Scouting Report: Philadelphia Eagles

[KDawg]

I've done one the last two weeks, and I have the time so I figure why not do it again. We all know the Eagles a bit more than the other teams, but just in case:

Eagles Key Players:

Brent Celek, TE: Solid football player. Reminds me a bit of Cooley. I don't think he's quite as talented but he's got a good motor and is tough to cover.

Trent Cole, DE: A lot of people think he's a premiere pass rusher in the NFL and I certainly can't disagree. He poses a huge problem if Trent Williams can't go on Sunday.

DeSean Jackson, WR: Always a big play threat, Jackson will pose an issue for a secondary that has been abused the first few weeks unless some drastic changes are made. And even then, Jackson has the ability to make plays.

Jeremy Maclin, WR: Similar to Jackson. Big play threat every time he's on the field. Not quite as consistent as Jackson, but with the way our defense has been playing he could have a field day as well.

Lesean McCoy, RB: The best word to describe him is explosive. He hits the hole hard and is quick through it. Again, with a defense that has struggled against the likes of Kenneth Darby, McCoy becomes a lot scarier as he's much more talented than Darby.

Juqua Parker, DE: The more unheralded DE on the roster, but the guy can play. Leads the team in sacks.

Asante Samuel, CB: Playmaker in the secondary. Samuel is a lot like DeAngelo Hall is for us. He gets beat from time to time but he makes some real big plays to make up for it. I'd expect more of the same from Samuel.

Ernie Sims, LB: Underrated linebacker due to playing in Detroit for the majority of his career, but the guy can flat out play. Probably one of the Eagles biggest recent FA acquisitions.

Michael Vick, QB: All I'll say here is that I really hope Reid makes a monumental mistake and starts Kolb this week.

Eagles Leaders:

Passing:

Michael Vick: 54/89 (60.7 comp. %) 750 yards, 6 TD, 0 INT (sacked 11 times)

Rushing:

Lesean McCoy: 34 carries, 209 yards (6.1 pards per) 4 TD

Michael Vick: 23 carries, 170 yards (7.4 yards per) 1 TD

Receiving:

DeSean Jackson: 13 receptions, 318 yards, 2 TD

Jeremy Maclin: 11 receptions, 147 yards, 4 TD

Kick Returns:

Ellis Hobbs: 8 returns, 197 yards (24.6 yards per)

Punt Returns:

Desean Jackson: 5.8 yards per return

Defense:

Tackles:

Trent Cole: 17 tackles, 1 assist

Quintin Mikell: 16 tackles, 1 assist

Omar Gaither: 14 tackles, 2 assists

Sacks:

Juqua Parker: 4 sacks

Trent Cole: 3 sacks

Interceptions:

Nate Allen: 2 picks

My Analysis:

Coming off of a rough Rams game, the Redskins will need to have a great gameplan and practice going into this NFC East showdown. Based on what I've seen thus far I'd say the Redskins chances to win this week are minimal, but never overlook the importance of an NFC East football game and what can happen.

Parker and Cole are going to be tough for us to contain. We will need a healthy Trent Williams, and if not we'll see more two TE sets with one man routes, which completely goes against everything that has worked for our offense thus far. Santana Moss is going to have a tougher time getting free against the Eagles secondary and thus far I haven't noticed a number two wide receiver on our roster. Cooley, Davis and Sellers appear to be the second options, but none of them play the WR position.

Michael Vick is going to be a tough matchup. We'll need to spy him the entire game, perhaps even with LaRon Landry. Landry leads the league in tackles and Rocky McIntosh is third, so hopefully they can continue to play solid football.

Our defensive line is going to need to play a solid game and keep the backers free or this is going to be a long game.

I refuse to predict against the Redskins, but if I were to shake my magic 8-Ball it would say, "Outlook not good".

[KDawg]

Figured I'd bump this cuz I spent a lot of time on it

Attention whore, ftw!

[PokerPacker]

I think the strategy with Vick may be to contain him on one side and pressure from the other.

