It was a moment of progress and vindication for the Birds in the big win over the Giants… but now, the Eagles have to deal with Tom Brady and his line-up-all-over-the-field TE Rob Gronkowski (6-6, 265, 2nd year, Arizona) coming into the Linc with a 7-3 record and a disturbing trend of late-season peaking offense when it matters most…
And worst of all, the 2011 Pats have a defense now that the Eagles have to account for… The Pats fans call them “The Who”…
Defensive end Mark Anderson celebrates after burying KC QB Tyler Palko Monday night in the Pats 34-3 win over the Chiefs…
Are these Patriots guys really that good?
Yes…sort of. Early in 2010 and also in 2011, the Patriots were as basic on defense as they could be. That was the reality for Bill Belichick, given the youth of his defensive unit. But now as the experience level has grown, you begin to see disguises of formations and schemes. You also see a more creative and risk-taking defense, to go hand in hand with a dynamic offense.
This match-up is the supreme challenge for the offensive and defensive units of the Eagles. Here’s where the real-time report cards on Marty Mornhinwheg and Juan Castillo get graded.
The Patriots defense crushed the Chiefs Monday night… So what if they did it against a team that should be playing in the NCAA’s Football Championship Subdivision? The Patriots defense finaly stopped somebody… and, like an omen of the Eagles 2011 season, just in time for the Birds game coming up Sunday at the Linc.
The Patriots’ oft-criticized and often beleaguered defense made the Kansas City Chiefs offense feel pretty impotent in a 34-3 thumping that lifted the Pats to 7-3 and into a two-game lead in the AFC East.
Although this game was played in the Big Razor it was not a close shave. The score might make it seem this was a game where one of the league’s best offenses overwhelmed the undermanned and limping Chiefs, but for most of the first half it was more the Patriots’ oddly populated defense holding up than the offense running the Chiefs off the field.
By halftime, a defense known as The Who held Kansas City to a 38 percent conversion rate on third down, had a sack, an interception and two tackles for losses. That’s a month’s worth of production for these guys in the past. When the Chiefs started a drive on their own 47, the defense held them to a field goal after a 26-yard run by Thomas Jones got Kansas City down to the 5-yard line. Four plays and one penalty later they settled for their only score, a 26-yard field goal. On the next drive they got to the Patriots 37 only to be chased backward by an Andre Carter sack, forcing a third-and-14 at the 45 and soon after a punt.
Again the Pats offense did nothing and almost before the defense had time to swig a few 5-Hour Energy drinks it was back on the field with the Chiefs at the Patriots 44. On first down safety James Ihedigbo flattened running back Jackie Battle for a 1-yard loss and the tone was set. The Chiefs weren’t going anywhere, although in this case the Pats were aided by a holding call that negated a 21-yard run by Jones to the Patriots 21— but so what? If TE Leonard Pope was holding, there was a real good reason… Patriots pressure was dialed up.
By the end of that drive the Chiefs had taken four plays to go back 1 yard, a situation that Brady and the offense finally responded to by scoring a touchdown that gave it an insurmountable 7-3 lead. When you’ve got “The Who” getting after your offense what chance do you have? On the next series the scrappy leader of The Who, cornerback Kyle Arrington, picked off the first of his two interceptions on the night, upping his total to seven, which means Darrelle Revis, Charles Woodson and a whole lot of other far more well-known cornerbacks are chasing him for the NFL interception lead. That doesn’t make him Ty Law or Michael Haynes but last night it made him the leader of The Who, a defense that rattled the Chiefs into enough mistakes that by the end of the night it had three interceptions, two sacks and one boyhood dream turned into a nightmare for Chiefs quarterback Tyler Palko.
A game like this may not prove much to the naysayers around the NFL, who looked at a Patriots secondary Monday night consisting of Arrington, Antwaun Molden, Ihedigbo and Sterling Moore…and thought, in social media parlance, OMG!
“If we play hard and we play for each other we think we’ll be all right,” Arrington said to the Boston Herald, speaking of the upcoming Eagles game…
Bring on Vince Young. Let ’em at Curtis Painter. Fear no quarterback named John Beck or Rex Grossman. Tim Tebow? Please. For the next month The Who has a chance to convince itself, if no one else, that its whole is better than the sum of its parts.
And that’s where we come in. For the Eagles, this is the perfect opportunity to prove they can pressure Tom Brady, cover a big tight end or two, and beat a defense that’s named The Who. Maybe Castillo and Marty are ready to sprout some late blooms of their own? I couldn’t think of a better time to blossom…
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
