Apologies to the consistent readers of my blog, a busy few weeks of fantasy football magic sidetracked me from performing my analysis. Well what a wild couple of weeks huh? After being absolutely man handled in Lambeau field against those hot Packers, articles and articles were released calling out the Eagles, saying that they weren't real contenders, they never beat any good teams, and that our quarterback is back to his turnover problems that he had in the big apple for his first five years. It looks like those talks have been silenced for now.
After handling a Titans team that really has nothing going for them besides a top draft pick coming to them this spring, the stage was set for a thanksgiving fight for first place in the NFC East as the 8-3 Eagles, battled the 8-3 Dallas Cowboys at "Jerry World". The Cowboys were the favorites to win that game all week and honestly, I was sick and tired of hearing about that Cowboys offensive line just as much as Bennie Logan and Fletcher Cox were. This was a game that the Eagles could finally come out and make a statement, and assert themselves as an NFL powerhouse.
The game started off exactly the way the Eagles wanted. The Eagles struck first after Lesean McCoy busted a huge run to set up a Mark Sanchez read option touchdown. Sanchez kept the defense honest all game with the read option. Being able to execute the read option gives the Eagles a new dynamic that this offense has not seen with Nick Foles under center. The offensive line was dominant all game, maybe they should have been the talk of the week. Jordan Matthews continues to impress the NFL. Scroing another touchdown as well as 54 yards receiving, there have been a lot of contributing rookie wide outs this season, but the Eagles have a special one in the making. Sanchez finally got on the same page with Maclin, say what you want about the Houston game or Green Bay in garbage time, Sanchez being on the field took a lot away from the Eagles outside attack featuring Jeremy Maclin. Matthews was getting most of the targets as the inside receiver. Sanchez likes to go over the top, this has been true his entire career. Maclin tallied 108 yards receiving including a 54 yard screen pass that was nearly taken to the house. That put Maclin over the 1,000 yard mark for the first time in his career.
By the way is Lesean McCoy the same running back? I believe he is.
Watching ESPN First Take this week got me a little more riled up about this game. After all of the hype that Skip Bayless gave the Dallas Cowboys, Bennie Logan came back with some talk saying that the Cowboys offensive line is "Nothing Special". Stephen A. Smith laughed at this and nearly picked the Cowboys against the Eagles. The Eagles backed up that talk, absolutely dominating the Cowboys run game. Murray was held under 100 yards for only the second time this season.The pass rush continued its dominance this year handing Romo his worst game of the season. 42 sacks for this defense puts the Eagles at second most in the NFL. Patience has been the key to the defenses success. The switch to 3-4 with 4-3 personnel was not easy, but so far it has been the best decision this team could have made.
At 9-3 the Eagles control their own destiny. Nothing is going to be handed to them, they know that. Match ups at home against the raining super bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, and a rematch with the Dallas Cowboys will tell us all we need to know about where this Eagles team is, and if it ready for a super bowl run. Three of the last four match ups are within the division, a sweep of New York and Washington will put the Eagles at 11 wins (Knock on wood), getting a first round bye will depend on the crucial match ups these next two weeks. With Green Bay playing as the hottest team in the NFL, and the tie breaker between Philadelphia and Arizona going to the Cardinals, the Eagles will need to win one if not both of these next two games to have the road to the playoffs come through Philadelphia.
I don't know about you, but I don't want to have to play the Packers at Lambeau Stadium again.
The key to victories against Seattle and Dalls are exactly what they did last week, limit turnovers on offense, force turnovers on defense, and Mark Sanchez allowing the offense to do its thing without doing too much. Marshawn Lynch will be a daunting task for this Eagles defensive line that has a major chip on it's shoulder. They are out to make a statement. Defensive tackle Cedric Thornton said in his Wednesday press conference on if he can tackle Marshawn Lynch one on one, "Yes". We shall see come Sunday.
The key for the offense is to establish the run game early and often. The offensive line will have a tough match up, but they have to push back the strong defensive lineman in Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett. Targeting Maclin against Richard Sherman is a tricky situation. Pat Shurmur came out and said they will go after Sherman, but they need to do it the right way. Short inside routes have caused Sherman to struggle a lot this season (See Chargers game), Sanchez's strength is passes over the middle which is why the Eagles could be the Seahawks defense's worst nightmare.
The Eagles need to take advantage of Darren Sproles more, only 3 touches on offense last week is not enough for the MVP of the team this year, yes I truly believe we would not be where we are without Darren Sproles. Depending on who is covering Sproles, he could be the key to a Eagles victory. If Earl Thomas ends up going up against Sproles, we could then take advantage of McCoy on the other side of the field, but if Bobby Wagner or a Seahawk linebacker gets the daunting task of covering Sproles, game over.
