The Eagles-Texans "Official" Game Thread

[The BIGSTUD]

Some thoughts on the game:

1. McNabb looked great after a bit of a slow start. I won't put all the blame of that INT on him. He was accurate, patient, smart, moved around well and scrambled only when he needed to. How can people constantly trash this guy? Oh yeah, they don't know football, that's why.

2. Stallworth. What can you say? 6/141/1 TD. Great first game.

3. After a bad first defensive series, the defense looked very good. A couple of plays you'd like to have back, but the other teams make plays too. You can't always hold teams to nothing unless you are playing the Packers. Losing Lito worries me a bit even though I think Hood is the better player. Simply for depth reasons. I hope he won't be out long, but Andy's voice didn't sound like they felt good about it.

4. The LBs played very well. Dhani Jones didn't stand out, but that's a good thing. Usually when he stands out, it's not in a good way. Trotter, and McCoy did stand out. This is Trott's defense now, not Dawk's anymore.

5. Very good blocking from the offensive line. Especially the interior. McNabb had a cozy pocket to throw in all day. Didn't need to roll out and right into a corner rusher.

6. LJ Smith is looking sharp. Let's hope he keeps it off and doesn't pull a 2005.

7. We need a punt returner and a kick returner. Westbrook is a great PR, but obviously it's not in the long-term plans to keep him back there. I don't know what's up. We haven't had a good returner since Thrash left. Is it the players or did the scheme just suddenly go to shtein? We used to be great in that department.

8. Great play calling by Reid today. He mixed and matched and did everything right at the right time. We finally ran a great 2 minute offense at the end of the first half. We finally were able to run the ball out at the end of the game.

9. Buckhalter is back. He's one of my favorite Eagles, so I'm very happy for him.

Good game folks

[hbionic]

What's up with Lito?

He was embarassed and caught on fire on the sidelines.

Dillen37 for Post of the year nominee under the 'Funny' Category.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

I just finished watching the whole game again (in 20 minutes on "Shortcuts" - farging awesome), and some thoughts:

Offense:
--Reggie Brown is not all the way there yet.  This team would be HOSED without Stallworth.  There were 3 plays in the game that Brown left on the field.
--For all we hate on Greg Lewis and Correll Buckhalter, they both came up big - Lewis had a key catch and short run for a 1st down on the first TD drive and two 1st downs on the clock-milking drive at the end of the game, and Buckhalter ran with power and looked solid.  I haven't looked at the stats yet, but he was bigger than his stats in this one.
--Tapeh looked good - the added dimension of his speed to the FB position was huge, especially on Westbrook's TD.
--L.J. Smith makes a big difference as a receiver.  Some really, really nice plays.
--McNabb was pretty damn accurate, with a few exceptions.  Can't complain.
--Stallworth was a best-case scenario.  The trade for him was HUGE.

Defense:
--None of the penalties were awful or blatant.  Timing was slightly off, but they were erring to the side of aggressive.  Fine.
--The exception is Trotter's unnecessary roughness penalty, which was just stupid.  He didn't even get a good hit on the guy, but it was obviously after he was down.  Very stupid.
--Mike Lewis was all around the ball, but should have made a play on the TD to Moulds.  He was there and made a mistake.
--In other mistake news, Sheldon Brown one-on-one against Andre Johnson was not a great idea... but considering how many times they did get to Carr or cause an incompletion with the blitz, I'll give them a pass.  I do think Brown should have tried harder to keep Johnson in front of him.
--It's very interesting how they tended to rotate the DL.  It was mentioned during the telecast also.  We all knew they'd rotate, but it was a surprise that they literally rotated the 1st team complete line with the 2nd team complete line... and you know what?  The 2nd team made more plays, but both got consistent push.
--Give Carr some credit.  4 years of getting sacked a ridiculous amount of times (and he's now on pace to be sacked 80 times this year) taught him how to escape.  Except for the one time he fell down, the Eagles earned their sacks by getting to him very quickly from the edge.
--Matt McCoy plays angry, but he really didn't make any dumb mistakes.  Not a lot of "big" plays by the LB's, but they were good against the run and adequate against the pass.
--Considine made some nice plays, including the batted ball on 4th down.

Special Teams:
--Bruce Perry does not do a good job following his blocks and tends to run right into tacklers.  Not good at KR.
--The coverage teams looked fired up and played smart.  Greg Lewis contributed here too.
--Got lucky on Akers' FG, but the more chances Dirk gets to put it down, the better he'll be.

