Scouts break down Eagles vs. Washington Redskins

EAGLES ~ "LYIN" EYES" 1977

PHILADELPHIA All right so it"s a 6-8 team against a 7-7 team; it"s still the biggest game of the season and will, in all probability, determine the NFC Eastchampion.

The Washington Redskins (7-7) come to Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday night with a chance to win the division title, if they can beat the Eagles(6-8) for the second time this season and for the third straight time overall.

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If the Eagles win Saturday night they could win their second division title in three years with a win the following week against the Giants.

Three highly-regarded scouts gave their take on their game and broke down the match-ups.

"I"m going with the Eagles, simply because they"re home,"" the first scout said. "I think it"s going to be close.""

The second went with the visitors.

"Anything can happen, right?"" he said. "But you"re asking me to pick, I"ll take Washington. (The Redskins) are just playing better right now.""

Finally, the third scout hedged his pick.

"With DeMarco Murray, Eagles 20-17,"" he said. "Without DeMarco Murray, Redskins, 24-14.""

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Here"s the breakdown:

Redskins" offense vs. Eagles" defense

"You tell me the Eagles secondary is injured and then you add DeSean (Jackson)coming back with some motivation, that"s scary (for the Eagles),"" one scout said.

He added that while the primary focus will be on Jackson, the former Eagle, the Redskins spread the ball around and get everyone involved.

"They have (Pierre) Garcon and he"ll make all the tough, third-down catches,"" he said. "And then the tight end, Jordan Reed. They scheme him up and get the match-ups they want. That"s their guy.""

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Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins has been playing well, too.

Cousins, who will be a free agent at the end of the season, has a quarterback rating of 101.4, or better, in each of his last four games, including a near-perfect 153.7 last week against the Buffalo Bills.

In his last two games, both wins, Cousins is 46-for-59 for 619 yards with five touchdowns and just one interception. He also ran for two touchdowns.

"He"s showing he"s a NFL quarterback,"" one scout said. "And making himself some money, too.""

One scout said Washington"s running game with Alfred Morris and Matt Jones is scheme-based.

"They"re the old-school three-four yards at a time. Every once and again Jones will break one, or he"ll get you on a screen. But mostly they just want to grind it out when they run.""

How should the Eagles attack the offense?

"They have to get after Cousins, put him in a bad spot,"" one scout said. "That"s what Dallas did and it worked. Billy Davis likes to blitz, he might have to come up with some different ones to throw Cousins off his game.""

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Redskins" defense vs. Eagles" offense

"Give their coordinator (Joe Barry) a lot of credit,"" one scout said of the Redskins. "He"s doing a great job. He"s got them in the right schemes, making the right calls. He couldn"t have them playing much better than they are. Because talent-wise I really don"t like them much.""

Washington"s numbers on defense are not that impressive.

"You look at them on paper and you think that"s a really bad defense,"" another scout said. "But they play hard. They come up with a big play when they need it.""

The Redskins are 25th in overall defense: tied for 13th against the pass and 27th against the run. They allow 23.7 points per game, 15th in the league.

Quarterbacks have thrown 26 touchdown passes against them, with just nine interceptions for a cumulative passer rating of 96.2.

"You can make plays against their secondary,"" the first scout said. "If (Sam) Bradford and those receivers play well, the Eagles win.""

Mark Eckel may be reached atmjeck04@verizon.net. Follow him on Twitter@MarkEckel08.FindNJ.com Eagles on Facebook.

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Source: http://www.nj.com/eagles/index.ssf/2015/12/scouts_break_down_eagles_vs_washington_redskins.html