Let’s Take A Closer Look At Eagles Offensive Explosion

Has this been an amazing season for the Eagles with twists and turns everywhere?   They’ve only played six games and you would think the season has already gone by.

The Eagles have had injuries at nearly every position on the offense, especially the offensive line, yet they continue to get the job done.

Of course everybody has questions about the quarterback position, so I’ll give you my take on it right off the bat.

Andy Reid said Michael Vick will be the starting quarterback if he practices this week, but I think he’s going to find a way to let Kevin Kolb continue to be the starter this week and it only makes sense.

Vick will likely be able to play next Sunday, but he won’t be at full strength.  If he were to get hit hard by the Titans, it could re-injure his ribs and set him back for weeks.  He’s also been unable to practice for a couple of weeks,  so coming back after the bye would let him get in week or two of practice before starting again.

Kolb has been playing very well and should continue to start until Vick is closer to 100%.   I still think Vick has the ability to make plays that can’t be coached and I believe they’re going to need some of those plays when the game plan and the blocking aren’t as good as they were yesterday.

At the same time, Kolb showed us againt that he has the ability to be a very good starting quarterback in this league.  I applaud his play.  He has really stepped up under the microscope and the pressure.  The throw to Maclin on the eight-yard touchdown was a thing of beauty.  As Maclin said, “he put in the only place where he could put it”.

Reid said it was great situation to have two quarterbacks that you could win with and I agree with him.  Think about it.  Other teams in the league have had their starting quarterbacks go down, but none of them have had their backups get the production that the Eagles have had.

DeSean Jackson was on fire when he started the game against the Falcons.  Now after suffering another concussion, he had one a year ago against the Redskins, Jackson won’t be playing next week versus the Titans.

Jeremy Maclin on the other hand, stepped into the number one wide receiver role when Jackson left and had a career day of seven catches for 159 yards and two touchdown catches.  He’s got six touchdown catches this year.

Going forward, it’s going to interesting to see what happens at the wide receiver position.  Jackson is as dangerous as any player in the league, but the concussions and his size might have to make the Eagles wonder about Jackson’s durability.

Jason Avant did a nice job at the flanker position with Jackson down, but you could see the defensive backs start to creep up with Jackson on the sidelines.  The Eagles aren’t the same team without Jackson.

I was wondering what the Eagles were going to do to John Abraham in his battle with Eagles left tackle King Dunlap. The big fella told everybody during the week that he could handle Abraham, then he went out and proved it.  He did have one hands to the face penalty but he wasn’t jumping offsides.

The Eagles had Abraham wondering what was going on and who had the ball.  I don’t know if Abraham ever recovered from that reverse by DeSean Jackson on the Eagles second play from scrimmage.

Surprisingly, Abraham didn’t try as many bull rushes on Dunlap as I had thought.  He tried to beat him with speed moves which was playing into Dunlap’s strengths.  The guys arms are so long he can tap you on the shoulder if you’re sitting across the room from him.

“I thought big King did a pretty good job”, Andy Reid said after the game. “He had one penalty for hands-in-the-face, but when a guy is trying to bull-rush you and you’re 6-9, sometimes that’s going to happen. I thought he bent well, and I thought he delivered his hands in tight. He has 35-and-a-half inch arms, so when he extends those, I’m not sure there is anyone in the league that can get into his chest. He battled all the way through.”

LeSean McCoy is starting to dance a bit too much in the backfield, I know he was trying to make a big play, but he’s got to go back to getting what’s there.   He can’t force a big play, he must take what’s there and try to get the big play when the opportunity presents itself.

The entire offensive line did a tremendous job of blocking for Kolb.  He had time all day to sit in the pocket and go through his progressions.  He got sacked once, but that sack was because of error by the receivers on a wide receiver screen.

I’m getting more concerned about tight end Brent Celek, he’s been far to inconsistent catching the football.  In this offense, the tight end has to be a dependable receiver.  He’s got to catch the football when it hits his hands.  It hasn’t cost them a game yet, but going forward he’s got to do a better job of catching the football.