Still Searching For Balance

Before Donovan went down with the ankle sprain and A.J. Feeley took over, the offense was stalling early and often. At one point on the teams 2nd possession of the day the drive began with a 23 yard reception to Kevin Curtis and we saw the first sign of execution. That was followed with a perfect 46 yard touchdown pass to Reggie Brown, but that was called back due to a very arguable holding call.

It was disheartening having that touchdown taken back, but I thought the back to back down the field completions were giving us a glimpse of the success we would be seeing for the remainder of the game. That was not the case though considering that from that point forward McNabb threw two interceptions and didn't complete a pass longer than 7 yards.

Did that nullified touchdown really deflate the offense that much? I don't know, but what I do know is that with already so much criticism of Donovan this season, leaving a game with 2 interceptions and having Feeley step in with 1 touchdowns and 1 interception, is going to lead to a rough week for McNabb.

I support A.J. Feeley just as much as anyone else, but Feeley did not beat the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, he managed the game enough so that we didn't lose, but he was not a hero in any sense. On his 3rd time on the field for the day Feeley worked through a nice drive that resulted in a touchdown, but if any sole man is going to get credit for the success it's going to be Brian Westbrook.

Just like what we saw last season, when McNabb was on the field the play calling was out of balance, running the ball only 26% of the time. Now I understand that we are working within a limited number of snaps considering Donovan only played about 5 minutes into the 2nd quarter, but of the 22 plays that were called, only 8 were runs.

Now once McNabb left the game and Feeley stepped on, the play calling completely shifted with the percentage of runs more than doubling, from 26% with McNabb at QB to 56% with Feeley.

Once it was evident that McNabb wasn't coming back, Brian Westbrook ran the ball 24 times. From a team standpoint this was great, Westbrook put together 32 runs for a career high 148 yards on Sunday, but everyone needs to keep this fresh in their minds, because that is why we won this game, not because of A.J. Feeley.

I have an enormous amount of respect for Feeley, being a back-up QB there was always the possibility he could step in and without having practiced with the first team offense, commit mistake after mistake and lose the game for us. Thankfully that wasn't the case as he did a very nice job of controlling the game and minimizing turnovers.

But when fans see the offense sputter when McNabb was on the field and than be able to put up two touchdowns with Feeley at the helm, people jump to conclusions. What we really need to be looking at is the fact that the coaches provided Feeley with a much more balanced offense than McNabb, spurring a lot of the success that we ended up seeing.

The ideal situation was not for Brian Westbrook to touch the ball 33 times on the day, especially considering he battled an injury during practice this week and we need him fresh for the New England Patriots next week. But when the victory was in jeopardy, there was no looking to next week and we soon realized the only way this offense was going to get moving would be on Brian Westbrook's back, so we did just that.

I'm not trying to underestimate Westbrook's abilities in any sense but we can not put the ball in his hands that much on a consistent basis if we want him to last all season, which is precisely what we often do. What needs to happen though is we have to find a balance, a little mid way point between when McNabb was on the field and Westbrook's number was not called nearly enough, to when Feeley was at QB and Westbrook was touching the ball constantly.

Calling over 70% passing plays for Donovan McNabb to work with is ridiculous. Just like when Jeff Garcia stepped in last year, the coaches always balance up the offense after McNabb gets hurt, and that balance has seems to work efficiently. But that change often causes the misconception that the offense is benefiting so much from the back-up QB, when it is really benefiting from running the ball more. If the offensive gameplan that was called for A.J. Feeley was called for McNabb, we would see a much higher rate of execution.

There are no excuses for McNabb to turn the ball over, that goes without saying, but that isn't often the case with Donovan, he usually controls turnovers pretty well. What we do need to see happen though is the coaches to make it much easier for McNabb and that can be done simply by taking some pressure off of him and making sure Brian Westbrook gets a decent amount of runs called for him.

It's going to be tough for McNabb because there is no way he is going to sit out to heal this sprained ankle. To begin with he is too proud and we've seen him play through injury after injury, not giving in until surgery is required. Tied into all of that is the fact that if he does sit, that just increases the speculation that he will lose his starting job, which seems to be at an all time peak.

I think there is no question that Donovan McNabb should and will start against the New England Patriots, no thumb or ankle injury is going to hold back a man playing to salvage his career in Philadelphia.