Our Pick: Take the Chargers

All told, the Eagles have had better six-day stretches.

As if losing to Dallas in front of a national TV audience wasn’t enough, they go out and lose two key players from their secondary for extended periods of time. The next injury Ellis Hobbs sustained Sunday night ended his season and nickel back Joselio Hanson was suspended four games for taking a diuretic before last year’s NFC title game.

Injuries have taken their toll lately, with starting LB Akeem Jordan considered unlikely to play. As the Lew Bowen notes, Chris Gocong will be forced to play inside, with Will Witherspoon moving outside.

Hobbs’ injury obviously hurts the secondary, but it has a significant impact on the special teams, as Hobbs was the lead kickoff returner. If his ankle allows, Quentin Demps will likely take over the kick returning duties, regaining a job he held all of last season. Hanson’s suspension (more on that in a minute) means Dimitri Petersen, Jack Ikegwuonu and 2007 Mr. Irrelevent Ramzee Robinson each get an opportunity to be in the mix.

Got all that? Good. Now consider that the Eagles are traveling to the west coast today to prepare for Sunday’s game against the Chargers.

Now how do you feel?

You shouldn’t feel good. The Eagles have traditionally had all kinds of problems playing out in the Pacific time zone. Jason Peters didn’t play in that game and Andy Reid – as is custom – couldn’t figure out adjustments.

Guess who’s banged up?

If you take Peters’ word for it, there’s a good chance he’ll play. Bowen, however, recently tweeted that Todd Herremans got reps at LT in practice.

The Chargers are coming off a huge win at New York and the Eagles are coming off a downer of a loss against Dallas. Anything can happen, but we like the Chargers at home to take care of business.

Our take: Chargers 24, Eagles 17.