Analysis:
Coach Fletcher’s Monday Night
Football Double Play
1*
Eagles -3 William Hill
2*
Vikings under 41.5 William Hill
Game #1 Philadelphia Eagles at Atlanta Falcons
Chip Kelly Unveils The Eagles Tonight
Now that the Tim Tebow story has come and gone, Chip Kelly
will let us in on what’s been going on with the Eagles. For now, the “new” Eagles will feature Sam
Bradford taking the snaps and DeMarco Murray running the ball. Bradford’s question mark is his health. Murray’s question mark is how will he do
without the Dallas offensive line paving the way for him.
For Atlanta, we will see how a revamped defense and possible
offensive quirks are handled under new coach Dan Quinn at the Georgia Dome
tonite.
The Eagles went 10-6 last season but many fans considered
the team a failure because they didn’t make the playoffs. There is tremendous pressure on Kelly to get
there this year. The Eagles are without
some of their top players this year.
Nick Foles went away as di leading rusher LeSean McCoy. Also gone is leading receiver Jeremy
Maclin. Jordan Mathews and Nelson
Agholor will be the wideouts.
Defensively the Eagles added Seattle’s Byron Maxwell to firm up a pass
defense that was on the leaky side last year.
In fact, the only team whose pass defense was worse than the Eagles was …
you guessed it – the Falcons.
The Eagles are also getting some help in the secondary from
Ryans and Alonso who are returning from serious leg injuries.
It will be interesting to see the Eagle offense in
action. Sam Bradford has always been
highly touted but injuries have kept him at bay. Now tossing for a completely different, up
tempo offense, Bradford will get a chance to return to his 2010 Offensive
rookie of the Year talent. After two ACL
tears in a year, Bradford will probably see better protection in this set. Keep in mind that the highly criticized Mark
Sanchez stepped in after Foles’s injury last year and posted his career best QB
rating. And yes, if Bradford goes down,
Sanchez comes in.
Bradford started all 16 games as a rookie but since then he
only started 33 of the nexty 64 games for the Rams. Game 3 in pre-season was hopefully a
precursor to the season as Bradford went 10-10 for 121 yards and tossed three
touchdowns against Green Bay.
Murray was healthy last year but missed 9 games to injuries
over his first 3 seasons. Murray rushed
for 1,845 yards and 13 touchdowns and had the most touches in the league at
449. Of course, critics will say that
Murray’s success was as much due to the Dallas offensive line as it was due to
his talent. While there is some truth to
that, the Dallas offensive line being one of the best, if not the best, Murray
has skills and can run straight through you instead of juking you like McCoy
was prone to do. How good is the Eagle’s
offensive line? We will have to
see. They lost starting guards Mathis
and Herremans so the jury is still out.
Dan Quinn comes to the Falcons replacing Mike Smith. Quinn will bring with him the very thing that
the Falcons lacked last year – a defense.
If you’re not familiar with Quinn, he is credited with making Seattle’s
defense among the league’s most formidable over the last two years. The Falcons went 6-10 last year and defense
was their weakest area. Quinn isn’t
concerned about the Eagles’ quick hit defense and says his defense should be
considered fast-paced as well.
Quinn is instituting a 4-3 scheme in an effort to improve
the league’s worst defense as well as improve the pass rush of a team that only
had 22 sacks last year. First round pick
Vic Beasley and offseason acquisition Adrian Clayborn and Justin Durant should
be able to firm up the defense.
On offense, the Falcons look to Matt Ryan and Julio
Jones. Ryan has had 4 straight 4,000
yard seasons. Things will be different
as Kyle Shanahan has come over as the new offensive coordinator. The already suspect offensive line has
seemingly struggled with the new scheme.
Starting guard Jon Asamoah is on injured reserve. The Falcons traded for guard Andy Levitre
from Tennessee after he became expendable to the Titans.
Tevin Coleman was named the starting running back, but lack
Ryan, his success is predicated on the success of the offensive line which
right now is questionable. Rookie Devonta
Freeman is his back up.
The Falcons have had success against Philadelphia, winning
their last 2 meetings, due in large part to 7 TD passes from Ryan. But things have changed with both teams so
this should give us a fairly good read on their future.
Odds and Ends
The Eagles have won 4 straight opening games and went 9-3
last year until losing 3 of their last 4 to miss the playoffs.
Atlanta won 2 of its first 3 last year then went on to lose
9 of their last 13. It was their second
straight losing year.
The Falcons have the NFL’s longest streak of home opening
wins at 7. They beat the Saints in OT
last year in their home opener.
The Eagles have a 15-12-1 all-time record in the
series. They have lost their last two
(2011-12) giving up an average of 32.5 points in each.
The Eagles have never lost 3 straight to the Falcons.
Bradford will be playing in his first regular season game
since October 20, 2013. He has faced the
Falcons twice in his career and lost both games.
Matt Ryan is 2-2 versus the Eagles.
Coach’s Conclusion:
I have to go with the Eagles in this one. I believe that the Falcons are still learning
new offensive and defensive schemes due to the coaching changes and that it may
take a couple of games to get things straightened out. There is tremendous pressure, as I noted, on
Kelly to perform this season. He has to
bring it for sure. Philadelphia was impressive
in ore-season, for what that’s worth, and ended up 3-1, outscoring opponents
133-77. Atlanta went 2-2 scoring 82 and
allowing 86. I think the Eagles will be
better prepared for this than will Atlanta.
I like the fact that with Murray they can likely eat up the clock if
needed. His running style is far better
suited for the Eagle offense than McCoy’s style. I look for a reasonably close game but an
Eagle win. I’d start watching Atlanta in
terms of playing them later in the year when the players are better accustomed
to the schemes.
The Play 1*
Eagles -3 William Hill
Pick Made: Sep 14 2015 10:50AM PST