Here’s a look at snap counts for the Eagles during their Week 3 loss against the Cardinals. We’ll go position-by-position.
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.”
Here are my instant observations from the Eagles’ 27-6 loss to the Cardinals.
[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.
The following Eagles are inactive for today’s 4:05 game against the Cardinals: Jeremy Maclin, King Dunlap, Riley Cooper, Nate Menkin, Trent Edwards, Vinny Curry and Dion Lewis.
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.
Here’s a player-by-player look at the Eagles’ secondary, heading into Sunday afternoon’s game against the Cardinals. Note that the cornerback target numbers come from having charted opponents’ throws with the coach’s tape.
Here’s a look at the Eagles and Cardinals injury report heading into Sunday’s game:
This is DeSean Jackson‘s opportunity to make amends.
Hours before the Eagles and Cardinals kicked off at Lincoln Financial last season, news broke that Jackson had been told to stay home by Andy Reid after showing up late to multiple Saturday meetings. The sour attitude over his contract situation had finally caught up with him, and with the team. With the receiver out of the equation and Michael Vick playing with broken ribs, the Eagles fell 21-17. One more win that season and the Eagles would have won the division. There would be a different Super Bowl champ other than the Giants.
Here’s a roundup of what the national media are saying about the Eagles’ Week 3 matchup against the Cardinals.
Sean Magee’s new fall menu at Time–a work in progress
