EAGLES BIG PLAY THE GIANTS (Nov 1)

  The Eagles dialed up the offense and exposed the NY Giants  in a 40 to 17 route on Sunday afternoon at the Linc.

The Eagles fearless leader Andy Reid is very stubborn about how he thinks an NFL offense should be run. That is why it is refreshing and surprising when him and his minion O Coordinator call a balanced game. On Sunday the Giants dominated the clock and the amount of plays called 73 to 49! But out of those 49 Eagles offensive plays was a nice combination of  24 runs and 23 pass attempts. And I am not saying the runs have to be more than the passes. But when it is balanced like this it helps both. The Giants had to respect both on defense.

The numbers don’t lie.

Philadelphia Passing
	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	RATING
D. McNabb	17/23	240	10.4	3	0	146.7

Philadelphia Receiving
	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LG	TGTS
D. Jackson	3	78	26.0	1	54	4
B. Celek	4	61	15.3	1	20	6
J. Maclin	4	47	11.8	1	23	4
J. Avant	2	32	16.0	0	28	2
A. Smith	1	11	11.0	0	11	1
L. McCoy	2	10	5.0	0	16	2
D. McNabb	1	1	1.0	0	1	1
L. Weaver	0	0	0.0	0	0	1
Team	17	240	14.1	3	54	21

Philadelphia Rushing
	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LG
L. McCoy	11	82	7.5	1	66
L. Weaver	8	75	9.4	1	41
D. McNabb	1	14	14.0	0	14
E. Buckley	2	6	3.0	0	5
M. Vick	2	3	1.5	0	4
Team	24	180	7.5	2	66

I was totally caught off guard with the use of the fullback Leonard Weaver. And yet I was very happy to see the Eagles finally use him more. McCoy looked very sharp in place of Westbrook. The reality is that the Eagles will never run like a Baltimore or an old Pittsburgh team but this is more along the lines of what you need to do. Andy will never have a workhorse that averages 25 carries but if he does this it should be enough.

The problem is that if they do not run successfully early he bails on it early. I was surprised that Andy did not go the stubborn route seeing that the Giants secondary is mediocre at best. But honestly I think by running the ball it helped put the secondary out on an island and it was not possible for the Giants to load up with corner backs and safeties. They had to respect the rushing attack of Philadelphia and that made them prime pickin’s for the air attack.

Once again DeSean Jackson proved that he can find the soft spot of a secondary and he pulled in a beautiful 54 yarder and hit paydirt in 17 point second quarter. The Eagles also went Mac to Mac when Jeremy Maclin went up after a nice McNabb pass for a 23 yard TD also in the second quarter.

All of this was made possible from the 1st quarter however. Ellis Hobbs took the opening kick off and proved the importance of filed position as he got the ball to the Eagles 40 with a 35 yard return. McNabb tossed a quick screen to Shady McCoy for 16 yards. Came back with a 3 yard run with McCoy. And then Leonard Weaver busted the left middle for a 41 yard fullback TD scamper! Just like that it was 7 to zip, Eagles.

A minute and change later Asante Samuel schooled Eli Manning into an INT and the Eagles had the ball at the NY 10. The Eagles scored but the TD was cancelled out by a penalty. But with 3rd and 17 McNabb hit Brent Celek for a second TD. This one counted. The extra point was blocked however. 13 to 0 Eagles.

By half time the Eagles had cruised to a 30 to 7 lead and never looked back.

The defense did not have a great day but they did not have a bad day either. They did get torched for 141 yards rushing. But they got 3 turnovers also. Although the Eagles offense coughed up 2 fumbles.

The Giants were 8 for 16 on 3rd down conversions. That made the time of possession swing there way and helped the Giants pile up some stats. Like I said the Giants had some success but it wasn’t like they rolled up dominant numbers. The 141 rushing was there best stat. Manning was held in check and had a lame afternoon overall going 20 for 39 and 222 yards. 1 TD and 2 INT’s. He was only dumped 2 times though. Jason Babin and Antonio Dixon doing the honors.

It was nice to see Babin play okay. He had the sack and 2 more tackles for a loss. He has potential. It would be nice if he would breakthrough.

All in all this was an enormous win. Hopefully it will erase the stench from the Oakland and Washington games. There is still more work to do but this was a step in the right direction.