2011 Regular Season
CARDINALS @ RAMS PREVIEW

Setup
Overview
Steelers' Last Game
Meet the Steelers
Cardinals Roster
Steelers vs. Cardinals Matchups

 Setup:
The Eagles lost Monday night to the Bears and their local media wants to stick the proverbial fork in them. The Cardinals came back from the dead, stopping the Rams on 4th & short more than once and blocking a chip-shot FG near the end of regulation and then returning a punt 99 yards to steal the game in OT. Which team do you think feels better?

Actually, it's unclear how Philly will respond to their Monday defeat. They can either throw in the towel and use their shorter work week as an excuse for playing "flat" or they can regroup one more time and swing for the fences. Game is on the East Coast at 1 pm (but due to the end of daylight savings time in the East) the time differential will be 2 hours instead of 3 (i.e. the game will be played at 11 am ZT instead of 10 am). Philly fans being what they are when things don't go well, it's unclear whether the Eagles will get much of a home field advantage.

 Overview
These are not your typical Eagles nor, as it turns out, your typical "dream team." We always think of the Eagles as having a west coast style offense featuring a rhythm short passing attack, TE's who can catch the ball and a lot of Westbrook-type cutbacks and screens. Their offensive line was always so-so and they always seemed to lack deep-threat receivers. On defense, you always had nightmares of a tough, physical Front Seven, solid corners and Dawkins intimidating everyone at SS.

You get the feeling that the coaching staff hasn't caught up with the changes in personnel. Despite adding a running component at QB, deep threat WR's like Jackson and Avant and a one-cut -&-go RB, you hear a ot of grousing in the local press about the lack of deep passes (longest one this season was for less than 40 yards). Despite having 3 Pro Bowl CB's in the secondary, you hear a lot about the lack of physical play and productivity on defense. My theory: Each team starts the season with certain physical and strategic strengths and weaknesses, but their opponents watch the tapes and make adjustments. Young teams face the challenge of "adjusting to the adjustments." However, the more established teams (like the Gianta and Patriots) are more comfortable in doing what they do and better able to deal with any adjustments their opponents make. The Eagles haven't figured yet how to adjust to the adjustments, but Andy Reid is an excellent HC and there's still time. It will all come down to whether or not Philly - at 3 & 5 - will rise to the occason or pack it in.

OFFENSE
They have it all - it starts with their multi-threat QB Michael Vick with one of the NFL's top RB's in LeSean McCoy, a deep and talented group of WR's in Jackson, Avant, Maclin & Smith, a Pro Bowl TE in Celek and a remade OL which is more lunchpail than its higher profile predecessors. Yet the Eagles, of late (either due to strategy or defensive scheme) are finding it hard to go deep with any degree of success, and Vick barely broke the 50% completion average against a Bear defense said to be vulnerable against the pass.

Stat-wise, the 4 top Eagle receivers and Celek are underperforming, but linemen Mathis and Peters are having banner years as are McCoy and Vick. The only overall area of play receiving a negative-rating is Pass Blocking (notably Kelcy, Mathis and DeVan).

DEFENSE
The Eagles carry 10 defensive linemen, but the entire group hasn't escaped injury. Brandon Graham is back and increases the Eagle's already pretty good firepower pressuring  the passer, but these guys aren't as tough against the run as in previous years. Rolle, Chaney and Fokou average one-years experience each. Rookie Casey Matthews has a world of potential but original plans to make him a play-calling starter have evidently been shelved. They have an All World battery of CB's in Samuels, Asomugha and DRC but are leave a bit to be desired at safety. Starting FS Nate Allen is at best "iffy" for Sunday.

Statistically, the entire Eagle defensive line (including scrubs) have positive overall PFF ratings. Only minor weakspots: Patterson as a run defender and Laws as a pass rusher. Things start to fall apart at LB, where the only player with a positive overall rating is Rolle. This is true across2 main areas of LB play (run defense, and pass coverage. Pass rush production from Eagle LB's are kind of average. Almost as disappointing has been the "Dream Secondary", where only Samuels and (the now injured) Allen have positive overall ratings. This pretty much extends over to run defense and pass coverage.

