The Eagles beat the Skins 59-28 on Monday night.� That score is insane and the game was every bit as crazy as the numbers sound.� I'll put the game in context in a bit, but for now I want to talk about what we saw from the Eagles.���The obvious place to start is with the performance of Michael Vick.� He was great.� I don't use that word lightly.� I thought he played well vs Detroit and Jacksonville.� He raised his game a notch last week and was really, really good.� Against Washington he was great.� That was something special.�I'll write about Vick at great length in a full column.� His situation is so complex and interesting that trying to cover it in a few sentences is tough.� The thing I want to talk about here is his mastery of the offense.� We all knew Vick was a great athlete.� We all knew he had a great arm.� His passing skills have improved in a huge way since coming to Philly.� Andy Reid, Marty Mornhinweg, and James Urban have done a brilliant job of teaching Vick how to play QB all over again and refining his game.�Beyond that, I'm shocked at how natural he looks in our offense.� Vick knows where the ball should go, almost in an instinctive way.�� He knows who will be open early and who he can check down to late.� He's not afraid to dump the ball to Owen Schmitt.� He also has the ability to put the vertical element in our passing attack.� He's not forcing the ball to anyone.� Vick is finding the open guy and getting him the ball.�Vick's running feels perfect.� He doesn't bail too early.� He understands all the weapons he has and wants to get the ball to them.� At the same time, he's not afraid to tuck it and run.� Defenses have to account for 6 skill players because of his running threat.� That puts tremendous pressure on them.� He truly is a weapon with is arm and legs.� And he makes all of this look easy.It is shocking to think that Vick has only been with us for 2 years.� He did get some WCO experience in Atlanta, but our attack is somewhat different.� Vick looks completely natural in our offense.� Think about how odd McNabb looks in the Skins offense.� Remember Kurt Warner as a Giant?� Some veterans don't look comfortable at all.� To quote a great football mind from many sit-ups ago, Vick and the Eagles offense go together like peanut butter and jelly.�I wrote in my preview that we'd feed DeSean Jackson the ball aggressively.� I didn't predict an 88-yard TD pass to open the game, but I love that call.� We needed to attack Washington and that play call was just what the doctor ordered.� They limited us to 12 points in the first game.� That one play sent a signal that things were going to be slightly different.�Vick aside, this was very much a team effort.� Shady scored a TD.� Jerome Harrison had a long TD run.� Mac caught a long TD pass.� Jason Avant was great and scored a TD of his own.� The blockers ranged from good to outstanding.� I only yelled once at Nick Cole.�The offense got rolling and the defense was very good early on.� They kept getting the ball back for Vick and his weapons.� We'd go score quickly and the defense would stop the Skins again.� Not a bad formula for a blowout.�New starters Dimitri Patterson and Kurt Coleman combined for 3 INTs.� Patterson has been terrific in the last 2 weeks.� He is making tackles when passes are completed to his side.� He's also playing the ball well.� His pick-6 was a thing of beauty.� Somebody send Ellis Hobbs a card that says.� Coleman had a solid game as well.� At the least, we have one heck of a #3 Safety for the future.� I'm still of the belief that he'll be a starter down the road.�I wasn't happy that we gave up 28 points, but that kind of stuff happens in some blowout games. There wasn't any one thing that got me overly upset, except for the tackling on the final TD run.� That was sloppy.� You never want to see opposing RBs going through your defense like that, even if plenty of backups are on the field.�A few people asked me about comparisons for that game.� There are only a few games that come to mind:* 1995 Wildcard win over Detroit, 58-37 ... the Lions had a ton of turnovers* 2004 win over Green Bay, 47-17 ... GB scored 2 late TDs ... we had 542 yards* 2004 win over Dallas, 49-21 ... we led 35-14 at the half ... only had 485 yards* 2007 win over the Lions, 56-21 ... our soccer uniforms beat their JV football teamThe Green Bay game from '04 was the only one of those games that truly involved pure excellence on our part.� The Lions defense was dreadful in '07.� Their offense was turnover crazy in '95.� We beat the heck out of Dallas in '04, but it still wasn't like Monday night.� That was unreal.� That and the Green Bay game were 2 times when it literally didn't appear that the other team deserved to be on the field with the Eagles (because of our performance).�My only concern is that I hope the players understand that win doesn't mean anything.� Getting anointed god's gift to the NFL is nice, but it doesn't make us NFC East champs.� We've got a lot of work left to do.� If we build off that game, it could prove to be a night we all look back to as the time the 2010 Eagles emerged as a great team.� If we spend too much time kissing our own butts, we'll get some humble pie from the Giants on Sunday night.
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