Monday, October 16, 2006
They Aren't the Aints Anymore...
The Eagles 27-24 loss to New Orleans yesterday is extremely disappointing, especially given the fact that the Cowboys and Giants both won their games, but it wasn’t overly surprising: the Saints are for real. They have a good QB in Drew Brees, who it hitting on all cylinders and runs the Saints short-range passing game very, very well. Meanwhile, the Saints D is much better than it has been, much more aggressive, much more brutal.
I don’t think the Eagles played a bad game. Streaky, yes, but bad … definitely not. The Saints disrupted McNabb well enough, but couldn’t prevent the Eagles Offense from scoring 24 points. I have a couple of thoughts:
1. The Eagles need to run the ball more. They called 35 passes to 19 runs. I am not saying that their pass-run ratio is going to be 1:1, but it ought to be a little closer to that than 2:1.
2. The Saints really did a nice job holding Brian Westbrook in check. Three receiving yards? Ouch.
3. McNabb didn’t spread the ball like he did against the Cowboys: Reggie Brown was the sole Eagles WR who got anything going in the game. A week removed from his big 87-yard TD and Hank Baskett got nothing?
4. Another week, another pick for Lito Shepard.
5. McNabb is off to a blistering start and didn’t get slowed much yesterday – although yesterday was a season-low in terms of passing yardage. Still, McNabb is hitting on 59% of his throws, with 1,849 yards, 13 TDs and 2 INTs. Right now McNabb is leading the NFL in TD passes, yardage and QB rating.
Up next: the Eagles play the Buccaneers. First time the Eagles have played the Buccaneers since they lost the first game at the Linc, 17-0, part of the disastrous 0-2 start to the 2003 campaign, which saw them roll off ten victories in their final eleven games. I wouldn’t quite call it a “must-win”, but it is the easiest game on the Eagles schedule until they play Tennessee at the end of November.
Check out Part III of my series on the Wiz Kids over at A Citizens Blog.
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I don’t think the Eagles played a bad game. Streaky, yes, but bad … definitely not. The Saints disrupted McNabb well enough, but couldn’t prevent the Eagles Offense from scoring 24 points. I have a couple of thoughts:
1. The Eagles need to run the ball more. They called 35 passes to 19 runs. I am not saying that their pass-run ratio is going to be 1:1, but it ought to be a little closer to that than 2:1.
2. The Saints really did a nice job holding Brian Westbrook in check. Three receiving yards? Ouch.
3. McNabb didn’t spread the ball like he did against the Cowboys: Reggie Brown was the sole Eagles WR who got anything going in the game. A week removed from his big 87-yard TD and Hank Baskett got nothing?
4. Another week, another pick for Lito Shepard.
5. McNabb is off to a blistering start and didn’t get slowed much yesterday – although yesterday was a season-low in terms of passing yardage. Still, McNabb is hitting on 59% of his throws, with 1,849 yards, 13 TDs and 2 INTs. Right now McNabb is leading the NFL in TD passes, yardage and QB rating.
Up next: the Eagles play the Buccaneers. First time the Eagles have played the Buccaneers since they lost the first game at the Linc, 17-0, part of the disastrous 0-2 start to the 2003 campaign, which saw them roll off ten victories in their final eleven games. I wouldn’t quite call it a “must-win”, but it is the easiest game on the Eagles schedule until they play Tennessee at the end of November.
Check out Part III of my series on the Wiz Kids over at A Citizens Blog.
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