What happened?
Kevin Kolb looked well adjusted in his second NFL start, throwing for over 300 yards and two touchdowns in an easy win over the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Good:
Kolb looked great, completing 24 of 34 passes for 327 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for a score.
LeSean McCoy was solid in replacing Brian Westbrook, picking up 84 yards on 20 carries with a touchdown.
DeSean Jackson continued his great start, bringing in six passes for 149 yards and a touchdown.
Brent Celek had eight catches for 104 yards and a touchdown.
The defense looked much better, recording three sacks, recovering a fumble and holding the Chiefs to 196 total yards.
The Bad:
Michael Vick made his much talked about debut, and was simply mediocre, gaining seven yards on one run and going 0/2 passing the ball.
Jeff Garcia fumbled his first snap when he came in at the end of the game, setting up a late touchdown by the Chiefs.
The Ugly:
Nothing. Everything was fine this week.
The Breakdown:
Man, nothing cures a week long hangover like playing the Kansas City Chiefs. The Eagles came out and looked like a different team than the one that got destroyed against the Saints last week. Kevin Kolb looked very sharp, and the Eagles managed to beat up on the Chiefs despite missing their starting quarterback and running back. All in all, it was a very good day.
I've got to say, I've been quite impressed with the way that Kevin Kolb has played in the place of Donovan McNabb. Andy Reid hasn't changed the game plan one bit, and Kolb has responded with back to back 300 yard passing games. Of course, once Donovan comes back for Week 5, Kolb will take his place back on the bench, but it's nice to know that the kid can actually play well when he gets time to work with the first team. It makes me feel a lot better than when the Eagles had Mike McMahon and Koy Detmer backing McNabb up, that's for sure.
Speaking of backups playing well, LeSean McCoy had a solid game as well. He was elusive on several runs, and handled his share of the Wildcat snaps without any problems. As it is with Kolb, it's nice to know that there's a guy on the bench that can not only spell Westbrook when number 36 is healthy, but he can start for him if he needs to as well. It's nice to see that the starters from two years down the road are solid and the team isn't really missing that much.
What else can be said about the receiving corps so far this year? In the last two games, DeSean Jackson has emerged as a go to wideout, and Brent Celek has put up back to back eight catch, 104 yard games. I've been saying that a good tight end makes all the difference for a young quarterback for as long as I can remember, and that's been the case with Celek and Kolb. Kolb is looking to Celek when he has to, and Celek has been there with big plays. The kid is taking advantage of his first chance to start, and I don't see him going anywhere for a while. If Celek keeps playing like he has the last two weeks, then he is going to become a fan favorite very, very quickly.
It was refreshing to see the defense get back to playing the way they did in Week 1. They only got to Matt Cassel three times, but they had pressure on him for most of the game. He looked uncomfortable in the pocket, and since Larry Johnson and Jammal Charles couldn't get anything going on the running front, the Eagles were able to pin their ears back on defense and go after Cassel whenever he dropped back. They only forced one fumble, but that was enough today. The Chiefs couldn't get anything going on offense, so turnovers would have just been icing on the cake. I'm still not sure how good this defense is, but I know that it's not as bad as it was last week against the Saints. I think it's somewhere in between last week and this week, but as long as the group can find that happy medium and not swing back towards how they played against the Saints, they should be just fine.
When the hype finally stopped, Michael Vick didn't exactly do much on offense. Yes, it was a nice wrinkle to have in there, but most of the time, he was just in the game to hand the ball off. He only ran it himself once, and he picked up seven yards. Other than that, it was all handoffs to McCoy or Jeremy Maclin. I'm still not sure what his purpose on the Eagles is. He didn't do anything today, and his two throws weren't the best in the world. Opposing defenses know to look for him when he comes in on Wildcat plays, so it's not like the Eagles are sneaking him in anywhere. Vick is going to have to learn the rest of the playbook and get back to full strength if the Eagles want to actually use him to his full potential. If not, I feel like it's going to look like this for the rest of the season.
All in all, it was a good game this week. Kevin Kolb looked much better than last week, and even with Brian Westbrook out, the offense didn't miss a beat. Everyone should be healthy after the bye week and ready to take on the Buccaneers, but if they're not, I'm confident that who the Eagles put out there can at least put up one hell of a fight.
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