Hope for the Defense
Posted: October 7th, 2013 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 144 Comments »The kids were alright on Sunday.
Brandon Boykin – He was tasked with covering Victor Cruz for much of the game. Cruz finished with just 5 catches for 48 yards. There were plenty of double teams so it isn’t as if Boykin just shut Cruz down. And there was a costly PI penalty that sustained a TD drive. But Boykin helped to keep Cruz under control. Boykin had a spectacular INT (while covering Cruz). He also blitzed from the outside and got some pressure on Eli’s first INT. Boykin can become an impact player even if he stays as the Nickel Corner.
Mychal Kendricks – He picked off a pass and recovered a fumble. Kendricks now has 3 FRs and leads the NFL. The INT was completely a gift, but how many times over the years have we seen an Eagles LB drop that ball? Kendricks is expected to be a playmaker. He’s showing signs of that.
Ced Thornton – Had 4 solo tackles and a TFL yesterday. Helped push the pocket on the play where Manning’s hand got hit and the ball was picked off by Kendricks.
Fletcher Cox – The Eagles most athletic DL was able to get some pressure yesterday. He was about to sack Eli when Manning threw the ball to Cruz over the middle and Boykin picked it off. The stat line shows just 2 tackles, but there was more impact than that.
Earl Wolff – Broke up a pass and had 4 tackles. Need to study the tape to really see how he did.
Brandon Graham / Vinny Curry – Limited snaps again, but they were able to get some pressure. Curry made his impact felt more.
Bennie Logan – Got his first NFL sack. It was Curry’s pressure that created the sack, but Logan finished the play.
You don’t build a juggernaut defense overnight. It takes time to collect the pieces and put them together. Players take time to develop. The Eagles have a long, long way to go, but it was very encouraging to see the young players impacting the game as they did.
They’ll gain confidence from Sunday. Part of becoming a good player or unit is believing in yourself. That can be hard to do when you’re getting lit up. A taste of success can go a long way to getting players to believe in what’s going on. We’ll see if Sunday is something the young players can build on.
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Jimmy Bama thinks Chip Kelly is a thief.
A Tecmo thief, to be exact. Funny stuff for those of us who remember those games.
I can think of a few Tecmo players I’d like to add to bolster the defense.
_
Seemed like they were throwing at Bradley Fletcher most of the game but Fletcher held up fairly well more often than not, I thought.
He broke up 5 passes. Crazy total.
I think Eli beat the guy once with that throw to Nicks early and kept trying to go back to the well.
According to Victor Cruz all 5 of them were on non-called Pass Interference penalties.
Tommy, I was hoping you could talk a bit about Bradley Fletcher’s PDs in your DGR with a little detail. The fact that he got the PDs was great, but watching the plays live, it seemed to me that on at least two of them, he was out of position and was beaten deep, but a poor throw from Manning allowed Fletcher to recover and get the deflection. To be fair to Fletcher, I wonder if the safety was supposed to provide help over the top (Nate Allen I think was close by on both of the deep throws I am remembering). It just seemed to me that a better throw would have resulted in a big play rather than a PD, so it makes me wonder whether the result is overshadowing the actual execution.
Off topic- Should we be worried about the Dallas Cowboys? I know a lot of fans will joke about Romo’s game ending interception or about how the Cowboys gave up 51 points, but that offense was on par with Denver. It’s not like they did this against the Jaguars or the Browns, Denver has a good defense. I know Dallas has long ways to go on defense, but teams like New Orleans have been able to carry their teams with their elite offense.
Romo had the game of his career until that interception yesterday. I think Dallas is the team with the best shot at winning the division this year.
Worried? Worried how? Someone’s got to win this putrid division. This year is about building for the Eagles. I’d rather have the better draft pick than a one and done playoff shot from an 7-9 division winner.
i agree with you, but i dont ever want to lose to dallas. lol
Worried in the sense that they may become an elite team in this conference.
I would be worried. Denver shut us down. They couldn’t stop Romo.
(Though the Browns have a good defense this year, I think.)
One reason to be hopeful:
Week 17 2011- Cowboys vs. Giants, Winner goes to the playoffs, Giants win
Week 17 2012- Cowboys vs. Redskins, Winner goes to the playoffs, Redskins win
Week 17 2013- Cowboys vs. Eagles
Obviously, there’s no guarantee that match-up will be for a playoff berth, but how awesome would it be to be the team that knocks the Cowboys out this year? Yeah, I’ll admit I think the Cowboys are clearly the better team than the Eagles, but they’re still vulnerable. Honestly, I don’t see the Giants even coming close to the division title. The Redskins still could, but only because this is the NFC East. I’ll still take the Birds over them. Anyway with Dallas, Kiffin’s defense is weak, and Chip lit up Kiffin’s USC defense routinely at Oregon. Chip has Kiffin’s number. And of course: the Tony Romo factor. He can be great. He can look like an elite quarterback. But most often, in clutch situations, he shits the bed just like yesterday. If the Birds can just stay with the Cowboys up to that game, I seriously think we’re going to win the division.
