Eagles Rookie “O” Linemen, Kelce & Watkins Must Get Better Immediately

The Eagles offense started the game like a comedy act. On one play the rookie right guard, Danny Watkins, would step to the side and let the defensive tackle pound Michael Vick. On another play, rookie center jason Kelce, would refuse to snap the ball despite the fact that the entire line and quarterback were moving.

Numerous times the snapped the ball a split second late. It wasn’t a smooth outing for the Eagles offensive line, especially the first couple of drives.

Vick was getting pounded by nearly everybody on the Cleveland defensive front. On one play it was the defensive linemen on the next play it was the linebackers, who the offensive line decided to let come through. They were turning defenders loose despite the fact that the Browns weren’t blitzing very much.

On the very first offensive play, Watkins stepped to the side and let Browns rookie defensive tackle Phillip Taylor come through and pound Vick. I don’t know what he was thinking, but he can’t make that type of mistake.

Cleveland’s defense was lining up in a four-man front for the most part and rushing the passer at the snap of the ball. The first team offensive line was playing like some third stringers, who got in the game at the end of the fourth quarter, but had no idea what they were doing.

“It was a combination of things,” Reid said. “It was a combination of the set-up for the quarterback and a combination of the blocking scheme up front. That’s about as detailed as I can get for you.”

Whatever it was it can’t happen again. The Eagles can’t afford to put Vick in that type of physical jeopardy because it could sideline him and force them to use Vince Young or Mike Kafka as their starter.

After the game, Reid wasn’t willing to make any decisions about who was going to start at the center position, Kelce or veteran, Jamaal Jackson who played with Young in the second half. I know Reid has a great deal of respect for Howard Mudd, but there’s no way they can start Kelce in the first two games on the road, where the noise is going to be through the roof when the Eagles offense has the ball. They’ve got to go with Jackson and then after a few games maybe go back to Kelce.

You could tell by their body language in the early part of the game that both of the youngsters knew they were having problems in their pass blocking. Kelce did a great job of the Ronnie Brown touchdown run. He blocked one of the Browns defensive lineman all the way into the end zone, so his block was more than ten yards.

There were other plays when Kelce’s athleticism was extraordinary. He can get out of front of draws and screens with his tremendous speed. I see a bigger upside in 6th rounder Kelce than I see in the first rounder Watkins. I didn’t see too many times when the first rounder did something which I found to be impressive.

“Mike got hit too much, you never like seeing number seven being hit like that,” Kelce said. “It’s our job to keep him clean. … It’s like the bottom of your stomach just falls out” when Vick gets hit.

Vick came to their rescue during the game by tucking the football under his arm and taking off on a touchdown run . He tried to come to Kelce’s rescue after the game as well by giving alibis.

“You can’t expect a guy to come in and be a Pro Bowl player in two games,” Vick said. “That’s just not the way this thing works.”

He stayed positive about the entire offensive line, which couldn’t have been easy to do when you think about how many times he was getting hit.

“The offensive line did well”, Vick said with a straight face. “I’m proud of those guys, we can always improve starting with me. There are some things that I can improve on and it just goes back to us working hard each and every day.”

If the Birds plan on starting Kelce and Watkins side-by-side, they’re going to have to grow up immediately. Left guard Todd Herremans must have been talking about himself, left tackle Jason Peters and right tackle King Dunlap. “We’re making progress,” guard Todd Herremans said. “Obviously, better than last week. We came out a little more ready to play than last week.”

Dunlap played well again this week and seems to be getting more comfortable. The former free agent offensive tackle is battling three veterans, Winston Justice, Ryan Harris and Reggie Wells, for the starting right tackle position.

Reid said he played well against the Steelers and he didn’t give up any sacks or commit any penalties on Thursday night. Dunlap is currently the favorite to start the first game, since there are only a couple of weeks until the season starts on September 11. Justice and Harris are battling injuries, while Wells has been on the roster for only a couple of weeks.