BillyV's Blog

It’s called Marty-ball. It’s a term originally coined to refer to coach Marty Schottenheimer, now with the San Diego Chargers, and his tendency to run much more often than pass. This week, though, the same term can be applied to the Eagles, as offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg took over the play-calling and relied on the Eagles running game in a way Andy Reid never has.

The end result was a big day for Brian Westbrook, 113 yards on 22 carries, and a return to the win column for the Eagles, as they beat Washington 27-3.
The Eagles ended up running the ball 34 times, compared to 26 passes. It was the first time this year they’ve run it more than they’ve thrown it.

After the game, Andy Reid revealed he’d turned the play-calling over to Mornhinweg. “I’d been stinking it up,” Reid said, in regard to his own play-calling. Even though I’ve spent the last eight years complaining that Andy doesn’t run the ball enough, I have to give him credit: it was an amazingly honest admission from a head football coach.

I’ve spent much of this week actually defending the coach against people who’ve been calling for his head. Fans kept telling me they want to get rid of Reid. And while I always responded by saying I personally don’t believe he’ll ever have enough of a balanced approach (run and pass) to win a Super Bowl, I also said that his winning record over the years has earned him the right to have a chance to prove his doubters wrong.

But I never, ever thought he’d give up the responsibility of calling the plays. And I still can’t imagine this could be a long-term thing. But as Reid and his players always say, “Take ‘em one game at a time.” So for this one game, nothing but praise for Big Red.

The Eagles came out and actually ran the ball 5 times in their 8-play drive the first time they had the ball. That resulted in a field goal. The next time they got the ball, they used a play action fake on the first play. As I, and many Eagles fans always say, how can you expect the defense to be fooled by a run fake when you almost never run? But since they had come out running on their first series, it worked. The Skins defense was fooled, and Donovan McNabb heaved a beautiful 84 yard TD to Donte’ Stallworth. More than the play fake, though, the sweet double move by Stallworth on Washington’s overly aggressive safety Sean Taylor made the whole play work.

That was huge for an Eagles team that hadn’t scored a single first-quarter point during any of their last three games, all of which they ended up losing.

Stallworth’s return to health is a huge plus for the Eagles. I wrote glowingly about what a huge addition he is to the team after his tremendous game in the season opener, when he caught six passes for 141 yards and a TD. Since that time, people have gotten down on him because of a hamstring injury that caused him to miss 4 games and limited his production in others. But I think the way his injury has been handled is the real problem. When Arizona’s star receiver Larry Fitzgerald injured a hamstring, they said, “He’ll be out five or six weeks.” But Stallworth tried to come back after missing one week, and ending up reinjuring the hammy. Then, there’s been speculation each week about whether he’d play. He finally did return in week eight, and caught 3 passes for 56 yards, even though he may not have been 100% yet. Today, he not only had the 84 yard TD, the longest of his career, but he caught 3 passes in a span of 4 plays during the Eagles first possession of the 3rd quarter. He finished with 6 catches for 139 yards. That’s more than half the passing yardage for the entire team.

On the defensive side, the Eagles held the Skins to a lone field goal. They never let Mark Brunell get into a good passing rythym, and he totaled only 132 yards on 31 pass attempts. Sheldon Brown stepped in front of one of those passes, intended for Santana Moss, and returned the interception 70 yards for a TD.

Despite all that, there’s still plenty of room for improvement for this defense. They didn’t sack the quarterback, and they had only two hurries in the game. Strangely, those hurries came on back-to-back plays in the 1st quarter, when Dhani Jones blitzed and almost got to Brunell, and Michael Lewis blitzed on the following play. But the defensive line is getting no pressure at all.

Really, the best thing about the Eagles' defense was probably their offense. By running the ball, they actually won the time of possession battle, and Sheldon Brown told me he loves it when the offense chews up clock and gives the “D” time to rest. "I got to catch my breath," Brown said. " At the end of the day, if you've got a running game, you've always got a chance."

Brown, like all of his teammates, is too smart to actually say he prefers the play-calling of Mornhinweg to that of the head coach. After all, Andy Reid is still in charge. So I'll say it for them: Long live Marty-ball.