The 4th and 1 was Celek's Fault

by phillynyc on Sep 30, 2008 12:55 AM EDT Comment 18 comments

I've watched the play a couple dozen times. And the offensive linemen actually did a good job at getting forward movement. Thomas, Herremans and Jackson all get movement. Giles doesn't get any movement but he doesn't give up ground either. And Runyan plows into the end zone.

Celek is playing right TE and he gets beat terribly on the snap to the inside by the left defensive end. That defesnive end falls on top of Giles at the 1 and clogs up the hole and Buck is stopped. As for Schoebel, he was down blocking at the defensive end was playing to his outside shoulder. He wasn't supposed to block that guy. But that was Celek's man and he beat him bad. And I'm not even sure if he did chip him, the Eagles would have scored.

Also, the play and the personnel were strange too. Basket is in as a wingback off Celek. Why Basket? Why not use a tackle eligible. And to make matters worse, Basket doesn't get off the ball and lets the safety dive in and get a hand on Buck's feet as he's running toward the pile.

And making this play even more painful is that Jackson and Heremans open a nice hole that McNabb could have easily scored on with a sneak. I'm sure the Birds have some kind of audible on short yardarge for McNabb to sneak, wish it would have been used there.

On the third down play, Celek also got beat by the defensive end who then hit Buck in mid jump. I'm not saying Buck would have scored, but got hit just after takeoff.

And on the 3rd and 1 failure in third quarter, when the Eagles then settled for the Akers missed 50 yard field goal. That was also largely because of a bad block by Celek on that defensiv end.

On the 2nd and 1, Tony Hunt actually does a good job of making a quick cut out of the way of a blizting safety and has no chance after that. Some thought he could have cut through a hole and scored, but Urlacher was right there.

I've read a lot of stuff about LJ needs to go and that Celek is great. But he proved he has a long way to go in blocking. I'm not saying LJ could have done better, but one of Celek's selling points is his blocking because he's not the pass catcher that LJ is then this game showed he's not as good as some have thought.

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akers fault

akers fault they were in that position in the first place if he would of made just one of the missed field goals that game would have been over , atleast i hope akers could have made one at 4th and one

2008/2009 the body bag season

by EAGLE_MAN71 on Sep 30, 2008 1:30 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

it was actually schobel’s fault he ran right by alex brown without even hardly chipping him as if he was going out on play action(which was there on all 3 attempts from goalline and would have scored. hell a pitch had a better chance than up the gut). it was alex browns close line that prevented buck from getting the last 3mm he needed to break the plain

by 0sirys on Sep 30, 2008 8:33 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Schobel's fault

Schobel didn’t block Brown. The play was intended to be a run left into the big hole between where Brown should have been being blocked and the Chicago D tackles being taken out by Thomas and Herremans that is clearly visible in this picture in front of Hillenmeyer.

The hole was there. Buck couldn’t run through it because he had a Alex Brown hanging on his neck.

Good play call, good execution by 10 guys. Schobel should not have been on this team. We should have had Wilson, who at least apparently knew how to block.

by Andrew B on Sep 30, 2008 10:05 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

the ball broke the plane regardless that ball is acrossed the plane in that shot and that is after brown dragged him back half a yard

by 0sirys on Sep 30, 2008 10:09 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

does anybody else see a facemask there

by NickPampani on Sep 30, 2008 11:56 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

From what I saw, both TEs did a pretty poor job blocking there…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls3TYRvVhP0

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by JasonB on Sep 30, 2008 11:30 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

What was Schobel's assignment on that play?

He looked like he was running for the stands to block the hot dog vendor! He didn’t even react to Brown going by him.

The monster at the end of this blog.

by grover on Sep 30, 2008 2:09 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

It was a pretty shocking display of blocking…

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by JasonB on Sep 30, 2008 2:10 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

He was running into the flat to catch the winning touchdown pass. Too bad it was a called running play.

by Andrew B on Sep 30, 2008 2:53 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hoping for a nice touch throw from McNabb

by cavortingEagle on Sep 30, 2008 3:01 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

hahahaha

by Whodie126 on Sep 30, 2008 4:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ha!

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by JasonB on Oct 1, 2008 10:13 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

pains me to say this because i love booker

but maybe he was trying to make booker not look so bad at blocking

by 0sirys on Sep 30, 2008 2:58 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

This morning,

Drinking coffee I had NFL Network on and saw Jim Fassell ask a pretty good question:
Why not kick the FG there?

His argument went, there were the better part of 4 minutes left, your D had been stopping their O the entire second half – why not take the 3 and try to get the ball back? For all Akers deserves the criticism he’s gotten re: kicks outside of 45 yards, he’s not going to miss the extra point there.

At that point in the game, I was all for rolling the dice on 4th down, but not scoring meant even if we did get the ball back it was a must TD. Had we kicked the FG, if we got the ball back Akers may well have had the opportunity to miss another from outside of 45.

Gotta blame the coaches for this loss, it’s hard to come to any other conclusion…

by cavortingEagle on Sep 30, 2008 11:58 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

although I see the logic, it may have just delayed the heartbreak when Akers blew the winning field goal a few minutes later… I mean, we can focus on the goal line stand here, and pick people to blame, but hoenstly, I think the entire team and coaching staff each shares blame here. There were numerous suspect coaching calls, missed blocks, missed assignments, blown coverages, dropped passes, bad runs, poor throws, bad routes, miscommunications, etc. In theory, any one of those could have allowed us to score another TD… If it quacks like a duck, it’s a duck… I think this one is just a team and coaching loss on the whole.

by foos05 on Sep 30, 2008 12:05 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I’d rather take my chances on scoring from a yard out than trying to stop Pitt, call timeouts, and drive down to get another FG… especially after my kicker already missed 2.

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by JasonB on Sep 30, 2008 12:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I dont’ think I’m arguing for the FG, during the game I felt that was absolutely the right call, Fassel brought up an interesting take and I’m not sure anymore.

The situation – we’re 5 points from winning.
Prior to the the 4th and 1 drive the bears were:
3 & out, 2 & pick, 3 & out, 1 & fumble, 3 & out, 1 & fumble, 8 & fieldgoal.
total of 35 yards of offense.

If you assume you either score on 4th or get a safety on 1st, we’re looking at a no brainer go for it situation. However, if you trust your D to get a stop – a 3 & out stop, today I say kick the FG. Our D was straight up dominant in the second half.

This wasn’t an easy decision, and I’m glad it’s not one I had to make…

by cavortingEagle on Sep 30, 2008 1:31 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs