Derek Landri + A Couple of Links
Posted: October 6th, 2011 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 37 Comments »Someone on Twitter asked me if Derek Landri could help the run defense.
I think he’ll walk out to midfield before the game and challenge the entire Buffalo team to a fight. Clearly the Bills will see his greatness and shrink in fear. That’s going to be the difference in the game. Landri, hero of heroes, will then retire to his tent to eat some mutton and spend time with his lady friends.
If somehow that doesn’t happen (anything is possible), Landri will have to rely on his football skills. He is quick off the ball and a very good penetrating DT. One misconception people have is that only big DTs can play the run. Not so. The 1994 Vikings led the NFL in run defense. They allowed an NFL record 3.1 ypc (not sure if that’s been broken since). The DTs were Henry Thomas and John Randle. Thomas was 6’2, 277. Randle was 6’1, 275. Those guys played on the other side of the LOS. They flew off the ball and disrupted plays all game long.
Landri isn’t nearly as good as Thomas or Randle, but he’s got a similar type of skill set. He can do the same things, just on a lesser basis. Landri had 7 TFLs last year. That would have tied for the team lead here last year (with Trent Cole).
Landri and Trevor Laws will be the backup DTs. I’m sure opposing teams will try to run on them. It is imperative that Laws and Landri get upfield and wreak havoc. That means not just getting upfield, but making things happen. You must play with good awareness. Landri is a veteran who understands that and he’s shown he can make plays in the backfield. No one would classify Landri as a run stopping DT, but he can be an effective run defender.
I’m still working on how he’s going to solve the Red Zone issues. I have heard that he played some FB while in JAX. Hmmm.
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My column for the mothership is about getting the team turned around.
For SB Nation Philly, I came up with my solutions to the Eagles problems. Interesting combination of genius, idiocy, and desperation.
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I’ll post my column on the Bills this afternoon. Watched their game. Did some reading. Interesting team.
Juan Castillo should never be put in front of the press or a microphone….please keep him off limits….
He is disastrous at times, but then will mix in an interesting moment or two. His bad moments are really bad, though.
He’s just going to have to keep working hard and work on his press conference fundamentals.
If he pratices everyday in the mirror, it will be come muscle memory. This will allow him to think and react faster, and more naturally. That’s his responsibility as a coach, to put himself in a position to succeed.
Don’t be stupid. He needs to eat dinner with Casey Matthews family if he’s ever going to get better.
He’s just going to have to keep working hard and work on his press conference fundamentals… wait, have I said that before?
Outstanding.
I think Andy should move him over to the other side of the press conference and appoint him chief reporter.
I’ve been told that is where Juan always thought he belonged. He didn’t share any unique ideas as to how he would handle the questioning, but said he is a big fan of the reporters up in Chicago.
I understand that at his last press conference, Juan head butted Reuben Frank so hard, that when Roob came to, he thought he was Jeff McLane!
I would pay 50 cents to watch Castillo headbutt some reporters.
Nnam is HUMAN…wow…I thought he was a ROBOT from Mars!!
Clearly this team needs to make some adjustments throughout the team if they want to have a successful seasons. I think some of the ideas you wrote about in your SB Nation Philly post could really help, but I am not sure I like the idea of putting Young in there. I understand your logic, but I honestly think at this point, the problem has been over thinking the play calls by MM and AR. Bringing in Young has entirely too many risks and moving parts involved for it to be something that runs very smoothly. You have to get Vick off the field and Vince Young on, Young is going to be coming into the game cold, having not developed any rhythm, and lastly, you’re taking one of your best weapons off the field. I understand Young is bigger which is an advantage, but I think you are increasing the chance of a turnover or a penalty with Young in that situation.
To me, first off, the play calling needs to improve. Take advantage of the hot hand instead of handing the ball off to a FB who has had limited carries/touches. Design play action passes to the tight ends, especially with Clay Harbor starting to develop. One play I generally dislike is the bootleg because it takes half the field away, but at the same time, from inside the 10, if you bootleg and get Vick outside of containment, I’m willing to bet he can run it in with a lot more success than we have had in the past in the red zone.
Agreed on PA passes to the TEs.
One note on Young…I was talking about him as a runner, not a true QB. He wouldn’t need to be in the rhythm of the game as much in that sense. Still, your point is well taken.
