Game Preview – At Detroit
Posted: October 8th, 2016 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 59 Comments »I talked about how facing the Steelers was a test for the Eagles. That was the best team the Eagles had faced to that point. They had an elite QB and it just felt like a big game. Obviously the Eagles passed that test with flying colors.
Now it’s onto the Lions, and in some ways this is just as much of a test. How you handle success can be just as important as how you handle adversity. The Eagles are now 3-0. They are getting lots of media attention and being looked at as one of the better teams in the league.
I wrote my PE.com preview on the challenge Doug Pederson faces in getting the Eagles to stay hungry and stay focused. The good news is that the Eagles have the kind of players that I think will stay hungry. 2015 wasn’t successful or fun. These players are winning and the team vibe is great. No one is griping about lack of reps or touches. There is no offense vs defense dynamic going on. The coaching staff seems to be on the same page and doing a great job.
Doug Pederson was tasked with changing the atmosphere in the locker room and the whole NovaCare building. He’s done just that, getting his players to feel like a family again and to play like one as well. So far, Pederson has pushed the right buttons. He’s had the right message each week. And the players keep buying in.
We’ll see what happens on Sunday.
WHAT I’LL BE WATCHING
Tackling — Theo Riddick is a dangerous runner and receiver. Put him in space and he can make defenders miss, as he did to the Eagles last year. Marvin Jones can also be dangerous when he’s got the ball. Golden Tate was really quiet last week and he could have a major chip on his shoulder in this game. The Eagles need to rally to the ball and tackle well. Take away RAC yards. Make Matt Stafford hold the ball longer to find targets down the field.
Pressure — Stafford has been sacked 10 times this year. The Lions offense is 16th in sack percentage. The Eagles defense is 3rd in sack percentage. On paper that’s a big advantage for the Eagles. That needs to show up on the field. Fletcher Cox should have a big advantage vs their interior blockers. On the flip side, the Eagles protect the passer really well and the Lions are only so-so at getting after the QB. If the Eagles OL plays well, Carson Wentz can have a huge day.
Depth Charge — As a companion point to the one above, the Lions average more than 40 dropbacks per game. That means a lot of chances for the defense to rush the QB. I have confidence in the Eagles starters. This could be a week when the backups will play more and will need to be productive. That doesn’t mean they need sacks per se, but they do have to pressure Stafford and be disruptive. Maybe Beau Allen gets a sack. Or Marcus Smith.
Choice of Weapons — The Lions have the worst pass defense in the league. They can’t cover and they don’t make plays, the worst of both worlds. They have been lit up by TEs and WRs. I’m curious to see how Pederson plays this. Does he use the TEs to attack? Does he spread the Lions out and go WR heavy? Does Wentz start throwing the ball more downfield? If the OL wins up front, Wentz and Pederson can move the ball in a variety of ways. It will be interesting to see how they decide to do that.
#Eagles QB Carson Wentz with his first career TD pass to Jordan Matthews. #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/x2GLyOV23d
— NFL GIF Highlights (@NFL_GIF) September 11, 2016
Catch the Ball — This is true for the offense and defense. DGB could have had a long TD in the Steelers game. Nelson Agholor failed to catch a deep ball against the Bears. Jordan Matthews just missed a big play in the Steelers game. The WRs need to find a way to make these plays. Big plays have a huge impact in the NFL. When they are there, you must execute and take advantage of them. The defense dropped one INT for sure last week and was close a few other times. Stafford will take some chances. When he does, the Eagles need to catch those balls and make him pay.
Be Smart — Wentz hasn’t taken many chances so far this year. That’s helped him to avoid turnovers. If he thinks receivers are going to get open in this game, that could cause him to hold the ball longer, looking for bigger gains. That’s fine, but there are times to get the ball out quickly. Be aggressive, but be smart. The Eagles are the better team. I think the Lions need help in the form of Eagles mistakes to win the game. Wentz needs to continue his smart play.
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[…] Tommy Lawlor I talked about how facing the Steelers was a test for the Eagles. That was the best team the Eagles […]
Huff gets one deep for us
And Trump will be a good president. I guess if it were to happen it would be this week.
I think you see DGB put up some numbers in this game.
Grabbing Sheli by its p***y?
Whats up Ttump.
Trump you sicken me, youre so tacky. So gauche .. you put your name on everything, ..
https://youtu.be/A1hP9M0MNdo
The Hillary Clinton net worth total of $31.3 million comes from analyzing her Public Financial Disclosure Reports. Bill Clinton has an estimated net worth of $80 million. That gives a combined Bill and Hillary Clinton net worth of $111 million dollars.
They repored 114M of income last year.
Public service has been good yo them clintons.
Thats why its sickening to hear her cry poverty.
A few weeks ago the Clinton Foundation paid dear buddy Bill 250 dimes for a speech. Must be nice to employ yoursrlf from donations like dat.
..
Ive got the clintons in my govt fantasy team. They sure know how to work the system.
Yes. Trump thinks he’s the biggest shark in the tank. He’ll be eaten alive. He has no clue about the cesspool that is D.C. Hillary at least has been there.
Traded Theo Riddick for Michael Thomas this week.. hope it wasnt a mistake!!
I heard Riddick is facing a tough matchup this week.
Curious. We know what the Eagles gave up to get Wentz. Suppose they traded him now. Viable, possibly top 10 QB cost controlled for 4 years. What could they get for him? Multiple 1st rounders?? A whole draft???
Nothing would be worth it
World Peace?
http://i.imgur.com/z1iWeTk.jpg
Unless we were to get a more promising young franchise QB then its not even in the same zip code as worth it. I don’t see a more promising young franchise QB out there.
They could get themselves run out of town by a mob no judge in the city would convict.
