goeagles99 Yesterday, 12:58 PM Post #1
Bring back Bob Paulson.
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Joined: 3-March 03
Member No.: 1768
First, re-watching it was painful. Right now I need a drink or handful of pills.
We played pretty well overall. This wasn't a case where the Patriots were clearly the better team. They minimized mistakes and made the key plays. We were sloppy. Overall, 2 pretty even teams.
Deion Branch did not deserve the MVP. Nothing against Deion, but he only made one noteworthy play.
The best player on the field for either team was Richard Seymour. I didn't realize how well he played. He should have been the MVP. Dick, as I'll now refer to him, only had 2 tackles and one sack. However, he was disruptive throughout the game. He played DT and 3-4 DE and no one blocked him well consistently. When he was contained, he still batted 2 passes. His penetration forced Westbrook to alter his path a few times. He got pressure on our final drive and was the reason that McNabb dumped the ball to Westbrook at the 4. Dick Seymour should have been MVP by a landslide.
PLAYERS
* McNabb - Overall, he played well. Unfortunately, that will be overshadowed by his two critical INTs. Horrible passes that cost us dearly. I'm not backing off my criticism of him even with the stories of his sickness. Those throws came at a time when he was playing well.
Donovan got off to a slow start, as did the offense, but didn't slide into a funk. In the past, he's struggled with good defenses and had stretches where he disappeared. That wasn't the case at all. He adjusted to what the Pats were doing and put up some big numbers.
2 of his TD throws were things of beauty. The pass to LJ came on a play where we went conservative. We only put 3 guys out in the route. That gave Donovan plenty of time. He sat in the pocket and waited til he had an opening. He fired the ball perfectly just by the LB and into Smith. The pass to Westbrook was a snap decision. McNabb read that the FS had single coverage on Westy. He gave Brian a second to get upfield and fired off his back foot. Awesome throw. TD.
The other TD pass came to Greg Lewis late. It was a duck, but was a catchable, accurate throw.
Donovan did a great job of getting the ball to TO without forcing it to him. He really took what the defense gave him. He lined up in the shotgun a lot. Seemed very comfortable, especially when we were in an empty set. For the most part, he handled the blitz well. He did have one big mistake. When we got deep for the first time, the Pats blitzed heavy. Josh Parry didn't contain his guy well. Donovan tried to spin out of the pocket to get to the edge. He was sacked for a huge loss. We'd have been better off if he just threw the ball away. Those moves worked against the Cowboys, but not the Patriots.
The INTs. The "first" INT came on the play immediately after his sack in the Red Zone. Donovan stupidly forced a pass to TO that Harrison batted and Samuel caught. BTW...Josh Parry was wide open in the flat. He would have had at least a 10 yd gain. However, a penalty on Phifer cancelled the pick. That gave us a 1st Down. Next play. Donovan makes a terrible throw and a questionable decision. He lofts a ball to Westy on a corner route. Badly underthrown. Harrison picks it off. Brian had a step on Vrabel, but seemed like a risky call down there. The play was run from the 19. That condenses the field and gives Harrison less ground to cover. Also, it gives Westy less room to separate from the LB. Bad call, bad throw. Vrabel ran over Westy as Harrison was catching the ball. A lot of times that would draw a Pass Int. call.
The second INT was a dagger to the heart. Donovan had just hooked up with TO on a 36 yd gain. We had the ball at their 36 yd line. Essentially, FG range. McNabb takes the snap and drops back. He had LJ running up the field. He has Dorsey running a crossing route. I think the throw was intended for LJ, but am not sure. It was above and behind Dorsey, but way underthrown for LJ. Bruschi got it. Most frustrating was how wide open Dorsey was. Had Donnie gotten him the ball, Levens would have been clear to about the 25 and possibly inside the 20.
I don't know what caused the errant throws. Donovan has well documented accuracy issues, but he seemed more off than usual. Maybe him being less than 100% caused him to try too hard. He overthrew LJ early in the 1st Qtr. That would have given us a 1st down close to midfield. Wide open. He overthrew Freddie on a 2nd down play late in the game. Could have been a nice gain and it would have allowed Mitchell to get out of bounds and stop the clock.
I can't say much about him during the last two drives. He did have to scramble a few times, but it is hard to see if a QB is winded without closeups. He did make one horrible decision. We had the ball at our 4 with :46 left. He got flushed by Dick Seymour and dumped the ball to Westy. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Brian was tackled for no gain and we lost 29 seconds. Throw the ball into the ground. The clock is our enemy. Eerily reminiscent of the throw to Levens before the end of the 1st half vs. MIN. Can't make those throws.
#5 had a great year in 2004. He really made great strides and looked like an elite QB. I can't wait to see him next year. Should be even better.
