Philadelphia Eagles at Washington Redskins Week 1 Afterthoughts 9/9/2013

RB LeSean McCoy runs in for his first touchdown of the 2013 season.
Image courtesy of AP

 

 

Talking about it was one thing. The anticipation was another. But the execution? A whole different animal.

Football fans across the country, and more so in the City of Brotherly Love, had watched Chip Kelly’s Oregon offense and wondered exactly how it would translate in the NFL. The result last night in our nation’s capital was a high-powered, high-paced, run-heavy offense that the city of Philadelphia never saw under former coach Andy Reid. The Eagles offense kept their foot on the gas during the first half while the Redskins defense tired.

It was expected that the Eagles rushing attack would get a good amount of opportunities in Kelly’s offense and the backs got more than their fair share. LeSean McCoy ran 31 times for 184 yards and a touchdown, breaking his record for carries in a game and coming one yard shy of his career high in yards. Michael Vick ran it nine times for 54 yards and a touchdown and Bryce Brown got nine carries as well, rushing for 28 yards. The Eagles only threw the ball 25 times. This is something that could very much be conceived as impossible by a fan who’s watched only the Eagles offense the past 14 seasons.

Receiver DeSean Jackson had both his first 100-yard receiving game and his first receiving touchdown since week 9 of last season in a loss at New Orleans. Jackson is a big piece to the Eagles puzzle this season and his performance will be vital to determining the long-term success of this team. This offense is made for athletic types and the Eagles have three big ones in Vick, McCoy & Jackson. The scheme is good, but if you don’t have the players you need to execute it, it won’t work. This is why Kelly was a perfect fit for Philadelphia.

The 53 plays that Philadelphia got off during the first 30 minutes were the most by an NFL team in 15 years. The fact that this team could get off more plays than the Redskins gained yards in that period is unthinkable, but that’s exactly what happened. Albeit, the defense was a surprisingly big help in the first half, forcing an interception, fumble and safety, the Eagles took advantage of every opportunity given to them after the Redskins recovered a fumble for a touchdown on the opening drive of the game.

Now this was extremely exciting to watch, but the Eagles did let up in the second half. If they weren’t up by 19 I may have been worried that the Redskins caught on quickly, but the fact is they were up a lot and they didn’t want to do anything foolish so they played more conservatively, especially after McCoy’s touchdown in the beginning of the third quarter. This game should have been over before the fourth quarter began, but it wasn’t over until a failed Redskins onside kick with 1:14 remaining. This was reminiscent of past Eagles teams that couldn’t close, but at the end of the day, they won. 

This is only week one and Redskins Quarterback Robert Griffin III was far from 100 percent, but it was huge for the Eagles to get this opening win on the road against a division rival. Chip Kelly getting his first win in Week 1 is also a big plus because he has free reign to do what he needs to do with the team without critics starting an unnecessary storyline pointing to the win-loss record and questioning his philosophy. 

The Eagles did also start last season 3-0, but those three wins were all questionable. This one was emphatic. The team looked good for much of the game and unlike last season’s opener, they gave us something to show us they’re ready to go, rather than steal a win from a sub-par Cleveland Browns team. This team has the potential to be good and surprise a lot of people. There’s still a long way to go but this is a good start and San Diego’s going to have a lot of preparing to do to get ready for Sunday.

Ravens outlast Broncos in classic Divisional Playoff matchup

Image courtesy of AP

Trindon Holliday’s 90-yard punt return seemed to set the tone early for the Broncos/Ravens divisional playoff.

But Baltimore answered.

His 104-yard kick return to open the second half seemed to just reaffirm the fact.

But Baltimore answered.

Being stopped on a 4^th and 5 with less than three minutes to go and being forced to use a timeout due to Quarterback Joe Flacco’s lack of awareness seemed to award the Broncos a 35-28 victory.

But after a defensive stop, Flacco got the ball back with 1:09 remaining and, with just 35 seconds left, threw a 70-yard touchdown pass to Jacoby Jones.

In the face of adversity disguised as the Denver Broncos and their raucous fans, once again, Baltimore answered.

And after a full overtime period that was a microcosm of the game itself—back-and-forth—rookie Kicker Justin Tucker kicked the Ravens into the AFC Championship game with a 47-yard field goal 1:42 into the extra period.

Tucker, who hit a 67-yarder during the pregame warmups, gave much credit to Long Snapper Morgan Cox & Holder Sam Koch.

“A big thing for us is sticking to our routine,” he remarked. “With Morgan’s snaps & Sam’s holds, it’s pretty hard to miss.”

Quarterback Peyton Manning’s Broncos hadn’t lost a game since October 8^th, but even though they led for most of today’s game, they couldn’t outlast the Ravens, whose big plays kept them in the fight. Manning also threw two costly interceptions to cornerback Corey Graham; one in the first quarter that was returned for a touchdown and one with time winding down in the first overtime that led to Tucker’s game-winning field goal.

Flacco threw for 331 yards and 3 touchdowns, two to Wide Receiver Torrey Smith, while Running Back Ray Rice complemented him with 131 yards on 30 rushes. On the other side, Manning threw for 290s and 3 TDs, and rookie running back Ronnie Hillman had 22 carries for 83 yards.

Linebacker Ray Lewis is on his last ride in the NFL, and he made as big of an impact as he could today, leading all players with 17 tackles. He did what leaders do and made sure his team wasn’t brainwashed by outsiders, who thought a Denver win was inevitable.

“I challenged my team to not listen to anything outside of our building,” Lewis said. “[I wanted them] to buy into who we are as a team.”

The Ravens, down 7, gave Denver the ball back with 3:12 remaining in regulation. They had two timeouts. After a quick Broncos first down, they were able to force a 4^th & 7 after the two minute warning. And in just 34 seconds, Flacco was able to connect with Jones on a four verticals play call. Broncos safety Rahim Moore, who sagged off of Jones on the play, blames himself for the loss, but teammates weren’t so quick to play the blame game.

“It’s not [Moore]’s fault at all,” said Broncos receiver Brandon Stokley. “It’s a team game and there’s plenty of blame to go around all of us. We all just didn’t play well enough.”

The story early in the game was Torrey Smith versus Champ Bailey; Smith had a step on the future Hall-of-Famer every step of the way. He could’ve had up to four touchdowns had Flacco’s throws all been on the money.

Flacco’s bomb, Smith’s dominance of Bailey and Peyton’s two costly picks were integral to the Ravens victory, but this victory was an ode to the leadership of Ray Lewis. The never-say-die attitude he’s had wore off on his team tonight. He’ll retire when the season comes to an end, and he’ll retire thriving off the doubters his team’s had his since he became a Raven in 1996.

“If I will probably miss anything about my career, it would be to listen to people say what you can’t do, and then go do it.”