Before I get into the meat of the Patriots game, I'd like to briefly offer a word or two about the Panthers game.  The weather made for an ugly contest which I firmly believe would have been canceled were Joe Buck and Troy Aikman not in attendance and I wonder why we didn't see a 70-30 run-pass ratio from both teams.  As far as what was learned from the game - and I can't remember where I read this - I think John Fox surmised it best:  "What did we learn from the game?  Their third string is better than our third string." 

On to the Patriots then.  I think it's easy to forget, but the first thing to remember is the league MVP was sidelined with a foot injury.  Peter King, in his Monday Morning QB column, had this to say about Matt Cassel:

2. I think for years we've all assumed the most indispensable player in football was Peyton Manning, because he played every snap for the Colts and they never had a backup quarterback. But have you seen Matt Cassel try to run the Patriots' offense in the last two weeks? That is some ugly football. I think the Colts stand a better chance of winning with Jim Sorgi than the Patriots do with Cassel.

That noted, I think that this was the Eagles most complete game of the preseason and offered tremendous promise for the real games to come.  After the break, I run down what I saw from the offense, the defense and the special teams.

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Preseason game number one is in the books.  It was good to see some football for a change - even if it was mediocre, meaningless football.  We got to see some good and some bad from each group on the field;  the offense, defense and special teams each had their moments.  Lets take a look.

Special Teams

The first unit to take the field (as in every game) was the special teams.  David Akers blasted his kick almost out of the end zone.  It was good to see.  Unfortunately for a unit that supposedly got a major overhaul during the offseason, this group was not much improved.  In fact, according to the Eagles gamebook (link - 13 page PDF), we gave up 11 yards of field position to the Steelers over the course of the game.  Both teams had 12 drives - including Pittsburg's kneel to end the game.  On average, those drives started for the Eagles on the 25 while the Steelers were getting the ball up around the 36.   Field position translates to points.  Last year the Eagles averaged 37 yards per drive.  A 37 yard drive from the 25 stalls with a punt on the 38 yard line, whereas that same drive nets a fieldgoal if it's started on the 36.  I'll grant that the special teams unit that took the field Friday will not be the same as the one that will take the field September 7, however I'd really like to see some improvement on both coverage and returns before we play the Rams.

Special teams standout: 

Lorenzo Booker provided the only noteworthy highlight of the special teams on a play where he bobbled the kickoff, recovered his mistake and took off for the better part of a 30 yard return.  At the end of the run, he lost his footing otherwise the gain could have been much larger.

Special teams goat:

Both Rocky Boiman and Jamal Jones were penalized on separate instances to help Pittsburg obtain it's field position advantage.  Given the mediocrity of our special teams the last several years, we simply can not afford silly penalties on special teams.

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Could a former first round bust be rising from the ashes thanks to what looks like a new 2nd round bust?

Speaking of McDougle, he was matched up a lot against Winston Justice, Jon Runyan having the morning off as a 30-plus club member. In one sequence, McDougle beat Justice badly on three of four snaps.

If Jerome McDougle not only made the team but actually contributed this year... it would be one of the most unlikey comeback stories in NFL history. Considering everything this guy has gone through in his life and career, I don't see how anyone could be rooting against the guy. As for Winston Justice... I just don't know what to say with that guy.

It's good to be the King

As we all cringe upon hearing the news about former 2nd round pick OT Winston Justice and his struggles, we can take solace in the good about the news we're hearing about 7th round rookie OT King Dunlap.

The other day, Dunlap was matched against defensive end Trent Cole in one-on-one drills. Cole, a Pro Bowl selection last season known for wide-eyed ferocity even in drills, kept finding himself steered wide of the imaginary pocket by the big rookie's long reach.

"He's going to find a place on this team," Cole predicted yesterday. "D-ends hate people with long arms."

As devastating as it would be to have a 2nd round pick like Winston Justice end up a bust... what a coup it could be if the Eagles found their LT of the future in the 7th round. It will be very interesting to watch those 2 in preseason.

Andrews update

Since Shawn Andrews  publicly revealed that it was depression which was keeping him away from camp, the media has tried to paint Andy Reid as callous for his public handling of the situation over the weeks. Reid refused to comment on the specifics of the situation and repeatedly only referred to Andrews' absence as "unexcused." Andrews' agent Rich Moran revealed that Andy has been anything but callous.

