On the way home from Christmas shopping, I was listening to the post game on 94.1 (I watched the whole game, mind you.) One word kept coming up: resilience. The Eagles showed heart to hang with a good football team, fought adversity, came back and won a road, division rival game. The Eagles snatched a win from the Giants and Gerry Austin’s crew.
More on that later, but here are my keys from the game preview:
1) STOP TIKI BARBER AND BRANDON JACOBS. Huge success. Tiki’s YPC was a touch under 4, and Jacobs was a little over 4 on three carries. They only had 88 rushing yards total. How about this defense stopping Tiki Barber two games in a row? Both backs got off to a fast start (Jacobs had his longest run of the day before the fumble, and Tiki’s runs began to get shorter and shorter as the game wore on.) The injuries to the Giant Offensive Line probably didn’t help (Whitfield and Seubert starting, along with McKenzie being banged up.) The Eagles got a great game out of the tackles. Walker and Patterson got some great penetration on some plays (against guys I think are pretty good Guards,) and disrupted a lot of plays. For the most part, missed tackles were down and guys wrapped up well. It also helps that the Giants got away from the run a little bit in the second half (again, more on that later,) but no matter the circumstances, the Giants did not run all over the Eagles, and Barber and Jacobs were almost a non-factor.
2) PRESSURE ELI MANNING. Success. Although Omar Gaither tallied the only sack, Eli was under fire all game long. The first interception was a result of the pocket being collapsed, and the second was a result of Eli being hit as he threw. He took hits all game, and was forced to move around in the pocket more than he or the Giants would’ve liked. After being disappointed with him the past two weeks, I have to give credit to Jim Johnson. He had the defense ready to play. Instead of sitting seven guys back in coverage which had become all too common as of late, he brought back the Jim Johnson defense we’ve gotten used to over the years. Linebackers were blitzing, DBs were blitzing, the front four was getting pressure. It was probably the best game the defense has played in a couple months. The Eagles defense set up camp in the Giants’ backfield and didn’t pack up until 7:30.
3) NO WASTED OPPORTUNITIES. Success. The Eagles scored touchdowns on all three times they were in the red zone. The Giants did 2/5 trips inside the 20. The Eagles scored 14 points off of the Eli picks. The Eagles had the chance to win a division game on the road against a team that embarrassed them in September. They had the chance to improve their playoff position and make the division championship a realistic goal. They seized the opportunity. They held the Giants to 2/9 on 3rd down, made plays on Tiki in the backfield, took advantage of Mahe’s big return, and possibly the most important play of the game, scored on 4th and goal early in the game. Buckhalter’s touchdown run set the tone. The Eagles came to win Sunday afternoon, and they did everything they had to do to come away with it. All three phases of the game were opportunistic, and it helped the Eagles beat what is probably a superior football team.
What about those matchups? Not much to say for two of them since they really didn’t happen, unfortunately.
1) BOB WHITFIELD VS. DARREN HOWARD. Didn’t happen. Oh well. The Eagles decided they wanted to take full advantage of Whitfield’s pass protection deficiency, so they lined up Trent Cole against him. Cole was able to run circles around Whitfield and generate a decent pass rush despite not having any sacks.
2) LITO SHEPPARD VS. PLAXICO BURRESS. Again, Sheppard wasn’t on him at all. Sheldon Brown and Rod Hood split duties against Plax, after William Peterson hurt himself in warm-ups. At any rate, Plaxico had his way in more ways than one. He had 120 yards on only 6 catches, and probably got at least 20 more yards in whining for penalties against the Eagles. Again, more on the officiating later.
3) TOM COUGHLIN VS. COMPETENCE. Here we go. In the preview, I identified 40 as a magic number for Eli’s passing attempts. Of course, he ended up with 40 on the nose. He didn’t necessarily do poorly with those 40 attempts, but it was a sign that the Giants didn’t have a good play calling balance. Tiki Barber only had 19 carries, and the Giants only ran 22 times total. That simply is not enough for the Giants, especially against a defense like the Eagles. The Giants very clearly got away from the run way too early in this game, and Eli was passing almost regularly in the second half. The Giants, with the exception of the final minutes, were never so far out of this game that they had to abandon the run. They could’ve stuck with it, controlled the clock and played better offensively. One positive for Coughlin is the use of Shockey. He was used frequently in the passing game, and had a bunch of catches. It wasn’t a bad game for him. Overall, Tiki simply should have been involved much more, and he wasn’t anywhere to be found at times.
