Disgraceful Defensive Backs
Nothing I could write could appropriately describe just how awful this Eagles defense is, but the secondary is just the worst I’ve ever seen.
The Dallas Cowboys moved the ball at will on the Eagles, by land and by air. Tony Romo played what might have been his best game of the season, completing 22 of 27 passes for 303 yards and three touchdowns.
The secondary was torched once again, and had no answers for the likes of Dez Bryant, Jason Witten, and Miles Austin. Its inconceivable to think that a defensive backfield featuring two former Pro-Bowlers, and a recent second-round pick could be this inept. Neither Nnamdi Asomugha, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, or Nate Allen should be back with this team next season.
Asomugha has been a complete bust since he signed with the Eagles a year ago. All he’s done is turn is receivers loose and point the finger at his teammates. Whether or not his teammates are responsible for breakdowns in coverage, it says a lot about Asomugha’s mentality that he’s unwilling to stand up and point the finger at himself. There’s a belief that you should never go after the best player on a bad team; they say that losing follows certain players and the one thing Asomugha has done since arriving in Philadelphia is carry over the losing attitude of the Oakland Raiders.
Rodgers-Cromartie started off the year playing like a Pro-Bowler, but he hasn’t made a play since September. We can see now why the Arizona Cardinals were willing to part with DRC in the Kevin Kolb trade a year ago; as talented as the former first-round pick is, he just can’t be counted on to sustain it. He looked absolutely pathetic attempting to tackle Dez Bryant on his fourth quarter touchdown, and got picked on by Romo and the Dallas offense most of the night.
We knew Nate Allen couldn’t tackle anyone, but wasn’t he at least supposed to be a good cover safety? Jason Witten hauled in six passes for 108 yards, and Allen was often found at the scene of the crime. He played well at the beginning of the year, but now he looks like a complete liability. Its pretty clear that the 2010 second-round pick is a bust.
These three players are an absolute embarrassment.
If the Eagles didn’t field a secondary for the rest of the season, I don’t think the defense would suffer any.
You’ll Thank Bryce Brown In April
For the second straight week, rookie running back Bryce Brown had an otherwise strong performance tainted by a backbreaking fumble in the fourth quarter.
The biggest problem with Brown’s game right now is that he’s been terrible at protecting the football. His fumble tonight changed the outcome of the game, and gave the Cowboys a commanding 11-point lead with just under four minutes to go. I know a lot of Eagles fans would have loved to play the role of spoiler, and end the playoff hopes in Dallas, but Brown’s fumble problem is once again a blessing in disguise, and serves the greater good.
We’re at the point with this team where every loss is a victory. Every embarrassing defeat puts more pressure on Jeffrey Lurie to make dramatic changes. Every failure secures a higher draft position for the Eagles next April. At the rate the Eagles are going, they’ve got a great chance at a top-three pick. A win tonight would have made that difficult to accomplish. Four months from now, who would have remembered a meaningless win over Dallas?
Brown ran for 169 yards and scored two touchdowns. He ran hard throughout the night, and proved that his success against the Carolina Panthers was no fluke. He’s given Eagles fans reason to be excited about the Philadelphia backfield next season. The Cowboys and Panthers had no answer for the rookie.
Foles Shows Improvement
Nick Foles enjoyed his best performance of the season in tonight’s loss.
Foles finished the game completing 22 of 34 passes for 251 yards and a touchdown. He stayed strong in the face of pressure, and made much better decisions than he did in his first three games. He looked confident tonight, and did a good job managing the game and helping run an offense that put up a season-high 27 points without two of their top weapons, LeSean McCoy and DeSean Jackson.
Foles didn’t show anything spectacular, but he looked like a respectable NFL quarterback tonight.
Quick Thoughts
- Congratulations to Trent Cole, who successfully got involved on a sack tonight. Of course, he didn’t sack Tony Romo by himself, he shared the sack with Brandon Graham. Cole now has two total sacks for the season.
- Mychal Kendricks has hit the rookie wall in the worst way. I might consider just shutting him down for the rest of the season, he looks completely lost out there right now.
- Nice game from Brandon Graham tonight. The disappointing first-round pick picked up 1.5 sacks in the his first start of the season. Its nice to see your top pick from 2010 crack the starting lineup three years later and have a decent game.
- The offensive line did a pretty decent job tonight. Nick Foles was only sacked once, and they blocked well for Bryce Brown throughout the night.
- Riley Cooper did a great job on his touchdown reception in the second half. Cooper had great concentration on the play, and made the catch through coverage. I like what I’ve seen from Cooper over the last few weeks.