SPECIAL TEAMS
No, you're not imagining things - they've got a Henry at P and a Henery at PK. Jackson (PR) and Deon Lewis (KR) add a home-run copmponent to Philly special teams.

 Eagles Last Game
Eagles, though ahead 24 -17 in the 3Q and  24 - 20 going into the 4Q, lost to da Bears 30 - 24

Game summary:

First Quarter

• Hester returned the opening KO to the Chi 21 and the Bears mounted a 12-play TD drive. Key plays: 6, 25 and 14-yard runs by Forte and a 14-yard completion. Scoring play was a 5-yard completion from Cutler to Spaeth. Eagle safety, Nate Allen was injured toward the end of the drive., Bears 7 - Eagles 0.

•   KO was out of bounds, but the Eagles had trouble moving from their own 40 to the Bear 40 before Henry dropped a punt at the Chi 13. Bears managed to pick up a few 1st downs before stalling at the Philly 48. Punt was fair caught at the Philly 22. They moved to the 27 in three plays as the quarter ended. 1st Quarter Score: Bears 7 - Eagles 0.

Second Quarter

• An interference call and a +18 run by McCoy helped move the Eagles to the Chicago 19, but on the next play, Vick's pass was intercepted and returned to the Chicago 48. A short pass to Bennett (who turned it into a +26 yard gain helped move Chi to the Philly 33 where the drive stalled and Gould connected from 51-yards.  Bears 10 - Eagles 0.

• Philly returned the KO to their own 18 and made it to the Bear 29 where their drive stalled. Henery's 47-yard attempt was good. Key play was a 31-yard completion from Vick to Maclin.  Bears 10 - Eagles 3.

• 2:04 left. SBears returned KO to the 20. On the third play from scrimmage, Rolle recovered a Forte fumble (ruled a fumble after a completion) and returned it 22 yards for a TD to tie the score. Bears 10 - Eagles 10.

• Hester returned the KO to the Chi 15 with 1:38 left. They moved to their 30 and were forced to punt. Punt was fumbled by Jackson (who fielded it on his 20 and was racked up at his own 11-yard line - fumble was recovered at the 9). 0:56 left. A roughing the passer call on Babin helped set up a 2-yard Barber TD run. Bears 17 - Eagles 10. 

• There was still 0:46 left til halftime, but Philly couldn't get anything done. First Half Score: Bears 17 - Eagles 10. 

Third Quarter

• Touchback on the KO. Philly put together a 15-play TD drive to turn the 7-point Bear lead into a tie FB game (That's what you want to do). It was mostly on short passes by Vick and runs by Celek. First 8 plays were Vick passes out of the shotgun followed by 4 straight runs by McCoy. Longest play was a 21-yard completion to Celek. TD was on a 4-yard run up the middle by R. Brown.  Bears 17 - Eagles 17. 

• NOn the 3rd play of the next series, a disputed fumble by Forte (forced by Cole) was ruled a recovery by Patterson. Bear ball on the Eagle 41. After Vick scrambled for +8, McCoy rambled around left end for a 33-yard TD. Philly ahead for the first time.   Eagles 24 - Bears 17 -  

•  A holding penalty on the KO forced Chicago back to its own 6-yard line. A 17-yard run up the middle by Barber and two completions up the middle for +28 and +18 helped set up a Gould 38 yard FG from the Eagle 20. Eagles 24 - Bears 20.

• KO went for a touchback. 2nd & 4 at the Philly 26 as the quarter ended. 3rd Quarter Score: Eagles 24 - Bears 20.

Fourth Quarter

• Philly wound up going 3 & out, and Hester's 19-yard punt return gave the Bears the ball at their own 49. A roughness penalty on Tapp added 10 yards to a 12 yard completion to Hester, Two plays later, Cutler hit Bennett for a 5-yard score. Bears regain the lead. Bears 27 - Eagles 24.

