PHILADELPHIA - PHOENIX


Philadelphia Eagles
Team synopsis: The Philadelphia Eagles were 11-5 under Coach Dave Siemienski in 2010 and are looking to do similar damage in 2011.  Philadelphia can be very disruptive on the defensive side of the ball.  London Fletcher, Terrell Suggs, Lance Briggs & Troy Polamalu head a deep and talented group of defenders with a couple of dozen Pro-Bowl appearances between them from the defensive side.  On offense Maurice Jones-Drew, Jason Witten and Reggie Wayne carry the load.  The Eagles are a tough team and playing a road game at Lincoln Financial Field is a daunting task.

The Philadelphia Eagles won four of their last five games to finish the season with a 11-5 record and the number six playoff seed.  The Eagles got good quarterback play from Alex Smith. Although not necessarily among the elite Frozen Tundra Q.B.'s, Smith showed he was more than capable of being a winning signal caller.  The real key to the offense is Running Back Maurice Jones-Drew. MJD finished second in the league with 2138 rushing yards. Drew also led the team in receptions with 74 and accounted for more than 50% of the Eagles offense! Dallas Clark, Reggie Wayne and Greg Jennings are all having solid seasons catching the ball with Jennings 11 TD's putting him among the league leaders. On Defense, seven different players have recorded Sacks with Terrell Suggs leading the pack with 7 and he also added 4 fumble recoveries.  Opposing teams passing games struggled against the Eagles, completing less than 50% of their passes on the season.  Safety Troy Polamalu has been his usual disruptive self with 6 Int's. while O.J. Atogwe led team lead with 7 picks. Aside from Jones-Drew this isn't a team that stands out statistically, they just know how to win games.  That's a trait that may payoff for Philadelphia in the playoffs.  Eagles offensive leaders:

PASSING ATT. COMP. T.D. INT. RTG.
Alex Smith 530 285 24 13 76.3
RUSHING ATT. YDS. AVG. LONG T.D.
Maurice Jones-Drew 377 2138 5.7 37 10
RECEIVING REC.YDS. AVG. LONG T.D.
Maurice Jones-Drew 74 6408.6 45 1


Phoenix Cardinals

Team synopsis: The Cardinals are coached by Dave Will and battled to a 7-9 mark in 2010. They have some talented players on both sides of the ball.  On offense, the lion hearted receiver Anquan Boldin is always a threat and the ball carrying is handled by Joseph Addai and Pierre Thomas.  The defense is anchored by Linebackers Cameron Wake and Kevin Burnett but the depth was hurt by losses of Rob Ninkovich and Gary Guyton through the Expansion Draft.  Although they are probably not among the elite teams, Phoenix will still present some problems to opponents in 2011.

Phoenix opened up their '11 campaign by going 2 - 2 and closed the season going 2 - 2.  The bad news is that Phoenix lost the other eight games in between to finish 4-12.  The Cardinals managed the clock well, easily winning the Time of Possession statistic. Overall the team just lacked explosiveness with just a handful of big plays on the season. There has to be a question mark about quarterback Chad Henne being the franchise QB moving forward.  Henne's 7/22 TD to INT ratio doesn't instill a sense of confidence for the team hierarchy.  HB Ryan Torain certainly has had a successful season, gaining over 1000 yards rushing. Torain also lead Phoenix in receptions. WR Anquan Boldin led the Cardinals in receiving yardage and receiving TD's. The Cardinals defense has contributed with fifteen interceptions, four carried back for touchdowns.  However that effort has been somewhat nullified by Henne's 22 picks.  Brandon Graham has chipped in with eight sacks and 2 fumble recoveries.  Despite those efforts the defense allowed nearly 200 more points than the Arizona offense could generate.  Cardinals offensive leaders:

PASSING ATT. COMP. T.D. INT. RTG.
Chad Henne 511 265 7 22 52.1
RUSHING ATT. YDS. AVG. LONG T.D.
Ryan Torain 298 12554.2 54 6
RECEIVING REC.YDS. AVG. LONG T.D.
Ryan Torain 67 6049.0 20 1
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