Eagles Vs Ravens: Studs & Duds

There were so many positives for the Eagles to take from their 24-23 victory over the Ravens on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field. For starters, Michael Vick was pretty darn good for most of the 60 minutes and, for the second straight week, he led a game-winning drive in the final minutes. Haven't seen that in these neck of the woods for quite a while.

It wasn't all pretty though. In fact, there were enough negatives to fill up this space five fold. Vick himself did enough to drive every single one of us on this site berserk. The good Vick could have easily been the stud list, the bad Vick (with his early end zone INT) the dud.

But in the end, you didn't vote for him to be either. Apparently there were more impressive - and unimpressive - Eagles in their biggest victory since the DeSean Jackson punt return against the Giants back in December 2010.

The People's Studs

Brent Celek - Every time the Eagles seemed to need an injection of energy, the Eagles tight end made a huge play. You know, like the time he hurdled a fairly erect (no, not that kind of erect) Ed Reed. Or the time he was demolished by Baltimore safety Bernard Pollard, his helmet almost dislodged and he shook off the pain to give the patented powerful first-down signal. Celek, who is quickly becoming Vick's closest friend, was exceptional on Sunday. He caught eight of the 11 passes thrown in his direction for 157 yards (19.6 ypc) and accounted for six of the Eagles' 10 biggest plays, two of which came on the game-winning drive. Clutch, tough, blue collar. Celek's popularity is on the rise. Dude definitely smashed beer cans over his head all over the city in celebration on Sunday night.

Honorable Mention: DeMeco Ryans

Raanan's Stud

Juan Castillo - We all killed the Eagles' defensive coordinator last season. And for good reason. He appeared overmatched and out of his league. But it's only appropriate to give Castillo credit for a second straight strong defensive performance. In my mind, nothing was more impressive than the adjustments the Eagles made in the second half to shut down Joe Flacco and the Ravens. (We'll get more into that in Tuesday's Raanan Review.) Baltimore managed just 136 total yards and Flacco was under consistent pressure in the second half. He did not even complete a pass to a wide receiver in the fourth quarter.

The People's Dud

Officials - It's not surprising you weren't happy with the officials. It's rare that you are. The Eagles racked up seven more penalties - to go with 12 from Week 1 - and the game took something close to 17 hours to be completed thanks to the replacement officials. There were definitely some questionable calls both ways and the officials almost let the choppy affair get out of hand by handing out nothing but offsetting penalties after multiple on-field skirmishes. They also took forever on several reviews and the referee had trouble explaining each call. It should however be noted that the Eagles were the beneficiary of the most impactful call of the game (see below).

Raanan's Dud

Nnamdi Asomugha - Every time Nnamdi tries to defend a pass it makes me cringe to think that at one point I thought he was comparable to Darrelle Revis. The $60 million man just doesn't have good ball skills, something that was again evident on Sunday. First, Asomugha was beat for a touchdown on a perfect pitch and catch by Jacoby Jones and Flacco in the second quarter. The strange part was when Nnamdi seemed to veer off the road when he turned and tried to track the 21-yard score. He actually almost ended up out of bounds before the end zone. Later in the game he was bailed out by a questionable offensive interference call on a 25-yard touchdown catch by Jones in the fourth quarter that would have ended the game. Asomugha never turned his head and had no idea where the ball was on the play. I'm fairly confident if not for that generous call that there would be a lot of Nnamdi complaints today.

Jordan Raanan has covered the Eagles and the NFL since 2005. Follow him on Twitter @JordanRaanan, on Facebook or email him at jraanan@hotmail.com.