What they're saying about the Eagles

Here's the weekly roundup of what the national media are saying about the Eagles as they prepare for Sunday's game against the Falcons:

SI.com's Peter King has the Eagles 15th in his weekly rankings:

Kevin Kolb needed to throw a knockout punch in the quarterback boxing match Sunday night, and what he did was win a TKO with his very nice 22-of-32 night in the 27-24 win at San Francisco. Maybe he'll get one more start before Mike Vick returns, or maybe Vick pushes hard to be ready next week against Atlanta in a game he really wants to play.

Matt Bowen of the National Football Post offers up his notes from the Redskins' gameplan when they faced the Eagles back in 2005.

It's interesting to see what offensive tendencies are the same five years later. The Redskins had a big focus on the Eagles' screen passes, and their game plan focused on Terrell Owens and Brian Westbrook. On first and second downs, the Redskins prepared for crossing routes that were designed to pick up yards after the catch.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, the Eagles have not always had success with those this season. Last week against the 49ers, the Birds' wide receivers picked up only 27 yards after the catch.

Bowen's piece is definitely worth a read though. It'd be interesting to see how it compared to opposing game plans this season.

SI.com's Don Banks has the Eagles 15th in his power rankings:

I'm not buying the notion that Kevin Kolb could play his way back into the starting lineup while Michael Vick recovers from injured ribs. I think Andy Reid and the entire Eagles locker room knows who gives them the best chance of winning this season, and it's No. 7. Vick puts the big play back into play in Philly.

ESPN.com has the Eagles 14th in its rankings:

Kevin Kolb didn't look too bad while beating the 49ers in San Francisco.

Adam Caplan of FoxSports.com has the Eagles 15th in his power rankings:

You had to be impressed with QB Kevin Kolb's performance last week at San Francisco. The quarterback position for this team is in pretty good shape. The thing that Philadelphia has to overcome is injuries at several key positions.

Pete Prisco of CBSSports.com has the Eagles 14th:

Kevin Kolb answered a lot of questions at San Francisco. He might need to do so again this week against Atlanta if Mike Vick can't play.

Michael Silver of Yahoo Sports has the Eagles 12th.

Football Outsiders, which has not been impressed with Michael Vick's performance this season, did not make much of Kevin Kolb's performance last week either:

Kolb ended up having a day roughly similar to what Michael Vick produced in his two starts. Like Vick, he was playing against a pretty bad pass defense (although, unlike Vick's opponents, this pass defense was actually good a year ago). When Kolb got pass protection, he looked like an very effective quarterback, capable of making plays downfield while remaining cool and collected in the pocket. Where Kolb struggles, though, is when he gets stuck in third-and-long or has issues in front of him. Once his pocket breaks down, Kolb devolves into the early-2008 Matt Cassel before our very eyes, which isn't a surprise; like Cassel back then, Kolb lacks the pro reps that you need to grow comfortable with pressure. It may end up that Vick is the better quarterback for this Eagles team because of his ability to make hay with a terrible offensive line, even though Kolb is probably the better passer.

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