Problems well beyond Justice

By Os Davis  |   Tuesday, October 02, 2007  |  Comments( 1 )

Philadelphia Eagles
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On one hand, it's amazing how bad, then good, then bad an NFL team can look from week to week. On the other hand, this is the Philadelphia Eagles, where the roller-coaster ride has been rote for years.

And oh, what a Matterhorn the Eagles have flown in just the last three weeks: The limp loss against Washington, the boos, the growing speculation that Donovan McNabb is on the downside of his career, McNabb's subsequent remarks about race that sounded somewhat akin to excuse-making for inconsistent play.

Then, two weeks ago: Wearing those soon-to-be immortal yellow-and-baby blues, the Eagles run up 56 on the helpless Detroit Lions. The team appears rejuvenated with a franchise player ready to run up another career year in Brian Westbrook, an exciting new find in Kevin Curtis, and a controversy to help bond the team.

No dice. Again, as they have been so many times in such a short span, the Super Eagles were revealed to be Clark Kent. To be sure, thousands of Philly followers rolled their eyes or at least muttered (in a cleaned-up version) "oh no, not again" at another silly loss to a weaker division mate.

Common wisdom holds two parties chiefly responsible for the beyond-disappointing 16-3 loss to the Giants that featured the mind-boggling dozen sacks: head coach Andy Reid and offensive tackle Winston Justice.

Reid may be allowed to take his fair share of the blame - indeed, he self-flagellated a bit at the post-game press conference, telling all that "I thought I did a poor job of getting our offensive football team ready" - but the Eagles' problems on Sunday were far more wide and potentially long-ranging than one O-lineman performing badly in his first career start.

For example:

While Justice was giving up six sacks and generally being pushed around like a tackling dummy filled with helium by Osi Umenyiora, the other members of the offensive line provided enough ineptitude to allow six more.

Sure, Umenyiora's six sacks is a ridiculous performance, but what about Mathias Kiwanuka and his three? In the rush to pig-pile on Justice, how come no one's on vets like the highly esteemed, highly paid Jon Runyan, who was blown past by Kiwanuka on the way to one sack and looked intensely bad on the Lawrence Taylor-record breaking takedown by Michael Strahan?

The missing Westbrook. No rational argument exists for saying that Westbrook's absence didn't make a difference. But check out substitute Correll Buckhalter's stats: a terrific 103 yards on 17 carries. Though hardly a Westbrookian performance, 6.0 yards per carry is nothing to sneeze at, especially when Buckhalter was able to exploit the left side for gains the whole game. So why wasn't he gone to more? Well, this is Eagles, with whom good and great runners alike are underutilized for the good of a pseudo West Coast offense scheme.

Speaking of receiving, what has happened to the Eagle receiving corps? No one was expecting Curtis to bag 200-plus yards again, but he could only be found twice against New York? And what in Jaworski's name, asks this fantasy owner, has supposed No. 1 receiver Reggie Brown been doing all year? Besides dropping passes, that is. All told, Curtis and Brown had 13 passes thrown their way for five completions.

Perhaps afraid to judge the man too harshly, little criticism has been sent McNabb's way for this defeat (a loss which puts his record since 2005 at 10-13 overall and just 2-6 against the NFC East, incidentally). Perhaps some should. Fair enough, McNabb was often running for his life, but as happens recently, the quarterback's play was flat and uninspiring, well indicative of a sub-.500 winning percentage.

On the fumble that produced the Giants' final TD? Take a look at the replay on that one. As fullback Thomas Tapeh desperately tries to hold onto the block, McNabb sluggishly backpedals from the snap. Once the ball gets loose, McNabb stares from a distance while others (Runyan not included) struggle for it. Not positive, Donovan.

Some good news seemed to manifest on the defensive side of the ball. The Giants' single TD drive was a mere 49-yarder. On other trips into the red zone, the Eagles blocked a field goal attempt and got a clutch interception from Omar Gaither late in the second quarter.

Of course, the key word there was "seemed." After all, this was the same defense that allowed 445 yards in passing the previous week. Is this the sort of 'D' the Eagles are always capable of, or will the slightest passing attack mean they'll give up 30 points?

More questions follow. During the bye week, will Westbrook recover? Will Reid & Co. construct a passing game plan that actually involves wide receivers catching the ball? Is McNabb feeling the pressure again? Does it matter?

After all, this is the Philadelphia Eagles, from whom you never know what to expect.

(They gotta bring back those uniforms, don't they?)

On the roller-coaster ride with the Philadelphia Eagles 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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