Crappy Night

Posted: September 20th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 207 Comments »

The Chiefs came to Philly and won an ugly game. The Eagles turned the ball over 6 times. The Chiefs selfishly held onto the football all night and didn’t share it with their hosts. Jerks.

The defense played better, but struggled late and the Chiefs were able to have a long drive in the 4th quarter that put the game away.

The offense had 431 yards. The problem is that they turned the ball over 5 times. Just can’t do that. Yards without points does you no good.

I have no idea what happened to Crazy Eyes Fipp’s STs. They had a really rough game. Muffed punt. Failed 2-point conversion attempt. Missed FG. Allowed long KOR to start the game. I expect Fipp to stare into some souls this week and let the guys know this cannot happen again.

I’m not overly depressed right now because I’ve got realistic expectations for this team. This isn’t a great Eagles team. Very flawed group. A 1-2 start isn’t shocking. I know some of you were dying to beat Andy Reid. I certainly wanted the Eagles to win the game, but beating Andy wasn’t a huge deal for me. I’ve got no hard feelings toward Big Red. I’m happy for his success in KC. The only thing that would tick me off is if he won the Super Bowl before the Eagles.

The Eagles have a long break before the next game. Some rest will do the players good. The coaches can make some schematic adjustments and they can see about working in some new players to the lineup if they want.

Quick Hits

* Donnie Avery burned the Eagles, but he wasn’t a slot receiver most of the time. Ran a shallow cross and got key blocks from other WRs. Poor job of adjusting by Bill Davis.

* Mychal Kendricks has got to work on his tackling. Ugh.

* Did Jason Peters play his worst game as an Eagle?

* Is Shady McCoy going to post monster numbers this year? He’s so good in this scheme. And thank god the injury turned out to be more scary than real.

* Mike Vick didn’t play well. Pressure was a huge problem, but it looked like he was off beyond even that. Guys just have bad games from time to time. I’ll watch the tape carefully and see what was going on.

* Nate Allen played his best game in a while. That was encouraging.

* Vinny Curry played well. Get that man some more time. And Brandon Graham had half a sack. Loved seeing those two play well.

* This was the first game where the offense did miss Jeremy Maclin. KC was able to focus on DeSean and no other pass catcher really stood up. Avant made some plays, but he’s more of a complementary receiver.

* I’m happy that Big Red and Donovan did their thing and we can now focus on just football and current Eagles. I’m also happy that the Thursday night game is done. Hate those things.

* Was good to see Fletcher Cox play well.

* Just how bad is the NFC East this year? Teams are 0-7 in non-division games. Yikes. Good news…we’re still in the hunt for the title. First team to 9 wins gets the crown. Heck, 8 might just do it.

_


207 Comments on “Crappy Night”

  1. 1 Beavis said at 12:40 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Vick in the red zone is painful to watch. He just can not throw a ball with touch, its always lasers. he is like a relief pitcher with one pitch. And thats Fast. So freaking annoying. Im not judging vick on how many yards he gets at all this year, its about consistent TD drives.

  2. 2 Tyler Sutherland said at 8:55 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    That TD pass to Avant had touch, no?

    And Vick usually will never have to throw in the redzone , should only be rushing plays and bootlegs. Chip needs to trust his oline and run shady / brown

  3. 3 Beavis said at 5:31 PM on September 20th, 2013:

    Thats one pass my friend, and that was a good one, but vick needs to be consistent he is a constant hire wire act that fails more then he succeeds

  4. 4 aub32 said at 10:05 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Vick threw a nice touch pass to Cooper. He just dropped it. Every RZ TD isn’t a fade to the corner. If you haven’t noticed, we don’t ecatly have the receivers for that to work. Sometimes you have to gun it into tight windows.

  5. 5 Beavis said at 5:30 PM on September 20th, 2013:

    yeah sometimes.. NOT ALL THE FREAKING TIME!!!! Go back to the caset dropped Td terrible pass with zero touch, float that thing out there and make it eay for your receivers

  6. 6 Jerry Goldstein said at 12:40 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Vick is Vick. Making the same mistakes he always has. Doesn’t matter what kind of offense he’s in.

  7. 7 Beavis said at 12:41 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Yup.

  8. 8 JoeM said at 12:42 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    ESPN shows 11 pass deflections for Vick on 30 attempts. This is an amazing number of deflections, perhaps historically so.

  9. 9 Jerry Goldstein said at 12:46 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Clearly those fly swatters helped him.

  10. 10 Joe Minx said at 12:47 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Seriously. That doesn’t seem to have done anything at all, at least for him.

  11. 11 A Big Butt and a Smile said at 12:55 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Actually most of that was just really good D play. Our oline wasn’t up to the task and defenders were in positions to make plays.

  12. 12 Phils Goodman said at 12:43 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I had many of the same thoughts tonight. One thing I’d add is that Chip has to do a better job in the red zone. Too many long-distance drives have been resulting in FG attempts. Teams are daring him to pass in the RZ and he’s taking them up on it too frequently. He’s gotta maintain his balance, even if the box tells him not to. The arithmetic changes down there. A “passing box” at midfield isn’t necessarily the same thing in the RZ because it’s easier to cover a short field. Lean on Shady.

  13. 13 Jerry Goldstein said at 12:48 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    How do you lean on Shady when teams are scheming to take him out of the game? Until we have an actual QB and not a RB throwing we have no chance of success.

  14. 14 Always Hopeful said at 12:52 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Ouch! RZ throws are not Vick’s strong suit and most likely will never be. Can Chip scheme around that flaw?

  15. 15 A Big Butt and a Smile said at 12:58 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Res Zone issues aren’t really a Vick issue they are a team issue. Our guys play better in space. We still don’t have a big receiving threat – who are we going to throw it to in the red zone? Out best WR is a midget. Our TE have dropsy issues and folk are gonna sit on our RB that close to the goal line.

    They need to design more plays for Vick to run or something. But those issues aren’t going away untill we get a TO/Boldin type receiver or a Witten/Davis type TE.

  16. 16 Jerry Goldstein said at 12:59 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Vick Defense Force

  17. 17 A Big Butt and a Smile said at 1:20 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Where am I defending Vick. I just said “our guys play better in space” that includes the QB.

    What part of that statement is inaccurate? We don’t have the personnel to work such a tight space.

  18. 18 Jerry Goldstein said at 1:27 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    You’re implying that Vick just hasn’t had the right plays drawn up for him to succeed like has been said for his entire career.

