Eagles Notebook: Eagles' Huff defensive on punt return

GREEN BAY - The Eagles' special teams did some good things yesterday. Brandon Bair blocked an extra point. Bryan Braman blocked a punt. But that stuff happened too late to matter, in a 53-20 blowout at the hands of the Green Bay Packers.

For the first time this season, the Birds' special teams failed at a key moment and played a big part in a loss. It happened late in the first quarter, the Eagles teetering on the brink, down 10-0 and forced to punt after a third-down sack of Mark Sanchez by an unblocked Mike Neal.

Donnie Jones' punt was high, high enough that Eagles gunner Josh Huff was right on top of returner Micah Hyde. Hyde caught the ball and cut right. Huff, seemingly frozen, whiffed on the tackle. Suddenly, a bunch of Eagles were behind Hyde and only Jones, the 34-year-old punter, was in front. That wasn't promising. Hyde easily outdistanced Jones en route to a 75-yard touchdown.

It looked like Nolan Carroll was pushed past Hyde by Davon House, then Casey Matthews and Trey Burton got caught too deep, as James Casey slipped and fell - a persistent problem for the Eagles early in the game.

Most perplexing was the explanation offered by Huff, a third-round rookie who has had several unfortunate adventures.

Asked what happened, Huff said: "Nothing happened. I did my job. That's all. Anything else?"

Did he feel like he was well-positioned to make the tackle?

"I was just doing what the coaches told me to do," Huff said. "They told me to slow down before I got to the returner, that's what I did, and that was the end result. I was in position to make the play, but I was just doing what the coaches told me to do - slow down before you get to the returner . . . That's what I did."

That didn't seem to be exactly how the play was viewed by Eagles coach Chip Kelly, father figure to Huff since he recruited Huff to Oregon.

"I think we had a shot with the gunner to make the tackle, but I didn't see . . . what happened to our guard and tackle . . . We weren't where we needed to be."

"We just weren't playing together," Braman said. "If you're not playing together, things like that happen."

Braman said his punt block illustrated how the Eagles don't give up. It was his third punt block of the season.

The Packers might have just wiped the frozen tundra with the Eagles, but running back LeSean McCoy was not prepared to concede Green Bay's superiority.

"I don't think they're a better team than us," McCoy said. "They were today and that's all that matters. But there's no reason to talk about it. They were the better team today but I think, overall, we're a good team. We really are. We just didn't play like it today."

McCoy finished with 88 yards on 23 carries. He was OK. The Packers played a lot of nickel and dime coverages against three wide receivers, which should help the running game, but it never really took off. Then again, it was hard to get a read on much of anything because the game was so lopsided.

"I think it was just how the game went," McCoy said. "It got so . . . wacky. I thought we were going to run the ball on them. That was the plan. The game just got out of reach. It's really hard to stick to the game plan . . . "

McCoy noticeably had problems with the turf at Lambeau Field, one of several Eagles who were slipping. He said running-backs coach Duce Staley told him to change his cleats from a molded type to one where the cleats screw into the shoe. "And it made a difference," said McCoy, who said he would have scored a touchdown if he hadn't slipped.

Ever since Mark Sanchez replaced Nick Foles, the Eagles have had trouble with Jason Kelce and the shotgun snap exchanges. Yesterday, a high one went through Sanchez's hands, then he failed to pick it up, and Green Bay's Casey Hayward picked it up. Hayward ran 49 yards for a touchdown that made it 53-13, with 10:39 left.

"It's been bad," Kelce said. "We've been working on it really hard in practice. I've got to fix it."

Kelce indicated he has been trying to slow his snaps down.

"I'm just very frustrated. I'm hindering the offense quite a bit," Kelce said. "I've got to do a better job . . . As of right now, it's hurting Mark, it's hurting the offense. Obviously, he will be more efficient if he's not worried about the snap."

The Eagles' 22-game takeaway streak ended . . . First-round rookie linebacker Marcus Smith was active but did not play, the second time that has happened . . . The Packers didn't punt until 2 minutes and 22 seconds into the third quarter.

Daily News sports columnist Rich Hofmann contributed to this report.

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