Take a Pass

As bad as the Eagles played Sunday, their play calling was even WORSE. Exhibits 1 and 2 are the last two possessions of the first half.

 

Yes, McNabb threw the pick three plays after Lito Sheppard intercepted Romo at the Eagles 17 yard line. But the larger question is why McNabb was he even passing at that point?

 

Sheppard’s INT stopped a Cowboys score and the Eagles should have been happy to go into the half down 14-7.

 

But no, at their own 17 with under 2 minutes to go, Reid calls 3 straight pass plays. The first two were incompletes and so only burned several seconds off the clock, now at 1:42. The worst, though, has to be the 3rd and 10 pass play that McNabb was intercepted on. Why pass there?!?!?! Let me repeat: 3^rd and 10 from your own 17 with 1:42 till the half. And you’ve dodged a bullet by picking off Romo and preventing a Dallas score. It is inexplicable to me how such a conservative offense and game plan all of the sudden decides that 3^rd and 10 from your own 17 is now the time to pass downfield – into a dime package no less!

 

Run the ball and run out the clock – or force Dallas to call TO (don’t recall how many they had) – punt and go to locker room. McNabb is getting killed for the pick, but Reid is not getting similarly criticism for the terrible play call. How about a draw play there?

 

A completion at best gets you a first down near your own 30. Second best possibility is a completion that keeps clock running and makes it 4th down.

 

Aside from an INT, the next worse from Eagles perspective is an incompletion – stopping clock without need for a Dallas TO and receiving a punt.

 

But wait. The play calling got worse after McNabb’s INT before the half. Now down 21-7 and with the ball on your own 22 with :22 seconds left in the half, what does Andy Reid do? Take a kneel down? NO! He calls a screen pass! WHY!?!?! Do you really think Westbrook is going 78 yards on a screen pass? After he had been held to 0 yards on four catches so far in the first half? Take a knee.

 

I think Reid has reclaimed the play calling from Mohrninweg in the wake of his kids imprisonment. It’s his way of trying to exert control and keeping his mind off of his personal problems. But like his parenting, his play calling is a disaster. And just like his family, it is others – be it Britt, Garrett, or McNabb – that pays the penalty.