• Lewis returned the KO to the Philly 21. There was 12:18 left. Eagles picked up a couple of 1st downs but unsuccesffuly faked a punt from the Bear 42. Bears took over with 9:25 left. They mounted an 11 play drive that drained 5:27 off the clock before stalling at the Eagle 4 and Gould bunted a 22-yarder.  Bears 30 - Eagles 24.

• 3:58 left. Philly returned the KO to their own 37. Vick managed to dink and dunk his way to two 1st downs, but the drive fizzled when they failed to convert a 4th & 10 at the Bear 39. 1:45 left. Bears ran off most of the remaining time and punted 23-yards out of bounds. 0:03 left on the clock. Vick's pass to Jackson was incomplete,. Game over.   Final Score: Bears 30 - Eagles 24.

Game Stats

• Vick went 21 for 38, no TD's and a pick

• McCoy gained 71 yards on 16 carries.

• One McCoy carry was for 33 yards (& a TD). Which means he gained 38 remaining yards on 15 carries.

• Celek had 7 catches for 60 yards. McCoy caught  5 for 46 yards. Avant went 4 for 63. Jackson only caught 2 (for 16).

• Which means that 12 of Vick's 21 completions were to either a TE or RB.

• Jackson lost 1 fumble (but Forte lost 2 fumbles to the Eagles).

• Coleman led the defense with 12 tackles followed by Chaney (10) and Rolle (6)

• Rolle and Cole (note the rhyme) forced a fumble apiece.

• Vick was sacked once. Eagles failed to sack Cutler.

• Penalties were even-steven at 6 apiece.

• Bears enjoyed a time of possession lead of roughly 5:00.

 Meet the Eagles
On paper, it starts with Vick on offense and ends with Samuel, DRC and Asomugha at corner (with a great RB - McCoy, explosive receivers - Jackson, Avant, Maclin and Smith - and a Pro Bowl TE - Celek - in between) . But (as we've already stated) we sometimes wonder whether the Eagle coaching staff has figured out how to use all their new toys to best advantage. On Monday night, you didn't see Vick scrambling for mega-yards or connecting with Jackson, Avant or Maclin deep. True, they did squeeze a 33-yard TD run out of McCoy and 7 completions from Celek, but take away McCoy's TD run and he gained 38 yards on 16 times carries.

  Quarterbacks
07 Vick, Michael QB 6-0 215 31 10 Virginia Tech
09 Young, Vince QB 6-5 232 28 6 Texas
03 Kafka, Mike QB 6-3 225 24 2 Northwestern

Evaluation
Vick can beat you with his arm or with his feet, but he doesn't consistently do so. I love their picking up a similar backup QB in Vince Young. (Most teams don't back up specially-gifted QB's with clones).

 Running Backs

25 McCoy, LeSean RB 5-11 208 23 3 Pittsburgh
28 Lewis, Dion RB 5-8 195 21 R Pittsburgh
34 Brown, Ronnie RB 6-0 230 29 7 Auburn
32 Schmitt, Owen FB 6-2 245 26 4 West Virginia

Evaluation
McCoy has emerged as one of the top young RB's in the NFL I loved Lewis when he was in college at Pitt. Smith gives Philly pop up the middle in short yardage. Schmitt is a hard-nosed blocker.

 Wide Receivers

18 Maclin, Jeremy WR 6-0 198 23 3 Missouri
14 Cooper, Riley WR 6-3 222 24 2 Florida
10 Jackson, DeSean WR 5-10 175 24 4 California
81 Avant, Jason WR 6-0 212 28 6 Michigan
11 Smith, Steve WR 5-11 195 26 5 USC

Evaluation
Most deep and talented Eagle receiving corps that we can remember ever. Jackson is not delivering the home-run stats he did a year ago, but he's likely to explode every time he touches the ball. Lack of WR production of late may be more to do with defensive adjustments than a fall-off in tackle and will probably be rectified eventually by how the Eagles "adjust to those adjustments."

