Perspective
Posted: September 15th, 2013 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 105 Comments »Losing to San Diego was no fun, but it was hardly the end of the world.
The Giants are 0-2.
The Skins are 0-2.
Each of those teams has a blowout loss.
The Boys are 1-1, with an ugly win and an ugly loss.
We knew the Eagles would have some issues this year, with the new coaches, new schemes and changes in personnel. Have there been any major surprises?
The offense is clicking. The Eagles are 2nd in the NFC in scoring (not counting SF). Chip Kelly’s offense works. He’s got the star players looking like stars. There are some issues to clean up, but they don’t involve lack of talent. That means they should be fixable.
STs are still excellent. Dave Fipp has done a tremendous job.
The defense has some major issues. They were great for a half in WAS. They came up with a pair of Red Zone takeaways today. Other than that, things aren’t great. We knew this would happen. Some fans are calling the defense “garbage” and saying this is the worst they’ve ever seen.
NO WAY.
The Eagles are playing hard. They are flying to the football. There is no lack of effort, intensity or physicality.
The results stink, but that’s due to a lack of talent and the fact that the coaches are adjusting to the players and the players are adjusting to the new schemes. This group isn’t underachieving. DRC and Nnamdi were paid big bucks to suck last year. Cary Williams had 3 PI calls today, but I can live with those because I know he’s busting his butt out there.
We know this defense needs talent. DRC and Nnamdi were supposed to be the answers that solved a problem area. Didn’t come close. No one said Williams and Bradley Fletcher were going to turn into Bobby and Troy.
The hype got out of hand after Monday’s game. Now the hype machine will settle down a bit and we can start evaluating the 2013 Eagles in an honest, accurate way. This is a talented, but flawed team. They still could go 10-6, 8-8 or 6-10.
The offense won’t always put up 30 points, but the defense also won’t give up 530 yards every week. The NFL is all about matchups. The Chargers matched up well, which none of us really saw. And Philip Rivers played great. When a talented, veteran QB is having a good day, you’re in trouble.
I’m frustrated, but not discouraged. This team is tough and competitive. They’re fun to watch. And when they get some more pieces on defense, the Eagles are going to be a pretty darn good team.
_
To quote, “They are who we thought they were.”
Actually a little better. Rebuilding sucks, but it beats the hell out of stagnating.
Rebuilding is great for the future, kind of sucks for now. The defense being this bad 2 years in a row is painful. I guess I differ from Tommy about the whole effort thing. 530 yards given up by listless shlubs feels about the same as 530 yards given up by high effort shlubs to me.
Also Nate Allen is terrible. That’s going to be the signature on all my posts from now on.
Unfortunately the defense is so bad, Im not sure its fixable in one year. I dont see many free agents worth mentioning slated to become UFAs next year. Of those that are, most will be re-signed. So we have to rely on the draft. Not gonna get it done.
Jairus Byrd
One thing I didn’t quite understand was why the Malcolm Floyd hit wasn’t ruled a fumble. If that’s an incomplete pass, then he wouldn’t have finished the process of making the catch, meaning the hit would have had to have been on a defenseless receiver. Since they didn’t throw the flag it seems to me that the refs would have said that he had finished the process of the catch, but then once they saw that he was hurt, they changed their minds and gave him the benefit of the doubt. In no way am I trying to downplay the seriousness of his injury. That was a horrible thing to watch when you see a guy get hit like that and have legitimate concern that he might be paralyzed. However, it’s frustrating to see the rules seemingly not be enforced because of it. That was a huge play and we could have had the ball on SD’s 35.
I kept telling my friend, “That’s a fumble, that’s a fumble. WHY AREN”T WE CHALLENGING THAT FUMBLE” Needless to say, I wasn’t very fun to be around this afternoon. They could’ve thrown 20-30 yard passes the whole game but they wanted to go 5 yard, 6 yard passes each and every single f’ing play
Did we lose the battle in the trenches on both offense and defense?
We didn’t lose on offense, but def on defense.
I felt like we left a lot of points out there, and I blame it on our inability to run the ball. I felt like we couldn’t get any holes for Shady and Bryce. Maybe I was spoiled last week, though.
Did you cut and paste this from 2012?
We didn’t run the ball because Chargers regularly had 8 in the box.
You guys that want to pound the ball no matter what are no better than Andy and his “throw the ball no matter what” philosophy.
