Random Stuff
Posted: September 12th, 2013 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 64 Comments »The Eagles are 1-0 and there is suddenly a lot of optimism. I want to get caught up in it, but I also want to be smart. It can be tough to separate the hype from reality at times like this.
I think the Eagles are better than the Chargers. If the Eagles can win a game they should, that will help my confidence. In the past couple of years, the Eagles lost some games they shouldn’t. We’ll see what happens.
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Someone on Twitter asked me what my favorite part of Monday’s game was. That’s tough.
I loved seeing Trent Cole force the fumble because I’m such a big Cole fan and it was also great to see the defense make a big play. Trent and the D were too quiet last year. Both are off to a promising start this year.
Vick’s TD run was also great. That grew the lead to 26-7 and it was the first moment where the Eagles had some real separation. Think about this…the Eagles never led any game last year by 19 points. Not even for one stinking second. Having that as the halftime lead made me feel that this wasn’t going to be the same old Eagles (lots of yards, few points).
Shady’s TD run in the 2nd half was great, but that was a short-lived moment of glory.
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Chip Kelly made a great point the other night. He talked about how starters need to embrace the rotation. Some players didn’t want to come out of the game. Having seen what it is like to play a ton of snaps, hopefully these players will change their tune in coming games. In a normal scheme, starters hate to leave the field because it will limit their chances. By running an extra 10 to 20 plays, the players can know that there is time for them to rest and still get a good number of touches.
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It sounds like Brandon Boykin will play CB in the base defense if Bradley Fletcher isn’t able to go. I’m curious if Boykin would then slide inside to the slot against 3-WR sets or if they’d give that spot to Brandon Hughes. It would make a lot of sense to put Boykin in there since he’s so good, but there is also logic to leaving him outside so he can get into a good comfort zone there.
Bo Wulf asked Bill Davis about Shaun Prater’s status and Davis made it sound like Prater still isn’t ready to play in the new defense. He’s trying to learn the playbook.
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Someone brought up the point of what if Maclin was in the offense. That would have really put a lot of pressure on the defense, with 2 deep threats and 2 WRs that are playmakers.
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There was some discussion about running Bryce Brown to the outside. He’s more of a N-S back so why do that?
Jonathan Stewart was very successful at Oregon with running the outside zone. He’s a bigger back with some speed and a downhill style. I’m sure Kelly is thinking that Brown is more gifted that Stewart. If Kelly can get Brown into space, he’ll create some big plays. Just a guess on my part.
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Some of you are curious about the fact the ball wasn’t spread around very much. Patience, grasshopper.
Kelly threw the ball to DeSean a lot. He handed it off to Shady a ton. This is good. You should always feed the ball to your star players first and foremost. Dallas won 3 SBs in 4 years with a predictable attack. They ran Emmitt. They threw downfield to Irvin. On 3rd down, Aikman dialed up Novacek to move the chains.
I’m excited to see what Ertz, Casey, Bryce and Damaris can do in this offense, but I’ll gladly watch Shady and DJax be workhorse stars. Those guys are the playmakers. If you can feed them the ball, do it.
Teams will scheme to take them away. That’s when Kelly will get more creative and the Eagles will spread the ball around.
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Be patient with the Vinny Curry situation. The Chargers are a passing team. I would think they’ll have him active this week. If they don’t, then we might have to talk about his future lying elsewhere.
Let’s see what happens.
Remember that the coaches are learning as they go. Kelly might decide Curry is worth activating because of what he does bring to the table as a pass rusher. That wasn’t the case on Monday, but Kelly will study what happened and make adjustments.
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Tommy, I’m shocked. The proper spelling is glasshoppa.
I think that’s why being a football fan CAN be so emotionally draining. The HIGH of of win feeds your hopes and expectation and the next game can’t come fast enough. But you have to wait. Not like other sports where you only have to wait a day of two.
I’m learning in my older age to enjoy the ride. Monday Night had enough amazing and concerning things to let me know that this will be an enjoyable and sometimes frustrating season, with enjoyable seeming to promise a strong lead by seasons end.
Tommy, your balanced analysis and fanhood have really helped me be more balanced…thanks!
Tommy- props for the Bryce Brown/Jonathan Stewart comparison.