  19. 19 A Big Butt and a Smile said at 1:43 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    That’s not what I’m implying. that’s just what you’re reading ’cause you have a hatred for Vick like he killed your dog and stole your money.

  20. 20 Phils Goodman said at 2:26 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    It’s like you think this is unique to the Eagles. Teams are going to load up the box, but have to impose your will on the short part of the field. They had 2nd and 3 in the RZ tonight started chucking the ball around. If you can grind out a few yards at a time near the goal line, you’re gold.

  21. 21 shah8 said at 12:54 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    When the only WR the defense has to fear is neutralized in short yardage…well, who is Vick going to throw it to?

    My problem was that you really had to be serious about QB keepers in the ten yard area, or one read and run plays. It has to be a lot more often than how we’ve done it.

    I don’t think Vick was particularly off. On more routine throws where he could set his feet, he was more or less about as accurate as he usually was. He wasn’t doing a good job setting his feet, but frankly, he was pretty severely pressured.

    I would still far rather have Vick than Alex Smith. Jesus. His QB rating might be alright, but Alex Smith is doing it by leaving a metric shitload of plays on the field. He literally made one plus play, the pass to Bowe for the first.

    I think it’s quite unusual for a division to have so many really great star players like the NFL East does, and play this terribly on offense. I also think that Kelly will have to give up running the speed hurry offense for big stretches of the game.

  22. 22 Jerry Goldstein said at 12:58 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    2 INT 4 Sacks 1 FUM 13/30

    Not off at all.

    I would take literally any other starting QB over Vick and it’s not even close.

  23. 23 TommyLawlor said at 1:01 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Vick is flawed and not everyone’s cup of tea, but that statement is way over the top.

  24. 24 Jerry Goldstein said at 1:02 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Who’s worse? Even the bottom of the barrel QBs have ups and downs. Some are young, some have upside, whatever. Vick is the worst combination possible, talented enough to play but old, injury-prone and NOT GETTING BETTER. Still can’t even read a defense.

  25. 25 TommyLawlor said at 1:06 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Are you kidding? Plenty of teams would be upgraded with Vick. OAK, JAX, TEN, CLE, BUF, NYJ.

    Maybe TB, MIN, ARZ, STL.

  26. 26 Jerry Goldstein said at 1:08 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Every single one of those teams have QBs that are far younger than Vick. Except CLE haha jk

    But seriously. There’s at least upside with most of those guys. Carson Palmer and Josh Freeman… yeah OK I wouldn’t want them, they suck.

  27. 27 shah8 said at 1:03 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Well, that’s more or less because you hate the man and will shout it from every rooftop when you think it’s appropriate. I just let it roll off of me like water off a duck’s back. You can go love your Ponders and Gabberts as you please. Or Alex Smith, too!

    Did Vick play well? No, he did not. However, the Chiefs made it very hard for Vick to play well, and I think they put *everyone* on notice about how good that defense is. I do consider Vick to have played better than Smith, though. Smith would have folded like a cheap lawn chair in Vick’s place.

  28. 28 Jerry Goldstein said at 1:06 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Yup every defense we go against is Super Bowl quality. How many passes does this guy get? And stop throwing the word hate around like it’s meaningless. I don’t hate people I don’t know. Vick is a bad QB. Nothing more and nothing less to it.

  29. 29 shah8 said at 1:07 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    /me shrugs.

    I’d say that you’re a bad commenter with nothing to add to the conversation except telling everyone who’s down from the loss just how HOOOOORRRRIBBBLLLEE that QB you hate is. Do you even comment about anything else?

  30. 30 Jerry Goldstein said at 1:10 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    You would have a shred of credibility if you weren’t a blatant Vick fanboy. QB is the most important position in the game so obviously it’s the topic I most speak my mind on.

  31. 31 A_T_G said at 1:12 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I know, right? He is just taking his preconceived opinion about the QB, fitting the recent events awkwardly into that framework, and speaking about it in a definitive tone to try to convince people! How pointless, right?

    “Hey Kettle! You’re black!” -Pot

  32. 32 Jerry Goldstein said at 1:18 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    You can talk about any other part of the team til you’re blue in the face but QB is the one position we need top tier play from to win a championship. Kelly’s first huge mistake was keeping Vick. I guess we could talk about the special teams. They were bad. OK done talking about that.

    The offense was the reason we lost. And the man at the center of that should get the most criticism. Why is it a big deal to bash Vick? He just so happened to play one of his worst games ever as an Eagle tonight.

  33. 33 aub32 said at 10:36 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    So were you praising him last week when he had one of his best games of his career? The Guys follows two really good performance wih a pretty bad one, but you make it seem like he isn’t still one of the league leaders at this point and did absolutely nothing last night.

  34. 34 TommyLawlor said at 1:11 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Jerry, please lighten up with the Vick bashing. We get that you hate the guy. At some point, it becomes overkill to rip him over and over.

    There were 45 other Eagles on the field. Lots more to discuss.

  35. 35 Andy124 said at 8:57 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    There were 45 other Eagles on the field.
    Pretty sure that would be a penalty. 🙂

  36. 36 aub32 said at 10:14 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Talk about someone else….but Tommy everyone knows it was Vick’s fault that DJ2 dropped the punt and the defense couldn’t stop 3rd and forever on multiple occasions. Vick is clearly the reason a nobody like Avery looked like Steve Smith, and I’m pretty sure if the Sun doesn’t come up tomorrow it will be # 7 to blame.

  37. 37 SHough610 said at 9:23 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I would take literally any other starting QB over Vick and it’s not even close.

    Blane Gabbert, Jake Locker, Brandon Weeden, Christian Ponder, want me to keep going?

  38. 38 Jerry Goldstein said at 1:36 PM on September 20th, 2013:

    At least they’re young and can get better. Vick is what he is. A bad QB and an OK RB.

  39. 39 SHough610 said at 1:42 PM on September 20th, 2013:

    1) We’re not committed to Vick past this year.

    2) If you are saying that right now, at this moment, for just this year you would take Blane Gabbert, Brandon Weeden, Christian Ponder, Terrelle Pryor, Jake Locker, Ryan Tannehill, Geno Smith, or Chad Henne over Mike Vick then we have nothing left to talk about because you’re irrational.

  40. 40 Joe Minx said at 12:46 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    So many bad things tonight it’s almost hard to find the positives. Just a few things: the defensive calls on 3rd & long were almost maddening to me. And these missed tackles are becoming ridiculous. I thought we got rid of Nnamdi & DRC, yet the missed tackles are really starting to pile up all of a sudden.

