Looking back to last Thursday's win over the Texans, the Eagles offense had another productive night. The Eagles now lead the league in yards per game and lead the NFC in points per game. Michael Vick didn't make a bunch of spectacular plays, but he had a terrific game by just executing the offense. He threw for 302 yards and a pair of touchdowns. As much fun as the huge plays are, it is important to see Vick play well in a game like this. He was good on third downs and in the red zone, the critical components to good offense. Vick led us to four touchdowns, but had to once again deal with drops in the end zone.
Tight end Brent Celek is finally coming alive. He played well in the loss to Chicago and had a good game against Houston. Celek caught four passes for 55 yards. A couple of his catches came on third downs and moved the chains. The highlight play was his catch in the middle of the fourth quarter. Celek caught a pass on third-and-19. He looked to be inches short and that's what the officials ruled. Head coach Andy Reid challenged the call and the replay showed that Celek rolled over the body of the defender and stretched the ball out for the necessary yardage. That gave the Eagles a first down at the 5-yard line and they scored a touchdown a couple of plays later to take a two possession lead. Huge, huge sequence of events. Great effort by Celek to fight for the extra yard.
LeSean McCoy had 20 touches for 130 yards, with most of them coming as a receiver. The big highlight for him was a 40-yard gain on a screen pass. McCoy is brutally tough for defenders to tackle out in open space. He made a few defensive backs look foolish with quick cuts and elusive moves.
The offensive line had a solid night. Vick was only sacked once. He took some hits during a couple of drives in the middle of the game, but most of the time had good protection. The fact that so many hits were bunched together made it seem like he was under more pressure than he was. Jason Peters continues to play at a very high level. Some people may have wondered how much hyperbole was out there when Reid called him the best left tackle in football in the spring of 2009. He absolutely dominated Texans end Mark Anderson at times. There was one pass play in the first quarter where Peters drove Anderson to the ground. You just don't see that happen to defensive linemen all that often.
-- Posted by Tommy Lawlor, 1:30 p.m., December 7
