What happened?
The Eagles played their first team offense and defense for the first quarter, and looked very good before squeaking out a win on a David Akers field goal with nine minutes to play in the fourth quarter.
The Good:
Kevin Kolb started his first preseason game as the number one quarterback, and looked good. He completed six of 11 passes for 95 yards. He also picked up 15 yards on the ground on two scrambles.
Michael Vick for most of the second quarter was solid. He completed 11 of 17 passes for 119 yards, and also rushed the ball six times for 50 yards and a touchdown.
DeSean Jackson was outstanding while he was in the game. He caught two passes for 47 yards and had a 17 yard rushing gain as well.
Jeremy Maclin picked up two catches for 32 yards.
Eldra Buckley had a good second half, rushing for 17 yards on four carries and catching two passes for 24 yards.
Riley Cooper made an impact in his first preseason game, catching three passes for 61 yards, including a 46 yard bomb in the second quarter.
The first team defense looked great as a unit. They held the Jaguars without a first down. Maurice Jones-Drew ended up with six total yards, and David Garrard looked flustered out there.
The Eagles held the ball on offense for over 40 minutes.
David Akers was 5-5 in field goal attempts.
The Bad:
Michael Vick had his poor moments as well. He fumbled twice, losing one of them, and also threw an interception in the second quarter that led to a Jacksonville field goal.
The Eagles managed to get into the red zone on their first five drives...and only got one touchdown out of those.
The offensive line struggled at times, forcing Kevin Kolb and Michael Vick to scramble.
The Ugly:
Did anyone else see the second team secondary? They made Luke McCown look like a superstar quarterback. Even Joselio Hanson looked lost out there for a lot of the game. Jacksonville's three touchdowns all came on passes of 30 or more yards.
The Breakdown:
Well, it was only the first preseason game of the year, but Kevin Kolb looked comfortable as the starting quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles. All you had to do was see his first pass of the game to know what the difference is between him and Donovan McNabb. Instead of the pass being behind DeSean Jackson or at his feet, Kolb managed to hit Jackson in stride, and the wideout took it for a 21 yard gain. The first team offense looked excellent in the two and a half drives that they were in, and the second team offense, led by Michael Vick, was solid through the first quarter.
There were a few problems, though. Kolb was great in getting the Eagles down into the red zone, but he struggled a bit when they got down there. He also locked in on a single receiver at times, and was lucky that at least one of the passes wasn't picked off. That will decrease with more starting time, and other than that Kolb was very good. He even broke two scrambles when the pressure got to him, and all in all, there was nothing to complain about on his end. LeSean McCoy could have done a little bit more, but it was the first preseason game, so I'm not going to complain much about the first team offense. They got points in both drives that they were on the field, so it was a success.
Even better was the first team offense. In his first game back from injury, Stewart Bradley looked good, and Ernie Sims was around the ball while he was in there as well. The Eagles kept Maurice Jones-Drew from recording a single rushing yard, and held him to six receiving yards on the night. It was exactly what people wanted to see from the Eagles on defense, and they looked good. The first team forced the Jaguars to go three and out on both of their drives that they took part in, and then the second team took over.
The second team defense had some issues, especially in the secondary. Joselio Hanson got beat on a double move by Troy Williamson and gave up a 73 yard touchdown, and Luke McCown had a field day against the Eagles in the second and third quarter. After seeing open field tackles by Ellis Hobbs and Asante Samuel on the first two drives, the second team secondary couldn't live up to those expectations. Hanson is supposed to be competing for a starting job, not getting burned by a wide receiver who washed out in Minnesota and was almost gone in Jacksonville, too. Brandon Graham looked ok in his first game, playing with the first and second team defense. He got pressure on the quarterback, but also needs to learn to play his position a bit better in the NFL. That will come in time, but for what I saw last night, he's going to be good.
Look, it was the first preseason game of the year. It doesn't mean much. Most of the players that were playing in the second half won't have a job next week, but some of them will. Riley Cooper looks like someone that the Eagles are going to keep around for a while, and Chad Hall is someone that is willing to do anything to make this team, and the way he's going, he will. Sure, it's preseason, and it's very, very early, but a win is a win, and seeing what I saw last night makes me very happy.
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