Eagles defensive coordinator Sean McDermott was stressing turnovers today when he talked to the media.
He talked about how pressure is the key to getting turnovers. Guess what, the Birds didn’t get much pressure on the quarterback in San Diego.
The Birds defense was shutout in the turnover department last Sunday.
Although you’ve got to give a lot of credit to Phillip Rivers for throwing the football effectively, you also have to point out that the Birds didn’t pressure him.
One of the reasons they weren’t able to get pressure on him was the success of the Chargers running game.
San Diego was able to keep McDermott and the Eagles guessing because LaDanian Tomlinson was gashing the Birds run defense which was suspect at best. Remember the Chargers came into the game with the worst running game in the NFL. Still they ran the ball against the Birds.
Despite not having any success against Rivers, the Eagles should be able to force Bears quarterback Jay Cutler into an interception or two, if they can make the Bears one dimensional. That will mean shutting down the Chicago running game.
You could look at the stats and figure the Bears are going to be one dimensional on their own because of the way they have been throwing the football, but they may look at the video of the Eagles and Chargers, then decide to run it against the Birds.
If the Bears get pass happy against the Eagles, I think they’re going to turn the ball over. Cutler is prone to mistakes and he will throw interceptions, if the passes a lot.
Afterall the guy threw five picks against the Niners and there’s no reason the Birds defense shouldn’t be able to come down with a couple of them.
I still am concerned about the Bears running the ball more than expected because throwing the football isn’t Lovie Smith’s nature. and remember they were a running team for most of the time that Smith has been the coach.
Cutler’s arrival has them throwing the ball more on first down than even the Eagles do, but those five interceptions against the Niners may force the Bears to change their tune.
