Crapfest

Posted: October 20th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 110 Comments »

The Eagles played awful on offense today. Nick Foles was the primary culprit, but he was hardly alone. There were missed blocks, dropped passes and mistakes all around. It was just one of those days.

The focus now shifts to the health of Foles and Mike Vick. Foles left the game with a head injury. We’ll find out if it was an official concussion. That might rule him out for next week. Vick wasn’t ready to play this week. We’ll have to see if he gets better in the next few days.

Does the poor performance mean that Foles has been exposed? No. Just like last week didn’t make him a franchise QB. One game is one game. You need a pattern of games to come up with an accurate evaluation. I’d love to see Foles back on the field next week so that we can see how he responds to this performance. Another bad game would be a bad sign for his future.

Matt Barkley took over when Foles left. He threw 3 picks, but the Eagles were in comeback mode at that point and throwing the ball almost every down. The picks were still bad, but you do have to keep them in context. Barkley couldn’t afford to be a game manager and play it safe. He had to force the ball and try to make something happen. Barkley was 11-20-129 while Foles was 11-29-80. Finishing with 80 yards on 29 attempts is truly awful.

I’ll get more into Barkley later. I do think focusing on just the picks is a bad way to look at his performance. You need context.

The defense played pretty well. They only gave up 17 points and they made Dallas earn their yards. I thought Bill Davis had a good gameplan. He challenged the players by being more aggressive with blitzes and taking more chances in coverage. I was happy to see that.

I’m not overly upset about this game. Normally losing to Dallas sends me over the edge, but this game never had a good flow to it. The game felt very discombobulated and I never got into it the way I do a normal Eagles game. The only time when I really went nuts is when DeMeco picked off the pass and started downfield.

I am sick of losing home games. I really can’t wait for this losing streak to end. Better happen next frickin’ Sunday.

_


110 Comments on “Crapfest”

  1. 1 ACViking said at 5:31 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Crapfest . . . hard to remember a better titled post here.

    This game felt — stakes aside — a bit like the 2003 NFC title game against the Panthers (w/out Cam Newton).

    The Eagles were never in the game, despite the close score.

    Strange game today.

  2. 2 ACViking said at 5:38 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Two things.

    Foles has started just 8 games in the NFL.

    Today, he played against a defense coordinated by someone who’s a HOF coach. It showed.

    In contrast, the prior two games in which he played were against 0-6 teams — both in some disarray.

    Even if he plays lousy next week (against the 1-6 or 0-7) Giants, it still seem to be too soon to write him off as another John Huarte.
    ________________

    More intriguing is, after 6 games of 425+ yards, today Kelly’s offense ground to a halt. Foles killed the passing game.

    But what about the running game? With or without MV, McCoy’s been money in the bank.

    HOST TOMMY LAWLOR: Please tell us what Monte Kiffin did to stymie what had been a very effective running game.

  3. 3 holeplug said at 5:41 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    They played man coverage and stacked the box for McCoy.

  4. 4 RIP illa said at 5:45 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Weird…some of us knew that this would happen when you don’t have a QB that can make you pay for turning your back to him. On the other side…there’s still no excuse for a non mobile pocket QB, not to make them pay through the air. Whether it be deep, intermediate, or short throws.

  5. 5 Stormbringer said at 6:00 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    This is made worse by us losing Maclin and Benn for the year in the preseason; especially Maclin. Other than DJax, the other receivers aren’t that dangerous, neither fast nor quick and can’t get separation. Expect to see more of this tight man coverage (conceding no easy passes) to come this year no matter who are QB of the moment is.

  6. 6 Insomniac said at 6:47 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    I’m not even sure Benn would beat out Avant but Maclin hurts the passing game so much.

  7. 7 Stormbringer said at 6:58 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Maclin is definitely the bigger loss and was a very good fit for this offense. Benn has good speed (slightly better than 4.5), is thickly built and can fight off press coverage and is good with running after the catch. Without Maclin (or another threat) everyone is getting pressed from the start as the CBs know they are quicker / faster than Eagle receivers and they can recover if they make a mistake in coverage.

    We have a ton of needs but getting someone else besides DJax at WR (worried Mac is going to be ruined after a 2nd ACL surgery) like Marquis Lee or Sammy Watkins would be really helpful to any of our QBs.

