Maclin/Jackson not happy with Robinson; Castillo speaks
ATLANTA -- Dunta Robinson could be receiving one of those FedEx envelopes the NFL sends to players notifying them that they have been fined.
Maclin/Jackson not happy with Robinson; Castillo speaks
Jeff McLane, Inquirer Staff Writer
ATLANTA -- Dunta Robinson could be receiving one of those FedEx envelopes the NFL sends to players notifying them that they have been fined.
The Falcons cornerback delivered what appeared to be a helmet-to-helmet blow to Eagles wide receiver Jeremy Maclin that drew a personal foul penalty in the Eagles' Sunday night loss to Atlanta. Robinson, if you recall, knocked out DeSean Jackson last season. He was fined for that hit, although many viewed it as a legal tackle.
"He's two for two now," Maclin said. "Fortunately, it wasn't as bad as Jack's was last year. I guess we'll see what Roger Goodell has in store for him."
Jackson didn't think too much of Robinson's hit on Maclin.
"I guess that's what type of player he is," Jackson said. "He tries to go for the kill shot and things like that. He got a flag for it, so just glad Jeremy is OK."
Robinson said that he didn't expect to get fined.
"I felt that it was a legal hit even though I was penalized in that instance," Robinson said. "Again, I feel strongly that there will not be any further repercussion."
Maclin had a great game, catching 13 passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns, but the receiver dropped a fourth down pass from Mike Kafka late in the game that he said he should have caught.
"I wish I could tell you, man," Maclin said of the drop. "I don't know."
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Approximately an hour after the game Eagles defensive coordinator Juan Castillo finally emerged from the coaches room in the visitors' locker room at the Georgia Dome to address just a handful of reporters.
Castillo's defense allowed 35 points -- 14 of them coming in the fourth quarter with the Eagles ahead ten points -- after the unit held the Rams to 13 points in the opener.
"I think being a defensive coordinator you have to understand right now that when you win you take the good. Everybody said you did a good job," Castillo said. "When you lose, obviously you didn't do the job that you needed to do because it's about winning the game."
The big blow came on a 61-yard run by Falcons running back Michael Turner in the fourth quarter with the Eagles lead down to three. Turner was held in check for most of the game until that point. Atlanta went on to score when Turner ran three yards for the go-ahead touchdown.
"I just got to put the guys in better situation, I didn't do that," Castillo said. "And they busted a big play."
Tight end Tony Gonzalez had another solid outing against the Eagles. He caught seven passes for 83 yards and two touchdowns. One score was a highlight-worthy one-handed, tip-toe catch in the back of the end zone.
Linebacker Jamar Chaney and safety Jarrad Page were mostly responsible for covering Gonzalez, although the Eagles orignially intended on using cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha on the future Hall of Famer.
"Coming into the week we were going to do it," Asomugha said. "We thought we were going to do it a lot more, but we had an injury earlier in the week in the secondary and that kind of changed the focus a little bit."
Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie sprained his ankle during conditioning, but ended up playing against the Falcons. Asomugha recorded his first interception as an Eagle when Matt Ryan attempted as pass for Gonzalez.
2 weeks and 2 running backs killing the Eagles.— urbnasty- It might be time to officially put Celek's mug on milk cartons (along w/his hands). The glorified punt returner/carnival act dropped another TD, but hey, let's make him one of the top paid WRs in the NFL right? Some of you don't get it. Fitz, the Johnsons, VJax, RWhite and Jennings dont drop those balls.
— somertonspartan 
Comment removed.- I know they gave up 5 tds but only one was to a wr.and it was caught in traffic.and aside from the 60 yard run by turner they shut down the run.with out ghat last run he would have ended the game with 50 yds.d line looked incredible cbs were great.lbs killed us.as expected but i saw improvment.our offense lost this game with drops,fum les interceptions that werent really interceptions but andy blew the call on a challenge.ONCE AGAIN.vick needs to sork on holding the ball properly when he gets in the trash.— Illeagle
- Banner better get Trotter on the phone..— FetchDixon
- Illeagle, you've got it backwards. Our offense scored 31 points. That's enough to win. The defense lost the game. You can look good for most of the plays, but if you allow 5 TD's, you've made too many mistakes. Now, it just may be that this defense will get it together before the end of the season, because they're showing signs of being good. But right now they are the weak spot on the team, in particular the linebackers and safeties.— dlscholt
- Yeah I dont think its the defense as a whole though I think it's specifically the lbs.— Illeagle
- I cannot for the life of me understand what the Eagles see in Casey Matthews. If his last name was Johnson or smith, he wouldn't even be in the NFL. I have not seen any flashes of greatness in him.— PhileaglyersFan
- I completely agree with the comments about Matthews. It appears to me that he doesn't know how to play the position! The beauty of playing middle linebacker is that you can be in on almost every play, IF you take the split second it requires to watch how the play is developing. Matthews charges headlong into the line before he even knows how the play will develop, so he's often out of position. In other words, he commits too early. He was out of position on Turner's long run and on the last Atlanta running TD. And I haven't even mentioned the fact that he can't shake a block! I don't blame him. He may at some point develop into an okay linebacker. I blame coaches who, for some reason, play him when he's obviously not ready for prime time.— JGKelly
- Robinson said after the game that the reason Maclin dropped that last ball was because he was worried about taking another hit from him.... what a joke...this guy should have been tossed out of the game.— dennismithusa
- It looks like the fine Robinson received last season has had no effect on him. It's time the NFL suspends and fines repeat offenders. A suspension might cause Robinson not to lead with his helmet. I'm surprised an Eagle didn't take a run at Robinson later in the game.— pogiepop
- Robinson is in denial if thinks he doesn't have a fine coming. That was a textbook example of leading with the helmet. He didn't even have his arms extended and was clearly aiming his helmet for Maclin's head. Plus he did the same thing last year. Guess he couldn't handle getting torched by Maclin, so he lost his composure.— p-diddy
- It's a shame that these linebackers are getting criticized so much. This wide nine is a very good technique for the defensive line, but it's most likely the worst technique for a run game. Washburn could have done without Babin or Jenkins, because he's just a fantastic coach, but Castillo can't deal with a linebacker corp that all together have 3 years of NFL experience going into the year. A big signing there would have changed this team into an all around solid defense. I guarantee you that the front four could bull rush at least 4 offensive lineman back a yard or two and then the linebackers would only have to worry about the 5th offensive lineman, a full back, or a tight end. Since the ends are going right up the field on ALL plays, Cole or Babin basically go unblocked. It's now a 6 on 6, plus the running back. There needs to be a trick up Washburn's sleeve where he can at least try to help the LBs in a running situation. As for the linebacker's coverage, I thought it was fantastic. That Tony Gonzalez TD is not getting batted down while playing man coverage. It was too good of a pass.
And as for expectations, I thought the Eagles were going to start off the year an 0-2 team, but we're 1-1, and capable of beating the Falcons. The Eagles just have to deal with a 7-1 record for the first half of the season. (6-2 if the Bills and Chan Gailey stay strong)— colahead420 - what happened to Nate Allen. Page killed us in this game. He was no match for #88. That's on Castillo not Page.— djack10
- Matthews was picked for his ability to read the play. I think that it's a combination of him being a rookie and of the defensive setup that forces him to react before he sees what's going on. He's going to get bigger and stronger still and he's going to relearn his position after adjusting to the speed and strength of the NFL. It's just too bad though that he's supposed to step in as a rookie and be the backbone of a weak LB squad. He's better than most in coverage and also has great run defense, but right now he looks lost and slow to react and is being sent on too many blitzes.— thehumble1
