By The Skins of Their Teeth

Just win baby. Right?

The Eagles will get beaten up on talk radio this week for this performance against Washington. But remember this - they won. 27-24. Said so right there on the scoreboard.

There was plenty to not like about this game, and the Eagles really don't look very Super Bowlish right now. But I'm going to say it's okay. It might blow up in their faces at any moment, but, for now, it's okay.

Now, the preliminaries are done. The Eagles have lurched through the first phase of the season - the part in which your only job is to not get eliminated - and succeeded. There's a great bit of philosophy in John Feinstein's 22-year-old book Season On The Brink about the Indiana Hoosiers. Bobby Knight spent the first two months of the season trying to get his team "in position to get in position." All he wanted to do was keep improving and keep his chances alive.

Well, that's the job in today's NFL too. Keep improving. Don't get buried. Have a chance when the calendar turns to December. Check, check and check.

We'll focus on next Sunday's game in Atlanta over the next few days (and there's plenty to worry about - huge gaps in the defense, DeSean Jackson's concussion, whether the young 'uns will continue to mature, etc.). But in the meantime, the Eagles are 7-4 and in the playoff picture.

Now, the real job begins.

For Thanksgiving, a Crow Appetizer

Could it possibly be true that Jeremiah Trotter has something left in the tank?

Certainly I didn't think so. Here's what I wrote about the Axe Man after his performance in the Raiders debacle:

And can people please give the Jeremiah Trotter thing a rest? He can't play. He. Can't. Play. He had one tackle, and it wasn't on Zach Miller's 86 yard catch and run for a touchdown. And it wasn't on Gary Russell's game-sealing catch in the last two minutes. There's a reason he was out of the league for 18 months.

But against the Bears (typically considered to be a tad better than the Little Sisters of the Poor intramural team), Trotter looked like he might've hopped into Doc Brown's DeLorean. That is to say, he looked a wee bit like his old self. He was very good against the run - the physical presence the Eagles have been missing most of the season. But far more importantly, he did well in pass coverage. In the 3rd quarter, he chased down Devin Hester (Devin Freakin Hester!) and prevented him from getting a first down. In the fourth, he tracked down and tackled Joe Forte after a short pass and run. He committed precisely zero Levon Kirkland impersonations. That's really all you want.

To those who know me well, this will come as no big surprise, but I was wrong. There. I said it.

So, as the family gathers for the Big Feast this week, I just want to acknowledge that I'm willing to start off by eating a little crow.

Eagles "Just Kept Bangin'"

By the skin of their teeth. I can almost hear Rob Charry bitching about this win right now.

No, it wasn't pretty, and without Jay Cutler quarterbacking the Bears, the Eagles might just lose this game. Jake Delhomme probably would've won this game. But thank God for Cutler. He was truly awful tonight. It isn't easy to turn a plus-2 turnover differential into a loss, but Cutler did it.

After everybody spent the week talking about how the Eagles don't win games in the 4th quarter, that's exactly what they did. They did it with an 11-play, five-and-a-half minute drive that featured six passes and five runs. They did it by blocking a field goal attempt. They did it by getting a first down on 3rd and short with a bullish run by not-so-big Shady McCoy. They did it with smart clock management down the stretch (okay, maybe it was brilliant, but at least they didn't screw it up).

As Andy Reid just said in his postgame news conference, the Eagles "just kept bangin." They made mistakes. Things didn't always go their way, but they just kept working it.

On an NFL Sunday when the Steelers lost to the Chiefs and the Bengals lost to the Raiders, I'll take that. Because if this team can develop the character to win games like this, these last six games might be a little bit of fun after all.

At the half: Feel free to tackle somebody

At the half, Eagles - 10, Bears -= 9.

This is getting a little dicey. The Eagles have played a very undisciplined first half - hideously bad tackling and two turnovers, both of which were DeSean Jackson's fault. The fumble was obviously on DJax, but on the interception, he's got to get inside the defensive back, not just get shoved out of the way. It was sloppy.

The tackling. Ugg. And now the defensive backfield is even more banged up - SHeldon Brown spent a big chunk of the fiurst half on the bench getting his sore hammy worked on, then Assante gets nicked at the end of the half. Can you win in the NFL if your corners are Dmitri Patterson and Ramzee Robinson? I think we're about to find out.

As for McNabb, he's 9 for 15 for 103 yards, a touch and a pick. Ehh. McNabb started hot, but has been a little erratic in the second quarter, throwing a couple of balls into the ground. Almost seven yards an attempt, which is neither good nor bad. The Eagles should be beating this team soundly, and the man who called this a "must win" game needs to have a big second half.

The Eagles need to be a lot more fundamentally sound in the second half. No more turnovers, better tackling. Simple. Just get 'er done.

