Every Eagles player and unit will need to rally behind rookie quarterback Nick Foles if they want success against the Redskins. Photo by Todd Bauders/contrastphotography.com

The Eagles game against the Washington Redskins on Sunday at
Fedex Field is the third consecutive season-is-on-the-brink game for a team
that has lost five consecutive games for the first time in the 14-year tenure
of embattled head coach Andy Reid.

This week’s game against the Washington Redskins may really be that game (FOX 1 PM).

Reid must deal with a ship that has leaks everywhere.

The latest hole to appear was again on the offensive line.

Starting right guard Danny Watkins is still a question mark
with his ankle injury and with the poor performance by rookie Dennis Kelly,
endless injuries to King Dunlap and the disappointment that is Demetress Bell,
Reid is left with few options.

The Eagles acquired veteran Jake Scott on Tuesday to perhaps
stop the bleeding at right guard, and may actually see some playing time
against the Redskins.

Scott may be his best option to actually start. The 6-foot-5,
295 pounder has started 121 of 124 career games for Indianapolis and Tennessee.
Scott played for Eagles offensive line coach Howard Mudd from 2004 to 2007 when
they were both with the Colts.

On Friday Reid said he was confident Scott could play in
this offense if needed.

The coach said they ran Scott through a series of drills to
make sure he was in shape.

“For what he did out here, it looked like he was,” Reid
said. “He looks like he’s in pretty good shape. We put him through a pretty
excessive workout, just in case it came down to where he had to get in and play
and he handled that well. You’ve got to go play. You’ve got to see if that
happens, if he’s in the game and playing. I can’t tell you unless that would
happen.”

The offensive line must play well against the Redskins for
two main reasons: The Eagles are starting rookie quarterback Nick Foles and for
LeSean McCoy to have a big game and allow him to be the focus of the offense.

Many players were asked, including McCoy, about how Foles
will handle his first NFL start. McCoy said he had other goals for the game but
admitted his play could have an impact on Foles’ production.

“I’m just worried about getting a win,” McCoy said. “I want
to go with the offense and help with the best of my abilities and try and help
Nick out and keep the pressure off of him. I need to make some more big plays,
be a big-time player…it takes a little of the heat off of him. I’m not only
anxious to see how he plays; I just hope he plays well. I am confident (he
will) after practicing with him all week.”

Reid said Foles will have the complete playbook at his
disposal. The coach was asked if there was any thought to scaling back the
playbook for his rookie.

“No, he’s comfortable with what we’ve been running,” Reid
said. “The same things we were doing in training camp and he always had a
handful of good plays in. But he’s good with that.”

Foles was asked if he was nervous and if it had sunk in yet
that he was the starting quarterback.

“Yeah it has,” Foles said. “We’ve had a great week of
preparation, a lot of hard work, and it definitely has sunk in and [I’m] ready
to go. I just play fast. Just trust myself, trust my preparation. We’ve been
working hard all week and going through the plays, going through he game plan,
studying the plan, so just really in myself, trusting my teammates. There are
10 other guys out there with me playing. We’re all playing together. We just
need to play within ourselves.”

The Eagles defense will have to deal with a college style
offense that features two standout rookies.

Running back Alfred Morris is
second among rookies with 793 rushing yards on 164 carries and five touchdowns.
Quarterback Robert Griffin III aka RG3 was the second player taken in the draft
and is considered the franchise quarterback for the Redskins. He comes into the
game sporting a 93.9 QB rating. RG3 leads the NFL for quarterbacks in rushing
with 529 yards and five touchdowns.

Reid talked about defending Griffin.

“He’s a dynamic player,” Reid said. “Very fast, very strong,
quick. He’s got good judgment that he makes with the football in his hands and
when he has the option ability and then when he scrambles. You try to do the
best you can working with it. [WR Marvin] McNutt simulated him. He had been a
quarterback in high school and when he went to Iowa, he was recruited as a
quarterback there and then they switched him to wide receiver. So we used him
to simulate just a little bit of RG3. Until you get out there, you’re right.
Until you get out there, you’re not going to have that full effect until you do
it live.”

Beleaguered Defensive coordinator Todd Bowles said the
Redskins college misdirection offense was a strategy he has not seen for a
while.

“Probably [not] since college,” Bowles said. “Probably about
12 years ago.”

