The Eagles didn’t take their deep throwing game to Nashville yesterday, but you’ve got to give Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg credit for their creative game plan for Kevin Kolb. They helped him get the ball out of his hands and keep the sticks moving.
They’ve got to do a much better job in the red zone and we can’t overemphasize how the fumble at the three-yard line cost them. You’re got to come out of there with six points more often because you’re not going to beat good football teams by kicking field goal after field goal.
Like the last few game plans, this one consisted of short passes to the left and to the right. They showed the Titans three wide receivers in order to make them think pass, then they ran it right at them.
They brought rookie Chad Hall into the game as a wide receiver, spread him out with an empty backfield, then shifted him into the backfield and handed him the ball. He played both wide receiver and running back in college and the Birds are taking advantage of his versatility.
Kolb missed him a few times over the middle. They’ve found a place for him in this offense and seem to create a package for him each week. He’s a change of pace from McCoy.
I saw Minnesota doing the same thing last night with Percy Harvin against the Packers, so this is a play that Andy stole from Brad Childress of vice-versa. It’s a nice plan because you wind up running the ball against their defensive backs.
The Eagles did a good job of utilizing quick screens and draws to slow down the Titans pass rush. You could see it was frustrating Tennessee and keeping them off balance.
The quarterback bootleg to the right and throwback pass to the tight end was wide open early in the game, but Kolb missed Brent Celek on it. Celek had the wind knocked out of him on one of the his catches during the game. It was his least productive game of the season.
He caught two passes for eight yards and seems to be ailing. It would be nice to seem them get him going more.
Kolb did a nice job of picking up a first down on a third and long with a nice scramble.
We saw clearly the strengths of Kolb and his limitations, yesterday. He doesn’t have the gun to make those deep throws through the windy weather. The ball just hangs up there in the air. Still if you run the right offense, he gives a you a chance to win.
He has to learn to remain calm under pressure. Rushing throws will become turnovers and turnovers get you beat.
Eagles rookie wide receiver Riley Cooper made the Eagles offensive play of the game, when he came back to make the catch on the flea-flicker. It was badly underthrown but Cooper came back to get rather than watch the Titans defender pick it off.
He ran a shallow cross at the goalline and beat the linebacker for the score. Kolb got it to him on the run and it was the Eagles one and only touchdown of the game. The Birds confused the Titans with the personnel they had in the game and the backer wasn’t ready when the rookie receiver went by him.
Cooper fits this offense and should be able to flourish because of his size.
Wide receiver Jason Avant had a good day with a bunch of catches on curl and hook routes. He caught six passes for 60 yards, which was one of his best days of the season.
Jeremy Maclin continues to show his skills as an all around wide receiver. With Kolb in there, Maclin featured his ability to be a short route runner. He caught five passes for 42 yards. He was schooling Tennessee on comeback routes, out routes and shallow crosses. The second-year wideout had the size to
Running back LeSean McCoy had another solid game. He works well with Kolb on those quick screens and wide routes. McCoy makes the first tackler miss almost every time, which allows him to take what is nothing but a checkdown and turn it into a ten and fifteen yard gain each time he touches the ball.
McCoy caught six passes for 54 yards which is nine yards a clip. He turns nothing into something because of the way he makes tacklers miss.
If the line can improve their push off the line of scrimmage it will allow McCoy to gain more yardage because he gets all he can out of their blocking. McCoy has great vision and cutting ability which allows him to make cuts that few NFL backs can make.
That cutting ability puts more pressure on the defense because he’s able to find opening on the front side of the running play or on the backside of it. He creates more gaps because of his vision and cutting ability.
I thought the offensive line did a good job for the most part. They gave Kolb enough time early in the game but with the game on the line in the second half, they were dominated. Their run blocking wasn’t their best performance of the season. A good or great offensive line takes over a game in the second half. This group has quite a bit of work to do.
Center Mike McGlynn’s mistake on the three-yard line, when blocked the wrong way and let a Titans defender force a fumble was inexcusable. The center is supposed to know what he’s doing above all the other linemen. It shifted the momentum of the game.
