Has our football team gotten so bad here in Philadelphia that we’re bragging about not doing quite as good as the Detroit Lions. Well that’s what is happening as we pat Kevin Kolb and the Eagles offense on the back.
The defense and special teams didn’t play well enough to win, but the truth is the offense didn’t play welll enough either. Remember the Detroit Lions which hasn’t won a game in two years, put up 27 points last week against this same awful New Orleans defense.
Yes, the winless Lions who are led by a rookie quarterback put up more points than the Eagles. Is that a reason to say let’s look at the positive? I thought we were supposed to be a Super Bowl contender, yet I hear people talking about all the positive that happened from Kolb and the offense during the game and wonder what they’re talking about.
Remember that the New Orleans pass defense is horrible. There were dump routes to the tight end and running backs that were going for twenty yards a pop.
If they don’t make the playoffs and go to the NFC Championship game or Super Bowl, it will be because of their defense and their pass coverage in particular.
This was an okay start for Kevin Kolb because he did have some positives but is wasn’t winning football, you have to add up his negatives and his positives. He threw a rope to Jackson for the touchdown.
It was a great throw. He made some other good throws and good decisions, but he made too many bad ones.
The interception at the beginning of the second half was a killer. It was deep in the Eagles territory and it led to decisive score for the Saints.
All and all if you’re talking about winning, this was not a good performance when you consider who the Eagles were playing and how many points the offense put on the board.
With a little more consistency the offense could have easily scored 30 plus points.
The Eagles offense behind Kolb generated 22 points but turned the ball over three times and those turnovers generated 14 points for the other team.
You’re not going to win any games if your offense doesn’t produce more than that against a poor New Orleans defense, especially when you consider their great offensive unit.
Remember that Lions rookie quarterback Matt Stafford in the first start of his career led them to 27 points against this same Saints defense.
Kolb made some good throws and made some good decisions but there’s no reason to get all worked up about the passing yardage. The Saints were playing a loose zone coverage at the end of the first half and at the end of the game.
You can’t make the mistake that many are making of choosing to disregard Kolb’s turnovers in garbage time and at the same time making a big point of all the yardage he threw for. I think making a big deal out of passing yards at garbage time is the most overrated statistic in the NFL.
The only place where garbage passing yardage makes a big deal is in fantasy points.
I remember a few years ago when media guys were making a big deal about the yardage that Detroit’s Jon Kitna was passing for. Much of it was during garbage time when the defense is letting the quarterback throw for yardage.
This was a start to Kolb’s career and he did some good things and he did some bad things. We’ve seen him do bad things before, so everybody’s over looking the bad and acknowledging the good.
The truth of the matter is you have to look at both. This guy has never played a game in the NFL without turning the ball over.
