There was no flash, no highlight reel runs, and no jaw dropping hits, but the Philadelphia Eagles returned to the win column with what works best - a well coached scheme and sound exectution.
I’ve been critical of the coaching over the past few weeks, so it’s only fair to give credit where it is due this week. The amount of penalties were still high, but the play calling was solid and the defensive schemes worked well. While the Vikings are not exactly a Super Bowl contender, any road win in the NFL is noteworthy.
The Vikings did a good job of limiting the Eagle ground game and Andy Reid was adaptative in combating this. When the Vikings hit the onside kick in the first half, I envisioned the posters at the 700 level and Wingheads to fire up their computer and start rants about how Reid got owned by Childress. But over a full 60 minutes that was not the case. Adjustments were made and the team worked with what the Vikings gave them. The receivers came to play, and McNabb is starting to look more like his old self. #5 is looking more comfortable, confident, and is finally meshing with the receivers.
Credit also goes to Jim Johnson, who continues to do a great job in limiting the opponents’ number 1 offensive player. Peterson had his moments, but was not the threat he could have been, and was limited in his big plays.
The Aussie Punter finally lived up to the hype. Booted a few with 5.5 second hang time and gave the special teams players time to get down the field and make a play.
A win is a win, and a road win is always nice. But with Dallas on tap many things still need to improve. Too many penalties, not enough balance on offense, and sloppy time management will be exploited against an upper tier club.
Random thoughts of the week:
The Fox crew in the booth seemed to have a Man-crush on Peterson, and at points refered to him as Superman, Purple Jesus, the best RB in the NFL; and capped off the obsession with a solid 3 minute ramble about how AP has never gotten tired in his life. (which I guess is understandable if he’s really a fluorescent messiah.) I realize this game didn’t draw the Fox “A” team, but these two hit a new level of ridiculous. Later in the game they blamed a missed TD opportunity to LJ Smith on bad timing of the pass in relation to the route, discounting the fact that LJ was standing in the end zone alone, watching the ball sail about 15 feet over his head. Only timing issue I saw was that LJ didn’t have time to put a jet pack on before the playclock expired.
Brad Childress always wore a hat when with the Eagles. After seeing him hat-less in the dome, I never realized how much he looks like one of my neighbors.
Jevon Kearse had a sack. WOW.
Seeya next time.
Chris
