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There were two plays in Sunday’s game against the Cardinals involving DeSean Jackson that have been put under the microscope.
The first came early in the second quarter when Jackson appeared to stop tracking the ball after contact with corner Patrick Peterson along the right sideline. Instead, he looked to the officials and put his hands in the air while Michael Vick‘s pass dropped to the ground ahead of him. There was no flag on the play.
“I felt that I got a good route on him,” said Jackson. “Vick threw a great ball. I kind of got in his cushion and was about to run right around him. He kind of just threw his arms at me and dang near almost tackled me. I know if you rewind the play, you will probably see. It’s just something we have to continue to deal with. Once the ball is in the air, you have to play your technique. In my eyes, that’s not right. For a DB to grab you, it’s definitely frustrating. Especially when you can have a big play. Them missing it, it’s just very frustrating. But you just have to keep playing.”
Cardinals defensive coordinator Ray Horton saw what everyone else saw when he was game-planning for Sunday’s matchup with the Eagles.
A left tackle in Demetress Bell who was making his first start of the season – someone who was struggling so badly two weeks ago that he didn’t even dress for the opener against the Browns. A center in Dallas Reynolds who was making his first career start and had been on the practice squad for the previous three seasons. A quarterback in Michael Vick who had six interceptions and three fumbles in the first three games.
And a coaching staff that would likely ignore many of those issues, deciding instead to focus on hitting on big plays downfield.
At what point, Andy Reid was asked at his day-after press conference, does he consider making a quarterback change if the turnovers continue to pile up the way they have through three games.
“Right now we’re with Michael [Vick], and that’s what we’re doing,” said Reid. “We’ll evaluate as we go.”
It was an interesting response from the head coach. It suggests that he has not shut the door on a quarterback switch if the struggles mount. It tells us that he’s open to maybe trying a life raft on for size if it’s clear the main vessel is taking on too much water.
LeSean McCoy shook his head as the question came his way, undoubtedly frustrated by his light workload in Arizona Sunday.
You are considered by many to be a top three back in this league. Only five running plays were called in the first half. What gives?
“Um,” said McCoy, getting his politically-correct response in order. “Sometimes it goes like that. Who knows? If we got more carries or…I don’t live like that. I just go with the plays that are drawn up for us. We just got to do better, man. Simple as that.”
On its surface, the referees’ holding call in the second quarter of Sunday’s Eagles-Cardinals game seemed pretty routine.
Darryl Tapp sacked quarterback Kevin Kolb, and the Cardinals were flagged. Anyone who’s watched football has seen this scenario play out plenty of times. The coach declines the penalty, the sack stands, and you move on to the next down.
So then why did the call cause a 4-minute, 59-second delay that left Eagles head coach Andy Reid confused afterwards?
Three different cornerbacks — Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Brandon Boykin and then Nnamdi Asomugha — took turns lining up over Larry Fitzgerald on the Cardinals’ first three plays from scrimmage. It was immediately evident that trying to contain the star receiver would be a group assignment.
That wasn’t the initial plan, however, as Asomugha laid out afterwards.
“We came into the week, I was going to shadow him,” said Asomugha. “We kind of had an idea, I think Coach [Todd] Bowles had an idea that that’s what they were figuring, so they were going to move him and put him in all sorts of different places. So we said let’s just let’s just stay on our sides and make sure that Boykin is at the nickel, keep Dominique on the outside. That was our plan, and they were able to do some things to take advantage of it.”
There were plenty of miscues for the Eagles in their 27-6 loss to the Cardinals, but the game-changer was aMichael Vickfumble at the end of the first that was returned 93 yards for a touchdown.
Down 17-0, the Eagles set up at the Cardinals’ 1-yard-line, facing a 3rd-and-goal with six seconds left before halftime.Andy Reiddecided to trust his quarterback and run one final play. The thought process was simple: Get rid of the ball quickly, even if there’s no one open. Worst-case scenario, kick the field goal and go into the half down 17-3.
Obviously, the worst-case scenario turned out to be quite different. Safety Kerry Rhodes blitzed Vick from his front side, sacked him and forced a fumble, which James Sanders returned for the score, putting the Cardinals up, 24-0.
Andy Reid didn’t have many answers for why his team looked so bad in a 27-6 loss to the Cardinals Sunday afternoon.
“They played better than we did, clearly better,” Reid said. “They coached better, they played better, and so that’s my responsibility. I didn’t have my football team ready to play. They did, and my hats off to them. Field position, turnovers, you can’t play a good football team like that and have the turnovers that we had and not have field position. You’ve got to do a better job than that, and that again absolutely is on me. I’ve got to get my football team ready to play. I did a terrible job this week.”
[Update: Cox has since returned.]
Rookie defensive tackle Fletcher Cox left the game in the first half against the Cardinals because of migraine headache. His return is questionable.
Cox played more snaps than any other defensive lineman against the Ravens, and has been on the field more than any other defensive tackle for Jim Washburn through two games.
The first-round pick has had an immediate impact for the Eagles. He entered the game with seven tackles and a sack on the young season.
Linebacker Akeem Jordan suffered a hamstring injury and will not return.
Join Tim and Sheil for a live chat as the Eagles take on the Cardinals. Kickoff is set for 4:05 p.m.
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The Eagles and cornerback Brandon Hughes have agreed to a one-year contract extension, according to a report.