Patriots vs Eagles: Top 5 Recommendations for Upsetting New England
The Philadelphia Eagles preserved their season momentarily a week ago having a big road(Michael Vick Jersey) win from the NFC East-leading New York Giants. Now, the Eagles will have to do better still when the New England Patriots come into town.
The Patriots come in at 7-3 with the second-ranked passing offense within the league, averaging over 315 yards in the air per game. The Eagles will need to cool the red-hot Patriots in order to still save their season.
With the Dallas Cowboys escaping the Miami Dolphins on Thanksgiving, an Eagles loss would place them three games back with five games left. Victory would keep the Eagles within the NFC East race, with their next two games coming against very beatable opponents, the Seattle Seahawks and also the Miami Dolphins.
A Sunday afternoon upset of the Patriots won’t come easy, although not much has this year for that Eagles.
Wes Welker has become one of the greatest slot receivers in NFL history. His stats through the first 10 games?a74 receptions for 1,028 yards and six touchdowns?aare Pro Bowl-caliber(Michael Vick Jersey) stats for an entire season. He’s the important thing to the Patriots offense.
Fortunately for that Eagles, they have one of the best slot corners within the NFL. Joselio Hanson is a top-notch slot corner going back couple of years in Philadelphia. Last season, Hanson was primarily a nickelback, where he was targeted just 46 times, where he threw in the towel just 4.4 yards per attempt, which was the second best in the NFL, and only threw in the towel 1.5 yards after the catch that was first. Hanson is a great press coverage corner in the slot who rarely surrenders yards following the catch.
Hanson should match up perfectly versus Wes Welker. He will be key against the Patriots passing attack. When Welker goes, so does the offense. When you are able put one cornerback on Welker and contain him for four quarters, it puts more pressure than normal on the rest of the offense. It allows a defense to provide extra help about the tight ends and make the other Patriots wide receivers beat you.
Tom Brady is a special quarterback. Should you give him plenty of time, he will carve up any defense. Should you blitz him, he will read it and make you pay. The easiest method to bet Brady is to buy pressure out of your front four.
This season, the Eagles have 29 sacks about the season, 27 of these came from their front four. The Eagles prefer to use eight different defensive linemen and rotate through the entire game. They’ll need to come up big when the Eagles(Michael Vick Jersey) are going to upset the Patriots.
The Eagles have three different linemen with a minimum of five sacks, including Jason Babin, who has 10 on the year. Babin and Trent Cole will need to come up big against Brady. Brady has proven over his career that when he gets hit early and often, he gets rattled. He has also proven if he’s time, he’ll carve up your defense.
LeSean McCoy has become a top-three running back in the NFL this season. Through the first 10 games, McCoy has 1,019 rushing yards and 12 total touchdowns about the season. He’s the total package in the backfield and will also be key for that Eagles offense.
The Patriots quit over 104 rushing yards a game, and McCoy will have to be even better than that on Sunday. Duration of possession is a major factor in Sunday afternoon’s contest. The longer the Eagles can stay on the field, the better, not just to keep Tom Brady off the field, but also to wear down a very thin Patriots defense.
In a Week 10 loss towards the Arizona Cardinals, McCoy had only one touch within the final 20 plays. He’d 26 touches in last week’s victory within the Giants. He will have to be the focus from the offense that will most likely be without Michael Vick and may be without Jeremy Maclin and perhaps even DeSean Jackso. All three players are daily; Vick has yet to toss in practice through Thursday.
If McCoy has a special day, it should make things much easier for whoever is running the offense.
The Eagles happen to be probably the most careless team in football this season. Starting quarterback Michael Vick has 14 turnovers on the season, and his backup, Vince Young, didn’t fare far better with his three picks a week ago from the Giants. Tom Brady doesn’t have any held. He is able to tear apart a defense without getting the aid of his defense. Another high turnover day for the Eagles will spell doom.
Despite his three interceptions, Young actually played very much of a game last week. Two of his interceptions could be chalked up to receivers not returning to the ball. DeSean Jackson let an under thrown ball be picked off by rookie cornerback(Michael Vick Jersey) Prince Amukamara, and Riley Cooper lost the ball in the light on a fade pass which was picked off by Aaron Ross ultimately zone. The third pick was a tipped pass that fell into Giants safety Kenny Phillips hands.
It’s not going to matter who is to blame; Vince Young or Michael Vick will need to conserve the football to become successful on Sunday. With Michael Vick unable to throw the football through the first two practices now, it appears it will likely be up to Vince Young once more to save the Eagles season. If that’s the case, he will have to be more careful with the football.
The Eagles have always struggled at a negative balance zone under head coach Andy Reid. A lot of that may be related to never having a physical wide receiver or perhaps a true power back beyond a few years with Duce Staley.
This season, the Eagles red zone woes have continued. During a two-game stretch from the Giants and the 49ers, the Eagles scored just three red zone touchdowns in 12 trips. Now, the Eagles must be more efficient inside the 20. You don’t beat the Patriots by consistently settling for field goals.
A week ago, against the Giants, the Eagles scored two touchdowns in five red-zone trips. Some of those trips was the ultimate possession(Michael Vick Jersey) in which the Eagles just killed the clock. The other two trips led to a Alex Henery field goal as well as an interception ultimately zone. Seventeen points in four red zone trips isn’t bad.
The Eagles will need to get to the red zone more regularly against the Patriots on Sunday. Seventeen points won’t cut if against New England. The Eagles will have to put up at least 24 points, meaning they have to be extremely powerful inside the 20. They do that, plus they may just save their season for an additional week.
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