    Lane Johnson was abused to the point that he could probably file criminal charges against Justin Houston in some states.

    I don’t understand what Kelly was thinking going for 2 there. Turned out nott to matter but can you imagine if we’d have lost by 1 point?

    Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers. This isn’t a damn bakery.

    I hate the Thursday night games too. Curse you NFL greed.

  41. 41 JoeM said at 12:49 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Just to be fair.

    “I don’t understand what Kelly was thinking going for 2 there. Turned out nott to matter but can you imagine if we’d have lost by 1 point?”

    If there was a scenario where that play would make them lose by 1 point then if it had been converted they would have won by one point.

  42. 42 A_T_G said at 12:51 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I want to come clean and accept responsibility for this evening’s performance.

    Now, ICDogg gave me the recommendation, but I am not going to throw another commenter under the bus.

    I made the final call. I chose to start Vick for the first time on my fantasy team. I need to put our guys in a better position to not fail in a mind-numbingly epic fashion. I should have put Vick in his position on my bench.

    Another game like that and Chip might think the same thing.

  43. 43 TommyLawlor said at 12:51 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I choose to shun you for the next 7 minutes.

  44. 44 ICDogg said at 1:00 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Yeah, sorry about that. I started Henery as my kicker, he stunk it up too

  45. 45 TommyLawlor said at 1:02 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Considered yourself shunned for the next 6 minutes.

    Good think you didn’t talk about Mychal Kendricks, huh?

  46. 46 GEagle said at 7:40 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Put a bible on his doorstep

  47. 47 jshort said at 7:46 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    No, I’ll take full responsibility for the loss. I chose to record the game for the second week in a row. Two losses are my fault, never do that again. Got that genie from dtv good thing I didn’t have it for the first game.

  48. 48 Weapon Y said at 12:53 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I was really hoping Chip would call out Andy for those fake injuries. I know Buddy Ryan would be calling him out on it.

  49. 49 ICDogg said at 12:57 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    lol… I think Flowers is actually pretty banged up

  50. 50 SHough610 said at 9:31 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    The less like Buddy Ryan Chip is the better.

  51. 51 Iskar36 said at 12:56 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Unfortunately, the Mychal Kendricks issue has been somewhat of a theme. I love his potential, but you have to produce and he has fallen short a lot.

  52. 52 Joe Minx said at 1:06 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    He’s the ultimate Jekyll & Hide guy for me right now. One play he tantalizes you with his amazing speed. The next he whiffs on an easy tackle. He’ll have a great game, he’ll have an awful game. This wasn’t so bad last year when he was a rook, but I feel like he should be beyond this by now.

  53. 53 TommyLawlor said at 1:12 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Very frustrating start for him.

  54. 54 A_T_G said at 12:57 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I know the defense had some maddening lapses, but our “weakest” unit started, what, 4 drives on the wrong side of midfield in the first quarter and gave up 9 points? That is pretty impressive.

  55. 55 ICDogg said at 12:59 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I know… I can’t really fault them at all for this loss. You keep the d on the field that long playing from behind, something’s going to go wrong eventually.

  56. 56 Iskar36 said at 1:35 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Definitely can’t blame the defense for this game after the offense/STs turns it over 6 times. Having said that, I’m curious to hear how much was it our defense playing well early on ad how much was it KCs offense playing poorly once people rewatch the game. Either way though, I put the majority of the blame on Vick and the offense.

  57. 57 jshort said at 7:54 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Blame Andy Reid. if he’s even in the same building, we turn in to a turnover machine.

  58. 58 bsuperfi said at 1:01 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    The last two losses were tough, but we’re actually in a better place than I thought we’d be. Our offense sputtered tonight, but we’ve shown signs of consistency and explosiveness. Our defense played pretty well against RGIII and against KC. ST randomly fell apart tonight.

    If we are 8-8 by season’s end and finish on a roll, we should be psyched about next season. It’s hard to think about the long game after nights like this – nights we could’ve won if we could capitalize on mistakes just a little bit – but that’s truly what it’s all about right now.

    On a night where McNabb and Reid got honored, we shouldn’t forget that there are no silver bullets.

  59. 59 SHough610 said at 9:32 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Exactly. For a team with a new coach (who has never coached at the pro level) implementing new offensive and defensive schemes I think we’re about where I expected. Frustrated but optimistic.

  60. 60 Aleandro green said at 1:06 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Peters was terrible tonight (both tackles were tbh) I actually posed that exact same question on another forum. Hali was just too damn quick for

  61. 61 zbone95 said at 1:10 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    My goodness where is the TE involvement????? What happened to creating mismatches with ertz casey celek to open up for d-jax. Chip needs to get the TE’s involved especially when there is two defenders that cover d-jax. Casey and Ertz need to step up and Vick needs to find them and throw to them. Vick just made poor reads throughout the game. Kudos for the Chiefs D for taking advantage.

  62. 62 SteveH said at 1:16 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Yeah this is bizarre. I thought I was going to see a lot more creative stuff out of Chip but tonight the creativity didn’t seem to be there.

  63. 63 zbone95 said at 1:20 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    There is absolutely no excuse to score 16 points when you have the best deep threat to strech the field and move safeties back, one of the best RBS to punish them for it and one of the most athletic o-line to help him out. Just poor execution. I hope they adjust… smh.

  64. 64 shah8 said at 1:21 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    No, they GOT Djax 2 on 1 most of the time. The real issue is that it was so easy to cover the other WRs one on one, and the LBs took care of the quick hits and stick throws to the TEs, and the TEs didn’t have the time to find a deep crease or zone hole.

  65. 65 A Big Butt and a Smile said at 1:23 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I just have no faith in our other receiving threats WR or TE. We need help. Badly.

  66. 66 shah8 said at 1:27 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    We also shied away from playing agressively. Vick threw that pass to Djax entirely for the completion instead of leading him for the easy TD run. We tried none of the long screen pass for Djax with Cooper blocking (one nice short pass all in all to Djax). No quick hitters. That stupid second pass bopped us on the nose, and we went hiding from our game instead of having a short memory and still going for the throat.

  67. 67 A_T_G said at 7:25 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Did we shy away from the quick hitters from a play calling perspective, or was Vick afraid to pull the trigger? Even on the early interception, Kelly said Vick waited too long.

