Eagles Looking Forward To Home Opener
By Ed Benkin
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Eagles will play their first home game of the season on Sunday, and players as well as coaches can't wait.
The Eagles will take on the Chargers at 1pm Sunday in South Philadelphia after picking up a road victory against the Redskins last Monday. After hearing plenty of support on the road, Chip Kelly is looking forward to hearing lots of noise at the Linc.
"I know what it's going to be," said Kelly. "Just the one thing that was amazing to me was to hear the Philadelphia fans chanting 'defense' when we were at Washington in that fourth quarter. That part's going to be exciting."
The Eagles created plenty of excitement around the league with their offensive outburst against the Redskins.
Their next test will come against a San Diego defense which gave up 31 points in an opening night loss to Houston. Running back LeSean McCoy says San Diego's fast defensive front may work to the Eagles' advantage.
"They look fast on tape," McCoy said. "The good thing is, with fast defensive ends and big linebackers, it kind of helps our scheme out."
On the defensive side, the Eagles will face San Diego Quarterback Phillip Rivers, who spends most of the game throwing from the pocket. Linebacker Connor Barwin says it will be a drastic change from facing the mobile Robert Griffin III in Washington.
"The quarterback sits in the pocket and gets the ball off on time," said Barwin. "Last week, it was the opposite with a quarterback that ran bootlegs and ran play action. San Diego is completely different."
Now matter what the Chargers have planned for the Eagles, Linebacker DeMeco Ryans and his teammates are excited to be playing in front of the hometown crowd.
"I think it's going to be great to get our new team in front of our fans," Ryans said. "It's going to be a special day. I feel like the fans will bring us a lot more energy that we even had in Washington."
Cornerback Bradley Fletcher sat out practice for the second straight day with a concussion. Kelly would not rule Fletcher out for Sunday.