Thank goodness Jay Cutler stinks.

That was then; this is now

Sean McDermott's first season as Defensive Coordinator has not been easy. And he certainly knew it wouldn't be easy - he's filling mighty big shoes.

But he also couldn't have expected to have to deal with this many changes. Every coach knows the team he starts the season with is not the team he's going to end the season with. But McDermott has been faced with a ton of change. A ton. The defense he had back then is not the defense he has now.

Consider these two lists - my (somewhat casual) ranking of the Eagles top 18 defensive players at the start of training camp, compared to the top 18 at the end of last Sunday's Chargers game. I chose 18 because that's about the number of defensive players who generally see significant time during the course of the game.

Top 18 Defensive Players on August 1:
1. DE Trent Cole
2. CB Assante Samuel
3. DT Broderick Bunkley
4. CB Sheldon Brown
5. LB Stew Bradley
6. S Quintin Mikell
7. DT Mike Patterson
8. LB Akeem Jordan
9. LB Chris Gocong
10.S Quintin Demps
11. DE Juqua Parker
12. CB Joselio Hanson
13. DE Darren Howard
14. DE Victor Abiamiri
15. CB Ellis Hobbs
16. DT Trevor Laws
17. LB Omar Gaither
18. S Sean Jones

Top 18 Defensive Players on November 15:
1. DE Trent Cole
2. CB Assante Samuel
3. DT Broderick Bunkley
4. LB Will Witherspoon
5. S Quintin Mikell
6. DT Mike Patterson
7. S Sean Jones
8. LB Chris Gocong
9. DE Juqua Parker
10.LB Moise Fouku
11. S Dmitri Patterson
12. S Macho Harris
13. DE Darren Howard
14. LB Tracy White
15. DE Jason Babin
16. CB Ramzee Robinson
17. DT Antonio Dixon
18. DE Victor Abiamiri

Look at those two lists - eight of the 18 on the second list were not on the first list. In fact, four of them (Witherspoon, Babin, Robinson and Dixon) were not even on the team. Two others (Fouku and Harris) were largely unknown rookies.

They are now relying on players that they didn't expect to be relying on. Again, every team has to deal with this to some extent. But the Eagles have been very unlucky on this front. NFL teams have to survive in the faces of these situations, but at some point you have just been forced into too many changes and it stops working.

Are the Eagles at that point? If they aren't there yet, they're damn close. Jim Johnson would've had a hard time working with this situation; can Sean McDermott?

We'll find out soon.

Scrambling Eagles can't stop Chargers

You have to hand it to the Eagles for the way they keep fighting, but they just can't overcome the injuries. That was apparent in today's 31-23 loss to the Chargers.

Yes, the red zone offense was crushingly bad and the defense still can't get off the field when it needs to. But the injuries were a big part of that.

By the middle of the second half, the Eagles were without three of the their top four cornerbacks - Ellis Hobbs (neck) and Joselio Hanson (suspension) were on the shelf before kickoff and then Sheldon Brown hurt his hammie. You just can't overcome that. You just can't. Especially when you began the game with three linebackers starting in new positions. The back seven on defense is in complete fire drill mode.

On the other side of the ball, the Eagles have to be frustrated that the football gods decided the $100 Million they spent on the o-line this off-season wasn't worth spit. Jason peters was deactivated pregame, meaning Herremans was playing a new position, Nick Cole was in a different spot, Stacy Andrews was thrust into a fulltime role. It's too much change. Too many people learning on the job.

It's killing them. And, yes, you can't absolve Andy Reid of poor time management (again). And you can question the play calling in the red zone.

But it comes down to execution. And when you have this many new players in this many new spots, it's just hard to expect them to come through.

Time to bring in MacGyver

So, just how are they going to pull this off?

A depleted linebacking corp and a depleted secondary are not the two main ingredients you want when facing a surging, high-powered Lightning Bolt offense. But that's where the Eagles find themselves Sunday - thinking of bringing in Richard Dean Anderson and handing him duct tape, a paper clip and a pair of tweezers.

The injuries have been crushing to the Eagles linebacking corps this season. They have spent all season scrambling to fill Stewart Bradley's shoes. They have tried big guys and little guys, young guys and old guys, slow guys and fast guys. This weekend in San Diego, Chris Gocong is Mike backer number six for the season. Six!

So, for Sunday, Gocong will be in a position he's never played before. He has the size to do it, but on-the-job training is not a recipe for success in the NFL. With Akeem Jordan out, Will Witherspoon should be fine - if not better - as the WIL linebacker. And Moise Fouku - talented but, um.. raw - gets his second start at SAM.

The Eagles will probably play a lot of 4-2-5 defense, with Tracy White on the field a fair amount. Jeremiah Trotter .. oh, never mind.

