Eagles Fall to Colts in Ugly Fashion

facebooktwitterreddit

It’s games like these that leave me wondering what the hell goes on at NovaCare during the week. Do they practice or just play dominoes and Parcheesi? If it’s any consolation, the Eagles have never fared too well versus the elder Manning. In the last three regular season games, the Birds vaunted defense has allowed 124 points while losing all three contests.

Hey, it’s preseason. No need to be concerned. Twelve penalties and four fumbles is completely normal. Right? Ugh…

– Okay, Ellis Hobbs played terrible, then got hurt (ankle), again. He missed two tackles and released Reggie Wayne into the open for six. Demps took the inside route. Did Hobbs not get the right call? He is new to the defense. Whatever the case, he and the secondary looked silly.

– Where art thou pass rush? Is Trent Cole the only guy capable of sacking the quarterback besides Jason Babin? Babin, by the way, played a strong game: 4 tackles, 1 sack and 1 FF. Very nice to see against the Colts first unit. As for the rest of the line… I think you know.

Juqua started, not Abiamiri. Vic showed me nothing.

– Add Leonard Weaver to the sprained knee list. I hear tell a construction crew is being called in to add a wing to the trainer’s room at NovaCare.

– Do the linebackers plan on covering a tight end this season? Eight catches for 89 yards following last week’s woeful effort versus the Pats‘ Chris Baker. Jordan, Gocong and Mays were all beaten on routes. Witten, Cooley, Boss, Gates, Gonzalez, Olson and Shockey are all on the schedule. McDermott better fix this ASAP.

– Well, Dunlap tried to get Don killed. That spin move by Freeney was sick! Hello, Jason Peters… HELLO!!!

Shady. Looked. Slow. I think all that work in the last month finally caught up to the rook. He dropped a catchable ball and didn’t hit the hole real quick. To be fair, he was one of the few guys who played hard.

DeSean is good… really good.

Moise Fokou is this year’s Joe Mays. Always around the ball. He logged six stops, but also had a bad pass interference penalty. Bottom line: he makes this team.

Reggie Brown caught his customary one pass and was flagged for illegal formation. The dude has been in the system for five fu**ing years! How the hell does he line up in the wrong spot? It was one of, I think, four illegal formation penalties. Inexcusable.

– Poor game for Maclin. He appears at times uncomfortable returning  both punts and kicks. A bobble, a fumble and a a dropped pass that was delivered slightly behind him from Feeley. He’s learning, folks. No need to panic.

– I’ll be interested to see if the Eldra Buckley bandwagon loses some members after fumbling and dropping an easy pass. At least he’s not…

Lorenzo Booker, who failed to covert a fourth-and-inches and alligator-armed a ball Ricky Watters style. He made a couple nice grabs, but ran with the third team offense, while Buckley took second team reps.

Brandon Gibson continues to impress: 4 catches for 49 yards and a late touchdown. Granted, he’s doing this against deep reserves, but at this point, he deserves a spot on this team. From what I’ve seen, he’s outperformed Reggie.

– Joe Mays was late on a tackle and over-ran another play. He was credited with a pair of assists. That’s it.

What was the deal with Asante? He had a chance at two picks, but came away with none. Then he got schooled by Anthony Gonzalez.

Rob Myers had 4 receptions for 44 yards. Unlike Schobel, he has the ability to get open.

Winston looked good. No big mistakes. Let’s hope he can carry this into the regular season.

– Tracy White made a sweet interception. The “momentum” rule is total BS; it should have been a touchback. The NFL rulebook never ceases to amaze me in its stupidity.

– Did my eyes deceive me, or did Kyle Eckel fall down after catching a pass? There was no one within ten yards and he did a dead drop face-plant. Sigh.

Reid summed up this laugher concisely by calling it “embarrassing.” Allow me to offer up a few more adjectives: awful, putrid, vomit-inducing and shameful.

Isn’t the preseason grand? Hopefully, all the wrinkles will be ironed out for the Jaguars game. Peyton used last week’s poor performance as motivation to come out and destroy the Birds, so maybe the guys in green can do the same next week.

One positive note: no major injuries. Of course, in order to get hurt, you normally have to put forth some sort of effort.

Subscribe to ITI.