WELL nobody who counts, got injured. Do we get a trophy for that now, or…. how does that work? I guess I’m old. I remember when the point of training was training, not avoiding getting hurt in lieu of training. (Soldiers, fire fighters and cops, you may want to talk to your supervisors about not doing things the old way anymore.)
EAGLES 10 – Jets 16
We held the Jets (and ourselves) to one touchdown. We also held the Jets (and ourselves) to under 100 yards rushing for the game. We put up 181 passing yards (net) to their 140. In four quarters of football, QB Carson Wentz wasn’t hit, hurried or sacked once. Yet somehow I don’t feel the protection plan we used for him vs the Jets, will help us at all vs the Redskins next week. Did I mention that we lost?
I hear you asking, “What about all the stuff that stats don’t reveal?” Well Billy, that’s the reason for these “Four Things” articles. We introduce an idea of what needs addressing BEFORE the game, so that fans have to honestly answer questions about those things, AFTER the game. This helps to get us, and keep us, all on the same page.
So, of the Four Things we were looking for in this last game, what exactly did we see?
1) Does Warmack earn a chance: G Chance Warmack looked like a starter playing against back-ups out there. He looked composed and fully in control in pass protection, and in the run game, his man frequently went backwards. The coaches saw enough, and he was pulled before the half. (DONE)
2) Coming up big: RB Donnel Pumphrey once again looked like a boy amongst men whether he was running (7 – 10 – 1.4 – 0 – 0), receiving (1 – 3 – 3.0 – 0) or punt returning (5 – 9 – 1.8 – 0). He however, did look decent on kickoff returns (3 – 80 – 26.7 – 0). The Eagles may stash him on IR or the Practice Squad, but he’s done nothing to truly earn either. (NOT DONE)
3) Cherry picking a LB: LB Don Cherry (3 – 0 – 0 – 0) made a few stops, and got beaten by a bigger, faster player for a touchdown pass, despite playing coverage as well as he could have in that situation. That said, he didn’t do anything in this one that would get a coach pounding the table to keep him. (NOT DONE)
4) Groom a great Dane: Finally the Eagles got a sample size (in terms of downs) from QB Dane Evans (11 – 23 – 47.8% – 110 – 1 – 1) , to match that of QB Matt McGloin (14 – 21 – 66.6% – 90 – 0 – 0). Evans showed some real niftiness on a couple of plays, especially the 41 yarder he threw as he stared down a defender who was expecting him to keep running. Evans was also the victim of a bogus interception that was clearly dropped and trapped, but for some reason THAT turnover wasn’t reviewed. (Aren’t they supposed to review ALL turnovers?) In any case, while Evans may not make the roster, he did play an entire half, and we were in the game in large part, due to him. (DONE)
So this week’s mark is 2 of 4, which brings the preseason total to 7 out of 16. Here’s hoping that our record this year doesn’t match. Speaking of which, the next Four Things will be for stakes against a division rival.
On The Whole:
Every now and then a low scoring, defensive slug-fest is nice to see. That kind of football, (not this high-flying, 60 pass per game stuff), is primal football. It’s throwback football. Every now and then you need to see a game like that.
This game wasn’t that. This was just two offenses groping for a light-switch in a coal mine. There were several moments where I wondered if these guys even knew what sport they were supposed to be playing. There was no fuzzy-fuzzy, feel-good about this game. For the most part it was like chewing tin foil.
My hope is that our (very well-rested) offensive starters, don’t continue this trend next week.
EAGLEMANIACAL.com 