It’s way to early in the season to start jumping to conclusions, but the Eagles didn’t give us any reason on Sunday to jump to many good ones.¬† After keeping the game close up to the half, the first five minutes of the second half sealed their fate.
You can’t give Drew Brees a short field repeatedly and think that you’ll still hang around in the game.¬† Ain’t happening.¬† Brees punished the Eagles for their sloppiness and that’s how you end up on the wrong end of a 48-22.¬† Let’s look at the game:
What I liked…
-Kevin Kolb was better than I expected.¬† He still makes way too many bad decisions and turns the ball over too much, but he was very competent at times.¬† I’ve been down on Kolb big time over the last few years, but I’ve upgraded my current opinion on Kolb.¬† As of now, I’m ok with him as a backup.¬† Wouldn’t want him leading my team for a prolonged period of time.¬† But he could be a nice backup.¬† He stood and delivered some decent throws when facing the blitz at times.¬†
-DeSean Jackson does so much.¬† What fun to watch.¬† He’s headed for a big year if he stays healthy.
-Jason Avant is so solid.¬† Who else do you want to throw to on 3rd and 6?¬† All he does is his job.¬† The team needs nine yards, he’ll get 11.¬† He’s not a superstar and never will be, but you need Jason Avants to win big games.
-Akeem Jordan made another play this week.¬† That’s his second INT and it was a good one.¬† Brees was about to sting the Eagles again deep in their territory when Jordan made a great play to get the turnover.¬† The Eagles need more plays like this from their linebackers.
-Marques Colston is becoming Plaxico Burress without the headaches.  Such a great big target, he is incredibly difficult to defend.
-I have give credit to Malcolm Jenkins, the Saints first-round pick out of Ohio State.  His forced fumble on Ellis Hobbs to start the second half was the beginning of the end.  He then made a great play to knock DeSean Jackson out of bounds on a punt return.
-Shady McCoy looks like he can play and that’s a good thing.¬† Westbrook is hurt again and this looks like this will be the deal for the rest of his career here in Philly.¬†
-How can Drew Brees not be considered a top-three NFL QB?  With Brady still getting his legs back underneath him, you can argue that Brees is the best in the NFL right now.  No disrespect to Peyton, but you could make the argument.  
-Brent Celek continues to do a great job.  He gets open, catches everything and then is a bear to bring down. 
…and not so much….
-Kevin Curtis dropped another ball.  This is ridiculous. 
-After giving up a TD following the Ellis Hobbs fumble, Kolb goes and hands it right back to them on the Eagles own 20-yard line.  Not winning football.  This was the moment the game ended pretty much. 
-Great tackling on the Heath Evans touchdown.  What kind of garbage was that? 
-The front four wasn’t getting to Brees and it seemed like McDermott had little interest in bringing heat.¬† I don’t care who your corners are, if you give Brees that much time he will carve you up.¬† See:¬† Sunday.¬† Any time the ends got some pressure, Brees had plenty of room to step up in the pocket and deliver.¬† It was a joke.
-Sav Rocca, what are you doing?¬† When you have an offense like the Saints’, you need to back them up and make them go the distance of the field.¬† Didn’t happen at all on Sunday.¬† Several of Rocca’s punts had the Saints setting up shop around the 50.¬† That combined with the two killer turnovers to start the second half and they made it that much easier for Brees.
-What is with all the gadget plays?¬† What I saw was a coach saying “I don’t trust my QB a lick so we are going to trick out the offense and run numerous, numerous gadget plays in order to hide his deficiencies.”¬† I might have been a little embarrassed if I were Kolb.¬† Seriously, what is with all the wildcat nonsense?
-2nd and goal from the four.¬† Let’s have our RB throw the ball instead of the guy that gets paid to actually throw it.¬† It’s no wonder this miserable excuse for a red-zone offense kicks so many field goals.¬† Terrible decision making compounded by lousy execution.¬† Sounds like a winning formula to me.
-Excellent special teams play by the Eagles.¬† Did they run any plays without getting penalties?¬† I watched Chris Clemons give a guy a shove in the chest after one punt.¬† The problem?¬† He had just gotten a personal foul the last time he was out there.¬† He didn’t get called for this one, but wouldn’t you be a little more careful if you had just made a boneheaded play the last time out?
-Do you think John Harbaugh would be willing to take a demotion and a pay cut to come back to Philly to coach special teams?
-Nothing says “we are destroying you” like getting a safety handed to you for free.
It’s early, but they need to take care of these next few soft games and get in good position for Donovan to return.¬† For a team that had such high expectations, I’m not seeing it right now.¬† But like I said, it’s early.
