Eagles Notebook
Posted: September 7th, 2013 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 180 Comments »The Eagles wanted Cary Williams because of his size, physicality and mindset. He’s one of those guys who truly has a chip on his shoulder. That shows up in the way he plays…with an edge. Williams would probably tell you he’s the least appreciated and most disrespected player in the history of the NFL, if not the overall history of mankind. This mentality has helped him go from late round pick to starting CB on a Super Bowl winner. He uses that edge to drive him.
But there are times when that edge can be too much. That almost got him kicked out of the Super Bowl last year. It also led to the incident with Riley Cooper a few days ago. The Eagles love the attitude that Williams brings to the defense. They just hoped to get the benefits of it without having to deal too much with the negative side-effects.
Williams can put some of these issues to bed if he plays well. Guys who are good on Sunday can get away with more than those who struggle. Since Williams had an awkward spring and summer, his reputation with the media and fans isn’t great.
Jeff McLane shared his take on Williams and summed it up like this.
Williams spoke last month about bringing nastiness back to the Eagles defense, but so far there’s only been nuttiness.
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Earl Wolff will play some at Safety in the opener. This announcement caught me off guard. I was thinking he might be inactive.
I find it hard to believe the Eagles will have all 5 Safeties active on gameday. I figured they would play Kurt Coleman over Wolff, simply due to experience and STs ability. Instead, it sounds like the coaches want Wolff on the field so they can see how he plays. They want to mix him in with the defense. There is a major jump from preseason to regular season football. Will this bring out the best in Wolff? Will it overwhelm him?
We’ll find out on Monday.
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Speaking of Safety…Nate Allen earned the right to start. He had a solid summer. Nate wasn’t perfect, but played better than his critics would lead you to believe.
That said, he’s on a short leash. Nate didn’t make plays this summer. He didn’t stand out as a tackler. The coaches like his cover skills, but that’s not enough for him to keep the job unchallenged. The coaches want production from that position. They don’t care whether it comes from Nate or Wolff. They’ll play both players and see what they think.
Nate needs to make things happen. Wolff needs to limit mistakes.
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One of the benefits to hiring Bill Davis is that he went up against NFC East teams last year. Davis was the LBs coach for the Browns and 2012 was the AFC North vs the NFC East. Davis has helped build gameplans for WAS, NYG and DAL. These teams will be familiar to him.
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Will the Eagles have all 3 QBs active on gameday? Andy Reid did this a lot. Other coaches feel it is a waste of a spot. I’m really curious to see what Kelly does. I’d rather play 2 and have the other spot filled by a positional player.
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Not since the JFK cover-up have I seen such a global conspiracy…Emmanuel Acho remains unsigned.
Inconceivable.
I’m sure he’ll get a job after someone gets injured in Week 1. And that team will then have a future Hall of Famer on their hands.
Joking aside, good luck to Acho wherever he lands.
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We don’t need to have three QBs active……….BECAUSE WE HAVE DESEAN JACKSON! I believe he’s our emergency QB and he rules!
*Jason Avant could actually be the emergency QB, but I agree- no need for 3 at first, especially with extra “active” spots needed for the safeties and CBs until those positions are more settled.
That would work, but if Avant keeps waving his hands in the air at fictional characters he might not be able to avoid fumbled snaps.
SOAP!!!!
Agreed, Soap or Lane!
Run the read option with Soap!!!!!
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“Rumble young man, Rumble”!!!!!
See, this is why we need Tebow… Play him on special teams and at TE and you also have an additional backup QB, OT OLB, C, etc… I assume he can punt and kick field goals too, the Lord willing.
Turn Barkley into a gunner lol
A safety who makes big plays is a luxury, so my expectations for Allen (and Chung and Wolff) are:
– Don’t get beat over the top
– Don’t whiff on easy open field tackles. (and by this I mean all open field tackles!)
Tom nailed it: Wolff has to limit mistakes, Nate needs to do more then just shadow pass catchers well
I disagree. Nate already has the starting job. If Wolffe want to take it, he needs to do more than limit mistakes.
Yeah but Wolff isn’t passive the way Nate is..He has already shown willingness to get after it and tackle…so I think if he isn’t making mistakes getting burned on aggressiveness and overconfidence, then the playmaking comes naturally…
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While we all think Nate has confidence issues, and many of us think he plays passively, unwilling to get dirty dirty which doesn’t allow us to appreciate his shadowing pass catchers ability…It’s almost like he plays scared, and is unwilling to go after it and make a play because he is so afraid of being burned, and I don’t think that’s good enough for a 4th year player….but he has the ability and will get the opportunity to change that..Here’s hoping “Stella gets her groove back” lol
Would Acho be one to bring back now that we’ve waived Marsh, or do you think we’ll find another DB?
As far as Williams, it was fun, and for some kind of good, to see the first time he got in a bit of a scuffle, I’m sure some appreciate the fieriness, but at this point it’s just silly
I think Williams hiding from reporters over the past few days is the really annoying part. To be perfectly honest I wouldn’t mind to see Williams get kicked out of a game or two (as long as he brings the other guy out of the game with him) by brawling with Garcon, Bryant, or Cruz this year.
I would agree, but our depth is lacking depth.
I totally agree, but we’re not realistically jockeying for playoff position this year. I really want to set a tone.
How would that help? That’s not setting a tone, that’s stupid. Chip will tear his ass a new one, he won’t put up with that either. If he wants to set a tone, let his play back it up. Become a leader on this D…not a bonehead that no one takes seriously.
CB Prater took Marsh’s spot.
I must’ve missed that, thank you
Marsh is back with the team, he is just on IR.
No, he was released with an injury settlement on Thursday.
I’m slowly but surely working myself up into a Michael Vick fighting dog level of fury for this season. Wins and losses will be what they will, but I really want to see this team compete with a violent edge and serve notice each and every week that we’re here to thump!
“BOOTS to Asses!!!!”
