Eagles v Lions Preview

by JasonB on Sep 21, 2007 1:28 AM EDT in Philadelphia Eagles News

The team in blue and yellow will be your Philadelphia Eagles...

The Lions roar(zing!) into Philly undefeated so far this season at 2-0 to take on the Eagles who are... well you know. It does deserve a mention that Lions 2 wins came against Oakland and Minnesota, two teams with top 10 draft picks last year.

Eagles on D

The Lions start has been somewhat of an enigma. They are being outgained on the ground by a wide margin and are only rushing for 82 yards a game. That said, they make up for it with a pretty formidable air attack. They rank #1 in the NFL in passing and QB John Kitna has thrown for 4 TDs already. It should be a strength v strength matchup vs an Eagles defense that's ranked 8th against the pass, have held opponents to less than 200 yards passing a game, and has only allowed 1 TD through the air. Plus, Kitna and the Lions have shown themselves to be more than a little mistake prone so far. Kitna has already thrown 4 picks while the Eagles secondary has an INT in each of it's first two games. The Eagle corners will face their greatest test this week against WR Roy Williams and rookie Calvin Johnson each of which have 2 TDs catches so far this year.

Eagles on O

On offense the Eagles will face what should be the easiest test of the first 3 weeks in the form of the Lions defense. Last year Detroit's D was the 3rd worst in football giving up nearly 25 points a game. They've been better this year and actually lead the NFL with 6 INTs, but again it can't be ignored that they've faced only the Raiders and Vikings so far this year. So far this year the Eagles offense has been almost exclusively Brian Westbrook. He leads the team in both receiving(14 rec for 112 yds) and rushing (181 yds, 4.9 per carry) but he has yet to find the endzone. Westbrook suffered a knee strain last week, but did end up returning to the game after the injury. He missed practice this week to go see the team doctor but the Eagles have yet to update his status. Andy Reid seems fairly confident that Westbrook will play, which is big because if he doesn't it's hard to see how the Eagles score a point or even gain a yard. The Eagles offense at this point is nothing but question marks and if the same McNabb shows up in this game as the one that showed up to start last week we could be in for a long day. On a more positive note, McNabb appeared to look much better as the game wore on last week. He ended up completing 17 of his last 24 passes as the Eagles offense started to move. Whether that means he started to work through his issues and will continue to improve this week remains to be seen. If he takes another 3 quarters to get in a rhythm, again it could be a long day.

Finally, one huge advantage the Lions have over the Eagles this weekend is that God is on Detroit's side. You see, according to Lions QB John Kitna, the almighty visits the teams' locker room at half time and heals its players. The Eagles on the other hand, will have to rely on "science" and "doctors." Great...

Oh and another thing. We'll have the new throwbacks on... yeah.

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Wilbert Montgomery

A second huge advantage the Lions have - their running back coach (http://www.detroitlions.com/bio.cfm?bio_id=358&section_id=15&top=21&level=2&season=1 ) We should have a party for his return to Philly. We can celebrate with a long awaited win!

by Wilbert Montgomery on Sep 21, 2007 7:28 AM EDT reply actions

Shawn Kitna

I still cant believe that Reid called him that this week. My wife even knows that thats not his name!

700 Level

by 700 Level on Sep 21, 2007 8:22 AM EDT reply actions

Game

I have a good feeling about this game. I really didn't have good feelings about the first two, but for some reason I think we are going to come out fine here.

Kitna has the ability to throw at least 2 or 3 interceptions in this game.

And I think Hanson will shut down the big wideouts in the slot like he shut down TO last year.

by Andrew @ Bleeding Green Nation on Sep 21, 2007 9:02 AM EDT reply actions

Tough Matchup for the D

With Lito out. Not only are Calvin Johnson and Roy Williams terrific, Shaun McDonald and Mike Furrey are the best possession tandem in the league. McDonald is leading the Lions in yards and receptions so far. The Eagles will see lots of 3 and 4 receiver sets, meaning Hanson and whoever is the fourth corner (maybe Mikell if there weren't problems at safety). The front four better get to Kitna early and often.

The offense has to get healthy against this terrible defense, and they have to do it right away, because this game has shootout written all over it.

by Behan @ Bleeding Green Nation on Sep 21, 2007 9:59 AM EDT reply actions

This is a "must win" game

As crazy as it seems to call Week 3 a "must win," that's exactly what this game is for the Eagles. An 0-3 start would be a disaster of nuclear proportions, and would all but guarantee the Eagles would miss the playoffs this season.

