Redskins vs. Eagles 3rd quarter game review

I think we'll be calling it after three quarter this week, partly due to time and partly due to the rather obvious fact that we don't exactly have a highly competitve game on our hands.

First quarter review is here, 2nd quarter is here.

THIRD QUARTER

D.Akers kicks 64 yards from PHI 30 to WAS 6. B.Banks to WAS 44 for 38 yards (J.Chaney, D.Akers).

Good blocks by Sellers and Darrel Young to create a seam for Banks.

Washington Redskins at 15:00, (1st play from scrimmage 14:52)

1-10-WAS 44 (14:52) D.McNabb pass short middle to C.Cooley to PHI 49 for 7 yards (M.Fokou).

2-3-PHI 49 (14:16) D.McNabb pass deep left to M.Sellers pushed ob at PHI 21 for 28 yards (M.Fokou).

A risky throw – the LB had Sellers blanketed on the sideline but McNabb placed the ball perfectly by underthrowing just a bit where Sellers has an easier time adjusting to it.

1-10-PHI 21 (13:49) (Shotgun) K.Williams right guard to PHI 12 for 9 yards (T.Cole, Q.Mikell).

Trent and Rabach are the first level blocks on the zone run, while Lichtensteiger and Hicks seek out the LBs. Rabach holds his block well, while Trent nearly loses his but gets away with just enough holding to keep a narrow lane open for Keiland.

2-1-PHI 12 (13:16) (Shotgun) K.Williams up the middle to PHI 15 for -3 yards (S.Bradley).

Eagles blitz two LBs up the middle. One is picked up by Hicks but Rabach is double teaming the DT to his left and is late recognizing the MLB blitzing past his right shoulder.

3-4-PHI 15 (12:37) D.McNabb pass incomplete short left to A.Armstrong (D.Tapp).

Embarrassing display by Trent and Heyer. Each is driven backwards by bull rushes, but since they each give up the pressure to the inside the DEs actually end up running into each other about a yard in front of McNabb and going to the ground. McNabb escapes to his left and as he approaches the LOS the DT, who had dropped into coverage to cover a blitz by the MLB, closes. McNabb tries to take advantage of the new hole in the coverage, but the DT is too close and is able to leap in the air and bat it down.

4-4-PHI 15 (12:29) (Shotgun) D.McNabb pass short middle to A.Armstrong to PHI 9 for 6 yards (A.Samuel).

A LB blitzes untouched through the left A gap and Keiland fails to recognize it. Fortunately McNabb was able to backpedal quickly and fire it to Armstrong, who took advantage of the blitzing LB to get open on his man on a slant.

1-9-PHI 9 (11:45) D.McNabb pass incomplete short right to S.Moss [T.Cole].

Trent tries to cut the LDE but whiffs, so McNabb takes a blindside hit as he throws.

2-9-PHI 9 (11:39) D.McNabb pass incomplete short middle to K.Williams. PENALTY on PHI-E.Sims, Defensive Holding, 5 yards, enforced at PHI 9 - No Play.

1-4-PHI 4 (11:34) K.Williams left end for 4 yards, TOUCHDOWN.

Two outstand blocks lead to this touchdown: Cooley motions to the left side and then crashes the OLB to the inside to secure the corner (Trent just barely survives against the RDE but is saved by Keiland’s quickness to the edge) and Sellers, leading, hits a safety at the LOS, drives him back several yards, then puts him on his back. Keiland then lowers his shoulder and runs through the other safety for the score.

G.Gano extra point is GOOD, Center-N.Sundberg, Holder-H.Smith.

PHI 45 WAS 21, 8 plays, 56 yards, 1 penalty, 3:33 drive, 3:33 elapsed

G.Gano kicks 65 yards from WAS 30 to PHI 5. J.Calvin to PHI 25 for 20 yards (M.Sellers). FUMBLES (M.Sellers), and recovers at PHI 30. J.Calvin to PHI 29 for -1 yards (G.Gano).

Philadelphia Eagles at 11:27, (1st play from scrimmage 11:19)

1-10-PHI 29 (11:19) (Shotgun) M.Vick pass incomplete short right to D.Jackson.

Four man front with Holliday and Haynesworth as the DTs. Each drives back a guard (the center manages to block absolutely nothing). The Gs get pushed into Vick, who is forced to escape the pocket to his right and try the dumpoff but the WR can’t come down with it.

2-10-PHI 29 (11:13) (Shotgun) M.Vick pass deep left to J.Avant pushed ob at PHI 49 for 20 yards (L.Landry). Washington challenged the pass completion ruling, and the play was Upheld. (Timeout #1.)

Back to the regular three man front, and despite blitzing Orakpo as a fourth rusher it achieves its usual level of pressure (zero).

