The Good, The Bad, and The Struggly or Eagles-Jaguars Preseason

I just returned home from the preseason game at Lincoln Financial Field, and I was less than impressed with what I saw, but there were some good things. The Eagles' starters outgained the Jaguars' starters about 2 to 1, but the turnovers and red zone were a problem.

The Michael Vick entrance was greeted warmly by the fans, including incessant, and annoying, "woo woo woo woo woo" chuckles from the two college-age fans behind me (who later attempted to pick a fight with a pretty big dude in his thirties who wore a B-Dawk Broncos jersey and booed McNabb and called for Vick). Vick looked OK. He didn't wow me on any play but he didn't make any big mistakes, and his red zone throw to Baskett was an excellent read and a decent throw. It will be interesting to see what else they do with him, but I suspect in future appearances, they'll ask him to run quite a bit more.

So here's what I noticed from my perch in the stands:

The Good

The defense looked solid I thought, if you can except the asinine failure to pick up the fumbled ball that became the Jaguars' first touchdown.

Trent Cole played a lot early and looked healthy, and Asante Samuel was awesome as ever. Every time I watch him play, I'm more and more convinced he was worth the massive contract.

Abiamiri didn't do a whole lot from the end spot when he was lined up there, but he really looked great as a third round pass rusher from the DT spot in the nickel.

Bunkley was a beast--if you didn't know it yet, you're talking to the new President of the Broderick Bunkley fan club. He made plays against the run, and he just ate up blockers on pass plays. I saw him triple-teamed more than once. I love it!

Ellis Hobbs had a great first quarter both in coverage and tackling, making up for his Colts game debacle.


Shady McCoy looked real fast. His touchdown run was great--the way he pressed the hole and then was able to bounce it out and get himself moving faster laterally than the defensive players chasing him. He showed similarly impressive speed a couple other times, including on a third and short play (in which Vick was under center) in the red zone. Also, I was really impressed with his blitz-pick up on more than one play--this is what usually keeps rookie RBs buried on our depth chart. He seems to be a kid who really gets it, and that is exciting. Expect him to be on the field way more than any rookie rb we've seen here under Reid (including Westbrook, who barely carried the ball his rookie season after randomly being the anchor in Reid's way too conservative second half game plan in our come-from ahead opening day loss to Tennessee in 2002--for a bit of trivia. Incidentally, that was the game where my mom threatened I might not be allowed to watch Eagles games in her home, after I threw a pillow at the family room blinds. I have never again thrown anything in her home and have watched dozens more games there, but this is becoming a longer digression than is usual for even me. Let us return to August '09)


D. Jackson looked fast as hell and was open way more than he got looked at, and Avant's hands really are great. Too bad Braylon Edwards and Mario Manningham didn't take catching lessons from him when they were in "school" together. This guy catches everything. With the balls he's catching, Avant could be an injury insurance policy for Paul Bako.


Buckley looked good and he made a nice special teams play too, which will be crucial for him to make the team. Right now, he's the fourth RB I'm keeping (after B-West, Shady, and Weaver)


The Bad


Hank Baskett had a couple real bad drops, but he had a nice catch there too, and a couple good blocks, so I'm seeing him making this team.

McNabb looked out of sorts in the pocket several times. He made more lazy throws that couldn't clear the linemen's paws than I care to remember. The pass to McCoy that turned into a fumble touchdown was a bad pass and a terrible decision (if he catches it, he's smacked down for a loss anyway). Though he showed some flashes, in general McNabb was ineffective. Then in his press conference, he bristled about Vick's sets messing up the team's rhythm. So much of McNabb's problems are mental. I hope he can be a man about this Vick thing and not let it get to him--and memo to the Idiot fans on their seventh Coors Light, stop with the "We Want Vick" chants, all that's going to accomplish is to get inside the head of our actual, very sensitive, starting QB. As for McNabb, I'm almost always a defender, but he really needs to grow a pair and simply focus on doing what he can to win the game. McNabb's (and the line's at times) troubles getting into a rhythm were not about whether or not #7 was on the field, they were about failing to make plays himself. I just hope he can realize this.

DE Bryan Smith was difficult to find, and I was looking. I didn't see him do much that was awful, but last year's third round pick seems to have bumped down the depth chart by Jason Babin. I don't really see a space for both on the team, although Smith has shown so little on film that the Eagles may feel comfortable that he can clear waivers and be stashed on the practice squad.

The Run-Blocking. I can't single out anyone on the line, but as a unit this group did a lousy job of opening holes up for McCoy, and I saw nothing to impress me at FB from Eckel. I'm doubting he or Booker makes the team. We need Weaver back soon (and incidentally, we need to sign him to a contract extension if he stays healthy). I tried to specifically watch the tackles a bit, and I'll say that Peters did little to impress but little to upset me. Justice looked serviceable in the pass game, but seemed to me to be getting no push in the run game, surprising, b/c I expected the opposite from him.

