For the Philadelphia Eagles’ offense, wide receiver DeSean Jackson fulfills the need for speed.
In 13 starts this season, Jackson has hauled in 56 catches for 1,087 yards. That 19.4 yards-per-catch average ranks first among all receivers with at least 15 catches.
For Champ Bailey and Andre’ Goodman, respecting Jackson’s speed is a given. But the antidote for the second-year standout’s athletic ability is keeping him from breaking the big gain.
“I think you’d rather give up those 10- or 12-yard comebacks than to give up those 60-yard plays for touchdowns,” Goodman said. “You’ve got to stay on top of him. There’s no doubt there and just force them to make those short throws and come up with the tackle.”
When teams have tried to force the Eagles into those short situations, Jackson’s solution has been simple — eluding the coverage. He’s tied for 11th in the league with eight touchdown catches.
But all eight of those six-point grabs have gone for big gains — 19, 35, 48, 54, 57, 60, 64 and 71 yards.
“The thing about him is, you just see him run freely all the time,” Bailey said. “Nobody’s touching him. You’ve got to find a way to disrupt his timing a little bit because the guy gets downfield faster than I’ve seen anybody get downfield in a long time.”
While Goodman and Bailey will receive most of the 1-on-1 looks, Brian Dawkins added that limiting a receiver’s yards after a catch requires control in one area — open space. That task brings in not only the corners, but every piece to the 11-man operation.
“That means having tight coverage,” Dawkins said. “That means making open field tackles at some point on him. So that is going to be a total defensive effort.”
That defensive effort will extend to special teams. When Jackson isn’t breaking cushions with defensive backs, he’s weaving through traffic on coverage units. He’s averaging 17.3 yards on 24 punt returns this season, with two of those runs going for touchdowns.
Whether running over or up the middle of the field, Head Coach Josh McDaniels said Jackson’s speed is complemented by his toughness, turning him into a complete player.
“You’ve got to be tough to be a punt returner,” McDaniels said. “He’s fearless, fast, explosive, (has) great hands (and) runs really good routes. He is probably one of the better route runners that we will play all year long, too. There is nothing that he doesn’t do very well.”
A top story detailing more from Dove Valley, including the Week 16 Injury Report, will be posted later today. With snowy weather blanketing the Denver area, the Broncos practiced indoors today at their bubble facility. Here are some photos of the session, courtesy of Zach Eisendrath.
– Chris Gentilviso, DenverBroncos.com
Tags: Andre' Goodman, Brian Dawkins, Champ Bailey, DeSean Jackson, Philadelphia Eagles, Week 16
LETS WIN THIS ONE FOR DAWKINS!!
LETS ALSO PLAY HILLIS!!!
Desean Jackson or Eddie Royal? I think they’re about equal.
Ok I dont know if any of you care but I broke down the playoffs scenario.
We need Jacksonville to loose againts New England because if they win their confrence record would be 7-4 while our is 6-5.
It would be nice if the Steelers beat the Ravens. the Steelers dont have a chance at the playoffs anymore with a 4-6 confrence record. If the Ravens lose their record would drop to 8-7 and 6-5.
We also need Miami to lose or they;ll tie our confrence record and improve their overall record. The Jets are the same story.
Im more wooried about Jacksonville because they’ll definetly take our spot. Also they play Cleveland for their last game and I doubt they lose againts the Browns.
In the end we can avoid all these scenarios with a win againts Philly. Lets get in the playoffs on our own not with the help from other.
LETS WIN THIS ONE FOR DAWKINS!!!!
GO BRONCOS!!!!!!
Win or Lose (hopefully win of course)….This is gonna be a great game. Dawkins spent over a dozen years with them….Gotta know most of them inside and out. He has always been an emotional leader…but i see him having an impact in this game more so than ever…
I say we squib it all game or kick out of bounds or something because desean jackson can also torch on special teams. We need to keep a safety deep at all times and play man and bump him all day….Desean Jackson is like a kid out there when he plays football…just running around having fun…gotta keep up….Champ would have had even more fun with this in his younger days.
