Quick Note
Posted: September 16th, 2013 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 181 Comments »The previous post had about 175 comments going. Things get very tough to follow at that point so I’m throwing up a quick post. Will enable you to keep the conversation going.
Mychal Kendricks had a bad game on Sunday. Things like that hurt. Bill Davis doesn’t have great talent to work with so he needs his best players to play well. When one of them struggles, you’re going to have a tough time stopping the opponent.
I can’t stress enough how good the Chargers were. The Eddie Royal catch on the sideline was a thing of beauty. Rivers pass to Floyd on the sideline was a great throw. And so on. Those guys played really well.
Still working on the DGR.
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One note about Bill Davis and the defense. It is possible he will prove to not be the right guy to run the D. I’m saying things like “give it time”, but I do fully acknowledge this group may be a major problem for a couple of years and then change will be needed.
The Skins hired a veteran DC in Jim Haslett and their D has been a mess for 4 years. They’ve changed players. They’ve tweaked the staff. Haslett is an overrated defensive coach (I’m not sure why) and WAS has made some bad signings/picks. The situation was supposed to get better this year with the return of Orakpo, but somehow has gotten worse.
You guys think Nate Allen is bad, but Bacarri Rambo makes Nate look like Wes Hopkins.
My point with Davis is not to have blind faith in him. Let’s give the guy at least half a season before we start to form definitive opinions. We can judge him each week, but just keep it in context. You need a decent sample size before really knowing a player/coach/team.
Back to the tape for me.
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I like Davis. I think he has good ideas. He doesn’t seem like a “self promoter”. And I think he genuinely welcomes and accepts different opinions.
However, through two games, there doesn’t appear to be many in-game adjustments. Of course, what adjustments can you make when you know your players are still just trying to learn the basics and some of those players are in over their heads to begin with?
I wonder if adjustments are made, but the talent on the defensive side can’t execute them in a way makes them impactful — in addition to your point about just warming to the basics.
Case in point, on the Royal TD in the 2nd half, the Eagles dropped 8 men into coverage. Yet, Royal was WIDE open and just walked into the end zone. Someone wasn’t where he was supposed to be.
It makes me think that the reason he blitzes so much is to try to cover up the flaws in the secondary. And if you are constantly having to cover up one group with another, your options to make adjustments will be limited.
Sound argument. Bitter trade-off.
I think you two are spot on. Such a conclusion is supported by this quote from Kelly:
“We’ve got to coach them better and put them in positions to make plays,” Kelly said. “We’ve got to make sure we put a game plan together so they understand it. It’s a simple deal.”
http://www.phillymag.com/eagles/2013/09/16/kelly-there-arent-any-safeties-on-the-street/
There’s only so much you can do with bad players
Didn’t Denver have 8 defenders in coverage when the Ravens’ Jones catch his TD? Coverage breakdowns happen, but the absent pass rush yesterday was critical. I’d like to know how Davis planned to attack Denver’s pass pro, it looked like Wisenhunt was prepared for Davis (indicating that he possibly did not vary his schemes that were used when he was AZ’s DC). SD had 3 new linemen, incl. K. Dunlap!?!? Shouldn’t the Eagles have gone after Dunlap, maybe throw in some overload blitzes against the rookie OL?
The Eagles had several overload blitzes and stunts. Problem was the interior OL did a really great job along with the RBs in blitz pick up.
Heard there were lots of A gap blitzes, same as last week. But think the issue was that Rivers just read our shit and then we couldn’t execute. I think playing Denver is going to be tough to watch, though if the D was right i think we could beat them. Is that delirious?
At somepoint its all about execution. Our blitzers and pass rushers didnt beat there men enough in 1v1 battles (when you blitz 5,6 or 7 guys, a few of them have 1v1 battles and they we need a guy like Cole to win that more often than he did)
Effective blitzing and disguise is supposed to result in free runs, not one-on-ones. That’s a win for the pass pro when they get a hat on everybody.
it’s not that complicated…When an Offensive line is playing really solid football, and a good veteran QB is on, you have to disguise your blitzes. Some of it Falls on Davis, but most of it falls on my beloved linebackers…Rivers used the slow play clock to figure out exactly what we were doing. our Linebacks were way too anxious and Undiscaplined in that too often they tipped their hand and the QB knew there true intentions…and you simply can’t do that against a good QB especially when his protection is playing well to begin with…
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Linebackers need to do a better job of not being over anxious against a slow play clock…bLitz loses its luster when the other team knows exactly who is coming..
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Wisenhunt and Rivers simply out foxed Davis, but our LBs didn’t do him any favor, and that hurts considering my love and belief in these LBs..
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on a positive note, Meco was really good again…
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I’m going to have to rely on Toms DGR this week. I tried watching the game twice, but it’s just too painful to watch, I could barely get through a quarter…Don’t care how exciting Offense looks, I can’t stomach seeing an Eagles defense play that way. it’s like a kick to my balls
how much credence do you give to the theory about SD knowing davis’ calls? (part of it was because they were walking right up into the damn gaps before the snap, so it was no longer a blitz, it was a formation). williams intimated, however, that they seemed to know what we were playing.
Well, he was crossing swords with his old head coach with a stable of players who have little to no experience playing actual games in his defensive scheme…
Sounds like trouble to me.
yep. regardless of signals/playcalls, familiarity would be an issue. the total suckitude of our personnel probably factored, at least a little, into the results.
I don’t think that I buy that they stole and decoded or signals and were listening/reading the plays as we called them in. On the other hand, I think it is entirely possible, and likely, that the SD coach was able to predict Davis’ moves because he knows him so well.
a la shurmur / CLE vs. andy and marty in the opener last year. they were DEEP in philly’s playbook.
Maybe the Eagles D is very predictable, and the blitzes are not well-disguised.
It doesn’t hurt that they have the two players who can hurt the Eagles the most- an accurate QB (granted, we gave him all kinds of time) and a big, dominant TE. Looking ahead, not too many pairings like Rivers/Gates on the schedule.
So if a former Davis colleague was able to predict our defense so well just based on his familiarity with the coordinator, what does that say about all the offseason talk of designing our scheme around our personnel? Seems like just the opposite is happening.
If it takes a few years to fix the D what effect will that have on Chip’s legacy. If we spend 3 years at 8-8 or losing in the first round of the playoffs? No doubt the league will catch up to the offense. At what point do you stop saying “next year”.
