Monday Night Letdown

The biggest night in pro football is Monday night. It’s the chance for players to showcase their talents in front of a national audience and represent their high school alma mater. Monday, September 17^th, 2007 was the Eagles only MNF appearance all year, and for 10 year veteran Takeo Spikes, the first of his career. Instead of establishing themselves as a title contender, the Eagles firmly entrenched themselves at the bottom of the NFC East Standings.

Last night’s 20-12 loss at Lincoln Financial field was not as pathetic as the debacle on Reggie White night two years ago against the Seahawks, but it was not much better. In that game the Eagles were embarrassed 42-0 on a night that was supposed to be dedicated to the Minister of Defense. With Donovan McNabb out with a sports hernia injury and backup Mike McMahon taking the snaps, that game was all but over before the opening kickoff. Let’s just say that expectations were pretty low for that game. The same could not be said for this Monday night game.

After the week one flop against the Packers, the Eagles needed a strong outing against NFC East rival Washington Redskins. (On a side note, if the mascot of the Illinois has been deemed too insensitive and had to be retired, how do the Redskins get to maintain their name?) An 0-2 start would not be acceptable for the championship starved Philadelphia, especially against teams that a title contender like the Eagles should not lose to. The faithful came in droves to tailgate as early as 8:00 a.m., over twelve hours before game time, for the home opener. Miller Lite and Cheeseteaks were consumed for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Fly, Eagles, Fly was sung over and over again by all parking lot patrons.

As the Philly locals stumbled into the stadium for game time, the Eagles were introduced amid an explosive fireworks display. The stage was set for the Eagles to return to the top of the NFL charts like Jay Z’s “Kingdom Come.” So why did Monday night’s performance bomb worse than Puff Daddy’s “Forever?” The list of reasons is long and undistinguished. On offense, the Eagles converted only 4 out of 16 3^rd downs, the quarterback threw the ball high, wide, long and short, the wide receivers couldn’t get open, and only one play gained over 20 yards. The defense missed tackles, failed to apply pressure on the opposing team’s quarterback, was unable to cover Santana Moss, and couldn’t get off the field on 3^rd downs as the Skins converted over 50% of their 3rd down plays..

While all of these were grounds for Philadelphia’s 2^nd loss in as many games, I want to dissect why they have only produced one trip to pay dirt in 22 offensive possessions. Specifically, it’s their struggles in the red zone. In the contest against the Redskins, they failed to score 1 touchdown in all 4 red zone opportunities. Touchdowns beat field goals any day of the week. Let’s take a deeper look at each chance they had inside Washington’s 20-yard line.

1. Second Quarter: Redskins 3 - Eagles 0

After a dazzling 27-yard run by Westbrook in which he eluded no less than six defenders, the Eagles had 1^st and 10 at the Redskin 13. After that run, Westbrook went to sidelines for a breather and Buckhalter got the call for a 3-yard run. On 2^nd down, Westbrook could be seen shaking his head in the backfield before the snap, obviously frustrated with the play call. When Westbrook, and the rest of the offense, watches the film of this game they should be even more aggravated with this play as it could have resulted in a touchdown if second year man Hank Baskett came back to the ball to make the catch rather than dropping to his knees and waiting for the ball to arrive to him. Had he taken two steps towards the ball, he would have been in perfect position to make a move on Redskin corner Carlos Rogers and stride in for a touchdown. Instead, the pass resulted in whopping 4-yard gain. I watched this play in slow motion at least 10 times and each time it feels like a stab wound. On the next play, McNabb had Reggie Brown open in the end zone on a slant route, but he put too much mustard on the ball and the ball sailed high. As ex-Eagle quarterback Ron Jaworski insightly put it, “that’s a ball you gotta put right on the belt buckle.” After the ball fell incomplete, one of the MNF cameras caught a great shot of how noticeably upset Reggie Brown was with the poor throw. One thing the Eagles can’t afford is for the quarterback and receivers not to be on the same page. These two incompletions are great examples of just how incompatible the quarterback and receivers are at this stage in the season. Maybe they should do some sort of team building activity, like a retreat at Camp Tockwaugh.

Result: Akers 24-yard Field Goal: Redskins 3 - Eagles 3.

