Man Up: Peters, O-line respond to challenge

Here's the player-by-player breakdown of the Eagles' offensive performance against the Giants.

Earlier today, I blogged about Michael Vick being on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

And yesterday, I did Man Up on the defense.

Michael Vick- I'll have the full breakdown on Mike Check Wednesday, but this was an important game for Vick. The Giants sent seven and even eight guys at him on several occasions. I thought he made a lot of good reads and good decisions, even though he missed more throws than he had in any previous start. One note on QB rating. DeSean Jackson and Jason Avant each were unable to come up with catchable balls in the end zone. Had those been receptions, Vick's QB rating would have been more like 107.5 instead of 83.0. He finished 24 of 38 for 258 yards. Vick left plays on the field, but the Eagles still came away with a 10-point victory. I think that's probably a positive sign.

LeSean McCoy- Thing I don't get: When people say "Take away his 50-yard and 40-yard runs and his yards per carry would have been..." Why are we taking away those plays? With the game on the line, when the Eagles needed him most, McCoy came through. Before the fourth quarter, he did a lot of little things well. He picked up a blitzer on Vick's first-quarter touchdown run, and again on the play where Jackson dropped the ball in the end zone. McCoy made another good block on the 18-yard completion to Jeremy Maclin in the third. He made multiple defenders miss on a 10-yard catch and run in the first, and had a tough 5-yard run on 2nd-and-4 in the red zone in the first. McCoy also picked up 17 on a screen. Overall, 140 yards on 19 touches.

Owen Schmitt- He was on the field for about 41 percent of the offensive snaps, used primarily as a blocker. Schmitt had a good chip on Justin Tuck on Jackson's 23-yard catch in the first. He had two catches for 14 yards, including a 10-yarder that picked up a first down in the fourth.

Jerome Harrison- After an impressive showing against the Redskins, Harrison was only on the field for two snaps. The reason? My guess is they're not comfortable yet with him as a blocker, and the Eagles couldn't afford to have a running back miss an assignment in this one.

Eldra Buckley- He actually got on the field as much as Harrison - two plays. One was on 1st-and-goal in the first. The other was the 2-point conversion.

DeSean Jackson- He really had a chance for a monster game, but settled for five catches for 50 yards. Vick overthrew Jackson on two occasions, and he dropped the pass in the end zone. He lined up in the backfield at times as a decoy, and Jackson did a good job to turn and block once he realized Vick was running for the end zone in the first quarter.

Jeremy Maclin- Really nice game from Maclin, who ended up as the leading receiver with nine catches for 120 yards. He had a 35-yard catch and run at the end of the first half, and followed it up with a 21-yard grab. Maclin nearly made a great leaping catch in the end zone at the end of the first half, but couldn't come down with the ball. I'll know more after doing Mike Check, but my guess is this was his best YAC game of the season.

Jason Avant- We have to start by mentioning the drop in the end zone. Still not sure what happened, though. Avant is fortunate the Eagles came away with a win or that play would have been a huge topic of conversation all week. He finished with two catches for 39 yards. Both were third-down conversions.

Riley Cooper- He played 13 snaps, but did not get a ball thrown his way.

Brent Celek- It definitely seemed like he was used a bunch as a blocker in this one. The stat sheet shows zero catches and zero targets. Celek had a good block on the Giants' linebacker on McCoy's 50-yard touchdown run. He and Schmitt did a good job on Osi Umenyiora on a pass play in the third. Early on, Celek missed his block on a McCoy run that resulted in a 2-yard loss. He lined up as a fullback on at least two occasions.

Clay Harbor- A couple weeks ago, it looked like Harbor would be inactive the rest of the season. And now, he's seeing significant playing time (19 plays overall). Harbor lined up in a variety of places - in the backfield, on the line and out wide. He had one catch for 6 yards as Vick hit him on a quick pass in the red zone. Vick missed Harbor on a play that would have picked up at least 20 yards in the first half.

Winston Justice- When I looked at the stat sheet and saw that Justin Tuck had three sacks, my first guess was that Justice played poorly. However, that was not the case at all. On Tuck's first sack, Justice and the rest of the line blocked to the left to sell the play-fake, but Tuck made a good play. On his second sack, Vick held the ball forever, and the third sack was a result of Mike McGlynn's missed block. Overall, Justice was outstanding in protection, and he got help from the Eagles' tight ends and running backs. When the Giants rushed four, the offensive line gave Vick plenty of protection. In the run game, Justice missed a block early on a play that resulted in a 1-yard gain. But he made a nice cut block on McCoy's 40-yard run late.

Nick Cole- Cole played a very good game. He made a nice block on McCoy's 5-yard run in the red zone, and again on Vick's QB sneak on 4th-and-1. On McCoy's 40-yard run, Cole and McGlynn double-teamed Chris Canty to open up a cutback lane. In protection, I didn't see any breakdowns from Cole, either. Really strong effort.

Mike McGlynn- He probably had the roughest time of any lineman in protection. McGlynn was beat by Barry Cofield at the end of the first half as Vick threw incomplete in Maclin's direction. In the fourth, Cofield beat McGlynn again on a play that resulted in a Tuck sack. He was called for a false start in the third. On the bright side, McGlynn did a nice job on the second QB sneak attempt on 4th-and-1 in the third. And I mentioned the block on the McCoy 40-yard run above.

Todd Herremans- He was called for a pair of 15-yard penalties. The first one was specifically troubling as it looked like it could have caused an injury. However, aside from those two plays, Herremans looked good. He was excellent in protection and took out safety Kenny Phillips on the 50-yard McCoy touchdown run.

Jason Peters- Peters is playing at a high level and turned in one of his better performances since joining the Eagles. He held Umenyiora without a sack or even a QB hit. Peters got help at times, but also got the job done one-on-one. On the 50-yard McCoy run, Peters showed good athleticism and blocked safety Deon Grant as McCoy made his way towards the end zone. And did you notice who was the first one to congratulate McCoy? It was Peters, along with Jackson. The big man never stopped running. He's playing with a lot of energy, and in the last couple weeks has been fulfilling the potential Andy Reid saw in him when the Eagles acquired Peters from the Bills before the '09 season.

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