Posts Tagged ‘ahmad bradshaw’

NFL 2011 Week 5 Preview and Predictions

October 7th, 2011 by Scott Dargis | Comments Off on NFL 2011 Week 5 Preview and Predictions | Filed in Eagles, Football, General

The theme for the first quarter of this year’s season is comebacks. Whether it is a team that was once written off completely or a team that is down by 20 points going into the second half, if you love a good comeback story there is plenty for you to like so far. These comebacks have put the NFL in an alternate universe that has the Lions at 4-0 and the Eagles at 1-3. Weird, yes, exciting for sure. Change is a good thing just ask anyone in the Detroit or Buffalo area.

This is the first week in which teams have off and teams like the Dolphins and Rams desperately need the week off not only to get healthy, but to reevaluate the aspects of the game that they need to improve on if they want to actually win some games this year. Speaking of winning I got off on a better foot last week going 13-3 (I did not get a chance to write an Eagles preview, but was going to pick the Birds in a rout, gotta stop doing that.) Let’s break down this week’s games.

New Orleans @ Carolina Panthers 1:00pm

This has the potential to be a sneaky good game. Every time that you think Cam Newton is going to have a dud he goes out there and puts up stats that are mind boggling for a rookie. Last week in Chicago he went 27/46 for 374 yards and a touchdown, he also ran for two more scores. This is a guy that you have to watch on every play because he just always seems to have a knack for making a big play. After one week of coming back down close to Earth, Steve Smith shot right back up into space with an eight catch 181 yard performance. This is a team that has two running backs who are more than capable of carrying the load, but the game plan is clear. Throw the ball down the field, which they should be able to do against the 19th ranked pass defense of the Saints.

Drew Brees and co. have been a model of consistency that can only be rivaled by the Packers. The Saints can move the ball down the field in ways that the defense can’t fathom until they sit down to look at the plays in film. Drew Brees makes all of those no name receivers look like pro bowlers. You just never know where the ball is going to go, except you better start accounting for Jimmy Graham. He has become Brees’ favorite target in the red zone and for good reason. He has three touchdowns in the red zone this year and is coming off of a 10 catch 132 yard performance against Jacksonville.

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Eagles Vs Giants Week 8 Preview

October 31st, 2009 by Johnny G | 13 Comments | Filed in Eagles, Football, General

The last time these two teams met it was in the 2008-2009 NFL playoffs, where the Giants’ quest for a repeat was cut short by the Eagles. Will this New York Giants team be looking for revenge? Will the Eagles be able to run their offense efficiently without Brian Westbrook? Will the Eagles defense be able to stop the two headed running back combo in Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw? These are all questions that will decide which team comes out on top Sunday afternoon.

The New York Giants (5-2) come into Philadelphia (4-2) holding just a half game lead over their division rivals, making this game as important as a Week 8 game can be. The Giants came out to start the season clicking on all cylinders, going 5-0 in their first five games but then fell back to earth by losing their last 2 games. As many can see the performance of the Giants can be tied to the performance of their quarterback Eli Manning, during their 5-0 stretch to start the season, Manning threw 10 touchdowns with only 2 interceptions. Meanwhile during this two game losing streak he has thrown for 2 touchdowns and 4 picks. If the Eagles defense can get pressure on Eli early this could be a long day for him.

The key for the Eagles will be establishing the run and protecting Donovan Mcnabb. With Brian Westbrook being a game-time decision, the Eagles may have to play this entire game with Lesean Mccoy as their only real running threat. Although Mccoy has not dissapointed to this point in the season, this stellar Giants defense will be the first real test for him and the entire Eagles offense as a whole. It is going to be a tough task for this Eagles Offensive line to keep Mcnabb off the ground. With the relentless pass rush of Osi Umenyora and Justin Tuck they have combined to be one of the top pass rushing duos in the NFL. As many Eagles fans painfully remember, Umenyora thoroughly abused Winston Justice on national television en route to 6 sacks against Mcnabb and disrupting any sort of gameplan for the offense.

This game all comes down to protecting the QB and whichever team keeps their QB off the ground will most likely win this football game. Both Eli Manning and Donovan Mcnabb do not deal with pressure very well and in Mcnabb’s case, especially pressure up the middle. The lowly Oakland Raiders relentlessy blitzed right up the middle on Mcnabb and the offense struggled the entire afternoon.

Although this game will be overshadowed by Game 4 of the World Series, this should be a very exciting game to watch. Don’t forget to Chat live with other Eagles fans on Talksportsphilly.com in the live chat section of the site!

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