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Preseason: 25 Last Week: 19 | ESPN.com Power Ranking since 2002

Chip Kelly knows all about how a blowout can affect a football team’s place in the weekly rankings. He used to run up scores all the time at Oregon. In his four years there, Kelly’s teams scored 50 or more points 21 times.

It’s a little different being on the other side of that. In the smoldering aftermath of Sunday’s 52-20 humiliation in Denver, the Broncos are BCS bowl-bound at the top of the ESPN panel’s weekly rankings. The Eagles dropped all the way to No. 27. That’s two spots below their preseason spot, which was based on a first-year coach taking over a 4-12 team.

There is good news in the rankings for Eagles fans, though. Three of their next four games are against teams that are below them: home-and-home against the No. 30 New York Giants and a road game against No. 31 Tampa Bay. There is a home game against the NFC East-leading Dallas Cowboys in there, too.

So the Eagles are where they deserve to be, but there is an opportunity for them to start climbing back toward the top 10.

PHILADELPHIA -- DeSean Jackson had a frustrating day in Denver, from the pass that soared over his head on the Eagles’ first drive to the moment he blew off reporters in the postgame locker room.

Frustrate Jackson and you frustrate the Eagles’ entire passing game. That has quickly become the formula for stopping Chip Kelly’s offense.

With former teammate Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie running with him stride for stride, Jackson was targeted six times by quarterback Michael Vick. Jackson caught just two passes for 34 yards.

“I think we have seen just a little bit more man [coverage],” Kelly said Monday, “and I think that's overall with everybody. But I also think we've been productive moving the football. I still think we're stopping ourselves. We are not getting stopped by a scheme and we are not getting stopped by a look.”

When Jackson isn’t open, Vick has trouble getting the ball to his other wideouts. Either Riley Cooper (two catches, 25 yards) and Jason Avant (one catch, seven yards) aren’t getting open, or Vick just doesn’t trust them with tight throws.

“It depends on what play,” Kelly said. “There's maybe one play where, yeah, he should have let it rip, but there's other plays where we have to do a better job of getting open and other plays where we have to do a better job of protecting him. It's a combination of the whole thing.”

Early in the game, Kelly had rookie tight end Zach Ertz lined up in the slot with Brent Celek also on the field. That was a rare look at the kind of inventive use of the tight ends Kelly teased fans with in the preseason. Kelly liked the matchups created when the Eagles ran against opponents’ nickel schemes, and he also seemed to get seduced by Jackson’s quick-strike potential.

As a result, free-agent pickup James Casey has just one catch in four games. The screen game disappeared almost entirely until Vick found Bryce Brown and LeSean McCoy for a couple of big plays Sunday.

On Monday, Kelly talked about getting running back Chris Polk some more playing time. He continued to defend the play of Cooper, who is valued more for his blocking ability than his receiving at this point. And he shed some light on Ertz’s development.

“We've seen more and more from him on a weekly basis here as he starts to continue to grasp what we are doing here,” Kelly said. “I expect him to grow. He's four games into his professional football career. So to see him run around and line up all over the place like Jimmy Graham from the New Orleans Saints, I don't think anybody envisioned that as we put together an offense and start to figure out what he's good at, what he's not good at.

“There's a lot of details in doing it. It's not as easy as saying, ‘Hey, we drafted this guy and he has got the ability.’ Yeah, he does. But I also think we have to get him settled. It's not going to come with all of a sudden tomorrow we are going to come up with 17 different ways where we can deploy Zach and put him in different situations because it's not fair to him.”

Kelly had great success getting the ball to Jackson in the Eagles’ first two games. He caught 16 passes for 297 yards and two touchdowns, and the Eagles scored a total of 63 points. The past two weeks, Jackson has five catches for 96 yards, and the Eagles scored a total of 33 points.

Defenses adjusted. Now Kelly has to find a way to counter. He isn’t getting Jeremy Maclin back this season, so he has to find production from Ertz, Celek and Casey at tight end, from the running backs and from the wideouts, including the underutilized Damaris Johnson.

If he does, who knows? Maybe defenses will have to back off and Jackson can break loose again.

A review of four hot issues after the Philadelphia Eagles' 52-20 loss to the Denver Broncos:

This game was never going to be a pleasant afternoon in the Rockies for these Eagles. After Philip Rivers dissected their patchwork secondary in Week 2, we immediately wondered how bad things would get when the Eagles faced the elite quarterbacks, with no one being more elite than Peyton Manning. Now we know.

