Eagles vs. Patrots

[rickortreat]

Somehow no-one wants to give the Eagles a chance.  A lot of people even picked the Falcons to beat the Eagles, suggesting the birds couldn't handle the pressure after loosing three straight NFC championships.  A quick look around the websites shows very few prognositcators facoring the Eagles in the Super Bowl, and they are at the moment a touchdown underdog.

Every challenge the Eagles have faced so far this season, they have met.  In actuality their regular season record could easilly have been 15-1, but with home field advantage secured, Reid smartly chooose to rest his best players, keeping them safe from injury until needed.

The Patriots on the other hand had to play every game, trying to get home field advantage.  Pittsburgh was too tough, and forced NE to play at Heinz field, which is why I gave the nod to the Steelers.  The Steelers lost because Ben Rothlesberger threw 3 interceptions.  No one can get away with that and hope to win a conference championship.

Each round further a team goes in the playoffs, the better their opponent is.  The weaknesses of a given team only become apparent when their opponent has the ability to expoit it.  Their apparent strengths against weaker foes, diminish when facing a good opponent.  Both the Patriots and the Eagles are deserving to represent their conferences, and I expect a great game in Jacksonville.

The Steelers needed to be able to run the ball agaisnt the Patriots to win.  The Pats needed to force Ben Rothlesberger to throw and make mistakes to keep Bettis and Staley from pounding them.  Once Pittsburgh got to far behind, they could no longer rely on their runnning game, and the Patriots dominated the Steelers.

Lots of people didn't give the Eagles a chance against the Falcons with their league leading sacks and Michael Vick and the ghosts of playoffs past.  But the Eagles showed why they were the class of the NFC and the Falcons didn't belong on the field.  The Falcons, like the Steelers did most of their winning by running over teams, and Ducket and Dunn are two very good running backs.  They didn't look to good against the Eagles yesterday, who have the ability to make good players look very average.  

Even Vick was impressed  with the Eagles, he said “They had Jevon Kearse on one end and another good defensive lineman (Burgess) on the other end keeping good containment and making sure that I didn’t get outside the pocket,” Vick said. “They did a great job doing it, and the coverage they played in the secondary, they didn’t allow our receivers to get off blocks and get downfield.”

That's a monster defense Vick faced yesterday.  No running downfield, no buying time for his recievers to get open, no nothing.  On offense, the Falcons rushers who led the league in sacks couldn't even get pressure on McNabb, he had all the time he needed to see his recievers and check off and get to his third or forth option.  He spread the ball around and even ran a few times to keep Atlanta's defenders from double-teaming too much.  Brian Westbrook had his usual great performance, nearly a 100 yards rushing, 96 on 16 carries, and 39 revcieving yards.

Bottom line both the Pats and the Eagles dominated their opponents, took them out of their games and won without any doubt.

So who will win in Jacksonville?

The Eagles will.  They are under the radar since they play in the weaker conference.  They didn't even have to play their last two regular season games, no one else won enough to take homefield away from them.  They are the underdogs going in, and they are on a mission.  The Patriots are a great team and defending Super Bowl champs. They are planning on establishing a football dynasty.  But they will have a problem with the Eagles.

On offense, the Eagles with TO back and healthy and a great offensive line, which  will keep the Patriots from pressuring McNabb. When they try, he wil scramble to buy his recievers time.  If the Pats double TO, McNabb will pick apart New Englands secondary. When they try to put more men into coverage, Westbrook will run the ball  and kill them underneath the coverage.  They will not be able to stop the Eagles from marching down the field, anymore than any other team did this season.  The Eagles are on offensive machine, and only put up the points it needed to win comforatably.  They can light it up if they have to.

On defence, Brady will try to keep the Eagles off of him by running Corey Dillon.  The Eagles have the best run defense now that they have Trotter in the middle.  Before the end of the first quarter, NE will realize that Brady will have to put it up to win.  By halftime, he'll regret that,  since the Eagles secondary is filled with 3 pro-bowlers.  Mistakes are magnified in big games, and a Brady interception will break New Englands' back once the Eagles score on the turnover.