At the same time we lost a close game that we could have easily won if we get a couple of breaks. It’s not like last year where we would have gotten blown out. we also had to forced turnovers, is that 5 in 2 games? I’ll take that all day.
Yes 5 turnovers and a +4 TO ratio. Much of the scoring disparity in the Eagles losses last year can be traced to the Eagles negative TO ratio. If Chippah can keep the Eagles on the + side that alone should count for 3-4 wins. I think it’s a great sign that the Eagles are + in TOs and Vick hasn’t coughed the rock up.
Agree – the year over year change there i think is more than anyone could have expected. That said, we haven’t played a dominant D yet.
I don’t care how ‘well’ SD played. Our front 7 got no rush. If we can’t get to an immoble QB protected by King Dunlap, what makes us think we can get to anyone? And with the secondary we have, it’s gonna be a long season.
It may be entertaining, like yesterday, but the Offense has no margin to commit the number of unforced errors we saw. Formation, personal foul after a TD, two bombs missed…one OB and one too long…or dropped.
Couple these with the coach’s learning curve on NFL…clock management…failure to use up as much of the clock as possible before our FG has to stop, too
King Dunlap @ OT + big day for Rivers = Complete and total pass rush failure.
King is in the league because he can pass block. Remember the day he had against John Abraham a few years ago in relief of Peters? Not to mention he has seen every move from Cole. Cole was in the backfield for much of the day.
Of course I agree there were times when there should of been better pressure, especially when they were bringing 6+. It was disheartening to say the least. Give Rivers credit though for getting the ball out very quickly. I doubt there were many times when the ball didn’t come out before 3 seconds.
We failed against King, but a week before we were Nasty against Trent Williams, who is probably the best LT in the NFL after Peters….yet, already we suck, we are destined to suck, and we can’t beat any Linemen…lol
hey tommy, i made a note of it in the other thread, but i’ll add it here again, just in case.
in your DGR, can you make a note of what defensive formations are used? in particular, i (thought i) saw the D using some 3-3-5 in the nickel instead of a 4-2-5 that might suit our pass rushers a little better. is the 3-3-5 better in run support, helping us defend the run a little better?
or do you think this was just more of Davis trying out different formations to see how his guys react to it in game time?
Re:Davis
Even if Davis isn’t the right guy, how difficult is it to get in the middle of the pack in terms of league defense? I’m just saying he doesn’t have to be a defensive guru, just someone who doesn’t completely stink. What are the thoughts on him from his previous jobs? Were his defenses mediocre?
Yeah, I’m not looking for much, just Top 25. That is only eighth from the bottom this year. Can we do that?
He had 4 years as a D coordinator before this
2005 | 49ers | 31 D rank | 4-12 record
2006 | 49ers | 29 D rank | 7-9 record
2009 | Cards | 11 D rank | 10-6 record
2010 | Cards | 25 D rank | 5-11 record
To be fair–
Mike Nolan called the D when bill was in SF. So that doesn’t really count either way
I posted this just as the now post went up, so I am reporting it here:
“I understand what you’re saying about the 2012 defense vs. what we are seeing now, but I have to disagree with you a bit. Hypothetically speaking I would much rather have more talented players who are under performing than less talented players who are playing hard, ASSUMING the more talented players are still playing at a higher level. At the end of the day, style points are meaningless. Yes, the under performing players are frustrating as hell, but results are what matter. When all is said and down, I don’t care HOW a defense finds success, as long as they do, and if the under performing player is still performing better than the less talented player, I’ll take that.
For me, the difference you are talking about is likability. Yes, the over achieving player is waaaaay more likable, but I’m not rating these guys on how much I will like them off the field. That part is meaningless to me in football. You have to produce on the field.
And just to be clear, I don’t know that this defense is necessarily worse than last years defense just yet. It is waaaaaay to early to make that call, especially with all the adjustments that are happening. But I am speaking from a hypothetical standpoint. Give me the defense that is better. Period. Whether that is an overachieving group or an underachieving group. I simply want results on the field.”
You’re missing a key point. You can’t trust the underachievers. They’ll quit when adversity hits. The grinders will always give you everything they have.
You won’t win a title with either group, but you can mix in some grinders with talent and get a top unit. The underachievers are a group you should want nothing to do with.
I think you are putting to much emphasis on the negative aspect of an underachiever. While they can underachieve, they can also play up to their talent, something an overachiever can never do. Of course you can’t trust them, and chances are they are more inconsistent, but you still need talent to play.
Just to give you an example that is not DRC and Nnamdi… Vick falls into that category of underachiever. The guy has all the talent in the world, and no one argues with that, but except for 2010, he has not been able to play up to his talent at any point in his career. Foles on the other hand seems to be the overachiever type. He has limited arm strength, limited mobility, but seemingly gets everything he can out of the talent he has. Still, Vick is our starter because when you sum it all up, Vick’s superior talent minus his underachieving is greater than Foles lesser talent plus his overachieving, at least for now.
Vick’s attitude here (in Philly) though has been that he has been a very hard worker. If he’d have played this way for Atlanta, I think his career would have had a different trajectory. His bad habits were caused by doing them constantly when he was developing and I’m assuming people being good with it as he had so much talent no one wanted to change him.
He does seem to be improving some now. Yesterday I saw him duck out of bounds a few times before someone laid the hammer on him. Just a couple years ago he’d have stayed in bounds, taken the hit and tried for the extra yard or so.
Davis does have very little talent to work with. He has a few ok players who are inconsistent (Cox, Kendricks, Cole, Barwin) and a solid player in Ryans. But man, there isn’t one stud on the defense. We don’t have a J.J. Watt or Justin Smith or Aldon Smith or Clay Matthews or Vince Wilfork or Troy Polamalu. We don’t have any defender who can just take over a game by himself. We put resources into guys like Graham, Allen, Cox, Kendricks, and Curry and they haven’t been worth it. They were selected high enough for us to expect that at least one of those five guys would be a stud. Obviously Chip isn’t to blame for that. Big Red blew up the post-Johnson/Dawkins defense and turned it into an embarrassment. Fixing the offense was the easy part for Chip. It already had talent. He just had to maximize it. The defense is barren. He has to start from scratch, and I’m not sure he and Davis can rebuild it fast enough.
