Redskins at Eagles? This game is huge. HUGE! DMac comes back to the Linc for the first time as a Redskin. You KNOW he has a huge chip on his shoulder, starting with the infamous draft day booing and going all the way up to this past Easter weekend:
Ring...ring...
"McNabb residence, this is Donovan speaking."
"Don."
"Happy Easter, Coach Reid! Mormons do celebrate Easter, right?"
"Yes, Don. Listen, I've got some bad news for you."
"You re-signed TO?"
"No -- we traded you to the Redskins 5 minutes ago. Your stuff is in a box outside the NovaCare complex. You can pick it up whenever you like. We changed the locks. And gave your parking space to Kevin Kolb."
"Well, at least I don't have to play with that self-centered douchebag Terrell Owens again."
Although I was concerned that I'd be conflicted about this game, I find that I'm not. I definitely want the Eagles to win. I'm just not sure we can.
I know --- we're atop the division (for all that means in week 4) and the Skins have been abysmal the past two weeks. But McNabb knows everything about our O and D inside out. You better believe he's shared that ALL with the Skins coaches in the scouting sessions.
Of course, the Eagles have the offensive player of the month in Michael Vick and the defensive rookie of the month in Nate Allen. Towards whom Big5 will be throwing. To two wideouts who are, collectively, older than the rapidly-melting glaciers.
And, of course, divisional games are always wacky. As I explained to someone recently, "any given Sunday" is quadrupley true when it's an in division game.
On the other hand, is the "new" Mike Vick permanent? We've beat two pretty bad teams (the Lions and the Jags), and although he played well in the second half against the Packers, he couldn't bring us back. In other words, he's looking brilliant against scrubs. On the other hand, he's been great in the red zone. And many would argue that the Skins are scrubs this year, of course, but again, "any given Sunday."
Of course, the Redskins have been terrible in the red zone. The fact that they've almost universally chosen run plays (and they have NO ground game this year) hasn't stopped the Philly sportswriters from blaming it on McNabb.
And now we're back to that whole "chip on the shoulder" thing - last season's two end games against the Cowboys aside, McNabb generally plays better when he's playing with a chip on his shoulder. Seems to help him focus. But that lack of a ground game means our D will pretty much be safe blitzing (which we love to do) and blanketing the wideouts and jumping routes to come up with picks.
Verdict: I'm a mess about this game, I can't wait until Sunday, and I hope the Eagles can pull off a win, which I don't think is nearly the sure thing lots of people seem to think it is.
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