LeSean McCoy Wins FedEx Ground Player Of Week 2

The NFL has announced that fan voting has named Eagles RB LeSean McCoy as their FedEx Ground Player Of The Week for his performance against the Detroit Lions

Quarterback Matt Schaub of the Houston Texans and running back LeSean McCoy of the Philadelphia Eagles are the FedEx Air & Ground NFL Players of the Week for games played on September 19-20, the NFL announced Friday.

McCoy rushed for 120 yards on 16 carries and a career-high three touchdowns as the Eagles held off the Detroit Lions, 35-32.

Eagles RB LeSean McCoy Nominated For FedEx Ground Player Of The Week

After the best performance of his career and one the best performances by a Philadelphia Eagles RB in years, LeSean McCoy has been nominated as the FedEx Ground Player Of the Week. Shady ran for 120 yards and three touchdowns, both career highs for him.

McCoy's three rushing TDs were the most for an Eagles RB since Charlie Garner also ran for 3 TDs back in December of 1995.

You can vote for McCoy here.

Video: Michael Vick Highlights Vs Detroit

Recap: Michael Vick Leads Eagles Over Lions, 35-32

To say Michael Vick "turned back the clock" may be an insult to his current self. There's a good argument to be made that Vick was never as good as a passer in Atlanta as he was today. Vick completed over 60% of his passes for the second straight week throwing for 284 yards and two TDs. He showed accuracy, poise in the pocket, and made countless gutsy throws in the face of constant Detroit blitzing.

While Kevin Kolb has been cleared to play next week and will be the starter, there's no doubt that Vick's performance has put pressure on the kid. What will be interesting is whether some fans & media write off Vick's performance as "just against the Lions" as many did to Kolb last year as his monster game came "just against the Chiefs." Of course, the obvious difference is that Vick has a whole slew of pro bowls on his resume...

The Eagles also got big performances from LeSean McCoy, who rushed for 120 yards and 3 TDs, and DeSean Jackson who had 135 yards and a TD.

Things were not nearly as rosy for the Eagles defense, who gave up 30+ points for the second straight week and struggled to contain Lions rookie RB Jahvid Best all day. Best finished with 3 TDs & 232 yards of total offense on the day.

For more analysis check out Bleeding Green Nation.

Eagles' LeSean McCoy Having A Career Day

Eagles RB LeSean McCoy is in the midst of the best game of his young NFL career. He just rushed for his third TD on the day and went over 100 yards rushing for the first time in his career.

His line for the day so far, 15 carries for 119 yards and three TDs. He’s also caught three passes.

Eagles Rookies Make An Impact To Start Detroit Game

The Eagles defensive rookies were the story on the first drive of the Eagles/Lions game. Detroit had the ball first on a drive that featured a Brandon Graham sack and ended with a Nate Allen interception in the end zone.

Nate Allen now has an interception in each of his first two games as a pro.

Philadelphia Eagles Week Two Inactives

The Eagles have announced their inactives for this week’s matchup against the Detroit Lions.

Kevin Kolb, Steward Bradley, Jorrick Calvin, Daniel Te’o-Neshiem, Keenan Clayton, Austin Howard, Darryl Tapp, Clay Harbor.

This means the two newest Eagles, FB Owen Schmitt & TE/FB Garrett Mills will play.

Eagles At Lions: Michael Vick Reacts To Being Named Starter

This Sunday when he leads the Eagles into Detroit to face the Lions, Michael Vick will start his first NFL game in four years. The Falcons' season finale in 2006 was the last start he made.

Vick said that the fact he was named starter won't change how he prepares for game very much.

"No. Ultimately, I just want to have a great week of preparation and get myself physically and mentally ready to go out and play this game Sunday, and go out and try to be effective and help this team get a win."

He also stressed that this week has been about getting chemistry with the Eagles first team offense.

"It's my first time practicing with the first team, trying to get chemistry with them, and just get on the same page with those guys. You have go out there and you have to get reps. And you have to just go out there and practice hard and try to be efficient in practice, and try to envision yourself at game speed and doing things that you are going to try to simulate in the game. So, it was great to get out there with the first unit and get the reps all week, and feel good about my preparation."

He was when was the last time he felt this good.

"It's been a long time since I felt this good physically and mentally. I'm just glad that I had a chance to work myself back into football shape and I'm very thankful that I had the opportunity to come back and play this game. So thankful for all of the people who helped get me in this position and put me in this position, [NFL commissioner] Roger [Goodell], Tony [Dungy] and [head coach] Andy [Reid]. So I just have to thank God and thank those who were very instrumental in that process."

Finally, he admitted that it will be a surreal moment when he takes this field this Sunday as the starter.

"It's a surreal moment. Honestly, I didn't think it was going to happen this early. As a backup, you kind of a get into a mode of thinking that you're not going to play even though you just have to be prepared for whatever happens. I kind of got relaxed for a minute and obviously I was thrown into the fire and wasn't expecting it, but hey, you're a professional player, you've got to be ready, you've always got to be on top of your game and be ready to go. Like I said, it's just a great feeling to have an opportunity to go out and start and play and try to help this football team win a football game."

Eagles At Lions: Injury Report

For the Eagles, the injury report is fairly simple. Both Kevin Kolb & Stewart Bradley are out for Sunday’s game with concussions. Other than the obvious season ending injuries suffered by Leonard Weaver & Jamaal Jackson, everyone else is healthy and ready to go.

