Monday Morning Mehta 10/16/06
Edition # 180
October 16, 2006
Ed Wasser was out of town covering the Eagles in New Orleans on Special Assignment and he'll be back next week with his column. Also next week, the return of the NBA and newly promoted columnist (he was an NBA beat writer now he's a columnist) Derreck Sura, who will give you his East Preview.
Eagles / NFL
Eagles lose a tough one to the Saints 27-24 in an emotional roller coaster game which saw the Eagles down by 2 touchdowns only to take a 7 point 4th quarter lead. Let's breakdown what happened.
Game Negatives sponsored by Michael Lewis
- The Mike Martz offensive team. This is one of brilliant pieces of information you only get in MMM. Andy Reid is turning into Mike Martz right in front of our very eyes. The Eagles are turning into the Rams post Dick Vermiel. This isn't a knee jerk reaction. This has been going on for years. What you see with the Eagles is a team that relies way too much on throwing the ball (Rams). What happens when you throw the ball too much? To start, you can't run the ball when you need to run the ball because you have very little practice doing so. Then, you lose a 17 point 4th quarter lead (Giants). Second, you dominate on offense with 390 total yards and on defense with 7 sacks yet lose the time of possession battle 37 to 23 and nearly have the game sent to overtime for no reason (Dallas). To top it off you blow another 4th quarter lead, this time a 7 point lead and have the opposition pound out a 8 minute drive to end the game on a last second field goal.
- Time Management. If you think this is just a fluke that the Eagles mismanaged their timeouts and they'll be fine in the future you're just watching the game through rose colored glasses. I'm not going to freak out on Reid here because I watch enough football to know that about 32 coaches mismanage time. What's painful is to see a rookie coach out-stratigize Reid. Believe it or not stratigize isn't a word in the spell check dictionary.
- 12 men on the field. I don't know who to blame on this one. I do know I've seen plays where the free safety & punt returner is literally counting players. I don't think it was Trent Cole's fault, I don't expect him to get off his 3 point stance, turn around and start counting. I think this one falls on either of the two deep safeties.
- Hank Baskett. The blown pass interference call aside, a poor game by Hank Baskett. The mania isn't sweeping the nation this morning.
- Donte Stallworth. Where the fork is this guy?
- Alarming trend: The Eagles were 3-10 on third downs yesterday. Last week they were 2-12. Just to further my first point, when you don't run the ball enough, you tend to get caught in too many 3rd and long situations.
- Turnover on special teams. The score was 10-3. The Eagles were getting the ball back and the momentum was theirs. Ryan Moats gets too close to Dexter Wynn and problems ensue. I just don't feel comfortable with Wynn back there. I blasted Reno Mahe as we all did, but looking at it objectively this team misses him on punt returns. He generally had excellent judgement. I can't believe I just wrote that.
- No sacks. Eagles had no sacks. None. The biggest defensive play of the game (Trent Cole sack) was negated by the 12 men call though.
Game Positives:
- Reggie Brown. Brown scorched the Saints secondary in the 2nd half. What a game.
Question from the MMM reading audience: What's your beef about the Eagles rush? The Saints had 97 yards rushing the Eagles had 99.
Look reader, did you watch the game? The Eagles ran the ball 19 times to the Saints 30. What does that tell you? They could've run the ball all day on that defense if they committed to it early. You can't just expect to run the ball in the 4th quarter and have success. Running is a 4 quarter commitment. And to boot, the Eagles got rushing yards when they didn't need them. On key 3rd and shorts, they were stuffed.
I'm not really upset to be honest. May sound like I'm pissed considering the above, but I'm really quite calm. It's October. Keep yourself alive and get hot in December and January is the key to winning a Super Bowl. Member all those years we thought it was soooo important to get home field? Where'd that get us?
Just like I told you I wasn't going to jump up and down after last week's victory (some media people called it Andy's 2nd biggest win of his tenure - are you freakin serious!?!!?!?!?!), I'm not going to break any ankles on this one. But a non-commitment to the run is only going to hurt them later on down the road. I'm convinced this is a playoff team and getting to the dance is half the challenge in the NFL.
Andy Reid is a much better coach than Mike Martz and Reid is easily a top 10 coach in the NFL. But I'm tired of being good. Time for excellence.
Around the League
Best game: Seattle/St. Louis. A back and forth battle and a huge win by the Seahawks. This was the teeter game for Seattle. They lose this one, and the curst of the Super Bowl loser is on and they'd face some adversity. Now, the Seahawks are 4-1 and in control and getting Shaun Alexander back in a few weeks. Deion Branch adds a bigtime redzone weapon to Matt Hasselbeck's arsenal. I'm not sure if teeter is a word.
Best game # 2: Carolina/Ravens. I broke my golden rule of never watching Baltimore if there are other games on. This was actually a decent game. Every time you thought the Ravens were done, they'd come back and make it interesting. Julius Peppers is easily the best defensive player in the game. He's got a shot at Michael Strahan's sack "record".
