Posted on 09/13/2005 3:15:21 PM PDT by mainepatsfan
McNabb has chest bruise, status to be determined By Len Pasquarelli ESPN.com
A battery of tests performed on Tuesday morning confirmed Philadelphia quarterback Donovan McNabb suffered a bruised chest in the Monday night loss at Atlanta, and the availability of the Eagles' star for this week likely will be determined by how he responds in the next few days.
Coach Andy Reid said McNabb had undergone an MRI, CT scan and X-rays and that all of the tests indicated the bruised chest. There may be further tests in coming days. The Eagles play San Francisco on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field.
"We knew he was hurting," Reid said of McNabb. "It wasn't nearly as bad last night as it was this morning. Obviously, it tightened up on him. But he felt comfortable playing. He never said a word about it."
Reid said that, in cases of chest injuries, the Eagles take "extra precautions" in evaluating the injury and doing follow-up testing. League rules stipulate that the Eagles don't have to officially update McNabb's injury status until Wednesday.
McNabb was injured on the Eagles' first possession of the game on a play in which he was hit on his left side by Falcons defensive end Brady Smith and in his chest by tackle Chad Lavalais. His deep pass up the left sideline, intended for Terrell Owens, clearly was affected by the impact, and was intercepted by D'Angelo Hall.
When he went to the sideline, McNabb removed his pads, did some stretching and was examined by the team's medical staff. He returned on the next series.
Under heavy pressure all evening, as the Falcons generally played an eight-man front and blitzed him liberally, McNabb absorbed a fierce beating. He completed 24 of 45 passes for 257 yards and one touchdown, but had three turnovers and registered just one run rush, for no yards.
Reid acknowledged there was far too much pressure on McNabb and allowed that the injury may have played a role in the quarterback's seeming reluctance to run.
"He was in a little bit of pain," Reid said. "I don't know if that had any affect on his decisions to run or not run. It didn't look like there was a lot of room to run, [but] the injury might have affected it."
... so we sent him out to throw the ball 45 times against a team that gave up eight rushing touchdowns in one game not one year ago.
Hell of a plan, Andy. Beats having a running game, right?
They would have had a better shot if Philly had won last night. Now the Eagles are going to be angry and they'll take it out on the 49ers.
Even if you don't run the ball very well you need to still do it just keep the opposing defense honest in order to give your passing game a chance.
I was wondering the same thing.
Yup, one of the big reasons I don't think the Eagles will cross the final hurdle, Reid's just too eager to abandon the run and as the quality of opponent climbs like it does in the playoffs that's a habit that digs bigger and bigger holes. Every good coach in the NFL knows that if you can hold the Eagles to under 2 yards per run in the 1st quarter you never have to worry about it again the rest of the game.
There were also a lot of procedure calls against the Eagles yesterday. Like the Guard being on the end of the line, or the tight end not being up on the line. There were three of them, I think..
Defensive coordinators love offenses that give up on the run too early in the game.
A lot of teams looked rusty in week one.
Lavalais put the wood to him.
There are only two times to abandon the run:
1 - down by more than 1 score with 1 quarter or less to play
2 - up against the 02 or 03 Steelers, whose pass defense was as horrid as their run defense was amazing, or equivalent (which your Pats put to good use on an especially depressing Monday night, I think they called like 3 runs the whole game)
If not in one of those conditions anybody calling less than 1/3 runs is asking for trouble, and is just being silly if they call play action.
I believe it was the 2002 Monday night opener. I was at that game which opened up Gillette Stadium. As I recall the Raiders followed the same game plan the following week on a Sunday night in Pittsburgh.
Anybody that didn't follow that pattern was silly. There was no way to establish the run against the Steeler's D, and given their secondary no reason to even try. Then in 04 they finally got half a clue and had the LBs help more in pass coverage, resulting in both aspects of the defense being pretty good. Finally last year we got a good secondary, 15-1 and hopefully a serious contender this year, we'll find out for sure in two weeks.
I thought the Pats looked good, what I saw anyway, and so did SFO!
Apparently, they (1) did not and do not like Owens, and (2) think he's going to try and embarrass them on Sunday with some kind of showboating.
I understand that Owens is a big talent, but I think he's one of those guys that creates too many problems. I'm beginning to wonder if ANYONE is going to look at what Belichek has done in New England, and realize that football is a TEAM sport. Belichek shipped out some pretty good talent, because of attitude. I think Owens will destroy the Eagles if he stays.
The Pats weren't at their best but they did enough to get the job done.
Haven't you heard? The Colts have already been given the Lombardi trophy. The whole season is just a formality.
Didn't they do that last year too? Everybody lauding the Colts D Sunday needs to remember 2 things: 29th ranked offense, 3 missed FGs.
Not that I'm saying they aren't visibly improved over the last few years, but this "almost a shutout" talk is ignoring events.
It's easy to stacky your defense against the run when you're facing a high school quarterback.
Don't accuse PhillyFan of understanding the rules!
Sean327: "It was nice to see Owens basicaly shut down. I didn't have to see him run his souphole!!!"
Owens had 7 catches for 112 yards. Atlanta did a great job limiting Owens, but he was not shut down. His performance was the 9th best of any receiver so far. Most receivers would love to have the game that Owens had.
Owen's being somewhat limited (by his standards) exposes just how limited that McNabb and the Eagles are without him. The Eagles had better find some receivers to make McNabb look good pretty fast or they will be fighting for a playoff spot.
I like Owens and think that he is the by far the best receiver in the league and one of the top overall 5 players, but it is not beyond him to go 75% speed either when he is pissed off. Owens at 75% will still get lots of yards and look pretty good, but it won't be enough to make McNabb look good.
With Jevon Walker being talked out of his holdout by Brett Favre and having his ACL torn in the first game, I feel confident that Owens is not going to put his body at risk.
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