Game Preview – PHI at PIT

Posted: October 11th, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 1 Comment »

Heinz Field will host a battle of divsion leaders on Sunday when the Eagles take on the Steelers. The Steelers are 3-0. The Eagles are undefeated in the past two weeks. We needn’t go back further than that. Living in the past isn’t healthy.

When I rewatched the Eagles win over the Niners, I was impressed by an Eagles team that made key plays. At the same time, the Niners played sloppy. QB Nick Mullens missed on some key throws and made some big mistakes. You can’t count on the Steelers playing sloppy. Big Ben is an infinitely better QB than Mullens so the Eagles will have their work cut out for them.

This is a winnable game if the Eagles build on last week and play better. I’m not holding my breath for that to happen. Still, I’m curious to see how the team plays. Getting the first win of the year can give you a huge emotional lift.

The Eagles won’t be getting any real WR help. Both DeSean Jackson and Alshon Jeffery are out this week. That means Travis Fulgham, Greg Ward and John Hightower will need to make plays. Quez Watkins and JJ Arcega-Whiteside could play. We’ll have to wait and see if they are helpful. Watkins would be making his NFL debut. JJAW has yet to do anything this season.

With Arnold joining the roster, I wonder if Jalen Mills will stay at CB. Arnold is a safety. The Eagles already had pretty good depth there. Getting James back will help STs and CB depth.

I think the Eagles defense can have some success. We know Big Ben will hold the ball. The Eagles DL will have a chance to hit him and make plays. Of course, the back end of the defense will have to cover well for that to happen. The Steelers have a solid group of receivers so that will be an interesting challenge. I’m curious to see who Darius Slay covers. JuJu Smith-Schuster plays in the slot a lot. Do you put Slay on him?

This would be an ideal time for the DL to have another big game. They’ve piled up 13 sacks over the past two games.

The big question in this game is whether the Eagles offense can do anything.

Yikes.

The Eagles OL has had some good moments, but they struggle with blitzes, stunts and loops. That is scary when facing the Steelers. They have 15 sacks in three games and are second in the league in yards allowed. This is a really good D.

It will be critical for players to identify blitzes and communicate well. If you have assignment breakdowns, Carson Wentz will take a beating.

Doug Pederson and his staff must have some quick passes to negate the Steelers rush. That will require Wentz to make accurate throws and for the receivers to get open quickly. The short passing game has been erratic this year.

It would help in a big way if the screen game could get going. Get the ball to the backs in space and let them make plays. Any kind of effective run game would also help. The Steelers have held 2 of 3 opponents to just 29 yards on the ground. When they do that, they can tee off and attack the QB. If you can run on them and make them less situational, that changes things in a big way.

A win here would do the Eagles a world of good. They would be .500 and have some real momentum.

A loss would put them right back into desperation mode.

The Eagles must make plays if they are going to have any chance to win. We didn’t know the heroes last week would be Travis Fulgham, Alex Singleton and Genard Avery, but they stepped up and got the job done.

Who wants to step up this week?

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One Comment on “Game Preview – PHI at PIT”

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