Tonight’s preseason game between the Eagles and Patriots will feature a first half in which the (healthy) projected starters for both teams get a full dress rehearsal. This type of “full reveal” is usually reserved for preseason Game 3, but the rest of the schedule for both the Pats and the Eagles (something like 3 games in 11 days) has made tonight “showtime”…
A full week of game-specific preparation has offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg’s juices flowing.
“This is just excellent for the organization … for all of the coaches so we can get into a routine. It’s just excellent for the players because they get back into a routine. It’s tremendous for the new players we have, whether they are a rookie or a veteran that is new to how we go about doing our business.”
“I know I’m excited and I know the players are as well, especially with a game-simulated week. It’s not quite like a game week, but we’re trying to simulate it as close as we can. I know the players are really excited about that.”
His first-team offense should have a chance to get into a rhythm it never found in a 24-23 win over Pittsburgh to open the preseason.
There are more than physical smilarities between the great Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel to the offensive play-call team of Andy and Marty…Both “teams” worked hard and endlessly at practice and strove to constantly come up with new routines..Both played roughly 16-game “seasons” in their heyday, as Laurel and Hardy had to come up with a monthly short film to remain under studio contract, plus did a minimum of 6 “live” shows per year… Both Laurel and Hardy were excellent athletes in their school days, and brought athleticism into their stunts with extremely tight coordination of the action. And Laurel was even allowed to go out of character on screen at times and actually call a “smart play”…
Complicating matters for Andy and Marty will be the limited looks they’ll be allowed to show in an exhibition, for fear of revealing too much about themselves before the real games begin. However, the Patriots are facing the same scenario, so even though mostly basic schemes will be what both sides show, it still should be a good test — better than the one against Pittsburgh and what they’ll see the rest of the way before their opener.
I think what we’re looking for here most from Marty is a little better tempo and a lot better selection in his playcalls. I’d like to see him go more to the strength of his best blockers, and avoid the weak-side calls that seem to often leave QB Mike Vick appear to be lost in space. Of course, a lot of that apparent indecision at QB we see is on Vick, but Marty needs to strive to get the plays into Vick quicker and with more decisiveness, too.
If the Eagles are indeed a run-and-catch offense, then send in better-designed and better-protected run-and-catch plays.
That’s all. I’m not a Marty-hater. He works hard and knows his stuff. If you want to read some really negative opinion on Marty, then go back through the OTI comments made by AFRA—whom I like. Actually, AFRA’s criticisms of Marty are based in some real ex-player football knowledge.
The problem with Marty is we tend to remember the one or two “what the heck?” calls he makes and forget the ten pretty solid calls he may make in a quarter.
But even Stan Laurel threw a clinker routine into the act once in a while. The difference is, he huddled up with Ollie Hardy and improved his tempo…and made the next routine a great one.
[I will set up the Livefyre broadcast booth here tonight about an hour before the start of the game… I can’t wait to join the smart phans who report live on the action..and I hope to learn something from them…This is an exciting dress rehearsal, not just for Andy and Marty but also Juan Castillo (defensive coordinator).]Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