    If we put enough weapons out there, we can make do with a decent QB (obviously every one wants the franchise QB). With a WR group like we have now, we need a franchise QB as they will have to consistenly throw to very small windows or throw the guys open.

  8. 8 Insomniac said at 7:47 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    I wouldn’t mind if we took either one of them in the 2nd round if they get that far. I rather have the QB or defense addressed with the first pick.

    I don’t watch a lot of college football so I just read evaluations. I want more bigger physical receivers that won’t disappear in the red zone. Jarvis Landry, Brandon Coleman, Kasen Williams, Devin Street and etc will probably be there after the 2nd round. Keenan Allen and Terrance Williams has been pretty productive for 3rd round picks so far. Lot of promising receivers will come out in the next two years.

  9. 9 RIP illa said at 7:09 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Insomniac is right. Benn still had a lot to prove. I’ve Ben angry at Howie this whole offseason. Forget about the fact that we were not trying to find a better or suitable replacement for Mac, this being his contract year and for the fact that we still couldn’t figure out if he was a legit “#1” WR. But even more so for the fact as soon as he went down, the organization tried to sell us on that BS about we would be fine and not aggressively looking for a replacement. There’s more I could add, but it is what it is now.

  10. 10 SteveH said at 5:41 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    I correctly predicted the Eagles losing. The manner in which they lost though completely robs my prediction of any validity.

    It seemed like Foles just got less and less confident as the game went along. Every bad throw seemed to make it worse and worse. It got to the point where instead of just throwing the ball away he took a big hit and got knocked out of the game. You know your QB is shell-shocked when he just holds the ball and lets two defenders cream him.

    It does surprise me though because so far in his career Foles has appeared to have some resiliency when things aren’t going well and is definitely a gamer, but today he just seemed defeated by the time he left the game. You could see it on his face during the sideline shots, he had no confidence left whatsoever.

    The missed throw to Avant on the overturned interception was especially gruesome. Critical point in the game, and Avant couldn’t have come any more wide open. Just brutal.

    The run game wasn’t much better really, seemed like Shady was bottled up all game, OL wasn’t opening holes or pushing people back at all.

    Props to the defense for coming to play. Nice to see DMR make a play, Witten for once didn’t murder us, Vinny Curry again shows up in the pass rush.

    The most concerning thing to me for the future is the amount of visible frustration on the part of the offensive players. DSJ and Avant both seemed very obviously upset, I’m not sure its good for morale or chemistry to let your frustration show so openly.

  11. 11 mksp said at 5:47 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Was sad to see DJax act like that. That throw along the sideline was out of bounds, but its not like DeSean had his man beat. All-22 should be more informative, but yeah, his body language was bad.

  12. 12 Greg M said at 5:48 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Line definitely wasn’t playing well in the run game, but I thought Shady could have turned the jump cuts down a little bit and just hit some of the (small) holes and creases he did have. Bad day on the ground for everyone involved.

  13. 13 BobSmith77 said at 7:37 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Jackson isn’t a leader and if this team is counting on him to be they are sadly mistaken. At best he is a guy who does what he is expected, gives decent production, and doesn’t make foolish mistakes.

  14. 14 Joseph Dubyk said at 5:43 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Yeah not overly upset either. I didn’t really expect them to win anyway. Really upset that Foles came out the way he did though. That was basically his worst game of his career.

  15. 15 Bob Brewer said at 5:43 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    What is Nick Foles’s ceiling? I mean seriously?

  16. 16 Donald Kalinowski said at 5:46 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Brad Johnson

  17. 17 xeynon said at 6:25 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    This sounds about right to me. Capable of being a good backup or a starter on a second tier offense, but not a guy you can count on to be the leader of an elite offense.

  18. 18 ACViking said at 6:21 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Norm Snead. Seriously.

    Lost more than he won. Did best on teams with great running games.

  19. 19 mksp said at 5:43 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Howie & Chip’s offseason just got a lot more interesting. The good news is that there is a higher likelihood that we have a top-15 pick. The bad news is that Foles’ trade value just got killed, and our offensive live played poorly as well. I’d be shocked if we don’t take a guard in the first 3 rounds.

    Chip has to look in the mirror as well, but hard to blame him too much for this one. Eagles personnel just isn’t that good.

  20. 20 Bob Brewer said at 5:46 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    No it isn’t very good. With exception of RB, the Eagles need players everywhere.