I’m assuming Wolff will see the field when they go to their 3 safety sets. I think that has me the most curious about Davis. I’m eager to see how the different packages he puts out there will look. My expectations of the defense are low, but I’m hoping they make steady progress (which means I’m expecting them to look terrible against the ‘Skins on Monday).
Also, having to wait until Monday night to see the Birds play after a very long (but interesting) offseason SUCKS.
I’m looking forward to seeing some pass downs where we line up:
Cox-Logan-Curry
Ryans – Kendricks
Fletcher – Boykins – Williams – Wolff – Allen – Chung
We can do a metric ton of exotic blitzing with that group on the field.
I would also tinker with Kendricks at safety..props to either Anders or Degoey…don’t remember who’s idea it was
Either like you said, or replace Ryans with Graham.
Let’s not forget that Chung needs to play well too. He’s the best of a lousy crop of Safeties…which doesn’t mean much.
Chung will hit and tackle. He just needs to avoid getting toasted with slow reads on pass plays.
Hoping to see him set the tone and stick his helmet on a ball and force a fumble
I had too much time on my hands, so I compiled my prediction for this upcoming season. I figure you guys will permit my posting here. If I’m close to accurate, I’ll be back at the end of the year to brag. If I’m wrong, I’ll claim someone else posted in my name. Go Eagles!
at Wash – Win, 1-0: Chip’s offense dazzles.
San Diego – Win, 2-0: DeSean and Vick put on a show.
KC – Win, 3-0: Tired but victorious, thanks to Shady. Super Bowl talk begins.
at Denver – Loss, 3-1: Peyton bloodies the secondary.
at Giants – Loss, 3-2: The secondary is naked. End Super Bowl talk.
at Tampa Bay – Win, 4-2: Shady contests with AP for most yards.
Dallas – Win, 5-2: Vick outplays Romo.
Giants – Win, 6-2: Best game of the season. DeSean owns the Giants.
at Oakland – Win, 7-2: Piece of cake. Resume Super Bowl talk.
at Green Bat – Loss, 7-3: A Rodg puts on a show. Painful.
Washington – Loss, 7-4: A healthy RG3 slices and dices.
Arizona – Loss, 7-5: The annual clunker. End Super Bowl talk, again.
Detroit – Loss, 7-6: Close game but the Lions O outmuscles our D. Begin to question Chip.
at Minn – Win, 8-6 Another great performance by Shady. Begin talk of Wild Card. End questions about Chip.
Chicago – Loss, 8-7: Home finale ends with disappointment.
at Dallas – Loss, 8-8: Lame battle for Wild Card. Sh*t.
I’m with you in thinking we get off to a 3 win start…..it’s going to be so hard for teams to prepare for us early on:
1) Washington will be the first to be punched in the mouth
2)Chargers don’t scare me at all and have to travel across country
3) Can you imagine Andy’s 2nd half adjustments against Chip? Chip will make his brain spin lol
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And then Peyton brings us back down to earth lol
While I hope that will be true, as much as the offense might benefit from people not having the book on Kelly yet, our defense is a bunch of guys that haven’t played together much trying to adapt to a new system.
At best, I think the two things cancel each other out.
And then our pace, and tiring out the other teams because no shot in hell that they have been conditioning their bodies for the tempo the way we have all summer, swings the pendulum back to our favor….ATleast I would like to think so…. Lol..I really do hope second half fatigue will give us a chance in games.
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I also happen to think that Davis showed nothing like what we will see the majority of the time during the season, How often have teams seen Graham and Cole play Predator? How often have they seen Cox shoot gaps as the 3tec…I think Billy Davis has added his own little misdirection this summer….I do expect to two gap during a course of a game, but predominantly be 4-3Under based when we aren’t in Nickle or dime packages
Well, I don’t think our defense is going to be as bad as many people seem to think, but I do think it may need some time to come together. RGIII isn’t hype. It’s going to be a tough challenge.
Totally agree…when I talk about this defense being better then people think, I don’t do so expecting it to manifest instantly in September…but I do really like most of the starting personel(depth scares the bejesus out of me lol), so if our defense can stay healthy like it did next year, I expect it to improve drastically from one month to the next and be left with a good taste about the future of our defense at the end of the year..
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the hope is the offense can put pressure on opponents early in the season to carry the defense until it Really gels
Tom, can you give your best guess for how Wolff and Nate will both be used?
Would your guess be its more of a 3 safety look thing, or a rotation?
McLane and most of the other beat writers are sooooo ready to turn on Chip Kelly and the rest of the team as soon as they lose a game. They’re so eager to get back at Chip for the sarcastic non-answers, the practice coverage restrictions, and what they consider condescension. They’re already at the point that they can hardly contain themselves and we’re starting to see snide comments and dismal projections slipped into their articles and commentary. If the Eagles lose on Monday night, we’re going to get a steady stream of “I guess those smoothies don’t make you tackle better,” and “Maybe that worked against Tennesee Tech.”
Which is exact,y why chip needs to be successful so he can black them all out Bellicek style….I would honestly prefer no eagles access, then continuing to enable these clown drama queens
I don’t agree. Chip can still refuse to give out any information to reporters to his heart’s content, but we’re entitled to a greater level of access to the goings on down there.
Read my above post
We’re not entitled to any coverage of the team. We get it because we want it, but we’re no more entitled to it as sports fans than fans of celebrities are to tabloid coverage.
Nope. No sale bro. My tax dollars and cable bill finance that team and that league and certain elements should be required to be open. Using your closed logic we should be allowed to get an injury report either.
First of all, anyone who feels they have some level of a say in the operation of a public institution because their tax dollars pay for it is wrongheaded. Do you also think you should be privy to every update on the construction of a bridge? How many dollars did you personally contribute to the Linc? Cable is a luxury service to which you’ve chosen to subscribe. The injury report is for bettors, not fans.
Fair enough if you feel that way. Care to pass along your ATM card and pin number?
No, but I would be happy to pass along some instruction on how to form an analogy. You’re clearly in much greater need of that.