How about that Brandon Marshall sounds of the game…funny stuff…sucks we lost the game but a nice tribute to Henry with the name plate. We probably all have different stances on him but its never cool when a man loses his life especially when he was starting to make a change for the better. I see Marshall breaking 100 catches on the season this game….and WHERE IS ROYAL….its like having Larry Fitz and no Boldin lol. I thought it would just take him time to get better acclimated but this is one hell of a sophomore slump
Anyway, GO GET EM BOYS!!! You guys sure know how to piss off a fan but we shall remain cheering…and McD…can we please get a little creative? the most creative you have been all year was wild horses…If we must…go back to that!!! lol
THE SEASON IS STILL OURS FOR THE TAKING
GO BRONCOS!!!
It should be a great game
footballMANIAC
Woulda given Eddie the Edge last year but he has been slacking this year….To believe Desean was still around in the second round after we drafted Eddie….surprising how they were passed up but same could be said for Brandon Marshall and Tom Brady to name a few…..oh and Rod Smith of course….who apparently is on the sidelines every home game (what i gather from the Brandon Marshall sound of the game)…Now thats what you call a mentor.
Have you guys noticed that about for every game this year McD finds a guy on each team we are about to play and he says: at this or that, this is probably one of the best guy we will play all year long. The flavor of the week this week is DeSean Jackson. McD says: He is probably one of the best route runners that we will play all year long. I understand he is paying respect to the opposition, but he is also sounding borderline as if we don’t handle that guy, I told you so. Just saying.
Thanks for your efforts on breaking that down for us 831_Broncos_Fan
would’ve loved to seen this matchup wit champ back in 06 ha…but it still should be very entertaining
I retract my 8-8 statement in a post I did after the Raider game. It was done out of venting. I also want to change my score prediction. My apologies to the Bronco Country fans!! I think we match up well vs. the Eagles! Lots of side story’s with Dawk and Bucky. I again will hope to see Hillis play as I have all season. But in general I think if we play Broncos Football we can come away with a win. Broncos Football meaning playing with the Heart and not worrying what anyone says outside the locker room!! Including me! So Baylin please change my prediction to a close game we steel with a field goal late.
Broncos 24 Eagles 21.
GO BRONCOS!!
FTR
831
Thanks for your post> I care and because I am old you helped me know who to cheer for and who not to. With all the 7 and 7 teams I kind of had it figured out but you layed it out well.
Thanks!
FTR
Baylin
Yeah I noticed that also. So much so I do not watch or read his coach speech rants anymore. I have supported him without knowing what to expect from him being a new Head Coach. But predictability in his play calling late in the season in the red zone and short yardage and his hard headed stance in a talent we all know he has in Hillis has me pissed. IMO.
FTR
FTR, I’d love to look past this week to what it will take for us to make the playoffs if we lose this one, but the problem with that is you’d have to assume we’d win the next one at home against a division opponent, something we have not done yet this year, not kidding. So I will only look for now at what it would take to make the playoffs if we actually win this week, and the NFL has now released the formula for us to clinch a playoff spot this week as follow:
DENVER BRONCOS
Denver clinches a playoff spot with:
1) DEN win + JAC loss or tie + MIA loss or tie + NYJ loss or tie + PIT loss or tie
That’s it, I’m not looking any further, I would feel like I’m fooling myself if I did. This is it, this is how we can get in. Next week depends on what seven other teams will be doing this week, you’d be driving yourself mad to even attempt to look at all those possible scenarios, with all due respect to those who try.
And Yeah, FTR, your repent is so sincere, how could I not take your revised score, an exception seems acceptable in this case. But if we end up losing 10-24, you will not get a single word of recognition, deal? LOL.