Another good game: Bengals/Bucs. The Bucs played keep away from the Bengals in this one. You'll hear a lot of media people that haven't been watching Carson Palmer tell you he's not as good as last year blah blah blah, but he looks fine to me. Just a little unlucky. The Bengals appear to be a terrible defensive team and people are just taking advantage of that at this point. Even though the Bengals were terrible on 3rd down, they should've still won this game.
Most impressive win: NY Giants. You had to know this was coming. The Giants stomped the Falcons at their own game, running for over 250 yards on a solid Falcons defense minus Edgerton Hartwelll. Giants are now 3-2 and have completely put the fiasco of their 1-2 start behind them.
Least impressive team: Redskins. Losing to the Titans is bad enough. Having a "great" defense as the Redskins claim to have coupled with the fact that the Titans have a raw rookie QB in Vince Young, you'd think they'd be able to stop Travis Henry and the running game? Henry went for a buck 78. 178 yards! And this wasn't your two long runs for 130 yards and the rest nothing. This would pound out running. Am I salty over this? Yes. I'm out of survivor after 22 straight winning weeks because of this damn game.
Steelers are 1 loss out of the division lead.
I'm glad Terrell Owens is proud of himself for scoring 3 TD's against the Texans. I almost sense that Parcells and Bledsoe got together and said let's get him a few touchdowns against this awful team so that we can have a peaceful week.
I'm looking forward to a good game tonight. I think Matt Leinart is going to impress people. He really fits this system well. I'm looking for a close game and a possible upset.
Baseball
The red hot Detroit Tigers sweep the A's to punch their ticket into the World Series. They'll have to wait a while though as Game 1 is scheduled for Saturday night.
The Tigers pitching has been excellent and their bullpen has been even better. Should be a good matchup whoever the Tigers play...
Mets/Cards
Tied at 2 games a piece. The Mets faced a "must win" last night for the first time this year and came through with flying colors. Carlos Delgado has been amazing in his post season debut. Carlos Beltran continues to hit post season homers at an incredible pace. It's a 3 game series now, and tonight's game is being threatened to be postponed due to rain. If it is, huge advantage to the Mets who are pitching Tom Glavine on 3 days rest, who can then pitch him on normal rest. Steve Trachsel pitching a possible Game 7 should scare the bejesus out of the Mets.
October 16, 2006
Ed Wasser was out of town covering the Eagles in New Orleans on Special Assignment and he'll be back next week with his column. Also next week, the return of the NBA and newly promoted columnist (he was an NBA beat writer now he's a columnist) Derreck Sura, who will give you his East Preview.
Eagles / NFL
Eagles lose a tough one to the Saints 27-24 in an emotional roller coaster game which saw the Eagles down by 2 touchdowns only to take a 7 point 4th quarter lead. Let's breakdown what happened.
Game Negatives sponsored by Michael Lewis
- The Mike Martz offensive team. This is one of brilliant pieces of information you only get in MMM. Andy Reid is turning into Mike Martz right in front of our very eyes. The Eagles are turning into the Rams post Dick Vermiel. This isn't a knee jerk reaction. This has been going on for years. What you see with the Eagles is a team that relies way too much on throwing the ball (Rams). What happens when you throw the ball too much? To start, you can't run the ball when you need to run the ball because you have very little practice doing so. Then, you lose a 17 point 4th quarter lead (Giants). Second, you dominate on offense with 390 total yards and on defense with 7 sacks yet lose the time of possession battle 37 to 23 and nearly have the game sent to overtime for no reason (Dallas). To top it off you blow another 4th quarter lead, this time a 7 point lead and have the opposition pound out a 8 minute drive to end the game on a last second field goal.
- Time Management. If you think this is just a fluke that the Eagles mismanaged their timeouts and they'll be fine in the future you're just watching the game through rose colored glasses. I'm not going to freak out on Reid here because I watch enough football to know that about 32 coaches mismanage time. What's painful is to see a rookie coach out-stratigize Reid. Believe it or not stratigize isn't a word in the spell check dictionary.
- 12 men on the field. I don't know who to blame on this one. I do know I've seen plays where the free safety & punt returner is literally counting players. I don't think it was Trent Cole's fault, I don't expect him to get off his 3 point stance, turn around and start counting. I think this one falls on either of the two deep safeties.
- Hank Baskett. The blown pass interference call aside, a poor game by Hank Baskett. The mania isn't sweeping the nation this morning.
- Donte Stallworth. Where the fork is this guy?
- Alarming trend: The Eagles were 3-10 on third downs yesterday. Last week they were 2-12. Just to further my first point, when you don't run the ball enough, you tend to get caught in too many 3rd and long situations.
- Turnover on special teams. The score was 10-3. The Eagles were getting the ball back and the momentum was theirs. Ryan Moats gets too close to Dexter Wynn and problems ensue. I just don't feel comfortable with Wynn back there. I blasted Reno Mahe as we all did, but looking at it objectively this team misses him on punt returns. He generally had excellent judgement. I can't believe I just wrote that.
- No sacks. Eagles had no sacks. None. The biggest defensive play of the game (Trent Cole sack) was negated by the 12 men call though.
