Welcome Back, Wildcat

Thursday, November 19, 2009

By Jordan Raanan
CSNPhilly.com Contributor

Earlier this week, the Eagles had a few days to appraise their own running back situation and scour the scrap heap. What they saw apparently wasn’t enticing.  

Warrick Dunn, Edgerrin James and Larry Johnson (before he signed with Cincinnati) were among the available options. None seriously peaked the Eagles’ interest.

“I’ll look at that as we go here,” coach Andy Reid said during his Monday press conference. “I have to put all the information together with Brian [Westbrook’s concussion] and I think we have some good young guys here that can play. I am not [looking to add a guy] right now. I have to meet with [general manager] Tom [Heckert] after this and clear up all of that.”

The meeting with Heckert must have confirmed Reid’s original assessment on the current free-agent crop. While waiting to hear the news that Westbrook could return at some point later this season, the Eagles decided to move along with the inexperienced trio of LeSean McCoy, Eldra Buckley and P.J. Hill.

McCoy and Hill are rookies and Buckley never played in an NFL game before this season. Fullback Leonard Weaver will also see an increased workload at halfback, according to the Eagles’ coaching staff.

On the surface, those are the obvious solutions. The other option to revive the Eagles’ dormant rushing attack does not actually involve a running back. It involves a formation that often includes a different quarterback then Donovan McNabb, one who often doubles as a running back.

Michael Vick and the highly criticized Wildcat formation are likely to make an immediate return. Expect to see its Eagles resurrection as early as Sunday night.

Think for a minute; it makes perfect sense. How can the Eagles’ running game compensate for the indefinite loss of its best runner? By bringing back the Wildcat.

The Wildcat is not just Vick. Maybe the most effective play this season in the controversial formation has been the direct snap to McCoy. Expect to see that on Sunday.

Expect the ever-dangerous DeSean Jackson in the backfield with McCoy. Expect McCoy in the backfield with Vick. Expect, basically, what we saw earlier this season when McNabb was not there to poo-poo it. Expect a variety of unorthodox formations and looks meant to maximize the personnel in the running game.

“Yeah, that’s right,” offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said when asked if he will find different ways to run the ball now that Westbrook is out indefinitely. “Every player has different strengths and so you try to play to their strengths.”

Much to the chagrin of the armchair experts, the Wildcat seems to be the most logical way for the Eagles to make a running game out of this rag-tag group. They had enough trouble even with the threat of Westbrook in the lineup.

In order to be successful in this endeavor, the Eagles will need to pull out all the tricks (and then some) that have been shelved for the last few weeks. The chicanery that didn’t work early this season is going to be absolutely necessary sans Westbrook.

There is no reason to believe with this offensive line, with this group of running backs and with these coaches that the Eagles can line up in a base formation and run the ball down anyone’s throat. Their rushing offense is ranked 23rd in the NFL for a reason.

But there is one place in particular where the Wildcat can really come in handy for these Eagles – the red zone. After last week’s debacle in San Diego, where they failed to get in the end zone on their first three trips inside the opponent’s 20-yard line, this is the perfect answer. This is where the Vick signing can finally come in handy. This is where all that unnecessary attention that came with the unexpected acquisition of the embattled quarterback can finally be worth all the trouble.

Isn’t this what Marty and Andy had in mind when they signed Vick in the first place? It’s just a shame that it might take Westbrook’s long-term absence for it to finally happen.

Jordan Raanan has covered the Eagles for Metro Newspapers and then CSNPhilly.com since 2005. You can follow him on Twitter @jraanan or email him at jraanan@hotmail.com.

McNabb and Reid on Different Pages

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

By Jordan Raanan
CSNPhilly.com Contributor

Donovan McNabb wasn’t happy after his third-and-one pass from the seven fell incomplete midway through the third quarter. He wanted to run the ball, not throw it around the yard like this was another backyard football game where the rules allow only one run every four downs.

It happens all the time. The quarterback doesn’t completely agree with the coach’s play-call. Sometimes, he audibles to a more appropriate play for the defense he’s facing. Other times, there is no time for such an adjustment, like the third quarter on Sunday, even when San Diego was calling out the exact play the Eagles were about to run, as McNabb admitted after the game.