BAYLINOCRUSH…
I will be alil more conservative with my pick this week…I still without a doubt love our secondary..goodman is playing awesome i like the way he plays especially against manning….desean is explosive but dawk can lay some wood on him if he tries to get carried away…buckhalter will be back this weekend and i expect him and dawk to have a big game…that one two punch with knowshon and buck should get us going early…asante will be crushed by marshall without a doubt and royal should get it going this weekend…I just know we will come out throwin haymakers this sunday because our backs are against the wall and we gotta shut alot of mouths..by saying that here is my pick…
BRONCOS 27
eagles 17
Sorry, gotta pick with my head. I’m not going to fool myself into looking for the best outcome any longer, and the Eagles are on fire.
Eagles 28
Broncos 17
Baylin pencil me in 20-17 Broncos,if we get some coaching this damn week.
I’m going to say Broncos 30 and Eagles 24
Baylin
Deal! And thanks for understanding! I just want to see some good football from my Broncos! I am not looking past this week and if we make the playoffs, I will be thrilled!! If not so be it! I have at least learned something about our new head coach. I just want us to be a completive team down the stretch! No game in the AFC West is an automatic win! Never has been and never will. Regardless of the win loss standings in the AFC West!! IMO in the 90’s the AFC West teams were so talented that they could have won all the AFC divisions if we were split up. Or Broncos and KC, SD, and yes even the Raiders was feared by all. But here I go again living in the past.
We have always beaten each other up and anything can happen in the Wild Wild west!! LOL
Happy Holidays to all!
GO BRONCOS
FTR
This Sunday for late Christmas gifts, I want the Ravens to beat the Steelers and the Broncos to pound the Iggles. That way, our playoff chances should be stout. I really like our chances if a win against the Chiefs is all that’s standing between us and the playoffs. That’s the scenario I hope for Monday. GO BRONCOS!!!
Yo have any of you seen the Eagles website, disrespectful #@$%$^@, I hope the Broncos trample them.
http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/index.html
Since I seem to always be the last one, because i’m a late bird. I like our chances because no one is giving us any. Including some of our so called fans. The eagles are already planning their playoff scenarios. They are overlooking us. We have to beat the eagles because the raiders beat them. We can beat them. I believe Dawkins and Buckhalter will play inspired. This game will be a defensive struggle because our defense will have to hold them. I repeat our defense will have to hold them. My score, if anyone cares will be Broncos 17 Eagles 10. Since I’m new to this site. I hope it will count. Go Broncos. Kill those nasty Eagles.
USC#1, of course we care about your pick, just because you’re new doesn’t mean a thing, good luck with it. Glad to see some enthusiasm about the picks last night, it seems as if the tide is turning, out of 13 picks, 9 have us winning, hope you guys know what you’re talking about. LOL.
About the Eagles losing at the Raiders, I wouldn’t make a big deal of that, the Eagles have historically struggled playing on the West Coast and showed it this year once again, not only losing at the Raiders but at SD also. What to me would have more significance for us is looking at the game films of the two teams that have beaten the Eagles AT the Eagles this season, and that would be the Saints and the Cowboys. The Saints, they are kind of a freak of nature this year, so I don’t know how much we can learn from their win, which was a blow out of sort, as mainly we don’t have a Drew Brees to lean on, but to me the game that could give us the best insight is when Dallas beat them in a close one. We beat Dallas in a close physical game, they beat the Eagles in a close physical game also, that tells me this is the way this game must go for us to have a chance. It must be a tough physical battle with low scoring for us to have a shot, we will never beat them in a shoot out, and here lies the real problem. They can unload on you quicker than most and in every which way, I will use just three of their weapons to make my point and they have many more. The obvious, DeSean Jackson, killer speed, can score on ST and at wide out at any given moment, Donovan McNabb, can launch missiles for scores at any second and if you have every one covered, can unleash big runs just when you think you stopped him, and Brian Westbrook, he is back, just what we did not need, he can do it all, run, block, catch, and does all of it better than most. How we are going to deal with this is up to Nolan, Merry Christmas Mike, LOL.
