Dissecting Sunday's 27-6 Loss To Cardinals
The Philadelphia Daily News - Eagletarian
Dissecting Sunday's 27-6 Loss To Cardinals
Paul Domowitch, Daily News NFL Columnist
Surveying the wreckage of the Eagles’ 27-6 loss to the Cardinals:
--This isn’t exactly a revelation, but the Eagles didn’t block very well Sunday. The three biggest culprits were left tackle Demetress Bell, center Dallas Reynolds and running back LeSean McCoy.
Bell struggled in his first start with the Eagles. He allowed defensive end Calais Campbell to get past him and flush Vick out of the pocket on the Eagles’ very first play from scrimmage, which set the tone for the rest of the game.
He had a nice block on a first-quarter stretch play by LeSean McCoy that picked up eight yards, and did a good job of blocking Campbell on Michael Vick’s 20-yard scramble late in the second quarter. But aside from that, it was hard to find many positives in his performance.
He was called for two penalties – a false start on a first-and-10 at the Arizona 38 early in the second quarter, and a holding on first-and-10 at the Philadelphia 25 right after the Cardinals went up 17-0.
In the fourth quarter, on the intentional grounding by Vick, Bell was badly beaten to the inside by Campbell, who flushed Vick out of the pocket.
Reynolds played even worse than Bell. He was responsible for a third-quarter sack of Vick when he got beat by Cardinals nose tackle David Carter, who forced Vick into the arms of linebacker Quentin Groves, and had problems all day dealing with the Cardinals’ A-gap blitzes.
On one of the two third-quarter sacks of Vick, he left linebacker Daryl Washington in untouched, curiously choosing instead to block Paris Lenon, who already was being blocked by right guard Danny Watkins.
McCoy has developed into an adequate pass-protector. But he had a godawful day on Sunday. His most costly mistake came on Vick’s late-second-quarter fumble at the Arizona one-yard line that Cardinals safety James Sanders returned for a back-breaking touchdown.
McCoy, who was the lone back on the play, went to the strong side, thinking Sanders was going to be coming on a blitz there. But with tight end Brent Celek over there, he should’ve been able to see that the Eagles had enough blockers on that side to account for Sanders if he came. But there was no one to account for Rhodes on the other side. He came clean, drilled Vick and forced the fumble that pretty much made this game, set and match.
Earlier in the second quarter, McCoy failed to block Washington when he came up the middle on a blitz.
--While his protection often wasn’t very good, Vick again didn’t help matters by holding on to the ball too long and showing a lack of pocket awareness. On the Eagles’ second possession, he was staring right at Calais Campbell and O’Brien Schofield as they charged at him. Yet, rather than throw the ball away, he took an 11-yard sack. Instead of a second-and-10 near midfield, the Eagles had a second-and-21 at their own 35.
And while McCoy made the wrong decision on Vick’s fumble at the end of the first half, the quarterback also should’ve been able to see pre-snap that Rhodes might be a problem. Same thing with one of his third-quarter sacks. He should’ve been able to notice in his pre-snap read that linebacker Sam Acho was unaccounted for. Yet he still ran a play-action bootleg to Acho’s side. Washington ended up sacking him for a 12-yard loss on the play.
--While the Eagles opted to play Larry Fitzgerald straight up rather than have Nnamdi Asomugha shadow him, it turned out Asomugha was on him a good part of the time anyway in the first half when Fitzgerald recorded seven catches for 105 yards and a touchdown. Fitzgerald lined up wide left (Asomugha’s side) on 13 of the Cardinals’ 33 offensive plays in the first half and had three catches for 70 yards, including his 37-yard touchdown catch. He lined up wide right nine times and had one catch for six yards. Lined up in the left slot seven times and had two catches for 20 yards. Lined up in the right slot four times and had one catch for nine yards.
--Fitzgerald’s touchdown wouldn’t have happened if the Eagles had been able to get off the field the play before. A miscommunication between linebackers DeMeco Ryans and Mychal Kendricks allowed the Cardinals to convert a third-and-seven as Kevin Kolb completed a 15-yard pass to tight end Jeff King. The Cardinals had two tight ends in the game on the play. King lined up on the right side of the line and the other tight end, rookie Rob Houslerm lined up in the backfield. At the snap, Housler came out of the backfield to the right side. The Eagles were in their two-linebacker nickel package. Ryans, who was in the middle, went to cover Housler even though Kendrick already was over there. That left King unguarded. He came off the line and was wide open in the middle.
--Defensive end Brandon Graham got his heaviest workload of the season Sunday and made the most of it. Graham played 17 snaps, shared in a sack and had four tackles, three for losses. The snap breakdown for the Eagles’ defensive linemen against Arizona: Derek Landri 39, Jason Babin 33, Trent Cole 32, Fletcher Cox 31, Darryl Tapp 28, Cedric Thornton 28, Cullen Jenkins 28, Graham 17 and Phillip Hunt 12.
--Rookie corner Brandon Boykin had a couple of costly missed tackles Sunday. He had missed tackles on Larry Fitzgerald on a pair of 16- and 22-yard receptions.
--On Fitzgerald’s 37-yard touchdown catch, Asomugha clearly expected over-the-top help from strong safety Kurt Coleman. But Coleman had bitten on a play-fake and wasn’t able to get back and help out on Fitzgerald. The Eagles’ other safety, Nate Allen, had stayed with the Cardinals’ other wideout, Andre Roberts, leaving Asomugha to fend for himself.
