Was anyone else as glad as I was when that game ended Thursday night? Now, I’m not here saying that the sky is falling and the Eagles are doomed because they played a lousy game of football. But, it was just brutal to watch. It was an awful game all around. Let’s take a look at this awful, awful game:
What I liked…
-I like Dion Lewis. He’s tiny, but he’s quick as all get out. He deserves a roster spot.
-Chas Henry had a nice punt downed inside the five.
-Sure, we can get Gerald Jones in here with his two touchdowns….even though there probably isn’t a spot for him on the team.
-Mike Kafka looks like a different player this year. He made some great throws with excellent touch and timing. Vince Young is probably the second stringer right now because of his name. While it’s still early and VY is still learning the offense, you’d have to wonder who would get the nod if Vick were to go down for a period of time. My guess is that it would be VY on a relatively short leash.
-I think this team is going to very happy with Cullen Jenkins. Shame he clipped Roethlisberger’s facemask, because that was a hell of a play.
…and not so much…
-So much for the first section. Yeah, if you didn’t see the game, it was that bad.
-Are we done with Casey Matthews in the middle? I’ve seen blocking sleds get pushed around less. I’m sure he’s a nice guy, a great athlete and a hard worker. But guess what? Doesn’t mean much when you just physically can’t handle being in there.
-Let’s stay with this part of the team. I felt at times last night like the Eagles were playing without linebackers. Whether it was big holes up the middle or getting torched on swing passes out of the backfield, the linebackers on this team aren’t making any impact whatsoever. Who is to blame? Whoever is calling the personnel shots (and that can get blurry with this group). If Howie Roseman is to be praised for all these trades and free-agent signings, then he’s to blame for completely ignoring the position of linebacker. They have a bunch of low-round kids out there that are trusted with the middle of a defense that’s supposed to help a team win a Super Bowl. You have to be kidding me. What baffles me is how an organization can be so extremely smart in some areas and so mentally deficient in others.
-Anyone know what Nate Allen is doing out there? I sure don’t. I’m hoping that he just doesn’t completely trust his knee yet, because he looks clueless.
-Michael Vick’s decision making was absolutely horrendous. I’m not worried about it, but interceptions are absolute killers, especially for a team that likes to throw so much.
-In Vick’s defense, the offensive line wasn’t doing him any favors. This is still a major, major concern for me.
-I was one of several people cracking wise about Asante Samuel’s torch job last night on Facebook. But the truth is, that’s part of what you’re getting with him and you know it. He’s brilliant at jumping routes, but those complete breakdowns happen some times. All part of the Asante package.
-The defense will not last until Week 6 if they don’t get off the field better. The offense didn’t help with short drives, but the Steelers had the ball it seemed like the whole first half. They were getting penalized and still keeping the drives going! Keep in mind this defense is already undersized…how long before they are worn out? We’ve seen it with too many Eagles defenses in the recent past.
-This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but more of an observation. Remember when wide receivers with numbers in the teens in the preseason usually were camp bodies that weren’t going to make the team (think Melvin Patterson)? Now it seems you could be in trouble if you’ve got a number in the 80’s. Completely useless observation that I was thinking when I saw Rod Harper and Gerald Jones.
-I’m usually pretty quiet when I watch the games, especially preseason games. But I had to let out a wife-startling “what the [expletive] are you doing?!?!” last night when I saw Vick duck his head down and pop Troy Polamalu on the interception return. Was Vick angry and frustrated? Absolutely. Does that mean you risk your body and possibly the Eagles season by initiating that kind of contact? Absolutely not. You can talk about all the strides that this guy has made (and he’s made tons off the field, on the field, in the film room), but he’s still got a little knucklehead in him. It’s almost as if he doesn’t realize how important he is sometimes. Another thing I didn’t like about that play? It was the best defensive play the Eagles made all night.
Okay, we can call off the dogs for now. It’s just a preseason game and might be exactly what this team needed to wake them up.
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What’s your solution to MLB Micah?
It’s easy to complain…
I still wonder if it’s not the Coach who is coaching the LB’s who also happens to be the DC is not the problem here, that would be Juan Castillo
Lots of mis-alignments and basically very confused unit out there last evening
i’ll give you a few….
1. Draft someone that the draft guys dont call a “tweener”.
2. Instead of getting DRC- they could have traded for a LB
3. Maybe they should have kept Bradley around-wasnt my fav but he would have been better.
4. Draft a LB higher than 4th round for once.
5. Maybe they should have went after tulloch.
im not worried about this team like some guys are but lets be real….. they need LB’s.
