Eagle Eye Observations: Week 5
I went into greater detail than normal in my post-game wrap, so I’ll keep these as brief as possible. Here we go:
- Reid is now 11-0 after the bye week. Got that out of the way.
- Sheldon had another pick, but was also burned twice. One was dropped by Michael Clayton.
- Speaking of drops. Bucs had seven at last count. They left points on the field.
- I loved the thumbs up to the sideline from McNabb after he was crushed on a sack.
- I loved the leap by Celek. He is fun to watch. If he can’t plow through a guy, he’ll just jump over them.
- I loved the run and catch for six by Leonard Weaver. And did my eyes deceive me or was that big Leonard running for a first down on second and short? Let’s hope he doesn’t disappear for the next three weeks.
- I loved the seven-yard TD run by Westbrook. Blocking was solid and he hit the hole faster than he has this season.
- I loved Asante‘s two picks. Even though both were gifts.
- I loved the double linebacker blitz which netted Chris Gocong a sack.
- I hated the Wildwhatever nonsense. Unless they start switching it up, it should be scrapped.
- I hated the missed tackles by pretty much everyone on defense.
- I hated that Kellen Winslow made the safeties and linebackers look foolish. To be fair, he is a pretty damn good player.
- I REALLY hated the personal foul penalty on Macho on a third and twenty-five. Big time rookie mistake.
- Why did the Bucs keep using third and fourth corners on Maclin after his opening drive touchdown? Partly explains why they are 0-5.
- More Maclin. He ran a great route on Ronde Barber and beat him soundly. That’s a good sign.
- Not that they needed it, but 4/10 on third downs is poor. On the flip-side, the defense allowed 9/18. That number needs to be lower. The pass rush has to get through, and thus far in ’09, it’s been spotty at best.
- Trent Cole was a monster in the second half. So was Darren Howard, who lived in the Bucs backfield the entire fourth quarter.
- Did I mention Jeremy Maclin has sweet hands? Which means he’ll drop three next week.
- Nothin’ against Westy, but Shady needs more touches. He provides a good spark to the offense.
- Stacy Andrews was in at right guard on two of the touchdown drives.
- Akers and Rocca boomed all their kicks. Nice.
- Antonio Dixon made a couple nice plays inside. He has flashed more the last two games than Trevor Laws, which probably explains why Laws is on the outs.
- When was the last time you saw two offensive lineman catch a pass in the same game? I know, Winston‘s was ruled a McNabb fumble, but it was still amusing to see.
- The blitzes up the middle worked. Most of the other ones didn’t.
- Westbrook on a middle linebacker is still a major mismatch. That toss by Don was a thing of beauty.
- With the secondary beat up, look for Sean Jones to get extended playing time. He got a some good pressure up the gut.
- Jimmy Wilkerson had three sacks? I think Justice was beat on at least one of those. Not sure.
- Trotter didn’t seem to have much of an impact. Not bad, but nothing to write home about.
- The Eagles have three wins against teams with a combined 1-13 combined. They lost to a 4-0 team. Just sayin’.
- Reid won his one-hundredth game. Who would have thought that the day he was hired?
That’s all I got. The Eagles are still a work in progress. They have yet to play a complete game in all facets. The defense is very much an enigma. I’d like to think they can be dominant, but the only elite offense they faced destroyed them.
I’m less worried about the offense; however, the running game remains an issue for Reid. Maybe the return of Todd Herremans and Stacy to full-time status is the answer. Or maybe it will be another season of hand-wringing over a hit or miss offensive attack.
Next up is a trip to the west coast to battle another team in disarray. As horrific as the Raiders may be, I can’t help but fell uneasy about this one. Then again, when does an Eagles fan ever feel confident? Uh, never.