Texans vs. Eagles Matchups

[Jerome_Brown_99]

Westbrook is, in my opinion, one of the top 10 overall threats in the NFL today. Now, thats just my opinion, and I have no fact to back that up with obviously.

Exactly. People look and see no 1,000 yard season.

Well, no RB is ever going to get 1,000 yards here. We only run about 42% of the time, and we rotate at least 2 RBs.

What he does do is force defenses to game plan around him unlike they do any other RB. He's a WR when split out wide. He is a home run threat every time he has the ball in his hands. If he gets in open space, he's taking it to the house.

Remember, the Eagles have only been defeated once when Westy has had 20 or more touches in a game. That single loss was the super bowl.

 

[Wolf]

5 Rookies: Link: Texans Start Five Rookies

Probably Charles Spencer at left tackle is just about the most important rookie starter on Sunday. No pressure.

thanks I can't believe I forgot about Spencer

 

[allez_aigles]

I am a little curious about your comment about Stanley not kicking the ball in for touchbacks. I'll be fair - I would prefer to see David Akers putting the ball in the endzone. Do you feel your gunners are quick enough to bring the KR down before the 20 yrd line?

There were alot of Eagle fans upset that we didn't even bring Moulds in for an interview and of those I would say 80% were until recently unhappy we didn't sign him. I understood some of the rational. Moulds does bring a lot of veteran experience but frankly I am not convinced he is a player that if he was on the Eagles would have forced teams out of the 8-man in the box.

What will be interesting to watch for is a new nickel package that Jim Johnson has installed this summer. When the Eagles go into it they pull all of the LBs and put Shawn Barber back on the field as the only legit LB and move Dawkins down. Howard will be moved to DT and Cole will come in at DE. Sean Considine (who spent most of last season recovering from a shoulder injury) will come in as the FS. To be fair - I don't know what to expect when this package comes in. The defense will be fast - very fast. But they will be light. Somehow I don't expect to see this much this week with your zone blocking scheme but who knows.

@Battle Red Bull - not sure I understand what you mean by the passing game being the weakness for the Eagles? If you mean our Wide Receivers - there I think we have a good area to discuss. Otherwise - Andy Reid likes to call passing plays - too much for my liking - but the passes to the RBs and the TEs should work for us. What you have to keep in mind is Reid considers a pass to a RB is like a running play. What I have noticed the past two seasons and in the few pass plays by McNabb this preseason is he is developing his touch and someone has convinced him to give up his happy feet. By happy feet - I don't mean not moving to get away from pressure - but an improvement of his mechanics so that his feet are set when he throws the short pass. All to often in McNabbs early years he would be shifting his feet when he would throw a short pass. The result were TEs scraping the ball up from the turf and limiting their ability to get YAC.

Just a thought to throw out there. Besides Williams - how fast do you guys think your D-line is? One of the past success for the Eagles was their D-Line was fast which help to disrupt the opposing offense. We don't this year have the Hollis Thomas type that was slow for a DT but stout against the run, so I could see a delayed draw working.

 

[Texans_Chick]

Personally, I think the key to the game is whether the Texans can look good enough at the beginning not to get the crowd out of the game. Whether they get their feet under them.

Carr is statistically a slow starter and the Eagle line can help keep him that way.

When Reliant is rocking, it can be one of the loudest places in the league because of how close the fans are to the field and how vertical it is (and the roof is going to be closed). Literally, in a good game, at field level you can scream at the top of your lungs and can't hear yourself. The NFL has changed the silent count rules this year, so it will be harder for opposing teams to get off their plays.

 

[Wolf]

I am a little curious about your comment about Stanley not kicking the ball in for touchbacks. I'll be fair - I would prefer to see David Akers putting the ball in the endzone. Do you feel your gunners are quick enough to bring the KR down before the 20 yrd line?

There were alot of Eagle fans upset that we didn't even bring Moulds in for an interview and of those I would say 80% were until recently unhappy we didn't sign him. I understood some of the rational. Moulds does bring a lot of veteran experience but frankly I am not convinced he is a player that if he was on the Eagles would have forced teams out of the 8-man in the box.

What will be interesting to watch for is a new nickel package that Jim Johnson has installed this summer. When the Eagles go into it they pull all of the LBs and put Shawn Barber back on the field as the only legit LB and move Dawkins down. Howard will be moved to DT and Cole will come in at DE. Sean Considine (who spent most of last season recovering from a shoulder injury) will come in as the FS. To be fair - I don't know what to expect when this package comes in. The defense will be fast - very fast. But they will be light. Somehow I don't expect to see this much this week with your zone blocking scheme but who knows.

