Eagles start slow, finish strong to beat Rams

It started ominously, with the Eagles failing on their first offensive drive and the Rams scoring on their first play of the game, but the better team eventually prevailed as the Birds won, 31-13.

The offensive line struggled early, clearly having issues with the volume of the St. Louis crowd as Michael Vick didn't have enough time to find open receivers.  They seemed to settle down after the first series, however, and Vick was able to make plays with his arm as well as his feet.  On the day, Vick had 187 yards passing and two touchdowns as well as 98 yards rushing.  LeSean McCoy also had a strong game on the ground, racking up 122 yards rushing and 15 receiving with two touchdowns.  Most of his damage was done in the 4th quarter when the Eagles had a big lead and were salting the game away.  The weapons were in full force for the Eagles as DeSean Jackson also had 100 yards receiving.  If the offensive line can hold up, the Eagles offense is just going to overwhelm teams.

After allowing Steven Jackson to score on a 47 yard run on the Rams first offensive play, the Eagles defense stiffened and didn't allow another touchdown the entire game.  While they were aided by a few drops by the Rams receivers, the Eagles D looked strong as it pressured Rams QB Sam Bradford, hitting him early and often.  Three members of the Eagles starting D-line, Trent Cole, Cullen Jenkins and Jason Babin, all had sacks, with Babin picking up two.  Juqua Parker also got in on the action, picking up a Bradford fumble and taking it to the house.  The secondary was also solid as a whole, never really getting burned deep though they did have some issues with the underneath routes.

After so many "experts" predicted them to lose to the Rams, it was nice to see the Eagles win pretty convincingly.  While they still have plenty of things to work on, like their offensive line and stopping the run, the Eagles are loaded with talent and should be competitive week in and week out.  Encouraging start for the Eagles, now let's see how they do against a solid Falcons team next week in Atlanta.