Eagles Preseason: Five Burning Questions Heading To Cincinnati
The Philadelphia Eagles traveled to Cincinnati overnight to meet the Bengals in their second preseason game tonight.
The Birds' first-team unit showed great potential in the first outing against the Jacksonville Jaguars, however, there were some areas that needed to be ironed out as well.
The Eagles starters are set to play the entire first half of tonight's game, QB Michael Vick will step in for the third quarter, and rookie Mike Kafka will see playing time in the fourth.
This should be a good game against a potentially explosive Cincinnati offense under QB Carson Palmer and his new tandem at WR in Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens so lets jump right in and talk Eagles burning questions heading into the game.
Can The Eagles CBs Handle Batman and Robin?
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Veteran WR Terrell Owens joined forced with Chad Ochocinco in Cincinnati and promptly referred themselves as the famous comic duo Batman and Robin—the specifics on who will play which role are still unclear at this time.
Still, it would've been a great test for the Birds starting CB squad Asante Samuel and Ellis Hobbs, unfortunately both are listed as questionable for tonight's game so it appears as if Macho Harris and Dimitri Patterson will get the nod as starters.
Ugh, my stomach is already starting to hurt just thinking about what Chad Ochocinco, or Terrell Owens, will do to these players who aren't on the same level as these wide outs to say the least.
It will be interesting to see how both players fair against solid, veteran wideouts though.
Macho is returning to his natural college position, which he claims is more than ready to be moved back after playing the safety position his rookie season. I am compelled to see how well he transitions over, or back, to the CB spot.
Birds Must Get It Done Inside the Twenty
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In the first preseason game last Friday, the Eagles had a near touchdown as QB Kevin Kolb threw a very catchable ball to TE Brent Celek in the end zone that was bobbled before hitting the ground—something very uncharacteristic of Celek.
However that wasn't the only opportunity the Eagles had in the red zone.
The Birds entered the Jaguars red zone a total of five times last week but only came away with two touchdowns showing that this area remains a struggle from 2009.
This is an area that has plagued the Eagles over the past few seasons. I'm going to try and pinpoint when this all occurred and say it was when RB Brian Westbrook's injuries began taking a serious toll on him.
I have no doubt the Birds can make five more trips to the red zone tonight but their overall effectiveness inside the 20 must become more stable. I understand it is the preseason and this is the time to get all the bone gravy out of their systems, but this young squad needs to approach each game as if it counts.
Everyone is watching the young guns play and if they don't want to hear all season long that they can't do it, they need to start getting it done while making a statement at the same time—fear us!
I'm no mathematician but scoring on just two out of five trips to the red zone is a pretty bad conversion rate.
Special Teams Has to Be a Ton More Special
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If there was any absolute eye soar from last weeks game it was the Eagles special teams on coverage. The Jacksonville Jaguars basically did what they wanted and the Jags' got stopped before the 30-yard marker just one time.
I'm sorry, I try to make each slide about the same in length but this is just a clear cut case and I don't need to harp much on it.
The coverage portion of the special teams versus the Jaguars was far from special and if the Eagles want to have any kind of success in the upcoming season, Bobby April needs to get that corrected yesterday.
He is a top-tier coach who has received recognition for his ability to make a lethal special teams unit out of nothing—only here in Philly he has all the weapons in the world at his disposal.
Please get it corrected Mr. April!
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Eagles Running Game Nees to Be More Exposive
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The Philadelphia Eagles are showcasing second-year man LeSean McCoy as the starting RB. He is taking over the reigns for legendary Brian Westbrook, who just recently signed a one-year deal with the San Francisco 49ers.
McCoy showed some good signs against the Jaguars but there were also many plays that went for little or no gain at all. Remember they are just knocking off the rust, however in this second game I would like to see more mid-range gains.
Obviously, I'll take the long hauls that go for 20 yards or more but what I'm really looking for is how consistent can he be at giving the Eagles second and short (meaning two yards or less) situations.
Even third and short for that matter, I'm basically looking for a 4.5 yard per carry tonight from LeSean. It might seem cruel to expect that from him already but sometimes it takes tough love to help one truly shine!
Another player I will be monitoring is Martell Mallett who had himself a fine game last Friday and actually mirrored Eagles former back Correll Buckhalter at times. Of all the players in the game Mallett showed the most push in between the tackles.
He's battling for the fourth RB position which will basically put him on the practice squad if he makes it but a continued effort on his part could prove costly for other RBs not named LeSean McCoy.
Can The Offensive Line Hold Up
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For the first time in a few years, the Eagles have on paper a very talented group of men to protect QB Kevin Kolb from the NFL dark forces.
News just broke that former Philadelphia Eagle offensive guard Shawn Andrews just signed within the division with the New York Giants and the reason I bring this up is because the line has struggled greatly ever since Shawn's ordeal went down.
Now they have a squad, who on paper, are more than capable of getting the job done. The missing link on that front in tonights game is Left Guard Todd Herreman's as he continues his rehab.
On the famous networking site Twitter, I asked Todd how he was doing and when us fans could expect him back and he said he is feeling great and is hoping to be able to play sometime next week—welcomed news in my opinion.
Look for QB Kevin Kolb to have a relatively clean jersey at the end of the first half, if it is then the offensive line did their job. If it is dirty, well then the front office has some work to do won't they?
More Of This Please
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Here is a highlight reel I found on Youtube, for some reason I couldn't just add it, of the Philadelphia Eagles first preseason game which shows all the promise this team has to offer.
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