I’ll be interested in seeing how the offensive line plays tonight. Of course you know that the right tackle position is a concern. I don’t see how Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg can get any sleep while knowing that King Dunlap is matched up with Pro Bowl hit men James Harrison or LeMarr Woodley on Michael Vick’s blindside. I don’t even like the thought of those matchups.
Harrison will probably show up in a very bad mood. I’m going to get that off of my mind. Let’s put that to the side for a moment, because there are going to be some interesting things going on at the center position.
Long-time starting center, Jamaal Jackson will have to deal with trying to block a man mountain in the middle tonight when he takes on Steelers nose guard Casey Hampton. Hampton is one of the strongest men in the league and he will difficult to move on run plays. In the passing game all he has is his bull rush, but I’d like to see if Jackson can move the big guy.
He’s trying to come back from microfracture knee surgery. I’ll be interested to see if he’ll have any power to push off of his injured knee.
On third down it’ll be interesting to see if Jackson can block the pass rushers who will come into the game. He’s not moving as well as he has in the past, but he’s fighting for his job.
It will also be interesting to see how the undersized rookie center Jason Kelce holds up against a monster like Hampton. This youngster one of the best athlete’s on the offensive line. Will he able to compete or will he get thrown around like a rag doll?
Kelce is Howard Mudd’s kind of center. Indianapolis Colt’s Pro Bowl center Jeff Saturday is considered to be undersized so Kelce has a good chance of taking over the center position in the future but will Mudd make that move now.
Imagine an offensive line with a rookie center in Kelce, lined up next to a rookie right guard, Watkins and an inexperienced right tackle, King Dunlap. What should Vick get in an insurance policy if he has to drop back behind that group?
Rookie guard Danny Watkins will get some work in tonight against the Steelers left side of defensive end Aaron Smith, inside linebacker James Farrior and left outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley.
Watkins’ quickness will be tested because he will be uncovered when facing the 3/4 defense. He seems to like to wrestle the big defensive tackles inside rather than chase inside linebackers. Tonight he will be doing some of both against one of the best defensive fronts in the NFL. We’ll see how he does in a full half of play.
O-line could be synonymous with O-crap should the right tackle be more like a turnstile than a professional athlete.
I am fine with Kelce and Watkins as they are athletic and can run and pass block….not cool with Dunlap as i think he sucks! The guy was a backup at Auburn and for some reason the Eagles see something in him that I still have not seen…. another Reid project
The O-line has failed said test. Dream Team my ass, hey let’s rev up the Super Bowl train. 3 picks in a half, nice going there, gotta do a better job with that.
I really don’t think the OL has played that bad, it’s QB Vick who was terrible tonight, holding teh ball too long, not picking up the blitzes, throwing into double coverage on 2 INt’s.. He looked like the VIck from Falcon days .. .