Didinger's Eagles-Jets Scouting Report

Sizing up Sundays game between the Eagles (5-8) and the New York Jets (8-5) at Lincoln Financial Field.

When the Eagles have the ball
LeSean McCoy scored two touchdowns against Miami, pushing his season total to 17, one short of the teams single-season record, but otherwise he had a rough day. He ran the ball 27 times and gained just 38 yards. He had 20 yards on his first two carries and just 18 yards the rest of the day. One-third of his carries were for negative yardage.

OK, it is not a big deal because the Eagles still won the game, 26-10. But the Jets' defense is built like the Miami defense. It is a physical 3-4 front with big linemen, who are good at leveraging the line of scrimmage, taking on blockers and pushing upfield, which makes it hard for even a shifty runner like McCoy to find daylight.

The Jets arent quite as good as the Dolphins. They rank 14th against the run compared to Miamis third. But they have improved in recent weeks and they dominated Kansas City up front in Sundays 37-10 win. The Kansas City running backs gained just 46 yards on 19 attempts as the Jets controlled the line of scrimmage.

Like the Dolphins, the Jets have a massive nose tackle, Sione Pouha (6-3, 330), to clog up the middle. Muhammad Wilkerson, the first-round draft pick from Temple, led all the Jets' linemen with five tackles against the Chiefs. He plays left end so he will be up against the Eagles' Todd Herremans most of the day.

The Jets got a boost with the signing of Aaron Maybin, the former Penn State star, who was written off as a bust in Buffalo. Maybin was the Bills' first-round pick in 2009, but he never fit into their defense and was released after failing to record a sack in his first two seasons. The Jets signed him and he clicked in coach Rex Ryans defense. Maybin leads the Jets with six sacks and four forced fumbles.

Not only will the Jets play the run the same way the Dolphins played it, they will attack quarterback Mike Vick in similar fashion. Ryan and defensive coordinator Mike Pettine, Jr., will blitz early and often. Linebackers Calvin Pace, David Harris and Bart Scott have combined for a dozen sacks and Ryan likes to blitz defensive backs, usually from the slot, as well. Vick and his O-line will have to be in sync on their protection schemes.

With his return from the injured list, Vick got a lot of credit for snapping the Eagles out of their losing streak with the win in Miami, but the truth is he didnt play that well. He actually played worse than the statistics (15 for 30 passing, 208 yards, one touchdown, one interception) would indicate. Some of it can be attributed to rust after missing three weeks, but there were other issues that were consistent with his poor play from earlier in the season.

Vick was off with his passes, throwing some terrible balls. The interception he threw to cornerback Sean Smith, an awkward, no-chance throw across his body with nothing on it, was so bad you almost thought Vince Young threw it. But most troubling was the way he did not trust his protection and ping-ponged around the pocket instead of keeping his eyes down the field looking for an open receiver.

It looked a lot like the Vick we saw in Atlanta and thats not a good thing. If he is as careless with the football this week as he was in Miami, the Jets' cornerback tandem, Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie, will make him pay.
When the Jets have the ball
Since taking over the Jets, Ryan has defined his formula for success as Ground and Pound. In other words, he wants to run the football and play tough defense. It is an old-school approach but it has served him well, taking the Jets to the AFC title game each of the last two seasons.

It took awhile for the Jets to hit their offensive stride this year. The loss of two starting linemen (Alan Faneca and Damian Woody) and a valuable running back (Thomas Jones) took a lot of muscle out of the ground game. The Jets tried to run the ball early in the year but were unsuccessful. That put more pressure on quarterback Mark Sanchez, who did not handle it very well. After five games, the Jets were 2-3 and appeared to be on the skids.

Lately, they have turned things around and the fact they are running the ball better is one reason why. The Jets won their last three games and they averaged 133 yards rushing in each of the victories. Shonn Greene ran for a season-high 129 yards in Sundays rout of the Chiefs. The line, led by Pro Bowl center Nick Mangold, was very good.

The Kansas City game is the blueprint the Jets would like to follow every week. The running game controls the clock and field position, it minimizes mistakes and sets up the play-action passing game. Quarterback Mark Sanchez accounted for four touchdowns in the win (two passing, two running) but he only attempted 21 passes, which means he was able to pick his spots.

If you look at the Jets' overall offensive ranking, it is a bit puzzling. They rank 25th in the NFL in offense22nd in passing, 21st in rushing. Of course, those rankings are done by yards, which is often misleading. The Eagles are the No. 4 offense but that falls under the heading of So what? when your record is 5-8.

It is all about points and the Jets rank sixth in the league with 327 points scored. The key is their efficiency in the red zone. They are the No. 1 red zone offense in the NFL, scoring 30 touchdowns in 42 opportunities inside their opponents' 20-yard line.

How do they do it?

Well, when you watch them on tape, you see one of their weaknesses is their lack of speed. They only have one player on offense who is truly explosive and thats wide receiver Santonio Holmes. Everyone else has average speed. So this isnt anyones idea of a big-play offense. In many ways, the Jets are the anti-Eagles, who are all about speed.

But they have players such as wide receiver Plaxico Burress, tight end Dustin Keller and veteran running back LaDainian Tomlinson, who execute very well and when you are in the red zone, what does speed matter, really? It is all about execution, precise routes and, in the case of the 6-5 Burress, having a size advantage in the end zone. Burress has seven touchdowns on just 37 receptions this year.

Sanchez went through a tough stretch earlier this seasonRyan had the ancient backup Mark Brunell taking snaps with the first team in practice to send a message to Sanchezbut the young quarterback is playing better during the current winning streak. It is worth noting he has one of the leagues best fourth-quarter passer ratings. He has thrown eight touchdown passes and just one interception in the fourth quarter this season.

The Eagles had nine quarterback sacks in the win at Miami with Jason Babin and Trent Cole each getting three, but Cole was working against a hapless backup in Nate Garner. He will have a tougher test Sunday going against Pro Bowler DBrickashaw Ferguson.

Special teams
Joe McKnight, who almost bombed out as a fourth-round draft pick last season, has found a new role as the Jets' kickoff returner. He leads the NFL in that department with a 32.4 yard average on 29 returns, including a 107-yard return for a touchdown. Rookie Jeremy Kerley handles punt returns (9.6 yard average). Kicker Nick Folk can be erratic. He has missed five of 21 field goal attempts.

Eagles special teams have been an adventure much of the season. Alex Henery has hit his last 11 field goal tries which is good, but fellow rookie Chas Henry had a punt blocked in Miami last week which isnt good. And the less said about the nutty DeSean Jackson pass to Curtis Marsh the better. Weve already seen more than enough trickery (remember the Henry pass against Chicago?) on special teams, thank you.

Intangibles
The Jets have never beaten the Eagles in a regular season game (0-8) for what thats worth. This will be only the second time the Jets have played a regular season game in Philadelphia since 1978.

This may be more of a tangible than an intangible but the Jets will really miss safety Jim Leonhard, who went down with a knee injury last Sunday. Leonard is the glue that holds the Jets' secondary together.

Prediction
The Jets have established a pattern of beating losing teams and losing to winning teams. Their last seven wins were against the Chiefs, Redskins, Bills (twice), Chargers, Dolphins and Jaguars. Their losses were to Denver, New England (twice), Baltimore and Oakland.

Lets see, the Eagles are 5-8. OK, that makes it easy.

Jets 21, Eagles 17.

E-mail Ray Didinger at viewfromthehall@comcast.net