Week 2 has come and gone leaving Philadelphia Eagles fans short of breath as they narrowly escaped a loss on Sunday in the 24-23 win against the Baltimore Ravens. The good news is that the Eagles defeated an ignited Ravens offense and one of the toughest defenses in the league.
Sore bodies: Eagles athletic trainer, Rick Burkholder and team physician Dr. Peter DeLuca announced that Jason Kelce will be on IR for the remainder of the season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn MCL and partially torn ACL. This is a huge loss for the Eagles as Kelce is a key piece of the offense. King Dunlap left the game with a hamstring injury and all we can do at this point is hope that Jeremy Maclin is able to play against the Cardinals with a lingering hip injury.
The upside is that Dallas Reynolds came in when Kelce went down and played a great game. Steve Vallos has been activated as the back up center. When King Dunlap fell, Demetress Bell stepped up without skipping a beat. It seems he finally has a handle on the ways of Howard Mudd and it couldn’t have come at a more crucial time.
Sore losers: Ravens RB Ray Rice and FB Vonta Leach were awfully sore losers after the game saying the Eagles “play dirty” and “take shots after plays.” Guessing they wouldn’t have felt the same way had the Ravens won the game, but cry on. From what I saw of the fighting Desean Jackson and Cary Williams went at it pretty evenly for offsetting penalties. The next thing I knew Jackson being flung around by his facemask. I’d say the fighting was pretty even throughout the three or four different altercations and aren’t the Ravens notorious for being physical? Yes, I thought so.
Now to the good stuff. The Eagles are in fourth place in the NFL Power Rankings with a 2-0 record. The fight and determination of this team is perfectly clear after a tenacious win. Those fourth quarter implosions seem to be a thing of the past thank goodness, but there is still plenty for this team to prove.
I cannot say enough about the Eagles defense. It seems like Jim Washburn is having the time of this life being able to rotate these guys in and out when necessary. The Trent Cole sack that led to the Cullen Jenkins recovery that led to the LeSean McCoy touchdown was a dream come true. All of the Juan Castillo doubters please sit down. DeMeco Ryans has returned to his Pro Bowl caliber play here in Philadelphia and has stepped up as a leader as well. Ryans also had an interception, which led to a great 23 yard catch by Jeremy Maclin in the end zone.
Desean Jackson showed everyone exactly how he earned his contract. Jackson had 7 big catches totaling 114 yards all while playing very physical football. The hero of the day would unequivocally be Brent Celek who notched 157 yards in 8 catches. I’m not going to discuss Mike Vick because while I think he has improved, I want more than just a clutch player as my starting QB. I’m looking for someone who doesn’t need to come through in a clutch because he isn’t turning the ball over, but that’s all I will say about that.
This team has nine turnovers in two games and that is simply unacceptable. In the Ravens game alone the Eagles totaled three turnovers in the red zone. The offense is in a battle against themselves here. This week the special teams group wasn’t so special giving up 34 yards on three punts and 99 yards on three kickoff returns
Now it’s time to dominate the Red Sea and the Arizona Cardinals!
