For the second straight week, the Eagles find themselves facing off against a winless team.
But make no mistake, these Tampa Bay Bucs are not the New York Giants.
The Giants are dead in the water, even deader now that they lost Thursday night. The Bucs, on the other hand, have come within a handful of points of having a winning record.
They dumped their quarterback, Josh Freeman, who was struggling, and now have hitched their horses to rookie Mike Glennon.
Meanwhile, Chip Kelly and the Birds have QB issues of their own. Michael Vick came up lame at the end of a scramble last week and has spent the week nursing a pulled hamstring. No one will be shocked if he does not play on Sunday, but Kelly insists it will be a game-time decision.
I think you can safely bank on it being Nick Foles, with Vick getting healthy for the Cowboys next week.
Foles and the Eagles offense will have their hands full with a very stingy Bucs’ defense. This one will not be a shootout. If it is, the chances are it’s the Eagles who wind up on the short end of the scoreboard.
Foles will try to ride LeSean McCoy, while using shorter passes targeting tight ends Brent Celek and Zach Ertz.
The problem with that thinking is that the Bucs are likely to stack the box to take away McCoy, and get in the receivers’ faces, daring Foles to try to beat them deep.
It will be interesting to see how Kelly decides to attack the Bucs, and how he alters his offense with Foles at the helm. I think he’s likely been game-planning all week to take advantage of Foles’ skills.
That means not so much of the read-option, and more reliance on McCoy and the short-pass game.
On defense, the Birds would be wise to go after the rookie Glennon, maybe getting a turnover along the way.
This one won’t be decided until the fourth quarter.
The Pick: Make it Eagles 26, Buccaneers 17. Foles will get his second win as a starter, ironically both coming at the expense of the Bucs.
Last Week: How bad are the Giants? And how brutal a season is Eli Manning putting together. He threw three more interceptions Thursday night. Vick’s injury, however, put a cloud over the big win in North Jersey. And it only cements my belief that if you decide to make Vick your starter, you better have a very competent backup, because you’re going to need him. Vick simply can’t avoid injury. I still have the over/under on games he plays this year set at 9. And I’m taking the under.
Season Record: I managed to get on a bit of a roll with that win over the Giants. I continue to mirror the Eagles with a 2-3 mark. Another win on Sunday would mean the Eagles go into a showdown against the Cowboys with no worse than a share of first place in the NFC Least. In the meantime, the Cowboys and Redskins clash on Sunday night. One of them will lose, and that’s good news for the Birds.
Game by Game: Eagles 33, Redskins 27 (My Pick: Redskins 31, Eagles 23)
Chargers 33, Eagles 30 (My Pick: Eagles 33, Chargers 17)
Chiefs 26, Eagles 16 (My Pick: Eagles 31, Chiefs 23)
Broncos 52, Eagles 20 (My Pick: Broncos 41, Eagles 27)
Eagles 36, Giants 21 (My Pick: Eagles 29, Giants 26)
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