Sports

Week 1 - Carolina Panthers: Philadelphia Eagles Preview

I’m not sure what everybody else is looking at in the Philadelphia Eagles - Carolina Panthers matchup this Sunday. I see an Eagles team with more questions than answers going into the season. I see a Carolina team that is returning 20 of 22 starters, that was 12-4 and the #1 seed in the NFC last season.

It must just be the uninformed dolts in the national media who haven’t bothered to look at what’s going on with the Eagles this year. All they see is that Andy Reid made the playoffs last year and they love kissing his big fat ass. I, on the other hand, have been watching the horror show unfolding this entire off-season up until the eve of the start of the regular season. The Eagles have been affected by death, injuries, free agent defections, bad personnel choices, stupidity and arrogance. I’m just waiting for the locusts. I don’t think the Eagles will beat the Panthers in week 1.  Here’s why:

Let’s start with the Eagles defense against the Panthers offense. The last time QB Jake Delhomme played he threw 5 INTs against the Cardinals in the playoffs. That happened because they got behind and had to try to throw the ball too much. The Panthers like to pound the rock all game long. They throw off play action fakes, which works since they are so effective at running the ball. DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart combined for more that 2,300 yards in 2008. They were able to do that because the Panthers’ O-line is very good and they return all five starters in 2009. That offensive line is going to eat the Eagles front seven alive. They will pound the Eagles right up the middle with the run and I expect it to be effective. The Eagles D-line does a decent job against the run, but without injured MLB Stewart Bradley and departed Safety Brian Dawkins the Eagles are susceptible in the middle. MLB Omar Gaither is under-sized and a better pass defender.

If they Panthers are able to establish their running game, it will put them in 2nd and 3rd and short situations. That will prevent the Eagles from being able to put much pressure on Delhomme. That will force the Eagles to blitz in order to get any sort of pressure and maybe even use the blitz to stop the run. That’s when the real problems will begin.

Delhomme is most effective when the running game is working and he can use the play action fake. HellOOOOOO Steve Smith! The Eagles have two very good CBs in Sheldon Brown and Asante Samuel, but Smith averaged over 100 receiving yards per game last season. The other important thing to consider is that the Eagles will be starting a rookie at Free Safety, Macho Harris. Harris was a CB in college, so he is still learning how to play Safety in the NFL. Nothing like facing a great running team with a perennial Pro-Bowler at WR in your first game, huh rookie? Harris is going to get caught looking into the backfield too long a couple of times and it will lead to big gainers for Smith and the Panthers.

Now, let’s look at the Eagles offense against the Panthers’ defense. The Panthers have switched defensive coordinators and are going to a Cover-2 defense, which involves sitting back and playing the Safeties deep in coverage more often than the Panthers did previously. The Eagles should be able to move the ball a decent amount against this defense with the incessant slant patterns of the West Coast offense.

The Eagles could also theoretically run the ball against the Panthers since DT Maake Kemoeatu is out for the season. I say theoretically because we all know that Andy Reid never runs the damn ball. He might try a few times this week, but the first time a RB gets stuffed for no game he will abandon the running game completely. That isn’t just my opinion; it is a stone cold fact, learned from a decade of watching Reid. Expect more screen passes to Brian Westbrook and LeSean McCoy than anything else. And there is something right there. Expect to see more of McCoy to give Westbrook breathers than you have ever seen in recent history.

The real problem for the Eagles offense and one of the main reasons why I don’t see them winning this game is their offensive line. RT Shawn Andrews is busy “Getting his Michael Phelps on” while dealing with a back injury and that fact that his friggin insane - so he won’t be playing this week. That means the Winston Justice starts at RT. That’s the same Winston Justice who has one career start in which he gave up six sacks. Todd Herramens is out with a broken foot; so backup Center Nick Cole is filling in at LG. Jason Peters hasn’t played much in the preseason and he’s coming off a season in which he gave up 11-1/2 sacks. RG Stacey Andrews is coming off knee surgery and has hardly played so far. And the only guy who’s been there all along, C Jamal Jackson, is the worst starter. What could possibly go wrong?

Well for one thing there is 4-time Pro Bowl DE Julius Peppers. “Hello, I’m Julius Peppers and I’ll be sacking your QB all day long.” Peppers will be moving around the line and terrorizing Donovan McNabb all day long. The Eagles don’t have a good blocking TE to help out either. And if Westbrook isn’t in there, they will have a rookie playing in his first NFL game trying to pick up the stunts and blitzes in pass protection. I say again, what could possibly go wrong?

McNabb will start off throwing over his WRs heads and throwing it at their feet. It’s what he does. He’ll also have guys in his face all day long, since Reid will refuse to run the ball to try to slow down the relentless pass rush of the Panthers. He’ll eventually compile some numbers by the sheer volume of pass attempts. Again, it’s what he does in Andy Reid’s pass-happy offense. But I really do see a real possibility of McNabb getting hurt. It may not be a season ending injury, but he is going to get smacked around all day behind this patchwork O-line.

Now let’s consider the coaches. Carolina’s John Fox owns Andy Reid as far back as his days as the Giants’ defensive coordinator. On the other side, Andy Reid is the worst game day coach I have ever seen in my life. He treats the run like it’s a salad and he has proven over the years that is completely incapable of making adjustments during the game. His teams are also historically terrible in the first month of the season. He never has his teams ready to play coming out of the gate. On defense, Jim Johnson is gone (RIP JJ) and Sean McDermott takes over. McDermott has never been a coordinator at any level and there is no way he’s ready for this. Hell, this might be a bigger mismatch than the Panthers’ D-line against the Eagles’ O-line.

Add it all together and I see an Eagles loss to the Panthers. It won’t be a blowout, but I see the Panthers controlling the game. Let’s call it 27-20 Panthers. And let’s call it an 0-1 start for the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2009 NFL season.

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