IS TAKING DOC TO SEE THE DOC
Here is our report card from today's Eagles-Panthers game:
RUSH OFFENSE: Brian Westbrook, who didn’t play a down in the preseason following ankle surgery, rushed for 64 yards, including 45 on seven carries in the first half. DeSean Jackson rushed for 33 yards, 25 of it on an end-around and the other 8 out of the Wildcat. Grade: A-minus
PASS OFFENSE: Donovan McNabb averaged just 4.4 yards per attempt before he got hurt, but collected a pair of TD passes. He misfired on an early-third-quarter interception when he failed to get a pass to a wide-open Kevin Curtis over the head of middle linebacker Jon Beason. Grade: C-minus
RUN DEFENSE: The Panthers rushed for 55 yards on 10 carries on their first possession, including an 11-yard cutback run by DeAngelo Williams for a touchdown. But the Eagles shut the door after that, holding Carolina to 31 rushing yards on 20 attempts the rest of the game. Grade: A
PASS DEFENSE: The Eagles’ aggressive pass rush terrorized three Carolina QBs, notched five sacks and helping force five interceptions. They chased starter Jake Delhomme midway through the third quarter after a dreadful 7-for-17, four-interception effort. Grade: A-plus
SPECIAL TEAMS: DeSean Jackson had an 85-yard punt return for a touchdown in the second quarter that gave the Eagles a 17-7 lead. David Akers had a 51-yard field goal attempt blocked and sent a late-second quarter kickoff out of bounds, and the punt-coverage unit gave up a 26-yard return. Grade: B-minus
OVERALL: The offense finished with just 267 yards and converted only five of 13 third-down opportunities. But the defense came up big, forcing seven turnovers in Sean McDermott’s debut as defensive coordinator. Grade: B-minus
*
To read our earlier report on Donovan McNabb's injury, click here.
To read our highights from the game, 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.
Download our iPhone/Android app for even more Birds coverage, including app-exclusive videos and analysis. Get it here for iPhone or here for Android.
 | Join on Facebook |