Game Positives:
- Reggie Brown. Brown scorched the Saints secondary in the 2nd half. What a game.
Question from the MMM reading audience: What's your beef about the Eagles rush? The Saints had 97 yards rushing the Eagles had 99.
Look reader, did you watch the game? The Eagles ran the ball 19 times to the Saints 30. What does that tell you? They could've run the ball all day on that defense if they committed to it early. You can't just expect to run the ball in the 4th quarter and have success. Running is a 4 quarter commitment. And to boot, the Eagles got rushing yards when they didn't need them. On key 3rd and shorts, they were stuffed.
I'm not really upset to be honest. May sound like I'm pissed considering the above, but I'm really quite calm. It's October. Keep yourself alive and get hot in December and January is the key to winning a Super Bowl. Member all those years we thought it was soooo important to get home field? Where'd that get us?
Just like I told you I wasn't going to jump up and down after last week's victory (some media people called it Andy's 2nd biggest win of his tenure - are you freakin serious!?!!?!?!?!), I'm not going to break any ankles on this one. But a non-commitment to the run is only going to hurt them later on down the road. I'm convinced this is a playoff team and getting to the dance is half the challenge in the NFL.
Andy Reid is a much better coach than Mike Martz and Reid is easily a top 10 coach in the NFL. But I'm tired of being good. Time for excellence.
Around the League
Best game: Seattle/St. Louis. A back and forth battle and a huge win by the Seahawks. This was the teeter game for Seattle. They lose this one, and the curst of the Super Bowl loser is on and they'd face some adversity. Now, the Seahawks are 4-1 and in control and getting Shaun Alexander back in a few weeks. Deion Branch adds a bigtime redzone weapon to Matt Hasselbeck's arsenal. I'm not sure if teeter is a word.
Best game # 2: Carolina/Ravens. I broke my golden rule of never watching Baltimore if there are other games on. This was actually a decent game. Every time you thought the Ravens were done, they'd come back and make it interesting. Julius Peppers is easily the best defensive player in the game. He's got a shot at Michael Strahan's sack "record".
Another good game: Bengals/Bucs. The Bucs played keep away from the Bengals in this one. You'll hear a lot of media people that haven't been watching Carson Palmer tell you he's not as good as last year blah blah blah, but he looks fine to me. Just a little unlucky. The Bengals appear to be a terrible defensive team and people are just taking advantage of that at this point. Even though the Bengals were terrible on 3rd down, they should've still won this game.
Most impressive win: NY Giants. You had to know this was coming. The Giants stomped the Falcons at their own game, running for over 250 yards on a solid Falcons defense minus Edgerton Hartwelll. Giants are now 3-2 and have completely put the fiasco of their 1-2 start behind them.
Least impressive team: Redskins. Losing to the Titans is bad enough. Having a "great" defense as the Redskins claim to have coupled with the fact that the Titans have a raw rookie QB in Vince Young, you'd think they'd be able to stop Travis Henry and the running game? Henry went for a buck 78. 178 yards! And this wasn't your two long runs for 130 yards and the rest nothing. This would pound out running. Am I salty over this? Yes. I'm out of survivor after 22 straight winning weeks because of this damn game.
Steelers are 1 loss out of the division lead.
I'm glad Terrell Owens is proud of himself for scoring 3 TD's against the Texans. I almost sense that Parcells and Bledsoe got together and said let's get him a few touchdowns against this awful team so that we can have a peaceful week.
I'm looking forward to a good game tonight. I think Matt Leinart is going to impress people. He really fits this system well. I'm looking for a close game and a possible upset.
Baseball
The red hot Detroit Tigers sweep the A's to punch their ticket into the World Series. They'll have to wait a while though as Game 1 is scheduled for Saturday night.
The Tigers pitching has been excellent and their bullpen has been even better. Should be a good matchup whoever the Tigers play...
Mets/Cards
Tied at 2 games a piece. The Mets faced a "must win" last night for the first time this year and came through with flying colors. Carlos Delgado has been amazing in his post season debut. Carlos Beltran continues to hit post season homers at an incredible pace. It's a 3 game series now, and tonight's game is being threatened to be postponed due to rain. If it is, huge advantage to the Mets who are pitching Tom Glavine on 3 days rest, who can then pitch him on normal rest. Steve Trachsel pitching a possible Game 7 should scare the bejesus out of the Mets.
posted by Monday Morning Mehta at 10:56 AM
5 Comments:
Where's ftaok?
Where the fork is Ed Wasser. I enjoy his weekly hockey/reality tv analogies. I don't know much about hockey, but he's usually dead-on. Does he have his own blog?
You can read Ed Wasser's blog in the comments section this week. It's comment # 3.
I have a blog? Wow, who knew? Anyway I was in New Orleans watching the Eagles lose to the lesser Saints. I'll be back next week.
E.W.
And by the way...coincidentally the only people who think I'm "dead on" generally don't know much about hockey so you're off to a great start. THANKS!!
E.W.
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