MVN - Most Valuable Network

Day After Reflections

Well I felt I needed a day of reflection to write a more thought out post game analysis as I would of only been able to muster a profanity laced tirade at AJ Feeley yesterday. AJ Feeley played probably the worst game of his career yesterday. Now I still feel he is a viable backup option but he is just that. Charlie Casserly has been on local Comcast SportsNet lately and summed it up best with the backups best game is usually his first, after that he usually gets exposed. Now it would be too easy to rag on AJ but he had a terrible game. Donovan has had them and even Westbrook has had a rough day here or there.

So I guess its time to look at the other phases of the game and lets start with coaching. I’m still very suspect about the massive amounts of downfield passing yesterday. We were beating New England with short and intermediate routes which is the staple of our offense even with a quarterback with a much stronger arm like McNabb. Why the team felt the need to go deep so often was beyond me. My next point is not just a criticism of Andy Reid but of coaching in the league as a general point. On 4th and goal at the one yard line I like the element of surprise and going outside. Teams are stacking the box and right off the snap committing to the middle. I remember Peyton Manning (certainly not clocking in at a 4.20 on the 40 yard dash) about two years back waltzing into the end zone on the naked boot because of this very thing.

The next major thing that I noticed is our defense has totally lost the big play ability. Granted Sheldon made a great play to get an interception but beyond that there were some blown chances. The Hasselbeck fumble was whiffed at and who can forget Hasselbeck pulling a Feeley and handing Spikes an interception. The only problem is Takeo’s hands are made of stone. Rewind to last week and remember the JR Reed and Brian Dawkins blown interceptions that would of been huge as both were late in the game.

I guess I should wrap this up by stating I stand by my article about 2008 without Donovan. Granted the plans call for AJ starting next year, maybe they bring someone in to challenge him or just insert Kevin Kolb if he shows development. One of my readers brought up the point of the Brett Favre situation as caution for dealing McNabb. I think its an interesting perspective but these are totally different situations. Brett Favre hasn’t missed a game in ages and let alone a season to injury. Donovan McNabb has lost the better part of 3 of the last 5 seasons, not even counting this one. Green Bay and Philadelphia obviously have different markets and the fans are two different breeds. While there was sentiment for Favre to go its no where near what it is in Philly. I’m a longtime McNabb fan and will continue to be I just think it’s for the best of both parties involved.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 3rd, 2007 at 6:28 pm and is filed under Postgame Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.