After watching the Eagles dismantle the Rams on a sparkling opening day at the Linc, three thoughts come to mind.
Are the Eagles that good? Or the Rams that bad. And maybe, just maybe, this team has discovered a real game-breaker in rookie DeSean Jackson.
Something amazing happened yesterday at Lincoln Financial Field. The Eagles weren’t the team that looked totally lost on opening day, as if they had not spent a month and training camp and played four exhibition games. No, that honor was left for the Rams, about as inept an NFL team as you will see, and somewhat reminiscent of the way the Birds have too often looked on opening day under Reid.
Instead, Eagles fans spent the summer lamenting their lack of a play-maker and game-breaking wide receiver.
Enter one DeSean Jackson. For his part, Jackson did something no Eagles player had done since 1990. That would be start as a rookie wide receiver.
Jackson did a lot more than that. With the Eagles No. 1 wide receiver Kevin Curtis on the shelf with a sports hernia, and so-called No. 2 Reggie Brown out with a bum hamstring, that left an opening for Jackson.
The second-round pick out of Cal went through it like the seams he finds so effortlessly on punt returns. Jackson hauled in a long strike on on a go rout on the Eagles second play of the game and never looked back.
He caught six balls for 106 yards, one of three Eagles receivers to go over the 100-yard mark on the day. So much for not having any wide receivers.
Jackson also broke a punt return for 60 yards before being run out of bounds inside the Rams’ 10 yard line. There’s now a sense of electricity every time Jackson goes back there on punts.
It was a huge day for Donovan McNabb as well. Looking healthy for the first time in several seasons, and getting plenty of time from his offensive line, McNabb unfurled a gem, completing 21 of 33 passes for 361 yards.
So dominant were the Eagles and their flashy new rookie that it turned Brian Westbrook into an afterthought.
So what do we do now? First of all, take a deep breath. This was the Rams, after all. Next week will provide a truer test of what the Birds have this year when they travel to Dallas for a Monday night matchup.
Having said that, does it seem to anyone else that Reid and McNabb seem intent on raining on the parade, specifically downplaying Jackson’s accomplishments?
Maybe it’s because they realize that if it were not for the injuries to Curtis and Brown, we would not have seen the eye-popping performance by Jackson.
We have a new hero in town. His name is “Action Jackson.”
Bring on the Cowboys.
Are the Eagles that good? Or the Rams that bad. And maybe, just maybe, this team has discovered a real game-breaker in rookie DeSean Jackson.
Something amazing happened yesterday at Lincoln Financial Field. The Eagles weren’t the team that looked totally lost on opening day, as if they had not spent a month and training camp and played four exhibition games. No, that honor was left for the Rams, about as inept an NFL team as you will see, and somewhat reminiscent of the way the Birds have too often looked on opening day under Reid.
Instead, Eagles fans spent the summer lamenting their lack of a play-maker and game-breaking wide receiver.
Enter one DeSean Jackson. For his part, Jackson did something no Eagles player had done since 1990. That would be start as a rookie wide receiver.
Jackson did a lot more than that. With the Eagles No. 1 wide receiver Kevin Curtis on the shelf with a sports hernia, and so-called No. 2 Reggie Brown out with a bum hamstring, that left an opening for Jackson.
The second-round pick out of Cal went through it like the seams he finds so effortlessly on punt returns. Jackson hauled in a long strike on on a go rout on the Eagles second play of the game and never looked back.
He caught six balls for 106 yards, one of three Eagles receivers to go over the 100-yard mark on the day. So much for not having any wide receivers.
Jackson also broke a punt return for 60 yards before being run out of bounds inside the Rams’ 10 yard line. There’s now a sense of electricity every time Jackson goes back there on punts.
It was a huge day for Donovan McNabb as well. Looking healthy for the first time in several seasons, and getting plenty of time from his offensive line, McNabb unfurled a gem, completing 21 of 33 passes for 361 yards.
So dominant were the Eagles and their flashy new rookie that it turned Brian Westbrook into an afterthought.
So what do we do now? First of all, take a deep breath. This was the Rams, after all. Next week will provide a truer test of what the Birds have this year when they travel to Dallas for a Monday night matchup.
Having said that, does it seem to anyone else that Reid and McNabb seem intent on raining on the parade, specifically downplaying Jackson’s accomplishments?
Maybe it’s because they realize that if it were not for the injuries to Curtis and Brown, we would not have seen the eye-popping performance by Jackson.
We have a new hero in town. His name is “Action Jackson.”
Bring on the Cowboys.
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