Detailed Game Review – PHI 54, CHI 11

Posted: December 26th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 80 Comments »

This is a shorter version than normal. Christmas shopping, traveling and dealing with the flu threw off my schedule. I didn’t want to do too much on this game with Dallas on the horizon. So here goes…   

* * *

What a game. The Eagles have looked great for parts of games this year, but it wasn’t until Sunday night that they played a complete game and looked truly dominant. The Eagles got huge contributions from offense, defense and STs. They worked hand in hand to beat the Bears.

Think of the 1st quarter. The Eagles covered the opening KO well. Chicago started at the 19. The defense then held the Bears to a 3-and-out. A poor punt gave the offense good field position at the CHI 43. The offense then went and scored a TD. STs came up big on the ensuing KO by forcing and recovering a fumble. The offense got the ball at the CHI 39. They once again took advantage of the good field position and scored a TD.

Good team execution led to a 14-0 start for the Eagles. From that point on, the Bears never had a chance.

The interesting thing about this dominant performance is that there were no spectacular elements to it. The Eagles scored 54 points and DeSean Jackson’s longest play was 10 yards. That’s hard to imagine. The Eagles didn’t have a run of more than 19 yards until late in the game. Nick Foles played very well, but didn’t do anything out of the ordinary. Trent Cole had 3 sacks, but he wasn’t some unblockable force. None of the DL had a dominant showing. The CBs did play very well, but not Richard Sherman level. And this wasn’t a turnover festival either. The Eagles came up with 2 takeaways and scored TDs off both, but that’s not anything crazy.

This was just a dominant performance from the Eagles as a team. They moved the ball well. They got stops on defense. They generally won the field position battle. And the Eagles went 5 for 5 in the Red Zone.

COACHING

Chip Kelly gets an A. The first thing he did right was to have the Eagles starters play. He could have gone the safe route and sat them, but instead chose to have his guys go out and play. That resulted in a great showing and it has to have the guys confidence sky high heading into a crucial game.

I also like the fact that Kelly kept pushing the team. With a 26-3 lead in the early 3rd quarter and the ball at midfield, Foles threw down the right seam for a big gain to Cooper. On the next possession, with a 33-3 lead, Kelly had Foles throw down the right seam to Celek for a big gain. Kelly could have had the Eagles just running the ball. He wanted Foles and the offense to keep attacking.

The Eagles went for it on 4th/short, but it was hardly a tough call.

Kelly challenged a play where Shady looked to have fumbled. The problem is that turnovers automatically get reviewed. So Kelly had a timeout taken away as punishment. He said he knew the rule. I guess he just had a brain fart in the heat of the moment.

OFFENSE

Great game. The Eagles piled up 514 yards and 47 offensive points. They ran for 289 yards and threw for 225.

The coaches handled this game the right way. The Bears were dead last in run defense. The Eagles did run the ball on them, but they mixed in the pass enough to keep the defense honest. The Eagles didn’t throw the ball downfield beyond a couple of seam passes. They had a couple of deep balls set up, but Foles didn’t pull the trigger and instead got the ball to short or intermediate options.

I thought the coaches had an interesting plan for DeSean. They used him in the backfield a lot. Rather than having him attack vertically, he was used as a checkdown option, or someone to stretch the field horizontally. DeSean only had 4 catches for 29 yards. He was credited with 2 runs for 12 yards, but those were essentially pass plays to the flat. I was very impressed that DeSean would embrace such a role. He got the ball and went hard upfield. This wasn’t the guy from 2011 who would run out of bounds to avoid traffic. Think about opposing defenses. They’ve seen DeSean line up right and left. They’ve seen him out wide and in the slot. They’ve seen him in the backfield. From that spot, he’s run wheel routes, gone to the flat and released up the middle as a delayed option. Gone are the days when he would go deep over and over.

The coaches used TEs very creatively. Since the goal was to run more, Zach Ertz was only used for 15 snaps. James Casey was on the field for twice that, with 30 snaps. Casey is the better blocker. Brent Celek was on the field for 58 snaps. Last week Celek played less and Ertz more. The coaches are mixing things up and being situational. That’s smart.

I was glad to see the coaches mix up the RBs as well. There was no need to over-work Shady against such an awful run D. I’m sure he would have loved another 7 or 8 carries, but that wouldn’t have been in the long term interest of him or the team.

MISC

* The Eagles were 5 for 5 in the Red Zone. You don’t read that stat line very often.

* They were 5 for 9 on 3rd downs.

* Only 1 turnover, a fumble by Celek.