We left points on the board because of an LJ penalty and some poor throws. Had *nothing* to do with the running game.
We ran the ball just fine, FWIW. Just called more passes.
Maybe we had to run it despite a loaded box to keep them somewhat honest, but the run plays seemed shut down. It didn’t seem like we ran the ball just fine. It looked like we were losing 1 on 1 battles that had nothing to do with a stacked box.
They were loading the box. What do you expect them to do? Vick was lighting them up…take what the defense gives you and make the plays.
I could slap Johnson. And I like him. That is all.
It’s still pretty neat to see our offense score so many points. I didn’t get a chance to see the game but from the highlights I saw there could have been a few more touchdowns by DJax if the throw/catch were a little bit better! It’s hard to believe last year we averaged like what 17 ppg?
could have been more.
1 pass to jackson was slightly overthrown and off his fingertips. He had everyone beat.
another pass to jackson deep ball too close to the sidelines leas him out of bounds. only got 1 foot down in bounds. he had everyone beat.
another TD pass to jackson was called back due to a penalty on someone else.
and James Casey dropped a pass in the endzone as he adjusted to a low poorly thrown ball from Vick.
Thats 4 TDs.
And we missed a FG.
Left a lot of points out there.
Eagles were lucky to not be down by at least 14 at half time. Both teams left some points on the board which is pretty crazy in a 33-30 game with no OT.
however, the eagles defense forced the turnovers to keep the points off the board for SD. If you get stopped by a D, I dont consider that leaving points on the board. If you got stopped, you got stopped.
The eagles only stopped themselves on all 5 of those plays that I just mentioned. Not SD’s D. Just missed opportunities by the eagles.
We werent lucky SD didnt have more points. We kept them from having those points. SD was incredibly lucky we didnt have more. Because we left them there ourselves.
2 to DJax were under pressure. One cause he was hit while he threw. The other while evading pressure.
As far as Casey..he caught that ball. Then he dropped it. That’s all on him.
that is on Casey. The DJax TD called back is on some other eagles player. Cant remember who the penalty was on. And the FG was on Henery. So still at least 3 of 5 scoring opportunities were squandered completely by ourselves.
Lane Johnson. The rookie.
OMG are you kidding me?! That is a crap ton of points. So in other words this game should have been more or less easily won!
yes. however that in a way places the blame on the Offense. Which isnt very fair considering they scored 30 points. You score 30, your defense better find a way to preserve a win for you. But yeah. Offense still left a lot out there by themselves.
Not so fast.
We score. They scored. It could have easily been 40 or 45. You forget the D forced a punt once and had 2 turnovers. That’s THREE total stops in the whole game.
The offense score 30 point in 19:43…we just didn’t have the ball much. For the most part we made the possessions count…but if your defense stops NOTHING. Well…you lose by 3.
The one “slightly overthrown” pass I’d have to disagree with, if Jackson didn’t keep turning to look at where the pass was going he would have been on the spot, plus if it hits you hands you should catch it. Also, the one where he didn’t get the second foot in bounds was definitely a mental error from DJ.
Perspective?!!! This is Philly not some hippie commune!
Point still stands that the NFC East looks like the redheaded stepchild of the NFC through the first 2 weeks and might be had with even 9 wins this year. Still the best and easiest avenue for this team to make the playoffs this year.
Perspective = logic.
Hippies and Philly fans both lack logic. Tommy does not. That’s why we come here.
Eh, perspective is more like the information you need to execute your logic.
So what you’re saying is that perspective is a part of the logical process, but it’s not equal to it? Great.
Now back to the larger point: Tommy’s not a hippie.
Anyone who calls this defense the worst ever apparently has a crappy memory. The ’12 Saints were the worst defense ever (I think), and if we’re just talking the Eagles, all I can say is Juan Castillo and Sean McDermott.
With that said, I hate this defense, and I still hate the choice of Bill “Don’t Call Me Billy” Davis as the coordinator. I don’t like the switch to a 2 gap D and still think it’s a total waste of what little talent we do have on that side of the ball. I understand we have to make the move at some point, but make it next year when we have a chance to draft and sign some players that fit the 3-4 a bit better. When Casey Matthews is your answer as a backup outside linebacker and is actually getting rotated in for anything other than an injury, I have to wonder what the coaches are thinking.
