CHIRPING BIRDS-Week 8

Dissection of last night's Eagles brutal loss to the Cowboys..

Doug Pederson isn't ready for prime time. He choked in the fourth quarter. He actually coached pretty well early in the game. Going to a no-huddle offense seemed to invigorate the Birds. But then the fourth quarter was a nightmare. ...see below.

The early indication of Coach Perderson is that he crumbles under pressure in key situations. Not only did he melt-down last night during crunch-time, we forget that he and Andy Reid mismanaged the clock late in the Kansas City Chiefs playoff loss last season.  He "turtled-up" and seemed to play not to lose instead of playing to win He admitted during his post-game news conference that he needs to "stay aggressive". Funny, because early in the season, his aggressiveness was a refreshing aspect of his coaching . Why get scared in another nationally-televised game?  That's not the time to play conservatively. Step on the gas and keep the Cowboys down when you have your foot on their throat.

Early in the very first quarter Perderson showed his conservative side by settled for an earl field goal instead of going for a 4th and 1 call deep in Cowboy territory. early in the year, Pederson took successful chances which snowballed the Eagles momentum. Last night he played scared.

I've written before in this blog how the Eagle receivers just aren't good enough. They drop too many passes. They can't get separation from the defensive backs. They lack breakaway speed. Yet Coach Pederson doesn't think the team needs better wide outs . Hopefully GM Howie Roseman is on the phone and swings a deal for Torry Smith or Ashun Jeffery before tomorrow's trade deadline. Teams are playing 8 in the box and daring the Eagles to throw deep passes. Instead, the Eagles are playing a dink and dunk offense ( witness Carson Wentz throwing 32 completions last night for only 202 yards).Why? Because the receivers aren't good enough to go deep. Keeping the opposing defense honest by attempting to throw long would be nice and open up the short game. But right now, the Eagles just don't have a guy who can go deep, hence the really annoying behind the line of scrimmage swing passes.

DeSean Jackson, where are you?

Zak Ertz, where are you?

Not trying to kick a makable 53 yard field goal with 6 minutes to go- to put the Eagles up 10 points- was a mistake, especially since kicker Caleb Sturgis booted a 55 yard FG earlier in the game. Perderson's explanation was cloudy, saying field position came in to play. Again, he choked and succumbed to the late pressure.

The play before the non-attempted field goal didn't make sense. A botched swing pass to Darrin Sproles for a 6 yard loss. The stupid play call made a 46 yard field goal into a 53 yard field goal and scared Perderson off a potential game-sealing 3 points.

Pederson's many mistakes weer all blamed on "execution". He didn't blame himself for the bad judgement, a trait not seen earlier in the year. Perderon seemed like an honest, straight-up guy, yet last night, without naming names, Pederson threw his players under the bus instead of having confidence in his players.

Putting RB Wendell Smallwood into the game in the fourth quarter was stupid as well, especially with Sproles having a great game. Ryan Matthews' two fumbles in key situations earlier in the year may have been a factor in Pederson's decision to play Smallwood at the time. Smallwood fumbled, and the Cowboys had momentum to begin their comeback.

Jalen Mills screwed up again,this time on the punt coverage team, as he did not contain the Dallas punter from taking a fake punt 30 yards. Dallas cashed in for a field goal when the Eagles should have gotten the ball back with no points allowed.

Pederson again played not to lose when he let the Cowboys run the clock out in regulation time. Dallas had third down and 25 yards to go at their own 10 yard line with approximately 25 seconds to go. Philadelphia had two timeouts left. Why not use one, force the Cowboys to punt, and hope for a Sproles punt return to set up a game-winning field goal? What have you got to lose? Instead, the Eagles lose the coin toss in overtime and never get the ball back.

WR Nelson Agholor needs to be traded or released, if not immediately then after the season. He continues to drop passes every game. He can't block. Last night on a key 3rd down play early he came up short before the 1st down marker. Then he cops an attitude after the game. He is a bust, another chip Kelly failure. Hopefully he will be in a trade package to Kelly and the 49ers for Torry Smith .

Wentz played an OK game, despite the drops and bad play-calling. But again, Wentz had the ball in his hands to win or seal the game, and he failed to take the team down the field in the final two minutes, as he failed in the Washington and Detriot games.

Next up is the Giants at New York on Sunday afternoon. An eagle loss and they drop to 4-4 with 3 division losses. Win and the team hangs in there. Dallas plays at Cleveland next week versus the winless Browns. The Cowboys are in good shape now, not only to win the NFC East, but in the playoff picture. A lot can happen, and there is a lot of season yet to play but Dallas should go 7-2 next week. We said it may only take 9 wins to capture the NFC East crown. That would give Dallas home field advantage in the playoffs. a first round bye is also within reach, which would mean the Cowboys would only be have to win games to reach the Super Bowl.

A winnable game last night may come back to haunt the Eagles and haunt the fans forever if Dallas does go far in the playoffs.

Despite the devastating loss, there is still hope. The Eagles played a good team tough on the road. I am reminded that this season overall is still a rebuilding process. To be blunt, the Eagles need more talent, and right now, the Cowboys are simply the better team.

I got through week 8 of the WIP Last Fan Standing contest, as Denver beat San Diego. Eight weeks in a row I've picked a winner, yet I'm only halfway to winning the championship ring.