Give it up to the Eagles

[FrontSeven]

The Eagles came in here unintimidated, and that alone was worth the viewing. Seeing the Pats get smacked in the mouth up front, seeing Brady on his ass, and seeing them struggle in the vertical game was a great lesson in humility for them. No Humble Pie shirts necessary. They can be beaten.

Jim Johnson did a fabulous job. I don't think his blueprint works that well without his personnel (like Lito Shephard, Brain Dawkins) though. I'm sure it's going to help some other team, but not to the extent that we saw last night.

They exposed our weakness inside against the pass. We need to adjust. We can't cover certain routes because we're already into habits and patterns in coverage which take our guys away from the play.

They proved that blitz packages can work if they are creative enough. I give them credit for coming up with something inventive. We'll see if Pittsburgh tries some of the same stuff or can be inventive on their own.

Remember, the '97 Vikings had a great season rolling until the Falcons smacked them in their mouths in the dome. End of season for the greatest offense ever seen. I think we escaped such a smack in the mouth. A team that survives that is a better team.

Great game ..... too bad for the bettors. That's why you just don't do that!

 

[onegameatatime]

There's a lot of handwringing over playcalling and blueprints, but here are a few notes:

1. Take away their best thing: Westbrook had about 90 total yards. His average is over 150. In the NFL, it's hard to stop everything.

2. 3 possessions, 17 points, in the first half.

3. Shepard, Dawkins, and Brown are all pro bowlers. We're not likely to see that again.

4. On a more negative side: I know things change from one game to the next, but why did the NYG get 12 sacks and we got 1. McNabb? different O-line personnel? is our rush not that great?

5. Conflicted on LoMo: I really want to see him run more, but the passing game is so freakin' good, and Faulk is such a good part of it.

6. Also on a more negative side: there's been a lot opf praise for the O-line, especially up the middle, so it's a concern that Philly seemed to get pressure up the middle -- enough, at least, to disrupt throwing.