WANTS GIROUX TO BE OUR VALENTINE
Paul Domowitch’s report card on the Eagles-Raiders game:
RUSHING OFFENSE: Passaholic Andy Reid fell off the wagon and called just 11 run plays for Brian Westbrook and LeSean McCoy. Westbrook had 25- and 9-yard runs on the Eagles’ first possession of the second half, then carried the ball just two more times the rest of the game. Grade: D
PASSING OFFENSE: A week after completing 76.2 percent of his passes against the Bucs, Donovan McNabb completed just 22 of 46 passes against the Raiders. The offensive line had no clue how to deal with the Raiders’ blitzes and stunts, the receivers dropped passes and McNabb didn’t make plays when he had opportunities.
Grade: F
RUN DEFENSE: The Raiders only averaged 3.3 yards per carry, but were effective enough running the ball with Justin Fargas to force the Eagles to stay in their base defense more than they would have liked. Grade: C
PASS DEFENSE: The Eagles gave up 224 passing yards to a guy who hadn’t thrown for more than 128 since Week 1. The Raiders took advantage of middle linebacker Jeremiah Trotter’s lack of speed on Zach Miller’s 86-yard touchdown catch-and-run late in the first quarter. Miller became the latest tight end to feast on the Eagles’ defense.
Grade: F
SPECIAL TEAMS: David Akers missed costly 43- and 47-yard field goals that would have changed the outcome of the game. Eagles didn’t get much out of their return game. Grade: D
OVERALL: When Andy Reid said he was outcoached, he was spot on. He and his staff were completely caught by surprise by the blitzes and stunts and coverages the Raiders threw at Donovan McNabb and company. McNabb was sacked a disgraceful six times by a defense that managed just nine in their first five games. Grade: F
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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