Who Are these Eagles?

[E-Dog Night]

Honestly, I stopped paying attention (for the most part) to the Eagles after week 9 so I'm really not sure what they have right now. I remember seeing some highlights when they won against the Rams and gave the Giants all they could handle, but that's about it. Anyway, here's what I could figure about these Eagles:

I actually remember seeing starting QB Mike McMahon play for the Lions a few years back. I thought he might be good some day, and he still might. But right now, McMahon has completed 44.3% of his passes (78 for 176) for 924 yards, with 3 TDs and 7 INTs - 3 of which were returned for touchdowns. That's not good.

Ryan Moats is the Eagles' starting RB and he looks pretty solid. The rookie out of Louisiana Tech has a 5.3 ypc average with 3 TDs and 3 runs of 20+ yards since Westbrook went down. Two weeks ago, he ran 12 times for 78 yards against the Rams, including a 59 yards TD run. He also had TD runs of 40 & 18 yards against the Giants a week earlier and finished the game with 11 attempts for 114 yards. Not too shabby.

Despite playing in only 7 games, Owens is still the Eagles' leading receiver, yardage-wise, with 763. Westbrook is their second leading receiver with 616 yards. Both players are done for the season, for different reasons, of course. Next comes TE L.J. Smith (609) and WR Greg Lewis (499).

On defense, they are ranked 27th overall, allowing an average of 328.5 yards per game. But this low ranking is probably not indicative of the quality of the unit. Most of their defensive starters remain intact, and they are still coached by Jim Johnson, who I think is one of the best in the business.

So, looking at that, the keys to the game as I see it are:

Don't let Ryan Moats get any big runs.

Let McMahon make the mistakes, not us.

Put a massive premium on holding onto the ball - freakish turnovers must be avoided at all costs.

In short, if the Redskins don't win this game, then they don't deserve to be in the playoffs. If the way the Eagles played the Giants is any indication, we'll have a dog fight on our hands, but it’s a fight we really ought to be able to handle.

Go Skins!

[Kilmer17]

If the Skins allow Mike McMahon, Ryan Moats, Greg Lewis/Billy McMullin score more than 3 points, they dont deserve to make the playoffs.

The only way I see us losing this game is on Special Teams and Turnovers.

[Skins11]

I agree. Ryan Moats looks like the real deal. Let's stick to our game plan of stopping the run, and let McMahon try to win the game for his team.

[Henry]

Sounds about right. Unfotunately the Eagles have been forced to run the ball more because of injuries, and they actually do ok at it. Moats isn't a household name, but he's not a bad RB.

Defensively, take Moats away and force McMahon to beat us, cuz he won't.

Offensively, do what we've been doing. Establish the run and jam the ball down their throats, set up the pass.

At home I'd say we win this one going away. In Philly it's gonna be a battle.

[SkinsHokieFan]

Good breakdown there E-Dog

What starters are the Iggles missing on D? I know Kearse is out, will anyone else be out?

Also, aren't the Eagles missing some O-line starters?

[Captain Chaos47]

The D is shored up by Trotter and Dawkins, just like in years past. As stated on another thread, I think that running outside is where they are weakest. Incidently, we seem to do well with that as Portis does well in space. We need to establish the run early and often and stop the run on their side, although Reid often passes much more than he runs. But as always, if we stop the run, establish the run and avoid turnovers we will win.

[TheDane]

If we do not turn the ball over, and if we play solid special teams, we will win by at least 10 points.

We must be 100% prepared and ready to smash the Eagles in the mouth, and play mistake-free Redskins football. If not, we will be in serious trouble.

[Kilmer17]

Lito Sheppard is out at CB and their other DB (name escapes me) left the last game with an injury as well.

[E-Dog Night]

Good breakdown there E-Dog

What starters are the Iggles missing on D? I know Kearse is out, will anyone else be out?

Also, aren't the Eagles missing some O-line starters?

Actually, Kearse is not on the injured list. Runyan is hurt and may not play.

[SkinsHokieFan]

Lito Sheppard is out at CB and their other DB (name escapes me) left the last game with an injury as well.

Sheldon Brown

Well if both can't play, it really takes away the Iggles ability to blitz like they used to

It also gives Santana some favorable matchups

I do realize we are playing the Iggles JV squad, but I am trying to figure out who is out there also and if we can run over these guys

It sounds like our D should swallow up that O and spit it out, but McMahon is a mobile QB so he could make plays running the ball as well

[PCRoughrider]

I know I'll be posting this about a dozen times over the next week but, here goes:

The Eagles are a terrible team. They, literally, have 2nd, 3rd or 4th stringers playing on every unit of both offense and defense. A good team wins this game, regardless of who's playing quarterback, Ramsey or Brunell. "On any given Sunday" is the mantra of losing teams. Good teams laugh at this because they come prepared every week to play (and win), which bad teams, like the Eagles, don't do.

