Posted: Sunday, November 2, 2008, 8:42 PM | 16 comments |
 

10 observations: Eagles 26, Seahawks 7
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As always, here are my 10 observations from the Eagles' 26-7 win over the Seahawks:

1. The final numbers for tight end Brent Celek: six catches for 131 yards. L.J. Smith on the season: 12 catches for 106 yards. Celek broke a regular-season franchise record for receiving yards for a tight end. I'll be honest. Many of you have been calling for Celek in our weekly game chats all season. I've told you not to get carried away. I don't know that he'll have a game like Sunday again in his career. But I also don't see how you can keep him off the field after this performance.

2. Incredible to see Donovan McNabb's terrible day turn into a great day so quickly. He started out 3-for-13 before completing 11 in a row at one point and 19 of 20. McNabb completed passes to 10 different players, including guard Todd Herremans. I wonder what kind of money you could have made if it had been possible to wager that Herremans would have more touchdowns than Brian Westbrook in this one.

3. Very nice to see the Eagles put together a scoring drive before halftime once again. The Birds' offense took over at its own 45 with 5:22 left in the second quarter. The Eagles drove 55 yards on 11 plays, taking 4:42 off the clock to take take a 14-7 lead. Last week against the Falcons, the Birds took over on their own 12-yard line with 45 seconds left and drove for a David Akers field goal. Previously this season, the Eagles struggled mightily on drives before halftime.

4. Defensive game ball goes to Omar Gaither. With less than a minute left in the third quarter, he helped Broderick Bunkley stuff Julius Jones for no gain. On the next play, he caught up with Maurice Morris for a 4-yard loss. Overall, Gaither had six tackles, all solo, to lead the team, including one sack. He was all over the place and delivered some punishing hits. Seattle has looked to its backs and tight ends in the passing game all season, but the Birds' defense did a nice job shutting down that aspect of the Seahawks' offense.

5. The optimist says...

Good karma from the Phillies? The Eagles have won three in a row. I know the Seahawks aren't great, but any time you can win on the road in the NFL, you've accomplished something. The defense was dominant after the initial hiccup, and McNabb got in a great groove after the first quarter. I mean 10 different receivers? How do you defend against that? The Eagles didn't even get much from Brian Westbrook, and they still won by nearly three touchdowns. The Cowboys lost again, the Redskins have a tough matchup Monday night with the Steelers, and the Giants are coming to town next week. The Eagles are right in this thing going into Week 10.

6. The pessimist says...

Good to see the Eagles wasted no time letting us down in this one. A 90-yard touchdown from Seneca Wallace? Are you serious? The Seahawks had the WORST passing offense in the league going into this game! Suffer a screw-up like that next week against the Giants and see what happens. Lito Sheppard got burnt and Brian Dawkins looked 40. Offensively, the same ole struggles in short yardage, and they had to settle for four Akers field goals. That's not going to cut it against good teams. McNabb looked AWFUL in the first quarter. Will he ever put together a complete game? The Eagles couldn't even get the run game going. They're in for a rude awakening next week. Anyone who thinks this is more than a mediocre team is fooling themselves.

7. I know Seattle has been decimated by injuries, but the Seahawks had some real bonehead lapses in this one. With 40 seconds left in the first half, Wallace completed a 23-yard pass to tight end John Carlson at the Seattle 43-yard line. Following a timeout and an incomplete pass, the Seahawks called a running play and then spiked the ball on third down, forcing a punt. Huh? Then in the third quarter, down 17-7, the Seahawks set up to go for it on third-and-10 from the Eagles' 34-yard line. They suffered back-to-back penalties, a false start and delay of game, before being forced to punt. Probably not how Mike Holmgren wanted to go out in his final year in Seattle.

8 and 9. Some random thoughts for Nos. 8 and 9:

