EAGLES WRAP UP

To those who read this site regularly (queue the cricket chirping noise), I apologize for not getting this out sooner. Seriously, how can any self respecting blogger miss a chance to comment on his favorite team’s first game??? In any event, please come to my site the day after the game throughout the season for my expert analysis. However, before I get started I would like to point out how close I was on the score….Nice job out of me, huh?

I’ll get the obvious out of the way first…. Donte’ Stallworth. All I can say is “WOW”. He sure did develop some chemistry with D Mac awfully fast. I guess it also doesn’t take three years to learn Andy’s offense as we’ve all been told for so long. It was pretty clear to me that Stallworth made himself about $50 million in a long term deal during the second quarter as he frolicked through the Texans’ secondary. Joe Banner should have faxed Rosenhaus a contract extension in the first quarter after his can of corn touchdown catch. Clearly, Stallworth’s going to cost a lot of money if we want to keep him. On the bright side, the Birds were supposedly ready to pony up big cash to Javon Walker, so we might keep this guy after all.

D Mac looked to be his old self after a slow start. It was nice to see him run in the first half, but he does look as though he lost a step. Is it me or does Donovan’s efficiency pick up 150% when he has a competent wide receiver on the field? I wonder how the Birds’ brain trust doesn’t see that. Although, with the trade for Stallworth, maybe they finally see the same thing.

Obviously, the D line and blitz scheme returned to form with five sacks of the beleagured David Carr who spent more time on his back during this game than Paris Hilton. (Thank you, Thank you...don't forget to tip your waiters and waitresses!) Let’s not get too excited though. They were playing against the one of the worst offensive lines in football.

Matt McCoy looked to be a factor…Frankly, I was shocked…I am really interested to see how he does next week when we play a team that can actually run the ball. I’m sure the G Men will game plan to run it right at him. (Why do I have nightmares of him hanging onto Brandon Jacobs for dear life?)

Buck did exactly what we need him to do. It’s a shame he missed 3 out of the last 4 years. You can really see what he adds to our offense. Maybe Jaws wasn’t so crazy when he said that if we had a healthy Buckhalter over the last couple years, we’d have at least one Super Bowl title in town.

B West was the versatile game breaking back that makes the offense dangerous. However, as the media has pointed out the last couple days, 24 touches are WAY too many. That is dangerous territory. They need to ratchet it back down to 18 to 20. Plus, I really think Moats should get a couple carries a game.

G Lew looked MUCH better now that he’s back to being a 3rd receiver. Thanks to the pick up of Stallworth and the development of Reggie Brown, G Lew is back where he belongs and you can see that he will be productive again in this role.

As for Reggie Brown, he didn’t impress, but it is only game one. I think the Birds may need to better refine his role

As Tito Francona would say, Trot was being Trot on Sunday. He was all over the field being his physical, intimidating self.

Did anyone see Dhani Jones? Neither did I.

The special teams weren’t noticeable yesterday, which is a GOOD thing.

Considine didn’t look out of place in the nickel and dime defense packages. He made a nice play in the 4th quarter knocking down Carr’s pass while blitzing.

Ok…now we get to the biggest disappointment: The starting DB’s.

I don’t think we’ll miss Lito a whole lot over the next month and a half. I think Rod Hood (great porn name, by the way) is much more physical and a better cover guy. However, Lito’s injury really strains the depth of our defense as someone name Joselio "MMmbop" Hanson has to step in as the nickel corner. This could spell trouble and will likely result in a whole lot of three wide receiver sets over the next six weeks.

This hurts to say, but Dawk is no longer a game changer…He can still be effective, but needs to change his game accordingly.

Michael Lewis, and Lito for that matter, has been doing the “Pro Bowl Glide” for two years now. I would like to be optimistic, but if he can’t cover Jeb Putzier, how is he going to effectively cover Jason Whitten, Jeremy Shockey and Chris Cooley six times this year?

Next week brings the G-Men to the Linc for the Birds’ NFC East opener. This should be a classic. The Giants really impressed me in their loss to the Colts. I’m sure they are going to be awfully ornery and be very desperate to prevent opening the year at 0-2. Full disclosure: I am very afraid of that running game and their receivers. Due to our problems in the defensive backfield, we could be in for a track meet.

I can’t wait for the lead up to this one, especially since Antonio Pierce is already threatening retribution for the season ending injury he suffered last year. I love bad blood. Bring it on!