The Philadelphia Eagles preserved their season momentarily a week ago with a big road(Michael Vick Jersey) win against the NFC East-leading New York Giants. This week, the Eagles will have to do better still when the New England Patriots come into town.

The Patriots are available in at 7-3 with the second-ranked passing offense in the league, averaging over 315 yards in the air per game. The Eagles will need to cool the red-hot Patriots to be able to continue to save their season.

Using the Dallas Cowboys escaping the Miami Dolphins on Thanksgiving, an Eagles loss would place them three games back with five games left. A win would keep your Eagles within the NFC East race, using their next two games coming against very beatable opponents, the Seattle Seahawks and also the Miami Dolphins.

A Sunday afternoon upset from the Patriots won't come easy, although not much has this year for that Eagles.

Wes Welker became one of the best slot receivers in NFL history. His stats through the first 10 games?a74 receptions for 1,028 yards and six touchdowns?aare Pro Bowl-caliber(Michael Vick Jersey) stats for an entire season. He is the key to the Patriots offense.

Fortunately for the Eagles, they've among the best slot corners in the NFL. Joselio Hanson has been a top-notch slot corner for the last few years in Philadelphia. Last season, Hanson was primarily a nickelback, where he was targeted just 46 times, where he threw in the towel just 4.4 yards per attempt, that was second best within the NFL, and only gave up 1.5 yards following the catch that was first. Hanson is a good press coverage corner within the slot who rarely gives up yards following the catch.

Hanson should match up very well versus Wes Welker. He will be key from the Patriots passing attack. When Welker goes, so does the offense. When you can put one cornerback on Welker and contain him for four quarters, it puts more pressure than normal on the rest of the offense. It allows a defense to give extra help about the tight ends and make another Patriots wide receivers beat you.

Tom Brady is really a special quarterback. Should you give him plenty of time, he will carve up any defense. Should you blitz him, he'll read it thus making you pay. The best way to bet Brady is to buy pressure out of your front four.

This year, the Eagles have 29 sacks on the season, 27 of them have come using their front four. The Eagles prefer to use eight different defensive linemen and rotate through the entire game. They will have to come up big when the Eagles(Michael Vick Jersey) are likely to upset the Patriots.

The Eagles have three different linemen with at least five sacks, including Jason Babin, who has 10 on the year. Babin and Trent Cole will have to show up big against Brady. Brady has proven over his career that after he gets hit early and often, he gets rattled. He's also proven if he's time, he will carve up your defense.

LeSean McCoy has turned into a top-three running back in the NFL this year. Through the first 10 games, McCoy has 1,019 rushing yards and 12 total touchdowns on the season. He is the entire package in the backfield and will be key for the Eagles offense.

The Patriots quit over 104 rushing yards a game, and McCoy must be better still than that on Sunday. Time of possession will be a major factor in Sunday afternoon's contest. The longer the Eagles can stay about the field, the better, not just to keep Tom Brady off the field, but additionally to put on down a very thin Patriots defense.

In a Week 10 loss towards the Arizona Cardinals, McCoy had just one touch within the final 20 plays. He'd 26 touches in last week's victory within the Giants. He'll need to be the main focus from the offense which will probably do without Michael Vick and may be without Jeremy Maclin and perhaps even DeSean Jackso. The 3 players are daily; Vick has yet to throw in practice through Thursday.

If McCoy has a special day, it should make things easier for whoever is running the offense.

The Eagles happen to be probably the most careless team in football this year. Starting quarterback Michael Vick has 14 turnovers about the season, and his backup, Vince Young, didn't fare much better together with his three picks a week ago from the Giants. Tom Brady doesn't need any held. He is able to tear apart a defense without getting the aid of his defense. Another high turnover day for that Eagles will spell doom.

Despite his three interceptions, Young actually played very much of the game last week. A couple of his interceptions can be chalked as much as receivers not returning to the ball. DeSean Jackson let an under thrown ball be picked off by rookie cornerback(Michael Vick Jersey) Prince Amukamara, and Riley Cooper lost the ball within the light on a fade pass that was picked off by Aaron Ross ultimately zone. The third pick would be a tipped pass that fell into Giants safety Kenny Phillips hands.

It won't matter who is to blame; Vince Young or Michael Vick will have to take care of the football in order to be successful on Sunday. With Michael Vick not able to toss the football with the first two practices this week, seems like it will likely be as much as Vince Young once again to save the Eagles season. If so, he'll need to be more careful with the football.

The Eagles have always struggled in the red zone under head coach Andy Reid. Much of that can be related to never using a physical wide receiver or a true power back outside of a few years with Duce Staley.

This year, the Eagles red zone woes have continued. During a two-game stretch against the Giants and the 49ers, the Eagles scored just three red zone touchdowns in 12 trips. This week, the Eagles must be more effective within the 20. You don't beat the Patriots by consistently settling for field goals.

Last week, from the Giants, the Eagles scored two touchdowns in five red-zone trips. Some of those trips was the ultimate possession(Michael Vick Jersey) in which the Eagles just killed the time. The other two trips led to a Alex Henery field goal as well as an interception ultimately zone. Seventeen points in four red zone trips isn't bad.

The Eagles will need to arrive at the red zone more regularly from the Patriots on Sunday. Seventeen points won't cut if against New England. The Eagles will have to put up at least 24 points, which means they need to be extremely powerful inside the 20. They do that, plus they may just save their season for an additional week.
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