I realize my opinion is both biased by the recent loss and by the thinking that Davis was a poor choice to start with. I wanted to see some positive changes to the D, and we have. You pointed that out in your post, and I should probably be happy they’re at least taking baby-steps forward. I’m just thinking this is going to be a very, very long season for the defense. (Also, I disagree. The D is totally going to give up 30+ PPG, because Peyton is going to drop 5,000 points on us and totally screw up the average).
Im fine with switching this year because at least the pieces that carry over to next year already have experience in the D they will be running. But I do agree that 2 gap is a bad idea with the players we have. We cant keep switching between 1 and 2 gap every couple of years. Every time we get the DL overhauled to fit one technique we end up switching again and those guys become square pegs.
Making matters worse is that we have only 1 OLB with experience as an NFL 3-4 OLB. Our OLBs are inexperienced, and cannot generate pass rush on their own. But our DL is 2 gapping so they arent helping either. Our OLBs need help. We need the DL shooting gaps.
The biggest take away from that article is “The NFL is all about matchups.” Soooo true. We will be alright, they are fun to watch this year!
This is a passing league. This is not a matchup problem. Philip Rivers is a worse QB than anyone else in our division, their receiving core is worse than any other in our division aside from the redskins. If we can’t stop the pass we’re going to get lit up week in and week out. It kills me that our FO continues to sell out the defensive side of the ball but you get what you sew.
I don’t know where people got the idea that Rivers is bad. He’s had 2 years with a lame duck coach and a deteriorating O Line.
He’s smart, consistent, and has a pretty decent arm. If the Charger’s O line plays like they did today, he’s going to be a top ten qb again. With a clean pocket like today, he has the talent to be as good as Eli or Romo, easy.
Yeah my point was that we’ll face similar or better competition within the division so we can’t just write off the loss as being a matchup problem.
losing arguably the best outside CB caused some of the match up problems.
Sometimes I dont understand Cole. He had a very active day against a top 5 LT then go have a terrible day (in pass rush) against King Dunlap (tho he aint bad in pass pro, he isnt Trent Williams)
We got our collective ass handed to us on the pass rush and that made all the difference. In our division you have the aging Dallas and New York lines that aren’t going to be as good. Maybe.
Some days are going to look like the Washington game (1st half) some are going to look like yesterday.
Good think it’s a short week — hopefully we can wash off this bad defeat.
I should have elaborated a bit more, but Kendricks vs. Gates is a positive matchup for SD. So was Floyd vs. Boykin. Size factor, big guys beat up little guys, and that’s what SD did to us. I don’t think Rivers is that bad. Certainly not as bad as Eli has been so far this season. I have to believe in the next two years we better get some talent on Def.
I just want to know what is the importance of a 2 gap 3-4 DL if we are getting thrown on 50x a game?
They have GOT TO get Curry active to give him a chance to help the interior pass rush. The lack of blitz creativity was troubling.
Is the 6th best ST being active more valuable than a pass rusher? Especially if you force 1 punt the entire game?
I expected 6-10 to 9-7. I’m just frustrated by the poor play on D. Its admirable that they are playing hard, but where is the bottom with this D? Where?
How did Mychal Kendricks look this game? I have a mancrush on him….
not like last week.
‘Lost in Space’ like much of the last half of ’12 unfortunately. He got burnt a couple of times today by Gates.
I love Chip Kelly’s offense. Fully behind his hire. But having Logan, Geathers, and Square ahead of Curry is an oversight. Graham only playing on Sts? That’s another one.
Cox on the outside trying to beat OTs? Not his strength. Same with Thornton. His best pass rushers need to see the field.
I hope this game illustrates that. Too run pluggers are active. One of them need to be sat for Curry, and he and Graham need to be on the field the same time as Cole in passing situations.
Definitely agreed on this.
On some of these downs, we knew they weren’t going to run the ball so there is no point in doing a 2-gap 3-4 then. Curry is incredibly quick off the snap of the ball. Even if he doesn’t get there that is often disruptive itself. Plus, if they have Graham in as well, no way Woodhead or Matthews can block either of those guys plus Cole.
It’s ridiculous, you’re playing a PASSING team and graham AND Curry barely play or is inactive?!!?!?
Also, I’m not sure this D won’t give up 450-500 yds every week. They are terrible. And if we don’t score 30 every week we aren’t going to sniff .500.
Objectively, it doesn’t matter how hard they are trying if they are this bad. I can appreciate the effort while still being pissed about how awful they are.
