It’s not time to start booking reservations for February in Dallas. The Eagles have deficiencies as a football team and many of them will be exposed before the season is over. We need to be honest now, so we don’t get shocked later.
They could get better and find a way to qualify for the playoffs, but they’re not there yet.
We already know that the Birds have deficiencies on the offensive side in their offensive line. There are problems on the defensive side as well.
I haven’t been pleased with the play of the Birds defensive tackles and I thought it was a good thing that Trevor Laws got the chance to play. Mike Patterson and Brodrick Bunkley have been playing first and second downs but not making an impact as pass rushers. This isn’t acceptable.
You should get pass rush pressure from quality defensive tackles. If Patterson and Bunkley are really as good as folks around here have been saying, then they would be getting pressure on the quarterback and contributing some sacks. Right now, Patterson and Bunkley are average defensive tackles.
The Eagles put Laws in there and all of sudden, we realized that defensive tackles could rush the quarterback.
Maurice Jones-Drew was playing hurt yesterday. He didn’t have his explosiveness, so you can’t give the Birds defense credit for stopping a healthy Jones-Drew. They won the game and did the job, but they haven’t proven they have a quality run defense as of yet.
Defensive coordinator Sean McDermott deserves a pat on the back because he outcoached the Jags offensive coordinator and got some free pass rushers on Garrard because the defensive scheme. They showed blitz and got out of it before the snap. He wisely relied on his four-man pass rush and they got the job done.
The defensive line did a great job of rushing the passer, but Garrard and his receivers wouldn’t have been able to do much any way. They have no quickness or speed at the wide receiver position. They looked like the Eagles for most of the last decade.
Brandon Graham had some good pass rushes from the defensive end position and helped other guys get sacked, but he’s being sacrificed when they move him inside at tackle. He’s making an impact.
Darryl Tapp and Juqua Parker each contributed a sack and played well at the defensive end position. Parker should stay in the role he’s playing because he’s staying fresh. He’s may be the strongest pound for pound player in the NFL.
Trent Cole had a good game with a couple of sacks. He wasn’t being blocked by a good offensive tackle, but he treated him the way he was supposed to do.
The Jacksonville Jaguars aren’t a good football team. I have no idea what head coach Jack Del Rio is doing down there in Florida, but this will probably be his last year at the helm. Their quarterback and wide receivers are nothing to write home about. They continue to accumulate big plodding wide receivers, who can’t play.
David Garrard had a horrible game and finished with a 38.9 quarterback rating. He missed a large number of throws that he’s got to make if they’re going to ever be any good. They aren’t anything special and that had more to do with the success of the Eagles defense than anything else.
We all know you can beat both cornerbacks deep if you get the time. Asante Samuel is playing better than he did a year ago, but Ellis Hobbs can be beaten if you have some good wide receivers.
The Jaguars receivers were open at times, but Garrard couldn’t get the ball to them. Teams will be able to go after the Eagles secondary as the season continues. I would go after Hobbs deep every time I had the chance if I were an opposing team.
If they go after Samuel he will make a quarterback pay. The guy breaks on the ball better than any cornerback I’ve ever seen.
I want to see them give the young linebackers a shot. Akeem Jordan is really a weakside linebacker. He does a good job when he’s allowed to play that position and is better than Ernie Sims at that spot. Unfortunately, the Birds really don’t have a good strongside linebacker on the roster.
Sims shouldn’t be starting. The guy doesn’t make a lot of plays. He’s always out of position. Much of the time, you don’t even know he’s out there. I think they should either move Jordan there and put somebody else at the strongside linebacker spot, or give rookie Keenan Clayton a shot. Clayton’s instincts are much better than Sims’.
I thought both safeties, Quintin Mikell and Nate Allen played well, but the Jags didn’t have the speed to really put pressure on them. Notice that Allen is always getting his hands on the football. That’s not a coincidence.
It had good timing on the blitz which allowed him to get a sack.
Good analysis, G. It is easy to be complacent after a victory like this one, but I think you nailed the deficiencies in our defense. I hope Reid will be open to putting in Clayton if Sims continues to be a non-factor.
If you want to talk about deficiencies lets talk about the ones in our offensive line because had that situation been addressed by Andy Reid maybe Kevin Kolb wouldn’t of suffered that concussion and also our punt return coverage needs some work because too many teams are burning us with the punt return yardage we need to address these issues especially before we play against our divisional rivals because those are the games that will have the most serious playoff implications !!!!!
G, what time do you go to bed??? Do you set your alarm clock for “80 year old man”? What kind of Metamucil do you drink?
