Bad Day: Eagles 6 Cardinals 27

This was an eye opener!  After 2 hard fought, exciting and slightly fortunate victories, the Eagles came crashing down to Earth, thus handing me my first defeat as a fan.  In the context of the season, a defeat to a team from another Division isn't a fatal blow, but the manner of the Eagles displays so far hasn't given fans much confidence for the next 14 weeks.

In truth, the signs had been there in the first 2 games: Too many turnovers, too many hits on Vick and some strange play calling.  But even so, not many fans were expecting such a resounding beating against a talented but unfancied Arizona side.

Give the ball to this man please!

As a lower league football fan, I've experienced my fair share of humiliating defeats.  In most cases, there are some running themes and this Eagles game was no different.  For a start, the "fumbleitis" resurfaced early on, coupled with some strange play calling (Note to Andy Reid:  LeSean McCoy is one of the best runner sin the League) it mean that the Cardinals had a lot of possession.  The difference this week was that the Defence, whilst playing reasonably well, weren't getting the ball back quickly.  The result was a series of long, efficient Cardinals drives, usually resulting in points.

It's hard to explain, but from a very early stage you could just tell that it was going to be a long and completely fruitless evening of Eagles watching.  It's a familiar feeling for sports fans: when you just know it's not your day.  You know that nothing is going to go your way, the players won't turn things around and the team are destined for defeat.

It's not just fans who experience this "bad day at the office" feeling.  Players also suffer from it occasionally too, I can remember a few occasions playing cricket when I've just not been able to bowl the bowl where I want to and couldn't do anything about it.  The Eagles offence seemed to be having a similar experience here.   Time after time, Michael Vick would hold on to the ball for what seemed like an eternity, before either throwing the ball incomplete or being swallowed up by the Cardinals defence.  Receivers weren't getting getting free and the O line were struggling to keep control.  Andy Reid had no answers and the we couldn't even blame the officials!

Every "bad day" has signature moments, in this case both Eagles units contributed a gem.  First of all the Defence cleverly decided to not mark Larry Fitzgerald near the goal line, leading to a very simple TD pass for Kevin Kolb.  Not to be outdone, Michael Vick then proceeded to fumble the ball near the Cards goal line, leading to Arizona recovering the ball and running it back the length of the pitch for a TD of their own!

All of which meant it was 24-0 at Half Time and I had my first loyalty test.  Generally I can't abide fans who leave games early and I've never committed that sin, but on the other hand, NFL thrashings are seriously boring, especially if your team is on the receiving end.  The team in the lead are content to run down the clock and the team chasing the game usually fail to move the chains against containing defensive formations.  I eventually decided to stick with my team for the Second Half, although I'd be lying if I said I didn't flick over to RedZone a fair few times.

As expected, the Second Half was a complete non event.  Which was actually more demoralizing then the First Half.  At least the First Half had incidents, this was just lots of short gains from both teams, the odd Field Goal and plenty of punts.  In short, we were soundly beaten and made to look like a very poor team.

So where does this leave the Eagles?

In my humble opinion, the main issue is with the use of Michael Vick.  He is being asked to throw far too much and his style of play is always going to lead to turnovers. The best plays are made before the snap, but Vick seems to make it up on the fly far too often.  There is room for that type of QB in the NFL and Vick has succeeded in spells, but he needs to be used correctly.  We've got one of the elite runners in the League in LeSean McCoy and he needs to be getting more carries.  In all 3 games this season he has made big gains, but hasn't had enough carries.  Teams are expecting the pass, so send blitzes against our patched up Offensive line.  Vary the play a bit more and it's harder for teams to defend.
Then again I'm no Andy Reid!

And where does this leave me?

In many ways, this was probably a good thing.  Experiencing a low, can only make the highs seem better.  It also stops me feeling like a "Johnny Come Lately" fan who's only experienced victory and hasn't .....oh who am I kidding?! This was horrible and I hated every minute of it.

Luckily, we've got the minnows from New York up next, so that should be a doddle.  The Week 4 Divisional encounter also represents my first Eagles "through the night" game, so if anybody from Relentless is reading this, I'm happy to plug your drinks in return for a few freebies!