Eagles vs. Patriots: Players to Watch During Monday Night Preseason Matchup

The Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots are getting set to clash in Week 2 of the preseason during a nationally televised Monday Night Football showdown.

Both teams have extremely high expectations going into the 2012-13 season and will be looking to put together a great performance while simultaneously doing their best to evaluate backups and overall depth.

Let’s take a look at some players to keep an eye on in this contest and why you should pay attention to them.

Nick Foles – Eagles QB

The third-round pick out of Arizona is looking like a favorite to win the backup position behind Michael Vick. With Vick’s considerable injury history, that is an extremely important role to fill.

Mike Kafka is the other competitor for the job, but he’s expected to miss some time after hurting his non-throwing hand, according to Philly.com.

This gives the rookie a chance to get a leg up in the race for the backup position.

Foles will likely see some considerable time on the field during the 2012 regular season if he can shred the Patriots soft secondary on Monday. 

Marcus Cannon—Patriots RT

Cannon might not be the answer at RT if he continues to get dominated like he did against the New Orleans Saints in the Pats opening preseason game.

The second-year player gave up a sack, two knockdowns and three hurries in that contest.

That is simply unacceptable and is dangerous to both Tom Brady’s safety and the New England offense.

If Cannon can’t stop the tough Eagles pass rush, coach Bill Belichick may need to start looking for a replacement. 

Nnamdi Asomugha—Eagles CB

The Eagles star cornerback suffered a scary collision in practice after he collided with Nate Allen, according to Yahoo! Sports.

If he’s cleared in time for Monday’s game, it would be interesting to see if coach Andy Reid decides to play him to test his health.

Considering that the Eagles play the Browns the following week in preseason and also open the season against Cleveland, they aren’t likely to play the starters much in any other exhibition contest besides this one.

If Nnamdi is out there, he will have a field day against the inexperienced Patriots backups.