Archive: November, 2011
Bob Vetrone Jr.
Don't be surprised if DeSean Jackson, who has four career punt return touchdowns, breaks one Thursday night. The Seahawks have allowed five punt returns TDs since the beginning of the 2008 season, the third-most in the league in that time, behind only the Vikings (7) and Panthers (6).
Here are those five PR TDs allowed by Seattle:
| Date | Team | Player | Yds. |
| Sept. 7, 2008 | Bills | Roscoe Parrish | 63 |
| Nov. 1, 2009 | Cowboys | Patrick Crayton | 82 |
| Oct. 17, 2010 | Bears | Devin Hester | 89 |
| Sept. 11, 2011 | 49ers | Ted Ginn | 55 |
| Oct. 30, 2011 | Bengals | Brandon Tate | 56 |
Bob Vetrone Jr.
Since the beginning of the 2005 season, opponents have been called for more false start penalties (107 in 53 games) at Seattle's CenturyLink Field than in any other NFL stadium. That includes a game in 2006, when the New York Giants were somehow called for 11 of them.
The Eagles have been called for 19 false starts this season, the seventh most in the league and six less than the Carolina Panthers, who have started falsely a league-high 25 times. Surprisingly, only five of the Eagles' 19 false start penalties have come on the road.
Here's how the Eagles' 19 break down by player:
| Jason Peters | 4 | Kyle DeVan | 1 | |
| Jason Kelce | 3 | Brent Celek | 1 | |
| Todd Herremans | 3 | Riley Cooper | 1 | |
| Clay Harbor | 2 | Chad Hall | 1 | |
| Danny Watkins | 2 | Jason Avant | 1 |
Bob Vetrone Jr.
If the Occupy Philly people need a place to stay, maybe the sports complex should be their next stop. Seems none of the local sports teams have been using their home digs to their full advantage lately.
We're sure you have seen that the Eagles are 1-8 (including playoffs) in their last nine home games, but did you know that is the same record the Phillies were in their last nine home games of 2011?
Now, to be fair, the Phillies raised their home record to 52-23 when they clinched the NL East at home on Sept. 17, and their subsequent six-game losing streak at CBP meant little in the standings. But going 1-2 at home in the playoffs to a wild-card team tells us maybe they should have worried a little more about defending their turf, clinching be damned.
Bob Vetrone Jr.
Thanks to their eight-minute, game-winning drive against the Giants (and their 36:18 time of possession for the game), the Eagles are now third in the NFL in average TOP (32:36).
That is the second highest the club has recorded over the last 26 seasons (back to 1986, as far back as our records go).
No Andy Reid team has finished higher than 8th (30:56, 2007) in time of possession.
Bob Vetrone Jr.
The Eagles have won five of their last six regular season games against teams that entered the game with a record three or more games above .500.
They are 9-3 in those games since Thanksgiving, 2008:
| Date | Eagles | Opponent | Record | Result |
| Nov. 27, 2008 | 5-5-1 | Cardinals | 7-4 | W 48-20 |
| Dec. 7, 2008 | 6-5-1 | at Giants | 11-1 | W 20-14 |
| Dec. 28, 2008 | 8-6-1 | Cowboys | 9-6 | W 44- 6 |
| Nov. 1, 2009 | 4-2 | Giants | 5-2 | W 40-17 |
| Nov. 8, 2009 | 5-2 | Cowboys | 5-2 | L 16-20 |
| Jan. 3, 2010 | 11-4 | at Cowboys | 10-5 | L 0-24 |
| Oct. 17, 2010 | 3-2 | Falcons | 4-1 | W 31-17 |
| Nov. 7, 2010 | 4-3 | Colts | 5-2 | W 26-24 |
| Nov. 21, 2010 | 6-3 | Giants | 6-3 | W 27-17 |
| Nov. 28, 2010 | 7-3 | at Bears | 7-3 | L 26-31 |
| Dec. 19, 2010 | 9-4 | at Giants | 9-4 | W 38-31 |
| Nov. 20, 2011 | 3-6 | at Giants | 6-3 | W 17-10 |
| Nov. 27, 2011 | 4-6 | Patriots | 7-3 | — |
Bob Vetrone Jr.
