Birds Face Familiar Foe in Seahawks

The Eagles' defense is quite familiar with Seattle's offense. They face one just like it every day in practice. But it doesn't mean Philadelphia will have an advantage against the Seahawks on Sunday. "You can't get in your mind that because we play against this offense every day, we know it," coach Andy Reid said Wednesday. "That takes an edge off the game if you prepare yourself that way. You've got to go in and prepare just like you would for another game. If that means start from scratch and relearning or hanging on to what you know, you better continue to challenge yourself."

Seattle's version of the West Coast offense is most similar to Philadelphia's because the Seahawks don't rely on one player to make all the plays.

Former Eagle Ricky Watters gets most of the carries at running back, but Shaun Alexander also is a threat. The receivers are young and inexperienced, but possess a lot of speed.

"You can look at it either way. We do face a similar offense throughout training camp, but with that offense there are so many wrinkles they can throw at you," linebacker Mike Caldwell said. "Different personnel dictates it. They have a couple different weapons. We do know the overall type of offense, but it's difficult to say what play they will come out with and which way they will try to attack us.

"They run a true West Coast offense where eight or nine different players can catch the ball and they try to make yards after the catch. We have to go out and play our defense. We can't key on one specific person because they all can hurt you in different ways."

The Seahawks struggled on offense in their season-opening 9-6 victory over Cleveland two weeks ago. Matt Hasselbeck, making his first NFL start, finished 20-of-34 for 178 yards and two interceptions.

Watters rushed for 97 yards on 16 carries. Top wideout Darrell Jackson had five catches for just 17 yards. Rookie Koren Robinson added three catches for 44 yards and newly signed Bobby Engram had two receptions for 18 yards.

"We have a little feel for what they are going to do, but, by the same token, they may try to use that to their advantage thinking we are used to something and they'll hit us with something new," safety Damon Moore said. "We have to be alert. We're definitely going to be keyed in to what they like to do in certain situations, certain downs and distances."

The Eagles don't think facing Seattle while Hasselbeck and the receivers are still learning coach Mike Holmgren's system will create much of an advantage.

"You can't underestimate these guys," cornerback Al Harris said. "They have some young receivers that are pretty good. But if we would play them 10 weeks from now, we'd have the same mindset. We're not looking at them like they have young receivers and a young quarterback, we're looking at them like they are the Seattle Seahawks."

(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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Author: 6 ABC - Action News