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Matt Cassel, Vikings Torch Eagles Secondary
Published15 Dec 2013
The Eagles defense came crashing down to Earth in a big way Sunday at the most inopportune time. Image courtesy: Minnesota Vikings.
One had to believe that the Philadelphia Eagles defense that had held opponents to fewer than 21 points in each of their last eight games would eventually come back down to Earth.
The fact that Matt Cassel and the Adrian Peterson-less Minnesota Vikings were so efficient through the air that it's a wonder the roof at Bank of America Field wasn't punctured played a key role in the Eagles disastrous 48-30 defeat which snapped a five-game winning streak.
With Earl Wolff missing his fourth consecutive game with a knee injury, Bill Davis' secondary was ripe for exposure to begin with. When Patrick Chung was embarrassed in coverage time and time again, it was more than evident it would be a difficult day for the Eagles previously opportunistic and borderline dominant defense.
Entering Sunday the Eagles controlled their own destiny in the NFC East race with the final destination of a home playoff game in round one as the number three seed well within their grasps. By day's end, the potholes began to emerge in the road.
Cassel threw for 382 yards and two touchdowns. At one point in the game, Chung was benched in favor of Kurt Coleman.
As if that weren't the low-water mark, Coleman would ultimately suffer an injury and Davis and company were forced to play Colt Anderson. When Anderson is in at safety, it's inevitable that you are going to get exposed.
The Vikings all told, finished with 455 yards of total offense and third down was once again an adventure for this team. Minnesota converted 8-of-13 third-down chances which translated to a time of possession advantage of 36:26 to the Eagles 23:34.
Third down and long has been a disaster situation for the Eagles all season long and on Sunday it came back to bite them as they could not get off the field in critical situations.
With or without Wolff, this secondary is a wreck at this point and with what amounts to two playoff games ahead against the Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys in the next two weeks, the game plan of how to attack this defense and ultimately beat this team appears to have been authored by the Vikings today.
Davis and the defense came crashing back to Earth against an undermanned and by-and-large undertalented Vikings team. Bouncing back will be integral against two quality opponents with the season on the line in the next two games.
Matt Lombardo is the Editor-In-Chief of Eagledelphia and also an on-air personality on 97.5 FM The Fanatic in Philadelphia. Join the conversation and follow Matt on Twitter.