I don’t think we’re good enough to take anyone on our schedule lightly.
Bradley Fletcher also played well. I know he’s 27, but I think he could solidify his CB position for the next 3-5 years.
I think it was Derek who tweeted that Fletcher was not only in on every defensive snap but 11 special teams snaps too, while Jordan Poyer did not enter the game at all.
Ahhhh Tecmo. Those were the days. I want to say it was Detroit or Green Bay’s nose tackle, you could do a quick little slide move and sack the QB every time. Bob Nelson, I think? Eagles could definitely use some of that.
Jerry Ball on Detroit. ‘Twas awesome.
Schefter reports Vick is not expected to play next week, Foles will get the start. If you ever popped a hamstring, you know it takes a long time to be anything close to normal.
I did mine in the athletically challenging sport of slow-pitch softball.
Apparently rounding first is the worst possible thing you can ever do to your hamstring. At least my hobbled double helped narrow the gap in a game we wound up losing 33 – 9.
I know some guess can not get over their blind hatred, but I actually thought Allen had his 3rd straight solid game and looked improved once again.
Im not expecting miracles out of him, but if he can improve every week, we might have a functional safety by the end of the year.
You referring to the first two plays of the game where the offense got behind the safety? Wasn’t the game plan to not let that happen? Or are you referring to the TD where he was in charge of the middle and took a brutal angle and dove at the air to make a tackle? I must be blind too…
http://mcnabborkolb.com/blog/2013/10/7/is-the-eagles-defense-one-competent-safety-away-from-success
Now THAT is a great post. Thanks for sharing.
Brian Solomon could create a pictorial of the safeties missing a tackle on a short pass over middle in every game so far. The guys were there to tackle Randle they all missed.
On the Nicks play we was in cover 0. That means Nicks was not on Allen, but on Fletcher the whole way (either we was in cover 0 or cover 1 and then we had the wrong play call and Allen decided to cover an uncovered man)
Also notice the word IMPROVING: Didnt say he had a great game. Just said he was IMPROVING.
He listened to the Chip press conference today about how Nate has been playing better and drank the Kool aid lol..
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a safety who can’t play in the box, should NEVER, it repeat,NEVER allow a defender to get behind him when he isn’t on someone in man coverage…
or I actually watch the game with my own eyes.
Also point me to where I said he had a very good game. He said he was IMPROVING. Is basic reading skills really that hard?
Sorry but I watched the same game, and saw a “safety” constantly getting beat deep when double teaming WRs which is a mortal sin at safety position..and a safety whiff on a RZ tackle giving up a stoppable TD…that’s what My EYES saw…so naturally I can only come to two conclusions from a comment made by a guy who sounds like Nates protective mother all year:
..
1) you drank the Chip Kool aid of the day..
…
2) you are talking about some insignificant, minuscule,snail type of improvements that are laughable for a 4th Year 2nd round pick with 30 games of starting experience
“…
Every single day I have to listen to everyone pretend they can possibly know what inexperienced, no continuity FOles can’t be already so soon in his development process….but I can’t judge a 4th year safety who still lets WR get behind him multiple times per game? Lol….people know how we allegedly don’t have talent with Cox, Thorton, Logan!Mykal,Curry…but I can’t judge a guy with 30 starts? Lol Gotcha…
i’ll wait for the DGR to have an opinion of Allen’s game, but I didn’t really come up with anything to complain about his play in the game.
regarding the deep passes, the giants seemed stubborn enough to keep trying that sort of play until it worked.
Hey Tommy this was in response to the previous post. BBaaS said that because Foles lost the preseason battle that he lost any chance to be the Eagles QB. You contended that losing the preseason battle does not mean he’s lost any shot. Doesn’t it though? Hear me out. I am not down on Foles, but I don’t think he played well enough/ Vick has played bad enough for him to start when Vick is healthy. Barring Vick missing more than just the TB game, if Vick keeps up with the performances that he’s been putting on, I can’t really see him benched as we should be in the hunt to win a bad NFCE down to the very last game against the cowboys. So then we are looking at two options. Either Vick is brought back, which I can’t see them bringing him back to compete again or we go get a QB early who the coaches would want and sort of have to start. Then where does that leave Foles? I don’t like saying it because Foles has shown flashes here and there, but I could definitely see how losing the preseason battle could mean he never gets a shot. Do you think by any stretch they would forego getting a QB early solely based on Foles’ potential if he only has one or 2 more starts in which he’s mediocre to good?
