Turns out Goldilocks would not make much of an NFL coach. Waiting for everything to be just right gets you a 2-4 record and a lot of unhappy fans.
First, the Eagles' passing game struggled because cornerbacks were jamming their wide receivers hard at the line of scrimmage, throwing off the timing.
Now we hear the Eagles can't get the ball down the field because defenses are playing soft, forcing Donovan McNabb to check down to Brian Westbrook or, gulp, Thomas Tapeh.
Too hard, too soft. Maybe, if the Eagles are lucky, the Minnesota Vikings will play them just right on Sunday. Maybe they'll serve porridge in the pregame locker room, too.
It's funny how you don't hear Peyton Manning or Tom Brady explaining how the defense took away what they wanted to do on offense. There's a pretty good reason for this. The Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots don't run offenses based on taking what the other team's defense allows them to take. They dictate what they're going to do and force opponents to stop them. If they can.
"We like to dictate," Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said yesterday. "When we call some of our [downfield passing] shots, there are some times when it's just simply taken away."
So why aren't defenses taking away Randy Moss and Marvin Harrison, Donté Stallworth and Reggie Wayne? Why is it Tony Romo keeps finding Terrell Owens downfield? Are we to believe NFL defensive coaches go to great lengths to contain Kevin Curtis and Reggie Brown, but haven't figured out that Moss and Owens and Harrison are dangerous?
There are three possibilities: Those players are better, those offensive systems are more effective, or both.
The Colts happened to play Monday night against a pretty good Jacksonville defense. Manning is a brilliant quarterback, no doubt about that. But he threw balls that were slightly off as far as placement and timing. His receivers have a knack for catching them. When Manning throws into a crowd, somehow it's always Wayne or Harrison or Dallas Clark who comes down with the ball.
At halftime of the Monday night game, ESPN showed highlights of Brady's six-TD game Sunday against Miami. Same thing. Brady threw jump balls in the vicinity of Moss, even though he was surrounded by defensive backs. Moss came down with touchdowns where you strongly suspect McNabb would get saddled with interceptions.
