Jeff Garcia opened the throttle on the passing game Monday night after dinking and dunking in his first two games. He averaged 8.0 yards per attempt vs.
the Panthers and completed five passes of 20-plus yards against a top 10 pass defense. In 111 attempts, Garcia has thrown six touchdowns and no interceptions.
The Redskins have scaled back the offense a bit for Jason Campbell, who will make his fourth start.
He's got just a 50.5 completion percentage and is averaging only 5.59 yards per attempt, but has a strong, accurate arm and excellent mobility.
The Falcons rattled him with a lot of blitzing last week.
Brian Westbrook is getting an opportunity to prove he can handle a heavy workload. He's had 108 touches in the last four games, and is averaging an impressive 5.
5 yards per touch. He suffered a toe injury vs. Carolina that could slow him down some.
He should be able to exploit some coverage mismatches.
At 5-10 and 222 pounds, Ladell Betts is a good tackle-to-tackle runner, but isn't going to beat anyone around the corner. He's had two straight 100-yard rushing performances, including a career-high 155 last week vs.
Falcons that included eight runs of 9 yards or more.
Jeff Garcia relied heavily on short to intermediate passes to RB Brian Westbrook and TE L.J.
Smith vs. Tennessee and Indianapolis, but opened it up vs. Carolina, completing 11 passes for 226 yards and two TDs to his wideouts.
Dont e Stallworth needs to stay healthy and productive.
WR Santana Moss has been bothered by hamstring woes much of the season and wasn't close to 100 percent vs. Eagles last month when he caught just three passes for 17 yards.
He's healthy now, though. He had seven catches for 123 yards last week. Brandon Lloyd and Antwaan Randle El have been high-priced flops.
While Jeff Garcia might not have Donovan McNabb's ability, he's been much easier to protect because he gets the ball out fairly quickly and moves to the outside to find clear throwing lanes. He's been sacked just twice in 113 pass plays. Eagles dominated 'Skins' front seven in the first meeting.
Offensive line coach Joe Bugel has implemented a new zone-blocking scheme that has been working very well for the Redskins, who have rushed for 140-plus yards in three of the last four games. Most of their runs go to the left side, behind LT Chris Samuels and LG Derrick Dockery.
The front four's ability to get penetration into the backfield and force RB Ladell Betts to run east-west will be a key in shutting down the running attack.
Eagles have just six sacks in the last seven games. Underperforming DE Darren Howard has just one sack and one hurry in those seven games.
The Redskins have just 15 sacks and are 30th in the league in sacks per pass play.
RE Andre Carter is strictly an upfield rusher who teams have been able to take advantage of in the run game. He had 11 tackles last week, but the defense was gashed for 256 rushing yards.
The Eagles can't get injured nickel linebacker Shawn Barber back soon enough.
In the last two games without him, the Eagles have allowed 7.9 yards per attempt and a .631 completion percentage.
New WILL 'backer Omar Gaither is much better at shedding blocks than the man he replaced, Matt McCoy.
The Redskins have allowed three 100-yard rushers in the last four games, and this usually solid unit has been one of the reasons. MLB Lemar Marshall isn't making the plays he made last year.
SLB Marcus Washington is better at chasing down plays from the backside than he is defending the run right at him.
The Eagles' pass-rush problems are starting to have a trickle-down effect on this unit, which gave up three passing TDs vs. Carolina.
If injured corners Rod Hood (hamstring) and William James (knee) and safety/nickel linebacker Mike Lewis (concussion) can't play, there could be some big-play chances.
CBs Shawn Springs, who sat out last week's game with a hamstring injury, and Carlos Rogers, both are solid cover men, but there's not much depth behind them. Nickel backs Kenny Wright and Mike Rumph both can be exploited so the Eagles likely will go with a lot of three- and four-wide receiver sets.
The Eagles' punt-coverage unit has given up an average of 17.1 yards in the last three games and will face one of the league's better punt returners (Antwaan Randle El). Return man Reno Mahe tweaked his ankle last week, but is expected to play.
PR Antwaan Randle El and KR Rock Cartwright both are dangerous threats who can shorten the field for the offense. The Redskins released PK Nick Novak this week and will go with Shaun Suisham, who has attempted just seven NFL field goals. P Derrick Frost is 26th in the league in punting and 25th in net average.
1.Eagles MLB Jeremiah Trotter vs. Redskins RB Ladell Betts: Betts is coming off a career-best 155-yard rushing performance.
Advantage: Trotter
2. Eagles LT William Thomas vs. Redskins RDE Andre Carter: Carter had just three tackles and no sacks in first meeting vs.
Thomas. Advantage: Thomas
3. Eagles CB Lito Sheppard vs.
Redskins WR Santana Moss: The lethal Moss finally is healthy after dealing with hamstring problems most of the year. Advantage: Moss
4. Eagles RB Brian Westbrook vs.
Redskins MLB Lemar Marshall: Westbrook has rushed for 407 yards in the last four games. The Redskins have given up 683 in their last four. Advantage: Westbrook
Eagles: QB Jeff Garcia.
Has thrown six TD passes and no interceptions in 11 quarters since replacing Donovan McNabb.
Redskins: RB Ladell Betts. Rushed for a career-high 155 yards in loss to Atlanta.
Eagles: DE Darren Howard. Has just one sack and one hurry in the last seven games.
Redskins: WR Brandon Lloyd.
Has just seven catches for 105 yards in the last four games.
Each week in the Eagles Playbook Daily News sports writer Paul Domowitch gives readers the five elements he'll be keeping his eyes on during the Birds game.
1.
Walk, don't run. The Eagles stopped, or at least slowed down, the bleeding with their run defense Monday night, though the Panthers averaged 4.7 yards per carry.
If this game doesn't get out of hand early like the first meeting did (Eagles led 17-0 early in the second quarter), the Redskins will give the Eagles a heavy dose of Ladell Betts, so they can keep the pressure off young quarterback Jason Campbell. The Eagles need to get penetration and force Betts to run east-west, which isn't his strength.
2.
No Moss. Santana Moss has been nursing hamstring problems much of the season, including the first meeting with the Eagles when he had just three catches for 17 yards. He's completely healthy now and is coming off a seven-catch, 123-yard game against the Falcons.
The Eagles aren't going to be able to silence him, but they need to keep him in front of them and limit his big plays.
3. Pressure the young quarterback.
The Eagles have just six sacks in the last seven games, but used a heavy dose of blitzing to get pressure on the Panthers' Jake Delhomme Monday night. The Falcons and their 31st-ranked pass defense did that against Jason Campbell last week and forced him into two interceptions and a .474 completion percentage.
Campbell is a talented but inexperienced quarterback going up against a defensive coordinator (Jim Johnson) with more blitz and coverage tricks up his sleeve than a magician.
4. No Christmas giveaways.
For the third time in the last five games, the Eagles didn't have a turnover last week. They need to continue that kind of respect for the ball Sunday against a Redskins defense that has an NFL-low nine takeaways. On the road, with their own defense not in the best of shape, the Eagles can't afford to give Washington any easy scoring chances.
5. Vertical jump. Jeff Garcia disproved those rumors of a pop-gun arm last week, completing 11 passes to his wideouts for 226 yards and two touchdowns.
He had five completions of 20 yards or more. The Redskins should get starting corner Shawn Springs back this week but don't have much coverage depth, which should present the Eagles with plenty of downfield opportunities.
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