Bowles was asked what kind of challenges the misdirection
offense presents to him:

“Well, you’ve got to be disciplined,” he said “You’ve got to
stay in your gaps, stay in your lanes and, schematically, everybody’s got to be
in the same place and be on the same page at the same time.”

Bowles talked about the keys to stopping a mobile
quarterback like Griffin.

“Well, he can run,” Bowles said. “He can run and he can he
pass. He’s a dual threat. That makes him very dangerous. Like you said, the
offensive line with the zone scheme makes it dangerous. We’ve got to be
disciplined. We’ve got to be able to tackle because when he gets outside the
pocket, obviously, his speed takes over and he has a different gear than a lot of
quarterbacks.”

Bowles was asked whether Griffin’s mobility affects how the defense will rush the passer:

“I think there are times where you’re going to have to rush
him without worrying about it,” he said. “And then there’s going to be times
where you have to be under control and understand during situations what you’re
doing as far as rushing him.”

Bowles was asked if he has noticed Griffin being less
reckless on the field:

“I see a great athlete,” Bowles said. “He’s doing the same things he’s been
doing.”

The Eagles special teams may be the difference this week.
Whatever complaints Eagles fans can have for Reid, Offensive Coordinator Marty
Mornhinweg or Bowles, they pale in comparison to the job Bobby April has done
with Special Teams. Had it not been for al the turnovers and firing of
Defensive Coordinator Juan Castillo, April would have felt the brunt of the
criticism for the season to date.

The unit has been a complete failure. April would not say it
was the talent he has been given. Pro Bowl punt returner DeSean Jackson rarely
returns punts as his skills are saved for the offense.

April was asked if a struggling special teams unit is indicative
of bad depth on the roster.

“From my vantage point no,” He said. “When you have a play
like that, and that was a critical play, that was as critical of a play [that]
we’ve had all year I think because that turned the tide, doesn’t mean it needed
to but it did, and I just looked at what I could have done. I go back to
mini-camps and [think] I didn’t get this settled, I didn’t get this squared
away, I could have done this, instead of spending time on protection I could
have spent more time on coverage. Anything and everything you look for how you
could have done that play better. And there was a lot of coaching things that I
could have done better. That’s on me. I don’t think the depth is [the problem].
I like our players. I like their talent. It’s really been for me a great group
to work with. I just have to help them better to be more prepared for a play
like that.”

April said his unit does not lack effort despite it looking
like that against Dallas, who returned a punt for a touchdown that clearly took
the wind out the Eagles sail.

April was asked what the problem is with the special teams
if it is not personnel or effort issues.

“I just think we could’ve taken a better deployment of our
coverage,” April said. “And that’s a coaching point. Deploying ourselves in a
wider scheme from the onset because they have a responsibility to get to a
certain station in the initial stages of the coverage. And then from that
alignment, just like if I’m playing defensive end in a 3-4 [then] I am lined
over here, and then from there I need to do the responsibilities of the best
path to the obstacles ahead we face. I think initially we started out bad and
then became a footrace and obviously that’s a little more genes and chromosomes
at that point and not anything else.”

April was asked how disappointing this year has been for the
special teams unit.

“Well the season has been very disappointing because I
think, and I believe it because I’ve seen it from experience, that if you have
a dominating special teams, and I mean a dominating special teams, many of the
games that we lost we could’ve won. You dominate them and a lot of the games we
lost we could’ve won. I believe that. If the games are close, [then] the
special teams and turnovers are going to decide the game. And in the NFL the
parody is so great. We’re not talking about [USC] and Notre Dame [and] we have
to win the turnover batter and we’ve got to win the special teams if we’re
going to win the game, you talk about that every week. I believe it and
whenever we have a letdown certainly I’m disappointed. I feel if I’m
responsible for that phase to win the game. If all the games are close and I’ve
got to take care of that phase and I let the team down then it certainly is
disappointing. [That’s] probably about it. I could go further but I can’t
afford to be discouraged because we’re playing Washington this week and we’ve
got to get ready for them. I’m getting the cuts taken care of, I’m on the stool
right now but the bell is going to ring at one o’clock on Sunday again. So I
don’t have time to think about that stuff.”

April will need to think of something fast or Sunday will be
a long day for the Eagles and their fans.