Eagles Pre-Season Preview

We're on the home stretch here, folks. Soon, the games will matter. Soon, the statistics amassed by the players on the field will count towards your Fantasty Football standings. And, eventually, Mike Tomlin will decide on a starting five for his offensive line.

But not just yet.

It looks as though the starters will be playing about three quarters on Sunday, so this will be our last, good look at them (assuming LeBeau and Arians - particularly Arians don't hold anything back) before they play one series or less in the pre-season finale against the Panthers.

Really, there are two things about this game that strike me as important:

1. We might get a better look at the new offense that Arians has installed, but really hasn't shown much of since the first quarter of the Hall of Fame Game.
2. In theory, we'll know who the starters are on the offensive line when the offense takes the field for the first time.

As far as #1 is concerned, I think we'll see them open it up for the first couple of series. I don't believe that Arians has seen enough of his personnel in the new offense to go into the season with any degree of confidence. Most likely, we'll get a good look at it on the first three series and if they're forced to go to a 2 minute offense at the end of the first half.

We'll see them out there for at least an entire half and at most three entire quarters, with the truth probably lying somewhere in the middle. The other bright side of things is that the Eagles have been shit-kicking everyone thus far and McNabb looks good, so they might not try to accomplish too much on Sunday night. That'll make it easier for us to operate, but obviously won't be as good of a test of the offense's and the defense's prowess.

For #2, it's still anyone's guess. I say they start Smith, Faneca, Mahan, Simmons, and Colon, then cut Okobi, but probably not Starks. Historically in the NFL, the guys that start on the offensive line for the next-to-last pre-season game are your starters for Opening Day barring injury. That means that, if the starting five I predict come out there on Sunday, those are the starters you'll see on September 9th.

Will that actually be the case? Well, really, only Mike Tomlin knows that and he's become scary good at coach-speak. I swear he could talk for 15 solid minutes and not actually say anything. Remind me not to have him give my eulogy.

At any rate, I predict that we'll win and be guaranteed to have a winning pre-season record. For... whatever that's worth. I think the defense will come out fired up once again, the offense will get in just enough plays with the actual scheme that Arians will use once it counts, and that the Eagles will kind of go through the motions and pray that no one gets hurt.

And really, that's all we're hoping for in this game. Good showing by the offense and defense, no one gets hurt. And be sure to have easy access to liquor.