Monday Night Football Eagles Week 15 Preview

Who: Browns @ Eagles
When: Monday Night at 8:30
Where: Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
What Channel: ESPN (The game will be simulcast in the local markets of Cleveland and Philadelphia with 6ABC simulcasting in Philly and Fox 8 in Cleveland.)
Announcers: Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, Dr. Tony Kornheiser (He's not a real doctor, he just likes to play one in the booth on MNF when players get hurt).

Are you ready for some football? Some Monday Night Football? Some Eagles Monday Night Football? I certainly am. And this should be a fun one from the standpoint of an Eagles fan. Although, I'll admit, the last time I thought an AFC North team would be easy, we tied the then 1-win, now 2-win Cincinnati Bengals.

The Eagles should not take this game totally lightly, though. The Browns do have some offensive potential with their running back, Jamal Lewis, and in their highly underachieving receiving corps consisting of Ex-Eagle Donte Stallworth and Braylon Edwards. That threat does go away though when the fact that Ken Dorsey is the Browns' quarterback becomes apparent.

One thing that cannot be overlooked though is the fact that the Browns are a team that do seem to get up and show up at Monday Night Football. They have won 2 of their 4 games this year on MNF, which includes beating the 11-3 Giants and going on the road and beating the Toronto, er, Buffalo Bills (in their old home of Buffalo, that is). The Eagles, on the other hand, are a team that have seemingly NOT gotten up for prime time games. Well wait, that's false. Andy Reid has not gotten up for MNF and SNF games this year. The Eagles are 0-3 this year in night games and they have all come down to the last 2-minutes and the Eagles had a game-winning drive going in all 3 of them and in all 3 of them they failed to convert a 4th down play.

Will the streaks continue tonight? The answer is simple. No, they won't. The Browns are going to be without back-up running game James Harrison and without the services of Kellen Winslow. And most of all, Ken Dorsey is going to be going up against a Jim Johnson defense. Can you say, blitz blitz blitz? Aspeaking of blitz and how the Browns are going to protect it, today marks the return of Ex-Eagle Hank Fraley to the Linc. May his highlight of the night be Eagles fans giving him an ovation of the beginning of the game.

As far as the Eagles offense vs. the Browns defense goes, the only way this game gets remotely interesting is if the Browns defense can actually defend the Eagles' potentially explosive offensive attack. The Browns defense has not been very solid at all this year and they are 28th in total rushing defense, which, would not bode well for them against a healthy Brian Westbrook.

The Eagles, if they are playoff contenders, should turn this into a statement game. I'm not saying they're going to pull an Oklahoma and score 63 pints, but this could have the potential of a beatdown. And if the Eagles offense doesn't show up, this also has the potential to be a 6-6 tie. But in the end, if the Eagles are a remotely credible team (which having not thought so a month ago but now do think so), this game shan't be a problem. Eagles 31, Browns 6

I will not be live-blogging this game, however, assuming SSR can get an internet signal in the frigid Pacific Northwest, he will be live-blogging this game at http://www.badnewsbloggers.blogspot.com/ I won't be there, but seeing as it's the site's first live blog, I encourage you to be there and chip in your thoughts. Me, well I'll be watching with me family without a computer in the room. I may check in with you guys at halftime if I'm not in the mood to hear the same Bermanisms for the 645,509th time.