CHIRPING BIRDS Week 6

My thoughts about the Eagles loss to the Redskins yesterday...

* Lane Johnson, dumb-ass

* Our coaches were out-coached. Little help for the rookie Right Tackle. No adjustments, offensively or defensively. Bad play-calling .While the Birds were winning, Doug Pederson was the greatest thing since slice bread. Now, let's see how he handles adversity. So far, not good. Too many excuses, similar to Andy Reid "We gotta do a better job.." For once, it would be refreshing to see one of our head coaches show a little emotion and get mad and call out his team for playing bad

* Why not roll-out Carson Wentz more rather than let him sit in the pocket and get destroyed?

* Can't blame the refs this week for all the penalties. The Eagles lack discipline. That falls on the players but also on coaching.

* How can the Eagles look so good early in the season and so bad after the bye? Last week, we thought maybe it was rust. Were the Eagles too full of themselves, reading the headlines and all the Super Bowl/playoffs talk?

* The team still needs a lot of help down the road..thanks Chip Kelly..and we knew this was going  to be more of a rebuilding year. A real need, along with the O-line and receivers, is a shut-down corner back. Our current corners can't tackle and can't cover a team's elite wide-out.

*What's with this wide-nine defense? It didn't work a few years ago and it isn't working now. The run defense was the one asset the Eagles had on defense. The usually poor-running Redskins had their way yesterday, controlling the ball for 34 minutes and keeping the Philadelphia offense off the field for huge amounts of time.

*What exactly happened during the bye week? The team looks night and day worse. Were there changes? Or is it simply that the other teams have more film to watch now and have caught up to the Eagles schemes?

*We came into the season leery of no weapons on offense, with an average at best receiving corps. The need to focus on a running game to keep the heat off Wentz, eat up the clock and control the ball is clear. 3 bad things can happen with this team when they get away from short, quick throws and try to stretch the field 1) The O-line can easily collapse, especially now with Johnson gone 2) the wide receivers don't get much separation..there's little break-away speed, which leaves Wentz holding the ball too long, and 3) the wide-outs often drop catch-able balls.

*Jason Kelsey continues to be a weak-link as center. The Eagles need to look for a replacement after the season. He makes too many stupid penalties because he is small and gets beat by bigger defensive linemen, so he needs to hold and reach to keep up.

* In the last two games, both losses, the Eagles have fallen behind 14-0 early. When they were winning, the Birds were leading and that allowed them to control the ball on offense and rush the passer more on defense.

* Jalen Mills, stop wagging your finger until you finally make a play in the secondary.

*Wentz was under a lot of pressure yesterday, so it's understandable why he  didn't look like himself most of the game. However, it's true that he had the ball in his hands at the end of the game against Detriot and Washington and he failed. He could not move the team down the field to win both games.

* The Eagle defense gives up 500 yards yet the fine Redskin tight end,Jordan Reed, doesn't play?

*Up next: a home game against Sam Bradford and the undefeated Minnesota Vikings. They have the best pass-rush in the NFL. After that comes road games vs. division rivals  Cowboys and Giants. Forget future games against Seattle, Green Bay and Atlanta. Losing the next 3 games erases the fast start and leaves the team at 3-5...which is kinda where we thought the Philadelphia Eagles would be before the season began.

The next 3 opponents will be coming off bye weeks when they play the Eagles.

AROUND THE LEAGUE- Despite all of it's flaws, the Seahawks are emerging as the leaders of NFC West. ..Even at home, the Packers aren't what they used to be..Andy Reid coming off a bye week continues to hold true , as the Chiefs crushed the Raiders in Oakland..He's great when he has time to prepare...The Browns have to win a game sooner or later and they again came close against the Titans..Finally, if the Eagles had lost the final game of last season against the Giants they would be playing this week in London vs. the Rams instead of going to Seattle down the road.

Note- I made it though week 6 of the WIP Last Fan Standing pool, when Buffalo killed the 49'ers.