Texans vs. Eagles . . First impressions

[Marcus]

First: the defense

We simply did not get much pressure on McNabb, enabling him to pick the secondary apart. Westbrook didn't help either.

The offense:

No running game, nada. With offense being run-oriented, you have to be successful running the ball. Neither Lundy or Morency was effective.

But . . . I made a comment earlier this week that I'd be willing to eat a loss, if only I could see concrete evidence that Kubiak was indeed making progress with the Carr project. I wanted to see if there was light at the end of the tunnel.

Well, today, I definately saw that light. As a matter of fact, I think David Carr played his best game in all his 5 years of being here. He wasn't perfect, but I saw poise from him today, I saw him step up into the pocket and hit his receivers downfield . . against an Eagles defense . . . without a running game.

A loss is a loss is a loss . . . but I saw progess. I'll take it.

 

[Porky]

Good observations. I'll state what I put in the game thread, as it seems to fit better here:


Props to Carr today. He looked like a competant NFL QB out there. Payton Manning or Brady good? No, but he just needs to be what he was today. He had a better game today to my eyes that any of the 16 last year. He didn't just settle for the easy dump off, looking downfield often, and spread the ball around. Other than the one slip on the turf, and holding the ball too long a couple of times, he was very good today. I hope to see more of this from Carr. If so, we have a bright future. I give Carr a solid B+ today.

What I want to know is where is the balls to the wall, all out aggressive blitzkrieg defense of Richard Smith? They looked very much on thier heels all day, and let the Eagles dictate the tempo. In short, they looked like a carbon copy of last years "read and react" D. If I were Kubes, I would be reaming out Richard Smith. The Defense was simply awful. F

And, to throw in my 2 cents, I have said it till I was blue in the face for months. I finally stopped saying it, becase I was tired of the usual homerism. Saying your favorite team made a mistake is a punishable offense around here. But, who cares. This is a forum to state your opinion. So, I will say it again - Passing up Bush was a huge mistake, and will come back to bite them in the ass over and over again.

 

[gtexan02]

Carr to AJ and Moulds was the only good thing ot come out of today.

Our other game sucked:
OL Protection - Decent
HB/FB/TE protection - Abysmal
Running Game - Deplorable
DL - Disgustingly embarassing
LB Corp - Terrible
Secondary - Hit or miss, especially given the DL

 

[MYDAUGHTER'STEXANS]

Mcnabb faked out the defense several times today, he owned the Texas D in the second half.......:brickwall

 

[GP]

Ummm....

I have made a long-term commitment to the belief that David Carr could be salvaged. I am not impressed with his performance today.

He killed two drives by tripping on his own, and trying to dance down the chalk when he had plenty of room to stay close to the sideline without risking stepping on the line. That's a potential 2 TDs worth of drives that HE killed all by himself.

O line pass blocking was awful in the second half. None of our TEs picked up big blocks on the guys they were engaging. Our RBs had the same problem. I don't recal seeing audibles by Carr into better plays, and instead saw us getting our arses handed to us all second half.

I felt the Eagles got away with holding on most of their running plays, with blockers grabbing the outside edges of Texans defenders' pads and hanging onto it as Westbrook went around the edges on his big runs.

And we lost. Which always pretty much sucks.

 

[Marcus]

And, to throw in my 2 cents, I have said it till I was blue in the face for months. I finally stopped saying it, becase I was tired of the usual homerism. Saying your favorite team made a mistake is a punishable offense around here. But, who cares. This is a forum to state your opinion. So, I will say it again - Passing up Bush was a huge mistake, and will come back to bite them in the ass over and over again.

You may indeed be right, Porky. But if it was . . it was Kubiak's mistake. And IMO, I got to wait a couple of years before I decide he indeed made one.

 

[Wolf]

Mcnabb faked out the defense several times today, he owned the Texas D in the second half.......:brickwall

that is what happens when an Offense can establish the run

 

[Wolf]

You may indeed be right, Porky. But if it was . . it was Kubiak's mistake. And IMO, I got to wait a couple of years before I decide he indeed made one.

Bush would have held the Eagles under 400 yards offense

 

[bigbrewster2000]

Ummm....

