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October-19th-2005, 08:18 PM
BY PAUL DOMOWITCH
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/football/nfl/12940342.htm
PHILADELPHIA - What have we learned from these first six weeks of the NFL season? Well, let's see:
We've learned that it's a good time to be a divorce lawyer in Minneapolis and a bad time to be Mike Tice. We've learned that it's really not a very good idea to try kicking with a pulled hamstring.
We've learned that Corey Simon spent a lot more time lifting potato chip bags than weights during his training-camp holdout. We've learned that the Cincinnati Bengals no longer are a laughing matter, but the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers still are.
And we've learned that the Eagles' attempt to capture a fifth straight NFC East title is going to be considerably more difficult than winning No. 4 was.
A year ago, they won the division by seven games, equaling the largest victory margin since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger. Just two other teams managed to put that much distance between themselves and the division runner-up - the `72 Miami Dolphins and the `85 Chicago Bears.
There are two reasons that won't happen again this year, though. The first is that the Eagles just aren't as good as they were a year ago. They have problems with their special teams, their pass rush, with offensive line, and problems with their injured quarterback, whose painful sports hernia could put him on an operating table at any moment.
While they've dropped a notch, the rest of the division has improved. Last year, the Eagles won all six of their division games by a combined score of 164-71. This year, they're already 0-1 in the division, getting blown out by the Cowboys two weeks ago at Texas Stadium, 33-10.
"There's no runaway team in this division right now," said FOX Sports analyst Brian Baldinger. "I think every one of these (division) games is going to be a dogfight."
Last year, the Eagles had the NFC East clinched by the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Not much chance of that happening again this year. ESPN's Ron Jaworski thinks the division winner might not be decided until after the Eagles play the Redskins on Jan. 1.
"The gap between the Eagles and the other three clubs has been eliminated," the ex-Eagle quarterback said. "The NFC East is fiercely competitive again. I think this is going to go down to the final week. Dallas and Washington both are going to be in the hunt (with the Eagles) to the end."
An examination of the Eagles' five-game numbers this season compared to those for their first five last year underscore many of the early-season problems that have led to their 3-2 start. Their defense is giving up nearly eight points more per game than it did a year ago. Their pass rush, which notched 20 sacks in the first five games last season, only has 11 this year. The lack of pressure on the quarterback has made life difficult for the secondary, which is giving up 7.12 yards per attempt, up dramatically from 5.92 last year. They've allowed seven passing touchdowns in the last three games, including three in the loss to the Cowboys.
The special teams have struggled. The return teams have not been productive at all. Their kickoff-return average has plummeted from 26.7 yards per return to 20.7, their punt-return average from 7.5 to 4.6. That has had a dramatic impact on the offense's starting field position, which has dropped more than 12 yards, from 36.0 after 5 games in `04 to 23.9 this year.
Their coverage units also have struggled. They're giving up 22.9 yards per kickoff return and 6.3 yards per punt return. Their opponents starting field position (34.3) ranks the Eagles last in the league.
"If you look at their (poor) special-teams play and how many big plays they've given up defensively, those have been things that have knocked the Eagles back a little bit," Baldinger said.
"Clearly, the Dallas game exposed some of the Eagles' vulnerabilities," Jaworski said. "Particularly their inability to stop the run on the edges. They're still going to struggle in that area.
"I was also surprised by the pressure Dallas was able to bring on (Donovan) McNabb. They were willing to single up (Terrell) Owens and (Greg) Lewis in exchange for getting pressure on the quarterback and it was effective. That's something the Eagles will have to deal with over the next few weeks. They need to prove they can handle the (pass-rush) pressure."
The biggest reason for the improvement of the Cowboys, Redskins and Giants has been their quarterback play. The Cowboys' Drew Bledsoe is first in the NFC in passing with a 100.4 rating. He's thrown 11 touchdown passes and just four interceptions. Last year, with Vinny Testaverde taking most of the snaps, the Cowboys had a 74.5 passer rating and threw four more interceptions (23) than touchdowns (19).
The Giants' Eli Manning, in just his second NFL season, is fourth in the NFC in passing with a 92.0 rating. He has 10 TD passes and just three interceptions. As a rookie last year, Manning had a 55.4 rating with six TDs and nine interceptions.
The Redskins' Mark Brunell, who completed just 49.8 percent of his passes last year and finished with a 63.9 passer rating, is fifth in the NFC in passing with a 91.5 rating that includes nine TD passes and just two interceptions.
