If I were Andy Reid, Donovan McNabb would not play much tonight. Not as long as King Dunlap is the man charged with protecting the quarterback's blind side.
We're not as panicky (yet) as some about the injuries across the offensive line, with four out of five starters not in the lineup for tonight's game, but the thought of Dunlap whiffing a block and Dwight Freeney breaking McNabb's spine is scary. And from what we've seen, somewhat likely too.
There are some people out there who are in love with this guy. He certainly looks like a professional left tackle. He hasn't played like one. Geoff Mosher of the Delaware New Journal has even reported Dunlap almost got kicked out of practice one day this week. This is the same guy who now holds the fate of the 2009 campaign in his hands? Yikes. Everyone, including Donovan, should be watching him very closely.
What we actually would like to see: more defense, please! The starters were in for only 14 snaps last week, so it was difficult to analyze much of what happened. Here's one thing we're looking for from each unit.
Defensive line: we know they are really banged up across this D-line as well, with Trent Cole, Darren Howard, and Bryan Smith all inactive, but Colts are another team having offensive line problems. Victor Abiamiri and Jason Babin will get the start, and if last week was any indication, when Manning was brought down more times than passes completed, they should be able to manage at least one sack between them.
Linebackers: on the biggest offensive play against the first team, the pass interference by Asante Samuel against Moss, all three linebackers (and Mikell) bit on playaction. Like Brady, Manning is one of the best playaction quarterbacks in the league, but this group needs to do a better job of recognizing it and not getting sucked into the line of scrimmage. Last week it was a deep pass that was almost defended very well. Next time, it could be a wide open play across the middle.
Secondary: we weren't really impressed by Sean Jones, though we obviously didn't see much of Quintin Demps either. Right now, he's the starter, but we just want to see more. We want to him to come flying up on the ball carrier and make the solid tackle, or be in position to swat away a pass. Something.
Other inactives tonight include: Kevin Kolb, Mike Vick, Brian Westbrook, Omar Gaither, and Sheldon Brown. Game is at 8 p.m. on Fox.
Original Story:
http://www.the700level.com/2009/08/ea...
