Panthers vs. Eagles Players to Watch

In preseason game one against the Colts the Panthers emphasized the running game, carrying the ball 45 times. This week’s match-up will feature one of the NFL’s best secondaries playing against a Panther WR corps full of new faces.

Here’s who will start for the Eagles at CB:

Asante Samuel will start at the left CB spot with Sheldon Brown on the other side at right corner. Lito Sheppard is your nickel corner for the night. Andy is hoping that Samuel will be able to play a full half.

So we’ll go against Shelton Brown instead of the disgruntled Lito Sheppard, which is fine by me. I’m still pissed about that INT Sheppard had to win the game in 2006. It will be interesting to see how much nickel the Eagles play against the Panthers.

 WR Musin Muhammad will have to hold down the fort since both Steve smith and DJ Hackett will sit this one out. Dwayne Jarrett could continue his feel-good camp with three or four catches.

 DE Julius Peppers will be going against a player moving over from guard. Ummm…McNabb might want to put a rear view mirror on his helmet.

Obviously Reid feels his best LT outside of Tra at this point is Herremans, and would rather move the whole line around to get Herremans out there than risk a repeat of the last time Tra was out of the lineup. For now, Scott Young filled at LG when Herremans slid out... but it's probably safe to assume that Max Jean Gilles would fill that role when Shawn Andrews returns.

 DE Tyler Brayton will be lit like a rocket as he is realizing he has to get quicker if he is going to beat Peppers to the QB. Looks like he will be matched up with RT Winston Justice.

 LB Landon Johnson should see plenty of action as the Panthers decide on their starter at SLB. He's battling Panther vet Na'il Diggs.

 LB Jon Beason is scheduled to play after sitting out practice recently for a tweaked ankle.

 RB Jonathan Stewart should see his first real action in the NFL. My guess is he’ll play a few series but not much more. We will then see a lot more of Decori Birmingham, who looked darn good last week.

T Jeff Otah made some really nice blocks, including a real beauty on D-Will’s 2^nd TD run. He should match up against Jerome McDougle.

Easily the story of the night was the play of Jerome McDougle. His effort doesn't show up in the stats, but Jerome was very active all night continually beating the Pittsburgh OT and pressuring the QB on several occasions. He also got off blocks and played the run well. For a guy that's been through so much and had such bad luck in his career it really was great to see him play well tonight. I'd love to see him get a couple reps with the first team next week to see how he performs against better competition.

 RB DeAngelo Williams is a player to watch just because I love to watch him run. Git you some…

Hint to Eagles: The Panthers will blitz you even though it’s the preseason. You might want to game plan for it !