Even the most minor hamstring pull is a two week injury. This sounds like it might be more. Vick says he heard a pop. That hints that it is partially torn, not simply overstretched.
Lots of hypotheticals in there.
My point was that Nick losing the battle to Vick this summer, which he did, doesn’t seal his fate over the long term. Players are fluid, not static. If Nick plays well enough, he could win the job. If he plays so-so, then I think he’s going to be projected as the backup.
But even then you don’t know. What if Foles takes a major step forward next summer?
Too often we see players and put them into a permanent category. Brian Dawkins was a great player in 2002, but not in 2008. He changed over time. Fans have a habit of wanting a player to stay in one category forever. That’s just not how it works.
Vick beat Foles in the summer of 2013. The outcome might be different if they battled next summer. We just don’t know. We can make projections, but players change.
Darwin Walker was irrelevant in 2001, but unblockable for most of 2002. Young guy who had the light go on.
Hugh Douglas was a pass rushing force in 2002, but a bad player in JAX in 2003. Older player who descended quickly.
Foles has physical limitations. His game hinges on his ability to do the little things well. Experience is huge for him. That means the older he gets, the better he should play. Should, of course, is the key word. No guarantees.
If I had to bet whether or not Foles is ever the full-time starter for the Eagles by choice, I’d say no. But that hardly means that it can’t happen. Nick is probably going to play Sunday and possibly the next week. If he plays really well, maybe that does change Kelly’s thinking, either short or long term.
The key to all of this is how Nick performs. He’s not so physically gifted or so special that he will get the job by default. Nick has to earn it. We’ll see if that happens or not.
That’s a more PC answer than I was expecting (not that I’m getting on your case, as you said my question hinges on several hypotheticals). I also wasn’t asking as somone who sees Foles as having hit his ceiling. I do think he will improve, but I cannot see Vick being brought back to compete. That just doesn’t seem logical. I don’t know of a single QB who has won their respective division only to have to compete for the starting gig on the same team. maybe there are examples of which I am unaware. Maybe your answer was the best given how much time is left, but I think that any good performance we see out of Foles in less than a 2 game stretch will only serve to boost his trade value. I hope I’m wrong because it would be great to focus in on other positions.
Vick is gone after this year. He’s just too old to keep around for this team.
Foles would need to play lights out to have any kind of hope of keeping the job.
I think the Eagles will have QB high on their offseason list. Foles will compete with the guy and can win the job by outplaying him next spring.
I don’t think it is likely Foles is considered the starter for 2014 unless he does something overly impressive.
Is that more clear?
Very much so. I hope I didn’t come off as a jerk but that is exactly what i was looking for. I disagree that Vick has no chance, but I do believe it’s very very slim and hinges on both winning the division and at least one playoff game. He could be the Doug Peterson for the new rookie. Also, winning the divsion may result in not getting a prospect ready to start right away. Thanks for answering the question. I do think yours is the more likely outcome.
@ aub32… Vick could stick around, but it would take a near miracle. Eagles would have to be an offensive juggernaut and team that felt like a SB contender. That’s highly unlikely so I think he’s gone.
My guess is that some team will give Vick a chance to compete for the starting job. Eagles will go young.
I could see that. Do you think this team would have more of a chance with Mac? The D is what it is, but I still think this O could be something special and have a chance against a team like Atlanta or Detriot in the playoffs, especially if they had a weapon opposite Jackson or Ertz can mature a little sooner than later.
Do you think Kelly’s college background influences his thought process at the QB position? He has always been in the mode of replacing the QB every couple of years – does that make him less willing to bet everything on the mythical “Franchise QB” (since he has won with a bunch of different guys in the past, none of which were named Andrew Luck or equivalent)?
Here’s the thing, you’ve said this before, I think two years straight, now, after ’11 and after ’12. Vick is still here. More than that, I strongly doubt that Kelly would be confident in bringing in anybody but genuinely solid talent, and I think people are overestimating just how available said young talent is–either in the draft or as a free agent. Mix that with the burning pile of used diapers that you can mistake the defense for, and I think that the FO will find it very, very hard not to pay primary attention to stocking the defense with talent. Kelly, Roseman, et al are just not going to want to spend psychic effort and cash on looking for some more politically acceptable (to some people) QBs.