Exactly why I come to Iggleblitz first
My favorite play of the game was Sconce’s interception. That was football ballet, obviously inspired by attending dance recitals. (Seriously, it was a great play, though.)
The entire defense was a ballet of violence…Anderson Silva-esque if you will!!!
You want to illustrate violence and you go with Anderson Silva, the best technical striker in the world over Jon Jones whos unorthodox striking resembles a street fight. shame on you.
Shame on me? Shame on you for comparing anyone to what Anderson has done….Jon jones does nothing for me…when he decides to move up to Heavyweight, that’s when I will be excited
Agree and disagree. Anderson has been the very definition of a ballet of violence. Far more so than Jones.
I understand the knock against Jones’s competition, but he’s fighting anybody at LHW that DW and Joe Silva throw at him. It’s not his fault that his peers can’t hold a candle to him. Silva has had the same knocks against his level of competition. He has no more obligation to move to HW than Silva had to move up to LHW.
And I’m not all that sold on Cormier yet. He’s dropping to LHW, so we’ll see what he can do down there.
I like Gus, but worst case scenario where Gus can win the striking battle, I’d be shocked if Jones had any difficulty at all putting him on his back whenever he wants. And I think Gus stands a much better chance at this point that Glover. Bader could have won that fight if he had a higher fight IQ.
You totally missed my point. Im not comparing them as P4P fighters, although i value Jon Jones far closer to #1 spot(which does of course belong to Silva).
Im saying that I wouldn’t call Silva “violent”. Of course the sport is violent in nature, but Silva is a technician, where Jon Jones is throwing those elboys and knees, from awkward angles and dominant position, thats a lot more violent compared to Silva who have turned his fighting style into an artform and almost like a predatory animal, at least in my opinion. Silvas ability to string together combinations with pinpoint accuracy is remarkable and why he is dominant, but it feels far more calculated, like a striking cobra, than violent. I agree that he certainly was more violent in his younger days, but you could also talk about the opponents back then.
Rich Franklin and his plastic surgeon would disagree with you…Jones is beating dudes down and forcing referees to stop him, much of it is a direct result of his physical advantages…when Anderson fights, no referee was needed, he separates you from your consciousness lol…everyone knows the fight is over when Anderson lands one of his precise killer darts!
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Anderson’s game wasn’t really based on imposing physical advantages such as Jones is…which makes Anderson much more impressive…but hey, Jones is so young, and will have plenty of opportunity to become the greatest….silva went p in weight and destroyed Forrest griffin, former LHW champ…I need to see Jones not lose a fight for 7 years and go up in weight and beat a former HW champ like the loser of Dos Santos vs, Cain(which will be Cain), before he can be talked about with Anderson’s legacy….Jones is grat don’t get me wrong, but his legacy has not yet sniffed that of the spider!
I know nothing of what you all are talking about, BUT I love that you are having the debate here…good work family, continue 🙂
He really clamped down on that ball, like a bear with surgically-improved teeth.
What an oddly awesome analogy!
The more plays and rotation is one reason Chip wanted players on the bench who could play now over upside guys who weren’t ready. Over 16 games bench guys are gonna play.
That’s a very good point! I was extremely disappointed we kept Matthews and Maehl over Acho and Shephard but I think you nailed it there! I think Chip wants to ensure the team succeeds this year, I think in Year 2 and 3 when he knows what he’s got we’ll see him keep around a few more projects!
Hey Tommy, are you and Jimmy going to be doing weekly helmet 2 helmets this season again? I always loved hearing you and Bama preview the upcoming games.
Schedule is off this week due to MNF and Jimmy going on the road to the game. Still planning to do a show as soon as we can.
Hope is that we can do multiple shows per week.
Thrilled to hear that. Thanks for all the great coverage!
Glad for the win. If the Eagles stay healthy, I think we’ll have a pretty good idea of where they’re heading after game 5. If they come out of this first 5-game stretch with 3 or more wins, they’ll be in good shape. So: stay healthy, Eagles. Stay healthy.
Good point. Need a larger sample size to make projections, but…so far, so good. I like 3 wins in the first 5 as the baseline going forward.