Agree 100%
this is a test for CK.. Must change this defense up. I know he won’t outright cut Nate Allen, though I’d love that, but certainly he can find a way to add Trenton Robinson to the 53-man roster and dress him over Nate on Thursday night against KC. The Earl of Wolff starts and Robinson is our third safety. Nasty Nate is in street clothes. It must be done, the guy is plainly pathetic back there. Lets just see how CK handles it.
He needs to get a tutor on time management as well, this is two weeks in a row that poor time management has screwed us.
Good points Tommy. Everyone needs to settle down. Its Week 2.
If the Defense can catch up to the Offense, Eagles can be a scary team.
Two players: Wolff and Curry can help the defense.
Wolff is inexperienced but his upside is great
Once he gets this defense down, his physical skills will show.
Curry can help as a pass rusher, which is a big enough need to activate him.
This wasn’t about lack of effort with the D at all. They played hard. Schematic adjustments will need to be made in coverage. Other than Boykin I can’t trust any DB to cover anyone 1 on 1. Might see more Zone D. Playing closer to line of scrimmage.
Need to do a better job disguising blitzes. Cary Williams said post game that Rivers knew calls that Ryans was making. It sure looked that way. That’s players and coaches. With QBs like Rivers and the ones coming up you have to fake something pre-snap, sell the look, then do something different. Remember all those chess matches with Ray Lewis and Tom Brady. That’s what you have to do with QBs that can just pick you apart.
NFL is all about continuity, consistency, and improving each week.
This was a tough loss, but an important one for this team.
I think the guys learned that one play at any point can affect the game. Each player needs to be ready to make the plays when they are there. Can never settle for good enough when greatness is around the corner.
FLY EAGLES FLY
At times it looked like SD entire strategy was hurry to the line, have Rivers wave his hands and say a bunch of words, wait for the defense to show where the pressure was coming from, sure up protection, call a play and complete a pass for 10 yards
Read this in BGN yesterday, got me thinking this was not going to be an easy day.
JG: Without a real
star, the Chargers passing offense looks to spread defenses out and
force them to try and defend four or five receivers at a time. Is the
Eagles secondary good enough, and deep enough, to handle that?
BG: In short: no. This is the Eagles game day depth chart at cornerback: Cary Williams, Brandon Boykin, Brandon Hughes, and Jordan Poyer. Recently acuqired Shaun Prater doesn’t have the playbook down yet and Bradley Fletcher,
the Eagles starting CB opposite Cary, is out with a concussion.
Williams had a nice game against the Skins (an interception, a sack, and
a clutch 4th down deflection) but I still see him as an up and down
player. Boykin is better than people know. Hughes is a veteran depth CB,
and Poyer is a 7th round rookie who does not look like a reliable NFL
player at this time.
The safeties aren’t exactly inspiring either. Patrick Chung can tackle but isn’t known for his coverage skills. Nate Allen
is better in coverage but not as great of a tackler. This could be a
tough matchup for the Eagles secondary. Generating pressure on San Diego
could go a long way to help hide the Eagles’ issues in the secondary.
This game was frustrating because we have seen it so many times….this was the annual WTF game we would get from Dmac. Seeing Rivers on the sideline made me want to vomit…..Dude is talented but is a bum more often than not (how many playoff wins does he have?) except in games against us. SD was 10 of 15 on 3rd down conversions…..stat that tells you the game. Defense could not get stops even though we were getting them obvious 3rd down situations. Awful….Awful way to lose the game….
back to the 3rd down conversions by SD…..first half they were 1 for 3, 2nd half they were 9 for 12…..really????how is that even possible????
Finally. The pressure of an undefeated season is off the team’s back.
Thanks. I needed that!
true story, i’m glad you’re seeing things properly tommy.
we’re going to live and die with the front seven and their ability to get to the qb. the secondary just isn’t good enough. this isn’t a surprise. plus brad fletcher was out. thats a BIG deal for a thin secondary.
look at the bright side; our defense was that bad and we almost won the game. if any one of the following things happens we win this game:
-vick completes 1 of those two wide open bombs to jax
-casey doesn’t drop the ball in the endzone
-that KOR fumble that managed to advanced the ball 20 yards for the chargers and that no eagles player could seem to jump on the ball
Also djax’s stupid personal foul that allowed the kick off mentioned above to be returned. shit like that has to stop.
hell, henery missed a very makeable FG.
more perspective: andy beat the cowboys (AGAIN), skins and giants both got blown out. in a rebuilding/transition/whatever you want to call it year this a pretty good start.
