• March 28, 2024

Thoughts From Eagles-Giants

Vick Uses His Legs To Spark Success

Michael Vick played an encouraging game tonight. He wasn’t sharp from start to finish, and there were a couple of throws that he’d like to have back, but he didn’t turn the football over for the first time all season, and used his legs to make a couple of big plays to keep drives alive.

Vick carried the ball six times for 49 yards, using his natural speed and quickness to blow by defenders and pick up some important first downs. The quarterback’s play tonight reminded me a little bit of some of his fantastic efforts from 2010. He kept his mistakes to a minimum, and he looked much more comfortable tonight because he played a little more like the Michael Vick of old, and not the Vick that has been confined to the pocket in the early parts of the season.

Balanced Offense Results In Victory

Astonishing. Andy Reid calls a balanced offensive attack, and the result is a much more efficient offense that powers the team to victory.

With Michael Vick not carrying as much pressure on his shoulders, the quarterback was able to play what might have been his best game of the season.

LeSean McCoy and the running game struggled to get off of the ground early, but Reid stuck with the run and eventually McCoy and his blockers began to wear the Giants down and rip off longer runs late in the game. Andy even got a couple of other running backs involved in the act, splitting six carries between Bryce Brown and Stanley Havili.

Lady Luck Was Supporting Philadelphia Tonight

The Eagles were very fortunate to come out of tonight’s battle victorious. Although the team didn’t turn the ball over at all, they still made a number of mistakes that could have cost them the game on any other night.

Worst of all was the team’s redzone efficiency. The Eagles got down to the goalline twice in the second half, and both times had to settle for field goals, leaving eight valuable points on the field. It’s just as important to capitalize on redzone opportunities as it is to avoid turnovers. Redzoen success has been another one of this team’s issues in recent years, and it has to get better in the coming weeks.

Luck was also on the Eagles’ side in the final moments of the game, as Lawrence Tynes missed a 54-yard field goal (twice) to end the game. the second attempt looked good when it first left the ground, but just didn’t have enough steam on it to spoil the Eagles’ night.

Pass Rush Goes MIA

In two straight games now, the defense line hasn’t been able to generate pressure on the quarterback.

The biggest strength of the Philadelphia defense is their pass rush, but tonight this phase of the game just didn’t show up. Eli Manning had all the time he needed to find open receivers, and wasn’t sacked once and was rarely hurried.

Jason Babin saw a lot of double teams from the Giants, and Trent Cole wasn’t much of a factor. Phillip Hunt, Brandon Graham, and Darryl Tapp were unable to provide much of a punch off of the bench.

Special Teams Are Nothing Special

The special teams units were absolutely atrocious tonight, particularly in kickoff coverage.

David Wilson ran back six kicks, and averaged 36 yards a return, including one that went for 53 yards. The Giants started near or on their own 40-yard line throughout the night, including on their final possession of the game.

Meanwhile, the Philadelphia return men still can’t seem to make anything special happen. Brandon Boykin and Damaris Johnson have been non-factors in the return game throughout the season so far.

What’s the deal with this unit? Wasn’t Bobby April supposed to be the best special teams coach in the league? Since he joined Reid’s staff several years ago, it sure doesn’t seem to me as though he’s made any kind of great impact on this unit. I can forgive one poor night of kick coverage, as the Eagles’ coverage units have normally been solid, but the return games have been weak for years and don’t seem to have improved a little bit.

Quick Thoughts

  • Alex Henery needed to be flawless tonight, and he connected on all four of his field goals.
  • The honeymoon with the regular refs is over. Those pass interference calls against the Eagles on the final New York drive were absurd. Fortunately, they did spot the offensive interference call that pushed the New York offense back by 10 yards, which turned out to be one of the most important calls in the game.
  • The Eagles’ offensive line deserves a lot of credit for how they handled the powerful New York defensive line. Michael Vick was only sacked twice on the night, and the line opened up some nice running lanes for LeSean McCoy later in the game.
  • I don’t think the secondary as a whole played a strong game tonight, but its hard to blame them for their failures when they had little support from the defensive line.
  • Brandon Hughes saw a fair amount of playing time once Nnamdi Asomugha had to leave the game temporarily. Hughes dropped an interception he should have had in the endzone that could have kept a Tynes field goal off of the board.
  • I’m surprised the Giants decided to lean heavily on Ahmad Bradshaw, and only gave five touches to Andre Brown. Bradshaw just isn’t anything special to me, and I really like what Brown did a week ago in Carolina.
  • Anyone that was in the stadium had to be impressed by the Brian Dawkins retirement ceremony at halftime. I’ve never seen a team honor a player with such an impressive display, and its clear that Jeffrey Lurie really went all out to give Dawk a ceremony he deserved.
  • Even better than that was to see Dawkins come out of the tunnel, introduced as an Eagle one last time. There will never be another player like #20.