Demps missed multiple tackles.

Mays seemed to have some trouble getting off blocks in run defense, especially on plays that moved laterally. We'll have to watch for improvement there, I hope we'll see it.

A little concerned about Westbrook not suiting up.

The Struggly

Kolb looked awful! Even several of his completions were mediocre throws. He hung Buckley out at least once, and his first red zone completion to Reggie Brown on the right side was a bit late and forced Reggie to sit down when he didn't really need to. Kolb didn't have the quite the time to throw that he should, but the pressure should have been manageable for the alleged future hopes and dreams of our storied little American football club. Maybe it's Kolb and not McNabb who needs to be worried about being bumped by Vick. After all, Vick's closer in age to Kolb than he is to McNabb. If that's the real Kevin Kolb, then I'm thinking about a long term deal for Vick ASAP--that was just terrible football.

Our red-zone playcalling in the first half. That swing pass was unconscionable. It should never have been called, although I still blame McNabb for throwing it when it was so well covered up, and how about hanging on to one timeout to preserve the possibility of running the ball down there at the end of the first half. Our three passes in a row were predictable and without a great catch by Mr. Kendra (which we cannot be counting on unfortunately) they're not working.

That Eckel fumble--protect that ball if you want to make an NFL roster (Incidentally, I'm still uncomfortable with how Maclin holds the ball when he runs but he did hang onto a couple nice catches in traffic).

Special teams were pretty pitiful, especially the kickoff coverage unit. This could be a real problem this season, although here's hoping that Omar Gaither's (Ike Reese Jr?) return can help those units out.

The Lincoln Financial Field Production. The inflatable helmet tunnel didn't inflate, and that delayed the start enough that they had to introduce the Eagles simply as a team (although this may have been the plan regardless?), and Swoop really seemed out of his element. Maybe he's allowed to drink before preseason games? Also, can we get the Phillies scores up on the out of town scoreboard--Come on, we're the World F---ing Champions here!

Welcome Number 7?

I’ve spent the past few days convincing myself that this Vick move is a good one, and, well, I’ve basically succeeded. I don’t want to get too deep into the moral dilemma of bringing him in, because I really want this post to be about football. Suffice it to say that I love dogs and find what he did to be horrible, almost unforgivable. But if he is sincere in his intentions to “help more animals than [he] hurt,” well that’s a start, and even better would be if he can reach out to impoverished youths tempted to get involved in dog fighting (I read he first started with it at age 8) and perhaps help discourage a mindset that promotes callousness and tolerates cruelty among some youths growing up in rough places--or at least Jeffrey Lurie hopes he can, and so do I. Having met several men who have developed a constructive outlook on life while incarcerated, I’m inclined to give Vick some benefit of the doubt that he really has rehabilitated/is rehabilitating himself. If Roger Goodell, Tony Dungy (who I often find annoying and holier than thou, but must admit seems to be a decent, moral man), Andy Reid, and Jeffrey Lurie are all willing to give Michael a second change, well, then I guess I am. (Although as Eagellectual reader Josh the Writer has pointed out, I’d probably be less supportive of him getting a second chance, if that second chance happened to be in Silver and Blue attire or at East Rutherford, New Jersey—but that’s the ambiguity of how morality and self-interest interact for all of us at some time or another, but I digress).

Now for the football part. For that I’m excited. Sports Illustrated’s Peter King correctly assessed, although in phrasing that would make me cringe if I read it on a freshman paper: “Vick is most definitely going to play an important role on what the Eagles do on offense.” Vick, when healthy, was one of the most dynamic players we’ve ever seen. Indeed the man has run for a thousand yards in a season from the quarterback position. The Eagles are saying that they brought Vick in to be a qb, but don’t let them fool you, and for what it’s worth, it doesn’t seem like any one is being duped by assertions that he’s really here to be a straight QB. Vick WILL be used for the wildcat, and a whole heck of a lot more than the 12 times they used DeSean last year (eleven runs, and one Monday night pass for an interception in the Cleveland end zone by current Eagles safety Sean Jones). Indeed, if Vick’s back in playing shape, he might be the ideal wildcat qb. As a younger qb, he at times struggled with accuracy and timing, but his rocket arm was never in question. With Vick taking a direct snap, teams would have to choose between bringing a safety forward to help defend him in the run or leaving the safety back to prevent a deep fly route. In that scenario, Vick is dangerous to either run for a first down, or launch one deep to one of our multiple ultra-speedy receivers. The amount of speed this team can put on the field between DeSean, Westbrook, McCoy, Maclin, Curtis, McNabb, and now Vick really will be downright scary for opposing defenses. Basically, I think we can expect to see Vick everywhere all over the field, plus if McNabb gets hurt and Kolb turns out to be a huge disappointment (although I’m still optimistic), well Vick is another option, one I’d personally take over Adam Joshua Feeley (I both have the same tendencies to throw interceptions but Vick has a cannon arm and lighting speed).