@Battle Red Bull - not sure I understand what you mean by the passing game being the weakness for the Eagles? If you mean our Wide Receivers - there I think we have a good area to discuss. Otherwise - Andy Reid likes to call passing plays - too much for my liking - but the passes to the RBs and the TEs should work for us. What you have to keep in mind is Reid considers a pass to a RB is like a running play. What I have noticed the past two seasons and in the few pass plays by McNabb this preseason is he is developing his touch and someone has convinced him to give up his happy feet. By happy feet - I don't mean not moving to get away from pressure - but an improvement of his mechanics so that his feet are set when he throws the short pass. All to often in McNabbs early years he would be shifting his feet when he would throw a short pass. The result were TEs scraping the ball up from the turf and limiting their ability to get YAC.

Just a thought to throw out there. Besides Williams - how fast do you guys think your D-line is? One of the past success for the Eagles was their D-Line was fast which help to disrupt the opposing offense. We don't this year have the Hollis Thomas type that was slow for a DT but stout against the run, so I could see a delayed draw working.

my apologies, I meant to put punting on the Stanley comment

 

[TreachX]

Unless you guys know something everyone else doesn't, the passing game seems to be a weakness for the Eagles this year.

Everyone gets hung up on the fact that the Eagles don't have Owens anymore. That is not going to mean they won't have a passing game? Why you ask?

Well, they have a top QB for starters. Keep in mind that this is a QB who was an established star before TO came to the Eagles. Yes, he had his best season with TO, but there's no reason not to expect him to return to 2003 levels. Also, now that his sports hernia is healed, he's once again a threat to run, something missing from his game last year.

But who is he going to throw to? Well, you can start with Brian Westbrook, who is among, if not the best pass catching back in the league. You can bring up the fact that he's injury prone, but he'll be healthy for this game, so that point is largely irrelevant.

LJ Smith is a good tight end, while maybe not at the level of Gates or Gonzalez, he is still a threat in the middle of the field.

Reggie Brown had a good rookie season, and while potential doesn't get you much in the league, he is expected to improve on last year.

Donte Stallworth is a proven deep threat in the NFL. There are questions as to how well he knows the Eagles offense or how well he meshes, but defenses still must respect his speed.

Those are four solid weapons, and when you factor in guys like Matt Schoebel, Hank Baskett, and Greg Lewis (watch the 2004 playoffs) the Eagles passing game should be good.

 

[allez_aigles]

You might see your WRs as a weakness, but you can take solace in the fact that our secondary is probably the weakest part of our team. DRob is far and away the best of the bunch. You'll see Sanders starting opposite of DRob, and despite a pretty good preseason he doesn't look like a starting caliber CB. Faggins started some last year at CB, but he, too, is hurt and won't be on the field Sunday. Buchannon has all the physical tools to be a very good CB in this league, but he simply hasn't shown it yet with the Texans. Last year he got picked on quite a bit. You'll likely see him come in on Nickel or Dime packages. He'll gamble some in coverage. Sometimes he makes the big play others he just gets burnt to a crisp. So far with he hasn't made many big plays for us, but we're hopeful that will change with a better pass rush.

I wonder if your issues with your DBs had anything to do with the 3-4 you were using. Last year our DBs looked bad - but a lot of that had to do with a poor pass rush and leaving the DBs to cover for 6, 7, 8 seconds. Over a game that wears on a player and it also meant that Jim Johnson called less blitzes last year than he did in 2003 and 2004.

I know that the zone blocking your team uses takes the aggressive upfield rushing of DL to it advantage - but the counter to that is when the DL is playing on your teams side of the line of scrimmage it forces the QB to release the ball sooner.

Earl is our starting SS, and he's a good solid starter. He is decent against the run, and he delivers a good pop. He's not as good in coverage as we'd like, and if he's left one on one with LJ I suspect LJ will leave him grasping at air. Brown is a 2nd year player who's starting at FS. He delivers a good pop as well, but he isn't suited to be a FS. He'd be better off as a backup at SS, but he's the best option we have there at the moment. The secondary is definately an area of weakness for us that we'll have to adress in the years to come.

LJ is an interesting player. Sometimes he looks like a star and others I wonder if his head is in the game. I am a bit excited this year that we have brought in Schobel. He doesn't have the numbers that LJ has from his days in Cincy - but he is heads and shoulders above Spach. I am hoping the two of them are what I was expecting in 2004 with L.J. Smith and Chad Lewis. Chad didn't get alot of attention in 2004 because of T.O. but had he been used it would have meant he or LJ would have been forced to be covered by a linebacker and with a decent pass should mean 5-8 yards on each reception. Give me a bunch of those and you are moving the chains.

 

[ronchalant]

In 2005 we had an injured coaching staff.

Eagles fan here - that's pretty funny

Fans from both teams are going to be naturally dismissive of the moves the other team has made since last year - which was a disappointing season for both of us.

The Texans needed somebody to come in and breathe some new life and direction into the club. From a coaching standpoing - which can mean a lot - big moves were made going with Kubiak. To be fair, Kubiak is unproven as a head coach. That doesn't mean he's going to be bad, but compared to Reid and company he's unproven.