“We ran into a buzzsaw,” Eagles defensive coordinator Bill Davis said after the game. Davis had left the locker room, possibly after turning in his belt and shoelaces. He spoke to reporters via the iPhone of a member of the media relations staff.

The Eagles became a part of the history that Manning is making, the same way Michael Spinks was part of the history Mike Tyson made or the rest of the field was part of the history Usain Bolt made in the Olympics. They have no choice but to accept that and find a way to move on.

The next three weeks are huge for Chip Kelly. After losing three games to the AFC West, by larger margins every week, Kelly’s Eagles play the New York Giants (0-4), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-4) and Dallas Cowboys (2-2).

The Eagles have an opportunity to win all three of those games, which would get them to 4-3, restore their respectability and give the second half of the season meaning. All three games are against NFC teams and two are within the division, where the Eagles are 1-0. Since 1990, teams that start 1-3 have just a 14 percent chance to go to the playoffs, according to ESPN Stats & Information. But somebody is going to win the NFC East. It says so right in the rulebook. Until they lose games and ground to Dallas, the Eagles have a chance to be that team.

The offensive line is becoming an issue. Kelly laid the blame for the offensive struggles squarely on the pressure quarterback Michael Vick is experiencing. “We’ve got times where he is at the top of his drop and he’s sticking his foot into the ground and there’s pressure on him,” Kelly said. “That’s not on Mike.”

A quick history lesson: Two years ago, Andy Reid brought in longtime Indianapolis Colts assistant Howard Mudd to coach the offensive line. Mudd has a unique approach suited to slimmer, more athletic linemen. The result was a purge of players who just didn't fit. Could it be that some of the linemen here just don't fit Kelly’s own unique approach? Could it simply be that the players returning from injuries -- Jason Peters, Todd Herremans, Jason Kelce -- aren't at full health? Is it just a natural transition period?

“Someone who’s been playing fantastic for 52 plays, on the 53rd play makes a mistake up front,” Kelly said. “Somebody you expected to be picked up is creating penetration.”

Time will provide the answers, but there is enough of a body of work to start asking the questions.

There are no playmakers on this defense. Davis has been trying to scheme around the personnel he has while shifting the team from a 4-3 to a 3-4 base. The results were not very good through three weeks, and they were disastrous Sunday against the Broncos. No matter the scheme, though, a great player will find ways to make an impact: a sack on a crucial third down, a ball stripped from a running back or receiver, something. The Eagles just aren't getting those plays.

“We only have one way to go,” Davis said. “We have to get better. Everything about the defense has to improve. We have enough talent.”

Davis may or may not believe those words. The rest of us have to believe our eyes.

DENVER – The scoreboard mocked the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday. No matter what anyone says, the embarrassment of a 52-20 beating lingers.

"We've got to get over it," linebacker DeMeco Ryans said. "We can't dwell on it. We can't let this demoralize us to the point where we can't come back and fight."

That is the issue facing coach Chip Kelly just four weeks into his NFL career. He conceded his team "got down" in the second half, as Peyton Manning just continued throwing footballs into the Eagles' end zone.

"I don’t think, 'Holy smokes, the season is over,'" Kelly said.

The question is whether his players think that. A lot of them endured the 4-12 nightmare that was 2012. They embraced a fresh start with Kelly. A loss like this has to bring back a lot of bad memories.

"I'll be able to answer that question Tuesday when we come out on the practice field," Kelly said. "If we're hanging our heads and feeling sorry for ourselves, then I'll say we didn't have any progress. But I think we have to understand that this is a tough-ass league. You play against some pretty good teams. If they come back on Tuesday, then I'll be excited about this group going forward. And I really believe they will."

Running back LeSean McCoy said he was "very surprised" to find the Eagles sitting at 1-3.

"Just knowing the players we have in the locker room and the type of coaches we have," McCoy said, "if you had told me at the beginning of the season that we would be 1-3 right now, I would have called you a liar. We've just got to get it together."

McCoy said he didn't believe players would let this loss affect their attitude.

"No way," he said. "If you're a coward probably, but guys in this locker room got heart. We'll keep fighting and battling."

Cornerback Cary Williams called next Sunday's game against the 0-4 New York Giants "a must-win game."

"We're 1-0 in our division," Williams said.

"It's big," safety Nate Allen said. "It's a division game. If we can get that win and get back on the right track, it will be big for us."

DENVER -- Seen and heard in the Philadelphia Eagles' locker room immediately after their 52-20 loss to the Denver Broncos:

Breathless: LeSean McCoy didn’t have the wind knocked out of him in the first half. He just didn’t have any wind to begin with. “I couldn’t breathe,” McCoy said. “I needed the oxygen mask. I didn’t adapt to the weather until the second half. I couldn’t breathe at all.” So much for the Eagles’ pregame belief that the altitude wouldn’t affect them.

