- Head coach Andy Reid
- Quarterback Donovan McNabb
- and Safety Brian Dawkins
It is hard for fans to accept more patience. A team that opened the season by blowing out the Rams, and then taking the Cowboys to the distance before manhandling the Steelers have taken a two-week powder at a time when the demands of the division and of the season are such that maximium performance and concentration was and is and always will be needed. The Eagles are 2-3, and if I hear that "the season is still early and anything can happen" I'm going to throw up. The season isn't young. Anything can happen, sure, but when you have three teams in the division with a total of two losses and with a schedule filled with what I see as cupcakes, you know, the writing is right there: It's 10 wins, maybe 11, or else. One more game and we will be in the middle third of the season. So what is going to happen? I don't know. The Eagles play San Francisco on Sunday in a game that promises to be another dogfight. A win gets the Eagles to 3-3 and then what? A bye week and time to re-assess the situation, sure. But it is an uneasy time, for sure. I don't know if Reid can wave a magic wand and provide the remedy. He is taking responsibility, as all great leaders do. Reid understands that he bears the responsibility of restoring the Eagles to the glory they had in the first half of this decade, when a 2-3 record was overcome by one inspiring performance after another. Does this team have it in them? Can this team win 8 of 11 games? Do you believe? I like to think that I do, but unless someone steps up and shows some leadership on offense I am not optimistic.
One of the intangibles missing with this team, and with the team from last year, is the ability to overcome adversity. Too many times already this season, the Eagles have lost the battle when faced with tough spots. They fumbled in Dallas and the defense couldn't hold a fourth-quarter lead. They had one chance after another after a tough start in Chicago to climb back in front and didn't do so. They led 14-0 over Washington on Sunday and let every ounce of momentum slip away without a counter-punch to consider. The Eagles need someone ( Reid, McNabb or Dawkins) to grab the locker room by the, throat and choke some sense into this team. Maybe "sense" isn't the right word. This team lacks confidence. It lacks direction. It lacks spark.
The 49ers are ahead. A sizable task exists, and through the frustration and the anger and the disappointment, the focus to turn it around remains. With the news that running back Brian Westbrook has two fractured ribs, of course, the road to the playoffs becomes more challenging. Westbrook wants to play in San Francisco on Sunday, and that remains to be seen if he can go. The pre-bye game has historically given the Eagles fits, and This team, at 2-3, can ill afford fits.
It's all about winning, or else. That is the mentality the Eagles must have; the players in their preparation for the game and the way they conduct their business on Sunday and every other game day for the rest of the season, and the coaches, who have to throw caution to the wind and create success with X's and O's. the offense has to come a long way between now and Sunday. I say the Eagles have to go for broke here. If it means they have to line up DeSean Jackson to take a direct snap and play a single-wing formation hey, I'm all for it. If it means Donovan McNabb has some designed runs in the game plan, put 'em in. The Eagles have to form an identity offensively. It all begins by winning the line of scrimmage, by establishing a running game, and by correctly using the personnel. With or without Westbrook, the Eagles need to run the ball. They have Correll Buckhalter, a good between-the-tackles slasher who is capable of carrying the football 20 times a game. They have Lorenzo Booker, who really has proven nothing so far here other than there are questions about him, but Booker deserves some touches to see if he can utilize his speed to provide a change of pace.
Part of it is a mentality. The big offensive line needs to be rewarded and given a chance to play some power football. Too often, it seems, the Eagles have run so little in quarters one through three that in the times when a run is called in the fourth quarter in the goal-to-go situations that have been so dreadful that there is no push, no fire, no burst coming off the ball. McNabb's game has to change, too. In the first two games, he was a pinball in the pocket. McNabb broke tackles, kept his legs moving, ran when he had the chance to run. Lately, there has been absolutely no threat of the scramble. Washington even played man-to-man coverage and the secondary turned their backs on McNabb, something the Redskins would have never done in the scrambling-McNabb days earlier in his career. I know McNabb is banged up, but all parties insist that McNabb is healthy enough to execute the offense. Well, part of the offense, part of every NFL offense, is having a quarterback who can put some pressure on defenses with his legs. McNabb isn't putting any pressure on defenses with his legs. McNabb said in his blog "I'm embarrassed with the way I played. I didn't do enough to win the game for my team. I take that to heart. I want the ball in my hand when the game is on the line and, if I have it, I have to make a play. I'll take that responsibility. All three of our losses were within a score so one play could have made a difference - a fumble, an interception, calling an audible, not calling an audible." I agree he needs to take charge of the offense and make some plays when they are needed. Then there is the receiving corps, which needs to be, as Andy Reid says, put in better positions on the field to make plays. McNabb needs to share in this piece, too. He need to throw with confidence to his receivers and allow them to make plays and catch and run. I bet that the Yards After Catch statistic, one category in which the Eagles have always ranked high (in large part because of Westbrook's receiving ability) is not where the coaching staff wants it to be after five games. (They sure could use that big WR now) The Eagles need to cut back on the mixing and matching of receivers and keep Jackson on the field as much as possible and try to feed him the football. He is clearly a big-play maker whom the Eagles need on the field with the ball in his hands. Kevin Curtis could play on Sunday, and when he is ready to go and shows he is at full strength, he needs to play a lot. Reggie Brown has had a couple of pretty good games since his return and needs some time, too.
