The Phillies' crushing loss to the Yankees last night doesn't have us quite as fired up for a Sunday of Philly vs. New York as we were yesterday, but as our friend Mark K from NJ put it, "Today will either be an epic day in Philly Sports...or godawful."
For now, let's just focus on what it'll take to get that epic day started. The Birds and Giants are up first, and the tailgating has been underway for hours. Should be a great game too—based on their 2009 campaigns so far, these teams are incredibly evenly matched. Both have won more than lost, gotten crushed by the Saints, and struggled in recent weeks. The G-Men are coming off two straight losses against good NFC teams, going from dominant and undefeated to questions as to whether they truly are an elite team. Interestingly, they're facing many of the same questions the Birds are today.
Football: Jets v Eagles, Sep 2009 - 02, originally uploaded by Ed Yourdon.
Eagles Issues
Although the Eagles did put the Redskins down on Monday Night Football, the pressure we saw the Raiders throw at the Birds O-Line and Donovan McNabb continued against the Skins. I don't know about you, but all I could think about on Monday was, if the Skins, who have a very solid defense and pass rush, can get to McNabb with that frequency, the Eagles really need to make some adjustments to prevent the Giants from throwing 5 all over the Linc turf. We've seen it plenty of times before...
Those protection issues are the biggest reason why McNabb has looked borderline terrible recently. The other, at least last week, was the lack of Brian Westbrook as an option. Westbrook isn't likely to play as of this writing, and the rushing game will center almost entirely on rookie LeSean McCoy. Despite the success McCoy has had in some games and questions about whether Westbrook is nearing the finish line, BWest is still the most explosive back on the team, and his not playing today is significant. He's also very effective at picking up the blitz and the pass rush, which will be a tall task for McCoy
But, with no Westbrook, Andy Reid may be even more pass-heavy in his playcalling today. The good news is, although that puts more pressure on McNabb and the Birds' linemen, the Giants secondary is very beatable, particularly their safeties. We'll be looking for a few bombs to a streaking Desean Jackson and/or Jeremy Maclin. This is one matchup Andy will certainly be looking to exploit, and if it works early enough, we could see some room for McCoy to run and less effectiveness from the Giants front four in the pass rush, just like we saw when they came up limp against the Saints.
Giants Concerns
The Giants certainly have their injuries, demons, and questions today. Receiver Mario Manningham is out, and running back Ahmad Bradshaw, who has been the more explosive element of the backfield duo with Brandon Jacobs, is expected to play, but with some pain-imposed limitations. Eli Manning began the season with great command of his new-look offense, and over the course of their 5-0 start, he spread the ball very effectively over their WRs, quieting concerns over the loss of Plaxico Burress. When the Giants have had success against the Birds in recent years, it's been because of the threat Burress posed downfield, which really opened things up for their rushing attack. When Burress was out last year, the Eagles had little problem covering what was left of the Giants WR corps and really keyed in on stuffing Jacobs, Bradshaw, and Derrick Ward.
But The Other Steve Smith has emerged as The Better Steve Smith in 2009, and Hakeem Nicks has big play capabilities too. With Macho Harris sidelined today, Sean Jones' play at FS will be a big key to stopping the Giants passing enough to allow that same attention to the rushing.
We'll also be looking to see how Will Witherspoon does in his second game with the Eagles. He was simply (and surprisingly) amazing in his first week, causing turnovers and generally wreaking havoc with some amazing speed—something the Birds had lacked at MLB. With an extra week of prep, Sean McDermott will have some plans on how to maximize his new weapon's potential. Witherspoon will also have to help cover Kevin Boss, who isn't usually a threat in the open field, but he did gash the Eagles in their first meeting last season (6/69/1) as many TEs do.
Limiting Eli's options will be a major key today. We've seen some flashes of the old Eli in the past two weeks, and some wonder if it has something to do with his lisfranc injury, although he says that's not the case. If not that, then what? Whatever the reason, we'll see McDermott dialing up those blitz packages to see if he can get that all-too-familiar panicked look on Eli's face.
So yeah, both of these teams have the talent, even with some sizable injuries, to dominate the other today. It's just a matter of which can protect best against its weaknesses better than the other. For the Eagles, the biggest concern—particularly in this matchup—is their ability to protect McNabb. If they can keep him off the turf, they can definitely win this game. Both teams' primary concerns will be to keep their QB upright.
The Eagles can definitely win this game, I have no doubt. Just ask the Giants, who are still smarting from being bounced by the underdog Eagles in last year's playoffs. But, if they can't get past some of their very well-documented deficiencies, we'll be in for a rough start to the epic Philly vs. New York Sunday.
Original Story:
http://www.the700level.com/2009/11/ph...
