The header is a tribute to the late and great Otis Redding…who channeled this message to me from R&B Heaven…Eagles gotta get this one….
Whatever you do, DO NOT punt to Arizona Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson (21), who returned a punt 99 yards for a touchdown in overtime against the St. Louis Rams at University of Phoenix Stadium last week. (Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE, US PRESSWIRE / November 6, 2011)…
As 14-point favorites in a home venue where they’ve only won one of their last seven contests, the Eagles (3-5) know their season would be over for sure without a win over Arizona (2-6), if it isn’t already. After today, they visit the New York Giants next Sunday, host the New England Patriots the Sunday after that, and then get on a plane for Seattle three days after that for a Thursday night game with the Seahawks.
Any more than one loss in these next four games won’t make their final four games very meaningful, and considering they’ve never beaten Bill Belichick’s Patriots — preseason, regular season or postseason — well, you do the math. They’ve beaten themselves, though, just about every week, which has helped put them in this situation. But quarterback Mike Vick seems to like the action.
“That’s the exciting part about all of this,” Vick said. “I think it’s exciting that we still have an opportunity, we still have a chance to play against some good teams. And we can only control what we can control, and we can’t dictate how things are going to be and what happens with other teams. We just have to play our game and let that be it.”
“It’s the turnovers, it’s penalties,”Andy Reid said. “I don’t feel people are necessarily stopping us, but that we’re stopping ourselves, and we’ve got to take care of that. Right now, that’s what you can control, and so you go to work and make sure that you get that taken care of.”
Even with all the sloppy offensive and special teams play, such as the fiasco in which DeSean Jackson fumbled away a punt return last Monday night in a loss to the Chicago Bears, the Eagles have had excellent chances to win every game. They’ve led in the fourth quarter of all but one (a 31-24 loss at Buffalo on Oct. 9) and had a chance to pull that out as well.
But the Eagles defense has more often than not let them down, and last week completely collapsed when it could not adjust to the extra blockers the Bears kept in to protect vulnerable quarterback Jay Cutler. “[They] turned it into a three-man game on the outside, and so whether you’re blitzing or four-man rushing, it’s tough to get there when they’re holding all those people in,” Reid explained. “So you’ve got to really make sure that your coverage patterns are taken care of.”
They weren’t… and the Eagles, who almost completely rebuilt their defense to be better against the pass, could not stop the Bears, who became the fourth opponent to come from behind and beat them in the fourth quarter this season. Not only did the Eagles fail to get a sack, but they also failed to get an interception, sending them back to the drawing board.
“Really, looking back at the game, the third down was really the crucial thing,” defensive coordinator Juan Castillo said. “We’ve been, really, pretty decent during the year on third downs, and we didn’t do as good a job with the third downs. I’ve got to do a better job game planning the third-down situations.”
What could help the Eagles’ cause is the probable absence of starting quarterback Kevin Kolb, the former Eagle. Kolb was not able to practice at all before this game and is listed as questionable. John Skelton, who’s actually won three career games, including last Sunday’s against the Rams as an emergency starter, probably will go in his place.
Okay, let’s turn this thing over to the Smart Phans. My work here is done. Gotta, gotta, gotta….
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