Continuing to Shuffle

Posted: October 15th, 2023 | Author: Tommy Lawlor 

The Eagles had great fortune last year when it came to injuries. They had to deal with some, but overall the team stayed healthy and there weren’t a lot of personnel challenges. 2023 has been a different story.

Starters/Key Players out for the Jets game

RG Cam Jurgens
WR Quez Watkins
DT Jalen Carter
DB Avonte Maddox
CB Darius Slay
FS Justin Evans

That’s not ideal, but the Eagles sure can’t complain to the Jets. They are overwhelmed by injuries right now, even getting bad news on Saturday afternoon. Sauce Gardner will miss the game due to a concussion.

Yikes.

The Jets will have multiple backups playing in the secondary. The Eagles will likely coming out throwing, hoping to test that group. Dealing with AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith isn’t easy when you’ve got starters. When backups are in, good luck.

It will be interesting to see what the Jets do schematically. Do they roll the dice and blitz? Do they focus on coverage and hope the DL can get pressure?

The Eagles will once again have a cobbled-together secondary of their own. Josh Jobe and James Bradberry will play outside. Bradley Roby will be the nickel. It sounds like Sydney Brown will play, but with him being a rookie and less than 100 percent, the coaches may prefer to start Terrell Edmunds. Hopefully his pride will kick in and he’ll play better than he did in the WAS game.

It will be good to see Nakobe Dean back on the field. He did some good things in the opener before getting hurt. I will be interested to see if he replaces Morrow or they get creative with all three LBs. It is funny that a couple of months ago the idea of depth at LB seemed crazy. Now the coaches have to figure out who they want to play and how to get the most out of the trio.

Morrow has shown the ability to be a playmaker. Cunningham is the best run stuffer and is the biggest of the trio. Dean is the best all-around player and most talented. The LBs need to play the run well so maybe the coaches go with Dean and Cunningham.

Zach Wilson did have some success against the Eagles in 2021. He led them to 18 points in the first half and finished 23-38-226 with 2 TDs. Those were the days when Jonathan Gannon was coaching like the anti-Buddy Ryan. I think Sean Desai will be more aggressive and Wilson will have to earn anything he gets.

This would be a great week for the Eagles pass rush to dominate. If they can beat up on Wilson, it will take pressure off the backups in the secondary.

http://igglesblitz.com/2023/10/continuing-to-shuffle/

I like our chances today.

On 10/15/2023 at 9:41 AM, PoconoDon said:

I like our chances today.

I was wrong...completely wrong.