The Eagles can outscore the Patriots because they have better recievers and a more mobile quarterback.  No pressure on McNabb, and he can pick any secondary apart.  Brady will make a few plays, but not enough to keep pace with the Eagles.  

31-17 Eagles.
 

[Reality]

Yeah I'm sure the Pats are shaking in their boots.

Rested Eagles after taking the last two reg season games off?
Try the Pats are 8-0 with Brady and Bellichek is 9-1 matching Vince Hitler Lombardi for all time best.  I think the Pats know a little about facing tougher opponents are the playoffs progress to the bowl.

T.O. will be 60 likely-80% tops according to dabods.  Why would the Pats doubleteam?  And as for secondarys i think the Pats have a few good players also.

McNabb indeed looked much better then previous NFC Championships.  Pats will not be able to count on a QB meltdown like rookie Ben.  If Eagles limit mistakes they can hang.  However I have yet to see BradyBellPats self destruct.

[Guest_Randy]

This comes down to defense, IMO.  Both teams have great quarterbacks who can throw the ball and good receivers.  In recent games, these quarterbacks have had ALL kind of time to pass the ball -- the team that can pressure the opposing quarterback is the team that wins the Superbowl, IMO.  It is difficult to beat the experience of the Pats (the Steelers realized that now) but I see the edge as Trotter -- he could be the factor of this ballgame.  If he can do what he has been doing -- pressuring the QB and reading the plays well, then he can make the difference in this ballgame.

The Eagles HAVE to pressure Brady -- the guy is as experienced as any QB the game has ever seen (I said experienced, not saying as talented) and if he has the time to sit in the pocket and wait, he WILL win that battle and connect -- but if the Eagles can pressure him, then I think the Eagles secondary can cover.  IMO, that's what is going to happen.

The pressure for this game lies on defense, not offense -- and more on the Eagles than on the Pats.  

I say the Eagles win by a touchdown -- and it's because I think the Eagles are better defensively than the Pats.  McNabb is going to have to make GREAT decisions with the ball -- this is the one thing that can kill the Eagles -- McNabb has to keep his head and the Eagles have to limit those mistakes because the Pats will take advantage of them.

[jn]

Props to the Eagles, they've been terrific. However there is no way I would pick against that Patriots at this point.  In fact picking the Pats this weekend in Vegas covered my Blackjack losses.   B)

I meant to give congrats to the Iggles fans here after the Vikes game.  I just kind of forgot because for some reason I just couldn't get worked up about the game.  Weird.  I can't recall ever sitting through a Vikes playoff loss and just thinking "oh well."  Some of that has to do with the Vikes situation but a lot has to do with the fact that it was obvious all along the Philly would win.  That's testament to how solid they are.  

[Guest_Randy]

jn,

Are you surprised how many Vikings fans are WANTING to get rid of Randy Moss?  It seems that people have finally got tired of his act (both on an off the field).  I was kind of surprised how many diehard Minny fans gave a HUGE thumbs up to dumping Moss for whatever they can get.

[rickortreat]

Eagles doubters forget that only Pittsburgh beat them this year.  They mailed in the last two games.  That translates to 15-1 in the regular season.

No one stopped McNabb, the Steelers won by chewing up the clock with Staley and Bettis.  They kicked the birds all over the field, and the Eagles changed their defense and put Jerimiah Trotter in the middle.  All of a sudden no one could run on them.

Atlanta, who won during the year on the legs of Ducket and Dunn could not run on the Eagles.  Neither could Michael Vick.  You think the Patriots will be able to run Corey Dillon?  Fuggetaboutit.

So that leaves Brady throwing the ball.  He's very good at that, but he is going against a defense that sacked QB's 47 times and has 4 pro bowlers behind the line.  And the Eagles like to blitz.  Alot.

This isn't to say the Patriots won't do anything on offense.  They are a very good team.  But it is to say they won't be able to keep up with the Eagles scoring.

