Trevor Laws with a pick means things are going well.


-- For the most part, Michael Vick's decision-making was pretty good. He did get picked on an underthrown ball and almost got picked because he stared down a receiver, but other than that he was hitting the open guy and allowing his receivers to make plays. Vick threw for 300 yards for the third time this season and continues to look like a real quarterback.

-- LeSean McCoy was, once again, under-utilized. At an embarrassing 12 carries, head coach Andy Reid continues to ignore McCoy's value as a runner. At one point, McCoy was well over five yards per carry, but carries in garbage time into a Texans' defense expecting it dropped his average to under four per carry. He did, however, have eight receptions for 86 yards and one touchdown.

-- He still has yet to carry the ball even once, but Owen Schmitt chipped in with his first touchdown reception as an Eagle. Schmitt continues to be a great blocker and a reliable option out of the backfield.

-- Like McCoy, Jerome Harrison was disgustingly under-used. Three carries. That's it. If he was upset about his playing time in Cleveland he's got to be fuming now.

-- The big story this week was DeSean Jackson. Even though he didn't have the big game everyone expected, he chipped in with three receptions for 84 yards. It doesn't sound like a lot, but they were all big catches that kept the offense moving. The team will still look for more out of him, but it was better than what they got last week.

-- With five catches for 68 yards, Jeremy Maclin actually had a down game. He's been red-hot as of late but, like Jackson, most of Maclin's receptions were key within the drive in which they occurred. He also turned and went straight up-field for once. So, three cheers for Maclin.

-- What is going on with Jason Avant? He had another dropped touchdown pass. Even one is a lot for a guy like Avant, and this recent one was almost as bad as his drop against the Giants.

-- Brent Celek made the best play of the night with his key first down on third-and-long. The awareness to understand that he was not down because he was on top of a defender and make one last reach for the sticks was worth applauding. Unfortunately, it only canceled out a dropped touchdown catch of his own.

-- Chad Hall, playing in place of the injured Riley Cooper, only accounted for three yards on three carries, but accounted for a first down along the way. I, like most Eagles fans, believe Cooper has a bright future, but right now Hall is more valuable player because of his versatility.

-- The offensive line was just short of spectacular. They had a couple breakdowns that forced Vick to move out of the pocket, but more often than not they were man-handling the Texans' defensive line and giving Vick tons of time. They just have to cut down on the random mental lapses and they might turn into a very good unit.

-- Even King Dunlap was impressive in limited time while filling in for an injured Winston Justice (who, by the way, is said to have a sprained MCL and will have an MRI Friday).

-- The play-calling was suspect at best. Reid and Marty Mornhinweg are still calling far too much play-action without actually establishing the run first. I would love to ask them what they think that's going to accomplish. And the designed runs with Vick are just going to get him hurt. It's time to seriously cut back on those and just starting handing the ball to McCoy instead.

-- For the fourth time this season, Trent Cole was held without a sack. He got some good pressure and chipped in with three tackles, but overall it was a disappointing game for the Pro Bowl defensive end.

-- Antonio Dixon, once again, was monumental in containing the running game. Arian Foster is the league's leading rusher and was held to 83 yards on 22 carries. Dixon's ability to play two gaps at a time is a huge reason for the defense's recent ability to stop the run.

-- Mike Patterson chipped in with a sack, and Brodrick Bunkley did a good job of controlling the line in limited action. It seems like the team is trying too hard to turn Bunkley into a two-gap player like Dixon. He's a guy who belongs in the three technique and shooting a gap, not trying to eat up blockers.

-- In his fifth start of the season, Brandon Graham was basically invisible. Were it not for his ability to do all the little things, his rookie season would be a pretty big disappointment. Juqua Parker should easily re-take his job when healthy.

-- There is not a happier man on this earth than Trevor Laws. Coming down with that interception had to be the greatest feeling of his young career and is just another positive step forward for the former second-round pick. Now all they need to do is teach him how to hold onto the football.

-- I'm not sure what to say about Darryl Tapp or Daniel Te'o-Nesheim anymore. Neither one did anything worth while until Tapp recovered Matt Schaub's late fumble. Both look completely inept. This is looking like a miss on the trade for Tapp and drafting Te'o-Nesheim in the third when most scouts graded him around the sixth round.

-- For the first time since all year, Stewart Bradley looked like a middle linebacker this defense could build around. He was blitzing well, reading plays very well, and even making tackles and finishing plays. Hopefully he's starting to get healthy and this is the Bradley we'll see moving forward.

-- Ernie Sims continues to be a disappointment in my eyes. I haven't seen the speed when it really counts. The only time it seems to show up is when he's running past a play. He doesn't seem able to control himself and might be another linebacker rental.

-- Not much to report on Moise Fokou. There weren't any spectacular plays, but he did a very good job of forcing Foster back to the middle and not allowing him to hit the edges.

-- The secondary could not stop Andre Johnson. But then again, few can. We saw Joselio Hanson get beat a couple times again, but he was much better than last week. I did take notice that Trevard Lindley played most of the game on the outside while Hanson stayed on the inside in nickel situations. That's what I was yelling for last week, and it worked this week.

-- The more I see of Dimitri Patterson, the more he starts to look like Sheldon Brown.

-- Rookie safety Nate Allen got ran over in the endzone by Foster early in the game, but made up for it with a late strip-sack of Schaub. Overall, Allen is looking like an absolute steal in the second round.