Tight Ends
87 Celek, Brent TE 6-4 255 26 5 Cincinnati
82 Harbor, Clay TE 6-3 252 24 2 Missouri State

Evaluation
Celek is a beast when healthy - he caught 7 vs. Chicago. Philly may be a bit nervous about lack of depth and just elevated another TE from their practice squad.

DE - 93 Campbell, 98 Eason
NT - 92 D Williams, 79 Carter
DT - 90 Dockett, 91 Holliday
Campbell and Dockett had huge games last week. They've sacked, pressured or hit enemy QB's 59 times. Williams is adequate inside (no significant positive or negative ratings). but still prone to overcommitting and subject to back-edge misdirection cutbacks. When Williams tires, Eason has not gotten the job done and Carter is a bit light,in the butt. Carter is easily outplaying Eason (who has significant negative ratings as a pass rusher and run stopper). Holliday provides steady support in a backup role. Our guys tend to wear down in the 2H - you seldom see them getting to the QB when the other team is trying to play "beat the clock" late in games. One thing I'd like to see more of are hands up on the pass rush (to disrupt throwing trajectories and passing lanes). Haggans has 4 bat-downs, but Campbell is the only Cardinal player who consistentlygets those mitts up. And you don't have to bat the ball every time either - the final Bradford incompletion last week was because his trajectory was too high (because he had to throw over defenders' outstretched hands. Definitely an improvement last week, but I'd like to see this on an every-play basis.

WLB - 55 Porter, 50 Schofield
ILB  51 Lenon, 52 Bradley
ILB- 558 D Washington, 56 Walker,
SLB - 53 Haggans, 94 Acho
Statistically, Washington (+12.5 rating overall and positive ratings across all areas of play) is having a whale of a year and Schofield (+2.4) s beginning to make his presence felt. The rest of the Cardinal LB's (save for Acho who's average) have ratings in the negative. Haggans has decent numbers rushing the passer, and Lenon has good numbers in coverage, but that's about it.  Porter's (considered among the top 4 in-game trash talkers in the NFL) had minor surgery and will be out for awhile. Card coaches seem to be dealing with a lack of impact from an impact unit by giving Acho and Coleman more playing time and D Washington more responsibility. (Memo to DWash - Imagine how awesome you'd be if you learned how to catch every potential interception thrown your way). Lenon has been unspectacularly soild but Bradley continues to underwhelm. The Cards haven't had a Big Dawg ILB since the days of Eric Hill (2012 draft priority)?

RCB - 21 Peterson, 31 Marshall
LCB- 20 Jefferson, 27 Adams, 32 Lindsay   
SS-  24 Wilson,   41 Abdullah, 40 Tillman
FS- 25 Rhodes,  49 Rash Johnson, 37 Celestine
Statistically, only Adrian Wilson has earned a positive overall rating (and he's suffering both as a pass rusher and penalty avoider). He has the only positive rating for pass coverage. Jefferson is surprisingly strong vs. the run,. Jefferson was replaced by Marshall and Adams a bit. Peterson came away with a pick and looked more comfortable turning for the ball when defending deep. Wilson made a greater proportion of plays last week than he had up til then. The absence of Rhodes is forcing us to play three corners (with one of them filling the void at FS in coverage). Adams banged up the back of his head on that 4Q collision tackle last week, but seems to be ready to go - he may not be a good every-play defender, but he's great in specific roles.

K-04 Feely
P-  09 Zastudil
H - 09 Zastudil
LS- 82 Leach
KR - 37Stephens-Howling, 20 Jefferson
PR - 21 Peterson
Feely  and Zastudil are  OK. Peterson's 99-yard game-winning  TD in OT was even more spectacular than his TD return the previous week. He seems really solid and comfortable back there - as though the position was custom-made for his talent. LSH is also a possibility to return every KO long.

  Eagles - Cards Matchups
When you first take a quick peek at the matchup stats, your instinct is to pack it in and take up miniature golf.

• You have Philly's #6 ranked offense going up against Arizona's #30 overall defense.

• You have Philly's #2-ranked rushing offense matched up against the Cardinals' #24 run defense.

• Then there's Philly's #2-ranked pass rush going up against Arizona's' dead-last ranked pass blockers.

