Eagles Can't Forget About Steelers' Miller

[fordfixer]

Eagles Can't Forget About Steelers' Miller

by Andy Schwartz
ComcastSportsNet.com
[url="http://philadelphia.comcastsportsnet.com/view_content_0p.asp?ID=69080"]http://philadelphia.comcastsportsnet.co ... p?ID=69080[/url]

Sunday against the Steelers, the Eagles have to pressure quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. They also have to stop running back Willie Parker and wrap up wide receivers Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes.

Challenging tasks? Yes. Impossible? No.

The Eagles can pressure the quarterback. They couldn’t touch Tony Romo on Monday night but sacked Marc Bulger four times a week earlier.

Granted, St. Louis isn’t Pittsburgh. Bulger has been sacked 10 times already this season. Roethlisberger has been sacked just four, one causing a slightly separated shoulder. But he’s been hit after the whistle so often that his offensive linemen have vowed to police the situation. So apparently opposing defenders are getting close. The Birds need a boost from Chris Clemons.

The Eagles have contained Steven Jackson and Marion Barber in consecutive weeks, so it’s not unreasonable to think they can’t do the same with Parker.

With three sticky corners, the Eagles should be able to handle Ward and Holmes, who while talented aren’t Torry Holt or Terrell Owens. The Eagles held Holt to one catch. Owens had a loud first half and a quiet second. Let’s just hope no one bites on a pump-fake.

What the Eagles have yet to do this season, however, is stop the tight end. In Week 1, Randy McMichael led the Rams with five catches for 77 yards. In Week 2, Jason Witten led the Cowboys with seven receptions for 110 yards.

What gives?

“I think that teams are targeting the tight end more than normal because of our great corners,” safety Quintin Mikell said. “They’re finding different ways to get their tight ends open, and that’s something we hadn’t see a whole lot of last year.”

On the flip side, targeting a team’s wide receivers creates space for the tight end.

“At times, if you’re taking away the outside receivers just like last week with T.O., doubling sometimes is tough on the tight end,” defensive coordinator Jim Johnson said. “You have to worry about that.”

This week the Eagles have to worry about another productive pass-catching tight end in Heath Miller, who finished last season tied for fourth at his position with seven touchdowns.

“When you look at our schedule, it seems like every week we're facing a great tight end, and he's another one,” Mikell said. “I’m pretty sure they’re going to try and work him, seeing what happened last week, and we’ve got to be ready for that.”

Last week, the 6-foot-5, 265-pound Witten surprised them.

“We knew going in that game that Witten was a problem,” Johnson said. “He’s a matchup problem, whether for a linebacker or a corner or, sometimes, a safety. He’s a big guy.

“It probably got emphasized more, but the thing that surprised me is how well he got downfield in this game. He’s always been a short to intermediate route guy. This is the first game I’ve ever seen him get down the field that much. It’s something we’re going to have to address the next time we play them.”

The Eagles can be excused for not considering Witten a downfield threat.
After he averaged 9.9 yards per reception as a rookie, Witten’s yards per completion over the next four seasons were 11.3, 11.5, 11.8 and 11.9.

So far this season, it’s 15.8. Monday night he had catches of 32 and 42 yards, both of which set up scores. The latter is his longest of the season. While Brian Dawkins was beaten on both plays, the passes were perfectly placed.

“Romo threw the ball well. He made some great throws in there,” Johnson said. “The coverage wasn’t completely bad, it was close, but there were some great throws in there. I’m not sure who you can have on him, unless you double-cover that guy sometimes. He’s not going to make that catch [every time].”

With five receptions for 59 this season, Miller has equaled his career average of 11.8 yards per catch.

“We were conscious of Witten last week, no question, just like with Miller,” Johnson said. “We have to be physical with them and make sure we have the right matchups. At times we had the right matchups last Monday night, sometimes we didn’t.”

After being praised by Johnson for his coverage of Witten last Monday, Mikell will be matched up with Miller frequently on Sunday.

“Our defense is playing the run so well and our secondary is shutting down receivers, you’ve got to go somewhere, and that's where the tight end comes in,” Mikell said. “We do need to tighten that up, but I think we're going to get that do

[SanAntonioSteelerFan]

Eagles Can't Forget About Steelers' Miller

by Andy Schwartz
ComcastSportsNet.com
[url="http://philadelphia.comcastsportsnet.com/view_content_0p.asp?ID=69080"]http://philadelphia.comcastsportsnet.co ... p?ID=69080[/url]

Sunday against the Steelers, the Eagles have to pressure quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. They also have to stop running back Willie Parker and wrap up wide receivers Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes.

