CAN HEAR CLEARWATER CALLING
Here is our Second Take on the Eagles' win over Tampa Bay:
* You probably noticed that the Eagles blitzed a lot in Sunday’s win. How much? According to my unofficial calculations, 46 times on 75 snaps. Defensive coordinator Sean McDermott called blitzes on 23 of 43 snaps in the first half, but was just getting warmed up. In the second half, he called 22 blitzes on 32 plays, including nine plays in a row on one Tampa possession. All three of Josh Johnson’s interceptions came against blitzes. But so too, did both of his touchdown passes to Kellen Winslow.
* Andy Reid regularly rotated Brian Westbrook and LeSean McCoy. The Eagles ran just 48 offensive plays against the Bucs. McCoy was in for 23 of them and Westbrook for 20. They lined up in the same formation just once. That was early in the fourth quarter. Donovan McNabb completed a 5-yard pass to Jeremy Maclin on the play.
* The Bucs ran the spread-option on their first possession of the game, with Johnson pitching the ball to running back Cadillac Williams. But defensive end Juqua Parker, who lined up as a standup rusher, stayed in front of the play and prevented Williams from turning it upfield. Cornerback Asante Samuel got credit for the tackle on the 5-yard loss, but it was Parker who made the play.
* Defensive tackle Antonio Dixon got his most playing time of the season and played well, often lining up right over center Sean Mahan. Mahan was no match for Dixon’s strength. On a second-and-10 run by Williams on the Bucs’ second possession, Dixon had pushed Mahan 2 yards into the backfield before Williams got the handoff. He had to bounce it outside, where Omar Gaither tackled him for a 4-yard loss.
* Donovan McNabb played a practically perfect game. The only really poor pass he made was to Jason Avant on the Eagles’ second possession. Avant was open on a crossing route in front of strong safety Sabby Piscatelli for what would’ve been at least a 20-yard gain, but McNabb badly overshot him.
* The Bucs’ receivers had two costly drops early in the game. Johnson made a great throw to Antonio Bryant against a blitz on third-and-14 on their second possession that Bryant dropped. On their next possession, on a fourth-and-2 at the Philadelphia 26, Johnson hit Michael Clayton for what should’ve been a first down at the Philadelphia 19. But Clayton failed to hang on to the ball after getting hit by Sheldon Brown.
* The Eagles deserved most of the flags they drew Sunday. But the offensive pass interference call on DeSean Jackson late in the first quarter was lame. I think the official was fooled by Jackson’s stopping ability and figured he had to have pushed off cornerback Aqib Talib to create that much separation.
Just Wondering
* Why the Bucs’ nickel back, Elbert Mack, was covering Maclin on his 51-yard first quarter TD catch? The Eagles lined up in a three-wide receiver set, with Maclin wide left. To Mack’s credit, he managed to stay with Maclin until he turned to locate the ball, which enabled Maclin to get enough separation to make the catch.
* If we’ll see more of linebacker Chris Gocong as a blitzer? Gocong notched his first sack of the season Sunday. He was a pass-rushing defensive end at Cal-Poly that the Eagles converted to a strongside linebacker. Jim Johnson always talked about using him as a blitzer, but seldom did.
* Is it humanly possible for Asante Samuel to make a tackle without grabbing a facemask or hurting himself?
* What was Raheem Morris thinking passing on two field-goal opportunities in the first half. He went for it on fourth-and-1 at the Philadelphia 23 in the second quarter with the Bucs only trailing 7-0. A fumbled snap killed that drive. He also passed on a field goal with 6 seconds left in the first half when the Bucs had the ball at the Philadelphia 8. Johnson ended up throwing an interception on the final play of the half.
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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