Eagles-Giants Day-After Dissection
The Philadelphia Daily News - Eagletarian
Eagles-Giants Day-After Dissection
Paul Domowitch, Daily News NFL Columnist
Breaking down Sunday’s ugly loss to the Giants while wondering whether I really needed that hip replacement surgery last year or, like Mike Vick’s hand, it just might’ve just been a swollen blood vessel:
QUICK HITS
--Three changes Juan Castillo needs to make immediately to his defense: 1) bench Casey Matthews and insert rookie Brian Rolle at weakside linebacker in his base package; 2) put Joselio Hanson back in the nickel at slot corner. He understands the slot better than both Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Nnamdi Asomugha and can tackle better than both of them; and 3) enough with all of the zone coverage you’ve got Asomugha playing. The guy has spent his entire career as a man-cover guy. He’s one of the best in the game at taking the other team’s best receiver out of the game and making him disappear. Both Castillo and Andy Reid talk nonstop about needing to put players in position to make plays. Well, do it.
--Rookie center Jason Kelce has played pretty well in the first three games, but he was the main reason that that second goal-line run by fullback Owen Schmitt on a drive late in the third quarter didn’t work. Kelce, who weighs just 280 pounds, got pushed back into pulling tackle Jason Peters by the Giants’ Linval Joseph, which had the same effect as a 15-car pileup on the Schuylkill at rush hour. Schmitt never made it to the line of scrimmage.
--If Mike Kafka is going to make it in the NFL, it’s going to be because of his decision-making, not his arm-strength. He made some smart decisions with the ball last week against the Falcons, but made a dumb one Sunday on his first interception after replacing Mike Vick early in the fourth quarter. DeSean Jackson tried to beat cornerback Aaron Ross with a double move. But Ross was playing off of him and never bit on the move. Right then and there, Kafka should have gone to his next progression. Instead, he forced the ball to Jackson, who was blanketed not only by Ross, but also by safety Kenny Phillips. Ross picked off the pass.
--Giving up two touchdown passes to Victor Cruz was bad enough. But it easily could’ve been three. On the first play of the Giants’ second possession, Cruz beat cornerback Asante Samuel and safety Jarrad Page with a double move. He would’ve had a 73-yard TD if Manning hadn’t overthrown him.
--The Giants’ first touchdown -- that 40-yard catch-and-run by Brandon Jacobs on a wheel route in which he beat rookie linebacker Casey Matthews -- is all on Castillo. He keeps insisting that his linebackers are ``interchangeable.’’ That may be somewhat true of the SAM and WILL spots, but not MIKE and WILL. If you hesitate for even a split second in the NFL, you’re going to get beat. Matthews’ slow recognition on that play makes it pretty clear that you need more than a few days of practice to move from one to the other.
--This hardly is breaking news, but the Eagles’ tackling in Sunday’s loss was abysmal. Might’ve been the worst overall job of tackling in a game in the Andy Reid era.
--Jackson threw the Eagles’ defense under the bus after the game. Their poor play definitely deserves criticism. I’m just not sure a wide receiver who has been held to two catches in each of the last two games is the right guy to deliver it.
VICK’S HITS
After Sunday’s game, Vick complained about the hits he’s taking and suggested that the zebras aren’t affording him the same protection as some of the league’s other quarterbacks. After watching the tape of the game, though, I’m not sure Vick has much of a case, though. Did he take some licks? Absolutely. But I didn’t really see any that should have drawn flags or fines. A look at four of the more notable ones:
1--He took a good shot from defensive end Dave Tollefson after his pass to Steve Smith was picked off by Aaron Ross. But there was nothing illegal about it. Just as Vick made a move to pursue Ross, Tollefson leveled him from the side. If Vick wanted to avoid getting clobbered, all he had to do was head toward the sideline.
2--He took a big lick from defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul on a third-and-11 sack late in the first quarter. The problems started when Pierre-Paul beat left tackle Jason Peters on an outside rush and flushed Vick out of the pocket. Vick eluded him, but Pierre-Paul got a second chance at Vick when Tuck cut off his outside escape and forced him to take it back inside. He ran right into Pierre-Paul. But Pierre-Paul kept his head up and hit Vick in the chest, not the head. Again, if you don’t want to take shots like that, throw the ball away.