Final Prediction: Eagles 27-17 Seahawks
After handling a Titans team that really has nothing going for them besides a top draft pick coming to them this spring, the stage was set for a thanksgiving fight for first place in the NFC East as the 8-3 Eagles, battled the 8-3 Dallas Cowboys at "Jerry World". The Cowboys were the favorites to win that game all week and honestly, I was sick and tired of hearing about that Cowboys offensive line just as much as Bennie Logan and Fletcher Cox were. This was a game that the Eagles could finally come out and make a statement, and assert themselves as an NFL powerhouse.
The game started off exactly the way the Eagles wanted. The Eagles struck first after Lesean McCoy busted a huge run to set up a Mark Sanchez read option touchdown. Sanchez kept the defense honest all game with the read option. Being able to execute the read option gives the Eagles a new dynamic that this offense has not seen with Nick Foles under center. The offensive line was dominant all game, maybe they should have been the talk of the week. Jordan Matthews continues to impress the NFL. Scroing another touchdown as well as 54 yards receiving, there have been a lot of contributing rookie wide outs this season, but the Eagles have a special one in the making. Sanchez finally got on the same page with Maclin, say what you want about the Houston game or Green Bay in garbage time, Sanchez being on the field took a lot away from the Eagles outside attack featuring Jeremy Maclin. Matthews was getting most of the targets as the inside receiver. Sanchez likes to go over the top, this has been true his entire career. Maclin tallied 108 yards receiving including a 54 yard screen pass that was nearly taken to the house. That put Maclin over the 1,000 yard mark for the first time in his career.
By the way is Lesean McCoy the same running back? I believe he is.
Watching ESPN First Take this week got me a little more riled up about this game. After all of the hype that Skip Bayless gave the Dallas Cowboys, Bennie Logan came back with some talk saying that the Cowboys offensive line is "Nothing Special". Stephen A. Smith laughed at this and nearly picked the Cowboys against the Eagles. The Eagles backed up that talk, absolutely dominating the Cowboys run game. Murray was held under 100 yards for only the second time this season.The pass rush continued its dominance this year handing Romo his worst game of the season. 42 sacks for this defense puts the Eagles at second most in the NFL. Patience has been the key to the defenses success. The switch to 3-4 with 4-3 personnel was not easy, but so far it has been the best decision this team could have made.
At 9-3 the Eagles control their own destiny. Nothing is going to be handed to them, they know that. Match ups at home against the raining super bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, and a rematch with the Dallas Cowboys will tell us all we need to know about where this Eagles team is, and if it ready for a super bowl run. Three of the last four match ups are within the division, a sweep of New York and Washington will put the Eagles at 11 wins (Knock on wood), getting a first round bye will depend on the crucial match ups these next two weeks. With Green Bay playing as the hottest team in the NFL, and the tie breaker between Philadelphia and Arizona going to the Cardinals, the Eagles will need to win one if not both of these next two games to have the road to the playoffs come through Philadelphia.
I don't know about you, but I don't want to have to play the Packers at Lambeau Stadium again.
The key to victories against Seattle and Dalls are exactly what they did last week, limit turnovers on offense, force turnovers on defense, and Mark Sanchez allowing the offense to do its thing without doing too much. Marshawn Lynch will be a daunting task for this Eagles defensive line that has a major chip on it's shoulder. They are out to make a statement. Defensive tackle Cedric Thornton said in his Wednesday press conference on if he can tackle Marshawn Lynch one on one, "Yes". We shall see come Sunday.
The key for the offense is to establish the run game early and often. The offensive line will have a tough match up, but they have to push back the strong defensive lineman in Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett. Targeting Maclin against Richard Sherman is a tricky situation. Pat Shurmur came out and said they will go after Sherman, but they need to do it the right way. Short inside routes have caused Sherman to struggle a lot this season (See Chargers game), Sanchez's strength is passes over the middle which is why the Eagles could be the Seahawks defense's worst nightmare.
The Eagles need to take advantage of Darren Sproles more, only 3 touches on offense last week is not enough for the MVP of the team this year, yes I truly believe we would not be where we are without Darren Sproles. Depending on who is covering Sproles, he could be the key to a Eagles victory. If Earl Thomas ends up going up against Sproles, we could then take advantage of McCoy on the other side of the field, but if Bobby Wagner or a Seahawk linebacker gets the daunting task of covering Sproles, game over.
Final Prediction: Eagles 27-17 Seahawks
No comments:
Post a Comment