Final Thoughts

This is a very important and encouraging win for the Eagles. They picked up a win against a division foe, and possibly their strongest competition. They also made some strides by not turning the football over, and saw some improved play from their offensive line against a strong defensive unit.

For at least one week, the talk of benching Michael Vick for Nick Foles will go away, as the Eagles sit at 3-1 on top of their division. Next week a difficult road challenge awaits when the team visits the Pittsburgh Steelers, who are fresh off of their bye week.

Denny Basens

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Talongrip
Talongrip
October 1, 2012 6:33 am

Great win for the Eagles….I liked that #20 was ablr to come out of the tunnel with team before the game!!! #25 is a straight out baller!! #10 clearly strikes fear in opposing defenses!! Good Win against a Hated rival. Remember Eagles nation we Hate the Giants not Dallas or Washington.

bsmvideos
October 1, 2012 6:55 am

There is no such thing as luck. You have all the previous plays that accumulate to put you in a position to win or lose. We just focus on the last few plays of a game.

The Eagles were able to defeat the defending superbowl champion because Andy Reid choose to run the football or balance his attack. Vick several times fell down and took sacks rather than throw interceptions.

Maybe the first few games were Vick’s preseason, or maybe the thought of getting benched helped Vick to make less careless decisions.

MaybeTheyCan
MaybeTheyCan
October 1, 2012 7:14 am

Denny, I guess you saw a different game than i did because the Eagles D put a lot of pressure on Manning especially in the first half. They didn’t get a sack but there were many passes that we’re incomplete, IMO, due to the pressure they put on Manning. Unfortunately the pressure diminished as the game wore on and when the Giants went to no huddle, the was almost no pressure at all.

rcp1936
rcp1936
October 1, 2012 7:44 am

Where is this Genius Bobby April Special Teams Coach

lewdoggie20
lewdoggie20
October 1, 2012 8:05 am

Maybe no sacs but a lot of pressure. That is why Eli could not deliver td passes. This team is continuing to improve. Can’t wait until they light someone up. I hope it’s the cowgirls.

schiller
schiller
October 1, 2012 8:05 am

Rcp, I guess he’s sleeping in. Sleeping well because he’s on the winning team.

It was bad punt/KO coverage, real bad. But they have a week to improve and a first place spot.

reed_richards
reed_richards
October 1, 2012 8:36 am

hey where’s “paul the fraud”??? lol another prediction of a loss was wrong as usual. Anyway, enough of him.

RCP, I couldn’t agree more. Bobby April should be fired ASAP! 36 yards per return for David wilson??? unacceptable,

mr1charlton
mr1charlton
October 1, 2012 10:34 am
Reply to  reed_richards

Paulman = mitt romney, he always hides out when vick plays alright and the birds win. he’s not a true football fan, he’s lets his personal opinion about players skew his judgement.

haveacigar
haveacigar
October 1, 2012 8:58 am

Real nice win… they are 3-1 and as stated there is no such thing as ‘ifs’ in the nfl its just w’s or l’s– i think if someone told me they would be 3-1 in the first quarter of the season i’d have taken it without question. the good part is they are winning without playing the most solid ball so if they can chalk up some sloppy wins while gearing up for a late season surge, a late season roll thats the combination you need

SONGSRME2
SONGSRME2
October 1, 2012 9:01 am

Andy almost proved me right by calling a timeout on a wide kick ..so I’ll just wait for him to fall back into his losing game day antics next week.

This same team got stomped by the Cards last week and we’ll now face a fierce 3-4 defense who’ll employ the same game plan as the Cards.

I did find out that Vick can run the west coast offense if Marty actually calls a west coast game but that will be short lived.

