Clobbered
Even as Kevin Kolb plays well in his debut, the Eagles get pounded by New Orleans.
Clobbered
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
The conclusion might be this after Saints 48, Eagles 22 at Lincoln Financial Field:
That the future offers some promise.
That the problem is the present.
Because on the day of Kevin Kolb's first start as the Eagles' quarterback, he did things that no one predicted. I thought he would be functional, which made the one of the town's optimists. I did not imagine that he would throw for nearly 391 yards and two touchdowns and look very much like a guy who has the skills upon which a successful pro career can be built. (I did, though, imagine he might throw three interceptions, one of which was returned 97 yards for a touchdown by the Saints' Darren Sharper. That play, with 55 seconds left in the fourth quarter, colors things unfortunately. The last pick came on the game's final, dying play.)
But also, on the same day, special teams were a penalty-filled disaster and the defense, frankly, got shredded by Saints quarterback Drew Brees. Forty-eight points is the most ever allowed by an Andy Reid team at home. It did not matter how good or not good Kolb was -- and he was decent, not great. A week after suffocating the Carolina Panthers, the defense was neutered by the Saints. The Eagles dared not blitz Brees nearly as much as they blitzed Jake Delhomme & Co. the previous week, and it cost them. Brees had enough time and he used it well. The whole thing raises the same questions that have existed with this defense for years. Specifically, can they get enough pressure without blitzing?
As it turns out, you look at the two games so far and add them together and come to the conclusion that we still don't know anything about this Eagles team.
And then, at the end, ominous news: Brian Westbrook left the game in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury. No word yet on its severity. He hasn't appeared to have much burst in the first two games, and now this.
The present. That is the issue.
Comments (53)
If that fat pig Reid does not have a Super Bowl at the end of the season, he should be fired!— Rowdy Roddy
Comment removed.- The Bright Spot was kevin Kolb throwing for 391 Yards and some Great Catches by his Receivers.....I could write a book on the mistakes by The Special Teams, The 'D", the Pass Protection, the Punter,etc,etc....There is no Excuse for Big Red not getting the Team in Position to win against the Saints....Going Back to the Drawing Board is "GETTING OLD".— xmar
- The Bright Spot was kevin Kolb throwing for 391 Yards and some Great Catches by his Receivers.....I could write a book on the mistakes by The Special Teams, The 'D", the Pass Protection, the Punter,etc,etc....There is no Excuse for Big Red not getting the Team in Position to win against the Saints....Going Back to the Drawing Board is "GETTING OLD".— xmar
- Maybe if we ran the ball, it would have kept Brees on the sideline longer.-- My six year old son told me that during the game. Wow, he must be a genius!— Corey301
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- The tough part was how breeze took apart our corners, due to no pass rush. Pitiful D. Pitiful special teams. Kolb was fine, just not good enough in the situation. Should be good enough for kc. Then Mcnabb is back, and with vick the wildcat jumps to a new level, or things "get weird". Looks to be intereting in any case.— tdawg
- Plain and simple the Eagles got beat by a better team today. Having McNabb would not have mattered. He didn't play defense. The Saints gave the Eagles some chances. They let the Eagles out on thrid and long too many times but the Saints made plays when it counted and the Eagles didn't.They got out played and out coached.— kneauxla
- Same bs excuses from Reid in the post game.."its my responsiblity"...what bs..why are the media afraid of this man? He is a horrible coach.— igglegreen
- Wilbert Montgomery was run into the ground by the FO cheapness, Brian Westbrook now shares that problem. With Philly its always saving a buck or two. Tony G. at tight end in ATL is a example. I would of given Lito, Basket and a 2nd for his skills. And paid Tony G well o top of that. Kevin Kolb? Who cares, hes goes back to the bench soon.— starbird
- Same stuff every year. If it's not McNabb then it's Reid or maybe both. Sometimes you have the be slapped around to wake up. They will be back. Go Iggles!!!— Igglesfn
- Thank you to the New Orleans Saints for a great birthday present. You embarrassed the Eagles in their own stadium. What more could a dog-loving, savage-hating girl ask for!!!!!— tbtante
- defense....what defense.....they were out of synch..and that is what d.breeze does to you.......Kolb did okay ...not bad for his first start....the last interception did not matter....at that point....and the last drives don't matter either as passing yards were against a team that was play prevenet and had a 21 point lead.....Sean did make a mistake fielding he punt.....Kolb starts next week...we rebound and beat the chiefs and then the bye and then Doony comes back.....we're okay...— nuggett
WTF...all I can say after reading the story and all these posts...wtf Eags will be ok, make the playoffs...we all know that.- There are people on here circulating petitions to fire Andy Reid after this game? You guys need a life.— Cadiz215
- The punter played a good solid game— Gold
- p.s. Joe Montana WOULD have led the team to victory, with one eye, his left arm amputated and colitis. He would have done it because he was a WINNER and a LEADER. He would've realized how horrible Andy Reid is at play calling and he would have audibled 95% of the plays. The eagles are horrible.— PhillySteve21
- lonewolf - just curious, what would you be posting right now if it was Donovan playing QB today and he had the same stats as your boy and the same outcome? You want me to answer it for you?
