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| NE at MIA | NYG at ARI | NYJ at TEN | OAK at DEN | PHI at BAL | SF at DAL | TB at DET | WAS at SEA |
Week 12 Game Recap: Philadelphia Eagles 7, Baltimore Ravens 36
What you need to know
| Philadelphia Eagles |
After a second quarter performance that could only be described as abysmal (including two INTs) QB Donovan McNabb was replaced in the second half by second year QB Kevin Kolb under center for the Eagles. Kolb, thrust into a tough situation, showed his inexperience as he performed only marginally better than McNabb had, and matched him with two interceptions of his own.
RB Brian Westbrook was largely ineffective and amassed only 34 total yards due to his being nicked up and facing a tough defense.
While WR Kevin Curtis was targeted often while McNabb was still under center, once Kolb took over, it was WR DeSean Jackson who became the featured receiver.
| Baltimore Ravens |
While QB Joe Flacco got off to a rough start in the first half, he avoided any big mistakes and finished the day with almost 200 yards and a pair of TD passes, managing his team to the win.
In this game, it was RB LeRon McClain who excelled amongst the Baltimore RBs as Willis McGahee and Ray Rice were unable to get anything going. McClain use his size and toughness to bull his way through the Eagles defense to an impressive 4.9 yards per carry, 88 yards and a TD.
While WR Mark Clayton caught only two passes, he made the most of them, including a 53 yard TD pass that started as a six yard slant route and ended in the end zone.
What you ought to know
| QB Kevin Kolb, Pass: 10 - 23 - 73 - 0 TD / 2 INT, Rush: 3 - 12 - 0 |
There were whispers all week that Kolb might soon see some time under center for the Eagles. It's doubtful that anyone, including Kolb, thought it would come this soon against a tough Baltimore defense. Nonetheless, come the third quarter of today's game with the score still close (10-7 Baltimore) and the Eagles' season in the balance, Kolb took over as QB for the ineffective Donovan McNabb. Unfortunately, Kolb was only the slightest of improvements over McNabb. While he completed his first pass attempt, a short toss to TE Brent Celek, Kolb's next five fell incomplete (most of them because he was leaving them short). His next pass was even worse as he was intercepted by Baltimore's Samari Rolle. On that interception, Kolb tried to hit WR Kevin Curtis, but Curtis was well-covered and again, the ball was underthrown. Kolb finally seemed to find his rhythm on the Eagles' second possession in the fourth quarter as he went five for six for 53 yards -- almost exclusively to WR DeSean Jackson -- but then, as he tried to force the ball to Jackson in the end zone to complete the drive, he overlooked Baltimore safety Ed Reed, lurking nearby. One interception and 108 yards later, Baltimore had seven more points. Kolb would complete only three of his final ten pass attempts after that second interception. In short, Kolb was presented with a very difficult situation -- taking over the QB job from the face of the Eagles franchise midway through a game against one of the best defenses in the NFL. While Kolb certainly failed to rise to the challenge, should he get the start next week it may be a better indication of what he is truly capable of.
| QB Donovan McNabb, Pass: 8 - 18 - 59 - 0 TD / 2 INT, Rush: 1 - 7 - 0 |
Despite struggling early on in many of his recent games, McNabb actually got off to a good start against the Ravens as he completed six of his first seven pass attempts. Though they were all on short routes and only went for a total of 43 yards, it appeared that McNabb was shaking free of what had been a very tough week for him in Philadelphia. Then came the second quarter. On the third play of that quarter Baltimore LB Jarret Johnson knocked the ball out of McNabb's hands and caught it before it hit the ground for a fumble forced and recovered. On the next series McNabb's first pass attempt was slightly overthrown and intercepted by Baltimore's Fabian Washington. Over the next two series, McNabb went 0-5 and finished the second series with another interception, this time by Ravens safety Ed Reed. In the end, McNabb completed only two passes in the second quarter, and finished the half (and, as it turned out, his game) a miserable eight of 18 for 59 yards, no TDs and two INTs. McNabb was replaced in the second half by Kevin Kolb, and it was not due to injury.
| RB Brian Westbrook, Rush: 14 - 39 - 0, Rec: 2 - -5 - 0 (4 targets) |
Despite missing practice time this week with an assortment of injuries and some questions as to whether he would play, Brian Westbrook started at RB for the Eagles and proceeded to pop off a tough six yard run on their first offensive play. The rest of the day would be frustrating for Westbrook, however, as he added only 33 more yards on the ground and actually finished with -5 receiving yards. The combination of his injuries, the Ravens' stifling defense, and the overall ineffectiveness of the entire Eagles offense made it impossible for Westbrook to take on his usual role of playmaker.