1-10-PHI 49 (10:58) M.Vick pass incomplete deep middle to B.Celek (L.Landry).

Same alignment as the last play, including the Orakpo blitz from the edge. Carriker and Orakpo get close this time, but that’s mostly because Vick was taking his time to let the TEs seam route develop. The TE is open but Landry closes and makes a nice hit to knock the ball out.

2-10-PHI 49 (10:52) (Shotgun) L.McCoy left guard to WAS 46 for 5 yards (B.Orakpo).

OK I admit part of my frustration with Haslett’s cutesie defense is that it makes it much harder to describe plays, but I’ll give this one a shot. We see the alignment with the widely spaced pass rushers again: Carter and Rocky outside the RT and Hayneworth and Orakpo outside the RT. But there is one guy in front of the O-line this time: Lorenzo Alexander with his hand down in the offensive left A gap. At the snap Alexander tries to drop into coverage, but it’s a passing play so this leads to the amusing sight of the C and LG chasing him down the field trying to block him. Elsewhere: The RT pulls to the left and blocks Rocky, while the LT carries Carter to the inside. The RG tries to trap Haynesworth (to compensate for the RT pulling) but Haynesworth is too quick for him, but the handoff to the RB is in turn too quick for Haynesworth. The RB slips through the hole between Rocky and Carter, and has some yards opened up because the slot receiver has a good block on Rogers and the center (who found himself free because Alexander fled his attempt to block him) puts a hat on Fletcher a good 9 yards downfield, but fortunately the RTE fails to get inside of Orakpo, who is able to pursue across the field and chase down the RB from behind to prevent a major gain. When you run a cutesie defense, and the offense runs a cutesies blocking scheme at it, you end up with what looks like a bunch of guys running in circles for no apparent reason. Seriously, I need a break after this one.

3-5-WAS 46 (10:12) (Shotgun) M.Vick pass short middle to J.Maclin pushed ob at WAS 20 for 26 yards (R.Doughty).

Three man rush, with Orakpo and Haynesworth running a stunt that is very slow to develop so they both just run into double teams. Landry is up at the line spying Vick, which means Rocky is stuck covering the slot WR – that’s how Vick’s running ability can kill a defense without him even needing to use it. Vick is so scary we were forced to take out most athletic defender out of the play and basically play defense with 10 guys.

1-10-WAS 20 (9:40) M.Vick scrambles right end to WAS 19 for 1 yard (L.Landry).

A designed run for Vick, I think. Alexander is at LOLB and bits on the run action, allowing himself to be sealed inside by the TE as Vick runs to his right after faking the handoff. Fortunately Landry reads it early. He is briefly frozen at the line by a juke, but recovers well and chases Vick down from behind.

Timeout #1 by PHI at 08:53.

2-9-WAS 19 (8:53) M.Vick pass short left to J.Maclin to WAS 15 for 4 yards (A.Carter, L.Landry).

Haynesworth explodes past the LG, unfortunately he’s pursuing the RB to the offensive right on what turns out to be a fake handoff. Vick spins the other way and fires it left to the WR behind the LOS. It’s a poorly designed screen though, as the C and LT initially take part in the run action to the right and then have a long, long way to go to set up blocking in front of the WR to the far left. Unsurprisingly the LT doesn’t get out there quickly enough to stop Landry.

3-5-WAS 15 (8:05) (Shotgun) PENALTY on PHI-M.Vick, Delay of Game, 5 yards, enforced at WAS 15 - No Play.

3-10-WAS 20 (7:41) (Shotgun) M.Vick scrambles right end ran ob at WAS 7 for 13 yards (C.Rogers).

Alexander and Orakpo stunt on the offensive right side, and it works. The LG adjust alright – he tries to pass off Alexander to the RT and then resets to handle Orakpo. But the RT doesn’t figure it out – he is frozen by Orakpo’s initial stutterstep and fails to pick up Alexander, who splits the two and dives at Vick’s feet, very nearly bringing him down. But Vick, damn him, maintains his footing and escapes to the outside to run for the first down.

1-7-WAS 7 (7:13) (Shotgun) M.Vick pass incomplete short left to J.Maclin.

2-7-WAS 7 (7:05) L.McCoy left guard to WAS 3 for 4 yards (L.Landry).

3-3-WAS 3 (6:26) (Shotgun) M.Vick pass short middle to J.Avant for 3 yards, TOUCHDOWN.

