Breaking Down the Key Eagles-Cardinals Matchups

Staff writer Steve Fini breaks down today’s Eagles-Cardinals game.

When the Eagles have the ball:

So last Monday night was another poor display by an increasingly perplexing Eagles team. It mostly centered around the defense, but the offense still had some their share of problems. One was Michael Vick. He played very poorly against a Bears defense that doesn’t have a lot of playmakers in the back seven. With two rookie safeties, Vick, along with the rest of the team couldn’t hit the big play downfield. He almost threw multiple interceptions and seemed to make more plays with his legs than his arm; not a good sign from a player who is trying to become a better pocket passer.

The good news for Vick? He will be facing a much different and much weaker Arizona defense.

The Cardinals run a 3-4 team, which means more blitzes, something Vick handled two weeks ago against Dallas. But the Cardinals do have playmakers in their secondary. Safety Adrian Wilson has been one of the most underrated defenders in the league over the past several years. He can lay the big hit but can also play the football. They also have rookie Patrick Peterson. Peterson struggled earlier this season, often finding himself out of position and getting beat for big plays. He’s now picked up his game and is becoming the playmaker Arizona thought they were drafting in April.
This appeared to be the game the Eagles might get DeSean Jackson going, but he decided to skip a mandatory team meeting on Saturday. Maybe this means Steve Smith will show up. Probably not. Whatever.

The front seven of the Arizona defense also contains a few playmakers. While Darnell Dockett and Calais Campbell aren’t the players they were a few years back, they can still get it done. Campbell is a physical freak and can dominate a lot of offensive tackles in this league while Dockett is more of a solid, quiet contributor. Their middle linebacker, Daryl Washington, is a player that some Eagles fans wanted in the Kevin Kolb deal. He’s very fast and can cover well. Eagles tight end Brent Celek has put together a few nice games and is finally developing some chemistry with Vick, but this could be a tough matchup for him.

The Eagles’ offensive line struggled considerably against the Chicago defense last week. They will need to be better than the unit that allowed the Chicago front four to get in the back field and tie up LeSean McCoy at the line of scrimmage several times last week.

When the Cardinals have the ball: This is where the Eagles should have a strong advantage. With Beanie Wells not at full-strength, the only weapon Arizona has is Larry Fitzgerald. With Kevin Kolb as his quarterback he really hasn’t been that productive (I would know, I just traded for him on my fantasy team). This week he is going to have John Skelton throwing passes his way. One good thing for Fitzgerald is that Skelton provides a bigger quarterback in the pocket with a stronger arm than Kolb.

Skelton will likely dial in on Fitzgerald. This could actually be a good thing for the Eagles. Cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha is tall and can jump with Fitzgerald and number one receivers haven’t had a ton of success against the Eagles this year. Look for Early Doucet, the Cards slot receiver, to make some plays in this game. The Eagles haven’t been able to find the right player to shut down the slot all year (it sure as hell isn’t Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie) and Doucet is a guy who can make plays. It’ll be interesting to see how Samuel, a player who looked completely disinterested last week, and DRC perform in this game. Blame the linebackers and poor safeties all you want for the Eagles’ poor defensive performance, but the corners haven’t been much better.

The front seven for the Eagles should be dominant against Arizona. They went up against a bad offensive line in Chicago and fell apart. This week they go up against an even worse Cardinals line. Tackles Levi Brown and Brandon Keith might make up the worst duo of tackles in the league. The interior of the offensive line isn’t much better. Add to it a washed up Todd Heap at tight end and the Eagles really should tee off on these guys. Remember, I said “should”.

Prediction – All of the Eagles games this year have been possible wins. Only two of them thus far have been probable wins (the Rams and Redskins). This week will make three probables. The Cardinals just aren’t a good team. Yes they have some players at positions that would look nice in Eagles jerseys, and possibly the best receiver in the league. But they lack in every crucial area and it shows in their record. How they have two wins I don’t know, but this week shouldn’t be their third. The Eagles beat the bad teams on their schedule and the Cards are definitely that. Eagles win big and keep the second round pick they own from Arizona in next years draft a HIGH second rounder: Eagles 35, Cardinals 14.