  • With two minutes left in the first half, McNabb converted a fourth-and-one with a quarterback sneak. According to Fox, the Eagles were the last team in the NFL with a fourth-down conversion. Brian Baldinger said McNabb told him he can always pick up a yard in those situations. Can McNabb please tell Andy Reid this?
  • Don't have the YAC stats in front of me, but the Eagles receivers did a good job of breaking tackles after the catch.
  • If Reid scripted the first 15 plays today, he may want to go in another direction next week.
  • Kevin Curtis appeared to hurt his left hand/wrist. However, he just said on Comcast that he sprained it a little but is fine.
  • If I hear Chevy Chase say "This is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy" one more time on that DirecTV commercial, I'm going to slam my head against a wall.
10. In our live chat, the conversation turned to the Giants pretty early in the second half. Next week is huge, no question. New York comes to town following a 21-point win over the Cowboys. The defending Super Bowl champs have won three in a row and are 7-1 on the season. With baseball season in our rearview mirror, I expect a legitimate buzz for this game for the first time since Week 2 when the Eagles prepared for the Cowboys. This blog has suffered in recent weeks with the Phillies getting most of my attention at work, but I'll be on a blogging rampage this week. Looking forward to it.
Posted by Sheil Kapadia @ 8:42 PM  Permalink | 16 comments
16
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:17 PM, 11/02/2008
    first comment: LOVE the optimist/pessimist approach. missed game, how did Buckhalter do?
    — daveH
  • Comment removed.
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:35 PM, 11/02/2008
    Thank you, shoeshineboy, er hs.
    — fizzbin
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 10:45 PM, 11/02/2008
    Buck was MIA. Can't understand why Reid doesn't platoon him more to keep Westbrook fresh for the big games. Buck did a heckuva job when 36 got hurt. Why was Buck not in there late in the 4th quarter?
    — JeffA
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:47 AM, 11/03/2008
    haha that direct tv commercial is bad but 'saveddd by zerooo' is way worse. and shiel i told u at the game this is gonna pick up with the phillies over, and prolly our biggest game of the year this week on national television. its time to bring all that philly support on sunday night. im hype i hope everyone else is
    — joeycramp
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 7:56 AM, 11/03/2008
    Chevy Chase... Zerooooo.... aaaaarrrrgghhhh!!! But I like the spot where the beautifully suited exec lets his secretary know he can't spare 30 mins out of his slacker day for a meeting.
    — Dave Clemens
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:10 AM, 11/03/2008
    How are we 3 point favorites next week?
    — Lemur
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:59 PM, 11/03/2008
    The Eagles, in reality, are only a mediocre team. They beat the bad teams and just find a way to be close but lose to the better teams. That is the sign of a mediocre team, always lamenting that you should of won, but in reality you find a way to not get it done lose.
    — t793
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 3:03 PM, 11/03/2008
    If the Eagles are "mediocre", who are the "good" or "elite" teams in the NFC?
    — PhillyHouse JayDuce
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 3:19 PM, 11/03/2008
    while we're complaining about commercials, was i the only one who wanted to throw himself off a roof if i had to see one more "frank tv" commercial during the baseball playoffs? as for the birds, call me an optimist but i still think the nfl is wide open. the giants are legit but i don't think they're THAT much better than the birds. look for a late season collapse by the g-men (a la mets) and we all know the cowboys will implode (it's already started) the redskins are very good, but are they better than us? we have a real good shot at the playoffs if we stay healthy. after that, anything can happen...
    — scooterj
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:48 PM, 11/03/2008
    i'm going to have to disagree with the pessimist thing you do. it seems like youre just trying to find something to complain about. there are several people that do this about the eagles. it's just spinning everything that happened into a negative. "will he ever put together a complete game?" awful. it just further proves the point that no one is happy with the qb play unless it's 24-25 (more than 25 passes gets complained about for not running enough), 350 passing yards, 4 tds, and 0 turnovers. and they "settled" for field goals because they werent really trying to go down the field for a td like they would in a close game. does les bowen write your pessimist section? it sounds like him and equally lacks intelligence.
    — mikeb
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:22 AM, 11/04/2008
    Hey Sheil, love your column every week, but I have to correct you, Pete Retslaff had two, not one, but two better days at Tight End than Celek, look it up !!! Retslaff is still the best Tight End the Eagles ever had, sorry to rain on your parade. Get Ray Didinger's latest book, it will help you in the future when throwing out statistics to the public.
    — Delaware Doc
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:41 AM, 11/04/2008
    I agree with "t793" The Eagles are mediocre -We have some talent true but can never bring it together -either bad play calling or inconsident-whatever it is--we are not elite. But what ever happens please get better talent scouts--get rid of RBrown and Mr Scary GLewis.
    — phillyboymike7


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About Sheil Kapadia
Sheil Kapadia is in his fourth season writing about the Eagles and the NFL for philly.com. His earliest memories as a sports fan include several trips to Veterans Stadium with his Dad. He's not a beat writer or an Insider, but is here to discuss the NFL 365 days a year. E-mail him at skapadia@philly.com or by clicking here

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