Redskins D vs Eagles Offense
The Eagles led the league last year in play action passes. Also, in formations with only 1 WR, Philly threw the ball 48 percent of the time, which was more than any other team in the league (Pro Football Prospectus.) I’d hold my breath on any play action passes where Landry is in the box, because that could mean Rogers is one-on-one with burners Kevin Curtis or Reggie Brown.
As far as the running game goes, the Eagles have a Pro-Bowler in RG Shawn Andrews and a pretty good mauler in RT Jon Runyan (Michigan.) Last week, the Dolphins ran it to the right side ONE time for 3 yards…I’d imagine a completely different game plan on Monday night. Last year, the Eagles ran it to the right better than most teams, averaging almost 5.0 yards per carry. Fortunately for us, our front 7 has been shutting down the run since pre-season. The only concerns that I have are reverses (their WRs have speed and can burn our D if we don’t keep contain) and/or cut-back plays.
Redskins O vs Eagles Defense
If you thought Greg Williams plays a lot of players on D, wait till you see Eagles D coordinator Jimmy Johnson go to work. Jevon Kearse, Trent Cole (both of whom sacked the QB last week) and Darren Howard compose a pretty good 3 man DE rotation and ex-Colt Montae Reagor, ex-Steeler (and therefore dirty player) Kimo von Oelhoffen back up Mike Patterson and Broderick Bunkley at DT. Reagor and Patterson both sacked the QB last week as well…I’m starting to see why Wade, who is the better pass blocker, was picked over Heyer at RT. This Eagles front 4 can bring pressure…but I also think they are severely undersized. If we can keep the game close up to the 4th quarter, then our O-line will pound the Eagles into submission. Oh and if Campbell can throw away from Sheldon Brown, that would be nice.
Overall: I hate our divisional road games early in the season, I feel like we never get settled down soon enough and end up playing a sloppy football game.
Worst Case Scenario
McNabb goes deep off of play action early, Rogers and/or Smoot get burned deep by Curtis/Brown and the Skins have to play from behind, which pressures Campbell into forcing throws and Sheldon Brown capitalizes. O-line never gets a chance to beat up on the JV sized D-line of the Eagles, instead have to defend their speedy upfield pass rush. Campbell gets knocked out the game. Santana drops everything. (Damn, that better not happen.)
Best Case Scenario
We don’t bite on play action…Reggie Brown and Kevin Curtis drop a couple key 3rd down passes. Portis and Betts combine for 50 carries, Campbell goes 13-18 (high completion %, under 20 attempts) for 250 yards and 2 TDs. Santana eats up zone coverage. New LB speed contains Westbrook.
Prediction: Carlos gets beat deep. Campbell struggles on the road. Eagles win 20-9.
(I hope I’m wrong.)
20-9?? C’mon, now. You’ve got to give us a little more credit than that…
Seriously… 9 points for us? That suggests either 1 TD and 1 safety or 3 FGs. Since we know that we’ll never score a safety, that means that you think that we can’t get a passing TD against their secondary. Is this your honest opinion?
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3012935
You forgot to mention that Lito Sheppard will be out. That could give the Skins passing game some relief.
I think it’ll be a low scoring affair, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the final score was 16-13 again. I hope the Skins offense can generate more than 9 points. As a Skins fan living in Philly that would really suck.
Just FYI, 700level.com, a Philly fan site, is picking the Redskins, 24-13.
Sorry for the repeated posts, but I just realized that that prediction was for last year. Stupid non-updating Eagles fans.
It’s possible I’ve (once again) deluded myself but I think the Eagles secondary is overrated. They didn’t look too spectacular in the preseason and Favre went for over 200 yards last week with Lito Sheppard. Considine is not a very disciplined player and, aside from Spikes, I’m not sold on their linebackers. I think play action could be a pretty effective weapon against them.
Our play action IS deadly. It’s just a matter of Campbell being accurate.
Namaste, that’s why I’m saying we should throw away from Sheldon Brown. Again, I hope Campbell can prove me wrong.
I wonder what happened to the quick WR screens we used to run all the time 2 years ago. Has Saunders ditched that play? I think they need to pull out a couple of those to let Campbell build some confidence.
I’m boycotting your posts until you post again.
lol
Namaste: I completely agree. I was wondering the same thing myself. Where did those bubble screens go? Lloyd bulked up 10 lbs, we can use him as one of the lead blockers…he’d be more useful doing that anyways. Moss is a rare breed of WR that can actually pull that play off. Off of the top of my head, I’m thinking Steve Smith and Dante Hall are the only other two guys. Defense’s must’ve shown something that has scared Al/Gibbs from calling it again.
Your prediction is wrong… as it stands now the Skins are driving with the score at 13-9. It very well could end up with 20-9 with the REDSKINS the winner.
Neil,
Change your fucking name from Dillweed to Abraxas. Due to our history, you may think this is just a request. It is not.
Kenny
Time to eat crow and love it =)