Philadelphia Eagles Week Eight Report Card

Make way for the big man as he helps the Birds roll.


In a game that could set the tempo for the rest of the season, the Eagles showed up with their A-game and took care of their hated rival, the New York Giants.

A beat-down to the tune of 40-17 is a great way to make a statement to not only to the rest of the league, but to themselves. They've shown the rest of the league that they can stick with the best that the NFC has to offer, and have instilled some confidence in themselves that they can carry with them for the rest of the season.

Well, it would appear as though the Giants may no longer be in the upper echelon of the NFC at this point in the season, but it's still a fantastic divisional win to put them in place for a push in the latter half of the year.

Enough jabbering, let's break it down.


Quarterbacks | Grade: A

Could McNabb have been better? Perhaps, but we're nitpicking at this point.

A few of his passes were batted down at the line of scrimmage, so obviously the trajectory of the passes were a bit off. However, it's also the fault of the offensive line who, while they were much better this week, still were allowing far too much of a push by the defensive line.

Either way, McNabb was on point all game long as he hit the open receivers, made good decisions, and even took off for a first down and added another 14 yards to his impressive career rushing total.

The Cowboys secondary is better than the Giants', there's no doubt about that, but if he can carry the momentum from this game into the Dallas game this Sunday, the Eagles should be able to grab their third straight divisional victory.


Running Backs | Grade: B+

With Brian Westbrook out of the game with a concussion, LeSean McCoy would have to step in and fill the shoes of a superstar here in Philly. It's a pretty big task for a rookie, but I was among the majority who thought he had it in him.

Well, 11 attempts for 82 yards and a touchdown, along with two receptions for 10 yards, is certainly good enough to make Eagles fans forget that Westbrook was watching his protege' from the sideline.

Add that onto the fact that Leonard Weaver beat the Giants defense for 75 yards on eight carries and you have a successful day on the ground. If Reid keeps this up when Westbrook is actually in the lineup, the Eagles could actually have a running game this season.


Receivers/Tight Ends | Grade: A

McNabb's top three targets, DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin, and Brent Celek, were all able to haul in a touchdown reception, in addition to having at least 45 yards receiving.

Jackson hauled in three receptions for 78 yards, with his touchdown again coming from over 50 yards out. Celek had four receptions for 61 yards, and Maclin had four receptions of his own for 47 yards. Alex Smith and Jason Avant also chipped in with three receptions between them, McCoy had two catches, and even McNabb caught a pass.

He had one of his passes tipped up into the air, caught it, and promptly took off for a one-yard gain, moving his career receiving total to five receptions and -7 yards.


Offensive Line | Grade: B

While the pass blocking was much better this week, the run blocking was still only good enough to get the job done. They opened up a very nice hole for Leonard Weaver on his 41-yard run, and LeSean McCoy was able to get through the line untouched on his 66-yard romp.

However, outside of that, there were not many holes opening up. This line is still attempting to find itself as a unit, so that will take a few weeks, but until then it's important that Reid continues to run the ball so the line can acquire the mentality that running the ball takes.

Like I said, the pass blocking was very good as McNabb seemed to have all day to throw on most of his pass attempts, with the exception of Jason Peters' two, yes two, blown blocks that both led to sacks.

They need Peters, and Stacy Andrews, to come into their own if this line, and this team, expects to make any kind of push this season.


Defensive Line | Grade: C+

For every time that Trent Cole seemed to get into Eli's face, there were two plays that Eli had all the time in the world to stand in the pocket and do as he saw fit.

On the flipside of that, the line was stout against the run. Brandon Jacobs was still able to rack up some decent numbers on the ground, but that's to be expected from a 265 pound freight train running behind 325 pound mammoths.

McDermott felt the need to blitz because he didn't feel as though he could trust his front four to get pressure, which means the line still is not where it needs to be. McDermott likes to blitz, but as he joked last week before the game, he would only bring one guy if that's all it took.

The pressure, pardon the pun, falls on Juqua Parker, Chris Clemons, and Jason Babin. Trent Cole has been getting consistent pressure, but still needs more help from the other side if he's going to get it consistently throughout the entire season.


Linebackers | Grade: C+

Akeem Jordan and Will Witherspoon have been very good over the past two weeks, but Chris Gocong has been nearly non-existent. Jordan and Witherspoon have been hanging right around seven or eight tackles the past two weeks, while Gocong has only had two or three.

He seems to be a bit nicked up at the moment, and isn't practicing of now, but that hasn't come up over the past two weeks, so it doesn't really explain the Redskins game. It could, however, explain his poor play against New York and also explain why Moise Fokou was covering Kevin Boss on his touchdown reception instead of Gocong.

Either way, the Eagles need more production out of the SAM position. Whether it's Gocong or someone else, something needs to be done.

Jordan and Witherspoon seem to be filling their assigned gaps and making the plays that need to be made, but a lot of the time it just feels that the Eagles could be better off playing the nickel most of the game and fielding only two linebackers.


Secondary | Grade: B

The corners were harrassing the Giants' receivers all game and even though they were able to get some catches and some decent yardage, they were kept out of the endzone for the entire game.

Asante Samuel and Quintin Demps both had an interception of their own, but Sheldon Brown and Quintin Mikell could just as easily had one for themselves. Mikell dropped his opportunity, two of them actually, and Brown had his called back because of a phantom holding call.

The real bright spot was Sean Jones, who is now the starting free safety. It would appear as though he stole the spot from Macho Harris while he was injured, but Reid said that Jones was going to be the starter regardless of whether or not Harris was injured.

Jones may be the physical presence that the Eagles need at free safety since the departure of everyone's favorite Eagle, Weapon X.


Special Teams | Grade: B+

It was nothing special, but the special teams did their job, and that's all you can ask.

David Akers made all of his kicks, Sav Rocca had a long of 57 with two of his three punts inside the 20, Ellis Hobbs averaged 29 yards per return, and the kickoff team was even able to force and recover a fumble that turned into points.

DeSean Jackson also had a 30-yard punt return, but it was right before halftime and didn't wind up meaning much of anything.

Overall, I'd say that's exactly what we need the special teams to do all year.


Coaching | Grade: A-

Andy could have run a bit more for my liking, but then again my personal philosophy would resemble that of Pittsburgh or Baltimore and the run-it-down-their-throats mentality.

However, it's a bit difficult to complain about Andy's playcalling when he only passed the ball 25 times and ran the ball 24 times. If he keeps it that close to 50-50 all year, the Eagles will be the team we saw Sunday, rolling over even a good divisional foe.

On the other hand, if he doesn't stick close to 50-50 and calls plays like he did in Oakland, the Eagles will be the team we saw in Oakland, losing to sub-par, bottom-of-the-barrel teams.