Challenging tasks? Yes. Impossible? No.

The Eagles can pressure the quarterback. They couldn’t touch Tony Romo on Monday night but sacked Marc Bulger four times a week earlier.

Granted, St. Louis isn’t Pittsburgh. Bulger has been sacked 10 times already this season. Roethlisberger has been sacked just four, one causing a slightly separated shoulder. But he’s been hit after the whistle so often that his offensive linemen have vowed to police the situation. So apparently opposing defenders are getting close. The Birds need a boost from Chris Clemons.

The Eagles have contained Steven Jackson and Marion Barber in consecutive weeks, so it’s not unreasonable to think they can’t do the same with Parker.

With three sticky corners, the Eagles should be able to handle Ward and Holmes, who while talented aren’t Torry Holt or Terrell Owens. The Eagles held Holt to one catch. Owens had a loud first half and a quiet second. Let’s just hope no one bites on a pump-fake.

What the Eagles have yet to do this season, however, is stop the tight end. In Week 1, Randy McMichael led the Rams with five catches for 77 yards. In Week 2, Jason Witten led the Cowboys with seven receptions for 110 yards.

What gives?

“I think that teams are targeting the tight end more than normal because of our great corners,” safety Quintin Mikell said. “They’re finding different ways to get their tight ends open, and that’s something we hadn’t see a whole lot of last year.”

On the flip side, targeting a team’s wide receivers creates space for the tight end.

“At times, if you’re taking away the outside receivers just like last week with T.O., doubling sometimes is tough on the tight end,” defensive coordinator Jim Johnson said. “You have to worry about that.”

This week the Eagles have to worry about another productive pass-catching tight end in Heath Miller, who finished last season tied for fourth at his position with seven touchdowns.

“When you look at our schedule, it seems like every week we're facing a great tight end, and he's another one,” Mikell said. “I’m pretty sure they’re going to try and work him, seeing what happened last week, and we’ve got to be ready for that.”

Last week, the 6-foot-5, 265-pound Witten surprised them.

“We knew going in that game that Witten was a problem,” Johnson said. “He’s a matchup problem, whether for a linebacker or a corner or, sometimes, a safety. He’s a big guy.

“It probably got emphasized more, but the thing that surprised me is how well he got downfield in this game. He’s always been a short to intermediate route guy. This is the first game I’ve ever seen him get down the field that much. It’s something we’re going to have to address the next time we play them.”

The Eagles can be excused for not considering Witten a downfield threat.
After he averaged 9.9 yards per reception as a rookie, Witten’s yards per completion over the next four seasons were 11.3, 11.5, 11.8 and 11.9.

So far this season, it’s 15.8. Monday night he had catches of 32 and 42 yards, both of which set up scores. The latter is his longest of the season. While Brian Dawkins was beaten on both plays, the passes were perfectly placed.

“Romo threw the ball well. He made some great throws in there,” Johnson said. “The coverage wasn’t completely bad, it was close, but there were some great throws in there. I’m not sure who you can have on him, unless you double-cover that guy sometimes. He’s not going to make that catch [every time].”

With five receptions for 59 this season, Miller has equaled his career average of 11.8 yards per catch.

“We were conscious of Witten last week, no question, just like with Miller,” Johnson said. “We have to be physical with them and make sure we have the right matchups. At times we had the right matchups last Monday night, sometimes we didn’t.”

After being praised by Johnson for his coverage of Witten last Monday, Mikell will be matched up with Miller frequently on Sunday.

“Our defense is playing the run so well and our secondary is shutting down receivers, you’ve got to go somewhere, and that's where the tight end comes in,” Mikell said. “We do need to tighten that up, but I think we're going to get that do

Great post once again Fordfixer , you are the man!

I think it's a zero sum game - they can shut down Miller, but then Hines and Holmes have huge games. They can blanket Hines and Holmes, but then Miller gets two scores. And don't forget FWP! We can win this if the turnovers are minimized and we make good 1st down yardage consistently.