I am a die hard broncos fan but if i had to bet on it, I would say the Eagles are going to put up at least 24 points on us so that means we cant be marching down and settling for field goals, we have to score and score early. They have a nasty offense and we need to play the best game we have played all year if we wanna beat them.
I predict Philly 31, Denver 21
Sorry Bronco Aussie: I thought mabey you had some blackboard material with a player sounding off or something. I don’t think that cartoon will get anyone fired up too much lol. I think our only shot this week is for both lines Offense and Defense to do a 180. I hope they do, and I hope I’m wrong!
WOW! Thx BroncoAussie.
PLEASE SEND THIS CLIP TO THE ENTIRE BRONCOS ROSTER!!!!
http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/index.html
The Eagles are a good team but they are not going to know what truck hit them Sunday Night!
Broncos 28 Eagles 6
atwaters da man, WOW, can I have some of what you are drinking this morning? LOL. That is some confidence there, that cartoon made you real mad I guess. You got the largest spread so far, no doubt.
I’m so excited about Sunday! I’m happy we’re playing a playoff team because it’ll show what our team can do come playoff time(if we make it of course).
BTW, most NFL teams do similar stuff as that cartoon when they are playing us, maybe not their website, but local media. They always use our Bronco horse with them riding it into submission, I saw it at the Dolphins on a Monday night game there, at N-O for a couple games there, at Atlanta, pretty much everywhere on the road, it’s standard procedure, it riles all the fans up, good for the game, for both teams.
Let’s pray for some playaction passing on 3rd and short, Hillis getting some carries, and Doom getting to McNabb!
This will be a defining game for this team. Win here and they win next week. Lose here, and they lose next week. I hope to god they understand the severity of the situation.
I think they do and they come out with their best performance of the season. And McD brings out the Wild Horses!
Broncos: 20
Eagles: 17
As always, I think we have a good shot at a win. Maybe its just me, but I think that mcnabb puts a lot of air under his throws. And I hope that our great secondary will have a couple of chances at some picks. With Buckhalter back, and hopefully full strength, we can keep the eagle D off balance. Until they find out that we all always run up the middle on short yardage downs. The one thing that gives me hope for every game is the talent on this team, on the D, the O and even the ST.
Broncos 24 – Eagles 19
GO BRONCOS !!!
jonah22, agreed with you, but I think it goes both ways, whether we win or lose, this is our last chance before the playoffs to find out who we really are this year, no one in the nation will take the KC game seriously other than us. Even for us hard core Bronco fans, it will be the revelation of the year, because we truly don’t know yet who we are, if we’re are good or if we just had a freaky hot streak early and nothing else. This is the game that will speak volume about McD’s worth and whether the players truly buy onto his game planning or not. Just my opinion. They either lay it all out or fold like a cheap picnic table as someone earlier so eloquently said.
Talking about McNabb, did you guys know that back when he won his super bowls, Elway was asked who he thought was the QB with the best prospect in the league, he answered Donovan Mc Nabb without hesitation, he said he had it all.
Like how their website is setup with the constant feed, the dude taking in calls…the chat log to the side…and just watched their ST coordinator just come up and talk about Prater, Royal and Bruton, Barrett, and Woodyard on coverage. And host seems to respect our defense….and most of the people calling in with predictions…. don’t see a blow out.
I usually think we are built well to handle most teams (like colts and etc) but Not so much the eagles….Some strong arm accurate QBs, they scramble, their wide recievers are FAST, and Return game is awesome and they aint to bad on the ground…but no team brings pressure like us and our CBs play Man as good as any. (although last week, Andre Goodman jumped the route a second to early and got called on pass interferance) which positioned them to win.
