Breaking it down

BREAKING DOWN Sunday's ugly loss to the Giants while wondering whether I really needed that hip-replacement surgery last year or, like Mike Vick's hand, it just might have just been a swollen blood vessel:

Three changes Juan Castillo needs to make immediately to his defense: 1) Bench rookie Casey Matthews and insert rookie Brian Rolle at weakside linebacker in his base package; 2) Put Joselio Hanson back in the nickel at slot corner. He understands the slot better than both Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Nnamdi Asomugha and can tackle better than both of them; and 3) Enough with all of the zone coverage you have Asomugha playing. The guy has spent his entire career as a man-cover guy. He's one of the best in the game at taking the other team's best receiver out of the game. Castillo and Andy Reid talk nonstop about needing to put players in position to make plays. Well, do it.

* Rookie center Jason Kelce has played pretty well in the first three games, but he was the main reason that the second goal-line run by fullback Owen Schmitt on a drive late in the third quarter didn't work. Kelce, who weighs just 280 pounds, got pushed back into pulling tackle Jason Peters by the Giants' Linval Joseph, which had the same effect as a 15-car pileup on the Schuylkill at rush hour. Schmitt never made it to the line of scrimmage.

* The Giants' first touchdown - that 40-yard catch-and-run by Brandon Jacobs on a wheel route in which he beat Matthews - is all on Castillo. He keeps insisting that his linebackers are "interchangeable." That may be somewhat true of the SAM and WILL spots, but not MIKE and WILL. If you hesitate for even a split-second in the NFL, you're going to get beat. Matthews' slow recognition on that play makes it clear that you need more than a few days of practice to make that move.

* DeSean Jackson threw the Eagles' defense under the bus after the game. Their poor play definitely deserves criticism. I'm just not sure a wide receiver who has been held to two catches in each of the last two games is the right guy to deliver it.

After Sunday's game, Mike Vick complained about the hits he's taking and suggested that the zebras aren't affording him the same protection as they give some of the league's other quarterbacks. After watching the tape of the game, though, I'm not sure Vick has much of a case. I didn't really see any that should have drawn flags or fines. A look at four of the more notable ones:

1. He took a good shot from defensive end Dave Tollefson after his pass to Steve Smith was picked off by Aaron Ross. But there was nothing illegal about it. Just as Vick made a move to pursue Ross, Tollefson leveled him from the side. If Vick wanted to avoid getting clobbered, all he had to do was head toward the sideline.

2. He took a big lick from defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul on a third-and-11 sack late in the first quarter. Pierre-Paul beat left tackle Jason Peters on an outside rush and flushed Vick out of the pocket. Vick eluded him, but Pierre-Paul got a second chance at Vick when Justin Tuck cut off his outside escape and forced him to take it back inside. He ran right into Pierre-Paul. But Pierre-Paul kept his head up and hit Vick in the chest, not the head.

3. He took a pretty good shot from tackle Rocky Bernard after letting the ball go on his 8-yard completion to Jason Avant that took the Eagles to the Giants' 7 early in the second quarter. But it wasn't a late or illegal hit.

4. Vick got tattooed by defensive end Chris Canty on his 23-yard completion to Jeremy Maclin in the third quarter. It was the play in which he injured his right hand. Tight end Brent Celek's job was to slow Canty, then quickly slide to the right flat and become a receiving option, which he did. Vick could have avoided the hit by throwing quickly to Celek, but he opted to hold on to the ball and wait for Maclin to get open in the middle of the field. It was a hard hit but not flag-worthy. Canty kept his head up, didn't launch himself and didn't hit Vick in the head. As for Vick's hand, it appeared he hurt it bracing his fall.

Ahmad Bradshaw gashed the Eagles' defense in the first half for runs of 15 and 37 yards. The Giants, who finished with 102 yards on 25 rushing attempts, averaged 7.1 yards per carry in the first three quarters.

On Bradshaw's 15-yard run on the Giants' second possession, Moise Fokou came on an outside blitz around Jason Babin, and Babin rushed inside. The gap between them should have been filled by middle linebacker Jamar Chaney, but he couldn't get off a block by Chris Snee.

On Bradshaw's 37-yard run in the second quarter, Eagles were in nickel on third-and-5. Chaney came up the middle on blitz, but got sealed off. Bradshaw ran underneath defensive end Trent Cole. There was no one in the gap. Jarrad Page missed a tackle that would have kept it to a 10-yard gain. Then Nate Allen got stiff-armed badly at the end of the play, allowing Bradshaw to gain a final 7 yards.