- I'm not p...ed at Kolb, or the defense. I'm p...ed at Reid. Down 14 and 21 there was no sense of urgency. Kolb didn't look like he had swine flu so why weren't they playing hurry up offense? Reminded me of the Super Bowl. Not happy!— NH Eagle fan
- The (B)eagles stink! From the owner down to the friggin' ball boys...they just stink. They beat one of the worst teams in football last week and this week they get hammered by a slightly better than mediocre team. Give up on the birds until they start realizing that they have a choke-master qb, an enabling moron as a head coach and a dog killing creep as a "who-knows-what-this-loser-is-gonna-do-for-us" "gadget guy". Horrible.— PhillySteve21
here's how i see it..Kolb did much better than i expected over 300 yards in an opening game against a decent defense is not bad at all...and the reason we lost had nothing to do with the offense. it was the combination of our special teams penalties and drew brees' ability to pick apart our defense. honestly not worried about this one cause its all downhill from here..oh and i agree about westbrook..hope he gets better but at the same time he hasn't been a playmaker in over a year. mccoy was able to make more of a run game than westbrook looks like our vets are starting to wash up- Comment removed.
- Lonewolf, you don't have to go overboard in support of Kolb. He wasn't bad at all, although he did make some mistakes, the issue in this game was the defense and the inopportune turnovers. The kickoff fumble was a killer. kolb's INT on the next throw added insult to injury. Without those two the Eagles may have been able to make a game out of it, but once again, that defense showed some leaks. We'll be OK. KC can't score and the bye week allows us to get healthier. Kolb was a decent fill-in, but we need McNabb to keep the other teams honest.— desdimone
- Look the game and the teams that matter in NFC East play tonight at 8:30 pm, that wouls be the Giants and the Cowboys, 8 suberbowl wins between them. When the Eagles have one maybe then they will matter.— quadgator
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- they may have scored 48 points but don't hang them all on the defense..2 go to the ref's for missed or bad calls but it should have never came down to the interceptions...Guess the defense has to take some of the blame.. and the rest goes to the coaching staff— EagleBob
- ya 3 picks. one returned for 97 yards........hes fantastic loney..... unless andy is more stupid than i already think. they wont carry 4 qb's.....kolb will be traded and they wont get the 2nd round pick they wasted to get him! but maybe they wont cut him becuase is likely to be the starting running back by week 4.— iloveprimerib!
- DEFENSE, DEFENSE, DEFENSE ALLOWING 48 PTS. IS NOT GOOD.....— Dadair1
- Joe Montana would not have beat the Saints today with the way the Eagles played.— Bobphxville
- Kolb was at best decent. The defense was where? there are a lot of things to work on this week...let's start with coaching!!!— EagleBob
- Igglesfn, I am right there with you. Let's see how Lonewolf, Phillieswintheworldseriesandnobodypuked, etc. spin this one. I root for the Eagles regardless of who is playing and unfortunatley for Kolb, he doesn't have the talent to mask the deficiencies of this team like Donovan does. Or better yet, maybe, just maybe, not every loss can be hung on the QB right? Oh wait, that's not true, only the wins are team efforts, the losses are always McNabb's fault.
- I just repoorted that guys post as abuse because I hate kittens— phillyjeffsr
- Lone- was Kolb trying to pad his stats? LOL— phigglesfan75
- hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!— PhillySteve21
- I'm waiting for your McNabb haters to blame him.— Igglesfn
- Everytime I read about how good the Eagle defense was against Jake Delhomme I wanna puke. Also, how weak the Detroit defense was that the Saints shredded last week...so there was no need to worry! Well they hung plenty of points on this sad sack of a defense and embarrassed the Eagles with the worst home loss I can remember!!! Philly fans are foolish and spout lots of useless ignorance about other teams which shows how little Philly fans really know about football. Soon they will asking that Reid be fired and McNabb be replaced by Garcia. Enjoy the wounds you pathetic group of losers!! Who Dat!!— orndorf2
- Hey Lonewolf, if it was D-Mac w/ just shy of 400 yards and Birds got crushed, you'd be on here complaining about the Pick 6, the missed open recievers, and the boneheaded plays. Can't have it both ways, it would have been Donny's fault and you know it! Come on buttercup, you're a hypocrite!
- I think Kolb was a whole lot better than I ever expected-stupid stupid mistakes on special teams and a lack of tackling skills hurts— almar169
- Hey Lonewolfie, now you are quoting Aikman? Aikman also says that McNabb is the best option at QB and is the best QB to ever play in Philly.
- Kolb did some good things to build on. I feel he's being cast to the wolves a little early. He hasn't done enough to be judged. The receivers dropped some, obviously. He did not get any help form the defense or special teams. Running game fair at best. Trick plays fair as well. I love the Birds but think they are a 9-7 team this year anyway.— Ballgame
- Cry, Eagles, Cry...— UncleEddie
- Westbrook is finished. He hasn't been an impact player for a couple of years now. If we get a handful of plays out of him now, that is a good game.— Bobphxville
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- You get what you deserve. Karma's a b**** huh?— ppalko
- Let's add a totally stupid play when D-Jak decided to field a punt inside THE 5 YARD LINE!!! After 4 and out, a nice short field for Brees.— CT Flyers fan
- I agree with theK. You know Philly though, this game is a sign of armagedon. Look at the schedule and memorize the next 4 games on the schedule. Anything less than 4-2 after 6 weeks would be a disappointment.— MVKrum
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- When it's this ugly, best to forget it. I'm already thinking about next week. Worried about Westie's ankle.— Grazman
- Kolb did play a good game, however turn-overs will hurt you everytime. What happened to the running game!! Come-on Reid wake-up!!— GA_Mike
- When it's this ugly, best to forget it. I'm already thinking about next week. Worried about Westie's ankle.— Grazman
- slow down....this game means zero about our season. don't get too excited. starting QB out, and two horrifically ill-timed turnovers. that sums it up. you don't win with a backup QB and those turnovers. truly, there is little else to read from this game. put in behind us and move forward - THAT SIMPLE.— theK
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