Of course, mathematically, they could still turn it around after starting 0-3. But let's be realistic: if they can't beat lower-tier teams like the Packers, Redskins, and Lions, how the hell are the Eagles going to turn it around later in the season when their schedule gets much tougher? (The Eagles still have to play Chicago, Seattle, Dallas twice, and the Saints in New Orleans.)

by rhy on Sep 21, 2007 10:48 AM EDT reply actions

who are the lower-tier teams?

If the Eagles can go 7-1 against the 8 worst teams on their schedule (as they did last year), they will only need to go 3-5 against the best 8 teams on their schedule (as they did last year) in order to finish 10-6 and make the playoffs (as they did last year).

The problem is that, at this point, it is unclear who the best teams and worst teams are. If it turns out that Green Bay and Washington are both playoff teams this year, those losses will seem less disappointing than they do now. While your guesses as to who the better teams are is as good as anyone's, it's not clear to me that any of the four teams you mention are a lock to have winning records. They might, but I thought coming into the season that Washington would finish ahead of Dallas, that Green Bay would challenge Chicago in that division, and that New Orleans would have a significantly down year.

I don't disagree with your main points - that the early season losses were devastating (wasn't everyone hoping for better than 10-6 (about the best we can hope for) coming into the year?) and that this is a critical game for the Eagles (very few teams start the season 0-3 and make the playoffs (the very minimum standard for success for this team)) - but do we really know who's good and who's not at this point?

by dave in san mateo on Sep 21, 2007 11:26 AM EDT up reply actions

Bad Teams

This year?

Here's my 12 at the bottom of the pile:

Vikings, Rams, Saints, Falcons, Panthers, Giants, Raiders, Bills, Jets, Dolphins, Browns, Chiefs.

The Packers may very well win the NFC Central if Favre can keep his interceptions under control. The Redskins are at least an 8-8 team.

Right now I think the Eagles are stuck in the mushy middle with the Bengals, Chargers, Seahawks, Cardinals, 49ers, Broncos, Texans, Titans, Jaguars, Lions, Ravens.

by Andrew @ Bleeding Green Nation on Sep 21, 2007 1:12 PM EDT up reply actions

A couple points...

[quote]If it turns out that Green Bay and Washington are both playoff teams this year, those losses will seem less disappointing than they do now.[/quote]

There's no way that these first two losses will ever seem less disappointing. Both games were equally sickening in their own ways.

As for ranking the teams, does anyone really consider Green Bay, Washington, or Detroit true contenders? They may not be the three worst teams in the NFC, but they're certainly not among the best, either. My point was that the schedule doesn't get any easier from this point on, and the Eagles' toughest games are yet to come.

Starting the year like this is a bad indicator of where the team is at right now, as they really haven't looked prepared to play (especially on offense with a mere 25 total points scored).

The time to right the ship is now. Period.

by rhy on Sep 22, 2007 5:16 PM EDT up reply actions

hmm...

"if they can't beat lower-tier teams like the Packers, Redskins, and Lions, how the hell are the Eagles going to turn it around later in the season when their schedule gets much tougher"

Amazing how much this sounds like our sentiment from last year... I think this is absolutely a must-win game, but I wont throw my towel in till we're mathmatically eliminated.

Last year should teach us all that much

700 Level

by 700 Level on Sep 21, 2007 11:04 AM EDT reply actions

crossed paths

Our paths seem to have crossed while I was on the phone. Good points, concisely made.

by dave in san mateo on Sep 21, 2007 11:27 AM EDT up reply actions

What others are saying...

Simmons in particular. Can't say I disagree with his assessment of the Birds to this point, although I hope things turn around this week. Here's his take:

Lions (+6.5) over EAGLES
Like everyone else, I watched Monday night's Skins-Eagles game thinking, "Wow, is this it for Donovan McNabb?" It's not like he's going to become an accurate pocket passer at age 30, and it looks like his legs are gone. What else is left? Throw in the sour Eagles fans (who seem appalled by McNabb, the team and life in general) and Philly looks like they're headed for one of those seasons when a team fails to cover for the first 6-7 weeks before the betting public realizes that they stink. I watched both Philly losses and couldn't tell you one thing they do well other than throw a screen pass or stare blankly out onto the field in shock. On the flip side, we've reached the point in Detroit that Jon Kitna has Mitch Albom writing glowing columns about him -- we're three years away from Matthew Lillard playing Kitna in a Hallmark Theater movie. I think I'll take the points.

"When you run downfield and hit a guy who is not expecting it, there is a certain amount of satisfaction." - John Runyan

by Bo Diddle on Sep 21, 2007 12:16 PM EDT reply actions