Philly.com--First Philly-Wash Game Seems Like A Very Long Time Ago

[tinopuno]

Again here I think it's a "perfect storm" situation. The team looked like crap early when we had a makeshift o-line and no running game. Now we have a healthy line and the running game is returning to form but our QB is sitting on the trainer's table and the backup is shitting the bed against the better teams on the schedule. It's no shock that we are losing to the better teams in the league now. Sanchez has had game swings so vast he may be the first man to go through menopause and we have a secondary that often looks like the Keystone cops out there. It's unfortunate but we won't really know what we have until we get a legitimate secondary that opposing teams don't look at and salivate. We need a pair of corners and a real safety. IMO, only then will we really know what we have moving forward.

Jukin,
You're sentiments mirror my thoughts almost exactly. Three of our 4 DBs have no place starting on a team with serious Championship aspirations. And Mark Sanchez has proven to be little better in important games than his harshest critics predicted. I wasn't surprised at the loss to Seattle...clearly the better team. But after dominating Dallas so completely on Thanksgiving, I was somewhat surprised and VERY disappointed with the loss to Dallas at home...clearly, NOT the better team...just one dominant player for whom the Birds had no defense!

When the Birds came back to take the lead after being down 21-0, Dallas was on it's heels and ripe for being dismantled. That would have sent a resounding message to the Cowboys and their hoard of slobbering fans in the media.

But instead Dallas recaptured the momentum when Davis stubbornly insisted on continuing to single Bryant with the painfully over-matched Fletcher. Dallas scores easily to retake the lead. Sanchez overthrows a wide open Ertz for a pic. Dallas scores again and the game (and probably the season) is over.

That sequence of 3 drives (2 for Dallas and 1 for Philly) after we went ahead were, for me, emblematic of the repeated failures we've seen this year in the games the Birds lost:
- the secondary fails miserably to respond on the opponents next drive after the Birds score to go ahead;
- the inadequacies of the 3 losers in the secondary are magnified when Davis' fails to bring pressure on the QB by rushing only 3;
- the above failings are compounded by the front 7 when, having usually played well to this point, begin being gashed on the ground because they've spent too much time on the field, largely because the secondary sucks.

Bottom line: Until the 3 mediocre starters in the secondary are replaced and until Foles gets to play behind an intact Oline, we won't know if the Birds are ready to compete for the ring with the top 4 or 5 teams in the league. The good news is, the D line is much better than expected!

[Eagle60]

I don't know about that. Are you basing that on last year or this year? Last year's performance indicated he could very well become a "franchise" QB. How was Manning's first two years or any of the franchise QBs first two years? I'm on the fence whether or not he is a franchise QB but I'm willing to wait to see what he looks like next year. Now the other question is whether he (or anyone) is a franchise QB in Chip's system.

Is Eli Manning a franchise guy? I sure don't think so, yet he has 2 SBs and is going to the HOF. It depends on your view I guess.

[MDFAN]

Again here I think it's a "perfect storm" situation. The team looked like crap early when we had a makeshift o-line and no running game. Now we have a healthy line and the running game is returning to form but our QB is sitting on the trainer's table and the backup is shitting the bed against the better teams on the schedule. It's no shock that we are losing to the better teams in the league now. Sanchez has had game swings so vast he may be the first man to go through menopause and we have a secondary that often looks like the Keystone cops out there. It's unfortunate but we won't really know what we have until we get a legitimate secondary that opposing teams don't look at and salivate. We need a pair of corners and a real safety. IMO, only then will we really know what we have moving forward.

Jukin talking 2 different things here--- I understand the WHY's, but that doesn't mean the disappointment from my expectations is any less!

[MDFAN]

Is Eli Manning a franchise guy? I sure don't think so, yet he has 2 SBs and is going to the HOF. It depends on your view I guess.

Add Joe Flacco and the other stiff who won in Baltimore.

[musicman]

Add Joe Flacco and the other stiff who won in Baltimore.

Dilfer

[FRESH]

I don't know about that. Are you basing that on last year or this year? Last year's performance indicated he could very well become a "franchise" QB. How was Manning's first two years or any of the franchise QBs first two years? I'm on the fence whether or not he is a franchise QB but I'm willing to wait to see what he looks like next year. Now the other question is whether he (or anyone) is a franchise QB in Chip's system.

That is a very good point. And I have wondered that myself.

As noted, my frustration comes form not learning anything encouraging about FOLES THIS SEASON.


The best argument that comes to mind that Nick might be sufficient , if erratic, is She-li.

[RobLew65]

I dont think you need a franchise QB in this system. you need an very accurate thrower and a good decision maker. Plus you cannot turn the ball over like pancakes on the griddle. Foles with some mechanics help and more study could be the guy. But even more important is you MUST have a defense that can GET OFF THE FIELD! The secondary is brutal! A complete overhaul is needed. Jenkins, Boykin and maybe Carroll can stay. Williams I am on the fence about. Fletcher ehh!