Denny Medley- USA TODAY Sports
The Philadelphia Eagles will have a tough match-up tomorrow night as they will be hosting the Kansas City Chiefs.
The one way the Eagles will be able to win this ballgame will be getting to Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith. Smith is a solid quarterback for Andy Reid’s offense as he can manage games with a good running game and solid defense. However, if the game is put on his shoulders then he can certainly run into trouble. Just like most quarterbacks, when Smith is pressured into making throws then the ball should be in the Eagles’ hands. Smith isn’t an elite quarterback by any means, and if the Eagles jump out in front with an early lead and they apply pressure on Smith then the game should belong to the Eagles.
Smith isn’t the quarterback that can pick apart a defense with his arm; however that could be quite possible this week considering the Eagles have one of the worst pass-coverage defenses in the league. Yet if the Eagles’ front seven can get to Smith or even pressure him, Smith is bound to make mistakes. The one way you can look at it is that most Eagles would rather have the ball in Smith’s hands than the hands of his talented running back, Jamaal Charles.
Charles is a dynamic running back that can take it to the house on any given play, just like LeSean McCoy can for the Eagles. If the Eagles minimize the amount of touches Charles has by grabbing an early lead then that will pressure Reid to pass more, even though he passes the majority of the time anyways. But Smith can certainly do some damage if he has all day to throw.
So with that being said the Eagles will need to dial-up some blitz packages this week and get to the quarterback, which is something they ineffectively did last week against Philip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers. Billy Davis needs to be more creative with his blitzes, because what hurt the Eagles last week was that the Chargers’ offensive line had no problem picking up blitzes and Rivers was able to find the open receiver instantly.
So the Eagles will need to get after Smith from beginning to end in tomorrow’s game to secure a victory. This will certainly be a big game for the Eagles since they will be heading to face Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos next Sunday.
Sonny Bryan is a Philadelphia Eagles writer for www.RantSports.com.Follow him on Twitter @SonnyBryan50