| WR DeSean Jackson, Rush: 1 - 12 - 0, Rec: 5 - 47 - 0 (10 targets) |
Jackson led the Eagles in targets on the day with ten, and most of them (seven) came in the final quarter. By that point the Eagles were in free-fall mode and were looking more and more to the passing game for help. During that quarter, Jackson seemed to establish a bit of a rhythm with new QB Kevin Kolb and was targeted on five out of the six pass plays during the only sustained drive that the Eagles managed in the second half. On that fourth quarter drive, Jackson hauled in all four of the passes thrown his way and amassed 44 yards. Unfortunately, the single pass he didn't catch was an end-zone target that Raven safety Ed Reed intercepted and ran back 108 yards for a score. In the rushing game, Jackson received a single carry when he took a direct snap early in the third quarter and ran to the left for a twelve yard gain. It seems that no matter who is under center for the Eagles, Jackson is a weapon that the coaching staff will continue to try and exploit.
| WR Kevin Curtis, Rec: 2 - 12 - 0 (8 targets) |
During the first half, while QB Donovan McNabb was still under center, Curtis continued to be the most targeted Eagles receiver, as he has been in recent weeks. Unfortunately, McNabb was so off on his throws that these targets only translated into two receptions. In the second half, once Kevin Kolb took over at QB, Curtis saw very little attention -- including no passes thrown his way in the fourth quarter when the Eagles were airing it out on almost every play.
| WR Hank Baskett, Rec: 1 - 8 - 0 (6 targets) |
Despite finishing third on the team with six targets, Baskett only managed to pull down one of them for a paltry eight yards. Certainly not all of the fault for this abysmal showing should fall on Baskett as both QB Donovan McNabb and his replacement QB Kevin Kolb were off target for much of the day, but Baskett didn't do all that much to help himself either, as he also contributed some drops.
| TE Brent Celek, Rec: 3 - 26 - 0 (5 targets) |
While he received the start, Celek didn't see any of his five targets until the second half when QB Kevin Kolb took over for Donovan McNabb. At that point he seemed to become one of Kolb's two favorite targets, along with WR DeSean Jackson. Celek appeared to be assigned the role of Kolb's security blanket as he ran primarily short to medium routes, so while he finished second on the Eagles with three receptions, he amassed only 26 yards.
| TE L.J. Smith, Rec: 1 - 3 - 0 (1 targets) |
Smith did not receive the start in this game and his only target came in the first quarter. While he caught that pass, the reception went for only three yards.
| PK David Akers 0 - 0 FG, 1 - 1 XP, 1 points |
Due to the nearly complete inability of the Eagle offense to do anything offensively this week, Akers' involvement was limited to kicking a single extra point.
| PHI Rush Defense |
The success of the Eagles' rush defense seemed to depend on who was carrying the ball for Baltimore. If it was Willis McGahee or Ray Rice, the Philadelphia defense regularly stopped them cold or dropped them for losses. If it was the bruising LeRon McClain, however, then it was a different story. McClain used his power to repeatedly bull through the Eagles defenders and averaged almost five yards per carry on the day en route to 88 yards and a rushing TD.
| PHI Pass Defense |
The Eagles pass defense was better than their rush defense, and the made life very difficult for Baltimore QB Joe Flacco early on. They regularly joined him in the backfield and ended the day with three sacks. The defensive backfield was not quite as stalwart, however, and gave up some big plays when Flacco was able to get the ball downfield -- the biggest of which was a 53 yard TD strike where Ravens WR Mark Clayton was able to get behind coverage despite running only a six yard slant pattern and turn the reception into a 53 yard score.
| QB Joe Flacco, Pass: 12 - 26 - 183 - 2 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 5 - 3 - 0 |
Rookie QBs will experience inconsistency from game to game in their first NFL seasons. That's a given, and Joe Flacco is no different. In this game, he was inconsistent from half to half. While Flacco was largely ineffective in the first 30 minutes -- completing only five of his first 16 pass attempts for 59 yards -- he went seven for ten in the second half (almost all in the third quarter) for 124 yards. Importantly, however, Flacco was able to avoid any interceptions, though he did come close to an INT late in the second half when he delivered the ball right into the hands of Eagles LB Stewart Bradley who couldn't hang on. Flacco was also able to find the end zone twice. On the first score he hit TE Daniel Wilcox on a one yard toss that gave the Ravens a 10-0 lead late in the second quarter. A lot of credit for this score has to go to Wilcox as the ball was thrown high and the TE had to make a spectacular play to pull it down with one hand. For Flacco's second score he found WR Mark Clayton on a short slant and Clayton used his speed to convert it into a 53 yard TD. While this will not go down as one of Flacco's best games, he did what he needed to do to allow his team (and primarily his defense) to deliver the victory.
