What the heck is wrong in Philadelphia?

By Os Davis  |   Wednesday, September 19, 2007  |  Comments( 4 )

Philadelphia Eagles
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Two weeks into the season: A great time to panic or celebrate your team's success, to start putting players on the trading block in your fantasy league (Maurice Jones-Drew, anyone...?), and perhaps most crucially to begin reassessing those preseason predictions.

To wit, the fate of the 2007 Philadelphia Eagles. Tapped by many to win the NFC East, as they have five of the past six seasons, the Eagles are instead leaving observers scratching heads, wondering why such limp, uninspired play is coming from such a talented bunch.

In searching for reasons to justify the team's 0-2 start, the Eagles' problems seem legion. Among them:

Donovan McNabb. Far be it for me to examine the man too closely, but the truth is that the NFL's second-winningest quarterback simply hasn't performed consistently since the Super Bowl appearance against the New England Patriots back in 2005. Since then, he's 9-12 as a starter and, given that Jeff Garcia essentially saved the Eagles' season in 2006, McNabb has not seen the playoffs since losing to Tom Brady & Co.

Most bizarre about the slide is that McNabb's stats have still been respectable; the intangible faults of this QB were in full evidence before a national audience on Monday night. Check out the stat line: 28 of 46 for 212 yards, zero TDs, zero interceptions, 73.27 rating. Blah numbers, to be sure, but hardly those of a guy whose team was never in the game.

What the numbers don't show is McNabb not being able to connect with Kevin Curtis as time ran down in the fourth quarter after Curtis executed routes well against a stingy Washington defense. (For comparison, check out McNabb failing to connect with Curtis with two minutes left in the first half as well.) Does McNabb expect any backlash from his inadequate play? He'd better.

Secondary issues. Like most teams, injuries have often proven a bugaboo for Philly - witness the M*A*S*H unit that was the 6-10 Eagles of '05 - but there should be some depth in order to adapt. Lito Sheppard missed the Washington game and, though Jason Campbell is now touted as the league's quarterback of the future, the soft coverage helped gobs.

Interestingly, Sheppard's substitute, Will James, recorded the only interception in Monday's game, though this isn't too much of a surprise, as Joe Gibbs called plays to James' side most of the game - think Jon Kitna will be doing the same if James plays on Sunday? Without the benefit of an opposition QB as immobile as Brett Favre (who took four sacks against Philadelphia in Week 1), it appears that the weakened Eagles will allow the pass all game long.

Special teams. An obvious problem after Week 1's disastrous punt "returning." This aspect of the game showed improvement against Washington, i.e. no fumbles were made, but it is apparent nothing spectacular is happening in this phase of Philly football.

Wide receiver issues. Was Washington's pass coverage really that amazing, or is Philly merely facing the reality of a receiving corps with Reggie Brown as No. 1 in the slot spot? In what is clearly the downswing of his career (at least in Philadelphia), McNabb needs some creativity from his WRs and the ability to break tackles: In his abbreviated 2006, McNabb averaged a league-high 7.4 yards after catch; in his abbreviated 2005, his wideouts went for a YAC of 5.9. This season, Curtis is the team leader at 6.0. Brown has a 4.0-yard average. Anybody in Philadelphia want to see the return of Terrell Owens? You sure?

Play-calling. Early on, the MNFers commented on the Eagles' disproportionate 58:42 ratio of pass plays to runs under Andy Reid. Nothing has changed, apparently, though you'd think that Brian Westbrook's career year last season coupled with the shift in game plan when Garcia took over that the Eagles would make Reid & Co. consider the run more. You'd think that a schedule of the highly underrated Green Bay Packer 'D' plus the Redskins' monster quartet in the secondary would tone down the pass-pass-pass-punt mentality. Nope.

What's really weird here is that the Eagles turned the ball over just once: on downs on their last play of the game. You'd think that such excellent ball control would at least get you into the end zone once, right? Not if you go 4 for 16 on third down.

Coaching. If it all begins at quarterback, as the buck stops at the top. From the very first series of the very first game, in which the Eagles were twice flagged for penalties, including a delay of game on a three-and-out series, it has been pointedly obvious that heads are not in the game. Sure, the opening-day loss was no great surprise, as Reid is a career 3-6 in Week 1, but the loss to Washington showed little improvement on the mental side of the game. (See "play-calling" above.)

Concretely, if you'll allow me to go Gregg Easterbrook on you momentarily, why was David Akers lining up for a chip-shot field goal with six-plus minutes left in the fourth? The Eagles had a fourth-and-3 on the Washington 4-yard line. The offense was clicking on a six-minute drive and Westbrook had been getting almost 6.0 yards per carry. Don't you go for it there? Or do you kick it off and give the opposition the chance to kill lots of clock while you still need eight points?

Perhaps, sadly enough, Reid's well-documented off-field familial "issues" are proving a distraction to his game. Maybe Reid has simply coached the same quarterback with the same game plan for too long to change. Consider the situation in Green Bay, where second-year head coach Mike McCarthy has recreated the offense with a fresh vision, and is getting the maximum game out of the aging Brett Favre's limited skills. An old dog can't teach an old dog new tricks.

Though seemingly poor sportsmanship to jeer the heroic veteran quarterback and a team that has seen such success in recent years, the boo-birds in Philadelphia were sending a message loud and clear that ultimately is correct: Change is needed for the Eagles.

And fast.

Seeking the answers to the big questions all year-round at RealFootball365.com
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's ...
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CommentsComments: 4  |  Sign Up  View all comments
No.1
jer		08:55 AM
09/20/2007
Solution: hand the ball off to Brian Westbrook. Throw to Brian Westbrook. Hand the ball off to Brian Westbrook. Throw to Brian ...
No.2
Dallas Schneiderman		10:42 AM
09/20/2007
Oh were to start with the Philly Eagles and their current problems. I'm not going to get into all of the topics this article ...
No.3
jerm		06:59 PM
09/20/2007
Solution: hand the ball off to Brian Westbrook. Throw to Brian Westbrook. Hand the ball off to Brian Westbrook. Throw to Brian ...
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