The Eagles 45-19 whipping of the Jets on Sunday was a lot of fun to watch.

LeSean McCoy ran for 102 yards and three touchdowns.  Jason Babin had three sacks.  Trent Cole was a force against the run.  DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin didn't seem to mind visiting Revis Island.  Asante Samuel came up with an interception in the red zone.  The stars played a big part in the win. 

I was just as impressed by the non-stars and role players.  Kurt Coleman forced a fumble that Juqua Parker ran back for a touchdown.  Owen Schmitt was the lead blocker for two of McCoy's touchdown runs.  Phillip Hunt had a career-high five tackles and added another sack to his total.  Riley Cooper had an 18-yard catch.  Clay Harbor had a 16-yard catch.  Mike Patterson forced a fumble that Joselio Hanson recovered.  This was a total team effort. 

The Jets have a big reputation and they had been to consecutive AFC title games, but the Eagles were clearly the better team on Sunday.  Frankly, it wasn't close.  That makes the Eagles slow start to the season all the more frustrating, but that's history and nothing can be done about it.  The Eagles just need to keep playing good football and winning.  There's no need to worry about stuff you can't control. 

The Eagles defense came up big in the recent win at Miami.  Flipper and his friends scored just 10 points in that game and had to deal with nine sacks and three turnovers.  That was a good game for Juan Castillo and his players.  Eagles fans hoped the defense could play close to that level again, but I don't think many expected the group to shut down the Jets in much the same way. 

The Eagles defense actually scored the first points of the Jets game when Parker ran back a fumble for a touchdown.  That set the tone for the game and the rout was on.  The Jets were down 28-0 before getting on the scoreboard.  They did score 13 points late in the half, but those mostly came due to turnovers.  The Eagles racked up four sacks and four takeaways.  That makes two good games in a row for Castillo and the Eagles defense. 

Tommy Lawlor, goeagles99 on the Discussion Boards, is an amateur football scout and devoted Eagles fan. He was a finalist for Philadelphia's Most Influential Blogger Award and is the Editor of IgglesBlitz.com

I know most people are excited by the blitzing and creative scheming done in the last couple of weeks.  I still think Castillo's most important development has been utilizing the whole roster.  Casey Matthews was once again a nickel linebacker.  The Jets started the game by running well.  Then they tried a screen pass and Matthews read it perfectly.  He flew over to break it up.  He missed the ball by inches, but tackled LaDainian Tomlinson for a loss.  That forced the Jets to pass and the next play was Coleman's forced fumble/Parker's fumble return for touchdown.  Matthews' simple tackle turned out to be an impact play in the game.  Without that, the Jets might have gone back to running. 

Keenan Clayton didn't play a ton of snaps, but had some good moments.  He broke up a pass and had a very impressive tackle.  Akeem Jordan played the run well and had some good tackles.  Brian Rolle was the Eagles best linebacker in the game.  He was all over the place and made a couple of impressive tackles.  Jamar Chaney had an interception on a tipped ball. 

Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie took over for Samuel when he left the game with a hamstring injury.  Rodgers-Cromartie played well at left corner.  He covered Santonio Holmes tight on several plays.  Rodgers-Cromartie has been up and down in the slot this year, but he can cover really well when outside on the edge.  That's his comfort zone. 

The Eagles pass rush was terrific once again.  Babin led the way with three sacks, but everyone had a hand in the pressure.  Castillo mixed in the creative sets very effectively.  He would mainly use Mike Patterson and Cullen Jenkins as down linemen in these sets.  Cole and Babin would line up as inside linebackers.  That gave them the ability to rush up the middle, to loop outside, or to stunt off each other.  Jenkins and Patterson had the responsibility of taking hard inside rush angles so that blockers would double team them.  That would leave Cole and Babin free.  This worked well several times. 

Just as important as the impressive defense was the return of Michael Vick, good Michael Vick that is.  Vick played against Miami, but was rusty.  The good Michael Vick showed up in the Jets game.  He threw the ball well.  He made (mostly) good decisions.  He ran when needed and scored his first touchdown of the year.  The Eagles need this version of Vick for the rest of 2011 and beyond.  The Eagles have a lot of firepower on offense, but a good quarterback is needed to distribute the ball and run the offense. 

The big play weapon turned out to be Brent Celek.  He had catches that went for 26, 38 and 73 yards.  One went for a touchdown and another set up a short score for McCoy.  The Jets focused on Maclin and Jackson, but had no answer for Celek.  Marty Mornhinweg did a good job of designing plays to get Celek the ball and then Vick executed them well. 

McCoy had a big bounce back week.  The Jets simply didn't have the athletes to chase him down.  Their defense isn't as fast as Miami's was last week.  The blocking was terrific in this game as well.  The offensive line had a strong game.  Vick wasn't sacked at all.  McCoy had plenty of room on most of his plays.  Jason Peters and Evan Mathis did an especially good job on the left side.  They really work well together.  The skill players also deserve credit.  Celek did a terrific job when blocking.  He got some movement with his blocks and also sustained well.  Maclin had key downfield blocks on a couple of big plays.  He showed great hustle in getting downfield and then making sure to hit defenders.  How often do we see receivers running, but unwilling to engage anyone?  That drives me nuts. 

Special teams is an area that must tighten up.  Dion Lewis fumbled a kickoff and Curtis Marsh had a punt bounce off him.  The Jets recovered the ball on both plays.  The Eagles can live without long returns, but turnovers are unacceptable. 

The thing about this game that makes me the happiest is that the Eagles weren't perfect.  This wasn't a case of capturing lightning in a bottle.  Nothing happened on Sunday that can't be repeated.  Heck, there are still plenty of issues for Andy Reid and the coaches to work on.   

The Eagles have now played two good games in a row.  The team is relatively healthy.  Multiple players are peaking.  There's no reason the team can't keep this up. 

Good Things Happen When Landri Is On The Field

Landri didn't have a flashy game on Sunday.  He was credited with a couple of tackles.  He got pressure on a pass play and almost created an interception for Coleman.  Mostly, Landri ate up blocks and allowed Babin, Cole and Hunt to swoop in and make plays. 

Take a look at what happened when Landri was on the field:

• Matthews' early tackle-for-loss
• Coleman's forced fumble/Parker's fumble return for touchdown
• Samuel's interception
• Patterson's forced fumble/Hanson's recovery
• Hunt's sack
• Jenkins' tackle for loss
• Chaney's interception

That is one sack, two tackles for loss and all four turnovers.  Greatness is contagious.  If Andy Reid would just give him a chance to return kickoffs, I'm pretty sure that problem would be solved.

For more dead-on analysis from Tommy Lawlor, check out the Fan-Demonium archive.