Philadelphia Eagles Game Recaps
Eagles Rout Redskins 34-10 In Season Finale
The Eagles scored 21 fourth quarter points as they routed the Redskins 34-10 in the finale of a disappointing 2011 campaign. The Eagles will now go home having won four straight to end the season. They averaged over 31 points in those four games and the defense did not allow the opposition over 20 points. Michael Vick ends his year with three straight games over a 100 QB rating for the first time in his career.
But as we've heard for the past week and will continue to hear, it was all too little too late. When you look at the final numbers, it's very tough to figure out how the Eagles managed just 8 wins. They went 5-1 against the NFC East, set single season franchise records in yards gained and first downs, led the league in sacks, had the NFC's leading rusher, a point differential of +68...
But of course, they also led the league in turnovers. There's your reason.
Michael Vick 24-39 for 335 yards, 3 TDs and a pick. Jeremy Maclin had 8 catches for 105 yards, Brent Celek grabbed 6 passes for 86 yards and a TD and finally DeSean Jackson caught 4 passes for 86 yards including a 62 yard TD (video here). He is now one of just 5 players in NFL history to have at least 900 yards receiving in each of his first four seasons.
On defense, they surprisingly struggled against the run despite being rather good in that department for most of the second half of the year. I thought Nate Allen had a solid showing today and got a pick thanks to a deflection from Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, who had a great afternoon before getting hurt. Keenan Clayton led the team in tackles today, including at least two real de-cleaters. Derek Landri played a fine game and got himself a FG block.
Also of note, Alex Henery was 2-2 today which means that he has broken David Akers single season franchise record for accuracy. If Cowboys K Dan Bailey happens to miss a FG tonight, Henery will also break the single season rookie accuracy record.
The Eagles finish 8-8 on the season. 5-1 against the NFC East, 3-7 against everyone else.
Eagles Crush Cowboys Again, But Eliminated From Playoffs Anyway
Despite their playoff hopes coming to an end, the Eagles were still able to leave a nice little present under our Christmas tree with a 20-7 victory over the Dallas Cowboys. The Giants win over the Jets in the early game eliminated the Eagles from playoff contention, but any day we get to see the Eagles sweep Dallas in dominating fashion is a pretty good day.
The game was indicative of what we've seen from the Eagles over the past few weeks, which unfortunately has been too little to late. That said, it has been fun to watch. This defense, which was so maligned earlier this season (with good reason), has just been dominant and showed that once again today. They were just seven seconds shy of recording their first shut out in 247 games, but a blocked Chas Henry punt gave Dallas a short field.
The pass rush was one again overwhelming producing three sacks and knocking Tony Romo from the game in the first quarter. Some said that Romo may have returned if the game had meaning to Dallas, but given how badly Romo's right hand was swollen, that seems debatable.
On offense, it was another big game from Michael Vick who threw for 293 yards, 2 TDs and no picks. It should have been three, but Jason Avant fumbled a ball out of the end zone for the Eagles' leauge leading 36th turnover.
The Eagles will play the Redskins next week and the Cowboys will travel to New York for what is essentially an NFC East title game. Given how bad the Cowboys offense line was, how poor their secondary looked and the injury to Romo, the Giants have to be the favorites.
We'll certainly discuss this season in greater detail later. But for now, it's Christmas eve and we just embarrassed the Cowboys. Go have some fun and Merry Christmas!
LeSean McCoy Sets Record As Eagles Crush Jets 45-19
The Eagles blew out the Jets 45-19 Sunday evening at the Linc in a game that was pretty much never in doubt. After going just 1-5 at home prior to this game, the Eagles handed the paying customers a pretty nice Christmas present with this one.
The Eagles jumped out to a 28-0 lead before the game was even halfway through the second quarter. The Jets would score 13 unanswered to end the first half, but the Eagles put up another 17 in the second half to erase what little doubt there may have been. The big story from the game will be the record breaking effort from LeSean McCoy, who rushed for 102 yards and three TDs. His second TD broke the Eagles single season records for both rushing TDs and total TDs, both of which have stood for 66 years. McCoy's 20 total TDs leads the NFL.
