Despite the Loss, Buckhalter's Performance a Good Sign

The Eagles got trounced on Sunday night.  There's not doubt about that.  The Giant's defense took advantage of an unseasoned Winston Justice and delivered to D-Mac, sack after sack after sack.  Even Lawrence "LT" Taylor couldn't help but be proud of that Giant defensive line.

Despite the loss though, there were some bright points, some periods of brilliance, some small rays of hope that the team who played against Detroit still lingered under all that football gear.  Correll Buckhalter rose to the occasion and had his best game since 2005.  In Sunday night's game he had 103 yards and touch the ball 17 times.  Unfortunately that might go overlooked by the 12 sacks and 132 yards in penalties the the offensive line mostly contributed to.

Buckhalter was busting through tackles and as Al Michaels put it,  "squirtting" through for the extra effort.  He's not Westbrook, but he is his a good running back in his own right.  Given a bit more time, he could possibly come up to the level of Westbrook.  Sunday night's game, showed that although Westbrook is very crucial to the Philadelphia Eagles offensive, Buckhalter can be relied upon to get yards and carry the ball as well.

As I watched the Eagles Television Network's post Giants/Eagles game reporting, Dave Sparado interviewed Buckhalter (who, btw, was looking rather stylish, even with those sunglasses on). Asking Buckhalter about what happened with Sunday night's team performance, Buckhalter said "...as many penalties as we had, that's not Eagles football." 

I think all of Philadelphia will agree with him on that statement.  But I also think Buckhalter and the defensive should be given due "props".   Both actually did amazingly well under the circumstances that they had to play.  Eagles fans should be happy that the defensive held on they way they did, since there could have been at least 10 more points on that board that the Eagles defensive put a halt too.  Along with Buckhalter's 100+ yard game, Omar Gaither had that nice interception.

When Sparado asked him about not running it back for a touchdown, Gaither had a very logical and intelligent answer - one that should make any coach proud.  Gaither said that he "saw two players in his rear view" and wanted to be able to hand that ball over to the offensive and not risk loosing it by attempting something that could have lost him that ball.  That shows great football instinct, it's just too bad that the Eagles couldn't capitalize on that interception with a score, instead they capitalized on it with penalty after penalty after sack.

Eagles fans, players, coaches and the Philadelphia media have 2 weeks to chew on, digest and rehash this loss.  The offensive coaches better figure out something else, because the way they were playing last night, will not get them a win against Dallas, in any way shape or form.

*pictures courtesy of PhiladelphiaEagles.com