The Eagles defense made their share of mistakes but they came up with a couple of turnovers and they contained the Packers well enough to give the team a chance to win. Our defense is clearly better than it was a year ago.
They were able to get pressure on Aaron Rodgers without being forced to blitz and that’s a major improvement.
Remember this Packers offense is one of the best in the game. It’s true that Rodgers was as sharp as he normally is but the Birds defense had a lot to do with that.
Defensive end Trent Cole registered a sack as he came deep into the backfield and took Rodgers down when he tried to escape to his right. Cole was active all day long on both run and pass plays.
Veteran defensive end Juqua Parker showed everybody that despite not starting, he still plans on making a contribution to this football team. He came down with two sacks and he did it in dominating fashion.
Parker is amazingly strong for a guy his size and is able to get up under offensive tackles who outweigh him by 80 pounds. By rotating with rookie Brandon Graham, he is able to stay fresh which will allow him to be a contributor throughout the season. He’s worn down in the last few seasons.
Rookie Graham got a taste of the NFL and he learned quite a bit today. The youngster wasn’t doing a good enough job of getting the blockers hands off of him. If you let these guys get their grips on you, you don’t get near the quarterback.
I could see that look of disappointment in his eye after the game, but he’ll learn. Now he knows that it’s not as easy as it looks and you won’t hear him talking about getting two or three sacks a game as if it’s no big deal.
Defensive coordinator Sean McDermott was moving him inside to defensive tackle on third downs and letting speedy Antwan Barnes rush from the left end position. I was impressed with the way Barnes came off the ball. He’s going to make some plays.
Brodrick Bunkley played well at defensive tackle. He made a few plays behind the line of scrimmage by overpowering the offensive lineman who was trying to block him. We need to see more of that from him. His brute strength should allow him to make more of an impact as a pass rusher.
Now you see that Ellis Hobbs is a liability at the right cornerback spot. He was scorched by Greg Jennings on a go route. He wasn’t even close to breaking up the pass.
Hobbs can’t cover the elite receivers in this league and we’ll see that throughout the season. I predict that Trevard Lindley will be the starting right cornerback before the season is over. Hobbs does not have the cover skills needed to play as much man to man as McDermott is going to want.
Joselio Hanson came down with an interception on a pass which was dropped by Quintin Mikell. It was tipped up into the air when Mikell was run into by middle linebacker Stewart Bradley. It was nice coverage by the entire secondary on that play.
Rookie safety Nate Allen was schooled a couple of times as Rodgers got him out of position with pump fakes, but he’ll learn. I thought he did a decent job in his first game as a pro.
Asante Samuel almost had himself a pick when he broke on a slant route. Rodgers was trying to get the ball to Donald Driver, but Samuel read the route and had the chance for the pick.
I liked the way the Eagles took away the quick screen. Samuel even made a couple of tackles for short gains near the line of scrimmage. Who said he can’t tackle? LOL
That 1st Qtr D had me pumped up. They were kicking butt. They were completely gassed by the end of the 2nd but that was Kolb’s fault for his 3-&-out gameplan. They really stepped it up in the 2nd half besides Hobbs’ gettin burnt. Hobbs played better than I expected though, G. I really thought he was a paper player/3rd string corner. He looks like a decent 1A (cusp starter) corner.
Paulman, do you NOW see why hanson and gaither are needed on the roster? I’m not saying gaither even played that well, but would you have wanted a rookie playing MLB v. Rodgers?
And really, can we agree that the D does not have a stop the run problem? They did years ago, but that myth is outdated. We also were NOT killed by the TE. If bradley can stay healthy… I say we have a damn good D.
I don’t think “D” is solved yet..
Remember the score was 27-10 with a few minutes to go in the 3rd Period.
If the Packers didn’t go into a prevent Defense and a run the ball more on offense to eat some clock,
they would have put over 30 pts on the Birds. I believe they took their foot off the pedal beacuse of their relationship with Coach AR and did not want to run the score up..
Players that looked good to me…
Cole,Parker,Graham,Barnes,Bradley
Players that didn’t look that good to me
Bunkley,Patterson,Jordan,Gaither,Hobbs
Players that looked so-so
Sims looked good in 1st half, then got pushed around in the 2nd ,Dixon,Samuel,Hanson,Laws
Where was Teo and Tapp…
That’s right, they were on inactive and replaced by A Barnes who was picked up a week ago
Did anyone catch Jennings laughing about Hobbs’ technique on the touchdown? It was like a swinging gate. He just turned and let Jennings blow right past him, wasn’t any deception or precise route. I hope that the FO realize that because they didn’t want to deal with a potential contract dispute, they traded away a better corner and basically got a bag of balls in return.
Defense played stellar, until . . .
1. They tired because of too many 3 and outs by Kolb;
2. They lost Stewart Bradley.
Paul, I find it incredible that you blame the Packers for the defense’s success. Could all those 3 and outs have had anything to do with it?
Stop making excuses!!!
Defense is completely different sans Bradley. When he is out of the game, I would expect that the opposition would pound the ball up the middle over and over regardless of who is the opposing QB.
Defense was solid, but other than a few series early, they put little pressure on Rodgers. Plus early on, the Pack had some nice chances, but Rodgers was off his game.
Ellis Hobbs is horrible
Defense played well in the 1st half, but played very poorly in the 3rd Quarter when the game was actually lost, The Packer when to a more hurry-up offense and were hitting thei WR/TE’s at will
and all over the field and the Eagles had no answer and they ran it up the gut where replacement
ILB O Gaither was no match (Bradley & Kolb were arlready out of the game)
Terrible Kick-off coverages blew whatever realistic chance they had..
Still can’t stop the run. Before Grant got hurt, he gashed up for 3 long runs back to back and Jackson continued in the 2nd half. Undersized and out of position.
Sims played pretty well well in the 1st half when the Packers were passing the ball,
Once the Packers went to the run, he was pushed around and a non-factor..
O Gaither was getting blocked 5-7 back off the line of scimmage and he looked lost in attemtping to
pass cover their TE…
The DE’s and the Safeties played well I though, the CB’s played just ok,
Hobbs was horrible in the TD pass covereage where he allowed a straight release down the field
and Samuel is paid top $$$ to come up with INT and he jump a route or 2 but was unable to come up any turnovers whic he is paid to do…
Overall Defense Score was a C + (B in the 1st half when Bradley was playing) but got pushed around big time when the Packers starting pounding the ball and the LB’s couldn’t cover the TE or RB out of the backfield…
There’s one glaring problem…Kolb
Wait, Songs, you’re anti Kolb? You should’ve said something. Actually, injuries are a glaring problem. And the OLine is a glaring problem. And special teams are a glaring problem. Was it Kolb’s fault that Vick didn’t run into the Endzone when he had a chance to tie the game? Nope. If we had one the game, we’d have 0 ‘glaring problems’. Vick had a chance to tie it and didn’t. He played very well otherwise, but this lose isn’t all on Kolb.