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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.