Game Preview – WAS at PHI
Posted: October 23rd, 2017 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 35 Comments »It seems like forever since the Eagles played. Brilliant of the NFL to give the Eagles a Thursday night game followed by a Monday night game. Very short week followed by a mini-bye followed by a short week. Not exactly ideal, but oh well. You play when they say you play.
The Eagles are well-rested. They are as healthy as they’ve been all year. We’ll see if that helps them or if the long layoff has any negative effects.
I wrote my preview for PE.com. There are a lot of things that seem to favor the Eagles, but let’s talk about some things that make me nervous.
Chris Thompson
Thompson is having an amazing season for the Skins. He averaged 5 yards per carry and 19 yards per catch. Let me repeat that…19 yards per catch. And he is their leading receiver with 18 receptions. They get him the ball in a variety of ways and Thompson is a big-play threat every time he gets his hands on it.
The Eagles love to play a prevent type of defense on 3rd and long. The Skins love to throw the ball to Thompson on screens and swings in these situations and give him some room to create. All he needs is a bit of space and then he uses his great burst to fly up the field and create a big play. The Skins also throw screens to WRs in these situations. The Eagles have to be careful on 3rd and longs to not be too passive or they can get burned.
Thompson should be the focus of the defense all game long.
Skins OL
The Eagles DL dominated in the opener. The Skins were supposed to have one of the best lines in the league, but they looked more like a burgundy speed bump back in September. That was fun to watch, but these are proud veteran players and you can bet they’ll want revenge in a big way. The Eagles DL had best bring their A-game tonight.
D.J. Swearinger
The Skins acquired Swearinger in the offseason to bring experience and physicality to their secondary. He’s helped a lot in both areas. Swearinger hasn’t developed into the big time Safety some thought he might when coming out of college, but he is an impact hitter. He is a human missile and he doesn’t care what he hits. Swearinger will take out teammates and opponents. You get nervous any time he launches himself at one of your skill players.
Matt Ioannidis
We all love role players, even on rival teams. Ioannidis, who played at Temple, is having a really good year for WAS. He plays DT in their Nickel looks and is a good interior rusher. So far this year he’s got 3.5 sacks. He has excellent strength, plays with great leverage and has a non-stop motor. Think of former Eagle Sam Rayburn and you’ll get the picture.
*****
Kirk Cousins is 0-5 on Monday nights so that means the Eagles are guaranteed to win.
But the Eagles are putting David Akers in the team’s Hall of Fame tonight and they always seem to lose when honoring a great player or coach so the Eagles will lose.
Or maybe the team who plays better will win. How about that?
_
Going to be a long few hours till 8:30
Im struggling to make it to 5:30. I dont envy being a sports fan in the Eastern time zone.
For me I really start getting upset around 11:30 (pm, eastern). It’s this absurd cycle I go through every time we play in “prime time”. At around 11:30 I will have some string of thought “crap it’s almost midnight, I got work tomorrow…why the fuck do 2 teams on the east coast have to play till midnight, no one on the west coast cares about this game! I am going too worked up to go to bed after this too, I won’t get any sleep!” etc etc, normal game-day crazy Eagles fan rage and anxiety, just get amped up to 11 at that point.
I really need the Eagles to win these “prime time” games, the stakes on how my day will go tomorrow depend on it.
Bingo. You da man dat brings victory to our beloved city, Noah. However, I have found that no matter whether they win or lose, I replay the game in my mind as I try to get to sleep. And here’s the deal with me: I’m retired, so I get to sleep in!
YOU DON’T PLAY, THEY DO, DUMBSHIT.
Sixers on at 7! Embiid is going to lead them to their first win.
90% NI GGERS IN THE NBA
“All he needs is a bit of space and then he uses his great burst to fly up the field and create a big play.”
100% false! If he gets any big plays of that nature tonight it is because soft ass players on D didn’t have the desire to rally to the ball and get off of the field on 3rd down.
“Kirk Cousins is 0-5 on Monday nights so that means the Eagles are guaranteed to win.
But the Eagles are putting David Akers in the team’s Hall of Fame tonight and they always seem to lose when honoring a great player or coach so the Eagles will lose.
Or maybe the team who plays better will win. How about that?”
LOVE IT! People can take the superstition and stick it where the sun doesn’t shine. It is 100% true that the Eagles only ever lose big games because they didn’t care about the game as much as I did and/or didn’t put the same effort into playing that I do screaming at them.
WAS HAS COVERED 7 OUT OF THE LAST 10 MATCHUPS BETWEEN THE TWO, AND COUSINS IS 4-2 VS THE EAGLES.
I owe RC a half apology, I flamed him for not stating Allen was out. I should have read further in the sentence and saw that he buried the lede while on Allen’s injury after praising Allen for having a strong pass rush.
Bury the lead in the enemy ..
Like lead as in the stuff in the Periodic Table .. as in the element that Chuck Norris uses in his fists …
..
Ill never by one of those stupid Siri machines until i can name it what i want ..
Hey Chuck Norris whats the periodic symbol for lead?
I always thought that for aggregates that track long-tailed metrics that they should filter out some percentile from either extreme.
For example, if a runner has a set of runs measured in yards, {-5,0,1,2,3,4,95}, that 95 is providing too much influence to the aggregate. You’d say they’re getting 14.3 ypc, but that’s pretty misleading. Take out the freak 95yds busted coverage run, and you have someone with an average of 0.8 ypc.
It’s an exaggerated example, but you see it a lot. For instance, DeSean Jackson always has a very very high average YPC, simply because he occasionally busts out the 50+ yard catch due to simply outrunning someone. I don’t think you pass Chris Thompson the ball and expect he gets 20 yards. More likely, every once in a blue moon a play totally breaks down, Cousins finds someone open downfield and it happened to be Thompson. Misleading stuff!
Dawkins retirement was a victory- same tonight.
31-24, eagles win
And I was there that night.
Me too! Going to game vs Denver?
Maybe. You?
I’ll be there
WAS (-5) COVERED 7 OUT OF THE LAST 10 MATCHUPS. COUSINS IS 4-2 VS THE EAGLES.
Darby and Kendricks inactive.
35-17 Eagles!
Get your SB parade gear ready!
40-10
TOLD you about Kendricks being inactive.
Thank me now. Ffs
And i was just about to kake a comment regarding having LBs with good speed/range/coverage ability will be HUGE defending Thompson. Maybe we get to see if Gerry is ready. He is the type of player at that position to best defend against a RB such as Thompson.
Wat does FFs mean?
Fantasy football.
I thought you meant Kendricks wouldn’t play in the same way you meant Cox wouldn’t play last week.
Yes I am sorry for jinxing it.
Bold prediction of the night, game starts at 8:32 PM instead of 8:30 PM.
Who thought in the beginning of the season that I’d be disappointed when Kendricks was inactive for a game?
You?
I could only dream
I’m sure this isn’t actually true, but it seems like questionable Eagles players sit out at a higher rate than their questionable opponents.
I got the same feeling.
Kurt Cousins!!!!!
Hicks made it 2 plays. Shit.