  68. 68 zbone95 said at 1:27 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    It’s a shame that the other WR’s cant get open. Damaris Johnson needs to step up. Ertz needs to step up. O-line needs to step up. Vick is ughh what u see is what u get.

  69. 69 Anders said at 4:56 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    “Just poor execution. ”

    6 turnovers, with 5 been recovered by the Chiefs does not help.

  70. 70 shah8 said at 1:19 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Almost every throw to Celek was ill advised, I think. There were very few passes available, not least because Vick got pressure quite quickly, and before TEs could find a deep hole to sit in. The issue really is about the WRs. You have to have someone able to get open on a route on his own (without scheme, like those catch and runs Andy made for Smith) opposite DJax. Either Cooper gets better at it, or somebody else steps up, or the only team we’re going to beat are the ones with poopoo secondaries. If a WR could get open quicker than Avant basically being a plus TE, it would help so, so, much. If Maclin was in, the offense would have killed the kind of look the Chiefs had, and forced the LBs away from clogging the passing lanes for the quick hits.

  71. 71 Jerry Goldstein said at 1:23 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Why isn’t Ertz more involved? Lots of questions about this offense right now. After Shady what do we have? The occasional long bomb to D-Jax that he’ll prematurely run out of bounds with?

  72. 72 Tyler Phillips said at 1:12 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Why did we keep 4 TEs again? Waste of roster spots.

  73. 73 SteveH said at 1:15 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    This is going to be the year of the silver lining. Vinny Curry finally got activated and made an impact (again, I wonder if we could have used a good interior pass rusher against the Chargers. Smarter men than me would know the answer). B Grizzle had a nice sack. Fletcher Cox played well. Shady is Shady, and its absurd that he kept on trucking on a gimpy ankle.

    Edit: gotta give props to my man Connor Barwin again. He wasn’t awesome but he was pretty solid. I like him in our D.

    I guess that’s it for silver linings tonight. What a shitty game. Even if your expectations are low I can’t see how tonight can’t be depressing. This was just about as bad as some of our worst efforts last year.

    I just hope bad Vick goes back in the closet against the Broncos.

  74. 74 TommyLawlor said at 1:18 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Very frustrating game, but due to sloppiness, not lack of effort or talent. These games are going to happen. Better vs KC than some NFC rival or divisional opponent.

  75. 75 A Big Butt and a Smile said at 1:24 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Totally agree.

  76. 76 SteveH said at 1:25 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    IDK man, whether its sloppy play, lack of talent or effort, the scoreboard looks the same to me.

  77. 77 Anders said at 5:20 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    You can overcome sloppiness. You cant over come talent or effort.

  78. 78 aub32 said at 10:45 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    See Jacksonville/Cleveland.

  79. 79 GEagle said at 7:08 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    usimg the B dot Grizzle nickname? LOVE IT!!!

  80. 80 Vick or Nick said at 1:50 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Some quick hits:

    1. Eagles are closer to a top 10 draft pick than playoffs.

    2. Having said that, NFC East is very much up for grabs.

    3. New Season. New Coaches. Same mistakes.

    4. Eagles now know how defenses will play them. Single high safety, double/attention towards DeSean. Man near the box for Shady. Everyone else 1-on-1. Someone needs to step up consistently. Damaris? Ertz?

    5. Safe to assume Eagles won’t be winning many games playing from behind. Need to have stronger starts, better execution early.

    6. Biggest disappointment? Special Teams Coverage. I thought for sure that was one area we would be great all year. Even if offense turns the ball over, D can’t stop anyone on 3rd down, at least we still had good ST coverage right? Bad game. Hope its an anomaly.

    7. The Defense. Played about as well as they could in the first half and even into the second. Were placed in bad situations but came through. Just couldn’t get a stop when it was needed two weeks in a row. I’m sticking with what I said earlier. Need to play more bump n’ run, press coverage to take away the short passing game. Need to be better getting off blocks and tackling. This will be a broken record all season. Just not enough talent in the secondary.

    8. Andy Reid still can’t convert 3rd and shorts. Some things never change.

  81. 81 Steag209 said at 3:55 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    At least #8 makes me feel better

  82. 82 holeplug said at 8:32 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Andy still bungled the end of half clock management too

  83. 83 aub32 said at 10:48 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I was sitting next to a Cheifs fan and he looked so puzzled at the end of the half. I laughed and said “yea you might want to get used to that.”

  84. 84 jimmyrustler said at 1:56 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Tommy, I’d love to hear your thoughts at some point about the next few games on the schedule…I had hoped the Eagles would come away from this 11-day stretch because next up we have the Broncos, the Giants at home, and the Bucs…I’m expecting a loss next week, Eli and crew are basically a wild card, and TB almost beat the Saints and look improved on defense. (most interested to see how they handle NE)

    I know the mantra is one game at a time, but how likely is it that the birds end up 2-4 or 1-5 by week 6?

  85. 85 Tyler Phillips said at 8:14 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Yes 2-4 or 1-5 are the most probable records

  86. 86 Anders said at 8:18 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Broncos is a loss. We can match fire power with the Giants and I dare say we might actually have the better defense overall. The Bucs have no offense outside of Doug Martin and Vincent Jackson and they might be starting a rookie QB by the time we face em.

    So 2-4 or 3-3 and most likely for me with 2-4 the most probable.

  87. 87 Tyler Phillips said at 8:20 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    If our OL plays like this again we might be watching Foles behind center bc Vick is going to get killed. Oh and I don’t look forward to the pending turnover competition Between Vick and eli in a couple weeks, if Vick makes it that long.

  88. 88 Anders said at 8:26 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    The Chiefs pass rush is the best we will face in a long while.

    Broncos is without Miller, Giants pass rush is crap (Tuck is in decline and JPP is still clearly hurt) and the Bucs best pass rusher is their MLB.

  89. 89 Tyler Phillips said at 8:31 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    KC was also the worst Offense we are going to play till we see the Bucs. 2-4 is most likely. And 1-5 is more likely than 3-3 IMO.

  90. 90 Anders said at 8:41 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    So you say the Giants game is less than 50/50?

  91. 91 Tyler Phillips said at 9:13 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    yes, mainly b/c there is nowhere for the Giants to go but up. They can’t play much worse than they were the 1st couple of weeks.

  92. 92 Anders said at 9:16 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    There defense is still terrible.

    I guess the Giants game will end like 45-42 and it can go both ways

  93. 93 Alex Karklins said at 9:04 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I will be at the Broncos game, so it definitely will not be a loss. On the contrary, it will be the game where everything finally comes together! A huge win when everyone least expects it, capped off by Jeffrey Lurie spotting me in my Eagles T Shirt and inviting me down to celebrate the win in the locker room and hand out game balls. Yep, I’m going with that scenario.