"Just the quarterback play alone has moved the rest of the (NFC East) pack closer to the Eagles," Baldinger said. "At this time last year, (Cowboys coach Bill) Parcells was saying his team was too stupid. With Bledsoe in there, they're not playing stupid now. And Brunell is playing better than anybody thought he could play. And you look at Eli, he's drastically improved."
Jaworski agreed.
"The quarterback play in the NFC East through six weeks has been very, very good," he said. "Bledsoe is having an outstanding season and given them consistency. The difference with Brunell is they're now protecting him. (Coach Joe) Gibbs is using a lot of maximum protections. Eight blockers and two-receiver routes. He knows that a quarterback like Brunell, if given time, can throw the ball accurately, read coverage. And Eli's just getting better and better each week."
The Cowboys suffered two significant injuries in Sunday's 16-13 overtime win over the Giants that could hurt their playoff chances. Their Pro Bowl left tackle, Flozell Adams, is out for the season with a knee injury. Wide receiver Patrick Crayton will be sidelined at least a month with an ankle injury.
"They've been playing well, but losing those two guys, especially Adams, is a big blow," Baldinger said. "They can't replace Adams. Without him, all of a sudden, that great protection that Bledsoe's been getting breaks down and those pretty passes he's been throwing aren't so pretty anymore."
Both Jaworski and Baldinger think the NFC East team with the best chance of staying with the Eagles right now might be the Redskins. Not only because of the impressive play of Brunell, but also because they've got the best defense of the three wannabes.
"Their defense is a constant and their offense is getting better and better," Jaworski said. "They've played good defense under (defensive coordinator) Gregg Williams the last couple of years. They're a very sound and disciplined defense. They don't make many mistakes. They play well as a unit.
"Their Achilles' heel over the last few years has been their offense. But I'm starting to see the offensive line come together. I'm starting to see (running back) Clinton Portis understand some of their counter-type runs. I clearly see them as a team that's going to stay consistent."
The Redskins are giving up just 17.2 points per game and have allowed just four passing touchdowns in five games.
"Defensively, (Washington) is the most sound of those three teams," Baldinger said. "Their defense is going to keep them in every game. Even last year, they played the Eagles tough as hell defensively (28-6 and 17-14 losses; held the Eagles to 14 points in the first three quarters of the 28-6 defeat).
"But they didn't have a vertical component to their passing game last year. Now they have that with (wide receiver Santana) Moss."
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/football/nfl/12940342.htm
PHILADELPHIA - What have we learned from these first six weeks of the NFL season? Well, let's see:
We've learned that it's a good time to be a divorce lawyer in Minneapolis and a bad time to be Mike Tice. We've learned that it's really not a very good idea to try kicking with a pulled hamstring.
We've learned that Corey Simon spent a lot more time lifting potato chip bags than weights during his training-camp holdout. We've learned that the Cincinnati Bengals no longer are a laughing matter, but the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers still are.
And we've learned that the Eagles' attempt to capture a fifth straight NFC East title is going to be considerably more difficult than winning No. 4 was.
A year ago, they won the division by seven games, equaling the largest victory margin since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger. Just two other teams managed to put that much distance between themselves and the division runner-up - the `72 Miami Dolphins and the `85 Chicago Bears.
There are two reasons that won't happen again this year, though. The first is that the Eagles just aren't as good as they were a year ago. They have problems with their special teams, their pass rush, with offensive line, and problems with their injured quarterback, whose painful sports hernia could put him on an operating table at any moment.
While they've dropped a notch, the rest of the division has improved. Last year, the Eagles won all six of their division games by a combined score of 164-71. This year, they're already 0-1 in the division, getting blown out by the Cowboys two weeks ago at Texas Stadium, 33-10.
"There's no runaway team in this division right now," said FOX Sports analyst Brian Baldinger. "I think every one of these (division) games is going to be a dogfight."
Last year, the Eagles had the NFC East clinched by the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Not much chance of that happening again this year. ESPN's Ron Jaworski thinks the division winner might not be decided until after the Eagles play the Redskins on Jan. 1.
"The gap between the Eagles and the other three clubs has been eliminated," the ex-Eagle quarterback said. "The NFC East is fiercely competitive again. I think this is going to go down to the final week. Dallas and Washington both are going to be in the hunt (with the Eagles) to the end."
An examination of the Eagles' five-game numbers this season compared to those for their first five last year underscore many of the early-season problems that have led to their 3-2 start. Their defense is giving up nearly eight points more per game than it did a year ago. Their pass rush, which notched 20 sacks in the first five games last season, only has 11 this year. The lack of pressure on the quarterback has made life difficult for the secondary, which is giving up 7.12 yards per attempt, up dramatically from 5.92 last year. They've allowed seven passing touchdowns in the last three games, including three in the loss to the Cowboys.