    And I don’t want to draft another QB in the third or 4th round.

  21. 21 Stormbringer said at 6:04 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    They definitely do need a lot of players.

    I think we are going to be too good to get our choice of QB (probably Mariota). I’m hoping all the eligible QBs come out so we can still get a potential franchise QB in the mid-1st round but not sure we could even if that happens as there are a ton of QB needy teams right now.

  22. 22 Matt Hoover said at 7:44 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Mariota may go top 10.

  23. 23 Neil said at 7:46 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    So might we 🙂

  24. 24 Greg M said at 5:46 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Watching that really stunk. Don’t even want to watch the afternoon games. I can’t believe how bad Nick looked today.

    The feel of this game kind of reminded me of the Ravens game when McNabb got benched for some reason.

    I hate losing to Dallas. I work with 3 Dallas fans — gonna be a long week.

  25. 25 BC1968 said at 5:50 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Dallas fans from this area don’t count.

  26. 26 Greg M said at 5:53 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Yeah, but that won’t stop them Cowboys decorations from showing up at my desk.

  27. 27 ACViking said at 5:54 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Ask these guys, “why do you hate America?”

  28. 28 BC1968 said at 5:52 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Last week didn’t make Foles a franchise quarterback just like this week doesn’t make him a horrible quarterback. Geez Tommy, you’re making sense again, too bad people only see it one way or the other around here.

  29. 29 BlindChow said at 6:41 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    I noticed that, too. Last week the mantra was “But it’s a small sample size!!!” This week those same people are saying “See, he can’t run an NFL offense!!!”

    If 1.5 games is a small sample size, so is 2.5 games. But both this week’s and last week’s games are outliers from his average. (Even an average QB performance probably could have won this one.)

  30. 30 Thorin said at 6:49 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Well there’s only 16 games in a season. I don’t think you ever really get a good sample size. Every game matters in the NFL, and that goes for the team as well as every player in the game. NFL players have to seize their opportunities. Clearly Nick’s still on the team, so we might see more of him, but I just feel like he really blew his big chance.

    If we don’t see anything else from Vick this year, where does he stand in camp next year? He’s just a third year QB who’s had a bunch of chances to start, and didn’t have much success. That’s a guy you might cut.

  31. 31 BobSmith77 said at 7:33 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    It is why before the season I wanted Vick gone and the Eagles to have a decent sample of Foles and maybe even a liitle Barkley. At worst, neither would have played well and the Eagles would be positioned well in the draft to get the QB they wanted in a talent-laden class.

    I bet this insistence on not rebuilding this year will be foolish and short-sighted.

  32. 32 Maggie said at 9:07 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    The Eagles have done some rebuilding this year. Just not the way you wanted, oh wise one.

  33. 33 BobSmith77 said at 9:15 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Really? The Eagles FO went out their offseason to say they weren’t rebuilding and emphasizing to the importance of winning this season. I understand part of that is just typical marketing spin but it seemed to be a short-sighted strategy given a new coach & a fan base that actually would have been willing to tolerate a rebuilding year as long as it served the team better a year or two down the road.

    This type of attitude is persuasive now in almost every aspect of American culture and I would argue a fundamental root cause of a ton of our problems. It has been growing too and I could give you a couple of measures the past 15-20 years that would make an interesting case at a macroeconomic level. Everybody wants to win/get paid NOW including in the NFL.

  34. 34 Sean Scheinfeld said at 10:20 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    You’re reading waaaaay too much into this. What more rebuilding would you have wanted them to do? If your only answer is cutting Vick, then you have no real issue with their approach, since Vick is hurt right now. Keeping a QB with an amazing skillset for the offense in the first place is not exactly an “insistence on not rebuilding” anyway.

  35. 35 Anders said at 5:57 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    A game like this is why I want us to focus on offense again next draft. We still lack key players in this offense and this defense is moving the right way. When the defense plays a game like this, we should always win.

  36. 36 Isaac said at 6:19 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    The Colts w/ Peyton Manning Theory of Drafting.

    Works great if you start off with the 1st overall choice the year a Peyton Manning comes out.

    (In fairness, the Colts because so good so fast that they didn’t focus just on offense. BPA?)