Texans:
--Mario Williams should not have been the #1 pick.  He looked like a poor man's Darren Howard.  Yes, he's still a rookie and has to learn, but this team really could have used Reggie Bush.
--Speaking of Bush, the Texans' RB's suck.  A lot.  Sure, the Eagles deserve some credit for slowing the running attack, but meh.
--Johnson and Moulds are a great tandem at WR and will win some games for this team.
--It would seem like overall, the team is very average.  Not awful.  They should sweep the Titans at worst, and I'll say it right here... I think this is the year they first beat the Colts.

[PhillyGirl]

One gripe about Reggie Brown...last year I saw it too, but chalked it up to rookie mistakes. He has a big problem coming back to the ball and running the right routes. He's still doing it this year. He has GOT to learn to get to where the ball is.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Like I said, it's a good thing he's a #2 WR and not a #1.

[ice grillin you]

businesslike performance...the eagles did everything they ahd to do to beat a opathetic team and they did it with ruthless efficiency...i dont much stock on the win just like i dont put much stock on the giants losing to the colts...one thing that i was happy to see and is that a healthy donovan mcnabb is the best qb in the nfc much less the nfc east and that alone puts the eagles right up there with everyone else in the division....sunday is huge more so with a win than a loss...if they lose its certainly not over but a win + the first half schedule they have = a chance at very good things

that being said i think they will lose...unless the defense is a lot better than i think it is and they dominate


the team that needs to be most concerned is dallas....their offensive line is as bad as advertised...flozell adams simply cant play right now and hes the only talent on the line...and its been said before many a time but it really is amazing how incompetant bledsoe is if he has any defender within a three yards of him

[rjs246]

Everyone cares, so here are my observations:

- Andy Reid ran the ball and ran the ball effectively. I believe there were 36 called passes (one scramble) and 26 called runs (plus three kneel-downs). 42/58. That ratio isn't great but since the running game was effective I'm happy with it. Against a better defense I don't think it would have been as effective.
- McNabb looked mobile. And mostly accurate. Mostly.
- I hold my breath every time Buckhalter touches the ball. And I think I always will. But he looked good.
- Stallworth was as advertised, but let's be honest, that TD was a fluke. No one on the Eagles will ever be that wide open for a 40+ yard TD bomb ever again. Ever. Hyperbole.
- The defensive line really is 10-deep. farging Juqua Thomas got a sack. best part of the team.
- Who's Trent Cole?
- Everyone's talking about McCoy but I didn't really see anything that knocked my socks off. I think we're just so used to ineptitude than mediocre play makes us moist.
- Bruce Perry looked awful. Running in a straight line directly at the first opposing player to make it downfield is not a good way to break off good returns.
- The secondary isn't as good as we wish they were.

[ice grillin you]

Stallworth was as advertised, but let's be honest, that TD was a fluke

a fluke?

it was one of the best executed plays andy reid has ever run

[rjs246]

Stallworth was as advertised, but let's be honest, that TD was a fluke

a fluke?

it was one of the best executed plays andy reid has ever run

It was extremely well executed, but leaving a WR that open, even on a play action pass that was well sold, is unlikely to ever happen again.

[ice grillin you]

i dont even really know what your point is here and have no legitimate response for what youre saying

sorry

[rjs246]

Word.

[Sgt PSN]

i dont even really know what your point is here and have no legitimate response for what youre saying

sorry

He's saying that the next time they run that play, Stallworth will not be that wide open again.  Meaning he will only have the DB beat by 10 yards instead of 20.

He's optomistic like that. 

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Buckhalter ran 8 times for 50 yards - a 6.3 ypc average.
Westbrook ran 17 times for 71 yards - a 4.2 ypc average (but he also caught 4 passes for 61 and a TD).

Without McNabb's kneeling at the end, the team averaged over 4.5 ypc.  Not bad.

[PhillyGirl]

Buckhalter ran 8 times for 50 yards - a 6.3 ypc average.
Westbrook ran 17 times for 71 yards - a 4.2 ypc average (but he also caught 4 passes for 61 and a TD).

Without McNabb's kneeling at the end, the team averaged over 4.5 ypc.  Not bad.

Hey, but according to ES, the Eagles have absolutely NO running game so they will still end up in the tank this season, after being swept by the Giants, Cowboys and SKins.

[ice grillin you]

i wonder if all the hank baskett groupies will go away now