IS BUYING CROSS-COUNTRY SKIS
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. Defending the tight end: The Eagles will face yet another dangerous pass-catching tight end in the Bears’ Greg Olsen. In the last six games, opposing tight ends have 43 catches for 532 yards and five touchdowns vs. the Eagles. Olsen, who has 34 catches, including six TDs, is one of Jay Cutler’s favorite targets. Only WR Devin Hester has had more passes thrown in his direction (73) than Olsen (51).
2. Jay’s interceptions: Jay Cutler has a league-high 17 interceptions, including five in last week’s 10-6 loss to the 49ers. He’ll be going against a defense that has been very good at forcing interceptions. The Eagles have 15, the third most in the league, but just one in the last two games.
3. Eagles’ third-down defense: The Eagles are ninth in the league in third-down defense, but have struggled lately. In their last three games, opponents have converted 46.1 percent of their third-down opportunities, compared to 29.7 in the first six games. Last week, they allowed the Chargers to convert two critical third downs late in the game that helped put the game on ice.
4. The real McCoy: With Brian Westbrook out after suffering another concussion, the spotlight is on rookie LeSean McCoy. He played well in the three previous games Westbrook has missed, averaging 5.0 yards per carry in those games. He’s still a work in progress with respect to blitz recognition, though. He failed to pick up a blitz last week that resulted in a sack.
5. The longest yards: The Eagles are among the league leaders in big plays. They’ve had 38 plays of 20 or more yards. But they haven’t been nearly as successful lately with shorter distances. In their back-to-back losses to the Cowboys and Chargers, they converted just one of seven third downs of 2 yards or less. They were 3-for-7 in the red zone in those two games.
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To read our earlier post with reports on injuries, the changes at linebacker and more, 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.
Paul Domowitch has been with the Daily News since 1982. He has spent most of his 27 years at 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 came to the Daily News from the Fort Worth (Tx.) Star-Telegram, where he covered some god-awful Texas Ranger baseball teams. His first beat at the Daily News actually wa s boxing, which he covered just long enough to lose two sports coats to blood spatter before moving on to football. Domo and his wife Shelley, a University of Oklahoma grad and very dangerous to be around following a Sooner loss, have been married 29 years and have raised 2 terrific daughters – Allison, 26, a lawyer and graduate of Boston University School of Law; and Amy, 23, who graduated from Clemson and works in marketing and sales for a professional baseball team.