I have made a long-term commitment to the belief that David Carr could be salvaged. I am not impressed with his performance today.

He killed two drives by tripping on his own, and trying to dance down the chalk when he had plenty of room to stay close to the sideline without risking stepping on the line. That's a potential 2 TDs worth of drives that HE killed all by himself.

O line pass blocking was awful in the second half. None of our TEs picked up big blocks on the guys they were engaging. Our RBs had the same problem. I don't recal seeing audibles by Carr into better plays, and instead saw us getting our arses handed to us all second half.

I felt the Eagles got away with holding on most of their running plays, with blockers grabbing the outside edges of Texans defenders' pads and hanging onto it as Westbrook went around the edges on his big runs.

And we lost. Which always pretty much sucks.

I think that you didn't watch the game for what it was, if you think Carr was the reason why we lost. Our Defense looked like crap and Carr played just fine. You are a troll.

 

[Goldeagle]

We just got beat by a better team. They adjusted and we did not. I thought we came out with heart and emotion, but they just made better plays and better play calling on their part.

I dont think anyone looked to bad but our O-line and PUTZier who looked horrible with the dropped pass in his hands and the pathetic attempt to block Kearse...Then again that is the scheme and is on the coach rather than Putzier.

 

[Brandon420tx]

Carr to AJ and Moulds was the only good thing ot come out of today.

Our other game sucked:
OL Protection - Decent
HB/FB/TE protection - Abysmal
Running Game - Deplorable
DL - Disgustingly embarassing
LB Corp - Terrible
Secondary - Hit or miss, especially given the DL

I have been ripping the LB Corp all offseason and preseason. Demeco looked pretty good, Greenwood still showed that he likes to hit people... after 5 yards, but I had to eat crow on that because he had a nice stop for no gain in the fourth ... you know, when we all knew they were running to kill clock ... but I digress.

LB Corp - Not terrible, Bad to below average.

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Face it....the Iggles are generally a better team with a Coaching staff and scheme that has been quite successful for many years. Houston on the other hand is starting relatively new on both sides. There is gonna be a definative learning curve on both sides of the ball. To expect immediate results, day one, against a quality opponent is a bit much. The key is to watch the progression through the season. And please leave Bush outta it. He had, what 60yrds or so against the Browns. Do you really think he would have done better against Philly. Just look what they did to the Chargers running game last year.

 

[Divebomb]

QB = C+ He needs to deliver in the Red Zone and pick up the blitz
HB = D - Where were the guys during the first Quarter
OL = B - Played well to have 7 men comming every second and third down
DL = F Mario is going to take alot of work to become a DT because the _ Texans dont seem to like the idea of rushing him off the edge!

LB = C Played well on the inside rush but could not stop the Toss. Very weak pass protection.
DB = A- Only gave up one really huge play because of bad reads. It is hard to defend the pass when you give McNabb 7 seconds to sit in the pocket.

 

[wags]

Jameel Cook blew up someone and then made the tackle on the first kickoff. Sweet play Jameel!!!

Carr looked better which is encouraging. He made some good throws, scrambled out of one or two potential sacks, and generally looked more poised in the pocket. He's far from Brady but he was better than he has been. I'm with Kubiak in that as long as he improves each week we will be ok as a team.

Our running game sucked DONKEY @#$%!!!!!!

CC Brown bit on the play action and left Stallworth open by 30 yards!!! I swear that Andy Reid turned to someone on the sidelines and said "watch this" before the play. He knew Brown would bite.

Mario Williams played bad. Maybe he needs to lose weight or something because he looks like he has no speed.

Peek ran sideline to sideline faster than Demeco on a McNabb scramble.

Our Linebackers are brutal. Orr is slow and Greenwood is as physical as a dead fish handshake.

Looked like we really did rotate our guards throughout the game.

Nice trip Carr, see you next fall.

Flanagan wasn't quick enough on a screen and the play ended up a loss for 5 yards.

Putz and Morency gave up one sack each. :brickwall

Our defense SUCKS!!!

I swear Sanders gave Greg Lewis a first down. Sanders was sitting at the first down line and waited for Greg Lewis to run at him.

