What I saw: Eagles vs. Patriots
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What I saw: Eagles vs. Patriots
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
Here are my observations from today's Eagles-Patriots matchup:
OFFENSE
* Vince Young finished 26-for-48 for 400 yards, one touchdown and one interception, but was nowhere near as effective as those numbers might indicate. The turnover looked exactly like one from a week ago as Young underthrew an open DeSean Jackson down the sideline.
* Jackson had multiple drops, including one in the end zone in the second quarter on a good throw by Young. In the third, Young threw a bomb to Jackson, but he dropped that one too. It would have been about a 51-yard touchdown. In the fourth quarter, Jackson sat on the bench while the rest of the starters stayed in the game for the offense. Overall, Jackson was targeted 10 times, but had just four catches for 73 yards.
* LeSean McCoy, who entered the game as the league's leading rusher, carried just 10 times for 31 yards.
* Evan Mathis got beat and was called for a holding penalty on a sack in the first. It looked like the Patriots got away with a blatant facemask on Young on the play though. Danny Watkins was later whistled for a false start. Overall, the Eagles had 10 penalties for 60 yards.
* Young was 9-for-12 for 107 yards on third down last week. The Eagles were 4-for-13 on third down today. And three of those conversions were in garbage time. They started 1-for-9.
* In the third quarter, the Eagles had a 3rd-and-1 from the Patriots' 2, but McCoy was stuffed. They went for it on fourth down, ran play-action, and Young threw incomplete to Celek in the corner of the end zone. After the turnover on downs, "Fire Andy" chants could be heard from the crowd at the Linc.
* With the loss, the Eagles are now 1-5 at home this season.
DEFENSE
* Tom Brady picked the Eagles apart, completing 24 of 34 passes for 361 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. That translates to a QB rating of 134.6.
* There was confusion all game on the defensive side of the ball. The Eagles struggled shuffling personnel in and out in the first. They got called for 12 men on the field on one play and had to use a timeout on another as Brandon Hughes was slow to get off the field.
* Deion Branch had six catches for 125 yards. Wes Welker had eight catches for 115 yards. Tight ends Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski combined for 10 catches and 121 yards.
* The Eagles gave the Patriots two first downs with third-down penalties on their first scoring drive. One was for having 12 men on the field. And Derek Landri jumped offsides on the other one.
* On the Patriots' second scoring drive, Brady bought time, and Branch got behind Brandon Hughes for a 63-yard gain to set up a BenJarvus Green-Ellis touchdown run. Right before the 63-yard completion, Brady had a wide-open Tiquan Underwood for what would have been a similar gain, but he dropped it.
* Later in the second, Brady hit Welker for a 41-yard touchdown to give the Patriots a 21-10 lead.
* The Patriots went no-huddle at one point in the second quarter. Cullen Jenkins injured his thumb, which slowed them down (temporarily).
* Nnamdi Asomugha was active, but did not start. Hughes joined Asante Samuel and Joselio Hanson in the nickel. Asomugha played in dime packages. He blitzed on a third-down incompletion in the second.
* On the Patriots' opening drive of the second half, they missed two tackles on a screen to Aaron Hernandez, who picked up 18 yards. Brady then found Welker, who beat Joselio Hanson, for a 9-yard touchdown. Tackling in the secondary was poor all game.
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While I hear you on Vince, I thought he played very well and was the bright spot. The WRs did not do him or the Eagles any favors. The defense was horrible but then again this is Tom Brady and the Pats. They are pretty good.— Reminder12- Can you find out why they did not sneak the ball on 4th and 1. Vince is 6'5" right.— Reminder12
- Join the movement...
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fire-Andy-Reid/241866130207— petepunter - Gold standard. Right? At least they'll draft well. Right? This team is terrible.— rubicon24
- "Deion Branch had six catches for 125 yards. Wes Welker had eight catches for 115 yards. Tight ends Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski combined for 10 catches and 121 yards."
Wow. Wow. The wheels have completely fallen off. Time for a new coach.
— p-diddy - I agree that Vince was not totally to blame. DJax needs to either catch the ball or go. I think we need a full reworking of the coaching staff and some lessons for the players on how to work as a team.— joeyrofrano
- The O-line has been doing a good job these past two weeks.
The D-secondary got picked apart.
