Eagles pre game thread!

[Dames]

Crap!
You're right. I could sware we beat you last year.
My bad!

This is why you come to people's board humble. It lessons "some" of the sting when you are this blatantly wrong.

[YikesVikes]

I know this makes ZERO football sense, but I think we still have your number... for now, so I'm going to go with my team.

You're right. That makes ZERO sense. I'm pretty sure we beat you last year. In Philly, no less.

Crap!
You're right. I could sware we beat you last year.
My bad!

This is why you come to people's board humble. It lessons "some" of the sting when you are this blatantly wrong.
[/quote]

Welcome Rob. What board are you from?

[YikesVikes]

Cheers.
It's been a while (last February). I hope everyone is doing well. I'll keep it simple, I would love to say my Eagles would be 5-0 if it weren't for two Nelson Aguliar dropped passes. At the same time, we could have lost both the Redskins and Packers games and be 1-4. We are good, but nowhere near great. We make a lot of stupid, stupid, self-inflicted mistakes, that have cost us games.
We are also banged up, both in the secondary, DLine and we are missing Desean Jackson.

What we have going for us is we are stout against the run. We contained Bell and we basically made the Pack, who is a good running team abandon the run. That being said, we are atrocious against the pass. Every week we do have a guy coming back and our D coordinator is starting to find ways to try to cover up for the fact that we are so bad. I know we can't shut down your passing game... we just aren't that good enough. You will put up points on us. If we allow you guys over 24... I think we lose the game because our Offense is inconsistent. We should have put up 40+ vs the Jets. We can't be that sloppy vs better teams. Btw, I respect Cook and think he's a monster. I'm hoping we will be able to contain him like we've contained every other back this year. IF... you guys beat us it will be through the air, and not because Cook and company run wild. I hate Adam Thielen, cause the sucker seems to always be open and he catches everything. Diggs, of course, scares me as well.

IF... we win, is because we contain your run, slow... but not stop your passing game enough to keep you guys under 24 points. We have a run attack that's pretty good (Howard/Sanders). Neither one of those guys are good, but they complement each other because one is power... one is speed. Ertz is Ertz, but Goodard is starting into a pretty good Ertz 2.0. We are starting to play a little bit more balance in our rush/pass attack, which I prefer to cause Wentz, who shows moments of brilliance, can also show moments of mediocrity. I know this makes ZERO football sense, but I think we still have your number... for now, so I'm going to go with my team.

Eagles 27
Vikings 23

Here's to a good game.

And I'm out!

I think you guys have the kind of front that we will struggle against, an interior quick pressure unit. I would argue that you guys haven't really faced a stellar rushing and you are so bad against the pass it helps you rushing numbers. This will be a good measuring stick for you guys and let you know if your rushing defense is for real.

[Pondering Her Percy]

Cousins can't beat a winner so I think 24-20 Eagles.

He beat the Eagles last year....in Philly and they were a winner.

[Pondering Her Percy]

We need to continue the roll outs with Cousins this game. If we have him sitting in the pocket with this interior DL vs our interior OL, he's going to get killed and have zero time to throw. Especially if he's dropping back from under center. I would hope our OC isnt that dumb to do that. Eagles are tough vs the run but I think Cook can get rolling with the right game plan. Whether they are good vs. the run or not, we need to go in with a balanced game plan. Keep this defense on their toes and get the ball out fast. Our defense cant afford to go down 21-0 either. We need to start fast on defense as well. If we look like we did vs GB in that first half, we're going to get beat.

I say 27-17 Vikings.

[J. Kapp 11]

The idea that Cousins needs to scan the field and take a long time to throw is, in my opinion, wrong.

Philly had 10 sacks against the Jets last week. Seven of those came against just a 4-man rush, and very few of them were coverage sacks. On many of those, the sacks occurred 3-4 or more seconds into the play. Often, there was a clean pocket, and Luke Falk had receivers come open, but he held the ball too long. The Eagles' pass rush is decent -- not devastating -- but they have strong players along the D-line who will get there if given a chance. When Cousins plays poorly, it's generally because he's indecisive.