 

[GP]

I think that you didn't watch the game for what it was, if you think Carr was the reason why we lost. Our Defense looked like crap and Carr played just fine. You are a troll.

I'm not a troll. I just have high standards for the guy I have defended since our last regular season game. I get that much: I get to break him down when I've spent more time on this board in a weekend than you've spent in an entire year.

Facts: He killed two drives by himself when we had GREAT momentum. Two drives that "might" have resulted in 2 TDs. But we'll never know, will we?

You and your 138 posts have no place to label me a "troll."

You guys who have "The Woodlands" as your location seem to have a knack for acting like you know everything and everyone else is stupid.

 

[Brandon420tx]

Jameel Cook blew up someone and then made the tackle on the first kickoff. Sweet play Jameel!!!

Carr looked better which is encouraging. He made some good throws, scrambled out of one or two potential sacks, and generally looked more poised in the pocket. He's far from Brady but he was better than he has been. I'm with Kubiak in that as long as he improves each week we will be ok as a team.

Our running game sucked DONKEY @#$%!!!!!!

CC Brown bit on the play action and left Stallworth open by 30 yards!!! I swear that Andy Reid turned to someone on the sidelines and said "watch this" before the play. He knew Brown would bite.

Mario Williams played bad. Maybe he needs to lose weight or something because he looks like he has no speed.

Peek ran sideline to sideline faster than Demeco on a McNabb scramble.

Our Linebackers are brutal. Orr is slow and Greenwood is as physical as a dead fish handshake.

Looked like we really did rotate our guards throughout the game.

Nice trip Carr, see you next fall.

Flanagan wasn't quick enough on a screen and the play ended up a loss for 5 yards.

Putz and Morency gave up one sack each. :brickwall

Our defense SUCKS!!!

I swear Sanders gave Greg Lewis a first down. Sanders was sitting at the first down line and waited for Greg Lewis to run at him.

You saw that one too! I was so angry man. To his credit thought, he played some nice coverage in the game.

 

[run-david-run]

You saw that one too! I was so angry man. To his credit thought, he played some nice coverage in the game.

Que? They threw at Drob about 3 times during the game, most everything else was agianst Sanders...he was brutal at times

 

[Brandon420tx]

Que? They threw at Drob about 3 times during the game, most everything else was agianst Sanders...he was brutal at times

If he had held on to those 2 picks, you wouldn't be complaining, I'm more aggrivated with the safety coverage, and the time he should have hit Lewis sooner.

 

[TexanSam]

The passing game looked very good in the first quarter.

We had absolutely no running game at all today.

David Carr looked good. He didn't play as well in the 2nd-4th quarters as he did in the 1st, but he didn't play horrible in those other 3 quarters either. He'll improve week by week under Kubiak and by the end of the year, I feel he'll be a very good QB.

Mario Williams sucked. You can't spin it any other way. He was bad.

All our other defensive linemen were bad also. We put absolutely ZERO pass rush on McNabb.

Lewis Sanders shouldn't be starting. He made a few contributions and had some good pass coverage at times, but most of the time Donte Stallworth got the best of him.

Demeco Ryans is going to be good. Real good.

Chad Stanley is awesome.

The new bull during player intros is corny. Bring back the inflatable helmet.

 

[blockhead83]

Don't have much new to say...

- Carr looked good. Not great, he didn't go out and win the game on his own shoulders, but considering the circumstances he played like a good starter against a good D. I'm very pleased with what I saw from him, and if he continues to improve we're going to be a much better team than last year.

- Moulds and AJ looked good.

- Our running game sucked, period. Big let down for me, I thought it'd be much improved. Our backs weren't that bad, but the blocking got their lunch handed to them by the Eagles D.

- Mario won't get sacks every game, but he looked fairly pedestrian to my untrained eyes, hopefully he gives us something to cheer about as the season progresses.

- Lewis Sanders and Dunta looked alright to me, alot of the big plays they have up were due to no pass rush. Sanders is good enough to step in at #2 CB, IMO.

- Demeco is going to be a great player for us.

- Babin was outperforming Peek on the edge rush.