Certainly, if the Eagles are going to need Vince Young at quarterback again this season, they'd like to see Sunday's second-half Young.
Here are how his stats broke down by quarter and half Sunday night:
| Cmp. | Att. | Yds. | TD | Int. | Rating | |
| 1st Quarter | 4 | 8 | 26 | 0 | 1 | 17.7 |
| 2nd Quarter | 4 | 10 | 63 | 1 | 1 | 55.4 |
| 3rd Quarter | 7 | 8 | 100 | 0 | 1 | 79.2 |
| 4th Quarter | 8 | 10 | 69 | 1 | 0 | 128.8 |
| 1st Half | 8 | 18 | 89 | 1 | 2 | 38.7 |
| 2nd Half | 15 | 18 | 169 | 1 | 1 | 106.0 |
Bob Vetrone Jr.
For just the third time in the 221-game Andy Reid era, the Eagles finished a game with more rushing attempts than their opponent had rushing yards.
The rushing numbers from those games:
| EAGLES | OPP. | |||||
| Date | Opponent | Result | Att. | Yds. | Att. | Yds. |
| Sept. 28, 2003 | at Bills | W 23-13 | 34 | 176 | 12 | 21 |
| Nov. 27, 2008 | Cardinals | W 48-20 | 40 | 185 | 10 | 25 |
| Nov. 20, 2011 | at Giants | W 17-10 | 33 | 136 | 17 | 29 |
Bob Vetrone Jr.
Although he missed the Flyers’ trip to Winnipeg this weekend (poor guy) with a lower-body injury, we suspect that Jaromir Jagr will do all he can to return very, very soon.
The Flyers’ opponents that start this week — the Carolina Hurricanes Monday and the New York Islanders on Wednesday — are two of three franchises against whom he has scored more than 100 career regular-season points.
The Flyers’ right wing has already rung up Carolina (who were the Hartford Whalers when he broke into the NHL) for a pair of goals in one game this season, and a pair of assists in another. He has yet to get his gloved hands on the Isles in 2011.
Bob Vetrone Jr.
You have probably heard that since the beginning of the 2006 season, the Eagles’ Asante Samuel leads the NFL with 38 interceptions. According to pro-football-reference.com, he also leads the league in passes defensed (102) over that time.
(And before you ask, he is tied for 60th in tackles from 2006-11 with 219.)
Here are the NFL leaders since 2006:
| INTERCEPTIONS | No. | PASSES DEFENSED | No. | |
| Asante Samuel | 38 | Asante Samuel | 102 | |
| Charles Woodson | 35 | Charles Woodson | 87 | |
| Ed Reed | 34 | Johnathan Joseph | 87 | |
| DeAngelo Hall | 25 | Darrelle Revis | 85 | |
| O.J. Atogwe | 22 | Carlos Rogers | 83 | |
| Champ Bailey | 21 | DeAngelo Hall | 80 | |
| Terence Newman | 21 | Leon Hall | 78 | |
| Antonio Cromartie | 21 | Quentin Jammer | 76 |
Bob Vetrone Jr.
If Michael Vick is unable to answer the bell on Sunday, either Vince Young or Mike Kafka will become the ninth different Eagles quaterback to start for Andy Reid. (See if you can name them all without looking.)
Those eight with games started and record in those games (including the postseason):
| Quarterback | GS | Record |
| Donovan McNabb | 158 | 101-56-1 |
| Michael Vick | 21 | 11-10 |
| Doug Pederson | 9 | 2-7 |
| Jeff Garcia | 8 | 6-2 |
| A.J. Feeley | 7 | 4-3 |
| Mike McMahon | 7 | 2-5 |
| Kevin Kolb | 7 | 3-4 |
| Koy Detmer | 3 | 2-1 |
