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Want to beat the Birds? Don't blitz

When defenses opened the season attacking the Eagles' quarterbacks, offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg had a message: "When they blitz, we score."

The Redskins' defense focused more on the Eagles' receivers than on blitzing Michael Vick. (Clem Murray/Staff Photographer)
The Redskins' defense focused more on the Eagles' receivers than on blitzing Michael Vick. (Clem Murray/Staff Photographer)Read more

When defenses opened the season attacking the Eagles' quarterbacks, offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg had a message: "When they blitz, we score."

The Redskins got that memo.

Washington hardly blitzed Sunday, and the Eagles barely scored. Other teams are sure to notice how a Redskins defense that had struggled through its first three games contained DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin, and, through one quarter, Michael Vick.

The Redskins sent just three or four pass rushers after the Eagles' quarterbacks on all but one defensive play. On the lone exception, the Redskins rushed five.

Instead of going after the Eagles' biggest weakness, their pass protection, the Redskins neutralized the Birds' greatest strength, their explosive receiving options.

Washington dropped their safeties and linebackers off the line of scrimmage, keeping the Eagles' playmakers in front of them. Redskins cornerbacks hammered Maclin and especially Jackson as they came off the line, disrupting their routes.

Vick and his replacement, Kevin Kolb, were left mainly with openings on short throws - which they both took - but the Redskins were sound in their tackling and often limited the damage.

"[They] came out and played a lot of cover-two," coach Andy Reid said after the game, referring to the defensive scheme that sits two safeties back in coverage, patrolling against deep throws. "They were deepening up the corners and deepening up the linebackers, and our check-downs were there all day. We just tried to be patient with it and took what they were giving us, and we ended up moving the ball down the field on that."

The Lions and Jaguars tried to pressure Vick, racking up sacks but yielding bundles of points. The Eagles hit touchdowns of 46, 45, 61, and 45 yards, plus other big plays that set up additional scores.

Against the Redskins, the Eagles gave up just one sack but had to chip away on offense.

Washington made its intentions clear on the first play from scrimmage. Four men rushed Vick, three linebackers dropped 5 yards back from the line of scrimmage, and the cornerbacks jammed Jackson and Maclin. The receivers were still tangled up by the time Vick finished his three-step drop. Vick dumped the ball to an open LeSean McCoy, but the linebackers were there. McCoy was stopped for no gain.

"Our game plan for [Jackson] was really to get our hands on him and try to not give up the big play against him," Redskins safety Kareem Moore said. "We really just wanted to disrupt him at the line and throw off his timing."

Vick settled for passes of 0, 7, 5, and 6 yards, along with one 31-yard screen on which the gain came entirely after the catch.

The Eagles had moments in which they took advantage of openings underneath, taking short throws and relying on their receivers to use the space they had as the defense sat back.

Fullback Owen Schmitt turned a short pass into a 12-yard gain by bulling through a tackle. McCoy took a screen 17 yards with help from solid downfield blocking.

Sustaining drives on such plays Sunday night against San Francisco and throughout the rest of the season, though, will require patience and more discipline than the Eagles have shown so far. Several big gains Sunday were called back by penalties.

Longer strikes were harder to come by, though some were available when receivers found soft spots in the cover-two scheme.

On one big chance, tight end Brent Celek got between the linebackers and safeties, but Vick threw out of his reach.

On a third-and-10 play, Jason Avant was matched against a linebacker and easily got open. Kolb found him with a sharp 10-yard throw, and Avant ran for another 7. It was exactly the kind of play the Eagles said Kolb would provide this year, but it was the exception on Sunday.

As the game wore on and the Eagles had to throw to rally, Maclin and Jackson found holes in the coverage, but Kolb did not hit them.

The Eagles have another week to game-plan, this time knowing Kolb will be their starter. The team begins working on its new game plan Wednesday.

"We've just got to find different ways of getting open," Jackson said after Sunday's game. "We're not going to always [be] able to be running down the field and scoring these long touchdowns, so we've just got to accept that and find a way to get underneath the safeties and still make plays."

Extra points

The Eagles did not work out any free-agent quarterbacks or running backs Tuesday, according to a team source, indicating that they are not pressing to add backups despite injuries to Vick and McCoy.

McCoy may still play this week, despite suffering a broken rib Sunday. He played the entire second half with the injury, so he likely won't be out for long. If he can't go, Mike Bell likely will take his place.

Quarterback is more tricky since Vick is almost certainly out at least two weeks, if not more, leaving just Kolb and rookie Mike Kafka behind a shaky offensive line.

The Eagles may need to look for another quarterback and a wide receiver with Riley Cooper suffering a concussion and just three others on the active roster.