Fly, Feagles fly, on the road to victory! Fight, Fight, Fight!

Fly, Feagles, fly! Drop a punt inside the five! Inside Five!

Pin ‘em deep, Punt ‘em high,

And watch our Feagles fly!

Fly, Feagles fly, on the road to victory!

F-E-A-G-L-E-S, Feagles!

1.  Key on Brian Westbrook

Brian Westbrook may be more important to the success of his team’s offense than any other player in the NFL. Westbrook had an all-time great season last year, compiling over 2,100 yards from scrimmage and reaching the end zone 12 times. He is a huge factor in both the running and passing games, and the offense is not nearly as explosive without him. The Eagles are great at executing screen passes and turning short dump off passes into big gains. The Giants defense needs to do to Westbrook what it did to Marion Barber III.

2. Stop Kevin Curtis

Rookie wide receiver DeSean Jackson made waves earlier in the season thanks to his great play (and boneheaded antics). Donovan McNabb and Jackson developed good chemistry, and he looked to be on his way to a possible Rookie of the Year award. But now that Kevin Curtis has returned from off-season sports hernia surgery, he seems to have taken back the #1 receiver role. In two games since returning, Curtis has 9 receptions for 128 yards to Jackson’s 5 receptions for 92 yards. I expect that Curtis’ role in the passing game will continue to increase as he re-acclimates himself with the offense. Curtis broke out last year for 77 receptions, 1110 yards and 6 touchdowns and has resumed his role has McNabb’s go-to receiver. Side note: The Eagles are 2^nd overall in pass offense, and the Giants are 3^rd in stopping the pass. Something’s gotta give.

3. No Excuses, Play Like a Champ

Even though Eli Manning threw for 3 touchdowns last week and had a QB Rating of over 95, he hasn’t looked at his best in four weeks. QB rating doesn’t factor in the 2 lost fumbles he had, and he hasn’t produced a 200 yard effort since Week 5 against Seattle. Since then, he has 6 touchdowns and 6 turnovers, and has not looked like the QB that lead his team to a Super Bowl championship earlier this year. There is no doubt in my mind that Eli will regain his championship form, but if he plays this week the way he did against the Cowboys, the consequences will be more costly.

4. Jacobs > Ward

There is a lot of talk about how both Earth (Brandon Jacobs) and Wind (Derrick Ward…or is he Fire?) could each amass 1,000 yards this year. Jacobs has 680 yards and will most likely make it into quadruple digits before December. Ward is currently sitting handsome at 437 yards and will need to average about 70 yards per game the rest of the way to reach his personal mountaintop. I don’t think this will happen. More importantly, I hope it doesn’t happen. If Ward is able to average 70 yards a game, that means he will likely be leading the team in rush yards for a number of games. When Jacobs leads the team in rush yards, the Giants are 6-0. When Ward leads the team in rush yards, the Giants are 1-1, with the 1 win coming in overtime. That’s irrefutable evidence that Jacobs= win and Ward=??; Science at its best. Secondly, if Ward is to somehow average 70 yards a game, that probably means that something has happened to Brandon Jacobs, and I don’t want to live in a world where something can happen to Brandon Jacobs. Brandon Jacobs happens to other people. Brandon Jacobs happened to LaRon Landry. Things don’t happen to Brandon Jacobs. That’s just the way it is. So while it would be nice to give Ward some extra carries so the team can have two 1,000 yard rushers, I think it’s best to leave things the way they are. If something ain’t broke, don’t fix it. If you want something broke, Brandon Jacobs it.

5. Underdog in Primetime

For my 5^th and final key, I couldn’t decide whether to encourage the Giants to play up their underdog status or warn them against the perils that come with playing in primetime. If I decided on the former, I would have said that, being an underdog for only the 2^nd time this year, they can finally take the “us vs. the world” angle they love so much; an angle that has been harder to come by since they finally started receiving the respect that a Super Bowl champion deserves around week 5. If I decided on the latter, I would have said that they should look back at what they did in their last primetime game against the Browns, and not do that again. Darn my indecision! If only there were a way to have 6 keys, but everyone knows that it takes exactly 5 keys to defeat a team, no more or less.