The Eagles must come out and take care of the Buccaneers and not go through the motions with them tommorow.
The Bucs are a bad football team and the Eagles should make short work of them without any drama.
The only chance Tampa Bay has of being successful offensively is if the Birds allow them to run the ball. They shouldn’t have a problem stopping that from happening.
Second-year quarterback Josh Johnson is a good athlete but he has no idea how to play the NFL quarterback position. If Cadillac Williams can’t run the ball against the Birds, Tampa might as well leave at halftime.
If Eagles defensive coordinator Sean McDermott is able to get this young quarterback in third and long situation, he will eat him alive and force him to turn the ball over.
The Bucs can’t afford to fall behind because their passing offense is virtually nonexistent with Johnson leading the way.
This game should resemble the Kansas City contest a couple of weeks ago. They call these stat games for a reason.
Eagles players should be able to pad their stats. The Bucs pass defense is 31st in the league.
When the Eagles have the ball, Donovan McNabb should be able to have a big day throwing the ball against Tampa. They aren’t playing the Tampa Two zone coverage any more, yet they don’t have the people to cover good receivers man-to-man.
They have one top young cornerback, Aqib Talib, who has some talent. He had three interceptions last week against the Redskins.
I expect Tampa to blitz and try to get some hits on McNabb figuring they can cause him problems with his ribs if they pound him.
Of course blitzing is dangerous, so I would expect some zone blitzes featuring the cornerbacks because it doesn’t give up the big play.
It’s done from the blindside of the quarterback and has produced jarring hits. Veteran Ronde Barber has been a master of this blitz in the past.
The Bucs safeties are terrible in coverage, expect the Birds to attack them. Brent Celek and Jason Avant will have the entire middle of the field to work his magic.
DeSean Jackson will be open down the seam in that middle area, so McNabb will just needs to get the ball into his hands. Celek will be single-covered by one of the linebackers and you know howmuch success defenses have had doing that.
The Birds should have at least 21 points by halftime.
Philly sports fans shouldn’t have to go through a gut-wrenching football game on Sunday afternoon with the big Phils games tonight and tommorow night.