  37. 37 Anders said at 6:24 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Phillip Rivers, Tom Brady, Tony Romo, Matt Ryan, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Bress

  38. 38 Isaac said at 9:50 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    not sure what you’re saying.

  39. 39 Anders said at 6:27 AM on October 21st, 2013:

    You do not need the first overall pick to select a franchise QB.

  40. 40 ACViking said at 6:00 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Re: Pre-Game Keys by Tommy Lawlor

    Here’s one that rang true . . . again:

    “Opposing teams have burned the Eagles with slant passes this year. Bryant is perfect for slants. . . . I would like to see more press coverage from the corners to help take away the slants or at least make them less easy.”
    __________________

    Slants hurt today. Several times. Again.

    Are the Eagles’ corners not not press-able. Is the problem what’s behind the corners, i.e., the safties?

    Or is Davis just calling what Chip Kelly wants his defense doing philosophically?

    Because inside the RZ, and most everywhere else, these slants are killing the Eagles.

  41. 41 Buge Halls said at 6:37 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    I’d like to know why we don’t use the slant pass more often – if done right. it’s a near-unstoppable play…usually for 5+ yards

  42. 42 Isaac said at 6:07 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Maybe the Eagles just aren’t very good this year. Better than the G-men and TB. But that’s not saying much. With a GREAT quarterback, the Eagles would be much better.

    So the question is, how’re Howie and Chip gonna get a GREAT quarterback here? With the Eagles’ schedule, the price of moving up in the draft (even if they can find a willing partner) will be very high and at the expense of so many other positions.

    Or the Eagles could lose the rest of their games. Although that seems highly unlikely. So how do the Eagles get a GREAT quarterback?

    (Yes, I’m thinking Foles is not the right guy for Chip Kelly’s scheme.)

  43. 43 ACViking said at 6:26 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Re: Tommy Lawlor’s Pregame Warning on the Eagles’ Running Game

    In his “Keys to Victory” (at Fan-Demonium), Tommy Lawlor was prophet:

    “Kiffin is a firm believer that you don’t let running backs get outside. He wants everything funneled back to the middle. Kelly will spread the defense out and run up the middle . . . .”

    Why couldn’t McCoy get outside? Kiffin successfully game planned against it consistent with his generally philosophy.

    Why couldn’t McCoy run inside?

    PAGING TOMMY LAWLOR?!?!?!

  44. 44 Thorin said at 6:28 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    I think this very winnable game is a pretty big strike against Foles.

    What I liked most in the past two weeks was Foles seemed to be able to hit those deep corner and fade routes by anticipating they’d be open and throwing with good touch. It really seems like teams are starting the game by bringing a safety into the box and daring us to attack those deep corners. Vick hasn’t connected on those very often. Foles last week and against the Giants, looked like he was. this week, we were seeing press man coverage with single safety again, and Nick couldn’t attack those corners. There were plays receivers had a step out there, and he just didn’t throw it there. There were other plays he flat out missed the throw (Avant c. End Zone).

    The core tenet of Chip’s philosophy is to make them defend every inch of the field. Well, with our running game going well, defenses aren’t defending every inch of the field, they’re crowding the line and daring us to beat them deep. And this offense is not going to work int eh NFL until we fricking beat them deep! We have to beat them deep consistently and early to get them to loosen up the box and give LeSean some room to run. Foles had opportunities there, and he blew them. Vick blew those opportunities too this year.

    Someone has to step up and hit those throws. Until they do, there’s always going to be an extra guy down low to screw up the numbers and fill that extra lane.

  45. 45 Isaac said at 6:40 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Barkley, at USC, was deadly on those corner routes.

    Just saying.

  46. 46 Thorin said at 6:43 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Maybe. Obviously this isn’t a fair game to judge Barkley on, so that might work for him in the NFL. But I never trust what a QB did in college. They just have so much more room to work with, especially when they’re throwing deep. Receivers get lost and come wide open a lot more often. In the NFL, you really have to drop it in a moving trash can.

  47. 47 shah8 said at 6:39 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    I did think that the passing game might not be sufficient. What I was hoping for was defensive scores.

  48. 48 Corry said at 6:45 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    I hate everything.

  49. 49 RIP Worms said at 11:50 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Sublime.

  50. 50 OregonDucker said at 6:50 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    What I find surprising is how really bad I feel. Never felt like this after a game, even as a player.