Response time: Chip Kelly doesn’t know how his players will react to a 32-point embarrassment, their third loss in a row. “I’ll really be able to answer that question Tuesday when we get back on the practice field,” Kelly said. “If we’re hanging our heads and feeling sorry for ourselves, I’ll say we didn’t have any progress.”

Peyton Manning is really good: That is obvious from the 37-year-old quarterback’s record-breaking start. But the Eagles spent about three hours discovering firsthand just how good, how smart and how accurate Manning is. “There’s no question you’re frustrated,” cornerback Cary Williams said. “Four teams have tried to stop them,” Kelly said. “They haven’t yet.”

The NFC East looks like home: After three losses to AFC West teams, the Eagles get their NFC East rivals, the New York Giants, next week. "It's a must-win game," Williams said.

DENVER – A few thoughts in the wake of the Denver Broncos' 52-20 dismantling of the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday:

What it means: Sometimes, on any given Sunday, the far superior team with the incredibly hot quarterback blows out the lesser team. This one played out exactly as it looked on paper, with Peyton Manning shredding the Eagles' subpar defense. Michael Vick and the offense were not able to compete with Manning. Mix in two special teams touchdowns and you get an embarrassing 32-point loss. It is a good thing the Eagles (1-3) aren't in the AFC West. They went 0-3 against San Diego, Kansas City and now Denver in three weeks.

Stock Watch: Falling: Chip Kelly. His predecessor, Andy Reid, is 4-0 in Kansas City. Cleveland, the team he turned down, has won its last two games under Rob Chudzinski. Kelly has lost three games in 14 days, as many as he lost in his final two years at Oregon. Indeed, Kelly must have felt a lot like many of his college opponents as the Broncos ran up the score on his Eagles.

Empty yardage: As hard as it is to believe from the final score, the Eagles were competitive in the first half. They were within one score, 21-13, at the half. But the Eagles had just 13 points to show for 271 yards of total offense in the half. Mistakes –- a dropped first-down pass by Brent Celek, a holding penalty on Evan Mathis –- derailed productive drives. Against Kansas City the week before, turnovers and penalties kept the Eagles to 16 points despite 431 yards of offense.

What's next: The Eagles go from perhaps the hottest team in the NFL to one of the coldest, and from the unbeatable Manning to the one that's scuffling. Next Sunday's road game with the New York Giants gives Kelly and his team a chance to regroup and get their season turned in the right direction. Of course, the 0-4 Giants are overdue for a victory, aren't they?

DENVER -- It wasn't surprising when the Philadelphia Eagles announced that safety Patrick Chung will be inactive for today's game against the Denver Broncos. Chung injured his shoulder against Kansas City and didn't practice all week. Rookie Earl Wolff will start in his place.

There was a little intrigue in the rest of the secondary. The Eagles are desperately trying to develop some depth with their young cornerbacks. Roc Carmichael, who was signed off the Texans' practice squad last week, will dress for the first time. Seventh-round pick Jordan Poyer is also in uniform. Both of them were inactive for the Chiefs game. Shaun Prater, who dressed last week, is back on the inactive list this week.

Carmichael and Poyer are likely to see most, even all, of their playing time on special teams. But there is always a chance they will be pressed into action due to injury. Poyer was forced to play against Washington and was immediately targeted by Robert Griffin III.

Offensive lineman Dennis Kelly is inactive for the fourth time. The first three weeks, he was unable to practice because he was recovering from back surgery. Kelly practiced this week, but is behind Allen Barbre, who backs up at both guard and tackle.

Matt Barkley, Matt Tobin, Damion Square and Emil Igwenagu are the other inactive Eagles.

Cornerback Champ Bailey (foot) in inactive for the Broncos. It will be interesting to see if that means Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie is assigned to DeSean Jackson wherever he lines up.

PHILADELPHIA -- The numbers seem to contradict each other when it comes to figuring out how effective Chip Kelly’s up-tempo offense has been so far.

When it comes to running plays quickly, the Philadelphia Eagles are second only to Buffalo. They have run a play every 22.2 seconds they have possessed the ball, which suggests Kelly is getting what he wants.

However, the Eagles are tied for 15th in the league in total number of offensive plays run. After that eye-popping 53-play first half at Washington, the Eagles have run 146 plays from scrimmage. Their opponents have run 205 plays since halftime in Washington.

