Eagles-Bears: A Post-Mortem

Didn't get a chance to write up a game report from the Eagles' 24 - 20 loss to the Chicago Bears last Sunday night, but I did want to mention a couple of pertinent things to take away from the game.

In short, the game against the Bears represents a missed opportunity on a couple of levels. It was a winnable road game that would have nicely position the Eagles for the 2nd quarter of their schedule. Unfortunately, there is not much to be done about it now, but to break down what went right and what went wrong.

Offense. 1.) I felt that Donovan McNabb actually had about as good of a game as you're going to have when you're missing your best wide receiver, your best running back/offensive weapon, and your starting tight end. In going 25 for 41 for 262 yards and a touchdown, you can't lay this loss at McNabb's feet. He spread the ball to an astounding 9 different receivers.

2.) The offensive play that probably garners the most attention will probably be the call on 4th and 1 to run Buckhalter up the middle. I have no problem with the call to go for it on 4th down in that spot. What I will take issue with is putting the ball in Buckhalter's hands rather than McNabb's. To reiterate what John Madden said during the telecast, you put the ball into the hands of your best player and the Eagles' best player is McNabb (at least he is as long as Westbrook is hurt).

3.) Another thought that struck during the game on Sunday night and during the final drives during the Dallas game is how much better the Eagles would be with a dominant wide receiver or tight end they can count on when they need a crucial 3rd down late in the game. I think DeSean Jackson is going to be a weapon on this team this year, but I don't think he's at that stage of utter reliability late in a game just yet.

Defense. 1.) The defense played well for the most part, but when they didn't get through on the blitz, they got burnt badly. They did force Kyle Orton to turn the ball over 4 times, but I wonder if they waited too long to dial things back and make Orton work for his touchdowns a bit more.

2.) If you give Kyle Orton 10 opportunities to make that throw that he made to Devin Hester when they hooked up for a touchdown, he misses that pass 8 times out of 10. It was a heckuva throw by Orton and a good grab by Hester, with Asante Samuel trailing in his wake.

3.) The defense did not come through after they Eagles offense whiffed on that 4th down by the goalline. They allowed Matt Forte to run through them at key situations. While Stewart Bradley played OK, he has to step up in that spot as the leader of the front 7 and make sure that doesn't happen.

4.) Omar Gaither was a beast in this game with 9 tackles and a recovered fumble.

Special Teams. 1.) The area I think Andy Reid will only address after it is too late is the matter of David Akers not being a trustworthy kicker from over 40 yards. Akers' two misses, one of 50 yards and the other of 47 yards, has a direct effect on the decisions to made by Reid during the game (HINT: the 4th down call at the goalline might have been a field goal at that stage of the game). If Akers hits even one of those two kicks, the Eagles probably win this game.

I don't want to put the whole loss on Akers; they had other opportunities to win it. But during the NFC Championship years, Akers used to be an absolute weapon from over 40 yards and ever since Koy Detmer stopped holding on field goals, he's gone downhill. This has got to be a mental thing at this stage for Akers; he needs to solve it before the weather gets colder outside and long field goals become even more difficult to hit. I wouldn't mind seeing Reid bring in a kicker who can hit those longer field goals if Akers is unable to get it done from long distance anymore.

Getting back to DeSean Jackson, it was pointed out during the telecast that he wasn't quite the same player, offensively, after he put the ball on the turf early in the 2nd quarter. Hard to disagree with that; it seemed that he and McNabb were not on the same page on the interception that McNabb threw in the 2nd half. If Jackson is going to be an offensive weapon this year, he can't take mistakes he might make on special teams with him into the offensive huddle.

McNabb, DJax Batter Rams

The Eagles jumped on the Rams from the opening possession and never looked back in beating the Rams by a score of 38 - 3.

The game featured a return to form for Donovan McNabb, who hit 7 different receivers en route to a 21 for 33 day, good for 361 yards and 3 touchdowns. The game was also something of a coming out party for the rookie receiver out of Cal, DeSean Jackson. Jackson caught 6 balls for 106 yards and made his presence felt on special teams with a couple of good punt returns.

The Eagles opened the scoring on the first drive of the game on a 1 yd shovel pass from McNabb to Brian Westbrook. That drive took 6 plays to go 80 yards and the Eagles made it look easy. After a subsequent Rams possession and punt, the Eagles scored again, this time on an 11 play, 52 yard drive that culminated in a 5 yd TD pass from McNabb to LJ Smith. These two scoring plays accounted for all of the scoring in a crisply played 1st quarter for the home team.

The 2nd quarter featured possessions on both sides, where the teams just traded punts. It was difficult to tell if the Rams were that bad offensively or if the Eagles played that well defensively. The Eagles got the lone TD of the 2nd quarter on a 90 yard catch and run by WR Hank Baskett. The score took place with about a minute to go in the half and the Eagles took a 21 - 0 lead into halftime.

The 3rd quarter opened and was all Eagles. Tony Hunt scored on a 1 yard plunge culminating a 9 play, 56 yard drive that was keyed by a 25 yard pass down the right sideline from McNabb to DeSean Jackson.

Jackson was also prominently involved in the Eagles' next scoring, when he returned a punt 60 yards to the Rams' 9 yard line. Unfortunately, the Eagles could not punch it in and had to settle for a 23 yd Akers field goal.

The scoring continued in the 4th quarter with a Brian Westbrook 6 yard run that finished a 7 play, 76 yard drive to make the score 38 - 0. From this point, the Eagles put in the 2nd team to finish up the game.

While the offensive exploits will grab all of the headlines, the defense compiled some pretty good numbers. They allowed only 8 first downs and 166 yards of total offense. They did not force any turnovers, but did manage to sack Mark Bulger 4 times. MLB Stew Bradley was active throughout the game, with 8 tackles and a sack.

Did You Notice?

- 3 Eagles receivers with 100 yards games (Jackson 106 yds, G. Lewis 104 yds, Baskett 102 yds).

- Sheldon Brown CRUSHED Stephen Jackson on a pass that Jackson caught down the seam in the 2nd quarter. Jackson lost his helmet on the play and danced around like he scored a touchdown, but make no mistake, Jackson felt every bit of that shot.

- DeSean Jackson's first career catch: 47 yards. Remember when we thought that Jackson wouldn't make much difference as a receiver his rookie year? Remember?

- Speaking of Jackson, he almost took a punt to the house at the 10:28 mark in the 3rd quarter. A shoestring tackle was all that was between Jackson and a punt return TD. He almost had another TD later in the 3rd quarter at the 3:26 mark when he turned in a 60 yard return to set the Eagles up with 1st and goal at the Rams' 9 yardline.

- That interference call against Quinton Mikell in the 2nd quarter, with the Rams backed down to their 2 yard line, was a ridiculous call.

- Asante Samuel should have had a pick 6 on the Rams' second possession in the 2nd half.

- Mark Bulger looks like a QB waiting to get hit as he sits in the pocket. If he's your fantasy football QB, go ahead and feel free to drop him.

- On the drive that the Eagles settled for a field goal, McNabb had an opportunity to run the ball in for a TD, but tried a shovel pass that (obviously) did not work. I suspect if the score were closer, McNabb would have run that ball.

- The Eagles ran (sort of) a jumbo backfield with both Tony Hunt and Dan Klecko in the backfield when they scored their 4th TD.

- Kevin Kolb doesn't look half-bad in doing some mopup work. This game definitely had the feel of a 5th preseason game, so I guess it was appropriate that Kolb spelled McNabb at the end.

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