Exploring The Eagles: 5 Q’s

Last night I was contacted by Mike Burke of Birdsfan.com and he and I exchanged some questions for this weeks game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Miami Dolphins.  You can read my answers to his questions here.  Below are the questions he answered for me.

1:  How will Vick’s return change the dynamic of the Philly offense?

"I don’t think it will change all that much.  Andy Reid and company didn’t really seem to hold anything back when Vince Young was starting.  They tried to exploit a weak Patriots secondary and tried to stretch the field on the Seahawks, both things I think would have been the same with Vick as the starter.The one thing I’m hoping to see change with the return of Vick is the number of turnovers on offense.  Vick has struggled with this himself, but Young was an interception machine.  I’m hoping that Vick will be a bit smarter with the ball in his return."

2:  The Eagles were shocked in primetime by the Seahawk last week, how does this team rebound?

"Personally, I wasn’t that shocked.  I’ve gotten to the point where really nothing they do now shocks me.  The season overall has clearly been shocking because nobody predicted they would be where they are right now.The rest of the season is more or less a glorified preseason to me.  I want to see what some of the younger guys can bring to the table and I’d like to see some questioned be answered for next season.  They need to determine what positions their comfortable in and which positions will priorities in the draft and free agency."

3:   D. Jax is making more headlines for his antics than his play, is his attitude change all about contract or is their more?

"I think there’s definitely frustration related to his contract situation but also the frustration of this season itself.  He has been frustrated with his contract for a while now, but he has handled himself very well.  I believe the mounting frustration of the team under performing this season has taken him over the edge.He’s also been playing poorly.  His effort seems to be lacking and his heart doesn’t seem to be into it anymore."

4: How well do the Eagles match up against the Dolphins offense?

"It seems like the Dolphins have had some recent success running the football and I could see them doing that against the Eagles pretty successfully as well.  Just when I thought the Eagles run defense was making strides they got torn apart by Marshawn Lynch.  They simply couldn’t tackle, and if they repeat that performance, the Dolphins should be able to run on them all day.Another thing to watch will be the health of Nnamdi Asomugha.  He’s been banged up lately, and if he can’t play, it will make the task of covering Brandon Marshall that much more difficult."

5:  Against their defense?

"The thing that scares me the most is that the Dolphins run defense is much better than their pass defense.  This isn’t to say the Eagles can’t throw the ball, but they have a really good run game that Andy Reid just loves to abandon at the drop of a hat.  I want to see them get LeSean McCoy 20 or so carries, but the game plan going in might call for a heavy dose of throwing the ball.If that is really the way they go, I can only hope that Michael Vick does a better job of progressing through his reads and making the right throws."

6:  Score prediction?

"I’ll say Dolphins 31 – Eagles 24."