Minnesota Talk

[reese125]

According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, it's looking "more and more" like Vikings NT Pat Williams (shoulder) will sit out Sunday's playoff game.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

samuel hurt his hip yesterday and did not practice will be listed as questionable

If they can keep Arizona's passing offense in check without Samuel, the vaunted Tarvaris Jackson/Berrian connection shouldn't be too much of a problem.  It would be much worse if they were down a DE or LB.

[SD_Eagle5]

Link

Eagles at Vikings

The Eagles don't play against opponents. They play against themselves. When the Eagles are playing well, particularly on offense, the opponent is almost irrelevant. When the are playing poorly, its usually because of their own dumb mistakes -- short yardage futility, an unwillingness to even pretend to run the ball -- not because the opponent played exceptionally or used some clever scheme to stop them.

I used to think that this was just an Eagles fan's perspective. But after watching the Eagles beat the Giants, get swept by the taterskins, tie the Bengals, and perform other feats of bipolarity this season, I'm convinced that it makes more sense to analyze Eagles Success vs. Eagles Mistakes than to really look at matchups.

The Vikings enter the playoffs with Tarvaris Jackson at quarterback and an offense built around I-formation running with Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor. The Eagles defense, which is as consistent as the offense is frustrating, will have no trouble limiting the Vikings to 17 points or less. It's up to the Eagles offense to play the way it did in the last five weeks (minus the taterskins game). With Brian Westbrook, Correll Buckhalter, and Kevin Curtis all healthy, the Eagles have the weapons to drop 31 points on Sunday. The meeting between Brad Childress and former mentor Andy Reid should be a mismatch, unless the erratic Donovan McNabb shows up, or DeSean Jackson drops three passes, or the third-and-1 hitch pass to a tight end returns to the playbook.

The Eagles are good enough to beat any team in the NFL. They are also bad enough to lose to (or at least tie) anyone. I believe the good Eagles will show up on Sunday, but I won't make any promises after that

[Rome]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs2008/news/story?id=3806380

Pathetic.

[SD_Eagle5]

Damn economy, maybe Minny should get in touch with FHF

[PhillyPhreak54]

I sure hope Samuel will be OK; when I read that I thought of how Vincent always went down in practice the days before playoff games.

If Asante cant play, Salty Lito will go out there and sabotage the team.

[shorebird]

The Eagles need Samuel for this game. He's the kind of player that comes up big in big games.

[rjs246]

Like when he dropped the game-clinching INT in the superbowl last year?

[shorebird]

Game clinching?? No.

[QB Eagles]

You don't think intercepting Eli Manning with 1:15 left in the Super Bowl and the score 14-10 Patriots would have clinched the game?

[shorebird]

Yeah, it probably would have. It's just ironic that everyone uses the word 'clinch', when the ball was anything but 'clinched'.

Besides, I'm trying to think positive.

[General_Failure]

What's positive about Samuels not making a pick, game winning or otherwise?

[shorebird]

Yeah..........well, nothing.

[MadMarchHare]

I sure hope Samuel will be OK; when I read that I thought of how Vincent always went down in practice the days before playoff games.

If Asante cant play, Salty Lito will go out there and sabotage the team.

At this point, I'm not sure Salty Lito would start if Samuel's a no-go.  Sure seems like Hanson has locked up the 3rd corner.  Of course, Lito would be pressed into service as the nickel then.

[SD_Eagle5]

I'm pretty sure Lito would get the start since he has a ton of playoff experience, Hanson is fine in the nickel role. Makes you wonder what's gonna happen with Lito in the offseason, he certainly has nothing to boast about since he's now a 4th corner, so since he has no leg to stand on he and Drew will come up with some outrageous conspiracy scenario where the Eagles didn't want to play him because he wants a new deal. Personally I'd keep his disgruntled ass unless a team offers a decent pick because his trade value is at it's lowest.