Eagles Game Review

It was a heavy weight fight in soldier field, both opposing defenses dominated on the field. Donovan Mcnabb came in for his homecoming the same place where he won his high school championship a long time ago. Unfortunatley this time around Mcnabb and the offense had a tough time capitalizing on golden oppertunities created by the Eagles defense and in particular they had the game winning touch down one yard away and the red-zone offense blew it. Overall a very touch lose for this Eagles team but no time to look back, come Monday and it is all focus on the Redskins in a key NFC east divisional match up. Here are a few guys who I liked on offense: Donovan Mcnabb- He did the best he could without Westy, he helped the team put up 20 points and put us in a great position to win the ball game but terrible play calling ruined that. Once again he had good connection with Jackson i'm feeling the rapport between the two growing quickly. Desean Jackson- He had a bad fumble and he had a drop or two however, he made up for it in the 4th quarter on that drive that went to the one yard line. He had a bounce back game from the mediocre game he had in Pittsburgh. Correl Buckhalter- Looked slow in the first half but picked up in the second in particular the 4th quarter. He contributed as best as he coud in the passing game, and did the best job he could blocking; not a good blocker like Westbrook but he filled in nicely. Reggie Brown- After missing a good amount of time in the pre-season and regular season. Reggie Brown returned to the line up and posted six catches seventy nine yards. A good comeback game for Reggie, looked one hundered percent healthy and was a contributor for this offense; something this Eagles offense needs him to do on a consistent basis. Max Jean Gilles- Nothing special from the RG but he did enough. He had a very nice run block to help Buckhalter get a 20 yard run. With the more rep's he gets I feel the more you will see Jean Gilles even get more comfortable at the RG position however, make no mistake about it I really want "The Kid" Shawn Andrews back. Overall other than the two sacks given up by the O-line I thought the big ugglies did their job. The guy i'm really disapointed in? Lorenzo Booker. He came in to fill the role of a mini Westbrook and although he had the speed, I felt he lacked the pass blocking skills to be able to stay on the field more. I expect Booker to work on that and to focus on the ball when it's thrown to him. What is very upsetting about tonight's loss in particular was the Birds tenacity on defense; in particular the second quarter. The defense picked up fumble recoveries, caused many sacks and turnover. They helped place the offense in great positions and only gave up 3 points in the second half. Now I know beyond a reasonable doubt that this defense is for real and I look for them to dominate week in and week out. Here are a few guys who impressed me: Trent Cole- Showed great burst of the line of schrimage, forcing the pocket to collapse and causing Orton to make erratic throws. He also contributed in the run stopping game as well. Darren Howard- OK Howard needs to be the full time LE because he is proving his money's worth, he had an INT forced great pressure from the opposite side of Cole; he played well in the run stopping game. I cannot say anything bad about Howard Chris Gocong- King kong Gocong no relation but both beasts. Gocong showed great rushing skills as he brought Orton down for a sack. He covered the field well after giving up one early TD to Desmond Clark and did not allow running back Matt Forte from getting too far on his side. Stewart Bradley- Turning into one of the finer young MIKE lb's in the game. He played well against the pass and the run. He made his presence felt on the blitz. I actually heard John Madden say that Bradley can be a MIKE lb for the Eagles for the next ten years. Sky's the limit for this young man. Omar Gaither- The big LB played just as good as Bradley and Gocong. He helped shut down the run game; recovered a fumble and recorded 9 tackles. Boy did he hustle tonight. Both Mike Patterson and Brodrick Bunkley had good push off the line of schrimage and clogged up the running game. After what I saw from the Eagles defense tonight not one player disapointed me. Last but not least, did I think Andy made a bad call on fourth and one? Yes, and I'll tell you why. If you failed to punch it in for six with Buckhalter on two occasions and you failed to make it in with Tony Hunt; I think it's time to sneak it in with your QB. Now Andy said he did not think Mcnabb was healthy enough to do that but the worst case scenario for Mcnabb was he would get the wind knocked out of him or he would hurt his chest. Very minimal damage would occur and we gave up a golden chance to wint he ball game. However, plenty of football to be played and next week is a must win for this Eagles football team because they cannot afford to lose to their divisional rival the Redskins. Please check my website out and click on a few AD's to keep my site running thanks. It has good reads as well.