I would like to see L Tatupu and Kirk Morrison brought in for workouts to see if either would be a good fit int he Eagle Scheme
If all else fails move Chaney back to middle and let Clayton/Rolle/Jordan fight it out at OLB..
I have a tough time believing that Kirk Morrison wouldn’t be a huge upgrade. Always plays 16 games and have 109 tackles in 2009.
Stevo,
They did go afer Tulloch but it was the biggest offer he received and it came down for him wanting to play for his fomer DC In Tennessee who is now th HC of the Lions..
Bradley wasn’t signable, for he was looking for more security (3 Year Deal)) than the Eagles were willing to give him (1 Year Deal) ..
Arizona has no good LB’s (Which is why they signed Stew themselves) and who at the time who knew the Eagles were going to be able sign ASMO..That trade with CArdinals probably had been going on for a while..
I think Mike Vick is seeing what happens when teams have time to prepare defenses to stop him
Started end of last season
I don’t think he can adjust because he is too used to getting out of trouble with his athletic skills
The question is whether he is going to be able to make the permanent adjustment
The days of looking like the unstopable superman like he did on Monday Night TV against the Redskins are over
Problem is Reid goes out and gets the same type QB but with less mental skills as a backup
Vick goes down noway Young is able to step in and Kafka is still an unknown
Paulman, Castillo isn’t the LB coach–Mike Caldwell is. And this is a PRESEASON GAME–let’s look at what you should accomplish during the preseason games–
1. Get out of these games healthy with no season ending injuries.
2. Evaluate your 80 (or this year) your 90 man roster.
3. Find out which plays work and which can be scrapped.
4. Cohesion on each unit.
5. Along with 4, communication between the coaches and the players.
Notice I didn’t put winning down there. For teams like the Lions, Browns, Raiders, etc., teams that have been down, winning may be at the top because they’re trying to build programs almost from the ground up and winning does build confidence. However, scanning most of the Eagles’ fan boards, it seems like a lot of people have forgotten what the preseason is all about. Heck, the Eagles don’t even game plan for preseason games. Does the defense need to be better? Absolutely, and they need to make changes. But no one, on ANY fan board has brought up the following–
Preseason is really not an indicator of how you do during the regular season–examples–the ’02 Skins set a preseason record for most points, but once the regular season began, they couldn’t find the end zone with a sat nav. The Colts have mostly had losing preseasons, yet make the playoffs every year.
I also go back to ’06–the Eagles needed help at WR and swung a trade with the Saints for Donte Stallworth–when?? The last week of the preseason. There is plaenty of time to sign a veteran presence at LB. The sky is not falling as some would make it seem.
The sky isn’t falling but the same areas of concern are the same as last year….. offensive line, LBs and Safety. Preseason or not, these things have been concerns for a while now and still remain. Move Chaney back to MLB and put Matthews outside somewhere and MAKE HIM EARN A STARTING SPOT. Shady still needs to be better at picking up the blitz. On one of Vick’s INTs, Shady completely whiffed on a block. If he picks that up then Vick isn’t scrambling around which led to a bad decision. Still no excuse for Vick’s bad decision but Shady has got to pick up that blitz better. I’m not worried about the team overall. Still see 11-13 wins. The only thing that concerns me is that we always run into a team in the playoffs that knows exactly how to exploit the areas we’ve been weak in all year long.
I wish everyone would calm down the games that count starts September 11,2011 now I am concerned about the linebackers and right tackle because they were weak at those positions last season now for linebacker I like Kirk Morrision he started every game the last 6 seasons they should sign him ASAP.
I have downgraded the Eagles to 9-7 with losses to the Giants,Cowboys & Redskins, then losses at Atlanta,Seattle, Home vs the Patriots and Bears .
is William Thomas still available ?
-Are we done with Casey Matthews in the middle? I’ve seen blocking sleds get pushed around less. I’m sure he’s a nice guy, a great athlete and a hard worker. But guess what? Doesn’t mean much when you just physically can’t handle being in there.
Thank you Micah Warren. I could’nt have said it better.
Sky is falling scorp, how dumb could we be to trust Reid at starting an undersized rookie at middle lb , a 4th round pick, replacing a seventh round pick, hey Andy , every damn position is important, especially the middle of the field, the safeties are soft too, like songs said, dawk in a wheelchair would be better than Allen , and teams have figured Vick out, he’s a great talent, love his toughness, but he has major problems with blitz recognition and I don’t believe the eagles will win a super bowl with him
Scorpiodsu – agreed
Althought Andy is a great at making gameplans he is slow to adjust during a game. JJ was the same. Did we ever adjust to the blitze at the end of last season?
If a team lined up in a 2-9 defense and only rushed 2 people we would still throw into that defense instead of running.
