It seems like it should be a recipe for pressure. Donovan McNabb has been sacked 22 times this season - second-most in the league. The Eagles defense has sacked the opposing quarterback 24 times in 2010, tied for fifth in the league. And yet, the first time the Eagles and Redskins met this season, McNabb was only sacked once, by Ernie Sims, despite playing behind a backup left tackle.
Trent Cole, he of the 7.0 sacks on the season, expects to atone for that Week 4 performance on Monday night.
"It's a game that's a revenge game for us," Cole said. "It's always going to be our gameplan to get pressure on the quarterback. We have to keep (McNabb) contained. He can get out of (the pocket) and he likes to scramble when's pressured. He did that well against us in the last game. We just have to get the pressure on him, execute, start strong and finish strong."
Of course, the Eagles can't treat the Redskins like a one-dimensional offense. The Redskins manhandled the Eagles in the run game in Week 4, rushing for 169 yards on 4.8 yards a carry. Since then, however, the Eagles run defense has dramatically improved, thanks in some part to the insertion of linebacker Moise Fokou and left defensive end Juqua Parker into the base defense. In four games since, the Eagles have allowed no more than 75 yards on the ground to the opposition.
Cole, himself one of the better run-defending ends in the league, attributes that improvement to focus and necessity.
"We just had to improve," Cole said. "We're a young team and there are a lot of things we can improve on. We're going to make mistakes, not every team is perfect. We just have to learn from our mistakes and correct them."
On Monday night, Cole expects to be single-minded in his pursuit of a revenge win.
"We go in there to beat the Redskins," Cole said. "The focus is not on Donovan McNabb. We go in there to beat the Redskins. That's our goal."
-- Posted by Bo Wulf, 12:00 p.m., November 14