The Lions will also be without their starting QB as Matt Stafford is out with a shoulder injury. It also appears that promising young DE Cliff Avril will also be out but standout safety Louis Delmas who missed practice this week with a groin injury, is expected to play.

Detroit Lions Sell Out Home Opener, Blackout Lifted

Earlier this week, we noted that the Lions did not sell out Ford Field for their home opener against the Philadelphia Eagles by the NFL’s blackout deadline. The league granted the team a 24 hour extension and they were able to move the last 2,000 tickets.

So Detroit area residents will get to see Michael Vick lead the Eagles against the Lions… Who would have guessed that before the season?

Eagles At Lions - Q&A With Lions Insider

In an effort to better know the Eagles opponent this week, we exchanged some questions with Lion’s writer Sean Yuille of Pride of Detroit & SB Nation Detroit. My answers to his questions can be found here.

When I saw the Chiefs beat the Chargers Monday night and how excited that team and fanbase was, I couldn’t help but think how it made the Calvin Johnson “non” catch even worse. You guys had a chance to have that same kind of victory that would have pumped up the team and infused a new optimism amongst the fanbase and it was just stolen. I’m sure you’re sick of it, but would you mind giving us a few thoughts? How does it affect the team?

That’s a very accurate comparison. All offseason fans have been excited about the possibility of finally having a successful season. There has been plenty of talk about getting better, but last Sunday was the first chance to see any proof of it. While the Lions did struggle, they still were in the game and should have won, which is something we can’t say about past Lions teams. When they struggled before, it was usually blowout city, so it was encouraging to see them stay in the game despite losing Matthew Stafford. In the end, though, a lot of that optimism was simply washed away with that one call, as fans went from feeling good about the performance to feeling disappointment about how the game ended. There’s no doubt that the fan base was crushed by the call, and it has unfortunately taken away a lot of excitement surrounding the team going forward.

Who is the one Lion whose name we don’t yet, but will after Sunday?

Cliff Avril seemed like the obvious choice for this answer, because he is ready to have a breakout season. Unfortunately, he will likely miss Sunday’s game because of multiple injuries, so breaking out will have to wait. If I had to say someone else, though, I’d probably go with Tony Scheffler. Many people have probably heard of Scheffler, especially since he was involved in the Ernie Sims trade, but I don’t think people realize the kind of weapon he can be for Detroit. He has been one of the go-to guys on third down, and I think Hill will look in his direction quite a bit on Sunday.

Of the Lions’ youngsters like Pettigrew, Best & Suh who has impressed you most so far this year?

Jahvid Best was the most impressive during the preseason. He made a ton of plays and gave fans hope that the Lions finally found a feature running back. Even so, based on the first game my vote goes to Ndamukong Suh. Although Best had two touchdowns a week ago, he wasn’t able to do a whole lot else the rest of the game. Suh, on the other hand, was drawing double teams all day long and still found ways to make plays, getting his first career sack on Jay Cutler. A lot of what Suh does won’t be appreciated because teams are focusing so much on containing him, but his presence alone is impressive, as he opens up the rest of the D-line, which has also been impressive.

For more from our chat with Sean Yuille, check out Bleeding Green Nation.

Lions Struggling To Sell Out Home Opener Vs Eagles

The NFL has granted the Lions a 24 hour extension to help sell out their home opener vs the Eagles in hopes of avoiding a local blackout.

Detroit needs to sell about 2,000 tickets before Friday afternoon to avoid a blackout of the game in Detroit.

Being the worst team in the NFL for years then losing your young franchise QB in week one is obviously not good for business.

Michael Vick To Start For Eagles vs Detroit

Though it shouldn't come as much of a surprise, it's still pretty surreal to hear Michael Vick will be the starting quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles. For this week at least...

After Kevin Kolb failed two concussion tests this week, it was basically a forgone conclusion that Vick would be starting this weekend in Detroit. In many ways, this is Michael Vick's biggest shot at professional redemption since he returned to the NFL. Whether or not he can ever rehab his personal image remains to be seen, but if he comes out and plays well against Detroit his professional image may very well be restored. Vick is in the final year of his contract and in all likelihood he won't be back with the Eagles next year, so this week he's likely playing for the chance to win a starting job somewhere else in 2011. It's a pretty good motivation.That said, Vick downplayed what the game could mean for his future.

"Well, I don't really go out to try to prove to anybody that I can still play this game. The primary focus is to put this team in a position to win whenever I'm on the field. If it's just doing the Wildcat offense, just trying to help this team move the chains and produce. That's the ultimate goal. You can't go out trying to prove yourself because that's adding more pressure to this game and it's already hard as it is."

Of course, this is also his chance to repay Andy Reid and the rest of the Eagles organization for the chance they gave him. He's been saying since the Eagles signed him that his number one goal is to become a starting QB in the NFL again. Well Mike, you got your wish. It may not be for more than this week, but that really shouldn't be important to him right now. This is the most important moment of his post prison career and it comes against the 2nd worst team in the NFL last year.

"Since the day I got here I've been working as hard as I can and as diligently as I can to just try to get better. You want to strive to be great and you want to be perfect. We all know that you can't be perfect, but you can strive for perfection. That's what we try to do as players and that's the ultimate goal. You give yourself the best chance to perform on a consistent basis when you do that."