This is the part where you try to muster the inspiration to carry on with some reasonable hope of making a competitive run in 2011…
It’s not easy.
Crazy stuff kept happening in Buffalo… those weird voodoo kind of miscues that you may see only once every few decades.
Then there’s the drops…and the strip-fumbles… Somebody better tell the Eagles’ offensive backs and ends that there’s a best-selling film in circulation among NFL teams right now called “How to Strip an Eagle”…
Eagles wide receiver Jason Avant fumbles during the third quarter against the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park, N.Y., on Sunday. In the fourth quarter, a ball jarred loose from Avant turned into an interception that helped the Bills hold off the Eagles’ comeback. ‘I don’t know what happened,’ Avant said of his mistakes.
At least one good thing to come out of Buffalo is Avant, Jeremy Maclin, Steve Smith, and perhaps even Mike Vick himself have to be ready to admit they have a problem holding on to the ball in key situations…and take some corrective measures to improve the situation.
Another good thing: the players can no longer fool themselves about there being plenty of time left in this season to overcome the mistakes and bad mojo afflicting them so far…
Since 1990, only five teams that started 1-4 wound up making making the playoffs: the 2004 Green Bay Packers, 2002 New York Jets, 2002 Tennessee Titans, 1993 Houston Oilers and 1992 San Diego Chargers. All five teams also won their division.
There’s the ticket– must win the division. Translation— no more margin of error re. turnovers.
“It’s tough,” Eagles coach Andy Reid said. “I appreciated the way the guys battled. They continued to battle the whole game. If we can fix the mistakes, we can get this thing turned around.”
Sunday it was Avant’s turn to wear the goat-horns, although he had a great receiving game overall. The Eagles had driven to the Bills’ 25-yard line when Vick fired a short pass to Avant. Cornerback Drayton Florence jarred the ball loose and linebacker Nick Barnett snared his second interception of the game to thwart the Eagles’ scoring attempt.
Avant also lost a fumble earlier the game. The Eagles committed a season-high five turnovers, including four Vick interceptions. “I don’t know what happened,” Avant said. “The first one (the fumble), I thought I had it secured and the guy (Bills safety Jairus Byrd) knocked it out. On the second one, (Florence) came for the ball before I had a chance to tuck it in. It was a great play by him.”
It’s apparent to me from my armchair that Eagles runners and receivers are not so much fumbling as getting stripped of the ball, often while actually on the way down to the ground after the wrap.
I can’t remember a season where so many key drops, deflections and fumbles stripped away from ball carriers have come back to haunt the Eagles like this first third of the season. Maclin’s drop in Atlanta…Steve Smith’s drop and deflection/INT against New York… Maclin’s strip-fumble against San Francisco… Ronnie Brown’s whatever the eff it was against the Niners…and now Avant’s nightmare in Buffalo.
There were bright spots to build upon. I thought rookie RG Danny Watkins had a very solid outing, and I thought King Kong Dunlap accounted very well for himself at Left Tackle…(that holding call against the King in the fourth quarter drive of the Eagles was an atrociously bad call by the ref based upon my review of the play)…
Eagles safeties and linebackers had a light come on for them in the late 3rd and 4th quarters…we started to see some nice run support from the safeties and finally some screen pass defense by the LB’s…Asomugha was playing more man than zone in many situations and making great tackles and stops. The all-out effort to win was visible…and apparent. I liked the effort shown.
But now at 1-4 and the Redskins coming up next at 3-1 (at D.C.), the Eagles have no stumbling room left…effort alone will not be enough. They need very clean possession technique…and much better luck.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-Philadelphia, Vick 5-90, McCoy 11-80, Lewis 2-8, D.Jackson 1-(minus 4). Buffalo, Jackson 26-111, Spiller 2-13, B.Smith 4-12, Fitzpatrick 3-7.
PASSING-Philadelphia, Vick 26-40-4-INT, 2TD-315. Buffalo, Fitzpatrick 21-27-1-INT,1TD-193.
RECEIVING-Philadelphia, Avant 9-139, Maclin 6-54, D.Jackson 5-86, McCoy 4-27, Celek 1-6, Harbor 1-3. Buffalo, Jackson 6-85, Roosevelt 5-41, St.Johnson 4-29, Jones 2-25, Spiller 2-3, Nelson 1-6, Chandler 1-4.
MISSED FIELD GOALS-None… FG’s: Henery (35); Lindell (25)
PUNT RETURNS-Philadelphia, D.Jackson 2-27. Buffalo, None.
KICKOFF RETURNS-Philadelphia, Lewis 3-62, Cooper 1-16. Buffalo, B.Smith 2-38.
TACKLES-ASSISTS-SACKS-Philadelphia, Allen 10-3-0, Page 7-4-0, Rolle 5-4-0, Chaney 4-4-0, Asomugha 4-1-0, Jenkins 3-3-1, Babin 3-2-0, Rodgers-Cromartie 3-0-0, Tapp 2-1-0, Laws 1-1-0, Patterson 1-1-0, Anderson 1-0-0, Avant 1-0-0, Celek 1-0-0, Dunlap 1-0-0, Hanson 1-0-0, Herremans 1-0-0, Landri 1-0-0, Parker 1-0-0, Fokou 0-3-0, Coleman 0-2-0, Cooper 0-1-0, Hughes 0-1-0. Buffalo, Wilson 11-0-0, Byrd 8-0-0, Scott 4-1-0, McKelvin 4-0-0, Moats 3-2-0, Sheppard 3-0-0, Barnett 2-1-0, Carrington 2-0-0, Florence 2-0-0, Sp.Johnson 1-1-0, Martin 1-1-0, B.Smith 1-1-0, Merriman 1-0-1, Corner 1-0-0, McIntyre 1-0-0, L.Smith 1-0-0, Urbik 1-0-0, Davis 0-1-0.
INTERCEPTIONS-Philadelphia, Chaney 1-10. Buffalo, Barnett 2-47, Corner 1-4, Wilson 1-1.
TIME OF POSSESSION: Philadelphia 26:22; Buffalo 33.38.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