I don’t think you can throw Cox and Kendricks into that. Yes Kendricks had a bad game, but he had a great game last week. So hold judgment on him. Cox is a great 4-3 pass rusher. But was drafted right before we changed systems and now he’s trying to fit in. But agree with other stuff and really think we should have addressed it in the offseason. However, i was really jealous of TB, they way they grabbed guys. 2 games in that hasn’t been a great success either.
Yeah, I don’t understand how you take a guy like Kendricks, who was the best player on the field 1 week, struggled the next week, and just write him off as chopped Liver..
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take Cole for example, yes he struggled with King, but he also destroyed the second best LT in the NFL in Trent Williams..
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Cary had a rough game, but was one of the best players on the field the week before locking up the Skins when the Line Acually helped him
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Meco has played really well in both games…
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I get that we played really bad Sunday, but it’s still only 50% of the equations, yet it seems to be 100% of people’s judgements and I just don’t understand how Sunday can be used to tell the entire story…
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THis was never suppose Sto be an elite group. it was supposed to be the foundation for an eventual top defense. the measure of this year defense was never supposed to be how they play in September…it was supposed to be how they improve from one month to the next…..these over reactions are just insane. they may play out to be true, but it’s insane to make these judgements after two games, one of which was a really solid defensive showing
Re: A Better Mouse-Trap Builder
T-Law (and his devotees):
On the assumption that Kelly wants to run a 2-gap 3-4 base defense, who would be a better D-coordinator than Bill “TDCMB” Davis?
Assume you can have your choice of anyone, except Rex Ryan.
And it’s fair to ask whether the Eagles have the necessary *critical mass* of great talent at the right positions for the 3-4 to succeed . . . whomever is coaching the defense. There’s some talent there, no doubt. But does Davis have a critical mass of great talent?
T-Law . . . using your example from this morning re: Jimmy Johnson is instructive. His Cowboys won because he had 3 HOFers — all drafted within a 3 year period — at QB, HB, and WR and he constructed an offense that maxed-out their talents.
Seems, in assessing Davis’s performance, we should ask whether he’s playing a very bad hand this year.
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Regarding Graham and Curry . . . seems right to assume at present they’re not delivering what the staff wants. I’ll leave that to T-Law.
Yeah… I don’t think you can judge a DC until he has enough good or even decent players to work with. If you have enough good players you can kind of make up for having a few bad ones, but the Eagles D clearly doesn’t have enough good players.
Not even until he has good enough players…..he is coaching a unit half of which have never played in a scheme like this, while the other half are new Eagles. he has had 5 months and 10 quarters of football to work with them….who in their right mind could expect some consistently cohesive top defense at this point? What DC could we have hard that would have done better at this point then a good showing against Skins, and a bad showing against the chargers?…that’s what this season is going to be like…Half the time the defense will look very promising, the other half of the time they will struggle…but that’s to be expected…who was going to get more out of this situation? Ted Mochino? Ed Dontell? Romeo Crenell? We were horrible last year….how can people even think about judging a defense at this point? And if you are into making rash judgments, well the skins game is still 50% of the equation
“Regarding Graham and Curry . . . seems right to assume at present they’re not delivering what the staff wants. I’ll leave that to T-Law.”
Whats puzzling is that on one hand Kelly wants to win now with his bottom of the roster decisions(special teams over potential) but he seems hell bent on installing this 2 gap 3-4 defense and sitting guys (Graham and Curry) who could help win them games this season because they dont fit the defense.
Puzzling . . . no better word for that comment. (I mean, it was the perfect word to express your thought.) VWD.
and I quote YahooSports — “Eagles feature arguably the worst safety duo in the entire league”
Who else is in the argument?
LMAO. Not sure, maybe the SD safeties or the Wash Safeties. It’s a close call…
Weddle on SD is always good.
He is Shady’s bitch right now. Tho I think most safeties in the NFL is Shady’s bitch.
I dunno….Weddle earned his money keeping Shady out of the ENDZONE late in the game, holding us to 3 points…it turned out to be the difference in the game
Giants and Redskins.
Re: Monday Notes
Will there be any further investigation into the recent allegation that the Eagles spiked a 2012 pre-draft swap of a 2nd rounder for Kaepernick because someone on the Eagles side, perhaps the guy running the draft, was sure they would get Russell Wilson — apparently in Rd 3.
I’ll write about that tonight or tomorrow morning.
Interestingly. Personally i don’t think Wilson is that great. He has an ok arm, and doesnt turn the ball over a lot. But i think he looks great b/c he’s in Seattle. Defense that only allows 10pts a game. Stud running back. But they don’t make him throw at all, our system isn’t built that way.
I like Wilson but I like the fact that I don’t have to hear the endless debate from Eagles fans about how Wilson is too short to succeed in the NFL
Its tricky. I’d rather have Chip + Vick (+ the unknown QB of the future) than Andy + Colin. Franchise needed to reboot.
Now if its possible that Andy would’ve been fired anyway…..and we could have had Colin + Chip……9 Super Bowls?
I think in a few years there will be debate as to whether or not Kaepernick is the best QB in the NFL.
Theres no way Andy would have survived anyway. Kap would have looked terrible behind our O-line last year.
I’m going to choose not to believe this (mainly because it would hurt too much).
Last year it felt like Harbough went out of his way to make Kaepernick the starter even after Alex Smith came back from injury. Alex Smith had a decent season the year prior and he made a lot of great plays in the NFCCG. Kaepernick played well but he really didn’t light it up. It seemed silly at the time that Harbough would take a team so close to winning a championship and put in a 2nd year QB, I think Harbough knew Kaepernick’s potential.
DK:
Feeling the pain reminds me that I’m alive . . . and an Eagles fan who’s still lamenting the trade of Sonny Jurgenson for Norm Snead.
Now that was a heart wrenching trade.
I wasn’t alive for that trade but…I do remember the non-trade with Green Bay for Mark Brunell. AC, I know it was during Ray Rhodes time as HC. Do you remember the details of this?
I just remember being intrigued when I saw it on the scrolling news on some b list cable news channel.
While Brunell is not a Hall of Famer he would have been fun to watch as an Eagle.
I’d much prefer to hear your take AC, but I forgot I could look it up.