To push the philosophy of roster management further, I think the era of pop star QBs who could be supported with great talent around him while lookin’ like a winna is over for now. With the disaster of Ponder, Flynn, Clausen, Fitzpatrick, Kolb, (dissatisfaction) Dalton, and the nonfulfilment of physically talented people who’ve gotten chance after chance like Bradford, Weeden, Gabbert…well…We kind of saw what the score was in the last draft. QB with the best tools, EJ Manuel got picked first, even though Manuel doesn’t really have moxie. The best actual QB was picked in the second round, and nobody without actual tools merited consideration before the fourth round (Glennon at least has an arm, sorta). This wasn’t remotely as true in drafts of the recent past. In terms of free agency, guys like Cassel and Fitzpatrick went places where they would be a backup, where in the not so recent past, guys like Matt Moore and Matt Flynn were looking for starter opportunities. As it stands, I fully expect Tarvaris Jackson to have a real shot at a starter’s position this offseason. Teams have focused more and more on the BAMF ratings more than the Q ratings, and I think the Eagles staff are not really among the laggards of that trend. Winning games is far more profitable than losing with a lovable QB. As long as Vick still has it, the stronger, and worse risk, is that he is signed away, not that he resigns here. You can love Foles all you want, and you can pretend that he’s the future all you want, and you can project your attitudes onto others, calling them “Vick Lovers” when they tell you that can’t be, but it’s Jeff Lurie’s team. It’s run by Kelly and Roseman, and all those other guys. And they are almost certainly not sympathetic to the love of Foles, beyond the jersey sales. Because at the end of the day, they look at Jacksonville, and see that David Garrard’s jersey sells more than Gabbert’s jersey, and they shudder quietly.
Does Barkley get an even competition?
Foles v. Draft pick v. Barkley?
Foles or Barkley get traded?
Barkley will get a shot to show what he can do.
I think Foles gets traded (more valuable at this point) and Barkley batteles the rookie, and Foles pick nets our dream safety, thanks again Cardinals
Not that Foles won’t be traded, but Foles is a terrible fit for Arians’ downfield passing.
Shhhh. What are you trying to do, ruin it? Just show them the highlight of the Foles pass to Maclin from half a dozen angles.
Or slap Foles number on some Vick throws.
Now you’re thinking
What do you think of someone like Aaron Murray getting drafted by us next year?
Aaron Murray is not getting drafted by us. Barkley is>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Murray. I’m pretty sure that if you put Aaron Murry through the Lewin Career Forcast method, he’s not going to come out smelling like roses.
I’m biased towards the SEC, the three quarterbacks who intrigue me the most for us are (in order): Murray, Mettenburger, Mariota.
I shy away from SEC QBs. Not too many of them aside from the Mannings are any good, and it seems that the main reason this is so, is because the good programs focus entirely by beating other teams with enormous talent advantages squad-wise. The QB usually is only desired to manage the game. The good ones past Eli, like Cutler or Stafford have a great deal of flakeyness in their mechanics and decisionmaking, and Eli is that way, too.
Murray is not going to be a serious consideration, I promise you. Mettenburger is not coming out this year, I suspect, and no, from what I understand, he’s a statue. If you want someone like him who might have NFL athleticism, look to FSU’s backup QB, Cocker or something like that.
Mariota’s issue is that he’s not particularly revelationary in his tools, and his collegiate experience is in an offense fairly different from the pros–adjustment period probably required. I would wait until the combine, honestly, before I know where he will be ranked.
Regarding Mariota, I think there might be a team in the NFL with a system very similar to Oregon’s…
What are you talking about? Murray has an enchanting musk.
Nick has more than enough physical talent if he can master the mental part of playing QB, something Vick will never be able to do (he’s not awful, just mediocre). However, we won’t know until maybe next year if he’s able to make that mental climb. Same with Barkley.
Brady wasn’t the starting QB on NE until he was, Bledsoe was the starter and 0-2 when he was injured, the rest is history.
People put too much stress on arm strength and athleticism, but the top QBs in the league, Peyton, Brees and Brady, are not great athletes nor do they have rocket arms. The only top QB who measures up physically is Rodgers, who’d be dead meat behind a subpar OL if he wasn’t a great athlete. If Luck is the next great QB, it will be because he’s the most prepared college QB to come into the NFL since Peyton. And even Peyton sucked his first season, and didn’t win a playoff game until his fifth year.
