Through two weeks, the Steelers defense has faced two lackluster offenses. Or maybe that should read, through two weeks, the Steelers defense has made usually productive offenses startingly impotent. On the flip side, the Eagles have faced two fairly weak defenses. The St. Louis Rams are miserable, nobody's going to argue that. But for those who think Dallas' defense is superb, I'd counter that most all of their strenghts are in the front 7, with the secondary being the weak link in a major way. Regardless of one's take, I think it's safe to say that we'll be tested this coming Sunday in a way we haven't yet been thus far.
Let's first take a glance at his lines from the first two games.
Amazingly productive games from Donovan McNabb. A few more numbers that touch on the other aspects of the Eagles offense.
Points Per Game: 37.5 (2nd)
Yards Per Game: 429.5 (3rd)
Passing Yards Per Game: 336.5 (1st)
Quarterback Rating: 114.1 (6th) - Ben is actually leading the league at 136.3
Turnover Ratio: +1 (t-7th)
3rd Down %: 50% (4th)
Time of Possession: 33:04 (5th)
It's been all smiles so far for D-Mac in 2008.
Sure, these numbers are a small sample size. Philly won't drop nearly 40 a game for the course of the season, and even if he's healthy, McNabb's numbers will regress some. But there's no denying that Andy Reid can get that offense of his clicking when he has a healthy McNabb to lead the charge. Donovan's injury free for the time being, and all is well with the Eagles offense, despite the heartbreaking loss on MNF to hated rival Dallas.
We'll get into the particulars of the matchup between these two great units- the Eagles offense and the Steelers defense- in more depth throughout the week.