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| ATL at CAR | BAL at CLE | BUF at TEN | CHI at SF | CIN at PIT | DAL at GB | DEN at WAS | DET at MIN |
| JAX at NYJ | KC at OAK | NE at IND | NO at STL | PHI at SD | SEA at ARI | TB at MIA | |
Week 10 Game Recap: Philadelphia Eagles 23, San Diego Chargers 31
Philadelphia Eagles
| QB Donovan McNabb, Pass: 35 - 55 - 450 - 2 TD / 1 INT |
McNabb was again asked to shoulder a heavy load, throwing 56 passes on the afternoon against just 13 team rushes (and the first two offensive plays of the day were both runs, making it an even larger disparity from that point forward). This, despite facing a team that has had a lot of trouble stopping the run at times this season. In truth, McNabb had a very good game stat-wise, tossing for 450 yards and a pair of scores. He was given a ton of time to throw, and his receivers did a great job of getting separation over the middle of the field. On a couple of occasions, they took shots deep down the field, but the Charger defense is really designed to not give up the big plays and most of those passes missed their mark by a great deal. In fact, McNabb had a lot of trouble with his accuracy on a lot of passes. When he was throwing short, he had no trouble getting the ball to guys when they were wide open, but that could be said of most quarterbacks. Whenever someone was even a little bit covered, however, he had issues. His best play of the game was late in the contest when he stepped up into the pocket to buy a little time for his receivers, then just as the defense stepped forward he flipped a touchdown to his new favorite red zone target, TE Brent Celek.
| QB Michael Vick, Pass: 0 - 1 - 0 - 0 TD / 0 INT |
Vick was in for just one passing play. At first glance, he appeared to find his man perfectly in stride for what should have been a first down completion to DeSean Jackson. It looked like Jackson dropped the ball. But upon seeing a replay, it was evident that the pass, while it was catchable, clearly could've been thrown better to hit Jackson more in stride. That was Vick's only contribution on the day.
| RB Brian Westbrook, Rush: 6 - 28 - 0, Rec: 2 - 26 - 0 (3 targets) |
Bad news got worse for Brian Westbrook when he suffered yet another concussion that knocked him from the game. He was already being used very sparingly as the Eagles attempted to throw their way to another win. It was unclear exactly which play did the damage to Westbrook, but at this point we've got to think that the remainder of his season is very much in jeopardy. He remained on the sidelines and in uniform for the rest of the game, but considering how much more seriously the league looks at head injuries these days, it looks like he'll be out for quite some time moving forward.
| RB LeSean McCoy, Rush: 3 - 5 - 0, Rec: 3 - 18 - 0 (3 targets) |
McCoy's role was already planning on being reduced with the return of Brian Westbrook to action. And when Westbrook was knocked from the contest with another concussion, it looked as if McCoy might see a significant number of touches. Unfortunately for him, that never materialized as the team instead opted to throw the ball on almost every play. McCoy tallied just 23 yards on his six total touches, though he did look shifty and elusive on at least two of those touches. He should get a much greater share of the workload moving forward assuming that Westbrook is going to miss some time with his latest concussion.
| WR Jason Avant, Rec: 8 - 156 - 0 (9 targets) |
Avant turned in a career day in the soft secondary of the Chargers. He set career highs across the board, finishing with a game-high 156 yards and eight receptions. Much of his damage was done out of the slot and in the middle of the field, just beyond the linebackers and just in front of the safeties. His big reception came on a catch and run coupled with a missed tackle that ended up going for 58 yards up the sideline. Avant may very well go back to a non-factor in the coming weeks, but he showed in this game that he can be trusted upon to play a smart, controlled game and get open when the defense is giving him room.
| WR DeSean Jackson, Rec: 8 - 91 - 0 (16 targets) |
Jackson had a very solid game, but was unable to break free in the deep secondary thanks to the style of defense the Chargers typically employ. They give up a lot of the underneath passes, but rarely are beaten over the top for deep passes, and Jackson was the latest to find this out. In a testament to his ability, he adapted extremely well and attached the Chargers on intermediate routes and crossing patterns instead. Most of his receptions were of the shorter variety, but he made the plays and moved the chains when he was needed.
| WR Jeremy Maclin, Rush: 1 - -6 - 0, Rec: 6 - 76 - 1 (8 targets) |
Maclin teamed with DeSean Jackson and Jason Avant to wreak havoc on the San Diego secondary in this game. Despite that, the Eagles were never really in the game until a brief time late in the fourth quarter. It appeared as if the Chargers were all too willing to allow this threesome to run wild all over the middle of the field, and Maclin benefitted greatly from the lax coverage afforded him by San Diego. Late in the game as the Eagles began their comeback attempt, Maclin broke free in the back corner of the end zone and managed to keep his toes inbounds for a short score. It didn't seem as if McNabb was throwing to one guy over the other out of these three; they were fairly interchangeable both in number of catches and targets as well as the routes they were running.
| WR Reggie Brown, Rec: 2 - 36 - 0 (5 targets) |
Brown hauled in two passes on the day, each for a nice gain, but didn't see a ton of work down the field. McNabb took a couple of deep shots to him early on that both fell incomplete, and he wasn't looked at too often after that. The team had so much success with the intermediate passing game over the middle that there wasn't as much need to look for the deep ball.
| TE Brent Celek, Rec: 6 - 47 - 1 (11 targets) |
Celek continued his breakout season with another 47 yards and a score, with much of his damage coming late in the game as the Eagles furiously tried to play catch-up. Thirty-six of his yards and the lone score came in the fourth quarter, with the touchdown being a tough grab in traffic with a defender right on him. It is clear at this point that McNabb has plenty of weapons at his disposal, and just as obvious is the fact that in the red zone there is nobody he trusts more than Celek.
