Eagles-Falcons report card
The Philadelphia Daily News - Eagletarian
Eagles-Falcons report card
Paul Domowitch, Daily News NFL Columnist
Here are our grades for the Eagles-Atlanta game. You can make your grade by clicking here. We will publish the reader report card in the Tuesday Daily News.
RUSHING OFFENSE: The Eagles attacked the Falcons’ aggressive defense with a lot of misdirection right out of the gate, including a couple of big end-arounds by DeSean Jackson and some nifty cutback running by LeSean McCoy. After building a 21-7 first-half lead, they ran the ball 24 times in the final two quarters. Grade: B-plus
PASSING OFFENSE: With the exception of a late-first-half interception when he underthrew an open Brent Celek down the middle, Kevin Kolb did very little wrong. He completed all but six of his 29 attempts and threw three touchdown passes. Jeremy Maclin and Jason Avant picked up the slack after DeSean Jackson got hurt. Grade: A-plus
RUN DEFENSE: A week after shutting down the 49ers’ ground game, the Eagles’ defense did the same thing to the Falcons, holding them to 65 yards on 19 carries. It helped that they seized the lead early and forced the Falcons to play catchup. But they took dangerous Michael Turner out of the game. He averaged just 3.2 yards per carry in the first half and 3.0 for the game. Grade: A-plus
PASS DEFENSE: The Eagles put relentless pressure on Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, who was held to his lowest completion percentage of the season. On the back end, the linebackers and secondary defended well, holding Ryan to 5.3 yards per attempt in the first three quarters. Cornerback Asante Samuel had his best game of the season, intercepting one pass and making several key breakups. Grade: A-minus
SPECIAL TEAMS: A swirling wind contributed to David Akers missing three field goal attempts for the first time in his NFL career. The Eagles’ coverage units, which have been a major liability much of the first 5 weeks of the season, held up pretty well. Punt returner Jorrick Calvin had an impressive 44-yard second-quarter return that set up a touchdown drive. Grade: B
OVERALL: Six weeks in, the league continues to be tough to read. But the win over the Falcons gives the Eagles a lot more street cred than their victories over the Lions, Jaguars and 49ers. Their offense was able to carry on without DeSean Jackson and for the second straight week, their defense shut down a top ground game. Grade: A
To read our previous posts, click here.
Kevin Kolb has started four games that he played the entire game...Kolb threw for over 300 yards in three of those four games...and the Eagles won three of those four games that Kolb started and completed...WOW.. Kolb has been great, and Reid needs to stop jerking Kolb around and let him keep starting all the games and he will continue to get even better.— Bill20
Comment removed.- Real story was defense and O-line. IMO, QB makes little difference b/c both will do well. If defense and O-line don't show up, doesn't matter it Joe Montana is back there. Good win.— DennyP
- Is anyone missing McNabb yet?
— SteveS11 - Amen Bill20. This QB mess was of Reid's own making - though perhaps Kolb wouldn't have bounced back like this without the benching? Hard to say.— Evo621
- Hey what will the haters say now ??? LOL losers
- Amen SteveS11......not one Campbell's chunky bit......no chest thumping at balls in the dirt, no goofy laughing, no choking....so nice to be free of that.....and what a great game by KKolb! as Bill20 said above, tough to beat what he's accomplished so far in his young career....AR has a serious problem.......we have a great dilemma!— Mark1npt
- Amen SteveS11......not one Campbell's chunky bit......no chest thumping at balls in the dirt, no goofy laughing, no choking....so nice to be free of that.....and what a great game by KKolb! as Bill20 said above, tough to beat what he's accomplished so far in his young career....AR has a serious problem.......we have a great dilemma!— Mark1npt
- Evo621-A Benching? that's what we're callin it now? Because I thought Kolb got hurt, Vick replaced him for a game, then Reid said Vick was his guy, and would be for the year. That leads me to believe that Vick will be the guy when he's healthy, which is a shame. Andy made a shortsighted hairtrigger reaction, similar to a fan would make, and has backed himself into a corner. It'll take a big man to admit he made a mistake and stick w Kolb.— marley66
- Why do people think we have a quarterback "mess"? Kolb gets injured, Vick steps in and plays well. Vick gets injured and Kolb steps in and plays well. We have two good QBs. As my people say, that's a Mitzvah (blessing).— jleibovitz
- Comment removed.
- Who is the best team in the NFC?— hawk18
- I did not see this dominating performance coming at all today. While I give the Eagles credit from coaches to players for this result, the Falcons looked road-weary after playing four of their first six games on the road. I would be totally convinced that the Eagles could be considered a viable playoff contender if they were to beat Tennessee next week. Jeff Fisher seems to know how to defend any offense, and Reid's predictability shouldn't help the Eagles next week. The fans have not seen consecutive good performances this year. With their remaining difficult schedule, a win over the Titans would give Eagles fans some real playoff hopes.— RunningTheBases
- This is why I don't gamble. I thought the Falcons would win, 45-3. That was a nice win.— andrewfrombrooklyn
- Nice win. Even nicer to see the Cowgirls lose. Oswalt was great. Great weekend, overall. I am a little worried about DJ, though.— goeagles87
hawk, before every season the New York-based media hands the NFC East to the Giants. This is an annual pre-season ritual. We will see about that. RunningTheBases, who knows how difficult the schedule REALLY is. You could say every game is difficult. Take nothing for granted. I would say the Titans game should be an "L" for this young Eagles team. But they will win some games they're supposed to lose (and vice versa).— road515- DOMO,KK is the third best QB in the NFC only behind drew brees and aaron rodgers KK's progression is in high gear now it started in the deadskins game and lost on a dropped TD pass to avant,,then went to SF and beat a desperate niners team,,then beat the best team in the NFC,,KK looked a like a young joe montana yesterday the 83 yard bomb to maclin in the wind will be KK's trademark play in his first season as a starter,,it's a no-brainer KK is the starter conVick is starting to show his real colors he's never been a team player and never will,he's lucky he's still in the NFL.....Game balls to the O-LINE,Maclin and Kevin Kolb-133 QB rating-80% passing-325 yards WOW!!.....KK is the MAN!!.....wolf.— wolf 4
- Root for the Eagles, not the QB!! Kevin Kolb and Mike Vick are really good right now. Most fans would see that as a great situation. The Philly media and the racist LOUD minority see this as a "controversy"— RSM man
Kolb looked solid. Running game was balanced. O-Line was blocking effectively - Kolb said it himself that the one sack was his own fault. Yesterday we saw how effective this offense can be when the Line, running game, receivers and QB are in tune. I know Vick has the power of his legs and a laser of an arm, but Kolb has that field vision thats only going to get better as he plays. Keep Kevin in.— dpcoz- Where are the baby arm comments now? Kolb can't throw down field? NFL Quarterbacks take what is given (if the line protects). Vick and Kolb aren't perfect and the will have mistakes. So for the negative minded eagle fans one question, what team has the best 1 & 2 QB in the NFL?
The schedule is brutal down the stretch but I still think this team can go deep into the playoffs.— pking222 
King Dunlap stepped it up....trashed him here a week ago. Have to give him credit: he heard the criticism, worked hard all week & had a decent game against one of the better D-lines. Let's hope we don't need Peters in the near term.
