MNF Eagles vs Falcons

[Plainview1981]

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The falcons added two new players on defense, D.Hall is a significantly better player than last year. Our offense has four new players in it, several of which are rookies. I think all told we have four rookies in our starting lineup this season. That's a significant change... unless you think one or two players don't really mean anything in the context of the game..

For a guy that says he prefers defense, you seem oblivious to its role in making the offense look crappy and the QB's ineffective..

Explain to me how it's not a big win when you beat a team that had beaten you six straight times, playoffs included? A team that has owned the division you want to win.. Is it a big game in the context of an entire season? NO. There are 15 more games to play.. Is it a big game in the development of this team? absolutely. I don't see how you can't grasp that.

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I said it's the same main pieces and the same main pieces

are there again this year. It doesn't look like the core

players really changed. Most every team is going to have

a few players... But the main players have stayed the

same.

No doubt the defenses played well and I didn't expect a

extremely high scoring game... But even in defensive

battles somebody usally makes a big play. Didn't really

happen in the second half did it?

Is it a big win? I don't believe so... It doesn't seem

like this is anything that is going to effect future

games. The Eagles most likely still feel they will beat

the Falcons win it matters. I mean, do you believe they

are wondering if they can beat Atlanta now?

The game has little importance this early in the season.

Yeah, it's good for Atlanta they finally beat them.. But

what matters is the big games... I don't think this was

one of them.

[Traceman]

Otherwise, why would Trotter and company have been talking all that trash and crossing midfield in WARMUPS an HOUR before the game? Why would both teams have been jumping up and down in a big mass pushing and shoving and about to fight at midfield a half hour before kickoff? This was a nationally televised Monday night game between last year's NFC Championship opponents that EVERYONE around the country was watching during the opening week of the season. This game has been hyped in the national media for weeks. Two Pro Bowl QBs leading their teams against ferocious defenses under the spotlight. It doesn't get any bigger during the regular season until playoff births are on the line.

[Plainview1981]

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Otherwise, why would Trotter and company have been talking all that trash and crossing midfield in WARMUPS an HOUR before the game? Why would both teams have been jumping up and down in a big mass pushing and shoving and about to fight at midfield a half hour before kickoff? This was a nationally televised Monday night game between last year's NFC Championship opponents that EVERYONE around the country was watching during the opening week of the season. This game has been hyped in the national media for weeks. Two Pro Bowl QBs leading their teams against ferocious defenses under the spotlight. It doesn't get any bigger during the regular season until playoff births are on the line

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It's still the first game of the regular season. I don't

care if its on Monday Night Football or not. I HIGHLY doubt

that many people are going to think Atlanta is better than

Philly after this game.

Philly did NOTHING on offense and still could have won the

game in the 4th period. Basically, the Falcons squeaked

out a win in a bad game. That to me changes very little in

the large picture.

[Traceman]

It wasn't that they played a bad game, they simply could not execute against an aggressive, attacking Atlanta D. Donovan has to be sore as heck today because they were cracking him left and right.

As for Atlanta being better, I don't think that Atlanta is better because they beat Philly in one game at home but I'll tell you this, Philly does NOT want to see the Falcons in the playoffs if we get the home field advantage. That direct win COULD turn out to be huge if we end up with identical records at the end of the regular season.

[Plainview1981]

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It wasn't that they played a bad game, they simply could not execute against an aggressive, attacking Atlanta D. Donovan has to be sore as heck today because they were cracking him left and right.

As for Atlanta being better, I don't think that Atlanta is better because they beat Philly in one game at home but I'll tell you this, Philly does NOT want to see the Falcons in the playoffs if we get the home field advantage. That direct win COULD turn out to be huge if we end up with identical records at the end of the regular season.

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The point is they were only one play away (Atlanta got

a big benefit on one of the Crumpler catches too)from

winning the game while doing nearly nothing the entire

game. Atlanta beat Philly when they played their worst

on offense, but they still had to sweat it out in the

4th period. Both defenses probably played equal... But

on offense I believe that Philly is the better team

most nights. They didn't make any big plays last night,

but that isn't going to happen most games no matter

who they play.

Home field could be some advange.. But when you got a

guy like McNabb... I didn't think he will lose his cool

or confidence like that.

