There’s no use in talking about the Eagles loss to the Cowboys. It was an ugly game between a Cowboys team that is getting ready to go home and a bunch of Eagles backups who won’t be on the field when it counts next week.
We were expecting the Packers offense to explode against the Bears today, but they didn’t. A 10-3 win is hardly an explosion. Rodgers played well enough to lead Green Bay to victory but wasn’t a masterpiece.
He was 19 for 28 for 229 yards 1 touchdown throw and 1 interception for a 89.7 quarterback rating.
I wonder if the Eagles secondary will be just the medicine that Rodgers needs. It will be difficult to hide anybody in the defensive backfield. They’re going to have to make some plays. You and I know Rodgers and the Packers will attack whomever is playing right cornerback for us.
Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, and Jordy Nelson are all capable of making plays to help the Packers put points on the board. Rodgers will go to any of them at any time. The pass rush on him will be vital.
The most impressive performance was turned in by the Green Bay defense. They sacked Jay Cutler six times and shut down the Bears passing game. Cutler completed 21 of 39 passes for 168 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions for a 43.8 quarterback rating.
One of those interceptions ended whatever hopes the Bears had of winning the game. The Bears were able to run the ball with some success. Matt Forte ran for 91 yards on only 15 carries.
Will the Eagles give the ball to LeSean McCoy and give him a chance to help keep the pass rush off of Michael Vick?
Whatever the case,l Vick and Birds must come up with a big time performance against one of the better defenses in the league.
What are your first impressions of the matchup?
I’d agree G..run game is vital. Harrison proved he can be counted on for nice gains.
Rodgers will also have his sights on Coleman.He needs too know were his help is this week.
G…do you think we could have a 150 day on this d with the way Lesean has been playing?I think the Packers strenghts are on the back end and not so much the front end. There tackles are nice but we could run on these guys at home.Matthews must be kept in check.
I would pound the ball for the first half. This would catch the Packers off guard, keep Vick healthy, weak 0-line gain momentum, keep their O & our D off the field, and get Packers D tired by late 3 rd quarter.
Running it with Mccoy and Harrison is vital. We have no chance without it. I was impressed with how well Harrison ran today against their starters with our backups blocking for him.
Bears are one of the few teams who give up more sacks than us and gave up 6 today. Can’t wait till Sunday.
The Eagles offensive line is maddening to watch. It will be the downfall of this team. It’s the constant mental errors I see that get Vick hit too much. We have 5 or 6 guys pass blocking against 4 men and 1 or 2 guys get pressure. It is amazing how often an Eagles lineman is engaged with a guy, the defender flows to the next gap and the Eagles lineman “passes” him to another lineman that is either up field or already engaged. So he now watches Vick get hit from the guy he allowed to run by him without keeping his feet moving and blocking. The number of mental mistakes this team makes on the zone blocking and passing guys along is mind numbing. Blocking the defensive twists still seems to be quantum physics for the lineman to understand. Cole amd MJG seem to be the most frequent offenders of their men getting pressure up the middle causing Vick to run out of the pocket and into other defenders. Juan Castillo may need to make a crazy rule, “Block the MF’er in front of you until the play is over and if you didn’t hit someone every play you did something wrong!”. These lineman drift to far forward instead of helping the guy next to him.
One day, you all will see that play-calling allows an offense to overcome its weaknesses, especially when you have so many play-makers in the skill positions.
Drummer I hope that day is Sunday.
If Reid reflects on how he called the Atlanta game, Sunday will be that day.
My first impression is that we win the game if Vick can identify where the blitz is coming from and throw to his hot reads. Otherwise, we are toast. They are going to throw all over the field against us. Only way to win is out score them and if we fail against the blitz, it will be one and done. I hope they aren’t going to expect Clay Harbor to block Mathews.
Disagree. Playcalling success or failure is dependant on players making plays. Its about the players. They make a playcaller look good when they do the right thing. They make a playcaller look bad when they screw up. Nobody can hide weaknesses in the NFL with playcalling, the coaches do too much film study to trick them very often.
We win by at least 10.
Anderson
So, we can run the ball up the middle 30 successive plays, so long as we have the right players, right?
How many coordinators have you seen do that?
It is a chess match out there. That’s why Belichik is successful. Undoubtedly, you must have the best players, but when the talent is equal, it’s about play calling. And even when the talent isn’t quite equal, you can overcome with play-calling.