Houston's O-line has to be a concern for them. A rookie playing LT. Pitts is solid. The rest are pedestrian and/or past their prime. And I believe more than a few are playing a totally new position while learning a totally new offense. That may be okay in the vanilla preseason, but when you're being called on to play a more complex offense in the regular season against more complex defensive schemes, this can wreak havoc on a line that hasn't gelled. In addition, the loss of Davis is huge. You can scheme your way out of it a bit with rollouts and the like, but the Eagles defense is and has always been exceptoinally fast. Carr will likely be rolling to Kearse's side, who still has more speed than 95% of all DEs in this league (and most linebackers). Our defensive line is built for penetration. I see us getting into the backfield, which means your offense will absolutely HAVE to be able to run the ball effectively. Our run-stopping at the line may be somewhat vulnerable, it's unproven if nothing else. Bunkley or Rayburn might be our best run stopper, neither of whom is penciled in as a starter. (though I suspect by mid-season Bunkley as a starter will be the reality) In any case, you will need to run on us with an unproven RB and an unproven line.

Your WR starters are good, though Moulds has definitely lost a step. Johnson is a stud (though he's been frustrating as a member of many of my fantasy teams ). What happened to Mathis btw? Our secondary is pro-bowl material across the board thorugh. We have always been good at shutting down top receivers, and I don't see Johnson breaking through there. Moulds just doesn't have the speed he once did. I see it being very difficult for you guys, between the pass rush and the skill we have in our secondary, to move the ball through the air much (unless you're killing us with the run game).

On the flip side, you have a lot of question marks at the D-line position, and behind Dunta Robinson your secondary is, well .... not particularly good. Our receivers are solid if unspectacular, and Stallworth gives us big play ability at the WR position. We spread the ball though, so watch for LJ Smith and Westbrook to get a lot of touches through the air. There is no one guy to key on - except possibly McNabb. Our running game should be enough to keep the defense honest, as our O-line is one of the top in the league and can be dominating in the run game.

The tough part of this is figuring out who the Texans will be when they strap them up sunday. Going on past history, I'd say we should dominate. But there are a lot of unknowns: new coach, a few new players, different scheme. Does this translate into a different attitude? And better play? Maybe. But I have difficulty seeing the talent there to really give Kubiak's schemes and new looks a chance.

I would call this one 24-10 Eagles.

 

[Wolf]

I wonder if your issues with your DBs had anything to do with the 3-4 you were using. Last year our DBs looked bad - but a lot of that had to do with a poor pass rush and leaving the DBs to cover for 6, 7, 8 seconds. Over a game that wears on a player and it also meant that Jim Johnson called less blitzes last year than he did in 2003 and 2004.

I think you could put that in as the Texans problems too.. no pass rush whatsoever. frustrating as a fan is seeing teams pick up a 3rd and 17 in a game... was unbelieveable.

 

[Wolf]

mathis injured himself in a motorcycle accident

for some reason the 2005 season, either teams shut down AJ or we did it ourselves.

2004 we got the ball to AJ on slants and such and his YAC were really good.

2005.. comeback routes/outs for AJ ..he'd get the ball as he was stopped and his YAC went down

 

[allez_aigles]

Everyone gets hung up on the fact that the Eagles don't have Owens anymore. That is not going to mean they won't have a passing game? Why you ask?

Well, they have a top QB for starters. Keep in mind that this is a QB who was an established star before TO came to the Eagles. Yes, he had his best season with TO, but there's no reason not to expect him to return to 2003 levels. Also, now that his sports hernia is healed, he's once again a threat to run, something missing from his game last year.

But who is he going to throw to? Well, you can start with Brian Westbrook, who is among, if not the best pass catching back in the league. You can bring up the fact that he's injury prone, but he'll be healthy for this game, so that point is largely irrelevant.

LJ Smith is a good tight end, while maybe not at the level of Gates or Gonzalez, he is still a threat in the middle of the field.

Reggie Brown had a good rookie season, and while potential doesn't get you much in the league, he is expected to improve on last year.

Donte Stallworth is a proven deep threat in the NFL. There are questions as to how well he knows the Eagles offense or how well he meshes, but defenses still must respect his speed.

Those are four solid weapons, and when you factor in guys like Matt Schoebel, Hank Baskett, and Greg Lewis (watch the 2004 playoffs) the Eagles passing game should be good.

Obviously we are both Eagles fans - but I do feel that overestimating what we will get from the WR is something I am see a lot from Eagles fans. By mid season - I hope to be there with the hoards that feel the Eagles WR are just fine. At this point - I really am expecting to see a return to the 2001 and 2002 offense spread of the ball. In those years the pass/rush ratio was more balanced than it was in 2003, 2004 and certainly last year. Plus the pass spread focused more on Duce, Lewis and later Freedman - so this year I see that as being Westbrook and L.J. Smith. I think we will see McNabb working passes to Reggie Brown and Greg Lewis. Over the next few weeks - we will see 4 or 5 passes thrown to Strickland - but those plays will be called more to force the DBs to play honest and force teams out of the 8-man in the box and less because our WR are real threat.