They did play a bad game.. They focused on TO it seemed

like the entire game and Akers missed two or three FG's

in the game.

I know it seems like I'm just all over the Falcons. But

I wasn't impressed with Philly either. I don't think either

of these teams will win the Super Bowl. I don't believe

the eagles will even make it back... Last year was their

shot.

That catch that Crumpler got away with.. Wasn't it then

one that lead to the TD?

[Plainview1981]

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As for Atlanta being better, I don't think that Atlanta is better because they beat Philly in one game at home but I'll tell you this, Philly does NOT want to see the Falcons in the playoffs if we get the home field advantage. That direct win COULD turn out to be huge if we end up with identical records at the end of the regular season.

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I don't think the gap is THAT huge... But I think Philly

will have a better record though. I expect both offenses

to look alittle better next time they play.

It's ashame that the second half was so bad. The first half

for the most part was entertaining.... The crowd was crazy

and Vick and Dunn were making plays. The second half the

Eagles seem to forget that there was somebody on the field

other than TO... I think that hurt them alittle bit.

The Falcons didn't seem to get as much from the running

game the second half and that's a big part of the offense

for them. The weakness in each teams offense was shown

last night, but you hope they can do better.

[cyman3]

i would love to see this become a great RIVALRY for the next several years. The NFC version of COLTS/PATS.

but heres the million dollar question:

who wins this game if TROTTER PLAYED? cuz we all know Trotter is more valuable to his team than Mathis is to our team (no disrespect to Mathis of course).

Would DUNN get his 100+ yards? Would Vick get those long runs?

i think this just adds to the upcoming rivalry.

YES we won the game, but in the philly lockerroom- theyre thinkin they lost that game to themselves. they're not scared of us. they know that w/ Trotter, they'll win this game next time.

as for Us, we get some confidence. Hall is confident he can limit Owens and bother him a little. We know that if we execute, we can beat this team. No fear on our side either.

i LOVE IT!!!!

[thesource966]

Here is what you need to know about Monday night's 14-10 win against Philly, and we'll go by the numbers here: The Eagles were 3 of 12 on third downs. They committed 8 penalties. Quarterback Donovan McNabb threw an interception and lost two fumbles. Six times the Eagles reached Falcons territory and scored only twice. David Akers, Mr. Reliable, missed two field goals.

But really, wasn't it more a case of the Eagles losing the game? They beat themselves. They tried to spread the field and throw against a Falcons defense that was without nickel cornerback Kevin Mathis and they got matchups they liked, but they couldn't finish drives.

Even at the very end, the Eagles had a shot. They had a first down at the 49-yard line. This was the drive, you thought, that would get the Eagles over the top. McNabb had done it so many times, why not now?

[Plainview1981]

The Falcons defense does deserve credit for some of

it. However, I don't expect the Eagles to go the entire

game with basically no big plays.

[thesource966]

The Falcons deserve credit for the physical game they played. They ran the ball well, accumulating 200 rushing yards and averaging 5 yards per pop. Not bad at all. Warrick Dunn, whom the Eagles limited so many times over the years, gained 117 yards on 21 carries. Atlanta made enough plays to win, so give them props.

[AHF]

I love how people like to speculate "oh, the Eagles missed two field goals they really should have won the game if Akers made those two long field goals" when you could just as easily speculate "oh, the Falcons had a TD called back and should have won by double digits if they had just made a clean block."

The fact is that the Eagles got hit very hard that game and have some recovering to do now. McNabb got nailed so hard he is unsure about how much he will be playing the next few weeks. That is very different than last year's game. The D for Atlanta stepped up big time.

Moreover, Atlanta completely dominated the rushing game with a 4:1 ratio over the Eagles. That will win you a playoff game virtually every time. I think a big part of that was DeAngelo Hall's improvement. He really changes things in the backfield. The Eagles threw to Owens 19 times for a total of 112 yards (less than 6 yards per attempt) and 9 catches (less than 50% completions).

On the key drive with the game on the line, the Eagles had 5 attempts for a first down due to that unusual timeout call by Reid where the 4th down play was run normally and then negated by the timeout. The Eagles failed to get a first down on any of those 5 plays.

The Eagles won't be as certain when they play the Falcons the next time because they were beaten on the field in a tough game and left the game physically battered.