The key players:
PHI:
1) Jeremiah Trotter- Pretty invisible, but spent a lot of time on the sideline because the Giants were passing so much.
2) Mike Patterson- He got great penetration at some times, and accidentally tipped a pass that led to the first INT.
3) Tra Thomas- Besides the penalties, he did a great job in pass protection and opened up running lanes.
NYG:
1) Osi Umenyiora- Didn’t have a very good game. More on him later.
2) Tim Carter- Had a few catches that amounted to hardly anything.
3) Antonio Pierce- For someone who loves to talk trash against the Eagles, he certainly didn’t do much against the Eagles, again. He can play big against other teams, but he’s all talk against the birds. Better luck next time, Antonio.
Apologies for not doing a “Key Injuries” segment this week. It completely slipped my mind. It’ll be back in next week’s edition.
Number to remember:
- It’s the number of times FOX will show the Plaxico OT TD catch from week two during the broadcast.
Didn’t actually see it that much. I saw it a couple times over the course of the day on FOX though.
Final score:
31-27 Eagles.
Pretty close. Fortunately, the margin was a bit bigger.
Garcia- 250 yards passing, 3 TD, 1 INT.
Westbrook- 150 total yards, 2 TD.
Stallworth- 100 receiving yards, 1 TD.
Besides Westbrook, I was way off here. Garcia only threw for 1 TD, and Stallworth only had one catch very early on. Reggie Brown came closest to producing the predicted stats.
Manning- 250 yards passing, 1 TD, 2 INT.
Barber- 200 total yards, 2 TD.
Burress- 90 receiving yards, 1 TD.
Eli got a ton of yards, but didn’t score. Barber didn’t see the ball as much as I thought he would, and Burress got more yards than predicted.
Some final notes before we get ready for
- Garcia did a nice job of bouncing back after his first pick and leading the team down the field. He kept us in the game again by showing mobility in the pocket and making nice throws.
- It’s too bad we didn’t see more of Buckhalter. He had a great first half, and I don’t get why he wasn’t used in the second. Good to see him on the field and playing more frequently.
- I hate saying this, but I see a little of TO in Reggie Brown, except he’s a nicer guy. His hands are about the same (unfortunately,) and although he’s a lot smaller, he turns upfield quick and has a natural ability to get yards after catching the ball. On another receiver note, the Eagles need to invest a lot of money in a tall crybaby that can throw his arms up and scream whenever someone tries to cover him to draw penalties like the Giants did with Burress.
- For as physically gifted as L.J. Smith is, I would like to see him make some more plays. He had a couple nice catches and showed great concentration on that one grab, but instead of bobbling the ball and pulling it in, it would be better to catch it the first attempt and run to get some more yards.
- Is it just me, or did Jamaal Jackson have a tough time snapping the ball? Maybe Garcia’s hand injury led to Jeff pulling out a bit too soon or something.
- I don’t know why, but playing the Giants motivates Darwin Walker like nothing else for some reason. He had a great game today, and I even saw him line up at end at some points. As for some other D-Linemen, I continue to be disappointed by Howard’s play. Hopefully he’ll destroy
- Gaither is going to be good. I think this is the third week I’ve said it, but this guy can play. He shows something new every week, and he was a steal in the 5th round. It’s unfortunate that we don’t have anyone better than Dhani Jones.
- Brian Dawkins is a player. Big time players make big time plays in big time games. Dawkins is a big time player, he made several big time plays in this big time game. We need to see Michael Lewis on the field instead of Considine. The dude just can’t play. However with Lewis’ injury, it remains to be seen how much he can play. Maybe Mikell gets a chance.
- Special teams- need to be more consistent. The kick return was great and Dirk’s overall play was great, but obviously kick and punt coverage needs to be better. Did anyone else see Dorenbos get laid out on Ward’s big return?
- Now for some Giants stuff… I like what they’re doing with Kiwanuka. Except for his obvious blunder against the Titans, he’s having a very good rookie year. What’s even better is how the Giants are using him. Of course he filled in for Osi and Strahan when they got hurt, but Kiwanuka does everything. They’ll line him up at tackle and run stunts, they’ll have him rush from the middle or outside with his hand up, almost like what the Eagles do with Kearse. For someone whose stock was highest after his junior season and had it just get lower with every snap during a forgettable senior campaign, he’s turning out to be pretty good.
- There’s no doubt in my mind that Osi Umenyiora is a heck of a pass rusher, but he’s out of control. He just comes straight upfield every play, and tries to turn back to get the QB from behind. It’s easy to block because the tackle can just keep riding him upfield. He needs to develop some moves to get back to the inside because all he does is create a great pocket for Garcia to step up in.
