The Eagles beat the Cowboys 34-7 last Sunday night.
Doesn't that feel like six weeks ago? The week after a victory normally flies by and it feels like there is hardly time to enjoy it. That hasn't been the case this week, at least for me. Playing on Monday night is probably the biggest factor. You sit through a whole weekend of football and then have all day Monday to deal with until the game finally rolls around.
The Bears come to Philly for an important game. The Bears, like the Eagles, got off to a slow start, but have won their last two games. They are now 4-3. The Eagles need to win to get back to .500 at 4-4.
Maybe it is a good thing the Dallas game seems so far away. That was a great win, but we need the players to file that away and stay hungry for the Bears. You want the team to carry over a feeling of confidence from a win, but not a sense of satisfaction. Each week you need to prove yourself. The Eagles have high character players and a good coaching staff. I expect Andy Reid to keep his players humble and focused.
The key to beating the Bears is good defense. In their three losses, the Bears scored 13, 17 and 13 points. In their four wins the team averages 32 points per game. Mike Martz still runs the offense and loves his passing game, but due to some offensive line issues Martz has re-focused on the run game. That means feeding the ball to Matt Forte, who averages 22 carries per game over the last four contests.
Forte is a very good player. I've labeled him as the most underrated player in the league in the past, but that's no longer the case. Forte has finally started to get the recognition he deserves. Forte is special because he's a big runner with speed, elusiveness and good feet. He also is a gifted receiver. He's a better version of Fred Jackson, who the Eagles faced a few weeks back in Buffalo.
The Bears will get the ball to Forte in a variety of ways. He's most dangerous when he gets in space and can really take off. Forte is strong enough to break arm tackles and is fast enough to out-run defenders. He caught a short pass in the season opener and ran through a tackle attempt from linebacker Sean Weatherspoon. Forte turned that short pass into a long touchdown. Weatherspoon hit him squarely in the leg, but Forte has such strength and balance that he just shrugged off the hit. Forte is going to be a major challenge for the Eagles defense.
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| Tommy Lawlor, goeagles99 on the Discussion Boards, is an amateur football scout and devoted Eagles fan. He was a finalist for Philadelphia's Most Influential Blogger Award and is the Editor of IgglesBlitz.com |
Gang tackling is going to be the best way to control him. Forte is rarely brought down by the first defender so players must swarm to the ball. The good news is that the defense has done this in recent games. Forte will be a tougher challenge than the last two games. The Redskins had size and the Cowboys had speed, but Forte has both.
All this talk of stopping Forte doesn't mean you can ignore Jay Cutler and the Bears passing attack. Cutler tore the Eagles apart last year as Chicago won 31-26. There are a couple of key differences. First, the corners in last year's game were rookie Trevard Lindley, special teams ace Dimitri Patterson and Joselio Hanson. Asante Samuel missed the game due to injury. This year, Samuel is part of a great trio of corners and Hanson is the dime back. Cutler won't be picking apart the defense like he did last year. Four of his first nine completions went for touchdowns, if that gives you any idea how good he was that day.
The Eagles also have a much better pass rush. Jason Babin and Trent Cole are deadly off the edge, but just as important is the presence of Cullen Jenkins and Mike Patterson in the middle. Jenkins already has five sacks this year, the most for an Eagles defensive tackle since Darwin Walker had six back in 2006. Keep in mind that the Eagles aren't even halfway done with the season. Patterson only has one sack this year, but he's getting pressure each week. He had a hand in creating two sacks in the Dallas game. Last year, the Eagles had no interior rush in the base defense so Cutler didn't have to deal with interior pressure unless it was a known passing down.
I expect the Eagles to play good defense. Cutler has been sacked 21 times this year. His offensive line is playing better in recent games, but the Eagles have the best defensive line he's faced in a while. I like that matchup and the corners against the Bears receivers. Handling Forte will be tricky, but the Eagles don't need to completely shut him down. They do need to keep him under control. You can bet Martz will have a couple of clever ideas on how to attack the Eagles. Screen passes to Forte could be something the defense sees a lot of.
As for the offense, the Eagles are coming off their most complete game of the year. The hope is to build off last week's performance. The main difference in that game and the rest of the season is simply the elimination of mistakes. It isn't as if the Eagles came up with some wild new scheme or had players do magical things. Guys just held onto the ball and the offense scored touchdowns in the red zone.
The Eagles and the Bears will play for the fifth straight season tonight. The Eagles have gained at least 377 yards and scored at least 24 points in each of the past two meetings against Chicago. Reid and the offensive staff know how to move the ball against the Bears. The Bears players and scheme haven't changed. They don't seem to be blitzing as much this year as they did last season, but that could change on Monday night. Teams love to unveil creative game plans against Michael Vick and the Eagles.
The biggest problem the Eagles had in last year's loss at Chicago was red zone production. The offense was just one for five in terms of scoring touchdowns. In the last two games, both wins, the Eagles are six for 11 in the red zone. Field goals are nice, but touchdowns often mean the difference in winning and losing. You must make teams pay when you drive the ball deep on them.
I think the improved red zone play is due to a few things. Brent Celek has red zone touchdown catches in each of the last two games. He just missed another one last week (defender made a good play and knocked the pass away). I love the fact that the tight ends are getting more involved in the offense, especially in the red zone. That's an area where you want to use your tight ends to get favorable matchups.
LeSean McCoy also seems to be getting more touches in the red zone. He's got three red zone rushing touchdowns in the last two weeks. He's become such a special player this year that you want to get him the ball as much as possible in key situations. Don't look for McCoy to get 30 carries this week, but he will get plenty of action.
The other big help to the red zone offense is improved offensive line play. The Eagles finally have their best five linemen on the field and you can see that things are starting to click up front. Dealing with Julius Peppers and the Bears athletic defensive line will be a big challenge. The Eagles last year struggled in the Bears loss on the interior of the line. I don't expect that to be the case this year. Evan Mathis, Jason Kelce and Danny Watkins are an improvement over the trio that manned the inside spots last year.
One interesting element in this game is Vick against the Bears. He's never beaten them in his career (0-3). Also, Chicago runs the Tampa 2 scheme. Vick faced that when he was a Falcon and the Bucs made that scheme famous. Tampa gave Vick some rough times over the years. The Vikings run a version of that scheme and gave Vick some problems late last season. It will be interesting to see if Vick is able to run the offense efficiently and lead the team to touchdowns. Last week, Vick played a really smart game and I'm hoping to see more of that. There is no reason that he and the offense shouldn't put up big numbers once again.
The X-factor any time you face the Bears is Devin Hester, arguably the greatest return specialist in NFL history. Bobby April won't say what the Eagles game plan is, but I'll be shocked if they kick to him on a regular basis. Hester will get some returns and the Eagles must maintain good lane integrity and close in on the ball based on the design of the coverage. Too often players just run carelessly and then Hester is able to make them pay.
Monday night will be a big game. The Eagles need to win to keep pace with the Giants, Cowboys and the rest of the NFC. The Eagles need to keep building confidence and the only way to really do that is to win. Last week the Eagles sent a message to other teams - "look out." Now it is time to make them realize that wasn't a fluke. Go shut down Forte, score some touchdowns and beat the Bears.
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