Coming off an embarrassing Week Two loss to Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints, the Eagles are looking to rebound against a Kansas City team in shambles.
The Kansas City defense is in complete disarray, but unlike the Saints, they don’t have a great offense on which to fall back. They are a young team with some talent, but are in an obvious rebuilding mode.
The big story of this game will be the return of Michael Vick to the football field, as it should be. He hasn’t seen a football field in a meaningful game in over two years and will have the opportunity to show that he can still play, and if he in fact deserves looks as a quarterback next season.
He is going to have a 10-12 play package this Sunday running the Wildcat, but most likely will not decide the outcome of this game. He should help the Eagles beat an already weak team, but the game will not rest in Vick’s hands.
So instead of laying out what will not decide the game, let’s look at what will.
Play of Kevin Kolb, Jeremy Maclin, and LeSean McCoy
It appears as though Donovan McNabb will not be playing again this week, but that was expected. However it appears now that Kevin Curtis will not be suiting up and first round pick Jeremy Maclin will get his first career start opposite DeSean Jackson, who will be playing.
Maclin has not impressed thus far, but has also not had much of an opportunity. Thanks to what has become an injury-prone Curtis, he will get the chance to show that his training camp holdout has not destroyed his chances of producing during his rookie season.
Another rookie, LeSean McCoy, could also see the very first start of his young career with Brian Westbrook missing practice all week. Odds are that even if Westbrook does play, he will be playing second fiddle to McCoy because of what is being called a “tweak” to his right ankle. McCoy was incredibly impressive in preseason, and seeing him start would be a welcome sight.
At this point he’s no Westbrook, but with some experience he could, and will, be better than Westbrook. He’s already a more natural runner, but as an overall player is still only working with potential. Getting the start this week could help turn that potential into something the team can use.
Kevin Kolb, unlike Maclin and Westbrook, is not a rookie. However, he might as well be. He’s only making his second start as a pro, and coming off an impressive first start he’s looking to take a leap forward this week.
He’s got a great shot of really opening some eyes against a bad Kansas City defense, but he will probably have to throw for about 10 touchdowns if he wants to steal any headlines from Vick, who only needs to be on the field for 10 seconds to get the headlines in every single Philadelphia newspaper.
If Kolb can cut out the interceptions, he should be able to lead the Eagles to their second win of the year, and his first as a starting quarterback.
Brodrick Bunkley vs. Brian Waters
Brian Waters may not be a household name outside of the Kansas City area, but he’s one of the best guards in the league right now, and has been for a little while now. Brodrick Bunkley may be in the same boat as far as defensive tackles go, although he does not yet have the body of work that Waters has.
This will be an absolute battle all day long and for those of you looking for something to watch other than Michael Vick, this is a matchup to keep an eye on. This is going to be nothing more than two big men colliding every single play and seeing who wins.
With Larry Johnson and that running game as the only real offensive threat the Chiefs have, especially with the prospect of Dwayne Bowe sitting this week, this could be the best matchup of the entire game.
Better Special Teams
The only aspect of the special teams that has been good this season has been David Akers. He looks strong and accurate in his field goal attemtps, and is booting them when it’s time to kick off.
Honestly, that’s it. Other than that, the Eagles special teams has looked bad. Now I know DeSean was able to take one back against the Panthers, but that was obviously just a case of bad Carolina special teams just being worse than Philly’s.
Sav Rocca especially has been unimpressive. He’s been incredibly inconsistent and could find his job on the line if he doesn’t pick it up this week. The punter position isn’t like other positions where it’s almost giving up on the season if they’re replaced at this point. There are several good, unemployed punters looking for a shot at redemption.
If Rocca doesn’t clear things up this week, he could be amongst them, and the Eagles could actually find themselves at 1-2 heading into their bye week.
