Maybe they weren’t ticked off about the 27 points Green Bay scored against them in the season opener since they outscored the Packers by three after halftime. Maybe they looked beyond the early 17-7 hole to Detroit and the Lions’ two fourth-quarter touchdowns because of the Lions’ dry spell of more than 32 minutes without scoring a single point. Perhaps they believed all troubles were behind after holding Jacksonville to a pair of measly field goals in their most complete effort to date. Whatever the team believed before Sunday’s 17-12 to the Redskins, the Eagles now understand painfully that their Jekyll-and-Hyde defense is letting them down. “Obviously, you’ve got to come out there and
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Eagles defense in need of fast start
Two Sundays ago, Omar Gaither arrived in Detroit knowing he’d start at middle linebacker in place of injured Stewart Bradley. Last Sunday, in Jacksonville, Fla., Gaither was stunned to find out he wouldn’t even dress. “I’ve never not dressed, so of course I was surprised,” Gaither said Wednesday before practice. Gaither, who has yo-yoed around the linebacking corps — from backup to starter, from middle to weak side, from base to nickel — frequently during his five years, interpreted last week’s demotion as performance-based and likely to be the trend for the rest of the season. Jamar Chaney, a rookie taken in the seventh round, was the team’s backup at middle against the Jaguars and even
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Gaither deals with new role
Another week, another difficult tight end challenge for the Eagles’ defense. From the Packers’ tall and wide receiver-fast Jermichael Finley (four catches for 47 yards) to the Lions’ power-forward-strong Brandon Pettigrew (seven for 108) to the Jaguars’ big, fast and athletic Mercedes Lewis. “Most teams have invested in a good tight end,” said Eagles defensive coordinator Sean McDermott. “We’ve got to be able to hold up there.” Much has been made of the Murderer’s Row list of quarterbacks the Eagles have on their 2010 dance card. But the list of tight ends is every bit as imposing. Waiting for them down the road after Lewis is the Redskins’ Chris Cooley (twice), the 49ers’ Vernon Davis,
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Repeat after me: Eagles must stop the tight end
The Eagles’ offensive line is improving so quickly, it actually ended the week with one less sack allowed than it had when the week began. The team said that upon review, the NFL agreed with o-line coach Juan Castillo, who contended that when Michael Vick pounced on a fumbled snap last Sunday, ending what looked like it might be a handoff play, the Detroit stat crew was incorrect in awarding the Lions a sack. So the Birds enter Sunday’s game at Jacksonville with a league-high 11 sacks allowed, instead of 12. Boo-ya, indeed. “We did many things very well up front, many things,” offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said, reviewing the Detroit effort. “There were a few that we didn’t do
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One sack vs. Lions negated, but Eagles still own league high
All right, maybe it’s not a rebuilding season, after all. If there’s anything substantial to take from Tuesday evening’s bombshell dropped at the NovaCare bunker, that would be it. The Philadelphia Eagles are in the business of winning football games and Andy Reid believes Michael Vick can win more of them right now than Kevin Kolb. It doesn’t get any simpler than that. “This was an odd situation,” Reid said, falling back in a time of stress on his fondness for the obvious. Aside from reacquiring Donovan McNabb, little could have been more surprising than this sudden change of direction from Reid. Since the Easter night trade of McNabb – can this team do anything big when the sun is still
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With Vick as the starter, Eagles are making bid to win now
The day after Michael Vick helped propel the Eagles past the Detroit Lions, Kevin Kolb sat in an office at the NovaCare Complex and answered questions about, among other things, his recent concussion, his struggles in the season opener and, of course, the quarterback controversy in which he is now embroiled. At one point, just as Kolb was complimenting Vick for his handling of the situation, the backup quarterback walked by on his way to do another interview. Vick has clearly become a media darling, and his appearance on ESPN’s SportsCenter on Monday cemented that. But despite the 35-32 victory over the Lions on Sunday, the near rally a week earlier against the Green Bay Packers, and the
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Despite Vick’s success, the Kolb Era continues
