The Eagles offense pulled its defense out of the fire again, but can they continue do it. For most of the day against the Giants, the Birds pass rush was non-existent and the secondary was vulnerable.
The right cornerback position was the main problem. To put it bluntly this football team has one cornerback who can play and his name is Asante Samuel. Everybody else who wears midnight green and plays the position is suspect.
The Giants showed us yesterday that if you stay away from Samuel and attack the other side, you will flourish. Veteran cornerback Ellis Hobbs, who was victimized earlier in the season, has decided to retire after injuring his neck again. I’m starting to wonder if maybe his replacement Dimitri Patterson should consider the same move.
Patterson was clearly the target of the New York Giants yesterday. He was beaten for three touchdowns in the first half of the battle against New York. Tom Coughlin and company made it a point to stay away from Samuel and focused their attack on the other side.
On the first touchdown, Giants wide receiver Mario Manningham ran a double move on Patterson and he bit on it, hook, line and sinker. Manningham went downfield about ten yards, then stopped and looked back for the ball. When the receiver looked back, so did the cornerback.
Once Manning pumped the ball, Manningham turned back upfield and the cornerback knew he was beaten. He should have tackled to wide out and taken the penalty. Instead he grabbed Manningham for a split-second then let him go. The ref threw the flag and Manningham headed for the end zone with a three or four yard lead on Patterson. It was an easy throw for Manning.
On the second score, Manningham ran a comeback route against Patterson. It was a simple route, but the cornerback seemed to have that first touchdown in his mind, so he was slow coming up to the make the tackle. He wanted to make sure it wasn’t another double move.
Manningham caught the ball then turned and realized he had plenty of room to easy avoid Patterson, who was slipping. The wideout didn’t make much of a move, and had no trouble avoiding the cornerback as he turned upfield and again headed for the end zone. This was the second score as it became quite apparent that New York was focused on victimizing Patterson.
It wasn’t so much that New York had a game plan as much as they had a target. They had already burned Patterson for two scores and the half wasn’t yet over.
When the Birds got the ball, Eagles wide receiver Jeremy Maclin caught a curl route then fumbled the ball with only seconds remaining in the half. After a long review, the call on the field was upheld and it gave the Giants another chance to score before the half.
There were only about nine seconds to go on the clock, so New York had only one play to score a touchdown before kicking a field goal. They decided to go after Patterson again by having big wide receiver Hakeem Nicks go after him one-on-one.
It was like taking candy from a baby. Nicks, who is the size of a tight end, came off the ball and ran downfield like he was headed to the back of the end zone. Patterson dropped inside to take away the slant, so Nicks took a step inside to freeze Patterson then came back outside on an out route.
Manning dropped, looked up to his left to see Nicks coming free, then put the ball on the money and Nicks halled it in. The refs signaled touchdown as the big wide receiver brushed off Patterson and held the ball up in his huge hands. There were still seconds remaining before halftime and the score was now 24-3.
The Giants kicked off and the final seconds ticked off the clock. Thankfully the half was over for Patterson, who had been beaten for three touchdowns in a half.
I know that Michael Vick, DeSean Jackson and the Birds were able to make one of the greatest comebacks in their history to get the victory over the Giants, but I don’t know how much longer they can continue to play and win with Patterson as the starter on the right side of their defense.
If the Giants can victimize him so severely, what will happen the rest of the way after other teams watch the tape.
I still can’t form an opinion about this game. I need to see it again.
The defense was on the field the entire first half, and it wasn’t totally their fault. The offense ran only 24 plays and their longest drive was 6 yards (I believe).
The defense was effective against the run, which was their primary goal.
According to Ashley Fox, they were held to 3.2 yards per carry. The highlights of her article are below.
The Eagles played mostly zone in the first half and did little blitzing and Manning just carved them up. In the second half, defensive coordinator Sean McDermott went back to the strategy that had been successful against the Giants 4 weeks earlier. He got aggressive. He blitzed more with mostly man-to-man coverage behind it.
