This week, the Eagles finally get to host their home opener. Aside from Mike Vick's concussion (which may not even be an issue by Sunday), the team has managed to survive the preseason and the first two weeks relatively unscathed, particularly when you look at this week's opponents: the Giants.
One of my good friends is a Giants fan, and he and I have been having an exchange on Facebook this week about the sorry state of the Giants roster. The pre-season was not kind to the Giants' D, and last week, Eli Manning lost both Domenik Hixon and Mario Manningham from his receiver core. As I observed to my friend:
At this rate, the Giants will be out of players by their bye week.
How's the practice squad looking?
Have they thought about sacrificing a goat?
Their secondary is particularly in trouble. To quote Big Blue View, right now, they have two defenses against passing plays: the other team calls a running play, or their front guys manage to get to the QB and force a sack or throwaway.
Somehow, I think a defensive plan that consists of: "Maybe Andy Reid's Eagles will opt to run 75 percent of the time! No wait -- maybe we can sack the hell out of Mike Vick. Or Mike Kafka. Or Vince Young. You know -- whoever's under center on Sunday!" is not likely to be effective.
Of course, our cagey coach is being, well, cagey, about which quarterback will start Sunday. And apparently, all three guys will be active. If I were a betting woman, I'd bet that Vick goes. But it's nice to know that if he's not ready or if, God forbid, he goes down again, we have TWO good options. Although he couldn't quite pull out the win last week, I must admit I was surprised at what a good game Mike Kafka was able to put together.
In the end, I think this game comes down to the fact that the Eagles are in the Giants' heads at this point. And that I don't see the Eagles dropping their home opener. And that I think there's an excellent chance DJax, Maclin or both have huge days against a very ineffective Giants' secondary, regardless of who's throwing them the ball. Eagles.
In the rest of the matchups:
Jaguars at Panthers. Cam Newton will get his first win this week. Congrats, rookie! Panthers.
Texans at Saints. These two teams look GREAT through week two, and I think it will be a shoot out. But you just can't pick against the Saints when they're in the Superdome. That's some serious homefield advantage. Saints.
49ers at Bengals. I don't have much in the way of comment on this game, other than to say: Bengals.
Dolphins at Browns. See above. Browns.
Patriots at Bills. The Bills are looking good through week 2. Guess we'll find out how good this week. Bills. (Yes, I seriously just called the Bills to beat the Patriots. I'm either crazy, or I'm going to look like an f-ing genius Sunday.)
Broncos at Titans. The Broncos are looking rough so far this year. Titans.
Lions at Vikings. Do you think McNabb will get the boot when the Vikings go 0-3? Lions.
Jets at Raiders. Jets. Duh. (Although the Raiders aren't looking too bad.)
Chiefs at Chargers. Chargers. Also duh. (The Chiefs, on the other hand, look like ass.)
Ravens at Rams. I know they're 0-2 so far, but I think the Rams (and Sam Bradford) are going to be able to hit the Ravens' somewhat depleted D pretty hard. Rams.
Falcons at Buccaneers. Falcons, who rebounded after their inexplicably flat opener against the Bears to school the Eagles last week.
Packers at Bears. Remember last year, when the Bears beat out the Packers to win the division? Yeah, me neither. Packers.
Cardinals at Seahawks. Cardinals. It's a little early, but the Seahawks may be this year's "Oh, the humanity!" team.
Steelers at Colts. Colts, take my advice and forfeit, then use the extra down time to audition quarterbacks. And head coaches. Steelers.
Redskins at Cowboys. I SOOOO want to call Redskins. But I don't know if I can truly convince myself that they'll go 3-0. Cowboys (and at the rate they're losing players, this might be the LAST game they win this year).