The key for Cousins will be to be decisive and get the ball out quickly. The longer he stands there, the more likely he is to get hit. The more likely he is to get hit, the more likely he is to fumble. Go back and watch Rodgers against the Eagles (even though the Pukers lost). He had a good day, mainly because he got the ball out quickly, even on deep routes. He identified the single coverage at the LOS and pushed it that direction quickly. He didn't stand there and analyze all his progressions, like Cousins tends to do. Green Bay lost because they can't stop the run. It doesn't appear they can stop the pass, either (see Prescott, Dak, with more than 450 yards but beat himself with bad picks), but I digress.

I've learned over the years not to get into prognostications, but I will say this is a winnable game for the Vikings against a good team. It's the perfect situation for Cousins against a winning team -- a noon start time (he sucks in late games and prime time) at home.

And let's not sleep on the Vikings' defense. Save for one quarter against Green Bay, they've given up very, very few points. Without DeSean Jackson, I'm not sure the Eagles have the firepower to score a lot of points. I do worry about Ertz, as we tend to get gashed by tight ends.

I like our chances ... but I'm far from overconfident. Cousins HAS to come through with an efficient game and no turnovers.

[mansquatch]

I'm with you Kapp, this is a prove it game for the Vikings. In a lot of ways I view the next two games as being very pivotal for the season. If we can get a win against a good PHI team and then grab a road division win against an improved Lions club then we are in good shape to make a late season push and string some wins together. Huge game IMO.

[VikingLord]

Interesting to read the expert picks summary over at Vikings.com this week: https://www.vikings.com/news/nfl-expert ... -6-matchup

Most are picking the Eagles in a fairly close game. There are several recurring themes in those predictions:

- Of course, lots show doubt in Cousins and his ability to perform against teams with winning records.
- Some doubt the Vikings will be able to move the ball on the Eagles at all, on the ground or via the air.
- Another almost shocking recurring theme is the utter lack of mention or respect for the Vikings defense. It just doesn't come up. Most of the analysis there seems to assume the Eagles will be able to plow through and score enough to win. Every expert pick listed that has a score has the Eagles putting up 20+ on the Vikings (the low is actually 20). Amazing to see that to be honest, but I think it speaks to the overall lack of consistency shown by the Vikings on defense under Zimmer.
- The overriding sense I get from reading the prediction analysis is that the Eagles are "rounding into form" while the Vikings are inconsistent, up-and-down, and fatally-flawed against overall better teams, which apparently the 3-2 Eagles are.

Cousins and Zimmer continue to get chances to show they can solve the puzzle of games against better competition. They've failed the first two tests this year and get another shot at it at home against the Eagles.

[J. Kapp 11]

Interesting to read the expert picks summary over at Vikings.com this week: https://www.vikings.com/news/nfl-expert ... -6-matchup

Most are picking the Eagles in a fairly close game. There are several recurring themes in those predictions:

- Of course, lots show doubt in Cousins and his ability to perform against teams with winning records.
- Some doubt the Vikings will be able to move the ball on the Eagles at all, on the ground or via the air.
- Another almost shocking recurring theme is the utter lack of mention or respect for the Vikings defense. It just doesn't come up. Most of the analysis there seems to assume the Eagles will be able to plow through and score enough to win. Every expert pick listed that has a score has the Eagles putting up 20+ on the Vikings (the low is actually 20). Amazing to see that to be honest, but I think it speaks to the overall lack of consistency shown by the Vikings on defense under Zimmer.
- The overriding sense I get from reading the prediction analysis is that the Eagles are "rounding into form" while the Vikings are inconsistent, up-and-down, and fatally-flawed against overall better teams, which apparently the 3-2 Eagles are.

Cousins and Zimmer continue to get chances to show they can solve the puzzle of games against better competition. They've failed the first two tests this year and get another shot at it at home against the Eagles.

That is interesting.

Here are some facts about the two defenses by comparison.

Total yards: Vikings rank 5th, Eagles 15th.
Yards per play: Vikings 2nd, Eagles 11th
Scoring defense: Vikings 4th, Eagles T18th
Rush defense: Eagles 1st, Vikings 8th
Pass defense: Vikings 6th, Eagles 29th

There are a lot more stats I could quote, but the bottom line is that the Vikings defense is ranked in the top 10 in almost every category, while Philadelphia's is ranked in the top 10 in only rushing defense. And the Vikings haven't had the luxury of padding their defensive stats against the hapless Jets. They also gave the Falcons their only win, while we annihilated Atlanta. Even though they beat the Packers, they gave up nearly 500 yards of offense. From a yardage/points standpoint, our defense has had one bad quarter of football.