JMHO.

 

[Vinny]

I'm pretty high on Reggie Brown and I think he has all the tools to be a solid WR1 in the NFL. He has enough suddeness and yac ability to handle the job. I think the Eagle offensive line will dominate the line of scrimmage Sunday. I don't think the Texans front 7 is going to be able to handle you guys, and I think you will pick on our Sam linebacker since we lack speed there. On top of that, he has a rookie beside him...a good looking rookie...but a rookie all the same. Our CB2, SS and FS are questionable too. If our offense can't score 27 points I think we are in trouble.

 

[Texans_Chick]

mathis injured himself in a motorcycle accident

for some reason the 2005 season, either teams shut down AJ or we did it ourselves.

2004 we got the ball to AJ on slants and such and his YAC were really good.

2005.. comeback routes/outs for AJ ..he'd get the ball as he was stopped and his YAC went down

In 2005, AJ was injured with an injury behind his knee where it attaches to his calf. He came back on the field after the injury but still wasn't right.

Last year you cannot call what the Texans ran as an "offensive scheme" as that would be an insult to schemes. It would be better to call it offensive.

They didn't use the TEs for pass catching much, with among the lowest uses of the tight end in a year where TEs were getting lots of catches.

They kept the TEs in for blocking, and tried to get the ball out of Carr's hand faster by little dumps. The defenses no longer had to respect any sort of deep ball and had complete ability to tee off on Carr. With the coordinator being dumped Week 2 and throwing together a new playbook during the bye week, the Pendry offense was a frankensteinian monster mash of the old and new playbooks with everybody confused. Glipses of hope were seen when Carr called his own plays.

Here is some more information that also explains the drop off in AJ/Carr's production between 2004/2005, or more specifically, from the beginning part of 2004 to the end of 2005:

Link: David Carr and the Cover-2 Kryptonite

 

[SESupergenius]

I'll chime in...respectfully on this board after firing up the natives on theirs.

I expect our defense to hound McNabb as much as possible and I expect us to blitz him often and force him to swing it to the shorter routes. Stallworth won't be much of a threat if this is the case and with not being acclimated to McNabb and the offense, he won't adjust as well. We run the cover 2, something that McNabb had trouble against when they played Denver last year. Throughout preseason we were getting constant pressure on the QB. But that is where it ends. The Eagles are just more of a finely tuned unit than the Texans. For whatever it's worth, McNabb just finds a way to win. In comparison, Carr hasn't. The Eagles have won a lot of the close games, The Texans has lost a lot of the close games. McNabb typically doesn't do great against AFC teams, that's just a reach on my part however. Of course this is all based on past history and the Texans look completely different, but until we actually see a whole game to base things on, we are just going to have to take things slowly.

Our running game should be lights out, our whole offensive running game is clicking heading into the preseason. I know a lot of people put emphasis on Dominick Davis being out, but he's been out since last year and our coaching staff has made plans well in advance if Davis could not return so I am not concerned in this area. Add to that this offensive run blocking scheme allows running backs no matter who they are to excel. This is going to be a very interesting matchup with the Eagles line and a totally revamped Texans offensive line. If Carr can get some confidence early by completing a couple of roll out passes then we have a shot. If the Eagles break through this untested line, Carr will call his own number throughout the day and we know where that leads. One aspect of the game that will get overshadowed is KR. We have a threat in PBUC as he has good speed.

 

[EaglesFanPhila]

That's it. I've had it with this garbage. This will be a beating of unmeasurable portions. McNabb might have over 400 yds passing. Buckhalter will have 120 yds rushing, and the final score will be 42-7.

That's it.

 

[chuckm]

That's it. I've had it with this garbage. This will be a beating of unmeasurable portions. McNabb might have over 400 yds passing. Buckhalter will have 120 yds rushing, and the final score will be 42-7.

That's it.

cool ... now that we've established that, go do your homework ....

 

[BigDTexansFan]

That's it. I've had it with this garbage. This will be a beating of unmeasurable portions. McNabb might have over 400 yds passing. Buckhalter will have 120 yds rushing, and the final score will be 42-7.

That's it.

AND I thought Dallas Cowboys only ones with a drug problem, or is that a mental problem

 

[EaglesFanPhila]

cool ... now that we've established that, go do your homework ....

How'd you know. Actually I do have homework to do. I working on my Masters Degree!

 

[Nawzer]

Thanks for the enlightening post. Also much thanks for not "blowing sunshine up our butts".

 

[texanfan2100]

That's it. I've had it with this garbage. This will be a beating of unmeasurable portions. McNabb might have over 400 yds passing. Buckhalter will have 120 yds rushing, and the final score will be 42-7.

