Domo's Eagles-Cowboys Day-After Dissection
The Philadelphia Daily News - Eagletarian
Domo's Eagles-Cowboys Day-After Dissection
Paul Domowitch, Daily News NFL Columnist
Surveying the wreckage of the Eagles’ 38-23 loss to the Cowboys:
Even if Michael Vick didn’t have a concussion, Nick Foles would be my starting quarterback Sunday against the Redskins, and not just because the Eagles are at death’s door and it’s time to get a long look at the kid. After watching him play against the Cowboys, I honestly believe he gives them a better chance of winning than Vick.
Foles certainly wasn’t perfect Sunday. But considering that he hasn’t taken a single practice snap with the first-team offense since the preseason, he played pretty well. Wasn’t a deer in headlights. Kept his cool under pressure. Got the ball out quickly. And made good decisions for the most part. Certainly made me want to see more.
Foles threw just two passes that traveled 20 or more yards in the air, including his 44-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Maclin. Twenty-three of his 32 attempts traveled nine yards or less in the air.
The rookie did a good job against the Cowboys’ blitz. He had an impressive 144.0 passer rating against the blitz, completing seven of nine passes for 87 yards and one touchdown.
A look at the good and the bad in his 22-for-32, 219-yard performance:
THE GOOD
--His 44-yard third-quarter touchdown pass to Jeremy Maclin. He got a nice block from rookie running back Bryce Brown, who picked up blitzing cornerback Orlando Scandrick. That allowed Foles to get outside and extend the play, where he found a wide-open Maclin at the goal line.
--A 32-yard completion to rookie Damaris Johnson that set up the Eagles’ final touchdown. Again keeping his eyes downfield, Foles rolled away from pressure and got the ball to Johnson, who broke free from cornerback Brandon Carr.
-- His first pass of the game to Jason Avant. It was a timing throw that was right on the money. But Avant injured his hamstring making his cut and was off-balance and unable to make the play.
--A 14-yard completion to tight end Brent Celek on the Eagles’ first play after Dwayne Harris’ 78-yard punt return for a touchdown put the Cowboys up by seven. Foles drilled the ball to Celek.
--A 15-yard completion to Maclin on the Eagles’ final scoring drive.
THE BAD
--His interception early in the fourth quarter that was returned for a touchdown by Cowboys cornerback Brandon Carr. DeSean Jackson, who was covered by Carr, ran a slant route. It wasn’t an awful throw, but it was behind Jackson. He tried to reach back and grab it, only to have it go off his hands and get picked off by Carr.
--A second-quarter pass to fullback Stanley Havili. Foles telegraphed the throw. Scandrick jumped the route and nearly came away with an interception.
--Foles’ across-the-body throw to Maclin on the Eagles’ final scoring drive. He managed to complete it for 13 yards, but it was a miracle it wasn’t picked off. He made the throw off his back foot with Cowboys linebacker Anthony Spencer in his face. The ball seemed to hang in the air forever.
--An incompletion to Maclin on the Eagles’ final scoring drive. Maclin pulled up when he found an open spot in the zone. Foles apparently thought he was going to keep running down the seam. It’s the kind of miscommunication you expect when a quarterback and a receiver haven’t worked together since the summer.
CRITIQUING THE OFFENSIVE LINE
Let’s start with the good news. Left guard Evan Mathis and center Dallas Reynolds played pretty well. So did rookie right guard Dennis Kelly except for one fairly significant exception: he was the guy responsible for getting Vick concussed early in the second quarter. Cowboys linebacker Ernie Sims came up the middle on a blitz. Kelly mistakenly thought Reynolds was going to be picking up Sims. Sims came through untouched. He didn’t sack Vick, but knocked him to the ground, where he hit his head on the turf.
As for tackles King Dunlap and Demetress Bell, both played poorly. Dunlap, playing right tackle for the first time since 2010, could find himself on the bench against Washington if right guard Danny Watkins, who has missed the last three games with an injured ankle, is able to play. That would free Kelly to move out to tackle.
Dunlap was flagged for three penalties against the Cowboys, including two illegal-hands-to-the-face calls where he completely knocked off the defender’s helmet. He was flagged for a blatant hold of Cowboys linebacker Anthony Spencer on the play right before Foles’ 44-yard touchdown throw to Maclin. A little later in the third quarter, he almost took Maclin’s head off on a poorly executed wide receiver screen.
