The Eagles defense will have their work cut out for them on Sunday night because the Giants are a threat to run the ball and of course throw the football.
DeMeco Ryans and Run Defense vs. Ahmad Bradshaw and Andre Brown
Amazingly the Eagles led by middle linebacker DeMeco Ryans have been outstanding when it comes to stopping the run, but there have been some breakdowns on certain pass plays and Birds right cornerback Nmandi Asomugha has been at the scene of the crime too many times.
The Giants are sure to test the Eagles run defense with Ahmad Bradshaw returning to action and the surprising contributions of running back Andre Brown. New York will try to keep the Eagles front seven honest with quick hitters up the middle and traps to take advantage of the way the Birds defensive line gets off the ball. New York will sprinkle some runs in their play calling until they go to three and four wide receivers.
Ryans has been very adept at putting the down and distance together with the formation and anticipating when teams are going to run and which runs they’re going to use. I remember talking about him not executing any run throughs where he shoots the gap and gets into the backfield to make a play, he’s been doing it two, three and four times a game.
We’ll see if he and the Birds can make the Giants one-dimensional by shutting down their run game.
Eli Manning Vs. Juan Castillo On Third Downs
Once the Birds get the Giants in passing situations, they’ve got have to deal with one of the best third down quarterbacks in the NFL ,in New York’s Eli Manning. He does a great job with pre-snap reads against blitzes and he’s able to get the football out of his hands before the blitz can get to him.
Juan Castillo doesn’t need to blitz too much, but use it as a change up. When he does blitz, they don’t need to be all out blitzes, but maybe some zone blitzes where you give up a short area rather than going after Manning with no safety help deep. I don’t feel good about the idea of Asomugha running deep with no help.
The front four must be able to get some pressure on Manning without blitzing. Jason Babin, Trent Cole and company need to bring their A-games on Sunday night. If they can pressure and pound Eli without the blitz, it’s going to make Castillo’s job much easier. Manning does make mistakes by throwing interceptions, so the Birds must catch the football when they get the chance. That missed opportunity at the goalline against the Cards really hurt their chances of beating Arizona. They can’t let that happen again.
New York Will Target Asomugha
The Giants are going to avoid messing with Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and go after Asomugha and rookie nickel back Brandon Boykin. They’re going to target Nmandi when he gets matched up one-on-one with Cruz, Hakeem Nicks and Ramses Barden. The veteran cornerback has had trouble with double moves, meaning out and up, as well as stop and go. The former Oakland Raider has a problem when he’s forced to change direction. It seems that he’s not balanced and seems to stop running any time he looks back for the football.
He’s going to see more double moves and he’d better be ready for it. Asomugha has been beaten for numerous big plays and he got a break in the Baltimore game, so the Birds will need to keep a safety over there to help him.
Giants Will Test Rookie Boykin With Cruz
Boykin will be asked to cover wide receiver Victor Cruz in the slot and that’s going to be a handful.Boykin and Cruz will be a great battle with Cruz having a size advantage. He’s 6 foot and 204 pounds, while the rookie is 5’9″ and 189. Both of them have extraordinary jumping ability. Boykin’s toughest challenge will be battling with Cruz for the football when it’s in the air. The Giants receiver has been remarkable with his ability to outfight bigger guys for the football once it’s in the air.
Giants 34 – Eagles 17 in a laugher that’s over by early in the 3rd Quarter when Giants go up 31-7 after Vick turnover returned for a TD
Files comes in and leads the Eagles to 10 PTA in mop-up duty
But brings some energy and rhythm to the Eagles Offense
Coach Reid will claim that Vick’s ribs were sore after some hards hits he receives as the reason for pulling him but we all know the truth
While I agree that Nnamdi has struggled against the double move, I don’t know how you can suggest that Nnamdi has given up a myriad of big plays is a stretch. He’s given up some plays but its not at the level where its any more than any of the other great corners in this league. In 3 games and not that I have re-watched the tapes, from what I recall has given up not even a handful of big plays.
G…..You’re great but that was a bad call on the Eagles run defense. They are 16th in the league and just came off a poor game against the Cards in which they let a weak rushing attack gouge them for 99 yards. They have hardly been “outstanding.”
Paul….The Eagles will run the ball Sunday night so it won’t be a blow out. I also think the defense will play very hard. I don’t know if they will play well. But they will play hard. We will see how good this defense really is on Sunday night. Are they the same above average defense we have come to expect or is this one of their better units of the past twenty years? I think Sunday night will go a long way towards answering that question. And that may be the most important question this year. Can this defense carry us and allow Andy to feel comfortable with the more conservative approach he will need to save his job? Or will the defense leave him feeling that he has to be “aggressive” and score a lot of points. If the Eagles do not feel that 24 points is going to be enough to win football games because of the defense, this season is doomed.
If you look back at the history of Reid, he always runs the ball when he feels pressured. He hates though, so he gets away from it the moment he feels safe again. There have been several instances of Reid turning to the run game with great success. Nine game winning streak in 2003 after 2-3 start. Six game winning streak in 2006 after McNabb went down and he had to turn to Garcia. Improbable run to the NFCC in 2008 where he was not very successful running with a banged up B West but used it to keep defenses honest. That was most impressive because he stuck with it even though it did not work that well. You are going to see this again for the coming weeks. No telling when he will feel comfortable again and give it up.
