Week 12 Analysis: Philadelphia @ New England

November 26th, 2007 1:24 am
by Big Dog

God bless Andy Reid and the Philadelphia Eagles. I’ve written previously about how watching the New England Patriots just dominate football is boring. This week the Eagles demonstrated that New England aren’t untouchable.

The Eagles came to play with a clear plan, and for the most part were able to execute it well even though QB Donovan McNabb was out with an ankle injury and backup QB A.J. Feeley(27-42, 345 yards, 3 TDs, 3 INTs) was managing the game. Feeley did a magnificent job and even though the Eagles didn’t come away with the win, due mainly to a pair of interceptions from Feeley, it’s important to remember that for most of the game Feeley had better stats than New England QB Tom Brady 34-54, 380 yards, TD).

For the Eagles’ offense it was clear from early in the game that New England weren’t going to give any room deep or on the outside. This opened up the inside pass every time. In fact, this was a feature topic of conversation for John Madden and Al Michaels mostly because it was absolutely true for the whole of the game. Even when Philadelphia took the lead and New England’s defense was clearly struggling to contain them, the inside pass was always there for Feeley. In addition, Eagles RB Brian Westbrook had his typically solid game, making good, strong runs and critical receptions.

On defense, the Eagles were able to contain Patriots WR Randy Moss(5 receptions for 43 yards) and basically eliminate his impact on the game. This did open the game up for WR Wes Welker who managed an impressive 13 receptions for 149 yards. In truth, if it hadn’t been for Welker’s speed and effective route running, New England wouldn’t have been in this game at all.

The most frustrating aspect of the game for the Eagles were Feeley’s interceptions. The first came on his second play of the game and was returned by CB Asante Samuel for a TD. The Eagles dealt with that setback promptly, with a fantastic drive for their own TD. The second interception came in the late stages of the fourth quarter, as Philadelphia was 3 points down and trying to score for the win. Feeley (against all the experience and success of the game to this point) attempted the long throw to the outside corner of the endzone and once again Samuel took the pick. In the resulting drive, New England ate a lot of the clock and forced Philadelphia to burn their final timeout.

The Eagles got the ball back with 20 seconds on the clock, needing to make about 40 yards to be within FG distance. Once again, Feeley went for the outside throw, clearly trying to preserve time and ignoring the old football adage “take what they give you”. This time Patriots’ S James Sanders came away with the ball and that was the game.

This was one of the genuinely exciting Patriots games of the season and among other things provided an excellent demonstration of why Andy Reid is considered to be one of the best coaches in the league today. The Eagles came so very close to a truly remarkable upset win today, and in so doing, they have provided a blueprint for taking on New England that is bound to haunt the Patriots through the rest of the season.

Posted in A.J. Feeley, Al Michaels, Analysis, Andy Reid, Asante Samuel, Brian Westbrook, Game, James Sanders, John Madden, NFL, NFL Coaches, NFL Franchises/Teams, NFL Players, NFL on NBC, NFL on television, New England Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles, Randy Moss, Tom Brady, Wes Welker | No Comments »

NFL Week 5 Analysis: Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers

October 10th, 2007 8:40 am
by Pro Set

Chicago 27-20 Green Bay

Green Bay fell from the ranks of the undefeated in a terrible home loss to Chicago. Giving up a halftime lead of 17-7, and a third quarter lead of 20-10, the Packers conceded 17 unanswered points and lost their chance to eliminate, effectively, the Bears from the NFC North race.

As was correctly identified by Al Michaels and John Madden on NBC, the key play was the third quarter INT thrown by QB Brett Favre. Chicago scored on the next play to move within a FG and never gave up the momentum. 

For the Packers, 5 turnovers and a dozen penalties were too much to overcome. The standout penalty in the first half kept a Bears drive alive when the Packers were deemed to have lined up over the centre on a CHI FG attempt. In the second half, however, penalties on early downs killed GB drives. Even when GB seemed to have recovered impetus with the tipped 4^th quarter INT off an underthrown QB Brian Griese pass, a penalty contributed to a 3 & out. A truly amateurish final drive made a joke of the 2 minute drill and never gave the Packers a chance. 

