Philadelphia Eagles Doomed By Poor Coaching Decisions...Again

As I sit here, cursing the Eagles' coaching staff for another night of horrid decisions, one can't help but realize that the Eagles' season is in extreme peril.

I know poor coaching was not the only reason the Eagles lost tonight, as the Giants pretty much imposed their will on the Eagles tonight. But when you have poor coaching decisions late in games that cost you yards and timeouts, there's no way you win.

Give credit to the Giants; they came into enemy territory and came out with an enormous win. They ran the ball with great power and waltzed up and down the field on the Eagles' defense all night, while Eli Manning simply managed a great game.

Eli was unspectacular but made the big throws when they needed to be made; it's a complete turnaround from a year ago.

The three-headed monster of Jacobs, Ward, and Bradshaw shredded the Eagles' front seven all night long to the tune of 219 yards.

The Giants' defense was so-so on the night, as they made plays when they had to be made. Don't let the stats fool you, the Eagles ran for 107 yards yes, but 60 of those yards came from DeSean Jackson on reverses and Donovan McNabb scrambling (if you can call it that). The Giants completely shut down Brian Westbrook and kept him a non-factor, which was key to the game.

As for the Eagles, they failed to match the Giants' intensity, failed to contain the Giants' ground game, and got off to another slow start, which led to their eventual and heartbreaking demise.   

Donovan McNabb failed to get in an early rhythm once again, misfiring on his first six passes in the first half. Donovan regained control and threw for three, now meaningless, touchdowns and ran for 35 yards.

On the ground, Eagles running backs were a non-factor, rushing for a meager 47 yards on 15 carries, 20 of which came on a burst from Correll Buckhalter. But the puzzling thing was, when the Eagles ran the ball, it was either at the wrong down-and-distance spot or immediately followed by six or seven consecutive passes.

On defense, the Eagles looked like a pop-warner squad out there, as New York looked like a well-oiled marching, just dominating the Eagles' defense. Stewart Bradley had a stellar 14 total tackles tonight, but they were all for naught.

On a key 3rd-and-2, Brandon Jacobs took the hand off and plowed towards the first down, where Bradley was there to head him off and bring him down short, by what looked like grabbing a shoulder pad. The replay shows that Bradley TOUCHED the facemask of Jacobs and brought him down by grabbing his pads, but the official saw different and called Bradley for a 15-yard facemask penalty, which eventually led to a New York touchdown.

The Eagles' secondary struggled again with tight end Kevin Boss, who caught six passes for 69 yards and a touchdown. They kept Eli Manning out of touch with his receivers, keeping Plaxico Burress, Amani Toomer and Steve Smith to a combined 82 yards.

But what really did the Eagles in late in the game was...COACHING. The way Andy Reid has coached this year has been absolutely dreadful. I'v said this in another article, his system is completely predictable. He throws four straight times, runs once, and then throws six or seven more times.

Andy, that may have worked when you had cough cough, Terrell Owens, cough cough, but now that you have a dynamic running back and a mediocre corps of receivers, that method doesn't work...AT ALL.

Andy is not the only one at fault in this situation. There were key mistakes all around tonight, here's what I saw:

1) Jim Johnson: Why do you leave Plaxico Burress in single coverage with Brian Dawkins and send your best cover corner, Sheldon Brown, on a blitz, knowing that Dawkins is more effective blitzing? Burress ran a very simple post route and yet made Dawkins look bad once again on a touchdown.

2) Whoever tells Andy to challenge plays: Both of those challenges were horrible. End of story.

3) ANDY REID!: Late in the game, just above a minute left, three yards to go. You're running game has been dreadful all night long and you proceed to call two consecutive runs when you're franchise quarterback is in a rhythm. WHY.

4) Quintin Demps: Now, I might be reaching here, but a key turning point in the game was Demps' kickoff fumble in the first quarter. Demps had a gaping hole to the outside but yet he cut inside into a pile of players and was stripped. That turnover led to seven points.

There were other things that you can point out in this game, but that doesn't change anything: The Giants did what they had to do and the Eagles didn't.

The win for the Giants puts them at 8-1, in first place in the NFC East and sitting pretty. I don't see any team in the NFC that can stop this team right now; they are just playing good, solid football. New York heads home to host the Baltimore Ravens (6-3) next Sunday.

Well, this loss puts the Eagles in a very tight spot, folks. The loss tonight sends the Eagles (5-4) right back to the NFC East cellar, as their playoff hopes are seemingly fading away. Philly travels to Cincinnati next Sunday to play the lowly Bengals, with the season on the line for the Eagles.

From a fans standpoint, this loss hurts more than most. The poor decisions, another slow start, the poor execution, the turnovers, it all just sickens me and probably all of the other sulking fans out there.

Well, where do we go from here? The way I look at it, the Eagles MUST win six of the next seven games to squeak into the playoffs. Of those six wins, they must win three of them against the NFC East. At 0-3 in the division, the outlook is very bleak right now for the Eagles, but there is still a sliver of hope, just a bit.