If the Eagles win 3 out their first 5, they’ll be in good shape… as long as they stay healthy! Depth issues really concern me with some of their positions.
You’re right about Curry – if we don’t see him this week, he’s not in the plan at all. He would have helped Monday night.
You’re also nailed it previously when you said the 4-2-5 would have been the way to go in the 2nd half. It would have been great to see what a Cole-Cox-Curry-Graham DL could have done. I think that 4 man crew could have pressured RGIII consistently without the need for blitzing the 5th guy.
Yes and No…..We really don’t know why curry was inactive:
1) Was it as simple as removing a pass rusher to insert a run defender like Square?
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2) Where they trying to send curry a message that he needs to step up on ST or against the run?
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3) Do they simply not value him as a fit on this team(I have a hard time believing that)..
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If its a message that they are trying to send to him, it could be more then just a 1 game inactive…That’s why I’m not really ready to say that if he doesn’t dress against the chargers it’s the end of the world…But when your next 3 games are the Chargers, Andy Reid’s minions, and pass happy Peyton, If I don’t see Curry dress in ATleast 2 of the next 3 games, then I will worry
I think Washington was prepared to see Brown run the outside zone, since he was so successful with it in the preseason. I think with more carries, he’ll have the chance to break one off for a huge gain sooner rather than later. After Monday’s game, I’m sure Shady will be more than willing to share touches with Brown and Polk. Dude was gassed at the end of each half.
everyone should read this:
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/dneagles/Film-Analyzing-how-Chip-Kelly-unfurled-more-of-his-amazing-offense.html
Derek (of Iggles Blog) has some amazing x’s and o’s type stuff in here.
you gotta love the quality of the reporting on eagles football! i highly doubt other teams get this kind of stuff.
Re: Where are they now?
The Birds are 1-0. They could be 5-0 in a month.
What will we know?
Not sure . . . since the 2012 Cards were 4-0, then lost their starting QB and went 1-11 the rest of the way.
So much uncertainty because of injuries in the NFL. And fast-adjusting opponents.
After 12 games, I think we’ll know what we have for this year — if no key starters are out with injuries or breaking down.
It’s a marathon.
After 12 games Chip will be facing his most difficult question as an NFL coach…
***At what point in the season should I rest my starters for the playoffs?
Will he be able to answer this important question as quickly as whether he should go for it on 4th and 1?
So Mac . . . have you bought your SB tix?
Make sure you bring your snow shoes.
We need to get off to a 3-0 start…it’s paramount for us to have a good season.
I just want to see us get back to winning the games we are supposed to win. Tom mentioned this, and it would be a great start. we need stability. We need to get back to the days when we are very difficult to beat at home, and that we don’t lose games that we should win…yes it’s tough to play twice in 11 days or whatever it is, but we are playing against beatable teams with the biggest element of surprise advantage out of anyone in the league…besides the time frame, the schedule does get harder…this won’t be the only tough stretch of football. We have to ride this Monday night wave to a 3-0 start, because once we get to Mile high, we face a tough stretch of competition….I had to sit through McNabb leading the skins to a win over us at home, and there is no way I can stomach watching Andy come in here and rain on our parade especially during McnAbb appreciation game…These next two games for me are huge!
Ha, ha, I just got finished replying above how we’d know more after 5 games! That’s why I appreciate your perspective AC.
I’m way too impatient. I’ve seen enough seasons go wrong to know better (last season included).
My “favorite” was Kotite’s last year…started 7-2 and finished 7-9. Injuries played a big part in that collapse if I remember correctly.
Wise tempering words AC.
It’ll be clear what kind of team/year we have when we see what our record and health situation is after the 2nd Washington game.
Until then, I’m enjoying the ride!
Color me weird, but my favorite part of the game may have been seeing Brown follow the design of the run play rather than bouncing it outside. I’m optimistic that this is a sign that he is coachable, and will improve as the season wears on and hopefully even solve his fumbling issues.
