What happened?
Michael Vick started his first game as the official starting quarterback of the Eagles and did well, throwing for three touchdowns and rushing for another. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia defense was excellent, giving up just three points and holding David Garrard to just 105 yards passing.
The Good:
Michael Vick played well in his second straight game, completing 17 of 31 passes for 291 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed the ball four times for 30 yards and a touchdown.
DeSean Jackson caught five passes for 153 yards and a touchdown.
Jeremy Maclin had four catches for 83 yards and two touchdowns.
Asante Samuel had his first interception of the year, and the secondary did a good job keeping the Jacksonville receivers under wraps. The Jaguars finished with just 105 passing yards.
The defense got pressure on David Garrard throughout the game. The Eagles recorded six sacks and 11 hits on Garrard, led by Trent Cole with two. Nate Allen also recorded his first career sack.
The Eagles held the Jaguars to 184 total yards.
The Bad:
The Eagles still looked sloppy out there, committing seven penalties that cost them 84 yards.
The offensive line looked better, but still had some problems, allowing Michael Vick to get sacked three times.
The Ugly:
Nope, nothing to see here.
The Breakdown:
It's only been two starts, but so far, Michael Vick at least looks like he's one of the best quarterbacks not only in the NFC East, but the NFL right now. So far this season, Vick has thrown for 750 yards, six touchdowns and no interceptions while rushing for almost 200 yards and a touchdown. While I still don't like the way that the Eagles went about handling the starting quarterback issues, you can't argue with the results at all. The Eagles are 2-0 with Vick under center, and they've gotten better in both games.
The spotlight was shining brightly on Vick yesterday, and he not only played like he had in Atlanta, but he looked better than he did when he was a Falcon. The Jaguars attempted to keep Vick in the pocket for the majority of the game and make him beat them with his arm, and he was able to do that. Vick stood his ground in the pocket, ran when he had to, and made mostly smart throws. DeSean Jackson has quickly become Vick's favorite target, scoring on another long touchdown pass. Jackson's speed makes him the most dangerous weapon that the Eagles have on offense, but Jeremy Maclin might be the best target that Vick has closer to the goal line. Maclin scored twice this week, including a touchdown in the final seconds of the first half for the second straight week, and he has four touchdowns on the season already. Maclin hasn't necessarily gotten the yards during games yet, but the touchdowns are coming in bunches right now, and that's a good thing.
Vick didn't have the freedom to run as much as he used to, but the running game was effective when it was used. LeSean McCoy didn't have the big runs that he had against the Lions, but he still averaged 4.9 yards a carry during the Jacksonville game. The Eagles still need to establish their running game more and more, especially with Vick under center, but they need to do more with McCoy and Mike Bell, as well as Vick. It still was troubling that the Eagles couldn't convert a fourth down and one midway through the second quarter. That's more of the same from last year, and that's certainly something that needs to change. The offensive line has to step up as well, and the only problem is that I don't know that they can do that. The line has just been bad this year, despite a decent enough good game this week, it doesn't make them that much better.
The best part about this game was the way that the defense played. Sure, Jacksonville doesn't have the best offense in the world, but the Jaguars still have Maurice Jones-Drew, and despite him picking up 88 yards on 22 carries, he was the only part of the Jacksonville offense that wasn't complete shut down by the Philadelphia defense. David Garrard was hassled all game long, and though he was sacked six times, there were a few times that he just managed to get away from the pass rush. Garrard finished with just 105 yards on 13 completions, and looked more like the quarterback that struggled against San Diego last week than the guy that lit up the Broncos in Week 1. When the defense is playing as well as they did yesterday, then they're going to be hard to beat.
So far, it's been pretty good for the Eagles. They're sitting at 2-1 and in first place in the NFC East by a game over the other three teams. However, the two teams that they have beaten have a combined total of one win, and the Lions came damn close to making an improbable comeback. The one game that they did play against a playoff caliber team, they lost. No one is going to mistake the Lions and Jaguars for the Packers or Steelers, but wins are wins. Teams need to be able to beat teams that are worse than them, and that's what the Lions and Jaguars are. The Eagles aren't a great team yet, but they do look like a good one right now. They just need to be tested against some of the better teams in the league. That starts next week, despite the record that Washington has. This upcoming game has more emotion behind it than any game that the Eagles have played in recent history.
Everyone had better buckle up...this week is going to be one hell of a ride.
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