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!