Solid Win Over SF

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I'm just getting ready to start on the Review, but figured I would post some initial thoughts. The win wasn't pretty. The overall team played pretty well, but Donovan McNabb had an off day. He wasn't awful or anything like that, but he didn't have his A-game. There were two main problems that I could see. McNabb forced the ball to DeSean. Donovan threw to him 10 times. The other WRs had 11 combined throws come their way. I have no problem with DJax being our primary target, but a few of those throws were really forced. Both of the INTs were passes to DJax that Donovan had no business throwing. The other problem was happy feet. McNabb would drop back and his feet were going up and down in a hurried fashion. He wasn't relaxed in the pocket. The blocking was fine, but McNabb was just anxious for some reason.

The good news is that he played well enough for us to move the ball and score points. Donnie was 21-36-306. He had 1 TD, 2 INTs. He also ran for a TD. That was huge. RZ execution was critical. He saw an opening to the left side and took off for an 8-yard score.

DeSean did have another big game. He caught 6 passes for 140 yards and a TD. He's now over 1,000 yards for the year. He added another 50 yard pass play. Brent Celek also had a good day for us. Kevin Curtis was real rusty.

The offense gained 422 yards. We were 6 of 14 on 3rd downs and 3 of 5 in the RZ. I was happy with our running game. Weaver and McCoy combined for 26-100. LeSean had a TD. Those numbers weren't helped by long plays. Our best run was just 9 yards.

The defense had a strong bounce-back effort from last week. We held SF to 261 yards and 13 points. They were 0 for 11 on 3rd downs. We had 3 sacks and came up with 4 takeaways. Maybe most important was the fact that we tackled well. SF receivers got very few RAC yards. The Niners only had one drive that covered more than 50 yards and more than half of that drive came due to penalty yards. That wasn't great Eagles defense, but it was good.

Trent Cole came up with 2 sacks. Asante had a pretty good day as a tackler. He also picked off a pass. Sheldon was terrific in coverage. He broke up 3 passes. He also forced a key fumble that saved us at least 3 points.

I know Andy's decision to go for it on 4th down will be a hot topic. I thought it was a bad idea before the snap and an even worse idea after we were stopped. The only thing I can guess is that Reid sensed the need to get something going. The team certainly wasn't flat, but there was an odd vibe to the game. The stadium wasn't full due to the weather. We only had a 7-3 lead at the time. It felt like Reid was trying to give a boost to the team. That play might have failed, but the thinking behind it might have worked. We scored on 3 of the next 4 drives. I didn't like the decision. I'm not trying to defend it. I just want to understand what Big Red was thinking and how the decision fits into the overall game.

We've now won 5 games in a row and we're 10-4. We remain on top of the NFC East. For some reason that makes me want to constantly check the NFL standings. We did clinch a playoff spot (8th time in 11 years). That's great. We still have work to do. MIN is losing to CAR as I type this. That keeps us in the hunt for the #2 seed in the NFC. That would be awesome to get. A week's rest can be huge in the playoffs.

We might get Westy back next week. We are another week close to Maclin returning. I haven't read anything about Vick yet. Akeem Jordan played pretty well. Kevin Curtis got back on the field. We're not in great health, but there is some reason for optimism.

10-4. 1st place in the division. Playoff bound. Not too shabby.

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