Day-After Dissection: Eagles-Browns
The Philadelphia Daily News - Eagles Blog
Day-After Dissection: Eagles-Browns
Paul Domowitch, Daily News NFL Columnist
Breaking down the Eagles’ 17-16 Week 1 win over the Browns while wondering how many live animals possibly are living in Jason Kelce’s beard:
Michael Vick was very fortunate to get out of Sunday’s game with just four interceptions, because that number very easily could’ve been eight. That’s right, eight.
Linebacker Craig Robertson, who had one of Browns’ four interceptions, very nearly picked off a careless second-quarter pass to LeSean McCoy. Linebacker D’Qwell Jackson almost did the same with a third-quarter pass to Jeremy Maclin.
Cornerback Joe Haden would have had his second interception of the night in the fourth quarter had wide receiver DeSean Jackson not knocked the ball away from him. And on the play right before Vick threw the game-winning touchdown to tight end Clay Harbor, Vick put an end zone pass for Maclin right into the hands of linebacker L.J. Fort. Luckily for the Eagles, Fort wasn’t able to hang on to it.
Three of Vick’s four interceptions were by linebackers, as were three of his four near-interceptions. He repeatedly seemed to have trouble seeing linebackers in coverage, probably because he was staring down his receivers most of the game and not paying much attention to where the defenders were.
Andy Reid attributed Vick’s awful performance against the Browns to the rust caused by taking just 12 preseason snaps. But there was more going on Sunday than that.
Rust is poor timing with your receivers. Rust is not being as accurate as you’d like.
Rust ISN’T failing to go through your progressions. Rust ISN’T bolting the pocket when your protection still is adequate. Rust ISN’T forcing balls into the places Vick was forcing them into Sunday
In defending Vick Monday, Reid turned to his tried and true ``everybody has a piece of that pie’’explanation. And to a degree, he’s right. Football is a team game. There were some protection breakdowns up front, though not as many as it might’ve seemed from the way Vick was bolting the pocket. And while LeSean McCoy did rush for 110 yards, he didn’t have one of his better games as far as picking up the blitz.
Browns defensive coordinator Dick Jauron is not a big blitzer. But he made an exception against Vick, attacking him with weakside blitzes by linebackers, safeties, cornerbacks and beer vendors.
Vick completed just 8 of 17 passes for 135 yards and one interception when the Browns sent extra rushers Sunday. Last year, he was one of the league’s lowest-rated passers against the blitz, completing just 56.7 percent of his passes against extra rushers. Eleven of his 14 interceptions came against the blitz. He had a 65.5 passer rating when teams blitzed him.
He’d better figure out how to deal with it, because he’s going to be seeing it a lot this season.
SOME NUMBERS
--The Eagles averaged a puny 3.7 points per 100 yards in Sunday’s win over the Browns. That was the lowest average of any of the league’s Week 1 winners heading into Monday night’s doubleheader. The next lowest was the Cowboys, who averaged 5.5 points per 100 yards in their 24-17 win over the Giants. ``You start looking at 456 yards of total offense and then you’re not putting it in the end zone,’’ Andy Reid said Monday. ``That’s ridiculous there.’’
--The Eagles had another 54 yards of offense, including 30 rushing yards by LeSean McCoy, negated by penalties against the Browns.
--Michael Vick completed 8 of his first 10 passes and 6 of his last 10 passes. In between, he was 15-for-36.
--The Eagles ran 28 more pass plays (58) than run plays (30) against the Browns. That’s their biggest pass-to-run differential since their 38-20 loss to the Patriots in Week 12 last year when they ran 32 more pass plays (58) than run plays (17).
--DeSean Jackson had three catches for 68 yards in the first quarter Sunday and just one catch for nine yards the rest of the game.
--McCoy, who finished with 110 rushing yards on 20 carries, had five runs of nine yards or more, including three runs of 13, 15 and 22 yards.
--Vick had a 69.0 third-down passer rating against the Browns, which was a little better than his overall passer rating (51.0). He completed 9 of 14 third-down passes for 65 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception.