Steelers at home 26

Eagles 20

navyeaglefan
navyeaglefan
October 1, 2012 10:19 am
Reply to  SONGSRME2

ALMOST proved you right? That’s the story of your life you sorry fuck – you are always ‘ALMOST right’ which means you are dead wrong you losing sad sack of shit –

8 of the last 9 times the Eagles and giants have played the eagles have won – but you ‘almost’ were right about the giants having a blueprint to beat the eagles. You were ‘almost’ right about Juan castillo and the defense – you were ‘almost’ right in predicting the ginats winning –

7 more wins and you are gone you sorry excuse making ass licking douche – bodies aren’t even warm from last nights win and you are on to predicting another loss –

so by fierce defense – you mean the defense that gave up 34 points to Oakland? You sound like such a wannabe…

me – I am more worried they are playing at home, coming off a bye week with a 1-2 record… – but those are facts – you, you just wanna sound like you know something…

eagles0superbowls
eagles0superbowls
October 1, 2012 9:59 am

can you believe those NBC producers pre-planned and pre-arranged for salsa music to play simultaneously with Victor Cruz’s TD — FU NBC and if see any NBC employee give them a finger for me including Brian Roberts

bugsyhawk
bugsyhawk
October 1, 2012 10:10 am

eagles0superbowls… I effin threw up in my mouth when that happened. Bush league crap.

eagles0superbowls
eagles0superbowls
October 1, 2012 10:13 am

A 3rd come from behind game winning 4th quarter score win with the D shutting down each team in the last 2 minutes of the game with plenty of time to kick a field goal ( 3 times )
There is nothing to complain about today
Maybe Brian Rolle and Casey Matthews’ kick off coverage just to get one swipe but Eli

Manning is a dope – once for that Interception in the end zone to DRC and 2nd for throwing that stupid pass that Aso #24 which should have been intercepted which resulted in pushing the game missing field goal back 10 yard and 3rd for almost throwing that end of the half interception to Brandon Hughes ( which by the way was pass interference)

paulman
paulman
October 1, 2012 11:58 am

A great game to watch and as I already stated on another post, was Vick’s best overall game and a very smart one in quite some time
Solid Play-Calling and execution from last TD Scroing Series at the end of the 1st Half and was clicking the entire 2nd Half..
I didn”t care much for the 3 Runs in a rown from the 3 YArd line where they had to settle for 3 PTs..
A big Division Win but still a few glaring problems that need to get fixed and fixed quickly
Special Teams,as I have bitched about, all Summer/Early Season are horrible and really almost cost them this Giants Game (and should have)
CB Asmo poor coverages on Deep ROutes– Asmo is the most Overrated CB in the netire NFL, Brandon Highes outplayed him for the quarter he was in there while Asmo was getting his eyes checked..
Opposing Offenses will look at GIants/Ravens Tape and find a few things this Eagle Team is very weak in..
(Bunch Formations and hitting the crossing route Recever and the Deep Route to Asmo’s Side..)
I am not sure why the GIants on their final drive went away from the Bunch Formations for the Eagles looked completely lost in trying to Defense from a Safety,LB and CB Boykin perspective ..
As far as Asmo Deep Coverage SKills go, He is the main weakness that Teams will look to exploit.. and with a slow-footed Coleman to be that back-up Coverage on Deep Routes to Asmo’s Side, Teams will continue to challenge them and why wouldn’t they

A Great Win for the Team,Vick and the Coaching Staff

RealTalk777
RealTalk777
October 1, 2012 12:17 pm
Reply to  paulman

Paulman, you were all on Vick last week…What surprises me, is how you responded after the last week loss…you were tired of Vick, tired of this, tired of that…the playground ball, yada, yada, yada, sounded like you had a lot of hate…At no time did you see what I saw from last weeks loss, which surprised me, cuz I thought you knew more about the game, than you displayed in your rants, by blaming a single individual!…Last night we saw the opposite! options for Vick to go with the ball, shorter passes, solid protection, play calling (when is the last time you saw a game called like that)

chevron2105
chevron2105
October 1, 2012 12:24 pm

Lol, I agree, I am just going to enjoy the win! Of course next week will bring with it its own challanges and things to be worried about but for today I am just happy the Eagles got the win. lol