Week No. 2 of Monday Night Football (ABC, 9 p.m. ET) features a pair of NFC East teams that know each other very well. The Washington Redskins, under new head coach Steve Spurrier, go for their second win in as many games when they play host to the 0-1 Philadelphia Eagles.

I'm looking forward to this one. It's always a great scene in Washington when the Redskins are playing. There's so much history and tradition, and I always enjoy doing games there.

Matchup to Watch:

When you play the Eagles' defense, you better be ready to handle the blitz because their coordinator Jim Johnson brings the "house" from every angle on every play. He's a heckuva coach and I like what he does with his defense. Washington's offensive line and the backs are going to need to do a good job protecting Shane Matthews, obviously. Matthews will have to do his part against the blitz in reading it and getting the right protections, and then the protectors have to do a good job, too. Between Matthews and the blitz, you have six or seven guys and they have to do their jobs.

I know it's just the second game of the season, but you still like to get a little bit of a cushion [in the standings] and Washington could get that if they win this game. They would have a two-game lead on the Eagles. That's a big thing, but Philadelphia knows that and they'll be ready to play on Monday night.

Spurrier has been good for the league, the Redskins and football in Washington. He brings a certain amount of freshness and he'll say what's on his mind. To me, he isn't bringing a college offense into pro football. He was a pro coach coaching college football before coming to the Redskins and his offense was a pro offense in college.

Another thing is that he reminds me a lot of ex-Eagles head coach Buddy Ryan. Spurrier's not afraid to fail and that's a dangerous thing for an opponent. The thing about Ryan was that he wasn't afraid, either, and he didn't care what anyone said or anyone thought. He would bring like nine guys on a blitz on defense and people would tell him that he couldn't do that and he would say, "I don't care, I just did it." He did what he wanted and so does Spurrier.

In talking about Spurrier and his quarterbacks and his offense, you might forget that his defense is pretty doggone good, too. That's a big thing to me. Spurrier's going to be successful in the long run. Whether he is right off the bat or not, you obviously don't know, but in his first season his defense is going to be a big contributor to it.

	James Thrash leads the Eagles in receptions this season.

The Eagles have taken a step up every year under head coach Andy Reid and they have to do it again this season. They have proven that they are a playoff team, and that's what they are and who they are. I feel they need to take that next step to prove they are a championship team.

Their quarterback Donovan McNabb knows Washington from playing in the same division with them. The big thing with the Eagles is that McNabb's been able to do everything, both passing and running. Over the years, his team has had a pretty good running game. Where his team hasn't had any consistency is at wide receiver. That is, guys getting open and guys getting away from tight coverage. If they are going to take that next step up offensively then they have to get some receivers to get open and catch the ball.

The Redskins know that Philadelphia's defensive coordinator Jim Johnson is going to bring everything on every play. He likes to blitz his guys and he attacks protections. That should be interesting because Washington likes to pitch it around and Johnson has been hearing about that "pitching it around" thing. I guarantee you that before Washington can pitch it around, he'll have his guys hanging on to Shane Matthews.

On special teams, Washington's bringing in a new kicker [James Tuthill] because Brett Conway's out with an injury. That's always a dangerous thing when you have a new kicker. You can't simulate a lot of game situations for a kicker, so you just have to hope that your guy is going to get it done in the game. You just hope that when you need him that he does it.