Aside from all that, I have no idea what they’re doing with Graham either. Seriously, what the hell is the point of that? That’s just frustrating. I honestly don’t think I’ve heard Sims’ name announced once. That’s sad. I’m a big Jordan fan on that weakside. He’s been my favorite WLB since Barber. Howie had himself a nice offseason, but he’s got a big time job this next one with LB’s, DT’s, and O-line. Maybe a top notch CB to replace Hobbs. I’d like to see Patterson get the boot. Maybe that’ll wake up Bunkley and light a fire under his butt. He’s too doggone big to not be an All-Pro.
I said yesterday that the defense didn’t play well. Sometimes I wonder if I’m watching a different game from others.
Garry Cobb, professional party pooper. Drummer, sacks, interceptions, limited the QB play to the horrible-pretty darn bad range, limited the run game to the bad-almost acceptable if the passing game was clicking range, and only allow 3 points. – you call that bad? If so, maybe we should tell you that in football, touchdowns and more points than the other team wins games. Our D forced Jacksonville to not score touchdowns, not have many points at all, and LOSE THE FREAKING GAME.
Um, what more do you want from a defense? Drummer, seriously?
Thank you Mr. Cobb. I hope the Eagles do make the adjustments you suggest.
Sims is going to get me killed.
He makes me so mad, I am going to go to my garage and dust off my 30 year old football gear paint my helmet green and silver, and run onto the field and make some of the tackles he misses. I will then die of a heart attack. A sad ending to an otherwise promising life. All because of that bum.
I agree with Schiller,
We all have been waiting to see this Defense gel and get back to playing Eagle Football,
Then they finally do, (albeit, against the Jagaurs) and many want to point out the deficiencies…
Typical Philadelphia Fans and this is the good example why the City and many of its fans are known as the “City of Whiners”
I think the Eagles should move Jordan over to Sims Weak side and play Fokou on the Strong side
This would be the strongest LB group for the Eagles.
Then use SIms on Special Teams and come in for “Blitz Packages”
And to answer alot of questions I hear on TV and in radio and in just general conversation…ahem…Yes, Stewart Bradley does mean that much to the Eagles D.
A whole different unit in there with Bradley in the middle…It’s like night and day..
Does anyone know how many snaps DT M Patterson even played yersterday.. maybe 20???
The D did what they were supposed to do…. beat up on a bad team. Since you can only play the team on your schedule, there was nothing that the defense could have done this game to make some people feel more positive about them. I liked what I saw basically because I just like these games as confidence builders. No it wasn’t the Dallas Cowboys that we beat up but with the number of points we gave up the first 2 weeks it was refreshing to see them dominate a team they were suppose to. I mean would we rather them struggle with the Jags? Point is G, your opinion about the D wasn’t going to change with this game so I’m not even sure if this article was even worth posting.
A win over a scrub team is cause for celebration when you are not planing on winning any championships.
It’s better to buy an Umbrella while the sun is still shining not after you get stuck in a downpour.
No, let’s wait until the play-offs and watch another Joe Juravicous TD run and wonder what the heck was that scrub doing on the field.
I rather talk about getting burned on a play in a Playoff game and then winning 4-5-6 games all season like everyone was talking about after the PAcker Game…
@Scorp..nail on the head man. We played that team like we were supposed to. Now we focus on the Redskins and find a way to get another win. I think their OLine can be exposed to an extent and if we get to them early and often we can blow the doors off that team.
despite our flaws and weaknesses, we still held an NFL team to 3 points for an entire game.
its not an easy task and even garbage time couldnt get the jags a cheap score.
i havent paid attention to sims in particular, but if someone could spot exactly what he does for the majority of the game (cover te/spy/blitz/etc.) then maybe we can elaborate off of that.
bradleys presence is def. felt and we are a dif. defense with him, its obvious to everyone
i think we all can agree on jordan, good player that should prob be our WLB
if someone ever brings up fokou again…idk…i just dont know…but just dont do it
he might be the dumbest player in the league, biting on everything and a penalty machine
allen and graham are playing well, yes graham can play well w/o getting sacks
love the role parker is in, laws as well
ive always liked tapp for some reason, happy he was active and he got a sack, he needs to play
bunk and patterson should be on the hot seat, i like dixon last yr and laws is pushing
maybe experiment with parker and tapp inside, these guys can rush and graham belongs outside
mikell is a liability against the pass but played well against the jags in coverage
hobbs bites on everything and goes for the big play, if he played honest he would be above avg
idk why lindley wasnt on the game roster??