It’s hard knowing that we’re going to have to wait a few years before we might be able to start getting really hyped up. Especially since Andy teased us for so many years, leaving us so close to winning it all, only to get nothing. I’ll just have to keep reminding myself how promising the offense looks to get through the next 1-3 years we need before the Eagles become a playoff team (assuming Chip is getting the team in the right direction to begin with).
I agree we won’t be serious Super Bowl contenders for at least another two years, but I am happy with the team’s direction up to this point. While we have a chance to make the playoffs this year, I don’t think we have a real chance of winning it all so overall team improvement is all I ask for. The offense looks better than it did last year and Kelly’s offense seems to work just fine in the NFL. I will give the defense more leeway this season since we are making a pretty big change there and we also have less talent on that side of the ball. Ideally we could be an above average defense by the end of the year, but a below average defense or better is more realistic and an improvement from 2012. Adding more defensive talent and a franchise QB in the next two years should set us up to be a Super Bowl competitive team in the near future.
Thats easier said than done. Most teams who try to rebuild defenses or get a franchise QB fail in the process. That’s the whole point of the NFL: to separate the few winners from the many losers. Regarding QB, I’m ok with how Vick has done, but an upgrade would be nice. I’m not so quick to write off Nick Foles down the road. Some guys like Eli Manning, Tony Romo, Drew Brees, and Aaron Rodgers took years before becoming decent QBs. I saw the preseason more as: Vick was almost flawless, while Foles did pretty good. Barkley, on the other hand, simply looks bad. If reports about Oakland are true, take advantage of their stupidity and trade him to them. The Eagles need to devote a ton of resources into their defense. To do that, offensive needs like WR need to be addressed by giving Jeremy Maclin a new contract. Jairus Byrd would be a huge addition at safety. We’re going to need to use the draft solely for defense in the early rounds. A cornerback is a must in one of the first two rounds. Nose tackle (ie Louis Nix) is another big need.
Anthony Barr, Louis Nix, and Haha Dix are at the top of the wishlist right now. All three make us instantly better on D.
Give me Barr. A NT can only take you so far and a safety while nice to have does not help if there is no pass rush.
Ad Bradley Roby or Ifo to the list at CB (both could be game changer at CB for us)
Agreed but Barr will almost assuredly be a top 5 pick. Not sure he will be around for us to get our hands on. Roby and Ifo are also legit targets.
I understand that it’s not an easy feat, but it’s something this team is going to have to do regardless. Vick won’t be around for too much longer and while I like Foles, I don’t think he’ll be better than an average QB which is something you always want to improve on. Barkley was perceived as a late 3rd round value to this team so he seriously needs to show he can be good to be the future QB of the Eagles. Now if the team feels differently and believes one of them can be a franchise QB, then better for us. I just think it’s more likely that the QB that will hold down the position for the next so many years and get this team far into the playoffs is not yet on this team.
I don’t think we’ll need to spend a first on a nose tackle and the team said before that they believe Logan put on weight and possibly fill that position. Some type of DB and possibly a rush linebacker are the main positions that require an early pick, but that’s only if we don’t like any of the top QBs. I think we’ll most likely re-sign Maclin to a short contract to see if his knee is okay and to find out if he’s willing to toughen up his play to fit in this system. After this, using a middle round pick on a third WR should be good enough.
Tommy your absolutely correct, i would be pulling my hair out if this was a AR coached eagles team. Everything is still new here and with every week with every snap we learn more and more about this Chip Kelly led Eagles. The defense played bad for sure but the effort was there they just didn’t get it done. The pieces aren’t yet in place for this 3-4 D to thrive so i must keep that in mind as i yell at the tv screen. Can’t wait till Thursday night and how they respond to from this tough loss. I feel a little bit better after reading this Tommy
“Some fans are calling the defense “garbage” and saying this is the worst they’ve ever seen.
NO WAY.
The Eagles are playing hard. They are flying to the football. There is no lack of effort, intensity or physicality.”
Tommy, I appreciate your positivity, but at least statistically, some fans may not be too far off in some areas.
“Reuben Frank
@RoobCSN
Eagles have allowed 768 passing yards, 6th-most in NFL history after two games.”
That is history you do not want to be a part of.
I like the general attitude of the defense, you see players flying to the ball and gang tackling. You do see effort and physicality, but that still can mean an awful defense.