The result: Manning completed just seven of 14 passes for 101 yards in the second half. They converted just two of seven second-half third-down opportunities.
When the defense needed stops in the fourth quarter to get the ball back for their offense, it did it. It forced a hurried incompletion on a third-and-8 late in the fourth quarter with an effective blitz by rookie safety Kurt Coleman.
Then, defensive tackle Trevor Laws sacked Manning on third-and-10 with less than a minute left in the game, which forced the Matt Dodge punt that DeSean Jackson turned into his electric game-winning 65-yard touchdown return in this remarkable, 38-31 win.
“We changed up our blitzing schemes and came with different blitzes and basically put a man on a man,” Mikell said in explaining the second-half turnaround by his unit. “When our secondary is playing man-on-man and playing aggressive and challenging [people], we can hang with anybody.”
Manningham, who had six catches for 91 yards and two touchdowns in the first half, had just two catches for 22 yards in the second half. Hakeem Nicks, who had five catches for 52 yards and a touchdown in the first half, had one catch for 11 yards in the second half.
“Everybody came in at halftime, we were looking like sad puppies,” Samuel said. “Everybody was just saying, ‘Show your heart. Come out and fight.’ And that’s what we did. The second half, you have to love it.”
McDermott certainly did. Not only did his unit get the snot kicked out of it in the first half, but he also lost another key player. Rookie free safety Nate Allen ruptured the patellar tendon in his right knee late in the second quarter. But Coleman, also a rookie, stepped in and ended up making one of the game’s key plays down the stretch.
“This is a good win over a young team and a young defense,” McDermott said. “We lost another guy today, but we keep having young guys step in and step up.
“They went out there in the second half today determined not to give them anything and make them earn it. That’s what we did. We came away with some big stops when we needed them.
As I said I am not listening to anything on the downside, yeah I know it was ugly but I owe the team for that comeback. Patterson will be fine. What corners in the league are blowing it up, hell Patterson has 3 Int’s and had some solid pass defenses so far this season, so he is as good as at least 75% of the starters in the league right now.
Thats all I am saying, Pat I got your back brother, now tighten up because the playoffs is coming.
The players and coaches that made it about as ugly as can be are the same players and coaches that made this one of the most amazing and impressive games ever. You can’t criticise this game without giving the due credit. Same teams both halves. That the Offense was able to score 28 in 7 1/2 minutes against the second best D in the NFL in their house against an extremely noisy crowd and that the Defense was able to step up like they did shows alot. Every team has warts and beauty. We just saw both to the extreme in the same game!
yeah, I know, to be more accurate the Offense scored 21 in 7-1/2 aned special teams the other 7…
It’s going into the 15th game of the season…you have to ride or die with what you have at this point. Do you know any corners on the street they can bring in, doubtful. Let’s go get it, we have an offense that can play with any team. Defense wins championships, well this year we are banking on the O.
The Eagles opponents not only saw the weakness in Patterson on Defense but have to have seen how the Giants were able to cover the Eagles receivers one and one for most of the game –that was the real shocker to me –even the announcers stated it was more the Giants coverage than they pressure on Vick that shut down their O for most of the game
Yeah Vick was able to use the man to man coverage to his advantage when he ran the ball in the 4th quarter but you can’t count on a QBs running to carry you through the Super Bowl –or can you
Eli should have been blitzed that entire game … on the Giants last three drives, they were blitzed almost every play and you could see that Eli was shook!!!
Either way, Patterson had a game to forget … I still don’t know what to make of this kid. He has had a few decent games and a couple that were just awful. Hopefully he can keep his head up and finish the season strong!
I feel for Nate Allen too. We lost our first and second round picks this year to knee injuries … damnnnnnnnnnnn!
Obviously D PAtterson has a very poor game and especially in the 1st half..