That's about it, the bottom line is we got dominated in the trenches. Until either our OL or DL can beat the opposing line consistently, we're going to lose. I thought we did a good job improving our lines in the off-season, but Philly's lines are still considerably better or atleast are playing better together at this point.

 

[GuerillaBlack]

DeMeco did well.

 

[Texans Horror]

After so many years and so many changes, I am glad to see Houston still has a frustrated QB, a porous OL (this time around, they couldn't even open holes - what gives? they usually could at least run the ball...), and a defense that starts strong but fades. The first series of the offense and defense had me thinking the Texans had turned a corner. The rest of the game reminded me that they hadn't, even with new schemes and everything else.

I think this is cause they are still learning the system and they are playing a lot of young players, again.

Demeco really impressed me. Demeco, Dunta, and Moulds/Johnson were the bright spot in an otherwise denigrated game.

 

[Porky]

Bush would have held the Eagles under 400 yards offense

This may be hard to understand, but when your team has the ball, usually the other one doesn't. Hope that didn't go too far over your head.

 

[run-david-run]

If he had held on to those 2 picks, you wouldn't be complaining, I'm more aggrivated with the safety coverage, and the time he should have hit Lewis sooner.

That is definately true, but if he would have held on, they wouldnt be throwing at him so much. That was Drob two years ago...he got 6 or 7 picks and teams stopped throwing at him, thats how its gonna be with everyone else, until they constantly hurt the other team, they wont be respected.

 

[jerek]

Not going to post much until I get to watch the DVR. This is just my first impression.

Richard Smith was killing me today. I don't think our defenders were well prepared for McNabb and Westbrook. I think our playcalling was mostly awful.

The Eagles played better than I gave them credit for. Their O-line was phenomenal but got away with some holding. McNabb was good but he had all day to throw.

Our secondary is a very serious weakness right now. We desperately need P-Buc to step up because Sanders just isn't fast enough to keep up and our safeties are not good enough in coverage.

Our O-line just got dominated.

I'm encouraged by Carr's obvious progress (BTW Carr is not typically given freedom to audible in this offense, so insisting that he should have audibled on X play is probably a stupid argument.) He demonstrated much better pocket awareness and poise, though I thought there were a few plays where he was still unloading too quickly. He looked improved and I like the direction he is going in. I'll need to watch the tape before commenting on his sacks and blame.

Hats off to Philly, they were just the better team today. I liked our progress but there are a lot of little things and a few big things we need to be a lot better at.

That's all I've got until I see my tape.

 

[Texans Horror]

Our secondary definitely looked weak, but that didn't surprise me. It's been a weak spot for a while now, but we have yet to really do something about it. We just need more skill back there, but there's only so much that can be done in one offseason.

Question: what was up with TJ's helmet? Seemed like it kept popping off. Somebody stitch that thing to his head!

 

[Double Barrel]

This may be hard to understand, but when your team has the ball, usually the other one doesn't.

Yep. Our offense was on the field a whole 9 minutes in the second half. Our defense was just worn out because we had no sustained drives.

Our running game was pathetic, at best. Just goes to show why pre-season is fool's gold. I thought the ground game was possibly going to be one of our strengths.

And what happened to Richard Smith's advertised 'agressive defense'? It didn't show up today.

 

[gjmac2]

Face it....the Iggles are generally a better team with a Coaching staff and scheme that has been quite successful for many years. Houston on the other hand is starting relatively new on both sides. There is gonna be a definative learning curve on both sides of the ball. To expect immediate results, day one, against a quality opponent is a bit much. The key is to watch the progression through the season. And please leave Bush outta it. He had, what 60yrds or so against the Browns. Do you really think he would have done better against Philly. Just look what they did to the Chargers running game last year.

BRAVO!!! 100% correct!!!!

Lets keep some perspective.

 

[bpergrem3]

This may be hard to understand, but when your team has the ball, usually the other one doesn't. Hope that didn't go too far over your head.

Let's see Bush get those yards against this Eagles defense. Your not going to compare Bush's performance against Cleveland to our running backs against Philly. We lost to a way better team today. We could have drafted Mario, Bush, and VY and not come close to beating Philly today.