Well considering you’re not aware of how freedom of information laws work on public building projects, you might not want to be lobbing stones from your glass Mall of America sized house.
Local governments provide the bare minimum of information on public construction projects. They give as much as the municipal law requires them to. Chip Kelly is just doing the same with his football team.
you’re entitled to nothing. you can choose to be a fan or not.
personally i’d rather be a fan of a winning team than one that provides full access at the expense of a competitive advantage just so a couple of self-entitled obsessives can watch routes being run during practice.
i don’t need to see how the sausage is being made. i “pay” for the games.
Nope to you as well. We are entitled via payment of tax dollars and cable bills. Also, the league should mandate a full level of openness by all 32 teams to dispel the
“competitive advantage” fallacy. They league has functioned just fine for years and years and years with wide open training camps for fans, why end that?
Your cable bills pay for the ability to watch the game. They don’t include backstage passes, despite what you might think. It’s pretty clear if you read the bill exactly what you’re paying for.
I clearly understand a limit exists, but what was done to fan access this year was clearly against the grain of everything the league has been trying to do in order to grow the brand over the past decade.
Because of today’s NEW instant access, social media…..it drastically changes the fan dynamic. Every other fan has a voice and a blog these days…there was no Internet in the 80s
And all of that new access has pushed NFL revenue up and up and up. Why shackle the goose that laid the golden egg? Let it out in the free and open air to make more and better eggs. Cage free golden goose eggs for all!
There is no shuffling of golden eggs…NFL is a Monopoly. fans take what they get and say thank you…why conceded anything in business when their is no need? …..you arent going to boycott Sundays because of no info during the week…until you and other fans do, nothing will change….I sure as hell won’t be joining your boycott, even I you are my dude!!! Lol
No need to boycott, and I’d never threaten to. But I’ll call BS when I see it and as loudly as I need to. I’d never make an idle threat of boycotting or giving up my fandom, but BS is BS.
Also, this is just as much about getting new fans and more of them from the ranks of young people. A closed environment risks losing development of newer and younger fans.
My man, I’m not disagreeing about it being BS, and or not wanting access…..Just saying that we are like crackheads dependent on our FIX in the eyes of the NFL. We take whatever crumbs they give us and beg for more. they have us by the balls, and in business you don’t give ANYTHING unless someone leverages you to do so…we have no leverage, thus we have no voice…I could cry about people starving all over the world to, but what’s the point if their is no change on the horizon?….Heck, I would buy the EAgkes playbook in a heartbeat if it we available on the blackmarket lol
True enough there. But be afraid of crackheads as they often snap when not given a fix!
Lol touche
In fairness to the reporters, Chip’s limitations on practice coverage are bush league and completely and totally disrespectful of the media coverage process that allows Chip to earn a living. The NFL hasn’t built itself into the most lucrative sports league on the planet by limiting coverage of the product.
The stonewalling of questions is fine by me, but the manner that the fans were abused this offseason was chick $h!t on Chip’s part. An open training camp will most practices being open should be an NFL rule for all teams. The ending of the live video feed at camp was also a joke.
I’m not judging Kelly’s skills as a coach based on blocking the fans for being able to follow the team to the closest possible extent, but we were not given an fair view of this offseason.
I think it’s more of a competitive advantage sort of thing, and as long as that’s the reason, I’m fine with it…I don’t see how it benefits chip to have the media detail every formation they see us run I practice…Team needs to work on its meat and potatoes of the playbook…you can’t ask chip to constantly worry about not showing too much,..If he had to coach preseason games without showing anything, why would he want the media to ruin the competitive advantage, especially at a time where no teams have a clue what he will do?
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Press conferences are enough for the media to do its damn job..Chip might stonewall some questions, but he gives the reporters more in 1 answer then Andy gave in 14years combined….
I don’t think it should even be an option for any team. I don’t begrudge these guys one penny of the money they earn, but all 32 fan bases are entitled to full access in the manner we had it over the past few years prior to this one. I totally get having things closed down once the year gets rolling, but countess numbers of young people are being screwed out of a chance to get up close and personal with their team because of how the Eagles ran training camp this year.
Baseball collapsed in popularity in no small part due to making the game harder and harder for young people to access. The NFL would be wise to not go down the same road.
I would agree with you, if I thought this would be the future of the chip regime…I don’t believe that to be the case. teams will start to put together a book on Kelly, so the super secrecy won’t matter as much and I think he will eventually open up…I just think this summer, it was crucial. Because its a huge advantage to have such a different type of offense, and no NFL footage for teams to prepare….you can’t ruin that by having our reporters writing intricate reports on every single formation that they see on a daily basis..
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I’m a fan, who has really grown up taking advantage of all the past training camp access…but my number one priority is success on Sundays. I don’t view this summer as Chip being a jerk to be a jerk..I think our coach is trying to give us every advantage to have success in year one, inspite of a new defense, and not having a top QB…as long as my coach is doing things he perceives will give us a better chance, then I’m all for it and would gladly sacrifice the access I have become accustomed to…I went to like 7 training camp practices this summer lol…what more do fans want? let’s start handing out pamphlets with our playbook and trade secrets to all the media every day before practice lol….Think I wouldn’t love more access? I just want to win that much more!!!
The two have never been mutually exclusive, so why does Kelly need to act like that here? The Steelers have won 6 titles, 2 recently, and have a completely and totally open training camp process. They’re not giving anything away.
During that time steelers had stability on offense…they ran the same offense for years…they wouldn’t be gaining as much of a competitive advantage as Kelly has gained…
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What other coach has ever come into this league with such a drastically different offense? why not maximize the advantage of the unknown this summer?
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best teams can do without any intell is studying Oregon,,.problem is not ALL of Oregon will translate, so teams are spending time studying stuff that chip might not even try until 2016….
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Don’t think our coach is trying to spite fans or media, he is just trying to give us the best chance of success, and I would sacrifice all the access in the world for 3 years to see a SB
I hear what you’re saying, but I don’t see any benefit to closing down access to the typically vanilla elements of the pre-season in a manner not done by anybody else.