Andy Reid stood before the microphones after the game and reminded everyone that any win in the National Football League is a good win. He had just watched more than three hours of football in which his team tried to disprove that theory, but, in the end, he got what he wanted and the Detroit Lions got what they always get. There are several things that can be taken away from the Eagles’ 35-32 win over Detroit on Sunday. For one, Reid is going to have a quarterback issue to manage all season. Michael Vick was that good against the Lions, despite operating behind an offensive line that is going to get someone killed eventually. So, we have that to look forward to. More problematic – because
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Defense nearly fed Birds to the Lions
Even before Sunday, the Michael Vick hype was inescapable. Now it’s out of control. The steady stream of Vick praise has become a rushing flash flood with a powerful undertow that threatens to drown the Eagles – or at least Kevin Kolb. Andy Reid said Kolb would be reinstalled as the starter, and Vick told a Fox reporter after the game that “this is Kevin’s team.” That won’t quiet the masses’ full-throated support of Vick. The Eagles beat the Lions, 35-32, in Detroit. That no doubt comes as a surprise to scores of pundits and fans, casual and hard-core alike, many of whom surely believe Vick (321 yards of total offense, two touchdowns) thwarted the Lions by himself. The other Birds are an
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The Vick bandwagon
Ernie Sims enjoyed something Sunday in Ford Field that he wasn’t much able to in his four seasons with the Detroit Lions. The thrill of victory. Sims and his Philadelphia Eagles teammates beat the Lions 35-32 in his first game against his former team. In his four full seasons as a Lion, Sims took part in just 12 wins. Sims, a fifth-year linebacker from Florida State, was traded in April by Detroit. The trade helped the Lions land tight end Tony Scheffler. “It feels a whole lot different, I can’t lie about that,” Sims said. “It was a little awkward seeing them while going through that. I’m with the Philadelphia Eagles now, we won at the Lions; we got our first win. I’m excited right now.”
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Ex-Detroit Lions linebacker Ernie Sims savors win at Ford Field with Philadelphia Eagles
Chris Houston never got the chance to see Michael Vick up close when the two were together in Atlanta. Now that he has — wow! “I think he can be like 35 or 40 years old still making the same plays, still doing the same thing,” said Houston, who was drafted by the Falcons three months before Vick was suspended for the 2007 season for dogfighting. “That’s never going to leave. His speed may go away, but as far as making playground throws and keeping the game alive and just playing off of instinct, that’s something that God has given him. There ain’t no drop-off.” Houston and the Lions found that out firsthand Sunday as Vick amassed 321 yards of offense and made enough plays with his feet to
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Eagles QB Michael Vick to Lions: I still have it
It wasn’t the prettiest picture but the Eagles didn’t need style points to down the Lions 35-32 Sunday at Ford Field in Detroit. Michael Vick shined in his first start in almost four years, tossing two touchdowns and leading the Eagles (1-1) back from an early 10-point deficit, and LeSean McCoy became the first Eagles running back to rush for three touchdowns in almost 15 years. The Lions (0-2) scored twice in the final five minutes and recovered an onside kick with less than two minutes left in the game, but Lions quarterback Shaun Hill threw four consecutive incompletions to end Detroit’s comeback bid. The reason An aggressive Detroit front seven had Vick hemmed in on multiple occasions
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Vick shines in Eagles’ win
It’s going to be the Battle of the Backups at Ford Field today, despite the fact that both quarterback backups — Shaun Hill of the Detroit Lions and Michael Vick of the Philadelphia Eagles — have more starting experience than the players they’re replacing. Hill takes over for Matthew Stafford, who suffered a shoulder injury last week. “It’s exciting. Everybody plays this game to actually play it, not just practice it,” said Hill, who is 10-6 as an NFL starter. That’s encouraging news for the Lions, who were 0-6 last year in games that Stafford did not start. Stafford was 2-8 as a starter in his rookie season. “I know it’s pretty tough on them, because when you talk about the Lions,
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Detroit Lions’ Shaun Hill, Eagles’ Michael Vick more than just your typical backup quarterbacks
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