hanson is solid and thats a reach
dimitri patterson is a nice surprise, playing well and should be ahead of hanson in my eyes
we have a smart young defense with speed in the front 7
our secondary has avg speed but is smart and they take decent/good angles
we play soft coverage on 3rd and shorts i dont understand that
we should press up and challenge the QB to be accurate under our blitzing
Really? Is it too much to ask to just have a story about the fact the Eagles are 2-1 sitting atop the NFC east, about to play a division rival and enjoy a game where 1) the D held the opposing team to a FG and 2) the O scored 28 points – not gripping about red zone, no complaining about LB X didn’t make 14 tackles and DT Y didn’t have 4 sacks – Bunkley and Patterson do not play for GCobb – they play for McDerrmet and Ried – Didn’t call this guys name – maybe that guy was taking on two lead blockers so the other guy was free to make a tackle – or he had his guy covered so well they threw somewhere else,,
Lets talk about the D – the goals this year – replace Dawkins – Nate Allen seems to be doing a solid job – no revolving door this year. Better play from LBs – Jordan played great, Bradley was everywhere – I would have to go back and look at Sims to see why he is getting such a hard time. The overall D played great – so why one guy is being ‘selected’ out is beyond me. Better pass rush from front 4 – 6 sacks, Gerrard was getting hit all game.
How much more do you want the D to do – they can only play the team assigned to them – they looked great at times against thePackers, they have lapses – no lapses this week – progress – and you never ‘book’ the flight to the SB until after you win the NFCC game.
Hobbs can be beat deep – what CB can’t be beat deep if you give the QB time?
i feel you…good stuff
This ‘makes plays’ comment irks me. Asante Samuel ‘makes plays’ he frequently free lances to ‘make plays’ He is also susceptible to being beaten on double moves etc. to ‘make plays’. Perhaps the coaches have talked to him and given him the green light to do his own thing to ‘make plays’. I am trying to figure out the last WLB the Eagles had that ‘made plays’. (Nate Wayne??) The TE was not much of a factor yesturday, didn’t really get beat on screens – they had some success running…. what ‘play’ is it he was supposed to make yesturday – I am more interested in a strong unit then in the stat of an individual player – 3 points – progress over the first three games.
I look forward to watching this D against the Skins this week – strong armed mobile QB thsat doesn’t throw picks with a really good TE. Should be fun
agreed. lets keep our scoring up…and opposing scoring down…
Well, they weren’t go to fix every hole with 1 off-season, but I am not going to be down on a team that won 28-3 on the road.
As far as the Skins go… it is the Santana Moss and Chris Cooley show. Supposedly, the height of the Eagles CBs shouldn’t make a difference with Moss, but we will see. And the age old question, can they cover the TE? If I was # 5, I would throw it to Cooley every play until the Eagles have to commit more to stopping him which should leave a hole somewhere. The Skins O-line is not very good, so they should be able to at least harass McNabb.
“…Unfortunately, the Birds really don’t have a good strongside linebacker on the roster.”
Now that’s a lie. Bradley probably would be the best SAM in the league and he is actually on the roster, I believe. Rotating the D-line, particularly the tackles, kept a lot of people fresh and allowed the D-Line to play dramatically better than it has been. The better D-Line play made work for the LB corp. a bit easier, BUT MJD had a couple of break away runs that were disturbing considering all that’s been said about the mere presence of Bradley on the field. Had the Jaguars not gotten in a hole and been forced to pass more than they would have liked he could have very well had a career day.
Personally I think McDermott needs to let go of the “Holy Cow” ideas he has about certain LBs and certain LBs playing certain positions. To be fair Sims has been exposed to the system for less than 5 months. I don’t know whether he will be an impact LB in this system, but it’s not realistic to expect that after such a short period of time. I almost wonder if Sims refuses to be a slightly more cerebral player, because he’s always been the “Chosen One” and it’s time for the guy to get sat down so he can be forced to actually think about the strategy element of the game.
I don’t know about those breakaway runs… what game where you watching? They gave him 22 carries, he got 88 yards. Considering that he’s one of the top RBs anywhere, and is usually quite damaging to a D, and that our D was 32nd in points aloud…. etc. etc…
How can you not be delighted with how they stopped the run? Are you expecting to give MJD 0 yards?
I was surprised that MJD was even playing the last 2 series that Jax had the ball with the game over,
why risk your only real offensive threat to an injury when the outcome was already determine…
I also Thought that Coach AR should have pulled Vick,McCoy,D-Jax wihen they got the ball after a punt deep in their zone with about 7 minutes left in the game and up 28-7..
