will we ever win?

The blame game

The Eagles beat themselves tonight starting with Trotter getting himself kicked out before the game, but there is plenty of blame to go around.

1. McNabb
   In one of his worst games in awhile, McNabb was pretty bad - 24 for 45, 257 yards. Lots of terrible passes (maybe due to injury?) but more frustrating was his stupid decisions. I can't decide which one was worse; the play where he tossed the ball backwards to Westbrook for a turnover, the play where he stood still for 20 seconds on a 3 step drop waiting to get drilled so he would fumble, or the play late in the game where he was one on one with a big fat guy and instead of running by him for probably a 15 yard gain and a crucial first down, he threw the ball into the defenders upraised arms.


2. Andy Reid
   Aside from the one drive that resulted in a touchdown, Reid's play calling was bad - 45 passes, 14 rushes, terrible balance. Why wasn't Westbrook utilized more? How does this team get 4 illegal formation calls? Totally unacceptable. One hallmark of a Reid coached team is a minimum of suicidal mistakes. But in this game there were terrible penalties, terrible turnovers, and once again poor clock management and wasted timeouts. That's on him and he's going to have to go back and take a look at that and do a better job. Reid did do a nice job challenging that terrible spot but blew not challenging that "incredible" catch Crumpler made. He didn't catch that.


3. Offensive Line
   The big fat guys did a terrible job picking up the blitz, protecting McNabb, and run blocking. Nice false starts too at the worst possible time.


4. David Akers
   If Akers makes those field goals the Eagles win (probably). I heard he was making them from 85 yards in warmups though. Crappy kickoffs too.


5. Special Teams
   Marginal kickoff coverage, marginal to terrible punt return results, especially since their punter was putting up 35 yarders. You can't let that one roll for 60 Dexter Wynn. Nice play by Rod Hood on that big hit on the punt though but overall need to be way better.


6. Wide Receivers
   Where were they aside from Owens? And even he dropped some right in his hands and had communication problems with McNabb.


7. The Defense
   Well not totally to blame, but the Falcons got over 200 yards rushing (which is partly due to Trotter being ejected) but then again all the Falcons' points were scored in the first quarter and nothing at all the rest of the way. Dawkins was great, except for that long bomb. Kearse was pretty bad and Kalu outplayed him. Defense did keep the game in reach by forcing turnovers but really didn't shut the Falcons down consistently.

Other notes: Dear refs, spearing Donovan McNabb in the chest is a 15 yard personal foul, brushing Vick on the shoulder is not. Vick is totally overrated but at least he runs the ball when his receivers are covered. Dawkins was the player of the game, not the Falcons secondary, John Madden. Where was Ike Reese? Atlanta must still be kicking themselves for letting Simoneau get away. McNabb was the Eagles medallion to collect today. Is the medallion the new curse? Who is it next Sunday? Should the Eagles be worried about the 49ers?