2. 3^rd Quarter, 3:07 left: Redskins 13 - Eagles 6

After two second half possessions yielded no progress, the third time the Eagles had the ball they were able to move down the field thanks to a McNabb scramble, a Westbrook run, a play action pass to Baskett and a screen pass to Westbrook. The Birds found themselves on the doorstep for only the second time in the game with 1^st and 10 on the 14-yard line. The Eagles came out looking to pass, big surprise. The play was designed poorly against the Redskins zone as the receivers set up camp right no farther than 2 yards away from the nearest defender. McNabb having nowhere to throw the ball did what only he does so well, he threw a bullet right into the ground in front of Westbrook. On 2^nd down, the Eagles ran Westbrook to the left side picking up only 2 yards. The Eagles have become so predictable with their play calling that it’s almost like playing the original Tecmo Bowl where there were only 4 plays to chose from, 2 run plays and 2 pass plays. If your opponent was anything like my brothers, then they were most certainly pulling a Bellichek trying to see what play you were picking on your controller. Cheating isn’t even necessary against Eagles because they consistently call a poorly designed pass play on 1st down that results in an incompletion and then call a for a run on 2^nd down. That normally leaves them facing a 3^rd and long situation where McNabb can’t find anyone open past the marker so he dumps it off to a running back well short of the 1^st down. And that’s exactly what happened in this case.

Result: Akers 26-yard Field Goal: Redskins 13 - Eagles 9

3. 4^th Quarter 9:16 left: Redskins 20 - Eagles 9

The Eagles had to convert on a 4^th down to continue their comeback effort and did so on a McNabb fastball completion to Jason Avant. On the next play, McNabb found Westbrook on an underneath crossing route and he ran to the Redskins 16 yard line setting up a 2^nd and 3. A feebly blocked inside handoff to Westbrook picked up half a yard, at best, on the following play. On 3^rd down and a long 2, it was a pass to Westbrook in the left flat that picked up 4 yards for the 1^st down at the 11-yard line. The Eagles liked that idea so much, that they tried a pass to Westbrook again, this time in the right flat, but for no gain. On 2^nd and 9, McNabb’s rifled the ball into the dirt again. Looking at this throw again, McNabb never followed through on his throwing motion. Just like a pitcher, a quarterback gets his strength and balance form his legs. So it’s imperative to focus on not only bringing your right arm to your left abdomen, but also to bring your plant foot, the right foot, forward on the follow through. McNabb’s right foot on this throw was completely stationary. His mechanics are still off from the knee surgery 10 months ago. In this case, it was probably good that the throw was hammered into the ground. If it had any air under it, it would have been an easy interception. That brought up 3^rd and 9 and that meant the obligatory dump off to a running back with no chance of reaching the 1^st down. Bring on Akers.

Result: Akers 22-yard Field Goal: Redskins 20 – Eagles 12

4. 4^th Quarter 2:20 left: Redskins 20 – Eagles 12

The Redskins just missed a long bomb to Santana Moss that would have sealed the deal for sure. Moss beat Will James all night with comebacks, outs and double moves and this post route was no exception. In fact, James was toasted so many times that I thought Izell Jenkins was playing conerback for the Iggles again. Thanks to Campbell's overthrow, the Eagles got the ball back with a little more than 4 minutes left in the game. With the Redskins playing a prevent defense, the offense was able to move the ball up field with lot of dink and dunk underneath passes and a key 4^th down conversion to Reggie Brown. After that, McNabb was able to roll out to his right and complete a pass to Hank Baskett inside the 15 to the Redskins 13 yard line. On 1^st and 10, the Redskins brought pressure, but the O-line couldn’t pick it up and Donovan’s pass was hurried for an incompletion. On 2^nd down, McNabb found Curtis for a short gain of 4. The next play, the Skins brought pressure, Donovan read it perfectly and had Curtis wide open on an out route, but the pass was well off target. What should have been a sure 6 points ended up being a big goose egg, a 0. On 4^th down, McNabb’s pass was to Curtis was actually on target, but it was broken up by Laron Landry’s hit. Shortly after Curtis dropped that pass, over 5,000 fantasy football managers released Kevin Curtis from their roster. And who could blame them, I don’t even own a fantasy team and I dropped him too.

To win football games, red zone opportunities must be converted into touchdowns, not field goals. Just ask Joe Gibbs. With 41 seconds remaining in the first half, Andy Reid burned a timeout because his special teams unit only had 9 men on the field, Gibbs decided not to kick a chip shot field goal and take a shot for the end. The reward was a perfectly executed corner route thrown from quarterback Jason Campbell to tight end Chris Cooley for six points. Of course, had the Eagles secondary, specifically Joselio Hanson, just kept everything in front of them on that play, there wouldn’t have been a Redskins touchdown. That score was a major momentum swing going into halftime for the Redskins and an equally major blow to the Eagles collective confidence. It just goes to show, when you have the ball inside the opponent’s 20 yard-line, it’s imperative to come away with touchdowns and not settle for field goals. It’s especially important if you intend on defending your home turf in front of a national audience.

The Eagles inability to out up 6 points when they have scoring opportunities has been a major problem in the two games they played this season. Even more troublesome for this squad is the missing sense of urgency and lack of emotion from the players. If the Birds want to win at least 1 game, someone needs to light a fire under these guys to get them excited about competing in the arena. To take a page out of the Andy Reid guide to press conferences, the coaching staff, and more importantly, the team leaders "need to do a better job there."

More to come on leadership...