Although Eagles fans are having some fun looking at and talking about Mike Shanahan’s benching of Donovan McNabb down in Washington, the Eagles coaches and players don’t have time to talk about it. They’ve got work to do and it won’t be easy.
The Birds have to play Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday and they had better show up ready to do the job. The Colts looked very good in their Monday night beat down of the Houston Texans.
Manning has adjusted to the absence of tight end Dallas Clark and running back Joseph Addai. He didn’t have his best day versus Houston, completing only 26 of 45 passes but he still threw for 268 yards and two touchdowns.
Will the Eagles secondary which was scorched by Kenny Britt and the Titans be able to handle Manning, Reggie Wayne and the Colts? The defensive line has got to make the Colts offense one-dimensional by taking away their running attack.
The Birds pass defense has been struggling. They’ve made Dimitri Patterson the starting right cornerback and benched Ellis Hobbs, but will that help them stop Manning and the Colts.
You can bet he’s going to test rookie safety Nate Allen, so the youngster had better get past the Tennessee debacle.
The key to stopping Indianapolis will be the Eagles pass rush. More specifically, I’m talking about the pass rush of the front four.
Sean McDermott and the Eagles defense aren’t going to be able to have much success blitzing Manning. He’s the best pre-snap reader of the quarterbacks in the National Football League. They’re not going to be able to sneak a blitzer in there, so the front four will have to step up and do the job.
That means Trent Cole, Juqua Parker, Antonio Dixon and Mike Patterson will have to beat the guy blocking them and get to Manning. The backup defensive linemen like Brandon Graham, Darryl Tapp, and Trevor Laws will have to play more because Manning will go into a no-huddle attack to tire out the Eagles pass rush.
McDermott must resist blitzing too much. He can sprinkle some blitzes in there but he must rely on that front four to put pressure on the Colts quarterback.
If they get blocked consistently, then the Eagles chances of stopping the Colts will be slim. On the other hand, if they can get pressure in Manning’s face with their front four, they’ll have a chance of slowing up Indy’s offense and beating them.
McDermott must be patient and resist taking too many chances. We don’t want a replay of the Eagles secondary against Britt and the Titans.
You can’t “stop” Peyton GCOBB, you can only hope to contain him.
“The Birds pass defense has been struggling. They’ve made Dimitri Patterson the starting right cornerback and benched Ellis Hobbs, but will that help them stop Manning and the Colts.”
Darn right it’s going to help them stop Manning and the Colts. Hobbs made me think I could play in the NFL and I’m slower than Slyvester Stallone running to catch that plane in the Expendibles!
To make matters worse, with the Colts no-huddle offense it limits the player substitutions, so it is difficult to get a rotation of D-linemen. Fatiugue will definately be an issue. For the birds to win this one they will need to have good field position from the special teams (no short fields), sustained drives from the offens to keep the Colts offense off the field, combined with the pressure from up front. It needs to be a total team effort.
Paul Man:
I liken McNabb’s game as similar to Darryle “the mad bomber” Lamonica. I recently read that he was not in the Hall of Fame which shocked me. So your accessment of Dmac’s HOF chances may be correct, as many dink and donk passers have already made the hall.
But as Al Davis said “Just win baby”.
DMac is 14th in all time wins and may finish in the top ten. I think he deserves to go, but may not.
The Eagles need to give up a touchdown on the first Colts possession. In the process they should all out blizte Manning and knock him into the middle of the next space time continuem. Turn his helmet sideways and have him looking out of his earhole. That’s the only way they will beat Manning.
Very unlikey that the front 4 will get to Manning much, he just gets rid of the ball so quickly
but the Eagles need to mix it up and give Manning as many different looks and not be predictable in the coverages.. Switch to a 4-2-5, 3-3-5, 5-1-5, 5-2-4 ,etc, etc…
The Colt WR will catch passes but the key is to limit their YAC so the coverages have to good and the tackling has to be excellent.. Garcon is their only pure Deep Threat, while Wayne works the sidelines and the intermediate routes.. Back-up TE Tamme came up with big catches vs the Texans
and RB M Hart is that type of RB that gives the Eagles fits, small, built low to the ground, keeps the legs churning and a tough guy to see initially behind the line of scrimmage.
The best way to keep Manning from doing damage is to keep him off the field. Our offense needs to have sustained drives and no special teams f-up’s.
Greenfan: good point. That stategy is how Parcells upset Buffaloes high powered offense in the superbowl. Maybe with 2 weeks to prepare Andy Greed will use more screens and running plays than usual.
hey pman that colts aint look to bad vs houston lol
30 yards at the half
freeney didnt look to old
apparantly i was told i was living in the pass cause i said colts d line reaks havoc on passing offenses
i agree with that 2 green
but i think both teams should move the ball pretty well in between the 20s i think the game comes down to redzone efficiency. we have to try our best 2 make them kick fg’s and when we get down there we have 2 put up 7’s
we cant kick fg’s we will get slaughtered
agreed PW. The redzone will likely be the difference. Settling for 3’s will not do it in this game (unlike the GB / Jets boring game this weekend).
I agree with you Greenfan. Keeping Manning on the sidelines is the best way to beat him. Also being able to do something other teams haven’t or won’t do also, which is not just pressure him but hit him. Punish him and make him earn every throw he makes. No quarterback on the planet stays completely cool if they are being hit damn near every time they drop back. I don’t mean illegal hits, but those hits that happen while he’s throwing. In fact, they need to go old school and just punish the entire offense like they used to do. Teams used to be afraid of the Eagles’ D. Now they just pick it apart.
