What happened?
Donovan McNabb's return to Philadelphia didn't really live up to the hype. Michael Vick left the game in the first quarter with a rib and chest injury, and Jason Avant couldn't hold on to Kevin Kolb's last second prayer into the end zone as the Eagles fell to 2-2 on the season.
The Good:
LeSean McCoy was the Philadelphia offense today. He carried the ball 16 times, picking up 64 yards and he also caught 12 passes for 110 yards.
Nate Allen picked off another pass, giving him three on the season. This kid is pretty good.
Sav Rocca had a good day punting, averaging almost 50 yards per punt.
The Eagles fans gave Donovan McNabb a standing ovation when he was introduced, therefore showing the national media that they don't know Philadelphia as well as they think.
The Bad:
Kevin Kolb came in for Michael Vick and looked like a backup quarterback that had to come in to play. He did complete 22 of 35 passes, but only for 201 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
DeSean Jackson was not a factor, catching just three passes for 19 yards.
Jeremy Maclin was even less of a factor. He caught a single pass for 15 yards.
LeSean McCoy was good, but he also had a fumble deep in Washington territory that killed a long drive. That's bad.
The Eagles rushed the ball 25 times and passed it 42 times. That's not a good ratio.
The Ugly:
Where do I start here?
Michael Vick left the game near the end of the first quarter with a rib and chest injury. Nothing has been disclosed yet, but something is more than likely broken.
Aside from LeSean McCoy, the leading receiver for the Eagles was Owen Schmitt...the fullback.
The Eagles were called for eight penalties, costing them 80 yards. Three of those penalties were holds that cost the Eagles first downs.
Quintin Mikell was horrible today. He got blown up on Ryan Torain's touchdown run early in the first quarter, and then caused a delay that cost Stewart Bradley time on Chris Cooley's touchdown catch later in the first quarter.
Andy Reid blew a chance at a touchdown late in the second quarter when he had the Eagles called for a delay of game penalty when facing a fourth and goal from the one yard line. They had to settle for a field goal instead.
The Eagles managed to outgain the Redskins by almost 60 yards...and they still lost.
The Breakdown:
With all the hype surrounding this game, you would have thought that this was a playoff game in October. Instead, by the time the first quarter was over, this looked more like a matchup between two teams that are nothing but average, and that's really what it was today. It was nothing more than an average game between two average teams that ended with a heartbreaking loss for the Eagles.
The turning point of this game was very, very simple. When Michael Vick got hurt at the end of the first quarter, everything changed. The Redskins had planned for a mobile quarterback that was going to test their defense. Instead, what they got was a mostly immobile quarterback that had just lost his starting job a week and a half ago that wasn't fully prepared to start today. Sure, Kevin Kolb played well, but the Philadelphia defense put him in a 17-3 hole before anyone even knew what happened to Vick. The way that this offense played today, that was too much for just about anyone to come back from, and that's exactly what happened.
Kevin Kolb played ok, but he looked like a backup quarterback today. He seemed either unwilling or unable to go deep on any throws, instead looking for the quick dump-off passes to LeSean McCoy. While that's exactly what the West Coast offense is supposed to look like, it wasn't the right time to break that out. The West Coast offense is meant to help use the clock and save leads. When a team is down, they still have to look down the field, regardless of what their offense is. Today, the Eagles didn't do that. They had long, time consuming drives, but they got very little out of them. McCoy fumbled away a scoring chance in the third quarter that could have given the Eagles a chance to cut into the Washington lead sooner than they did, and then there's the series of plays at the end of the first half.
There is no excuse, no excuse at all for what happened at the end of the first half. The Eagles were facing a fourth down and inches to go at the Washington one yard line, down 17-3. There was a review to see whether or not LeSean McCoy had gotten into the end zone, and then the Eagles took a timeout. Andy Reid said that the officials had moved the ball back from fourth and inches to about fourth and a yard, so he went to talk to them about the spot. While he did that, the play clock was running down, and by the time Reid told Kevin Kolb what the play was, there were just 10 seconds on the clock. The Eagles were hit with a delay of game penalty, and instead of taking a chance at a touchdown on fourth down, they had to settle for a field goal.
How the hell does something like that happen? Fans were saying during the offseason that the Eagles had gotten rid of the problem when they traded Donovan McNabb, but this team is having the same issues with time management, using time outs and running a two minute drill. The only constant from last year to this year is Andy Reid. That might very well be the problem. Look, I've supported Reid through just about everything, but the way things are going this year, it's too much. Reid cost this team a chance at a touchdown at the end of the second quarter today by fighting over three freaking feet, and continues to say that he takes responsibility for all of this and things need to change. I know I sound like a typical sports radio caller, but if I screwed up every single week and said I need to get better, my ass would be fired before I could even get comfortable. Maybe it's time for Reid to go...but I'm not going to get on that bandwagon quite yet.
There's a lot that can be taken from this game, and not much of it is good. Donovan McNabb looked like the Donovan McNabb from last year, having a good first half and a terrible second half, but he still managed to beat the Eagles. The Philadelphia defense was horrible against the run, giving up 169 yards on the ground. McNabb broke loose for an 18 yard run late in the fourth quarter that ended up being a back breaker. How the hell do the Eagles not prepare for that? It's not like they had McNabb on their team for over a decade and have seen that exact same play...oh wait, yes they have.
Now, the rest of the season is a giant question mark. If Vick can come back in a few weeks, because that's the best case scenario, there's a chance that this team can at least be competitive. If Vick misses more time than this, and Kevin Kolb has to play behind this horrible offensive line, then he's going to get killed, and Mike freaking Kafka is going to start a game at quarterback. Right now, there are no good options for the Eagles. Andy Reid still can't run a good two minute drill and doesn't know what the hell managing the clock is, the running game can't get short first downs, and if Kevin Kolb keeps passing like this, DeSean Jackson is going to start complaining very quickly. The only thing keeping this whole thing together is that the NFC East is horrible this season, and 9-7 might be enough to win the division.
The only thing about that is I don't want the Eagles to win this division. They need a good offensive lineman with their first pick, because this line isn't going to do anything the way that they look right now. Kolb can't survive behind that line, and Vick takes too many hits to last, and that was the case after today. The Eagles really need to step back this week and take a good, long look at themselves. Andy Reid had better do most of that looking, because his seat is going to be very, very hot if this thing gets out of control.
Next week, the Eagles go across the country to take on the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday Night Football. The 49ers are a desperate team, and this smells of a bad game for the Eagles already. Reid had better have this team ready, or I'm done with him, and I mean it this time.
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