--Brent Celek continues to take a beating. He took two vicious back-to-back shots from Cardinals safety Kerry Rhodes in the second quarter, one on a short incompletion in the flat and another on a ball down the field that likely will be earning Rhodes a fine for an illegal hit on a defenseless receiver.
--On the second-down play at the Arizona one-yard line right before Vick’s costly fumble at the end of the half, the quarterback had tight end Clay Harbor wide open in the end zone, but never saw him. He got pressure on the outside from the ever-present Daryl Washington, who got around Celek, and threw the ball out of bounds in the general direction of DeSean Jackson.
BY THE NUMBERS
--Of LeSean McCoy’s 13 rushing attempts Sunday, just one was to the left side. He ran six times to the right side and six times up the middle.
--Michael Vick was just 5-for-21 for 109 yards against the blitz Sunday. That’s a .238 completion percentage and 5.2 yards per attempt. Two of his five sacks came on Arizona blitzes.
--Vick was 5-for-11 for 82 yard on third down against the Cardinals. The Eagles converted just five of 14 third-down opportunities.
--The Eagles were 0-for-2 in the red zone. They’re just 2-for-7 in the last 2 games.
--The Eagles are fifth in the league in total offense, but are averaging just 3.76 points per 100 yards. The Cardinals are 31st, but are averaging 8.48.
--DeSean Jackson has just 2 catches for 23 yards in the fourth quarter this season.
--Vick completed just one of three passes in the red zone Sunday. He’s 1-for-6 in the red zone in the last two games.
Let McCoy run the ball, why wear him down blocking more times than running!— JBP- Blocking is part of his job...Domo was actually kind. McCoy's pass blocking was lame. — bearsfriend
- Vick should havce seen the unbalance and sent McCoy to the other side! QB's usually align their blocking before the snap but Vick doesn't seem very asute or good at seeing defenses. You should also be throwing Celek under the bus for his really poor blocking. Noticed him being run completely into the back field a number of times when he stayed in. He is not a tough blocker by any means and needs to be coached up better there— connorjr
- Poor coaching cost us the game from the opening play they blitzed why because they know we pass 70 percent of the time and secondly we are known to be one of the best screen teams in the business but this year so far it is non existent— dakee
- if you used him properly, he wouldn't always have to be blocking....the only time he is in the pass game is for screen passes...use a double tight end set and have harbor stay in and block— briman
- No one says much about Danny Watkins, i think a good thing. Herremens is over rated. A good blocker at best. Celek is a below average blocker. It does not seem like there is any identity to the offense. Big play or bust. And with the line we have, bust will happen more often.— oldBird
- This comment has been deleted.— CoettaGarner25
- THERE YOU ARE Coetta BIG WEINER AND LIKED IT Garner. I'M SURE YOU ENJOYED LOTS OF BIG WEINERS ON FIRE ISLAND WHILE YOU WATCHED REID'S TEAM GET DESTROYED. SINCE THE EAGLES SEASON IS NOW OFFICIALLY A DISASTER JUST LIKE YOU Coetta BIG WEINER AND LIKED IT Garner. THE ONLY THING YOU HAVE TO LIVE FOR ARE ALL THE BIG WEINERS THAT YOU ENJOY SO MUCH. Coetta BIG WEINER AND LIKED IT Garner, YOU ARE EVEN A BIGGER LOSER THAT THAT MESS WEARING GREEN THAT KING ANDY HAS CREATED. — bedpan
- Please Run the ball Andy!! I dont care what WRs "appear" to be open. Set a tempo. Make teams fear Shady and Bryce brown!!!! Please run the ball ANDY!!!!! Two TE's to protect Vick and pound away.
See i think Andys mentality is score quickly then run the ball. That would be nice Andy but the problem is you lost two starting Olineman so now you actually have to have a balanced attack. Run the ball— Yes_General - So let me see if I understand this. Nobody's blocking, nobody's tackling, nobody's making plays on offense, nobody's paying attention to the other team.... should be a great game against the giants this week.— bigdaddyG
- Oh, and almost forgot - nobody's coaching this team either....— bigdaddyG
- Can we cease with this loss. The Giants are up next and the agles should be focused on them. Just finished watching the Eagles-Giants rivalry on the NFL Network. The Eagles WILL WIN this Sunday!!! GO EAGLES!— Panthro2011
- Hey McCoy...hope you get knocked out by Osi on Sunday night!— MRD
- McCoy can't get knocked out by Osi, that would mean he actually attempted to block him. It is a big deal. In todays NFL your RB has to be a good blocker and be able to pick up the blitz. It is how OC answered the blitz all of the time strategy that worked so well up until the middle of this decade. Defenses got the upper hand on QB's by sending one more guy than there were blockers from different angles and it caused havoc. Offenses woke up and now keep the RB in at first to at least get in the way of the extra man so their is time to hit the hot. Sometimes they run 2 TE, etc.
but the point is that you need to have an extra blocker in today's NFL and it has to be the RB in a 3 WR set. Offensive teams have turned the tables. Ten years ago outside e top 10QB's all you had to do was blitz unmercifully ESP. Against rookies. Teams were throwing out 4 WR, sending the back out on every play and defenses responded with crazy pressure. Now offensive teams pick up the extra man and burn the defense with the added benefit of the no contact after 5 rule. McCoy has been awful at it for awhile and i didn't need to see the coaches tape to get it.— UncleStosh - Even worse than McCoy's missed assignment was his attempt to tackle Sanders.— tbone pickins