But that's the life of a Vikings fan. We will be underestimated by the majority of the media until we actually win a Super Bowl.

[halfgiz]

After such a good game last week, I hope we don't come out flat.
It's all going to come down to turnovers. Your guess is as good as mine.

[CharVike]

After such a good game last week, I hope we don't come out flat.
It's all going to come down to turnovers. Your guess is as good as mine.

It's hard to tell what this team will do. They could win big or get beat big. Neither would surprise me. I really feel our D needs to play a great game against a good team. They haven't held up either. Zim better pressure this guy big time.

[CharVike]

Cousins can't beat a winner so I think 24-20 Eagles.

He beat the Eagles last year....in Philly and they were a winner.

I'm quoting the consensus. 80% on this board call him a loser and 100% of the real world does also.

[Pondering Her Percy]

He beat the Eagles last year....in Philly and they were a winner.

I'm quoting the consensus. 80% on this board call him a loser and 100% of the real world does also.

Regardless, he’s had the eagles number for the most part. Since becoming a starter in 2015, his record is 5-2 against the eagles. The only 2 losses he’s had were in 2017 (probably the worst Washington team he was one) and it was the year Philly won the SB

[CharVike]

The idea that Cousins needs to scan the field and take a long time to throw is, in my opinion, wrong.

Philly had 10 sacks against the Jets last week. Seven of those came against just a 4-man rush, and very few of them were coverage sacks. On many of those, the sacks occurred 3-4 or more seconds into the play. Often, there was a clean pocket, and Luke Falk had receivers come open, but he held the ball too long. The Eagles' pass rush is decent -- not devastating -- but they have strong players along the D-line who will get there if given a chance. When Cousins plays poorly, it's generally because he's indecisive.

The key for Cousins will be to be decisive and get the ball out quickly. The longer he stands there, the more likely he is to get hit. The more likely he is to get hit, the more likely he is to fumble. Go back and watch Rodgers against the Eagles (even though the Pukers lost). He had a good day, mainly because he got the ball out quickly, even on deep routes. He identified the single coverage at the LOS and pushed it that direction quickly. He didn't stand there and analyze all his progressions, like Cousins tends to do. Green Bay lost because they can't stop the run. It doesn't appear they can stop the pass, either (see Prescott, Dak, with more than 450 yards but beat himself with bad picks), but I digress.

I've learned over the years not to get into prognostications, but I will say this is a winnable game for the Vikings against a good team. It's the perfect situation for Cousins against a winning team -- a noon start time (he sucks in late games and prime time) at home.

And let's not sleep on the Vikings' defense. Save for one quarter against Green Bay, they've given up very, very few points. Without DeSean Jackson, I'm not sure the Eagles have the firepower to score a lot of points. I do worry about Ertz, as we tend to get gashed by tight ends.

I like our chances ... but I'm far from overconfident. Cousins HAS to come through with an efficient game and no turnovers.

Sometimes stats can be a little miss leading. Dak had a ton of yards which is a good thing. His team was way down and the Pack gave him that. All those yards were worthless. But it looks good. He sucked when the game was in reach. Your expecting Cousins, who needs to be replaced, to do what a future HOFer done. I think that's a very high expectation. Rodgers get's rid of the ball quickly. He knows what to do when he approaches the LOS. Cousins has no clue what to do at the LOS. His biggest problem will be zero blocking up the gut. Kline is out so we will have a blocking dummy out there. Bradberry is struggling and basically getting smothered and Elf shouldn't be on the field. That's beyond bad. Give that to any QB and they will be shaking in there boots. But as others have pointed out they better role him out of the pocket. It's going to be messy in the middle and not much time to throw. But the Eagle secondary isn't that good and the can't get much pressure so I expect us to score even with our OL problems. To me our D needs to step up. If Wentz rips them a new one the Eagles will be hard to beat. Put heat on him big time and get some picks. That gives us our best chance.

[J. Kapp 11]

I'm quoting the consensus. 80% on this board call him a loser and 100% of the real world does also.

Regardless, he’s had the eagles number for the most part. Since becoming a starter in 2015, his record is 5-2 against the eagles. The only 2 losses he’s had were in 2017 (probably the worst Washington team he was one) and it was the year Philly won the SB

Don't bother with stats, PHP. Stats lie.

Plus, he's has stated the consensus.