Pray that Trotter doesn't somehow get in a situation where he's covering Darren Sproles. If it happens, this will result in a touchdown. Even if Trotter isn't on the field, a player like Sproles figures to give the Eagles fits. The secondary (more on that in a moment) will be focused on San Diego's lethal downfield passing attack, leaving the LBs to contend with Sproles circling out of the backfield. I don't like this when I've got three backers who have never played together as a threesome for a single snap; if you had said Opening Day that the Eagles would start Fouku-Gocong-Witherspoon at linebacker by mid-season. I definitely would've gone into full panic. In fact, I may be there now.

Behind this shaky, taped together group is a banged up secondary. As you know, back-ups (but frequent contributors) Joselio Hanson and Ellis Hobbs are out. This actually (wishful thinking alert) might not be as bad as it seems. Neither Hanson nor Hobbs were having an especially good season; both have had plenty of passes completed against them despite limited plays. But Dmitri Patterson has been banged up all year - is he healthy enough to be an effective third corner? And my biggest concern is Assante - he hurt his neck against the 'Boys. Nobody's talking about his recovery from that, so maybe it's okay. But maybe it's not.

Gulp.

As an Eagle fan, here's a happy note: Norv Turner is the one charged with orchestrating all this.

At the Halfway Point - Just Everybody Settle Down

I know you're freaking out about the Eagles right now. And that's okay - they're certainly coming up a little short of perfect so far this season.

There was the unprofessional abomination against the Raiders. The shellacking at the hands of the Saints. Andy's challenge record rearing its head against the Cowboys.

People are screaming for Andy Reid’s scalp. They’re convinced Donovan McNabb is a bum. The Eagles stink and they aren’t going anywhere. This squawking tells me one thing –Thanksgiving is near.

We scream and yell about this every season. It really doesn’t mean that much.

Yes, there are some things we know and they drive us crazy, but we already knew those things: Andy Reid can’t win replay challenges. Donovan McNabb is inconsistent. They don’t run the ball as much as Angelo Cataldi wants them to.

So they aren’t the ‘72 Dolphins. But neither is anybody else. As I said on the Big Kahuna show Monday, I’ll bet anyone $100 that the Colts and Saints don’t meet in this year’s Super Bowl. The best teams in November are very rarely the best teams in February. I’d rather be the best team in February.

That doesn’t mean the Eagles will get to February, but they still have a chance. They need some things to go right. And, obviously, they need a few lucky bounces along the way. But they have potential (useless until you fulfill it). But, as a reminder, here are some happy thoughts:

• DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin, not separately, but taken as an entry.
• LeSean
• McCoy - not quite as good (yet) as everyone wants to believe, but he's' getting there.
• Brent Celek - he's there. Has turned himself into one of the best tight ends in the game.
• There's still time for the offensive line to jell (but they better do it quick).
  

The point is that the Eagles are a team that is still learning – Jackson and Maclin and McCoy and Celek are young, and the offensive line has barely had a chance to play together. We all think (at least I think we all think) that these young guys are going to make for a spectacular offense at some point. Will it happen this season? Maybe, maybe not.

So as you read all these halfway point Report Cards, bear that in mind. The grade is Incomplete. I find plenty of things that are troubling – after all, I dubbed this The Season of Bad Karma (some updates - Hobbs out for the season, Hanson out for 4 games after testing positive - suddenly the defensive backfield is pretty thin). Injuries along the O-line and the linebacking corps are my chief concerns; at some point, you can’t keep overcoming those injuries.

But we'll find out about that over the next few weeks. For now, let's keep an eye on the trouble, but the glass is stiill half full.

20-16, Bad Guys

A classic NFC East battle. Not necessarily a work of art, but a classic. Lots of tough hitting. Lots of plays where an inch here on an inch there would've made a huge difference. Lots of players getting hurt, then toughing it out and returning to the game.

The bad news is the Eagles lost a winnable game; it'll sting for a while. The good news is they almost won without their A game.

In fact, McNabb was, at best, mediocre. Wild all night, missing receivers, failing to hit them in stride, throwing two picks (although Jeremy Maclin shares blame son both of them). He finished with a quarterback rating of 61.4 Just not good. There were some drops, but McNabb just didn't get it done when he had openings. As a result, the Eagles - the most electrifying big play team in the NFL this season - got zero big plays. They still went toe-to-toe with the Cowboys, but never made a play when they needed one. But still, they were there at the end.

But two ill-advised Andy Reid challenges cost them late. Their inability to get off the field defensively - the Cowboys were seven out of 14 on 3rd downs - cost them. The dropped balls cost them. Westbrook not playing cost them. And McNabb's subpar performance cost them.