As for the roster spot, it will be interesting to see if they keep all four QBs or not, but it’s a decision they won’t have to make until Vick is fully reinstated, probably around week 6. If Vick really is going to be used as a weapon in the running game, I don’t see why they couldn’t keep him and the other three. Part of this question stems from the fact that I believe Vick is probably just going to be a one year rental, unless he comes in at QB for a hurt Donovan and blows everyone away (let me get back to that in a second). The thing about this roster right now is that it’s not clear that there are five running backs worth keeping. Traditionally, the Eagles keep four tailbacks (although for most years that number requires you to count the Mormon fair catch machine Reno Mahe as a tailback) and one fullback. If we keep five backs, then right now, we’ve got Westbrook, McCoy, and Weaver, leaving two spots for, in all likelihood, two of the following three: Eldra Buckley, Kyle Eckel, and Lorenzo Booker. I see no reason to assume that the Eagles wouldn’t consider cutting one of the remaining two come week six, if/when Vick is cleared, especially if it turns out that one of those last two RBs has injury issues by then (although hopefully not).

Concerning Vick’s future, it seems unlikely that it remains in South Philly beyond this year, unless McNabb suffers a pretty serious injury and Kolb does not turn out as advertised. Next year the Eagles have a team option to pay Vick over 5 million dollars (this year he comes in around 1.6 million), so that would be a whole lot for a guy who is not starting, especially if Kolb remains (and we have every reason to believe he will) the heir apparent. If indeed, Vick is only intended as a one year rental, then it makes it harder to cut A.J. Feeley to make room for Vick, but Feeley is only under contract through 2010, so they’d only be wasting one year of a backup’s contract against the caps, so it’s possible. It will be interesting to see how the Eagles use Vick and what this means for the rest of the roster, but I don’t think Donovan has much to worry about right now (if he stays healthy that is). It will probably be quite some time before we really get to see what Bick can do for this offense. He is slated to play in the final two preseason games, but Andy will probably play things pretty close to the vest and simply let Vick take a quarter or so under center. For the real creative uses of Vick, we’ll be waiting until mid-October, or later, but that’s usually just about the time of the season that the offense needs a good kick-in-the-ass, which makes this signing very intriguing, if equally complicated.

Bradley Out!

I heard it first from the Comcast cable installation guy (admittedly not the most credible source) and I didn't want to believe it, but in my heart I knew it was true. When he finally got the cable hooked up and then rehooked up (he switched the box before realizing the remote wasn't working), he turned to ESPN2 and while our fat friend Michael Golic jabbered about what Roger Goodell was going to do with Plaxico Burress while he awaits trial, I saw a blurb rolling across the bottom of the screen: "ESPN Radio 950 Philadelphia is reporting that Eagles LB Stewart Bradley suffers season-ending ACL tear" (or something like that). My heart sank. As you saw from my last post, I really believed that Bradley was ready to make the leap to pro-bowl caliber. Instead we're left with a big hole in the middle, perhaps the position on the defense where we haev the least NFL-tested depth. The obvious candidate to replace Bradley is Gaither, whose body-type screams weakside (235 lbs compared to Bradley's 255), even if Gaither seems to have a better grasp of the Mike position than the Will. Gaither will not be as stout against the runs up the middle, so we better hope that Bunkley and Patterson are as impressive this year as last year, and he tends to overplay at times against outside runs and the short passing game. That said, I do think Gaither has the tendency to be a playmaker, if also to make some mistakes. He has a nose for the football, and is a damn good hitter for his size (but is still small for the MIKE), but he won't be what Bradley could have.

The other possible backup here is Joe Mays, a second-year player who was a dynamo in the preseason last year but rarely made it onto the field thereafter. The kid looked like a bowling bowl bouncing around last year carrying ten pounds more than Gaither while being two inches shorter. I doubt though that he can grasp the intricacies of Johnson's defense enough to take over the Mike position, which is traditionally the signal-caller spot--something else significant we lose with Bradley going down.

Let's hope Gaither or Mays can be disciplined and play bigger than their size, or this Bradley loss will be a serious problem for a defense that I hoped would again be in the top 5 in the league. I hope he'll be back at full speed for 2010.