Russell Wilson, Richard Sherman, Bobby Wagner, and two 1s.
Even though I can’t stand Russell Lilac Lips Wilson I’d love to see this trade go down just for the pure chaos of it.
Tom Brady or Peyton Manning in their prime. Anything else is a damn mistake.
Not a Manning … A Rod helllllll YES
but Rodgers only has one Super Bowl win
Hes just 1 coach or 2 players away..
Hope not, I just bought a Wentz jersey…
If it doesn’t involve at leasthalf a dozen pro-bowlers, 7 1st round drafts picks, a guarantee that the Cowboys will go 0-16 for 12 consecutive years, 20 bags of funyuns, a case of Victory Hop Devil, and a nerf gun the size of an 18-wheeler, we wuz robbed.
It’s only been 4 games!
You’re right. Make that 8 1st round draft picks.
Tommy, you should talk to the site webmaster.
I keep getting this error every so often: Fatal error: Internal Zend error – Missing class information for in /home/content/32/7306932/html/wp-content/plugins/like-button-plugin-for-wordpress/include/gb_generate.php on line 22
Seems like a php error.
I saw the same thing a few times. And yeah, php – pretty huge problem – I was going to say the same thing.
Same problem here, same wordpress error. Not sure what’s up but at least it goes away quickly.
I’m guessing it’s during his update process (loading a new article).
Watching Tenn/Texas A&M. With some of the mistakes in this game, I can’t believe this is #8 vs #9. Is it because it’s conference play, or is there just a drop off after the top five or six?
Also, anyone else hoping Mich/Ohio St. are both undefeated for their match up next month?
I am not a big college fan, but I’d imagine getting support for cheering for Michigan and Ohio State to win every game for a month is going to be tough sledding around here.
I hate both of those teams, but when they’re both undefeated playing each other it is a good game.
I think the same thing about it being a good game. The only college team I hate is ND, but outside of that I just want to watch some good football games.
Tennessee’s Running Back threw too many INTs
I’d enjoy the winner of an undefeated OSU and undefeated Michigan getting smoked in the playoff game.
Don’t know. I watched #6 lose to a triple option team in person today, so maybe it’s just an any given Sunday situation.
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丙申年(猴)九月初八 2016-10-8
I have absolutely no idea how Doug P, Wentz, Schwartz, everything has come together so quickly.
I thought FOR SURE that Doug P was a placeholder coach until someone better became available. He’s shocked the heck out of me.
One of my friends is from Wisconsin, and he has said to me several times that he’s really happy for our organization that we got Doug P. He said he’s always liked him (and generally in GB) and thought he’d be a good coach. I think only here in Philly people think less of him because he wasn’t that athletically talented on the field. Some of the lesser talented guys are just made for coaching, while great players generally aren’t. Either way I’m happy with the results, even though I had many doubts as him being as good as he’s been. But then again I’m a homer, so it doesn’t take much (a la I was a CK believer).
Yeah man, I’m right there with you, its just… There was nothing about Doug that really made you say, yeah that’s the guy who’s going to lead this franchise. But here we are, he’s obviously got the locker room 100% behind him, and he’s making all kinds of smart decisions so… Just Jesus, he was the most meh hire at the time but now… Holy christ if we can keep rolling…
I think the Eagles success says more about how bad a head coach and GM Chip Kelly was, and how bad Bill Davis was as a DC.
Ryan Mathews or Bobby Rainey in fantasy this week? It is PPR
Mathews is so risky, it’s a really tough call. He might get barely any usage or maybe his ankle is back so they make him the bellcow.
I would probably go with Rainey
God I’m so jonesing for some goddamn Eagles football. My classwork is all done for the weekend now, just need the game to get here. I think the oddsmakers are crazy for putting it at Eagles -3, I think the birds are going to go in there and crush them. We’re going to wreak havoc on their passing game with our front 4 and Wentz is going to go for 3 TD’s in the air, I’m calling it.
Pair this scenario with a Dal,NYG,&WSH loss and I will be very happy
What are you studying?
I’m in my last year of undergrad for journalism, with a minor in creative writing. I’m planning on going on to get my masters in either journalism or writing, haven’t decided yet. It’s complicated because this is my 2nd tour of duty in college, the first time through I got an associates and that was it. Went out in the world, learned some stuff, went back.
Graduate schools: Columbia for Journalism, Iowa for writing.
Tommy will write you a recommendation.
Jonathan Cooper released by Pats….any interest with Lane situation on horizon?
No, Cooper is bad
Ehhhh I haven’t watched him with the Pats but when I watched him to preview the Cards game last year, he’s still got the talent that had him picked so high, but he’s missed alot of development time and is inconsistent.
I wouldn’t want him right now, (when we release Wiz after not being able to trade him, that might be different) but if he’s available in the offseason he would be a prime buy low candidate. Best case you have enough time to work out the kinks and get a guy with a ton of talent and no off the field crap for nothing.
The run down of the games that matter and the hopes for a perfect day:
Eagles over Lions – Wentz and Matthews do business, 4 times.
Bengals over Cowboys – Duk!!
Ravens over Snyders – Let the downward spiral resume
Packers over Giants – How much did you spend on that defense New York?
Texans over Vikings – Upset of the day
Broncos over Falcons – potentially a great game
Browns over Pats – just because everyone is sick of Br*dy.
Bills over Rams – Battle of the 7-9 teams.
Bucs over Panthers – Kick ’em when they’re down.
Im not sick of brady but sick of cam newton
I’m sick of all dallas QBs
I love romo and all his faults … Dak on the other hand looks too good
have an eagles, bears, vikings, bills parlay working. 5 gets you 65.
When is Bryce Treggs gonna play?