Eagles Vs Browns: Were Questions Answered?

Prior to last night's game we posted six things to watch for. Some of the issues that came up last night weren't among those things to watch for... but I thought it would be worth going back to see how stuff worked out.

The middle linebacker, whoever It may be.

Casey Matthews was much improved from his performance against the Steelers. He read gaps much better, led the team in tackles and even knocked away a pass in coverage.

"I definitely felt better this week. I obviously felt more comfortable." Matthews said after the game. "Last week against the Steelers was really my first week. I think it was only seven or eight plays, so I really couldn't get in a rhythm. I definitely felt more comfortable this week and knew what to expect. I felt like it slowed down a lot-That's what I feel was the biggest change from last week to this week and I was getting more blocks and making plays."

How does Mike Patterson look?

Patterson got a sack and his presence was notable in freeing up the linebackers to make plays. He didn't play a whole lot of snaps and certainly has some conditioning left to do, but he's got 17 days to get in shape. He said after the game that it felt good to get that first sack.

"I was a little bit nervous at first, I had to get that feeling back. But, it felt pretty good and I felt pretty happy to get a hit on him."

How does Michael Vick bounce back?

Like we talked about in the game recap, there's no doubt that he was better than last week but it certainly wasn't a vintage performance. Of course, it's hard to blame him. He was under serious pressure all night and took hit after hit thanks to an inexperienced line. Still, he really only made one bad decision on the night and that was the pick that got called back. It's one too many bad decisions, but it was made about a nanosecond after he was about to get blasted again.

It's supposed to be impossible to throw on this defense

And it pretty much was. All three pro bowl corners made big plays. DRC's came in the form of a blocked punt, but Asante Samuel got a pick and Nnamdi Asomugha drew a PI call on the only throw that really tested him. They held Colt McCoy to 9-18 passing for 89 yards and a 41 QB rating.

The play of Jarrad Page

Solid. Wasn't around making tons of plays, but he certainly didn't make any mistakes. I said before the game that if "If he can be a stabilizing force" until Allen gets totally healthy it will be a nice boost to the D. That was pretty much how Andy Reid evaluated him after the game.

"I didn't see anything that jumped out to me that he didn't do well or that I thought was a critical error. He got turned around on one play, but he ended up making the play on the tight end. I didn't see anything that jumps out at me that was a negative."

Can King Dunlap make the right tackle spot his own?

I don't know that he made it his own, but of the guys that were a problem on the line, I didn't really see him as one. Andy Reid seemed overall satisfied as well.

"I thought he did a decent job. There was a little bit of confusion between him and the right guard on one of the protections, but it looked like they were trying to communicate it, and it didn't quite work out the way it was supposed to. That was one of many protections, and I thought they did a pretty good job with the others."