Reid is a true passaholic with a problem that is clinical. He really is obsessive with throwing the football to a clinical degree. And just like a drunk that gets in the doghouse with his wife and stops for a while, Reid will stop for a while now. But just like that drunk, he will pick back up again and it will cost us games later on this year.
Your on point JBird, couldn’t agree more. He’s a pass junkie. Will do it till he ODs. The only question is, did he OD last week enough to lay off this week? I have my doubts.
Reid will not balance the pass and run to slow down blitzes. His idea of balance is 75-25. He is doing the same as he has always done. He’s so pig headed he will have to be fired after a poor season to even consider a change. At the rate Andy is passing Vick will be crippled by mid season. Cardinals threw to Fitzgerald 9 times and he caught 9 passes. Why wasn’t he double teamed. For all this hype about the great offensive line coach why do we have an O line that can’t execute a screen pass. Vick seems like he has digressed or Andy is a poor game planner or both.
Eagles are 10th in sacks along with 7 other teams. They have 7 sacks. Is this
sufficient enough considering all the hype about all their pass rushers. The number 1 sack team has 14.
@GCobb – and the Giants defense will have some tough matchups as well…
@Big E – applause….O line can’t execute the screen pass…I mentioned on another post, I don’t recall any positive yards off the screens ran this year. In my opinion, the inability to execute the screen play, shows the vulnerability of the O Line.
The game will be close at halftime but Eli will pick apart the eagles secondary in the 2nd half Andy and Juan wont adjust and Vick will have 3 more turnovers
Giants 27
Eagles 17
Eagles need at least 5-6 Sacks versus Eli and I believe the Giants have not given up a single sack yet this Season behind their make-shift OL which goes to show how quickly ELi makes his reads and get rids of the ball to live another play and stays out of the negative plays… Vick should watch closely from the sideline for maybe he can learn something from Eli….
No teaching that dog new tricks. You have to limit the number of passes to keep the risk lower.
Without Sacks adn INt’s, this Defense will not shut anyone down.. They will hang in there but without a lead given to them by their offense,they are still too susceptible to big pass plays, dumb penalities on 3rd Downs and still need to sure up their Red-Zone Defense.. It’s improved quite a bit from last years qquad in tackling, but I dtill see big holes to run thru and big pass plays of 20Yards +
Size Matters.
I hate the NY F’ing Giants but I would trade their personell and FO for Ours everyday of the week and twice on Sundays.
Every year I watch as The team I love plays like a bunch of Pansy A$$ PU$$IES trying to trick the other team (Andy YOU SUCK) and play finesse football. Then I watch a team I LOATHE (NYG) play like GROWN MEN and exert their will. How many times did we know that Bradshaw was gonna run it and bang 7 yards anyway. Andy Reid and Co cant wash Tom Coughlin’s shorts. Do we really want to hold on to MIRACLE Punt returns as time expires. (that was cool) I want a team that just manhandles the other team and takes Victory…Unfortunately I have a team whose QB’s best asset is his ability to run (Just say that outloud in a mirror), our WR are the size of most small cornerbacks, Our TE (Who is a beast) can not go out for a pass because our Oline needs help blocking for 10 seconds everyplay (DUh, and yes exagerating). Match up problems with the Champs Noooooo! The eagles are only in the running to be the NFC East Chumps! AND I CANT STAND IT!!!!!
I agree 100%
paulman reading your comments about football in general and the Eagles specifically are laughable. for your knowledge the laces are on the outside of the ball and it is actually filled with air.
Has anyone in football nation here ever heard of a trap gam?. The Eagles were caught flat between a big win against a top five team and a Sunday night showdown with their biggest rival. Now they suck and the sky is falling. And the Giants are great. They looked like ASS for seven quarters. They woke up and beat a dogshit Tampa team at the last minute and Carolina team with a swiss cheese defense that everyone over rated because they thought Cam Newton was the next Warren Moon. They suck!
The Eagles will prove that their defense is for real Sunday Night. The Giants won’t score twenty points. Andy will run the ball because he has to. Nice game for Bryce Brown. Eagles win. I love how people have it all figured out in September. We’re talking about pre-season part two September football. Not November. Not December. September football. Vegas is laughing while that line keeps dropping.
Ummm…Jbird. No one is saying they suck because of one game.
The sky isn’t falling because of one game…..its because the offence has been dreadful over 3 games.
Its because they’ve scored under 20 pts 2x.
Its because they’re the lowest scoring team in the NFL over the first 3 games.
Its because we’re number 1 in only one category – turnovers – over the first 3 games.
I agree with you on one point….I think the Giants will struggle to score 20…..but with an average of 15.7 pts/game so far…..why do you think the Eagles will suddenly do better with the same QB running the show?
Look – after the Cleveland game I said that the Balt game was a make or break game for Vick….if he lost it would signal the end. He did break. Played poorly, but they still won. Then he played worse in Ariz……how will he respond with his career hanging on this game?
And, at this point, he has to know his career is hanging on this game…..hno coach in the league can keep rolling out a QB who has ben playing the way Vick has…unless its a rookie of course…..
BTW – I actually think its possible Vick will have a good game this week – why do I think that – who knows….he drops his patented “fools gold” game a couple times a season. Giants have a vulnerable secondary….its possible. But if he does, still count me as a card carrying member of the “don’t believe the hype!” club…..