- Antonio Pierce talks too much. For all of the talk he did this game and for all of the talk he did last game, he just didn’t play as well as he should. He’s a good player, but he should come to play instead of talk next time the Giants play the Eagles.
- It really doesn’t matter and I don’t think it reflects on the Eagles poorly in any way, but opposing kickers are 25/27 against us this season. I believe that would be good for tops in the league if “opposing kickers” were one player.
- Jimmy Johnson deserved every asshole chant he got. His bias against the Eagles is pathetic, and it really showed when he predicted the Giants to win easily. Good one, Jimmy.
- The real Jim Johnson had a good game. It was good to see blitzes again.
- Now for the officiating. I wanted to hold back on this the Eagles won, but I can’t help myself. Here are all of our penalties and my thoughts on them.
o M.Patterson, Illegal Block Above the Waist, 10 yards, enforced at PHI 22.- Didn’t see it, probably a good call. Won’t complain.
o PENALTY on PHI-D.Walker, Encroachment, 5 yards, enforced at PHI 16 - No Play.- Again, good call. He was caught listening to Eli and not watching the ball.
o PENALTY on PHI-W.Thomas, False Start, 5 yards, enforced at PHI 38 - No Play.- No brainer here.
o PENALTY on PHI-R.Hood, Defensive Holding, 5 yards, enforced at NYG 23 - No Play.- Come on. It’s third down and the Eagles just made a stop and were going to get good field position. Let it go. Burress was initiating contact himself.
o PENALTY on PHI-H.Baskett, Offensive Holding, 10 yards, enforced at PHI 27 - No Play.- Good call, Hank took down his guy.
o PENALTY on PHI-W.Thomas, Offensive Holding, 10 yards, enforced at NYG 44 - No Play.- You’ve got to let this go. Thomas was engaged with his guy, Kiwanuka wasn’t going to make the play, and it was simply a good block.
o PENALTY on PHI-B.Westbrook, Chop Block, 7 yards, enforced at PHI 14. Play Challenged by PHI and Upheld.- Didn’t see it clearly, but from what I saw of it it wasn’t a bad call. While we’re here, this was a completely stupid challenge by the Eagles.
o PENALTY on PHI-B.Westbrook, Offensive Pass Interference, 10 yards, enforced at NYG 2 - No Play. This might’ve been the stupidest one. It was after Brown caught the ball, away from the play and didn’t have anything to do with Reggie being wide open.
o PENALTY on PHI-S.Brown, Defensive Holding, 5 yards, enforced at NYG 30 - No Play. Oh please. This flag came out so late it was ridiculous. Tyree complained and got the call. There was hardly anything there. Again, this was on third down.
o PENALTY on PHI-J.Garcia, Taunting, 15 yards, enforced between downs. First of all, I will say that spiking the ball was probably pretty stupid, but get real. He just ran for a first down after a blatant missed call (getting to those in a sec,) and it’s not like he hit a Giant with the ball. Players spike the ball or celebrate all the time, why it was penalized here I don’t know.
o PENALTY on PHI-S.Brown, Defensive Pass Interference, 20 yards, enforced at PHI 22 - No Play. Burress was making as much contact with Sheldon. Nothing went on here that doesn’t go on here that doesn’t happen on every other pass play. Both receivers were fighting for position.
o PENALTY on PHI-S.Considine, Defensive Holding, 1 yard, enforced at PHI 2 - No Play. It was within five yards, he barely touched Shockey, and they just called PI on the last play. Completely ridiculous.
That’s all of them, I think. Gerry Austin, Carl Johnson, Scott Edwards, Roy Ellison, Tom Hill, Jerry Bergman and Robert Lawing were simply too eager to intervene and help out the Giants, especially Burress. He gets more calls in his favor than any other player in the league. It was an embarrassing display of officiating, and this crew shouldn’t even be allowed to watch the playoffs. As for the missed calls:
- Clear roughing the passer against
- Bob Whitfield wrestling Trent Cole to the ground after a play. For someone who has had these penalties before, and for a ref looking right at it, I’m absolutely baffled as to how this wasn’t called.
- Some will complain about Demps leading with his helmet to force the fumble from Garcia, but I won’t. It wasn’t as bad as the two no calls previously mentioned.
After assuring a record above .500 against the gauntlet and against the division this year, the Eagles get ready to open presents and take on
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