  51. 51 Thorin said at 6:53 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Well, the offensive guru Chip Kelly was just held to 3 points by our biggest division rival. The players on his offense looked out of sorts, I’d even say flat. They stopped the run. The promising young QB looked like cutbait. Receivers were cutting off their routes and acting demonstrably frustrated.

    It was a depressing game for any Chip Kelly fan.

  52. 52 mksp said at 7:01 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Yup. Not a single player on offense made a play. No one made a tough catch, Foles didn’t make a single good throw. McCoy didn’t make a single tough run. Just a really bad performance.

    Starts with Chip & Nick though…..

  53. 53 Always Hopeful said at 9:42 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Cooper made a few decent plays 🙂 Am I reaching? That was the most disappointing thing to me: defense came out ready to play…we’re still waiting for the offense to show up…dang.

  54. 54 Thorin said at 10:04 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    You know, I was impressed by Riley. Maybe he has a spot in the NFL after all. He doesn’t have breakaway speed or quickness, he has to learn to play like Anquan Boldin. This week, that’s who he reminded me of.

  55. 55 Always Hopeful said at 12:45 AM on October 21st, 2013:

    I really like the way he caught that pass across the middle and broke that tackle to get the first down…he also dropped a pass near the sideline that was contested, but everybody looked bad at some point today.

  56. 56 jshort said at 7:01 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    3points, Chip Kelly team, only in Philadelphia, Need to seek out the guy that did the exorcism in Tampa Bay. Could be they did catch something down there.

  57. 57 BlindChow said at 8:51 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    I think that’s because of how mind-blowingly incompetent the offense looked, without previously giving us any reason to expect it. Even Foles had never performed this abysmally, even as a rookie. Had the team just played below average, it would have been disappointing, but not as crushing as this, as it was a far cry from anything else we’ve seen since Kelly was hired.

    Just think, this is how Jaguars fans feel every week. I assume it’s easier once you see it coming though.

  58. 58 Byter said at 6:55 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Basically, every successful defense against the Eagles occurs when teams stack the box, play tight man on the outside and a safety over top. I have to believe the Eagles game plan for this but just don’t have the personnel at any position to beat it. If you say tight ends, then I’ll say they’re not getting open, dropping the ball or are needed in pass pro. If you say more slants, then I’ll say the WR’s can’t beat jam coverage. Screens? Hard to do when the box is stacked. Vick is obviously not the long-term answer at QB but his running covers up these disadvantages as does his big arm. Until the Birds get better talent, this is what we will see. Hopefully, Shady doesn’t get blown up before then.

  59. 59 BlindChow said at 7:05 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    How about that 59-yard field goal on 4th and 1? A ridiculous decision. Makes me wonder about Kelly’s ability to think on his feet if his judgment was so questionable at such an important point in the game. It tells you how little faith he had in his offense to get that one yard, I guess.

  60. 60 Anders said at 7:07 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    I think it was because the offense was pathetic in this game. He had gone for it had the offense been operating at a higher level

  61. 61 BlindChow said at 7:08 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    The irony of that is he went with a kicker who can barely make a field goal longer than 40 yards this year. He trusted THAT guy more than McCoy.

  62. 62 Iskar36 said at 7:27 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    I still hated that decision. He would have been better off punting the ball there. Alex Henery has not shown at any point that he is a reliable kicker from 50+ yards, let alone 60. That missed FG gave Dallas the ballat the 50 yard line with 1 timeout remaining. That’s plenty of time to get one 15+ yard play and be within reasonable range for a FG. Going for it on that 4th and 1, which in my opinion had a higher probability of succeeding, would have given us a better chance at a FG if we converted (keep in mind we also had a timeout to spare, so we were not limited to throwing it to the sidelines), and at worst would have added another 7-8 yards in field position. And alternatively, a punt would have pinned them most likely around their 20 or inside their 20 which would have led to Dallas simply kneeling it most likely. The 60 yard FG was just a low probability, high risk move.

  63. 63 Yuri said at 12:09 AM on October 21st, 2013:

    If it were the last play of the half, it would have been fine. Reminds me of Oakland-Denver game a few weeks back, where Dennis Allen should have totally let SeaBass Janikowski try a 65-or-so yarder. With time remaining, should have punted or gone for it on 4th and 1.