 

[Vinny]

My first impressions was Carr played better, Mario was a bit disapointing, Ryans is going to be a heck of a linebacker, CC Brown bites on run action, Sanders can't cover Stallworth and the first drive gave me hope. We looked like a young, thin team against a better football team. That last part didn't shock me at all...but I'm sure it did for many of you guys as I read your sunshine pumping posts leading up to this game.

 

[Porky]

Let's see Bush get those yards against this Eagles defense. Your not going to compare Bush's performance against Cleveland to our running backs against Philly. We lost to a way better team today. We could have drafted Mario, Bush, and VY and not come close to beating Philly today.

Was Westbrook a difference maker for Philly today? Did you see the way they used him? That's what Bush would have done for us. Comparing Bush to the way we used our convential RB's tells me you don't understand that their our differences among players, and how they are used.

 

[Brandon420tx]

We didn't need any more WRs we needed a running back! (Don't get me wrong I like Morency and Lundy, just trying to put an end to the Bush Man-love)Even if we had one, it probably wouldn't have mattered, Our Line didn't make running lanes.

 

[bpergrem3]

Was Westbrook a difference maker for Philly today? Did you see the way they used him? That's what Bush would have done for us. Comparing Bush to the way we used our convential RB's tells me you don't understand that their our differences among players, and how they are used.

We were trying the same things with our backs but the Philly defense was blowing the plays up quicker than that could develop. Put Bush in for Lundy and you would have the same result.

 

[Hervoyel]

I was at the game for a change but this is what I got from this.

We came out hot, Philly adjusted and shut us down. The end.

Mario Williams? Not impressed but I'm still willing to wait. Not many guys at his position blew up in their first game. It's too soon to be reading "Mario is a BUST". I thought he looked like a rookie today.

Charles Spencer? Today he played pretty good IMO. He didn't get as abused as our rookie LT's usually seem to get.

All the same 5 sacks sucks. That's an 80 sack pace. If they don't get that solved ASAP we're going to lose this new, pretty decent David Carr I saw out there.

Speaking of David Carr I was amazed to find him playing much better than the guy who had me so worried in the preseason. That happy-feet wearing jumpy, gun-shy QB might come back but for today he wasn't the problem. The problem was IMO the running game.

Wali Lundy? There's a reason why he was picked in the 6th round and today we saw it. There's also a reason why Gary Kubiak felt it necessary to go out and get Ron Dayne when Denver waived him. Our young backs didn't get it done today. Either that or our line didn't get their blocking done today. Too many times I saw Lundy with no place to cut back. I suspect it was a little of both.

It was step one in the 2006 season. We'll be better over the second half of the season so I'm not too worried right now. I think we're still better than we looked today. Remember we're starting rookies all over the place and giving others playing time. Thats a lot of guys to get their first taste of real NFL action on the same day against a very good Eagles team. Remember also that we were 2-14 last year.

We only have one direction to go in this season and that's up.

 

[Vinny]

Great meeting you at the game Herv....You are as grand in person as you are posing on a football message board. It was my pleasure....that's a first impression er... I mean...that's on topic...right?

 

[Hervoyel]

Likewise. It was a pleasure talking to you and we're going to have to find a way to do that again. I'm not a big tailgater but I think it would be really cool if we could find a way to meet at someones tailgate before a game and talk some football.

Typing is great but I'd like to sit back and trade thoughts about what's happening with these guys once the weather cools down and the team starts to form a "pattern".

 

[flylikeaneagle]

First: the defense

We simply did not get much pressure on McNabb, enabling him to pick the secondary apart. Westbrook didn't help either.

The offense:

No running game, nada. With offense being run-oriented, you have to be successful running the ball. Neither Lundy or Morency was effective.

But . . . I made a comment earlier this week that I'd be willing to eat a loss, if only I could see concrete evidence that Kubiak was indeed making progress with the Carr project. I wanted to see if there was light at the end of the tunnel.

Well, today, I definately saw that light. As a matter of fact, I think David Carr played his best game in all his 5 years of being here. He wasn't perfect, but I saw poise from him today, I saw him step up into the pocket and hit his receivers downfield . . against an Eagles defense . . . without a running game.

