I never thought I would say this: The Eagles wide receivers have had little or no impact on the Eagles offensive performance in the last two weeks. Yet anther painful loss has me wondering…why cant the Eagles seem to get their wide receivers more involved in the offense?
That is a direct question for Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg. It seems that their game plan just has failed in getting the ball outside to their receivers.
The Eagles longest passing play was 20 yards! That’s a ridiculous number for an offense that relies on the big play. The Eagles tried to spread them out, on the first drive, but it just didn’t work. That is a direct result of their failed offensive game plan. The first 15 plays or so in a West –Coast offense is their game plan that they work on all week. It didn’t work. They must get the ball deep, and they couldn’t do that.
Even though Jeremy Maclin was injured in points during the game, he only had two catches for 6 yards. This may have been caused by DeSean Jackson’s absence, which really made no sense to me. How do you game plan all week with DeSean Jackson in the lineup, and then take him out at the last minute? I really don’t get it. This is a game that the Eagles had to win.
It’s just smugness on Reid’s part. Yes, I know that you must stick to your guns as a head coach. However, he knows what kind of impact DeSean has on the game, even if he doesn’t get the ball. The defense must respect him, based off his explosive play in the past. I’m not saying that he should or shouldnt get an extension, because that is a whole different argument. I really don’t like his attitude, but at the same time, it was a bad choice by Reid to make that choice so late in the week.
But back to the wide receivers, they had no impact on the game. Routes were sloppy, and there were many drops (3 or 4). They also failed to get open on some occasions. This is ridiculous. As I said last week, the Eagles WRs must be more involved in the offense, including Jackson and Maclin. Jackson didn’t play, but Maclin did. I didn’t see Vick target him deep enough. This must change.
It seems that teams have figured out how to beat the Eagles: drop your safeties deep, and let them work in the middle of the field. The Eagles offense is all-short or intermediate passes over the middle. The same offense that the Eagles have run the last two weeks. Lots of check-downs, passes to McCoy and to Brent Celek.
Celek once again led the Eagles in catches with 4. Steve Smith was horrible. He was more involved with the offense, but had drops and didn’t look fluid in his route running. He also showed no awareness in a drive late in the 4th quarter, where he caught the ball, avoided contact and tried to go towards the sideline, and showed no awareness to where the first down marker was. He just went down, and the Eagles had to punt. I question his effort.
Riley Cooper also wasn’t great, and his lack of speed was hurting him with the Cardinals playing zone. Jason Avant didn’t really have an impact on the game, with only one catch. The bottom line is this: they really didn’t have any major impact on the game. This really isn’t acceptable.
This game should also be blamed on Michael Vick’s play. He was horrible, and threw two absolutely awful INTs. One was tipped and picked off by Calais Campbell. Vick should have seen him coming, and King Dunlap should have knocked him down. This wasn’t too bad, but the second one was. There was absolutely no reason for this. It was 3rd and 20, and Vick decided to take a shot deep. He had one-on one coverage, but overthrew Steve Smith. I question his decision-making. You don’t need to do that.
Especially on 3rd down, where you have another chance to convert if you mess up. It was exactly like the play that ended the Eagles season against the Packers, with Vick taking a risk that he didn’t need to take. Vick was also off-target on many occasions, and didn’t make the right decisions numerous times. At times, he looked like the old Vick, the way he just left the play and decided to scramble. This was also bad. On one occasion, he scrambled and almost got himself hurt. Fortunately for the Birds, he only got the “wind knocked out of him.”
The Eagles just came out and gave a horrible performance on offense, and the WRs were a big part of this. They had no impact on the game whatsoever. They failed to get open, dropped the ball, and ran sloppy routes. The game plan must change. It hasn’t worked the last two weeks, and teams continue to shut down the Eagles WR’s. They can’t get the ball to them deep, and this must happen for their offense to work.
Andy and Marty must be more create more big plays to get this team on the board early. This also brings up my final point, concerning why LeSean McCoy had only 14 carries. He is one of the best running backs in the NFL right now. He has shown flashes of brilliance. So, why do you continue to pass the ball, and not give to it McCoy when you have the lead in the 4th Quarter? It blows my mind.
I’ve stressed balance before, and the Eagles continue to not listen to me, and the losses keep pilling up. Its not a coincidence that in the games the Eagles won, they give the ball to McCoy over 20 times. All I know is that things must change, especially with their inconsistency on offense, and their soft play on defense. If it doesn’t, heads will roll. I’m looking directly at you Mr. Reid.
The most important one was sat down when should have just been fined.
Matt you made a very good point:
“How do you game plan all week with DeSean Jackson in the lineup, and then take him out at the last minute? I really don’t get it. This is a game that the Eagles had to win. It’s just smugness on Reid’s part.”
The real story is this high-priced defense, which Reid concentrated on rebuilding:
John Skelton threw for 160 yards in the 4th quarter. John Skelton.
That’s a rate of 680 yards for the game.
Reid doesn’t give a crap what you, me or anyone else thinks of him or his game plan. Reid is and has been for a very, very long time been beyond question. The fact of the matter is, if you don’t see Reid’s offense be reasonably productive during the the scripted 15+ plays, the offense will struggle mightily and it’s likely the game is lost. This is because Reid and company haven’t shown the ability to adjust the game plan during the game well enough to succeed and haven’t for many. many years.
And despite Reid’s inability to cahgne a game plan during the game well enough to win, his team has, since mid last year, found every way possible to quit. Not only did this team play incredibly poorly yesterday, the played with no heart or desire and they actually think they’re a good team. They won’t be a good team until they change their attitiude.
It also seems Jackson learned nothing. His statement was that he felt the punishment was unfair and undeserving. He’s a selfish loser.
The only thing this team left on the field yesterday was bird crap.
The real story id the impotent offense,
Last week the Defense scores 7 points vs the Bears on Fumble recovery
This week the get a pick 6 return by Samuel vs the Cards and it’s the Eagles Offense that hasn’t done much in the last 2 games (except in a few spurts here and there which is not good enough.. If the Eagles Offense can’t put up 24-27 points versus it’s opponents, it will not win any games plain and simple and I think most of us knew going into this Season… Vick is not efficient enough, can’t see over the line of scrimmage or read coverages well enough to do.. He was able versus the COwboys due to them staying in the same Deep Cover 2 all game long, but that won’t happen with good Defenses and good Def/Coordinators who will mix,match,disguise coverages to fool Vick.. and the Eagles WR’s collectively have become the weak link in the Offense as well as QB Vick… It is what it has become…
This is the article that I had been waiting for in which we defend D-jax. I knew it was coming. He hasn’t shown up for about 4 games now, so why not make it official. Who would he have decoyed for yesterday? Don’t blame this on Reid for enforcing rules. D-jax has been in the lineup for a lot of losses too. They didn’t need him to win yesterday. They needed to run the damn ball and they shoulda played man against Larry Fitz so that he didn’t get himself into coverages where DRC, Page, a LB or Hanson was covering him. He is their only receiving threat and the eagles D somehow couldn’t take him away.
To Drummer
4 X 160 = 640 and not 680
Did you go to Philadelphia Public Schools
Paul, your too funny. I was going to correct him, but felt bad. LMFBO!!!
Any notice that the best CB on the Field in this Game was non other than
Richard Marshall of the Cardinals (who I wanted to Eagles to pursue last year)