If we don't win this game then we don't deserve to be in the playoffs!

(Fifth posting)

[zoony]

Good post Edog.

I would like to see us play a lot of zone on defense... just as the Seahawks did. McMahon can't beat a sound zone defense... most bad QB's can't. This will also help us to be effective in shutting down their run game. Not to mention McMahon likes to scramble, and if we get caught in man coverage donwfield that could present some problems.

Our LB's and secondary can sit back, read his eyes, and jump routes. Hopefully get a lot of turnovers... and who knows, maybe our front 4 will get a sack or three

[PCRoughrider]

And you didn't even mention their offensive line, Tra Thomas was lost for the season, then the player who replaced him was lost for the season, so they had to move a guard out to tackle and rearrange the rest of the OL.

[DarrellGreenFan]

I think we definitely need to play conservatively here. With Philly's run defense still being good and with Patrick Ramsey at QB, we may not be able score too many points against Philly. If they can get a good amount of points off turnovers, we might not be able to catch up to them.

[zoony]

If we don't win this game then we don't deserve to be in the playoffs!

)

when it all is said and done, this is a very good way of looking at it.

[altair4]

I don't want to sound over-confident, but frankly I would rather conserve my energy for the game, than fret over things I can do nothing about. JG has kept the team focused and intent on winning. Part of the JG Philosophy is to take care of the details, and let the other team beat themselves. So I see all this obsessing as concentrating on the wrong side of the equation....

It won't be an easy win, but it will be a win.

[SonnyRules]

The toughest game to win in the NFL is "The Must" win game (just ask Minny).

[PCRoughrider]

And they gave the Giants "all they could handle" because Manning wouldn't stop throwing interceptions and the Giants didn't stop the run.

In the Rams game, Ryan Fitzpatrick threw 5 (FIVE :yikes: ) interceptions and the Eagles won by 1 point (Yes, one point with 5 interceptions) :doh:

[Drkstar]

I live in the Phila area and news around the camp fire is that Kearse and Sheldon Brown might not be playing Sunday. Another thing to remember for those not familar with the city, is that the Mummers Parade will be going down in the am until dark in Philly. This parade is a huge Phila tradition and I have a feeling between the parade, the 6-9 record and New Years eve hangovers throughout the city, the usual mornons at the Linc will be few and far between.

I will go out on the limb and say the crowd will be 30% Redskin backers. The sense I get from the city so far this week is no way are they wasting time down at the Linc this Sunday for this version of the Iggles.

That said, the game is won on the field and not in the parking lot and the stands. I do feel tho that the Iggles are extremely flat and very beat up physically. This game should be a snoozer and if we run the ball 40+ times we will win by double digits.

[E-Dog Night]

I live in the Phila area and news around the camp fire is that Kearse and Sheldon Brown might not be playing Sunday. Another thing to remember for those not familar with the city, is that the Mummers Parade will be going down in the am until dark in Philly. This parade is a huge Phila tradition and I have a feeling between the parade, the 6-9 record and New Years eve hangovers throughout the city, the usual mornons at the Linc will be few and far between.

I will go out on the limb and say the crowd will be 30% Redskin backers. The sense I get from the city so far this week is no way are they wasting time down at the Linc this Sunday for this version of the Iggles.

That said, the game is won on the field and not in the parking lot and the stands. I do feel tho that the Iggles are extremely flat and very beat up physically. This game should be a snoozer and if we run the ball 40+ times we will win by double digits.

Huh, that's an interesting theory about the NYE hangovers. I know Gibbs will tell his players to celebrate AFTER the game, and this being a road game I think actually plays to the Skins' advantage. It will be that much easier to keep tabs on everyone at the hotel.

But I wonder what kind of allowance Andy Reid will make for his players. Reid strikes me as a no-nonsense type of coach. This brings up the idea of exactly how much control a coach has over his players on the night before a home game. I don't really know. I imagine not very much.

On a related topic, I also heard a rumor from a friend of a friend of mine who's a college park bartender (how's that for iron clad-credibility). He said that there were a number of Dallas players at a local bar on Saturday night, including Julius Jones and DeMarcus Ware and a few others, particularly on defense, partying it up until the wee hours. Assuming this is true - if Parcells can't control his players then who can? Gibbs? Coughlin?

In any event, if the Eagles players felt like this on New Years' morning:

that would be just fine with me.