“They're running a lot more plays and we're not running enough plays,” Kelly said. “That's what I mean. That's the whole argument that I've always had with the time of possession, because a team can hold it for 40 minutes, if they run the same amount of plays, that's a different deal. Right now, we’re not running enough plays on offense. We're turning the ball over too much offensively, we're not executing the way we're supposed to execute, and that's what we have to do to be able to keep our defense off the field.”

New England is tops after three games with 225 offensive plays.

Kelly dismisses time of possession as meaningless, but there is an obvious correlation between possession and the number of plays possible. The Eagles are dead last in the NFL in possession time at 24 minutes, 25 seconds per game.

Interestingly, the Bills, the only team running plays faster, are next worst in time of possession.

As pointed out by my colleague Jeff Legwold, who covers the Denver Broncos for ESPN.com, the Eagles have had only one three-and-out possession that ended with a punt. The drives that are too short and add stress to the defense have been marred by penalties and turnovers.

• In terms of sheer numbers, the Broncos’ secondary doesn’t look very good. Denver has given up 327 passing yards per game, four more yards than the Eagles.
  
  But the Broncos have broken up or intercepted 20 passes in the three games. That’s tied for best in the NFL, according to ESPN Stats & Information. The yardage is a natural consequence of teams trying to play catchup with the Peyton Manning-led offense, but there are playmakers in the Denver secondary.
  
  One of them, irony of ironies, is cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, who drifted aimlessly through two seasons with the Eagles before signing with the Broncos. Rodgers-Cromartie has one interception and has made nine tackles. He is likely to spend much of his Sunday afternoon covering DeSean Jackson.
  
  “I anticipate they'll play against each other at least a portion of the game,” Eagles offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur said. “He's one of the outstanding talents in this league. He runs extremely well. He can get in your hip and run with you. He's got outstanding ball skills. All the same things that he had before he went to Denver, you can still see on tape.”
• The Eagles officially listed safety Patrick Chung as Doubtful after he failed to practice again Friday. Chung injured a shoulder in the game against Kansas City last week. Kelly and defensive coordinator Bill Davis seemed to expect him to be able to practice by week's end, but it didn’t happen.
  
  That means rookie Earl Wolff will likely get his first career start alongside Nate Allen at safety.
  
  “I look forward to it,” Wolff said of the challenge of facing Manning. “I’ll be competing on every play. If we do our assignment and our technique, I feel like we’ll be OK.”

PHILADELPHIA -- Chip Kelly is nearly as well-known for his commitment to sports science as he is for drawing up innovative plays. But even the Philadelphia Eagles' head coach has his limits.

“In terms of us being able to construct a hyperbaric chamber over that football field,” Kelly said, gesturing toward the NovaCare Complex fields, “we can't do that. We're at the same advantage or disadvantage of anybody else going in there.”

There, of course, is Denver’s Sports Authority Field at Mile High, a stadium whose very name tells the tale. Denver’s perch in the Rocky Mountains, in the thin air a mile above sea level, creates a problem for any visiting team in football, basketball or hockey.

The question is what kind of problem: physical or psychological? The issue is more than academic for an Eagles team determined to run an uptempo, no-huddle offense regardless of the elements.

“A lot of it is more mental than physical,” Kelly said. If he believed otherwise, you can imagine a work crew hammering away at that hyperbaric chamber in South Philadelphia. “Football is an anaerobic sport. We’re not going there to run a marathon.”

Rob Connolly is a sports scientist, too. An exercise physiologist and coach with USA Cycling, Connolly runs Dogma Athletica, a high-altitude training center in Vail, Colo. Connolly has been intrigued by what Kelly is trying to do on the football field, using pace to put stress on his opponent.

According to Connolly, the effect for the Eagles on Sunday will be both physical and psychological.

“It will come more into play with the type of tempo both teams want to run,” Connolly said. “Football is anaerobic, but that makes it tougher. You’re working in a short anaerobic burst and then trying to recover quickly is tougher. You’re only getting 85 percent of the oxygen you would take in at home.”

Simply put, there is less oxygen in the air you breathe at higher altitudes. The body has to work harder to get the oxygen it needs. For athletes, that can mean tiring faster. Many world-class athletes train at altitude for this very reason. To acclimate, the body eventually produces more red blood cells, and that can be an advantage when the athlete comes down from the mountain to compete at lower elevations.

Connolly said athletes who aren’t acclimated -- a process that can take more than two weeks -- will find their respiratory rates going up 5 to 8 percent.