You need some physical talent, or we’d be seeing the induction of the Detmer brothers, but not as much as people assume, or Jeff Garcia would never have started a NFL game, Rich Gannon would not have been an allpro, etc.
Don’t underestimate Luck’s physical tools. His arm is elite and he ran a 4.6 40.
for the last time, Luck, while having a more than adequate arm for the NFL, is not elite. He can’t throw certain routes, and a big part of the lowered interception rates this year had to do with Arians and his Coryell passing preferences leaving for Arizona.
Yeah but Peyton, Brees, and Brady were all really, really good in college. Their TEAMS might not have been great but it’s not shocking that any of them ended up elite NFL QBs.
If it was that easy to master the mental side of the game, every QB would do it. I am not sure you meant to, but you are coming off as casually dismissing Foles problems with decision making and TOs. Vick at least has the athleic ability and bid arm to make up for this. Foles has yet to show on a consistent basis that he’s this football whiz some think he can dvelop into. There’s a reason Manning is so special. Not everyone can simply grasp everything and succeed with limited physical tools.
Good post….people forget how long Rodgers sat on the bench…if Aaron Rodgers played in his in first two years, he wouldn’t have looked half as good as FOles…does that mean, Files sins going to get better than Aaron? heck no!……but just because FOles isn’t a sure shot franchise stud in his is first year and a quarter. Doesn’t mean that he can’t grow into It…
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Riley. Cooper has 8 catches playing 95% of the snaps in 5 games…yet now that FOles will play, watch how he will get production out of Riley..Expect Ertz to improve playing with Nick…and all of the sudden, Desean wasn’t just a deep threat who is garbage in the redzone
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FOles slayed Tampa last year, can wait for the sequel on Sunday….
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If FOles was on the Texans, he would start the rest of the season
people(writes/analyst) said there was never a qb competition. I agree with them for the fact that there is no way there’s enough in pre-season to really know what kind of qb you have. It was bias from the beginning. Vick didn’t win. As you said once — the two corners were brought in, not as long term solutions but as a stop gap. That’s the same reason why Vick is starting. He is certainly not a long term solution.
your assumptions sound correct – that Vick will remain the starter when healthy or even mostly healthy over Foles based on the preseason performance.
however, i think that there are two additional assumptions in here that you are not mentioning:
1) Vick’s play remains as good as or better than his preseason play and
2) Foles play (in practice and in limited game time) remains as good as or worse than his preseason play.
i’m not going to argue those one way or the other, but like Tommy said, players can change over time. A lot of things can change over the course of a season.
i think a BIG part of this is continuity. since Vick won the job in preseason, that gives him a lot of leeway as far as his play goes. the coaching staff will deal with a bad game here and there and keep Vick the starter (not saying he had a bad game by any stretch).
I am less inclined to think Vick’s play will go down at this point past what his leeway will allow. He has done what he can in most these games, outside of KC. I doubt Chip faults Vick for drops, penalties, and missed FGs, even though it seems like some fans do. (I kid). I also think Chip knows how much Vick means to the run game, despite his attempts to say it was the same with Foles. Vick’s mistakes have not been mental. He’s had bad throws here and there but so does every QB. He has protected both himself and the football very well up to this point. I can’t really see him reverting at this point. I thought he may falter after the Chiefs game, but I think we have seen what we can expect to get from him. A stellar run game, a few missed passes, a deep ball here and there, and an off game every so often.
I am not advocating Foles or Vick, but to say that because Vick won the job in preseason it is his for perpetuity (or at least until his contract runs out) is ridiculous. Look at SF last year – Alex Smith won the job in preseason, yet somehow he wasn’t the guy who started in the Super Bowl. I’m not equating Foles with Kaepernick (in fact, I think Foles’ upside might be to turn into Alex Smith with less mobility). I’m just saying it’s a ridiculous argument to make.
Kelly said today he wants to see more TD’s and less FG’s. If Foles can run an efficient (TD’s in abundance) offense the next week or 2, I think it will make the decision a lot harder for Chip once Vick is healthy.
As far as next year goes with Vick or Foles – I think that will play out and the answer will be obvious once the games are in the books.
The difference is that Kaep, like Vick, brought dimensions the other QB did not. He was better for the run game and more dynamic in the pass game. I think Vick does the same for the eagles. Just look at our run game in the second half. We are going to need that if we hope to rack up some wins this season. I also, prefaced my statement by saying Foles would only have a game. I don’t think he can do anything short of a Peyton Manning-esque that wull win him the job against the Bucs. Yesterday was good, but he did have his struggles in the 3rd and field position was a major facor in the 4th.
