Quite the OW-fensive Line Ya’ Got There…

First off, Sorry for the delay - this story was supposed to be out days ago, but because of Thunderstorm Irene (nowhere near as catastrophic as it could have been...) - the Blogging Twins haven't had power until tonight... Don't ask us why... but anyway...

"Guys, we talked about this. Please keep those guys away from me. That's literally your one job."

It’s no surprise that Thursday was a ‘coming out party’ for the Browns defense- and that was mostly thanks to our very young, inexperienced offensive line. They looked BAD. Not just bad, but BAD. We had two true rookies (Kelce and Watkins) and one guy that might as well be a rookie in King Dunlap (sweet name, but still only 14 games played in the NFL and only 5 starts – the name can only do so much). All of this led to one thing – our franchise QB spent a lot of time on his backside. Not to mention, it also led to two fumbles for Mr. Vick (one lost) and one interception (which luckily got called back because he got hit too hard by a Brown so the refs felt bad and overturned it).

But lets not beat a dead horse (too soon?)… Some positives DID come out of this whole situation for the offensive line:

1.     We continue to see maturity in Michael Vick. Although the man may have been battered and had internal bleeding following the game, he was calm, collected and levelheaded when asked about the performance of his offensive line. He was very clear and simply let everyone know that it was a rough night, but they did some things well and they are still young and learning. That’s a perfect response from a QB in that situation. The man just got done getting lit up because of poor blocking and he goes to bat for the line anyway. A less respectable player would have been a little bit edgier to say the least. To put it simply, Michael knew there was going to be problems early on and he is handling them gracefully. This is a good sign of his maturity in growing as a pro and as a leader in the locker room and on the field. To put it in short – he is acting much more mature than his offensive line is playing.

2.     Jason Kelce could have been worse. He didn’t communicate well in pass protection with Danny Watkins on numerous occasions and didn’t remember the snap count on every play (which coincidentally led to his entire offensive unit being guilty of a false start), but he is looking a lot like the Howard Mudd-esque offensive lineman that we were hoping for. He’s quick and tough and a good pulling lineman. Most notably on the 4^th and 1 play (TE around) that he got out in front of Cornelius Ingram and took care of his assignment quickly. It was also clear on his ability to get out in front of Ronnie Brown on a nice TD run that he had in the 1^st quarter. He also did a fantastic job in the screen game that the Eagles love to use. He got out in the open and used his speed to his advantage. This all makes a good base that Howard Mudd (the guru of offensive linemen) can definitely build on. We are hopefully getting to watch a future Jeff Saturday in the making.

(Wait for him to yell at Mario Williams. Yes, please.)

(R.I.P. Harry)

3.     This meaningless pre-season game gave Howard Mudd a chance to evaluate the entire situation and hopefully make changes that we will need to see happen for a more productive offensive unit. This first change came a few days ago as we had to see Todd Herremans get moved to right tackle to hopefully protect Mike Vick’s blindside. Jason Kelce, Danny Watkins, and King Dunlap were going to have a hard time learning on-the-job while all being right next to another rookie. The experience needs to be filtered throughout the whole line so that questions can be asked pre-snap and the veteran players can hopefully correct any weaknesses. Howard Mudd tried to leave Herremans and Jason Peters together where they were last year, but this little glimpse into that experiment has shown him that he has to switch some things up. Again, it’s just a meaningless pre-season game so it’s better to find this all out now. Hopefully this meshing of rookie and veteran will pay off.

It’s definitely a work in progress, but for right now, no need to panic. 

What did we learn from the "Dream Team's" first preseason game?

1. Jim Washburn is Amaz-ridic-unbelievable

Yeah thats right, he is so good we had to invent a new word just for him.

The most important thing that we learned on Thursday was that Jim Washburn’s capabilities as a defensive line coach may have been underestimated. Yes, you read it right UNDERESTIMATED, because as much as we talked about him in the offseason, the defensive line played so well that they made him look better than we could have ever imagined. From the very first defensive snap, you could see everyone on the line getting into their man and getting into the backfield. All 6 sacks were by our defensive line, but that stat doesn’t tell the whole story. The only way you could see the whole story is if you watched the game and saw how dominant this line was on every snap so its pointless to talk about it, watch the replay of the game Sunday at 3:00 PM on CSN and see how amazing it truly was. All we can say is, if this continues, you will see multiple Eagles’ D-linemen on the Pro Bowl squad and a defense in general that can dominate any offense, especially the Patriots in the Super Bowl.

