Monday, September 27, 2004
By the numbers
With their 30-13 win yesterday the Eagles advanced to 3-0 and entered some fairly rarified air. The Birds have never begun better than 1-1 with Andy Reid in charge, which means that the team is entering into uncharted territory even for them. First, a few numbers I thought interesting:
Number of undefeated NFL teams left: 6
There are four 3-0 squads now (Eagles, Jacksonville, Atlanta and Seattle) and the 2-0 Patriots and Jets, who were idle this past weekend. Not many undefeateds left on the map, so the '72 Dolphins have to be breathing a little easier than usual this year. I’ve seen a lot of 16-0 talk thrown around in the Wingheads forum, but lets keep things in perspective here: wait until we get to 6-0 or 7-0 before we start all of that. If we are undefeated going into the Steelers game on November 7, we’ve got a shot …
McNabb’s rank in QB rating after three weeks: 3
McNabb’s completion percentage after three weeks: 69.8%
Take that, Rush Limbaugh.
I was stunned when I heard about what the conservative radio pundit had said on ESPN’s NFL Countdown last year and baffled by it: since when has the media in Philly given anyone a free ride? ( Mind you, I was hardly surprised Rush got his info wrong: a media group once examined the “facts” the pill-popping pundit cited in a six-month period of his show in ’94 and found that 37% of them were wrong.) But it was shocking stuff and I was positive the media whirlwind was something that would dog McNabb and the Eagles all season long…
In any case, McNabb proved himself countless times before his ’03 slump: he carried the team in ’00 without Duce and played big in critical games. Now McNabb is having a stellar season: to those who complained he wasn’t accurate enough, he’s completing about 70% of his throws. He’s accounted for ten touchdowns (eight in the air, two by ground) and zero turnovers. He’s thrown for nearly 1,000 yards already. For all of the media’s fascination with the flashy Michael Vick, McNabb is the true field general, the consistent performer week in and week out. QB rating:
McNabb: 122.0 / 2 nd in NFC
Vick: 81.1 / 10 th in NFC
Touchdowns:
McNabb: 10
Vick: 2
Who’s the more viable MVP candidate after three weeks?
T.O.’s catches: 18; Eagle TE’s: 23
I thought that the biggest beneficiary of T.O.’s presence was going to be Todd Pinkston and Freddie Mitchell, but both have caught just 11 balls combined playing on the opposite side of T.O. The true beneficiares have been the Eagles tight ends, Mike Bartrum, L.J. Smith and Chad Lewis. Together they have caught 23 passes for 269 yards (11.7 average) and three TD’s.
Thoughts on the game …
I thought it was a fairly impressive effort by the Eagles, even though I suspected that the Lions were slightly over-rated going in.
One player who was not over-rated with rookie wideout Roy Williams, who accounted for 135 of the Lions 256 net yards. Wow. He was the beneficiary of some awful tackling on his second touchdown (more on that later), but that was a command performance he delivered yesterday.
On the balance the Eagles did a great job: they aired it out and put the Lions behind the eight ball early and played some tough defense. The secondary’s inability to stop Williams was discouraging and makes you fear what could happen in a playoff game against Randy Moss, Williams or Tory Holt, but the defense played very well. They gave up just 256 net yards of offense, despite the fact that the Lions began two drives in Eagles territory.
Offensively, I didn’t care for how little the Eagles ran the ball (Westbrook had just 44 yards on 13 carries), but why run why you can fly through your opponent? McNabb was averaging 12.3 yards every time he attempted to throw the ball. As I said earlier, McNabb is on his way to laying claim to the MVP crown again. The only other QB playing as well right now is Peyton Manning.
Next: da Bears! No disrespect to fans in the Windy City (you guys deserve better than Rex Grossman), but we should go 4-0 …
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Number of undefeated NFL teams left: 6
There are four 3-0 squads now (Eagles, Jacksonville, Atlanta and Seattle) and the 2-0 Patriots and Jets, who were idle this past weekend. Not many undefeateds left on the map, so the '72 Dolphins have to be breathing a little easier than usual this year. I’ve seen a lot of 16-0 talk thrown around in the Wingheads forum, but lets keep things in perspective here: wait until we get to 6-0 or 7-0 before we start all of that. If we are undefeated going into the Steelers game on November 7, we’ve got a shot …
McNabb’s rank in QB rating after three weeks: 3
McNabb’s completion percentage after three weeks: 69.8%
Take that, Rush Limbaugh.
I was stunned when I heard about what the conservative radio pundit had said on ESPN’s NFL Countdown last year and baffled by it: since when has the media in Philly given anyone a free ride? ( Mind you, I was hardly surprised Rush got his info wrong: a media group once examined the “facts” the pill-popping pundit cited in a six-month period of his show in ’94 and found that 37% of them were wrong.) But it was shocking stuff and I was positive the media whirlwind was something that would dog McNabb and the Eagles all season long…
In any case, McNabb proved himself countless times before his ’03 slump: he carried the team in ’00 without Duce and played big in critical games. Now McNabb is having a stellar season: to those who complained he wasn’t accurate enough, he’s completing about 70% of his throws. He’s accounted for ten touchdowns (eight in the air, two by ground) and zero turnovers. He’s thrown for nearly 1,000 yards already. For all of the media’s fascination with the flashy Michael Vick, McNabb is the true field general, the consistent performer week in and week out. QB rating:
McNabb: 122.0 / 2 nd in NFC
Vick: 81.1 / 10 th in NFC
Touchdowns:
McNabb: 10
Vick: 2
Who’s the more viable MVP candidate after three weeks?
T.O.’s catches: 18; Eagle TE’s: 23
I thought that the biggest beneficiary of T.O.’s presence was going to be Todd Pinkston and Freddie Mitchell, but both have caught just 11 balls combined playing on the opposite side of T.O. The true beneficiares have been the Eagles tight ends, Mike Bartrum, L.J. Smith and Chad Lewis. Together they have caught 23 passes for 269 yards (11.7 average) and three TD’s.
Thoughts on the game …
I thought it was a fairly impressive effort by the Eagles, even though I suspected that the Lions were slightly over-rated going in.
One player who was not over-rated with rookie wideout Roy Williams, who accounted for 135 of the Lions 256 net yards. Wow. He was the beneficiary of some awful tackling on his second touchdown (more on that later), but that was a command performance he delivered yesterday.
On the balance the Eagles did a great job: they aired it out and put the Lions behind the eight ball early and played some tough defense. The secondary’s inability to stop Williams was discouraging and makes you fear what could happen in a playoff game against Randy Moss, Williams or Tory Holt, but the defense played very well. They gave up just 256 net yards of offense, despite the fact that the Lions began two drives in Eagles territory.
Offensively, I didn’t care for how little the Eagles ran the ball (Westbrook had just 44 yards on 13 carries), but why run why you can fly through your opponent? McNabb was averaging 12.3 yards every time he attempted to throw the ball. As I said earlier, McNabb is on his way to laying claim to the MVP crown again. The only other QB playing as well right now is Peyton Manning.
Next: da Bears! No disrespect to fans in the Windy City (you guys deserve better than Rex Grossman), but we should go 4-0 …
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