Here are the “facts”
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/416440/BRUNELL-NIXES-TRADE-TO-PHILLY.html?pg=all
I still would like to hear your take on this AC. Thanks.
In case you’re still watching here . . .
Joe Banner, obviously, was negotiating the deal.
He wouldn’t budge from at least a 4-year deal.
The Brunnell camp wanted a shorter contract — 3 years — to cash in on free agency, confident that the QB would do well. Or, as the Deseret News story reported, a ton of money over years 4 and 5, at which Banner balked.
Sadly, the numbers for the first 3 years in Philadelphia were the same as the numbers offered by JAX — the only difference was Jacksonville agreed to a 3-year deal and were able to make the trade.
Footnote to the story . . . Steve Beuerlein actually beat out Brunnell as JAX’s ’95 opening day QB. Brunnell took over after Beuerlein ran up a 1-5 record with 4 TDs and 7 INTs. Brunnell went 3-7 down the stretch, but with 15 TDs and 7 INTs.
JAX and Coach Tom Caughlin had their QB for the next 9 years.
Ha ha, I actually downrated your comment by accident at first because I was so sick to my stomach over the Eagles stupid roster decisions that frequently took place prior to Reid joining the team. Tell me again why it was smart to keep Duce Staley over Ricky Watters?
Easy. Joe Banner was calling the shots.
1. Watters was turning 29 and had a lot wear.
2. Staley was a similar back and much cheaper.
3. Charlie “White Shoes Charlie” Garner was slated to split the snaps with Staley — thunder and lightning, blah blah.
Letting Watters go wouldn’t have been a bad decision if the Eagles had fired Rhodes and elevated Gruden to HC.
Instead, Gruden left for the Raiders. And Dana Bible–God bless him (that’s all one name) became the new OC.
Thus, the table was set for Big Red. And KO Kelly.
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/W/WattRi00.htm
98, 99, and 2000 were huge years for Watters. That type of player would have helped a lot more than Duce Staley did.
MM:
Nothing on earth — not the resurrections of playing-days John Unitas, Jim Brown, and Bouncy Paul Warfield — would have helped the 1998 Eagles.
Dana Bible-God bless him was just horrendous as the OC.
In ’99, with the Eagles having a new coach and committed to *rebuilding* (and not afraid to say that), Watters was an unnecessary expense for the acutely cap-conscious Banner.
-I hear you the 98 team, but Watters was a franchise player and I hate to see a guy like that go.
Part of Banner’s great cap-management that delivered . . . help me here . . . 4 SBs?
Or 5. It depends if you count the one where the other teams unanimously decided to give the trophy to Joe, foregoing the playoffs.
Some things can be blamed on Davis (i.e. sitting Curry in favor of Geathers) and some others (i.e. not upgrading safety with Glover Quin in free agency or Kerry Rhodes right now) are out of his hands.
Kerry Rhodes played for Davis in AZ, I think. Maybe he doesn’t want him for some reason.
I’d love to see it explained.
Me too. But I don’t think it’s just about gay rumors that he hasn’t found a new team, like some report recently suggested. There are too many teams too desperate for safeties. (I hear he just worked out with the Giants).
Yeah, I read it was because he wanted a $3 mil contract. I still see Kerry Rhodes and $17 million in cap space as >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Nate Allen and $20 million of cap space.
I don’t think he’s looking for more than a minimum vet deal at this point. But he is 31 and a rebuilding team like the Eagles are hoping to use younger players at speed positions.
Reports came out during the offseason that Rhodes would rather not play than play for a contract less than what he is demanding. If he is true to that, to me, it seems to be as reasonable an explanation as any for why he is still a FA.
Yeah, I’d rather overpay Kerry Rhodes for 1 year than pay Nate Allen at market value.
I’m not sure that you can blame Currys deactivation on Davis…Possibly, but it could have also been out of his hands and been Fipps decision
I don’t care who it is, I just want to see a DC last more than a season. This amount of turnover has been madness since JJ passed.
Whoever it is, we can’t expect him to turn shit to gold.
I got mixed feelings on that. I’ve seen good defenses make solid starters out the guys we cut. Te’o nesheim, Chris Clemmons, Jaiquan Jarrett, to name a few. We don’t need gold, we need competent starters who know and do their jobs.
Te’o was drafted by McDermott and clearly didnt fit the new wide 9 scheme.
Chris Clemons was actually a very good pass rusher in Oakland, he just as Babin originally didnt fit the 2 gapping we was doing back then.
Jarrett is not starting for the Jets.
he sees lots of time, and he’s competent amazingly enough, my room mate is a Jets fan, I get to watch all of those god awful games.
Jarrett have played 29 out of 133 snaps
Talent is a factor. Coaching is a factor. Playing as a unit is another. While the first two points are totally warranted and worth exploring, the third point doesn’t get nearly enough attention, in my humble opinion.
Question for Tommy: can a defense ever be great after a year? If not, then firing your DC year after year makes no sense. My hunch is that the Eagles have been overly reactive in recent years. I’m not convinced that one or two of the guys we’ve let go already couldn’t have developed something with more time.
Well………….. Dick Jauron should really be on season #4 here.
You mentioned that you didn’t want Earl Wolff to be thrust into the starting lineup because it could hamper his development. Why not put Colt Anderson as a stop gap instead. He really can’t be worse than Nate Allen.
That may not be true. Colt might have been a pretty good SS in the ’60s, ’70s, and even the early ’80s — flying up to fill run gaps, knee-capping receivers on crossing routes. Like the Steelers’ Donnie Shell, but not as good.
But when the NFL went Flag Football, Colt became an Archaeopteryx.
Teams would scheme to exploit Anderson’s physical limitations. He’s great coming down into the box. Not very good in coverage though. Worse than Allen . . . otherwise Colt would be out there. If only to have his heart on the field.
I still say this argument for not playing Wolff is silly. If he doesn’t have the mindset to be playing and understanding his place, well, maybe Wolff shouldn’t be here either.
Tommy, keep up the great work. I think we are overreacting to the downside. We do have some defensive playmakers who just didn’t make plays yesterday. Our front seven doesn’t suck. The defense will not always be at bad as it was, and even then, but for few mistakes/missed opportunities, we could have won that game.
