There are always major problems to relying heavily on rookies. They make mistakes, in fact they make costly mistakes.
The Eagles double-teamed DeSean Jackson and dared rookie Jeremy Maclin to beat them.
I don’t like the fact that the Eagles didn’t have a strategy to get the ball to Jackson any way ,Maclin had a bad night on Sunday.
He didn’t step up to the challenge.
He was matched up against fellow rookie, Dallas Cowboys cornerback Mike Jenkins and Jenkins punked him.
He got in Maclin’s face, jammed as he came off the line and took him out of his game. Jenkins was aggressive while Maclin was too passive.
He’s big enough and strong enough to use his arms like a pass rusher does to get a cornerback’s hands off of him.
I blame some of this on the Eagles coaching staff because I don’t think they do a good job of teaching the receivers how to get off of jams.
For years their receivers have had problems getting off jams when they play the Redskins.
The receivers should go into the game with a game plan to get off the line of scrimmage against the jam technique.
Maclin had a hand in both interceptions which McNabb threw.
On the first interception, it was all his fault . McNabb hit him with a pass right in his hands and he let it go right through his hands and up into the air. The ball was picked off and set up a Cowboys touchdown.
On the next interception, McNabb threw the ball behind him but he never looked back for the football. He should have been able to at least prevent an interception.
The ball was picked off and set up a Cowboys field goal.
The Cowboys challenged Maclin to beat one-on-one coverage and he couldn’t get it done.
The shame of the night was that the one play in which Maclin beat Jenkins deep, left tackle Jason Peters was down with an ankle injury and his replacement Todd Herremans got beat by DeMarcus Ware who hit McNabb before he could get rid of the ball.
Guess what, the San Diego Chargers will be using the same strategy against Maclin. They’ve got to good sized and athletic corners in Antonio Cromartie and Quintin Jammer.
They’re going to double team Jackson and dare Maclin to beat them.
He must do a better job this weekend than he did last weekend. That improvement should begin with being more aggressive.
The Eagles coaches must have a strategy to get the ball to Jackson regardless of the coverages, but they must also get in Maclin’s face and challenge him to step up.
