Eagles Deficiencies Unveiled by Saints

Last week was either a fluke by the Eagles, or the fact that a Jake Delhomme-led Panthers team is atrocious.  This week, however, the true talent (or lack thereof) of the Birds was revealed to the masses.

I know that Donovan McNabb was injured, but Kevin Kolb filled in perfectly for McNabb.  In fact, I think Kolb may have performed better than Number Five would have.  31-51, two touchdowns and three interceptions.  He even made some throws on target to receivers in stride - something McNabb has trouble doing at times.  I have seen Donovan put up much worse performances in his day than Kolb gave.  McNabb sitting out with an injury wasn’t the issue here.

You can’t expect to win many games when the defense gives up 48 points.  I don’t care how good the Saints offense is, “one of the best defenses in the NFL” shouldn’t give up 48 points to anybody.  This defense has been overrated since the end of last season.  Last week, Delhomme continuously handed the ball to the Birds defense on a silver platter.  This week they didn’t get so lucky.

The Eagles D is composed of young, undersized, and unproven players.  It doesn’t help that the starting middle linebacker (Stewart Bradley), who was poised to have a breakout season, had a season ending injury in training camp.  And it doesn’t help that the mastermind behind the Eagles defense (Jim Johnson) died over the summer, putting the defense in the hands of Sean McDermott.  Not to mention the secondary has difficulty defending tall receivers.

These sub-six foot cornerbacks don’t match up well against height.  On one of Drew Brees’ touchdown passes, he simply threw it over Joselio Hanson’s (5′9″) head to Marques Colston (6′4″).  Aside from being vertically challenged, Hanson defended the play magnificently.  But you can’t teach height…or speed.

Reid finally figured out that the NFL is a speed game and has picked up some fast wide receivers in the draft.  DeSean Jackson is a game changer, and Jeremy Maclin supposedly has some wheels.  But in the red zone, it helps to have a 6′4″ 6′5″ guy to lob the ball up to.

As usual, Reid blamed the off on himself.  “Too many mistakes.  That’s my responsibility.”  Yes, Andy, you are partly to blame for the loss, but I don’t think you can take credit for all the mistakes that your team made today.  How many block-in-the-back penalties did we have on kick and punt returns?  Are you saying that if you said to the team before the game, “Hey guys, if you can see the back of the guys jersey, don’t hit him,” that the penalties wouldn’t have happened?

Reid possesses an arrogance that he can get it done his way.  He doesn’t need a good special teams unit.  He doesn’t need a solid receiver.  He doesn’t need a big, durable running back.  Andy, how many Super Bowls have you won doing it your way?

Get a big running back that can get us one yard when we need it.  Westbrook is going to get hurt by November.  Get us a tall receiver that can come down with a jump ball.  The only tall guy you had (Hank Baskett) you cut this week.  Luckily for him his wife makes a decent living…she’ll probably dump him now that he doesn’t have a team anymore.

And the special teams!  For crying out loud, how many games have you lost because the special teams sucks!?  You need a consistent kick/punt returner that knows what he’s doing.  Yeah, DeSean Jackson and Ellis Hobbs have the speed to make a big play every once in a while, but they also make a lot of stupid decisions.

They both hang the ball out there with one hand, causing them to fumble frequently.  You saw Hobbs cough up the ball on one play, then miss a tackle leading to a touchdown on the ensuing drive.

And Jackson thinks every play is going to be a home run!  He elected to field a punt on his own two yard line!  The two! The general rule is: don’t touch anything within the ten yard line.  Had he let the ball bounce in the end zone, they would have had the ball on the 20.  He did make a nice return out to the thirty yard line, but that was negated by the ever-so-frequent block in the back penalty that the punt return team has grown to embrace, leaving them starting on the three and going three and out.

I was impressed with the offensive line, who is filled with backups due to starters being injured.  The subs provided more protection than I expected, given their lack of experience and cohesiveness.  The defensive line however, who is supposed to be two deep at every position, sure has trouble getting to the quarterback.  The four man rush rarely gets the necessary pressure.  Along with the undersized, under-experienced linebackers, the front 7 is going to have a difficult time stopping the run this year.  Last week, they just loaded the box and counted on Delhomme to suck.  Good plan.

If the Birds sustain any more injuries, this could be a long season.  Reid needs to take a hard look at the composition of this team in the offseason, as well as his ego.  Get the talent you need in the offseason (none of this value-drafting/signing of under-the-radar players who have “potential” and you can get for cheap), and fix the little things that affect a game, such as the stupid penalties.

Until then, this looks like it will be another season of shoulda -coulda-woulda with a disappointing ending for the Eagles.

Corey is a pessimistic Eagles fan.  Feel free to commiserate with him in the comments section below.