“There’s a psychological effect there,” Connolly said. “Any time you notice your breath, it can be disconcerting. You’re panting. Your mind is not on whatever else you’re doing. You can lose focus, and it can affect your motor skills.”

Eagles center Jason Kelce said the team normally practices fast enough to create fatigue in the players. That prepares them for maintaining focus when they tire in games.

“It’s more overhyped than the reality,” Kelce said of the altitude issue. “I’ve heard a lot of guys say that it almost feels like you’re just playing on a humid day. It has the same effect where it’s harder to breathe. Most guys who have played there say that it doesn’t make that big of a difference. You might notice it in warm-ups, but once you get the game going, things are going by too quickly to take notice of that.”

Eagles outside linebacker Connor Barwin played in Denver last year as a member of the Houston Texans.

“I didn’t notice it at all,” Barwin said. “I think that’s just something they say. Football is four- to six-second plays. We’re not running a marathon. So it’s something I didn’t notice at all.”

Eagles cornerback Cary Williams was with the Baltimore Ravens when they went to Denver in January and won a playoff game, 38-35.

“I think it’s a combination,” Williams said. “It’s a lot mental, but I think it’s a lot physical as well. It’s a change. Your body’s not used to it. You’ve got to be mentally tough to overcome it.”

Eagles outside linebacker Trent Cole shrugged it off. You get tired in football games at any altitude, he said.

“If you get tired,” Cole said, “come out of the game. There’s nothing to it. It’s how you take it and what you can withstand.”

Connolly is a fan of Kelly’s overall approach and thinks it will be very effective over time.

“I think you’ll see some copycat stuff,” Connolly said. “Good players on offense and defense decipher what the other team is doing and anticipate the play. By going so fast, Kelly makes it harder to do that. Combine that with fatigue, and he’s on to something. It’d definitely fun to watch.”

But there is a definite challenge trying to push the tempo at altitude. Kelly said his Oregon teams had no trouble when they played in Boulder.

“It wasn’t a big deal,” he said. “You play against the Broncos, it’s a big deal.”

In other words, Peyton Manning and the Broncos have to be the focus. There isn’t much that can be done about the altitude.

“I understand his approach,” Connolly said. “It’s a good mindset, just coming in and doing what they do and not making too big a deal out of it. If I were him, I’d have guys on the sideline like hockey players, ready to change on the fly.”

That might be tough. The truth is, the Eagles would have a difficult time playing this team anywhere, at any time. They prepared all week for that challenge. All they can do about the altitude is find out for themselves.

“Afterward,” Kelce said, “if it affected us, I’ll let you know.”

PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia Eagles' offensive line was expected to be the best in the NFL this season, at least by the five men who line up in front of Michael Vick.

Three games in, Vick has been pressured 48 times, the most among NFL quarterbacks according to ESPN Stats & Information. He has been sacked 11 times, more than anyone except Miami’s Ryan Tannehill.

So what’s happening? A lot of things.

“It depends on each individual situation,” head coach Chip Kelly said. “There's not one answer that is the answer.”

More than half the sacks, six, came in Thursday’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. The Eagles’ tackles, Jason Peters on the left and Lane Johnson on the right, simply couldn’t handle Justin Houston and Tamba Hali.

“On paper, it looked like it worked against the Kansas City Chiefs,” center Jason Kelce said. “I would argue that if we don’t have as many turnovers and we don’t do as many things wrong, we’re still successful against KC. The way they did it put our tackles on an island. We’re still very confident we can put our tackles on an island and win most of those matchups.”

Peters dislocated a finger early in the game and struggled with his technique after having three fingers taped together.

“He was trying to block one of the outstanding rushers (Hali) in this league,” offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur said. “There's some good plays and then every once in a while you have a bad play. He was dealing with a little nick on his hand. He's doing fine.”

Johnson, the rookie first-round pick, was overmatched at times and miscommunicated with guard Todd Herremans at times.

Kelly’s preference to have just five men in pass protection is one factor in the pressure on Vick so far.

“It’s a little more challenging,” Kelce said.

And then there is this:

Last season, every Eagles starter except left guard Evan Mathis suffered a season-ending injury. The return of Peters, Kelce and Herremans was the reason for that preseason swagger. But it also means all three are returning from serious leg injuries.

Of course, there is the matter of Vick himself. He is supposed to be making quicker decisions and getting rid of the ball faster in Kelly’s offense. But he occasionally falls back on old habits and holds it too long.

“It’s our job to protect,” Kelce said. “We know if we can give Mike enough time, he can take care of things.”

