Eagles vs Cowboys NFC East Showdown Preview

The Eagles are 3-3, tied for first in the NFC East, and facing the most hated rival in the NFL....those stinking Dallas Cowgirls..I mean boys I apologize (SMH). The story of the week has been the "QB controversy" between Michael Vick who is nursing a hamstring injury and will not play Sunday, and Nick Foles who had a monster performance against Tampa, he will get the nod against Dallas. Winner of this match up will hold sole possession of first place so the Eagles will have to be ready on all cylinders. I was hoping Vick would play this game and here is why. The Cowboys (Excuse my illiterate language) SUCK against running quarterbacks. RG3 struggled significantly last week against Dallas's secondary, but still had 77 yards rushing on the game. If Vick would have played, I would hands down pick the Eagles with how well he and McCoy have played together this season. I personally am still a fan of Foles as well. With 4 total touchdowns last week and no turnovers, the offense just seems more controlled and comfortable with Foles. I feel that whenever Vick is playing I am biting my nails about him potentially throwing away the drive due to a miscue or a turnover. Desean Jackson will go up against another tough matchup with Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne coming to the link. After Jackson's 2 td performance against Revis, I think Kelly and Foles will plan to get him the ball as much as possible (With exception to McCoy getting the most touches). Defensively the Eagles need to do exactly what they did last week. That was do enough to win and not lose the game for the team. Bradley Fletcher has played some quietly productive football. His INT last week helped boost the Eagles over Tampa late in the second half. We know the defense doesn't have the personnel to be one of the best defenses in the league, and I think Billy Davis knows that, but like the Patriots have of recent years, they just need that 1 or 2 big plays (Turnovers) that will get the ball back to this historically good offense and the d will have a very tough match up against Dez Bryant and those electric offensive play makers so turnovers will be huge. Earl Wolff had his best game last week and is proving to be a play maker on the field. He is just always on the ball and his resilience makes him a fan favorite early in the season. Bennie Logan has had a sack in the past two games yet Issac Sopoaga still gets the majority of the play at nose tackle....why? Logan has been nothing short of dominant as the interior defensive line has been the force of the pass rush. For the Eagles to defeat the Cowboys Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field, creating turnovers and executing in the red zone will be the big keys to the Division matchup. I expect Foles to have another great game and possibly remain the starter for the rest of the year with this performance (I still am on Team Vick though). I predict a final score of 35-32 with a late game turnover with that #9 choke artist named Tony Romo. That could easily happen.

Nick Foles takes first team reps in Tuesday's Practice

Well the QB controversy is under way. Yes Chip Kelly and Pat Shurmur both said they will evaluate the situation once Michael Vick is fully healthy from his hamstring injury. Foles is coming off a big 4 total touchdown performance in Sunday's win vs the Bucs 31-20. There are two kinds of people, those who are with Vick, and those who are with Foles. If you are in the middle than I am with you brother. I see both as very reliable quarterbacks in this system and both have shown that they can play at a very high level this season. Vick has 5 touchdowns to 2 INTs with 2 rushing touchdowns, Foles has 6 passing touchdowns to 0 interceptions and 1 rushing touchdown. Foles will start this week vs the Cowboys and if he defeats Dallas and puts Philly in sole first place of the NFC East, Michael Vick will be watching from the sidelines for the rest of the season.

Eagle Eye Focus Podcast! Eagles vs Buccaneers Preview

Desean Jackson "Revis Can't run with me"

Desean Jackson is back to talking smack.....and I love it! Desean Jackson said in his press conference today that Darrelle Revis can't run with him plain and simple. This may be true and I like the talk heading into a very important game but we need more than Jackson this week. Yes Desean is faster but odds are Revis is going to be on Desean like glue, so what other receiver is going to step up? Riley Cooper has been terrible all season. Jason Avant hasn't done much other than the strong Thursday night performance but may be able to take advantage of rookie Johnathan Banks. To me the answer is the Tight Ends. Lesean McCoy will be productive but Celek and Ertz need to have a big game against the Bucs. Foles likes to go to his tight ends just look at that pass to Celek last week. Either way the talking is going to keep the competitiveness up and Desean needs to have a big game for the Eagles to pull out a win and get back to .500.

Eagles topple Giants, Top the NFC East!