Shady has another Eagles record within his sights as well, with another 239 yards over the next two weeks, he'll surpass Wilbert Montgomery's franchise record of 1,512. Even if he doesn't reach that one however, this has to go down as arguably the greatest single season by an Eagles back. Just to put McCoy's season into perspective, he is one of just four players in NFL history to record 19 TDs in a season before their 24th birthday. The others are Eric Dickerson, Gale Sayers and Emmit Smith... all hall of famers.
Speaking of other NFL leaders, Jason Babin collected three more sacks to put his total at 18, which also leads the NFL. He's a half sack ahead of Jared Allen, who was shut out today against the Saints. Babin is also just 3 sacks shy of Reggie White's single season franchise record. Granted, Reggie got his 21 sacks in a strike shortened, 12 game season, but the pass rushing effort we've seen from Babin this year is something special.
It was a great effort all around by an inspired Eagles team. You can only wonder what may have been if they had started playing like this earlier. Still, their playoff hopes are certainly more alive than they were when the day began. They were eliminated from the wildcard today, but the NFC East became that much tighter. The Giants blowout loss to the Redskins means that the Eagles path to the postseason is pretty clear.
They need to beat both the Cowboys and Redskins to finish the year. They need the Jets to beat the Giants next week and they need the Giants to beat Dallas the following week. In that scenario, the Eagles would finish 8-8 and win all tiebreakers. It's a longshot for sure, but it's a shot.
Eagles Defense Dominates In 26-10 Win Over Dolphins
The Eagles put forth one of their best defensive efforts of the season and got two TDs from LeSean McCoy as they downed the Dolphins 26-10 at Sun Life Stadium. The win moves the Eagles to 5-8 and keeps their small playoff hopes alive.
The Eagles defense was everything they weren't on the Thursday night game in Seattle. In that game, Marshawn Lynch was running all over them and the defense could do nothing to stop him nor could they force a turnover. This afternoon against Miami, the Eagles were rock solid in short yardage and forced three Miami turnovers leading to 17 Eagles points. To top it all off, they also scored 2 points with a safety.
How good were the Eagles in short yardage? They stuffed Miami on two 3rd & 1s, two 4th & 1s, a 3rd and 3, a 2nd & goal from the 2 & a 3rd and goal from the 2. The D also registered a season high nine sacks, their highest total since a 2008 game against the Steelers. The defense was so stifling today that after the Brandon Marshall TD catch in the first quarter, nearly 35 minutes of game time would go by before the Dolphins would score again.
On offense, LeSean McCoy keeps rushing toward history with two more scores today. He now needs just one more rushing TD this season to equal Steve Van Buren's franchise record of 14, which has stood since 1945. Also. one more receiving or rushing TD would tie McCoy with Van Buren for the most total TDs in a season. With three and a half games left, it seems as though McCoy is very likely to own both franchise records before the end of the season.
McCoy's two TDs today are even more impressive coming against the Dolphins, who have one of the best run defenses in football. Prior to this game, they had allowed just three rushing TDs all season. McCoy is also the first RB with two rushing TDs in a game against Dolphins since Fred Jackson in 2009. Of course, this is not to say it was a great day for McCoy overall, who aside from the two TDs, had a very frustrating afternoon. The Eagles offensive line was completely dominated in both the pass and the run. McCoy had defenders in the backfield on most plays and could only manage 38 yards on 27 carries. The line wasn't much better against the pass as Michael Vick was sacked four times and forced to make at least two or three of those patented impossible Vick escapes.
Overall it was a comfortable win by the Eagles and one that at least keeps them in the playoff hunt for what that's worth. The Eagles still need to win out to have any shot. The Giants beating the Cowboys tonight would also help.
Eagles Embarassed Again, Lose 31-14
When losses like this don't even get you angry anymore, that's when you know a team has gotten really bad. You get angry watching a game because it's defying your expectations. If you expect your team to stink and they do, you're not going to throwing stuff around the house and screaming. They're just doing what you expected.