We can’t just practice vanilla all summer. At some point chip needs to be able to work on his counterpunches…can’t just start installing all types of foreign stuff during a weeks game PREPERATION…at some point he has to expose his players to the counters to his vanilla calls, and No one, not even you and I should see it…
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heck, I got a wiff of Eagles maybe signing a PS player and it was all over the place. I had people asking me questions about it on FB, and I had never mentioned a word on FB lol
But I don’t we ever just practiced vanilla in the past and always had some level of closed practices when that non-vanilla was installed. Reid, who put in radically different elements when hired, didn’t need to execute the fan access as a element of the new system so I don’t see why Kelly needs to.
Reid is like “Corky” to Kelly’s “Steve Jobs” lol….Chips on some new age matrix frequency thinking. Lol
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In fairness Reid’s west coast concepts while changing the league, we’re no where near as foreign to the NFL as Kelly’s offense….every opposing team had any idea of what a west coast offense was by the time Reid was hired…Reid just tweaked it by getting the ball down field more..
Hey, Tom Landry was light years ahead of everybody else 50 years ago, but Dallas didn’t shut down fan access either. There will always be something new and innovative in the NFL, so I’m too worried about Chip being the “matrix” for any more than a few years.
you want them to share the playbook with fans while they’re at it?
Please! There is more than enough opportunity to install of the playbook elements of one’s system without closing off all fan access in the process. Maybe Kelly just wanted to find a better way to keep everybody from seeing how horrible Casey Matthews has played in practice as well.
Do you really think the Eagles were hurt over the past few years by having a fully open training camp every day along with a video feed of that work at camp?
i don’t know. but why risk it? and honestly, if I was another team game planning for the eagles, i would absolutely be studying those live feeds.
As would I, so they need to be required of all 32 teams by the league office. Also, don’t think there aren’t hidden spies from every team at every other team’s practice as is. And there is more than enough time to do things outside of open practices because we saw it done that way successfully for decades.
seriously this idea is so dumb.
the most important thing is that the games are awesome. much more important than whiny entitled fans watching live feeds of practice.
if secrecy makes the games more awesome, then i’m all for it.
i’m genuinely excited to see what chip rolls out on monday. if i had seen the entire offense dissected already because all the footage from training camp was available, it would be significantly less exciting.
Reverting to the openness of prior years here and/or most other teams doesn’t take away from any level of excitement on Monday.
“Maybe Kelly just wanted to find a better way to keep everybody from seeing how horrible Casey Matthews has played in practice.” This is the exact kind of comment I was talking about.
Enjoy your cool-aid.
That’s very insensitive of you. I can’t enjoy Kool-Aid, because I’m allergic to red food dye.
Ouch! At least you don’t ever have to worry about red food dye messing up your brain. That garbage should be illegal.
it drives me crazy to think some kids out there are being raised on Kool aid…but don’t get me started on one of my rants lol
C’mon, after years and years of Captain Obvious, the local media should be thrilled to have a coach like Chip Kelly that is actually giving them conversation during his press conferences.
And why do they really need access to practice anyway? To report more “stories” like the Cooper/Wilson scuffle? Most of them aren’t doing any real analysis and if they wanted to real analysis they’ve got a wealth of tape to watch that they never had before in the all-22 films.
If they want to do stories rather than analysis, they have access to the players and we’ve got plenty of new guys they could better introduce to the fans. Tell us about them. Do some research and flesh out their back stories. Personally I can’t get enough of stuff like that.
I agree on criticism of Kelly’s answers to questions being lame. Reid said the same thing every time, so I’d never get worked up over Kelly answering any question in any way he saw fit.
Les Bowen made a comment about the lack of actual stories on guys the other day. I agree that I’d love to read more of that, but I also enjoy getting my eyes on every possible bit of practice information as well.
I don’t really trust any of the things from the local media on practice anyway. They don’t have coaching nor scouting backgrounds and most of them just don’t have the eyes for it.
Hey, Jeff Maehl made the team! How about a story on him? Get on the phone and interview some of his old HS and college coaches. Maybe talk to his positional coach from the Texans. Maybe he’s got an interesting family story. If any of the philly.com guys have bothered writing a story like this, I apologize, but I missed it if they did.
I suspect they’d rather hang around practice and write about the one or two plays they saw in between BSing with the other reporters.
I the end, most of us like the Eagles players and would rather learn more about them than have the local media waiting around for a chance to pounce on them and tear them down. Negadelphians might often be the loudest voices on Sports Radio, but the majority of the fans aren’t like that.
In the end
Exactly…they don’t Really know what to look for anyway, which is why you have to appreciate a guy like Tom LAwlor who won’t even speak until he does his due diligence and watches enough film to have a worthy oppinion…What does Jeff McLane know about Proper technique on a Swim move? What does Les Bowen know about Olinemen Kick stepping, anchoring? how many of them can even tell you where a DLinemen is supposed to lineup in different defensive schemes?
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Tom, if you lived in Philly and had access that some of these guys have on a daily basis, it would be scary how great your coverage would be….We appreciate you Brah lol
Do analysis. Don’t waste your time fleshing out their back stories. Personally, I couldn’t care less about stuff like that.
Seriously, man, your sense of entitlement to what Chip should provide you is getting ridiculous. We get it. And we mostly disagree with you. You are owed entry to the stadium for games you buy tickets for. You are owed the ability to watch games for which you pay your cable bill. You are not owed anything else, and you sure as hell aren’t owed being part of the decision making process in how the team is run.
Get over yourself.
First, there is league rules about what you are forced to show. So Chip was just following the rules set up by the NFL.