DeSean Jackson is overrated. He’s faster than the coverage, other than that it’s all he’s got. As soon as defenses learn to put a safety over him on the top of coverages it’s over. Remember “Rocket” Ismail? If not, you won’t remember Jackson either in a few years.
Happy Hanukkah!!!
One of the most intringuing thing to me is if we don’t win this game and subsequentely don’t make the playoffs, what will be Dawkins take on the whole thing. I mean he made it clear that the only reason he came to the Broncos is because he bought into McD speech to him that they were doing everything necessary with intent in winning it all now. I bet of late his take is a lot of our players haven’t given it their all, as he does, and even so he is not saying, he is probably ticked off at that. In his latest press conferences, he hasn’t sounded as so convinced as he did earlier in the year that every one on the team believes we can do it and are still doing their best to achieve it. I think what most frustrates him is the lack of discipline in the D respecting their gaps like they did early in the season. I somehow see less fire in him during the week (still the same on game day though). Like they say, winning cures all ails, but if we don’t win, there will be a fall out, and it might start with Dawkins not playing out the second year of his contract, and I wouldn’t blame him, this guy deserves a better effort by some of his teammates than he is getting. I’m just thinking of Dawkins because this is kind of the Dawkins week, of course all this blabbing I’m doing is just that, nothing to consider at this point, just rambling of the mind. LOL.
Mad_orange
Def remember rocket ishmail and yes desean is all speed but he never really drops passes when he has the big oppourtunity and thats credit to him. And he is great on special teams because what you u need on special teams is speed and vision. The big problem is that we suck against the run…so we will have to commit to the run if we wanna shut them down but that deep ball is a crazy threat as well…so u gotta play under and deep at the same time.
Im sorry, I cant get past this but looking at our 6-0 start, you couldnt have told me that between then and now we would only win 2 games and lose 6…. unbelievable….anyway….it is what it is lol
But its true tho Baylin,
He gives his all, leaves everything on the field but his counterparts do whatever they want with the exception of Champ, Goodman, Hill, DJ and Elvis….everyone else pas great when they wanna, and then just fizzles out…and I feel bad for our all pro vets who deserve a super bowl. But Dawkins has too much character to b*tch in public about that. He will just do what he can, which is lead this team emotionally. Its as simple as, hand your assignment and trust your teammates, your brothers, your partners to do the same. Gap control….When we play as one single cohesive unit…we are very dangerous. Not to mention I dunno if he joined when cutler was still here or after cutler left….but none the less was always behind Orton….some promises probably were made that he doesnt feel his teamates are doing everything in their power to make come true.
I mean seriously…Colts game had playoff implications, Raiders game, I mean come on. If you can’t win in do or die games, you can’t win in playoffs. Pack it up and we wills ee yall next year. sheesh. They talked about..after thanksgiving was when they planned to have their best stretch…thats not what its looking like.
Me talking about the D now not being what it used to be early this year made me look up our scores and calculated that in the first 6 games we allowed 66 points, an 11 points per game average, and in the last 8 games we allowed 184 points, or a 23 points per game average. Radical difference. I know most bloggers here like to put the blame on our O, or lack off, for our skid, but it is undeniable that the D is not holding their end of the bargain like they did, possibly because they just give up early when seeing the O doesn’t produce, but still not a good excuse. They are pros and should perform as such for 60 minutes of every game regardless of what anyone next to them or on the other side of the ball does. At least that’s what I would hope they would do. But am I asking too much? Am I, really, or with the kind of money they make, shouldn’t it be my right to expect that much? All out effort is all I care to see when it comes right down to it, if they lose, be it, but the lack of effort just kills my spirit and makes me look down onto the so called professional players guilty of that and they reflect badly on the league and there are too many of them. That’s just how it is for me, here is hoping they put out an all out effort Sunday.