[Hitman21ST]

I have an odd feeling we'll be using Orakpo and Carter in a "contain" manner, while trying to get a push up the middle to razzle Vick. Might even put Landry at LB spy Vick with him just to have someone who can keep up with Vick.

[Conn]

The fact that this is full of good info, and the potential for good discussion, yet had no responses for NINE hours prior to you bumping it, shows the mind-state of ES right now. No one is ready to look ahead to the next game, as the team must be doing right now. Everybody would rather stay in "oh-****" mode and dwell.

Sad, because you're a very respected member and thread-starter, KDawg. Hopefully this gets more traction as the week goes on and the pain fades.

[Hitman21ST]

The fact that this is full of good info, and the potential for good discussion, yet had no responses for NINE hours prior to you bumping it, shows the mind-state of ES right now. No one is ready to look ahead to the next game, as the team must be doing right now. Everybody would rather stay in "oh-****" mode and dwell.

Sad, because you're a very respected member and thread-starter, KDawg. Hopefully this gets more traction as the week goes on and the pain fades.

Damn young'ns...

[KDawg]

Thanks fellas. I really don't do these for kudos. I do these to talk football.

I shall call this Operation: Backfire from now on

[Travdaskin]

If we can't get pressure with our front 3 consistently than it will be a long day. Our offense is gonna have to win this one for us IMO...

[Hitman21ST]

If we can't get pressure with our front 3 consistently than it will be a long day. Our offense is gonna have to win this one for us IMO...

The Eagles O line is nothing to write home about...Everyone's been getting pressure on their quarterbacks, we'll just need to contain Vick. We might bring LaRon down as a "Monster" and just have him spy on Vick the whole game...

[HailGreen28]

We need to get a running game going. And 'Los, Hall, and Buchanon need to relearn how to cover consistently. Nothing else matters.

[icbmayday]

This is a must win game and even though we can loose to the rams I can almost guarantee a win this week.

[Hitman21ST]

With the way the Skins seem to play (lose to the teams we should beat, beat the teams we should lose to) if we could just schedule the Colts, Patriots, Vikings, Packers, and Saints all season we would be fine.

[celj1234]

The Eagles O line is nothing to write home about...Everyone's been getting pressure on their quarterbacks, we'll just need to contain Vick. We might bring LaRon down as a "Monster" and just have him spy on Vick the whole game...

and who is stoping 10 and 18 over the top?

[Hitman21ST]

and who is stoping 10 and 18 over the top?

Nickle, Cover 3 or 4. Similar to what the Niners did to the Saints.

3-3-5, with LaRon spying Vick. Linemen getting the push up the middle, Rak off the edge, Rocky and Fletch in zone over the middle, cover 4. Or cover 3 with Hall locked up on DeSean (just from a speed perspective)

[Hitman21ST]

Double post, sorry

[Travdaskin]

Nickle, Cover 3 or 4. Similar to what the Niners did to the Saints.

3-3-5, with LaRon spying Vick. Linemen getting the push up the middle, Rak off the edge, Rocky and Fletch in zone over the middle, cover 4. Or cover 3 with Hall locked up on DeSean (just from a speed perspective)

One problem, we haven't been getting push up the middle lol?!? And Hall on DeSean, don't like the sound of that one either. May have to run some zone and limit the big plays...

[KDawg]

I like the idea of the 3-3-5. The defense we run at the high school I coach at is the 3-3-5 and we do some really good things with it. I'm calling the JV D and the Varsity Coordinator really did a great job installing it, but we have the personnel for it. At the JV level we met and agreed that the 3-3-5 was the best thing for our personnel as well. I'm not sure the Redskins have 3-3-5 personnel.

3-3-5 will generally have shiftier Dlinemen. We're lucky because we have bigger, quicker kids. The Skins have a big defensive line that's not exactly quick and we don't have the linebacker or defensive back personnel to run the 3-3-5 effectively.

[Brotherz]

Figured I'd bump this cuz I spent a lot of time on it

Attention whore, ftw!

