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Eagles-Redskins Preview: The Game About Nothing

B-Dub Written by B-Dub, Saturday December 31 2011
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Let's get this out of the way first; the Eagles will beat the Redskins on Sunday.  It's just like Andy Reid to win meaningless games against inferior opponents just to save his own fat butt and continue to drive me insane.

The Eagles beat the Redskins earlier this season because Rex Grossman absolutely stinks.  Grossman was even benched for three games after that Oct. 16 defeat, but Washington head coach Mike Shanahan realized that backup John Beck is even worse.  Grossman leads the NFL in interception percentage with 19 picks in 413 attempts.

Eagles quarterback Michael Vick hasn't been quite as bad as Grossman, but he still managed to throw 13 interceptions in only 384 attempts.  Combined with only 15 TDs, it should be apparent to any logical person that I was right all along about Vick being completely overrated.  And Vick won't change either, because he thinks he's having a great season.

"[Interceptions] are going to happen. I'm not going to blame the season on that.  I'm not going to say that's the reason we didn't thrive as a team, didn't thrive as an offense."

OK Mike, then I'll say it.  You're carelessness with the football is the main reason this team is 7-8 and won't make the playoffs.  Sure the defense choked on a record five fourth-quarter leads earlier in the season, but those 13 INTs plus nine fumbles (three lost) were a direct result of your reckless style of play that put the defense in bad positions.  That 82.9 QB rating, good for only 17th in the NFL, didn't help matters much either.

"I play my game.  That's never going to change," Vick said.  

You know what else is never going to change?  Vick will never win a championship.  

Anyway, the Eagles are going to win this matchup simply because the Redskins are a beaten and battered team.  The Skins will be going with rookies on the left side of their offensive line, after the drug suspension of LT Trent Williams.  Poor Rex Grossman's best receiver these days is Jabar Gaffney, with 18 catches for 254 yards and 2 TDs in his last three games.  That's pathetic.  Both of the Redskins TEs are out for the year.  Chris Cooley is on the IR and Fred Davis was suspended.  I guess Davis and Williams spent a little too much time doing the old Puff, Puff, Puff, Pass.  
 
That means that Trent Cole will pad his stats against an undrafted free agent rookie with two starts in his career.  If they try to give him help, that would only allow Jason Babin to chase the NFL lead in sacks.  He currently trails Jared Allen by only 1/2 sack (18 1/2 to 18).

It also means that the Eagles defense without Asante Samuel and Kurt Coleman, who picked off Grossman three times in that first meeting, won't be missed.  Besides, Samuel hasn't had a good year.  Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie might actually be a better fit opposite Nnamdi Asomugha.  Both of them are better is press coverage than the zone schemes that Samuel favors.  It also means that second round bust Jaiquawn Jarrett will get the start at safety.

If the Redskins try to run the football against the vulnerable Eagles run defense they will be handing the ball to their fourth-string running back, Evan Roster.  Tim Hightower, Ryan Torain and Roy Helu are all out with injuries.  

The Redskins defense has almost as many injuries, as both starting safeties are out.  That means that TE Brent Celek will dominate their inexperienced safeties and DeSean Jackson will get a long touchdown, while Vick will pad his stats a bit.  

The Redskins have a good defensive line, but the Eagles offensive line under the direction of Howard Mudd has been the biggest surprise of the season.  It seems that Juan Castillo is not only a terrible defensive coordinator, but he wasn't such a great offensive line coach either.

Along with all the other starters that Reid is going to play until he has this game won, running back LeSean McCoy is going to play in spite of a nasty ankle sprain he suffered last week.  McCoy doesn't have a shot at catching Jacksonville's "Some People Call Me" Maurice Jones-Drew for the rushing title.  Obviously Reid cares more about not finishing the season with a losing record than the long-term health of the team.  Anybody else see that Vikings running back Adrian Peterson shredded his ACL and MCL last week and will probably be shot all next season?

The Eagles special teams have been steadily slipping ever since the injury to Colt Anderson and they have gotten absolutely nothing out of their return teams all year.  The Redskins special teams are nothing special, but ex-Eagle Sav Rocca is 11th in the league in net average and has only one touchback all season.  Great idea going with rookie kickers in an "All In" season Andy.

I don't care how many years it's been since Mike Shanahan won a Super Bowl, he's still got two more rings than Andy Reid will ever have.

The Eagles are going to win this game because they have an almost entirely healthy team, while the Redskins are a walking MASH unit.  Reid is also going all out to save his job by getting his record to 8-8 so the franchise can say he didn't have a losing record and the team didn't quit.  Yeah, like that matters.

I hope all you people who criticized me when I said the team would be better off losing out and finishing 3-13 are happy with an 8-8 record.  It is going to save Reid's job and cost them about 20 spots in the draft.  I just hope nobody gets hurt in this meaningless game.

Eagles 31 - Redskins 20

 


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