  94. 94 aub32 said at 10:51 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    1 million likes

  95. 95 dropscience said at 12:02 PM on September 20th, 2013:

    Heading there myself, AK. If Lurie says you can have a guest, keep me in mind?

  96. 96 Alex Karklins said at 2:50 PM on September 20th, 2013:

    Of course!

  97. 97 Toby_yboT said at 2:06 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    For years our offense has put a lot of yards up, but no points. Our defense get’s slammed all the time, but I’ve had enough. Our offense is WAY over-rated.

  98. 98 Joe Minx said at 2:37 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    So far I’m not understanding the acquisition of James Casey. I was initially pumped when they signed him but he’s been practically invisible since TC.

  99. 99 eagleyankfan said at 7:10 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    1 word answer. Ertz.

  100. 100 Anders said at 7:19 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    More Avant. We have played majority of the time from 11 personnel tho I would welcome a lot more 2 TE set over using Avant that much (Ertz, Celek, Casey and Johnson is all more dynamic than Avant and Cooper).

    My preferred setup would be Jackson and Johnson with 2 of Celek, Ertz and Casey.

  101. 101 eagleyankfan said at 8:37 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    He’s asking about TE and you respond with a WR? I don’t think he was asking that. I think he’s asking why did Chip go hard and heavy after this guy as soon as he got here. The answer is Ertz draft. As soon as Ertz was drafted, Casey’s roll changed. Casey openly admitted that already….

  102. 102 Anders said at 8:40 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    but we havnt even used Ertz that much. My response was that we are using much more 3 WR set than original imagined.

  103. 103 eagleyankfan said at 9:04 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    ever ball Ertz gets, Casey isn’t…

  104. 104 Anders said at 9:10 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    and every snap Avant plays one of Ertz and Casey isnt.

  105. 105 eagleyankfan said at 9:16 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    wrong. and that’s silly talk to make stuff up. Trying to cover up you being wrong with comments like that isn’t a good thing … the thread has nothing to do with WR’s. There’s always a TE(or 2 or 3). Ertz is a head of Casey in the depth chart…Casey got bumped because of Ertz. Plain and simple.

  106. 106 Anders said at 9:17 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I know that, but Im not covering anything up. If we played more 2 TE set, no matter who is the 3rd TE, he would play more because you one of the other guys would need rest.

  107. 107 aub32 said at 10:53 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Sounds simple enough to me

  108. 108 A_T_G said at 7:20 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I think you nailed it, and I think the “practically” part is the real problem. If he was truly invisible, he would be a weapon. We could line him up anywhere; offense, defense, special teams, and let him create plays. With Vick’s accuracy last night, I don’t think it would make much difference throwing to an invisible receiver. And on defense, if InvisiCasey can match our other safeties’ play, well, at least we wouldn’t have to see it.

  109. 109 holeplug said at 8:37 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    They needed a 2nd TE and free agency comes before the draft. Howie is a big believer in BPA strategy and took Ertz in the 2nd. Casey dropping an easy TD catch last week isn’t helping his cause for more playing time either.

  110. 110 deg0ey said at 3:56 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    The NFC East right now reminds me of the NFC West a few years back. From 2007 to 2010 their division winner wouldn’t have had enough wins to qualify for a wild-card spot in any other division (and there was that year the Seahawks won the division with a losing record).
    Fast forward a few years and they’ve got some of the best teams in the league.
    Going back to the 2010 West for a moment, let’s say the Eagles go 8-8 this season. Would you prefer a scenario where the rest of the division sucks so much that we still make the playoffs (with the accompanying low draft pick) or would you prefer that one of the other teams in the division did better and let us take the top-half picks that our mediocrity would deserve?
    I really can’t decide which side of that scenario I’d be most pleased with – making the playoffs is always fun and once you’re there anything can happen, but this team has some big holes and there are some nice looking prospects to fill them if we’ve got the resources.

  111. 111 Anders said at 4:35 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Right now? Lets in general play good football on offense, but please let us not turn the ball over 5 times per game. Worst is only 1 of those turnovers was “forced” by the Chiefs and that was the sack fumble. Both ints by Vick was typical Vick not seeing the LB on the first and the second was just a terrible throw behind the WR

  112. 112 GermanEagle said at 4:11 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Still unbeaten in NFC.

  113. 113 A_T_G said at 7:11 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    How often can both teams walk away saying that?

  114. 114 GermanEagle said at 7:27 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Sunday in one week time. 😉

  115. 115 Anders said at 4:29 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    The good for tonight:
    McCoy. He is insane
    Nate Allen (we can still upgrade him, but seems that potential pop up once in a while)
    Vinny getting activated and producing. Worst part of this is all the arm chair GMs saying “I told you so” like they know more than a coach.
    In general seems we had some good pressure.

    Bad:
    fumbled snaps, muffed punts, yack
    Jason Peters/Johnson. This was the night where we couldnt afford sloppy play from them.
    11 personnel set. I much rather have Celek+Ertz/Casey or D Johnson on the field instead of Avant. I know Avant had a good day, but he is so slow and we could use some speed/quickness opposite Jackson

  116. 116 Insomniac said at 7:52 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    You forgot Henery.

  117. 117 Anders said at 7:55 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Im not going to complain about a missed 48 yard FG, not when we lost by 10 points and offensive turnovers was far the biggest factor

  118. 118 Dan Koller said at 8:04 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I want to like Henery, but everytime he lines up back there I have to hold my breath…I guess Akers spoiled me.

  119. 119 Anders said at 8:10 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    You mean you got spoiled by Akers hitting 83 out of 115 or 72% of his kicks from 40-49?

    Compared to Henery who had made 15 out 16 before this season?

  120. 120 GermanEagle said at 6:39 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    You guys can blame the 8th straight home loss on me. The last time the Eagles won at the Linc I was there with my best man.

  121. 121 Mike said at 9:39 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Get thee to the Linc, pronto!