It appears when he plays press coverage, he’s ok, but when he sits on a zone, he stays too far back
and bites on the first move the Receiver makes and then gets turned around and loses sight of the ball. He’s has 2-3 really good games and 2-3 shaky games, but it is what it is and besides who else are you going to play out there at this stage of the season (maybe T Lindley or J Calvin..)
We all knew that the Secondary was going to be suspect and for the most part, has had it ups and downs all seasons– more Int’s, but a lot of TD passes given up, but at this point of the season.
and now with season ending injuries to Hobbs/N Allen, they are going to have make do with what they have… .
rcp cmon man
ok G if patterson isnt the answer give us some insight of who is
is any1 available or do u want to try lindley please dont say hanson on the outside he’s putrid.
we undeerstand patterson had a rough day but the question is what do we do
On both plays where Mannigham beat Patterson, there was no safety help over top. I know that one play was a weak side safety biltz, leaving Patterson one on one with no deep help. Yes, he was beat, but it was at least in part because of the read react from Manning. A WR should beat a CB in one on one in almost every case.
That’s not to excuse Patterson, but for some reason there was safety help for Patterson on almost every play, and the coverage was much better. So much better, in fact, that they worked the middle and strong side more in the passing game.
You can’t just blame the player, the D scheme in the first half for pass coverage was atrocious.
Team are going to treat Samuel like they do the raiders CB Nnamdi Asomahasdkfjasjffafjkfjasdiojaj, and not throw in Samuel’s direction. Patterson will get better so lets not throw him away yet……..
And how long can these injuries keep coming before they finally are too much
I wonder if VIck will get some snaps at CB in practice this week… who knows what Superman can do
worth a shot pman lol
As someone mentioned earlier…too late in the season for tinkering…
GO TO WAR WITH WHAT WE GOT…..
PW…you ready to fill in for Allen? At this rate we are losing 1-2 players a game, but the guys behind are stepping up. This season has a strange feel of destiny….I like the feeling, but the journey can be a little bumpy….so at this point for me it is either Phillywill or Jroc at safety…we know that they will bring it on gameday…..ok, maybe we go with Colt, but the other guys will be ready!
GO BIRDS!!!!!!!!!!
Paulman’s Revised list for NFL MVP
We have a Tie for at #1 Spot right now
#1) GB Packers LB Clay Matthews Jr and Giants Punter M Dodge
Jiminy Crickets.. .
G, At this point you have no other option so they will probably have to start him for the rest of the year. He falls for the double move too easily and seems to not be able to make good plays on the ball in the air. But on the positive side he seems to play well in press coverage where he can get in the WR face and doesn’t have to worry about thinking too much. I mean the Giant’s WRs are no slouches so I did expect them to score a few times. It’s just unfortunate for Patterson that Asante in on the other side of the field and Eli is scared to throw his way. The TD to Nicks was just bad technique so that can be corrected in the film room by having him up closer. Just missed the tackle on the 2nd Manningham one and the 1st one, he just looked dumb. At this point, you gotta ride with him. Let’s just hope he can put it behind him, correct his mistake and still play aggressive.
rcp, I agree but one can also argue that there isn’t a huge drop off from the injuries. My biggest concern is the depth though. I think the guys that are replacing the starters no worst but if they start going down then it’s a big problem.
Quote from G Cobb “To put it bluntly this football team has one cornerback who can play and his name is Asante Samuel. Everybody else who wears midnight green and plays the position is suspect”
That is Real Talk!!!
Patterson has been struggling as of late…his coverage is the problem..early on in the season his coverage was strong..I think he’ll get it together, honestly I believe he is the 2nd best corner on the squad….I dont think you can put anyone else out there….
on another note, a bright spot on the defense yesterday was the rookie Chaney and Fokou they were a problem yesterday fellas!
@REAL….agreed, Chaney & Fokou were REAL good….Fokou is a beast
how about that tackle asante made yesterday on third down! never thought i would see the day!!!!!!!!!
that play was HUGE!
Chaney has like 16 Tackles (and 11 Unassisted) are you kidding me…
That’s like Bill Bergey type of numbers if you guys remember him.. Chaney was all over the place as
was Fokou who has gotten better and better as the season has gone along..
