach ONCE been called to the carpet?
I came away from last night’s game with the belief that Kolb is going to be black and blue over the long haul. While he enjoyed some success rolling to his right, undoubtedly the league is already taking note of his tendencies, strengths and weaknesses. I expect containment will be forced on his right.
If pressure continues to come up the middle, as it did last night, Kolb won’t have time to read through his progressions. And if he takes a pounding, his accuracy could also suffer.
To Marcus,
Believe it or not, The Giants have become a passing team also over the last season or 2 and not the
Giants of old Offensively…
ToO Ozzman,
There is probabluy not enough carpet to go around to wrap AR in…(just sayin..)
Get a grip. It was a preseason game.
cinncy is a good team and was their 3rd game. they should have some advantages on the eagles. that being said the eagles do need to score TD’s or they will be in tough. I think they are going to get better each week. I hope they will get enough wins to be a playoff team. might be dreaming if i believe they will get to the playoffs
@Paul man….lol yeah you a re right! I just never thought I would see my Eagles SOFT. We might never been good but we were always know to be pysical and tough and to me we look like a bunch of sugar britches out there.
Walken – Your right, it’s only preseason. That acknowledged it’s still discomforting to continue to see more of the same thing we’ve seen from Reid’s offense for years. The players have changed with many for the better and some, so far, not so much. I’ve no doubt that Kolb “can” run AR’s offense more efficiently than 5 did. As impactful as that change is, it’s still AR’s O (scheme & play calling) which, until proved otherwise, I continue to think that’s the root cause of their failure to win big games against talented teams that are well coached on game day. I am a Kolb fan and am excited to see the change however; I would’ve much preferred to move away from AR’s O by whatever means necessary than 5 departing. I continue to think that both a grind it out balanced O and a big D line is much better than these D Line “fastballs” and pass, pass, pass O that AR has tried to make work for years. The D simply wears down late in the season and a predictable AR O struggles to score. I hope I’m proved wrong a soon as possible cause, maybe they can…
@MaybeTheyCan: Perfectly said.
I have to echo walken on this..
G:
Depite the fact that it’s exhibition game #1, I have seen this before. This, the replacement line for John Runyan, Tre Thomas, Jamaal Jackson, Herremans and, sometimes, Shawn Andrews, is just not the same. They did not, obviously, fire off of the ball with extreme prejudice. There’s no excuse for that when they look themselves in the mirror, let alone for people like us observing that failure. These guys have to prepare for the best D-Line in the league, and prepare to beat it. If they can do that, they can beat anybody. Any D-Line that can make Dhani stinkin’ Jones look good roaming free is darn near historical. But they didn’t prepare to, or accomplish, beating that line. Now, I have to ask, what about Dallas? What about Minnesota? What about the Giants?
I have also seen the story of this undersized defense before. I have never liked the idea, but I admired JJ for running it like a wizard. The league should line up and pound the 3,4,5 and 6 holes. What were the stories about how good Patterson, Bunkley and Laws are? I HAVE to see more from these guys.
And the 7 & 8 holes as well. Did not mean to just besmirch the right side of the Eagles’ D-line. I meant to besmirch the entire D-Line when it comes to stopping power running games.
I think what a lot of teams that have had success running against this Eagle D/line is that they
basically allow the DE’s (Cole/Parker) to take an outside rush (where the FB or a TE in motion or a pulling Guard for the opposite side will block them) and then the Tackles peel off and go block the OLB and the runner cuts under the DE who was rushing wide in which creates a nice running lane for the RB to go thru.. If the Eagles CB doesn’t come up to force the RB inside, then the RB has an easy 8-12 yard run and maybe longer depending on the downfield blocking..The Cowboys/GIants/Redskins have use this scheme quite a bit with a lot sucess on this Delay Hand-off versus the Eagles.. It’s kinda of funny that it never works when the Eagles try it though …
Pman: First you have to value the run and then you have actually call the play in the game. We dont value the run, never did ,never will be cause AR’s passing game is ingenuis so why would run the ball? It was 5 who held up this brilliant scheme. Now with the Messiah Kolb we might never have to punt ever again. wow i am grouchy today.