Pats carve up blitzing Eagles

Houston Chronicle ^ | JOHN MCCLAIN

[bikepacker67]

Brady, unfazed by pressure, picks apart Pro Bowlers

JACKSONVILLE, FLA. - The Eagles figured they could use man coverage on the New England receivers and blitz quarterback Tom Brady from every angle.

With three Pro Bowl selections — cornerback Lito Sheppard and safeties Brian Dawkins and Michael Lewis — Philadelphia thought its defense matched up well with New England's offense.

Defensive coordinator Jim Johnson is regarded as one of the most creative in his profession. Unfortunately for the Eagles, the Patriots pick up the blitz as well as anyone.

Quarterback Tom Brady threw for 236 yards and two touchdowns. Deion Branch, voted Most Valuable Player, had 11 catches for 133 yards.

"They (blitzes) were effective, but sometimes, they (Patriots) blocked them and protected well," Dawkins said. "That's when they'd get Deion open on deep crossing patterns.

"They did a good job of getting him in the open zone and sitting him down on the crossing patterns. We had some misses (interceptions). They adjusted, and then we adjusted back. By that time, though, the damage had been done."

Dawkins and Lewis are fierce hitters who like to intimidate receivers, but Patriots receivers aren't easily intimidated. Because Brady had time to throw, the receivers had time to get open.

"Brady was his typical self," defensive end Jevon Kearse said. "He was getting rid of the ball quick. Not taking anything away from the offensive line, but Brady just knew how to get rid of the ball. He seems to know exactly how much time he has to unload the ball."

This was Kearse's second close Super Bowl defeat. When he played for Tennessee, the Titans came up a yard short on the last play of the game in losing to St. Louis 23-16.

"It's good to get the Super Bowl experience, but losing doesn't sit well with me," he said. "The difference is that the Eagles had too much down time."

Kearse meant the two-week layoff before this game compared to one week for the Titans' loss to the Rams.

"We had too much time to hype it up," Kearse said. "I'd rather play the next week and knock it out."

[Semi Civil Servant]

The Eagles' clock management and "slow down" two minute offense in Super Bowl 39 will make two great training videos: "How NOT to manage the clock" and "Taking it easy when the chips are down."

It was really pathetic. I didn't care who won, but I kept thinking "These are the two best teams in the NFL?"

[ProudVet77]

Two points:
1. The Pats use the two minute drill fairly often in a game when circumstances permit. So they have excellent clock management. Very disciplined, do it all the time.
2. I think what we saw in the Eagles is that they were physically beat up at the end of the game. They had players going down with cramps. They seemed to not be in a hurry to face another snap. The Patriot's owe a lot to their conditioning coach. They ALWAYS (almost) play a full 4 quarters.

[SkyPilot]

It wasn't just Mcnabb though. The Eagles seemed to have no game clock management whatsoever.

Amen to that. I watched McNabb all year, and he is a great quarterback, but he didn't show that last night. He was simply explosive at times this year---avoiding the rush, throwing on the run, keeping the ball and running when no one was open to get the first down, etc.

Not last night. And yes--that was simply terrible time management by the Eagles. One of the leading sports writers in Philadelphia said this morning that Coach Andy Reid has yet to answer that question: "What were you guys thinking?"