--The Eagles’ used two-tight end formations on 28 of 88 offensive plays against the Browns, or 31.8 percent of the time. That’s slightly higher than last year when they used two-tight end sets 29.7 percent of the time. Tight ends Brent Celek and Clay Harbor were targeted a combined 14 times by Vick and had a collected 7 catches for 81 yards and 1 touchdown (Harbor).
--The Eagles activated five of their six defensive ends for Sunday’s game. Starters Trent Cole and Jason Babin got the bulk of the work. Cole played 41 of 59 snaps and Babin 40, according to Pro Football Focus. Darryl Tapp was next with 21, followed by Phillip Hunt with 15 and Brandon Graham with just five snaps. Cullen Jenkins led all defensive tackles with 42 snaps played.
SOME OBSERVATIONS
--Middle linebacker DeMeco Ryans, who was harder to find than Waldo during the preseason, turned in an excellent performance against the Browns. He was credited with five tackles, but actually had six. And every one of them was a big stop. He stopped tight end Ben Watson short of a first down on a third-and-four completion late in the first quarter, got in the backfield and dropped rookie running back Trent Richardson for a one-yard loss on a third-and-one in the second quarter, tackled Richardson for another one-yard loss later in the second quarter on a second-and-10, held him to a one-yard gain on a second-and-10 in the third quarter, collaborated with tackle Cullen Jenkins to drop Richardson for a three-yard loss on a first-and-goal at the 7 late in the third quarter, and tackled Richardson for another one-yard loss in the fourth quarter. Richardson finished the game with just 39 yards on 19 carries.
--The Eagles were penalized 12 times for 110 yards Sunday, including five offensive holding infractions. Most of them were legitimate, with the exception of a second-quarter holding call on center Jason Kelce that negated a 17-yard run by LeSean McCoy.
--Michael Vick’s two best throws Sunday came on back-to-back plays just before the end of the first half. He hit Jeremy Maclin with a pretty 46-yard throw down the left sideline, then drilled an 18-yard scoring strike to Maclin with 17 seconds left in the half to give the Eagles a 10-3 lead. The scoring play was an excellent call by offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg. Maclin was lined up wide right with DeSean Jackson in the right slot. Jackson ran an inside route, which drew safety Eric Hagg toward him and gave Maclin enough room to execute an outside-inside move on cornerback Joe Haden. Maclin turned Haden around and Hagg wasn’t able to get back in time to help.
--Center Jason Kelce showed his athleticism on a 15-yard cutback run by McCoy early in the fourth quarter. Kelce got to the second level and sealed off Browns middle linebacker D’Qwell Jackson, which opened a cutback lane for McCoy.
--Fullback Stanley Havili only played 14 offensive snaps Sunday, but he and tight end Clay Harbor came up big on McCoy’s do-or-die fourth-and-one run with two minutes left in the game and the Eagles trailing by six. The two of them created the seam on the right side that allowed McCoy to gain three yards and a first down at the Cleveland 20 yard-line. Five plays later, Harbor caught a four-yard touchdown pass from Vick to put the Eagles ahead.
Everybody covered for Vick last year because of the strike. There is no excuses this year...none! What's Reid going to say next week after the Ravens force Mike Pick to turn it over several times and win the home opener? Reid better adjust quick and realize Vick is not a WCO qb. If Reid wants to keep coaching here he best make McCoy the center piece of his offence.— greenflyer- Personally, if Vick does the same thing next week, I'd bring in Foles. Give Vick a quarter and if he's anywhere near this lousy, time to change.— 4thand10
- The O-line looked terrible in pass protection without Peters. The defense, including LBs and safeties, looked much better. If ever there was a season to rely on the run game, THIS IS IT.— dragoon6
- FIRE REID NOW!!! THIS DISASTER OF A TEAM HAS NO CHANCE FOR A SB THIS YEAR. SO, LETS START THE RE-BUILDING PROCESS TODAY. FIRE REID NOW.— bedpan
- Thank you. Finally someone with some sense. All of you on here bashing Vick haven't got an F'in clue. I'm not excusing his bad plays but Andy's play calling is HORRIBLE!!!!
