Mornhinweg: offense needs to play "the right way"
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Eagles
Mornhinweg: offense needs to play "the right way"
Jonathan Tamari and Jeff McLane
Marty Mornhinweg is usually putting a positive spin on his offense and his players, but listening to him today, there were moments when you would have a hard time believing his group had scored 31 points Sunday.
Mornhinweg said there were times last week when his offense gained yards, but didn't do it "the right way."
"Some great plays and great execution, and other plays that we gained yards on but we didn’t do it the right way," Mornhinweg said. "We were just off a little bit on more than a handful of plays. To be great, you’ve got to be more consistent than that. We’re going to try to get better every day and hopefully every week you’ll see it on game day."
Mornhinweg, as he usually does, declined to get into specifics about individuals or plays, but several players, including Mike Vick, have said this week that the quarterback looked to run more than the team would like last Sunday. It often worked out, but the Eagles certainly want to see Vick take fewer hits this year.
-- Mornhinweg praised his offensive line, saying they did well, even though at times the Rams "rushed the cupboard," which I guess is a new way of saying "bringing the house."
-- Wide receiver Steve Smith "looked better yesterday than he has since he’s been here," Mornhinweg said. He expects the receiver to slowly become a bigger part of the offense.
-- Mornhinweg said tight end Brent Celek has improved as a blocker, and that his blocking assignments have affected his numbers.
-- In the preseason defensive coordinator Juan Castillo hinted at using Nnamdi Asomugha in coverage against tight ends. The Eagles face one of the top tight ends in the league this week in Tony Gonzalez, but Castillo wouldn't discuss whether Asomugha will be assigned to him. "That's interesting. We'll see on Sunday," was all he allowed.
-- Castillo said Brian Rolle is the starter in the team's third down nickel package. The Eagles have a regular nickel group (which on Sunday appeared to include Casey Matthews and Jamar Chaney at linebacker) and a third down unit (in which Rolle replaces Matthews).
-- Special teams coordinator Bobby April put blame on himself for Dion Lewis' decisions to run a couple of kick offs back from deep inside his own end zone. April said he needs to prepare Lewis better. He said the Eagles generally don't want to run the ball back if it is kicked more than five yards deep, but that teams are still figuring out the proper threshold with the new kickoff placement. In the past, a kick that deep would have been a sure kneel-down, April said.
-- Darryl Tapp (pec) is still out of practice but Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (ankle) said he expects to participate this afternoon.
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If you want Vick to take less hits and not run so much, then pick up the blitz !!— dmanphilly- What needs work is Andy and Howie's player selection....If they had any talent at RG or RT Micahels would not get hit so often and Celek could go back to being an offensive weapon.....Stepfords, Loylists and Haters and real reasonable fans know.....Andy is the problem....and Howie is jsut a go-fer....No talent means injuries to the $100,000 million face of the franchise QB......what's with that Joe....It is happening on your watch....— nuggett
dmanphilly---did you actually watch the game? did you understand what you were watching? The Rams blitzed a total of 7 times. Vick ran a lot more than that. Oh, well. No use letting the actual game action influence our ideas. Nice to see your name in the blog, though, isn't it?- Al Wilson--I think your numbers are a bit off--I just went over the gamecenter play by play--Vick had 11 runs--3 were kneeldowns at the end. So that leaves us with 8--if you allow that Vick ran every time the Rams blitzed, that's at least 8-; he was sacked by Mikell on a blind side blitz where he fumbled the ball so that's 9; he was sacked by Justin King, who's another DB so that's 10; on the TD pass to Jackson, he was blitzed so that's 11. So that's at least 11 plays that he was blitzed on--but from the game stories I've read from the different national columnists, the Rams blitzed way more than 7 times.— bobbyuk
- Talking about yourself Al? Maybe you just spent more time in the fridge or the bathroom than you though because Sheil had the Rams sending 5 or more player 18 times.— Viewkeeper
- Al Wilson, I did see the game a few times and as bobbyuk pointed out you are wrong. Besides that point, the statement I made was a reference to more than this game. It's overall and in general.
Having prefaced it, I will say it again.
If you want Vick to take less hits and not run so much, then pick up the blitz !!
DmanPhilly— dmanphilly - thats real perceptive of you Marty, maybe if you and Andy actually called a BALANCED OFFENSE Vick WOULDNT HAVE TO COMPLETELY DISREGARD YOUR TERRIBLE OFFENSIVE PLAYCALLS and run for his life. thats what happens when you call 60, 70 and 80 PERCENT passing. when you dont have tall enough recivers for him to throw a ball too in coverage, all you have is small fast and when they cant get seperation your stupid pass play is GARBAGE. GARBAGE DOES NOT WIN SUPERBOWLS, GARBAGE DOES NOT BEAT THE BEST TEAMS GARBAGE IS JUST THAT. GARBAGE. marty and andy are the WORST playcallers in the NFL, the two of them combined will NEVER , EVER win a championship. NEVER.— CharlieGarner25
- wow Andy is the most successfully coach in the franchise history we are 2 missed field goals and a late int from beating the eventual champs and you internet geniuses want to run him out of town cuz we haven't won the big game get a life its only game one of the season we have some holes but most teams do ...this team if healthy will be in the hunt and that's good only one team wins any year it requires a good team health and some luck (see giants pats ) lets hope we can get the missing ingredient to get over that final hump the superbowl— positive eagle
No offense, but the offense only scored 24 points. (J. Parker's fumble recovery TD.)— Leegles- Thank you positive eagle. People forget that Reid drafted McCoy (immediate replacement of Westbrook, who I loved, with NO dropoff in production!), DJack et al but Andy's a complete buffoon. Mmmmmm okayyyyy. Please, all you Negadelphians go back to your parent's basement and stop bothering us with your "knowledge" of the game.— shmu65
- Does anybody think CharlieGarner25 has a job??? Yeah, me neither...— shmu65
- Hey Charlie Garner 25 tell me how tall the Pats WRs were when they won those three SBs? I don't think any of them were over 6'--and Maclin is exactly 6'.— bobbyuk
- Vick said during the offseason that he needed to do better with picking up the blitz and beating it. He has to do it in a game. Running is a missed opportunity to learn and get better. They can't win a Super Bowl with a QB who can't beat a blitz. I think the offensive line will appreciate it when Vick stops teams from blitzing so much. When Vick is blitzed, someone is open. Running is a failure in some cases.— MikeP
- I guess Hindsight missed seeing Rodgers, Brees and Brady NOT hand off to running backs last week. How many passes did they throw Hindsight?
Guess that means McCarthy, Belichek and Gary Payton don't know what they are doing either? Those SBs must have been an accident.
I guess Hindsight missed seeing the Eagles run/pass ratio in game 1.
I guess Hindsight was behind the door when they handed out the Guide to Football in the New Millenium. HINDSIGHT, it's 2011 and Chuck Knox isn't around anymore.
Hey Hindsight, will you be making a fool of yourself on Live Talk this Sunday like you did last Sunday? Wanna tune in to get a few laughs. You amuse me.— tpizza 
lol @ the kool-aid chorus. wait til they play even one team other then THE RAMS. delusion at its finest. I think it will never sink in for some people..
