OK I know it's super late for a Sunday 1 PM game evaluation, but I work Sundays and had jury duty Monday (NOT selected, fuck yeah!) so I only caught up with the games today.
So the Eagles game was really weird.
The positives:
The defense was phenomenal. I know that there were a bunch of rookies starting for the Browns, but the Eagles D completely shut them down, played within their system (a rarity last year) and had excellent tackling (again, a rarity last year). Nnamdi looked like the guy from Oakland; mostly played press coverage and shut down his receivers and had several impressive PBUs. DRC was a beast, shut down his receivers (save one play) and had two very athletic picks. So happy that Samuel is gone; the corners are all on the same page now.
The linebacker play was the best I've seen from the Eagles since the end of the 2008 season. Ryans made a ton of big tackles and totally stabilized the defense. The rookie Kendricks was also stellar. Both Coleman and Allen were solid at safety; they were in the right spots and made tackles when needed. Trent Richardson had nowhere to run; he was completely shut down. Weeden was constantly under pressure and confused (he looked awful, to say the least).
This defense looks like it has potential to be great. I know it was a bad offense in Cleveland (though the Oline is actually pretty good), but the Eagles were disciplined, fundamentally sound and displayed excellent tackling. Those elements shouldn't change, even versus superior competition.
The negatives:
Well the O line is really gonna miss Jason Peters. They were poor early, but honestly I thought they were OK as the game progressed.
The main problem was Vick. I swear he is the stupidest QB in the NFL. His performance was worse than his stats suggest. Most of the ints were on really, really stupid passes that no one with his amount of NFL experience should make. He was throwing across his body, into double coverage and failed to anticipate where defenders were going. Even on the last drive he fumbled and was lucky that the ball bounced back to him. Then on the play before the TD he threw the ball right into the hands of a Browns LB who fortunately dropped it. He also failed to see a lot of open receivers throughout the game.
Poor playcalling as usual. Despite the fact that McCoy was getting 5 yds a carry, Reid refused to run the ball until the 4th quarter.
But the main issue was an awful, awful performance by Vick. Vick is probably on a short leash now. Reid needs to make the playoffs this year to keep his job (owner Jeffery Lurie all but said this). He has an insanely talented and deep roster. If Vick keeps making half a dozen rookie mistakes a game, he will be benched for the rookie Nick Foles. He would at least learn from his mistakes.
As for the other games, the 49ers really impressed me. I was worried they could be a one year wonder, but they look legit. Packers have a huge game Thursday.
Peyton Manning looks like he didn't miss a beat. Broncos are a serious threat.
Flacco and the Ravens offense looks excellent. That team is legit. The Bengals look like they're in for a down year.
Raiders looked like the Raiders; very good defense and terrible offense. That Palmer trade had to be one of the dumbest trades in the past 10 years.
