It's All On the Defense By Joseph Santoliquito
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I had a unique perspective on the Eagles’ 48-22 bumbling debacle against the Saints on Sunday, since I was thousands of miles away in Las Vegas covering the Mayweather-Marquez fight. One second I hear Kevin Kolb connects with DeSean Jackson for a 71-yard touchdown pass, the next I hear the Birds are trailing 34-13 midway through the third quarter.
They obviously cleared the debris and waste left by the Eagles’ defense at Lincoln Financial Field by the time my plane was ready to land late Sunday night. I found out later that the 48 points against the Saints were the most allowed by the Eagles at home since a 49-0 loss to the Green Bay Packers at Franklin Field in 1962.
That’s two stadiums ago!
My first thought was what happened to that amazing defense I saw against turnover machine Jake Delhomme and the Carolina Panthers the pervious week? What happened to defensive boy-genius Sean McDermott?
From far away, I did pick up an immediate trend. For the second-straight game, from what little I knew about the Eagles-Saints game, one thing was discernable, both the Panthers and Saints took their first drives in for touchdowns.
I feel McDermott is good at adjusting, but has trouble picking things up initially. My greater fear is when the Eagles face someone as poised, mobile and as accurate as the Saints’ Drew Brees, who systematically dissected the Eagles’ defense, the Birds will be in serious trouble.
Thankfully, there aren’t too many quarterbacks in the NFL like Brees. But Eli Manning is capable of doing what Brees did, and the Eagles have to face him twice.
Are things growing that desperate for Andy Reid that he has pull out Jeremiah Trotter, a great stopper in his prime, but now on a few balding wheels?
This season will determine just how good a head coach Reid is—or was he really riding the magnificent job done by the beloved, and late Jim Johnson for all those years?
We’ll see again in at least four weeks—after the Eagles chew up three bad teams in a row, Kansas City, Tampa Bay and Oakland—which is what they should do. Then, reality springs to the fore, with a meeting against what is the best team in the NFC, the New York Giants, at the Linc on November 1.
By then, we may still not know how good McDermott and this defense is. One thing is certain, if the Eagles are anywhere around 2-2 or 1-3, it could speak volumes as to who was really behind all the Eagles’ success during the Reid Era.
I’m just pleased I didn’t get to see last Sunday’s “absolutely horrendous performance” up close and personal. I didn’t need a stat sheet to tell me the Saints scored on seven of their first 11 possessions. The misty stench above the Linc said it all. I just felt bad for those who endured it.
Joseph Santoliquito is an Emmy Award-nominated writer based in the Philadelphia area who can be contacted at Jsantoliquito@yahoo.com.
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