From: jmd@cbnewsm.cb.att.com (joseph.m.dakes)
Subject: Re: Eagles poor win over LA
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 21:33:47 GMT

In article <1992Nov10.155048.7895@midway.uchicago.edu>, epc1@quads.uchicago.edu (Merlin) writes:
> At first glance, it would appear that the Eagles under the leadership of
> Jim McMahon won a blowout against the Raiders.  However, this is not the
> case.  The Eagles in the first half had a very poor offensive effort.

Poor offensive effort or not, the game was a blow out.  A meaningless
last minute Raiders TD only made it look more respectable at 31-10.

> A touchdown from McMahon to Calvin Williams was due to an underthrown ball. 

I have no idea what you're talking about.  The only TD toss from McMahon
went to Fred Barnett.  It was a perfectly thrown ball to Arkansas Fred
who made a great move to beat the double team.

> Kotite, in his stupidity, never bothered to establish the running game early
> on.  And I definitely noticed what the announcers were concerned with -
> there were alot of junk in their offensive plays.  Motion, fakes, and
> complicated sets can be effective when properly utilized; however, they
> were ineffective for most of the game.

Here I agree with you.  The announcers overdid it a little bit, but
motion and play action on third and very long serves no purpose.  The
only reason I can come up with for Kotite not going to Herschel early
to establish the run is because of the Eagles excellent field position.
Kotite was going for the quick strike rather than a sustained drive.

> If Cunningham is unhappy with the
> play selection, then Kotite needs to trash portions which do not work
> and Cunningham is unhappy with.  Even McMahon, with his command of the game
> and Kotites plays, could not adequately use the poor, junky, and complicated
> plays to produce a consistent and powerful offensive thrust.

Randall has stated that he gave Kotite a list of about 10-plays that
he is very comfortable with.  Randall said he isn't telling Kotite
what plays to call, but just making sure that Kotite remembers that
they are in the playbook.

> And once more,
> Kotite had the QB come out throwing on first and ten from the beginning of the
> game.  WHY IS HE SO STUPID.  We have in Herschel one of the the top six
> running backs in the league (in terms of yardage gained); however, Kotite
> comes out throwing and continues the passing game until the Eagles have built
> up enough of a lead to start a running game.  Kotite needs to have Herschel
> tire the opposing defense down by giving him the ball 20 - 25 times and
> running through the middle.  Then, the play action pass can work.  I saw
> Barnett and Williams consistently doubled because we had not even started
> running the ball until the second half.

You want to keep the defense off guard.  You want to pass when they
expect run, and run when they expect pass.  So I have no problem with
throwing on first and ten.  But you need to mix it up.  

> The only reason the Eagles won this one was because of the defense and
> their ability to cause four turnovers.  The front four stopped the run but
> could not get a decent, consistent pass rush going.  Yes, the stats showed
> several hurries, tips, and sacks.  I attribute this to two things - the poor
> showing of Tony M. and the need for the Raiders to pass as the game got further
> and further out of reach.

It's Todd Marinovich.  And it's not the Eagles fault who the opposing
QB is.  Hell, they have their own QB problems going on they don't need
to concern themselves with the opponents:-).  Besides, Jay Shroeder
didn't fare much better.  Reggie White had a great game.

> The star of the game was definitely Eric Allen.
> He gets an A+ this week.  Sikahema also gets an A for his runs.

Yes, Allen played great and I thought Sikahema was going to finally
break one.  The entire special teams did a great job.

> The Eagles need a better tight end.  I don't know why Kotite keeps on
> bringing on washed up snappers to play skilled positions such as tight end.
> Beach needs to go.  I have never seen him produce in the past 9 games
> of the season.  We need a 3 receiver set.  Or a modified run and shoot
> receiving corp offense.  We have the receivers for such an adaptation in 
> Barnett, Williams, Sikahema, and Green.

Beach needs to go?  Who the hell are they going to get to replace
him at this point in the season?  Beach stays because not only is
he the long snapper, but an excellent blocker.  I really thought
that Maurice Johnson would be able to get open, but I guess not.
Once Byars' hand heals, he'll be used more at TE.  I agree that they
need a better one, but that should have been addressed during the
offseason because they knew Keith Jackson would be a holdout.  The
Eagles have used a 3WR set now that Roy Green has been activated.

> Whatever Kotite decides, he better get rid of his junky plays and produce
> a viable offensive scheme.  So far, he's only succeeded in taking a good
> football team down the road of the Jets.

Give me a break.  The Eagles are 6-3, their best record at this point
in the season since '89.  They have some problems offensively, but
nothing that can't be fixed if the team works hard.  And with the
GANG GREEN the team doesn't need to score 30 points per game to win.
I wasn't happy with Kotite's decision to bench Randall, but I'm giving
him the benefit of the doubt.  The offense looked good early in the
season and there is no reason why they can't turn it around.


E-A-G-L-E-S

Joe Dakes
AT&T Microelectronics
555 Union Boulevard
Allentown, PA  18103
alux1!jmd