For the Bears, they executed the classic NFL road strategy of hanging around until the home team ran out of steam. It also helped that the Packers gave up two fumbles on long drives early in the game. RB Cedric Benson had a serviceable game, despite his low YPC figure. I also thought that the Bears did well in picking up GB blitzes. Griese was always looking for the unmarked swing pass and this prevented him from locking on downfield and giving his reads away. 

One moment, in a game splattered with huge plays, was the TE Greg Olsen TD rec off the MLB Brian Urlacher INT. the TD was awarded under the “force-out” judgment of one official. In my opinion, the “force-out” provision is a terrible rule that places an impossible burden on the field judge, side judge, line judge and head linesman. 

It is simply not right that an official is required to judge whether a player would have come down in bounds with two feet unless contacted. It seems to me as if the slightest contact now justifies a force out ruling when the receiver simply did not get two feet in bounds. The rule is a clear and unwarranted artifice to increase scoring. Subjective judgments from officials should not decide games. 

If a receiver cannot catch a pass and get two feet in bounds, why does he deserve a touchdown? What is so wrong about a defender preventing a receiver from landing in bounds? How much contact is required? Does the receiver have to make a “best effort” to get his feet in? In the even world of the NFL, it’s time to let the players decide the outcomes of games. 

Roger Goodell should stop focusing on players’ private lives and continue to address his primary concern: the games themselves.   

Posted in Al Michaels, Analysis, Game, John Madden, NFL on NBC, Week 5 Instant Analysis | No Comments »

MNF coverage crippled by commentary

September 18th, 2007 1:50 am
by Pro Set

Despite Joe Theismann leaving the booth, tonight’s MNF coverage really demonstrated how far matters have deteriorated since Al Michaels departed for NBC.

With a tight, hugely important divisional showdown in play, (yes, actually in play) the long-suffering viewers were treated to a torturous over-indulgence of Charles Barkley followed by a fourth quarter descent into storyline wonderland that was just infuriating.

Barkley entered the booth in the third quarter and made some prescient and insightful remarks on the pressures facing QB Donovan McNabb. This was a really interesting period as McNabb battled to keep PHI within striking distance with the fans on his back.

But the MNF crew just had to begin pontificating on the New England spygate incident. This had been covered, on national television, 24 hours previously when the Patriots were actually playing. The relevance and newsworthiness of the MNF input was negligible, at best. The story of the evening was the game in front of them, and the issue at hand was how PHI would convert its painful but stuttering drives into TD opportunities, whilst getting pressure on WSH QB Jason Campbell on the other side of the ball without letting the Redskins run freely.

Mercifully the enforced conversation created by Barkley departed at the end of the third quarter. I’m not sure that I could have coped if Mike (the Choirboy) Tirico had mentioned again that Barkley covers the NBA for TNT, and that “our (Tirico’s and Barkley’s) paths will cross many times during the (NBA) season.”

We all then suffered as Tony Kornheiser, who tries hard but does not seem to have the patience to appreciate a full game of NFL football, started soliloquising on the future of WSH coach Joe Gibbs. The relevance of this subject matter to the game at hand was zero. It’s Week 2 and the Redskins are 1-0 so the future of the coach is absolutely moot when a 2-0 start is one defensive stop away. My bet is that Joe Gibbs, as well as every interested viewer, was fully focussed on how to contain the threatened PHI comeback.

I felt that Kornehiser had saved this up for a large PHI lead to fill 4th quarter dead time, and refused to allow the game to dictate the storylines. This manufactured storyline is beloved by the MNF crew. It simply gives them an excuse to follow a prepared script and cue up something that gives the aura of preparedness.

I feel ungrateful criticising a crew that has replaced the Mike Patrick, Paul Maguire, Joe Theismann, Suzy Kolber human interest-athon that used to crush my will to breathe.

But Tirico insists on explaining the ultra obvious during the one game of the week that is on cable, and might be expected to draw the most discerning and knowledgeable audience. Kornheiser is a newspaper man and loves to focus on pre-game storylines that can be “followed up” and “developed.”

I yearn for the return of Dick Stockton and Matt Millen, or Ray Bentley and Ron Pitts.

Posted in Al Michaels, Dick Stockton, Donovan McNabb, Jason Campbell, Joe Gibbs, Matt Millen, Mike Tirico, Monday Night Football, NFL on NBC, Philadelphia Eagles, Ron Jaworski, Tony Kornheiser, Washington Redskins | No Comments »