The Redskins darned near did that when they had Riggins and the Hogs. They would tell the D linemen where they play was going, and still were not stopped. Ranting about playcalling is going down the wrong street. Its the players.
I just do not see it that way. Too often players fail or succeed on their abilities. No coach can count on a toe-dragging sideline catch, or converseley a left tackle failing to make a block he should have made. In the 1st Giants game, Andy calls the sweep to Shady on 4th down. If Tuck gets his hand out and blocks the pitch, Andy is an idiot. As it happened, everybody raved about what a great call it was, but the players made it work, bottom line.
There is something like calling the right plays. The play calling against Vikings was idiotic. Vick can’t read the blitz and make adjustments in protection and they still went ahead threw the ball deep over and over. Players can’t make the plays happen if they are the wrong plays. It isn’t like the opposition is sitting on their asses and watching the Eagles make the called plays work.
Anderson
So, should we succeed if we run the ball up the middle 30 plays in a row?
Anderson
In my view, you only described how we’ve overcome bad play-calling.
I believe we’ve had some superior athletes in McNabb, Westbrook, Vick and McCoy who have, at various times, overcome Reid’s bad play-calling.
It’s funny when people mention Reid, it’s how he went to 5 NFC East Championships and a Superbowl, but when you mention McNabb, it’s how he lost 4 Championships a superbowl.
Has Reid EVER been accused of out-coaching ANYONE?
Paulman’s Rankings of the NFC
drummer’s rankings of frauds
1. Paulman
2. Paulman
3. Paulman
4. Paulman
5. Paulman
6. Paulman
7. Paulman
8. Paulman
9. Paulman
And rounding out the top 10:
10. Paulman
it’s players and playcalling. Wisconsin would have beaten TCU yesterday if they played their strenth ran the ball more. Patriots ran the ball against the Bears 40 times(Eagles about 13) Simple playcalling is crucial.
1) Falcons
2) Bears
3) Packers
4) Saints
5) Eagles
6) TB Bucs
7) Giants
8) Rams/Seahawks
This NFC is so wide open.. The Packers play just ok enough at home in a must win 10-3, Saints lose at
home to TB Bucs, Eagles lose their final 2 games, The Giants and Bucs win 10 games are at home sitting these playoffs out (watch for the Bucs for the future) .. The Falcons & Bears have been the most consistent teams all Season and both can run and pass and both have stingy defenses as far as giving up points..The Eagles have as good of a chance as anyone,but they have to be much more efficient and have to win the turnover battle or it will be 1 and done
Well, he is pretty far over .500 as a head coach, he must either outcoach other teams, or he selects better talent. He has won games with the old qb, Garcia, Detmer, Feeley, Kolb and Vick. He won with the 3 headed monster, throwing to 81, and letting 36 do everything. Won with older teams, winning with a younger team now. Trades away his franchise qb and keeps on going. You have no idea why a certain play was called at a certain point in the game. What they did to set up a particular route in the 3rd quarter by doing something else in the 1st, what they have seen on film that they are trying to attack or exploit, why they run a wr in motion, short motion, a TE on inside motion, stacked or bunched the receivers, put Celek at Hback or split him out, which linebacker they are trying to exploit or which audible the qb made or failed to make or what blocking scheme the center called or failed to call and why he called the right one or the wrong one and how he got tricked into screwing up or why a wide open receiver was missed or a pass thrown to a covered reciever or whether or not the presnap motion revealed whether the defense is playing man or zone and who is covering who and which way the secondary is going to roll coverage and why the qb did or did not change/adjust the play or pass route or depth of his drop and it goes on and on and on and on. Youdo not know, you will never know, and I know you love charting your plays, but it is a fools errand. Too many variables. Players make plays.
Drummer – ROFLMAO
Anderson
No coach calls passes 93% of the time between the 2nd and 3rd quarters. None!
And do you want to know why? I’m glad you asked that question.
Because the pass rush will kill you. The opposition will blitz like crazy. Even if you have success in a game or two, over the long haul, your QB will take a beating and never make it to the Superbowl.
No variables needed to decipher that.
Besides, no coach calls 50 passes when his QB has a broken ankle, broken ribs, sports hernia, or when his running back is averaging 6.2 yards per carry.