Ultimately, despite the breakdowns, the line has been part of a remarkably productive offense. That’s why Kelly is sticking with his five starters and expecting them to continue improving together.

The Eagles lead the NFL with 209 rushing yards per game. They are also averaging 253 passing yards and 26 points per game.

“Right now, we’re not sitting in our offensive staff room saying we're not getting a lot of production offensively,” Kelly said. “ I think we're running the ball very effectively and throwing the ball very effectively.”

The Denver Broncos and Philadelphia Eagles will collide in high-speed fashion Sunday at Sports Authority Field at Mile High in a 4:25 p.m. ET kickoff.

The 3-0 Broncos feature the league's highest-scoring offense -- their 127 points are 31 more than any other team this season after three weeks -- and quarterback Peyton Manning has thrown for more touchdowns (12) than 29 teams have scored overall.

The Eagles, at 1-2, lead the league in rushing and yards per play (7.0), so this one could have the look of a drag race, think Mile-High Nationals, a summer staple for race fans on the Front Range.

Eagles team reporter Phil Sheridan and Broncos team reporter Jeff Legwold break down the game.

Legwold: Phil, you have been around the Eagles for a long time and have seen the organization go through many changes. Coach Chip Kelly's offense was certainly the talk of the offseason around the league, as most teams discussed wanting to join the fun, to go faster, to get more snaps, to stress defenses with speed. But given what the Broncos have done on offense this season, how fast does Kelly really want to go in Denver? Is there a risk of exposing his defense if he gives the Broncos too many possessions?

Sheridan: There is enormous risk, Jeff, but my sense of Kelly is that he'll want to put the pedal to the metal anyway. He's trying to build a culture, with an aggressive approach to every aspect of the sport. I don't see him easing up for one game, no matter the specific challenges. Besides, I think the Eagles' only chance is to try to match the Broncos score for score and take their chances with a close, high-scoring game. As the Eagles learned the hard way the past two weeks, their defense is not good enough to shut down an opponent at crunch time.

That leads me to this question: Doesn't Denver's up-tempo offense put stress on the Broncos defense? Oakland seemed to move the ball as the game wore on. Doesn't that suggest the Broncos will be vulnerable to Michael Vick, LeSean McCoy and the rest of the Eagles offense?

Legwold: I think that is the risk overall with the move toward up-tempo offenses around the league. It's all well and good to be fast on offense, snapping the ball at light speed, but those 45-second possessions that end in a three-and-out are just about the worst thing for any defense that just got to the sideline. That's one of the most interesting items about the Eagles so far: They have had just one three-and-out that ended in a punt in 38 possessions.

The Broncos were aggressive against the Raiders defensively last week, and linebackers Wesley Woodyard and Danny Trevathan did a quality job keeping Terrelle Pryor hemmed in. The Broncos are a speed defense overall, up and down the depth chart, so the teams that try to run out of open formations, like the three wide, tend not to do as consistently well as the teams that keep them in the base defense and pound away a bit. But McCoy and Vick will easily be their toughest challenge in the run game of the young season. In terms of defense, how would you expect the Eagles to approach the Broncos -- come after Manning a bit or drop into coverage and hope they can fill the gaps?

Sheridan: The Eagles' best bet might be to close their eyes and just pray Manning fumbles the snap. Don't think that's in the game plan, though. Seriously, they know their only hope is to generate some pressure from unexpected sources, be incredibly disciplined in their gap and coverage assignments and be exponentially better at tackling than they have been. They're not going to outsmart Manning, but if they can make him a little uncomfortable and get a break or two -- a fumble, a tipped pass that gets picked off -- they can keep the Broncos from running away with the game. Denver thrives on yards after the catch, which is what killed the Eagles in their two losses.

I was interested in your comments about getting the Broncos into their base defense, because the Eagles have used a lot of three wide receiver sets to get defenses into nickel personnel. So much depends on the corners, so let me ask A) If Champ Bailey is playing, and B) Why Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie is so much better than he was in Philadelphia for two lost seasons?

Legwold: Bailey has not played since injuring his left foot in a preseason loss to the Seahawks in mid-August. He certainly wants to play, keeps saying he's "close" and even upped to it "very close" last week. The Broncos would like him out there, especially in this one, but he's going to have to move around better than he did a couple of hours before kickoff Monday night when it was pretty clear he was going to miss his third consecutive game. But if he shows a little better movement this week, especially Thursday and Friday, I think he'll be in uniform.

