Can the Eagles get to 2-0 against the New Orleans Saints this week?  Will their defense be exposed by a high-octane Saints squad?  Are the Saints completely overrated?  Here are some quick thoughts heading into the week 2 matchup:
-Omar Gaither is going to serve an important purpose this week.¬† Saints RB Pierre Thomas will be a game-time decision and shouldn’t be a huge factor this week.¬† But in general, the Saints aren’t a smash-mouth running team.¬† That’s where Gaither can get into trouble because he can’t get off of blocks.¬† But he is fast, and one of the things that used to kill the Eagles was when Trotter couldn’t make it to the edge on the Reggie Bush screens.¬† Gaither has enough speed that he should be able to do that.¬† Mike Bell can bang it in there a bit, but I think Gaither’s big role against the Saints backs will be sniffing out the short passes and getting to the edges.¬†¬†
-Who covers Colston?¬† He’s a big boy and the Eagles corners will have their hands full.¬† I think I prefer Sheldon here as he’s more physical.
-Speaking of Sheldon, any chance he opens this game with a friendly handshake to Reggie Bush on the opening play like he did in the 2006 playoff game?  Just curious.
-Jeremy Shockey is probable (homework assignment:¬† someone please find for me the last time Shockey wasn’t on an injury report) with an ankle injury but he’ll surely play.¬† He was good last week and this could be a big problem for the Eagles.¬† They do not cover tight ends well at all.¬† You can stop Colston and Bush, but Shockey could still deal the death blow.¬†
-Good thing the Eagles are deep at cornerback, they’ll need all of them.¬† After Colston, the Saints like to use Lance Moore, Devery Henderson and Robert Meachem.¬† Yes, they are all marginal players, but Brees gets them the ball very effectively.¬†
-It’s the home opener for the Eagles and they’ll need all the energy they can get.¬† Reuben Frank of Phillyburbs.com correctly pointed out that the last Eagles QB to start a home opener whose name wasn’t Donovan McNabb was…Doug Pederson!¬† Remember that 25-24 loss to the Arizona Cardinals?¬† Remember the Brian Finneran play?¬† Just sayin’.
-Perry from our OTR blog texted me and wondered why everyone is hyping the Saints so much.¬† Are the Saints overrated based on a scorching six-TD performance by Drew Brees and a thorough trashing of a winless 2008 team?¬† For the record, the Lions are winless in 2009 as well.¬† Just sayin’.¬†¬†
-The positive people in Philly are trying to think back to that 2002 Koy Detmer game in San Francisco.  He only packed his toothbrush and then proceeded to stick it to the Niners as the Eagles rolled to a Monday night victory.  They were supposed to get destroyed in that game.  
-It would have been nice if Charles Grant and Will Smith had to serve their StarCaps suspsensions.¬† As of now, they won’t be serving their four-game suspensions for taking a banned substance.¬† Yes, it would have been nice for the Eagles if those two weren’t playing, but I really don’t think the discipline would have been fair.¬† They tested posted for a diuretic known as Bumetanide, which is found in a product known as StarCaps.¬† The only problem?¬† Bumetanide isn’t listed as an ingredient on the bottle.¬† That’s on the manufacturer, not Grant, Smith or the Williams Wall in Minnesota (same thing happened to them).¬† A four-game suspension would have been nonsense.¬† Still, might have helped to level the playing field for tomorrow.¬†