Only Reid does that. Only Reid.
anderson – There’s no doubt that Reid is a winner but, when going up against the best he hasn’t faired well at all. i.e. NFC championship losses and 1 SB loss. They are the games where play callling makes all the difference by calling the right play at the right time. Of course the players have to execute as they do every play but, the play calling is what puts the team in a position to win to coin an over-used phrase. Reid’s a winner, I want a champion and I don’t think Reid will ever achieve that because of his play calling. His one dimensional offenses are too easy for good teams that are well coached with the right play calling to beat. Just ask everyone that is still amazed that the Eagles didn’t run a hurry-up offense in the last 5 minutes of their SB loss. Yeah, the right plays at the right time!
Flashback to last year playoff game, Packers 41- Eagles-19
tydm
Thanks for the stats. I agree. It takes both players and the right plays.
Anyone remember Gruden led Bucs killer play against us in the NFC championship. TE jurevisuis ran a simple (cross the field) route and caught it and took it 71 yards. I hope Reid does more of those in playoffs. isn’t that the hardest for a D to defend against
Paul
Yesterday is history, tomorrow’s a mystery, but today is a gift from God. That’s why it’s called the present.
You have no idea what will happen. Try living in today.
lol Silva i think all coaches work very hard but when u run 10 times your throwing it all away
tydm
I charted plays all season for a reason. I wanted to know prove (to myself) that play-calling was getting our QBs killed. I never imagined that I’d discover the things that I have.
Those types of plays all but disappear after his first 15.
When’s the last time you saw a shuttle pass? That’s another play that slows the pass rush, along with reverses, screens, draws, hitches, etc.
Any play that will get the defensive line flowing in one direction, then retreating to the opposite direction tires them out and makes them hesitant on the next play. That extra fraction of a second can mean the difference between your receiver coming open and your QB getting sacked.
Did you see the way Dallas ran the bubble screen today? It was awesome.
Vinnie
Jerome Harrison gained 99 yards. Kolb had 3 picks, a fumble, and a QB rating of 37.
Why was Harrison able to succeed with these back-ups?
I have seen this movie before: Playoffs and facing a team that is bad against the run and great against the pass….60 called passes and 12 called runs…..Eagles lose again 24 7. Media gives Reid softball questions and he takes responsibility once again. Coward Eskin and all radio media blame offensive line, Assante Samuel for one miss tackle and Reid skates and get accolades as a great coach.
Why no hurry up in the Super Bowl? Well, maybe the old qb is too fat and dumb to run it, that seems to be the case in DC. The SB loss had a bunch to do with Hank Fraley not being good enough to do his job and getting his butt whipped again and again. Do you even know who calls the plays for the Eagles? Is it Reid or MM? Do you know how often the qb was supposed to change the play? Check down the ball? Switch blocking coverage? Nope, you do not. You are making blanket statements with only a few facts available. TDYM, that Jurevecious play was a simple play, maybe it succeeded because the SS didn’t have brains enough to take himself out with a torn groin? Players make plays. Witten yesterday made a long run after the catch because 30 takes out 57 while they both tried to make the tackle? Great playcall or simply Witten being tough to tackle? Playcalling is just a facet of the game, and not a terribly important one. Is S Payton a great playaller, or is Brees doing a great job running the offense with players who fit the system very well? Was Gruden a great playcaller with Dungees team? He sure got stupid when those guys all left and he had to build a team on his own. Maybe it was he had better players at the beginning, and when the good players left, the new ones sucked, good playcalls or not. Players.
At least the Eagles improved their Draft Selection Position by a few spots by losing these final
2 games of the Regular Season. They will have the #24 Draft Position again (like they did last year)
Looks like a lot of talented OL will be available in this part of the Round #1
The Eagles will most likley select one of the following OL with their 1st Round Selection at #24
#1) G Camrini from Wisonsin who probably will be off the board already
#2) A Castonzo from BC who has been very well coach and has a real nasty streak about him
#3) My darkhouse pick would be M Reynolds from BYU who again has been very well coached and
at 6′ 6″ and 325lbs, would probably compete for RT and then slide W Justice to RG by 2012 Season
The hurry up in the SB was just one of many possible examples of poor play calling with this team. As far as checkdowns etc, you still need the right play and player package, which goes along with the play calling, to be successful. As far as who actually makes the calls, I couldn’t friggin care less if its MM or AR but AR is to blame. Glad you brought up Fraley getting is butt whipped in the SB since thats a prime example of adjusting your play calling to account for a weakness, which Reid did not. I’ll throw in the Vikings game as another example of not making proper adjustments. Poor game-time adjustments, after seeing that his game plan ain’t cutting it is one of ARs greatest failings as a head coach but I’m happy to agree that we differ completely on our opinions oof the importance of play calling.