Eagles-Patriots Preview

The Eagles travel to Gillette Stadium on Sunday, and face a Patriots team coming off their first loss of the season.  Forget for a moment that the 4-7 Eagles look to snap their three game losing streak to the best team record wise in the AFC.

Tom Brady is 48-8 in his career during the month of December, holds a 96-15 home record for his career while compiling a 13-2 record against NFC East teams.  Even if the Eagles were playing good football at the moment, they have an insurmountable challenge on their hands this week.

Do the Eagles have a shot at winning this football game?  Anything is possible, but there is no scenario in which I see Chip Kelly outcoaching Bill Belichick, Bradford playing better than Brady, or the Eagles doing anything better than the Patriots on Sunday.

The focus of the Philadelphia Eagles is not on the game itself, it’s about the “drama” right now.  At a desperate time in the season where players and coaches need to be on the same page, it’s a mess, with every indication that it’s only going to fester deeper and deeper.   Even though several players and coaches have spoken publicly this week, it’s not going to change the fact that the team lacks the necessary talent to win games against good opponents and that the coaches are going to be better at doing their jobs.

The Eagles are facing an “elite” opponent, with an offense that has

been crippled with injuries to their top playmakers, but it doesn’t even matter.   Tom Brady is still the quarterback and the offense will continue to be dominant especially against an Eagles defense playing as putrid as they have in recent weeks.

How can anyone believe the Eagles offense will not look as slow and average as it has for the majority of the season?  Chip will once again attempt to fool the Patriots defense with the dozen plays it appears he likes to run.  The predictability will allow for defensive coordinator Matt Patricia to dial up formations that could potentially lead to a high turnover number, a half a dozen sacks and a defensive touchdown.

I envision the Patriots offense looking to test the leaky Eagles run defense early, pounding it inside with LeGarrette Blount, and then using both White and Bolden in the flat off the play-action, testing Alonso and Kendricks at the linebacker position.  The Eagles don’t have a defender who can match up with the 6’7” tight-end Scott Chandler, who should be a steady red-zone threat for Tom Brady.  Yes, the Patriots are banged up on the offensive line, and Brandon LaFell is the number one wide receiver by default, but the Eagles defense is regressing, both against the run and the pass, it’s not all of a sudden going to come together, not against arguably the best quarterback and head coach combination of all time.

On offense for the Eagles, Sam Bradford will be challenged with keeping the Eagles in the game, which is playing mistake free football, no turnovers and minimizing the number of three and outs.  Asking this of a quarterback who has missed the last two games due to injury, and with the question marks of the playmakers, it’s likely to be another outing where Bradford looks like a guy trying to “feel” his way around the NFL, and not act the part of a leader and top level quarterback.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been this down on the Eagles, and it starts with the head coach.  His unwillingness to “listen” and “adapt” to the NFL is unraveling, and he doesn’t sound like a guy open to change.  Combine that with the holes on the Eagles in terms of talent, how they are coached or rather the lack of coaching, any chance of competing with a team like the Patriots is a nightmare of a matchup.

Tom Brady is still angry about the loss to the Broncos last week, and it’s scary to envision what an angry Brady can do compared to the regular competitive Brady.

Patriots 47 Eagles 23