Week 11 Wrap Up
Coming off an all around
great game against the Redskins, the Eagles were looking to build up some
momentum…at home…against the 2-7 Tennessee Titans with a win before their
Sunday night meeting with the Indianapolis Colts. What we saw on Sunday was…the
exact opposite with a horrible twist. Right from the start the Eagles were
unprepared and ran into a figurative brick wall. The defense wasn’t terrible,
but could not stop RB Travis Henry from piling up 143 yards on 18 rushes, or
make stops when they needed to. When the Titans scored on their opening drive
thanks to a Vince Young to Ben Troupe 14 yard TD, the Eagles attempted to
answer back only to see Donovan McNabb throw an interception in the end zone.
Two FGs by David Akers in the first half would ease
some of the pain, but the Eagles still found themselves struggling offensively.
Worst of all, on what seemed like a normal broken play (a common theme of
today), Donovan McNabb landed awkwardly and it was later revealed that he tore
his ACL and will be lost for the year. In the second half, mistakes and poor
execution on all parts of the game by the Eagles led to a 70-yard TD by Travis
Henry and a 90 yard punt return TD by Pacman Jones.
McNabb’s fill-in Jeff Garcia had a lot of rust to shake off today, but did a
commendable job trying to rally the broken and unprepared Eagles. On the day,
Garcia went 26-48 for 189 yards and 1 TD. The Eagles fall to 5-5 as the Titans
earned what was a big win for them and their rookie QB Vince Young in
Post Game Positives
Ignoring that last fumble by Mahe on the final kickoff of the game,
LJ Smith/Brian Westbrook
These guys are tough. Once
McNabb went down and Garcia was at the reins, the Eagles had to completely
change their game plan. As a result, the Eagles were going for what was safe.
In this case, it was throwing to LJ Smith and having Westbrook run the ball.
These guys did their job today. LJ Smith had 57 yards receiving on 7 catches
while Westbrook carried for 102 yards on 22 carries. Now that McNabb is out for
the year, everyone on offense will be asked to step things up to help Garcia
and the X-factors to do just that are Smith and Westbrook.
Resiliency
The final score of this game
was 31-13, but the 18 point differential overshadows that the Eagles did not
quit in this game. They had a lot of things going against them: the loss of
McNabb, shaky defense, and an overall poor gameplan,
but they were fighting in this one until the very end. When a team has a
horrible day like the Eagles had today, all you can ask for as a fan and a
coach is that your team doesn’t quit and keeps playing hard. The Eagles did
just that.
Post Game Negatives
Linebackers
The linebacking
crew of Trotter, McCoy, Jones, Barber, Short, and in some cases Lewis was the
worst we have seen them all year. This game was embarrassing for them. We do
not like to toot our own horn so to speak, but in the Pre Game, we had mentioned
that the Eagles should keep a linebacker in the QB spy in case Vince Young
chooses to run given his poor arm and rookie status. If we knew the Eagles
should do this, why didn’t Andy Reid, Jim Johnson, and the Eagles defense know
that? Young ran for 49 yards and helped keep the sticks moving to set up Travis
Henry’s big gains. And speaking of Henry, the linebackers proved unable to perform
the fundamentals (i.e. tackling) as missed tackles were a common theme with
Henry all day. The Eagles linebackers were a question mark going into this season and
week after week they have proven themselves slow and incompetent.
Special Teams Coverage
While Reno Mahe had a great day returning kicks/punts (kick return
average: 27 yards, punt return average 12.3 yards), the coverage on Eagles kickoffs
was flawed, but the coverage on punts was atrocious. The Eagles had to know
that the Titans punt returner Adam “Pacman” Jones is a dangerous and speedy return man. That
said, the Eagles did not seem to prepare for him at all and Jones was able to
make a 90-yard punt return TD look way too easy. Credit should be given to
Jones. Despite his off the field problems, he is a great player with a lot of
skill. However, the Eagles’ failure to cover him helped Jones deliver the final
dagger into the Eagles’ heart. Punt return coverage hasn’t been a huge
issue for the Eagles this year, but in this game, it was. As a side note, Jason
Short has got to control himself. That unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against
him was absolutely ridiculous.
Team Preparation
This has gotten really
redundant. We like Andy Reid’s ability to keep his team disciplined and classy
off the field and during the week, but as a game day coach, Andy Reid more times
than not tends to disappoint in both preparation and actual coaching during the
game. Today was a prime example of this. The Eagles were either taking the Titans
for granted, had a poor game plan, or had an all around poor team effort. The
players bear some responsibility for this loss, but we think a lot of the blame
should go on the shoulders of Reid. Time and time again, Reid’s teams come out
flat and look lost on the field and after the game we always hear the same old
crap from Reid where he dances around the questions asked of him by reporters
and says he’ll change when he never truly does. The Eagles were their own worst
enemy today, and as the head coach Andy Reid deserves,
yet again to be the scapegoat for what was a poorly prepared Eagles squad.
Closing Remarks
Regardless of all the
negatives today, the Eagles’ playoff hopes are still not dead even when
considering that Jeff Garcia will be taking the snaps for the rest of the
season. With the exception of the Chicago Bears, there is not a single team in
the NFC that has a commanding record right now. It looks highly likely that a
team with an 8-8 record could very well make the playoffs in a wild card slot.
Try to remember Eagles fans, even though this is
similar to last year’s dilemma with McNabb, Jeff Garcia is a much better QB
than Mike McMahon. Garcia is a seasoned veteran who still has some gas in the
tank and is fully capable of helping this team win. On
the other side of the coin though, Garcia is not McNabb. He does not have the
playmaking ability of McNabb nor the reputation that
McNabb does when facing off against opposing defenses. The Eagles, at 5-5 have
been a huge disappointment this year. Everyone can agree on that. But as any
team with the kind of class will tell you, a team wins together and loses together.
The Eagles have an extremely tough game next week against the powerhouse
Indianapolis Colts, in Indy. As far as the rest of the season goes, the Eagles
margin for error has shrunk considerably in a game they very easily could have
and probably should have won had they been prepared. Each player on this team
needs to step up and learn from the trails and tribulations of the 2005 season
and what has gone wrong in the 2006 season to try and fill the enormous void
created in McNabb’s absence. However, before this can happen, Andy Reid needs
to do a better job coaching and preparing his team for the upcoming weeks. If
Andy can’t do that, it could be a long couple weeks. Until next time, try to
remain optimistic about the Eagles chances in their upcoming games. Jeff Garcia
is no scrub and back up QBs have
proven themselves able to lead a team into the playoffs (see Roethlisburger, Ben). It isn’t over until the Eagles are mathematically
out of it, and that time is not yet upon us.