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I was watching the game today, and I noticed several things that need to be done in order for us to slow down the Eagles:
1) Stop Brian Westbrook. Reid got Westbrook out in a space, and that's where he's dangerous. The Vikings LBs have been weaknesses all year long, and none could match up with Westbrook, and with SS Corey Chavous out, none of their safeties were any match as well. We however have Brooking, Williams, and Draft, all of whom are pretty quick. I think the best thing we can do is try to get Brooking and Williams locked up on Westbrook. I think that way we can contain him (they wouldn't be able to stop him), and hopefully prevent some of those plays. Scott too can get some time against Westbrook.
2) Put pressure on McNabb. We have to get after McNabb. It's not going to work all the time because McNabb is one of the more mobile QBs in the league. He'll slip through your fingers every now and then, but if he starts to get happy feet in the pocket, he can make mistakes. One thing I do however find very interesting about McNabb is he throws better off his back foot than he does when his feet are planted.
3) Stop the blitz. The best thing to stop Vick is to get pressure on him. If he gets happy feet, his play takes a nose dive (see Cardinals game this year). The Eagles have the capability and personnel to blitz the crap out of our offense, and have success with it. We need to curb that blitz. So that means we need to make them pay when they do blitz (taking shots downfield) and also doing a better job at picking it up. It likely means that Dunn gets a lot of work in pass protection. I also think screens can effectively hurt the blitz as well.
We faced the Eagles in '02, and that defense gave us fits. Our WRs couldn't get open , we didn't open up a lot of running lanes, and it was basically too much for one man (Vick) to overcome since none of the other playmakers stepped up. Since they've replaced Simoneau with Trotter, they've been better across the board. Before Crumpler would have been a great matchup for us against Simoneau, but now Trotter is in, and we need Crump to step up.
I think we can beat the Eagles, but I think it's going to take great effort on our parts to do so. Again, this would have to be the best game we've played all year long in order for us to pull out a victory. People so easily dismissed the Eagles now that they are without their star player (T.O.), but remember when McNabb went down for 5 games 2 years ago? Their defense stepped it up to another level and carried Feeley and that offense for those games, which is what they are doing now.
_________________ "Vincere scis, Hannibal, victoria uti nescis" -- Maharbal, 216 B.C.E.
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