The Giants have the personel to do what the Steelers did on the ground. I hope that offensive line coach can make adjustments needed on defense.
All in all it was good to be exposed now. I think the Eagles were begining to drink their own Kool-Aid. I know I had a couple of glasses.
jake – you could be VERY dumb to think a preseason game – even an ugly HIDEOUS one – means ANYTHING. PERIOD. That’s pretty f-ing dumb. I had a miserable night watching that last night and I was still in a crappy mood well into this morning but to think that means bad things for the team going down the road is DUMB.
And Mathews has started 0 real games. If he starts week one v. St. Louis and we lose, then start bitching. Otherwise, show us your virtue and exhibit just a little patience.
so do the Bears,JEts,Falcons,Redsksins,Cowboys and most of the teams on the Eagles schedule this year BSM.. (As far as strong RUnning teams and teams with good TE’s to exploit the middle)
you know what really was evident last night? 0 gameplanning. Oh wait, that’s how preseason works – the work put in during the week leading up to the game does not include time strategizing how to beat the opponnent. Hmmm…..
I do believe the Eagles make a move for a LB by Wed of this week. I cannot see them going into battle this season with this current crop..
Look for maybe some free-agent signing or possibly a trade involving J Hanson,
R Cooper or even C Harbor and a draft pick to secure one..
To Bobbyuk
Is in the preseason game plan not to try and score or sustain drives too..
Every team does what you listed but still put’s importance of putting up points.. I don’t care about the wins or losses but to not even show up and play competitive football is inexcusable .. and remmeber the Steelers Kicker had 1 FG Blocked and 2 misses so it coulda,woulda, shoulda been 30-0 by the 4th Period… Dream Team all-right, keep Dreaming about a Super Bowl run with this HC and his assanine pass-first philosophy…
On the LB Coach, I thought I read where Caldwell was hired as Assistant LB Coach reporting to the LB Coach which is Castillo and similar to M ZOrdic who is assistant to Secondary Coach reporting to Sec Coach J Lynne..
Paulman I am starting to believe your predictions on the eagles, that game was an eye opener, the eagles have major problems in the middle of their defense and they are about to anchor the franchise to a qb that teams have figured out, if his best asset is his legs, he should not be the qb, pure and simple
jake – go see your doctor – that’s the recommendation listed in ‘best practices’ when someone says “paulman I am starting to believe your predicitons”. Drink a glass of water, slap yourself across the face, take a few deep breaths in AND out. And then proceed to your doctor or the nearest ER
I disagree Schiller about zeor game planning
DId you see the Steelers anticipate and change plays the the line of scrimmage when the EAgles were about to blitz, they (Steelers) were prepared and caught the Eagles flat-footed and blown coverages..
My question is this, IF Coach AR and the Eagles never have game-planned for Preseason games in the past which has resulted in zero regualar season playoff and championship result, then why not try to do a little..and even in certain situations, 3rd Downs, Red-Zone, etc,etc… This is a cop-out , remember 1 thing, this off-season is completely different then any other in recent memory which so is the practice routines and so should Pre-Season.. How come the Patriots can be serious about Pre-season games and run a lot of their OFfense and Defense.. Coach AR is too soft plain and simple..
I only saw about 2 minutes of the game – but overall I am happy with the outcome – pre-season games are about finding out what areas you are weak and fixing them before the game starts – looks like the loss was humbling and will give the team and the coaches pause. Need to stay grounded and focused and if we waltzed thru pre-season the team may have belived the hype – the game means nothing – the lessons are worth everything
Pman – Town Tavern – still on – u can’t miss me
Navy – consider yourself very very very very very very very (yada yada yada) lucky for not seeing more of the game. Oh the horrors
Paul, with all due respect, I found your last post to be fairly incoherant.
Do you know what gameplanning is?!? despite my critism of you so so often, I truly believe you know what gameplanning is despite this lapse…
1. Steelers anticipating/changing plays at the line of scrimmage is certainly a good thing (for them) and a veteran/solid/effective thing to do. But gampeplanning IT IS NOT.
2. “which has resulted in zero regualar season playoff and championship result” – — UM, what?
3. Cop out? Why not gameplan just a little? BECAUE THE GRAND TOTAL OF GOOD THAT CAN COME OUT OF WINNING A PRESEASON NFL GAME is the same amount of superbowls won by the Eagles under Andy Reid. 0 (don’t forget to carry the 1) 0! 0! 0! 0! 0! Nil Nada ZILCH Winning in preseason gets you??????? NOTHING THERE IS NO INCENTIVE TO DO SO AT ALL PERIOD. —–now THAT, I don’t think you grasp. It’s sad but true.
