Let me start off by saying that I think the Eagles are a really solid football team on both sides of the ball. I think Reid is a great coach and I think that McNabb is a great Quarterback. However, all that aside, here's why the Packers got pistol whipped so badly yesterday... 1. The defense decides to switch from man to zone for one game just to stop Terrell Owens. Why? Your defense is just starting to pick up and understand! Bob Slowik learned nothing from the Colts game, apparently. They should have played their base defense and taken their chances yesterday. 2. 12 Penalties against the Packers. 2 more were declined for a total of 14. 6 of those penalties gave the Eagles first downs. Unacceptable. 3. No challenge on the interception in the Red Zone. I can't blame Sherman if he didn't see it, but the Packers have a "situation" coach who specializes in helping Sherman with clock management, challenges, etc. If nothing else, it would have given the players on defense a few extra minutes of rest before having to go back out there. 4. Not running the ball. The reason the two games were close last year is because the Packers stuck with the run. Sherman made the mistake of trying to get Favre on a hot streak early and it blew up in his face. Two early interceptions result in a 21-0 deficit. Wheee! Guess they couldn't run after that. 5. Mental Mistakes - Dropped balls, fumbles, bad snaps, bad routes, missed tackles, blown assignments...it was like watching the keystone cops yesterday! Defensively, I think you can point to my #1 comment. You can't expect rookies (or anyone) to just play a new defense with four days of preparation. 6. Wretched O-Line Play - One of the top units in the NFL that has given up five sacks all year decides to give up five sacks in one game? Ouch. 7. Karma - McNabb has the best game of his career on the same day Favre has the worst day of his career? Double ouch! I'd talk about injuries, too, but the Eagles were banged up as well. Not much you can do about that. It's just...part of the game. Truth be told, I expected the Eagles to win. But I was thinking something along the lines of 31-21 or 27-17. I never saw a beating this bad coming the Packers' way. The Eagles are a better team and deserved to win. It's just too bad that the Packers had to face them on a day where everything went right for the Eagles and everything that could have possibly gone wrong for the Packers went wrong. I hope the Packers meet the Eagles again in the playoffs. I don't know if we can win, but I KNOW we can play a better game. Yesterday was just...embarrassing.
Good analysis Kenn. I was shocked as well. I was at the game, and I kept thinking to myself how this can't possibly be true. Packers were the only team in the NFC that I think can beat us, and I think they still are. I just hope this will not be like the Bucs of 2 years ago, where we beat them in the regular season, and lose in the championship game, come to think of it, Panthers were the same way.
Bad games happen, it's happened to the Eagles as well. I still hope GB still gets to the playoffs, the NFC needs some real friggin' teams
Nice Post Ken, couldn't agree more. On a different note, Every morning I read the Philadelphia Inquirer and the writers are worse than the fans. Can't you enjoy the moment just once? Christ, the team is 11-1 and all they want to talk about is that they should've waited to play this well in the playoffs. It's kind of like having theBEEF and Bears Fan 1 writing the columns there. They can do nothing right. Don't worry Pack fans, Minnesota doesn't look like they want the playoffs anymore than the next team. You should still lock up your division.
Terry Bradshaw wrote an interesting analysis of the game, too: http://msn.foxsports.com/name/public/NFL/M...Rewind?GT1=5826 Actually, he analyzes the whole NFC.
Analyze the fact that the Packers offensive line let up 5 sacks all season up until this point, and now they have 10 sacks on the season. Pretty impressive I'd say