  122. 122 eagleyankfan said at 7:22 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    we’re back to praising Allen for making 2 plays in the first quarter? Oh good. Where was Allen on that 3rd and long on that last drive? All you have to do, is listen to the announcer AGAIN saying how he was out of place. A good, to “EH” safety breaks up that pass. A very good safety anticipates and intercepts that pass. Not blaming the game on him. Just not the guy to make the critical 3rd and long defense play.
    I don’t blame pressure on Vicks issues during that game. That was Vick being Vick. Not seeing the field and throwing the ball into those flag sticks like in the preseason…..
    Anybody ask Kelce wtf he was doing on that play? I don’t see other centers doing that….
    can someone explain to me why DJ ran out of bounds on that beautiful throw and catch? The guy behind him wouldn’t catch him. One move to the inside with his speed and he’s gone. I know, I know, people want him to drop to the ground or run out of bounds to avoid contact…..

  123. 123 GEagle said at 7:27 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Told you, Nate is so bad we have even lowed the bar for him in our analysis…there are good games, and there are Nate Allen “good games”

    Wolff made the play of the night when it mattered…where was Nate on the last drive?….Nate Allen is revolutionizing the position. It will no longer be called “Safety”…Nate has officially dubbed it, the “Danger” position!!!

  124. 124 A_T_G said at 7:36 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    We know we don’t have good safeties, but I thought Nate’s play was improved. All three missed a couple tackles and took some bad angles, and Nate should have broke sooner on that play you mentioned, but the bar is pretty low on this team right now.

    Chip said Kelce thought Vick was under center instead of in shotgun. Strangely, I am almost always aware of it when someone has their hands between my legs…

    DJax went out because the pass led him that way. He had to lean his body to keep his feet in as he caught it. Maybe Vick was trying to protect him from the safety, or maybe it was another less-than-accurate pass that was close enough in this case.

  125. 125 GEagle said at 7:38 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    if Kelce stopped being such a slut on weekends, he would know the difference when hands aren’t feeling around back there 🙂

  126. 126 BlindChow said at 10:41 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Vick has what those in the industry call a “light touch.”

  127. 127 GEagle said at 7:22 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I don’t get wh

  128. 128 eagleyankfan said at 7:23 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    What?

  129. 129 A_T_G said at 7:29 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Me eithe

  130. 130 GEagle said at 7:25 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I don’t get why everyone is talking about top draft picks…we all knew this is no ten win team but our division is ripe for the picking…It won’t be pretty but we need to grind out a division title…

    Last night was a huge step forward for the defense. Instead of needing to correct everything, we now need to correct 3rd n Long…
    ..
    Herremens and Kelce were bad
    ..
    Vick was Vick…Mr. Hyde came out to play last night..Hopefully Dr. jeckyl comes out soon or we might as well not even play the broncos lol

  131. 131 Insomniac said at 7:32 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Cut Kelce some slack…we knew Poe would be dominant if he could put it all together. The question is how do we get him on the team.

  132. 132 GEagle said at 7:36 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I don’t give a crap who was lined up in front of him, he misfired on 15 snaps…inexcusable

  133. 133 Dan Koller said at 7:38 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    read somewhere that he had a hand/finger injury? If so, that explains the misfired snaps right?

  134. 134 GEagle said at 7:39 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Didn’t know that,,,,I guess

  135. 135 Anders said at 8:02 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    perception is a bitch.

    Henery is more than fine and better than Akers anyway.

  136. 136 eagleyankfan said at 8:09 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Better than Akers is now — yes — not better than Akers was…

  137. 137 Anders said at 8:12 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Akers hit 83 our of 115 FGs in the 40-49 range while in Philly. That is right, the legendary Akers was hitting on 72% of the kicks compared to Henery who is now after two missed is hitting 85%

  138. 138 eagleyankfan said at 8:25 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Who is the single season all time points leader? I’m not looking it up but I’ll ask — who is the all time Eagles points leader?

  139. 139 Anders said at 8:27 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    That is Akers, but so what? Akers played here for a long time. Does not mean he was better in his prime at hitting 40-49 FGs

  140. 140 eagleyankfan said at 8:30 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    single season (actually top 5) — not career — single season — is Akers. Wake me up when this guy cracks the top 5. Until then….

  141. 141 Anders said at 8:37 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Do you know how a kicker cracks top 5? 1 have a good offense there do not turn the ball over.

    That way the kicker gets a ton of opportunity to kick FGs and PATs.

    Henery has yet to play for an offense there is both good and do not turn the ball over. Also if Henery keeps the pace in terms of FGs and PAT attempts, he will most likely end in top 5 this year.

  142. 142 eagleyankfan said at 9:02 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Eagles have a good offense this year, let’s see how it goes

  143. 143 Anders said at 9:09 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    yea but they do turnover it over a little bit. In 2008, 2009 and 2010 we hardly turned the ball over (at least compare to this year and last two years)

  144. 144 eagleyankfan said at 9:12 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    So — you’re coming up with excuses already? In reality, are you the Eagles kicker?

  145. 145 Anders said at 9:18 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I wish I was. I would love making 500k a year for kicking a football.

    all im saying is, if the Eagles are more like the Chiefs game than the Chargers game in terms of turnovers, Henery wont get as many chances.

  146. 146 GEagle said at 7:42 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I don’t get all the accuracy talk about Henery…everyone always says we have a good kicker, High completion percentage…well yeah when we are kicking 35yard field goals….he is soooo bad everytime it’s a kick of 48 plus yards…this isn’t an over reaction, I literally have always been Freightened by Henery..

    He should be cut today. Statement needs to be made

  147. 147 Anders said at 7:52 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    you know Henery had made 15 out of 16 fgs in 40-49 range before this season? a FG in that range have under 50% chance of success.

  148. 148 anon said at 7:57 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Sophmore slump?

  149. 149 eagleyankfan said at 7:58 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    There’s been buzz since pre-season that he is not hitting the FG’s. It’s continuing into the season….

  150. 150 Crus57 said at 8:45 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    He’s also working with a new holder and new STs coach. If kicking was so simple that those kinds of things didn’t make a difference, I don’t think any team would need a dedicated kicker.

  151. 151 TommyLawlor said at 8:25 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Ridiculous comment.

  152. 152 GEagle said at 7:43 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    We need Wolff to be ready against the Giants. might as well give him plenty of time against Peyton

  153. 153 GEagle said at 7:45 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Dude…it’s gonna be like 17 days before we have a chance at a win….wtf

  154. 154 JEinOKC said at 7:54 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    We need to go back to leaving Vinny Curry inactive on game days. It’s obvious that his skills as a pass rusher are so intimidating that his mere presence on the field was enough to make his own QB and o-line play nervously for 60 minutes (possible practice/TC PTSD?). We should never doubt Chip’s decision making again and should chalk this one up as a lesson to all of us greedy fans out there

  155. 155 TommyLawlor said at 8:25 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Points for humor and originality. Kudos.