  64. 64 BlindChow said at 12:18 AM on October 21st, 2013:

    Oh man, they totally should have let Janikowski go for the record. What a wasted opportunity. It would’ve even made sense in their case because their kicker has a monster leg.

  65. 65 jshort said at 7:21 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    My wife’s been playing “Because I got high” by Afroman, for the last hour. Think I’m starting to snap out of it. Try it, working for me.

  66. 66 jshort said at 7:24 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Andy won again

  67. 67 Matt Hoover said at 7:46 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    your point? He wouldn’t be undefeated with this team lol.

  68. 68 jshort said at 7:58 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    no point, watched end of game.

  69. 69 Weapon Y said at 7:45 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    This loss was so depressing. First, it’s the Cowboys of all teams. Second, this game completely shattered my confidence in Foles. He was so good at remaining poised in difficult circumstances last year. He just struggled with some mechanics. This was just mind-bogglingly bad. It looked like Doug Pederson, Bobby Hoying, and Mike McMahon was out there, but 10x worse. Look, quarterbacks can have bad days. Thats fine, but this wasnt just bad. I really hope Foles is healthy enough just to see him respond to this, but I’d have to say Chip needs to plan on drafting a QB next year.

  70. 70 austinfan said at 7:46 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Foles was hurt, Aikman suggested a groin injury that wasn’t reported (gee, a coach doesn’t report an injury with his backup QB with the starting QB out so as not to give the opponent an edge, never happens), and I think that’s credible – I’ve never seen Foles so inaccurate, including preseason – I’ve seen him frustrated and make bad decisions, but he wasn’t making bad decisions, he was hesitating like a guy who didn’t trust his ability to throw in tight windows. He couldn’t hit anything even when he set his feet. Something was definitely wrong with him, something more than just your normal QB funk.

    Barkley showed his shoulder injury was a legitimate excuse, he threw with far more zip than he showed in preseason, and demonstrated a capable NFL arm, not a cannon, but enough strength to throw it deep and into tight windows over the middle. His decision making, well, he looked like a rookie thrown into a tough situation with no preparation.

  71. 71 Anders said at 7:46 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Foles was on the injury list with a groin injury during the week

  72. 72 Neil said at 7:51 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    I felt Foles was injured too during the game, but the more I think about it, what are the odds Foles threw well enough in practice and then came out Sunday and missed so many throws? I mean I can’t believe Chip would have played the guy who showed up if he saw that in practice. I guess this means if the injury reason is going to hold up, he must have worsened it early in the game.

  73. 73 austinfan said at 9:19 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    What choice did Chip have?

  74. 74 Neil said at 9:39 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    That’s probably valid. I was assuming a week of practice and getting to play early with a runheavy gameplan might have allowed Barkley to be an adequate game manager, but I can see how that might not be an option to Chip. He understands where Barkley’s at better than me.

    Foles was really bad though. I’m floored by how high his completion ratio seems at 11/29 with how badly he seemed to miss every single throw. Why would you put this guy in if this is what you saw during the week, or why can’t Barkley at least score a touchdown at some point while throwing picks? I guess it’s possible he just had a bad stretch on top of his injury, or maybe it’s possible it took game speed to really expose how his mechanics are affected by it? It’s hard for me to say.

  75. 75 Michael Winter Cho said at 10:57 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Yep, he was hurt. Why else would he play so bad? Man, what’s with the bridgejumping?

  76. 76 BobSmith77 said at 7:50 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Except for the Boys tackling very well today, they didn’t play well today either with a ton of penalties, mediocre ST, and an underwhelming performance by Romo and their OL.

    I wasn’t happy from what I saw at all out of Foles who turtled as the game went on. Really bad sign. If your a Foles’ fan, you almost have to hope that he got concussed in the 1st half and didn’t say anything to the staff. Otherwise today was one of the worst Eagles’ QB performances I can remember of the last several seasons.

    Overall thus game reminded me of the scene in Wolf towards the end where Nicholson pisses all over Spader’s shoes in the men’s restroom after Nicholson gets his job back and he just says he is ‘marking his territory’ when Spader yells at him what he is doing. That is what Kiffib and the Cowboys did to Kelly and the Eaglex today. Marked their territory in the NFC East today.