2. Casey Matthews still needs a little work

"Owen, will you let me go already? Im trying to go make a play on the ball."

I think Matthews still has time to get sharp before the season, but he definitely showed some glaring weaknesses on Thursday. He did seem comfortable as a leader out there, which is a good sign, but the biggest thing I saw that needed help was his run stopping capability. On a lot of the running plays, you could visibly see Casey having a tough time shedding the block to get to the next level. He was staying engaged with the lineman so long that its easy to believe that if that continues, we could see some long runs breaking through the line. While this would be good because we could see some monster hits from Jaiquawn Jarrett on the RBs, it may lead to a lot of long touchdowns. We still firmly believe Casey is going to be a good MLB for the Eagles eventually, he just needs a litte more work with the coaches. But, don’t be surprised that if this part of his game does not improve, you will see some more of Jamar Chaney and other LB’s mixing in there. This is an all or nothing season, so don’t expect the management or coaches to wait too long for the kid to come around.

3. No Maclin, No Jackson, No problem?

"I derive most of my strength from my beautiful golden locks."

Let’s be honest, everyone wants Desean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin in the game, but did you see how good we were without our two superstar receivers? In that first drive alone, we had big plays by Avant, Chad Hall, and Riley Cooper. Cooper only had one catch, but he jumped up out of his seat like someone was about to cut his gorgeous golden locks. Avant made a solid catch in some traffic, which is what Philly phans have come to expect from him. Chad Hall is once again doing things that a guy his size maybe shouldn’t be able to do. He caught the ball in some tight spots and took a couple big hits. Vick did a great job of showing his inner Donovan McNabb by taking a lot of nobody receivers and still looking like an all-star quarterback. Of course we all want the two explosive superstars back in the lineup, but if for some reason we can’t get them back… we have a feeling we can survive without them.

4. Do we have a legitimate 3-headed monster in the backfield?

The middle one is Lesean and his right head man is Ronnie Brown. Dion Lewis is the third string guy on his left.

Okay, I know a couple people may call us crazy, but we think there is a legitmate chance that the three runningbacks that we have back there may be a new age trifecta of power. On Thursday, we didn’t see much from Shady McCoy, but we all know what he can do. The real things we saw were from Ronnie Brown and Dion Lewis. Ronnie looked like a healthy, explosive, between the tackles runner. He showed his speed and strength are still there and got pretty elusive on a couple plays. On the other hand, Dion Lewis was kind of a pleasant surprise. He showed good vision on the field, and for being a small guy, did a pretty nice job of picking up the blitz. He is the type of guy that can turn a broken play into a big gainer with his speed and athleticism. Now, we don’t anticipate Lewis getting too many carries this season, with a majority of the carries going to McCoy and Brown, but if there is a big change of pace needed, he might get a couple touches a game. If these three runningbacks all play up to the level they did on Thursday, look for a well-balanced offense that will scare opposing defenses in so many ways for the upcoming season.

5. New right side of the offensive line getting it done.

"I didn't realize how bad everyone else in the NFL was besides me."

In the first amazing offensive series for the Philadelphia Eagles, we don’t know if anyone else noticed, but the Eagles ACTUALLY converted a 3^rd and 1. AND it wasn’t by throwing or running some trick play out of the backfield, we just ran it straight ahead with Owen Schmitt behind Ryan Harris and Danny Watkins. If this doesn’t shock you, then you don’t know Eagles football very well. For the past several years, we have had a lot of trouble converting short yardage type plays, and within one game with our newly constructed offensive line, we convert on our first attempt. Harris and Watkins, if they didn’t before, now have a ton of confidence from Howard Mudd and Andy Reid to get the job done when need be. They looked like veterans who were comfortable and dominant throughout their time in the game. The whole offensive line looked like they are going to be tough for opposing teams to deal with all season and that no doubt comes from the addition of two sturdy pieces like Harris and Watkins. They were incredibly impressive and that means that Michael Vick stays off the ground and keeps sprinting this offense towards a Super Bowl.