There’s a strong case to be made for Jordan Hicks as Eagles’ Most Valuable Player in the first half of 2015. Following the game against the Dolphins, the Eagles will host Tampa Bay before playing at Detroit on Thanksgiving Day.
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After beginning the year as one of the most hyped defenses in recent history, Miami’s defenders have failed to live up to expectations. If the passing game keeps improving, the Eagles can be a risky offense. Murray did not seem to care of the down and distance as he took the next carry 20 yards for another Eagles first down.
With them, and particularly as they are matched against Miami, it is all but certain to be one or the other.
Just as it happened in the final six games a year ago – when the Dolphins allowed 992 yards rushing – the problems that afflicted the Dolphins run defense against Buffalo were due mostly to missed tackles and poor gap integrity, defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo said Thursday. Sam Bradford completed 25 of 36 passes for 295 yards and one touchdown. They’re having issues slowing down the run and while the Eagles’ rushing attack has been stagnant for much of the season, when they do get rolling they’re hard to stop. The Bills not only ran well, but they gashed the Miami defense with runs of 48 yards and 38 yards. Jarvis Landry is one of the most prolific slot receivers in the NFL. Last week, the NY Giants ran the ball 33 times for 114 yards. With that, there is the rampaging assumption that the Eagles, so successful recently on the ground, will be able to achieve similar results Sunday.
The wheels have fallen off the Dan Campbell train.
A big reason for the improvement stems from the running back combination of DeMarco Murray and Ryan Matthews. Then the next week the Dolphins gained 248 yards on 35 rush attempts in their victory over Texans. Campbell is a fan of running backs that put their foot in the dirt and head north and south and Ajayi certainly fits the description. The rookie linebacker and Malcolm Jenkins are the team’s leading tacklers.
But the Eagles released both of their starting guards from last season in left guard Evan Mathis and right guard Todd Herremans. Getting pressure on Ryan Tannehill will obviously be key to forcing the quarterback into making mistakes.
With a 62.9 completion percentage and 2,061 yards already, Bradford won’t even need to be better in the second half to finish with career highs in those categories. So on October 11, the morning of their game against New Orleans, he pulled the entire offense into the showers for a pregame speech about turning the season around.
Matthews hurt the Cowboys by catching nine passes for 133 yards, including three receptions in overtime, capped by the game-winning 34-yarder.
“I think he’s played better each week”, offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur said. That was created to help him throw more accurately and consistently. Nor do we [never not have confidence in him]; that’s why we continue to play him. Sammy Watkins posted 168 yards on only eight targets last week, including touchdowns of 44 yards and 63 yards. Following last week’s game, Grimes blamed himself for Watkins’ dominant performance. “I’ve seen them both”.
While Matthews looks to put his drops behind him, Grimes may still be dwelling on his pitfalls from the week before.
Heading on the road against the Eagles is never an easy task for any team, but the Dolphins are going to come out with a huge win.
When Eagles head coach Chip Kelly recently tailored the playbook to fit quarterback Sam Bradford’s strengths, it appears the pair added a chapter prominently featuring tight end Brent Celek. “Everything in the game of football revolves around the quarterback and everybody’s looking for that Tom Brady-type player”.
Unlike last week, the Eagles should take a few shots down the field. We’re just gonna go run those plays on Sunday. Try to tell a competitive, professional athlete – whether it’s hockey or baseball or football or whatever – to tell the honest truth. They have a lot of things, a lot of moving parts on the offense.
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Who will turn the ball over more this weekend?