Second, there was actually more total fans that end up seeing TC live this year then at Leigh. Also the live video feed stopped in 2011 or 2012 by AR (I know there was not a live feed last year or if there was not really showing anything anyway)
That total number of fans statistic is somewhat specious because reporters were tweeting out crowd sizes were 10k less than what the Eagles were announcing, so those numbers might need to be run again. Also, the sanitized environment at the Linc is no substitute for Widener, West Chester, and/or Lehigh.
it’s disgusting to me that McLane would want to write an article rehashing the Ooper situation, asking our players about it days before we kickoff our season..
can someone tell me which reporter Chip got into it with at the press conference the other day when they had a heated exchange and Chip said “Shot fired, so shot answered, you want to continue?” lol @ our Leader getting gangster with the media!!!
OH YEAH! Temple’s impending destruction of Houston in on! Sadly the game will be ruined by the idiotic steroid fueled misinformed Monsignor Bonner inspired babble of Anthony Becht.
If Carry Williams improves his play from last years playoffs, and doesn’t cost us too many Al Harris type penalties, he could be loved in this city…Remains to be seen, but just ignoring the playoffs he had and going by a PFT ranking iMO could prove foolish…Players gain experience and mature…Hasn’t cost us anything yet accept for media blowing sconces and a practice dust up out of proportion, so I will appreciate how he is trying to toughen up this defense, until he starts costing us…..but I laugh at how the media has made him public enemy number one, when he has the mental makeup to become a guy that fans in this city adore….we aren’t exactly JaxonVille type of passive fans lol….
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we are more of the Roman Colloseum bloodthirsty type of Fans….and Fans like that, could end up liking Carry much more then they realize right now
Dawkins made the team tougher by talking his teammates into a fury and intimidating opponents with his hits.
From Carrie (since misspelling his name is all the rage) I have only seen him talking to opponents and hitting his teammates. That doesn’t do it for me.
He has plenty of time to earn my respect as an enforcer and motivator, but Dawkins proved that being tough in no correlates with acting tough.
carry hasn’t had any chance to fail yet, and I won’t kill any Birds until I see them fail…nothing he has done in preseason is cause for me to speak negatively on him, so until he does, I prefer my approach but to each his own…heck, I was getting killed for wanting to sign Carrie lol last year during the season when we would talk about our free agent wish list…so if I wanted him then, elevated his play in the playoffs, and done nothing this preseason, how could I be expected to talk negatively about him right now?
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Carolina game looked like carry might have made his teammates tougher if you compare it to pre opening his mouth(New England game)
False. He got b!tched up by Steve Smith in an after the play scuffle. We need to win all fights!
Lol touché…but NNamdi would have ran to his car, and DRC would have stuck his head in the sand and waited for Steve smith to go away
Agreed, but Williams needed to come up bigger there.
I think you are overhyping Cary a bit. Living NW of DC I get most if not all the Ravens games. Saw every game last year. Yes, Cary got better as the season went on, but he also is non stop chirping. He had a lot of dumb penalties. Also, he constantly had Ed Reed or Ray Lewis in his ear…we don’t have anyone on this D to keep him in line. I’m hoping he plays better and keeps his cool, but I’ll believe it when I see it. He didn’t have any “big hits” (he isn’t Sheldon) or anywhere close to what Dawkins was. But if he can actually tackle, it’s an upgrade from last year.
That is the stuff that has me worried. When your hits speak for themselves you don’t need to talk.
Guys that talk tough rarely are, and guys that are rarely talk.
Some guys need to talk to get themselves going….
Cary only has two seasons of real playing time under his belt..
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He got on the field full time two seasons ago, had 18 PBU’s
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The following season(last season), he got some continuity and then the INTS(4), started to come, and had another 17 PBUs..
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He then went on to play the best ball of his career in the playoffs. Some of the best QBs made it a point to go after Cary and test him in the playoffs….Those great QBs all were sent home without a ring…yet all fans talk about is a bad regular season rating that PFT gave him, and him pushing a referee…
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this is a player who’s play is still on the rise. with more experience, comes more comfort, which often can lead to better play…
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people just see a player talk and just assume that it’s crap…anyone who has ever played any sport knows that there are some guys that need to talk to get themselves going, to play with that feistier edge…..I don’t care who he pushes, who he fights with, how much crap he talks as long as he isn’t getting kicked out of games…that hasn’t happened, so why spend my time crucifying one of our new captains over Hypotheticals that may not even happen..
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There were no shutdown corners to be had this offseason. So we got the next best thing, corners who’s play is still on the upswing, Physical, sound tacklers who will keep WR in front of them, bend but don’t break….I don’t know how I would feel about Cary’s antics in a normal year….but after two years of the Wimpier defense I can ever remember seeing, Cary is a neccessary evil to put some nasty bak in this defense. The man will Fight to the end for us…and I’m still trying to get over that pussy NNamdi so how can I not appreciate Cary’s Fire?
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When he does something real to hurt us….then I will be front and center letting him have it….but missing Volentary practice(for a guy who played in Febuary), and a practice fight(which litally happen all the time), does not warrant all this BS Cary hate…..This is going to be his 3rd season of game time, that doesn’t sound like a finished product to me…I have a feeling we haven’t seen C-dub’s best ball yet..
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You’ve been pumping Cary for weeks. I am well aware that people grow with experience, please don’t assume i am new to this sport or this site because you haven’t seen me post a lot before. Never mentioned Cox, Graham, Kendrick’s, and i expect big things from them. maybe not from Graham this year, but he could grow like Woodley.
But also don’t act like Cary is some rook or 2nd year player. He’s 28 (29 in December) and been in the league since 2008. Ravens let him walk despite being thin in the secondary. He has holes. I hope he plays great. I hope he becomes a stud and a leader on this D. But he isn’t the future and he needs to back up his talk on the field or it just becomes a distraction. I also know that he didn’t miss any mandatory time during camp but I still didn’t like he wasn’t there more in May/June with the rest of the team. I grt we all of personal things going in in our lives and everyone deserves work/life balance, but he needed to be here.
Again, I watched every Ravens game, I don’t use PFT stats or care for stats in general. I also said he got much better as the year went on, including the playoffs. I watched him with my own eyes and came to my own conclusions.
