Red Zone miscues resurface……..

September 29, 2008 by James Centifonti  
Filed under Eagles, NFL Football

Sorry for the delay getting this up, I returned to work today after being off almost 2 weeks and well nobody helped out with what should have been done to help me out.  Just when I think they turned the corner they forget to continue forward making progress and take 2 steps back.  The bears did a hell of a job in that goalline stand considering the play calling was nothing shocking and easy to know what was coming next. 

Breakdown last night’s game.

Donovan McNabb completed 17 of his passes to wide receivers, 3 to the tight end, & 5 to running backs.  Normally when he completes more then 20 passes the Eagles have success.

It’s hard to win when you go 2 for 13 on 3rd downs.  You have to be closer to 50% to have more of a chance to bring home a win.

When going into the red zone you have to have more success then the eagles did last night.  Only scoring 1 touchdown 2 field goals & a eye sore of a goalline failure.

Answering what my keys to the game were.

1. Continue to get as many players involved in the passing game as possible.  If the Eagles can do this it may limit what the Bears to with their coverage schemes in an effort to slow them down.

They got many players involved but they didn’t make the most of their chances and left a lot on the field.  Not getting any production that was really of any help out of the tight ends has to change especially if Smith happens to miss any games during this season.

2. Protect McNabb and company from being hit.  Last week the Steelers had some success getting through and putting some nice licks on McNabb and Kolb when he was in for McNabb.

Well they hit and miss here.  They did good jobs at times but he again took his lumps from well timed and solid blitzing schemes from the bears.

3. Find a way to get L.J. Smith in the game and his confidence back.  In recent weeks he has seemed to be in witness protection and not been much help.  He as much as I don’t like him is critical to how McNabb and Reid work the offense in the red zone.

Well since he didn’t play we really can’t answer this question.  However they do seem to have more failure when they have chances in the red zone when he is not available. 

4.  Get Westbrook his touches, the more the better.  Since so much of what they do is through him it’s important to find him space to make plays so others can find room if Bears are effective at covering him.

Westbrook also didn’t play but I don’t think that was to big of a miss they still moved the ball and had some success moving the ball but did miss his playmaking ability.

5.  Let the defense loose again.  What changes they made from the Cowboys game worked big time and if used the right ways again can be even more effective here since the Bears have far less weapons then the Steelers.  (Just being honest)

Jim Johnson did jist that letting the defense loose.  They caused 4 turnovers, 4 sacks, & 256 total yards.  The defensive backs will have to tighten up their coverage to help put some wins on the board.  They let some plays get behind them that led to touchdowns to Olsen and Hester.

Tough loss but one they can or should be able to put behind them and move on to to a divisonal game against the Washington Redskins.

Last but not least.  Hey Andy and Marty what happened to the naked bootleg ?  It was there to run last night !!!!

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Comments

4 Responses to “Red Zone miscues resurface……..”

  1. 1
    Brandon Campbell Says:

    I know it’s easy to look back and criticize the decision made by Andy Reid, but I didn’t like it at the time.

    I mean maybe you go for it on 4th down there against someone like the Bengals or Rams, but the Bears? They are one of the few teams I would want to avoid in that situation, and I was surprised they made that call.

    even if you lose the coin toss in OT, I would take the chance that my defence could stop Orton from driving down the field.

  2. 2
    Zach Smith Says:

    Why they never let Donovan get to the edge to make a play is so odd. Maybe a bootleg or get the TE in the endzone so McNabb could make a play. Just terrible running it up the middle 4 straight times. Very creative Andy!

  3. 3
    James Centifonti Says:

    I know it’s easy to look back and criticize the decision made by Andy Reid, but I didn’t like it at the time.
    I mean maybe you go for it on 4th down there against someone like the Bengals or Rams, but the Bears? They are one of the few teams I would want to avoid in that situation, and I was surprised they made that call.
    even if you lose the coin toss in OT, I would take the chance that my defence could stop Orton from driving down the field.

    I wasn’t shocked they made the call rather they play they called to run………I just thought on each run they tried the bootleg was there and was not a soul around to have stopped it since the bears collapsed the defense in to the middle of our offensive line.

  4. 4
    James Centifonti Says:

    Why they never let Donovan get to the edge to make a play is so odd. Maybe a bootleg or get the TE in the endzone so McNabb could make a play. Just terrible running it up the middle 4 straight times. Very creative Andy!

    I don’t think they feel he has the speed anymore, while his injuries have slowed him down I think he still have plenty left to get himself to the edge on a bootleg.

    The only TE they trust to throw the ball to in the red zone in L.J. Smith. If you noticed they only had I think 5 or so passes overall to tight ends in the entire game and 2 of them we passes to try and get them close to the goal line and only 1 of them was completed.

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