Isn’t it nice to have a 2nd year QB, that can come off the bench and manage a game? Not only that, but there is a comfort level, he has the potential to actually win a game.
Yes. I am glad Foles is on this team.
Well, you can’t go by the next game. If Foles happens to put up 100+ passing performance against Tampa. We all know after last year, he owns them.
I imagine Vick coming back when he’s healthy is the default position. Foles will have to completely dominate (like Kaep in the Chicago game last year, to use Tom33’s example) in order to even get in the conversation.
Even if that’s the case, Vick might still come back as the starter, but I think the tolerance for excessive punts and FG’s would be lower. The nice thing is, I believe it’ll be completely performance based, since I don’t get the sense either one is “Kelly’s guy” (like a draft pick would be).
This season on defense is about the young players.
The 4 young DL look promising, need some more OLBs with talent (maybe in a month when Long has got the knee further along?).
Poyer, Prater and Carmichael are the only hopes in the secondary, we know what we have in Coleman and Anderson, and Allen once again showed that he’s never going to live up to his rookie promise.
I’d listen to offers for Cole and/or Graham from 4-3 teams with injuries on their DL.
Get me someone, anyone up front on this D who can command a double team
Cole looks like he’s basically done. Still a decent run defender but has just 3 sacks in his last 21 games. Probably will just have to cut him outright.
yea nobody is taking on his contract anyway.
He has to go…he is just stunting young guys growth…he should never set foot on the field before Curry…we aren’t getting ANYTHING out of Trent, why not grow Vinny or graham
love a zealous article after playing a terrible offensive team. I don’t get “hope” from playing against the hapless G-Strings. You should gauge your talent vs. good talent at least.
Zealous? Okay.
But not overly so…
🙂
Are you kidding? We totally could have lost and it wouldn’t have been a surprise. The fact we won by two scores seems big, no matter who we were playing. Especially after that rough 3rd quarter…
I hate to complain about officiating but the zebras missed calls left and right yesterday. Cole definitely went to Eli’s head on Kendricks’ interception (like it or not, that’s the rule), DJax didn’t maintain possession to the ground on the sideline replay, the Giants’ RB “forward progress” should have 4 yards deep into the endzone for a safety, Manning had another grounding which wasn’t called and Boykin’s PI was either ticky-tacky or non-existent.
Do crappy teams get crappy refs along with crappy announcers? If the Giants weren’t so woeful this Eagles team might not have the talent to overcome so many bad calls.
Maybe I’m mistaken, but i thought that rule was amended to being a “forceful” blow to the helmet, which is a judgement call by the officials. The Cole hand to the helmet seemed more like a glance and slide than a blow to the head to me.
Depends which Manning receives the hit.
I think poking the QB’s helmet would draw a flag if the ref sees it. That’s my understanding of the rule.
borderline call/non-call there.
i thought that was mccoy who ‘caught’ that ball instead of jackson?
I may be in the minority here, but I would list WR on top of our off-season needs next year. Despite all the holes we have on defense, you need two quality wide outs to be successful in this league.
After watching the Hawks/Colts game just now you can only come away jealous of TY Hilton, who is a vertical thread with great hands. We don’t have such a complement to Desean, and since I expect someone else than the Eagles to overpay for Jeremy Maclin next off-season, the Eagles will have to a) spend a high pick on a WR or b) find someone else in free agency.
The Ravens didn’t really have a stellar WR corp last year. Boldin was pedestrian during the regular season, and there’s nothing about Jones or Smith that says #1. San Fran also weren’t stacked at WR, nor were the Hawks. All three teams had good RBs, which we have and productive TEs which Ertz and Casey may prove to be. So I’d say more resouces need to go into completing this transformation into a 3-4 defense, since that’s something they seem dead set on doing.
I am starting to think similarly. We’ve heard a lot of talk about using TEs to win numbers games, but that hasn’t paid off so far. I think we need someone who can get separation in distances shorter than 20 yards.
On top of our needs? No, I don’t agree. Maybe 3rd or 4th on the list? sure.
Well maybe not on the very top, but definitely in the top 3.
I say:
1. QB
2. NT
3. S
4. WR
But none of that shit matters since we’re a terrible team and BPA should be our philosophy. Even if it’s a OG, LB, or DE.
I expect Maclin to be franchised next year. If he doesn’t, we get a pretty high compensatory pick. If he does, we get him for a year for a “reasonable” price to see if he’s back to 100%. Seems like a win-win.
I think Maclin can be had for much less than the franchise tag.
me too, acl injury not going to create any bidding wars.