Cobb seemed to be trying to prove he could go deep–Big mistake in that wind
Don’t know if they were called plays –if they were Morninghe used bad judgment
If the Eagles could have sustained drives after the Britt TDs they could have stopped momentum by the Titans
Up to that fumble on the 3 I was believing the Eagles could play with any team in the NFL –then the dream ended
Look im going to be blunt. Kolb is a good quaterback with flaws. Many of which were very appratent in this game as well as the 49ers game. I will give him all the credit in the world for the atl game.BUT…for all this hyp about his short to intermediate balls his deep ones suck. Flat out terrible. If he is not OVERTHROWING the reciever he just flat out misses them. I really dont remember one bomb this year including his tds where the reciever didnt have to play super hero and adjust just to get the ball. Plus just an oberservation but its like 50/50 with kolb in the pocket in the sense that sometimes he will stay there and throw like a man. The other times he just panics and makes awfule decisions. So yes is is a good QB who prbabaly will mature and get better I HOPE. For this season though right now we easily need vick in there. He is ALOT more comfortable in the pocket and doesnt even mind taking the big hit to get the ball out . Not only that he can throw the ball like a missle and espically on his deep ball is ALOT more accurate then kolb. As far as the rest of the game yesterday i guess andy just forget that we have a potential all pro running back on the team in MCCOY. I mean abandoning the run wins you games in this league …….
Meant to say if they were long pass calls Mornhinweg used bad judgment and if the were second or third option receivers Kolb used bad judgment especially after he was so short the first time
O on a positve note i really do dig cooper though he is going to be a really good reciever on this team. That was an incredible play where he had to snatch the ball from the defender cause kolb under threw it. We could have alot of nasty four wide out sets with him avant jackson and maclin.
Seems to me I saw Britt adjusting to two of those TDs
They weren’t right in stride passes
Hopefully even when Jackson gets back they will use Cooper when they get in the red zone for Passes into the end zone –He has the height and strength
Cooper made the defensive play of the day.
Anyhow, that play was just awful from the beginning. And then the throw was terrible. Hung in the air like a punt. Looked like the Titans safety called a fair catch the way he stood there and waited. Is Celek still on the roster? Seriously?
We all know Maclin has the ability to get behind the defenders and Kolb just couldn’t get the ball out there and the same with the Cooper play. It just seems to me that Kolb makes beautiful throws that are less than 40 yards when the receiver is nearly wide open. Other than that it’s a poorly inaccurate throw or into coverage. But the play calling was horrendous in the second half with a nice lead. I’m not sure what they were thinking about. This is what happens when you play an agressive defense that’s not going to sit back like Atlanta all game and hope their base defense works. The titans knew exactly what to do when they went into halftime and basically shut us down in the 2nd half. It’s called adjustments. Something we can’t make.
Kolb should mature but who knows how good he becomes. We will see (or maybe we won’t). But he could easily be Tony Romo. A guy who was a backup for a while and then got to start and shows some flashes of brilliance and at other times looks brutal. Tries to do too much at times and moves out the pocket when he doesn’t need to. And for all the hype Romo got the past few years, he’s just a good QB but that’s it. Kolb could be the same. Very good at times and look like a top QB and very bad at others. All QBs have their struggles but the better QBs still find a way to make plays when they are having a bad game. Right now, when Kolb goes downhill it snowballs. So hopefully that changes for him so he can be more consistent and even when he is having a tough game he is still able to make a play or 2 to give your team a chance to win.
rcp, you’re right…. if they could have got a few first downs or something. Sustain a drive you get the momentum back and that’s where the responsibility falls on the QB and coaches who are calling the plays.
i also agree with using riley cooper alot more
i said this pre season
i like him alot he needs to play put djax in the slot mre often and split riley outside
kid can block 2 on running plays here and there give djax maclin a break he needs to play
PLZ Mr. Reid, with a lead going into the 4th, RUN THE BALL. it cripples the other teams chances by getting them tired and runs the clock out