The problem is that we didn’t expect this poor of an effort vs. a garbage team like San Diego. I don’t think this level of venom would be spewing all over the place if we looked this bad vs. Denver.
I don’t think they’re that garbage-y of a team.
I think a lot of us are underestimating how good Rivers is when he is on top of his game.
They started King Dunlap and two guards who should have been able to block as well as Eric Snow and Aaron McKie. Rivers had a garbage season last year and we should have destroyed him all game with pressure.
Ok…on the flip side, Washed up Trent Cole, made the second best LT in the NFL his Bitch, 6 Days prior
Yeah, think we can write off the Denver game. But the rest of the NFC East? I think we have chance.
You sir, are a rational human being….standing round of applause. Bravo, Bravo
Mychal Kendricks- Has he ever been good? So far he’s just a guy with a lot of potential. The only time I notice him is when he’s getting beat in coverage by a Tight End.
Secondary- Patrick Chung, Cary Williams, Bradley Fletcher and Brandon Boykin are ok to good players. The one black spot on that starting unit seems to be Nate Allen.
Todd Herremans- He hasn’t been that sharp this preseason or in the final two games. I don’t expect him to be on this team next year.
Jeremy Maclin- It’s a shame he tore his ACL. He would have been really good on this offense
I thought Boykin played well here to be fair. When he got beat, it seemed the throw was perfect and he was all over the guy (other than the one Royal pass).
Boykin was surprisingly good on the outside.
Kendricks has been pretty good at recovering Trent Cole’s forced fumbles…
i’ll take two fumble recoveries!
bonus: guess who had the fumble recovery near the goal line last game from antonio gates’ fumble? i’ll give you a hint. #50. (full disclosure, i wasn’t sure who #50 was at the time lol)
He who shall not be named in any positive context ever.
I read this criticism and thought “Statler & Waldorf”. Concerning Kendricks, how do you rate a LB? Kendrick is in his 2nd yr in a new scheme. 33 LBs were taking in the same draft year, can you name any LBs that you judge to be “good” from that class? I see Keuchly and Bobby Wagner as good, but Kendrick has to be considered a good player from that draft as well, he looks like an NFL starter.
I don’t know how to quantify it. I just don’t see him making big plays or stopping the run.
Bobby Wagner, Mychal Kendricks and Lavonte David were all in the same range as early Day Two picks. The Eagles took Kendricks off the board first, and he has arguably been the least impressive of the three.
But Roseman made up for passing on Wagner by taking Curry and letting Wilson get away.
Coaching plays as much a role as talent. Remember who bad Terrance Newman was in Dallas, he’s not too bad in Cinci.
The most disappointing thing about Kedricks so far is bad tackling, which I hesitate to put on coaching.
You don’t think if you insert Mykal on the Seahawks and was actually coached by nfl defensive coaches in his rookie year he wouldn’t have looked similar to Wagner?
I doubt any scheme covers up bad tackling.
Kendricks sucks…trade him for a 5th rounder now…
Rex Ryan…Come on Down….. For real though…I am with Tommy in that Davis is guy that seems to know defense (can talk intelligibly about schemes and goals) but I have my concerns on his ability to put a game plan together that achieves his goals. Its not like he did not have first round picks to work with in Arizona or talent for that matter….However, I am all for giving him a chance and waiting for a bigger sample size to judge….but if Rex is available to be a DC next year (provided no owner out there wants to give him another shot as a HC); I think we would be silly not to take a look at the guy…..
I know it’s still early, but somehow I’ve got a feeling that the TNG against the Chiefs will indicate where the Eagles are headed this season.
Kansas City boasts a good Defense, a QB who doesn’t want to turn the ball over and a great RB. Plus it’s AR’s homecoming, which should give the Chiefs an additional boost.
On the other hand the Eagles come off a heartbreaking last minute loss, with a Defense that could be on its way to becoming historically bad.
Should the Eagles win this tough matchup and finally end the home game losing streak (currently at 7), sitting at 2-1 would definitely be more promising than entering a shootout with Peyton starring a very depressing 1-3 record in its face.
AR will know the defense, but we’ll (hopefully) know his offense. I agree if we lose i’m going to be sad and re-calibrating my expectations for the year (however, if the rest of the division loses i’ll still be thinking SB).
The Eagles better beat the Chiefs on Thursday as I don’t know how to get through 10 long days of suffering before we will even suffer more at Mile High.
Just watched the KC-Dallas game. Very familiar on the KC side…
KC never runs. I really hope the Eagles defensive players key Davis in on this tendency of Andy Reid’s. It took no time at all before the Cowboys started going right after Alex Smith on all his play action passes. Ware has a beautiful sack on an Alex Smith bootleg.
The box score showed Charles with 16 runs total. 9 of those were on KC’s time-absorbing final drive at the end of the 4th quarter.
Bad time management at the end of the first half. KC had used all their timeouts, so when they had the ball in the last two minutes, Smith had to spike the ball after every tackle. They did (barely) end up getting into FG range (57 yarder), but it was blocked.
KC’s offense is NOT explosive. Smith takes off running a lot. It showed him with 8 runs total, but at least 6 were scrambles.
At one point in the game KC had the ball at the 2 yard line so of course Andy came out in a 5 wide set
Andy is going to troll us eagles fans so hard. You just know it. He’s gonna come out and pound the ball, and we won’t be able to stop it. I can see it clear as day.
I think Andy might “see a few things there he thinks he can take advantage of” in our secondary. I’d look for a 97.81/ 2.19 pass/run ratio.
A_T_G:
You’re going heavy on the run then for AR. I’m surprised.
Dennis Kelly will be inactive b/c they were trying to stop the run.
Tommy:
I’ve just had a moment of clarity. Could Dennis Kelly play Safety? Would we be any worse off?
The discouraging thing about yesterdays game is that you knew that the Chargers would go down the field on the final possession to make the game winning play. It also seemed given at one point that they were going to convert all of their 3rd downs.
What a definition of a good defense these days? It seems like “good” defenses like San Francisco, Denver, Seattle, and Baltimore can give up 30 or more points to the right team.
Look at the Texans, one of the best defenses, Chargers put up what, 28 points in 3 quarters just last week? We came up with 2 key turnovers to keep 14 points off the board so the score board doesn’t tell the whole tale, but hey.
