It was definitely a day to remember for the Arizona Cardinals and one to forget for the Philadelphia Eagles. With the win, Arizona improved to 3-0 for the first time since 1974. The loss moved the Eagles into a 1st place tie in the NFC East alongside New York and Dallas, whom both won over the weekend.
The Philly defense, for the most part, played well. They held Arizona to 292 total yards on the day and only 99 on the ground (2.9 per carry), however their top 5-pass defense got owned at times by the Cardinals' passing attack. Standout receiver for the Cardinals, Larry Fitzgerald, had a field day on the Eagles' secondary - catching 9 passes for 114 yards and a score. In the grand scheme of things, however, the Eagles' defense was the least of their worries.
While their special teams were nothing to marvel about, most of the problems Philly faced on Sunday afternoon were with regard to the offense. The two things that stood out to me were the play-calling and blocking.
Philly's starting center was hurt and lost for the season just a week ago. Whether or not that was the biggest factor in the atrocious line play is debatable. Standout tailback, LeSean McCoy, wasn't utilized as much as he probably should have been, yet whenever he was given the ball, he'd have to run backwards and sideways in order to make something out of nothing, because the blocking just wasn't there. That wasn't even the worst part. If quarterback Michael Vick is able to stand up today, this would be quite surprising. At last count by the announcers calling the game, the quarterback had been hit 21 times and knocked to the ground 10 times. I think I counted 3-5 more occasions that both events occurred. This kind of pressure led to one of the Arizona touchdowns, as just prior to the end of the 2nd quarter and with Philly driving, head coach Andy Reid decided to try and get one more play off before bringing in the field goal unit. Not two seconds after Vick took the snap, he was blindsided by the pass rush, the ball got knocked loose and the Cardinals rumbled 93 yards to go up by a commanding 24-0 score at the half.
With their next game being at home against co-NFC East leader New York on Sunday night, the Eagles could take a big step forward with a victory. They'll really need to improve in a couple areas if they want to even think about doing that at this point. While they are currently 2-1, they've been inefficient on offense in all three games; and while they rank in the top 10 in both rushing and passing, they're near the very bottom in scoring, due to having turned the ball over 12 times in those three games. They'll need to run a much more efficient offense if they want to defeat the New York Giants on Sunday and that starts with protecting the quarterback, getting McCoy more involved and not turning the ball over.
The Philly defense, for the most part, played well. They held Arizona to 292 total yards on the day and only 99 on the ground (2.9 per carry), however their top 5-pass defense got owned at times by the Cardinals' passing attack. Standout receiver for the Cardinals, Larry Fitzgerald, had a field day on the Eagles' secondary - catching 9 passes for 114 yards and a score. In the grand scheme of things, however, the Eagles' defense was the least of their worries.
While their special teams were nothing to marvel about, most of the problems Philly faced on Sunday afternoon were with regard to the offense. The two things that stood out to me were the play-calling and blocking.
Philly's starting center was hurt and lost for the season just a week ago. Whether or not that was the biggest factor in the atrocious line play is debatable. Standout tailback, LeSean McCoy, wasn't utilized as much as he probably should have been, yet whenever he was given the ball, he'd have to run backwards and sideways in order to make something out of nothing, because the blocking just wasn't there. That wasn't even the worst part. If quarterback Michael Vick is able to stand up today, this would be quite surprising. At last count by the announcers calling the game, the quarterback had been hit 21 times and knocked to the ground 10 times. I think I counted 3-5 more occasions that both events occurred. This kind of pressure led to one of the Arizona touchdowns, as just prior to the end of the 2nd quarter and with Philly driving, head coach Andy Reid decided to try and get one more play off before bringing in the field goal unit. Not two seconds after Vick took the snap, he was blindsided by the pass rush, the ball got knocked loose and the Cardinals rumbled 93 yards to go up by a commanding 24-0 score at the half.
With their next game being at home against co-NFC East leader New York on Sunday night, the Eagles could take a big step forward with a victory. They'll really need to improve in a couple areas if they want to even think about doing that at this point. While they are currently 2-1, they've been inefficient on offense in all three games; and while they rank in the top 10 in both rushing and passing, they're near the very bottom in scoring, due to having turned the ball over 12 times in those three games. They'll need to run a much more efficient offense if they want to defeat the New York Giants on Sunday and that starts with protecting the quarterback, getting McCoy more involved and not turning the ball over.
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