The Pittsburgh Steelers employed a game plan in which the Eagles are going to see nearly every week for the rest of the season. It’s very important for the Eagles to score early when they get the chance. This team can’t afford to turn the ball over or it’s going to allow teams to force the Birds to play their game.
It’s not the case this week against the Lions, who rely more on their passing game, but it will be the case for most of their other games. The Eagles are a team which is built to play with the lead. It’s very important that the Eagles score early when they get the chance because it will force teams to play their wide open game.
The Steelers defense backed up their safeties to take away the big play from the Birds, while still blitzing Michael Vick with zone blitzes. Teams want to force Vick into making quick decisions, so they can force him into turnovers.
The Eagles quarterback has eliminated the interceptions, but he’s been putting the ball on the ground. Vick’s turnovers have limited the Eagles to only one first quarter touchdown in the first five games of the season. That’s not the type of Philadelphia Eagles football that Andy Reid had dreamed of when he was putting this team together.
Reid and Marty Mornhinweg would put together their game plan and lay out their first 15 plays with the idea that these plays are going to help us get an early lead and allow us to dictate this game. It didn’t workout that way against the Steelers and it hasn’t worked out that way this season.
The Eagles had only eight ball possessions during the Pittsburgh game, so the two fumbles by Vick had a major affect on the game because the Birds fumbled away 25% of their scoring chances. Think about it, there were only two ball possessions in the fourth quarter on Sunday. The Eagles put together a touchdown drive which was 8 minutes then the Steelers ran out the clock with a 6 minute field goal drive, which ran out the clock.
Pittsburgh’s answer to the Eagles pass rush is maximum protection with the tight ends and running backs staying in to help with the pass protection. Opposing offenses don’t have to open and take chances when the Eagles offense isn’t scoring. This allows these teams to eliminate the Birds pass rush by running two man routes and keeping eight men in to protect the passer.
If nobody gets open, they have the quarterback throw the ball away, then they punt the ball. The Steelers tried to stay out of third and longs by keeping the Eagles guessing.
The Steelers utilized a balanced time-eating offensive attack to keep control of the game.
