Week 9 Q&A: Eagles Blogger Jason Brewer

Each week Coltzilla will preview the upcoming game by speaking with fellow bloggers who write about the week’s opponent.  This week Coltzilla speaks with Jason Brewer from Bleeding Green Nation to get an Eagles perspective on our upcoming match-up.

CZ: With your number one cornerback Ellis Hobbs (Eagles fan told me that) out for this game I assume your number two cornerback Dimitri Patterson 
will cover Wayne.  Who do you see covering Garçon and Collie, and are you worried about the match-ups?

JB: Well our #1 corner is Asante Samuel who will be playing.  Dimitri Patterson will be starting on the opposite side of the field.  The Eagles really don’t play match-ups with their corners, they give them a side of the field, so basically the Colts can get whatever match-up they like.  Frankly, the individual match-ups don’t worry me as much just Manning does.  Obviously he makes for a tough match-up regardless of the WRs and secondary.

CZ: Jason Peters is just coming off an injury — I believe to his knee? How do you see him holding up against the pass rush of Dwight Freeney?  Who is matched up with Robert Mathis and what do you expect?

JB: I’d much prefer to see Peters in there against Freeney than his backup, King Dunlap.  Peters can be a hit or miss proposition, generally he can dominate in the run game but occasionally struggle in pass protection.  The good thing about this game is that Michael Vick is a lefty so Freeney doesn’t get to rush the blind side like usual. 

 Winston Justice starts on the other side and I’d say has been our most solid and consistent offensive lineman.  He’ll be watching Vick’s back and I feel ok with his match-up against Mathis.  He’s not a dominant type OT, but he’s solid.

CZ: I don’t know anyone on your D-line or linebacker corp.  Who in that group is the biggest threat?  How are your DE’s at getting pressure on the QB?

JB: Well I believe that only 2 guys in the NFL have had more sacks than Eagles DE Trent Cole over the past 3 or 4 seasons.  He’s a guy you don’t hear a lot about but all he does is rack up double digit sacks year after year.  He’s got 6 already this year, which is the 4th most in football.  As a group, the Eagles are 8th in the NFL in sacks.

CZ: Philly fans are well known for having booed a pretty good quarterback in Donovan McNabb.  Now that McNabb has been traded to the division rival Redskins and Kevin Kolb / Michael Vick are under center for the Eagles, how do fans grade the move?

JB: Well, considering how much McNabb has struggled and how good both Vick and Kolb have generally been I’d say people have come around on the trade.  The fact that McNabb doesn’t appear to intend to be in DC beyond this year, the deal is looking like a steal.  The surprise has been MIchael Vick, I don’t think anyone expected him to be the top rated passer in the NFL this year.  I sure didn’t.  It’ll be interesting to see if he’s as hot this weekend as he was before he went down injured.

CZ: I think both teams are very exited for a good game this Sunday as there are many things both teams are eager to see from their respective players.  For you I would say Vick and Jackson.  I know we are glad to see Collie returning and looking to see what McClendon does at TE — lol.  What is your prediction for the outcome of this game?

JB: I’ve been going back and forth on this game all week.  Generally, I do think the Colts are overall the better team … but the Eagles have absolutely every intangible working in their favor this weekend.  The Colts are coming off a short week where they have to travel to the East Coast to face a team coming off their bye.  I don’t know if that’s a cruel joke by the schedule makers, but they did the Colts no favors.  Add in the fact that the Colts are still beat up and the Eagles are getting four starters back this weekend and I can understand why the Eagles are slight favorites in this one.