Okocha advises Eagles, Concentrate on Nairobi battle

Eagles captain Former Super, Austin Jay Jay Okocha has reiterated the stance of the coach of the Black Mambas of Mozambique, Mart Nooij that they should think more of the encounter against Kenya than what Tunisia will play in Maputo.
Okocha who is a member of the Presidential Task Force set up by the Federal Government to help the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, salvage the slipping 2010 World Cup ticket said that what matters most to the Eagles was the Nairobi tie.
According to a report on cafoniline.com, Okocha told them to “Concentrate on your match before counting on any eventual defeat of Tunisia in Mozambique”, because even if Tunisia lose the Maputo tie, it makes no sense to the Eagles if they fall in Nairobi.
The Eagles are two points behind Tunisia who play in Maputo today at the same time that Nwankwo Kanu and his team mates battle it out with the Harambee Stars of Kenya.
“The team have to do everything to secure victory in Nairobi where our opponent would be battling to pick a ticket for the Orange Africa Cup of Nations. For the Super Eagles, there is no other option than victory”.
Okocha who was granted a linksman role for the players in the Task Force relates the Eagles present situation to the one of 2002 preparatory to the Korea/Japan World Cup.
Barely two days to the end of that year’s qualifier, Liberia and Sudan were topping their group with 12 points each, Nigeria was third with 10 points while Ghana that had six points was yet to say its final word. The Ghanaian side went and picked a victory in Monrovia while Nigeria won in Khartoum, “but we concentrated on our game in Khartoum,” he recalls.
“We had a difficult training in Kano for us to acclimatise against the harsh heat we were to meet there. We won by four goals to zero while Ghana did us a favour by winning in Monrovia. We did not bother about any other match other than ours”.

At Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys Preview (Nov. 8)

Can it get much more exciting than this? It's Week 9, Sunday Night Football, and the Philadelphia Eagles are hosting their hated rivals, the Dallas Cowboys, for sole possession of first place in the NFC East.
Both teams are 5-2 and coming off blowout victories. Who has the edge? Let's take a look at some of the matchups.

When the Eagles have the ball
Eagles Pass Offense vs. Cowboys' Pass Defense
This is probably the most important matchup. When Eagles' quarterbacks have had time this year, they have been pretty close to unstoppable.
However, as we saw against the Oakland Raiders and Washington Redskins, the offensive line has had lapses, and this has caused the offense to become stagnant.
The player to watch for the Cowboys is outside linebacker Demarcus Ware. Along with Jared Allen and Julius Peppers, Ware is one of the most dangerous pass rushers in the NFL.
A freakish combination of size and speed, Ware has been a problem in the past and will need to be accounted for on every play.
The onus will be on the Eagles' prized offseason acquisition, left tackle Jason Peters, to get out and keep Ware out of the pocket.
On the occasions that Ware does get around, the interior line will need to provide McNabb with room to step up on the pocket.
Up front, the Cowboys are solid, led by Ware and Pro Bowl tackle Jay Ratliff and have been getting great pressure. The Eagles' offensive line is still jelling and will face their biggest test so far on Sunday.
In the secondary, the Cowboys are young. Terrence Newman is solid at corner, but elsewhere, the Cowboys have had problems.
Mike Jenkins, a former first round pick, starts at the other cornerback position but has not lived up to his draft status yet. On the other side, the Eagles' receivers are as good as any team's.
Desean Jackson, one of the fastest receivers in the NFL, has had a breakout year so far. The Cowboys will likely use Newman on him; it will be interesting to see if they leave Newman in one-on-one situations with Jackson.
Last year, Newman had a lot of trouble with Jackson, most notably being burned for 60 yards in the first meeting.
Most likely, they will shade a safety toward that side, and leave Jenkins one-on-one with rookie Jeremy Maclin.
This is a matchup the Eagles can exploit. Maclin beat Corey Webster last week for a touchdown, and has the speed, size and body control to make plays consistently downfield against man-to-man coverage.
The double coverage on Jackson will also lead to opportunities for Brent Celek, Jason Avant, and the Eagles' running backs in the middle of the field.
Quarterback Donovan McNabb is coming off a near flawless performance. If given time, he should be able to pick apart the Dallas secondary.
Edge: Eagles

Eagles' rushing offense vs. Cowboys' rush defense
The Cowboys come into the game ranked sixth against the run, and their front seven is big. The Eagles have not been particularly successful running the ball, relying mostly on occasional big plays.
However, Brian Westbrook had moderate success against the Redskins before leaving with an injury. And the Giants' front four gave up two big runs against the Eagles.
Again, the Eagles' offensive line is still jelling. However, a couple of big runs may be all they need to make the Cowboys think twice about blitzing, setting up the pass.
The Eagles are not going to run as the bulk of their offense; but establishing some semblance of a rushing attack will help the passing attack.
Edge: Cowboys

When the Cowboys have the ball
Cowboys' passing offense vs. Eagles' passing defense
Tony Romo has been playing like a man possessed. He has not thrown an interception in four games, and has been making big plays with his newfound star at receiver, Miles Austin.
Austin is a big, physical receiver: the kind who has given the Eagles' smaller defensive backs trouble in the past, and he will most likely make a couple of catches.
However, Asante Samuel and Sheldon Brown will keep him from taking over the game the way he has the past few weeks. The Eagles' cornerbacks dominated the Cowboys' wide receivers last year.
The Eagles' problem, of course, is the tight end. From Fred Davis to Kevin Boss to Zach Miller, opposing tight ends have had some field days against this Eagles' defense. And the Eagles have not faced anyone like the Cowboys' Jason Witten, arguably one of the three or four best tight ends in the NFL.

At half Eagles in control 30-7

when it looked like just the Giants would limp off the field and into the locker room, cornerback Asante Samuels jumped a route and picked off Manning, Eli's second interception of the day. McNabb & company capitalized when wide receiver Jeremy Maclin found daylight and hauled in a 23 yard touchdown pass to push the score to 30-7 at the half.

So much for momentum: allowing New York on the bird with under two minutes remaining in the second quarter, Philly's Ellis Hobbs broke off a 40-yard kickoff return, setting up a short field for the always dangerous wideout DeSean Jackson. Lightning struck quick in the form of a 54-yard strike to bloat the lead to 23-7.
With time winding down in the first half, the Giants finally showed a little life, as Manning found his tight end Kevin Boss in the red zone for an 18-yard score.
Manning continued his struggles and the Philly offense kept on clicking, albeit falling short of the end zone during a 15-play, 72-yard drive capped off by a 30-yard David Akers field goal to make it 16-0.
Things went from bad to worse for the Giants when quarterback Eli Manning threw a pick and safety Quintin Mikell set up the offense by bringing the ball to within the Eagles 20-yard line. After a holding penalty negated a touchdown, quarterback Donovan McNabb went back to the well and found tight end Brent Celek on a 17-yard strike to make it 14-0.
With starting running back Brian Westbrook sidelined and inactive, the offense nonetheless looked on point early. Backup Leonard Weaver filled in admirably and busted a huge 42-yard run to pay dirt to put Philly ahead 7-0.
The Eagles faced off in a heavyweight fight and division rivalry with the Giants at Lincoln Financial Field.