  77. 77 ian_no_2 said at 8:34 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    The Cowboys game planned around what Foles did well previously and instead of adjusting, he fell into a rut. Foles impressed me with his perf in those two games but like Vick hasn’t responded to teams gunning for him. That can always change but Foles has always struck me as a 77 rating guy.

  78. 78 BobSmith77 said at 8:37 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    OL to me has been far and away the biggest disappointment to me this season based on what I thought they would do this year. Didn’t have high expectations for Peters coming back either given how severe his injuries were & his age. Basically hoped he could solidify LT and be an above average starter this year.

    Yeah the OL so far this year is better than last year. Depressing thought is though they have been at full strength almost the entire year so far though. 1-2 injuries and this OL is back to the same beleaguered unit it was last year.

    Another start today, another poor day of blocking especially in pass protection for Johnson would struggled all day against Selvie. Yeah Johnson is a rookie but he has had 1 (maybe 2 solid games) so far and struggled almost every start in pass protection. Giving up 1-2 sacks almost every week along with share of hits & hurries. Hope they see some improvement of him in the 2nd half because if I had to grade him so far it would be a ‘D’ or ‘C-‘

    Herremans had a rough time too including a few penalties and has struggled a lot more than not this season too. More and more he looks like a veteran who is on the cusp of losing his starting job at some point in the near future. Just can’t see Barbre being the guy who pushes Herremans out of a job though.

    Rest of the line has been so-so with Mathis being their best and most consistent overall OL again.

  79. 79 Anders said at 8:52 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    A guy like Johnson would look 100 times better if he played for a QB like Bress or Rodgers who gets the ball out fast when needed. Foles held onto the ball a lot today and that always make the OL look worse.

  80. 80 BobSmith77 said at 8:59 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Yeah he did but that is happening every week. Johnson just hasn’t played well this year so far. Really hoping he shows some improvement after a rough 1st half.

  81. 81 BobSmith77 said at 8:58 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Eagles are now 0-3 and well on their way to another losing record at the Linc which will be their 3rd consecutive season with a home losing record.

    They haven’t had a winning season at the Linc since ’09 when they went 6-2 and are now just 45-38 (.542) at the Linc since it opened vs 49-34-1 (.583) on the road.

    4-2 in the playoffs at the Linc but haven’t hosted a playoff game since ’09 (WC loss to Packers) and haven’t won a home playoff game since ’06 (memorable win vs Giants).

  82. 82 disqus_jB7dl5fzvO said at 9:01 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    On DeMeco’s pick, when I saw Romo coming up to try and tackle him, I was really hoping for DeMeco to straight out flatten him and put a Sheldon Brown type hit on him, and I know I am not the only one who thought that. So disappointing.

  83. 83 P_P_K said at 9:51 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    I thought the same thing.

  84. 84 A_T_G said at 9:23 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Well I think we all learned a very important lesson today.

    Sometimes one starts to take guys for granted and think they are easily replaced. Clearly, Jordan Poyer was a key cog that made this machine go. An unseen, unappreciated, but vital cog.

    I hope we learn from this.

  85. 85 Nathan Rufo said at 9:25 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Tommy,

    How much do you think Foles’ performance may have had to do with his groin issue? Maybe it was aggravated in practice or early on? To the casual observer, his mechanics seemed terrible. Several times he could have stopped, planted, and made a good throw and he didn’t. I could see how a groin pull could really hurt a QB’s mechanics. I mean, there’s no way he could have gone from near-perfect timing route strikes to completely missing wide-open receivers in a week without some extraneous situation, right? It just seems like too much of a disparity.

    I could buy not doing well against man coverage. I could buy the lack of a running game not allowing play action to break WRs open, or even bad deep throws, as he still has work in that dept. But missing a 20-yard pass to a wide open Avant because he doesn’t plant his feet correctly? I don’t get it.

  86. 86 anon said at 9:39 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    If he was that injured shouldn’t have played. The D kept it tight the whole game it really sucks to let them down like that.

  87. 87 ztom6 said at 9:39 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    I’m already over it. We needed to find out if Foles could be depended on to be the guy. Well we found out he isn’t as dependable as we thought. The QB controversy is over and now it’s just a matter of how soon until Vick can play again. The QB of the future probably isn’t on the roster right now.

    What I really took from this game is the defense might be further along than we thought, and that’s something to get excited about for the future.

