True story: Eagles have game before T.O. Bowl

By Os Davis  |   Tuesday, September 26, 2006  |  Comments( 2 )

Philadelphia Eagles
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Just in case anyone is, as that great old cliché goes, "taking these games one week at a time," the Eagles do in fact have some football to play before the return of the most reviled man in Philadelphia since King George III.

Believe it or not, the Philadelphia Eagles will be hosting the Green Bay Packers on Monday night in another potentially intriguing matchup for ESPN's latest baby of a program. As pregame hype might have it, "Gunslinging Brett Favre and his Packers face the overwhelming Philadelphia defense..."

The Eagles looked slick again on Sunday. The box score shows 24 points surrendered; in all fairness, the final seven 49er points were scored with six seconds on the clock. The Eagles' defense has allowed 19 points per game in the first three; on the other hand, taking away the bizarre fourth-quarter lapse suffered in the New York Giants' game, that average goes down to just under 14.

In the win, the Philly D held the San Francisco 49ers offense to 110 yards in the first half, garnered three QB sacks, and produced the highlight of the 2006 NFL season in Mike Patterson's bumble-rumble-stumble fumble recovery touchdown.

The defense, luckily heavily manned due to the demands of the complex eight-man substitution scheme the Eagles employ, proved deep enough to cover the absence of injured Jevon Kearse.

Last week.

This week, with grizzly Favre just possibly resurrected by a game in which the 37-year-old may have found a niche among this offense of many unfamiliar faces and vaguely familiar plays. The rhythm sometimes captured in quarters one and four of week two's game against the New Orleans Saints was maintained throughout last week.

Plus, there's no Freak.

When these teams met in 2005, Kearse played his best game of the year (and possibly as an Eagle at that point), running up eight solo tackles and nine total against the Pack. Philly was able to pull out a 19-14 squeaker with Mike McMahon at the helm, thanks to the tattered defense harassing Favre throughout, giving the QB a line of 15-for-33 for 171 yards to go with two interceptions and a rating of 46.4. Green Bay's offensive line this year looks at least at susceptible to pressure as that of 2005, but the Freak's absence may still hurt.

So, it'll be Favre versus an Eagles line featuring ... Darren Howard? Not exactly a marquee matchup and, with the Eagles looking as though they have a firm grasp of first place in the NFC East, the anticipation of that Oct. 8 game is sure to overwhelm this Monday night meeting.

To be sure, the Eagles can't take this one for granted; this would be a dangerous game in which to go mentally slack, because Philly will need every win they can get in the first half of this season. This is the very incarnation of the old "one at a time" saw at work: Difficult though it may be for a bunch salivating at the prospect of that Dallas Cowboys' game, concentration is required. We all need to see how this defense, sans Freak, can control an aging Hall of Famer before we can imagine the possibilities of the damage a certain dominant receiver will do.

So, relax, enjoy the Packer game. Terrell Owens and the Cowboys will arrive soon enough...

Original Philadelphia Eagles coverage, courtesy of RealFootball365.com
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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