Sports

Week 15 - San Francisco 49ers: Philadelphia Eagles Preview

The Eagles - 49ers game in Philadelphia has been pushed back until 4:15 because it is currently snowing in the area and they expect up to 18 inches of snow before it’s done on Sunday morning. Regardless, I will be in the parking lot bright and early as any good fan would be.

As for the game, there are several interesting trends at work here. First, the San Francisco 49ers played on Monday night and teams playing on a short week generally don’t do well in that next game. Then there is the fact that the Niners have to travel across the country, never a positive for the traveling team. Finally, the Niners are a warm weather team and although the snow will have stopped by kickoff, it is going to be frigid in Philly. The only trend that is in the Niners favor is that this is a classic trap game for the Eagles. They are coming off a big win over a divisional opponent and next week is the emotional “homecoming” of Brian Dawkins with the Denver Broncos. Plus, the Eagles are riding a 4-game winning streak and this is historically where an Andy Reid teams blows a game they should win.

All the trends aside, games are settled on the field. The Niners are coming off an upset win over the Arizona Cardinals where Frank Gore rushed 25 times for 167 yards. While Gore is a great runningback, he has been underused all season, averaging less than 14 carries a game. The reason for that is that after a slow start, the Niners put Alex Smith back at quarterback and went to a spread offense.

While Smith hasn’t even come close to living up to his first overall draft selection, he is playing well this season. The spread offense, with its quick reads and short to intermediate passing game, suits his abilities well. Smith has at least 2 touchdown passes in each of his last four games. Even with that, the Niners are ranked 27th in the NFL in offense.

The Niners wide receivers are average at best, but rookie Michael Crabtree will be a stud. He isn’t one yet due to his skipping training camp and some of the regular season in a contract dispute though. Their #1 receiver is tight end Vernon Davis, who leads all NFL TEs with 11 TDs. That is particularly bad news for an Eagles defense that can’t stop even the most average of TEs. In the last 10 games, opposing TEs have 70 catches for 776 yards and 8 TDs against the Eagles. I expect Davis to abuse the Eagles LBs and safeties as most others have for the length of the season.

Speaking of getting abused all day long, that’s exactly what DeSean Jackson is going to do to the Niners CBs, who are without Pro Bowler Nate Clements. Jackson is going to make CBs Shawtae Spencer and Dre Bly look foolish more than once during the game. He may even return another punt for a TD while he’s at it.

That will help Donovan McNabb continue one of the best seasons of his career. His 95.9 passer rating is the 2nd best of his career and his .613 completion percentage is the 3rd best of his career. See what happens when Andy Reid actually gets some WRs who don’t suck? I wonder where Todd Pinkston and James Thrash are now? The Niners 27th ranked pass defense shouldn’t prevent McNabb from improving those numbers on Sunday.

The Eagles haven’t been running the ball especially well recently, but bless his big heart; Andy Reid is at least staying with it. LeSean McCoy may have hit the dreaded “rookie wall”, as his production has dipped in the last few games. However, FB Leonard Weaver has more than picked up the slack with 6.8 yards per touch over the last seven games. I don’t expect much production from the running game against the Niners 5th ranked run D, but Andy needs to at least try to run the football. If he doesn’t, then the Niners pass-rush will be able to get after McNabb.

The Niners don’t have a lot of sacks on the season, but they have 15 in their last three games. The Eagles offensive line only gave up one sack to the Giants last week and have only given up 10 sacks in the last five games. OLB Ahmad Brooks has four sacks in his last two games and he lines up against LT Jason Peters. Peters is playing better recently, so let’s hope his early season struggles were more a reflection of his injuries and trying to learn a new system. Otherwise his hideous year last season with the Bills, where he quit on the team when he didn’t get more money, means the Eagles made a big mistake.

The Niners forced seven turnovers on Monday night against the Cardinals and have 15 in their last five games. The Eagles have only turned the ball over 17 times all season, which is the 4th lowest total in the NFL. Since the only snow on the field will be in big piles on the sideline, the weather shouldn’t affect the play of the teams. And there won’t be any in the stand for the fans to throw, either.

Andy Reid has the Eagles on a roll, but he needs to keep the offensive balance that he has used during the current 4-game winning streak. Mike Singletary is the kind of coach that every fan loves. He just doesn’t have the talent to win yet.

The only way the Eagles can lose this game is if Andy has a brain fart and completely abandons the running game. It happens every year. Just when we think Reid has finally learned his lesson about the virtues of a balanced offensive attack, he reverts to his passaholic ways. Of course, the Niners pass D is so bad; the Eagles might be able to win anyway.

In a cold Winter Wonderland in Philadelphia, the Eagles should be able to send the Sunshine boys back to the West Coast with a loss.

Let’s call this one a 34 - 20 Eagles victory.

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