With Philly coach Andy Reid stressing the preseason more and Indianapolis short some starters due to injury, this should be an easy preseason cover for the Eagles.
We are aware of the hoopla surrounding the Eagles camp this week regarding the recent signing of Michael Vick. If there is any coach in the league that can keep his players from distractions from the media circus, it is Andy Reid.
He has dealt with his own off-the-field personal family issues which were under the microscope of the media and it never took away from the quality of his job on the sidelines nor his team's play. Vicks' highly anticipated debut won't happen this week since he won't be traveling with the team.
Andy Reid doesn't take these preseason games lightly. Reid said the starters will play the entire first half in this game. As three-point favorites, the Eagles couldn't secure a comeback against the Patriots as they fell 27-25 when David Akers missed a potential game winning field goal. We expect a full rebound from Philadelphia this time around. As a matter of fact since 2004 in preseason games Reids' teams are 7-1 ATS in their next game after failing to cover the spread in their previous game. Even in the regular season his teams are known to bounce back after a loss. Statistically Philly outplayed New England; they out gained the Pats 420 total yards to 257 total yards.They won the first down battle, ground game, passing game,and time of possession but failed to come out the victor. The offense was obviously clicking as the Quarterbacks hooked up with 16 different receivers in the game.
The other big news out of Philly is running back Brian Westbrook is back this week practicing for the first time with the first team offense. He will miss this game but rookie phenom LeSean McCoy of Pittsburgh is almost a mirror image of Westbrook. McCoy carried the ball 10 times for 55 yards and caught two passes out of the backfield in his debut with the Eagles. Reports are that the Philly coaches are saying that second-round pick McCoy got the most out of training camp; more than any other player on the team and we can expect to see a lot of him Thursday evening.
Reid was definitely playing to win against New England because after Donovan McNabb was done, A.J. Feeley finished the game and he never put in fourth-string rookie Adam DiMichele. Feeley had a huge game passing for 211 yards and a TD and Feeley most likely will be closing this game out for the Eagles too. With the recent signing of Vick, we should see a valiant effort from Feeley who now finds himself competing for a spot on this roster.
Colts first year coach Jim Caldwell saw his team in an all-around poor performance in their 13-3 loss to the Vikings. The Vikings had 24 first downs to just eight for Indianapolis. Minnesota owned the time of possession battle with a 38:59 to 21:01 edge.
We don't know where to start with the Colts' performance. The pass protection was atrocious as Peyton Manning was sacked three times on his first series. The line was dominated the whole game giving up six sacks total and never establishing the run. The offense actually never made it into the red zone in the opener. The first unit only played six plays but we should expect to see them out there a little longer this game to get some more reps, though we doubt he'll leave Manning out there the whole first half as the Eagles are doing with their first team.
Their defense has some issues as well. The whole starting secondary missed the opening game and the Indy defense has been plagued with injuries all of camp. We think the Colts' mindset is to get out of the preseason as healthy as possible for their opener with Jacksonville in September rather then rack up some wins. There are quite a few guys who are questionable but back up QB Jim Sorgi (hamstring), safety Bob Sanders (knee), cornerback Kelvin Hayden (hamstring), tight end Dallas Clark (concussion), defensive end Raheem Brock (fractured hand) and kicker Adam Vinatieri (hip, knee) are the notables among the guys who won't be suiting up Thursday.
The Colts are still learning to trust and gain confidence in their new coach and it will take a couple more games to get in sync with each other. Over the past few seasons Indinapolis is known not to put much emphasis in preseason games. The Colts are just 1-7-1 ATS in their last nine preseason home games. Since 2005 they've only won three of 20 preseason games.
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