Vick breaks hand, Eagles break down
Giants 29, Eagles 16
Vick breaks hand, Eagles break down
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
It might be time to start worrying.
The Eagles frankly looked awful Sunday in losing to the Giants, 29-16. Every team looks lousy at times in the NFL, but things are getting way too interesting, way too early for this team. The Eagles lost a game they should have won last week in Atlanta and they lost a game they should have won against the battered Giants. All of which means that we all might have to reassess our expectations.
Oh, and Michael Vick is hurt again.
Last week, it was a concussion. This week, it is a broken right hand. Yes, it is his non-throwing hand -- but it is hard to imagine he would be able to play with it. All of which means that Mike Kafka will be the guy in charge of stabilizing this unsteady ship -- that is, unless the two interceptions Kafka threw in the fourth quarter disqualified him from this game of quarterback roulette.
Which means, Vince Young? Or not?
Everybody figured the Giants would try to run the ball at the Eagles' suspect linebacking corps, and they did run it well. But the Giants scored four touchdowns on passing plays -- and, along the way, Eagles mistakes littered the field.
Brandon Jacobs scored on a 40-yard catch and run, a plan in which linebacker Casey Matthews over-committed on a play fake and watched as Jacobs ran by him. Later, Victor Cruz scored on a 74-yard pass from Eli Manning in which safety Kurt Coleman and cornerback Nnamdi Asomugah both had shots at Cruz after the catch but failed to bring him down.
Then, in the fourth quarter, Cruz caught a 24-yard touchdown pass in which he out-fought Asomugah and Jarrad Page for the ball. Later, it was Ahmad Bradshaw on an 18-yarder that provided the awful punctuation.
Given Vick's injury, it is hard to argue that the defense is the day's bigger concern. Still, this wasn't supposed to happen. This was supposed to have been fixed. They were going to give up rushing yards, yes, but not these kinds of big passing plays.
As for the offense, maybe because Vick was coming off of a concussion or maybe because he seemed a little timid or maybe because Shady McCoy was on fire, but the Eagles went with a ground-oriented attack for the first time in forever. McCoy was over 100 yards in the third quarter and finished with 128 yards on 24 carries.
But the Eagles were stuffed near the goal line on one series where we all saw way too much of fullback Owen Schmitt. They also failed to convert a fourth-and-1 at the 43-yard line in early stages of the fourth quarter.
Early crisis, then.
And you thought the Phillies were in trouble.
#EAGLESAFTERMATH: Be heard on the Birds- +1
— coloradoeagle - That's gonna be Vick's philly legacy- one more coach killed. — jtj06
- I'm with ya !!!! — diehardeagle
- So now the Eagles have a way of handling the Red Zone. For 3 TDs the Giants passed outside the Red Zone. The other TD was from within. So The Eagles went another week without stopping the other team in the Red Zone.— 4thand10
- We're fine there.— TVGuy22
- Last year the defense was league-worst in Red Zone. Today they looked lost. Linebackers make no plays. No offense can overcome these kind of deficiencies on other side of the ball. Agree with many here that it's time for Reid to go.— PillyFanInMass
- Not much to say about that. The Eagles just don't have a very good football team and probably won't even make the playoffs. This has to be the end of the line for Reid period.— bouldereagle
- Getting rid of D-Mac was supposed to be the answer, remember? (The haters - I was one of them - said we'd never win with D-Mac at the helm). Well Big Red is here and the coaching, play calling and clock management still stink. Time for the fat man to be cut loose.— JohnnySak
- it just seems like reids coaching gets worse and worse each year and his selection of players in the draft gets much worse. His philosophy has always been flawed but now its downright embarassing. how in the world do you on the giant one yard line call two qb sneaks and two fullback handoffs, when u have a running back (mccoy) that was having a great game back there and a power back in ronnie brown. maybe do some playaction or even throw the football..dont run the same damn plays twice..smmfh..4th and one at midfield and u go for it? what in the blue hell is wrong with reid. u up only two and u fail they get good field position and your defense was playing good at the time. u punt the ball and make them go the length of the field! and please stop the casey matthews experiment , he sucks hes nothing like his brother. how do u not see a 250 back running a streak down the sideline and then when he finally saw him (which was late) u still cant catch him..smh..its time for a coaching change reids coaching gets worse with every single year he remains
— bigjay215 - The city of Philadelphia has invited the unholy one into their midst, and this is the result - a team that should be a Super Bowl contender loses to the lowly Giants. The Philly Dog Killers have become the victim of killer Vick's bad kharma, and will never win with him.— Truth_Teller
- You are such a moron. This has NOTHING to do with Vick's past. It was EVERYTHING to do with a lousy, overrated football team and coach. GROW UP.
- This team deserved to lose this game big time. Coleman and Page are awful tackling. Kafka is not an NFL quarterback. 49ers beat them next week. Can't wait til New England annilates them. This team has been declared a disaster area. Dream team is now a nightmare team. 1-15 a strong possibility. Andy Reid should be fired before next week— eaglesman1
- Reid owns this. He won't pay for it, he doesn't have to pay for it, he just owns it.— croozn
- 6-10... BOOK IT!
— shady24 - 6-10... BOOK IT! (HTML deleted)— shady24