RB - Not a great game. Dorsey only had one carry. No catches. He came in on a fair amount of plays, but didn't get many chances. We tried to run a couple of screens to him. Roman Phifer leveled him on one and forced Donovan to scramble. Tough way to end a season.
Westbrook had a good game, but not a great one. He was very limited in the running game. NE just owned the line of scrimmage. Westy is one of the few RBs gifted enough to go east-west and still get upfield. The Pats did a good job of tackling him. Even when he did make a guy miss, he was held up long enough that the other defenders got over to him.
Brian did make some things happen in the passing game. Did an excellent job on the TD catch. Beat his DB and caught the pass. His best catch came in the 3rd Qtr. We had a 3rd down deep in NE territory. Westy beat a CB on a crossing route. Donovan put the ball behind him. Brian reached out and pulled it in and got the 1st. Huge play. He caught at least one screen. We had to adjust the way we ran it. Had Westy delay at the LOS, but didn't drift. Also, we had Hicks as the downfield blocker. Normally screens have a G and C or just a C. McNabb did dump the ball to Westy a couple of times late in the game. He let the WRs stretch the D and then took off across the middle. 2 nice gains. Did have one drop late. Could have been a big play. Brian had a huge area that the DBs had vacated and the LBs had blitzed.
The thing that Westbrook did the best was block. He was outstanding at blitz pickup. He put Bruschi on his @ss on one play. Brian is small, but strong. And he gave it very good effort.
Josh Parry did not have a good game. He caught one pass for 2 yds. Burned up 40 seconds. Should have dropped it. His blocking was inconsistent. Went from marginal to bad. He didn't go much as a lead blocker. Our best runs came in the one back set. He whiffed on at least one blitz pickup. He blocked Colvin on another, but only for a second. If we keep Josh, he has to learn to be aggressive and get the other guy. He needs to watch Brian and how he blocks.
WR - They played better than any other unit in the game. Did you think we could say that and the Eagles would lose?
TO played a sensational game. He was only at 80 or 85%, but you can see how good he truly is. He lacked explosion, but still had two 30+ yd catches. I don't remember any analyst talking about how he could out muscle Patriot DBs, but TO did. He caught the ball and used Randall Gay like a rag doll. Owens ran good routes. He cut well. He planted well. Got off the LOS with no problems. He made some huge plays. The Pats single covered him a lot and he burned them all game long.
Despite the two big plays, his most impressive catch was shorter. We had a 3rd/8 play on our last scoring drive. TO ran an Out pattern. Donovan got the ball out, but it wasn't a perfect throw. Owens brought it in just at the sideline. Great concentration and body control, especially for a selfish WR who hurt the team by forcing his coach to play him.
Biggest surprise was his Run After Catch ability. RAC yards are a big part of his game, but I thought he'd be limited in that regard. TO did a fantastic job of getting upfield. He always made sure to get out of bounds, but that is smart with a questionable ankle. I do have to give the Patriots credit for one thing. None of them went for the ankle in a cheap shot way that I could tell.
Todd Pinkston came up big in the 1st half. He left with severe cramps in the 2nd half. His 40 yd catch helped to set up our first TD. Todd leapt up and grabbed the pass. Picture perfect. He had chances like this on two other plays. He got his feet tangled on one and the jump was terrible. On the other, he went up, but couldn't bring the pass in. Pinky had three other grabs. One was even a crossing route. Big catch on 3rd down. He played well.
Greg Lewis replaced Todd in the 2nd half. He finished with 4 catches, including a TD. Excellent job on the TD. Greg was in the left slot. He was singled covered by the FS. Greg got to full speed quickly and ran right at the DB. Before the DB could get into a backpedal, Lewis was to the inside and had him beat. He went up and snagged the pass, a wobbler.
Freddie...what to say. I really feel for this guy. Yeah, he shot his mouth off. But he was joking. Did he get a chance to make up for it? No. Donovan just doesn't get him the ball. Freddie had 4 passes come his way, but only one catch. Two passes were underthrown and one was an overthrow. Freddie blocked well for the most part. He got away with a big time hold on a short run by #36. His highlight was a pick play where he leveled the DB chasing TO on his 30 yd catch in the 1st half. Could have been a penalty.
TE - LJ Smith had a solid game. Finished with 4 catches and a TD. He was forced to stay in and block quite a bit. LJ got beaten a time or two, but did okay for the most part. The TD catch was very nice. He got behind the LB and snared a tough pass. I'm not sure how his back was for most of the game. Roman Phifer got a big shot right in his back after an INT in the 1st Qtr. LJ struggled to get up at first. He continued to play, but I'm sure he was in pain.
Jeff Thomason had a quiet night. He blocked alright, but nothing of any note.
