Jamaal Jackson says he’s ready to go and healthy enough to give the Birds four quarters of solid football this weekend. I hope he’s right because the Packers are sure to test the Eagles blitz pickups on Sunday afternoon.
Jackson seemed confident about his knee being ready for the test. He will have to deal with 337-pound nose tackle B.J. Raji, who loves to bull-rush when trying to get to the passer. The bull-rush is a pass rushing move where a defensive linemen decides to basically run right over an offensive lineman on his way to the quarterback. That means Jackson’s knee is going to be pushed to the limit.
I expect the Packers to have Raji test Jackson’s leg strength by trying to overpower him then he’ll try to pull him to one of the sides in order to open a hole for the Packers linebackers to blitz and test the blocking abilities of Eagles running back LeSean McCoy.
Jackson will be wearing a brace on his knee for support. He plans on being vocal with his adjustment calls and making sure every offensive linemen is on the same page regardless of what the Packers send at them. One of his strengths is the ability to defensive fronts and make the proper adjustment to block them.
Jackson knows to expect blitzes. Eagles new starting quarterback Kevin Kolb was going to see his share of blitzes even if the Birds didn’t struggle against them in the preseason. The fact that some blitzes that their preseason opponents ran against them were able to get to him guarantees that all of the defensive coordinators are considering a vast array of blitz schemes to see if Kolb and his offensive line are up to the task.
Hopefully Kolb will have Jackson in front of him for the entire game. Nobody knows if Jackson’s conditioning is at high enough level to play the entire game.
I always concerned when a veteran player misses a lot of action because they tend to injure something else when they come back because their bodies are never stressed to the level that they are when they’re playing a game. If there’s a joint or muscle that isn’t ready to be pushed to the limit then it gives way and the player is injured.
Hopefully that won’t happen on Sunday with Jackson.
They need to be very careful and not overwork him and risk him getting re-injured and possibly missing
substantial time.. I am not even sure I would play him if I were coach..
Do what NE did to us in the SB back in 2004. Beat the blitz with the screen. You only need 4 yards per play. Play small ball on Offense, eat clock, keep Rodgers on the sideline…who cares if it’s a low scoring game as long as the result is a W for the Eagles.
WWW if it was that easy then no team would ever blitz. The point is, with blitzes you don’t know who’s coming and if there is a blitz until they do come. So just calling screens is not an answer to beating the blitz. The best way to beat a blitz is short 3 step drop and quick passes. But this requires the QB to be able to read very quickly and make the correct throw each time. Mixes screen in there will help but screens are not the answer. NE killed us with short passes to Deion Branch every time we blitzed.
Sorry, I thought blitz pickup was implied but you’re right. If we can see it coming that’s how you beat a blitz effictivly..short drops/passes and a mix of screens.
Running Screens and Draw plays versus a good,active 3-4 is a lot tougher than a blitzing standard 4-3
D/C Capers is a very solid D/Coordinator, the way to attack a 3-4 D is rushing right up the up the gut
if your Center can control the NT, if he can’t then your in trouble running the ball period..An effective play I could see happening is VIck out of the shot-gun, all 3-4 Wr’s spllit out wide and take off on fly patterns,
Vick takes the snap, delays about 2-3 seconds and then runs up the middle (behind some Weaver blocks) and get 5-10 yards a play between the hashmarks… Will the Eagles call, does Vick have the courage to run it in up the middle, who knows, but it’s a play that hurts a 3-4 D which are usually stronger around the perimeter but weaker in the middle… (if you can control their Nose Tackle)
I would like to give four solid quarters to the Eagles cheerleaders.
The Eagles must have “Jesus” on their training staff. Jamaal Jackson is a lineman coming off a major knee surgery with minimal reps. He missed training camp and the preseason and this organization will have us believe he can carry over 300 pounds on a reconstructed knee….pushing over 250 pounds of speed on either side of him without concern?
After seeing Kolb this preseason Reid rushed Jackson back n desperation.
I can’t wait until Sunday
I would think after seeing Nick Cole and Stacy Andrews he would rush Jackson back. Kolb was running scared because of them not playnig well. Kolb wasn’t running because he needed the excersise.
It looks like G lost some weight.
Shit…I thought you were talking about DeSean JACKSON!!! Thats who I want a SOLID 4 quarters from.
Funny J-Mac, thats the only reason why I clicked on this article – Thinking they were talking about D-Jax.too.
Songs, it’s no secret about my animosity towards nearly every single one of your comments but I agree with you here. How in the world is Jackson back this soon? He should not be playing until he is truly ready to go. It was less than 9 months ago that he tore his ACL and I’d rather have him for the stretch run than rushing him back this soon.
This is a mistake the Eagles will regret, if Jackson makes it out of this game alive. He will reinjure the knee by game three. A more likely scenario is he will injure the healthy knee from compensating the injured one.