The Texans also scored a defensive TD to put HOU in a position to win. They were -21 on defense, essentially. The Eagles were -33 on defense, gave up a game-winning drive, allowed about 4000 yards of offense, forced one punt, ~70% 3rd down conversions and got lucky that the Chargers weren’t in the 40s. Not even close to comparable defensive performances when you look closer.
The rules clearly favor offenses right now. What you need is a defense there can make timely stop in form of turn overs or sacks (a sack often result in a very long 3rd down)
I really don’t get all the AR jokes on here. Yes we all know that he likes to pass pass pass, but at least give him credit for matching the Chiefs wins total from last year by week 2 already. And I am concerned that he may have also the last laugh on Thursday just like King Dunlap just had on Sunday (right Nate Allen?!)…
Yeah, I’m a little nervous about this one, I feel like Red’s had this one circled on his calendar for a long time. He made a living of trying to hide the flaws of this roster with scheme and coaching, he knows Mike Vick like the back of his hand. Hopefully Chip has an ace up his sleeve.
He will ask his weak armed QB to take 7 step drops to try and hit the secondary deep. That was atleast his game plan with Vick/McNabb here after we got Jackson even tho the OL couldnt protect anybody worth a dam
Well, with our pass rush and secondary, he might just hit them. But hey, we’re probably not as bad as we looked against the bolts. We’ll have Fletcher back anyway and the safety play can’t really be worse.
I think getting back Fletcher is a very underrated move. He is imo the best outside guy we got
Oddly, like WR A-Benn, Fletcher’s suffered from the same sort of career injury bug.
I wouldnt call getting the bell rung by Meco Ryans for an injury bug 😛 (I know his history 🙂
Yes. He’s turning out to be a nice pickup.
Brandon Alberts is trying to play through a shoulder injury on Thursday…Eric Fisher is struggling(great pick mike Kaye lol)….Not every Oline and QB will be as prepared as the chargers were….Make all the excuses you want for RG3, but the skins line is pretty darn solid, and we skinned them alive!!!
I think I’ve solved our safety issue. AND – contrary to what Chip Kelly said – this player is quite literally on the street.
Recently cut from the Jets practice squad, watch his rare ball skills on this Matt Simms throw…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHCpRoXxEx0
some good… uh… handles? … on that there catch.
but it pulled a Maclin and went right down after the catch. I’d like to see more toughness.
Not to mention, that ball bounced around a little bit. I did not see a smooth catch on what was a perfectly placed ball. That being said, they say DBs are WRs who can’t catch… maybe an upgrade at safety?
“they say DBs are WRs who can’t catch”
There it is, ertz and celek should be our safeties. (zing)
Put the new guy on a chair . . . and what do you have?
Is there any reason why a 2-gap 3-4 coordinated by Billy Davis is inherently superior to a 1-gap 3-4 / 4-3 Under / hybrid defense? Is this objective so compelling that it’s worth jeopardizing the upside of Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham and Vinny Curry, when so many of our other recent high picks have been thrown away? Instead we are playing a system that’s tailored to Isaac Sopoaga, Cedric Thornton and Connor Barwin and puts tremendous pressure on a secondary that features Nate Allen and Brandon Hughes. It’s no surprise that the results are so dismal.
Of course this defense is not stacked, but that’s no justification for playing away from your strengths. If your recipe to pressure the backfield started with Cole, Graham, Cox and Curry one-gapping on the line with Barwin, Ryans and Kendricks at linebacker, at least you’d be playing to your talent (and a lot of it young, up-and-coming). We’re doing our opponents a favor with this scheme. No one on this roster is an outstanding 2-gap defender. They get blown off the ball vs the ru
It is about philosophy.
and no, the 2 gap 3-4 does not put more pressure on the safeties than any other scheme. You remember our wide 9 scheme that is a pure 1 gap, pressure scheme and how well it went?.
Also aint we overhyping players like Graham and Curry abit to much right now? Graham was good last year, but the PFF hype has really gotten overblown and remember Curry has looked good vs backups. There must be a reason why 3 DC and DL coaches have now overlooked him (the 3 DL coaches are two of the best in the NFL and one of the best coming from college).
>and no, the 2 gap 3-4 does not put more pressure on the safeties than any other scheme.
It puts more pressure on them when you generate no pass-rush. 2-gapping inherently diminishes the pass-rush capabilities of your interior linemen. You have to compensate for that with effective blitzing. Davis did that for one week against DC, but it’s a dangerous way to live, and it seemed like the Charges had an effective protection for almost every one of Davis’ futile blitzes.
>You remember our wide 9 scheme that is a pure 1 gap, pressure scheme and how well it went?
This is a false choice / fallacy of excluded middle. Why does this inept scheme only compare with inept Eagles schemes of the past? You can run a sound 1-gap pressure scheme without using the wide-9 alignment 90% of the time. There are numerous examples of this around the league. The 2-gap defenses are the exception. The 2-gap defenses that lack 2-gap personnel are the even more extreme exception (the Eagles currently being in the forefront of this group),
>There must be a reason why 3 DC and DL coaches have now overlooked him
What exactly have our defensive coordinators done in the last several years to earn the benefit of the doubt? Fielded a series of basically inept units?
First if your pass rushers can not get home, it does not matter the scheme. Also we play a lot of 3-3-5, with Cox and Cole as pass rushing DEs and Thornton as the pass rushing NT and then we blitz 1-3 guys. How is that very different for just been a 4-3 D where the guys would most likely be Graham-Cox-Thornton-Cole?
Scheme matters, but execution matters more and fact is neither Graham (when on the field), Cole, Cox or who ever we are blitzing is not getting the job done.
Also there is plenty bad defenses around the NFL there plays all sorta of schemes. Again see my point above, if players aint winning there battles (in both ends). Scheme matters very little.
Again I bet you 100% that the DL coaches opinion matter in who is active. Curry’s former two DL coaches was Washburn (our real DC) and Tommy Basher. Two of the best DL coaches in the NFL. His new DL coach is also is old college coach and Azzinaro have coached some really good DLs in college.
>First if your pass rushers can not get home, it does not matter the scheme.