A loss is a loss is a loss . . . but I saw progess. I'll take it.

You need to give credit to the Eagles O-Line. They are big and unbelievable today. The Eagles front four on D was just amazing. Do you guys want Dhani Jones. I cannot stand that idiot. We need to get rid of him. Worthless piece of............

I told everyone here about Trent Cole. He will be a probowler this year.... book it. He will lead this team in sacks.

D. Carr was very good today. No Texans fans should put this loss on Carr's shoulders. He balled out the best way he could.

 

[DBCooper]

Offense looks like a legitimate West Coast Offense. Carr was hitting the slant and over the middle. Even took a couple of good shots downfield.
The Offensive Line needs to be able to block when the defense overloads the line, not crumble. We have got to get the run going.

The Defensive Line was held on most plays. How do you stop McNabb? Can anyone?
We need better tackling on the running back. Westbrook was everywhere.
Safeties were playing scared. They got schooled by McNabb.

Our two biggest problems last year were Offensive and Defensive Line play.
You get those units clicking and we have ourselves a pretty good football team.

 

[Texans_Chick]

I just posted my take on the Chronicle FanBlog:

Link: Eagles beat Texans 24-10: Reaction

Story of the game is that veteran lines overmatched the Texans lines on both sides of the ball.

I didn't write too much on the offensive line because I want to watch my TiVO first. Watched a lot of the defensive line play with binoculars.

 

[HeartofHouston]

We got no pressure on McNabb..

We are supposed to have a new aggressive defense but i don't see it.

Why are our DBs giving their recievers sooooo much cushion?!!?!?

Our running game was a train wreck!

Carr was decent but still needs to improve to keep me off the draft a QB bandwagon in the up and coming draft.

Seriously... 1st overall pick and he tackles that poorly?!? what's going on!?!

 

[thunderkyss]

Good observations. I'll state what I put in the game thread, as it seems to fit better here:


Props to Carr today.

And, to throw in my 2 cents, I have said it till I was blue in the face for months. I finally stopped saying it, becase I was tired of the usual homerism. Saying your favorite team made a mistake is a punishable offense around here. But, who cares. This is a forum to state your opinion. So, I will say it again - Passing up Bush was a huge mistake, and will come back to bite them in the ass over and over again.

I agree. Props to Carr........ he played better today, than I expected. Hopefully those wideReciever slants will be a part of our offense in the future, as well as Carr looking Downfield.

but onto Reggie Bush....... what difference does it make, if Mario turns out to be a bust?? That alone doesn't mean we should've drafted Reggie. Maybe we should've taken D'Brick. maybe we should have traded down, out of the top 10, get Kiwanuka & Cromortie(sp).......

We've run the ball effectively in the past....... we didn't today....... but we will run the ball in the future, we may have to wait for DD to come back.....

But....... Mario= Bust or not, it doesn't matter. We didn't, and don't need Reggie Bush.

However, I thought it might be interesting had we had Reggie, with the number of times Kubiak ran Morency/Lundi out as a WR...... I've never seen Denver do that, especially not as often as we did today......... maybe GK is trying to tell us something.....

 

[Marcus]

I just posted my take on the Chronicle FanBlog:

Link: Eagles beat Texans 24-10: Reaction

"And I have to say a part of me dies when after a game like this, people call talk radio shows to scream about how horrible David Carr is. I don't know how he will be long term, but he actually had a pretty good game considering how poorly the run game was going, how much he was getting killed from the blind side, and that he is running a new offense.

I guess it is too much to ask for sports fans to be reasonable."

Did you catch that response from one "fan" who actually cheered for the Texans to lose because they didn't draft Vince?

 

[nunusguy]

Losing wasn't disappointing as I expected it. What was disappointing and
discouraging was not being competitive in almost all phases of the game.
Carr's surprising performance and rapid transition from a shaky preseason was encouraging and one of the few bright spots, but one wonders how
quickly his new found composure and focus will be shattered again as in past
seasons as the team falls behind in more games this season and he faces a continued barrage of withering pass rushs.