Even a novice lip reader like myself can make out McNabb’s words following the ineffective play: ‘Run it!’

Sorry, Donovan. You should know better at this point. These are Andy Reid’s Eagles. That means pass first, talk run the day after and the day after that.

But the quarterback-coach disharmony isn’t as rare as one might think with the Eagles’ seemingly inseparable couple. It’s just that this time it was actually caught on camera.

“How does everyone get these clips all of a sudden? … I’m a football player. I want to score. Do I remember it, I don’t know?” McNabb said as he suffered a case of midsentence amnesia.  “I’ve said a lot of different things through the course of a game. They might have clips of it, they might not. It’s about winning ball games. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to help win.”

Sometimes that means following Reid straight into passing heaven. McNabb threw a ridiculous 55 passes in Sunday’s loss in San Diego.

So could he have audibled out of some of them? Could he have audibled out of that specific third-and-one play?

“If the pass is there, we will pass the ball,” the PC quarterback said while chuckling.

That doesn’t mean McNabb has to agree with the call. And maybe the oft-criticized signal-caller does give Reid and offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg a piece of his mind throughout the week, just not in front of the camera.

Maybe this is something that is discussed at the Eagles’ weekly Players Committee meetings on Wednesday mornings. Basically, Reid meets with the team leaders (about eight of them, each from a different position and aspect of the game) at this time to discuss ‘team business,’ as one player put it.  

It’s there that the quarterback, coach and other team leaders talk about all other pertinent Eagles matters, such as their message for the week, how they are going to handle the media and what they can do to improve. It’s a little more structured and organized than the way most other teams and coaches do things, but it’s been rather effective throughout Reid’s tenure.

The Eagles have remained fairly even keel and achieved plenty of overall success. It still hasn’t helped win a Super Bowl or cure the coach’s love affair with the forward pass.

McNabb’s voice apparently can only go so far. That was obvious on Sunday in San Diego.

So what is the quarterback left to do? Sit at the podium and talk in circles, leaving everyone just as mystified as they were before he spoke.

“If we would have completed the [third-down] pass or got open, it wouldn’t have been a problem,” McNabb said. “If we ran for a first down, it wouldn’t have been a problem either.

“Should we have run the ball? That’s Marty and Andy’s decision. So hopefully I answered that for you.”

No need. McNabb’s actions and words on the field Sunday said everything.

Jordan Raanan has covered the Eagles for Metro Newspapers and then CSNPhilly.com since 2005. You can follow him on Twitter @jraanan or email him at jraanan@hotmail.com.

Old Birds

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

By Jordan Raanan
CSNPhilly.com Contributor

At least one former Eagle is doing well.

Brian Dawkins – Even though the Broncos appear to have lost a step, Dawkins hasn’t. He had one of his most impactful games of the season Sunday in Washington when he recorded 14 total tackles, including one for a loss. Does Macho Harris have 14 total tackles this season?

Correll Buckhalter – While Dawk’s performance has remained steady, Buckhalter’s has dropped off significantly following a strong start to the season. Buck had just two carries in Sunday’s loss to the Redskins and was benched after fumbling in the first quarter. After totaling 230 yards rushing in the Broncos’ first three games, the former Birds running back has 134 yards in his new team’s last six contests.

L.J. Smith – It never gets old laughing at what a non-factor the former Eagles tight end has become. His only real contribution to Baltimore’s Monday night victory was contributing to the breaking of his teammate’s ankle. Smith had no catches and, on the opening kickoff, blocked a Cleveland player into the ankle of Haruki Nakamura.

Hank Baskett – Even with the Colts’ receiving corps still struggling with injuries, Baskett is having a hard time getting on the field. The NBC broadcast actually caught him running onto the field when one of Indy’s receivers limped off Sunday night, only to be sent back to the sideline before entering the huddle. Baskett remains stuck on one catch with the Colts.

Michael Lewis – The safety ended San Francisco’s Thursday night victory over the Bears when he intercepted a Jay Cutler pass. Seriously, who doesn’t intercept a Jay Cutler pass nowadays?

Jordan Raanan has covered the Eagles for Metro Newspapers and then CSNPhilly.com since 2005. You can follow him on Twitter @jraanan or email him at jraanan@hotmail.com.