Game Preview – PHI at ARZ

Posted: December 20th, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | Comments Off on Game Preview – PHI at ARZ

It is gameday so everyone is hyped for the Battle of the Birds, right? No. Instead of talking about Kyler Murray vs Jalen Hurts, the news is on the Eagles backup quarterback today.

Lovely, just lovely. Instead of talking about Hurts second start we get to obsess on Wentz wanting to start or leave town. This report obviously came from Wentz’s agent. Maybe they are trying to let the world know he’s not happy as a backup. Maybe they are trying to let the Eagles know he wants out. This is an awkward message with bad timing. And it just looks bad.

Ugh.

We’ll discuss this more in the coming days. For now, let’s get back to today.

The Eagles secondary is hurting. We could see Jalen Mills and Michael Jacquet as the outside corners, with NRC in the slot. That would leave K’Vonn Wallace and Marcus Epps as the safeties. I doubt this group will be called the No Fly Zone.

The Cardinals love to run a lot of spread sets that force opponents to play a lot of dime defense. This is terrible timing for the Eagles.

The best hope for Jim Schwartz is that his DL has a huge game. The problem is that Murray can beat you with his arms or legs. The Eagles can’t just rush like mad dogs. They have to be aware of where Murray is and try to keep him in the pocket as much as possible. In the past, Schwartz has blitzed mobile QBs. Can he do that with so many backups out there?

If the Eagles want to win, they are going to have to come up with takeaways and the offense will have to score points. Asking a cobbled together secondary to shut down DeAndre Hopkins, Larry Fitzgerald and Christian Kirk is a bit much.

We don’t know what to expect from the Cardinals defense. They limited the Giants to 159 yards and 7 points last week. That is incredible D. In the previous six weeks, Arizona averaged giving up more than 30 points per game. That’s a huge difference.

I’m guessing they will blitz Hurts a lot. He struggled at times in the second half with blitzers, especially when he tried to run to the outside. Arizona has a lot of LBs that can rush and they like to use creative packages. I’d bet they will spy Hurts on a regular basis.

Eagles receivers will need to make plays. I also think passes to the RBs could be critical today. The good news is that Hurts and Miles Sanders showed good chemistry last week. Maybe…maybe the screen game will come alive today. That would be ideal against a blitzing team.

The X-factor is intangibles. Hurts brought life to the Eagles when he came off the bench in Green Bay. That continued to last week. Can that carry over to today as well? A team playing with confidence has some extra bounce in their step. If something bad happens, they don’t go into panic mode. They simply see it as something to overcome. Hope is a powerful drug.

The Eagles never trailed last week. Hurts didn’t have to handle a lot of adversity. That will likely change today. Arizona is going to score points. They will keep pressure on the Eagles offense. With Matt Pryor at RT, that’s not ideal. The Eagles would love to play with the lead and be able to run whatever plays they want. If they’re behind or in a shootout, the coaches will have to call a more aggressive game. Can the OL keep Hurts clean in that scenario?

We’ll learn more about Hurts and his teammates today. This is going to be an interesting challenge.

Last week we were entertained and got to see a win. Can Hurts do that two weeks in a row?

_


Comments are closed.