  156. 156 Homer Frizzell said at 8:50 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    That and Damion Square must be a monster on special teams.

  157. 157 brza said at 9:06 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    He’s also a bad influence on the Special Teams.

  158. 158 JEinOKC said at 9:48 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    absolutely

  159. 159 anon said at 7:57 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I wonder if Reid knew that outside of DJax our receivers are shit and that Vick will make bad passes in man coverage.

  160. 160 eagleyankfan said at 7:59 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Reid wouldn’t have knows about Ertz and Casey….and all that talk about using our TE’s….

  161. 161 eagleyankfan said at 8:08 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Yes — a team in transition. No expectations this year. We just want to see “some” progress week to week. With that said — where was the progress last night?
    Vick? Um, no.
    Play calling? Um, in the red zone — same plays – back to back — to the right with McCoy where our tackle was beaten the same way twice and then 3rd down incomplete pass. I don’t think the play calling was progress at all.
    McCoy? Look — that’s what McCoy is capable of doing.
    WR? Great teams find a way to get their top WR open. I don’t think DJ was utilized enough(or Vick not connecting with him or was it the play calling?)
    ST? Step backwards(what happened to the talk of DJ returning punts??????)
    Defense? Better AT TIMES. Those 3rd and longs where KC EASILY got that first down was BRUTAL to watch.
    OL? Let’s face it, struggled badly at times – including Peters — including our 1st draft pick.
    Where was the progress?

  162. 162 Anders said at 8:12 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    yea lets discount the progress made in the first two games?

  163. 163 eagleyankfan said at 8:14 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I did say “progress from week to week” …

  164. 164 Anders said at 8:16 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I think you should see it more as a progress from start to finish. Not on a per game basis.

    Every team has ups and downs over a season. What I want to see is that over a full season that we have progressed from the slugfest of last year

  165. 165 eagleyankfan said at 8:21 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    That’s silly talk. So, if the Eagles win 5 games, that’s progress to you, because it’s better than last year? Don’t look now, we’re off to a worse start than last year…

  166. 166 Anders said at 8:29 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    No, we could be 2-14 and there could be progress.

    Progress for me is:

    Can this offense work? So far, yes!
    Can players like Cox and Cole make the transition from 4-3 to 3-4? 3 games in it seems to be a huge yes.
    Can ST play better overall?

    Small things like that. I knew this defense would be work in progress and I knew this offense would sometimes stall because of turnovers.

  167. 167 Tyler Phillips said at 8:16 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Progress is cancelled out by regression.

  168. 168 eagleyankfan said at 8:24 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    exactly my point. You can still build off of last week and play better and still lose(that’s ok). You can’t play bad and say “we’re learning”. Last night was not a learning night..

  169. 169 BlindChow said at 10:33 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    The defense looked way better than last week.

  170. 170 miked718 said at 8:11 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I think this game is an anomaly. These Thursday night games are always ridiculous slop fests where the smarter/more experienced coach and better defense usually wins (see NE – Jets 13-10 game last week). The teams are not ready to play on Thursdays, it’s too quick of a turnaround, they don’t have the usual routines and timing. It’s like leaving for work without the cup of coffee that you normally have EVERY morning. It’s a ridiculous money grab by the NFL and it results in terrible games and injuries by players whose bodies have not had the usual time to recover. Forget the bad game, we almost lost Shady last night!!

    All that said I think this game was a perfect storm of too many games in too few days, too much emotion surrounding Reid’s return, Reid knowing the strengths and weaknesses of our key players and Philly crowd not being drunk enough because they had to work until two hours before kickoff.

    I’m calling it right now. We shock the world and beat Denver in 10 days.

  171. 171 TommyLawlor said at 8:26 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    That would be one heckuva win.

  172. 172 anon said at 8:28 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Tommy I’m ok if you skip the DRGs this week. I feel bad you have to re-watch this game. I might just delete it from my DVR.

  173. 173 Tyler Phillips said at 8:35 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Anyone else getting PTSD flashbacks with Shady saying: “We are still that dominant team” from the Redskins 1st half.

    They played one great half vs Washington, and their heads swelled, just like I was worried about. DJack was talking about contending. “We keep stopping ourselves,” “Once we start executing better.” Deja frickin Vu.

  174. 174 Anders said at 8:38 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Well Jackson is right, if they have to execute better if they want to contend. Also not sure why you can be mad at Jackson and McCoy, our two best players this season.

  175. 175 Tyler Phillips said at 8:39 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Not mad at them. Irritated at the general sense of accomplishment after 1 really good half of football.

  176. 176 Anders said at 8:43 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    yea because having 140 receiving yards for Jackson and 200 rushing and 100 yards receiving by McCoy in two games after by those to is not good enough?

  177. 177 Corry said at 8:45 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    He’s irritated because the team was saying the same thing the past two years during the whole “Dream Team” fiasco. They were getting beaten like a drum and playing generally sloppy football and talking about how talented they are. Yeah their personal accomplisments are good to great, but they’re still losing and playing generally sloppy football.

    Stop the talk of “we’re a talented team.” There is talent on the team, but they’re still making sloppy mistakes and playing poor team football.

  178. 178 Anders said at 8:49 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Dam fans get caught up in the smallest little thing. Players speak like that all the time.

    The Dream Team was 1 comment made by the backup QB brought in in FA. If the media hadnt taken out of context and beaten it to dead before the first game. People wouldnt care.

  179. 179 Corry said at 8:54 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Holy shit man, read the whole post.

    It’s irritating to see McCoy and company say that kind of stuff because the past two years when the team was flat out bad, they had players saying the exact same thing. “We’re more talented than we’re showing”, “We’re a better team” etc, etc, etc after getting beaten badly.

  180. 180 BlindChow said at 10:32 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I cringed when I read those comments, too. I wonder how long before they quit on Kelly like they quit on Reid.

  181. 181 Tyler Phillips said at 8:46 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I **just** said its not them. Did you even read

  182. 182 Anders said at 8:47 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    If you are not mad em, why did you highlight those two in the first post?

  183. 183 Tyler Phillips said at 8:59 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Bc they are the ones that get talked to. I can’t help that they are the ones that get quoted. This entire team wants to just forget how terrible they were last year. Listening to any interview gave off a “we are back” vibe, when that should be the furthest thing from their minds.

