If Dwight Freeney’s ankle was injured in last year’s Super Bowl, I don’t think the Saints would have won their first Super Bowl title, but that’s water under the bridge right now.
Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg have had two weeks to study the Indianapolis Colts defense. They were hoping that both Michael Vick and DeSean Jackson were going to be available for the game and their wish has come true.
I think one of the reasons for the Eagles success after the bye week 11-0 in Reid’s tenure, has to be Big Red’s ability to game plan for a defense. He and his co-conspirator Mornhinweg can find holes in your defense if they’re given enough time. This has nothing to do with game time decisions, which happens in another section of the brain.
They’re especially successful against zone defenses. The Birds utilize the speed of their wide receivers to get across the field and into the dead spots in the zones on the other side. They’ve had great success with those routes but they take some time to develop.
The Colts’ defense is zone based. If you can block those defensive ends, you can move the ball against those guys. Yesterday, Mornhinweg talked about having a game plan for the defensive ends. Their game plan against Freeney and Robert Mathis will need to be a good one.
The Birds mixed things up against Atlanta’s John Abraham when he was matched up against King Dunlap. They ran reverses, draw plays, chip blocks, tight end double-teams and kept him guessing. They attacked him immediately and he never got his game going.
The Colts only have 14 sacks and Freeney and Mathis have about 10 of that total, so if you block these guys you can throw the ball on Indianapolis.
Indy is coming off a Monday night game, so they will only have six days to let their bodies recover. They also won’t have enough time to put in any-type of special Michael Vick defense. They’re going to be sitting in their zones, so that Vick isn’t able to scramble. When he does they will see him.
I see the Eagles eating up those zones, as long as Vick has time. Indy has two or three of their starters in the secondary sidelined due to injury, but they’ve only allowed 7 touchdown passes.
I’m very confident the Birds will move the football, but I’m not so sure about them putting it in the endzone when they get down there. The red zone will be the key. Vick and LeSean McCoy must continue their success in the red zone if the Birds are going to come out on top. They need Brent Celek, Riley Cooper and Jason Avant to get in on the action.
Vick’s speed will draw some attention but the Birds need one of three that I just mentioned to make a play or two in the red zone.
They’re going to need to get close to or over the 30 point mark to win, so David Akers field goals aren’t going to be the answer.
Mathis is hurting and may not play per my Sources..
Freeny is a beast but not as explosive on NAtural Grass and when playing on the road..
Eagles should be able to rush for about 150-160 Yards Total and wear the smallish front 7 of the Colts
down, and then hit them for some big plays over the top..
The Key is positive yardage on 1st & 2nd Downs and staying away from 3rd and long yardage where their pass rush puts into another gear..
True Paul!!! and Sessions is out too!!! We have to kill the clock on Peyton!! That means to you AR and MM “Run the GOT DAMN BALL”! Be Balance and dont let your Qb get killed throwing the ball 45-50 times it’s insane! We picked up Jerome Harrison I want to see what he can do in Eagle Green! Get the ball out quickly and change the snap count to draw them offsides. The eagles offense should be looking at a mirror image of the same defense they practice against!! There small up front just like us and play with speed!!! It’s all up to the coaches to play there role in the play calling!!!
oh for real pman i didnt get to have an article but i said the same thing g put in his article last week
and i was told to stop living in the past freeney and mathis were done
i was asked how many sacks they have and blah blah blah
thnx g if u say it i guess it becomes true now
i agree run the ball please give owen schmitt a few carries too bigger backs work nice on colts
dont get fascinated with vick andy and throw 51 times we will lose
I have an idea…and it’s just an idea and it’s a bit unorthadox. I can feel the blasting I’m gonna get already. Stay out of the redzone. Yep…stay out of the redzone. Don’t get trapped down on the 5 with a short field and wind up tossing pix. Instead, AR and MM should come up with a very aggressive gameplan from say the 30 to hit Maclin, DJax, Cooper, Celeck in seam routs and posts and kill it from there with lazer strikes.
WELLWELLWELL, I can agree to a certain extent….. Yes i say be aggressive try to get pass int. calls on there corners!!!! The redzone part we can run the ball down there damn throat… There small up front… And that can be an advantage for the birdz!!! But I feel you on the Aggressiveness!!!
To PW,
Can you stop your crying already..am I suppsed to remember every post you make…
They have 10 sacks between them and still very dangerrous but they are not at the same level as years past which is what I was trying to tell you. Vick should have a field day versus their defense
Dont do any stupid trick plays! No reverse plays or flea-flickers none of that…… these ends are too fast and will put us in negative gains you HEAR ME “MM”, “AR”!
Vick had best have on his running shoes, and I hope he has been getting his cardio in while he was laid up. Old, injured or disinterested, Mathis and Freeney are better than our Otackles. I don’t really believe the Birds can get them blocked.
Anderson Silva Winston Justice hasn’t played that bad this season!!! He’s been pretty solid at RT, The advantage is that Vick is Left handed and He can see Freeney better… so vick can make a move and I mean ASAP! With Mathis and his knee I think Justice has an advantage!! The key is keep these guys guessing Like running the ball on 3and short… Its the matter of andy and MM and Mcdermott to stop playing Checkers and Start playing Chess!!!
The one think the Freeney creates when he’s hard charging and flying out wide is a huge running lane
to cut back underneath thru… (Cowboys do it all the time versus T Cole)
You basically allow the DE (Freeney( to rush out wide and chuck him further outside, then LT (Peters) delays a second and then goes to the 2nd level and takes the OLB out, meanwhile the FB (Schmitt) blocks the incoming DE (Freeney) while RB (McCoy) has the handoff and is racing thru the open space on the left side of the line.. If the WR on the left side sells a deep route and maintains
his block, that entire left side of the field is open for a 10-15 yard easy gainer and maybe more if their Safety doesn’t react properly or quickly enough…
Winston Justice has not ben bad, but he is not stellar either. He is just a decent NFL starter, by no means a good one. He is your blindside protector, while Peters is first game back off of his knee scope. I just do not have a particularly good sense about this week’s game. I do not really expect them to win, to be honest.