In preparing for the Eagles vs Colts game, today at 4 PM, I have been reading what some of the opposing blogs have to say about the game. Of course you are going to get your bias, Eagles fans will pick the Eagles and Colts fans will pick the Colts, that's loyalty for you. In particular I will be focusing on one of the more interesting blogs that I read.
http://www.coltsgab.com/
This blog actually does a good job of putting together quotes, and stats before guessing and throwing out a pick for the week. He does a good job of throwing a couple Eagles quotes into his very pro-Colts pick of the week. While he does point out some of the good things the Eagles are doing this season, the play of Vick and Jackson, he neglects to look at the big picture. He throws out stats about the Colts success about the Eagles in the past, and rides history to a Colts 27-21 win today vs the Birds.
My question for this blogger is, how about a very important Eagles stat, Andy Reid is 11-0 after a bye, and not to mention that bye is coming off of a miserable loss to the Titans. When looking at the past, look at the rosters. He notes the last Eagles/Colts game, "The last time Indiana faced Philly, the Colts destroyed them by 24 points in the 2006-07 season." That stat could not be more irrelevant. Talk about two completely different teams, the Eagles were led that game by Jeff Garcia and star RB Brian Westbrook, while the Colts were lead by a Four TD performance from RB Joseph Addai. Where are all of those players today, Addai is inactive with an injury, Garcia is playing in some Canadian Football league and Westbrook, is "playing" for the 49ers. The past really should have nothing to do with a prediction on today's game. The Eagles QB is no longer McNabb, and neither team's defense is nearly what it used to be. While the Colts offense is still very good, they are without Dallas Clarke, who caught well over 100 passes last year. The Michael Vick experience is also back in full effect. He mentions Vick's struggles as a third year QB, at that point Vick was nothing like what he is now. He is much more experienced, and has had a few weeks to essentially just focus on this game.
Jacob Tamme, a player who this Colts blogger did not even really mention, should also be a big factor in this game. The TE has always been a big part of Manning's aresenal, will Tamme after a standout game on Monday night against the Texans play that well today? There are a lot of questions for both teams entering this game. The defenses should be an afterthought today as this game is expected be a big offensive shootout. However, someone will eventually have to stop some one else. The Colts defense is built to take a lead and then blitz the Quarterback, a fact that the Colts blogger forgot to mention. They want the other team to sit back and throw while they blitz the game away. So who has the lead should play a big role in determining the success of this game. The Eagles are three point favorite, if they can get that lead and continue to score with the Colts, they should win. However, if the Colts jump out to a big lead early it could be a long day for Eagles fans. Obviously there is a lot of bias on both sides here, but the one thing that should be certain is that there should be a lot of players finding the end zones today.
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