On the same drive, he negated a 13-yard completion to Damaris Johnson that would’ve given the Eagles a first down at the one-yard line when he was flagged for his first illegal-hands-to-the-face penalty. On the next play, he failed to finish a block on DeMarcus Ware on a run play.
When the Eagles were forced to settle for a field goal on the drive, Dunlap, who also is a blocker on the Eagles’ field goal team, forgot to go out on the field, forcing the Eagles to waste a timeout. In the fourth quarter, with the Eagles trailing by two touchdowns, Dunlap was called again for his second illegal hands to the face, effectively stalling the drive.
Bell struggled all day with Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware, though a lot of tackles in the league struggle against Ware. He was called for a holding penalty in the second quarter when Ware beat him with an inside swim move. That negated an eight-yard completion to tight end Brent Celek. On the Eagles’ final scoring drive, he gave up a sack to Cowboys linebacker Victor Butler, who beat him to the outside. He also was called for a false start on the Eagles’ final possession.
THE PUNT RETURN
Mat McBriar had 4.88-second hang time on the 49-yard punt Dwayne Harris returned 78 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter. That’s high enough and short enough to force a fair catch. But neither of the Eagles’ gunners – Colt Anderson and Brandon Hughes – got downfield particularly quick. Hughes then took an inside route, which allowed Harris to get to the sideline and use the blocking wall the Cowboys had set up. It appeared that Hughes was blocked in the back by Scandrick on the play, but it wasn’t called. McBriar should’ve been able to force Harris out of bounds at the Philadephia 40, but didn’t. And I’m not sure what linebacker Jamar Chaney was doing on the play. Instead of taking an angle to the sideline to cut off Harris, he seemed to be waiting for McBriar to force him back inside to him.
MORE BAD TACKLING
The Eagles had seven missed tackles against the Cowboys. Six of them came on two of the biggest plays of the game. The first was Felix Jones’ 11-yard touchdown catch and run late in the first quarter that tied the game. Defensive end Darryl Tapp, safety Nate Allen and cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha all had opportunities to bring Jones down and failed.
Then there was Tony Romo’s momentum-turning 25-yard completion to Miles Austin on a third-and-five late in the third quarter. The Eagles got excellent pressure on Romo on the play. Fletcher Cox, Jason Babin and Cullen Jenkins all had opportunities to sack Romo. Somehow, he got away from all of them and delivered the ball to Austin. That kept the drive alive. Three plays later, Romo threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Dez Bryant to tie the game.
"It was sporadic," Andy Reid said of the tackling. "There were some plays where I thought we really made some nice tackles, and then there were some plays, a couple of key plays, where we didn’t make tackles.
"One of the things you’re seeing is we’re not doing a good job of wrapping up, of using our arms with our body and our feet and running through tackles."
Case in point was cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie trying to bring down Cowboys tight end Jason Witten with a shoulder nudge in the first quarter. It was like a bug hitting your windshield on the Schuylkill.
THIS AND THAT
--The Eagles used two-tight end sets on four of 10 plays on their game-opening touchdown drive, then went with two tight ends just 10 times the rest of the game.
--The Eagles continue to increase rookie running back Bryce Brown’s reps. While he only carried the ball three times (for 1 yard), he played 13 snaps against the Cowboys. He had a big block on Foles’ 44-yard touchdown pass to Maclin, picking up blitzing cornerback Orlando Scandrick, which allowed Foles to get outside and extend the play. On another play, though, he failed to give Bell help with Ware.
--This hasn’t been one of tight end Celek’s better blocking seasons. On Sunday, he missed a seal block on linebacker Anthony Spencer on a third-and-four run by Vick. He also failed to block linebacker Bruce Carter on a Bryce Brown run early in the second quarter. Carter tackled Brown for a one-yard loss.
--DeSean Jackson had a nice block on cornerback Morris Claiborne on a 12-yard screen pass to LeSean McCoy in the second quarter.
--The Eagles’ back-to-back sacks of Romo in the second quarter both came on blitzes. So did Romo’s 49-yard completion to Dez Bryant on the Eagles’ second scoring drive. The Eagles blitzed Romo six times. He was 2-for-4 for 58 yards when they send extra rushers.
--I’m still not sure why, after choosing not to use their two remaining timeouts to stop the clock on their final possession of the first half, Reid and Marty Mornhinweg called a pass play on second-and-five from their own 13 with 34 seconds left. And why fullback Stanley Havili, who caught the pass for a three-yard gain, ran out of bounds.
