By: DR RAM

Offense – The Eagles with a 10 – 6 record, won the NFC East last year.  The brains of the team is clearly head coach Andy Reid, he is in his 13th season with the Eagles and is ranked second amongst active coaches in winning percentage.  Reid is the longest tenured head coach in the league.  Marty Mornhinweg is in his ninth season with the Eagles, and his eighth as offensive coordinator.  Mornhinweg is known as a quarterback guru and has coached five different quarterbacks to Pro-Bowls.   He has been instrumental in the resurgence of Michael Vick.   The Eagles have a new offensive line coach in Howard Mudd, who used to be with the Colts.  DR’s Coaches rating – B-

Quarterback: The heart of the team belongs to Michael Vick, who was named the Comeback Player of the Year by AP, Sporting News, and Pro Football Weekly.  Vick had a phenomenal year last year that will be hard to match. Vick wasn’t very sharp in the preseason; he threw 3 INT’s against the Steelers, and was only 5 out of 12 for 47 yards.  Against the Browns, Vick completed 10 out of 18 for 98 yards with 1 TD and no INT’s, he fumbled the ball twice.  Vick took a beating in the preseason, in 1 quarter of play versus the Browns as he was sacked once, hurried 7 times, hit twice, knocked down 3 times, and had 1 fumble (he fumbled again later).  Vick appeared to be frazzled early and made poor decisions in the game.  Vick threw into double and triple coverage, threw off of his back foot a couple times, and while under pressure, chucked the ball downfield, seemingly without even looking.  Michael is very tough to sack and likes to get out of the pocket and make big plays.  Mornhinweg designs a lot of rollout, sprint out, and bootleg plays for Vick.  Vick is dangerous when he is settled in and in rhythm.  DR’s rating – B

Offensive line: More than half of the offensive line is new starting with rookie Center, #62 Jason Kelce.  He is a very athletic, and the new line coach, Howard Mudd, likes to send him downfield on screens and will pull him left or right on counter, misdirection and sweep plays.  You can overpower Kelce though; he’s lacking in strength, and struggles to move the LOS, in close quarters.  The other rookie that you may be familiar with is #62 Danny Watkins at Right Guard.  Phil Taylor handled Watkins when they went one on one.  Danny also struggled greatly with assignments both inside and outside.  He was unable to pick up the concept of a stunt and his man ran by him untouched on a couple occasions.  So, it was just announced today that Watkins will be benched if favor of Kyle DeVan, a third year player that the Indianapolis Colts didn’t re-sign.  He started 21 games over two years at Indy.

After King Dunlap struggled in the preseason, the Eagles moved versatile #79 G/T Todd Herremans to RT.  Herremans was the Eagles starting LG last year and in the games the preseason that I scouted.  He is a very good player at G, and has even played at LT, he will be an upgrade over what I witnessed.   So, the new starter on the OL, taking Herremans spot at LG is # 69 Evan Mathis, a free agent from Cincinnati that was signed this year.  I didn’t see him play in the game with the starter, hadn’t moved in yet.  The LT position is manned by 4-time Pro-Bowler, and 3-time All-Pro, # 71 Jason Peters.  He’s good, and played very well in the preseason.  The Eagles liked to run to the right side, because of Peters and Herremans, who are the muscle of this team, but now, we’ll have to see.  I think it’s pretty fair to say that the line will be a work in progress for three reasons: one, because they haven’t really worked together; two, they have a rookie Center; and three, they have a new OL coach.  We should be able to find holes and weaknesses in this line that the Eagles keep changing and patching together.  DR’s rating – C-

Tight ends: Brent Celek and Clay Harbor are their two tight ends on the roster, and they represent the arms of the team.  Celek, known for his relentless work ethic is a big target over the middle and a good in-line blocker.  Clay was a Division 1 –AA standout, he’s about the same size as Lance Kendricks, and a pretty good athlete.  On one play Clay lined up on the right wing, Philly showed a run to the right, and handed it to Harbor on the reverse, they did this on a 4th and 1, and it was successful for a first down.  You have to account for these two guys. DR’s rating – B

Running backs: The legs of the team are LeSean McCoys with over a 1,000 yards rushing at 5.2 yards per carry, and about 600 yards receiving at 7.6 yards per.  You can see by his stats that he is a very dangerous running back.  He is very shifty, can catch the ball, and can get to the corner quick. Ronnie Brown is a very similar running back, so there is no break when McCoy gets a breather.  The Eagles love running misdirection, stretch and cutback, screens, double screens, and sweeps.  They like getting the ball to McCoy and Brown in the open field.  Vick also likes to dump the ball in the flat.  They run a stretch play to the right out of a tight right wing formation and the TE will reverse and block the backside for the cutback.  Our defensive end must not lose contain, but must try not to get kicked out by the TE.   He will have to pinch hard without getting hooked.  The Eagles also like to run a lot of sprint draws, but Vick will bootleg out of the same formation.  McCoy will have to be contained; he will get many touches.  DR’s rating – B+

Wide receiver:  DeSean Jackson is the hands of the team, and is the first player in NFL history to earn All-Pro honors in two categories: kick returner, and wide receiver.  He briefly held out of training camp lobbying for a new, well-deserved contract.  He led the NFL in yards per catch at 22.5.  Jackson didn’t stand out in the preseason, mainly because Vick was rushed and couldn’t get him the ball, but that doesn’t mean that he isn’t a deadly weapon in this offense.   Jeremy Maclin, back from a bizarre health scare (lymphoma) is listed as starting on the depth chart.  He will stretch the field and was among the top 10 receivers with TD’s last year, he pulled in 10.  There’s a chance that he could play on Sunday.  If he can’t go, then Riley Cooper, who has good size, will get the start.  DR’s rating – A, if Maclin starts.

DR’s Scouting Tidbits:

The Eagles run a lot of spread shotgun formations.  They do a good job of giving several different looks and options out of one play.  Philly loves to get Shady McCoy the ball in space; he is one of Vicks’s favorite targets.  They love the screen game, they love to keep you off balance.  The Eagles like to stretch the field vertically and horizontally and will do so at any given time, they are not predictable, but they like to run to the right side.  The offensive line struggled greatly in the preseason in the running game, they didn’t win the LOS often, and in the passing game, they did not play as a unit.

DR’s Prescription to beat the Eagles: Stunt and blitz early and often, the offensive line just got pieced together, even though they have some talent, they have a rookie at Center, which may not be a great thing when the big stage is set on Sunday.

Take Vick down, rush him, hit him, and sack him as the Browns did, and he will start throwing it up for grabs.  A frustrated Vick is a very bad Vick, he seems to have a hard time regaining his composure after a negative play.  Keep the pressure on until he breaks.

Contain, contain, contain.  Play disciplined football and don’t lose the edge, because the Eagles will stress the edge all day in many different ways.  Cover the tight end; don’t let Celek run free over the middle.  Keep DeSean Jackson, Maclin and Cooper in front of you, give up the underneath stuff, but then punish them on the tackle.  When the ball is thrown to you, catch it.  Vick will throw a couple of cookies during the game, catch the cookie!

DR’s prognosis for winning – Good.