On DRC, the Broncos gambled a bit on tough love. They essentially, and Rodgers-Cromartie has said this as well, told him what was wrong with him on his visit. They told him why he wasn't playing as well as he should and that they could fix it if he was willing to be coached hard. He said he was and has been. A gifted athlete, Rodgers-Cromartie has been the saving grace with Bailey's injury and has played like a No. 1 guy. I won't be surprised if the Broncos try to work out a little longer deal at some point in the coming months.

I know we've spent plenty of time on offense, but I am wondering if Kelly sees Vick as the long-term future at quarterback -- or as long term as a 33-year-old can be -- or does Kelly have bigger plans at the position?

Sheridan: I would love to know the answer to that one too. The Vick situation is fascinating. If he has a great year and somehow gets the Eagles into the playoffs (not as far-fetched as it sounds in an NFC East where half the teams are 0-3), it would be awfully hard to let him walk. But can you re-sign a guy at his age, with his injury history, and expect him to be the guy when you're really ready to contend in one or two or three years? My hunch is that Kelly would love to get one of the quarterbacks in next year's draft, that this year is about getting as much of the rest of the program in place as possible. But that would make much more sense if he had gone with Nick Foles or even rookie Matt Barkley than with Vick, who is just good enough to keep you from drafting high enough for a franchise quarterback.

Since it's a subject of discussion, let me ask you about the altitude. Do the Broncos believe it gives them a physical advantage, or do they see it more as a psychological thing? Is their home-field advantage about thin air or having good teams with loud, passionate fans rocking the stadium?

Legwold: The Broncos believe it gives both a physical and mental advantage. Objectively, for an elite athlete to work for three or so hours in Denver likely has minimal impact on performance. But who's to say even a sliver of impact isn't enough to tip the scales at times. The Broncos' record at home over the decades is well over .600 since 1960, and in September games, they are over a .700 winning percentage at home. The Olympic Training Center is in Colorado and many of the world-class cyclists on the planet train in the area, so it means there's some athletic benefit for the Broncos to work in the altitude. The Broncos particularly feel it's an advantage when they go fast on offense. Watch the Ravens defense in the second half of the opener and it was pretty clear that group didn't enjoy Manning at 5,280 feet.

Phil, great stuff and that should cover it. It could be a long night for both defenses with these two high-powered offenses going at it.

PHILADELPHIA – The focus on Peyton Manning and the Philadelphia Eagles defense makes sense in the same way that hurricane warnings focus on the vulnerable towns where the storm will make landfall.

But it is not the Eagles' defense that will determine whether they have chance Sunday against the heavily favored Denver Broncos. It is the Eagles' offense.

Put simply, the defense isn’t going to stop Manning, Wes Welker, Demaryius Thomas and the rest. Michael Vick, LeSean McCoy and DeSean Jackson are going to have to score. And score. And score some more.

“I have a lot of confidence in our offense,” McCoy said. “I think we’ll put points up. Once you punt the ball to Peyton Manning, you’ve got to count that as 7. Peyton and his offense, they’re smoking, they’re rolling, they’re scoring. So we’ve got to score.”

It’s not as if there’s some magic number of points the Eagles need to hit to have a chance. And it’s not as if they can press a button and score more quickly or efficiently.

“Every time we go out there, the goal is to score a touchdown,” wide receiver Jason Avant said. “If you go out and try to do more because of (Manning), you’re not going to play well.”

The Eagles scored 33 points before shutting it down, perhaps too soon, in their opener at Washington. They scored 30 despite misfiring early in a loss to San Diego. It was only in their most recent game, a 26-16 loss at home to Kansas City, that they weren’t able to light up the scoreboard.

“In all three games, the only time I think we’ve been stopped is when we’ve shot ourselves in the foot,” center Jason Kelce said. “Missed opportunities, penalties, turnovers were a killer for us last week. As long as we take care of the football and do what we’re supposed to do on each play, this offense is very dynamic. There’s a lot of playmakers in it. We should be able to take advantage of any defense we play.”

It is not in coach Chip Kelly’s DNA to slow his offense down and try to keep Manning off the field. He is trying to build an aggressive mindset here, and that transcends the particulars of this one game. So expect the Eagles to run their offense as quickly as they can.

One thing they can’t afford to do is fall behind by more than a score or two early. That’s always difficult, but it will be especially tough for this offense to protect Vick if the running game is eliminated as a viable option.

That’s the reason the Broncos have the No. 1 rushing defense in the NFL, with just 43.3 yards allowed per game. Opponents, forced to play catchup, have only tried to run the ball against them 57 times. That’s the second-lowest number in the league.

“It’s hard to run the ball when you’re down,” McCoy said. “You can’t look at it that way.”

