Did the Eagles beat the Giants in the film room?

by JasonB on Nov 2, 2009 6:15 AM EST in News Comment 8 comments

"Next time, throw the ball to these players here. The ones wearing the white jerseys."

Football in many ways is like a live game of chess. Every move and counter move is diagrammed and planned for well ahead of time. Each coaching staff does their best to disguise their strategy and adjust to the strategy of their opponent. Obviously in the end, it's up to the players of the field to execute... but like pawns in the game of chess often those players are successful because the chessmaster put them in the right position.

The 54 yard touchdown pass to Desean Jackson was a great example of the kind of preparation and scheming a team needs to do to be successful in this league.

"All week in practice, we knew that if they ran a Cover 2 on that play, it was going to be great for us," Jackson said. "We run that play a lot and I cross the field. So I faked the cross and rode it back out, there was nobody else there and Donovan made a great throw."

ESPN NFC East blogger Matt Mosley noted that right after the play McNabb pointed at Mornhinweg, who had called the play. Clearly, that was one the Eagles had planned to run all week and were waiting for the right time to unleash it.

"That was a heck of a call," Reid said of the touchdown pass to Jackson. "Donovan was fired up because [the Giants] played it just like we hoped they would play it. Sometimes those things work out. Marty had a good feel on it, he and Donovan had talked about it, and it was a great job on both their parts."

It makes you wonder how many of these plays the Eagles had the Giants figured out on, or how many they thought they had the Giants figured out on but didn't?

Of course it's not as simple as scheme. The Eagles offensive line needed to give McNabb time, McNabb needed to make a good throw, Desean Jackson needed to sell a fake and use his speed to get downfield.... Without the talent to execute these plays, they're just sparkles in a coach's mind. However, talent probably is going to help when your opponent knows what you're going to do before a play even starts.

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hmmm....

ESPN NFC East blogger Matt Mosley noted that right after the play McNabb pointed at Mornhinweg, who had called the play.

Honestly, whenever mcnabb throws a td, he’s always pointing someone.
But the coaching staff these past 2 games have made the good calls

Weapon X eats babies for breakfast.

by immynimmy on Nov 2, 2009 8:46 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

He should have gotten on the Giants sideline phone and called Marty

"I hate listening to people's dreams. It is like flipping through a stack of photographs. If I'm not in any of them and nobody is having sex, I just don't care. "

by midnitegreen on Nov 3, 2009 9:40 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Is it just me or

was that just a terrible defensive call on that play? Because looking back at it, it was more of a zone blitz, the DTs and 2 LBs came on a blitz, and the DEs did a jam then went out in the flats. So with that in mind, I’m not sure what the secondary was doing or why they just let Jackson run freely around the field.

by theaxeeffect4721 on Nov 2, 2009 9:34 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Yeah...

The Eagles really exploited the Giants secondary…no pressure up front for the Giants, plus effective Eagles with Weaver/McCoy running it up the gut made for a very long day for the Giants…Excellent effort by the Iggles…

---AstrosFan (Austin Lawyer and Sports Fan)

by AstrosFan on Nov 2, 2009 10:11 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Mornhinweg watched film from the Saints game or even the preseason

The Saints threw deep all day towards CC when they saw two deep coverage and we know how that turned out.

What was even stranger as a Giants fan if you noticed before that play to Jackson Webster makes a signal to CC which I believe meant for Webster to peal off Jackson and for CC to cover Jackson deep and yet CC was no where to be found. In a preason game vs the Jets when Philips was taken out of the game for CC the same exact thing happend between Webster and CC near the end of the half and it resulted in a TD. CC Brown played years for the Houston Texans before the Giants signed him, now I know why Peyton Manning threw for so many TD’s with a saftey like that.

by Landeta on Nov 2, 2009 10:35 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I was pleasantly shocked by the play of the Eagles. They came out and had a perfect game plan for the Giants- exploiting their biggest weaknesses and knocking them on their backs. They also didn’t focus on any dink-and-dunk short passes that McNabb has had trouble with the past few weeks. They ran the ball a few times which kept the Giants playing at the line- which let the Eagles air it out- and then went back to the run game when the Giants had to sit back in coverage in play. Old-fashioned good football.

I also feel as if Andy had a plan B for the day. I never got the feeling that they were going to panic and pass 50 times.

In other news, Charlie Manuel, who I usually feel is a much better game manager than Andy Reid has ever been, made huge mistakes in his pitcher selection last night which will probably cost them a World Series title.

The Philly sports world is a bit upside down right now.

by joetimek on Nov 2, 2009 10:22 AM EST reply actions 0 recs