That was one ugly defeat for the Eagles last night. They were lucky not to have lost by more than they did.
The game was marred by stupid penalties and dumbfounding lapses of judgment. The Falcons offensive line got to Donovan all night long, and Donovan never even attempted a run. I’m a little worried about his lack of mobility — I know that he has said that he is going to run less, but the threat of his runs wrecks necessary havoc on opponent defenses.
Inquirer columnist Phil Sheridan writes that the problem was a lack of focus; he notes that the Eagles’ off-season problems finally caught up to them:
The Falcons, in other words, were focused. They were united. The Eagles played, for the most part, like the dysfunctional family they have become.
That sounds about right to me. It’s great to have your quarterback and star wideout slap a high-five before the game starts, but they’re going to have to communicate a lot more than that if they want to turn this thing around.
Some other thoughts:
The Trotter episode cost the Eagles dearly — the Ax Man has got to control his rage. Losing him so soon before the game began must have shook up the team.
I was dumbfounded that neither Madden nor Michaels noted the obvious helmet to the chest that injured Donovan in the first quarter. Isn’t spearing a 15 yard penalty in the NFL? How could they watch that reply five times, and not note that the Falcons player drove the top of his helmet into Donovan’s sternum? And then, to call unnecessary roughness on Michael Lewis for barely touching Vick out-of-bounds. . . . give me a break.
Still, it’s amazing to think that if Akers had hit those two field goals, this might have been a win.
One Comment on "Ugh"
Jeff:
Hey Matt,
Not to worry, Iggles faithful! The way I see it, we looked a lot like we did in this game for a good bit of last year: not much success running the ball or stopping the run, offense moving in and out of synch, some knuckleheaded penalties, etc. We brought our B- game; they brought their A- game, and we still could have pulled it out. Like you said, if Akers had made the field goals, we win. I would add, though, that if he’d even made *one* of them, we would have been able to play out the end of the game a bit differently and maybe pull out a last-second victory.
And of course the Trotter incident gave the Falcons a huge emotional lift and material advantage: is there a more important defensive player to have on the field against that particular team?
Having said that, two things bugged me a lot. First, what the #@%& is up with Kearse? Amazing athlete, but I feel like he doesn’t always show up and last night was one of those nights. He got pushed all over the field on running plays and pretty well neutralized on passing plays as well. Second, I thought the O-line play was appalling in the first half: false starts, criminally bad pass protections, allowing their DTs to get 1-2 yards deep on most running plays. I thought a newly healthy Andrews was supposed to be pancaking linebackers all night every night: what gives?
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