It's been two preseason games, my Eagles are now 1-1 first was a win vs the Baltimore Ravens where the starters quickly marched down the field scored a quick touchdown and sat down, and the second was a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers where the starting offense posted a goose egg and the starting defense surrendered 21 points. Now to be honest in the first game it wasn't actually all of the starting offense because Desean Jackson was still holding out and Jeremy Maclin was still suffering from his then undisclosed but highly speculated disease. It turned out to be a virus and Maclin should be able to practice by next week and hopefully play on opening night. Jackson played versus Pittsburgh and in an example of what SHOULD happen for the rest of the year with no Maclin on the other side he was tripled covered on the opening play just in case the Eagles decided to go for their opening play quick strike(which they unsuccessfully did).
Last year was the highest scoring in team history so there is a lot of pressure on my birds to not only duplicate that success but to possibly represent the NFC in the Superbowl. Oh and did I mention all the off season free agent acquisitions, granted they didn't seem to help much in the second preseason game versus the Steelers but hey preseason is there for a good reason it allows you to see what mistakes you need to work on, and with this offseason being shortened by the lockout there were a lot of good things going on in that game that were overshadowed by the extended plays due to penalty and some of the long passes given up. The defense needs to gel and the offense needs to get back to last seasons form. Current 3rd string Qb Mike Kafka posted the only points two TD passes to Gerald Jones.
While I like our revamped defense I know that with guys who have never blitzed the QB being asked to do it and a young LB core that things will take time. Luckily we have these last two preseason games and then St. Louis in the opener, not that the rams are push overs but a young QB versus a young linebacking core with a bunch of Pro bowl corners and D lineman is just what the doctor ordered. I just hope we get back to the Jim Johnson school of defense: blitz, blitz and blitz some more. A few folks will want Juan Castillo's head after the bad showing against the Steelers but hey there were a lot of drive extending penalties and some miscues all things that can be fixed in the future a double move paired with a D-back slowing down on his way to the QB can be coached. A unintentional facemask happens from time to time. I'm more concerned with the offense, we were running the ball a little bit but weren't stretching the field at all. Rookie Dion Lewis looked good and Lesean Mccoy and Ronnie Brown are gonna provide a nice 1 2 punch.
Now yes it was annoying as hell to lose to the Steelers our cross state rivals with all of the jewelry, the owners of a league leading 6 Lombardy trophies, here's the thing though I want a Lombardy so they beat us in preseason I hope the team is motivated to see them again and the only way they will meet again is in the Superbowl we have a long road to hoe between now and February if we hope for a chance to compete. I don't know our linebackers were around the ball a lot so some of the "criticism" they are receiving seems a little off base, yes they are young yes there were a few plays where they seemed to be a little slow in reacting but they were pretty much around the ball and playing ok. That was an entire defensive failure on august 18 just like it was an entire defensive success on the 11th when they got to the Baltimore QB's all night. I refuse to get bent out of shape FIRST in preseason and SECOND after one bad game, that's a recipe for insanity last I checked we usually didn't have a great record in preseason, it's preseason you 1st team usually isn't playing long and you are evaluating players not trying to make up a full on nose to the grindstone game plan, this is not me saying getting skunked is okay though.
And yes I heard about the Hitting Controversy with Rahim Moore of Denver, I do not agree that it was a dirty hit things in football happen fast guy misses the pass he hits him with his shoulder. I'm sorry it's football guys are gonna get hit and injuries are going to happen, I agree dirty hits have no place in the game but honestly Moore had a job to do separate the receiver from the ball that wasn't a dirty hit. He did not lead with his head, any contact between the helmets was incidental and unfortunately the whiplash effect when Donald Jones' head hit the ground is what caused any head injury. Football and hockey are the two sports where you can expect to regularly collide with a hard surface, in Hockey it's the boards in football it's the field of play.
I am all for player safety, I am also for understanding exactly how the human body moves and reacts as much as we talk about stopping on a dime, it isn't really that fast nor that instantaneous.
No comments:
Post a Comment