will we ever win?

Eagles blow it

The Eagles gift wrapped this game for the Falcons and the refs lent their finger to help tie the bow on that one non-interception call (but Reid probably has to challenge that.) The single biggest play of the game was the fumbled pitch/handoff whatever play that resulted in a 14 point swing. Instead of going up 17-7, the Eagles fell behind 10-14. Then Vick threw a ball that skipped off the ground that was called an interception which the Falcons turned into another touchdown to go up 21-10. But despite all the mistakes and turnovers, and despite Vick getting knocked out of the game, the Eagles still only trailed by 4 on the road and were driving with Kafka at QB. Then on 4th down with just under 2 minutes to go on the Atlanta 22, Kafka hit Maclin in the hands with the pass and he dropped the easy first down for a final Eagle mistake that sewed the game up for the Falcons. Up until that point Maclin had been the offensive player of the game.

But Maclin isn't alone at being a goat. Despite playing well for the majority of the game many others had huge, killer lapses. Vick with his careless turnovers, Celek with another terrible drop, Jackson dropped another TD, Avant dropped a first down, and the defense that had stopped the run well ALL game after the first minutes of the first quarter, let Turner rip off a huge 61 yarder that led to the go ahead touchdown. In fact the defense was playing great the majority of the game, but then collapsed in the fourth quarter as Atlanta went on long drives to score 14 unanswered points that won them the game, 35-31.

Other notes:

• Reid/Mornhinweg got way too conservative with the play calling when Kafka had to come in. They played not to lose, and of course lost.
• It pisses me off the Eagles couldn't gain 1 yard on 2 plays at the 3 in the first quarter and had to settle for a field goal - 4 blown points, the difference in the game.
• ENOUGH with the stupid end-arounds and reverses. How many times do they have to fail? How many hits by 200+ pound guys are you going to expose Jackson to?
• I thought Chaney could cover tight ends. I was wrong.
• The other linebackers sucked too.
• Page is slow. He is ok in run support, but when he came up that left Coleman alone and he can't cover. When is Allen going to be healthy?
• The tightends are almost invisible in this offense.
• Despite it being a big-time Sunday Night game, NBC couldn't come up with a good angle showing Vick's non-interception skipping off the ground until 5 minutes too late. On Asante's legitimate pick they had some super spy satellite zoomed in CSI style view though.
• Defensive line continued to apply really good pressure. Cole was steamrolling his guy.
• Stop jumping offsides though.
• Our cornerbacks are pretty damn good. Too bad the safeties and linebackers are as bad at covering as the corners are good.
• Offensive line was decent. Vick has to throw the ball away more often though. And it was dumb for him to be dancing around at the end of the first half trying to make a play when time was the most important thing.
• Tuck the ball away Vick. Stop being dumb and careless.
• Can the Eagles win vs. the Giants next week without Vick?