And that's what the Eagles did tonight. What we expected of them. No heart, no hustle, fire... whatever old sports cliche you want to use to describe a team or player that cares.... The Eagles don't have it.
For the second straight week the Eagles were absolutely blown out on national TV. Only this time it wasn't by the Patriots, it was the 4-7 Seattle Seahawks. And granted, Seattle is a tough place to play and the Seahawks aren't a bottom feeder team, but they were 4-7 coming into this game for a reason. But tonight, they might as well have been the Pats because they outplayed the Eagles in every phase of the game.
Marshawn Lynch just ran all over the defense to the tune of 148 yards and a couple TDs. I said during the game that this was a worse tackling display than we saw against the Bills earlier in the season, which was previously the worst tackling performance I've ever seen. The Eagles missed 13 tackles in that game, which is a number they just might have eclipsed in the first half tonight. Jason Babin had a pair of sacks to put him at 12 for the season, but of course he was run at all night.
On offense, it was just a joke. Vince Young threw four picks. Some were his fault, at least one wasn't... but when you get up to four, there's really no point in scrutinizing each pick too much. It was simply an awful performance from Young and the offense as a whole. I will give VY some credit as one of the few guys out there that seemed to be really trying. He gave an effort, but effort isn't enough.
As has been the case for virtually the whole season, LeSean McCoy was the lone bright spot. Despite and injured toe that made him a game time decision, McCoy accounted for 133 yards from scrimmage and two TDs tonight. That puts him at 15 TDs on the season, three shy of Steve Van Buren's franchise record set in 1945.
Just to add insult to injury, Colt Anderson, who was one of the few players on the team that has shown real heart and just might have made the pro bowl as a special teamer this season suffered a torn ACL and is done for the year. Nnamdi Asomugha may also miss some time with a concussion and a stinger.
This loss puts the Eagles record at 4-8 on the season and there's a half decent chance that they may lose out. They're on the road in Miami next week and that team is playing much better lately. Then it's home to the Jets, at Dallas and ending at home to the Redskins. The most winnable game there is week 17 against the Skins and at that point, they'll probably be battling for top 10 positioning in the draft.
Eagles Embarrassed By Patriots 38-20 At The Linc
This is how bad today's game was. At about the 6 minute mark of the 4th quarter, CBS decided to shut off Eagles Vs Patriots and "switch to a more competitive game," which was Denver at San Diego. If you live in Philly or Boston, you saw the end of the game, but the rest of the country did not.
That's how bad things have gotten. Really, the blowout was the one thing this season really lacked. As bad as the Eagles have looked at times, they've still been in pretty much every game at the end. Obviously you have to be in games in the fourth quarter to blow five leads. But the point is, that we've at least been able to tell ourselves that we were close. If one play here or there had gone differently we could have won. But not today. Today shattered whatever illusions may have been left.
Here are a few stats that sum up how things went today.
- The Eagles did not convert a third down in this game until the very end of the third quarter.
- With 8 minutes left in the game. Tom Brady had 28 yards rushing on five carries. LeSean McCoy had 33 yards on 9 carries. Yes, Tom Brady only had four fewer carries than the NFL's leading rusher. McCoy finished the game with 10 carries for 31 yards. Vince Young had six carries for 40 yards.
The abandonment of the running game has always been a major source of frustration for Eagles fans, but one particular call may have broke the camel's back. The Eagles trailed 31-13 late in the third and had a 4th and 1 near the goal line. Rather than run the ball, they called a play action roll out where Vince Young overthrew Brent Celek on a fade pass.
It was one of those play calls that just infuriates everyone watching. The Eagles are the top rushing team in the NFL with the the NFL's leading rusher and they call a play that cuts the field down into a quarter in the already tight space of a goal line play. The throw was poor from Young, but the play was pretty well covered either way.
That's when the "fire Andy" chants started.
Eagles 17, Giants 10: Vince Young Brings The Fourth Quarter Magic
The Eagles have choked up five fourth quarter leads this season and as they headed into the final frame of this one, it looked as though it was going to happen again. Eli Manning led the Giants on a 5 play, 73 yard drive to tie the game at 10 all and it looked like the weekly collapse was on. But then, something pretty amazing happened.
