They did it! Finally! No, the Eagles didn't win the Super Bowl, but they did win on Sunday after losing eight straight games - defeating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the road by the final score of 23-21. The last-second win improved the Eagles to 4-9 on the season. In what has been a trend this year for the team, the dramatic win by the Eagles on Sunday gave the team four wins by a combined six points.
Statistically speaking, the team fell off a bit on special teams, had a mixed showing on the offensive side of the ball, but did show some improvement on defense.
Tampa running back Doug Martin was pretty effective in the ground game, but long gains were limited, as the team rushed the ball 32 times for 136 yards (4.3 per carry) and a touchdown - their long gain being 14 yards by Martin. The pass defense improved quite a bit, holding Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman to just 189 yards passing on 34 attempts (5.6 per). The quarterback did throw two touchdown passes, which helped to offset what was a very below-average game to provide him a somewhat respectable quarterback rating of 79.2 for the afternoon. It was only one game, but any sign of improvement on this side of the ball is welcome news for head coach Andy Reid and Eagles' fans everywhere.
While I had observed improvements in the special teams unit over the past month of the season, that was not the case on Sunday. Punt returner Damaris Johnson fumbled the ball once. Place kicker Alex Henery missed two of three field goal attempts. He hadn't missed since the first game of the season. Punter Mat McBriar failed to pin Tampa inside the 20-yard line on seven punts. Tampa punt returner Roscoe Parrish averaged almost 16 yards per return on four returns. Like I said - it definitely wasn't a good game by the special teams unit. Hopefully it was just an aberration and the improvements I had seen in previous weeks leading up tot his one will be showcased again to close out the remainder of the regular season.
Of course, as is most often the case in football, the offense will garner most of the attention and the same was true of the Eagles on Sunday. This is largely due to the team's final scoring drive, which vaulted them to a 2-point victory on the last play of the game. However, like I said at the outset, it was a mixed showing by the unit.
Passing the ball, the Eagles were fairly efficient, but the running game was another story. On just 16 rushing attempts, the Eagles ran for a total of 29 yards (1.8 per carry). No, that's not a typo. Rookie quarterback Nick Foles actually led the team in rushing with 27 yards on 3 carries (9.0 per) and a touchdown. Backup tailback Bryce Brown, who had rushed for over 300 yards in the team's previous two games, carried the ball 12 times for 6 yards (0.5 per). Third-string tailback Dion Lewis carried the ball once for -4 yards. That's right - the two Philly tailbacks whom got carries against Tampa on Sunday combined to rush the ball 13 times for a total of only 2 yards (0.2 per). Ouch! This may be why Foles threw the ball 51 times in the game, completing 32 of his passes for 381 yards (7.5 per), two touchdowns, and a quarterback rating of 98.6. He was also sacked six times, losing 43 yards in the process. The ground game was awful and the offensive line play was fairly putrid as well. The passing game still managed to be rather efficient without those other two elements performing up to par, however. Foles spread the ball around nicely - completing passes to eight different receivers, including sixteen passes to wideouts Jason Avant and Jeremy Maclin for a combined 237 yards and a touchdown (the game-winner).
At this point in the season, I have to believe that Andy Reid has to be very pleased with the progress that Nick Foles has been showing. Foles has continued to show some improvements in each of his four NFL starts. Is he the answer for the Eagles' future? While it would be easy to jump on that bandwagon following yesterday's dramatic come-from-behind win, geared by the rookie, I still believe it's too early to tell. Foles is continuing to showcase that he has potential at this level, but we also have to look at yesterday's opponent before crowning this guy the next savior of Philadelphia. Philly's offensive numbers were very reflective of how Tampa Bay's defense has played this year. They couldn't run the football. Tampa leads the NFL in rush defense - averaging to allow just 78.2 yards on the ground per game. Philly threw the ball very well. Tampa is dead last in the league in pass defense - averaging to give up 311.6 yards passing per game. Foles played very well yesterday, but he was also playing the worst pass defense in the league. On the other side, tailback Bryce Brown gave a very underwhelming performance, but he was facing the top rush defense in the league. I'll need to see more from both rookies against different qualities of competition before casting my ultimate judgment.
