Eagles / Jaguars Game Preview

Let's hope the Eagles are less sluggish than I was in posting this week's game preview.  They're going to have to be sharp, not just episodically effective, against a Jacksonville squad that is the quintessential "any given Sunday" team: good enough to beat Dallas and Pittsburgh, bad enough to lose to Houston. 

After last week's Polish Rifle debacle, I'm not going to be taunting too many other opposing quarterbacks.  However, this idea that David Garrard is somehow a great quarterback who just can't get past the "lesser" Byron Leftwich is just nuts.  Look at his numbers.  Yes, he went 4-1 filling in for Leftwich last year, but he beat Cleveland, San Francisco, Houston and Tennessee in doing it.  That was #12, #6, #1 and #3 in the draft order this year. 

I'm not saying he's a bad quarterback, but so far he's basically shown that he can play the A.J. Feeley caretaker role.  He's also a bit of a fumbler, putting five balls on the ground in his eight starts.  Look for the Eagles to be swiping at the ball any time they get close to him.

With that said, I don't really love the match-up this week.  Jax has a good running game, huge receivers to convert important third downs, and a defense that played well in four games and badly in two. They are just as much an unknown as we are.  And that's unnerving.

Garrard won't beat the Bird by himself, but IF the running game is working and IF our offense is shooting themselves in the foot again ... then maybe he can make just enough plays to his Brobdingnagian receivers to win.

However, I like the Eagles for two reasons: the game's at home and McNabb was embarrassed last week. This is a bounceback game for him, and that should be enough.  I'm also looking forward to the returns of Rod Hood and Donte Stallworth, although I'm still nervous about Donte not being 100 percent out there.  With the top three cornerbacks healthy and Considine playing more snaps at safety, I think this could be the week the defense starts to turn the corner. 

So, we have too wildly inconsistent teams battling it out in a game that both really need to stay in the mid-season playoff hunt.  And this is an AFC opponent heading into the Eagles' bye week, which historically has not been a good combination.

But I'm going to go with my gut, and say that this immensely talented team has finally learned the lesson it should have learned two times before.  And I'm counting on our field goal kicker to come through today in what are shaping up to be some difficult, blustery conditions. 

Prediction: Eagles 16 - Jaguars 13.

Comments

[Tom G]

"Brobdingnagian"

Impressive.