  184. 184 eagleyankfan said at 9:06 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I wasn’t a fan of that 2 point conversion either…

  185. 185 Daniel said at 9:10 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    1) Surprise #1 of the night: Nate Allen didn’t make me want to scream. Everyone else did.
    2) Surprise #2 of the night: how few tweets I saw calling for Nick Foles to come in.

  186. 186 eagleyankfan said at 9:19 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Oh, I’m a huge Foles fan to play over Vick. I’ve said it before, Vick starting doesn’t do this team any good because they ARE in a rebuilding year. However, it’s just not worth arguing over anymore. That’s why I don’t bash him anymore…

  187. 187 aub32 said at 10:21 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Foles got beat. He has only himself to blame.

  188. 188 eagleyankfan said at 9:11 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    T-Law commented about giving the Vick bashing a break that there is plenty of blame to go around. That is a good point reading a bunch of these comments. And — maybe that is the issue here. Who played bad? ST/Defense(more often than not)/OL/Vick/Kicker/Safety/offensive play calling/defensive play calling … we tend to blame 1 or 2 guys…sounds like it’s more than that…

  189. 189 Corry said at 9:12 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Oh it was a total team effort to suck last night. There’s no denying that.

  190. 190 SHough610 said at 9:19 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I think the defense was just gassed at the end. They came up with a lot of big stops and just couldn’t finish. With a new system and new coaches, the play isn’t shocking. I’m still optimistic for the future.

  191. 191 eagleyankfan said at 9:20 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    you mean except for those 3rd and longs through out the game…no excuses on those plays …

  192. 192 SHough610 said at 9:26 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I don’t remember those, just a red mist and then black. Seriously though, why were we playing so far off the line for ALEX SMITH?! Did a SINGLE pass of his travel further than fifteen yards?

  193. 193 eagleyankfan said at 9:27 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    good question….Just wondering if the D focused on Bowe. If there’s any good news is we shut him down…

  194. 194 aub32 said at 10:20 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I’m really curious to know what Bowe did in the first two games. Did we really shut him down, or did Smith just decide not to throw his way once he went further than 10 yards down field.

    DB: ” Man Alex I only had one catch all night. You’re killing me.”

    AS: “You know the rules Dwayne. Anytime you run more than 8.75 yards past the line of scrimmage, you’re strictly a decoy at that point.”

  195. 195 BlindChow said at 10:29 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Bowe has barely been a target so far this year. Smith only throws short passes. I can’t believe the Eagles didn’t cover Charles better when he released into his routes, since he was easily Smith’s #1 target over the first two games.

  196. 196 aub32 said at 10:32 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Yea that play where Ced Thorton was left to run across the field and cover Charles was #%&$#% ridiculous. Ced was having a good game too. Why the hell is going out in coverage.

  197. 197 eagleyankfan said at 9:23 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Chip is known for his “in game adjustments” — just curious what they were last night. To be honest — after a poor first half, I expected an offensive explosion during the second half. It was just more of the first half. That was disappointing…
    Can I pick on Casey M? LOL, he’s the only left to pick on.

  198. 198 SHough610 said at 10:07 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Am I the only one more intrigued by Barkley than Foles?

  199. 199 aub32 said at 10:15 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I would just ask why, not in a jerk way, but why does Barkley intrigue you exactly?

  200. 200 SHough610 said at 10:20 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Well, we know that Vick isn’t the long-term solution at quarterback. Plus, there’s a strong possibility that Vick gets injured. Foles just hasn’t impressed me. Granted, recent USC QBs don’t have a sterling reputation but Foles just seems like a career backup to me.

  201. 201 aub32 said at 10:25 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I get why not to be excited on Foles. He just hasn’t shown anything outside of being a mediocre QB. He isn’t overly athletic. He doesn’t protect the ball well. He isn’t exceptional at reading defense and picking them apart. Howver, I didn’t see anything worthwhile in Barkley either.I’m not saying to right either guy off. I just think Barkley should be more on a Rodgers schedule where he sits for 2-3 years before starting.

  202. 202 Telmert said at 10:34 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    For the last few years, Andy Reid has coached Mike Vick through some of the best and worst games of his career. He saw all of his bad tendencies week in and week out – and reviewed film over and over and tried to coach him up. More than anyone else, he knows how Vick thinks, what looks he has trouble with, what plays and routes he likes and doesn’t like, etc. He knows exactly what the Minnesota blueprint from 2010 exposed. We should not be surprised that Reid’s team was able to come up with a defensive game plan that made Vick look terrible. The big concern now will be whether the rest of the league can use this game as a blueprint.

    On the TEs and the playcalling – Vick is a flawed QB, just like Foles and Barkley are flawed. Just in different ways. He can’t throw anticipation routes and holds the ball too long. He makes bad decisions (sometimes pre-decides) and can’t find passing lanes, getting too many balls batted down. Just like Barkley’s arm strength takes plays out of the playbook, Vick’s issues eliminate plays. We haven’t really seen anything like the Barkley to Salas bubble screen TD with Vick in there. There have been a couple of them, but nothing that quick. Remember last year – no screen game to speak of with Vick (after years of being great), then it returned under Foles. Chip has to work with what he’s got.

    Also, when the QB walks up to the line with 4-5 options, only the coaches know whether the QB selected the right one. On that play last week where the tackles lined up out wide, Vick gave it to Shady for a gain of 11 yards. Jackson was set up for a bubble screen on the right with Avant and Lane Johnson out front, with only two defenders. It looked like a TD before the snap if Vick threw it there. We don’t know what the coaches think…

  203. 203 BlindChow said at 10:59 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    I wonder how long the Ducks fans will stick around if the Eagles keep playing like it’s 2012. It’s hard to root for a team showing this much incompetence, especially if you’re not that invested. Unless you’re hoping the team tanks the season, it can get pretty masochistic…

  204. 204 BlindChow said at 11:00 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Oh, and before I forget: “False Start, everyone but the center.”

  205. 205 Daniel said at 11:28 AM on September 20th, 2013:

    Highlight of the night.

  206. 206 GermanEagle said at 1:38 PM on September 20th, 2013:

    To paraphrase the Eagles lackluster performance in the famous words of the ref last night: “terrible performance – everyone but the running back”.

  207. 207 About The Eagles, As I Was Saying… said at 6:53 PM on September 20th, 2013:

    […] we have one hope to hold on to. Quoting Tommy Lawlor: “Just how bad is the NFC East this year? Teams are 0-7 in non-division games. Yikes. Good […]