Why risk Vick,McCoy,D-Jax to get a needless injury at this point of the game, plus they could have had Kolb in there to get a few snaps and pick his sprits up and confimdence with really no downside risk at all..It’s very rare in the NFL when you have to chance to do this and Coach AR missed an great opportunity tio do just that..
P – agree with pulling Vick – that was a great chance to get Kolb back in there and give him a series or two handing the ball to Bell….
I didn’t expect MJD to get zero, but it looked like he would either get stopped for none, or one or two yards or gash the defense for 10-15 yards. Generally, you can tell a defense has control of a runner when there just aren’t those kinds of extreme peaks and valleys. That kind of up and down pace screams opportunity for good RBs late in games and had the game been closer he would have gotten well over 30 touches. I know that having been exposed to the Andy Reid style of “Pass Happy” offense 22 carries seems like a virtual cornucopia of strategic goodness, but remember Jacksonville is a running team primarily.
Jacksonville is CERTAINLY a running team. And we held them to 88 yards and no TDs on the ground. That’s called shutting down a running team. If you expect no ‘peak’s’ from MJD, then ok, have fun being satisfied with any football team, including a superbowl champion.
Look, this is so minor and I’m really not trying to get into a drawn out argument over this. But if you can’t be satisfied with giving some ‘peaks’ to a superstar running back but holding him to 0 TDs and no runs over 17 yards, I say recheck your standards.
If you were playing against the colts, and Manning had, say 150 yrds passing, 0 touchdowns, and the colts lost, would you be worrying about your pass D because Manning threw for a moderate amount of yards?
Great defense versus the run,and pass all game long I thought.
The Jags were held to 184 yeards of total offense which is ridiculous for an NFL Team..
Not to change the subject, but what does everyone think of the big,bad NFC East..
Looks like a pretty weak division so far…
Paulmans Top Divisions in the NFC
#1) South — Saints, Falcons are good solid team, Bucs are improved, Panthers stink
#2) North — Packers and Bears sqaure off for 1st place tonight, Vikings are still dangerous,Lions are improved but have a poor defense
#3) East — Eagles are class of the Division now, Cowboys bounce back in a have to win game,
Redskins have some talent and Giants are ready to explode internally I belvive..(Osimoyura,Jacobs,Rolle and now R McKenzie and J Tuck questioning HC Couhglins leadership??
#4) West — Seahawks have suprisingly started off well, Cardinals have no QB, Rams are improving and Coach Spags has done a great job there where are least they show up and compete every week
and to the most disappointing team in the NFC – the 49ers are imploding in front our eyes right now..
(and poor Brian Westbrook has to deal with all that crap.. he just needs to retire..)
In the AFC, I consider the North,East and South as all far superior to the NFC East
North – Steelers,Ravens and Bengals
East – Patirots,NY Jets, Miami
South – COlts, Titans , Texans
This NFC this season is totally up for grabs with the Packers,Falcons,SAints,Bears and Eagles are looking like early contenders out of the gate but definitely inferior to their AFC counterparts..
sure the eagles beat the jags but lets remember they did in convincenley. The D got the job done and only gave up 3 points. Any time in the NFL you give up only 3 points you are getting the job done. Well done D. I hope Vick continues to play well because it is only going to get tougher. Vick vs McNabb going to be fun to watch.
Man, I loved that game and I dont care who it was against! This season is already giving me more than I thought we’d get. I mean their were times this summer where I thought ” Were going to stink but if it helps us grow into a champion oh well”..and now were the talk of the NFL..It’s great!
J mac – amen.
Give credit where credit is due…you don’t make excuses when the defense plays bad and you don’t make excuses for the opposing offense when the defense plays well…this is the nfl and a win is a win…especially when you win handily…GO EAGLES!!
Thank you shill, and Paul. I sat right there in a sport bar with another Eagle and he was whining, untill I pointed out somethings then he and the rest of us had a blast. Oh then another fan kept going on about “Vick is going get hurt and not make the full season.” Dud shut the hell up while I am watching the game with all that. @#@#$……….$%#$%#$ LONG LIVE THE EAGLES.
Amen, Navy tell em partner.
I am sorry, but the D was only ok yesterday. The Jags are horrible, and they have slow plodding wide outs who were open all over the place. Garrard may be the worst Qback in the league, the people in the stands actually laugh at him. If he could throw the ball at all they would have had as many long td plays as the Eagles did. Watch the way Green bay and Chicago move the ball up and down the field. I am sorry to say this looks like a very average Eagles team. Does anybody think Cutler or Ryan are going to blow the way Garrard did yesterday? The season starts after the Redskins game, tis is still preseason quality ball.
