IS GONNA GOOSE THE MAVERICKS
Each week, Daily News football writer Paul Domowitch will tell you the things he will be keeping his eyes on during that week’s game:
1. The turnover battle. The Eagles lead the league in takeaways with 18. That’s the good news. The bad news is they’ve scored just 53 points off of those 18 takeaways. The Giants have five fewer takeaways than the Eagles, but have cashed them in for 65 points.
2. The Giants’ giant pass rush. No matchup will impact Sunday’s game more than the Eagles’ offensive line vs. the Giants’ front four. If the Eagles don’t neutralize Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck and Mathias Kiwanuka, it’s going to be a long day for Donovan McNabb and the offense.
3. Oh, those third-and-longs. The Eagles have converted just six of 31 third-down opportunities in the last two games. The biggest problem has been that too many of their third-down situations have been long yardage. Twenty-three of the 31 third downs the last 2 weeks have been for 6 yards or more. The Eagles have converted just one of 22 third-down situations of 10 yards or more all season.
4. A better McNabb. Donovan McNabb has not been sharp the last two games, particularly on third down, where he completed just nine of 20 passes against the Raiders and Redskins. He struggled against the Giants last year, completing just 54.2 percent of his passes and averaging 5.63 yards per attempt in three games.
5. When opportunity knocks, answer the freaking door. The Eagles have had 27 possessions in the last two games and have had the ball in enemy territory 13 times. Yet all they have to show for those 13 trips beyond the 50 is four field goals. They need to capitalize on those opportunities Sunday.
To read Les Bowen's report from Thursday's practice session, click here.
Les
Bowen has covered the Eagles for the Daily News
since 2002.
Before that, he spent nearly 13 years covering the Flyers. It took Les
only a few seasons after the switch to figure out that there was no
penalty box at the Linc, and that the time really wasn't his, despite
what Andy Reid kept saying. Les came to Philadelphia and the Daily News
from Charlotte in 1983. In the intervening years, he has pretty much
lost track of NASCAR, and his accent. He, his wife Barbara, and their
two sons live in Haddon Township, New Jersey.
E-mail Les at bowenl@phillynews.com
and follow
him on Twitter.
Paul
Domowitch has been with the Daily News since 1982.
He has spent most of his nearly 3 decades with the paper covering the
Eagles and pro football. For the last 10 years, he’s been a
selector for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A native of Wilkes-Barre
and a graduate of Wilkes University, Domo started his career in Texas,
working first for the Midland Reporter-Telegram (1976-78), and then for
the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where he covered some god-awful Texas
Ranger baseball teams. His first beat at the Daily News actually was
boxing, which he covered just long enough to lose 2 sports coats to
blood spatter before moving on to football. Domo and his wife Shelley,
a University of Oklahoma grad who still hasn’t gotten over
that Fiesta Bowl loss to Boise State 5 years ago, have 2 terrific
daughters -- Allison, 28, who is an attorney in South Jersey, and Amy,
25, who works in administration for a professional baseball team.
E-mail Domo at PDomo@aol.com and follow
him on Twitter.
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