San Diego Chargers
| QB Philip Rivers, Pass: 20 - 25 - 231 - 2 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 1 - -1 - 0 |
Rivers didn't put up the huge numbers, and in fact both of his touchdown passes were the result of players doing a lot after the catch to find the end zone. But despite some heavy pressure at times, he never caved to it. Several of his passes were made off of his back foot or short-armed, but they got the job done in the end. He was unable to establish much of a rapport with his wide receivers, instead spreading the ball around to whoever happened to be open at the time. It seemed as if the Eagles defensive strategy was very boom or bust. When they blitzed Rivers, they sacked him at times. But for the most part, the Chargers were able to pick up the blitzes and Rivers did a fantastic job of finding guys on the shorter routes to pick up chunks of yardage. He didn't "lock in" on TE Antonio Gates necessarily, but Gates was the big beneficiary of the constant Philadelphia blitzing.
| RB LaDainian Tomlinson, Rush: 24 - 96 - 2 (1 targets) |
Tomlinson found out before the game that his wife is pregnant. After going through a tumultuous ordeal years ago in which she miscarried, Tomlinson looked to be playing some inspired football. He looked quicker than he has all season long, fought for yardage, and didn't seem to take himself out of the game very often. He was also seen walking up and down the sidelines, barking at his teammates to motivate them further. He didn't quite look like the Tomlinson of old, but he looked a whole lot better than he has at any point this year. Even when the line wasn't creating holes, he was able to squeeze through for something extra more often than not. His second touchdown run was vintage Tomlinson; he broke off the right side, fought off a couple of arm tackles, and raced towards the end zone for the score. He technically didn't catch a pass in the game, although one of his rushes was actually a reception on a screen pass. He had to reach up and behind him to catch what was actually called a lateral, and he showed outstanding concentration and great hands to haul the pass in. He didn't gain much on the play, but it did show that some of the old athleticism is still there. On the afternoon, he passed Marcus Allen to move into third place on the NFL's all-time touchdown list behind Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith. He also moved past Thurman Thomas and Franco Harris on the all-time rushing yards list.
| RB Darren Sproles, Rush: 2 - 14 - 0, Rec: 4 - 31 - 0 (4 targets) |
Curiously, Sproles was given the handoff on two separate short yardage situations on third down, and he failed to convert each time. It still seems like at times, the team is searching for ways to best utilize him in the offensive game plan. He totaled 45 yards on his six touches in this game, with 25 of those yards coming on two plays.
| RB Mike Tolbert, Rec: 2 - 25 - 1 (2 targets) |
Tolbert made the most of his limited touches, catching a short check-down pass over the middle and sprinting up the gut for San Diego's first touchdown of the day. He made a big impact as a receiving back a year ago, but with the emergence of so many wide receivers this season Tolbert has taken a back seat. Still, he's got very good hands and even showed a little speed in breaking through the middle of the defense to find paydirt in this one.
| WR Legedu Naanee, Rush: 1 - 10 - 0, Rec: 3 - 42 - 1 (3 targets) |
Naanee is a player with a world of upside, and slowly but surely he is starting to turn that upside into results. In addition to scoring a key third quarter touchdown (a play on which he didn't do much other than be wide open), he also caught the critical third down pass late in the fourth quarter that helped ice the win. The fact that Philip Rivers continues to look in Naanee's direction at such critical junctures shows just how far he has progressed already. He is definitely a name to keep in mind moving forward, because his physical talent is undeniable. Again, however, Naanee has to learn the mental aspect of the game. Against Baltimore earlier this season, he failed to pick up a critical first down that may have cost his team the game. While his error in this game wasn't as costly, it was far more egregious. A personal foul penalty was called for dropping to one knee and handing a cheerleader the football following his touchdown, setting the Eagles up with prime field position on their ensuing possession.
| WR Malcom Floyd, Rec: 3 - 45 - 0 (3 targets) |
Floyd's big reception nearly resulted in a score, taking a long catch down to the three yard line, after which LaDainian Tomlinson scored his first of two touchdowns on the afternoon. But Floyd's most impressive reception came on a pass over the middle that was thrown high and a bit behind him. Floyd went up and used his big hands to snatch the ball away from any lurking defenders and come down with the catch. Floyd is very much built in the same mold as Vincent Jackson, and has earned a lot more looks with his terrific play the last month or so.
| WR Vincent Jackson, Rec: 1 - 10 - 0 (3 targets) |
Jackson was never able to get it going. He was thrown to on short routes very early on a handful of times, but those were knocked away. He was then a nonfactor in the gameplan until the 6:30 mark of the fourth quarter when he caught his only pass of the game.
| TE Antonio Gates, Rec: 7 - 78 - 0 (8 targets) |
Gates was heavily involved right from the outset, mirroring what a number of other tight ends will look to do against the Eagles' depleted linebacking corps. Gates was the main beneficiary of the constant blitzing by Philadelphia, as Rivers needed to check down to the underneath receivers like Gates and Naanee rather than looking downfield to Vincent Jackson or Malcom Floyd. Gates did drop another pass, but he caught his share and moved well enough after the catch to pick up some nice yardage totals. Unfortunately, he doesn't appear to be much of a red zone threat these days, and that was again the case in this game.