Manning is a BEAST! but with vick i think we have a chance. As much as i dont like Hobbs and he is a bad cover corner. The guy can return kicks!!! But him back in that role please! He was good at it
Freeny and Mathis looked very good and very fresh coming off their BYE week and playing at home(which they usually do on that fast turf in Indy). Get them outside in Phila against better OT’s and a more mobile QB and let’s see what happens, They will get pressure no doubt. I wonder if Vick can be disciplined enough to take what the Colts D gives them and doesn’t force making big plays if they are not there.. This is the type of game where you want to dink & dunk against the Colts all game long to wear their small, depleted front 7 out and to keep their Offense off the field.. Does this sound like the type of game plan better suited for QB Vick or K Kolb..
The Colt D will play a Cover 2 & Cover 3 most of the game and allow short passes all game long, and are not a blitzing team and will not come after VIck much outside of their front 4, they will take their chances with VIck staying in the Pocket and beating them with his arm.. The question is, can the Eagles sustain drives, can Vick be patient and accurate enough and stay away from the negative plays (Penalties and Turnovers). I am pretty sure that Vick will be amped up to play a great game and hopefully doesn’t try to do too much and force things,if he stays calm,cool, & collected like he has so far in his earlier games, He should be able to lead the Eagles to 30-35 points and enough to win the game, If he forces passes deep into double/triple coverage, then Vick/Eagles will have problems winning the game and lost opportunities …
i dont know what u mean does this sound like a better game plan for ? lmao no
sound like another 50 rating like titans game vs pass rushing d
I say we order up a torential downpour for the whole game and have Shadey & Schmidt run the ball. The Colts are not big fans of playing outside in bad weather.
Maybe JJ can help get us some bad weather!!
Everytime we play Manning he knows were every blitze is coming from and throws to that side. The way 49ers stopped the unstoppable Dan Mario in the superbowl was to bring the blitze right up the middle. Of course they had a great secondary and could cover man to man. I still like the earhole defense. That’s what we use to do to Aikman. Make him ache. Beat him down. Cole and Gramham are fast enough to get to him if we overload and use stunts up the middle.
i have never heard u say kolb should lead team to 35 pts lol
That’s because Kolb would only get FG’s and get the Eagles to 20-23 pts at most which is not enough
C’mon PW, I am a litle smarter than I look… ha ha
Colts are without their starting safety, starting running back, starting tight end and missing their most productive receiver (before he got hurt) — if we don’t beat them THIS year at HOME — we never will.
G, what happened to Clay Harbor this year? Do the Eagles actually have a 2nd string TE on the roster, it seems that the TE position has been MIA. Who’s making these personnel decisions…
G, I wonder if the Birdz will use Cheney and Keenan Clayton to help out on 3rd downs because of there speed? Will Lindley get some burn at nickel?
clearly u shoulda pegged him for 30 vs niners tho lol
Match-ups i like in the Birds favor….
o-line and SHady vs. there d-line..Texans had succes and went away from the run too early i thought.
Vick vs. there pass rush…i saw lanes in the Texans game that Vick would exploit for big gains(get down Mike!!!)
Our wides vs. there corners…outside of Andre Johnson the Texans wides were not impressive…do they have a slot reciever?
Dixon vs. anyone on there o-line…he is a manimal….i hope they wear there white jerseys.
Match-ups in Indy’s favor
Manning vs. our backers..someone make a friggin play.
Feeney vs. Peters…i could see J-Peters coming up big…but give em some help and Justice has a tough task in Mathis.
This is a game that will let the rest of the league know were for real. We stomped Atlanta at home…and there sposed too be the class. So Manning shouldnt be the reason we lose.Too echoe G we stop there rungame and play coverage and get too Manning…we get the W.
I was hoping someone can get a clean hit on Manning walking into the hotel and keep him on the bench. He does such a good job of throwing the ball away to avoid sacks. He gets pissed off when he gets sacked and lets his line hear about it. Dixon will immediately be a fan favorite if he gets a push up the middle, it will stop Manning from stepping away from the DE’s and force him to throw it early.
To Ground CHuck
Eagles back-up TE is Garrett Mills who rthey picked up off the VIkings Practice Squad who is familiar with the Eagles system since he played with Vikings last year (Vikings/Eagles has smiliar set,formations and teminology)
Word is that Harbor has been a little slow picking up the Offense and is just not as physically strong right now to get on the field and probably woon’t be activated for any games this year unless an injury happens to Celek/Mills..A similar siutation with DE Teo Nesiham who has been activated the last 2 weeks because of injury to Bunkley , but again, has been a little slow in picking up the “System” and not quite physically developed to play at the NFL Level at this stage of his development.
Both these players have upside but it will really be next year before the get on the field and make any contributions (barring injuries that is)
I do think the TE position is a position of need that the Eagles need to address for next season
If Celek were to go down with any major injury or even out for a few weeks worth, this team is basically without a legitimate TE…
You guys Know that this Asss HOOOLE Peyton Manning is the best at Snap counts and drawing defenders offsides! I just hope that our front four is ready for this guy because he aint playing checkers out there!!!! More like Chess…… We need to frustrate the shit out of him and knock him down even after he releases the ball!!! Put his Tom Hanks looking ass on the ground!!!!!