3--He took a pretty good shot from tackle Rocky Bernard after letting the ball go on his eight-yard completion to Avant that gave the Eagles a first down at the Giants 7 early in the second quarter. Bernard came on a delayed rush, and left guard Evan Mathis was late picking him up. But it wasn’t a late or illegal hit.
4--Vick got tattooed pretty good by defensive lineman Chris Canty on his 23-yard completion to Jeremy Maclin in the third quarter. It also was the play in which he injured his right hand. Tight end Brent Celek’s job was to slow Canty, then quickly slide to the right flat and become a receiving option, which he did. Vick could have avoided the hit by throwing quickly to Celek, but opted to hold on to the ball and wait for Maclin to get open in the middle of the field. It was a hard hit, but not flagworthy. Canty kept his head up, didn’t launch himself and didn’t hit Vick in the head. As for Vick’s hand, it appeared he actually hurt it when he used it to brace his fall.
The Run Defense
Ahmad Bradshaw gashed the Eagles defense for 15- and 37-yard first-half runs. Eagles allowed four runs of 8 yards or more. Giants, who finished with 102 yards on 25 rushing attempts, averaged 7.1 yards per carry in the first three quarters.
On Bradshaw’s 15-yard run on the Giants’ second possession, Fokou came on an outside blitz around Babin, and Babin rushed inside. That left a gap between them which should have been filled by middle linebacker Jamar Chaney. But he couldn’t get off a block by Chris Snee.
On Bradshaw’s 37-yard run in second quarter, Eagles were in nickel on third-and-5. Chaney came up the middle on blitz, but got sealed off. Bradhaw ran underneath defensive end Trent Cole. There was no one in the gap. Safety Jarrad Page missed a tackle that would have kept it to a 10-yard gain. Then Nate Allen got stiff-armed badly at the end of the play, allowing Bradshaw to gain a final 7 yards.
LESEAN MCCOY’S DAY
LeSean McCoy notched his second 100-yard game of the season, rushing for 128 yards on 24 carries. But he still occasionally dances too much rather than just hitting the hole.
It’s one of the reasons he had five carries for losses Sunday, including that momentum-changing three-yard loss on the fourth-and-one play early in the fourth quarter. He tried to bounce outside for a big gain on the play rather than just attack the pile and try to pick up the one yard.
His poor decision-making on that play was the main reason Andy Reid was lukewarm in his praise of the running back at his Monday news conference, despite his impressive numbers. ``He’s playing very well,’’ Reid said of a guy who’s on pace to rush for 1,860 yards this season. ``There’s some plays he’d like to have back yesterday. But for the most part, he did a nice job.’’
Breaking down McCoy’s numbers Sunday and in the Eagles’ first three games:
Overall: 57-345-4 (5.9)
By Quarter
Sunday Overall
1st Q 6-28 13-37
2nd Q 9-60 16-83
3rd Q 6-24 18-91
4th Q 3-16 10-134
By Down
1st D 12-89 31-219
2nd D 9-27 20-106
3rd D 2-15 5-23
4th D 1-(-)3 1-(-)3
Not a fan of this small Oline thing...and not a fan of Reid anymore....times yours !!!!— diehardeagle- Domo ... finally you've nailed a significant problem with Castillo's scheme for Nnamdi ... Castillo needs to let Nnamdi do what he does best: man press coverage. Forget this stupid zone coverage. What the hell is Castillo thinking? Just a total lack of understanding the strengths of your players.— misterhman
- What's up with the criticism of LeSean McCoy? The guy's not perfect, but he's one of the best backs in the league. The difference between him and Ronnie Brown is tremendous. There are enough negative things to concentrate on besides McCoy.— staup640
- Domo: always calling in straight and just the facts. Nice work.— albertpa
- Well coached teams are sound in the fundamentals and know how to make tackles.— ej610
- Castillo is the worst hire since George W. Bush made Mike Brown the head of FEMA. He is in so far over his head. It took the NFL 7 quarters to break this guy's scheme. You get what you pay for - we got our DC at 5-Below.— BornOnTheWrongSide_of_PA
- The facts???? Really????? Vick didn't hurt his hand when he used it to brace his fall, he hurt it on Chris Canty's helmet. Domo is too busy ripping the Eagles to actually give you factual reporting, but then again, we are talking about the Daily News here, facts in sports reporting don't really matter you can just run your mouth as much as you want. This inaccuracy is disgraceful, Domo, you are low.— brmorgen81
- I agree with Domo on every single point.— eman
