Eagles post mortem II

Some interesting notes from the game:

McNabb threw one INT but is lucky he did not have 3 more. Aaron Ross had one in the first half that hit him right between the numbers but he dropped it. Rookie Terrel Thomas intercepted one at the end of the game that was called back because of a holding penalty on Pierce that had nothing to do with the play. There was a 3rd throw that McNabb made when he was under pressure that Pierce could have caught, though admittedly it would have required a great catch while diving to the ground. McNabb is a great athlete and a very overrated passer.

Before the game everyone was saying how Westbrook is finally completely healthy again; he ran for 130+ yards last week; how great Westbrook is; how different the Eagles offense is with him in there; yada, yada, yada. Then, Giants completely shut him down hold him to less than 40 yards rushing and stop him cold on the two 4th qtr runs that ended the game and everyone is suddenly saying that he must be hurting. Of course - it couldn't be that the Giants defense shut him down, he must have been hurt. In fact Madden said at the end of the game that if you've ever had a rib injury, you know that it doesn't get better in only two weeks. Um, John... he ran for 130+ last week.

Speaking of Madden - I think he's losing it. He said that Hedgecock is now a great blocker, maybe the best blocking FB in the NFL. No argument there - except big John said that it was a great improvement over last year, when Hedgecock was only an average blocker. Really?? John must have confused him with the other Hedgecock in the NFL, because the one that plays for the Giants was a stud from the first week they got him, which is why Reese tore up his contract and extended him 5 years within his first few weeks on the team.

Brian Dawkins is the dirtiest player in the game. He hits late and hits in the head all the time, I don't know why he never gets called for it. He's the one who hit Jacobs in the helmet with his elbow forcing the fumble after Jacobs was already on the ground on the first challenge of the two that Reid tried and lost.

It was a great move by Eli to tell Coughlin and coaches to look at the play carefully and consider challenging the illegal forward pass call. I don't know if you noticed, but right after he threw the pass, you could see Eli looking backwards and down, no doubt checking where he was to make sure he was not over the line. On TV, they were talking about the red line and then later the readjusted red line. All you had to do was look at the sticks at the top of the TV screen and it was further forward than even the readjusted red line. It was almost exactly on the 20 yard line and Eli's foot was therefore actually behind the line, not on it.

Boss is really coming into his own. He dropped one easy TD, but the one he caught was gorgeous. Shockey would not have caught that ball. Change of scenery seems to have done Schockey a lot of good. He's winning friends and influencing people in New Orleans just like he did in New York.

A few comments on the reffing in the game: The holding penalty on Pierce that took away an interception from Terrell Thomas and would have ended the game right there was completely bogus. Kiwanuka was engaged with the TE LJ Smith and it looked like they were wrestling pretty good, but no more than normally happens on the OL between blocker and DL. The flag came out after LJ Smith released from Kiwanuka and bumped into Pierce, so it was not a mistake by the ref getting the number wrong. He threw the flag right at the feet of Pierce and was intending to call it on him. Bad call, could have cost us the game.

The holding penalty on Michael Johnson that canceled the TD on the punt return by Hixon was a TERRIBLE call. Not only was it not a holding penalty, it was a perfect text-book block by Johnson, who had his arms extended, was not clutching the opponents jersey, did not have his hands around his shoulders. It's the way the coaches teach it in training camp. I also saw the ref who threw the flag standing on the sideline upfield from the block. He was in a direct line behind the Eagle player. In other words, if you were to treat Johnson, Eagle and ref as dots on a pad, and you tried to connect the dots, it would be a perfect straight line. Of course, this means that the ref had absolutely no possible way to view the blocking technique that Johnson used on the Eagle player. All he could see was the Eagle player fall down and he threw the flag. It's one thing if the ref makes a mistake on a judgement call, but here he simply imagined what Johnson was doing and assumed that since the Eagle player fell to the ground, it must have been holding.

After the Eagles TD that made the score 36-31, Giants had a 3rd and 1 at about their own 40 yard line. I'll talk about our play calling in another post, but now I am talking about the reffing. Ward ran up the middle and was stopped for a 1 yard loss. The ball came loose and the Giants recovered for another 3 1/2 yard loss and they had a 4th and 5 1/2. Giants punted and the Eagles were offside, but sine they had lost 4 1/2 yards on previous play, the 5 yard offside penalty would not have given them the first down, so they declined the penalty, because Feagles got off a great punt - 50 yards, no return - and Giants were happy with the field position. Here's where the reffing comes in: Ward did not fumble, he was completely down before Dawkins came over and stripped him. I say completely down, because it wasn't one of those close calls with his knee or his elbow being down, rather his entire body was down, he was actually lying on his back. I don't know how the refs missed it and didn't call it down by contact right away. Coughlin had a challenge left and he could have challenged the spot, but that would have been dumb move, the only thing to gain was a few yards before the punt. Here's the funny thing - it would have been better for the Giants if the Eagles had recovered that fumble. Then Coughlin surely would have challenged; the refs would have ruled down by contact and Giants would have had a 4th and 2. Then the offside penalty would have given the Giants a first down.