Wrap-up of the Eagles' 34-29 victory over the New York Giants...
* I'm 14-0 picking Eagles games this season. I predicted eagles 24 Giants 20. Division-rival at home, I thought New York might step up and play well. It was important for the Birds to get the lead early and the Giants and their fans would give up. Instead, the G-men took the early lead, were up 20-7 at one point, and hung in there all game.
Philly was up 31-23, with the ball, and couldn't put the game away. You can't blame the offense. 34 points should be more than enough tow in. The defense sucked, but we will talk more about that later.
So, as much as I hate to do it, give the Giants credit for not laying down. Their fans have to be wondering- where were these guys all year long?
Even up 20-7, I never had the feeling the Eagles would lose. Somehow, either the Eagles would fin=d a way to pull it out or the giants would find a way to lose. There's a reason why they are now a 2-12 team.
* The Eagles finished the year 6-2 on the road. Impressive. The only two road games they lost were tough places for road teams to play: Kansas City and Seattle.
Some of those road games turned out to be home games for the Birds, as our fans took over the two Los Angeles games and once again, the fans made the trek up the turnpike to the Meadowlands. Philly fans caused the Giants to false start during a crucial third down play on their last drive at the Eagles six-yard line.
Winning yesterday not only locked up a first-round bye but also assured a home game in the playoffs. Beating the Raiders on Christmas night would give the Eagles home field advantage in the NFC all the way to the Super Bowl. It won't be easy for any opposing team to come into Lincoln Financial Field, on a cold, maybe snowy day, and beat the Eagles, with 60,000 screaming fans cheering on the Birds.
The fans won't let the Eagles lose again at home.
* Penalties are killing the team. Too many defensive holding penalties in the secondary. Najie Goode made a really stupid penalty to extend a New York drive by jumping off-sides during a punt. The infraction gave the Giants five yards and a first down. They went on to score a touchdown on that drive that shouldn't have been.
* Quarterback Nick Foles did well, throwing 4 touchdowns with zero interceptions. He can't run like Carson Wentz, and doesn't have as strong of an arm, but he is accurate and manages the game well. I wasn't worried about St. Nick; I was more worried about the offensive line coming into the Giant game.
Foles answered a lot of questions ans hopefully calmed many fears. With all of the remaining games- both regular season and playoffs- conceivably at the Linc, Foles will be fine. Yesterday he looked more like the 2013 Foles, who threw for 27 TDs and only 2 interceptions, than the Foles who had a rocky time under Chip Kelly, and was screwed-up under coach Jeff Fisher in St. Louis.
* Speaking of the offensive line, they actually had a pretty good day, only giving up one sack. They need to protect Foles, who is more of a pocket-passer than Wentz. Guard Chance Womack had a solid game. Running the ball more also helped. But even when Foles had to throw, he was given plenty of time. We have to hope they won't break down again, and that Stefan Wiesnewski will be ready to play soon.
* It will be interesting to see what happens to Giants QB Eli Manning. He proved he can still play. He could remain in New York, even if the giants do take a quarterback high in the drat. Manning could mentor the young QB. Or he could be traded to a team like Denver that needs an experienced quarterback.
* OK, the defense. Giving up over 500 yards to a poor Giants offense ( with Beckham Jr.) is unacceptable. It seems that Defense Coordinator turtled-up again. He should know by now that you can't allow an experienced QB like Manning sit in the pocket and pick the defense apart. The best success Philly has had against Eli over the years was when they flushed him out of the pocket with blitzes and pressure, making him throw on the run, or force Eli into making mistakes.
Schwartz hates to blitz, preferring for the front four to pressure the QB and allow the secondary to cover receivers. He's no Jim Johnson, that's for sure.
The defensive penalties hurt the team, but it also looked like the defense lacked intensity. They looked tired too. Witness all the missed tackles, which didn't happen early in the season.
I understand it was the third road game in a row. maybe all the travel caught up with the Eagles. I just see guys taking breaks too much. Fletcher Cox is great, but he goes AWOL at times.
I can see giving up points to an explosive offense like the Rams last week. But to the Giants, who haven't scored 30 points in a game in over a season?
Adjustments. it seems Schwartz has problems making adjustments on the fly. The Giants killed the Birds' secondary all day with the slant pass. Give the Eagles credit for making adjustments at halftime and limiting the giants to six point sin the second half. But why does it take until halftime for Schwartz to make the necessary adjustments?
The Giants had nothing to play for. It was disturbing to see the defense get run over so badly. Did they take New York for granted? Coach Pederson mentioned the word "preparation" during his post-game press conference. Wasn't the defense prepared? Are they slacking off in practice? Is Schwartz coming up with a quality game-plan? What's the problem?