-- Quintin Mikell was clearly sick of hearing the talk about his demise. He nearly had a couple sacks, would have had an interception were it not for his stone hands, and would flying around the field all night long. It hasn't been a great year for him, but he picked it up against the Texans.

-- Was I the only one who saw the graphic showing that the Eagles' defense is the worst in the redzone since the 1988 Houston Oilers? That's a direct result of Sean McDermott's soft play-calling and the soft way he calls a game in general. I'm still on board to see him fired.

-- I'm officially a fan of Colt Anderson. I would be lying if I told you I knew who he was coming off the Minnesota Vikings practice squad, but he keeps making big plays on special teams and has proven to be a good under-the-radar pick-up.

-- Following Anderson, the coverage for both kicks and punts was very good. It was great to see after a complete breakdown against the Bears last week. Bobby April should stop Reid's streak of firing special teams coordinators.

-- Nothing to report in terms of DeSean Jackson returning punts. He called a fair catch and let the ball roll another time on both of Matt Turk's punts. Jorrick Calvin had a 102-yard kick return, but it was called back by a questionable holding call. I think, before the season is out, Calvin will have a return that actually counts.

-- At 8-4, this team controls its own destiny. All they have to do is keep winning and they'll take the NFC East for the sixth time in the Reid era. But with two games against the Dallas Cowboys, one more against the New York Giants, and a potential trap game against the Minnesota Vikings, that's easier said than done.
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Samuel's return will be vital to stopping the Texans.


Asante Samuel, although limited, returned to practice with the Eagles Monday. Samuel claims via some barely comprehensible tweets that he will be ready to go when the Eagles take on the Houston Texans Thursday night on NFL Network.

When asked about Samuel's status, head coach Andy Reid was, as always, apprehensive.

"We'll see," Reid said. "He worked today. We'll just see how he does after sleeping on it and how it feels tomorrow."

After watching the Eagles' secondary struggle against Jay Cutler and his sub-par receivers, missing Samuel would be devastating against an elite passing attack in Houston.

There was hope that the Texans' passing attack would take a hit and that Andre Johnson would be suspended for his fight with Cortland Finnegan, but we've now learned he'll be on the field Thursday after just paying a fine.

If Johnson is matched up on anyone but Samuel, it's going to be another long day. Joselio Hanson, as we've discussed before, is a very good nickel corner but has no business ever playing on the outside. He couldn't stick with Johnny Knox or Earl Bennett, so there's no hope he could stick with Johnson.

But with Samuel on the field to defend Johnson, Dimitri Patterson matched up on Kevin Walter, and Hanson on Jacoby Jones with help over the top from Nate Allen and Quintin Mikell, things start looking up.

Tuesday's practice will be a great barometer of whether or not Samuel will play. In this shortened week, Tuesday essentially becomes Friday and Wednesday becomes the walk-through day (normally a Saturday).

If Samuel is on the field Tuesday, he will likely play. If not, there's almost no chance.

In other injury news...

Wide receiver Riley Cooper and defensive end Juqua Parker missed practice entirely on Monday. Reid said that should Cooper not be able to go, Chad Hall would be active as the team's fourth receiver.

Brandon Graham will likely get the start once again whether or not Parker plays. But at this point, it's looking like Parker will once again be unavailable.
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We all know about the awful tragedy involving Ryan Moats and a Dallas city police officer.

The officer in this case, Robert Powell, grossly abused his power in detaining Moats while his mother-in-law lay dying in a hospital bed. During the 17 minutes or so, Powell had pulled his gun on Moats and prevented Moats from seeing his mother-in-law before she passed on.

Well it seems that this has not been the first time for Officer Powell.

Apparently less than a year ago, Powell had a run-in with Maritza Thomas, wife of LB Zach Thomas.

Powell pulled Mrs. Thomas over for making an illegal U-turn. She was then also cited for failure to show proof of insurance, running a red light, having an improper address on a driver’s license, and not having a registration sticker on the windshield. The latter four were later dropped.

In this case, Powell decided that it was necessary to handcuff and arrest Mrs. Thomas in lieu of simply writing her tickets.

While it is not technically an abuse of power for Officer Powell to arrest Mrs. Thomas, it is unheard of and uncalled for.

An officer has the right to arrest the driver if he feels as though the person was being unruly or if he/she has unpaid parking tickets, etc.

This was not the case as Mrs. Thomas has no prior record and is nothing more than an upstanding citizen.

Mrs. Thomas’ mother, Teresa Lozano, was in the car with her and offered to go and retrieve the proper documentation, but Powell dismissed her and even went as far as to unbuckle his holster and grab his gun.

In all, Mrs. Thomas was detained for about 5 hours in a holding cell while being threatened to be held overnight. She was forced to abandon her mother and her car was towed. Her mother was forced to ride in the tow truck and later posted bail for her daughter.

The Thomases decided not to file a complaint because they didn’t want to “cause a stir,” and that Zach believe it could just have been “a guy having a bad day” but now say they plan to file a complaint.

“This is no way compares to what happened to Ryan Moats and his family,” said free agent linebacker Zach Thomas. “But we wanted to tell our story, not knowing how many other people have been affected by Officer Powell. We know the vast majority of the Dallas police force are good and professional people, but this guy just seems excessive.”

Officer Powell is obviously someone who joined the police force simply to wield the power that comes with the position. He is the exact opposite of what the police force needs and unfortunately gives the good men and women of the Dallas police force a bad name because of his inexcusable actions.

He must be removed from the force and all of his power stripped before his harsh ways are elevated to the next level and he does something even worse and hurts someone more than he already has.
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