You’re really just glossing over the issue here, which is putting players in position to succeed (cliched as that is). If you are asking Damion Square and Isaac Sopoaga to “get home,” that is just asking the wrong guys to do the wrong jobs. If you have Cox and Thorton playing heads up on an offensive tackle, the best they are going to be able to do is set the edge. But if you’ve got players like Cox and Curry playing to their talents at 1-tech and 3-tech, then you do have a reasonable expectation of interior pass-rush and backfield penetration (two things that were notably absent yesterday).
>Scheme matters, but execution matters more and fact is neither Graham (when on the field), Cole, Cox or who ever we are blitzing is not getting the job done.
So all of our guys with pass-rushing skill just coincidently were rendered ineffective when stepping into this scheme, but it has nothing to do with mis-matching their talents?
Did you see how little Cole did last year?
Also, I really dont get the love for Curry. People acts like he is a known guy guaranteed to get 10+ sacks.
Yes I wanna see him, but guys like Square and Geathers are seeing the field in around 15% snaps anyway. So the bulk of the problem is the starting guys.
Cole was playing injured last year, and his play at OLB the last two weeks has actually been one of the modest bright-spots of the new D. But that doesn’t speak to the complete absence of pressure from this d-line and the total lack of production from Graham, Cox and Curry (representing the bulk of the remaining investments from the 2010-2012 drafts).
I don’t think people are overhyping Curry so much as saying he outplayed Gaithers against those same backups all preseason so why isn’t he getting those 15%.
Curry can’t be anything until he gets a chance….I’m sure there were people talking like this about James Harrisson for years…now I’m not saying Curry is destined to be James, but you have no idea til given the opportunity….what I do know is that he displays a really rare and explosive burst off the line of scrimmage, and when you combine that with the strong use of his hands, it projects as a guy with tools to have a chance at wreaking some Havoc in backfields…..That can’t happen until he is given an opportunity…
…
At some point Curry will dress, and when he finally does get in the game, my guess is that the hungry, hard working, passionate young man will make things happen….Dude is a legit top 50 draft talent..I’m not ready to write him off until I see that explosion neutralized by linemen with my own two eyes..
…
We also don’t know who decided to deactivate Curry…It could have been Fipps call
As for the sub-packages, I’ll need to look at the all-22 and see what the techniques were and how effective they looked. There were a handful of positive plays up front, and they may have had better percentages when changing up the looks. The Chargers had an answer for most everything Davis was concocted, though.
doesnt that our LBs lost their mind and couldn’t keep themselves from tipping their true intentions on most plays due to the slow play clock
I understand it’s better for run blocking and really the only way to beat the read option, but doesn’t work well against passing. Chip ran it in Oregon which is why he wants it here. But i’ll leave the details to big Tom, or people w/ better defensive knowledge.
I say the Steelers have been pretty decent against the pass the last 15+ years.
What you really need is at least 1 great OLB, we do not have that and then better safety play.
Lets say we keep Williams, Boykin and Fletcher. Then we would imo just need 1 could safety and 1 truly dominating OLB and we could have the potential for a good defense
Go get Dion Jordan lol!! Give the 4-3 Dolphins, Graham,Curry and Cole for all I care lol
Actually it’s supposed to be better against the pass than the run because you take a slower defensive lineman off the field and put in a more athletic linebacker. It also helps defenses disguise who is rushing and who is dropping into coverage to hopefully bait the QB into making a bad throw based on their initial read. Hence, I assume the Eagles are trying to switch to a 3-4 to help against the increasing number of passing teams in the NFL.
A more meaningful distinction would be 1gap and 2gap. It’s misleading to put the Steelers and Ravens in one category. Also, 3-4 teams might just have overall better coaching. The Ravens and Steelers being in that category makes me suspicious that the result is skewed because of that. Dick LeBeau will produce an effective 3-4, but will Bill Davis?
Yeah, I would have liked for them to separate one and two gap systems but it was the best I could find for a statistical difference between the 4-3 and 3-4. I’m surprised more people haven’t tried to quantify the differences between the two formations. The level of coaching could also play a big part in the numerical differences they found. I imagine that would be a bit harder to isolate. I personally like the switch to a 3-4 regardless of whether it’s a one or two gap because it just makes sense to try to get a better athlete in space on the field. Regarding Davis, I’m not sure he’ll be the right DC for us but even if he isn’t, changing to a 3-4 sooner rather than later will serve us better in the long run when more and more teams are predominately passing offenses.
cuz we are eagles fans, of course Chip would bring back Vick to have a Play-off level offense this year while simultaneously grossly miss-using our defensive personnel for building a defense that might be good in the long run after 2 or 3 good drafts but incidentally sabotaging any hopes of being a contender this year.
Different chapter, same book.
So you rather we used the sparing parts of a crap D, to make a slightly less crap D for a year and then change scheme and pro long the changing period?
What is the reason that the long-term goal should be transitioning to a 2-gap 3-4? Cox, Graham and Curry’s talents should not be viewed as the “spare parts” of a bygone regime. Those are building blocks at Davis’ disposal, ones that he should be working to maximize, and he is basically eschewing them.
I think you lost that as soon as they gave Chip Kelly the reins.
anon’s picture below:
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(That’s as close as I can get to a Kurt Vonnegut drawing on this keyboard.)
don’t have a problem labeling 2013 as a rebuilding year, and making that the theme. But we didn’t, we opted to try to be contenders, can’t do that with a pretender 3-4.
keep in mind we have half decent personnel to run a Wade Phillips style 3-4 (that the texans run, and a variation of a defense Bill Davis has coached before). But we opted to make Fletcher Cox from pro-bowl bound player to a JaG, Brandon Graham from our most productive pass rusher to awful depth, and our most explosive first step on the team, Curry doesn’t even dress because being explosive has no real value in the 2-gap.
It all comes down to Kendricks. While we put a lot of guys in places they aren’t suited to thrive in, it is the opposite for Kendricks. He has to be the guy that makes all the plays now.
“don’t have a problem labeling 2013 as a rebuilding year, and making that the theme. But we didn’t, we opted to try to be contenders, can’t do that with a pretender 3-4.”
Not true, even our owner have said this is a learning year.
Cox is not playing like a JaG, he is playing very fine in the run game. He simply just needs to adjust some more.
Again the PFF hype around Graham is getting old, he did almost all his dmg against less than stellar pass protection RTs (small snap number can really inflate rate stats). Also Curry didnt dress when we play a 1 gap either.