  88. 88 BobSmith77 said at 10:01 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    If you were really high on Foles before this week based on basically just 1.5 games, how could you be that down and despondent on him after a single game including a possible injury that severely curtailed his performance?

  89. 89 ztom6 said at 10:13 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    I’m not “despondent” about him or going to close the door on him as a prospective starting QB in my mind, but in the NFL you need to make the most out of your opportunities and Foles failed to do that. I don’t think the injury had anything to do with his performance fwiw.

  90. 90 anon said at 10:24 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    There’s no excluse for playing that poorly. Players are on the injured list all the time don’t play if you can’t play.

  91. 91 BobSmith77 said at 10:50 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    It wasn’t in an injury he had before the game though so we wouldn’t have been listed on the report.

    It wouldn’t surprise me if Foles was playing at well less than 100% and for a few reasons & didn’t disclose it to the coaching staff/trainers.

    Yeah he still stunk though missing all kinds of throws today.

  92. 92 austinfan said at 10:45 AM on October 21st, 2013:

    With Vick out, what choice was there?
    As we saw, Barkley just isn’t ready to start.
    Foles toughed it out, could have been tougher, but it wasn’t like there were viable options.

  93. 93 BlindChow said at 11:32 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Even if you include last year’s games, there was nothing indicating he would ever look this clueless. Last year’s Nick Foles could have won this game.

  94. 94 Always Hopeful said at 12:50 AM on October 21st, 2013:

    Just bizarre…was the moment too big for him?

  95. 95 ztom6 said at 9:43 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Earl Wolff, baller game today btw. And DeMeco Ryans was outstanding.

  96. 96 Isaac said at 9:52 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Wolff injured, didn’t return to game. Eagles have no luck at safety.

  97. 97 ztom6 said at 9:56 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    hopefully he’s okay.

  98. 98 Isaac said at 10:06 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    How ’bout that Geno Smith? Looking pretty good as a NYJ with a HC who coaches up one nasty defense. Plus Rex Ryan has put the leash on Marty’s insane passing obsession.

    When Laurie went to WVA with Roseman and Kelly, those guys were serious about checking Geno out. That was no hum-drum visit.

  99. 99 austinfan said at 10:44 AM on October 21st, 2013:

    8 TD, 11 interceptions.
    Not exactly overwhelming.

  100. 100 BobSmith77 said at 10:17 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Useless but depressing fact:

    As bad as the Eagles have been since the first SB in ’67 at times, they have NEVER had 3 consecutive losing years at home. After their loss today to drop them to 0-3, they are well on their way.

  101. 101 P_P_K said at 11:35 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    I was going to thank you for that nugget, but I’m too depressed.

  102. 102 BobSmith77 said at 10:33 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Infamous ‘Eagles’ Court’ still functions too for select home games (usually division rival games including today) but it is now at 3rd District Philly PD HQ on 11th and Wharton. Thought they had disbanded it entirely.

  103. 103 RobNE said at 10:38 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Possible silver lining: our 4th round qb has a better arm than we thought. Maybe he can be the guy (one day).

  104. 104 Joe Minx said at 10:54 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    EMB is not a fun place to be right now. If they’re not still fighting over Foles vs. Vick they’re busy making fun of Chip acting like he’s a bum & hasn’t done anything.

    That’s why I like it here. 🙂

  105. 105 xlGmanlx said at 11:35 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    Repeat after me, this is a rebuilding year.

  106. 106 P_P_K said at 11:38 PM on October 20th, 2013:

    This wasn’t just Crapfest. It was also Crapstock, except Hendrix didn’t play.

  107. 107 BlindChow said at 12:19 AM on October 21st, 2013:

    Great SNF game. Old Stanley Havili had a good night. One forced fumble, one touchdown.

  108. 108 Flyineagle45 said at 1:28 AM on October 21st, 2013:

    Wait the eagles played today?

  109. 109 anon said at 1:35 AM on October 21st, 2013:

    Nope

  110. 110 mtn_green said at 11:38 AM on October 21st, 2013:

    Weird ‘Foles was off’.

    The media watched most mini camp and training camp throws and we had 4 preseason games. Last season foles wasnt lights out but still played with confodence and didnt seem to get rattled. No indication that he misses targets and shrinks in big games. Something else was going on.

    You gotta hit open receivers, simple. You can’t you don’t play. Book isn’t closed on Foles but this game is a black mark.