Offensively, the Eagles have had little semblance of a running game since the opener against the Rams, and even then the Eagles gained just 108 yards on 32 carries. With no production in that phase of the game, the offense is way out of kilter. Why is there so little success on the ground? The Eagles aren't controlling the line of scrimmage. Teams are cutting off Brian Westbrook's running lanes and are eliminating any cutback room he has. The Eagles can't rely on McNabb and the passing game alone. Whatever defenses are doing, Jackson hasn't been nearly as involved in the air attack since he had six catches and 110 yards in Dallas. Whether they are doubling Jackson with a safety over the top, or taking away his room on routes, Jackson's numbers have gone down and the rest of the offense hasn't picked up the slack.
I haven't had much to say about the defence. That is because except for this last game they have played exceptionally, and I think that if the offense carried their own weight the defence would go back to that level of play. However, that isn't acceptable, they have to keep playing to that high level even if they seem to be carrying the team. Dawkins showed the kind of leadership this team needs more of when he gathered up the defence in the fourth quarter and tried to fire them up. Defensively, it all went wrong against Washington. The Redskins dominated from the second quarter on. Maybe the defense was simply gassed as the Eagles failed to sustain drives, but too many times Washington converted third downs and calmly dissected Philadelphia's pressure packages. What to do? The Eagles must generate some pressure from the front four and not rely so much on the blitz. They've got to do a better job of getting off the field on third down -- remember, Chicago converted 7 of 17 third downs a week earlier -- and they have to take control of the game and keep it. Maybe the offense's lack of production got to the defense on Sunday. By game's end, the defense was frantically trying to cover down the field and pressure Campbell as the young and emerging quarterback broke the pocket a few times to run for back-breaking first downs.
It would seem that the one real bright spot in Sunday's game was the special teams, until you look at David Akers. Jackson was great on his punt return and Sav Rocca is having a Pro Bowl season, but the concerns have to grow over Akers' performance. He is now 1 for 4 on field goals of longer than 40 yards this season, and just 3 of 14 in the last two seasons. Everything is there (the distance is great) except for the ball going through the uprights (I thought that was the important part). The kickoff return game was poor on Sunday and really hasn't had a big return in weeks. The kickoff coverage team had too many mistakes the last few weeks.
I hate to keep harping on the draft but, I am not the only one it seems that was not too happy with the results. John Smallwood had this to say in his blog:
What if the problem with the Eagles is that Reid and general manager Tom Heckert
severely overestimated the talent base of a team that finished 8-8 last season and had only two victories over teams that finished with winning records?
What if Reid and Heckert were wrong when they determined that the Eagles' talent base was so strong, they could afford to trade out of the first round in two consecutive drafts?
What if Reid and Heckert were wrong when they decided their skill players were so good, they could ignore the pleas of quarterback Donovan McNabb, running back Brian Westbrook and tackle Jon Runyan to get more "weapons"?
What if Reid and Heckert were wrong in believing that so many of the young players they were counting on could become impact players without suffering some of the growing pains that come with a lack of experience?
In conclusion I'm laying it on the veterans of this team to show the way. The coaching has to be better, I'm not excusing Reid and his staff by any means, but the players are the focus here. How much do the Eagles want to win moving forward? How good is the mix here? How is the eadership? I'm not sleeping. I'm miserable. I loved this team a few weeks ago and thought it would be a great season ahead, but how can you feel that way now? The Eagles have to prove it to all of us, themselves included. There is no spin here. There is no way to make you feel better, because at 2-3 and with two NFC East losses already, the Eagles are in a difficult, unenviable spot.
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