Eagles at Redskins: Mid-year Review

Philadelphia Eagles (3-5) at Washington Redskins (5-3)
1:00 p.m. FedEx Field
You know that I’m a big subscriber to the belief that a win is a win. Whether it’s 30 or three, get the “W” and get out of town. That’s what makes pro football better than college. It doesn’t matter how you do it, it just matters that you get the job done. And the Redskins did just that last week.

The Skins are at the midpoint with a 5-3 record. Not bad. Could be better. Could be worse. They are a game out of a playoff spot, with plenty of chances to play their way in or play their way out. With the exception of the game against the Giants, all eight games have gone exactly as they should have. The Redskins are better than every team they’ve beaten so far, and aren’t quite as good as the three teams they’ve lost to (which, by the way, have a combined 22-3 record).

What that means is we really haven’t learned all that much about Washington this season. While they’ve won ugly and lost close games, each part of their team has shown flashes of brilliance along with periods of bad play. Eight games remain for the Skins, and we should learn a lot about how good this team is in the next few weeks.

The Redskins have three “tough” games left and five games against above average or mediocre teams. The Skins have home games against the Eagles, Bills and Bears and road trips to Minnesota and Tampa. Those five teams check in with a combined 18-23 record. Personally, I think those five teams are better than their combined record indicates. In fact, the one team with a winning record – the Buccaneers – are probably the worst of the five teams in terms of talent. Theoretically, if the Redskins are a good team, they should probably win four of those five remaining games. The Redskins still have to play the Giants in the swamplands and have their traditional home-and-home remaining with the Cowboys. If the Redskins are not a great team, and they haven’t proven they are yet, then they’re probably not good enough to win more than one of those three. Which would give them another 5-3 season half, which would give the Redskins a 10-6 overall record, and in all probability, a wild-card spot.

Now, in lieu of a bunch of college basketball material, a long preview next week when the Redskins visit the Hole-in-the-Roof and a bunch of work at my actual job, we’re cutting this preview a bit short. We’ve already seen the Eagles once this season, and not much has changed since mid-September.

The Eagles are still heavily dependant on Donovan McNabb despite the fact their best offensive player is Brian Westbrook. McNabb has been hindering this team for the past three seasons and only now are people starting to realize it. McNabb is still nowhere near healthy from his offseason knee surgery. A loss by Philadelphia in this game should open the door for unimpressive backup Kevin Kolb (who accomplished next to nothing at the University of Houston). That would lead to complete anarchy in Philadelphia as anxious Eagles fans wouldn’t know who to boo more. We’ll see if Father of the Decade candidate Andy Reid decides to go this route.

The Eagles defense is still good, but certainly not as scary as it was a couple of seasons ago. Brian Dawkins has gotten very old, very quickly. The corners are never healthy. Using undersized linebackers, a strategy that worked for Philly in the past, has failed them this season as they are getting bullied by decent sized teams. This is a defense which can shut you down for a couple of quarters, but will also give up big plays and a few good drives every game. Heck, the Redskins were able to sustain four scoring drives in the first contest this year.

The Redskins beat the Eagles in Philadelphia by not making mistakes, capitalizing on the mistakes made by the Eagles and controlling the clock. Recently, the Redskins have been able to do the last two, but the Skins have been making a lot more mistakes than earlier on. That must change and change quickly.

The Redskins won’t have the ability to run for nearly 300 yards against Philly like they did last week against the Jets. The Eagles run defense is solid, allowing only 93 yards a game on the ground. As I mentioned, they are vulnerable against the pass, especially the deep balls, but Jason Campbell and the offense have shown no signs of being able to connect on big passes consistently. They had several shots against the Eagles in game number one, but missed on most of them.

Defensively, I think Gregg Williams’ strategy of dropping seven men (which he abandoned against the Jets) should work against McNabb. He’s no longer a running threat with his knee injury, and he’s never been the best pocket passer. Let him stand in the pocket and make mistakes. There should be no need to blitz him. By dropping seven that also should keep Westbrook in check when the Eagles use him on screens and dump passes.

There is no reason the Redskins can’t put up another eight-point win on the Eagles. A 6-3 record is a must with another two game road trip on the horizon. Even if the Redskins win it ugly, as long as they get the “W”, it doesn’t matter. Just get it done.