Kdawg,

Its a great job you did and I for one always love reading your stuff. I would have commented earlier but I am just sick about this team right now and reading how we are going to get pasted again this week was just too much. If half our players cared as much as I do we'd be competitive this year. Great job as always with the breakdown my friend.

[authentic]

Good analysis KDawg! And I agree with all of your points. But with all that has went wrong in the past couple of weeks, if we win this game we would be first in the division (winning the tie-breaker against Dal and Phi).

[Raub]

I would think that Andy Reid is the only person in the world who knows the Philly offense better than McNabb. I'm hopeful he can give the coaching staff some insight on how best to defend it. That doesn't account for the improv of Vick, but it's a start. Nice breakdown btw.

[Hitman21ST]

I would think that Andy Reid is the only person in the world who knows the Philly offense better than McNabb. I'm hopeful he can give the coaching staff some insight on how best to defend it. That doesn't account for the improv of Vick, but it's a start. Nice breakdown btw.

That's why I'm optimistic about the game. Vick is shiftier than McNabb, but McNabb had the same element as Vick when we played the Eagles, with better accuracy. It's a small change, from accuracy and a less mobile QB to more mobile QB, but we should be able to handle it.

The good thing about having a QB like Vick going against you is the possibility of a hold dramatically increases with the more Vick scrambles and improvises.

[authentic]

That's why I'm optimistic about the game. Vick is shiftier than McNabb, but McNabb had the same element as Vick when we played the Eagles, with better accuracy. It's a small change, from accuracy and a less mobile QB to more mobile QB, but we should be able to handle it.

The good thing about having a QB like Vick going against you is the possibility of a hold dramatically increases with the more Vick scrambles and improvises.

As KD stated, i think T. Williams playing would be key, which would get our TE's off the line and out in space. What limited us last wee was that we had to keep either Cooley or Davis in to help Heyer, esp in the second half.

[Hitman21ST]

One problem, we haven't been getting push up the middle lol?!? And Hall on DeSean, don't like the sound of that one either. May have to run some zone and limit the big plays...

I like the idea of the 3-3-5. The defense we run at the high school I coach at is the 3-3-5 and we do some really good things with it. I'm calling the JV D and the Varsity Coordinator really did a great job installing it, but we have the personnel for it. At the JV level we met and agreed that the 3-3-5 was the best thing for our personnel as well. I'm not sure the Redskins have 3-3-5 personnel.

3-3-5 will generally have shiftier Dlinemen. We're lucky because we have bigger, quicker kids. The Skins have a big defensive line that's not exactly quick and we don't have the linebacker or defensive back personnel to run the 3-3-5 effectively.

I was speaking more tongue-in-cheek than seriously, but there was a hint of seriousness in it. I didn't know that about the D line in a 3-3-5, so that makes sense.

But I was watching the Saints-Niners game and the Niners were running a lot of Cover 4 to prevent the big play. Coming from a coaching perspective KDawg, how feasible is that with our personnel?

[Hitman21ST]

As KD stated, i think T. Williams playing would be key, which would get our TE's off the line and out in space. What limited us last wee was that we had to keep either Cooley or Davis in to help Heyer, esp in the second half.

That and it allowed us to use 4 WR, 1 RB sets, which let us spread the field like butter on toast.

[KDawg]

I was speaking more tongue-in-cheek than seriously, but there was a hint of seriousness in it. I didn't know that about the D line in a 3-3-5, so that makes sense.

But I was watching the Saints-Niners game and the Niners were running a lot of Cover 4 to prevent the big play. Coming from a coaching perspective KDawg, how feasible is that with our personnel?

I don' like a cover 4 for us. That takes Landry out of the box and puts him primarily in a coverage responsibility. Landry has done extremely well for us around the line of scrimmage. What the cover 4 does do, though, is it allows our corners to take more risks jumping short routes because they have safety help over the top. But again, the Saints are more of a passing team, the Eagles aren't. We start dropping guys and Vick becomes more dangerous. Anything that allows Vick to be Vick is a bad idea. We need to knock him off his game. Bring zone pressures, spy him, etc. Don't give him running room because that's a recipe for disaster.