Zone Read: Eagles-Washington, the Day After
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CAN SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN…
1. What that officiating crew was doing yesterday?
Regular readers know that I usually don’t rip the officials, but the crew yesterday couldn’t seem to get anything right. The Eagles challenged two calls, and both were reversed. The automatic replay overturned another call. The one that really seemed to annoy players was the called interception on the play where Foles got leveled.
“It wasn’t an interception. So I wish it was blown dead there,” said Ertz.
Added Ryans: “Just seeing the pick, knowing that it hit the ground, the play should have been called then.”
When the refs announced suspensions, first they said No. 71 of Philadelphia, before changing to No. 71 of Washington. Several minutes later, they realized they had it right the first time.
Mistakes happen, and there’s always going to be human error, but that did not seem like a crew that was in control of the game yesterday.
2. Why Washington targeted Brandon Boykin twice on its final drive?
After running the ball on first down, Washington went after Boykin twice. Both passes resulted in incompletions.
“Late in the game, exactly like last year, they tried to stack up and get to the sideline and run certain routes,” Boykin said. “I was seeing that on film all last year, and I even watched the game from last year just to kind of see how they would attack us in two-minute or late in the game. I knew that once they stacked up, that was coming. And I got happy because I wanted to get a pick, but made a good play.”
OK, so I didn’t nail the prediction this week, but I got pretty close. Who wants to make a quick detour to Vegas before San Francisco on Sunday?
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THE NUMBER THAT MATTERS: 1.2
That’s McCoy’s yards-per-carry in Sunday’s game. He carried the ball 19 times for 22 yards.
There are several factors at work. One, the Eagles are playing with a banged-up offensive line. Two, defenses are loading up to stop McCoy.
But still, it’s reasonable to wonder whether everything is right physically with McCoy. He suffered a toe injury in August and is averaging just 2.9 YPC through three games. Last year, teams stacked the box to stop McCoy, and he was still productive.
It’s possible that he could explode for 200 yards at any point, but it’s about that time to start questioning whether something’s up with the star running back.
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THE BEST OF 140
New section this week. Because of NFL broadcast regulations, getting the No-22 together in time for this post has proven difficult. So instead, we’re going to hand-select some of my favorite in-game Tweets and include them in this space. I hope you understand. And we’ll have plenty of All-22 analysis once the coaches tape is released.
I think it’s fair to say Emmanuel Acho and DeSean Jackson won’t be meeting up for coffee and pastries any time soon:
Well… #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/XiLIWPWVVy
— Emmanuel Acho (@thEMANacho) September 21, 2014
On Bradley Fletcher’s rough day:
New Eagles defensive strategy – put Fletcher on the bench and see if they still throw at him every play — Jared Cohen (@jaredscohen) September 21, 2014
The Boykin campaign continues:
Brandon Boykin, CB (PHI) Cons: Short. Pros: Capable of covering NFL receivers. — Zoo With Roy (@zoowithroy) September 21, 2014