Everyone knows there will be a high-powered offense operating at Mile High on Sunday. For the Eagles to have a chance, there have to be two.

 
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Rewind: Thursday’s performance by Michael Vick really was like a rewind -- all the way back to 2012. After two nearly mistake-free games under Chip Kelly, Vick turned the ball over three times, including a pick-six and a late fumble that ended any hope for an Eagles comeback against the Kansas City Chiefs. Vick also took six sacks.

Fast-forward: The Denver Broncos have some of the same elements that created problems for Vick in the Chiefs game. If Champ Bailey returns, he and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie would give Denver two corners capable of duplicating the Chiefs’ man-to-man coverage. That forced Vick to hold the ball too long, neutralized DeSean Jackson and eliminated the screen game from Chip Kelly’s offense. Denver’s front seven may not be as dominating as K.C.’s, but it is still pretty imposing. And Broncos defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio was handed some interesting insight by the Chiefs’ game plan.

Sacked: Kelly has often said that all sacks are ultimately the quarterback’s responsibility. He has veered from that as he protects his current quarterback. “It depends on which [sack] you’re talking about,” Kelly said Tuesday. “There could have been a sack where Mike held the ball too long. There could also be a sack on seven-man protection, and he thinks he is picked up and he gets hit at the top of his drop.”

Prediction: This game figures to be a shootout, and Vick is going to have to rise to the challenge of competing against Peyton Manning. Just a hunch, but expect him to have a bounce-back game. It may not be enough to outscore the Broncos' offense, but Vick tends to respond when there’s pride on the line.

PHILADELPHIA -- They know he can be beaten because many of them have actually done it.

Cary Williams was playing cornerback for the Baltimore Ravens when they defeated Peyton Manning in the AFC playoffs earlier this year.

Connor Barwin was on the Houston Texans defense that went to Denver a year ago and defeated Manning and the Broncos.

And yes, the Eagles actually managed to beat Manning once during his years with the Indianapolis Colts. It was three years ago. Outside linebackers Trent Cole and Brandon Graham and safeties Nate Allen and Kurt Coleman are the only defensive players who are still on the roster from that game.

“I think I hit him a few times,” Cole, who had one of the Eagles’ three sacks in that 2010 game, said Tuesday. “I can’t give you the secret, but I know we were jumping on him.”

“He’s human,” Williams said.

So they know firsthand it can be done. They also know firsthand just how good Manning is.

“I remember we were getting back there and we were hitting him,” Cole said, “but he was just getting the ball off so fast. I remember him being back there, reading the whole [defensive] backfield. I could see his eyes flicking back and forth. It was crazy.”

“He’s the best,” Allen said. “He’s looking guys off. He’s putting safeties right where he wants them, then he’s going back the other way. He’s top of the line.”

The Eagles’ Asante Samuel intercepted Manning twice in that game. Michael Vick was in the middle of his 2010 hot streak, and the Eagles were able to beat Manning and the Colts, 26-24.

That’s ancient history, though. Manning is now in Denver. He is throwing to Wes Welker, among other terrific receivers. And Manning is off to one of the greatest starts in NFL history: 12 touchdowns, zero interceptions, 73 percent completion rate, 1,143 yards and a 3-0 record.

The Texans beat the Broncos, 31-26, in Manning’s third game after missing a season due to neck surgery. He threw for two touchdowns in the game, but was not as sharp as he’s been ever since.

“Some guys you play, you make some mistakes and some quarterbacks don’t find it,” Barwin said. “This guy, you make a mistake, he’ll find it. It’s important we do what we do really well. You need to go in against Peyton and play a very, very clean defensive game. There’s no magic formula.”

Williams was on the winning side in the only game Manning has lost in the past 11 months. The Broncos got two special-teams touchdowns and Manning threw for three TDs in the Ravens’ 38-35 victory. Baltimore did pick off two passes, including one that Corey Graham returned 39 yards for a TD.

“It changes every year,” Williams said. “He has some more weapons, and he has more of a rapport with the guys he had there from before. They’re a great team. He’s a great quarterback. He’s going to get his yards. You just have to play your game, go out there and compete.”

It is not an encouraging matchup for the Eagles, to say the least. But it’s also an opportunity. If they are able to compete with the undefeated Broncos, they can draw confidence from that as they proceed to winnable games against the Giants and Buccaneers. And if they can catch Manning off guard somehow, they can deliver a major statement.

“It’s an awesome challenge,” Williams said. “It’s an opportunity for us to go out there and shock the world.”

And maybe even themselves.