These are the two Major issues for the entire season.— saunhi - BTW: This is a very well presented column- very factual rather than opinion biased.— saunhi
- the experiment is over. Start Kafka. Fire Andy— mario1239
- Andy just signed a 3 year extension. Times ours.— tommy_the_k
- for me there is a bit of fresh air knowing the season was so utterly and completely put out of it's misery today. The finality and ugliness of it opens a clear door for Reid to be sent packing. He is a good coach...and a winner....but not a champion. At this stage the team needs a fighter, a tactician, a commanding presence---Reid, for all his strengths, is none of those things. Today the game, as bad as it was, feels like an opportunity for a fresh start next year....with a new coach. The announcers said Lurie just won an award for philanthropy. Hey Jeff!, throw the fans a bone and do the right thing— murdock101
- Nate Allen SUCKS!
Juan needs to go!— connorjr - Agreed on Allen..This guy was just abysmal in pass coverage..His hips are so tight, and he wasn't the fastest guy before his knee injury...He is Izell Jenkins revisited.(toast)...The missed picks on Allen as well as Jarrett in the second round are hurting this club badly...Curtis Marsh got a sniff out there at corner, and since we saw the loose coverage Brandon Hughes showed ( he made the club because he's a quality gunner)...Marsh will need to get his feet wet....We'll get to see what we missed out on at safety when the Birds face Earl Thomas Thursday night. — bearsfriend
- Nate Allen is an absolute waste of a Roster spot. Can we please stop with the Joeselio Hanson being very under rated now too. Pathetic, Nobody on this team played well, but the secondary is beyond embarrassing at this point— yourdaddy!
- Jeff owes AR. AR is the front man for Howie and Banner. Once AR is gone, Roseman for sure will be exposed making Banner look bad but that can be positioned as well. The real issue is does Lurie want to win ? If so, a real football man is put in charge and that is not Joe Banner. A new coach has some tough decisions. If you get rid of Samuel, are DRC/Namdi any good ? Or just over priced busts. Nate Allen draft bust. Coleman big heart, too small and slow. Need a back 7 who can tackle. Which may rule DRC and Namdi out. Need 3 big, fast LBs who can tackle. OL is fine. DL, Cole slowing up. Patterson with one or two years left. Need a full back. Back up runner with explosiveness. One big receiver. TEs are fine. Need to get back to hard nosed , fundamentally sound football. VY and Vick need to go. i have not seen it all but certainly have seen enough.— oldBird
- nnamdi is such a bust.— snakeplissken
- Here’s what I find amusing about most of you so called Eagles “fans” a year or two ago you were willing to throw the season away to rebuild, well guess what, you got your rebuild. Yeah going into this season we had high expectations for this team but reality is you can’t take a brand new defensive scheme and a new offensive line scheme both with new and rookie players, no practice and put them in the line of fire expecting immediate success.
I’m not big on Reid but I do believe if they were allowed mini camps and regular practice time before starting the season you might have seen the kind of performance from this team we wanted to see. I look at this as preparation for next season; this is the down year, a step back for that big leap forward. Fire Reid, don’t fire Reid, I leave that to the FO but whoever they bring in (if they do fire him) better be able to pull a “Harbaugh” and fit in with this team or you will see an even worse season next year. Be careful what you ask for bandwagoneers, because as you have experienced this season, you just might get it. GO EAGLES 2012!!!!!
— realtruth - Nate Allen was a high second round pick. You are watching him get beat until Andy is gone. Sooner or later you will be forced to watch this years second and third round picks get burnt all over the field. It all starts with the draft. Past couple have been horrendous.— Ssteve115
- I can't watch anymore! I have not seen a worst eagles D ever! Most of these guys would not even be in the NFL if it wasn't for Andy drafting them. Allen, Coleman all our linebackers? Cole in done, Babin is only good with speed, but when he plays against a good lineman he gets shutout. Tackles are Ok, but not great. We have no depth at all. If it wasn't for free agency who would we have? No one!! Samuel and Nhamdi are only good when you have a pass rush, when you give the qb all day, you see what happens. a horrible dc doesn't help either. Playing zone against Brady?? Pitiful!!— kchaz
- Both offensive and defensive lines got outplayed today - let's start there. (Brady, for example, did not start to get on a roll until he was given all kinds of time to wait for a receiver to get open.)