- Jason Avant had one of his better games this season, catching four passes for 79 yards.
- How about Damaris Johnson’s punt return for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter? Its about time the Eagles got some kind of positive contribution from the special teams.
- Why in the world did we need to see constant shots of Tony Romo’s girlfriend throughout the game? Honestly, she looked bored most of the time.
Final Thoughts
Only four more weeks of Andy.
Last week the Eagles made a move to shakeup the defense with the release of Jason Babin. This week I think they need to make one in the secondary. If former third-round pick Curtis Marsh isn’t ready to see the field after nearly two years in the league, when will he be?
Nnamdi Asomugha, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, and Nate Allen are embarrassments, and I don’t need to see them ever again.
Remember when this secondary had names like Brian Dawkins, Troy Vincent, Bobby Taylor, Sheldon Brown, and Lito Sheppard? Those were good days.
Heck, I’d settle for Asante Samuel right now. He’s a much better tackler than anybody they have right now, and that’s saying something.
Denny Basens is the editor of GCobb.com. Email him at dbasens@ycp.edu, or follow him on Twitter.
You my friend are a crack pot. I hope Gary does not pay you to write for this site. If so, he should save the money and spend it on the pop ups and spyware.
Haha and I’m a crack pot because….?
Denny, don’t worry, he just forgot to change his pad, because it’s that time of the month. Other than you omitting Coleman from the disgraceful list, & wanting MeSante back, it was a good, spot on article, in which I couldn’t word any better. BTW, Frank, how’s your idol Vick progressing, with his concussion?!? Stop waving your pom-poms, & deal with the reality that this team is horrid, & Reid, Vick, & half of this abortion of a roster, WILL BE, & SHOULD BE BANISHED TO SIBERIA!!!!!
Funny how you call out everyone but Coleman. Leaving Coleman out removes the legitimacy of your article. You can’t seriously talk about removing Nnamdi, DRC and Allen and don’t mention Coleman once.
Coleman is what he is…a seventh round pick who is only playing because the team has no one better. You can’t expect much from him to begin with. But Nnamdi, DRC, and Allen? The Eagles secondary just shouldn’t be this bad, there’s no excuse for it and the fact that these three players have such talent and yet play this poorly is the reason I focused on them and not Coleman.
C’mon Dcar.. You should know that I have never been a Vick supporter. I have been a bit of a Andy apologist tho. Andy’s done and its well deserved. I just can’t stand that people keep dwelling on it, getting fired up over a moot point. Dudes gone, let him coach out the season and find the replacement.
My bad! That’s right, you were one of Hindenburg’s apologists. Can’t tell the difference on here alot times, anymore. LMFBO! That’s why I always try to rip everyone evenly & not take any favorites. When warranted, I will rip! BTW, I was just busting your bean-bag a little bit. 😀
Coleman was a 7th round pick–whether he sucks or not, it is what it is. But DRC, Nnamdi, and Allen are high picks…….pitiful.
“We’re at the point with this team where every loss is a victory. Every embarrassing defeat puts more pressure on Jeffrey Lurie to make dramatic changes. Every failure secures a higher draft position for the Eagles next April. At the rate the Eagles are going, they’ve got a great chance at a top-three pick. A win tonight would have made that difficult to accomplish. Four months from now, who would have remembered a meaningless win over Dallas?” Ha! Ha! I couldn’t have said it any better myself. My only hope is, that weak-kneed cowardly owner, Limp-Wrist Lurie won’t let Reid hang around and screw up the picks. I don’t think I could stand another undersized, wide-receiver , “high-motor” linebacker, DT, or OLineman for our All-Smurf Team.
Lurie wont have to fire andy , at the end of the year or before he will quit, see his post game press conf. ? he is a tired beaten man , he s not looking good at all
I would release Asmo or DRC today
Move Boynkin to the outside CB spot, have Hughes take the slot CB and bench
One of the Safeties and play Curtis Marsh at Safety and see what he’s
Got. I would not have any of the 4 Current Starters back for 2013
And would like to trade any of them but since their play has been so poor
I don’t think the Eagles found get anything in return
I do not make an offer to DRC and let him walk but would release Asmo today since they won’t have him back next Season anyways
Asmo mite be the worst free agent signing in the history of the national football league.. I couldn’t think of a worse signing, anyone else?
Densys.. Was a little cruel with the above comments. Wasn’t trying to take a shot at your profession or anything like that. I just cant take another article detailing where this team fucked up… They are piss poor, Reid is gone and we all know it. Draft, coach, qb etc….This Is what I was hoping to get an article about.
