2008/12/07

Eagles Keep Playoff Hopes Alive


The Eagles beat the Giants on Sunday, 20-14, to keep their slim playoff hopes alive. The Eagles now sit at 7-5-1, and still need some help if they want to make it into the playoffs.

There is a simple way to explain why the Eagles were able to beat the Giants. It's amazing what happens when you run the ball effectively. The Eagles ended the game with 41 runs and only 30 passes. Westbrook carried the ball 33 times for 131 yards and had a rushing and a receiving touchdown. It was good play calling for the 2nd straight week. The Giants could never mount a comeback in the 2nd half, mostly because their defense could not get off the field. The Eagles gave the Giants a taste of their own medicine, by running it right at the Giants over and over again. The Eagles ended up with 144 yards on the ground, and held the Giants potent rushing attack to 88 yards. It was comical to see one of the games biggest assholes, Antonio Pierce getting abused up and down the field by Westbrook. The only way to slow down Westbrook would have been if Pierce would have layed down on Westbrook after he tackled him. Ohhh wait, he tried that one time, and get flagged for it. McNabb played effectively, mostly because the play calling was good, and did not turn the ball over, while keeping the Eagles offense on the field.

On defense, the Eagles once again played a very good game. The first game the Eagles played the Giants was one of the few poor games this Eagles defense has had, and they made up for it today. The Eagles were able to stop the Giants rushing attack, and make Eli Manning beat that. Unfortunately, Eli Manning is still not very good without a good rushing attack, and especially without Plaxico Burress. If you can shut down the Giants rushing attack, you have a decent chance of beating them, and that's exactly what Jim Johnson did. Even though the Eagles defense did not register a sack, or create a turnover, they did a great job of getting off the field when the Giants would have 3rd and 4th and short.

Aside from a couple special teams blunders, the Eagles clearly outplayed the Giants in the Meadowlands. The Eagles definitely looked like the team we all expected them to look like all season long, and need to continue this momentum through the last three games of the regular season, and hopefully secure a playoff berth, because in the playoffs... anything can happen.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hope stays alive, though it's still on a ventilator. Thanks to Reid's arrogant pig-headedness, it's more likely that after the Dallas game on the 28th, when Atlanta has secured the last wild card berth by a half game, we'll have to watch Andy stonewall questions about why the hell he didn't run this balanced offense a bit earlier -- like maybe the beginning of the freakin' year! It's only been about 2 years that the fans have been screaming for a game plan that Reid has finally condescended to try out. Talk about a slow learner...
In more significant news, I'm happy to report that the Undertaker whipped the Big Show's fat ass in the epic cage match on Friday night's Smackdown. And the result was achieved in spectacular fashion as the Deadman, already at the top of the cage and about to climb out, opted to return to the squared circle to complete his savage punishment of the hapless giant. Although Big Show did manage to stage a rally, and was about to lift the Undertaker for a crushing slam, the Deadman suddenly trapped Big Show's head in a vicious leg lock, resulting in the latter's tap out and submission. At the experienced hands of the Undertaker, the Big Show was reduced to a snivling little girl...