- McCoy is fine. It's the short yardage play and red zone play design that suck. I wonder why that is. We have good personnel now. Oh, right, that's because Marty Morningwheg and Andy Reid still suck. I'm sure they will practice the wrong way to play red zone and short yardage over and over again this week.— HeelYes
- If they bring in situation players for everything else why not O line. When it is 3 and less than 1, why not put Herrimann at left guard, Jackson at center, along w/ Peters at left tackle, and run behind your muscle?— camasbud
- Great read. The use Nnamdi is another example of bringing men in and using them in situations where they have not had their best success. Drives me crazy.— johnny eagle
- Lets cut to the chase Romo breaks a rib punctures a lung and he is back in. Vick BRUISES his NON THROWING hand and whines about being hit. He is not a quaterback that will get us to the superbowl. Whats next IR for a hang nail— 18zulu
- VICK: get rid of the ball sooner. Stop trying to extend EVERY play. If it's dead, throw the ball away and live to fight another day. That will cut down on all the chasing, and the hits.— fillyfan
- all good points except I disagree about the Canty hit. He was aiming for and did hit Vick in the head. I also think Coleman should be benched. That was a terrible effort tackling..twice on the same play.— bleedgreen
- I thought the 3rd hit was borderline. It looked like Bernard intentionally slammed him to the ground and pile drived him into the turf. He intentionally tried to injure Vick. Going for it on that 4th down was ridiculous. The short field gave the Giants a big lift and, in the end, cost the Eagles the game. I felt like if they had punted, the Eagles would have been 3 and out. McCoy: I forget which drive it was on but on one of the run plays at the goal line, McCoy had his back to the endzone and then turned right into the defenders. If he had turned to his left, there was pretty much nobody there. All the little things are killing the Eagles.— MikeP
- Your number 3 and 4 hits should've been penalties. On #3 Vick was slammed to the ground and it was after he released the ball. It wasn't an unavoidable hit. It was intentional. Number 4 was clearly a late hit. Canty was 3 years from Vick when he released the ball. It was clearly not an unavoidable hit. It clearly was a late intentional hit. Watch other games in the NFL and tell me those calls would not have been made in most of those other games. It can't be just a fluke this week because it happens week after week Yes Vick does run and hence defender want to make sure he can't get away. The rules tho do not make any special distinction for when a hit is late or excessive based on whether the QB can run. If he's in the pocket, between the tackles he deserves to be protected as much as Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.— bluebellious
- does this idiot work for the giants? some good points but not an objective account -- won't waste my time commenting here again...— azarze
- Absolutely incorrect about that Canty hit. It was helmet to helmet, right in the mouth. Vick's hand was in between his upper chest and Canty's helmet. It was a blatantly illegal hit by current rules. I've seen more unpenalized late hits in the pocket on Vick than any other QB in the league. You needed eye surgery with your hip surgery.— Bob1
- Oy vey. Great. Get on Shady, the best Eagles player on the field in that game.
Domo? Your brilliance as a sports writer is only surpassed by your idiocy as same. Grrr...— eaglefaninAZ - anybody see the missed obvious helmet to helmet cullen jenkins laid on matt ryan? point being, officiating in the NFL is as consistant as the strike zone. vick holds on to the ball too long, he's always trying to extent a play and when he's out of the pocket, he's fair game and he doesn't slide. and quite frankly, there's a bullseye on the eagles. teams are going to hit harder and be more motivated when they play the eagles. teams know vick is fragile, so they're going to try and put him out of the game and if it means a 15 yard penalty, so be it. sunday that was evident.— ts1754
- Vick could have played but that is his dog strangling hand and did not want to risk it......— PhillyguyinVA
Comment removed.- I posted 2x last week on Philly.com predicting an Eagles loss to the Giants (my pick was 30-20 Giants-not shabby!) based upon the slop that I witnessed in the Atlanta game. Of course, I got roasted by a lot of the other posters at the time, but move on! Bottom line; this team stinks; even more than that, the coaching is atrocius. I said last week both times that I posted that the Andy Reid swan song is growing louder. After this week; it will be deafening: 49ers 28-Eagles 24.— bust6711