The one argument I would have against “worst defense ever” is that it is still extremely early and there are a guys that we still can hope will continue to develop and eventually become valuable players on the defense (Cox for example). Still, effort/intensity/physicality are not enough. It’s a nice difference to what we saw last year from the likes of guys such as Nnamdi and DRC, but while the style is completely different, the results are not.
Is that taking into account era inflations? Because passing yards and TDs is at it all time peak right now.
Also I much rather have Williams there maybe gives up a completion, but then tackle the guy (like on Gates on the 3rd down where Chung held a guy) than the Charming Brigade.
On a different note, if you had not been following the stats or looking at the scoreboard, and instead just watched all the missed opportunities for the Eagles in this game, would you have thought we still scored 30 points? To me, based on the eye test rather than the results, the offense looked fairly sloppy. But despite that, they managed to put up 30 points, a point total that would have been the 2nd highest points scored by our offense all of last year. To me, I take that as a positive. On a day that the offense is struggling, they still are capable to put up numbers and score. I don’t think that means that when the offense really starts to gel we will be scoring 40+ points a game or anything like that, but it seems that CK did a good job at least in this game in finding ways to have offensive success despite inconsistent play. In the AR years, if the offense struggled, I don’ think there were many times we saw him still manage to put up points with any regularity the way we saw the offense score today.
Perspective?
Chargers were 2-19 in last 21 games decided by a TD or less and 0-6 in last 6 games away to NFC opponents.
Bad loss.
You know that losing and winning games decides by less than a TD is pretty random and teams in general regress back towards to mean?
I always love your sage wisdom Tommy but lets not overlook the most obvious point here, REALLY poor clock management at the end of the game! I know Chip always wants to score the TD but when we got that first down inside the red zone not letting the clock wind down to 2 minutes is criminal! I know college doesn’t have the 2 minute warning but rushing that play in meant Vick got hit meaning Foles had to come in and we wasted another play! We hit that field goal with nearly 2 full minutes left on that clock!
If we wait for the 2 minute warning and run our 3 plays after that do you think the game ends the same way?
Also, I have wanted Nate Allen to succeed ever since the day we drafte him but surely now is the time to move on? He is awful in coverage and just doesn’t ever seem to be near the ball to make a play! Time to give Earl a shot?
Frustrated. Yes.
No pass rush, especially from the front 3, but Vinny Curry doesn’t play.
Kelly LIES and says no safeties on the street, he still allows Nate Allen to be on this roster, but Kerry Rhodes could be signed with ease.
Michael Kendicks spent all week reading press clippings rather than prepping for the game and played like crap.
Other items:
The refs sucked yesterday. There was nothing even approaching balance in the penalties called. The replay on the sideline catch by the Chargers was a joke because the guy should have been ruled out of bounds to begin with and the replay clearly showed his right foot was in the air as the ball hit his hands and never touched in bounds after the catch was completed.
I never expect to be a playoff team in year one of the Kelly experiment, but yesterday was a bad loss.
Do you know how terrible safety play is around the NFL? If a 31 year old safety is still on the street, it is because he is DONE, FINISHED.
In this case, that is not the case. Rhodes is probably on the street bc of (well founded) rumors about his sexual preference.
Do you honestly think a HC looking to win games would care 1 zip about the guys sexual preference?
I mean this is the team that have a former convict for animal cruelty (people care more about that than rape) and a guy who is said the one word no white man can ever say.
Actually, yes, I do think they care. Professional Sports teams can be very homophobic. We’ve already had enough problems with Cooper’s idiocy. I don’t think they want mess with the chemistry of the team yet again by adding Rhodes.
about the other 30 teams (31 minus the Seahawks) with not so good safeties?
Again, pro sports teams are very homophobic. It’s a very macho culture. I think there is a growing number of players willing to accept an openly homosexual teammate, but I think for now it’s a PR nightmare just waiting to happen. San Francisco had a player speak out against LGBT community and that caused quite an uproar.
Just out of curiosity, where are you from Anders? Maybe it’s a cultural thing.
Denmark
It’s definitely a cultural divide I think. Its still a controversial topic for many here in the US. There’s been a few ESPN features on the topic. You might be able to find them online. I think even OTL covered it in regards to Kerry Rhodes. Might be worth a quick look on Google.
Yea Denmark is much more liberal on that point than USA (also on things like swear words, sex, drugs, alcohol)
Denmark was also the first country in the world to allow registered partnership between two gay people.
