The Philadelphia Eagles and the Indianapolis Colts will square off on Monday Night Football this week. The Eagles will be looking to improve to 2-0 while the Colts are looking to avoid an 0-2 start to the season. These teams are similar in that neither defense is anything special, they're led by young quarterbacks, and they both have questionable offensive lines. It will most likely be a shootout as well. Here are the five keys to the game:
1. Will the Eagles’ Offensive Line Hold Up?
With right tackle Lane Johnson still suspended, left guard Evan Mathis out until at least Week 10 with a knee injury, and reserve linemen Allen Barbre breaking his leg in Week 1 the Eagles will be thin on the offensive line. Luckily for the Eagles, the Colts don’t have much of a pass rush. According to PFF (subscription), the Colts’ player with the highest pass rush grade was inside linebacker Josh McNary with a grade of 0.8. However, going against an offensive line this thin, this could be the Colts’ pass rush gets on track.
2. Nick Foles Needs To Have a Better Game
Eagles’ quarterback Nick Foles had one of the worst halves a quarterback has had in recent memory. He made both bad throws and bad decisions. For the whole game Foles posted a PFF grade of -6.4. The Eagles were able to withstand a 17-0 deficit in the first half partly due to Foles’ poor play and come back to get the win. If he plays like that against the Colts and gives Colts quarterback Andrew Luck a 17-point lead, the Eagles won’t be able to come back from that. The Colts have an offense that won’t take their foot off the gas pedal. Foles has to have a better game and capitalize on every possession.
3. Brandon Boykin Will Be Pivotal
The Colts boast a trio of wide receivers who can all make big plays. They have Reggie Wayne, T.Y. Hilton, and Hakeem Nicks. Wayne and Hilton will be the ones playing in the slot and that is where Boykin plays. Wayne and Hilton are obviously very different wide receivers so Boykin is going to need to be ready to defend against different skill sets. If he has a bad day, Luck is going to pick him apart and it’ll be a long night for the Eagles.
4. Eagles’ Defense Will Really Be Tested By Andrew Luck
Andrew Luck has one of the best arms in the NFL and tests defenses on a weekly basis. What a lot of people don’t realize about his game is that he is very athletic and can really hurt defenses with his feet. Not only can he gain yards on the ground if he needs to, he’s very good at extending plays with his feet while keeping his eyes downfield looking for the open receiver. He’s going to test all aspects of the Eagles’ defense on Monday night. The Eagles defense has some issues with their tackling and has a very weak linebacking corps so they’ll need their defensive line to put a lot of pressure on Luck on a consistent basis and make sure they don’t go for a lot of arm tackles. Luck is a big and strong quarterback who is extremely hard to bring to the ground. If he gets away, he’s likely to make you pay for it down the field.
5. Colts’ Offensive Line Needs To Run Block
The Colts’ offensive line isn’t very good. At all. On top of that, their running back, Trent Richardson, isn’t what people thought he would be coming out of Alabama. Their highest PFF grade for run blocking on their offensive line was a 0.2 from their right tackle Gosder Cherilus. It’s extremely hard to win consistently with offensive line play like that. On top of that, Richardson had a rushing grade of 0.1. If the offensive line can improve, Richardson will have better opportunities and Luck will have a cleaner pocket to throw from and more time to find the open receiver. Also, if Richardson can be more effective, Philadelphia will have to respect the run more leaving less players for the Eagles to drop back into coverage. The success of the Colts on offenses lies heavily on their offensive line.