Eagles-Redskins: The Good & The Not-So-Good

Over the weekend, I posted some of the key questions that Monday night’s game would answer. But in a 59-28 defeat, the Redskins decided to answer a question that I apparently forgot: Why just lose when you can completely and utterly implode?

There was no doubt that this game would be one to remember. Even before kickoff, players from each team reportedly had to be separated after a skirmish broke out over something that one player said to another. Rumor has it that the instigator was Washington’s strong safety LaRon Landry and that his words were directed at Eagles’ wideout DeSean Jackson. Half an hour later, Jackson beat Landry deep for an 88-yard TD on the game’s first play and the rout was on. Here’s the good and the not-so-good from Monday’s shellacking.

Good

• Eagles’ offensive play-calling: I already mentioned the 88-yard TD, an impressive and gutsy opening statement. But it was the Eagles’ second drive that really sealed the game. First, Jason Avant caught a 15-yard pass deep left. Then the Eagles pulled out the trickery. They ran a reverse to Jeremy Maclin that fooled the entire Redskins defense, and then they loaded the backfield with three guys only to dump a screen pass to LeSean McCoy, who promptly took it 27 yards to the Redskins’ 7-yard line. All Vick had to do was run it in for the score and the Eagles were up by 14 (with nearly 10 minutes left in the first quarter). That’s smart play-calling.
• Michael Vick: He was untackleable, unshakeable, and played an MVP-caliber game. 6 total touchdowns (4 passing, 2 rushing) and at one point he had completed 10 passes in a row. The question now isn’t if the Eagles will re-sign him. It’s when.
• Keiland Williams: The one guy wearing burgundy & gold who seemed to actually care last night. Add him to the list of potential playmakers for which the Redskins won’t draw up plays. Also, I’m sure a few fantasy owners were thankful that his 3-TD performance helped them pull out an impossible win.

Not-So-Good

• The Redskins’ defense: I said after Week 2 that I wouldn’t start worrying about this unit until it was still a problem at the halfway point of the season. It’s past the halfway point, and it’s still a problem, so now I’m worried. These guys were so bad on Monday Night that it’s truly impossible to single out even a handful of bad calls. But I’ll say this: Often times, when ESPN’s cameras showed Vick completing any kind of significant pass, the Redskins’ secondary looked to never be less than two yards away from the receiver who caught the ball. It was as if they were constantly lost and just stood there wondering who to cover. And then when they knew who to cover, they missed tackles. Oh, did they miss tackles.
• Redskins’ offensive play-calling: After the defense was burned by Jackson on the opening play, here’s how the Redskins’ offense responded: Keiland Williams left end for 4 yards, Keiland Williams left guard for 3 yards, and Keiland Williams left guard for 1 yard. Three runs. Really? You had an extra week to prepare, you gave your new “franchise” QB a 5-year extension the day of the game, you were so confident that you started a scuffle before kickoff, and the cards you had up your sleeve were three of the most generic run plays that anyone could think of? Are you kidding me?
• Mike Tirico: I’ve spent a long time compiling evidence of how useless the guys that call the Monday Night Football games are. Mr. Tirico gave me two more reasons last night. The first came during the third quarter when he elaborated on how Michael Vick’s success began with a good offseason program and conditioning workout, which is really great and all, except that here’s how that good program and workout translated into Michael Vick’s preseason: 16/26, 189 yards, 0 TD’s, and 3 INT’s. Sign me up for that program. I’m pretty sure Vick’s resurgence as a QB happened at some point between Kevin Kolb’s concussion against Green Bay and Vick’s first offensive snap in the same game, when he all of sudden realized that he’d have to actually play QB. Stop trying to pretend like you saw it coming, Mike. And as for the second reason, after a Redskins receiver dropped a pass in the game’s second half, Tirico offered some sage advice to the team’s personnel crew: “They really need to improve this receiver corps.” Yeah, Mike, that was the problem last night. Please go back to being the chubby nerd who giggles every time he gets to talk to someone famous.
• McNabb’s guaranteed money-to-INT ratio: $40 million divided by 3 equals roughly $13.3 million. And the real indignity of it is that the guy didn’t even have the courtesy to throw a number by which $40 million was easily divisible.

This game was all but decided after the first two drives. The Eagles came out firing, and the Redskins looked like they were expecting a 9:00 kickoff and thought that it was still time for on-field warm-ups. In Washington, it’s time to go back to the drawing board, and in Philly it’s time to start eyeing a division title.

But let’s not forget who the real winners are: NBC. In 6 days, they get to air a divisional match between the Eagles and Giants that will decide which team is the class of the NFC East. All ESPN got to broadcast was a game in which the Eagles tied the Redskins to a truck and spent 3 hours dragging them around Landover, MD (a game that anyone outside of Philadelphia likely turned off after halftime). Way to go, NBC.