What I saw was that the front four did their jpb for the most part, but a hurt MJD still got 88 yards on us. Our LBs were swallowed up for the most part on sweeps, and over committed to the runs up the middle. We got better as thee game went on, but it’s to be expected considering the Jags ran about 3 running schemes the whole game.
There were at least 4-6 passes where a better QB would have eaten us alive: Sims-Walker was open almost every time he lined up opposite Hobbs, and Allen was helping out in the box, so Mikell was on an island covering two receivers. Look, it was so bad that the Jags picked up a new QB today a week after benching the start resulted in the backup getting put on IR: you don’t do that if you feel your starter is getting the job done.
Wow, I promise to spell- and grammar- check the next post. That was bad… I was saying that Garrard was absolutely terrible: he’s a gun shy QB right now who knows that his job is now on the line. We shot his confidence early with some hits (the Jags O-line was outmatched) and we did the job we were supposed to on an inferior team. We’re not yet a dominant defense like we were a few short years ago.
After Monday Night’s NFL,
Paulman’s Top Teams in the NFC (After 3weeks)
#1) Chicago Bears
#2) Atlanta Falcons
#3) New Orleans Saints
#4) Green Bay Packers
#5) Seattle Seahawks
#6) Philadelphia Eagles
#7) Arizona Cardinals
#8) Tampa Bay Bucs
All other 11 Teams only have 1 Win or 0 Wins so far (Cowboys,Redskins,GIants,Vikings,Lions,
Rams,49ers, & perhaps the worst team in the Conference, the Panthers)
This NFC race is wide open this year with not many very good teams so far.
I am sure as the Season gets longer,teams like the Cowboys,Vikings,Redskins will all get better, but as of Week #3 in the NFL Season, this is how it stands…I see 1 teams that is completely imploding and may just totally blow up as the season goes and that’s the NY Giants. They are playing very poorly, without purpose and appear lacking in direction.It also looks the players on these teams have tuned out their coach already and is questioning his leadership/coaching methods after 2-3 weeks into the season, lots of Veteran’s unhappy and a lot of then not playing well (Jacobs,Osi,R McKenzie,Rolle,Bullock,Diehl…). I see some head beginning to roll soon
@schiller
It seems like you’re willing to say that the running game problems, specifically, are resolved. I don’t know that I necessarily agree with you on that yet.
On the Manning question, with that particular stat. I wouldn’t be worried, but if he was closer to his normal passing average of like of somewhere around 380+ yrds. with 0 TDs I would say the D did decent, but wouldn’t be surprised if another team came along scorched them later in the season.
Butch, I feel like they are, when Bradley is in there and healthy. Now I consider Bradley’s health (I’m typing atop a wood desk and just knocked it), a very fragile thing. So if he’s injured and Gaither (or anyone on our current roster) is in there in his place, then I don’t have nearly as much confidence in our run D.
I mean Butch really, when was the last time the Eagles lost a game because we couldn’t stop the run (with Stew in there)? Those Dallas games last year, we lost mainly because we didn’t have Jamal Jackson or Stew in there. And they beat us with the pass. Otherwise, we were a playoff bound team last year. This year we have only lost 1 game and I don’t think you can say that Green bay beat us mostly on the ground….and if so, how much of it was w/o bradley?
last years Defense was an analomy I believe.
The Eagles Def Sec Caoch was so bad (Bill Stewart) and the Revolving door at Safety and once S Brown pulled his hammy about mid-way thru the Season, most of the Eagles opponenents did not have to ush the ball for the Eagles Pass-Defense was one of the worst in the NFL.. SO the lack of rushing yards versus the Eagles for 2009 is definitely skewed…
Based on the history of the JJ years, The Eagles D would bend but not break between the 20’s
They would the dink & dump and some rushing yards and then clamp down, typically every season
the Eagles smallish fron t 7 would wilt as December and the playoffs rolled around and then typically were pushed around by more physical teams come playoff time (Bucs,PAnthers,Cardinals,Cowboys,etc,etc)
This year it different team with better players on defense, better depth acreoss the D/Live, A better Def Seconodary Coach who has a record of success and a much more potent pass rush from 3-4 players as opposed to relying on T Cole…also the addition on a real good Safety in N Allen who is smart and can play is a hugh help on the back end of the Defense and something the Eagles haven’t had in a couple years, and we have a D/C in MCDermott who now has his feet wet and seems to be game planning with a full deck as opposed to last years injuries and taking over with short notice from JJ Passing
Bottom line is that this Defense will be better and I look foward to watching them progress,
the key will be the play of the LB Corp and particularly E Sims, if he’s plays well they are fine,
if not then Fokou/ Clayton may be trust out there and be a work in progress.