I agree with your best moments, Tommy, but I’d like to add one from the Brent Cohen camp – running it on 4th and 1 without hesitation. That play had me as excited as any. If anyone hasn’t read Brent’s article, I think it’s very good http://eaglesrewind.com/2013/09/11/4th-and-1-gaming-out-chip-kellys-first-big-decision/
Eagles had David Molk in yesterday (former C, Michigan). That guy was really good in college (won the Rimington award for best center). He is about as fast and quick as Kelce but he is incredibly strong. He’s short and light (6’1″, about 300) or he’d have been picked higher than Peter Konz. This might be a good pickup as when Kelce went down last year our replacements did not do too well. Maybe he could even give Kelce some competition.
He seems to have a screw loose, from what I hear
I don’t think he has a screw loose but he is obviously bitter that he is / was the chosen as the best C in the NCAA and a lot of people regarded far less well in college get drafted a lot higher as he is short. If you look at some draft rankings, quite a few said he’d have been a very early pick and the top C if he was just 2 inches taller.
I saw they had an article where he complained that Konz was ranked higher (top C drafted his year) when the guy got out bench pressed by a Michigan WR and tied with the Michigan punter. But the guy was 6’5″.
That being said his arms were only 1/2 inch shorter than Kelce’s. He is not versatile like Chippah wants but he could anchor against the big boys that bowl Kelce over and he can move almost as well and everyone raves about his technique.
I think Kelce’s main selling point is that he is so damn smart. Chippah has commented multiple times on his football IQ, and said he will make a great coach and leader.
Looking at a guy who felt the need to berate a fellow teammate’s limitations to the national media, I see neither IQ nor leadership.
I’m sure he should have shut his mouth, but the guy he was beefing about was NOT a teammate. He was a player (Peter Konz) on another team who got drafted before him (another Big-10 player who was 2nd team all Big 10 to his first team all Big-10). That would be equivalent to DeSean beefing about not being the first WR drafted (which DeSean did do). He should have done the ‘I’ll make them regret not drafting me earlier’ and not called out the other people by name.
He was voted a captain by the players at Michigan.
My bad, you were correct.
Mykal Kedricks after the game:
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“I feel like I’m still learning every day. it’s such a blessing to have a great, great, great friend and player/coach in Demeco Ryan. that guy is something else, he has got it up top and it’s just such a blessing…I feel like I have come a long way”
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Meco: “I just help him out, we help each other out. Mykal helps me out there also. Everything the coaches give me I try to give him in the simplest form so we can go out and play fast and just have fun out there together. Mykal is a great player and made a tremendous jump from year one to year two, he is doing a fantastic job and just needs to keep it up…
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it was just 1 game, that my proclamation that we would have the best ILB tandem in the division, and one of the top 10 units in the NFL might Prove to be not so crazy lol..
Healthy Sean Lee/Bruce Carter are better, but that’s a rarity and now the Cowboys are in a 4-3 so it’s irrelevant.
I wouldn’t trade Kendrick’s n Meco for those two in either scheme…but it’s def debateabe
We all saw this last year with the 3-1 start we had last yr so i’m just trying to enjoy the ride and learn more about our team week by week like everyone else. As for Bryce Brown i think he can run the outside stretch, he just needs to be a little more patient with letting it develop. You just can’t run full speed lateral and loose 5 yrd on a first down run.
but that was hugely different. Eagles played a terrible team in Cleveland and barely beat them. This is a different feeling…not saying the Eagles are off and running to the playoffs, just saying — this is a way better feeling…
weren’t just about all Eagles victories last year decided on the last play of the game?
Well said, EagFan. This year, we dominated for 2.5 quarters against the top team in the division. Last year, we never looked dominant against one of the worst teams in the league. Both wins were just one game, but that’s where the comparisons end.
Tom talked about still needing to see more to build confidence after the mess these past few years…
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I’m I the only person who was crapping his pants during the 2nd half thinking
the Skins would come back and beat us by 1?…The life of a Traumatized eagles fan, beaten down from years of heartbreak and abuse by the
organization we love…were more long time Eagles fans feeling like we would lose that game by 1? how about the new Duck fan converts? When you guys watched your First game, did you always feel in control?
Honestly — no, I wasn’t. When the Eagles only had 12 points after all those turnovers, I was concerned.
There was a definite “Here we go again!” feeling as the comfortable 4th quarter lead bled away. At least we’re not Chargers fans.
I had that feeling after the first drive up until we had 19 points. Then it came back as the lead shrank. I’ll have that feeling until we win a SB. As Eagles fans, pessimism is in our DNA.
