Can Gocong Make the Grade?

Chris Gocong meet Chris Cooley. He is now your assignment.

That's essentially the message Eagles coaches have given the second-year linebacker as it relates to the Redskins star tight end, who seemingly has made a career out of torturing Philly defenses. Entering Monday night's divisional showdown in Philadelphia, Cooley has snared 23 catches in six career games against the Eagles, 14 of them at least good enough for first downs.

Meanwhile, Gocong, a converted defensive end, will be playing in just his second NFL game, thus much of the Cal Poly engineering grad's week has been spent in the film room viewing constant video of his new subject.

"That's going to be a big challenge for him," admitted Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson. "A good tight end - that's one of the reasons we've got Chris in there, to go against good tight ends, and see how physical he is with those guys."

For what it's worth, Gocong says he feels he has a good handle on how Cooley runs his routes and now its just a matter of making it all translate on the field. "He just finds a way to make a play out of nothing sometimes," Gocong told the Philly Inquirer. "It might be a broken play and they're scrambling, and he'll just find a way to get open."

And now it's Chris Gocong's job to prevent all that. Talk about tough assignments. 

To post a comment, you need to login or sign up.	Fan Comments