--The Eagles got good inside pass-rush push from the defensive tackles Sunday, which hadn’t been the case the previous four games.
--The best evidence of Bryce Brown’s speed. On Foles’ 44-yard touchdown throw to Maclin, Brown picked up Scandrick on a blitz and still was the first guy down the field to congratulate Maclin in the end zone.
--For the life of me, I don’t understand why Rodgers-Cromartie was playing outside leverage on Dez Bryant on Bryant’s 30-yard touchdown catch. The Cowboys had four wide receivers on the field on that play. He wasn’t going to be getting any safety help. Yet he still allowed Bryant to get inside of him.
BY THE NUMBERS
--Tony Romo completed 7 of 10 third-down passes for 83 yards, a touchdown and five first downs. In the last three games, opposing quarterbacks are 19-for-25 for 253 yards with two touchdowns, no interceptions and 15 first downs against the Eagles. In the last three games, Eagles opponents have completed 75.6 percent of their passes, averaged 8.7 yards per attempt and thrown seven touchdown passes and no interceptions.
--The Eagles, who have just 10 takeaways, have failed to force a turnover in four of their first nine games. They have just two interceptions in their last seven games.
--Just two of the Eagles’ 14 possessions Sunday started beyond their own 22 yard-line. They’ve had just five drive starts beyond their own 40 in the last seven games (78 possessions).
--With 16 touchdowns in nine games, the Eagles are on pace to score just 28 TDs this season. That would be the fewest since 1998 when they scored just 17 and finished 3-13.
--The Cowboys rushed for 50 yards on their first seven carries Sunday, and just 51 on their final 17 rushing attempts. Thirteen of the cowboys last 17 carries went for three yards or less.
not sure what foles can do this week then again he is playing against washington a team with a horrible coaching, horrible defense, weak o-line bad special teams heard that before? foles has a arm but is slow may not matter this game washington barely touches the qb..dunlap makes too many mental mistakes maybe he needs better coaching he is strong.— only 9- Exuce me PSU chuck, but the Eagles had snake eyes luck yesterday - they contolled the game ewith a patched up o line and sub QB, the few mistakes they made had capital punishment consequences.
Dez didn't catch that ball, Romo's scramble to save a drive and the Punt TD, Int TD, end-zone fumble TD all had to turn out as bad as they possibly could for the Cowboys to win that game.— robinlupe - Foles eyes ae 6 inches high than Vicks - he's just going to seeing the field unobstructed just has to contribute to effiency, on the other hand he's giving up 8 years in experience to Vick.— robinlupe
- Man, amazing how people can critique a QB based on 3/4 of a game after coming in cold off the bench without having practice time with his receivers. Nothing like jumping the gun.— tpizza
- Asomugha looks like a frightened child when he's about to attempt a tackle. Much worse than Samuel. Not sure how he garnered a reputation as a shut down corner, but the Fat Man sure drank the cool aid.— Justaschmuck
- Let's face it Dunlap and Bell are useless as tackles....pull them put in two skill players and start playing 'flag football' What do we have to lose?— dsg00
- As per the headline.....I am all for the dissection of the Eagles!— DelawareRiverRat
- With all their problems, the eagles were only down 7 early in the 4th quarter. McCoy had 82 yards and the cowboys were inviting the eagles to run with 5 and 6 men in the box. Of course, Andy and Marty passed.
