This Was a Good Win

It’s always an interesting experience coming late to the post-game commentary party.  When the Eagles lost to the Saints last year in the playoffs, I was in Vegas for the annual buddy trip, so after the game ended it was back to the tables.  I didn’t read anything about the game until many hours later, so I was surprised to see people boiling the game down to one call (Reid’s punt decision) when the problems with that team ran much deeper. 

Not to mention I still think Reid made the right call.

I had a similar moment last night.  I studiously avoided any mention of football yesterday, although I couldn’t avoid sneaking a peak at Cowboys/Patriots in the airport.  By the time I’d gotten through the game recording last night (this morning), the prevailing general opinion of the game — that it was a lousy win against a lousy team — was already set.

Once again, I don’t agree.  The Eagles dominated this game in a way not indicated by the final score.  They had big advantages in yards and time of possession.  The offensive line manhandled the Jets at the point of attack, with the running backs averaging 5.7 yards per carry.  McNabb looked sharp, making quick decisions and demonstrating that he recognizes he needs to change his game a bit until he fully regains his mobility (although why he tried to scramble out of bounds rather than throwing the ball away at the end of the first half is still a mystery).  The wide receivers demonstrated that they could get open against press coverage (on this day at least).  And the defense was very solid after they locked down the cutback problems in the first quarter (which on first viewing looked to me to be very DE-related).

The one big problem in this game was not getting into the end zone.  And yes, that’s a big problem.  But you can’t sit here and argue that you want the Eagles to play a bruising, smash-mouth brand of football that focuses on controlling the clock, sustaining drives and winning even when everything doesn’t go their way and then complain after they do exactly that and win a game.

Look, Terrell Owens isn’t walking through that door.  The 2004 McNabb isn’t walking through that door (any time soon).  This is not an explosive offense right now.  And I for one would rather see the coaches recognize that fact and do what they have to do to win ballgames rather than just going out there, flinging the ball all over the place and hoping one of these days everything works out. 

And make no mistake, yesterday’s game plan was all about recognizing reality:

• Did you see that kickass three tight end formation they rolled out yesterday?  If you have the game on TiVo, go back and look for that personnel package.  Check out the blast left, counter right and dive right (?) they used out of it.  Awesome stuff.
• Did you notice how much help they gave the offensive line in protecting McNabb?  The running backs were constantly chipping on their way into their pass routes.  They used bunch formations and multiple tight ends to force the defensive ends to take a more circuitous route to the quarterback.  They got away from it a little in the third quarter, I think, but this demonstrated the coaches are well aware of what they need to do to keep the franchise upright.  (Although the Jets linemen started to counter by just grabbing Westbrook so he couldn’t get into his route.  That’s something that needs to be watched.)
• Late in the first half, the Eagles sent the field goal unit out with eight seconds still on the clock, rather than risking another one of those “throw it into the middle of the field and then lose a chance at points” situations that have so often occurred in the past.  Akers missed the kick, but it was still a good move.

Bottom line, this was a tough, physical, grind-it-out win that will give no one an excuse to believe the Eagles are any better than they really are.  I’m not sure we could ask for more right now.