| RB LeRon McClain, Rush: 18 - 88 - 1 |
With fellow RBs Willis McGahee and Ray Rice seeming to alternate taking the lead in the Baltimore ground game over recent weeks, McClain was fast becoming a forgotten fantasy factor. In this game, he made it clear that he's still in the mix. While McGahee and Rice were unable to get anything going against the Eagles' rush defense, McClain had no such problem. After taking over for an ineffective McGahee on the Ravens' second offensive series, McClain's number was called on five straight plays and he gained 31 of his game total 88 yards in his typical powerful and bruising style. This would prove to be a pattern all day -- the Ravens' coaching staff would try and work either McGahee or Rice into the ground attack but then end up going back to McClain to actually gain some yards. McClain wrapped up his day nicely as late in the fourth quarter he combined a powerful 28 yard blast up the middle with a 1 yard burst into the end-zone two plays later.
| RB Ray Rice, Rush: 8 - 7 - 0, Rec: 3 - 42 - 0 (6 targets) |
While Rice gave way to fellow RB LeRon McClain as the Ravens' primary runner on the day, his owners can take some solace from the fact that he was heavily involved in the Baltimore passing game. He finished second on the team with six targets, and tied for first in receptions with three. While most of these passes were check-downs, Rice was able, on at least one occasion, to display his speed and elusiveness. On that late first half play, Rice scooped a low, two yard pass off of his shoelaces, dodged Eagles CB Asante Samuel and raced up the right sideline for 22 yards.
| RB Willis McGahee, Rush: 7 - 8 - 0 |
McGahee frustrated his owners again this week as the Baltimore wheel o' running backs came to rest on someone else. While McGahee did officially get the start, he was wholly ineffective against the Eagle defense. Almost half of his carries went for negative yards, and his longest run was for only four. As the game wore on, the lion's share of the carries went to fellow RB LeRon McLain and McGahee saw no carries in the second half. McGahee was not used in the passing game.
| WR Derrick Mason, Rec: 3 - 40 - 0 (6 targets) |
Though he was tied for second on the team with six targets and tied for first in receptions with three, Mason's day was still rather pedestrian. Some of this was due to the fact that QB Joe Flacco was not at his best, but Mason also suffered from the fact that Baltimore only attempted three passes in the final quarter. In the end Mason only really made one significant play. Early in the third quarter he took a 15 yard pass and then bobbed and weaved his way up the left sideline to add an additional seven yards.
| WR Mark Clayton, Rec: 2 - 76 - 1 (7 targets) |
Though he caught only two of his team high seven targets, Clayton made sure that he made the most of those receptions. On the first Clayton went a long way toward setting up a Baltimore field goal when he ran a 15 yard comeback route and turned it into a 23 yard gain. He improved on this effort early in the fourth quarter when he blew by the coverage on a short slant, easily captured QB Joe Flacco's six yard pass, and then burned down the field with no defenders near him for a 53 yard TD.
| TE Todd Heap, Rec: 2 - 26 - 0 (5 targets) |
Though he was targeted five times, Heap was only able to pull down two for receptions. On the first of these Heap accounted for a majority of his yards when he hauled in a short late second quarter pass at the right sideline, ducked a defender, and then stretched it into a 19 yard gain. Heap's incompletions were a result of a drop early on and some poorly thrown passes, particularly on a second quarter toss where Heap was open deep and streaking but QB Joe Flacco threw the ball too high and behind him.
| PK Matt Stover 2 - 2 FG, 4 - 4 XP, 10 points |
Stover was called upon to attempt two field goals during the game and converted on both -- one from 44 yards and one from 42. It should be noted that, once again, when the Ravens chose to attempt a field goal of over 50 yards (it was 53 this week) it was Baltimore kick off specialist Steve Hauschka who got the call and not Stover. Hauschka missed.
| PK Steve Hauschka 0 - 1 FG, 0 - 0 XP, 0 points |
As they have in recent weeks, when the Ravens had the opportunity to attempt a field goal of over 50 yards (it was 53 this week) they turned kick off specialist Hauschka. This week he missed his only attempt.
| BAL Rush Defense |
Faced with a dinged up Brian Westbrook, the strong Baltimore rushing defense did manage to keep the dynamic Eagles RB largely in check, and by the second half, Philadelphia was primarily relying on the passing game to gain yards.
| BAL Pass Defense |
Though the registered only two sacks, the Ravens pass rush was all over both Eagles QBs all day long. This constant pressure undoubtedly played a role in both QBs being off target on their passes, generally, and tossing four interceptions specifically. LB Jarret Johnson added a fifth turnover when he both caused an early second quarter fumble and recovered it without the ball ever touching the ground.