Plus I bet he’d rather stay in Philly, even if it’s on a one-year “prove-it” deal…
I’d say we target a WR in the second or third, since this class of WR’s is fairly deep, and then pick up a guard in the 4/5 range since they are undervalued and someone with starting potential should still be available that late. Throw the rest of the picks at the D.
Gotta grab the Big possession WR out of Penn state in rd 2
Robinson would be nice, I’m also a big fan of Cody Hoffman from BYU, and Jordan Matthews from Vandy.
Hilton was a 3rd round pick.
Fletcher Cox
Cedric Thorton
Brandon Boykin
Bradley Fletcher
Mychal Kendricks
Conner Barwin
These guys are the mainstays of this roster. I think they can play here for 3+ years. Add a FS, NT, OLB, ILB, and a CB and I think we’ll have a formidable defense.
I still want that “star”. Like a Patrick Willis, Htoai Ngata, etc..
What’s your opinion of Patrick Chung?
I think Barwin is just a guy to some extent. He’s really bad at pass rushing.
and blocking the ball instead of catching it.
like wolff way better in the box than out. if we had a cover safety i think he could start.
I would add some spice to this list… specifically: Curry.
Defense has vision “multiple fronts” “pressure for takeaways” “attack and dictate the offense”
The personnel isn’t there. Maybe the defense has the lightbulb click and trust the scheme then play much better, maybe the talent isn’t there.
Somebody probably brought this up already but I haven’t been on top of the comments….on the Boykin hit to the head on Eli that wasn’t called, didn’t Eli’s pass bounce off his lineman’s helmet (illegal touching)? Best case scenario would have been offsetting penalties for the Giants, but that wasn’t called either.
I think the refs saw that Eli was hit or going down and would not have called the illegal touching. My two cents…
I believe illegal touching has to be intentional, i.e. a lineman trying to catch a screen pass that’s just hanging in the air.
Oh well. The Giants can screw themselves anyway. lol
ILLEGAL TOUCHING OF A FORWARD PASS
Article 8 Illegal Touching of a Forward Pass.
It changed a few years ago. It used to be a penalty if it hit them.
Ced???
I don’t really care for this QB controversy, but I want both of these guys to play well enough that they become good trade targets by deadline. Minnesota, Houston, Cleveland, Tampa, Arizona, and Jacksonville- we’ll take your 2nd round picks.
Giants had success doing something new to defend our run game, and now every team will see it on tape, and it’s up to Chip to adjust..
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Giants crashed the D end down and hit the RB on every play, while sending a linebacker right behind him designated to keep the QB in check…interesting to see how Chip adjusts to this because I’m sure Tampa will see it and try to implore the same strategy until we counter it..
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Interesting to see how Vick still commands a LB to stay in and spy on I him, Vick left the game and they started to blitz that LB…
Vick had that guy standing still on some plays which was great to watch him look like a statue as Shady was running off some chunks.
last night. a report surfaces that we all knew Chiefs and Tampa wanted to trade for FOles around the owners meeting, but that teams such as the browns were also calling about FOles during the preseason..
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Funny how front office personel people in multiple franchises think the kid can grow into a good starting NFL QB, yet so many fans have completely written him off…
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Everyone assumes that we will draft a QB of these future, but draft picks for us are like gold, yet I’m supposed to believe that we told everyone that FOles is NOT available, just because we needed Nick for the few games that Vick would miss this year lol…for a team that needs to draft a QB, extra draft picks are GOLD…not accepting valuable compensation for Nick, Leads me to believe that he does have a chance to be our future!! And if Chip thought FOles couldn’t be his QB, we would be sitting here with an extra 2nd and 5th round pick already
I like Foles. When on the field, he has basically done everything that has been asked of him. I hope you are right that various brass see him in such a strong light and might be aware of aspects of his game that we can’t see. It sure would be great if we already have our future qb and those extra picks.
It would be nice to get a 1st round safety for once. The last couple years safeties picked in the 1st have been pretty solid over their rookie seasons, unlike, say, recent 1st round corners…
I agree with you. Part of me wants to guess that Chip new Vick would be starting. Chip also knows Vick gets hurt. Chip needed Foles, otherwise, who would start when Vick went down?
Love these few times when I don’t have to read about how we have no talent on defense…
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Cox, Mykal, Boykin, Curry are all improving as I expected them to? they aren’t even close to arriving yet, but they are starting to head in the right direction, and that’s the most exciting thing to take away from yesterday’s battle of bad teams lol
Looking forward to the DGR for Graham, NON existent at Trent Cole, Nate! and the growth of Wolff
Two things to comment on our young players.
