Archive for September 10th, 2011

Eagles-Rams Week 1 Preview

September 10th, 2011 by Scott Dargis | Comments Off on Eagles-Rams Week 1 Preview | Filed in Eagles, Football, General

With the first Sunday of the 2011 NFL season just around the corner, Philadelphia Eagles fans everywhere are getting their jerseys out of the closet and dusted off. This has been an unusual offseason to say the least and no I am not talking about the lockout. The Eagles dominated the headlines with their free agent signings. Philadelphia scored the prize acquisition of the offseason in CB Nnamdi Asomugha. They traded away what was supposed to be franchise quarterback Kevin Kolb to the Arizona Cardinals. Backup QB Vince Young dubbed this the “dream team” and while this is far from a dream team, the 2011 Philadelphia Eagles are clearly looking at this season as Super Bowl or bust. The journey to February begins tomorrow at the Edward James Dome in St. Louis.

Offense

Expect the Eagles to come out firing tomorrow. Head coach Andy Reid has a knack for taking a shot down the field to begin the game and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Steve Smith getting that first target. There isn’t a better way to say welcome to the team than to be on the other end of a Michael Vick bomb. The real question will be what kind of formation can the crazy scientist draw up. Last year Kevin Kolb and Vick were on the field for the first play, so I believe that Vince Young will be out there to draw some type of attention.

The Rams rush and pass defense both ranked in the middle of the league last season (14th and 16th respectfully). They have some very good tacklers in the front 7 including Chris Long and James Laurinaitus, while they may wrap up LeSean McCoy a couple of times behind the line of scrimmage, expect “shady” to pick up right where he left off last season. I’ve said it before and will say it again, McCoy will be the most consistent Eagle this season.

It will be interesting to see how Vick chooses to use all of the weapons around him. Steve Smith is reported to play tomorrow, but it is impossible to know if he is playing anywhere close to 100%. Another health concern is WR Jeremy Maclin. Sidelined with an undisclosed injury for most of the offseason, he has to show that he is in regular season game shape early on tomorrow if he wants to be effective. I expect Desean Jackson to make two big plays tomorrow, he will fall out of the flow of the game, but is simply just too good to ignore.

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