What happened?
The Eagles and Vikings played the first NFL game on a Tuesday since 1946, and the Vikings completely outplayed the Eagles. Michael Vick turned the ball over three times as the Eagles locked themselves into the number three seed in the NFC playoffs.
The Good:
It took him all season, but Brent Celek finally showed up, catching ten passes for 97 yards. Of course, most of those catches came because Vick was busy running for his life from the Minnesota pass rush.
The Bad:
LeSean McCoy carried the ball 13 times for 44 yards. That's not good enough.
Michael Vick completed 25 of 43 passes for 263 yards and a touchdown, but he also threw an interception and fumbled the ball twice. He ran eight times for 63 yards and a touchdown.
DeSean Jackson had two catches for 32 yards.
Adrian Peterson rushed for 118 yards and a touchdown, and was a big reason why the Vikings were able to kill the clock in the fourth quarter.
The Ugly:
The Eagles lost to a rookie quarterback, making his first career start. Joe Webb only passed for 195 yards, but he ran for 31 more and a touchdown and the Eagles didn't have an answer for him.
The Eagles had less penalty yards than Minnesota, but got called for 12 penalties. That's very, very sloppy football.
Michael Vick was sacked six times, including twice by Antoine Winfield, who completed the play with a strip and fumble recovery for a touchdown late in the second quarter. That play turned the entire tide of the game.
The Breakdown:
This was a typical let down game by the Philadelphia Eagles. Coming into a game that was postponed due to snow, the Eagles had what most people thought was going to be an easy victory in front of them. They were facing a rookie quarterback making his first career start, and the conditions were perfect for the offense to come out and take care of business, especially with another day of rest thrown in to the mix.
Well, that wasn't the case on Tuesday night. Joe Webb showed that he could be a decent NFL quarterback, while the Minnesota defense did what they needed to do and beat up Michael Vick and the offense, moving the Eagles down to 10-5 on the season and putting them in the number three spot in the NFC playoffs, meaning that Philadelphia now has to play three straight weeks to make it to the Super Bowl.
The game was another by the Eagles where they looked like they were completely out of it from the start. After their second drive of the game resulted in a touchdown, the Eagles seemed to expect the Vikings to roll over and give the game up. After all, Minnesota had nothing to play for, save for maybe getting Leslie Frazier the full time coaching job next season. As is so often the case in the NFL, the teams that have nothing to play for are the most dangerous. Minnesota had the same game plan that the Bears and Giants used against the Philadelphia offense, and they worked it just as well as those two teams did. Just like Chicago and New York, the Vikings played their coverage back deeper, preventing the long passes to DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin, while blitzing either a corner or a safety most of the time. Antoine Winfield did most of the damage, picking up two sacks and getting pressure on Vick for most of the game.
The Eagles had no answer for the Minnesota pass rush, and it's not a good thing to have something like that happen just before the playoffs are going to start. It's not like the other NFC playoff teams don't know how to play the Eagles, but it's not good for Michael Vick to be getting hit like he did on Tuesday over and over again. It's likely that Vick is going to sit out tomorrow's game against the Dallas Cowboys, especially now that it doesn't mean anything for the Eagles. Whether they finish 11-5 or 10-6, they're going to host a first round game against the Giants or Green Bay Packers, and if they win that, then they go on the road for at least one game. It's not an ideal schedule, especially when there was a good chance for a bye week just a week ago.
That's the biggest problem with Eagles teams under Andy Reid. It's not the clock management, or the two minute offense. It's coming into games and thinking that they should win, just because they're the Philadelphia Eagles. It happened last year against the Oakland Raiders, and as it turned out, that game cost the Eagles the NFC East championship and a potential first round bye. Would last season have turned out any different? Probably not, but it's still something to look back on. Now this season, the Eagles have had their big let down game. You could have expected something, what with the team coming off of that win against the Giants and then having the game pushed back two days because of snow, but it's nothing to be proud of.
The offense came out flat and was unable to respond to the Minnesota blitz, and while the defense wasn't that bad, they continually let Joe Webb complete short passes on third downs that resulted in first downs. Webb had very few deep throws, but his underneath passing picked the Eagles apart and cost them time and eventually the game. It was just a sloppy game on both sides of the ball, and these guys really need to get their act together as the playoffs are now just a week away.
Tomorrow's game against Dallas doesn't mean much, save for it being against the Cowboys. Kevin Kolb will likely start for Michael Vick as the Eagles close out the regular season. After that, the real fun begins. Next week, the NFL playoffs start, and the Eagles will be involved. Can they make another run towards the Super Bowl? Right now, I have no idea, but the bandwagon just got a whole lot lighter.
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