Philly's smarter plan? Throw blanket on Fitzgerald
PHILADELPHIA -- Already I like the Philadelphia Eagles' approach to Sunday's NFC Championship Game, and here's why: They plan on covering Larry Fitzgerald.
Hallelujah. It's about time someone does.
For some reason, the Carolina Panthers forgot about Fitzgerald last weekend, and their amnesia cost them a chance to advance in the playoffs. OK, that and Jake Delhomme cost them.
Anyway, the Eagles swear they won't make the same mistake. They promise to double-team Fitzgerald. They promise to triple-team him. They promise to never, ever, ever lose sight of him.
"We may put six on him," said cornerback Sheldon Brown.
Sounds good to me.
Because if you're going to beat Arizona -- and, after all, that's why Philadelphia is here -- you better figure out how to defend their top playmaker ... and that guy is Fitzgerald.
You know that. I know that. So how come Carolina didn't know that?
Every time you looked up last weekend Fitzgerald was making another catch. Sometimes he was wide open. Sometimes he was not. Sometimes he was leaping over defenders. Sometimes he was diving for the end zone. But he always had the ball, and Carolina never seemed to have a response.
When it was over, Fitzgerald had shredded the Panthers for 151 yards receiving -- and that was just the first half.
"I don't see that happening," said Philadelphia defensive back Joselio Hanson. "I mean, if it does we might as well not play the second half."
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| During the Eagles' Thanksgiving Day beating of the Cards, Fitzgerald still hauled in two TDs. (US Presswire) |
In fact, since Fitzgerald put up two touchdowns on Philadelphia on Thanksgiving, no wide receiver has caught a touchdown pass on the Eagles in six games, and only one receiver, period (New York Giants tight end Darcy Johnson), managed to beat them for a scoring catch.
"The thing about where we are," said safety Brian Dawkins, "is to understand how we got here. And how we got here is by being a very aggressive, tough, physical defense. That should not change this game."
It better not change with Fitzgerald.
Look, let's be honest: Edgerrin James won't beat you. Steve Breaston won't beat you. Jerheme Urban ... never mind. Anquan Boldin? Yeah, he can, but I don't know how close he will be to 100 percent after sitting out last week with a bad hamstring. Larry Fitzgerald? You betcha. If you're going to lose, this is your ticket to the next tee.
"He's playing out of his mind," Brown said. "The numbers speak for themselves. He's going to catch some balls. You just have to make sure you get him on the ground once he does. If he catches the football you can't let him get big chunks of yardage after the catch."
OK, that sounds like a plan. But implementing it could be a problem. At 6-feet-3, Fitzgerald has a substantial height advantage over Brown, Hanson and cornerback Asante Samuel -- none of whom is taller than 5-10. Fitzgerald is physical, sure handed and an outstanding leaper -- and rewind the videotapes of acrobatic catches vs. Atlanta and Carolina if you don't know what I mean.
"I don't know if there's another receiver who plays the ball in the air as well as he does," Dawkins said. "When he gets a beat on the ball you can't just have decent coverage on him; you have to have excellent position and be able to go up and challenge him for the ball."
Atlanta did. It lost. Carolina tried. It lost, too. Then the Panthers seemed to forget about everything, including running the ball and getting their quarterback fixed on his own receivers.
Anyway, I think you get the message: If you forget about Fitzgerald, you can forget about beating Arizona.
"You have to have four eyes on him at all times, no doubt about that," Brown said, suggesting that Fitzgerald should get used to double coverage. "When he's moving around you can't let him run free in space. We understand that. At the same time he's going to catch some balls. It's just important you get him on the ground immediately after he catches the ball, and that's the goal.
"He's one of those guys who is going to get his opportunities to make some plays ... He's definitely a playmaker and a game-breaker, and we have to make sure it's the other guys who beat us."
Gee, how come Carolina never came to that conclusion? Anyway, I like where Philadelphia is going right now. Defensive backs have identified whom they must stop, and it's the receiver who produced 267 yards in catches the last two games -- including 166 last week; who has twice as many catches as any other teammate; who is tied for the team high in touchdowns and who is responsible for 37 percent of Arizona's offense in the playoffs.
"This," Hanson said, "is the real test of how good we really are."
Amen