Well guys at lest the Wide 9 is now gone!!! It will be interesting next week to see what the D will look like with the normal 4-3 being deployed. Possible some 3-4 looks. Maybe Bowles will be the guy we thought we were getting from Miami for the last 3 weeks here. Doubt it though.
Washburn is gone. Mudd is retiring. Reid is burned out and will be gone. Get rid of April and we are all set.
Denny the corners have looked bad because the damn safeties are never where there supposed to be. No excuses on the allergic reaction to contact though.
I’m sorry but you can’t give the corners a pass just because of the safeties. Coleman and Allen have been the team’s safeties for three years now, and its never been this bad until now. Nnamdi and DRC just aren’t playing hard, plain and simple.
But Denny playing that stupid wide 9 just won’t work with the safeties they aren’t capable. And they get no pass at all for being tissue paper soft.
The wide nine was here last year too, and the secondary (which had different corners like Asante Samuel and Joselio Hanson playing critical roles) didn’t have nearly this many bad breakdowns. The bottom line is that no matter how you look at it, this secondary is one of the worst the Eagles have ever had and there’s no way any of them should be back after this year.
Can’t argue with you there but unfortunately you can’t fire the whole team just the coaches.
I WONDER HOW MANY SACKS THE “ELUSIVE” MIKE VICK WOULD HAVE TOOK LAST NIGHT?
young foles has great pocket presence and footwork.
I think he would of took the same amount if the coaches called the game the same way…1 Deep shot to Maclin, really isn’t adding pressure on the O Line to sustain blocks..nice play calling on the O last night.
RealTalk Foles checked down a lot, there was plenty of called deep shots where foles just didnt pull the trigger… If that game was called the same way for Vick he wouldve took at minimum 3 sacks.
dont know why im talking Vick
I gotta start talking about Luke Joeckel, Star Lotulelei, & Manti Te’o
wrong. Please… keep it real. Im glad Foles is in but please… please…. the gameplan was very very different. Short and sweet routes for the WR’s and a game plan that had the run game featured. How can u argue this?
This is not a QB convo….. but a commentary on Reids game plan.
the eagles started running those wideout screens when vick was in there. he also didn’t have the best back in the nfl nor they birds highest paid receiver.
Agreed. This was the exact same kind of stuff they ran in the Atl game…
The “high school o” that you cried about?
Can’t pass the buck. The safeties have issues, but DRC got beat like he stole something last night. Also, I know that he doesn’t tackle but he almost helped Bryant into the endzone last night. The Cowboys are why they got these CBs and they list the Birds up last night.
Well Andy just announced Foles is the QB till the end of the year. I think the real news is Andy sounded like a defeated man. He is the best coach this franchise has ever had. Its sad he has to go like this. I just want the media to show him the respect he deserves in his last 4 weeks as coach. I know we are all frustrated but it doesnt seem right to beat him up after all the good years. Its time to move on and we should do it with some respect.
Agreed Xevious he should be celebrated for bringing competitive football back to Philly, but of course there is too much what have you done for me lately around here. There are no excuses for the last two years but he doesn’t deserve ridicule either.
In Foles We Trust!
Yeah I should feel sorry for a coach who was given TOTAL control of personnel decisions. Some of you punk-asses waste little time blaming Vick (much like you did Mcnabb) for all the ills of this team, You waste no opportunity intriducing him in every thread. to hell with Andy. He put this tam togetther from the players to the coaches. Foles looked pretty good. I’m already on record for stating I like the kid. But as RealTalk pointed out; the the dumb-ass coach and his pop warner OC, called a different game plan for the kid. WHICH THEY SHOULD OF! The only thing I don’t like about the kid is the knowledge that so many of you I find nauseating like him. At least this time some of you may have lucked up and gotten it right. Unlike that candy-armed bum some of you all swore by before that can’t fight off arena league comp.
Right decision by Reid.
I stated 2 weeks ago that I hoped the “fire Andy” chants wouldn’t pour down (and they have been muted). Eagles fans understand what Reid brought to this team (Lurie as well). To heap any ridicule on the man at this point is boorish behaviour.
Reid is doing right by the team. YOu’re going to see Foles, Brown, Curry, Graham, Boinkin, Johnson etc moving forward as we should.
This is an exciting time….watching these kids develop for the next season and a half. We need them to, because if they don’t, we might end up KCing it for the next while…..