Yeah, lessons are worth everything and lessons don’t correlate to winning a preseason game – NOT AT ALL
one more thing Paul – How the paint chips tasting these days?
I did get to see Vick make an excellent tackle on Troy P –
Paulman
While I could see a trade before the season of a few players to include Hanson, the Egleas would not trade Cooper or Harbor? Are you serious? Harbor may be starting by the end of the year, in my opinion. He is way more athletic than Celek and is a much better blocker. I think it is just a matter of time on that fron.
As for Cooper, he is our only big receiver in the red zone. Not only that, he has no real value besides to us.
Not seeing any situation where either of these guy get traded.
im really not that worried about last night-its preseason boys- But- PAULMAN,
I stand by my second post…..
Im actually glad the birds did not trade Kolb away for a LB because i think DRC will be our CB for years after the other 2 retire. BUT…. i was making a point to wmonell that the birds HAD options and they chose not to use any.
Im not going to rail on the eagles FO because they have done a very very good job of putting this team together BUT…. its not like the’ve never gone into a season with 1 spot almost vacant before. Dan Kleco at FB, no returner to name a few.
Is GCOBB.com doing a Fantasy League this year? Or did I already miss it?
Scorp? Nice article, Micah.
Sounds good Navy, How is moving in day going down there..
What time are you planning to come up… My Cell is 828-964-2790..
I’ll meet you over there,, The Towne Tavern sits right off Hwy 321 (behind the Blockbuster Video plaza) which is on your left and about 3 Blocks past a McDonalds Restaurant and about 2 Blocks before you hit the Holmes Convocational Center
Their parking lot is pretty small so I suggest you park in the Blockbuster lot..
They have a lot of tight ends…trade one of them for a veteran serviceable LB…Morrison..he’s still out there I think and better than anything they have on the roster right now. I agree with someone earlier….how can this organization be brilliant on some moves and blind on decent LBs? It amazes me.
Scorp still has 6-7 openings for the the Gcobb Fantasy League thru ESPN
there are the 10 Team names listed from last years leagues but I only see 3 owner namesso far (Scorp/Vrichini and mine) …
Ha, everyone prank call Paulie – claim that you’re a ‘source’
Good one Schiller,
I just got off the phone with Pete Carroll of the Seahawks and he was picking my breain on how QB VY and CB Samuel look, I told him they look great and he could have them both for OLB Aaron Curry and a some draft picks
Guess that explains the busy signal
Thanks, Paulman. So how do I join?
if thats really Pmans # then he may have just made the biggest mistake of his life. Pman- dont worry- i wont be calling but part of me wants to 1 ring you every time the phills win more that 90 games. you know you deserve that right?
Walken, I’m still doing the league for us…. send me an email astuckey05 at gmail .com
come on guys, let’s get the league going. Draft will be next week sometime.
Thats ok Stevo, I probably deserve it… ha
friggin’ classic Micah! “he’s still got a little knucklehead in him”
schiller – coldn’t agree more on almost every point you made about this being pre season.
Like I posted last night. The Steelers have made no significant changes since last year, unlike the Eagles have with a majority of the D including the coordinator and line coach. The Steelers are a great team polishing what they did last year with nearly NO CHANGES and they should’ve kicked the Eagles ass like they did last night. Come on, use your heads guys.
Thank God the rain delay for the Phillies ended so I coud watch some flawless defense and wicked offense. Vick had another mental lapse when he tackled Troy Palmalu leading with his head. Didn’t a poster say one of the objectives in a pre-season game is to avoid injury. They did find their areas of weakness: run and pass defense, time of possession, tackling, blocking, reading defenses,getting off blocks and blown assignments.
Patrick Willis for the 2nd rounder from AZ and Asante Samuel
Bacardi and coke… do it!
Patrick Willis plays for the 49ers and not Arizona and there is no way in hell the 49ers trade him..HE;s the heart and soul of that Defense and signed a nice 5-6 year extension before the lockout back in Febuary… C’Mon RTB…
EAGLES might not be a superbowl team this year. vick might overwork.. but you never know if the threee great reciever get healthy and timing is extremely important even if they try to down play it.. because its not just timing itsrecognising defenses together and speaking with the eyes without verbage..but that all could be sped up becuase the recievers are so good .. maclin jackson , smith.. i still still think we gotta get kirk morrison hes a probowl level player who does not want alot of money to come here. him coupled with chaney would be great..
patrick willis is not even a possibility he the best middle linebacker in the game (except maybe ray lewis) not only is he the best he runs a 4.3 40 at middle linebacker.. pretty much makes him untouchable