56 pass plays!!! Are you freaking kidding me. You have a GAME CHANGING, ankle breaking RB and you pass it 56 times!!! The O-line didn't do Vick any favors either. Bottom line, any NFL defense is going to cause a QB major headaches if they KNOW the guy is throwing all the time.
RUN THE DAMN FOOTBALL ANDY REID. Every damn year, it's the same damn thing!— brinks69 - this guy bedpan hates vick about as much as reid. bad oline and bad play calling still doesnt change bad decision making over and over and over again... — defroe
Vick will be out after next weeks game. Bring on Foles Its Over for Vick and Andy— KOOLK777- vick didnt play much preseason, his play was suspect because lack of reps..thats a no brainer, not an excuse...not to make it a race thing, but if vick were a white qb and given his performance in 2010 and last yr which wasnt that bad considering the defense blew leads
that the offense generated, you vick haters would being saying much but knowing he just needs patience...foles is decent for now, but he hasnt the four pro bowls or post season play vick has produced nor single game records vick holds...get over the race hate or the dog abuse hate...most likely your hate is both— tdknowsbest - it's all about race to you, isn't it brotha? Vick was never a great qb, just a fast qb with an above average arm that used to be able to outrun the D. face it, he...is...just...about...DONE in this league. He has 2 or 3 great games a year, just enough for you dopes to chirp "what a great misunderstood Qb he is" . He will be hurt again any week now, only hope for Fat Andy is to give the ball ball to McCoy more and bring in D white kid.......show nuf' king fish — your_mom_says_hi!
- so what you like vick cuz he is black. cuz if he were white and playing like he has and foles was black id be saying bring in foles! but good job making it about race and saying everyone hates vick because he is black. i support vick and wish dude would have a great season but it just doesnt look like it will happen. enough is enough man. — defroe
- tdknowsbest I hate when people say anyone being critical of Vick is bc of race!! That is simply not the case with most of us. I think Vick simply put is an average QB and honestly incapable of winning deep into the playoffs. He turns the ball over and is always injured. In a league where the difference between a good team and another team is minimal bc of salary cap era turnovers will get you beat. The playoffs are so close that turnovers are the deciding factor and Vick is a turnover machine. Not to mention we missed playoffs last year by 1 game despite a horrendous start. Vick missed 4 games and left 2 others in 4th quarter. As bad as this team was last year the Giants made playoffs at 9-7. I know that is not all Vick fault but his injury problem was the difference. So this is not a race issue and I respect how far he has come as a person. I just think he is a great athlete, he is exciting with a rocket arm, but his issues outweigh his strengths. Also my last thing here. Mike Viok has only won 2 playoff games in his career. That right there is inexcusable for how long been in league. Say what want but those falcons teams and the eagle teams he has have had talent. Especially this one. There is no more excuses for him with the talent around him. I think he is better than he showed Sunday for sure and believe he plays much better against Ravens, but I want a super bowl not a playoff appearance. Vick with his turnovers, injuries, and lack of reading the blitz is not good enough to win it all. He is probably the 4th ranked QB in his own division and at least 13th or worse QB in league. Nothing to do with race so stop saying that anytime someone states how feel about Vick. He deserves the criticism and he has always been over hyped!
- It's time to come to grips with the notion that Vick is in decline. (For those who have not already - myself included) He studies film a lot - so he says. He still does not recognize where the blitz is coming from, or what type of coverage he is seeing. This season could get ugly quick.— rustypop58
- They won a road game in the NFL, dismiss it if you want to, because they can play better no doubt, but it isn't an easy task to win on the road in the NFL.— Paul SoTX
- Vick was bad, but in previous years the Eagles would lose games like this one. The fact that they were able to keep it together and pull out the win is encouraging. Sure, this can't happen week in and week out but every QB has bad days and this was Vick's. Let's just hope that he doesn't make a habit of it.— Kitsune Hazard
- did you watch last season starting to look like a habit to me... — defroe
