|
Hornswaggle is an alternate spelling of hornswoggle, an archaic word that means to bamboozle or hoodwink. I take my pronunciation from the late Harvey Korman in "Blazing Saddles" -- "I want rustlers, cutthroats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, conmen, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswagglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, ass kickers, shit kickers and Methodists!" |
|
|
Monday, February 02, 2004Lessons for the Eagles from Super Bowl 38[UPDATE: Good article by Sam Donnellon on the need as a coach for flexibility. Reid is too dogmatic in his West Coast offense ways (remember the conservative crap from the NFC Championship against the Bucs?), whereas Belichek and Fox displayed adaptability in the Super Bowl, shifting strategies to fit the game.] There is no shortage of lessons. First of all, it was another great Super Bowl, the third in five years. There's a pattern that's emerged according to which every other Super Bowl is entertaining: Titans-Rams (good), Ravens-Giants (bad), Pats-Rams (good), Bucs-Raiders (bad), Pats-Panthers (good). Eagles fans who watched post-game coverage on Sports Center may have noticed a play in the fourth quarter in which Patriots receiver David Givens, when Ricky Manning Jr. jammed him at the line of scrimmage, throw the diminutive corner to the ground and come wide open for a big twenty-yard reception. That's the same Manning Jr., of course, who pimp-slapped the Eagles' diffident wide receivers and came up with three interceptions. That's not only a difference in personnel (Givens and Deion Branch were both exceptional draft picks by the Pats), it's a matter of coaching. If the other team is playing you rough, then you have to get rough too, rather than take it and whine to the refs. If the officials are going to let pretty much anything inside five yards slide, then you have to adjust your strategy. Givens could easily have been called for offensive holding, seeing as he grabbed Manning by the jersey and threw him down, but he wasn't. If it's not being called as a foul, then go ahead and do it. The Patriots have pretty much the same offensive strategy as the Eagles -- short passes out of three and five step drops, a tendency to run the ball only as a second option, no big names among their receivers and running backs -- with the big exception being they actually run their system effectively. Their receivers are more effective and better coached. They run better routes. The Eagles have this perverse dependence on screen passes and dinky dunks to the running back. The Eagles actually run plays where the running back is not the safety valve or third or fourth option, he's the number one option, and Donovan McNabb doesn't even bother looking down the field before he checks down to the back. That's stupid, and it's predictable. You have to scratch your head (or, depending on the circumstances, bang it against a wall) when Andy Reid throws that quick out to Todd Pinkston and asks him to break a tackle or make a guy miss. I mean, has that ever even worked in practice? Pinkston's limited skill set does not include making people miss in the open field and if a defender gets one hand on him, he's done for. The short passing offense depends on a quarterback's being extremely accurate. It just so happens that accuracy on short throws is McNabb's greatest weakness. Watching Tom Brady and Jake Delhomme last night raised questions in my mind about McNabb's personality. I love Donovan and I think he can win at a high level, but (besides the skills that he lacks that Tom Brady possesses in abundance -- great accuracy, superior decision-making), he doesn't seem to possess the fire that Tom Brady and Jake Delhomme displayed last night, those moments of pure exultation, passion and competitive spirit. Brady showed it when he scrambled for that first down to the three-yard line on the Pats' first scoring drive and made the emphatic first-down signal, helmet pulled down over his face from the impact of the tackle, letting out a yell of battlefield intensity. Delhomme showed it when he threw that 85-yard touchdown pass on 3rd and 10 to Muhsin Muhammad that gave the Panthers the lead in the fourth quarter. Evidently, members of the Pats defense had been chattering at him, and he pointed at them and offered a high-volume rebuttal as Muhammad streaked towards the end zone. McNabb tends to dance and laugh when the Eagles score, which is fine, most of the time, but on occasion I want to see him display that fire, to show how much he cares. I want to see him get pissed off. All the comparisons between Brady and Joe Montana over the weekend demonstrated that Montana, Joe Cool, never got worked up. He's a case-in-point that you don't have to be fiery to succeed at the highest level, which ought to be heartening for Eagles fans. McNabb cares about football. We know that. No one works harder in the offseason that he does. And he is emotional. Underneath the laughter, we know there is anger and pain. He just tends to internalize everything, like the humiliation he felt when Eagles' fans (louts) booed Philly's decision to draft him over Ricky Williams. He represses his emotions in a way that's almost neurotic. He never seems to say what he feels but rather speaks in bland cliches that bely his intelligence. Hopefully, as he matures, he'll become better at managing his emotions and finding avenues for their expression. Tom Brady wasn't sacked once last night. The Eagles are going to have to improve the play of their offensive line, and Donovan is going to have to a better job getting rid of the footbal and being decisive when he decides to run with it, if they want to go all the way. The Patriots' success along the offensive line is all about coaching. The Pats lost three of their starting linemen this year to injury, yet still played at a very high level. Both the Panthers' and Patriots' defensive teams are sure tacklers who are extremely physical and play with discipline and ferocity. The Eagles have to get bigger, faster and fiercer along the defensive line and in their linebacking corps. Their linebackers, with Nate Wayne and Mark Simoneau starting at the weak side and in the middle, are undersized. (Michael Lewis and Brian Dawkins have the ferocious hitting thing down quite well in the secondary.) Muhsin Muhammad and Steve Smith are prototypes of two different, but equally effective receivers. Muhammad is a big, imposing athlete who will fuck you up on a block, jump over you for a catch, yet has the speed to get deep. Smith is small but well-built, with outstanding quickness and blazing speed. On his touchdown catch, he demonstrated one way to beat press coverage: put a move on the defensive back that would break every bone in the lower half of a normal person's body, then have the strength to establish position on the defender on the way down the field. Givens for the Pats showed the other: simply throw the defender out of the way. Todd Pinkston and James Thrash are capable of doing neither of those things. If the Eagles approach the draft and free agency with these things in mind -- improving the offensive and defensive lines, getting faster and more physical at wide receiver, and becoming more physical on the defensive side of the ball -- and if Donovan McNabb works on his accuracy and decision-making, they have a shot at getting to the Super Bowl next year. The Patriots are proving a lot of things: Tom Brady is the real deal and beyond; Bill Belichek is the best coach in football; you can win the Super Bowl without relying on the running game, so long as you run it effectively when it matters. They're also proving the following: it is possible to remain at the top in this up-one-year, down-the-next NFL. Eagles fans can take heart from the Patriots' example that Philly's window of opportunity to get to the Super Bowl remains wide open, so long as Reid and his coaching staff recognize what the team's needs are and address them in aggressive fashion. .: posted by hornswaggler 2:32 PM| |
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
| Contact |