Yup, but not bc of the sexual preference. Because of the distractions it may create. You are supremely naive if you think it’s not factored in.
If I was a HC/GM looking to win in a very competitive league, I would do anything in my power to win games. Maybe Im naive, maybe I just live in country where gays aint as hated and therefor cant see the problem.
I have no issue with preference, but it is not the same everywhere.
If I was Howie I’d trade Brandon Hughes straight up for Richard Sherman. No brainer..
It’s still very early, but I am excited for the future of this team. We lost this game, but we didn’t lack the fire and will, they just couldn’t execute.
This offense has a chance to be remarkable.
What would you do in next years draft? Strengthen the defense, which has glaring holes, or draft the Qb of Chip Kelly. Vick is playing good football, but I have serious doubts about his durability and I just can’t imagine him to be our Qb in 2 years time. I would likely grab a franchise qb, if we can get close to one (even with a trade up), and put every other resources to the defense after that. Mariota would be our ultimate weapon, but there are several promising qb-s heading into next years draft.
Even Juan Castillo in his worst game only gave up 449 yards and 26 points in an overtime loss to Detroit. That game got him canned. It by far was his worst game as a DC. On a day where Vick put up career numbers and ZERO turnovers were committed, the Eagles still managed to squander a victory by giving up over 500 yards – a stat line that even the 2012 Eagles weren’t quite bad enough to achieve. We would be regressing if we say the defense shouldn’t be a top priority to fix and that jobs should not be on the line. Hopefully Chip Kelly views this situation as the Billy Davis trial period rather than the Billy Davis tenured position.
Everybody from the owner to Kelly to Davis have said this is a trial period.
The Chargers had to put up big numbers to keep up with the Eagles’ offense. It’s like when you hear about losing quarterbacks who have 400-yd games. They’re playing from behind, so throw for a lot of yards.
Plus, no points were scored off the two turnovers. That’s on the Eagles offense. Remember, Henery missed a FG.
If it makes you guys feel any better, try referring to him as “Interim Defensive Coordinator” Bill Davis.
Yeah, let’s keep things in perspective. The Eagles probably aren’t going to the SB this year. Or next year. After going 4-12 last year, I’ll be happy to see them get back to 8-8. This is a work in progress. Chip is going to need another draft (or two) to get the players he needs to effectively run his scheme. If they aren’t challenging for playoff spots after next season, then I’ll start to worry. Until then I’ll try to enjoy watching them evolve as a program.
It’s annoying ’cause such good offensive play is being wasted. The offense just needs a wee bit of help. At this point however I think they realize they are going to have to cut down on mistakes since they just don’t have the luxury of making them.
Btw can we talk about something positive instead? How awesome is this offense? Once they stop making stupid illegal formation penalties, this offense is deadly.
Also how nice was it to see Vick take care of his body by running out of bounds?
They still could go 10-6, 8-8 or 6-10.
Why do you hate odd number Tommy?
Why don’t they give Kerry Rhodes a look? He’d clearly be an upgrade. Tommy, can you get to the bottom of this?
What I have heard is that he is asking for way to much money, and doesn’t want to play if he doesn’t get it.
The Eagles have the cap space. They could sign him, if they desired. I’d like to see Tommy or some other reporter press Howie on this issue.
We do have the cap space, but regardless how frustrating our safety play is, you can’t simply provide a blank check to a player. You still have to put a value on the player and stay reasonably close to that value. You can over pay slightly, but if you paying a player due to desperation always leads to bad results. From what it sounds like, Rhodes is asking for way more than any team is willing to pay and considering his talent, I think that is pretty telling.
Nate Allen was bad last year, he was bad the year before, he was bad in preseason, and now we’re stuck with him. Why are coaches blind to this?
I’ve got to believe they see the same things we do. But now what?
because there nobody on the street and nobody behind better than him.
No, it’s because of the new scheme, right?! Lol…
He got benched during the game. Coaches know he sucks.
Can we cut Nate Allen yet?
I think the secondary is getting too much flack. We knew they were going to be bad. We knew there was going to be a derth of talent there. However, they weren’t helped much by the pass rush or coaching. I don’t get why in any point of the game you would rush 3 and drop 8. If any of you can name 8 guys on this team you wnt in coverage, I will personally send you $10 and a cookie. Rivers looked like he was having a day on the beach at times. There’s no wonder he picked the secondary apart.