 

[vtech9]

Que? They threw at Drob about 3 times during the game, most everything else was agianst Sanders...he was brutal at times

I don't get the bashing of Sanders. Sure he should have been more agressive trying to stop Lewis from getting the first down. Sure he should have held onto the ball when he had the chances for an interception, but overall, he had some pretty good coverage. Dunta got burnt on the 41 yard TD to Stallworth, and almost got burnt for another one to the rookie WR Baskett. If Baskett would have located the ball sooner, it would have been a TD. From what I saw, both Sanders and D. Rob had their good and bad moments, so to slam one and not the other is BS.

 

[thunderkyss]

All the same 5 sacks sucks. That's an 80 sack pace. If they don't get that solved ASAP we're going to lose this new, pretty decent David Carr I saw out there.

This is a big part of our problem last year.

Capers, Palmer, Pendry botched the fix.

Let's hope Kubiak doesn't panic like the old regime did.......... like some of our fans are....

 

[Vinny]

I don't get the bashing of Sanders. Sure he should have been more agressive trying to stop Lewis from getting the first down. Sure he should have held onto the ball when he had the chances for an interception, but overall, he had some pretty good coverage. Dunta got burnt on the 41 yard TD to Stallworth, and almost got burnt for another one to the rookie WR Baskett. If Baskett would have located the ball sooner, it would have been a TD. From what I saw, both Sanders and D. Rob had their good and bad moments, so to slam one and not the other is BS.

I wasn't impressed with his game. I thought he was picked on over and over. They were converting 3rd downs at will and Sanders didn't have the speed to play close to Stallworth and take away the short pass.

 

[thunderkyss]

We got no pressure on McNabb..

I saw McNabb get flustered......... I saw him throw a pick, and a couple in the dirt. I saw him running around a lot.....

I thought we did fair......... to middle getting pressure on one of the more mobile QBs in the league.

 

[Brandon420tx]

I saw McNabb get flustered......... I saw him throw a pick, and a couple in the dirt. I saw him running around a lot.....

I thought we did fair......... to middle getting pressure on one of the more mobile QBs in the league.

To add to your arguement:

Also remember, that the defense had to practice and play differently to account for McNabbs mobility. We didn't pin our ears back like we normally would, Our D-Line had to (try to) control their lanes.


http://www.houstontexans.com/news/detail.php?PRKey=2839&section=N Latest News

DE N.D. Kalu

(on Eagles QB Donovan McNabb) “He’s so talented, with his feet, he’s a great leader, he can throw the ball. He’s one of the harder quarterbacks to play, because when you play a guy like (QB Michael) Vick, you just worry about stopping him running or (QB) Peyton Manning, he’s just a great passer, but someone like Donovan has a mix of those two, and that’s what makes it so hard to defends him.”

(on whether playing his first regular season game in his home town against his old team will mean more to him) “Like you said, it’s huge. Even the preseason game for me were huge because ever since I left Rice I have always dreamed about coming back to the state of Texas, and to play in my home town, means that much more. It’s going to be exciting this year, anytime I play.”


LB DeMeco Ryans

(on Eagles QB Donovan McNabb) “It’s going to be a big challenge. He’s a great quarterback, a five-time Pro Bowler. Then you have (RB Brian) Westbrook, also a great player. Those are two great guys and they have won a lot of games over the past few years. It’s a big challenge for our team, and we’re really looking forward to it.”

 

[Sarg01]

I saw McNabb get flustered......... I saw him throw a pick, and a couple in the dirt. I saw him running around a lot.....

I thought we did fair......... to middle getting pressure on one of the more mobile QBs in the league.

The problem is that was the exception. The INT was more a great play by Simmons than a hurried throw by McNabb. I didn't believe Simmons could make that catch, I can excuse McNabb for thinking the same thing. Yes, on a few plays we got some pressure. It was not consistent and rarely on 3rd down.

 

[DBCooper]

I saw McNabb get flustered......... I saw him throw a pick, and a couple in the dirt. I saw him running around a lot.....

I thought we did fair......... to middle getting pressure on one of the more mobile QBs in the league.

I saw a few times McNabb was back there having a picnic.