EAGLEMANIACAL.com

DESPITE being decimated by injuries, we’ve been in these last two games until the closing seconds. No matter how hard the hits, our Eagles just keep moving forward. Unfortunately, the hard hits keep coming. QB Jalen Hurts will have to sit out this game with a blood clot issue, and let QB Tanner McKee come in and do his thing.

We’re also getting back WR DeVonta Smith. Meaning that McKee, will at least have a legit number one receiver to throw to, vs a Panthers defense that’s allowing 27 points per game. If the interior Offensive Line can be one week better, we could see the Offense take a serious lurch forward on Sunday. (Baby steps.)

A win gets us to 3 – 3, snaps a three game skid, and keeps us firmly in second place of a wide open NFC East, where the giants owe us two games this year.

A loss sees us fall to 2 – 4, with chants that the Eagles should tank the season, growing louder and louder.

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The point of Four Things isn’t to predict a winner, it’s to discuss which tactics would give our Eagles the best chance to win this game. Often I list fundamentals, as some of the four things. BUT NO MORE! Unless something specific is needed, fundamentals like Running the ball; playing lots of Man Press; and Tackling instead of going for the strip, will be automatically included. (Like the five consonants and a vowel that Wheel Of Fortune automatically spots you.) So here are the Four Things that we need to focus on this week versus: the PANTHERS

1) Get Their QB Moving: The Panthers QB is really not a running quarterback to start with. If we can get him throwing on the move, it’ll affect his launch platform, and maybe we can steal a ball or two from him. Getting him on the ground would also be nice, but this week takeaways need to be the priority with regard to pass-rushing.

2) Lean On the Run: If we can put up 130 yards on the ground, we should be in this one. Hurts was still getting familiar with the new scheme in gameplan situations. That means McKee will have spent far less time getting real reps in it. So he can’t be expected to come out throwing 40 attempts, behind our patchwork O-Line. Not if we’re trying to win the game. (Which we ARE!) Downhill, between the Tackles, ball-control running will make the game go faster and allow for our Defense to get their breath. Because lord knows, we’re going to be leaning on them.

3) Make Catches Expensive: Our opponent boasts some big receivers at 6’5, 6’4, 6’3, and 6’3. All of these are over 210 pounds and one is 227. These guys are going to use their height to make catches. We need to make sure that when their WR’s put those arms up, their exposed ribs see some sauce; and that jump balls are met with nearly being planted like the flag at Iwo Jima. Any ball put where our DB can’t reach, has to have a bill attached to it. And the prices need to be almost murder.

4) Establish Hot Routes: McKee being so inexperienced means that he will see quite a bit of blitzes, until he shows that he can solve them. Not working in his favor is the fact that this system, doesn’t seem to have many blitz punishing routes woven into it. So when Hurts has been in, he’s been under constant siege.

Perhaps the expectation is for the QB to individually call out a blitz beating route, but that has mounting drawbacks. What could help McKee (and these could be left in the offense for when Hurts gets back), are some hot routes that allow the ball to be quickly dumped, forward of the line of scrimmage. NO SCREENS, goddammit!

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If the Eagles do these Four Things, then we’ll be virtually impossible to beat. That being said…

The Eagles have their problems, but this Panthers team is by no means a world beater. Their defense has had only one good game, and that was against the Falcons with QB Cooper Rush starting. Listen, we are beat to shit. The vibes are weak. Some fans are even signaling to the team, that it would be okay if they quit.

But that’s not who we are. Our division is still wide open. So we don’t quit. We don’t surrender. A wise man once said, “It’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward.” That’s why we don’t fold. Even with all these hits,

The division is still wide open. Our season is far from over. So we fight.

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WARNING: I don’t have the faintest clue as to what a point spread is, and I know even less about how it works. I know FOOTBALL and that’s it. If you use Four Things as a gambling tool, then you are a fool trying to lose your money, and will deserve it when you do.

Check back in a couple of days for Four Things Reviewed, and we’ll discuss how this game went.