Five Keys to Beating the Eagles
...posted by Rich Resch...
1. Pressure McNabb
The last time these two teams faced, the Giants defensive line produced no pressure and Donovan McNabb was able to extend Eagles drives on key third downs. In fact, in two games against the Eagles, the Giants have recorded zero sacks. The Eagles are 6th in the NFL with 244 pass yards per game, so disrupting McNabb means disrupting their entire offensive game plan. The Vikings were able to stop the Eagles’ rushing game, stifling Brian Westbrook for 38 yards on 20 carries, but could not stop McNabb from completing 68% of his passes for 300 yards. Although they did sack him three times, McNabb usually had too much time in the pocket, allowing him to wear down the defense with simple passes over the middle to Brent Celek and Jason Avant. If given this much time on Sunday, McNabb can make it look easy.
2. Watch Westbrook
Despite looking slow and injured against Minnesota, Brian Westbrook was able to put a fork in the Vikings with a 71 yard catch and run for a touchdown. He’ll be on the injury report again this week, but everyone knows he is going to play. If his health does not improve over the week, he will not be as explosive as he was in Week 14 when he burned the Giants for 203 total yards. Still, he is smart and athletic enough to be a major threat when he is not fully healthy, and is always one play away from changing the game. Hopefully Antonio Pierce is up for the challenge, as he will be as important as anyone on our defense. If Pierce plays the way he did last time he had to shadow Westbrook, it could be a long day.
3. Beware of Dawkins
Let’s play a game during this football contest: count how many times Brian Dawkins commits helmet to helmet hits on players while they are already in the process of being tackled. Now that Rodney Harrison is done, Dawkins is probably the dirtiest player in the NFL, yet he continues to get away with disgusting and needless hits on defenseless players, such as the one that knocked Adrian Peterson out of the game for a few plays. And no, fellow Giants Football Blogger David Jacks, I wouldn’t support a vicious headhunter even if he were on my team. No one is arguing that he is not a great player; it’s his greatness that allows him to get away with his dirty hits. I’d bet that Dawkins revels in the fact that people are afraid of him, knowing that they are one dirty Dawkins hit away from going lights out. The sad thing is that no one would be shocked to actually see him paralyze a player. It’s great to let all of your emotions out on the field, but anyone who watched him almost end Ike Hilliard’s career should know that there is a difference between being a “fearless” leader and being a borderline criminal.
4. Prepare to Get Blitzed
Eagles Defensive coordinator Jim Johnson, the man who mentored Steve Spagnuolo, loves to blitz. The Eagles ranked third in the NFL with 48 sacks behind only the Cowboys and Steelers. They don’t have elite sack-monsters such as Dallas’ DeMarcus Ware or Pittsburgh’s James Harrison (Defensive Player of the Year, mind you), but their defensive scheme allows them to put as much pressure on the quarterback as anyone. With that said, defensive ends Darren Howard and Trent Cole are no slouches, combining for 19 sacks. Watch for Johnson to send the aforementioned Brian Dawkins on a blitz or two as well.
5. Hold the Ball
The Giants lost only 3 fumbles this year, by far the best in the NFC. The Eagles have forced 14 fumbles this year, third best in the NFC. The Giants seem to have a tough time holding on to the ball against the Eagles, as shown by the four fumbles in the two previous games (luckily, they only lost one). But before they can fumble the ball, the Giants’ receivers must catch it first, something that seemed impossible at times in their last game against the Eagles. Domenik Hixon and Steve Smith had huge drops that could have changed the outcome of the game. The Giants better not bring their butterfingers and Ron Dixon hands to the stadium this Sunday.
No “Domenik Hixon on kickoffs” this time?
I think that special teams (kickoffs, coverage, kick returns) will be huge this game.
Just to clarify my statement… not that they “will” be huge, because for some reason I don’t see TC changing much up… but that Big Blue has to do better in these areas if they hope to beat the Eagles, in my opinion.
Special teams has me worried, indeed.