That's it.

How many games to you figure it'll take McNabb to get to his 400 yards passing - 'cause it's not happening on Sunday. It's kind of hard to pass for over 400 yards from the seat of your pants.

 

[EaglesFanPhila]

How many games to you figure it'll take McNabb to get to his 400 yards passing - 'cause it's not happening on Sunday. It's kind of hard to pass for over 400 yards from the seat of your pants.

I'll check back with you when the score is 35-7, Eagles, in the 3rd quarter.

 

[Wolf]

PHILADELPHIA: Donovan McNabb missed seven games due to injury in 2005 and he's looking for a bounce-back season in 2006. McNabb, who led the Eagles to the playoffs from 2000-04, has been adept at protecting the ball throughout his career. His 2.24 interception percentage (66 INTs-2,943 attempts) ranks second in NFL history, trailing only Neil O'Donnell (2.11, 68-3,229) all-time. With 16 touchdown passes, McNabb will join Ron Jaworski (175) and Randall Cunningham (150) as the only players in franchise history to reach 150.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/9640466

We better take advatage of any mistakes we get our mitts on

 

[Jerome_Brown_99]

I can see McNabb having a 350 yard, 3 TD kind of performance. The Texans DBs are awfull outside o Robinson, and I really think our OL will dominate their DL.

They have bigger DEs, and historically the Eagles OL has shut those kinds of guys down - it's the smaller, quicker guys that have given Rayburn and Thomas some trouble.

 

[ronchalant]

I can see McNabb having a 350 yard, 3 TD kind of performance. The Texans DBs are awfull outside o Robinson, and I really think our OL will dominate their DL.

They have bigger DEs, and historically the Eagles OL has shut those kinds of guys down - it's the smaller, quicker guys that have given Rayburn and Thomas some trouble.

who's rayburn?

(Runyan)

The smaller quicker guys give [William] Thomas more trouble than Runyan normally.. though you see more of the quicker guys lining up at RDE .. Kearse is an exception.

 

[southtexan]

who's rayburn?

(Runyan)

The smaller quicker guys give [William] Thomas more trouble than Runyan normally.. though you see more of the quicker guys lining up at RDE .. Kearse is an exception.

If I'm not mistaken Runyan is an ex-Oiler.

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S Eagles]

If I'm not mistaken Runyan is an ex-Oiler.

he is. he came over the same year that kearse did from tennessee.

 

[infantrycak]

They have bigger DEs, and historically the Eagles OL has shut those kinds of guys down - it's the smaller, quicker guys that have given Rayburn and Thomas some trouble.

Not an argument, just an FYI--the Texans have two DE's for pass rushing downs who are tweeners and used to be OLB's in our 3-4: Babin 6' 2" 259 lbs and Peek 6' 3" 250 lbs.

 

[EF55]

You know, everything about this game other than the location says the Eagles should walk away with this game. However I see where the optimism comes from with these texan fans. I get a sense about Kubiak, however unproven he is as a head coach, that he will put a team on the field that at a minimum will find a way to be a difficult team to simply crush. I don't see how they would beat the Eagles but I understand the optimism of the fans. Still I think the eagles will absolutely crush the Texans.

 

[FlyEaglesFly]

How many games to you figure it'll take McNabb to get to his 400 yards passing - 'cause it's not happening on Sunday. It's kind of hard to pass for over 400 yards from the seat of your pants.

Yeah, I'm sure donnie fears that vaunted Texans pass rush....

 

[Wolf]

EF you gotta understand that us fans are really excited. Offensively this is the most talent we have ever had on this side of ball and looking at our offense over the last few years doesn't say much but for me just having Moulds at #2 spot instead of Bradford and seeing actual TE's that we might use gets me going along with some coaches that are offensive minded.

Defensively on the DL we have alot of depth and that rotation is way better than what we had before .now the secondary scares me outside of D-rob

 

[run-david-run]

I can see McNabb having a 350 yard, 3 TD kind of performance. The Texans DBs are awfull outside o Robinson, and I really think our OL will dominate their DL.

They have bigger DEs, and historically the Eagles OL has shut those kinds of guys down - it's the smaller, quicker guys that have given Rayburn and Thomas some trouble.

Umm, maybe, kinda like Antwann Peek?

 

[dat_boy_yec]

No, it isn't--the Texans have been a ZBS for 2 years now. In our 3rd year we will hopefully do it better (and with back side cut blocks) but we are not just now implementing it.

Considering who was implementing it before and how they really had no idea what they were doing, I would consider this the first serious implementing of the scheme for us.

 

[powerfuldragon]

Umm, maybe, kinda like Antwann Peek?

or even j. babin?

 

[mattwill]

2 weeks ago, I would have agreed with you. However, today, I disagree.

The Stallworth addition makes a bigger impact than people think. A much bigger impact.

