D Mac, who looked pretty freakin' horrendous for the first two weeks, passed for 381 yards and 4 td's.
B West had 110 yards rushing and 2 td's on the ground, along with 111 yards receiving and another TD.
The suddenly wide open Kevin Curtis caught 11 balls for 221 yards and 3 huge TD's.
The defense had 9 sacks (3 from Trent Cole, 2 from Bunkley, and 2 more from Juqua).
No, these are not the stats when my buddy Aran whips my ass in Madden. They are actual stats from yesterday's game.
The Birds desperately needed a performance like the one they received yesterday. Had they gone down in defeat, the season would have been believed by many phans to have been lost. Fortunately for us, they laid the wood to the 2-0 Lions and now it seems everyone is back on the bandwagon. Plus, after the Pack beat the Chargers yesterday, I'm feeling much better about the opening day loss.
It was really nice to see Big Red run the ball 34 times, but I'm sure that number is skewed because of the big lead. B West is a weapon that simply has to be used. He is too dangerous to only be given a limited amount of touches. His 43 yard touchdown off a screen pass was a thing of beauty. However, the problem with this guy has always been his ability to stay healthy. He is nicked up again this week and I'm sure it will be touch and go to see if his abdominal strain subsides enough for him to play Sunday night against the Giants.
D Mac also had a career performance. It continues to amaze me how he performs in the face of controversy. He seems to play better when under such scrutiny. I just wish that one of the media would have said to him, "Donovan, you were perfect today. There is nothing I can criticize about your performance. You were simply marvelous. Bravo!" Seriously, you really can't play any better than Donovan did on Sunday.
I was also pleased to see Curtis' performance, but I'm not sure you can expect anything close to that level of play going forward. Did the Lions watch any game film this week? Didn't they see that you could totally stymie the Birds' WR's if you tried to jam them at the line of scrimmage? Oh well, I guess I should be happy that the Lions' defensive coordinator is a moron, but I doubt the G Men will be so neglectful next week.
Also, is it me or did the Lions defense totally mail in their performance yesterday? We'd be freaking out at a defensive performance like that.
After being non existent for 2 weeks, the pass rush showed up and terrorized Jon Kitna. That may have been the best development of the day. Broderick Bunkley is starting to look like a real player. I'm kind of excited about his progress. I still say the defense's ultimately destiny lies in whether he develops into an above average DT.
Now, we turn our eyes to a Sunday night game against the G Men. History says this will be no walk in the park. Eli Manning always saves the best for the Birds and we have never been able to cover Plaxico. Hopefully, B Dawk and Lito will be back to help our beleaguered secondary. However, the G Men are a week away, we should enjoy this victory for another day or so. Wins like this don't come along very often.
1 comment:
The real issue is this receiving core against bump and run coverage. If they can, we have a chance to be explosive on offense. It would seem w/ McNabb taking off the knee brace he's taken a step in the right direction. Not a coincidence, the OLine did a nice job and obviously 36 needs to be healthy.
The defense has held up their end of the deal thus far. Bunkley looks like the real deal and the LB's are making plays. The white safety is holding his own. The secondary needs to get health.
They get to 2-2 at the break and the upcoming games look manageable.
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