The special teams have struggled. The return teams have not been productive at all. Their kickoff-return average has plummeted from 26.7 yards per return to 20.7, their punt-return average from 7.5 to 4.6. That has had a dramatic impact on the offense's starting field position, which has dropped more than 12 yards, from 36.0 after 5 games in `04 to 23.9 this year.
Their coverage units also have struggled. They're giving up 22.9 yards per kickoff return and 6.3 yards per punt return. Their opponents starting field position (34.3) ranks the Eagles last in the league.
"If you look at their (poor) special-teams play and how many big plays they've given up defensively, those have been things that have knocked the Eagles back a little bit," Baldinger said.
"Clearly, the Dallas game exposed some of the Eagles' vulnerabilities," Jaworski said. "Particularly their inability to stop the run on the edges. They're still going to struggle in that area.
"I was also surprised by the pressure Dallas was able to bring on (Donovan) McNabb. They were willing to single up (Terrell) Owens and (Greg) Lewis in exchange for getting pressure on the quarterback and it was effective. That's something the Eagles will have to deal with over the next few weeks. They need to prove they can handle the (pass-rush) pressure."
The biggest reason for the improvement of the Cowboys, Redskins and Giants has been their quarterback play. The Cowboys' Drew Bledsoe is first in the NFC in passing with a 100.4 rating. He's thrown 11 touchdown passes and just four interceptions. Last year, with Vinny Testaverde taking most of the snaps, the Cowboys had a 74.5 passer rating and threw four more interceptions (23) than touchdowns (19).
The Giants' Eli Manning, in just his second NFL season, is fourth in the NFC in passing with a 92.0 rating. He has 10 TD passes and just three interceptions. As a rookie last year, Manning had a 55.4 rating with six TDs and nine interceptions.
The Redskins' Mark Brunell, who completed just 49.8 percent of his passes last year and finished with a 63.9 passer rating, is fifth in the NFC in passing with a 91.5 rating that includes nine TD passes and just two interceptions.
"Just the quarterback play alone has moved the rest of the (NFC East) pack closer to the Eagles," Baldinger said. "At this time last year, (Cowboys coach Bill) Parcells was saying his team was too stupid. With Bledsoe in there, they're not playing stupid now. And Brunell is playing better than anybody thought he could play. And you look at Eli, he's drastically improved."
Jaworski agreed.
"The quarterback play in the NFC East through six weeks has been very, very good," he said. "Bledsoe is having an outstanding season and given them consistency. The difference with Brunell is they're now protecting him. (Coach Joe) Gibbs is using a lot of maximum protections. Eight blockers and two-receiver routes. He knows that a quarterback like Brunell, if given time, can throw the ball accurately, read coverage. And Eli's just getting better and better each week."
The Cowboys suffered two significant injuries in Sunday's 16-13 overtime win over the Giants that could hurt their playoff chances. Their Pro Bowl left tackle, Flozell Adams, is out for the season with a knee injury. Wide receiver Patrick Crayton will be sidelined at least a month with an ankle injury.
"They've been playing well, but losing those two guys, especially Adams, is a big blow," Baldinger said. "They can't replace Adams. Without him, all of a sudden, that great protection that Bledsoe's been getting breaks down and those pretty passes he's been throwing aren't so pretty anymore."
Both Jaworski and Baldinger think the NFC East team with the best chance of staying with the Eagles right now might be the Redskins. Not only because of the impressive play of Brunell, but also because they've got the best defense of the three wannabes.
"Their defense is a constant and their offense is getting better and better," Jaworski said. "They've played good defense under (defensive coordinator) Gregg Williams the last couple of years. They're a very sound and disciplined defense. They don't make many mistakes. They play well as a unit.
"Their Achilles' heel over the last few years has been their offense. But I'm starting to see the offensive line come together. I'm starting to see (running back) Clinton Portis understand some of their counter-type runs. I clearly see them as a team that's going to stay consistent."
The Redskins are giving up just 17.2 points per game and have allowed just four passing touchdowns in five games.
"Defensively, (Washington) is the most sound of those three teams," Baldinger said. "Their defense is going to keep them in every game. Even last year, they played the Eagles tough as hell defensively (28-6 and 17-14 losses; held the Eagles to 14 points in the first three quarters of the 28-6 defeat).
"But they didn't have a vertical component to their passing game last year. Now they have that with (wide receiver Santana) Moss."