Eagles - Redskins Takeaways
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| Very Little Time Is Yours |
> QB Nick Foles demonstrated an ability to roll off contact and fall to convert a fourth down
> The Redskins are quite good at jumping offsides
> WR Jeremy Maclin continued his late-season drive to make it look like 2012 wasn't a completely terrible year
> While it's against a bad defense, at home and under no real pressure, that was a really nice first drive and finish by Foles
> A hold that didn't affect the play saved Bobby April's terrible special teams from 45 yards of return
> The crowd reacted well to LB DeMeco Ryans providing run support for a loss, since that doesn't really happen very often
> Redskins QB Robert Griffin III looked like a 10-year veteran on one running play, which is to say, he looked slow
> DE Brandon Graham and S Colt Anderson closed on a fourth down conversion, just to prove they should have been playing all year long
> RB LeSean McCoy made four guys miss in a Wow, He's Astoundingly Better Than Bryce Brown carry
> Judging from the crowd reaction to two straight Redskins sacks and a Foles fumble, their fans traveled and had many choices of seats
> Someone, perhaps a coach, really needs to let Foles know that after being large and slow at the college level, he's painfully slow at the pro level
> The most surprising fact about the Foles fumble is that the Redskins didn't return it for a touchdown
> Graham made a great read and play on a shovel pass, and continued his Why Wasn't I Playing In Front of Jason Babin All Along late season push
> Casey Matthews proved he could hurt the team on special teams, too
> After taking away his initial read of a WR screen on third and 11, Foles pretty much sat down and gave up
> P Mat McBriar continued his season of Dear God, Why Am I Employed
> Shockingly, WE Pierre Garcon got wide open against CB/Abomination Nnamdi Asomugha
> On two straight plays, Graham and DT Fletcher Cox made stops, providing footage for the team's "Hope for the future" of the season highlight DVD
> K Kai Forbath is the first Redskins kicker in 15 years to be, well, a good kicker
> Once the Skins took away Foles' initial read, it was pretty much Sack City
> MLB London Fletcher picked up the second Eagles' turnover of the day on that classic perfect tipped pas that we've seen so any times the past two years
> WR Joshua Morgan's screen pass for a touchdown showed just how easy it is to block the Eagle secondary
> Brian Billick became the latest analyst to talk about the Eagle WRs having a lot of talent, as if ball security was not a talent
> Say this for Foles: he's one of the few QBs in the Reid Era who does not waste timeouts
> TE Evan Moore got in the record books with a comically early offsides
> It's a nice added kick in the jewels that Redkins RB Alfred Morris was a pick in the Donovan McNabb trade
> Garcon toasted CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie on the first play of the second half, just to show neither high-priced CB is worth much
> You, me, and several of my arthritic relatives would have been able to score on the run that Morris made
> The Eagle defense came out for the second half with all of the fire of a 4-10 team, playing for a coach that won't be here in a week
> Foles completed a deep ball to Maclin where the CB let the WR get up, just to try for yet another fumble
> Like most teams in the NFL, Washington's defense dominated the Eagles in the red zone, since that's the part of the field where teams actually blitz
> Griffin threw a backwards pass to lose 17 yards, then compounded the mistake with a replay challenge, just to remind everyone that Mike Shanahan is also capable of terrible moves
> Reid went for it on fourth and two, then dialed up the same kind of slow motion play that had led to multiple sacks earlier in the game
> After the turnover on downs, the Redskins only led by 7 points, but the game felt completely over, since there is no reason to think that the Eagle defense would get a stop
> The crowd was so pro-Redskins, they puled for Griffin to draw a roughing the passer call
> Griffin's throw to Santana Moss was about as good as you can make it at this level, and proof that the Redskins are going to be better than the Eagles for as long as Griffin is healthy
> McCoy took LB Rob Jackson's jock with a backfield move for the ages
> Foles really enjoys holding the ball too long, which is what we in the Takeaways Game call Foreshadowing
> Yet again, the team fell apart, especially on defense, in the second half, but this has nothing to do with Reid not being a wunnerful, wunnerful coach
> Redskins TE Chris Cooley caught a ball for a first down and total confirmation that this was now a Washington home game
> Anderson picked a ball off for an actual, honest to God interception, a penalty-tastic return that meant nothing, and a slight postponement of Complete Garbage Time
> RB Dion Lewis, of all people, ran it in from 17 yards, just to infuriate McCoy and RB Bryce Brown's fantasy owners, provide hope for Redskin Fan Misery, and remind everyone that the team did have options beyond force-feeding the Brown Fumble Machine
> Luckily for the team's draft position, the defense then took the field
> On fourth and a half yard with the kill shot potential, Shanahan sent the offense out to draw the Eagle defense offsides, and it somehow did not work
> By the standards of the 2012 Eagles defense, giving up 40 yards of field position and four minutes off the clock counts as a huge stop
> Foles tightrope walked the line of scrimmage to make a nice play to Maclin
> Billick became the latest announcer to tell us that the franchise might get a different coach than the guy who hasn't won a playoff game in 5 years, but not a better one
> McCoy broke yet another tackle to convert a third down at the two minute warning and keep the game alive, because hes still the best player on the team
> Foles was content to spend 103 seconds to get 20 yards
> Burning all of your timeouts before you get into the red zone is defensible, I guess, since you have less yards to run back to the line of scrimmage
> Foles missed a wide-open Maclin for a tying touchdown with 20 seconds left
> McCoy had a great sense to take an extra 10 yards and still get of bounds with 11 seconds left
> Moore showed why he was on the street last week with a terrible drop of another shot at a game-tying score
> There is no way that Foles would have been called for intentional grounding had this been a home game...
> The refs ended the game after a 30 second conversation before calling a penalty, which is just about the worst way to end a game
> Normally I'd be infuriated by that kind of ending, but as an Eagle Fan in 2012, I'm dead inside, and bitter enough to want Reid's final home game to be another kick in the taint
> I get that the Redskins are a nice story and Griffin's a special player, but nearly going to overtime against a 4-win team does not speak well to their playoff chances
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