Eagles young Sam linebacker Chris Gocong will have his hands full dealing with Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey. He'll have to cover Shockey one-on-one when the Giants are throwing then beat his block on run plays.
Sunday will be a big test for young Sam linebacker Gocong. He has the size and athleticism to compete with the Giants tight end, but he’s going to have to be smart about it. The key will be getting a good jam on Shockey when he tries to release into his routes. Shockey does a good job of using his hands to release, so Gocong must not get caught holding the New York tight end. The Birds can’t just leave him in a one-on-one matchup all day, so they’ll also get the safeties involved and double team him with middle linebacker Omar Gaither.
The youngster must find way to stay in between Shockey and Manning. He must make Eli throw the ball high so that he can get some help from the safeties. Also high throws are often tipped and wind up getting picked off.
They must disguise these coverages because moving one of the safeties into coverage on Shockey will leave the Giants receivers, especially Burress in single coverage. I wouldn’t the safeties in covering Jeremy because Shockey could hurt the Birds while Burress could kill them. Manning must be kept in doubt until the last second because he’ll be looking for Shockey any time he can get him matched up versus Gocong. The Eagles safeties will have to be deceptive in their alignments.
