Whew boy, where do I begin?  There are a lot of fingerprints on this loss with a ton of blame to go around.  This was just one of those clunkers where nothing was going right.
Sheldon Brown couldn’t get his hands on what would have been a late interception.¬† Johnny Lee Higgins fumbles a gift on a late punt return only to have the ball bounce right back to himself.¬† In order for a team with the talent of the Eagles to lose to a team with the talent of the Raiders, a lot of things have to happen.¬† The Eagles have to play poorly and the Raiders have to play very well and that’s what happened here.¬† Let’s look at the game:
What I liked…
-This section will be short, I promise.
-First, give the Raiders credit.  For a dreadful team, they played pretty well, especially on defense. 
-I’ve always been a huge Shane Lechler fan.¬† It’s a huge advantage in tight games like this when you have a punter of his caliber.
-Westbrook looked a little better.  A little more life in his legs which is a good sign. 
-Was the defense perfect?  Far from it.  Did they hold a bad Raiders team to 13 points?  Yes.  That should be good enough to win.
….and not so much….
-Brent Celek, you are making me look stupid.¬† I’ve been telling everyone how good you are and that you’ve taken the next step and then you go out there on Sunday and drop tons of passes.¬† Hands like feet.¬†
-We talked before the season about how the new-look offensive line was going to have to gel as the season went on.¬† Well, now it’s the really-new-look offensive line and it is indeed downright offensive.¬† Sunday, it was (from left tackle to right tackle):¬† King Dunlap (following the Peters injury), Nick Cole, Jamaal Jackson, Max Jean-Gilles, Winston Justice.¬† Wow, is that awful.¬† Since training camp, that’s four new linemen out of five.¬† They were awful against the Raiders with Richard Seymour destroying the line time and time again.¬† McNabb had no time to throw at all.
-So what do you do?  Keep passing!  Great idea.  No runs?  No screens?  Nothing to keep them honest?
-David Akers….you serious?¬† You ever notice that when everything goes south for the Eagles, Akers seems to want to join the party?¬† He’s been phenomenal lately, but they could have used those two field goals.
-Donovan didn’t have his best game for sure.¬† He missed a lot of deep balls.¬† And even when he did hit receivers, they dropped it.¬† The passing game as a whole gets a D-.¬†
-We love you, Trot.¬† But….it’s time for you to go.¬† You just can’t run anymore and NFL teams – although many may seem it – aren’t stupid.¬† They are going to force you into coverage every chance they get.¬† Trotter vs. Zach Miller is a joke.
-Speaking of tight ends, this team still can’t cover them.¬† Oh where have you gone Carlos Emmons and/or Willie T.?
-The linebackers on this team play like it’s a position the front office doesn’t value.¬† That’s because it doesn’t.¬† Tom Heckert has to be working the phones in preparation for the trade deadline.
-This team doesn’t return kickoffs well at all.¬†
-Donovan didn’t know he was out of timeouts?¬† I give credit to myself.¬† I looked at a friend of mine next to me after Andy made the brilliant decision to burn yet another timeout (his third and final) and said, “watch Donovan pull a Chris Webber.”¬† He did, but the penalty in football is far less costly.¬† Donovan should have known, but Andy shouldn’t have wasted them so fooolishly.¬†
-The Eagles defense is kind of lucky that they only gave up 13 points.  The offense was three-and-out so often, that tends to wear a defense out late and things can get out of hand.  
-You win the turnover battle 2-0 and still lose to the Raiders? 
-The refs made some bad calls in both directions.¬† Pretty awful call saved the Eagles on the INT return for a TD early on.¬† Eagles receivers got the business a little bit several times and no call.¬† I was shocked the Eagles line didn’t get more holding penalties.¬† Usually when you have jailbreaks like that on almost every play, someone eventually holds.
-This team cannot run the ball.¬† With the exception of a few by Westbrook, there isn’t much room to run.¬† That’s on the o-line and Andy Reid for failing to stick with the run calls so the line can get in a groove.
-Nothing like losing to the Raiders while watching just about everyone important hit the turf with an injury at some point.  Peters left the game, DeSean Jackson got roughed up (late hit?) and Bunkley collapsed in a heap.  Fun to watch.
-King Dunlap was absolutely embarrassed several times. 
-How does Victor Abiamiri not know that you can’t hit a QB’s head like that?¬†
-Someone explain what Michael Vick brings to the table.  Any time he is out there nothing happens. 
Don’t go losing to the Redskins or it’ll be the start of heading down the road known as “if the Eagles just win the next five, the Bears need to lose two of three, the Packers need to tie their next three….” etc.¬†