I feel good with Safety K Coleman filling in for the injured Nate Allen.. and then Colt Anderson as the back-up to Mikell and Coleman
The CB Position is what it is, Eagles go 4 deep with Samuel,Patterson,Hanson and Lindley
maybe Jarric Calvin and Brandon Hughes take more practice reps just in case, but to be honest,
look around the NFL, many teams are thin at this time of the season in their Secondary..
I am not sure how the NFL and Teams are going to have quality depth when they move to a 18 game schedule… half these teams will have 10-15-20 players injured,out for the season,etc,etc..
Especially with all these helmet to helmet concussuios, players almost sit out at least 1 game and sometimes 2 ..
paulman, any out of work safeties out there the Eagles might bring in just as depth? I mean they did bring Burgess back LOL.
I like Patterson. He had a bad game but also had some great games. He just needs to play with confidence and stay focused on what he is supposed to do. He tries to be like Asante and jump routes…..instead he needs to focus on just breaking the pass up and make tackles.
So we signed Burgess and he was inactive. So why not activate Abiamiri or Sap? Where are those guys? Teo has not made a play all year, make him inactive and give someone esle a shot.
best line I have read today…”Paterson was picked on like the fat kid in a dodge ball game, all day long”…gotta believe he can learn from this, but honestly we are running out of options
Ken Hamlin could be an option if he’s in the free agency……… i dont see why not…….
Coughlin is a complete jerk for going after Dodge like that on TV
Hey Coughlin it wasn’t Dodge that allowed those 3 TDs in just over 7 minutes
Your offense got the ball back after each TD and didn’t do anything
The game was TIED and the Eagles would have probably won in OT they way things were going
Jackson fumbled the line drive kick and your ST should have made a tackle
Patterson is going to be fine……. he’ll learn after this game…… Besides there aren’t any good corners left in the league……. He’ll be solid down the stretch and for the future…… I beleive thats why the Birds signed Dick Juron…….
So I guess the Giants will keep Dodge next season and Coughlin will get the HELL OUT of DODGE….. Next YEAR LOL>>>>>>>>
To Scorpion,JRoc
Safety Ken Hamlin was signed by Jax JAguars about 2 weeks ago is unavailable
CB D Pender who was in Eagles camp as a undrafted free-agent signed about a week ago with the Indy Colts who lost a couple of players..
Macho Harris is on the Redskins Roster & Quentin Demps is on the Houston Texans Roster
with 2 weeks left in the season, not many players out there who haven’t been grabbed by teams who had injuries and needed bodies.. I am not sure what’s out there for SAfety Position on other teams practice squads but this leate in the year, I am not sute you could bring in a new guy and have them learn the system in 1-2 weeks time to play and be effective..
Eagles may have LB Clayton take some reps at Safety Position as well as CB’s J Calvin or T Lindley just in case Mickell/Coleman were to get dinged or injured…right now Colt Anderson will be the 3rd Safety, but after that.. who knows…
r
@Paulman…… OH ok…….. Thanks for the info Scorp……
my concern about Patterson is that if this continues….he will be the new addition of an old favorite…
Izell Jenkins….better know as Toast
It’s probably not a good idea to assess a player’s ability based on a few games. I said this during the off-season when some were saying that Kolb would be the next Montana while others were saying that he’d be a bust.
Patterson has looked very good and he’s also looked very bad. Did he look bad because the Eagles employed a zone defense in the first half? He played very well against the Colts. Why is that?
It’s hard to assess a player’s ability if you don’t know what his responsibilities are on a particular play or in a particular defense. If a receiver gets open deep, was it the safety’s job to cover deep or was the corner covering him one on one?
Quentin Mikell and Asante Samuel sometimes switch assignments by giving each other a signal. So, if Mikell gets beat on that play, is it his fault?
Unless you know the answers to questions such as these, it’s pretty much just speculation.