TRB, glad to see you multi posting again, you must have fixed your access problems. My worse losses to date (must win games):
1. SD at home
2. Raiders at home
3. At Washington
All those were for the taking, SD played poorly that day, hardly threw the ball but racked up 203 yards on the ground, The Raiders racked up 241 yards on the ground, enough said and at Washington we had a good lead in the 1st half and got it handed to us in the second half with their fake punt for a TD and them running at will .
I mean, to me that’s where the season was played out, and therefore we now find ourselves in this dire situation we should never be in in the first place, very disappointing after a 6-0 start, no way to rose color that.
Good point baylinor on the three key losses. Those three stung pretty bad. In those three games, we had some players play, who did not seem prepared. (Simms, Jordan etc..). Don’t recall TE’s being much of a factor in the passing game, in these three losses as well. Scheffler was probable with rib injury last week.
Glad to hear Buckhalter will be ready this week vs. his old Team.
It’s going to be some homecoming for both Buck & Dawkins. Two games left and we do need to bounce back this week. (Pivotal Game).
Merry Christmas to all!
GO BRONCOS!!
Baylin,
Hahaha, yea…finally got it fixed like this Monday…talked to Kyle Sonnerman about it in a email and ill like to thank him for taking care of it…apparently they had banned my whole IP address….I can post on regular blogs now…bu ti believe he said I am no longer allowed to post on live blogs because of “implied profanity”…It is what it is…but at least I can do this one lol…barely do live blogs anyway…too much into the game lol
Yup those were the Key loses, Redskins for everything u stated. We coulda won SD as well if we played Orton from the start….and our team shoulda been able to hold out agaisnt the skins….and the raiders was just abysmal…another game we coulda won and shoulda was the Colts….we never shoulda surrendered 21 early points, we fought back but on the last drive when we needed D to come up big the most, they failed us….Not to mention Buckhalter got hurt and we were running Moreno on EVERY DOWN….I cant begin to tell you how much that pissed me off…when we have Capable HIllis and even Lamont Jordan….either way, Moreno shouldn’t have had to carry the whole load. Reason Hillis and Jordan didn’t get to go in was probably cuz They never get any touches in practice…which was a problem with Simms as well it seemed, when he had to come in for Orton’s injury. Smart guy like josh should know INJURIES HAPPEN… contingency plans please.
PS: am I the only one who thought delay of game shoulda been called on Raiders for holding sheffler down after he caught the big pass. I thought me and my bro were the only ones who noticed it but I see Marshall noticed it because he said it as well in the sounds of the game. Not cool, cuz he caught it at raiders 46 plus the 5 yard penalty for delay of game (41yrd line) and I say we give prater a shot at the 58 yarder lol…cuz the man has the leg for it
Well put baylinorcrush. Each and everyone has to give it there all! We did against NYG and we can be even better.
This will be are best played game of the season!
I like the young DB Carter #25. We have not been the same since #26 was replaced with another #26. Carter played so well that I don’t believe anyone caught a ball against him. I do think #33Smith will be a good investment later down the line but I hope they play Carter at nickelback.
To all of Broncos Nation Merry Christmas! Send your prayers and lets give them all the help a 12th man can give.
The delay of game was so brutal! wow. We have to move forward like the team has. Eagles fans sorry you guys are just in our way.
I think that we have a good shot at this one. I have a feeling this game will be a lot like the giants game. We need to get on a roll and get some momentum. After the 6-0 start we’ve shown that we have energy and can still play,at times, but we need to sustain it!!
Dear Knowshon Correll Lamont and Peyton and the whole offensive line,
All i want for Christmas is a ligit GROUND GAME
Actually got a good feelin bout this one despite how we have played as of late, we play the pass really well and even if Westbrook comes back hard wich i doubt..they are 70-30 pass..plus we played the Colts well ..and the Eagles aint the colts…Is it Just me or does Nolan adjust well at the half and at times durin the game..but McD dosent seem to do that? He Just keeps runnin the same gameplan even if it aint workin that well..I mean how bout a play action pass on first down every now an then