Saturday, January 10, 2009

The dreaded Saturday Eagles pick, playoff edition

Welcome to the field goal bowl.

The Eagles-Giants clash in a frigid Meadowlands Sunday is likely to come down to the strong legs of David Akers and John Carney. They're the team's field goal kickers. I see a lot of field goal attempts and not a lot of touchdowns in what should be a very cold, windy stadium.

With an all-day snow believed to be in the area on Saturday, it will be interesting to see what kind of shape the stadium is actually in on Sunday. The field should be fine. Getting all that snow out of the seats might be more of a challenge.

The challenge for Akers will be clear. The Meadowlands is not his favorite stadium. He has had his struggles there. Sunday is not the day for him to continue that pattern.

Here are the keys to the game:

Your winner is the team that controls the line of scrimmage. Simple really. Whoever runs the ball better, and stops the other team's run game, should win this one.

That and whichever team can force a turnover or two. That's where the touchdowns should come from. I don't see either team reeling off a lot of long drives. Both Donovan McNabb and Eli Manning will be challenged by the elements.

So it will come down to Akers and Carney.

Here's my scenario. The Eagles are down by three and driving into Giants territory. Andy Reid manages not to waste all his timeouts, and stops the clock with :05 seconds left. Akers trots out to try a 43-yarder.

He pulls it wide right.

Make it Giants 19, Eagles 16.

Then there's the cruel and unusual punishment version. The Birds are down 4 and driving deep into Giants territory with the seconds ticking off the clock. They have the ball at the Giants 15 with no timeouts left. Donovan drops back and completes a pass to Kevin Curtis - in the middle of the field at the 5-yard-line.

Game, set and match as time expires.

First question to Reid after the game is about the timeout he used in the first drive of the third quarter and the failed challenge that cost him a timeout early in the fourth.

That couldn't really happen, could it?

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