in a way lend themselves to getting beat deep. I know it sounds a little strange, but the pressure we have been getting lately was all initiated by the threat of a safety blitz. The problem this week is that Eagles have a couple guys that are willing to go deep on any play. If the safety gets caught at the line too early, gets picked up by the blocker too fast or simply can’t make the sack, there WILL be openings in the deep coverage (since we often run a zone based deep cover). I have a feeling we might see a mix up in coverage on a safety blitz for some deep, and I mean really deep, yardage.

because I know Jammer and Cromartie can at least keep up with the fastest guys. Zone makes me nervous because the opposing offence always seems to find the seam just when they need too. I am really worried about Jackson or Maclin running posts and flys down the center of the field and finding one of those holes. If its Gregory or Weddle coming up on the blitz I think its going to leave some gaps deep in the middle of the coverage. All the same, if the blitz gets there in time, its a moot point :)

With the lack of depth that the Eagles have in both the DB’s and LB’s, I really hope Turner runs some plays like that one last week where Tomlinson motioned out wide and I believe Sproles was left as single-back. There are all sorts of ways to get big play guys matched up against a rookie DB or slow and old Jeremiah Trotter.
Gates could have a field day unless they bracket him, and it they do that Jackson and Floyd should just run fade and stops all game and out jump the corners.
On defense I would rotate fresh Linemen and Merriman to do nothing but bull rush the LT, who is hurting, for at least the first half and just run him out of the game.

I mean “sensibilist,” I am a bit concerned that the Chargers are capable of and prone to reverting back to bad habits and form that they displayed in earlier games. The hope is that they confine those usual hiccups to one quarter (preferrably the 1st) and not to two or three. Or four. Houdini rarely played Philadephia. Too many skeptics.

1) have a good tight end who can get down the seam, that beats the blitz

2)have a good blocking running back who can pick up the blitz

3)have a good screen game both running back and wide out.

4)have a qb who can get rid of the ball quick and read the defense.

Chargers have all those do they not?

The Eagles could win because…
1) SD can’t run. Philly can get to the passer.
2) Philly’s deep ball may not get much use, but the threat will improve their run-game, which is already ok.
3) San Diego has a critical division game coming up.
4) Philly just lost a critical division game and thrives on adversity.
5) Even counting that Oakland game, the Eagles have generally been good on the West Coast for the last several years.

The Chargers could win because…
1) Philly’s got some secondary issues and San Diego has a scary passing game.
2) Philly’s OL isn’t any better than SD’s, and SD’s pass rush seems to be getting good again.
3) Philly is a big play team, and SD’s defense doesn’t give up many big plays.
4) McNabb may be a very good QB, but he’s also a choke artist, and the Chargers can always stay in any game.
5) San Diego is at home after winning on the east coast. That’s a recipe for success.

I don’t like it when this team is favored against a good opponent. Is that just superstition?

Lights says he’ll play.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLHnz6Aq0e4

The Eagles lost to the Raiders… let that sink in for a second… JaMarcus Russell and the Raiders beat the Eagles… this isn’t a gimme, we shouldn’t overlook them by any means, but we should be confident that we can beat this team.

They are not flawless, but they have picked Philly to win the game outright (in their premium section). For the category of games that their models say will predict outright winners, they are like 90% accurate this season.

If I recall, Philly has always seemed to underperform their DVOA rankings. PHL is 32.9%, while SD is 0.2%. The higher the % the better, so this looks lopsided by those numbers.

According to their stats the big advantage comes in that their D is much, much better (top ranked) than ours. Our offensives are similar.

I am skittishly hopeful that our O has under-performed, that PR in a committed pass-first offense could over-match almost any D (maybe not Pitt). I just hope we use draws and runs out of pass-looking sets to get some run yardage. But then I have visions of yet another sack of PR and the passing game stalling.

I wanted to point out that while they lost to OAK, they did beat…; but they have had a soft schedule, Wins: KC, TAM, CAR, NYG at home, WDC. Looks a lot like SD’s wins (KC, OAK x2, NYG, MIA). These are two similar looking teams, ones that can beat good teams and yet also lose to poor ones.

If we do win this, I will start to believe in this resurgence. I am hoping very hard, but it feels a bit like hope. I remember two of the three wins are KC, OAK. A NYG team in disarray. We got dominated in that game statistically, and only a botched FG and horrible goal line play-calling with holding call saved us.

If we beat PHL, this will be the best team we have beaten this year. I hope we do it, but anyone predicting blow outs in our favor are forgetting we beat two bad teams and deserved to lose the third game.

For the life of me, I just don’t get how otherwise intelligent people fail to acknowledge the concept of “match-ups.” It ain’t difficult.

Sure, we expect the sportswriters to generate controversy where there isn’t any. We expect nitwits who’ve never played sports to yak about the team’s record, and think THAT’s important – as if team records put on helmets and knock heads.

Every season – and every week – we all witness a game like Raiders vs Philly, and wonder about Philly’s “letdown.” Sure, sometimes teams do let down. But I’m doubting it happens all that often. “Teams looking forward to the next game.” What a crock that one is. Does anyone really think the Charger players aren’t seeing their Eagle counterparts in their sleep?

Ever notice how often the Chargers have made third-tier Quarterbacks look like Elway?

Ever think that maybe Mr. Third-tier just got pissed enough to beat our butt?
 
Ever notice all those expected “shoot-outs” that aren’t?

Ever notice that it doesn’t seem to matter how well Peyton Manning and his team are doing, the Chargers with a mediocre record could beat them 8 times out of ten?

How many recall that a few years ago the Chargers throttled both teams that ended up in the Super Bowl?

Sure, look at the stats & play with the math. It’s fun. We’re fans & that’s what we do. But please stop yakking about win-loss records, as though they mean anything when the whistle blows. In the end – regardless of what the Sportswriters opine (just take a peak at their predictions for "09 last August) regardless what the other guys’ record is, there is only one reality: For the next 60 minutes, there’s a whole bunch of buffed up guys that are going to try really hard to dislocate your spleen. And you know they can do it, even if the happen to be 0-15.