Rapid Reaction Eagles vs. Patriots

If I was to tell you that Vince Young would throw for 400 yards in this game against the Patriots, what would you think the outcome would be? A blowout by the Eagles? Maybe even just a close win? You'd be dead wrong. What I am about to tell you probably would have been last on your list of outcomes for this game. The Eagles got blown out. Pretty much demolished. But not because of Vince Young, who, as I said, threw for 400 yards, 1 touchdown, and an interception. The reason why the Eagles lost was because of play selections, and wide receivers.

1. Play selections. Who would have thought that the Eagles would throw the ball 48 times, and only run it 17 teams with one of the best running backs in the league? I certainly didn't. And why they did is unbeknownst to me. McCoy only had 10 carries for 30 yards. He was their leading rusher this game(if you don't count Vince Young), and had previously averaged over 100 yards a game. So why change your gameplan? They definitely should have ran it more, and I believe they could have done better had they given the ball to Shady more often.

2. Wide receivers. When I say wide receivers, I am really only talking about DeSean Jackson. He had a fairly decent game, getting four receptions for 74 yards, but the problem was that he was targeted 10 times. So what about those other 6 passes? Well, 2 of them were touchdown passes that would have put the game closer to the Eagles favor, and definitely could have swung the momentum the other way. Instead of this game being a 18 point deficit, it could have been a 4 point game if Jackson would have caught those passes. And it sounds like Andy Reid agrees. Jackson was benched after his second dropped touchdown, and when asked why he benched one of the best playmakers on his team, Reid responded with a "I wanted to give the other guys a chance to make a play." When you get benched because you aren't performing really well, now you are in trouble.

All in all, this was a bigger blowout than the score of 38-20 actually says it was. Next week, the Eagles face the Seattle Seahawks who have just came off a devastating loss against the Washington Redskins.