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| Andrew Perna. 15th September, 2009 - 11:05 am
 The Philadelphia Eagles opened up the 2009 season with a bang, but may have lost their most important bullet in the process.
Leading 31-10 midway through the third quarter, destined for a flawless Week One win over the Carolina Panthers, quarterback Donovan McNabb scrambled three yards for a touchdown. The city of Philadelphia cheered as their favorite team continued to pummel the Panthers, but soon their cries of victory were replaced by cries of terror.
Instead of entering Week Two's game against the New Orleans Saints with promise, there are now a number of question marks surrounding the Eagles. How long will McNabb be out? Who will start at quarterback this Sunday? Could Michael Vick (gulp) start when he becomes eligible to return in Week Three?
Throughout the season I'll run through five pass patterns, or topics. Here's the first of edition of the year. I hope you like the format.
Hitch: Early Resiliency
The Panthers had the Eagles reeling in the first quarter. Carolina ate up more than eight minutes of clock on their opening drive, which resulted in an 11-yard run by DeAngelo Williams. At the time, it looked like the play of the defense could cost Philadelphia the game. Juqua Parker extended the drive with a face mask penalty as Jake Delhomme threw an incomplete pass on third down. Following that drive, the Panthers would score just three more points and gain more than 13 yards on only two of their remaining fourteen drives.
Slant: Opportunistic Defense
It could very well take the Eagles defense three or four games to match their takeaway total against Carolina. They intercepted Carolina's quarterbacks five times (Delhomme 4, Matt Moore 1) and recovered two fumbles, while accumulating five sacks. Philadelphia's defense, which ranked among the league's best in 2008, had 29 takeaways all season. Sunday's tally represented roughly 25% of their haul from last year.
I'd give the Eagles about half of the credit for their performance against the Panthers, with the other half going to the poor decisions of Delhomme and some help from up above in decreased coordinator Jim Johnson. With that said, the unit looked crisp after that first series and it was nice to see new coordinator Sean McDermott have a very strong debut.
Post: Calling DeSean Jackson
Jackson was an injury to Kevin Kolb away from playing quarterback on Sunday, but that's not why I'm discussing the second-year receiver on my post pattern. The Eagles have long been one of the NFL's most disciplined teams, but Jackson teeters on the edge all too often. After energizing the team with an 85-yard punt return for a touchdown in the second quarter, he was flagged for excessive celebration just a few moments later when McNabb hooked up with tight end Brent Celek on a 9-yard touchdown pass. If anything, celebrate after your own score DeSean!
Fade: Dynamic Offense
Obviously, the defense and McNabb's injury were the stories in Week One, but the offense showed some signs of being dynamic prior to the aforementioned injury. The combination of Brian Westbrook and rookie LeSean McCoy rushed for 110 yards on 22 carries, good for a 5-yard per carry average. That's a strong sign from an offensive line that is still getting to know each other. They'll have more time to gel in the next two weeks with New Orleans and Kansas City on the schedule.
With the best group of receivers the team has had in a very long time, McNabb was able to spread the ball around to a host of dangerous targets. Even without first-round pick Jeremy Maclin catching a pass, eight different players recorded a reception. Brent Celek was the top target, hauling in six catches for 37 yards and a score. Kevin Curtis has only himself to blame for not taking top billing. On Philly's first drive, he dropped an easy catch on second-and-14 that McNabb threw right at his chest.
Curl: Four-Way Quarterback Controversy
Wow. This could be the deepest curl route we'll see all season. Before we discuss the matter at hand, let's go over the quarterback turnover in Philadelphia over the last month or so: Michael Vick signed. A.J. Feeley let go. Donovan McNabb hurt. Kevin Kolb plays. Jeff Garcia signed. McNabb isn't officially out for this Sunday's game, but at this point it's a pretty safe bet that he'll be standing on the sidelines. It'll be pretty hard to throw effectively with an injury (a cracked rib, for the uninformed) that makes taking a deep breath extremely painful.
Let's assume the Eagles are without McNabb against New Orleans. At first glance it appears highly unlikely that coach Andy Reid would start Garcia just six days after signing him, but the veteran is familiar with the team's offense -- he was 5-1 for Philadelphia while filling in for McNabb during the 2006 season. Every indication points to Kolb starting, with Garcia as the backup, but does the third-year player give the Eagles the best chance to win? Against Kansas City, maybe, but not against New Orleans.
As good as the Philadelphia defense looked against Carolina, the unit will be hard-pressed to contain Drew Brees. He's not going to throw six touchdown passes again, but holding the Saints in the neighborhood of 21 points would be a pretty good job. Can Kolb engineer enough scoring drives to put the Eagles in a position to win? I'm not too confident. He didn't run through his progressions well against Carolina and his career numbers -- 53.3 competition percentage, 3.71 yards per attempt, 25.0 QB rating and four interceptions -- aren't comforting. His longest career completion went for 16 yards.
The Eagles play in arguably the toughest division in sports, and their early season schedule was supposed to give them a chance to jump out on the Giants, Cowboys and Redskins. They won't face a division rival until Week Seven (Washington) and only one of their first five opponents made the postseason in 2008 (Carolina). With McNabb, a 5-0 start wasn't out of the question. Instead, it appears as though they'll have to piece together several options at quarterback at least in each of the next two weeks.
I don't think there's any question that Garcia gives Philadelphia the best chance to win on Sunday, but the bigger story might be the third option that Reid will have against the Chiefs a little less than two weeks from now.
Michael Vick would be taking meaningful snaps for the Eagles a lot sooner than expected.
Andrew Perna is Deputy Editor of RealGM.com and co-host of RealGM's Radio Show. Please feel free to contact him with comments or questions via e-mail: Andrew.Perna@RealGM.com. You can also follow Andrew on Twitter: APerna7. |