Are the injuries to key players, notably linebacker Jordan Hicks, finally showing? The guys have taken the "next man up" mentality all season, but maybe they just aren't that good? Has the offense with Wentz covered up the defensive mistakes? Scoring over 30 points game tends to mask defensive problems.
The defense finally stepped up when it had to, pinned near it's own goal line in the final minute, with Manning and New York needing a touchdown to win. It didn't have to come down to a game-saving play by corner back Corey Graham on fourth down.
One hopes, spurred by our fans at the Linc, the defense will pick it up and look fresher. Playing on Christmas night gives the team an extra day of rest. Wrapping up the home field advantage against the Raiders, which would make the final game against Dallas meaningless to the Eagles, then having a bye in the first week of the playoffs, hopefully all of the upcoming rest will be advantageous to the team, especially the defense.
Either way, the defense - and the Eagles team- won't go very far in the upcoming playoffs ( home game or not) if the defense continues to play as it has the last few weeks.
* The Eagles had problems on third down- on both sides of the ball. Under Wentz, the offense had a tremendous record on third down this season. The offense under Foles wasn't quite as effective on Sunday on third down. On defense, it seemed the team couldn't get off the field on third down, with New York drives extended all afternoon.
* While we are talking about the defense, is corner back Sidney Jones ready to play? He's been practicing with the team. Could he be an upgrade, even as a fill-in, for guys in the secondary like Mills and Darby who continue to get burned and commit stupid penalties?
I know the plan was to keep Jones out this year, allowing him to get healthy from his Achilles injury. earlier in the year the secondary was playing great. But with Patrick Robinson going down yesterday with a concussion, is it time to play Jones, if he is ready to play?
Plus, why was corner back Rashul Douglas de-activated yesterday?Could he do any worse then that secondary on Sunday?
* Fox analyst and former Dallas coach Jimmy Johnson is supposed to be neutral in his position. but he's still a cowboy guy in his heart. After Wentz got hurt his prediction was "Stick a fork in the Eagles", that they were done. I hated to see Dallas win last night against Oakland. They are still in the playoff chase, if only barely.
Anyway, it's an interesting dynamic on that Fox set. Johnson is a Cowboy guy; Michael Strahan is all-Giants; Terry Bradshaw bleeds Steelers' gold; and Howie Long is now an Eagles fan because his son, Chris, plays on the defensive line for Pihlly. So it's nice when the Eagles do win and shut-up blowhards like Johnson.
* The key to the giant game were the special teams blocks. Think of it: the special teams blocked an extra point, punt and a field goal attempt on Sunday. At least four points were left on the field by New York. Tack those four points onto the end and all the giants would've needed on that last drive was afield goal to win.
Special teams lost a lot when punt returner Darren Sproles got hurt. Coverage guy Chris Maragoes is out for the year as well. But special teams has shined, nonetheless. Kicker Jake Elliot continues to make every kick. Punter Donnie Jones, despite a few shaky moments yesterday, remains solid. We still need a kick-off return or punt return for touchdowns this magical season. Maybe that will happen in the playoffs. But overall, special teams have been great, and that aspect of the game saved the game against New York.
* Once again, linebacker Nigel Bradham had shots at interceptions and couldn't hold onto the ball. Give Bradham credit for putting himself in position for picks. now he just has to hold onto balls.
* For the first time in Philadelphia Eagles history, they have three receivers on the team ( Jeffery, Aglohor and Ertz) with at least eight touchdown catches. Even with Wentz, and now with Foles, the Birds have many weapons and spread the ball around. With all of the options, it must be challenging for opposing defenses to game-plan this current Eagles' offense.
* So what does ti all mean? The Eagles go to 12-2, the first time they have won so many games in a season since 2004 when they ended up winning 13 game sin the regular season and eventually going to the Super Bowl.
The Eagles sweep the rival Giants. They are 5-0 against the rest of the NFC East. How often does that happen?
The Eagles will rest on wild card weekend. They then play a home game in their first playoff contest. Win against the Raiders and the NFC Championship game is in Philly.
Unbelievably, all home games the rest of the way. The Birds are 6-0 this year at the Linc. Games against Oakland and Dallas on New Year's Eve await. then the playoffs ( more on potential opponents down the road). The last time Foles played the Raiders in an Eagles uniform, he threw 7 TD passes. And wouldn't it be nice for the Eagles to be the team to knock the Cowboys out of the playoffs?
My take is that the defense will be fine, with the upcoming rest and the home crowd urging them on. Let it be colder in mid-January, maybe even have snow. Minnesota, New Orleans and Atlanta are all dome teams. Continue to enjoy the ride. Winning on Christmas night will be a final wonderful Christmas present.
Merry Christmas everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment