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| Andrew Perna. 25th September, 2011 - 8:42 pm
 The Philadelphia Eagles, who entered the season with more hype than we have seen in quite some time, are entering a rare must-win situation less than a month into the NFL season.
After crumbling in the fourth quarter against the Falcons in Atlanta last week, the Eagles suffered a similar collapse against the rival Giants at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday afternoon. The defense gave up big plays, the offense was out of sync early and Michael Vick left with his second significant injury in as many weeks.
The Good
We might as well start with the lone positive against New York, running back LeSean McCoy, who has been the MVP of the team through three games. He rushed for 128 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries, using his talent to slash-and-dash as well as carry the ball repeatedly as an every-down back.
McCoy has 345 yards in his first three games, a 6.1 per carry average, to go along with four rushing scores. He has emerged as one of the most dangerous backs in the league a season after he eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark for the first time in his brief career.
Last season, his 78 receptions (592 yards and two touchdowns) got nearly as much attention as his 1,080 rushing yards, 5.2 average and seven scores on the ground.
He is still a multidimensional back, but has just nine catches in three contests. McCoy averaged more than five catches per week in 2010. There have been a few reasons for his drop in targets, one being the addition of Steve Smith as the third receiver and another being the strange play-calling Andy Reid has employed at times.
McCoy is unlikely to approach the 1,800 rushing yards he is on pace for as defenses begin to make him their main concern. Vick lit up the scoreboard so easily last season that teams have made pressuring him and limiting DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin paramount. With Vick hurting and possibly sidelined, McCoy is going to see a ton of men in the box.
He is very good, but we will see just how great he can be when the pass-happy Eagles are forced to move the chains on the ground with Shady as their conductor.
The Bad
They have for some reason been excused by the national media, but the group of linebackers that Philadelphia has been using have been downright awful. We knew they were going to be the underbelly of a defense full of top-flight cornerbacks and elite pass-rushers, but I did not expect them to be this bad.
While it is unfair to place a majority of the blame on rookie Casey Matthews, it is also hard not to at this point. Weak against the run, he bit on a play-fake and was beat by Brandon Jacobs for a 40-yard touchdown in the first quarter that put New York up 14-0.
The season is still young, but safety Jarrad Page is tied with linebacker Jamar Chaney for the team lead in solo tackles. Asante Samuel, famously a poor tackler, has more tackles than all but four other defenders. Opposing running backs are cruising through to the second level once they get past the defensive line.
So often against the Giants, Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw were either stopped in the backfield or they cruised easily for seven or eight yards.
Of course, the secondary was not without fault as Nnamdi Asomugha was beat badly for 74-yard touchdown by Victor Cruz and for the second-straight week a quarterback had four touchdown passes.
The Ugly
The play-calling has been atrocious on offense. Vick and the Eagles looked out of sync early against the Giants, but they got on the right track before No. 7 left with a broken right hand in the second half and Mike Kafka threw a pair of interceptions.
Andy Reid and coordinator Marty Mornhinweg have used gadget plays too often in the last two weeks, but strangely enough they were vanilla in the red zone and downright predictable with the football seemingly a hair from the end zone in the third quarter.
With the ball on the New York two-yard line, they ran the ball up the middle on four straight plays with McCoy never touching the football. Vick ran up the middle twice for no gain and fullback Owen Schmitt was stopped for a lost on third down.
Philadelphia settled for a field goal and a 16-14 lead rather than punching it in and going up perhaps by a touchdown with a two-point conversion.
Where were the unpredictable offensive sets in those situations?
McCoy may not be a tradition bruising runner, but a pitch certainly could have worked on an early down. He would likely have eluded a tackler as he did all afternoon en route to the end zone or at the very least been stopped for a minimal loss that may have opened up the playbook a bit more. |
