Good outweighs bad in Eagles loss to Cowboys

Vintage · Sep 18, 2008

Sam Donnellon: Good outweighs bad in Eagles loss to Cowboys

By Sam Donnellon
Philadelphia Daily News
Daily News Sports Columnist
WOW, WHAT a great loss. Thirty seven points, 337 yards of total offense, nine different pass catchers and not one interception.
I mean, what's not to like, aside from the play of the Eagles defense and the final score and that costly fourth-quarter fumble and . . .
Nitpickers.
"There's no moral victories,'' Brian Dawkins said after the 41-37 loss to the Cowboys Monday night. "We know we're a good team. The people outside the locker room are going to have their opinions, but we know we're a good team inside the locker room.''
Oh, poppycock. They don't know anything yet, other than they trounced who we thought they would trounce and they lost an incredibly winnable game against a team that many, including me, believe is the team to beat in the NFC this season.
This is what we know outside of the locker room. The Eagles, who were 8-8 last season, are 1-1 this season. Their 31-year-old, oft-injured quarterback has played mostly great so far, as has their explosive rookie receiver and their incredible running back, whose versatility is matched only by his resilience. Their offensive potency, after two games, is unprecedented, and it is likely to add dimensions when (and if) Reggie Brown and Kevin Curtis get healthy in the weeks ahead.
This is what we fear: That despite that opening-game effort against the Rams, the Eagles defense has not improved significantly from last season. That despite two gift turnovers, they are not nearly as quick as defensive coordinator Jim Johnson thought they were just a few days before, or as smart as he thought, either.
Andy Reid can call his 1-1 team "tough-minded'' as many times as he wants (as he did after Monday's loss), even click his heels as he does so, but there was nothing tough-minded about allowing 7 yards per play, surrendering four leads and a 98-yard kickoff return, forcing just three Dallas punts.
Tough-minded teams don't do all that, and fail to sack the other team's quarterback once. Tough-minded teams get off the field on third-and-longs and make the big plays at the end.
But there's plenty of time left for Jim to tinker, and it's not every week that he will have to deal with the kind of offensive weaponry Dallas threw at him.
So again, wow, what a great loss.
Because the good news outweighs the bad news. For most of that game, your offense made the Cowboys defense look a whole lot like the Rams. Said McNabb, early yesterday morning: "We didn't win the game so it really doesn't matter. But we do have a good team here. You eliminate some of the mistakes and we have even more points.''
McNabb made two big mistakes in the fourth quarter. Overthrowing Brian Westbrook to stall one drive, outsmarting only himself with that pump-fake fumble that jerked the momentum of the game in reverse. The Eagles were going to get points from that drive. Given the inability of either defense to stop the other, they were probably going to go up by 10. It would have forced the Cowboys to be more predictable at the end, maybe more defendable.
So here's the good news, which is also the bad news, Part 1: The Eagles beat themselves more than the Cowboys beat them. In Dallas.
And here's the good news is also the bad news, Part 2: Donovan McNabb may not be quite as quick or strong as he was before he busted up his belly and knees, but his ability to step and run out of trouble is plenty good enough. It's just a guess, but had this been a playoff game against Dallas, or even one of those late-season showdowns, you might have seen him take off a few more times than he did.
As for DeSean Jackson - OK, so it was a little premature. But I liked the idea behind his touchdown celebration.
Casual. Understated.
Coaches always tell players to act like they've been there before, right?
Well, that's what he did.
Just 1 yard too soon.
By the way, if I'm Brian Westbrook, I send all chiropractor bills to the rookie from Cal. Seeing Westbrook stretched out on the massage table after (painfully) cleaning up the rookie's mess should chasten Jackson more than any film-room scolding.
But the big picture is that, 2 weeks in, the kid still looks like a keeper. The big picture is that the Eagles seem to have finally gotten one of those draft picks that other teams talk about, at a position where they desperately needed an upgrade.
Win and lose, he's provided the Eagles with a lot of wow in these first 2 weeks.
The Eagles? They've provided intrigue. Scoring 37 points and giving up 41 has provided plenty of ammo for the pessimist and optimist alike.
What we all can agree on, though, is that there are more than enough wows either way. *
Send e-mail to donnels@phillynews.com.
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Good outweighs bad in Eagles loss to Cowboys

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