Took the words right out of my mouth about VYoung within the 10. Vick is too valuable and can make things happen out of thin air. I liked all the other ideas though.
Re: the Offense . . . is it me, or have we been saying the same things since 2002 [when the 3-headed RB monster that really never was ended]?
Re: the Defense . . . my own view is that — like the Colts w/ the undersized DEs Freeney and Mathis (who, with a lead, are deadly) — the Eagles need to mix up the fronts. They shouldn’t — and have proven they can’t — go “Wide 9” on every down and expect to win.
Re: Juan’s goal of simplifying the D-scheme . . . it seems that he made the blitzes so simple that they’re either ineffectual almost every time or lead to huge plays.
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TOMMY:
Any thoughts on Juan’s game-planning itself? Not in-game adjustments, just game planning?
Also, have you heard anything out of the Linc that Juan’s getting help (more than a typical DC) in putting his game plans together?
Finally, have you read anything from Dave Spadaro — who, as you’ve written, sometimes seems to set out a trail of bread crumbs for the hungry fans directly to a move under consideration — that bears translation and reporting?
I don’t have a good feel for Juan as a gameplanner right now. It was clear vs SF that he wanted to shutdown Vern Davis. In the other games, I didn’t get a specific vibe for what he wanted to do.
No word on Juan getting advice from Andy or anyone else. I have to think Andy is in there offering advice as much as he can.
Haven’t picked up any nuggets from Spads columns recently. I’d share anything I came across. He’s not floating any rumors. The Eagles rumor mill is surprisingly quiet right now.
I had the impression originally that Andy wanted Juan in the DC position so that Andy could start to install some of the ideas and schemes that he thought were effective. Maybe that was the Wide 9 maybe it was other things… I’m not sure where I got the impression from.
Ryan Fitzpatrick- top 10 QB?
1. Brady
2. Rodgers
3. Brees
4. Roethlisberger
5. Rivers
6. Vick
7. Fitzpatrick
8. Stafford
9. Romo
10. Ryan
Pat Ryan at #10?
Fitzpatrick is playing like a Top 10 QB right now. The test for him is to show he can play this way for a whole season.
I had to google Pat Ryan. That reference flew over my head.
That list from 4-10 is pretty interchangeable IMO. It can change from week to week.
I thought Fitzpatrick was decent last year, not top 10 but maybe top 15. Had some good moments but was inconsistent. I also think the conservative play calling has hurt him the past 2 seasons.
Right now he doing well considering his best WR is Stevie Johnson-
Tommy, I haven’t done any research to support this claim, but it seems to me that sometimes our DTs penetrate past the play (if that makes sense). Jenkins will rush into the backfield off of the G’s outside shoulder and then the run play comes right up the middle off the G’s inside shoulder, and Jenkins has essentially taken himself out of the play by penetrating into the backfield. Or the G will let Jenkins go and he will end up being taken out of the play by a dreaded trap block that is working so damn well against us. Is this going on, or am I seeing things wrong while watching the game? Thanks buddy.
That’s why I’m not fond of the wide-9. DTs get past the OL, the QB then throws a screen and then there are 5 OL on the 2nd level blocking 3 LBs.
Some guys are getting too far upfield. They’ve got to get off the ball quickly, but remain under control. I wrote above in the column that Landri is a player who does that well.
Quick question:
During Frank Gore’s touchdown it seemed that Jamar Chaney was in perfect position to stop Gore for a loss. He was pushed away by the C. Was that play considered to be a block in the back?
Who was exactly at fault for that TD?
Fred Jackson- Top 5 RB?
1. Peterson
2. Turner
3. McCoy
4. Jackson
5. McFadden
Adrian Peterson
Chris Johnson – I think he’ll be the old CJ pretty soon
LeSean McCoy
Darren McFadden
Fred Jackson
In your solutions to the Eagles problems article, you talk about going with size in the red zone, but you only mentioned the skill positions. It seems to me that a big problem is with the smaller lineman not getting a push in short yardage situations. What about going with bigger linemen near the goalline? Replace Kelce with Jackson? (Could lead to some fumbled snaps.) Maybe stack one side for the run – Jackson (LG), Herremans (LT), Peters (TE)?
