Carolina Panthers @ Philadelphia Eagles Game Review

Before I get to my thoughts on the game, I'd like to let you know that below this entry are my NFL Power Rankings for Week 14. Enjoy.

That was a nice win. A lot of guys really stepped up and played well in front of a national audience. These guys look a lot better than the last couple weeks.

My keys to the game and how they turned out:

1) PLAY FUNDAMENTALLY SOUND DEFENSE. Push. It wasn’t pretty at times, but they improved. DeAngelo Williams had a nice game, but he was fairly inconsistent. His good YPC is mostly a product of a few big runs, but he definitely had a good game. I emphasized tackling, team defense, focus, getting off the ball, making good reads and playing sound coverage. There were mixed results. At some points, the Defensive Line got great penetration and looked like football players. Some of them still got driven off the ball a bit too much for my liking, and Delhomme still had a lot of time on most plays. They tackled a bit better and found the ball a bit better, and they showed signs of life. That’s what we were hoping for. There’s a couple individuals I want to point out, but I’ll save that for later.

2) PROTECT JEFF GARCIA. Success. Garcia was only sacked once, and except for a short period in the second half, didn’t take too many hits. I have to give the Offensive Line two thumbs up, particularly Jon Runyan. Carolina usually has one of the top pass rushes in the league, but they were completely neutralized. For the most part, Garcia had nice passing lanes, and only had one or two tipped balls, if any. He had time to make throws, and nice pockets were formed allowing him to step into his throws and throw better balls downfield. Excellent game by these guys.

3) AVOID MISTAKES. Success. Rousing success. No fumbles lost (and the only fumbles we had were when the ball bounced right back to Garcia, and when Schobel dropped a kick at the end of the half,) no interceptions, no blown protection assignments, good snaps, not too many missed tackles, the drops were way down, and we simply didn’t beat ourselves. There were a few too many penalties, but a few were ticky tacky calls, and two false starts I swear didn’t actually happen. The holding penalties need to be eliminated since those in particular can be drive killers, but overall, the Eagles played pretty disciplined. If anyone was going to beat the Eagles Monday night, it was going to be the Panthers, not the Eagles.

How about those matchups?

1) JON RUNYAN VS. JULIUS PEPPERS. This was a pretty nice battle all game long, and as I said earlier, Runyan did a great job. This was the Jon Runyan we all knew and loved from a few years ago. Peppers didn’t come close to getting to Garcia all night long, and Runyan really had a nice game. Peppers didn’t have a good game in general, and was even blocked one on one by L.J. Smith at times. Jon kept Garcia on his feet and opened up holes for Westbrook all night long.

2) PANTHERS’ O-LINE VS. EAGLES’ FRONT SEVEN. I have to plead ignorance here. I didn’t know these guys were missing two starters, and resorted to starting former Eagle Jeremy Bridges. That’s a dire situation if there’s ever been one. In the running game, the O-Line was off and on successful. There were a few plays where these guys really got off the ball and pushed back the Eagles’ line and Linebackers and dominated. There were also some plays where they allowed the Eagles to get penetration and blow plays up. In pass protection, these guys did an overall good job. There were a couple plays where they were flat out beat in one on one match-ups, but they picked up most of the heavy blitzes and helped out Delhomme.

3) NEW SNAPPER VS. PANTHERS’ KICK BLOCKING. Jon Dorenbos. There we go. Now that that’s out of the way, he did a good job. We were all afraid that we found a new Trey Junkin, but Dorenbos delivered good snaps, and didn’t cost us any points. We can all breathe a sigh of relief. We found a guy that’s pretty good at his job… so far. There was one that Dirk Johnson had to stretch for while punting and one that was almost in his chest while holding, but that’s just nit-picking. No complaints from the snapping game.

How did they key players do?

PHI:

1) Jeff Garcia- Made nice plays, didn’t screw up, and had a good game.

2) Jeremiah Trotter- Better than last week, didn’t take himself out of plays too much and made tackles.

3) Trent Cole- Didn’t see much from him at all.

CAR:

1) DeShaun Foster- Oops.

2) Thomas Davis- Made a few tackles, didn’t do anything too outstanding.

3) Jake Delhomme- The team went as he did last night. He got them an early lead, then couldn’t bring them back.

Key injuries:

PHI- QB Donovan McNabb

PHI- DE Jevon Kearse

PHI- LS Mike Bartrum

CAR- MLB Dan Morgan

Not having McNabb or Bartrum wasn’t a problem last night, but week in and week out this defense proves how good Jevon Kearse still is. I can’t wait until he’s back next season.

