LAST week’s game was a gimmie, and we not only found a way to lose that game, we found a way to embarrass ourselves in the process. You know what? No. That was inaccurate. Some of the players found a way to embarrass us. Insult to injury: Those same players didn’t seem to be the least bit embarrassed themselves.
We put up 14 cosmetic points in the 14 – 32 hosing that we got from a team that came in 3-7-1. We didn’t even bother to attack their weaknesses. It was weird to watch. I’m not sure what the coaching staff was trying to do last week, but winning that game was the farthest thing from their minds.
On the up-side, we held the Bengals to 2.4 yards per rush on 33 attempts, which is nothing to sneeze at. Sadly, that only highlights what I’ve been saying about the Secondary not pulling their weight. We choked over 332 yards, 2TD’s and allowed a completion percentage of 74.1.
But what about the stuff that the stats don’t reveal? That’s the reason for these “Four Things” articles. To have an idea of what needs addressing BEFORE the game, so that we’re forced to honestly answer questions AFTER the game.
So, of the Four Things we were looking for in this last game, what exactly did we see?
1) Get off the bus running the ball. This flat out didn’t happen. Instead of feeding the 28th ranked rushing defense a steady diet of RB Wendell Smallwood, we ran the ball a team-wide 19 times and threw it 60. No Eagles player ran for more than 19 yards or had more than 8 rushes. To Head Coach Doug Pederson, all I can say is: “Way to go, Ace!” The only way you could have outdone yourself here, would be to try and get RB Darren Sproles killed, by running him despite a broken rib. Which would be insane, right?! (Sigh) This was so simple, yet… NOT DONE
2) Start the Presses. The CB’s weren’t giving up huge cushions, but they continued to give up free releases at the line, doing nothing to disrupt QB Andy Dalton‘s rhythm. NOT DONE
3) Treggs, Treggs and more Treggs. WR Bryce Treggs sat this one out. The only Eagles WR who can threaten a defense deep, was inactive for this game. Nice one Eagles. NOT DONE
4) More wrap artists and fewer hits. Our tackling in this game was the best I’ve seen it in weeks. DONE
We close out this week with a score of 1 out of 4, proving once again, that if you ignore fundamentals, it’s hard to win football games. While I don’t maintain great hopes for the postseason now, a win against the ‘skins this week would be a nice change of pace from this 3 game skid we’re on.
EAGLEMANIACAL.com 