That doesn't mean the Falcons are favorites over the Eagles on a neutral field or anything and there is still the question of how Trotter would have impacted the running game, but this was as important as an early season win could be for the Falcons. Plenty more games to go but a good start to the year.

[thesource966]

On the last Eagles drive of the game Andy Ried clearly ran in front of the ref and called a timeout. The ref then blew his whistle and ran onto the field before the ball was ever snaped causing the play to be dead. Nobody heard the whistle, and the play was coming back if it was complete or not. They didn't get five playes to get a first down, its pretty clear on instant replay.

[cyman3]

i think HOME FIELD is crucial.

In the DOME, where the weather isint a factor- MIKE VICK can do watever he wants whenever he wants.

i expect to see Philly in the NFC game (vs falcons).

if we're playing at home, it should be another great game.

[AHF]

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On the last Eagles drive of the game Andy Ried clearly ran in front of the ref and called a timeout. The ref then blew his whistle and ran onto the field before the ball was ever snaped causing the play to be dead. Nobody heard the whistle, and the play was coming back if it was complete or not. They didn't get five playes to get a first down, its pretty clear on instant replay.

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I never said they got five live plays to get a first down. I agree the play was going to be called back. However, like you admit, nobody heard the whistle. Therefore, the Eagles ran a normal play and fell short of gaining the necessary ten yards on that play. Even though the play would not have counted had they gotten the yards it is an example of another time the Falcons stuffed the Eagles on the most critical drive of the game. The Eagles had five plays to get the necessary ten yards. 3 plays that netted them 0 yards and then 2 tries at getting the final 10 yards only one of which would have counted had they made it. The Eagles failed all five times. The point isn't that the Eagles got some unfair advantage from the timeout. It is that the Eagles thought they were running a live play and got stuffed anyway.

[chillzatl]

the only person who doesn't think so is Hotlanta and we all know how he is. He's not a falcons fan either, so naturally he's not going to find anything worth talking about in the game.

You could write a book on all the reasons it was a big win for the Falcons.

1. Tie breaker game, we got it now - HUGE

2. Mentally we beat a team that we could not beat - huge

3. Last year, they pushed us around and beat us up. This year, they're the ones who were hurting on Tuesday morning - HUGE x 2

4. Last year, their offense was better than our defense. This year we proved that our defense is clearly better than their offense - HUGE

[Traceman]

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The Eagles were 3 of 12 on third downs.

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Yep, because the Falcons played GREAT D, particularly on 3rd down. The Eagles like to go to TO on 3rd down but D. Hall did a terrific job of making TO's life hard in key situations.

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They committed 8 penalties.

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Yep, and how many of those were false start or illegal procedure penalties? I'm pretty sure that at least 5 of them were. The reason for those penalties was the incredible crowd noise. Last year, the Falcons' crowd caused 22 false start penalties in 8 home games (most in the league) by being loud. That is a direct reflection of home field advantage and has nothing to do with the Eagles beating themselves.

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Quarterback Donovan McNabb threw an interception and lost two fumbles.

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He threw the interception and lost the fumbles because he was getting CRUSHED by the Falcons' D. It's not like he just dropped the ball or misfired on the pass, he got rocked on all 3 plays.

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Six times the Eagles reached Falcons territory and scored only twice. David Akers, Mr. Reliable, missed two field goals.

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Both field goals that Akers missed were 47+ yards and certainly not chip shots. I'll concede that he normally would have made at least one of those.

The Falcons D FORCED a turnover on 2 of the possessions so that was not Philly making a mistake, that was the Falcons D making plays.

Finally, the Falcons also misfired on SEVERAL trips into Philly's red zone. A touchdown that would have put us up 21-7 was called back because of a holding penalty. Vick fumbled on a blitz in the red zone on a play that he should have seen coming. Vick threw a pick in the red zone. So if Philly missed opportunities to get back in the game, the Falcons missed just as many opportunities to put the game out of reach.

The bottom line is that it is debatable as to whether or not the Falcons would beat the Eagles on the road or on a neutral field but it is CLEAR that the Falcons can beat them at home. We just proved it.

[Plainview1981]

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the only person who doesn't think so is Hotlanta and we all know how he is. He's not a falcons fan either, so naturally he's not going to find anything worth talking about in the game.