Andy, for his part, is still focussing on "penalties and turnovers" - yet another piece of evidence that he has lost touch and needs to be told, "time's yours"......— Mr. Magee 
To quote my dad, born in Philly in 1910, "They stink."- To quote my dad, born in Philly in 1910, "They stink."
- Of course i'm biased, but i thought Vince was pretty good. It seemed like most of the incompletions hit the receivers in the hands and to me it looked like defensive pass interference on the interception since he pushed off the intended receiver before making the catch. But then again, they ARE the Patriots and you have to expect the calls to go their way.
Que sera, sera.— V-Fan - The Eagles play 11 on 6 every week, as they have to use sub grade starters at all LB and S spots. Castillo isn't any good of course, but the bottom line is that this was a vastly overrrated and untalented defense.— banned
- The defense looked like it's coordinator - CONFUSED and OVERMATCHED.— ej610
- When will these geniuses just let Asomugha play man coverage on the other team's best receiver? By the way, release Dominique Rogers-Cromartie immediately. He's a dog's dog. (Yeah I know he didn't play today.)— p-diddy
- Question for Jason Babin and Jim Washburn: When did it become unnecessary for a defensive end to make tackles?— p-diddy
- Now we need to lose our last 5 games, get a high draft choice - but let's remember who's drafting - and how none of Andy's first four draft choices have been very good. Biggest question- why is it w hen our passers are inaccurate (both Vick and Younbg share this problem) we don't run more with Shady? He was the leading rusher in the NFL - but when we fall behind we totally forget the running game. Also this makes defending against us easier - one dimensional football. Florida Jack— jackcalhoun
- Not that it would have mattered, but what do the Eagles have to do to get a call? New England had three penalties for 20 yards? Are you kidding me? They held Trent Cole at least 10 times - no call. And the facemask on Young - no call. And Jackson was pushed off on the interception - no call. And two Patriots ran into the Eagles punter - no call. The holding call on Kelce was for exactly what the Pats' o-line did on every other play. This officiating crew was anything but consistent or fair.— Section 730
- This team has the talent to compete. It's the coaching that needs to improve. The formula they have in mind doesn't get it done. This yearthe formula has been just plain wrong. Oh, and I realize that dropped passes, missed blocks, bad throws are not technically the coaches fault, but when it happens consistently over 11 games...that is a coaching problem.— PhillyFanSouth
- At least last year's #1 pick, Brandon Graham, played well yesterday. Wait, did he play? I'm not sure.— p-diddy
- I hate to be a part of all the negativity, but even I can't take this anymore. I'm just so glad we traded up two drafts ago to take Brandon Graham when Earl Thomas was on the board. I remember vividly that when the trade was announced, I immediately thought Thomas was the pick with Dawkins recently departed. But I guess the front office had a better plan...take Graham and then get Allen in the 2nd. Well that worked out well. Graham's been a complete non-factor (opposed to DE Pierre-Paul taken by the G-men a few picks later and playing at a pretty high level), and Nate Allen has showed no reason to suspect that he can ever be a solid starter, let alone a Pro Bowl type player. He was absolutely dreadful yesterday. Juan deserves A LOT of the criticism, but the bottom line is the talent is not as good as we've been led to believe. Trent Cole is the ONLY Pro Bowl caliber defensive player on this team that was drafted by the Eagles. Respect to big Mike Patterson...solid, but not a star. Babin, Jenkins, Asomugha, Samuel (the other above average players on D)...all free agents. LB and Safety corps are full of draftees...and they're all dreadful. They've done a decent job on offense at the skill positions, but look at the line...one stud - Peters (Free Agent). Surprise, surprise. Also...respect due to Herremans. Not a star, but damn good and one of my favorite players. But what? Like a 5th round pick? They got lucky. I think that's why they always trade down for extra picks...becasue they know they have to get lucky. The more picks, the better chance that one of them actually hits. Ok...Im done!— bpgavin1
- Stop with the Gruden, Cowher, Fisher talk. I don't think a super bowl winning coach has ever gone to another team and won a ring. Also, a coach also never goes to another team and wins a ring. Usually, if a coach is going to do it, its within the first 3-5 years. Lets make a run at the packers offensive coordinator for head coach. But we need a real GM, but who can we get or would be willing to work for this owner?— xlGmanlx
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