Dan Morgan probably would’ve helped last night. It’s too bad he may never play again.

Number to remember:

4. It’s how many times Tony Kornheiser will mention his fantasy team during the broadcast.

I heard it once, so it looks like he’s cut down on the Fantasy Football angle a bit.

Final Score:

24-10 Panthers.

I was wrong, and I’m glad I was.

Garcia- 180 yards passing, 1 TD, 2 INT.

Westbrook- 110 total yards.

Brown- 6 catches, 70 yards.

Garcia did a lot better than I thought he would, and except for missing the TDs, I nearly nailed Brian and Reggie’s statlines.

Delhomme- 200 yards passing, 2 TD, 1 INT.

Foster- 120 rushing yards, 1 TD.

Smith- 80 receiving yards, 2 TD.

Delhomme did almost exactly what I expected him to do, except proportionally more. The run defense for Philadelphia was better than I expected, and Williams didn’t do as much as I thought Foster would. The Eagles contained Smith pretty well.

And some final comments:

- I know there are tens of thousands of Philadelphia fans that can’t wait for the chance to jump on Garcia and ride him out of town, and believe me I’m one of them, but there’s just no reason yet. This guy is beating everyone’s expectations and playing great football right now. I hope he keeps it up.

- Westbrook is so good. It’s a shame more people don’t give him the credit he deserves. He’s great running the ball, and I think he’s the best in the league at catching at the Halfback position too. He’s carrying the offense on its back.

- The drops have dramatically decreased since Garcia stepped in. I don’t know what it is, but I’m relieved to see everyone catching the ball. Hopefully they can sustain it this year, and for when Donovan comes back too. Donte made a great grab. I hope we extend his contract, I don’t care about the 3^rd round pick.

- What happened to L.J. Smith in the second half? I saw a lot of Matt Schobel, too much for my liking. I know Smith hasn’t been the best, but has he really fallen this far that he can’t hold the starting position?

- I want to say Runyan had a great game again.

- Defensive Line, here we go. I think Trent Cole helps this team most as a pass rushing specialist that comes in on third downs. He’s most effective when he can just pin his ears back and get after the QB. Obviously with Kearse down this isn’t an option, but I hope that during his career here, we always have two guys that can play end every down, and be relieved by Cole when it’s 3^rd and long. Darren Howard needs to stay at end on third down. We’re not getting anything out of him at tackle, and it’s simply a waste of his ability. Just because he’s big doesn’t mean we need to bump him down. He’s not any better at pass rushing from the inside than a guy like Patterson is. Speaking of Patterson, his swim move in the first quarter was a thing of beauty. That was a great move. Darwin Walker has to be the most inconsistent player at any position in any sport. I truly believe that. There were some plays where he just fired off the ball, got great penetration and made plays, and looked like a true penetrating NFL tackle. There were others (specifically an 8-10 yard run by Williams in the second half in which Walker made the tackle while being blown up by one of the interior linemen) where he just sucks. I don’t get it. Brodrick Bunkley. What are we going to do with him? He didn’t play more than a handful of plays, and he didn’t look good. I don’t know what this guy is doing that keeps him out of the game, but we need to see more from him so we can get an idea of how good he is. The pieces for this line are here, we’re just using them in the wrong way. Some adjustments in the offseason could go a long way.

- Gaither was solid. He didn’t do anything great, but the defensive numbers got better, so I’ll assume he’s better than McCoy for now. I still think McCoy has potential to be a good player because he’s a great athlete, but he needs to hit the weight room this offseason. Gocong is not the answer next year. Upgrades need to be made at Linebacker. I don’t think I’ll be able to stand another season of Dhani Jones.

- Sean Considine can’t tackle. I’m not sure what redeeming qualities he has, but he’s not a starting player in the NFL. He makes me miss Michael Lewis, who didn’t have a great game himself.

- Jon Dorenbos. One more positive review for him.

- It’s time for Jim Johnson to go. I’m sick of our third corner covering the opponent’s best receivers on third down, I’m sick of Quintin Mikell playing and covering receivers, I’m sick of ineffective blitz packages and things just aren’t working out anymore. Not to say he has the best players, but the scheme isn’t working, and it’s time for a change.

Now back at .500, the Eagles begin the final countdown- the road gauntlet against the division. At Washington with the playoffs on the line, it’s time to play the best football of the season.