Yes, he has only been an Eagle for a week now. However, he stated at his first practice, that his knowledge of our offense was at about 60%. If he can get to 75% by gametime, that is more than adequate.

Basically, we just need him to stretch the field. If he can do that, that is more than enough. Phillys version of the WCO heavily depends on spreading the ball around. If Donte can show he can get open deep, it most likely draws at least a look from the safety.

If the safety is looking out there, it is going to leave a lot of space for LJ, Westbrook, Brown, and Avant (hopefully, I really want to see him in there)

I think people are heavily underestimating our offense. Which, I am not complaining about at all. I see a lot of Westbrook bashing by teams who have never really seen him. All they see is rushing stats, and immediately discredit him. Again though...that is fine by me.

Westbrook is, in my opinion, one of the top 10 overall threats in the NFL today. Now, thats just my opinion, and I have no fact to back that up with obviously.

I cant wait for Sunday already. :bananasplit:

Come on phillyfan, lets be realistic about Stallworth in the Texans game. As much as I want him to make an impact early and often, the reality is that he is feeling his way through the Eagles playbook right now. His big impact will come after the bye week. Until then the passing game will be in the verry capable hands of Reggie Brown, LJ Smith and Brian Westbrook.

 

[mattwill]

Nice job on the write up. The field position issue won't be nearly as big of an issue on Sunday as it would have been if we had Mathis healthy. He was our only Pro Bowler last year and he had the speed to turn a kickoff into 6pts. The guys you see fielding the kicks this Sunday won't be the same threat Mathis was and they'll be relatively inexperienced. On punts you'll likely see Phillip Buchannon on returns. He's definately skilled in this area, and he's shown flashes while with the Raiders that he can make big plays back there.

You might see your WRs as a weakness, but you can take solace in the fact that our secondary is probably the weakest part of our team. DRob is far and away the best of the bunch. You'll see Sanders starting opposite of DRob, and despite a pretty good preseason he doesn't look like a starting caliber CB. Faggins started some last year at CB, but he, too, is hurt and won't be on the field Sunday. Buchannon has all the physical tools to be a very good CB in this league, but he simply hasn't shown it yet with the Texans. Last year he got picked on quite a bit. You'll likely see him come in on Nickel or Dime packages. He'll gamble some in coverage. Sometimes he makes the big play others he just gets burnt to a crisp. So far with he hasn't made many big plays for us, but we're hopeful that will change with a better pass rush. Earl is our starting SS, and he's a good solid starter. He is decent against the run, and he delivers a good pop. He's not as good in coverage as we'd like, and if he's left one on one with LJ I suspect LJ will leave him grasping at air. Brown is a 2nd year player who's starting at FS. He delivers a good pop as well, but he isn't suited to be a FS. He'd be better off as a backup at SS, but he's the best option we have there at the moment. The secondary is definately an area of weakness for us that we'll have to adress in the years to come.

tg346, when Westbrook wheels out of the backfield in a passing route, who do you believe the Texans will cover him with?

 

[flylikeaneagle]

You guys are right about the Eagles having no tapes except for Kubiak at Denver and the vanilla preseason tapes to study. That and playing at home is a big advantage for Houston. One major reason I am saying the Eagles win by a TD.

 

[flylikeaneagle]

Come on phillyfan, lets be realistic about Stallworth in the Texans game. As much as I want him to make an impact early and often, the reality is that he is feeling his way through the Eagles playbook right now. His big impact will come after the bye week. Until then the passing game will be in the verry capable hands of Reggie Brown, LJ Smith and Brian Westbrook.

Ditto. Smack talking is fun but we have to real here. We have somewhere around 25 new young players. It will take some time. Baby steps guys... baby steps. Let's see what these guys can do on Sunday and then you can hype them up.

 

[mattwill]

I'll chime in...respectfully on this board after firing up the natives on theirs.

I expect our defense to hound McNabb as much as possible and I expect us to blitz him often and force him to swing it to the shorter routes. Stallworth won't be much of a threat if this is the case and with not being acclimated to McNabb and the offense, he won't adjust as well. We run the cover 2, something that McNabb had trouble against when they played Denver last year. Throughout preseason we were getting constant pressure on the QB. But that is where it ends. The Eagles are just more of a finely tuned unit than the Texans. For whatever it's worth, McNabb just finds a way to win. In comparison, Carr hasn't. The Eagles have won a lot of the close games, The Texans has lost a lot of the close games. McNabb typically doesn't do great against AFC teams, that's just a reach on my part however. Of course this is all based on past history and the Texans look completely different, but until we actually see a whole game to base things on, we are just going to have to take things slowly.

