The Eagles will beat the New Orleans Saints if some combination of the following events take place:
- The Eagles score first. When the Eagles have a lead, defensive coordinator Jim Johnson can turn his defense loose and create real havoc on opposing quarterbacks. If you've noticed, the Eagles have not been playing from behind very much during this streak of six consecutive wins. Whereas while they were losing, they were almost always playing from behind.
- The Eagles run the ball effectively. On Wednesday night's Daily News Live, cornerback Sheldon Brown stated that the defense has been helped greatly by the discovery of the chapter on running the ball in the Eagles playbook. [By the way, part of being able to run the ball effectively is to have an early lead.]
- Contain Reggie Bush. Notice, I didn't say stop him, I just said contain him. He scares me. The Eagles plan is to treat him like a wide receiver, rather than a running back because as you have probably heard by now, the Saints use Bush very similarly to the way the Eagles use Brian Westbrook.
- Keep Jeff Garcia's feet on the ground. There is a routine by Steven Wright were someone asks him how he feels and he says something in his dry, deadpan to the effect of "you know that feeling you get when you are relaxing and you lean back on two legs of a chair and all of a sudden you go back just a bit to far and then you are about to fall but you catch yourself? I feel like that all the time." Well, I get the feeling Garcia feels like that all the time. And it scares me.
- William James and Rod Hood can fill up at least most of the space vacated by the loss of Lito Sheppard to injury. Last week, the Eagles' secondary had to contend with a considerably taller Plaxico Burress and they did a fine job against him. This week, they will be up against Marques Colston who measures out to 6' 4'', 230 lbs. and so in some ways, using the slightly taller-than-the-average Eagles cornerback James (6' even) might be a help.
- The Eagles create turnovers on defense. Over the past few weeks, the Eagles have been taking the ball much more often than they have been giving it away. You can bet Bush won't be sure what to do when Brian Dawkins flyies in using his helmet as a fumble-creation device.
- The Eagles pick up the blitz well in the possible absence of fullback Thomas Tapeh. Tapeh is not definitely out, so this may not be a concern, but I tend to think Tapeh is more valuable in pass blocking than in run blocking [Westbrook has enough moves he can free himself behind the mammoth offensive line.]
- The Saints are a bit rattled at the start of the game. While the many of the Eagles got their playoff wings last week, many of the Saints remain untested in the postseason. This might work to the Eagles advantage in getting off to an early lead.
I tend to believe that for the Eagles to win, not all of the above have to happen, but at least some have to happen. My final prediction: Eagles 30, Saints 27, making Dorenbos to Detmer to Akers on par with Tinkers to Evers to Chance.
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By the way, in all likelihood, I'll be watching the game from here. Stop by and I'll buy you a beer.
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