The OT’s stonewall Orakpo and Carter on the edges, and Vonnie Holliday, lined up at DT, is blocked by the RG. Haynesworth is facing a double team. He drives the LG back. The center (who I have noticed is jaw-droppingly terrible in pass protection) fails to get a good block on Haynesworth initially, which actually ends up working to his advantage because once Haynesworth is past him he turns and gives him a shove from behind while he is engaged with the RG, taking him to the ground. And as is now notorious, Haynesworth simply stays on the ground while Vick lingers in the pocket for several more seconds until a WR comes open at the back of the endzone. You can believe him or not on whether he had a charlie horse and/or thought he heard a whistle… but it sure look for all the world like he just said F- it and didn’t feel the need to continue his pursuit. s

D.Akers extra point is GOOD, Center-J.Dorenbos, Holder-S.Rocca.

PHI 52 WAS 21, 11 plays, 71 yards, 5:12 drive, 8:45 elapsed

D.Akers kicks 51 yards from PHI 30 to WAS 19. M.Sellers to WAS 30 for 11 yards (O.Gaither, J.Chaney).

Washington Redskins at 6:15, (1st play from scrimmage 6:08)

1-10-WAS 30 (6:08) K.Williams right guard to WAS 33 for 3 yards (N.Cole).

We miss this play entirely because we are being subjected to even more replays of Vick touchdowns. Thanks ESPN, but we get it.

2-7-WAS 33 (5:33) D.McNabb pass incomplete short right to C.Cooley [M.Fokou].

The SLB creeps up to the line and is clearly blitzing, so he is right in McNabb’s face untouched as he tries to get into his bootleg. We had twins TE right – it seems like Cooley should have recognized what was going on and adjusted his block.

3-7-WAS 33 (5:28) (Shotgun) D.McNabb pass short left intended for A.Armstrong INTERCEPTED by D.Patterson at WAS 40. D.Patterson for 40 yards, TOUCHDOWN.

Armstrong settles down a yard past the sticks, which certainly seems sensible on 3rd and 7. The bad news is that means he’s not coming back towards the ball, allowing the CB to jump the route.

Philadelphia Eagles at 5:19

D.Akers extra point is GOOD, Center-J.Dorenbos, Holder-S.Rocca.

PHI 59 WAS 21, 0 plays, 40 yards, 0:00 drive , 9:41 elapsed

D.Akers kicks 70 yards from PHI 30 to end zone, Touchback.

Washington Redskins at 5:19

1-10-WAS 20 (5:19) D.McNabb pass short middle to C.Cooley to WAS 31 for 11 yards (A.Jordan).

1-10-WAS 31 (4:51) D.McNabb pass short left to C.Cooley to WAS 36 for 5 yards (S.Bradley).

2-5-WAS 36 (4:18) D.McNabb pass incomplete short left to C.Cooley (D.Tapp).

3-5-WAS 36 (4:15) PENALTY on WAS-D.McNabb, Delay of Game, 5 yards, enforced at WAS 36 - No Play.

3-10-WAS 31 (4:15) (Shotgun) D.McNabb sacked at WAS 19 for -12 yards (J.Parker).

Hicks is occupied with the DT, so when Heyer is frozen by the LDE’s single step towards the outside he is then beaten easily on this inside shoulder. Keiland then actually has to dodge the guy to avoid picking him up as he tries to leak out to be a dumpoff option.

4-22-WAS 19 (3:49) H.Smith punts 51 yards to PHI 30, Center-N.Sundberg, downed by WAS-A.Russell. PENALTY on PHI-E.Buckley, Offensive Holding, 10 yards, enforced at PHI 30.

This is a terrible 32 yard punt with sub-3 second hangtime that happens to take an outstanding bounce. Then the penalty helps also.

Philadelphia Eagles at 3:37


1-10-PHI 20 (3:37) J.Harrison right end to PHI 46 for 26 yards (K.Moore, L.Fletcher).

Alexander does give up the edge, but in his defense he was very badly held by the TE. Meanwhile Landry tries to shoot into the backfield but the leading FB picks him up.

1-10-PHI 46 (2:50) L.McCoy right guard to 50 for 4 yards (K.Golston, M.Kemoeatu).

Golston initially gets blown off the line, but he then sheds the blocker to make the stop a few yards downfield.

2-6-50 (2:07) J.Harrison left end to WAS 48 for 2 yards (A.Carriker, M.Kemoeatu).

Golston is driven outside and taken to the ground by the RT to open a hole. But Rocky lands a crushing blow on the lead FB, knocking him back into the RB and allowing Maake to make the tackle.

3-4-WAS 48 (1:26) M.Vick pass short right to O.Schmitt to WAS 42 for 6 yards (A.Carter).

Carter bites on the play fake and is far too slow getting out to the flat to cover the FB.

1-10-WAS 42 (:41) (Shotgun) J.Harrison right end to WAS 39 for 3 yards (D.Hall; A.Carter).

Rocky wins another collision with the FB, forcing the RB to the outside where Hall makes a good tackle at his legs.