What I saw: Eagles vs. Redskins
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What I saw: Eagles vs. Redskins
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
Here are my observations from the Eagles' 20-13 win over the Redskins.
OFFENSE
* The Eagles put up 20 points in the first half, but were shut out in the second. However, with 2:44 left in the fourth quarter, they were able to close. LeSean McCoy picked up one first down, and Michael Vick picked up a second with a third-down QB sneak. That was all the Eagles needed before taking a knee on three straight plays to end the game.
* McCoy carried the Eagles with 126 yards on a career-high 28 rushes. He had only 20 total carries in the previous two games.
* Vick was 18-for-31 for 237 yards, a touchdown and an interception. The turnover was on a tipped ball in the red zone. He also carried four times for 54 yards (not counting the three kneel-downs).
* After an early false start, Todd Herremans had some standout plays, starting at left tackle. He crushed a Redskins defensive back on a McCoy run that got the Eagles into the red zone in the first. He also made good plays on the Brent Celek touchdown catch and the McCoy touchdown run. Where would this team be without Herremans' versatility?
* Kyle DeVan came in as an extra lineman on McCoy’s second-quarter touchdown run. Owen Schmitt also had a good lead block on the play.
* The Eagles got a huge break when Jason Kelce’s snap went over Michael Vick's head near the end zone. Vick recovered, threw the ball away, but got hit late. The officials threw a flag on the Redskins, and the Eagles ended up with a first down. They ended up scoring on the drive.
* DeSean Jackson came down with a 23-yard grab over the middle in the first quarter and did an excellent job to get on the ground before LaRon Landry could hit him. Jackson ended up with three catches for 46 yards. Jeremy Maclin had another big game with five catches for 101 yards.
* Great play call and even better execution in the red zone on the Celek touchdown. The Eagles tight end started off as a blocker and then released into his route. Vick found him, and he scampered into the end zone to put the Eagles on the board first. Celek had a strong game. He made a nice block on McCoy's 21-yard run, and showed great concentration, tipping the ball to himself on a 21-yard catch. Celek finished with four catches for 42 yards.
* Dion Lewis delivered a great effort on a red-zone run in the first. It was initially ruled a touchdown, but then overturned. The Eagles had 19 called runs and 21 called passes in the first half.
* On a third down in the red zone, the Redskins sent six rushers at Vick, including Ryan Kerrigan who was unblocked. Vick threw incomplete to Maclin, and they had to settle for a field goal. After the play, cameras caught Andy Reid getting on Vick a little bit on the sidelines.
* Speaking of Reid, McCoy gave him a little punch to the belly after a fourth-quarter run. I think he caught the big guy off-guard, but it was a classic moment.
* Typical Vick play in the second quarter, escaping pressure from Brian Orakpo and taking off for a 26-yard gain.
* The Eagles' longest play of the game came in the second half when Vick hit Maclin for a 59-yard gain off of a play-action rollout.
* Vince Young came in briefly in the third quarter and threw an interception.
DEFENSE
* The Eagles came up with four interceptions, including three by Kurt Coleman. On Coleman's first pick, the Eagles would have been backed up near their own goal line, but the Redskins were called for a personal foul penalty. Coleman's second interception was huge because it came right after Young turned the ball over. Nate Allen also had a pick.
* Jamar Chaney made a nice tackle against the run after a 4-yard gain on the Redskins' first drive. He then sniffed out a screen and forced an incompletion. The Eagles' first four drives on defense were: interception, punt, punt and interception. The Redskins got a field goal at the end of the first half and scored 10 points in the second half.
* Perhaps Nnamdi Asomugha was sick of hearing how the Eagles cornerbacks couldn't tackle because he delivered a big-time hit on Chris Cooley on 3rd-and-2 in the first, forcing the Redskins to punt. Overall, the Eagles' tackling was much better. Joselio Hanson made a nice tackle on Roy Helu on third down in the third to force a punt.
* Redskins running backs had 12 carries for 28 yards. Their longest carry was 6 yards. Count me among those who did not see that one coming.
* Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie dropped an interception for the second consecutive week. But he came up with a big play in the fourth, breaking up a pass in the end zone intended for Jabar Gaffney on 3rd-and-17.
* Mike Patterson had a sack on third down to force the Redskins to settle for a field goal at the end of the first half. It was the 17th sack on the season for the Eagles; every one has come from defensive linemen. It was only the second one, though, not by Trent Cole, Jason Babin or Cullen Jenkins.
* The Redskins ran a flea flicker to start the second half, and Rex Grossman found Gaffney for a 45-yard gain. Gafney beat Asante Samuel, who actually had pretty good coverage on the play. The Eagles forced the Redskins to settle for a field goal on the drive.
* The Redskins were backed up at their own 1 in the third quarter, but Fred Davis beat Moise Fokou for a 21-yard gain. Davis had six catches for 95 yards and was targeted 11 times.
* John Beck threw a bomb to Donte Stallworth in the fourth. Allen was in front of him, but couldn't find the ball. Stallworth couldn't find it either and dropped it.
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Ugly win but I'll take it. Skins d was best 3rd down d in league and i believe top 10. Grossman was awful. Offense did well considering the line shuffle. Watkins got beat bad a few times.— sore richard- Great game by both Kid Watkins and young Kelce. Both were obviously inspired by having Winston Justice in battle with them.— Astro Jones
- Moises Fokou was beaten on a 21 yard pass? I'm shocked.— p-diddy
- First, let me say that Philly fans should never have to hear again about how "bad and classless" they are because they cheered for an injury. I was at the game today, and one of the loudest cheers at that point in the game was when Vick got injured and came out of the game temporarily. Of course, there won't be one mention of that nationally, in DC, or probably in even Philly.
Second, I'm happy with the win. Sure, it wasn't pretty, but we can't sit here like we have the past four weeks just tearing apart this team, whine about not winning, and then turn around and complain that they didn't win "good enough" or they just got lucky. Right now, the team needed a win anyway they could get it, they got it, now it's time to move on from there and hopefully they will improve and get even more wins.— Penfold18 - 10-6 and NFC East Crown
- Eagles beat the Redskins. Rex looked bad, because the Eagles made him look bad. The game of football is a mental game...a team can play that much better if they have an aggressive mindset. Chalk it up to a lot of new players, short pre-season. The games the Eagles lost they made a lot of mistakes.— road515
- I see all the haters haven't stopped crying— dwilly
- Well said, Penfold18. Rather than being gloomy about the situation, I find I'm happier if I look on the bright side. I'll be optimistic because it makes me feel better. If the Eagles can come back and beat the Cowboys in two weeks, things will look up significantly.— dlscholt
- I like Andy, but did you notice another terrible clock management decision? The Redskins line up for a 51 yarder but get a penalty, so now it's a 56 yarder, but their field goal team is still out there. What does Andy do but call timeout, so Shanahan reconsiders and punts, losing about 15-20 yards of field position. Not important in this particular game, but just another clueless use of timeouts.— banned
Some people are never satisfied. We get a win and some how people find something negative to say. Sure we can do better in the red zone, sure we could have done a better job on the flea flicker yadda yadda yadda. Bottom line is we got a much needed win. The line held up enough to get the win and the defense actually made a decent team look like garbage. All the doom and gloom people must be the same losers that booed McNabb 13 years ago. It just goes to show that none of you have actually played a team sport much less football because if you can't take this game and see the positive strides this team has made then you know absolutely nothing and need to stop posting because you are really embarrassing yourselves. I'm confident that the Eagles will get on a roll and in December when things really get rolling, we'll be in good position to pull out the division and go into the playoffs as the team no one wants to play.
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