We do put Todd at TE in GL sets and then have Dunlap play RT. I’m open to mixing in JamJax, but that would be highly unusual. Put him at FB or TE maybe. If you felt comfortable with JamJax at C, then put Kelce at FB.
I don’t know if you want to make too many changes, but as a coach you need to keep an open mind when something isn’t working. Make one change at a time and see if that solves the problem. If not, keep going until you find something that works.
Direct snap to Jason Avant and let him jump over the pile!
Tommy, I suggested this in a FanPost on BGN and someone countered with it would be risking a fumbled snap. Maybe I am being a little naive in how difficult it is to snap a ball in the NFL, but isn’t a little silly to think that Vick would be unable to take a snap from Jamal now that he is taking most of his snaps from the Hedgehog? (btw, I thought this was what we were going to refer to Kelce as, what happened?)
Derek Landri = Dan Klecko 2.0
I thought Landri was coming in to replace Dixon (not Owen Schmidt). Did I miss something?
I think it was the DT with a FB link that led to the reference. I don’t believe anyone seriously suggested him as a FB.
If Landri does this he would be the only Eagle who seems to give a damn
Ok… so here is my question for today.
We have 3 pro bowl corners. 2 of them are old enough to know how to play football. Our defense is good at times and at other times completely sucks. We have lost 3 games and the season (at game 5) is half way to being “on the line”. Personally, I don’t think this is the time to “stay the course”. I am not a coach, I don’t play Madden, I am just a fan and therefore realize that my idea is probably retarded and there is only about a 1% chance that this is what happens…
Why don’t we tell Nnamdi and Asante to go shut down some WRs and generate some picks (respectively)? Let Juan come up with a scheme for the other 9 guys…
TOMMY:
Any thoughts on why Derek Landri didn’t land a job after the Eagles’ released him at the end to T.C.?
Are there really 20 or so better 4th-string DTs in the NFL? (Whatever 32 – minus the number of 3-4 defenses is.)
If that’s the case, is there really much to get excited about with this move — other than he knows Juan’s scheme (I mean, Washburn’s scheme up front) and he has some NFL experience.
I understand that he put up some nice numbers in Carolina last year.
But that leads me right back to why he didn’t land a job after T.C.
I’m glad he’s here. It’s not like we’re bringing in Pernell “Sweet Pea” Davis. Or Jeremy Schlecta. Or Sam Rayburn (post-rookie year).
Tommy — as a longtime reader and first time poster, first of all let me say you do good work. It’s not easy to be the voice of reason/optimism and I like that you counteract the, as it’s so often politely put, passionate nature of other Eagles outlets.
That said, I wanted to talk about what I see as the biggest problem of this team: piss-poor GL offense. I hope you do a piece on this soon. We’ve moved the ball well enough up and down the field this year to win. The D has had its well-documented issues, but has played well-enough to win in my opinion and has been let down by huge cold stretches from the O (stinking for entire halves!).
So, on to the GL discussion.
Personnel: at the GL I think we should use Cooper-Maclin-Brown-Harbor at the skill positions, I love DJax but in several years I can’t recall a single TD he’s scored from inside the 5. I agree 100% with you about Cooper and I’m open to sprinkling in VY. I also think we should insert JamJax in at C. Again, I like Kelce, but the kid survives vs. power by getting knocked back and resetting. That can’t happen at the GL.
Playcalling: my main quarrel at the GL is with our predictable playcalling. First of all, we seem to run on 1st/2nd down and then pass after that fails on 3rd down quite often. We also seem to run out of obvious running/heavy packages and pass out of obvious passing/spread packages. How can Andy/Marty be so creative outside the RZ and so predictable at the GL? I’ve seen better GL play calling in flag football leagues. And by creativity, I don’t mean trick plays! We should line in a heavy package on 1st and 2nd down, and throw to the FB’s, TE’s, and even OT’s (Todd and J. Peters can catch if memory serves). Then once defenses at the GL start to respect the pass, it will set up the run. Pass to set up the run. I also agree with using Riley and Clay more. Give them the chance to “play big” and make some plays. So to sum up, more size/power in personnel, more unpredictable playcalling by down and package. By god I think if every Eagles fan knows when we’re going to run “the Maclin throwback play”, the opposing defenses do (amazed that it worked again vs. ATL though). Anyways, that’s it, looking forward to a full post on GL offense soon. Keep up the good work!