You could write a book on all the reasons it was a big win for the Falcons.

1. Tie breaker game, we got it now - HUGE

2. Mentally we beat a team that we could not beat - huge

3. Last year, they pushed us around and beat us up. This year, they're the ones who were hurting on Tuesday morning - HUGE x 2

4. Last year, their offense was better than our defense. This year we proved that our defense is clearly better than their offense - HUGE

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"the only person who doesn't think so is Hotlanta and we all know how he is. He's not a falcons fan either, so naturally he's not going to find anything worth talking about in the game. "

That's untrue.. Hall played well as did the defense. But

there was little else impressive about the win. You BARELY

won a game in which you got away with a big catch that

shouldn't have been ruled so, the Eagles missed 2 or 3

Field goals, the Eagles made NO big plays and STILL Atlanta

had to sweat it out at the end. Not to mention Trotter not

being there.

Basically, you squeaked by a team that played extremely

poorly on the offense, and a team that was missing it's

big run stopper. Not overly impressive win.

With the way the Eagles played Atlanta should have won

easier than 4 points.

2 playoff Eagles wins>Alanta regular season win

Simple is that. It's just to bad if you can't except it.

[Plainview1981]

When the Pats lost 31-0 to the Bills on opening day a

few years ago and went out to win basically all of the

rest of the season, I decided that 1st games of the season

don't mean all that much now. There are exceptions such

as the sorry Titans team that was sorry last year, and

so the first game showed some of what I had already

expected....

However, when we are talking two playoff teams like in the

case of Atlanta and Philly.. I think it's too early to

consider this a big win. I know Atlanta hasn't beaten them

in while... But we all know it was a matter of time anyway

before they got a win over them... Just like it's only a

matter of time before the Colts find away to beat the Pats.

[chillzatl]

please, that's just how you are. You continually talk about "prefering defense" Yet all you can say is that the eagles played "poorly on offense". You don't seem willing to talk about the reason they played poorly. It's not just because they suck or that their offense just didn't play well. It's because they had a defense on the other side that was kicking their teeth in at every opportunity. They didn't make big plays because they couldn't. They got shut down.

You keep saying "you barely won" as if barely winning a game means ANYTHING. It doesn't.. The patriots barely won the superbowl..What a sorry excuse for a dynasty eh?

What big catch shouldn't have been ruled a catch?

As always you see things from your sour apple perspective on eveyrthing. That's what is sad in this whole thing.

[Plainview1981]

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please, that's just how you are. You continually talk about "prefering defense" Yet all you can say is that the eagles played "poorly on offense". You don't seem willing to talk about the reason they played poorly. It's not just because they suck or that their offense just didn't play well. It's because they had a defense on the other side that was kicking their teeth in at every opportunity. They didn't make big plays because they couldn't. They got shut down.

You keep saying "you barely won" as if barely winning a game means ANYTHING. It doesn't.. The patriots barely won the superbowl..What a sorry excuse for a dynasty eh?

What big catch shouldn't have been ruled a catch?

As always you see things from your sour apple perspective on eveyrthing. That's what is sad in this whole thing.

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Yes, the Eagles played poorly on offense. They made NO

big plays that I can remember. Not a single one... I was

cooking at the time so I might have missed one.. But I

don't think I did. The Falcons might be a good defensive

team, but they aren't the 2001 Ravens... So I'm saying

they aren't likely to do what they did very often to a

team like the Eagles.

The Eagles as bad as they played were only one play away

from winning the game despite doing very little. If if

the Eagles hadn't played decent defense the Falcons would

have basically been beating them on one of they're worst

days and barely doing it on top of that.

"

What big catch shouldn't have been ruled a catch?"

It was on one of the Crumpler catches... They got up and

got the next play off before the Eagles could challenge..

It look like Crumpler didn't catch it cleanly to me.

"It's because they had a defense on the other side that was kicking their teeth in at every opportunity."

And do an illegal hit in which they got away with. EVERY

THING went the Falcons way and all of it wasn't their

doing....

1.No Trotter... I have my doubts that DUnn would have had

as good of a first half with him in there.

2.Illegal hit by the Falcons on McNabb

3.Questionable big catch.

You won the game and obviousally it's good to be 1-0.

However, I just don't feel this will truly impact further

meetings between the two.