Boykin:
Kempski has a good post on what Boykin did against Cruz.
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/red_zone/Brandon-Boykin-dominated-Victor-Cruz-and-did-other-good-stuff.html
Kendricks and being a playmaker:
It is nice that he is coming up with FRs, but to me, the “playmaker” on those types of plays is the guy who forced the fumble. FRs require being in the right place at the right time, but they are largely luck based. Coleman has had similar luck with FRs at times as well, but I wouldn’t call him a playmaker either.
Having said that, I am not saying Kendricks played poorly, I’m just not ready to say he is developing into on based on FRs and a gift INT.
yeah exactly.. kendricks is a stiff. He has played 1-2 games and everyones just sitting there holding their breath that hes going to become all-world. Dont see it
Don’t know that I agree he is a stiff. He is young and inconsistent, but has shown good potential. The question is whether he can translate that potential into actual consistent production. I just am commenting that the FR stat can be very random at times and I’m not sure it has significant meaning.
he has had maybe 3 good games in his career. Guys who show potential show a little more promise than that.
Considering how many times our guys have failed to recover fumbles, I’d give Kendricks credit.
But were they failing because of a lack of forced fumbles or because we seem to have a knack for not picking them up? I don’t seem to recall us having a major tendency to being unlucky at picking up fumbles we have forced. I certainly haven’t seen any statistics that would back up that claim (although I would certainly welcome them if they exist).
Loved the int by Boykin. It’s good to see someone fight for the ball and come up with it.
Kendricks a play maker? Lol… He hoped on a fumble and caught the easiest INT there is…. It’s like calling DeAngelo Hall a good corner bc he makes the occasional big play. Kendricks has shown nothing.
I don’t know if he hoped on a fumble, but I bet he wished on a star.
haha
I’m sure this will come up in the DGR, but I haven’t caught anyone so far commenting on the play where Coughlin blew two timeouts on the one challenge. That was a moment of NFC East football history. The expression on Tom’s face when the ruling was upheld was priceless.
A buddy of mine said, “He out Andy Reided Andy Reid.”
Yeah, I was saying pretty much the same (“who does he think he is, Andy Reid”)
http://nypost.com/2013/10/07/new-york-city-strip-club-sacks-awful-giants-games/
Eli is the king of “throw anywhere so I don’t get sacked”. was it 3 intentional groundings? If a QB is penalized for intentional grounding, does that count as a sack?
Eli, the slayer of Patriots and 2nd to Romo in screwing up.
No, it’s a chicken s*** way to avoid a sack. Be a man & take your beating I say.
Of topic, but I am intrigued to see what Polk can do with an opportunity. I realize he didn’t beat Brown out during camp, but sometimes getting into a game can change coaches perceptions. I hope to see him make good decisions and get positive plays consistently, even if he doesn’t have Brown’s speed.
nolt sure what browns deal is. Definitely hoped it’d be 70/30 btw him and Shady, but he hasn’t shown why he should be in. No fumbles though.
Funny… I doubt you get anyone worked up about a comment like that, but replace that exact comment by substituting Foles for Polk and Vick for Brown and you’ll immediately be told “Polk lost the battle in TC to Brown, therefore he is NOT the answer at backup RB.”
Shhhhh!
I just heard that almost half of the Saints stating lineup are undrafted FAs. Maybe Howie needs to do an apprenticeship in Nola to figure out how to do more with less.
Step 1: Sign Drew Brees
Cooper has played most of year snaps this year and has 8 catches. Vick is on pace to get 30 catches out of your #2 WR…watch how FOles will get production out of Coop, ERTZY n Celek..and watch Desean continue to be more then just a deep threat who us Incompetant in the RZ this week in Tampa…
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Im much more concerned with a QB who can get production out of them, then a QB who can help shady and break 30 yard runs..Andy friggin Reid an his antiquated offense got 1600 yards out of Shady. AP played with Ponder, against 8 in the box all year, never using a read option and he had 2000 yards. Brady is slower then FOles and directs a high power run game out of the same exact single back shotgun formation that Chip uses…if Chip can’t figure out a way to unleash the second best RB in the NFL without the read option then we hired the wrong coach lol….
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scrap the damn read option, and go patriots style with some Pistol for FOles this week in Tampa
If all it took to acquire for Josh Gordon was a 2nd round pick, I’d trade for him. He’s 22, 6’3, and is a good receiver. If he was a 22 year old coming out of college, I’d probably draft him in the middle to late first round.
2nd is too high for him. A 3rd or maybe even 4th could get you a guy who is one bad decision away from a serious suspension