Paul Domowitch: Packers will seek holes in Eagles' screen coverage

FOOTBALL COACHES spend countless hours scrutinizing game film, looking for their opponent's soft spots and weaknesses.

When Packers coach Mike McCarthy and his staff reviewed the defensive film of the Eagles' last few games of the 2009 season, particularly their back-to-back, season-ending losses to the Cowboys and a harder-than-it-should-have-been, 30-27, Week 16 win over the Broncos, one of the things that no doubt jumped out at them was the Eagles' vulnerability to the wide-receiver screen.

Both the Broncos and the Cowboys had a lot of success with it, directing most of them to the left side of the Eagles' defense, where Pro Bowl cornerback Asante Samuel resides.

Samuel is one of the game's top ballhawks, as evidenced by his league-best 29 interceptions over the last 4 years, including nine last season. But he is a poor tackler and doesn't care much for press coverage, which makes him an ideal target for wide-receiver screens.

"The Cowboys killed us on those," said former Eagles cornerback Sheldon Brown, who was traded to the Browns in early April. "You've got to give them credit for executing them. We didn't execute."

The wide-receiver screen has become increasingly popular over the last few years, and why not? It's a high-percentage play that allows you to get the ball in space to elusive receivers and backs who aren't easy to bring down in space.

"We kind of went through a phase with it when Gary Crowton was the Bears' offensive coordinator [in 1999-2000],'' said Eagles coach Andy Reid. "He kind of brought it into the league and you saw it with him, and then a few other teams tried it, and then they kind of backed off.

"Then last year, you saw it quite a bit. We ran a few, and other teams ran more than even what we did. In certain situations, it can be good for you. Especially if you have nifty little receivers out there that can skedaddle."

Eagles defensive coordinator Sean McDermott knows his unit must be a lot better against wide-receiver screens this season than it was last year. The Eagles dramatically upgraded their overall speed on defense in the offseason, particularly at linebacker, largely so they would be better able to get to the ball and make plays. And McDermott and Reid made it clear to Samuel that he needed to become a better tackler and encouraged him to hit the weights and add some muscle to his scrawny frame.

"That's what you do," McDermott said. "You look at your problems in the offseason and try to get those problems corrected."

McDermott said he was pleased by how his unit defended wide-receiver screens in the preseason and hopes they can carry that into the regular season.

"We saw some in the preseason and handled them extremely well," he said. "We're going to continue to see them and we're going to continue to work on them."

Said strong safety Quintin Mikell: "We know that we're going to see them a lot. Especially to the left. We're going to get a lot of screens. We've been working on that stuff. Really, I look at screens as a hustle play. Everybody's got to get to the ball. We're going to be better at it.

"Last year, our tackling wasn't great. But a bigger problem was we just didn't get enough guys to the ball after [the first hit]. I think the [improved] speed we have will help that. Especially on the screens and all that crap that we were getting last year.

"We're going to have linemen redirected and everybody getting to the rock. As long as we're playing fast, with our speed, tackling shouldn't be an issue this year.''

* The Eagles have two rookie starters on defense and people say they're rebuilding. The Packers have two rookie starters in their secondary and people, including me, say they're a Super Bowl contender.

Rookie Morgan Burnett will start at strong safety for the Packers Sunday against the Eagles, and Sam Shields, an undrafted free agent out of Miami, will be the Packers' nickel corner, which essentially is a starting position considering that the Packers played nickel 60 percent of the time last season. Shields has shot up the depth chart thanks to solid play and injuries to starter Al Harris and Brandon Underwood. Shields likely will line up on the outside a lot Sunday against either DeSean Jackson or Jeremy Maclin because cornerback Charles Woodson, the league's 2009 Defensive Player of the Year, often moves inside in the Packers' nickel package.

"From what I saw of him in the preseason, he made plays," said Tramon Williams, who has replaced Harris at right corner. "[But] the regular season is going to be a different thing. They're going to find ways to attack him. I can remember when I first played nickel. I made plays. But when you're young, you're still learning things and you're going to give up some plays too."

* From the Pot Calling the Kettle Black Dept., we have none other than Mr. Me-me-me, Terrell Owens, ripping Brett Favre for yet another not-on-time arrival to the Vikings. "Had it been one of us doing some of the same things, pulling these stunts that Brett Favre has done the last 2 or 3 years, then we would be labeled 'not a team player,' or 'selfish,' " Owens said during an appearance on "The Daily Line" on Versus with his teammate and new best bud, Chad Ochocinco. "These are times where you want your guys to be in camp, bonding with your teammates, learning the plays, going through the whole team concept just like everybody else. And now it's like, yeah, he's set himself above team standards."

Yep. The guy who once instructed his offensive coordinator not to speak to him really said that.

* Tony Dungy, the NFL's unofficial executive vice-president in charge of morality, has weighed in on the Reggie Bush/Heisman issue. He thinks Bush should relinquish the trophy and give it to Rex Ryan if Rex promises to cease and desist with the f-bombs. Actually, I made the second part of that up. But he does think Bush should return his trophy to the Heisman folks.

"If I'm Reggie Bush, I'd give back the trophy,"Dungy said. "I'd say, 'You know what? I was the best player in college football. You know that and I know that. So here, you take the trophy, but you won't take the memories.' ''

* To the Steelers players, who showed some unexpected intelligence by not re-electing their tarnished quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger as a team captain for the upcoming season. Wide receiver Hines Ward and Roethlisberger were the offensive captains last year. The players replaced Roethlisberger with tight end Heath Miller for this season.

"The captain's not just about what you do on the field," said Ward. "It's [also] what you do off the field."

* To Steve Bornstein and the other clueless bozos in charge of the NFL Network for yet another awful on-air hiring. They're bringing in annoying Joe Theismann as an analyst for their Thursday night games. ESPN finally got smart a few years ago and dumped Theismann, whose next informative comment will be his first. Now, NFLN is bringing him back and is going to stick him in a crowded booth with Matt Millen and play-by-play man Bob Papa and have him talk over them.

"Joe is one of the premier analysts in the business," NFLN executive producer Eric Weinberger said, apparently with a straight face.

Gee, I wonder if they're thinking of bringing Bryant Gumbel back for an encore.

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