Up next for the Eagles is a Thursday night home game against the 7-6 Cincinnati Bengals. Philly may be out of the NFC playoff picture, but could very well play the role of spoiler to close the season. They defeated then 6-6 Tampa Bay, which may have pushed the Bucs out of playoff contention, They'll have that same opportunity this week against the wild-card hopeful Bengals.
http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=321209027
http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/tb/tampa-bay-buccaneers
Statistically speaking, the team fell off a bit on special teams, had a mixed showing on the offensive side of the ball, but did show some improvement on defense.
Tampa running back Doug Martin was pretty effective in the ground game, but long gains were limited, as the team rushed the ball 32 times for 136 yards (4.3 per carry) and a touchdown - their long gain being 14 yards by Martin. The pass defense improved quite a bit, holding Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman to just 189 yards passing on 34 attempts (5.6 per). The quarterback did throw two touchdown passes, which helped to offset what was a very below-average game to provide him a somewhat respectable quarterback rating of 79.2 for the afternoon. It was only one game, but any sign of improvement on this side of the ball is welcome news for head coach Andy Reid and Eagles' fans everywhere.
While I had observed improvements in the special teams unit over the past month of the season, that was not the case on Sunday. Punt returner Damaris Johnson fumbled the ball once. Place kicker Alex Henery missed two of three field goal attempts. He hadn't missed since the first game of the season. Punter Mat McBriar failed to pin Tampa inside the 20-yard line on seven punts. Tampa punt returner Roscoe Parrish averaged almost 16 yards per return on four returns. Like I said - it definitely wasn't a good game by the special teams unit. Hopefully it was just an aberration and the improvements I had seen in previous weeks leading up tot his one will be showcased again to close out the remainder of the regular season.
Of course, as is most often the case in football, the offense will garner most of the attention and the same was true of the Eagles on Sunday. This is largely due to the team's final scoring drive, which vaulted them to a 2-point victory on the last play of the game. However, like I said at the outset, it was a mixed showing by the unit.
Passing the ball, the Eagles were fairly efficient, but the running game was another story. On just 16 rushing attempts, the Eagles ran for a total of 29 yards (1.8 per carry). No, that's not a typo. Rookie quarterback Nick Foles actually led the team in rushing with 27 yards on 3 carries (9.0 per) and a touchdown. Backup tailback Bryce Brown, who had rushed for over 300 yards in the team's previous two games, carried the ball 12 times for 6 yards (0.5 per). Third-string tailback Dion Lewis carried the ball once for -4 yards. That's right - the two Philly tailbacks whom got carries against Tampa on Sunday combined to rush the ball 13 times for a total of only 2 yards (0.2 per). Ouch! This may be why Foles threw the ball 51 times in the game, completing 32 of his passes for 381 yards (7.5 per), two touchdowns, and a quarterback rating of 98.6. He was also sacked six times, losing 43 yards in the process. The ground game was awful and the offensive line play was fairly putrid as well. The passing game still managed to be rather efficient without those other two elements performing up to par, however. Foles spread the ball around nicely - completing passes to eight different receivers, including sixteen passes to wideouts Jason Avant and Jeremy Maclin for a combined 237 yards and a touchdown (the game-winner).
At this point in the season, I have to believe that Andy Reid has to be very pleased with the progress that Nick Foles has been showing. Foles has continued to show some improvements in each of his four NFL starts. Is he the answer for the Eagles' future? While it would be easy to jump on that bandwagon following yesterday's dramatic come-from-behind win, geared by the rookie, I still believe it's too early to tell. Foles is continuing to showcase that he has potential at this level, but we also have to look at yesterday's opponent before crowning this guy the next savior of Philadelphia. Philly's offensive numbers were very reflective of how Tampa Bay's defense has played this year. They couldn't run the football. Tampa leads the NFL in rush defense - averaging to allow just 78.2 yards on the ground per game. Philly threw the ball very well. Tampa is dead last in the league in pass defense - averaging to give up 311.6 yards passing per game. Foles played very well yesterday, but he was also playing the worst pass defense in the league. On the other side, tailback Bryce Brown gave a very underwhelming performance, but he was facing the top rush defense in the league. I'll need to see more from both rookies against different qualities of competition before casting my ultimate judgment.
Up next for the Eagles is a Thursday night home game against the 7-6 Cincinnati Bengals. Philly may be out of the NFC playoff picture, but could very well play the role of spoiler to close the season. They defeated then 6-6 Tampa Bay, which may have pushed the Bucs out of playoff contention, They'll have that same opportunity this week against the wild-card hopeful Bengals.
http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=321209027
http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/tb/tampa-bay-buccaneers
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