At the half: Defense rules early

Some halftime thoughts...

I thought this game would be an offensive show. Whoops.

Both defenses are looking good; the Cowboys pass rush is hurrying Donovan into throwing earlier than he wants and the receivers just aren't getting open. (DeSean Jackson... we're waiting.) The injury to Jason peters clearly didn't help. Interesting that Andy Reid stuck Todd Herremans out at tackle and kept King Dunlap off the field. Against DeMarcus Ware that's probably a good strategy.

For the Eagles defense, a great job so far stifling the Cowboys running game, which came in averaging almost 5.5 yards per carry. In the first half, the Boys ran it nine times for 27 yards - 3 yards per. But the Eagles must (must!) do a better job getting off the field on third down.

The Eagles had good balance on their 30 first half plays - 17 called passes, 13 called runs. Those 13 runs went for 70 yards. And - pretty obviously - the Eagles pass offense needs to step it up. McNabb is just six out of 14 so far. It'll be tough to amp up the aerial game if they can't protect better.

More to come post game....

Time to Get Tight

Jason Witten kills the Eagles. OK, he kills most teams, but he kills the Eagles and that's all we care about here.

Then again, most tight ends seem to wreak havoc on the Birds. So far this season, tight ends have ravaged the Eagles. In seven games, opposing tight ends have 42 receptions for 515 yards and five touchdowns. That works out to six catches for 86 yards a game. It's too much.

Here's what really makes me crazy - it isn't that the Eagles can't cover tight ends; it's that they won't. They just don't seem to spend any effort on stopping the tight end. A lot of times, the tight end doesn't get touched coming off the line of scrimmage; that was definitely the case on a 20-yard completion to Kevin Boss last week, although Sheldon Brown seemed to be talking about that play when he said it was simply a blown coverage.

So, now, one of the best in the business comes to town - Dallas' Jason Witten, who so far this season has 37 receptions for 348 yards and one touchdown (only one!).

The Eagles are depending on two relatively new faces to control Witten - rookie linebacker Moise Fouku, who'll start for the injured Chris Gocong, and new starting safety Sean Jones. Jones is a veteran, but is more of a run support guy than a cover guy.

Not the best scenario.

I think tomorrow's night game is going to be a high-scoring one - the Eagles have the best big play offense in the League and Dallas has a lot of weapons. If the Birds can bottle up / control Witten, they will throw the rest of those weapons out of kilter. Witten is Romo's security blanket. He's the third down converter. Stopping him puts a big kink in the Cowboys game plan. I'd like to think the Eagles are going to slow down Witten tomorrow night.

If only there were some evidence that they could....

How the Eagles went deep on Giants, and how they'll do it again

The Eagles torched the Giants deep on Sunday, and everybody agrees now that the Birds are the biggest big play team in the NFL. You can bet they'll attack the Cowboys shaky secondary this coming Sunday night.

How will they do it? I'm sure they'll try to do the same thing they did against the Giants. Here, thanks to the National Football Post's Andrew Brandt, is a great breakdown of how DeSean Jackson got wide open for a 54-yarder against New York.

Smokin' the Giants

Who saw this coming?

Everybody expected the Eagles / Giants to be close, but the Birds rampaged past the Giants, 40-17 in a game that was never close. Here's what caught my eye:

• Donovan McNabb was the sharpest he's been all season; 17 for 23 passing for 240 yards and three touchdowns. But forget the numbers and consider what your eyes showed you. Donovan was razor sharp, hitting receivers in stride almost every time. His accuracy was pinpoint. He drilled the ball into receivers when the window was tight. Rest easy; the mid-season slump is over.
• A brilliant move by the coaching staff to get Leonard Weaver involved in the running game. He had eight carries for 75 yards and a 41 yard TD run. Weaver getting the ball was clearly a surprise to the Giants. Not only did it catch New York flatfooted, but it prevented them from teeing off on Shady McCoy, who's blocking remains a little shaky (not today, the game plan with Weaver made it a non factor).
• How about all those big plays - Samuel's interception and return, Weaver's TD run, McCoy's 66-yard TD, DeSean Jackson's TD bomb from Donovan and then the great end zone catch by Maclin. That's five big plays. This team's got some skillz.
• Eli Manning was awful. He was wildly off the mark all day, missing receivers by as much as two or three yards. Even the TD pass to tight end Kevin Boss was a horrific throw that Boss made a great play on.
  
• The Giants look like they miss defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. A lot. They have some injuries, but that defense was supposed to be waaay better than it was today.

I'm left thinking that the Eagles might just be as good as I thought they could be; this was a great performance against a team that should have been desperate. I'm also left thinking that the Giants - who have a lot of talent - might not be that good.