Vince Young led the Eagles on 18 play, 80 yard drive which ate nearly 9 minutes off the clock and culminated in a go ahead to TD pass to Riley Cooper.
"I just basically told the offense to stay focused." Young said after the game, "Don't try to do anything too big and just take it one play at a time. "
And they really did take it one play at a time. Young and the Eagles offense converted five third downs on the drive. It was a game and a drive that would Tim Tebow proud. Young wasn't very good for three quarters, but he finished in a way we haven't seen all year.
And just to make this night even more surreal. The Giants get the ball back with 1:41 left, quickly drive 64 yards and suddenly we're all thinking that epic drive was for naught... But as Eli Manning rolled out on a first down play from the Eagles 21, Jason Babin hit him from the blind side, forcing a fumble that was recovered by Derek Landri (who had a monter game BTW) sealing the victory.
And just to finish it off, LeSean McCoy, who had been frustrated by lack of running lanes all night broke off a 60 yard rush to put him over 1,000 yards on the season. He was unfortunately stopped just two yards shy of the end zone, which meant his streak of consecutive games with a TD ends at nine.
As fun as this game was, one thought has to be driving us all crazy. How bad does that Cardinals loss look now? Had the Eagles won that game, they'd be just a game back in the NFC East right now.
Eagles 17, Cardinals 21: Another Week, Another Blown Fourth Quarter Lead
At this point, the Eagles ineptitude in the fourth quarter has become so predictable that it's not even surprising anymore. In previous weeks we've been left scratching our heads asking "they can't possibly blow another 4th quarter lead right?" But not anymore. We're no longer shocked. This is what we've come to expect. Five fourth quarter leads blown.
Of course, this particular fourth quarter meltdown isn't quite like the others. In previous weeks we've seen them at least play well for part of the game and then go bad in the fourth quarter. This time, they really were no worse in the 4th than any other part of the game. This was just an awful game from start to finish.
I won't even get into the defense because at this point we know they're garbage. You would have to been a truly deluded Eagles fan to not assume they'd fold on that last drive. They've done it all year and it's no shock to see it again. The only thing I will say is that if Juan Castillo doesn't deserve to be fired for somehow allowing a rookie safety to be matched up in single coverage downfield with Larry FItzgerald when you have both Nnamdi Asomugha and Asante Samuel in the game... I don't know what else he can do. Aside from just pulling the defense off the field and allowing the opposition to score freely, he could not have handled this defense worse.
But let's get to the offense, which was as bad as we've seen all season. We've pointed out a few times this season the incredible bad luck that has led to so many of Michael Vick's picks this season. Tipped passes, WRs getting the ball stripped away etc... but there was none of that today. He threw four picks today, all of which were 100% his fault. Now, only two counted, but that doesn't erase the decisions from the ones that were called back. It was easily the worst we've seen Vick play as an Eagle. He simply wasn't seeing the field. His accuracy, which has been so good all year, was non-existent. He was just awful.
But even given that, we can't excuse the rest of the team. When Vick would make a decent throw, it would be dropped. I counted five drops today, two from Steve Smith and one each from Jeremy Maclin, Brent Celek & Riley Cooper. You also saw Vick really struggle to find open targets for large parts of the game and obviously DeSean Jackson's benching and Jeremy Maclin's injury played a big part in that. But really it reveals another theme we've seen all year from this group. When one guy or one unit is struggling, no one is there to pick them up. Michael Vick has a bad game and his WRs drop any decent pass he does throw. The offense puts up 24 points in a half and the defense gives up 30 the next half. It's like the only chance this team has to win a game is if everything goes right, which to me is the mark of a bad team.
However... Like we've said for years in the Reid era, when the passing game is struggling, he doesn't fall back on his running game. He "keeps firing." The Eagles had over 40 called passes today and handed off to LeSean McCoy, who is arguably been the best RB in the NFL this year, 14 times. With those 14 carries he produced 81 yards and a TD. The Eagles passing game today generated 128 yards and two turnovers.
Keep firing? That should be Jeff Lurie's new philosophy.
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