The Philadelphia Eagles got a win.....pffew. Finally I big time win and a huge confidence booster that this team really needs. It did come at a price though, Michael Vick has a strained hamstring and is reported to likely be out against Tampa Bay this week end. Yet Nick Foles looked electric throwing over 200 yards and 2 touchdowns running the fast paced offense very effectively. Yes the duel threat option with Vick was eliminated which did effect McCoy who only had 46 yards on the ground, but the passing game took no step back. Desean Jackson is proving to be the MVP of this team with 132 yards and a touchdown. He is not just the deep threat he used to be, becoming more of a complete receiver is exactly what the Eagles needed him to do with Jeremy Maclin being out for the season. Dallas lost to Denver which puts the Eagles in 1st in the NFC East and the schedule seems to get easier with Tampa, Dallas, And those pesky Giants coming up! The offensive line is concerning me.....the right side that is. Lane Johnson has taken a big step back after impressing in the Monday night showdown vs the Redskins, since then he has not been able to physically dominate his opponent and veteran Todd Heremans isn't helping the job either. Moving from right tackle to right guard this season, it seemed Heremans would thrive going back to his natural position but has been awful so far. Yes awful is a strong statement but they need to step it up in the running game for McCoy to continue his dominance. As for the defense, it was much better. They still let up a lot of yards and the secondary struggled again but guess what! TURNOVERS! Finally the Eagles D got some game deciding plays including 3 picks courtesy of Carry Williams, Brandon Boykin, and Mychal Kendricks who was all over the field Sunday. He now leads the league in fumble recoveries with 3. The pass rush was much better making Eli Manning uncomfortable from the get go. Vinny Curry played and was a force again but the man in the middle, Cedric Thorton is the person I want to talk about. Probably the most underrated player so far is being a monster in the pass rush. Fletcher Cox and Cedric Thorton is one of the best young defensive line combos in the league. Cox has seemed to be taking the doubles which is helping Thorton out. From the outside I think Connor Barwin has been solid and Trent Cole is adjusting to the 3-4 smoothly not really being beat in coverage. The Eagles showed fight and great effort pulling away from the Giants after only being up 22-21 heading into the fourth quarter. Nick Foles held his composure and executed but didn't try to do too much which is key for his success this week vs Tampa (If he starts of course). The team needed a win like this, it not only put us in first but gave us the confidence that we can win the close ones when we need to. Now standing at 2-3 eh its not flashy but its getting the job done in a very strange 2013 NFL season. The 2-0 division record is promising and I feel very confident which either Vick or Foles this week vs Tampa Bay. Now can Foles win the job? If he gets the win and impresses.....we might have a controversy on our hands, but hey I give Foles props for the way he handled losing the starting job, and answering the call yesterday when we needed him so badly. Chip Kelly did say if healthy Vick is the Quarterback. Either way we will get into that later, a win is a win and I am going to enjoy it....we might not see this often but lets hope so!

Eagles vs Giants Previewing the Division Showdown

The Eagles are 1-3. Yes that looks like a terrible record but news flash (If you haven't heard yet this week) the Eagles can finish the week end in first place if two things happen. First the Eagles dismantle a 0-4 New York Giants football team that can't stop a tortoise and a offense that can't score. Plus the other thing that has to happen is that team in Dallas has to lose to the Denver Broncos.....I think that is a easy task and will be unacceptable if they cannot get it going this week. With the offense playing some good football, I want to focus more on what the Eagles defense needs to do in order to pull out a win vs the G-Men. First obviously we need better secondary play, now with the personnel we have I just don't think that is a option, let me re-phrase that, I don't think we have the personnel to be a stellar shut down secondary but solid is a option. I have said this many times recently that the success of the defense will solely run through Earl Wolff. The safeties have been pathetic but lets not let the pass rush off the hook either. The Eagles have not generated any sort of a pass rush which allows QBs (Peyton Manning for example) to sit back in the pocket and deliver big time throws against that secondary of ours. For the pass rush, to me it is because of the scheme not the players that we aren't succeeding. The 3-4 pushes Barwin and Cole into coverage the majority of the time and Vinny Curry.....don't get me started they need to PLAY THIS KID! Anyway here is my rant of the week. I am starting to believe Chip Kelly is a liar. The system isn't the fastest it is actually around third, he went out and got two big time tight ends and has barley used any of them even though Riley Cooper has played like absolute garbage. Desean Jackson was supposed to punt return but Damaris Johnson has done it all, speaking of Damaris wasn't he the "Perfect Chip Kelly Player" along with James Casey who combined have probably like 7 offensive snaps correct? I am starting to think the philosophy of the offense and how it is supposed to be run isn't being put into place...in other terms it is all talk. Alright there as my rant of the week. Anyway I think this is a perfect opportunity to get back in the division race, Lesean McCoy and Michael Vick will have huge games and the defense will do enough to get a 27-20 victory in a late stop against Eli and those boys.