Our running game should be lights out, our whole offensive running game is clicking heading into the preseason. I know a lot of people put emphasis on Dominick Davis being out, but he's been out since last year and our coaching staff has made plans well in advance if Davis could not return so I am not concerned in this area. Add to that this offensive run blocking scheme allows running backs no matter who they are to excel. This is going to be a very interesting matchup with the Eagles line and a totally revamped Texans offensive line. If Carr can get some confidence early by completing a couple of roll out passes then we have a shot. If the Eagles break through this untested line, Carr will call his own number throughout the day and we know where that leads. One aspect of the game that will get overshadowed is KR. We have a threat in PBUC as he has good speed.

SES, the challenge your front four will face in trying to "hound McNabb" is that the Eagles' O-line is rather outstanding when it comes to pass blocking, and if the pressure on McNabb therefore is coming from blitzing LBs or DBs, the mismatches on Westbrook and LJ Smith could well be the Texans' undoing. I agree that if the Texans can pressure Donovan they will improve their chances of winning, but I don't see that happening given the Birds' massive and quick O-line.

 

[kearse will eat carr]

look im not trying to start anything but what has your team done the last couple of years??? our d-line is one of the best in the league going up against your weak o-line. dont overlook the obvious here. and one poster said that our lbs are weak. well trotter is good, mccoy just flies to the ball, and well dhani is well dhani. but our d-line will make them better.

 

[flylikeaneagle]

look im not trying to start anything but what has your team done the last couple of years??? our d-line is one of the best in the league going up against your weak o-line. dont overlook the obvious here. and one poster said that our lbs are weak. well trotter is good, mccoy just flies to the ball, and well dhani is well dhani. but our d-line will make them better.

We were one of the worst Defenses last year so let's not bring that up. We had a lot of injuries but let's see what happens on Sunday. You really don't think their O-Line will be improved after the embarassment they had last year? C'mon now. I think our Eagles will take care of them but let's not bring up last year.... either team. This is a new year. Go Eagles.

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S Eagles]

We were one of the worst Defenses last year so let's not bring that up. We had a lot of injuries but let's see what happens on Sunday. You really don't think their O-Line will be improved after the embarassment they had last year? C'mon now. I think our Eagles will take care of them but let's not bring up last year.... either team. This is a new year. Go Eagles.

yea we cant go jumping to conclusions. The texans have upgraded their O-line and D-line...as have we. We shall see what happens on Sunday.

 

[texasguy346]

tg346, when Westbrook wheels out of the backfield in a passing route, who do you believe the Texans will cover him with?

Tough call on that one. I'd imagine you'll see a mix of guys on him. However, any guy we match him up with will be at a disadvantage. C.C. Brown has decent speed, but he's a second year player who's coverage skills aren't what you'd expect from an NFL FS. Greenwood played well at OLB back in Miami, but he had Zach Thomas beside him and Jason Taylor rushing the QB. My guess is you'll see Greenwood on him for the majority of the game. Shante Orr really isn't very good in coverage, and he doesn't have much in the way of range. Ryans has the most potential of all the LBs, and he's definately got great instincts & speed. However, he's a rookie, and I don't think he'll see much time on Westbrook in coverage. If the preseason is any indication you'll see him blitz quite a bit. When the Eagles are on offense be sure to pay attention to this kid. He brings the wood when he gets to the ball.

Pressure will be key in this game on both sides of the ball. If the Eagles are able to consistently pressure Carr he'll likely get rattled and the offense will be ineffective. If the Texans are able to pressure McNabb it will hide some of the weakness of our secondary. I like our chances at getting pressure on McNabb when we bring in Peek & Babin at the DE and move Mario & TJ/Weaver inside to DT. Peek has beat some of the better LTs in this league, and as a situational pass rusher he's a beast. He is a bit of a hot head though, and he has had more than his share of penalties. However, the rush from the base 4-3 formation will probably rely alot on blitzing & with blitzing comes opportunities down field for McNabb. One of the changes I've noticed in the defense this season is their agressiveness & how they all flock to the ball. Something we haven't seen previously with them. It's many times better than our "read, think, check, react" defense that Pendry used while he was here. There are a lot of young guys out there, and with inexperience comes mistakes. So they'll have to play a great game to for the Texans to get a win that goes for the offense too.

 

[Jerome_Brown_99]

Umm, maybe, kinda like Antwann Peek?

No - more along the lines of Dwight Freeney, Rice, Osi, etc.

 

[Vinny]

tg346, when Westbrook wheels out of the backfield in a passing route, who do you believe the Texans will cover him with?

I figure we devote a nickel back to him most of the time and we are in a huge mismatch situation when we are in our regular sets. Orr is a converted DL tweener out of college who is too slow to cover him and Brown doesn't have the speed either. HUGE advantage Eagles on this one.

 

[flylikeaneagle]

Crazy that Houston does not have a legit running back.

 

[GP]

Crazy that Houston does not have a legit running back.

LOL. Go and see how many fantasy footballers will be picking up Wali Lundy or Vernand Morency after the Eagles game.