Curry played once Washburn was fired and our d-line coach stopped playing favorites with his veterans. He should have gotten a fresh start, but instead he finds himself in a situation where the defensive coordinator insists on a 2-gap defense with 1-gap personnel.
Re: 2-gap 3-4 defense against the pass — w/out a great rush OLB
One thing about the 3-4 on pass plays, you can have 8 players defending a max of 5 receivers. If the 8 pass defenders play their assignments right, you should — in theory — be forcing the offense to execute 8, 9, 10, or even more plays to get 7 points, combining runs and passes.
In theory, it’s a great defense for an under-talented group — if done with discipline.
I think there’s still great validity to the principle that the more you require an offense to execute its plays, the more likely the O screws up and you stop them.
Especially inside the RZ, and closer to the goal line, 8 pass defenders — playing with discipline — should clog the passing lanes. TDs would be the product of great physical plays. [1980 Eagles at SD, Kellen Winslow shows the importance of being a freakish TE against 8 men defending the RZ.]
The Eagles aren’t there yet. Bad discipline? Not enough talent? Both? Whatever it is, one day — maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of Kelly’s life in Eagles’ green — it’ll work.
Make an opposing offense run off 8-10 plays to score against a talented, disciplined Eagles defense, and this team . . . with its “KO Offense” . . . will be very dangerous.
I think what you are seeing is just the opposing offense march up and down the field against a bad defense. Not “Haha! It was our clever strategy all along!” Yes, this defense is less prone to allowing gigantic touchdown plays than the 2012 version, but pretty much anything would be compared to that dysfunctional unit.
PG . . .
Totally agree. Right now, the Eagles are over-matched.
This bunch doesn’t have an All Pro MLB (like a Bill Bergey) or an All Pro NT (like a Charlie Johnson) or one solid safety (like Randy Logan) or a great, athletic OLB (like a Jerry Robinson), or great pass-rushing DLs (like a Claude Humphrey and Carl Hairston).
This defense is not playing the scheme as drawn up and, regardless, may be short on talent in some key areas anyway.
So, yes, I very much agree with you.
But with discipline, this defense — as presently constituted — should get *some* stops. That’s all KO Kelly needs.
As long as this scheme is in place, I think this defense is mortally flawed with the current d-line personnel. I think that’s a shame, because they have the personnel for an acceptable 1-gap d-line. The Chargers were able to do anything they wanted yesterday. That pre-season game against the Pats was a preview of the problems with our defense. BB practiced against that D all week and he knew he could blow our D-line off the ball. When you can pick up 5+ yards whenever you want it on 1st down, stopping the eventual conversion is a huge uphill battle. Manageable down and distances take the D out of optimal pass-rush situations, and the offense is left to toy with a harmless unit that isn’t good at anything. The only thing that took away the SD running game was our inability to defend the pass.
I would much rather take the shorter path to defensive mediocrity (an attacking 1-gap line built around Graham and Cox). It’s not as if you have to sacrifice future upside to do this either. There are many fine 1-gap defenses around the league (34 and 43 alike).
If you love Kelly for his great offense, you have to love him for his lousy defense.
In retrospect, I think I got a little too buzzed from the performance of the D in the first half against RG3. Philip Rivers is an experienced, NFL caliber qb so it’s no wonder he was able to slice and dice our secondary. Alex Smth will be a good test on Thurs night. He’s also a mature professional but he’s not as good as Rivers.
I think a lot of what we saw in the first half of the Redskins game had just as much to do with the Redskin’s offense and RG3 being rusty as it had to do with our defense. The defense did do some good things, but the Redskins offense was so out of sync that a lot of it was simply them playing poorly.
I think it will be a huge upset if Nate Allen starts over Earl Wolff.
Nate has not done anything to keep the job. Not 1 highlight play.
This isn’t to say Wolff will be fantastic, but at worst he will make the same mistakes that Allen has continued to make. I’m looking forward to reading Allen taking bad angles, missing tackles, missing assignments in Tommy’s DGR.
Davis clearly knows what hes doing scheme wise. He has a really good understanding of the 3-4. The problem is either in execution (lack of talent) or teaching the scheme. I think Davis needs to take a note from Kelly and be able to adapt drive to drive, play to play instead of half by half. Need more versatility from the D. Need to confuse the QB. Rivers was not confused at all. That can’t happen against KC.
Davis was basically the pick for DC only because all the options stunk. Is it unrealistic that Chip sees a DC he really likes and switches it up in the offseason? Given Davis’ history, it seems rather likely that he just isn’t a good DC.
Of course. It’s a perfect situation for Kelly. He gets all the credit for the offensive success and Davis gets all the blame for the defensive failures.
Most of us realize there were no great options at DC. Now Kelly can let Davis transition us into the 3-4 defensive system that he wants, and he will be able to take his time in choosing Davis’ eventual replacement.
There’s no rush here. There aren’t any better DC options now than when Kelly choose Davis. Maybe the change will come this offseason, maybe the offseason after that. Or maybe Davis will be able to turn it around as the current players become more familiar with the system and as we draft and acquire more defensive talent. The point is that, for now, it is what is. Change will most likely come, but there would be no sense in rushing to replace Davis with another guy who’s no better than Davis.
Or maybe you guys would like to see Jeff Stoutland get a shot at defensive coordinator? 😉
Re-watched the game. Phillip Rivers was excellent this game. Sort of disappointed in our crowd, he spent a lot of time at the line shredding the Eagles Pre-snap , verbal communications to his team. Almost forgot he was in Philly until the 3rd quarter when we finally tied it up and the crowd came alive on a first down.. To be fair I re-watched this game after watching the Seattle game. Is there really a home field advantage when the crowd isn’t hindering communication for the visitors and can be flipped to boo the home team so easy?
Overall though I have to admit emotions are just way high after a disappointing loss. It was a very tight game and good football was being played by both sides (for week 2). Really an entertaining game. Excited for Thursday. I still believe this is the best team in the NFC East by a decent margin after rewatching that game.
The fact that so much good offense was wasted and that the division is very winnable is what makes it more frustrating to me. Just makes the voluntary step backwards on D even more baffling.
I’ll say it… I don’t think there is a home-field advantage in Philly.
Rambo is in his second NFL game, not his 40th…..there are no words to soften the blow of how terrible Nate is