Look ahead to the Eagles

On a neutral field, Giants would win by 10 points.

Eagles have a good qb, average OL and really only one special player on offense in Westbrook. They have a rookie WR in DeSean Jackson that has lots of speed, but I haven't seen enough of him yet to claim that he is the second coming of Randy Moss. Giants defense is based on speed and under ordinary circumstances, I would think that the defense should be able to come up with a plan to at least contain Westbrook and their offense.

On defense, Eagles are a tad overrated. They go for the throat and can stomp on mediocre teams, they can make you look bad at times if you don't pick up their blitz, but you can also make some plays down the field on them when they are gambling.

Giants should try to establish their power running game because that will limit the opportunity for the Eagles defense to get us in trouble. But just like the Cowboys stacked the line of scrimmage early in the game to stop the run last week, look for the Eagles to do the same thing. Giants need to respond the same way that they did against the Cowboys. Throw early and often when Eagles drop the safety down to the line of scrimmage to stop the running game. I think Giants can do some damage in the passing game. But if the Giants can rush for 120 yards, I think they should win the game.

If Giants get into an obvious passing situation, they always need to have a hot receiver in case a blitzer comes free (obviously). But they should try to attack off an anticipated Eagles blitz by increasing the protection scheme, keeping an extra blocker in and try a double-move to Burress. This is not intuitive, because the double moves take longer to develop and against a blitz you think of getting rid of the ball quickly. But the defense knows this too and the DB's typically play very tight when the defense blitzes to take away even the short throws and calculate that the offense will not have time to develop something down the field. Consequently, the DB's will go for the first move that the WR makes and might be vulnerable to a double move. Remember the TD by Plax that won the Superbowl? It was not a double move, but he faked a slant and ran a fade to the corner of the end zone. Eli did not pump fake on the play and the WR did not completely stop and start like they might on a double move , but because the Patriots were in an all out blitz, the CB bit on the first move that the WR made and was vulnerable to the fade route. That was a particularly easy play because the slant fake was very quick by Plax; he really just tilted his shoulder to the inside and the DB was not worried about the WR going long, because they were already backed up defending their own goal line. It may not be as easy in the middle of the field, but I think it will still be there.

Last week, when Eli threw the INT, he did not read the CB coming up. But the CB saw Eli take a three step drop, read correctly that it was going to be a short throw because of the short drop, saw Eli lock onto the receiver and started jumping the pass route long before Eli let go of the ball. Eli did not see the CB jump the route, but obviously Burress did and he turned up field and was going for a long ball. If Eli had seen Burress turn up and if he had been able to hold on to the ball a second more despite that short drop, it could have been a big play.

It is a similar situation when Eagles blitz. Their DB's are looking to come up the field and make a play on the ball and could give up a big play. Of course, you have to block up the blitzers and be ready to get rid of it if it doesn't work, but it is worth a try. Of course this could be done against any team, but because the Eagles blitz so much and it is the mantra of their defense, it is more likely to work. It also might be particularly effective against the Eagles because they often will bring a safety on the blitz, not just LB's, making the deep ball even more open.

Because of the propensity of Eagles to blitz they will often leave the TE unguarded or 1-on-1 with a LB. Look for Eli to go to Boss at some key moments. Steve Smith will also have a big game as the hot receiver on those Eagles blitzes.

Like I said - on a neutral field, the Giants would probably win. But on Sunday night, national game, in their home stadium, with the added motivation that if they lose their NFC East division hopes are probably gone and with the prize of knocking off the Superbowl champs, the Eagles are by far the more desperate team.