Did I hear a Niner in there? A Preview of Birds vs. Niners

Ah, Sundays in the fall. The NFL. Cocco's Pizza. Doesn't get much better than that for this red-blooded American. A chance to lay on the couch and scream at a TV for 10 hours...absolutely priceless. 

So, one of the other several reasons why I created this blog was to share my opinions on my beloved Birds as well as the rest of the NFL. I plan on making this a weekly piece, comprised of: 

• 5 things to watch for 
• 3 non game musings
• Why I suck at Fantasy Football 
• and of course, Jack's prediction

Feel free to debate. Even though I played football for nearly all my life and reached a fairly high level doing so, I've come to realize I don't know shit. Enjoy!

5 things to watch for:

The Uh-Oh Line

By the start of the 4th quarter last week, the Birds huddled up with an entirely different offensive line from the one they had when they broke from training camp 4 short weeks ago. Will this makeshift Eagles offensive line be able to hold their ground against the 49ers pass rush? Will they be able to create holes for McCoy and Sproles? In my eyes, this is the biggest match-up to watch. If the Birds can't run, the Birds can't fly. The only good news is that 2013 1st round draft pick Lane Johnson will be back in week 5 in hopes of bringing back some solidarity to a line that is close to resembling dog shit on a shoe-quite a mess. 

Will the real Shady please stand up?

Lesean McCoy is still looking for his breakout game, you know, the one were he becomes the main cog for an Eagles win? In the 3 games thus far, he's been quite mediocre, but to no fault of his own as defenses have been keying on him and forcing Big Dick Nick to beat teams with his arm. Darren Sproles has been the 'WD-40' of this offense, keeping it oiled even when the wheel begins to squeak. Chip needs to stop running McCoy East-West and start running him North-South. That dumb toss sweep play has no business being in the NFL. Stop it. 

The Tale of Two Halves

The San Francisco 49ers have only scored 3 points-yes, you read that right, just 3-in the 2nd half in each of their first 3 games this year. The Birds outscore their opponents by a combined average of 16.6 points in the 2nd half.  Which trend will continue? The real trend that the Birds can't continue is falling behind in the first half by 10+ points. If they do the same with a team like San Francisco, I doubt they can dig themselves out of that hole. 

Eagles corners vs. 49ers receivers

Philadelphia's Bradley Fletcher was terrible last week. On the Redskins first two drives that resulted in touchdowns, he was targeted 8 times, having 7 passes completed against him for both those touchdowns. Um, not good. And he wasn't any better for the rest of the game. The 49ers like to throw out of 3 receiver sets this year, so the Birds secondary will be tested early and often.

TE vs. TE

Vernon Davis of the 49ers is one of the best TE's in football. Brent Celek has been a staple in the Eagles offense ever since he was drafted and Zach Ertz has been a projected 'star in the making' at TE. Ertz reminds me of a bigger Dallas Clark. Whichever team utilizes their TE's the best, expect them to come out on top. 

3 Musings

• The Red Zone channel is by far 1 of the 3 best inventions ever made by man. The other two: air conditioning and internet porn. These are in no particular order.
• Please get the Kid Rock Chevy commercial off the air. It's sticks in my head ("I was born free") all friggin' day and I can't ("I was borrrrrrn free") stop singing it. I loathe that commercial.
• Someone hacked my computer and got a hold of my nude photos but I doubt anyone will make a stink about it. 

Reason No. 5,673 as to why I suck at Fantasy Football

I took the Redskins Defense on Thursday night. My reasoning: How could the Redskins, playing a nationally televised night game, at home against a division opponent, after losing to a division opponent the week before, let a horrid team like the New York Giants do anything to keep you from a win? Well, they did. I don't need to show you the numbers. Un-fucking-believable. The only good thing that came out of my putrid pick-up was that my opponent had Kirk Cousins in at QB. But still. I hate Fantasy Football. 

Prediction: Eagles 38, 49ers 26.

Okay, I admit it, this probably won't play out this way, but I dreamed this scenario earlier in the week after watching NFL insiders Jerome Bettis's pick the Birds to put up 40 against the 49ers. My dream had the Birds winning late, 38-26 while I was still yelling at the TV. I'm taking it. I'm sure I'll be wrong. Let's just hope we all hear this song playing in our head many times today....Fly Eagles Fly...Go Birds!