Now that is the Eagles team I saw in the fist game of the year; if you haven't heard, after a rough week, and a tough go of it the last three weeks, the Eagles played one of their best coast-to-coast games of the season on Thursday night, blowing out the Arizona Cardinals 48-20. Oh, what a feeling. What a relief. What a needed victory after the turmoil of the recent days. Jim Johnson deserves kudos for a fantastic scheme against Arizona's high-powered passing game. Donovan McNabb and his teammates are to be applauded for their execution of the X's and O's. Andy Reid deserves credit for preparing a superb offensive game plan. All of the concerns I have voiced in the last few weeks were addressed in Thursday's game, now if they can just keep that focus this team could still be the team we thought they were in week one. The Eagles blew the doors off the Cardinals with a balanced, powerful offensive performance that gained 437 yards, converted 10 of 15 third downs, piled up 32 first downs and controlled the clock for 39 minutes, 33 seconds. Everybody contributed. Everyone helped. Stung by criticism (they heard it, no question) the Eagles banded together and played a hell of a game to get to 6-5-1. The Eagles know they have no margin for error. They know they have to go on a perfect run and also get some help to make the playoffs. They also know that they are better than the way they have played at times this season, and on Thursday night, they showed it. The Eagles had too many penalties, 8 for 61 yards, but they turned the ball over only once (when DeSean Jackson mistakenly pounced on a bouncing punt because he thought it hit another Eagle, and then Jackson lost control of the ball to the Cardinals) and they forced four from Arizona.
McNabb was great, absolutely great. He looked so calm and cool and confident in the pocket with 27 completions in 39 attempts for 260 yards and 4 touchdowns. His passer rating: 121.7. McNabb also ran 4 times for 24 yards(somthing that has been missing in McNabb's performance for a while now), part of a ground that game added up to 185 yards on 40 rushing plays. Brian Westbrook deserves all kinds of love and respect for his performance: 22 carries, 110 yards and two touchdowns, along with 3 receptions for 20 yards and a pair of scores. Hank Baskett was terrific with 4 catches and 33 yards in the first half. He made one fantastic diving catch and did a nice job all around catching the football in traffic, using his body well and making sure his hands were soft, but strong. Baskett then had a timely catch to convert a third down early in the third quarter. Baskett's playing time has certainly increased of late and it appears he has taken Reggie Brown's reps and opportunities. The entire offensive line dominated, particularly Jamaal Jackson, Todd Herremans and Tra Thomas. Outstanding job in the run game. Terrible injury suffered by Max Jean-Gilles. He was hit from behind and suffered a fractured right ankle. He'll miss the remainder of the season. The Eagles are going with Nick Cole (who did a great job filling in) at right guard with Winston Justice and Mike McGlynn waiting. L.J. Smith started, but Brent Celek seemed to play a majority of the snaps. And Celek played well in an all-around performance. Smith chipped in with a very fine 25-yard catch and run in the third quarter. The fans gave Kyle Eckel a standing ovation when he gained 2 yards and converted a third-and-1 situation on the team's first drive. Eckel helped in the fourth quarter with a couple of bruising runs. Lorenzo Booker played sparingly through three quarters, with one carry for 8 yards. He had a few other snaps, but the Eagles didn't get him the ball at those times. Booker had a couple of good runs in the fourth quarter, showing great quicks and the ability to sliver through a hole. He ran for 21 yards on 4 carries. Jackson had another 6 catches for 76 yards and a touchdown, his second of the season. Jackson has 53 catches for 775 yards in his rookie campaign. Such an impressive young man and player. I wonder how much value dressing six receivers is providing this team. Neither Brown nor Greg Lewis has seen many reps of late. The Eagles are going with a lot of Kevin Curtis, Jackson, Baskett and Jason Avant.
Quintin Demps played in the dime, replacing Sean Considine. Demps was outstanding. He made a nice tackle on Anquan Boldin early after a short gain, covered well, and continued his good work on special teams. Late in the game, Demps broke up a pass intended for Boldon on the sidelines. I suspect Demps will get more and more time in the final four games. I loved the way both Chris Gocong and Stewart Bradley attacked the line of scrimmage and shot gaps and shut down early Arizona running attempts. As the Eagles piled up yards and touchdowns offensively, the defense did a superb job making Arizona one-dimensional. Minus Asante Samuel, Joselio Hanson started at cornerback with Sheldon Brown and then moved inside to the slot in the nickel as Brown played the left side and Lito Sheppard played the right side. Hanson is an interesting guy. He has had a very good season and is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent after the year. Hanson is worth keeping, no question about it. Sheppard had a rough night. Another good job from Akeem Jordan both at the WILL position and on special teams. Jordan's fumble recovery of an Anquan Boldin fumble early in the fourth quarter was huge. Jordan is playing well.
My man Dawkins deserves his own paragraph here so I'm going to give it to him. Weapon X, B-Dawk, Woolverine (as my son calls him because of an inteview we saw once where the artist that draws the X-men drew him as Woolverine) or whatever you want to call him was everything we've come to expect from him. He was everywhere, everytime there was a play on defense he was right there in the middle of it, hitting hard and disrupting the offense. He caused an important fumble and several incomplete passes. Finally Late in the Fourth quarter he got his 34th career interseption which all but ended the Cardinal's hope for a last minute comeback. That is exactly why he is my favorite player. Great job Dawk and I hope that you can be here long enough to get a Superbowl ring. If anyone on this team deserves one more than you I don't know who it is.
David Akers continued his sweet groove, nailing a pair of field goals to extend his consecutive field goals streak to 14. Akers is 6 of 7 on field goal tries between 40 and 49 yards this season. Great game from Sav Rocca, who averaged 45.7 yards on his punts. Two of his kicks landed inside the 20-yard line. On the other side was Dirk Johnson, who averaged a paltry 36.3 yards per punt.
What else can I say? If the Eagles had played like this all season we might be looking at a record more like the Giants or even Tennessee. They have ten (well deserved) days now to get ready for the Giants. Lets all hope that whatever they did to revive themselves they keep it up. I think we can all agree that they are going to have to play just as well in the upcomming game as they did Thursday if they have any hope of beating the impressive Giants team. I have to admit that I really enjoyed this game after spending all day at my parents house listening to all the Cowboy's fans talking smack, and I hope that I can be the one talking smack when the Eagles meet the cowboys in December. Kudos to McNabb for showing the whole world that he still has it, and to the whole team for a much needed win.
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