IS GETTING SICK OF ALL THE INJURIES
Check out the offensive breakdown from yesterday.
And here's the defense:
Juqua Parker - He batted down a Chris Redman pass in the first quarter and had a sack/forced fumble in the third. Parker's six sacks on the season tie a career-high. He had five in each of the previous two seasons. The Falcons did have some success running at him on a couple plays. It'll be interesting to see if the Giants and Cowboys focus their rushing attacks to his side in the coming weeks.
Jason Babin - In the third quarter, he did a good job getting to Redman on a play-action pass. There weren't a lot of opportunities for sacks Sunday, but Babin hasn't had one in his last four games. He played right defensive end, filling in for Trent Cole on the last drive. Still really like his energy.
Chris Clemons - Not much notable with Clemons. He dropped back into coverage and was called for pass interference in the third. Clemons played left defensive end on the final drive.
Mike Patterson - He had an outstanding game. The Falcons could not handle Patterson on a couple run plays early on. And he did a tremendous job on second down during the goal-line stand at the end of the first half.
Trevor Laws - He spelled Patterson in the second and made a nice play against the run. Sean McDermott clearly prefers Antonio Dixon so we'll have to see how much playing time Laws gets down the stretch. He played DT on the final drive.
Brodrick Bunkley - Strong game from Bunkley. What an athletic play to hustle from his position at right defensive tackle and chase down Jason Snelling on the other side of the field. Bunkley also batted a ball down in the third.
Antonio Dixon - He was key on third and fourth down during the Eagles’ goal-line stand at the end of the first half. Dixon has been a strong part of the defensive tackle rotation all season.
Victor Abiamiri - Not much to say here. Didn't really notice Abiamiri much when he was in the game.
Darren Howard - He delivered a very good performance for the first time in awhile. Howard batted down a couple of Redman passes in the first half and also picked up a sack while playing inside, as the Falcons' QB felt pressure from the outside and had to step up.
Trent Cole - He does it week in and week out. Cole was close to a sack in the first, but Redman threw the ball into the ground. Cole drilled him on the very next play. He was also strong against the run. Did you notice the play where he hustled from his RDE position to tackle Roddy White on a WR screen near the sideline? Great motor, relentless, whatever term you want to use. That's Cole.
Chris Gocong - We're usually pretty hard on Gocong, but he made some nice plays Sunday. He got to Redman on a blitz in the fourth, which caused the interception to Sean Jones. Earlier, Gocong had success on another blitz, which nearly resulted in another INT. He also made a nice play against the run in the first. Three tackles Sunday were more than he had in the previous two weeks combined.
Jeremiah Trotter - The Axe Man is turning into a pretty good story. As we mentioned after the game, he flew in on third down during the Eagles' goal-line stand. He also got into the backfield on fourth down.
Joe Mays - Can't say I noticed Mays doing much when he was in the game. He finished with four tackles. Fill in the gaps in the comments if I missed something here.
Will Witherspoon - Good, well-rounded game out of Witherspoon. He showed good lateral speed to push Norwood out of bounds after a 3-yard run in the second. Witherspoon also made a nice play in coverage in the third, nearly coming up with an interception on a pass intended for Tony Gonzalez.
Moise Fokou - Didn't notice him until the final drive. He finished with three tackles.
Tracy White - I'll admit to being surprised to look at the box score and see that he was the Eagles' leading tackler. How many of those came on the final, 13-play drive?
Asante Samuel - Did you see those tackles? That's plural. As in more than one. Where did those come from? There was the big hit on Norwood at the line of scrimmage in the first. And the huge hit on White later in the game. I'm still trying to figure out why that wasn't allowed to be challenged as a fumble. The rule change this season is that plays like that can be challenged if there is a clear recovery. And an Eagles defensive player clearly fell on the ball. Who can help me out here? Samuel made a great tackle on Norwood on a run play later in the game too. On the downside, he was beat on a 23-yard play to White in the first.
Sheldon Brown - He, of course, had the pick six to put the Eagles up 27-0 in the second half. I'm a little surprised teams aren't testing him more, given the hamstring injury. The Falcons did get him on a 35-yard play to White down the sideline. I thought the illegal contact call in the first was pretty weak.
Dimitri Patterson - He saw some more action and actually made some nice plays. Patterson's two roles seemed to be: blitz or cover Gonzalez. Patterson was actually blitzing from the left side on the Brown INT. Patterson also made a nice play against the run in the fourth.
Macho Harris - His time as the nickel back is probably over with Joselio Hanson returning this week. Harris was called for pass interference, trying to stay with Gonzalez on a third-down play in the first. He has shown he's a good tackler all season and did so again on the WR screen to White in the third.
Geoffrey Pope - He got in the game on the final drive and made a tackle on Gonzalez.
Quintin Mikell - Solid performance from Mikell. He finished with five tackles and made some nice plays in run support.
Sean Jones - Looked really good, particularly in the first half when Jones provided great run support, stuffing Snelling and Norwood on two different occasions. In the second half, he knocked Redman down on a blitz and came up with an interception in the fourth. The one negative was the unnecessary roughness penalty in the end zone in the second quarter.
Quintin Demps - Let's try not to end on too negative of a note. He did a good job getting to Redman on a blitz. He did a bad job nailing him in the helmet/face and picking up a 15-yard personal foul penalty. Demps got called for another personal foul in the third. Did you notice that Donovan McNabb was the first to talk to Demps when he came to the sideline after the play? Based on body language alone, it looked like he was telling Demps to be smart, but also trying to encourage him before McDermott got to him.