It may have seemed at least a little bit callous when Eagles coach Andy Reid kept referring to Shawn Andrews' absence as unexcused, especially since the guard revealed Monday that he is being treated for depression.

The truth, according to Andrews' agent, is that Reid has been as supportive as anyone during the troubled player's 13-day absence from training camp.

"You could talk to Shawn, and he'd tell you the same thing," Rich Moran said during a phone interview from Orlando, Fla. "Andy has been nothing but sensitive to Shawn's situation. He didn't disclose this personal issue even though he has been peppered with questions about it."

Moran also said that upon hearing the news that Andrews would not be reporting to camp 24 hours before camp opened, Reid asked Moran to fly down to Arkansas and get Andrews to see doctor. Andy has been in contact both with Shawn and his doctor throughout the course of this ordeal. Reid spoke with Andrews yesterday and gave him Brian Dawkins' phone number, suggesting that Andrews give Brian a call. Yesterday Dawkins spoke about how he battled depression early in his career.

If Andrews is indeed fined 15k per day thanks to his unexcused absence, fines that could accumulate to over $200k, Shawn has offered to donate the money to a mental health charity. So far, the Eagles have never said whether or not Andrews will be fined.

Andrews issued an apology to the team and fans on NBC10

Andrews apologized to the Eagles, his teammates and the fans on several shows for the way he has handled his situation. "The way I handled things initially with the organization, I apologize for that," he said. "To my teammates, I apologize how I handled things. To the fans that care and to those that don't care, I apologize to everybody. The whole city of Philadelphia and every Eagles fan across the world."

Kevin Kolb is impressive, young

Yesterday was a day off for the 30+ club which mean Kevin Kolb was taking reps with first team. Several media sources at camp gave him praise

With McNabb off, Kolb got to run the first-team offense, minus the 30-something tackles Thomas and Runyan. The second-year QB had one of his better days.

Two plays that stood out: A perfectly thrown 50-yard pass to Greg Lewis for a touchdown that was threaded between cornerback Therrian Fontenot and safety Quintin Mikell, and a nicely placed end-zone pass to Hank Baskett after the quarterback had sprinted hard to his right.

First off, McNabb poked a little fun at the reporting of his shoulder tendinitis

" "Lakers and Celtics in the NBA Finals! Michael Strahan retires! Donovan McNabb has tendinitis in his arm!" " McNabb recalled with a laugh. "Those are the big stories of the day? The season hasn't even started yet, and I'm up there with the Lakers and Strahan. With muscle soreness? That's the big story of the day? Then they showed a chart of all my injuries the last three years. "Donovan's injured again.' It's nothing like that. It's just precautionary."

The Eagles had McNabb get an MRI of the shoulder and it came back clean. He should begin throwing again by the end of the month.

Speaking of Eagles with shoulder issues... Sean Considine had a second surgery this offseason after his previous surgery before last year was not successful. According to him, it prevented him from playing the way he wanted last year.

"One of the things I've noticed on film is that the last two years, I never tackled one time with my left shoulder,"

"My mindset was to get back as fast as I could," he said. "I was pushing through pain and it was just making it worse. After a year and a half, my shoulder was still hurting me, and I think what I did was loosen it back up from the original surgery and finally it popped out last year.

"But this time I just did everything they told me, I followed protocol, and here I am six months later and I feel 100 percent better than I ever felt after the first surgery."

Ok... we'll see if that was the problem.

And what would a discussion of injuries be without checking in on Jerome McDougle, who says he still can make an impact.

"Maybe they're a little bit down on me, but I feel like I'm right there," McDougle said yesterday. "Just like last year, I had a pretty good training camp, but I've just got to stay healthy. That's been the consummate theme of this movie, not staying healthy . . . I'm a warrior. They know that I have it in me." "I have complete faith in God, first of all, and complete faith in myself," McDougle said. "It's all about opportunities. They've continued to give me an opportunity in spite of all the situations I've been through. I have gone through a lot of things, things where people have said I would probably never play football again. I've proven them wrong."

Teammate Trent Cole may  have went a bit overboard in his praise of McDougle...

"McDougle's a great player," Cole said. "McDougle could go start for any other NFL team."

Yeah....