I am really liking how over-confident you guys are. I hope your team is the same way. Because if they are, then they will be walking out of Houston with a severe migraine Sunday evening.

Just sit back and watch. You'll have the benefit of being able to tell your Eagles pals: "Yeah, they told me those two guys were good. they told me the line was better. And man, it was pretty good."

You should have to pay us money for the information you are getting on this board.

 

[flylikeaneagle]

LOL. Go and see how many fantasy footballers will be picking up Wali Lundy or Vernand Morency after the Eagles game.

I am really liking how over-confident you guys are. I hope your team is the same way. Because if they are, then they will be walking out of Houston with a severe migraine Sunday evening.

Just sit back and watch. You'll have the benefit of being able to tell your Eagles pals: "Yeah, they told me those two guys were good. they told me the line was better. And man, it was pretty good."

You should have to pay us money for the information you are getting on this board.

Overly confident. I picked the Eagles to win by a touchdown or less. That is not over confident. LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No, the Eagles football team is taking this team seriously. Don't you listen to the press conferences and interviews? Come on now.... this is opening week. Get your head in the game. Yes, Lundy looks like he is going to be a great player in this league right now but he is only a rookie. How many rookie RBs do you know make that big of an impact his first year? Not many.

 

[allez_aigles]

EF you gotta understand that us fans are really excited. Offensively this is the most talent we have ever had on this side of ball and looking at our offense over the last few years doesn't say much but for me just having Moulds at #2 spot instead of Bradford and seeing actual TE's that we might use gets me going along with some coaches that are offensive minded.

Defensively on the DL we have alot of depth and that rotation is way better than what we had before .now the secondary scares me outside of D-rob

Wolf - I wanted to quote you since this was how I felt about the Eagles in 2000 in McNabb's first full year as a starter. As I stated in my first post - I think the biggest problem the Texans will face at this point will be with the familiarity of both the new offense and the defense. Mistakes are going to be made and the Eagles are pretty good at taking advantage of them.

That said - I want to see a competitive game.

Someone mentioned that the Eagles have struggled against AFC teams. Boy was that ever true in 2003. One thing to keep in mind though is that up until recently most of the 3-4 defenses we faced were from AFC teams. The Eagles have struggled in blocking the 3-4. They should be better against the 4-3 - but you as was demonstrated last year by the Giants. If the DT are not creating pressure up the middle and can either be taken out of a play by scheming or by one-on-one blocking then teams can double up on the DEs. That hurt the Giants last year and made their secondary look bad. So a key in this game will be pressure brought by your DTs. Jim Johnson has faced this with the Eagles and that is part of the reason he blitzes from so many different positions. It forces an O-line to have to honor the LBs and the DBs a bit more and this helps the DL get more pressure. Many of our fans are excited about Howard since he seems to be the first legit RDE that can play every down since Hugh Dougles was in his prime. Now seems to be - needs to turn into action on the field.

 

[PhillyFan]

I simulated 5 games in Madden 07 last night.

All were Texans vs. Eagles, and all were using current rosters.


The closest the Texans came to winning any of the games was Eagles 21, Texans 17.

All of the rest had the Eagles winning by more than 12.


Just figured I would share my delusional fantasies, and inpertinent video game information...like it matters for anything :p

 

[PhillyFan]

Wolf - I wanted to quote you since this was how I felt about the Eagles in 2000 in McNabb's first full year as a starter. As I stated in my first post - I think the biggest problem the Texans will face at this point will be with the familiarity of both the new offense and the defense. Mistakes are going to be made and the Eagles are pretty good at taking advantage of them.

That said - I want to see a competitive game.

Someone mentioned that the Eagles have struggled against AFC teams. Boy was that ever true in 2003. One thing to keep in mind though is that up until recently most of the 3-4 defenses we faced were from AFC teams. The Eagles have struggled in blocking the 3-4. They should be better against the 4-3 - but you as was demonstrated last year by the Giants. If the DT are not creating pressure up the middle and can either be taken out of a play by scheming or by one-on-one blocking then teams can double up on the DEs. That hurt the Giants last year and made their secondary look bad. So a key in this game will be pressure brought by your DTs. Jim Johnson has faced this with the Eagles and that is part of the reason he blitzes from so many different positions. It forces an O-line to have to honor the LBs and the DBs a bit more and this helps the DL get more pressure. Many of our fans are excited about Howard since he seems to be the first legit RDE that can play every down since Hugh Dougles was in his prime. Now seems to be - needs to turn into action on the field.

A big reason we struggled against the 3-4 was Fraley. He had real problems directly taking on a NT. Because of that, the A gaps were exposed, and people had to roll over to help out, leaving DE's and LB's free to rush the QB.

That was always why there was pressure from a 3-4. I dont expect Jackson to have a similar weakness, simply due to sheer size. Its going to be hard to hit a gap thats filled with fat offensive linemen :p