IS GLAD SPRING TRAINING IS FINALLY HERE
RUSHING OFFENSE
The Eagles only ran the ball 13 times, averaging just 2.2 yards. They were ineffective when they ran in the red zone and they were ineffective when they ran on third-and-short. Grade: F
PASSING OFFENSE
Donovan McNabb’s 450 passing yards were the second most of his career. But he was inconsistent in the red zone.
Grade: B
RUN DEFENSE
The Eagles became just the third team the Chargers managed to rush for 100-plus yards against. LaDainian Tomlinson, who had been averaging just 3.2 yards per carry, had a season-high 96 yards on 24 carries. Grade: C-minus
PASS DEFENSE
Philip Rivers had just five incompletions (25 attempts) against a patchwork back seven. The defense couldn’t get off the field in the fourth quarter, giving up two killer third-down completions that kept the ball away from Donovan McNabb and the offense. Grade: D
SPECIAL TEAMS: The return game was unproductive. The Eagles committed two penalties on first-half punt returns. Sav Rocca shanked a punt that set up the Chargers’ first touchdown and their kickoff-coverage unit gave up 24.5 yards per attempt to Darren Sproles. Grade: F
OVERALL
The Eagles’ red-zone impotence, particularly in goal-to situations, was inexcusable. The injury-ravaged defense took an early beating, but kept battling until the fourth quarter when it couldn’t get off the field. Grade: C-plus
To read our earlier post with Andy Reid's comments on the game and Brian Westbrook, click here.
To read Les Bowen's in-game report, click here.
Les
Bowen has covered the Eagles for the Daily News
since 2002.
Before that, he spent nearly 13 years covering the Flyers. It took Les
only a few seasons after the switch to figure out that there was no
penalty box at the Linc, and that the time really wasn't his, despite
what Andy Reid kept saying. Les came to Philadelphia and the Daily News
from Charlotte in 1983. In the intervening years, he has pretty much
lost track of NASCAR, and his accent. He, his wife Barbara, and their
two sons live in Haddon Township, New Jersey.
E-mail Les at bowenl@phillynews.com
and follow
him on Twitter.
Paul
Domowitch has been with the Daily News since 1982.
He has spent most of his nearly 3 decades with the paper covering the
Eagles and pro football. For the last 10 years, he’s been a
selector for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A native of Wilkes-Barre
and a graduate of Wilkes University, Domo started his career in Texas,
working first for the Midland Reporter-Telegram (1976-78), and then for
the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where he covered some god-awful Texas
Ranger baseball teams. His first beat at the Daily News actually was
boxing, which he covered just long enough to lose 2 sports coats to
blood spatter before moving on to football. Domo and his wife Shelley,
a University of Oklahoma grad who still hasn’t gotten over
that Fiesta Bowl loss to Boise State 5 years ago, have 2 terrific
daughters -- Allison, 28, who is an attorney in South Jersey, and Amy,
25, who works in administration for a professional baseball team.
E-mail Domo at PDomo@aol.com and follow
him on Twitter.
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