You might not be familiar with John McClain (no, not John McLane the Die Hard guy), but he’s one of the most respected beat writers in the NFL. He does a phenomenal job for the Houston Chronicle and I wanted to get his take on Thursday night’s game.
So, I checked the Chronicle‘s website and found his pick for this week’s game. Who does he like (did the headline give it away?)?
He’s taking the Eagles 31-20.
Why?
He writes:
I don’t think they’ll beat the Eagles.
I believe for the Texans to pull a shocking upset, they have to control the ball, don’t turn it over and put points on the board when they’re in the red zone.
I think they need to play a lot of zone coverage and keep Michael Vick in front of them so they can see him. If the corners play man and they have to turn and run to cover, Vick will take off. They don’t want to see that.
The Texans certainly have a lousy secondary and rookie Kareem Jackson is not going to want to deal with these receivers and figure out whether Vick is going to run. They have stuck with Jackson despite him struggling quite a bit. I have a feeling that Andy is going to pick on him.
As far as the Eagles offense goes, it’s going to come down to shutting down Mario Williams. As we all know, pass rush solves a lot of problems in the secondary. He has 8.5 sacks on the year, and the Eagles don’t need to let him get 9, 10 and 11. He’s battling a sore groin, so that could help.
We’ll have to wait to see tomorrow if McClain hit the nail on the head. Most of Philadelphia is pulling for him.
What does Sara Palin think of the Eagles chances … Good Grief..
Yippee Kiiyaaay MF
Just heard from a friend that the game is a lock.
Milton Bearle just dropped 5 dimes on the Birds.
I think the Eagles will win, BUT I wouldn’t dismiss the Texans like some people have been. Between Matt Schaub, Arianne Foster and Andre Johnson they have sufficient firepower to stay in a shoot out. The last time I checked it looked like the Texans pass rush wasn’t close to horrible, but I haven’t seen them play a whole game yet. I expect a high scoring game with the last team scoring winning the game.
My buddy called from Washington area and said John Riggins picked Huston because Vick can’t play in cold weather