The Eagles need to bounce back from last week's disappointing loss to the Saints. Andy Reid's team will get that chance on Sunday when the Chiefs come to Lincoln Financial Field. Most people expect the Eagles to win this game, but nothing is a lock in today's NFL. How many people had the Bengals beating the Packers or the Jets upsetting the Patriots last week?
Kevin Kolb will start again at quarterback if Donovan McNabb can't play. I hope that he sits another game. The goal is for the Eagles to win the Super Bowl, not the month of September. Reid and McNabb need to be cautious with that injury so that we've got our leader for the rest of the season.
I'll be interested to see what kind of game plan Reid and Marty Mornhinweg have. There are a couple of different trains of thought. Last week, the Eagles were creative and aggressive. Reid knew that the only way to beat the Saints was to put some points on the board. The Chiefs are a different story. They have scored three offensive touchdowns this year. The Saints scored that many in a five-minute span on Sunday.
Without the pressure to score a lot you have to wonder if Reid will try to simplify the game plan a bit and focus on execution. This is pretty standard when a backup quarterback is starting. Kolb did a very good job of running the offense when the game was close. He was more uneven when the Saints got out to a big lead and we had pressure to score on every possession. That changes your mentality and style of play. You can't just take what the defense gives you. Circumstances dictate that you have to be aggressive and try to make things happen.
I'd personally like to see Reid be more conservative this week. I want to see Kolb running a conventional offense as much as possible. I also would like to see our rookies getting mixed into the attack more. LeSean McCoy and Jeremy Maclin had good moments last week, but also had to deal with playing in a complex offense because of all the Wildcat and trick plays. I'd like to get a better feel for them in a standard setting.
Reid could look at this situation another way. He's facing an 0-2 team with the 18th-ranked defense. Why not attack them and try to come up with some big plays? Get a big lead early in the game by being aggressive and creative. Then you can go conservative and work in the young players. There is logic to each way of thinking.
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No matter what, we know we'll get to see Michael Vick's regular season debut as an Eagle. He will run the Wildcat offense and have a chance to make some plays. I expect Vick to see about 10-12 snaps in the game. We need him to get some experience and to adjust to the speed of the game. Regular season football is another notch up from the preseason. At the same time, you do have to make sure Kolb and the base offense run smoothly. I thought the offense did a pretty good job last week of getting correctly lined up in the exotic packages. The plays were well executed, even if they didn't fully work out each time.
Temper your expectations with Vick. He was very rusty in the preseason. I'm sure he'll have some plays that work great, but there will be some bumps in the road. He's been out of football for a while and is working his way back. He also is on a new team and playing a new role. As The Joker says in Tim Burton's 1989 version of Batman, "You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs."
The makeshift offensive line faces a 3-4 defense for the first time this year. That will pose a challenge. The 3-4 counts on linebackers to rush the passer and get most of the pressure. The offense isn't sure which linebackers are going to rush. That means that the blockers need to study the defensive front prior to each snap and try to figure out which guys will attack. The offensive linemen need to each see the same things and communicate well to make sure no blitzers go unblocked. This is why teams love continuity up front. The more guys play together the more likely they are to think alike and communicate well.
We do have some injuries at the skill positions. Both starting receivers are operating at less than full strength. DeSean Jackson has a groin issue and Kevin Curtis has a sore knee. Running back Brian Westbrook tweaked his ankle last week. He's expected to play. The question with him is how well will he play. Westbrook looked great in the first half of the Saints game, but was ineffective after halftime.
The defense won't face nearly the same challenge as they did last week. There is no way to sugarcoat the Saints game. The guys made too many mistakes and struggled. Kansas City has talent on offense, but nowhere near the firepower of New Orleans. Essentially, Brees and the Saints took a three-hour tour of the field last week, exploring every part of it. They seemed especially fond of the end zones.
Our defense can't go into this game relaxed because Brees and his gang are back in the bayou. We need the defense to go out and play at a high level. I'm sure those guys are dying to get on the field and erase the memories of last week.
The first order of business is getting to the quarterback. Matt Cassel is a young player. Get pressure on him and see how he handles it. Last year with the Patriots he threw 11 interceptions, but was sacked 47 times. That tells you he held onto the ball and tried to play it safe. He threw two interceptions last week. Now that he no longer has Wes Welker or Randy Moss, Cassel may feel more pressure to take chances so that the Chiefs can come up with big plays and score points.
Trent Cole had a sack last week, but wasn't as disruptive as usual. We need him to really be a force in this game. The rest of the defensive line also has to come up big. The Chiefs right tackle, Ikechuku Ndukwe, isn't a great pass blocker. He'll face Victor Abiamiri, Juqua Parker, and Chris Clemons. Those guys will have a chance get to the quarterback this week.
The linebackers have been good about making plays in the first two games, especially Akeem Jordan on the weak side. That is great. This week we need the linebackers to play the run better than last week. Chris Gocong overran a couple of plays. Omar Gaither wasn't getting to the runner or making tackles. Larry Johnson is a big, powerful runner. You better make a solid tackle if you want to bring him down cleanly.
Kansas City doesn't go deep all that much with their passing game. They only had one completion last week where the ball was thrown more than 20 yards downfield. Cassel generally throws to underneath targets. Our secondary will need to do a good job of tackling to prevent yards after the catch. Dwayne Bowe is an outstanding young receiver and has the ability to stretch defenses, but with a new offensive system and a somewhat new offensive line the Chiefs tend to play it safe.
The play of the special teams has been way too erratic in the first couple of weeks. We have a couple of long returns and a long field goal that helped us. The flip side of that is some very costly penalties that had major impact on field position and the fumble by Ellis Hobbs on the opening kickoff of the second half last week. Sav Rocca also had a couple of shanks that didn't help us in the field position battle. The blocking on kickoff returns has not been very good. I left out the blocked field goal by Julius Peppers. That play has more to do with his freakish ability than a blocking mistake or low kick. Special teams coach Ted Daisher has got to get his players to eliminate the mistakes. We don't lack talent. The guys are not executing well and they're making too many dumb mistakes.
One other thing I'm interested in this week is how the team handles problems that arise. Last week, there were multiple situations where one player or group made a mistake. Another part of the team had the chance to bail them out, but didn't. The impact of Hobbs' fumble could have been lessened if the defense held the Saints to a field goal. DeSean Jackson foolishly fielded a punt inside the 5-yard line. That led to us having awful field position. Kolb could have bailed him out with a good pass on the ensuing third down when Jackson was wide open in the middle of the field. Instead the pass was behind Jackson and fell incomplete. Kolb hurt us by throwing a costly interception in the early third quarter. The defense could have helped him out with a stop. They gave up a touchdown. This week we need solve problems instead of letting them become bigger problems. This is true of the offense, defense and special teams.
