Arizona Cardinals vs Philadelphia Eagles
It hasn’t been a very pleasant week in the city of brotherly love, particularly for fans of the disappointing Eagles. Offensively the Eagles, due in part to injuries to key performers has not played to anywhere near their potential, but the biggest disappointment has been the play of veteran quarterback Donovan McNabb. Aside from injuries, running back Brian Westbrook, the clubs most consistent offensive performer over the past four seasons, has really struggled to get it done. The loss of All Pro offensive guard Shawn Andrews, the anchor of the Eagles offensive line, has had a profound affect on the offensive, particularly within the running game.
Defensively the Eagles are somewhat “long in the tooth”, but are still a very formidable outfit, particularly when playing at Lincoln Financial Field. Their victory over the Steelers in week three was as fine a performance as I have seen all season.
The Arizona Cardinals have virtually captured the 2008 NFC Western title by default, but with veteran quarterback Kurt Warner leading the way the club has put up some extremely impressive throwing numbers. The receiving combo of Anquin Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald are simply as good as it gets and when you add second year professional Steve Breaston to the equation (54 catches over the first 11 games) the group becomes virtually unstoppable.
Defensively the Cardinals have some very talented individuals, particularly on the back-end, but still have not shown game to game consistency. Darnell Dockett, Karlos Dansby and Adrian Wilson are all very solid dependable football players.
The Cardinals have the hot quarterback, far better receivers and a slew of very underrated players on defense, but the one area that has plagued this club over the past three seasons has been their lack of consistency when on the road. On the other hand the Eagles have played extremely will in front of the home folks and because of that, I’m going to go with the struggling Eagles in a mild upset.
Eagles 27 – Cardinals 23