Eagles vs. Panthers – Week 1 Free Pick
Date: Sep 13, 2009 1 pm ET
Venue: Bank of America Stadium
Last meeting: In Week 13 of the 2006 season, the Eagles got a sensational performance from Jeff Garcia (312 yards and 3 TDs) and held off the visiting Panthers, 27-24.
The NFL season is kicking off and once again there is a ton of money to be made if you separate the pretenders from the contenders. Today Handicapper Craig Trapp will give out another free pick and breakdown which of these two will be pretenders this season. Oddsmakers have installed the Eagles as a slight favorite at -1 and the total at 43.
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The Eagles have without a doubt made a huge splash in the preseason with the signing of Michael Vick. Of course Vick will not play until week 3 so in today’s matchup he will have no influence. The offense of the Eagles will be very good this year the biggest addition is help at the RB spot with the addition of rookie Mccoy. On top of great depth at WR they also have possibly the best group of receivers in the NFL led by 2nd year WR Jackson. Also additions at the OL should sure up any problems that were exposed last year.
Defensively the Eagles might only have to replace one thing from 2008 and that is Defensive Coordinator Jim Johnson. The defense will be playing with heavy hearts as Johnson lost his battle with cancer in the offseason. Don’t expect many changes as far as scheme is concerned as Andy Reed has said they will continue the blitzing schemes that Johnson made famous. The Eagles might do a better job than any franchise at adding no name depth and making it a true team defense.
The Panthers are coming off one of the worst games they ever played in the 2008 playoff loss to Arizona. In that game the Cards exposed a huge problem in recent years, Jake Delhomme. The QB has had some problems with interceptions and accuracy over his career. Of course it does not help that the Panthers only have one true WR threat Steve Smith. The Panthers are a run first team that have two quality RB’s with Williams and Stewart who both can take it to the house at any time. Unfortunately teams have learned that if you double Smith and stack the box Delhomme struggles to move the team.
Defensively the Panthers have been very good for the last several years. Of course the leader of the defense is Julius Peppers the best DE in the NFL. Bad news for Panther fans is he is not a happy camper and still wants to get out of Carolina. Not a great combination for the defense this year.
This game will be won an loss by the Philly offense if they can get an early lead it will spell an easy win for them. The Panthers do not play well from behind as it takes away the threat of the run and makes them very easy to defend.
Craig Trapp Free Pick: PHI wins and covers fairly easily most likely winning by a TD or more
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One reply on “Philadelphia Eagles vs. Carolina Panthers Prediction”
I agree that the Eagles offense needs to ckick from the start to set the pace. If they can get up by at least 10, the defense can tee off on Delhomme to try and force some turnovers.