We held up well last game against them. I think we lost the game on the coin toss. They played the wind card perfectly and held the ball when they need to. Of course their 3rd down conversions made that happen…
I couldn’t believe no TV analyst said anything about Dawkin’s late hit on Peterson last week considering they replayed it about 15 times throughout the game. Another thing I’ve noticed Dawkins loves to do is come in with a mean elbow once a player is already down. However, I have to admit that I would probably back him up if he were on my team, but he not, so I hate him and hope the refs/league finally start noticing his late hits.
Don’t worry sigf, I haven’t forgotten about my boy Hixon. Being that this is a playoff game, I plan on writing some additional “keys” later in the week.
As for Dawkins, I guess it depends on your definition of “support.” Of course if he were on my team, I’d root for him and be just as happy as anyone if he made a big play. But I wouldn’t respect him like I respect the guys who play the game right. Few things anger more than when someone on the Giants commits a dirty play.
It’s similar to the steroid situation in baseball. It’s easy to say that if Barry Bonds was on the Mets/Yankees/whatever team you root for, you would not support him. But try telling that to the San Fransisco Giants fans that saw him as the heart of their team for fifteen years. As much as I despise what he stands for, I admit that I would probably root for him if he had been on the Mets for that long. But there is a difference between rooting for someone and respecting them.
Ah, glad to hear it, Rich :).
Fellow writer, we should have a dawkins dirty debate. Here is my first argument. Please name one great safety in the game who hasn’t been accused of being dirty. I have heard ed reed, polamalu, adrian wilson, ronnie lott, myron guyton (ok not myron) vincie glenn, sean dawkins, brian dawkins, chuck cecil, leroy butler, atari bigbie, rodney harrison and more all labeled dirty. It’s the nature of the position. For the record Antonio Pierce was high up on the list of players considered dirty by other players….This isn’t tennis, and the last man on the pile is almost always a safety, so when the elbow comes in they are always going to look dirty. That said I hate dawkins, for being nasty, not dirty.
Argument 2 – I am stunned you just compared a guy who took steroids or cream or whatever substance bonds used to a guy who throws elbows in a sport where elbows are always flying.
I’ll start off by dealing with your second concern. My comparison of Dawkins to Bonds was meant to be in terms of fans’ loyalty to their own players. I was not comparing Dawkins’ dirty style of play to Bonds taking steroids (that is another debate entirely). I think it is a fine comparison in that fans of the player in question’s team will always root for the player because his performance and the team’s performance are linked, but that the fans do not necessarily have to respect the player as a person.
As for other great safeties being considered dirty, I cannot argue against this. Safety is always the position that commits the hardest and most dangerous hits. I understand that they want to send a message to guys coming over the middle, and that they use intimidation to their advantage. There is such a fine line between clean and dirty hits, a line that is literally inches wide, since leading with your shoulders is considered clean and leading with your helmet is considered dirty. Every safety commits an incidental helmet to helmet hit every now and then. With the speeds at which they play, it is nearly impossible to avoid sometimes. But when a player consistently administers shots to the head on players who are already tackled, it is no longer part of the game, it is dirty. It’s a dangerous enough sport as it is, without players like Dawkins feeling the need to commit late hits every time a possibility arises.
Dawkins did not get his reputation by accident; he earned it over the years. I don’t have the privilege of watching most of the guys you have named as often as I have watched Dawkins play, but I honestly can not remember a game in which I did not see him deliver a hit to a player already in the midst of being tackled. I have read that he has the reputation of being a great person, and he swears he is not a dirty player. I even read him say that that the speed of the game is what caused him to sometimes hit a defenseless Ike Hilliard. If you honestly believe that the speed of the game, and not the need to send a ‘tough guy’ message, is what causes Dawkins to consistently put other players’ careers in jeopardy, than I guess there’s no point in arguing; I’ll never be able to change your mind.
Dawkins is a great player, and I wish he would let his play speak for itself. The tough guy “this is football, not tennis” attitude only excuses so much.