You ask why we don’t support Cary, why don’t you support Nate? It’s days before kickoff and like it or not he is our starting Safety. I hope he turns it around as we’ll after great start to his rookie year. Again, Cary needs to play well or Chip and the rest of his team aren’t going to put up with the antics. As long as his play backs everything up and he isn’t committing stupid penalties, he can run his mouth all day long.
You can call this BS hate if you wish, I call it reality. I could care less about the fight, I’d rather it have been during TC and not days before our opener against a division opponent but oh well. I do have a problem with him going after Mike Vick.
Here’s to a great Eagles season and hopefully a Pro Bowl year from Cary.
Age means nothing if you sit on the bench…you need to get into games, makes mistakes, and learn from them…practice pales in comparison to game experience…
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No one said I was even talking about you..I’m speaking in theory. I have to hear analysts all summer tell me how we have no talent on defense and it’s ridiculous…You can’t account for how much better a young player will be, or if they hit a wall….but I damn sure will never look at a young player or a guy with only a year or two of playing time, and ever think that’s as good as it can be for a guy
“I figured they would play Kurt Coleman over Wolff, simply due to experience and STs ability.”
Am I the only one around here who thinks that playing Coleman over anyone is just a bad idea?
I think the point might be that it’s always tricky with a rook. There’s no way of knowing how Wolff will perform under the bright lights.
Not unless we are talking about Coleman and Nate..then my brain would malfunction, steam would start shooting out of my nose and my head would explode trying to figure out who I would want to see less 🙂
On the eve of Chip Kelly’s debut, I’d like to mention one thing that I sure won’t miss from the Andy Reid regime and that I never thought got the attention it deserved: The incomplete pass, incomplete pass, play action on 3rd and 10. Man that used to drive me crazy. It happened all the time!!! Who did Reid think he was fooling with play action on 3rd and 10?!
Ahhh one of the great unsoiled mysteries of this world…”who the hell did Reid think he was fooling”….My best guess is the worms that McNabb was trying to exterminate lol
Reid used to say — and it may be true — that play-action calls provided better protection for the QB.
Who knows.
you mean — Eagles get the ball and punt with 20 seconds? I won’t miss that at all….
Tom(or anyone else for that matter): what scheme would you expect us to use initially to defend the Skins pistol attack(Diamond formation) run game?
Whatever the scheme . . . someone needs to drill RG-III after he hands off to Morris and carries out his end of the read-option run fake. Drill him.
And I’d say the same thing if the question were about Vick . . . or Kaepy . . . or R-Wilson.
A 15-yard penalty early in the game is worth it, too, if the point’s made that any read-option run fake means the defense will pummel the QB.
Amen…PREACH!!!!
If he is carrying out the fake, there is no penalty for hitting him and if there was, I bet the Skins or Eagles would take the 20+ yards on the play (remember the 15 yards is added on top of the run.). If the offense knew it could get 20 yards on every play, it would take it even if it meant the QB took some hits.
We need to hit RG3 more then they hit Vick!
Brandon Hughes was released…could my boy be on his way? Fings crossed!!! Please please please, pretty Please howie!!!
The WORD is BYRD. Just sayin….
NOTE: I have NO inside info on our dream, just dreaming on a Sat.
We would probably have to trade a player and pick so no need to waive guys to create roster spots to add him
We need to pray that he strings the Bills along better and hits the market next year. With our MASSIVE need to get Bridgewater we can’t give up any extra picks.
Lol I meant my TE friend from the Ravens PS….The thought of a very close friend playing for the eagles drives my selfish wants lol….Brandon Hughes is an easy sacrifice for me to see my friend on the birds…only oth Eagle friend I ever had was Kyle Eckle, and I really dont like him very much lol
Get your boy on the roster! That would rule. And can we trade Celek in the process so you can say your boy finally got Dr. Drops A Lot off of the team finally.
Lol wouldn’t that be the dream!!!
Anybody associated with Episcopal Academy doesn’t strike me as that tough. If you’re still taking about Kyle Eckel.
Lol…I was dating this girl who had a BF, and Kyle found out and was a pain in the ass about it, so I always held a grudge, but the dude basically looked like he looked in the NFl at the age of 14 lol…scary dude
I bet he wouldn’t have been that scary if he’d have walked across City Line Ave. from prep school to Overbrook.
H sins actually from south Philly….just decided to go to that sissy school
He was a monster at the Naval Academy…
nah, they’ll likely re-sign him after the game so they don’t have to guarantee his salary for the whole year.
Very possible…
GEagle . . .
Why would the Eagles part with even a 6th round pick for the Byrd-dog?
He’s injured now. Not in football shape. Doesn’t know the Ealges’ scheme.
Most troubling, because Byrd-dog signed his franchise tender, *no team* can negotiate a long-term contract with him until after he becomes a free agent again next off-season.
Unless you see the Eagles tagging him again . . . .
Maybe they would. But lots of risk. And Byrd’s going to be starting his 6th season next year.
Welcome the counter-argument . . . .
They wouldn’t trade for him without talking about that next contract and coming to an eventual agreement in principle(even if it cant be announced)…i doubt it would happen, unless it got to the point where the bills are practically going to unload him…
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Agree that it’s highly unlikely
CB Hughes got released today. I think on Tuesday, the Eagles will sign several veteran players. This roster seems unfinished.
What does Mariota run on the 40s?!
F-A-S-T.
Not sure if he’s a 4.5 guy . . . but he has great competitive speed as well as excellent short-area quickness.
Watch highlights of the 2012 Oregon-Stanford game. Mariotta breaks contain and takes off for 60-70 yards.
Of course, he had those slow-footed scholar-athletes from Palo Alto chasing him . . . not the Sunday folks.
But Mariotta’s damned well equipped in the legs.
