The Ravens are looking to rebound from a devastating loss last week to the Giants. Their playoff hopes are still alive, but the outcome of Sunday's game against the 5-4-1 Eagles could determine whether those playoff hopes remain realistic.
The Eagles, like the Ravens, have had many ups and downs this season. And of course, let's not forget where John Harbaugh established himself as a premier special teams coach.
Here are two key match-ups to keep an eye on as the Eagles come to town.
Eagles Offense vs. Ravens Defense: RB Brian Westbrook vs. Ravens Front Seven
It is not often the Ravens worry about an opponent's running game. Over the last 30 games, nearly two full seasons, the Ravens defense has yet to allow a 100-yard rusher. The pride this unit takes in its ability to stop the run is almost mythical at this point.
But last week things changed. The Ravens may not have allowed a 100-yard rusher against the Giants, but they almost allowed two. Giants starter Brandon Jacobs left the game at the half, having already totaled more than 70 yards. And in the second half, the Ravens gave up more than 90 yards to third-stringer Ahmad Bradshaw. And that does not include the 41 yards they allowed to Derrick Ward. The trio of New York running backs steamrolled the Ravens - almost literally at points, putting lineman and linebackers on the ground on every play.
That pounding is certainly changing the way we look at upcoming games.
This week, the unit faces one of the most versatile and established running backs in the game today: Brian Westbrook. Along side LaDainian Tomlinson and Reggie Bush, Westbrook is one of only three running backs that can really claim to be a threat to the defense. He can run and catch the ball, can run between the tackles, around the tackles, and past any linebacker you put in front of him.
This is another daunting task for the Ravens defense. And most weeks it would be easy to say that the Ravens would shut a player like Westbrook down. They excel at stopping all kinds of backs - even the most versatile of them.
But again, this is not just any week for the Ravens. This is the week after they got handled by the best team in the league. Maybe the revenge theme will play to the Ravens advantage, but maybe not. This team is beat up.
Luckily, for the Ravens, Westbrook is pretty beat up as well. Nagging injuries have kept Westbrook out of two games and limited in most of his others. He is going to play on Sunday, but he has already missed practices this week to make sure he is ready to go.
Even in limited time, however, Westbrook has raked up more than 700 yards from scrimmage, averaging 4.1 yard per rush and 6.8 per reception. And he has found the endzone eight times already.
The first thing the Ravens need to do on Sunday is shut down Brian Westbrook. They need to reassert their dominance in the running game. They need to be so physical, so overpowering, that there is no doubt who is going to win the battle on the ground. If they do it well enough, Westbrook might just be pulled off the field early (it has happened before this season for the Eagles).
The importance of shutting down the run game early cannot be understated. Not only will it give life to this defense, but it will certainly define the rest of the match-up between the Eagles offense and Ravens defense. Without the threat of Westbrook's wild ways, the Ravens will be able to put more pressure on Donovan McNabb (who is now as much of a pocket passer as Peyton Manning) and drop more men into coverage against the Eagles receivers.
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about 1 month ago
I predict an 11-11 tie in honor of last week's Bengals-Eagles and Chargers-Steelers game.
from about 1 month ago
Nice write-up here as well. Hope it's an exciting game.
from about 1 month ago
Woops, didn't mean to make that a response to Edgar's comment. My mistake.
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