What happened?
The Eagles took out a depleted Atlanta Falcons team behind a strong effort by the defense...and Michael Vick. The win is their third in a row, and moves the team to 8-4.
The Good:
Leonard Weaver had a great game, rushing for 37 yards and catching two passes for 63 yards and a touchdown.
I can't believe I'm typing this, but Michael Vick looked great in his return to Atlanta, scoring on a five yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter, and then completing a five yard touchdown pass to Brent Celek in the fourth to finish the scoring. He rushed the ball four times for 17 yards, and went 2/2 in the air for 48 yards.
Jeremy Maclin played well as the number one receiver today, catching four passes for 83 yards.
The defense was excellent, shutting out the Falcons until the last play of the game. Sheldon Brown returned an interception for a touchdown, Chris Redman was sacked twice, and the Eagles knocked 11 passes down.
He had his struggles in the red zone again, but Donovan McNabb looked good for the three quarters that he played. He completed 14 of 25 passes for 238 yards and a touchdown.
The Bad:
Though the defense was great, they had some sloppy play. The Eagles committed eight penalties for 62 yards in the game.
In the first half, the red zone offense was bad, scoring just one touchdown in four trips inside the Atlanta 20.
The Ugly:
LeSean McCoy rushed the ball just six times for two yards.
The Breakdown:
This week, there was no fourth quarter comeback necessary for the Eagles. Playing an Atlanta Falcons team without starting quarterback Matt Ryan and starting running back Michael Turner, the Eagles jumped on the Falcons early and then finished them off the second half. Michael Vick even got a chance to make an impact in his return to the Georgia Dome, as played for part of the fourth quarter and scored two touchdowns.
The first half wasn't exactly pretty, but the Eagles still were able to make their mark on the game. From their first drive, they made their way into Atlanta territory, but then came the same problems that they've been having for most of the season. In their four red zone visits in the first half, the Eagles managed just one touchdown and two field goals. David Akers missed a 39 yard field goal, but luckily, that wouldn't come back to bite him. even so, the Eagles still had their problems. They couldn't convert on third down in the red zone in the first half, their running game was stagnant the entire half, save for a few runs by Leonard Weaver, and when Jason Avant did manage to find the end zone, the play was called back because of a penalty on the offensive line.
Even with all those problems, the defense of the Eagles was up to the challenge today. They may not have sacked Chris Redman that many times, but they did quite well at putting their hands up and knocking down several of his passes throughout the day. The Eagles defended 11 of Redman's passes, and had him looking off balanced the entire game. The only time that the Falcons challenged in the first half, the defense made a play that shifted the entire momentum of the game. With just under a minute to play in the half, the Falcons managed to move the ball down to the one yard line. Atlanta ran straight at the Eagles on three straight plays, and each time, the Eagles stopped them. Jason Snelling was stopped on fourth down at the one, and Atlanta never challenged again.
The Eagles made the Falcons pay in the third quarter, as they scored twice to put the game out of reach. In all honesty, the second half was really the Michael Vick show for the Eagles in Atlanta. As much as I didn't want the Eagles to bring in Vick when he was reinstated by the NFL, I was happy for him today. He scored his first touchdown of the year on the first drive of the third quarter on a five yard run. Chris Redman would get the Falcons into Philadelphia territory on the first drive for Atlanta in the third quarter, but Sheldon Brown sealed the game with an 83 yard interception return for a touchdown that made Vick's return into the game almost mandatory.
Hearing the Atlanta fans chanting "We Want Vick, We Want Vick" was completely amazing late in the third quarter. I couldn't believe what I had heard, and the Eagles were happy to oblige. Vick came in mid-drive following a Sean Jones interception of Chris Redman, and showed the arm strength that made him one of the top college quarterbacks coming into the league. Vick nailed Reggie Brown for a 43 yard pass, and then finished the drive with a five yard touchdown pass to Brent Celek that would put a cap on the scoring for the Eagles on the day. It was actually nice to see Vick get out there during a game and run the offense as well as he did today. For the limited time that he did play, he looked better than he had all season, and scoring his first two touchdowns of the season must have felt very, very good.
The only complaint I have about the second half is that the defense lost the shutout on the very last play of the game. If there's one thing that a defense prides itself on, it's their ability to stop an opponent. Today, the Eagles did that on defense for 59 minutes and 54 seconds, but Chris Redman hit Roddy White on the last play of the game, and the shutout was lost. I don't mind it that much, since the game was clearly in hand, but it was the prevent defense that was played that bothered me. The Eagles had punished Redman all game long, and then they stopped for one drive, and it came back to haunt them. Luckily, it was still a 27 point lead for the Eagles, but the loss of the shutout hurt.
It's coming down to the home stretch now for the Eagles, and if they keep playing like they did today, they can look forward to another trip to the playoffs. Aside from some bad penalties and sloppy play in the red zone in the first half, the team looked very good. Atlanta is a tough team to play in the Georgia Dome, no matter who is playing at quarterback and running back. Donovan McNabb has looked solid over the last three weeks, and today, the Eagles ran 27 passing plays, and 26 running plays. It's that balance that will push the Eagles through the rest of the season, and with a game against the Giants looming next week, the Birds are going to have to stick to that balance to take out the Giants and move one step closer to a playoff berth.
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