It wouldn’t surprise me if he runs a 4.4 at the combine…
Goducks have him running a 4.48 before he got to Oregon, so it should be fair to expect him to run a 4.4 consider how much the Ducks help improve their runners (they got one of the best track and field teams if im not mistaken and the football players are training with the runners)
When was the last time an university had two players drafted in the top 10 the same year? I think Oregon is making a pretty strong case (Mariota, De’Anthony Thomas)…
I want to say USC…Leinart an Bush? Or the LBs…Maualuga and Cushing? I’d look it up but I’m lazy…
Right team…wrong pair. Ellis and Rivers…alright I’m done now…
I lied…Alabama this year. Warmack and Milliner right?
Yes. 9 and 10. Fluker was 11 i think too
Gerald McCoy and Trent Williams were 3 and 4. Plus, Bradford went first that year.
Thanks. I was too lazy to google it and also my short term memory failed me.
Re: A Wealth of Top-10 Talent
German Eagle’s question — when’s the last time 2 players from the same school were drafted in the top 10 — reminded me of some stunning memories of Top 10 selections.
The most remarkable was in the 1967 draft, the first one after the AFL/NFL merger.
1967 Draft: Michigan State — coming off a co-national championship with Notre Dame, which included their memorable 10-10 tie in Lansing — produced THREE of the top FIVE and FOUR of the first EIGHT selections . . . the only time in NFL history a school has produced FOUR Top-10 choices:
(1) DE Bubba Smith – Colts;
(2) HB Clint Jones – Vikings;
(3) OLB George Webster – Oilers;
(8) WR Gene Washington – Vikings
1977 Draft: USC — three players in the Top-5:
(1) HB Ricky Bell – Bucs;
(4) OT Marvin Powell – Jets;
(5) DT Gary Jeter – Giants.
1987 Draft: Miami — three of the top nine:
(1) QB Vincenzo Testeverde – Bucs;
(3) FB Alonzo Highsmith – Oilers;
(9) DT Jerome Brown – Birds.
1995 Draft: Penn State [T-Law!!!] — again three in the top nine:
(1) HB Ki-Jana Carter – Bengals;
(5) QB Kerry Collins – Panthers;
(9) TE Kyle Brady – Jets
2010 Draft: Oklahoma: THREE of the first FOUR picks —
(1) QB Sam Bradford – Rams;
(3) DT Gerald McCoy – Bucs
(4) OT Trent Williams – the Washington Football Team
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That’s 17 players, not one drafted later than 9th. Not a single one had — or seems headed to a Hall of Fame career, let alone is remembered for a great career. (OT Trent Williams ’12 . . . maybe he’s the one.)
The closest, I think, were DE Bubba Smith and DT Jerome Brown.
Smith was tall, huge, powerful, mobile, and fairly quick off the edge — a bigger version of Julius Peppers. If Bubba Smith were in college now, he’d be ahead of Clowney as the 1st overall prospect (QBs evaluation-bias aside). But a knee injury in Smith’s fifth season robbed him of his explosiveness and power.
And JB, of course . . . as heartbreaking as three of those four NFC championship game losses were, I never felt has heartbroken and in disbelief (regarding a pro sport) as when I heard JB’s reckless driving on a slick Florida road killed himself and his young nephew.
It’s good to know that we can always rely on you. Thanks for the history lesson (again)! 😉
Thanks for showing me up…jerk!!!! 🙂
Viking…Love what you bring to the table…thanks again
I would be ecstatic if the Eagles somehow could get DeA Thomas in next year’s draft. Speed kills…!
Is he “nifty” within the first 5 yards?
That’s the word former Dallas puba, Jimmy Johnson, used to describe the greatness of Emmitt Smith. “Nifty in the hole.”
Plus Smith had some monster sized thighs to go with his niftiness.
I think he’ll be better than Tavon Austin.
Does DT have the receiving skills of Austin?
Fair question. Tommy can answer that! 🙂
Too bad the kid’s not taller.
This team still needs a big, tall, fast WR — and I’ll take 2 of them.
If he was taller, he wouldn’t be nifty any more. 😉
The Vikings had a HB in the ’70s named Chuck Foreman — about 6’2″ 215″. Damned nifty. In the hole. And in the open field. A great runner. And if not at the top of the class as the best receiving HB, wouldn’t take long to call roll.
But Foreman may be the exception that proves the GermanEagles Rule!
Chuck Foreman was awesome! You should remember that 210 – 215 lbs back then was a “Big Back.” Chuck was a unique blend (for that era) of size, speed and receiving ability.
DeSean and Maclin with Thomas in the slot though… I like that. They might be small, but with some big, athletic TEs like Ertz, a better/more consistent version of Riley Cooper to sub in and a guy like Maehl or Salas as a 5th, I think it could work.
I however would also pitch a tent if we could get a good WR in the mould of Megatron, Andre Johnson or Fitz to go along with DeSean, who I think is gonna explode. Too bad neither Lee nor Watkins is that kind of player.
I could see DeA Thomas get massively over drafted by a team like the Jets, Raiders or Jaguars, and for us it all comes down to Maclin.
DT is a RB with receiving skills (like a healthy and faster version of Westbrook), where Austin is a WR with running skills.
Re: A Question of Time
What’s the over-under on how many times will someone on the Washington football team’s DEFENSE have an injury during Monday night’s game?
I say at least . . . 8.
You’ll never have seen so many miss-only-one-play-owies in your life. Everyone on the Skins D will cramp up, sometimes 3 or 4 guys on the same play!
I’m looking forward to someone going to ground only to get up again when they realise someone else has it covered.
Can’t wait to see the effects this tempo offense has on opposing defenses second half run game…..Come mid 3rd quarter, we can start seeing Shady n Bryce get off to the races and break some long runs..
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Can’t wait to get inside opponents ten yard line and see the Eagles run the ball 4 times in a row. last time Peters and Shady were on the field together they combined for one of the most dominant forces in the NFL
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orakpo is going to run away from Peters and test Big Daddy Lane. Hope to see Vick responsibly Zone read him correctly early in the game to give Lane some help til he settles into the game
Skins do have two great OLBs with Kerrigan and Orakpo (when healthy).