Vinnie I completely agree about this being an exciting time. I like watching the youngsters develop especially when are vets are a disgrace. I hope we keep losing I want the DT from Utah, OT from A&M or the LB from Notre Dame
I think there should be chants but they should be “ANDY, ANDY, ANDY’– i’m not saying he should come back but it would be classy and recognize all the good he’s done, the good he continues to do by playing kids that he won’t be coaching next year!
Ive been calling for his head for 5 years but i agree. We should thank him
@Paulman — was that the gentlemen Donahoe sitting next to Jeff Lurie last night in Dallas?
It was rosebud
Kendricks is no better than Rolle, Chaney or Matthews –
He is not an NFL starting LB ( too small )
You guys kill me with it’s an exciting time around here. For who? Your excited for the team you claim to root for to lose for a better draft pick? Nothing exciting about losing you can try to justify whatever you want. Losing is never acceptable
it was exciting to watch Jeffery void of joy watching his team be confirmed as the worst in the division and NFC and years away from doing anything about it —— we like to watch the Birds and since the franchise is incapable of delivering a super bowl we must adapt and find enjoyment off Broad and Patterson’s parade route ———— like laughing at the decision makers be shown the door one (Banner) by one (Reid?,Roseman? Lurie’s wife?)
It is exciting. But its because You and I are coming from a different perspective…so for you its depressing.
I knew (or at least believed very strongly) that we weren’t going anywhere with the former superstar under centre (and to a lesser extent Reid). All the time with him under centre was just spinning tires. You on the other hand, wearing the PJs and worshiping your signed #7 Jersey thought the exact opposite. YOu thoought Super-Bowl.
SO for you, this must be depressing. We still must try to “win every game – and if not get MV& back in there because he gives us the “best chance” and all that clap-trap.
For the rest of us, this is an exciting time. Out from under the yolk of a scattershot never-been QB and the historically abysmal game managing Reid.
I’m pumped. There is promise right there on the horizon. hope its not fleeting.
Vinnie I live in the real world my friend I’m not depressed and who is talking about Vick other then you the difference between you and I is this if Foles or Vick or whatever Qb to be named later gets the Eagles back relevant them I’m happy.
I was fooled —
I thought Howie and Andy had a good off season —
3 straight bad off seasons in a row has left this team void of talent
Haveacigar, you cant be serious with that post man…Please tell me your joking in that we should actually cheer that way for the man that is the most responsible for the embarrassing pathetic clown show this team is right now and that will take years and years to fix…We don’t owe him a damn thing. That man has millions in the bank because of us. His has completely fucked our teams chances of winning anything in the next couple years because of his own ignorance and stupidity. Yet we need to kiss his ass because he was Head Coach when we won some games almost a decade ago…give me a fucking break. No one seems to mention that he also was out coached in the majority of the NFC championship games which we happened to be the favorite in the majority of the time. I just don’t know who is more delusional the Reid apologists or the Vick ones. Half the coaches in the league would coach fucking circles around Reid on sunday…He is one of the biggest laughing stocks in the league right now and deserves every little bit of it.
And if you think its Reid’s decision to play the kids right now you’re even more delusional than you sound…Unbelievable people actually think he is doing it for the sake of us and the future in the team. Man what a nice guy Reid is…Bullshit. Reality is if he tried to go back to Vick he would be fired immediately. He has no choice unless he feels like being fired mid season which would just add another embarrassment to the list.
To EaglesSB
I am not sure who was on the right of Lurie last evening in the
Box, Donahoe is older and had dark hair and the fella with Lurie appeared younger with lighter hair
Maybe someone knows who that is but it did seem they were conversing freely and often…
My point is it’s a foregone conclusion that he will be fired. He knows it , we know t everyone knows it. The fire Andy chants are unnecessary. I certainly don’t advocate cheering for him but I think the apathetic, stay home and don’t spend a dime at the link approach is more appropriate and speaks much louder.
I think he is coaching with in his mind how he would coach if he were coming back. See what the young guys can do.
Im with u cigar. There is a HUGE difference with this ownership than back in the day… the coach, owner, scouts… did everythibg they could to guve us a winner… they spared no expense. We have paid top dlar for this staff and this roster. We may have dusagreed on what they did…. but they tried. I give them creit for that. I wanted hom out after the cards champ game…it took longer but its over. Im all doe swnding him out with class.
Cant type on my phone but u get my point.
Foles showed progress, Brown has been impressive except for ill timed fumbles. That guy needs to have his hands taped around the ball this week. Has Jake Scott helped that much on the O-line? And Finally the Defense…….Inept, poor, no talent,no brains, inability to learn……God I hope Donahue is taking notes.