Jeers, Goats and Observations from Sunday Night

I don't want to leave Sunday night's debacle just yet

So here are some thoughts, in random fashion, about the game/State of Eagles

- How come when we line-up with a man on the nose and two LB/S covering each "A" gap, and we bring the house...it never works??? Yet on the very first series, the Giants do the same thing and OL parts like the Red Sea and McNabb gets clobbered.

- Lately it seems like all our "exotic" defense stuff just becomes pedestrian. Our D is doing pretty well. I don't think any team has really excelled against us. But on a day like Sunday, when the front four can't get pressure alone, and then the blitzing fizzles....Makes me wonder is at least some teams haven't caught up with JJ. (though to be fair, I am quite sure the Giants were well-schooled in the Eagles basics from former Eagles coach and current Giants Def Coordinator Spagnuolo.

- Do well really miss Tra Thomas that much?
- Quintin Mikell is playing well in place of Brian Dawkins
- Come back soon Lito, Will James may have talked a big game in the off-season, but he ain't backing up that "I'm a shutdown corner" talk now.

- How can the Eagles look so woefully unprepared in 3 of the 4 games they've played?
- Why are the Eagles seemingly unable/unwilling to adjust to what the other team is doing.
This is a big one folks. I mean, we've lost two games out of the first four because our Offense simply did not acknowledge/do anything to counter the gameplan of the opposing defense. Phil Sheridan wrote a good piece about part of that here: the Eagles are passaholics.
Case in point: against the Skins, the Eagles did nothing to counter Washington's press-man coverage (no formations, no motions, no deep balls, nothing). Against the Giants on Sunday, with everyone in the stadium aware that Giants DE Osi Umenyiora was schooling the Eagles new LT Winston Justice, the Eagles consistently called passing plays with blocking scheme calling for one-on-one blocking. Its wasn't until the second half (and McNabb was already running for his life by then) that I saw even the remotest attempt to help out Justice. And even then, it wasn't consistent.

- Sheldon Brown was right. In one of those Sunday Night tippers when the Players faces talk to the audience about what a great game is going to be on display, Sheldon said, the team that executes the best is going to win:
15 penalties for 132 yards, a missed FG, 12 GD SACKS, 3 dropped passes (at least) and so many blown blocking assignments McNabb is probably going to be in training tub for the entire bye week. Hmm, guess what. Sheldon was right.

Now for good news:
- The Birds may have had to play without Tra Thomas and Brian Westbrook Sunday, but the Buccaneers now have to play the rest of their season with their Starting LT and RB as Luke Pettigout and Cadillac Williams were both lost for the season earlier in the day. So things could be worse. Much worse.
- Andy Reid teams come out strong after the BYE. The coach's unflappable demeanor means a lot to the team. They will not pack-it-up and go home. They will keep fighting because they have character

Other thoughts:
- I know the Eagles will keep fighting. But realistically, they need to go what 9-3 the rest of the way? No its not impossible (though it certainly is impossible with the offense in disarray). This team is going to have to fight and scrap and claw just to get within sniffing distance...I fear that even if they do, they'll be mentally worn out by the end of December
- Do we make a bid to bring back Donte' Stallworth? He's clearly a one-year rental for the Pats. And you know they'll have to devote some $$$ for Moss. He wouldn't be the first former Eagles to return to the nest.