When McCoy has 20 runs, the eagles win. He had 16. While pass blocking is more of a challange for the oline, they were doing ok
in the run category. With a rookie QB, Reid and Marty should be fired simply for that...let alone the penalties, red zone problems, special team problems, defense that can't stop anyone, clock problems and poor record this year and against winning teams.— Fan74 - Yeah...team will be irrelevant until Jeffy brings in a REAL GM (one who knows what a football looks like) and/or sells the team...— warreninrochester
- After just watching the lowly Chiefs, I can see how woeful this Eags team is right now-and that's the worst team in the NFL— Mike Boryla
- Eagles have to win five of the next seven games (5-2) to even get to a five hundred season. All`together now,
"To dream the impossible dream...." At least Quixote was funny. Reid is not funny and doesn't have an army, although Marty would make a good Sancho. They are getting close to my prediction, 6-10. And you guys thought I was crazy.— mario1239 - Nick Foles is the latest great white hope and will soon join Hoying, Garcia, Kolb and all the other stiffs in the scrap pile. I'm curious: where are all the Donovan McNabb haters now? What have the Eagles done in the three years since McNabb departed? In McNabb's last year the Eagles won 11 games. Since then??? For everyone who ever wondered if the Eagles inability to win the SB was McNabb's or Reid's fault, what do you think now? With the exception of one year with TO, McNabb did MORE with absolute garbage receivers than any Philly quarterback before or since. McNabb should be REVERED in Philly like Marino is in Miami, like Kelly is in Buffalo. Foles. Cut me a break.— green(withenvy)
- King Dunlap; great name, poor player. He was so brutal to watch on Sunday, although not as brutal as our Special Teams play (a returned punt, a missed XP, a wasted timeout, etc.)...I feel a sense of tranquility knowing that half of these jokers will be gone in less than 2 months.— kjuggs77
- It's actually pretty simple- Once this team learns how to block and tackle, they will be MUCH better....— Mike Boryla
- Dunlap is not a starter-caliber player. My god is that guy uncoordinated. Fletcher Cox looked like a force at DT though.— p-diddy
- It is not an understatement to say both Namdi and DRC have been huge disappointments since coming here, they are soft and always looking for someone else to lame. Speaking of soft Maclin is one of the softest recovers I have seen in 10 years. Another dissapointment— yourdaddy!
- It is not an understatement to say both Namdi and DRC have been huge disappointments since coming here, they are soft and always looking for someone else to lame. Speaking of soft Maclin is one of the softest recovers I have seen in 10 years. Another dissapointment— yourdaddy!
- I thought it was a mistake I bought Nnamdi's jersey 2 weeks ago smh— DeathPenalty94
- Hey Domo....the 44 yard touch down pass was the result of a busted coverage. Let's be honest...the pass to Johnson was completed in pure garbage time. Also, he got darn lucky on some of his throws. I'm an Eagles fan but take the Green colored glasses off please. Also, that offensive line still stinks! End of story. Also, let's be honest...the Eagles are in the process of becoming irrelevant for the next three to four years. Once Andy is gone, they are going to hire some coordinator that none of us have heard of, who will ask the fan base to be patient. Translation...Howie is the GM and that means I have to find a way to get the stiffs he drafts to look decent.— PSU_Chuck
- Hey, from the first day of the Vick signing, I thought it a mistake -- primarily for injury-prone reaons. It was. Time to move on. New coach, new QB -- like Denver, like San Fran a few years ago.— eman
- They have faded to irrelevance.— sore richard
- Foles looked good.— woody7236
- Disagree with Sims causing Vick's injury. Sims was trying to hold Vick up and he pulled away and flopped on the ground, hitting his head on the turf. Pretty sad. Vick knocked himself out of the game.— Luriesucks
- OK, Andy, I guess you'll do a better job there on that tackling...— mrjarn
- Dunlap s**ks.— mrjarn
- bedpan's EAGLES DISSECTION: FIRE REID NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!— bedpan
- NAmi, Assante, DRC....No One cares about higlight reels unless everything is going well. REally Philly fans want "Lunch Pail" Guys, Rudy Rudiger and Bobby Clarke, work hard, work hard ATTITUDES. Show boats can pump their own egos at home.— Dr. D.
- Also, we gave up Asante for nothing and now we'll be releasing Nmadi in the offseason.— Scholes
- The reason why the criticism of Asante Samuel drove me crazy was because it was based on "he's vulnerable to wide-receiver screens and outside running plays." SO? You know what Rodgers-Cromartie and Asomugha are vulnerable to? TOUCHDOWN PASSES. Are you kidding me? You want to stop running plays? Get better linebackers and linemen! In a league where teams throw as many as 50 times a game, you gotta have guys like Asante Samuel back there! It's too late now, but I hope people finally recognize the value of turnovers from the secondary!— FlyerBacker88
- Mike Vick and Andy ( We have to do better ) Must be fired Yesterday— Wildwood Crest
- Agreed ^^^^— guyguy4
- There are people who will disagree with this because of the guy's personality, but I absolutely do not care: People cannot complain about the lack of turnovers via interception and still talk tough about how you hated Asante Samuel. That dude ended opposing drives. He did. He picked off passes and he ended drives. People complain about Samuel's tackling? Yeah, how's Rodgers-Cromartie and Asomugha's tackling working out for you? About as well as their ball skills.— FlyerBacker88
