Whatever You Do, Just DON'T PANIC!

Before getting into the Eagles' preseason debacle, I wanted to mention that the Phillies start a 6-game road trip tonite in DC, with 3 games against the Nats and 3 more in Pittsburgh against the Pirates. Kyle Lohse goes tonite for the Phils.

Birds Preseason Opener

I don't think this is what Andy Reid and the rest of the Eagle organization had in mind. The Eagles went down to Baltimore and got the crap thumped out of them 29 - 3. Now while this is only preseason and, as I documented yesterday, the Eagles are without several of their regulars. This means they went into their bench way before Baltimore did, but in spite that fact, the game and it's results was still disturbing.

The Eagles defense let up a 12 play, 93 yard drive with most of their first team on the field. Not only did they let up the long opening drive (a big bugaboo from last year you might recall), but they got pushed around in doing so. Come to think of it, not only did they get pushed around on defense, but the Baltimore defense blitzed incessantly and kicked the snot out of the Eagles offense. The way that Baltimore dominanted the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball means that the offensive and defensive line coaches should have the rapt attention of their respective units in the film room and during practice.

On the other hand, Baltimore looked like they actually game planned this one (teams don't always game plan for preseason games) and wanted it more than the Eagles (which is odd, because the game doesn't count). Furthermore, the Eagles will have the opportunity to make amends for this loss this Friday, when they take on Carolina. So, if they have a good showing this Friday, I think you can chalk this up to a bad night.

While I am concerned by the loss, I think there were some good things to take from the game:

- Brent Celek looked pretty good at TE.
- Jeremy Bloom makes me think we'll get a punt return TD this year if he can stay on the field.
- Rashad Barksdale didn't look totally out of place to me at CB. I thought he played well.

Other observations:

- I thought Kevin Kolb's play was uneven. He missed a couple of obvious blitzes. I wonder if he has the ability to audible, given his rookie status and this being a preseason game.
- The entire offensive line sucked all game, but where were Max Jean-Gilles and Winston Justice? You read all of these great things about them in the paper, yet they didn't look like much last night.
- Mike Patterson does not have enough credibility with Eagles fans to not show up and make a couple of plays in a preseason game.