One of my favorite players to talk to years ago, smart and insightful ex-Redskins guard Ross Tucker, is now an NFL analyst for Sports USA Radio. He also talks NFL on his Sirius Radio show each morning from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. This week he helps us break down Sunday’s Redskins-Eagles game. We didn’t ask for a winner, but he gave us one anyway. You can follow Tucker on Twitter @RossTuckerNFL.
On how dangerous are the Eagles: “They’re exceptionally talented at the skill positions and they legitimately have four guys you feel can score from anywhere on the field. Not many teams can say that. I don’t know that you can say that about the Redskins with anybody at this point. McCoy, Maclin, DeSean Jackson and even Michael Vick, any one of them if they get a ball in space can go 50, 60, 70 yards for a touchdown. Because of their explosive play ability they’re extremely dangerous and because they have four guys with that explosive play ability they’re really hard to defend. You get so worried about DeSean Jackson and then there’s McCoy and Maclin and Michael Vick. The Redskins best bet is to not give up the explosive touchdown. They can give up explosive plays, but they can’t be touchdowns and hold the Eagles to three in the red zone.
On if he’d blitz Eagles QB Michael Vick: “I would, yes, though I will say this: I don’t know that they’ll need to with Orakpo and Kerrigan and what those guys can do with the Eagles line, which is struggling, and with Cofield getting push at times. The goal is always to get pressure without blitzing. And I also think, people say how much Vick struggles against the blitz but I think he’s at his best when he gets out of the pocket and is making plays. I’m not worried about him just sitting there and throwing the ball.
On how to prevent the big play: “Well you have to play a lot of deep zone; you can play Cover-2 or Cover-3 or quarters defense. You’re not playing man and you don’t have a single high safety. If you only have a single high safety those corners are essentially one on one because by the time the safety gets over there it’s unrealistic to think they can make a play on the ball. If you’re in Cover-3, there’s a single high safety but the corners are getting depth. You want to make them catch underneath and then rally to the ball and bring them down. That’s important because those guys can all make people miss.”
On an underappreciated player for the Eagles: “LeSean McCoy. I think they totally underutilize him. He’s probably one of the five best backs in the NFL. He does things that nobody else can do in terms of making people miss. Chris Johnson has raw speed and Adrian Peterson has the power, but McCoy is so shifty and quick laterally that the Eagles should give him the ball more than they do. He’s fantastic.”
On the Eagles interior line: “They’re very inexperienced and I’m not sure their interior three would start for any other team in the league. [Guard] Evan Mathis is a guy the Bengals got rid of. [Rookie first round pick/guard] Danny Watkins has really struggled mentally. [Rookie center] Jason Kelce was a sixth-round pick. So they’re inexperienced. [Left tackle Jason] Peters is hurt and Todd Herremans is out of position at right tackle. Even though he’s doing OK, he’s still getting used to playing out there. Their offensive line in general is kind of a mess.”
On issues with the Eagles’ defense: “They allocated their resources where they felt it was most important and that was the defensive line and the secondary, especially at corner, and they don’t value the safeties and linebacker position that highly. What they’ve come to realize is that even though those might not be marquee positions, they’re still five of the 11 guys on the field. They still need those guys to do their job. They really struggled at those positions and the linebacker struggles are more pronounced because of the defensive line technique. The ends are playing wider than normal and that helps them get up the field and helps them pass rush. It puts a tremendous amount of stress [on linebackers] to get off blocks and make tackles. When a defensive end is inside, what happens is they do a good job of clogging stuff and a lot of times the running back has to bounce outside. That’s where linebackers can scrape over the top and they’re really unencumbered to the ball to make tackles. But the Eagles linebackers are young and their technique is not great. What they have found is that they have a lot of guys up in their grill. They have blockers on them. It’s very hard to disengage from a blocker and make the play. Very few guys were able to do that on me; Ray Lewis was one of them, but it’s pretty hard. If an offensive lineman gets up to a linebacker it’s hard to shed and get rid of them. I used to love when guys would take me on….I don’t think [the linebackers] have perfected their technique.”
On what the Redskins offense should do: “I run the ball until they stop it and then probably run it some more. I run, run, run and the safeties and linebackers will get real nosey and they’ll get real concerned about the run game and then play action. The Redskins win this game. I think the Eagles are in big trouble because that’s what the Redskins do well – run the ball and play-action off it. That’s torturous for the Eagles because that tests their safeties and linebackers, which is where they’re inexperienced and having issues.”
On if the Eagles wide-nine defense presents a problem for the stretch zone: “Well, not really because it depends on how upfield that end gets. If they’re able to stretch him enough, that’s not a problem. But if the end is able to jack up the end or tackle and set the edge, then yeah that can be a problem.”
On what stands out about Ryan Kerrigan: “His awareness and how well he’s adjusted to playing a 3-4. He’s looked much more comfortable than I expected him to look. I knew about his technique and effort and athleticism. [But] sometimes it takes a long time to adjust to that. The Redskins have hit it twice in a row with Orakpo and Kerrigan. That’s a major reason why their defense is as good as it is – and London Fletcher of course.”
On if the Redskins are legit: “I think they’re legit in the sense that they have a good chance to win the NFC East. I don’t think anyone in that division is all that good but they’re not legit in terms of doing damage in the postseason. They don’t throw the ball well enough to do damage in the postseason in a conference with Green Bay, New Orleans, even Detroit.”
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