Lol we are such a beat down down traumatized fanbase….I’d like to hear our new duck imported Eagles fans felt watching the game,,.do they get the same scary thoughts as us? Or do they just feel in control the entire time?
have the Eagles filled that last roster spot? Just going off of memory – didn’t they drop someone last week?
They dropped then resigned Hughes, to get out of his guaranteed veteran salary.
we signed Brandon Hughes again
Thought this was a great move. No other team picked him up. He now knows, if he doesn’t perform, he’s gone without severance pay.
Regarding NFL All-22 Footage:
I wanted to give anyone a heads up in case they were considering, because I just got burned on this. I thought it would be fun to purchase the Game Rewind for the Eagles with Chipmania and play along with the DGRs, Sheil’s, Jimmy’s, and Derek’s breakdowns. Little did I know you only get about 15-20 plays of coaches film unless you buy the 70 dollar package that gives you every team. They do mention this caveat on some obscure page, but its not really spelled out when you go to purchase it, so I thought I’d give a heads up to anyone thinking of doing this.
Pro-football focus has their grades on the 2013 first round picks.
https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2013/09/11/first-rounders-in-focus-week-1/
Lane Johnson is their highest-ranked, and he has far more snaps than everyone else.
Looks like Miami is using Dion Jordan as a situational pass-rusher in their 4-3. What a waste of his talent.
Miami moved up to get that guy
My favorite was the fourth down play. That showed there is a new sheriff in town. No more conservative playcalling. No more tradition playcalling. Just doing the optimal thing.
Re: There was some discussion about running Bryce Brown to the outside. He’s more of a N-S back so why do that?
1. He scores touchdowns. He can get to the pylon.
2. Many of his big plays have been down/along the sidelines. In fact that’s where a lot of his fumbles occur and no I think you clean up the fumbles not stop running him to the outside.
3. Because that’s what he does some and really what he has always done some. He ran outside some at Tennessee. He ran outside some under Reid/MM.
4. He’s a backup RB to Shady. If Shady goes down, he’s the every down back if he doesn’t go to the doghouse for fumbling, missed pass blocks or not improving.
5. Kelly runs inside and outside zone reads as the foundation of his running offense and obviously has the personnel on the OL to do it. Limiting Brown to just inside reads will vastly shrink the playbook if Brown is the everydown back. Also the blocking scheme is designed to open up huge holes which can be anywhere and often the RB has the freedom
6. Brown is capable of 20-25 carries a game, you can’t just run him up the gut. Teams will swarm it and stop him.
7. Brown was forced to run E/W. You don’t go N/S many times because the play is not there.
It is a very entertaining question though that I highly disagree with you on. We wouldn’t even be talking about him if he was just an inside runner.
I am a Brown fan and see his potential as an every down back as opposed to a role playing inside back. You have to be able to run inside and outside to be an every down back. Inside runners that can’t run outside are role players at best. Outside runners that can’t run inside usually become role players at best.
I’m a lot more optimistic than most people about the defense. The Redskins couldn’t truly run the ball at any point in the game. That was such a treat after being subjected to the porous wide 9 on obvious running situations the past 2 years. All of the LBs played very well, especially Cole and Kendricks. The DL wasn’t flashy, but they did their job for the most part. Sconce looked very good. I’m a little uneasy with Fletcher, but I’ll take him any day over Nnamdi and DRC. Allen didn’t give up any major plays. Chung had some mistakes late in the game. He might have been the one true blemish.
The problems in the second half came from bad scheme adjustments and having some inexperienced backups repping in. Davis decided to keep the corners back deep too early. The predictable result was RG3 picking apart the defense with short passes. Poyer especially got burned, as expected. As long as Davis learns from this, I’m not too worried. These problems are way more manageable than the ones the defense had to deal with in 2011 and 2012. They’re not the 1985 Bears or the 2000 Ravens, but they can definitely be competent.
What is Mike Quicks reputation as an analyst? Respected/accurate? Blowhard/idiot? Over reaction a la Baldinger?
When he agrees with me, he’s a genius, otherwise, he’s an idiot.
Quicks agrees with my thinking and observations, hence he is a genius.