The Eagles won most of their games by 10 pts or more.  They were never pressed to score more, always in the lead, always comfortable.  The Patriots are good enough to hang around for a while and make this a great game to watch.  But unless they can get to McNabb, something no one including league Sack leader Atlanta was able to do, they're going to have trouble comming out on top this time.  

[Derek Bodner]

after that game they also started playing Hollis Thomas and Sam Rayburn more snaps at DT.  They're far superior run stoppers than Simon and Walker.

But Pitt did stop McNabb.  We had 113 yards against them.  total.  We certainly got dominated.

The key to beating the eagles is getting ahead early.  Has been all year, and will be.  by getting the first 3 scores, they completely took us out of our game.

[rickortreat]

Yes, all that's true about Hollis (Who slammed Vick pretty hard during the game Sunday) and Rayburn who's been very solid up front.

But remember we didn't have Westbrook to keep the Steelers honest on Defense.  With no running back to worry about, all they needed to do was drop guys back in coverage on our wideouts.

Also, the Birds could not stop the Steelers ground game.  They didn't need Big Ben to do anything except hand off.  They controlled the line, controlled the clock and controlled the game.  And ruined our chance for an undefeated season.  -Not sure if Reid would have done that anyway. He choose to toss the meaningless games for a chance to rest his players, but he would have come under critiscism from the fanatics if he did that if we were undefeated with 2 games to go.

With Westbrook, there's no way Pittsburgh would have gone up on us like they did. McNabb would have burned them on every blitz with a dump pass to Westbrook and that plus the running would have kept their D-backs in single coverage.  Brian is the player that makes the Eagles offfense click.  Bruschi is a great linebacker, but I don't think he can keep up with Westbrook.  

[Reality]

Is the loss of the Eagle DEnd signifigant?  Know anything about his backup?

[Derek Bodner]

You mean the tight end?

If so, he's been outplayed by his backup the entire year (until last game, at least).  LJ Smith has the physical tools to be one of the best playmakers at that position, Chad Lewis has been starting (although they've almost been splitting reps) because of his experience.

[Reality]

Basically no drop off at all.

[Derek Bodner]

In talent?  No.  Will he wilt under pressure?  We'll see.

[rickortreat]

IMO, Donovan just got used to Chad as a target.  Earlier in his career (Donovan's) Chad was his safety valve.  

LJ Smith was drafted even though Chad went to the pro-bowl, because they were looking to add depth and more physical play.  LJ has made some great catches for the team, so no problem.  

Besides Donovan likes to mix it around.  Since TO has been out a different guy has stepped up each week.  In the first playoff game Mitchell was the star.  In the last one Chad was.  In the next game if TO is up to it, he'll be the guy, otherwise look out for Pinkson or Greg Lewis.  

I just feel sorry for Chad, he's done eveything for the team and it would have been great for him to have a chance to play in the Bowl.  

[Reality]

Do you guys care if TO plays or not?
To me its a minor side point.  I can't see him having an impact at 60-70% even 80%.  Eagles are good to go with or without him.  If McNabb and co can stay on the field with time consuming drives, the chain movers like McN is superb at, I increase the Eagles chances.  Red Zone is gonna be huge, as with most playoff games.

Freddy Mitchells piehole tho......I think Reid put a close to that pronto.

[westkoast]

Do you guys care if TO plays or not?
To me its a minor side point.  I can't see him having an impact at 60-70% even 80%.  Eagles are good to go with or without him.  If McNabb and co can stay on the field with time consuming drives, the chain movers like McN is superb at, I increase the Eagles chances.  Red Zone is gonna be huge, as with most playoff games.

Freddy Mitchells piehole tho......I think Reid put a close to that pronto.

It matters because even an 80% TO demands attention on the field.  Moreso than most other WR in the league.  He makes the big plays that grab mr. momentum by the arm and yanks em over to the Philly side.  

One big play by TO can make a huge difference........but I agree that Philly can play with or without him.