9/10/13
Wow…What a way to start the Chip Kelly era for the Eagles.
All of the attention, no thanks to ESPN, was shifted on the Redskins and Robert
Griffin III (better known as RG3). ESPN the Magazine had a section of
predicting every game for every team. When the writers were predicting this
game, they predicted a 41-0 blowout by the Redskins. Good thing I don’t write
for that magazine or else I would have laughed at myself for predicting such a
ridiculous score. Everyone questioned Kelly as to whether his high octane
offense that he instilled at Oregon would work in the NFL. The other question
everyone had in mind was whether Kelly can adjust to the speed of the game the
NFL is played at compared to how the game is played at the collegiate level.
Enough talk; let’s talk about how this game unfolded.
The Eagles received the ball in the first quarter and it was
time to show the nation how fast this offense was going to be. On their first
drive, they were marching up the field so quick that it looked like the Oregon
Ducks playing football in the NFL. However, when the Eagles were in the red
zone on their first drive, Michael Vick threw a backwards pass that was ruled a
fumble and DeAngelo Hall recovered the fumble and ran 75 yards into the other
endzone for the first points of the game. It was a 7-0 Redskins lead. The
Eagles got the ball again and this time they put points on the scoreboard. Alex
Henery kicked a 48 yard field goal to make it a 7-3 game. The Redskins finally
got their first possession on offense with 9:15 left in the first quarter.
Their first play on offense did not go smoothly. RG3 handed the ball off to
Alfred Morris and he fumbled the ball. Michael Kendricks recovered the fumble
for the Eagles and were set up perfectly to score again. Just like that, Vick
threw a 25 yard touchdown pass to DeSean Jackson on the first play of the
drive. It was a 10-7 Eagles lead. The second drive for the Redskins was another
poor drive. RG3 threw an interception to Brandon Boykins. Although the Eagles
didn’t score after that interception, they got a safety with five minutes left
in the opening quarter. At the end of the first quarter, the Eagles led the
Redskins 12-7.
In the second quarter, the Redskins looked terrible on
offense and defense. Vick threw a 28 yard touchdown pass to Brent Celek. Vick
also got in the scoring column as he ran for a three yard touchdown to make the
score at halftime 26-7.
The Eagles kept the pedal to the metal for most of the third
quarter until they hit the cruise control button for most of the quarter. RG3
threw his second interception of the game to Cary Williams. That interception
set the Eagles up nicely for a 34 yard touchdown run by LeSean McCoy. That made
the score 33-7 and that was the last time the Eagles scored. The Redskins were
starting to get their groove on after the Eagles scored that touchdown until
Kai Forbath shanked a 40 yard field goal. The Redskins scored a touchdown in
the final seconds of the quarter. Alfred Morris ran five yards into the endzone
to make the score 33-14, which was how the third quarter ended.
The fourth quarter belonged to the Redskins. Their momentum
started once Jason Avant fumbled the football for the Eagles and Perry Riley
recovered the fumble for the Redskins. That fumble set up a 10 yard touchdown
pass from RG3 to Leonard Hankerson. Just like that the score was 33-21. Were we
going back in time to the Eagles of last year of having a giant lead but
blowing the game at the end? As the Eagles did nothing on offense this quarter,
the defense stepped up on one critical drive. The Eagles forced the Redskins to
turn the ball over on downs. The Eagles continued to run time off the clock,
which is something Chip Kelly is not accustomed to doing. On the final Redskins
drive of the game, they scored a touchdown with 1:30 left in the game. RG3
threw a 24 yard touchdown pass to Hankerson for his second touchdown of the
game. They tried to do an onsides kick to get one more chance on offense to win
the game, but not only did the Eagles recover the onsides kick, but the
Redskins got called for an offsides penalty. The Eagles went into the victory
formation and took a knee and enjoyed their first win of the season winning by
a final score of 33-27.
Overall, I was very surprised with what a difference a
healthy offensive line can do for any quarterback. Vick had a lot of time to
throw the ball. As much as he threw some bad passes, the receivers didn’t get
to their spot fast enough to where Vick threw the ball. If there’s one
difference the Eagles had that we as Eagles fans haven’t seen for the past 14
years, it was the emphasis on running the football. That’s right, the Eagles
ran the football 49 times compared to passing the ball 25 times. That’s a 66:34
run/pass ratio. I have been shunned on the fact that the Eagles knew how to run
the football. The one thing I really liked about Vick was that he had one fluky
turnover. Usually he would throw an interception or two per game, but in this
game he threw zero interceptions. DeSean Jackson had a solid game catching
seven balls for 104 yards. He was a lost cause last year. LeSean McCoy had a
career high 31 carries for 184 yards, which was one yard short of tying his
career high in rushing yards in a game. I felt RG3 was playing scared at
quarterback. He didn’t look 100% coming off of a torn ACL/MCL injury. He was
rusty and was afraid to run with the football in the first half. He got better
in the second half, but still doesn’t have the elusiveness that he had last
year. One thing before I finish this piece. After the game, Chip Kelly, LeSean
McCoy and DeSean Jackson emphasized how much fun they had in playing/coaching
the game rather than running the team as a business. Do you think that was an
implied shot at Andy Reid? You can be the judge of that.
How did you like the
start of the Chip Kelly era? Sound off and stay tuned until next time…
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