The Eagles are 2-0, but that’s not what excites me most about this football team. It’s the fact that they haven’t come close to playing their best football. This team has tremendous potential to play much better on both sides of the football and the special teams. Their upside is astounding, but there’s no guarantee that they will get there, but there is a possibility they will.
You’ve g0t to give Andy Reid, Howie Roseman and company credit for assembling a tremendous amount of talent. Still that doesn’t mean they’re going to achieve anything this season. It just means they have a chance to have a tremendous season Reid and his staff must push this group and demand that they take their game to it’s highest level.
This team has got the time, but they must have the desire to do something special. Their skill people are as talented as any group in the league.
Let’s begin by taking a look at the offensive side of the ball.
Teams are going to have plenty of difficulty stopping Eagles tight end Brent Celek, because they can’t afford to double team him or use a safety on him. Celek will always be single-covered by a linebacker. At times on Sunday, the Ravens had nobody covering the tight end. Michael Vick must continue to go to Celek until opponents find a way to stop him. The second-tight end Clay Harbor will also continue to get opportunities.
DeSean Jackson played well on Sunday and showed his toughness with the grab of the 49-yard pass coming off the goalline. It was a great throw by Vick, who put it right in Jackson’s bread basket from out of the end zone.
Running back LeSean McCoy continues to show me he’s a better running back than I thought he was. This young man can find room to run even when the blocking is absolutely terrible. McCoy makes tacklers miss in areas where it seems to be impossible.
He’s like a great boxer, who is fighting toe-to-toe but never getting hit squarely with a punch. I love the fact that he has the ability to run just as well inside as he does outside. McCoy is running like a championship back, who gets everything he can on each run with his tremendous instincts. His ability to make tacklers miss in small areas is amazing.
That brings me to the one area which concerns me most about this offense. The Eagles offensive line isn’t anything to write home about. Injuries have decimated this group, starting with the loss of Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters during the offseason.
Center Jason Kelce was one of the Eagles best offensive linemen, but he tore his MCL and partially tore his ACL and will miss part of the season. There’s a chance he might return to the lineup this season, but it’s not a guarantee. Dallas Reynolds took his place in the lineup on Sunday and played well enough for the team to win, but Reynolds is nothing to write home about.
King Dunlap left the game with a hamstring pull and each they’re going to need to give him help blocking the right defensive ends in this league. Demetress Bell took his place and played well enough for the team to win, but has been struggling all training camp and through the preseason. Just like Dunlap, the Eagles will need to give him help against the better pass rushers in the league.
Yeah, like keep utilizing our RB’s & TE’s! This way Vick doesn’t get killed! But we all know, Reid will have him pass 40-50 times again.
I don’t know why my posts have been taken down on this website recently, there have been so many negative comments made lately that I thought that the “Nega- delphians” had completely taken over. I got frustrated and stopped posting. However I can’t restrain myself in light of the performance I have witnessed by the Eagles. They have been able to meet every challenge and overcome adversity, (turnovers, penalties, questionable referee calls, and definitely bad play calling), to win these past two games. I’ve been following this team for 50 plus years and must admit I haven’t seen more entusiasm or jump up out of your seat thriller football than in these last two games.
This is a funny read I found..the visual is priceless…LOL
“HOWARD MUDD heard the apprehension in the voice of Marty Mornhinweg, and Mudd really didn’t like it.
When brilliant center Jason Kelce sprained his right knee in the third quarter, Mudd, the Eagles’ line coach, replaced Kelce with a project player, Dallas Reynolds.
Reynolds had never before played on the line in an NFL game. Mornhinweg wasn’t sure Reynolds was ready for the Eagles’ complex protection schemes, especially against the unbalanced, terrific 3-4 front the Ravens put on the field Sunday. So, Mornhinweg kept making sure that Reynolds wouldn’t botch protection calls and executions.
“Howard, how’s this one?” Mudd heard over his headset.
“No problem,” Mudd growled back.
Later: “This one?”
“Call it,” Mudd said.
Mudd is a man of arts and letters, a disciple of philosophy . . . and the leader of 300-pound behemoths whose aim it is to maim the other team’s giants.
To that end, Mudd believes in the Pygmalion Effect.
He expects excellence from every one of his offensive linemen. After all, if he does not expect it, than how can they be expected to attain it?
So, when Mudd replaced injured star Kelce with practice-squad veteran Reynolds, Mudd expected Reynolds to at least play as well as Kelce would have. He expected Reynolds to handle Pro Bowl tackle Haloti Ngata; to manage the protection calls and blocking schemes; to get the ball to quarterback Michael Vick without incident.
Mudd got all of that, and more.
Reynolds didn’t botch a single snap.
Reynolds and the line blew just two of 15 pass-protection calls.
Reynolds repeatedly stymied Ngata, who at 340 outweighs him by at least 20 pounds.
Reynolds replaced Kelce with 11 minutes, 19 seconds to play in the third quarter. The Eagles trailed the Ravens and their mythically potent defense by 10 points. When Kelce’s right knee buckled, they lost their best lineman; certainly, their most valuable.
Two plays after Kelce left, perhaps for the season, the Eagles scored a touchdown.
They then drove 60 yards on 11 plays to tie it.
They went 80 yards on 10 plays in the fourth quarter to win it.”
last year it was funny to watch the cards DL Campbell and the birds then OG King Dunlap go at it — I still remember Campbell jumping up and intercepting a Pass —– DJax owes us one for getting suspended in last year’s Arizona Game