LANDOVER, Md. - They made it look easy, but it wasn't.
You could infer it was a struggle from the glacial pace at which Winston Justice pulled on his suit after the game for the train ride home, Justice creaky and hesitant. He had just played in his first football game of 2011 (we're not counting lining up for extra points last week at Buffalo). Played every snap of a season-saving, 20-13 victory over the host Washington Redskins. Lived to tell the tale.
More important, Michael Vick lived to tell the tale. Vick took a couple sacks, but had plenty of time to throw more often than not against a big, fast, aggressive defense. Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg helped out by mixing in some three-step drops and emphasizing the running game (through gritted teeth, one can assume).
"Just like riding a bike. When I got out there, it was just like I was always out there," Justice said, recycling his quote from Thursday, when left tackle King Dunlap missed his first practice with the back spasms that sidelined him yesterday. The Eagles went to the plan they practiced with Thursday and Friday - Justice at right tackle, where he started 29 games during the 2009-10 seasons. Todd Herremans, the former left guard who became the right tackle just before the season opener, at left tackle. Herremans played left tackle once in 2009, four times in his rookie season of 2005.
If something happened to either Herremans or Justice yesterday, the only tackle option would have been to move svelte left guard Evan Mathis to tackle, and bring Jamaal Jackson off the bench to play inside.
That wasn't necessary. Justice, who hasn't seemed all that confident in his repaired knee or the transition to Howard Mudd's blocking scheme, battled through. Herremans actually looked dominant at times. In fact, all the early season losing has mostly obscured the fact that Herremans is a good tackle. He won't be moving back inside anytime soon.
"It was the first time I've used [Mudd's] technique. I was blessed that it worked," Justice said. Of all the Eagles' o-linemen, Justice might have been the guy most wed to Juan Castillo's "vertical step" scheme, in which the tackle takes a big step backward in pass protection, to give himself room. Mudd wants his o-linemen moving forward, into the pass-rushers.
"I'm a big [advocate of] respecting the people that are over you . . . If Mudd wants something, it's my duty as a player to do it the way he wants it. That's what I'm doing," Justice said yesterday.