Not when they are playing against the BOSS HOG, Jason Peters! he eliminates Kerrigan, because I doubt they have the balls to put Orakpo on that side lol
Good stuff T-Law. Getting stoked for the season. I think Wolff is playing because, well, Nate is not good. Solid pre-season means diddly. We’ll see Monday night.
I think the Eagles think Wolff is the future, and Nate is gone at the end of the year…so the Eagles will hope that at some point Wolff will supplant Nate this year while also trying not to rush him…
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ATleast Wolff will Hit and Cover…..today he probably isn’t ready to cover the way Nate is, but here’s hoping he gets their quickly. I have a feeling he will be the safety if the future for us….and not some failure who will need to be replaced….fingers crossed
Cary Williams is a complete douche. Now that I got that off my chest, the Eagles were morons to not have cut Cooper after his video became public. He is a marginal player at best and why would you have this issue fester for a player that is easily replaceable?
Who are you easily replacing him with?
I actually like Cooper, but for his career he has 40 catches, 700 yards and 5 TDs, essentially similar to the numbers FredEx posted. Last year wasn’t even his best, with the exception of 3 touchdowns because we actually tried to throw him a goal line fade.
It’s not like Cooper has been anything like a dominating player, frankly, its hard to even consider him a contributing player as a WR, but obviously he has done good on ST.
Reggie Brown, who is largely considered a bust and a bad player, posted 43 catches, 570 yards and 4 TDs his rookie year.
I doubt that it would be a hard task to find a player who could deliver more as a WR than Cooper, and I think the situation could have been different with Arrelious Benn healthy. Benn provides the same STs play and blocking, has around the same numbers as a wideout and IMO has a little more potential. Looking down the practice squad rosters, some interesting names could be Tommy Streeter or, even though he is a jackass, Da’Rick Rogers.
I think I was right to hold onto Cooper and i like him as a sub player(Obviously he is not a starter with Maclin healthy) since he is different from all the other WRs we have and will block and play ST, but I wouldn’t cry myself to sleep if Chip had kicked him to the curb. He is just not a special player.
I think we also have to ask how much of his lack of production was a function of Reid. I mean, you could look at our backup RBs over the years and question their ability based on the lack of carries and yards – surely they would have been used if they were better. But we all said that about every RB that backed up BWest.
Kelly may or may not get much out of him, but it looks to me like he does not want to waste a roster space on someone he doesn’t have a plan for.
Very good point, and if that turns out to be the case, we will be very fortunate
I didn’t say he was a special player. Brown was a high 2nd rounder. Coop was a 5th. Brown should have more talent. Da’Rick or Streeter? I’m not taking a rookie. Can they block? Streeter got cut by Ravens who literally have no WRs outside of Torrey Smith.
Benn is on IR so he is irrelevant to the discussion. If healthy, he probably could have replaced Coop, but big question on whether he could stay healthy. I’m not trying to hype Cooper to be some star, as a fan of the team I hope he has a breakout year and is great, but there isn’t anyone that you can say would be better that was or is available.
Also, Brown wouldn’t have started if he came in behind Mac and DJax
Silly nonsense….go watch NNamdi lol
I think the Cooper thing will blow over, and it largely has already. If it is what Williams is having problems with, it seems from most all reports that it’s just him. I’m much more worried about the 15 yard penalties Williams will be drawing if he doesn’t control himself that anything festering in the locker room.
Dude is a Dog which is exactly what we needed. As long as he doesn’t cost us the way Al Harris used to, I think he has a chance to be solid for us. Banking on his on the field play maturing, and since this was his first real NFL payday, I’m banking on that leash we have around him, keeping him in control on the field…in practice, he can be a madman every day for all I care…this coombaya crap is over rated..we want Hungry Rabbid animals(as long as they don’t hurt us on the field)…people are complaining about practice.
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played high school basketball with one of the best players this city has ever produced, who at the time was the consensus number 1 player in the country(RIP), went on to be drafted number 6 overall in the NBA draft….and I can’t tell you how insane our locker room was…we we a top team in the Nation so it’s rare, that you lose a high school game, but because we played a national schedule, we did suffer a few losses…and let me tell you, when we lost a game, the rare times we lost a game, you can bet there will be hell to pay in our locker room and someone was probably getting punched in their eye. it’s not something cool, or positive, but it happens in sports locker rooms…I can’t tell you this practice Brawl between him and another player that was remenicent of Lambeer vs. Barkley.
This was basketball, imagine a more physical sport like football.
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our entire life we hear pro teams say “this is a locker room issue, and we prefer to keep it in house”….they feel this way because they know that the average public just doesn’t understand that ISH happens inside locker rooms…players at every level deal with all kinds of pressure. my teammate wasn’t a bad kid, he was a gat kid actually, but carrying around the pressure of being the consensus player in the country for years weighed Heavily on him, and it ended in a downward spiral with his life that resulted in him dying young….I’m talking about the presses of a high school kid, you think grown ass men, getting paid millions of dollars in such a gladiator sport. With this Rabbid fanbase don’t el it at times? ish happens, and it’s completely stupid to be complaining about a fight in practice!!!
I’m hoping to see that dog. I’ve just seen plenty of players who go around showing off their loud bark. I’d rather have a mute pitbull. But if he goes out there and backs it up, I’ll put up with it – he’s just setting himself up to be the least popular player in the city, and he doesn’t strike me as the type that can really handle that.
let me quote John Harbaugh after Cary’s pick six against Cleveland:
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“Cary was the difference in the game for us with an Interception for a TD. here is a guy who was under a lot of heat from the media! But he wasn’t under any head in our building because we know what kind of player he is and he came up Big. I think he deserved that”
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fans and media can talk all they want, we finally have a guy that we can place on an Island and actually handle the pressures of playing CB in this city…Bigger names have failed, this kid has a chance. fight, Fight, Fight some more, fight for every inch, hit everything that moves….FLY EAGLES FLY!!!
Watching Baldi n chip break down film is a treat..turn on channel 6
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lanes ability on Film is friggin scary