• And Philly's 4th ranked run blockers up against Arizona's 24th ranked run defense.

There are a few soft spots favoring the Cards in the matchups:

• Our 9th ranked special teams go up agains their #30-ranked special teams.

• We're 12th in pass coverage going up against Philly's #20-ranked pass offense.

But in general, statistically we're toast. Fortunately. football is played by 22 players on the field at any one time and not by 22 standard-deviations. You still gotta play the game.

This figures to come down to how well we game-plan - to contain Vick, Jackson, McCoy and Celek while running more frequently to take the heat off Skelton (whose receivers figure to be blanketed)  - and how well (& hard) our guys execute the plan.

 Eagle Passing Attack vs. Cardinal Pass Defense
Although the Eagles are (a) a potential deep threat at any time and (b) Vickhas the potential to gain 100+ yards when scrambling, this year's Eagles have puny YPC averages and Vick isn't running all that much. Nevertheless, they could and the Cardinal defense would be well advised to obey "Vick Rules" (i.e.. don't overrun him on the blitz, maintain outside contain and be disciplined in the gaps.

Card DB's (most notably Peterson, Jefferson, Adams and Marshall) will have their hands full defending against Jackson, Maclin and Avant, but we've noticed that Vick can be forced into making bad decisions when under pressure, he's operating behind a somewhat iffy offensive line and Cardinal pass rushers (Campbell, Dockett, Acho and Scho) are beginning to learn how to get to the passer.

Both McCoy out of the backfield and Celek are important parts of the Eagle pass offense, so it will be up to guys like A-Dub and D Wash to keep them bottled up (not an easy job given the multiple receiving threats of the Eagles).

 Eagle Running Attack vs. Cardinal Run Defense
Cards did a good job last week containing Steven Jackson. McCoy has been terrific all year, but - outside of his one 33-yard TD run Monday night, he only gained 38 yards on 16 carries.

 Cardinals have been very succeptible to zone-blocking cutback plays, with Dan Williams or Eason repeatedly overpursuiing to their left but none of our LB's behind them flowing back to the right to plug the vacated gap. They've got to exercise the kind of gap discipline and gang tackling they did a week ago to contain Jackson or otherwise, McCoy will outquick them to death.

 Cardinal Passing Attack vs. Eagle Pass Defense
Skelton figures to be in for Kolb again. I think he'll handle the Philly pass rush better than Kolb (who too often seemed to scramble right into danger) but he, his receivers and Cardinal pass blockers will have their work cut out.

This game does not appear to be a dual between Cardinal receivers and Eagle corners. More likely, Miller will try to attain favorable matchups between Cardinal TE's and LSH and Eagle LB's and safeties.

Expect to see more LSH and less of Beanie due to Beanie's (a) injury and (b) suspect hands.

 Cardinal Running Attack vs. Eagle  Run Defense
Cards will have to run Beanie (or Alfonso Smith or Chester Taylor) more frequently to take the heat off their somewhat shaky pass offense matched up against Philly's pass rush and Pro Bowl corners. (If the running game "works", we can continue to pound away. Even if it doesn't, it will serve to keep the Philly pass rush honest).

Special Teams
No doubt there will be an overreaction by the media to Peterson. Nevertheless, his presence may help influence how Reid and April want to establish and implement their kicking and punting strategies. Cardinal coverage teams were gorgeous against the Rams and will need to be equally as energetic, disciplined and hard-hitting vs. Philly.. Henry is a terrific directional punter (don't know about the strength of his leg, though). Henery seems to be an OK kicker. Lewis and Jackson are equally as dangerous as LSH and Peterson in the return game.

Coaching
Two teams dealing with opposite challenges - Reid has to keep the fires burning after his team blew another 4Q lead and dug their way deeper into a hole in the playoff hunt. Wiz has to find away to build on the positive experience of coming from behind without lettiing his players rest on their laurels.

 Final Word  
A "definition game" that should help answer the parallel questions of "where each team is at?" (both physically and mentally) at this points in their respective seasons