[Assani Fisher]

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I also think its possible that Philly totally outplays the Skins and Philly still loses by a bunch of "flukes." These past few seasons, Philly constantly seems to be on the bad end of the "we outplayed them and still lost" scenario. After a while, it becomes an expectation and not a fluke imo. Theres a reason why teams like Chicago, Pittsburgh, New England, etc. constantly win "lucky" games, while teams like Philly and Indy(before last year of course) constantly seem to lose them. And while the Redskins certainly aren't in that top tier, I'd say that they're above average in this regard.

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I don't understand why you're trying so hard to induce a flame-war. Probably because you know you'll be successful (and I'm not even an Iggles fan).

IMO the Eagles were really lucky in 2003: Lucky their division stunk for a while, lucky against the Giants when they got destroyed the whole game before a Westbrook punt return, lucky against the Packers in the playoffs when Ahman Green ran for 800 yards...

Some of that luck was reversed last year. It tends to happen. As much as I'd like to say the Pats are the exception because I hate them, it even happened to them vs. Denver.

I don't remember all the unlucky games the Colts lost prior to last year?

I also don't know when the Bears became a better run franchise than the Eagles.

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How on earth do you pick the one bad thing I said about the Eagles and come to the conclusion that I'm trying to start a flame war? I think my OP was very fair.

If you disagree with my view that the Eagles seem to have had a lot of "we outplayed them and still lost" type games in the past 2 years, then thats fine. I'd be more than willing to listen to your argument. But please don't nitpick my OP and try to make it like I'm trolling for a fight because that simply isn't the case.

As for Indy, I'll admit that I was just trying to give another example off the top of my head and while I do feel that way about them, I'm not going to bother debating it.



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Could we wait until this week's Monday night games end before we start talking about next week's games?


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no.


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Question for Skins fans - how is your defense different than last year - specifically - what personnel changes will allow you to get pressure on the QB and force turnovers?


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Washington's defense has been very similar the past few years. In 2005 they were top 10 by all accounts(#9 in yardage) and forced a bunch of turnovers. Yet last year they struggled a ton, didn't get any pressure on the QB, and didn't get any turnovers.

The true Redskins probably lies somewhere in between.

As for the change since last year, our secondary is much improved having added Landry and Smoot. Also another year for youngsters Rogers and Taylor can only help them improve. Also Rocky McIntosh had a great preseason and really looks to be coming on strong.

If they had even a decent line and pass rush, I wouldn't hesitate at all to call them one of the best defenses in the league. As is, they're probably middle of the road.

Also regarding last year, don't forget that having a horrible offense kept them tired and in bad field position often, so its not totally fair to just critisize them based upon stats.


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Hello Skins fan. Eagles fan here.

Eagles -7 seems very high to me. The offense is too big of a questionmark right now to be favored by a TD. I would have figured somewhere around -4.

The Eagles do have an infuriating knack to lose games that they have no business of losing. A certain percentage of this is attributable to luck (i.e. within the last year, teams hit 90%+ of their FGs against Philly). But a lot is sloppiness and poor execution. The Eagles used to be a very disciplined and organized team, but within the last year they have committed a LOT of stupid penalties (especially 15 yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalties) and their special teams have gone to poop.

Big for this game is that Sheppard is out. He is the best Eagle defender, IMO. The Eagles D looked awesome in week one - but GB isn't the most potent offense. That said, they did dominate the LOS and allowed zero big plays.

I agree that turnovers will be key.


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agreed almost completely, although I'd probably put the line around 5.5 or 6 to be honest.


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and the offense wasn't as bad as people are making it out to be against a VERY underrated packers D.


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agreed. I'm very scared of them which is why I mentioned that holdilng Westbrook and McNabb to "only" 100 and 250 yards would be a good thing for the Skins.