Players

QB 

FOLES – Terrific game. 21-25-230. 2 TDs, no INTs. That’s the best completion percentage for an Eagles QB in a game ever. 2 of the incompletions were throwaways in the end zone. Another looked like a throwaway. One incompletion was a short pass to Celek that the defense disrupted. Beyond the completions, Foles did throw the ball accurately. A couple of the passes had good zip. The best throws came on rolls to the right side. Foles hit Ertz for a gain of 27 early in the game. Foles later hit Cooper for a TD while on the move. Seam passes to Cooper and Celek were both real good throws. Foles did a good job with the “throws” to DeSean out in the flat. Foles also did a good job with his ball-handling. One play he pump-faked and then threw to Avant for a nice gain. On another, Foles did hand-off, but he faked a throw to help sell the run.

Took a couple of sacks, but they came on semi-busted plays. The Bears jumped underneath routes and Foles wisely took the sacks rather than doing something dumb. Ran for 10 yards on one play and 7 on another.

Mike Vick came in late. He handed off to Brown for a long TD. Vick then took a knee twice on the next series.

RB

Great job by the Eagles trio of runners. Shady McCoy led the way, going 18-133 with 2 TDs. I thought Shady ran very well. He bounced some runs wide, but also got N-S quickly at times. He was patient, made good reads and still had his usual dizzying array of moves. His short TD where he spun away from Julius Peppers was simply beautiful. He came close to fumbling, but thankfully his knee was down. Shady caught 6 passes, but the Bears did a pretty good job vs him as a receiver. He only had 29 yards, and 16 of them came on one play. Shady had a good pass block on an early play that helped Foles get time to find someone downfield.

Bryce Brown and Chris Polk each played well. Brown played his best game of the year, 9-115-1. The highlight moment was a 65-yard TD run late in the game. Brown had great blocking, but his speed is what made that play go for a long TD instead of just a 30-yard run. He looked fast. Brown did a terrific job all game long of running N-S. He ran through contact on several plays. That’s his size and strength coming through. You can argue his best run came early on and didn’t get much. Brown ran on 3rd/2 in the 1st Qtr. The Bears got penetration, but Brown fought his way back to the LOS and even gained a yard. Shady converted on 4th/1, but that easily could have been a 4th/4 situation if not for tough running by Brown.

Polk had 2 highlight moments. He caught a pass in the early 2nd Qtr and was able to make a defender miss in space, which allowed him to get upfield for 8 yards. Polk isn’t generally elusive so that was impressive. In the early 4th Qtr Polk ran right up the gut for a 10-yard TD. He had excellent blocking, but Polk ran hard so that he wasn’t going to be tripped up by someone lunging for him. He wanted that TD. He finished 2-12-1 on the ground and had the one grab.

TE

Big game for the TEs. Brent Celek led the way with 3 catches for 58 yards and a TD. The TD was a pick play where another TE hit the defender who should have followed Celek. Celek was outstanding as a blocker. The only negative to his game was a fumble in the 3rd Qtr. It is ironic that we see Celek drag multiple defenders on a regular basis and he never loses the ball, but this one DB hits him just right and it pops out.

James Casey had a terrific showing as a blocker. He did a lot of backside blocking and was required to take on DEs a few times. Casey got in there and popped his defender time after time. He was used as a receiver on some play-action passes, but never had the ball come his way. Zach Ertz had a 27-yard catch in the 1st Qtr which led to a TD. He had to work to get open on that play. Foles found him and Ertz made a tough grab. Late in the game Ertz had a great block on Brown’s long TD run.

WR

DeSean Jackson was 4-29 as a receiver and 2-12 as a runner, although both of those were essentially pass plays. DeSean didn’t go deep very often. He spent a lot of time in the backfield. Getting the ball to DeSean at or behind the LOS and then having him work for his yards is still somewhat new to us. It didn’t result in big plays for him, but helped the overall offense. It kept the Bears a bit confused. Jackson did a good job of getting upfield and gaining whatever yardage was available on those plays.

Riley Cooper was 3-53 on the day. He caught a 32-yard pass down the right seam and also had a TD. That came with him lined up almost like a TE and then running a drag route through traffic from the backside of the formation in the end zone. Jason Avant was 3-26, including one catch for 17 yards. Brad Smith lined up at QB and ran the ball for a 2-yard gain. Not such a big deal when he holds onto the snap.

OL

Great game.

The Bears got 2 sacks, but those were more coverage related than due to poor blocking. Foles generally had plenty of time. There were a couple of plays when he had a lot of time. As for the run game, the OL was even better. They were able to get movement at the LOS. They sealed well on outside runs. Blockers got to the 2nd level. This was just a really strong showing.

Evan Mathis was great. He impressed me the most of the Biggies. He consistently gave Shady a running lane up the middle. Mathis got his DT to move and then sealed him, to give Shady the clean lane. He was able to get to LBs a few times.

Jason Peters kept Julius Peppers pretty quiet for most of the game. Peters had good run blocks on plays to his side and going away. My favorite moment came when he went to block a Bears LB and the guy just moved away. It reminded me of the scene from Highlander when Connor McLeod was in the clan fight and no one from the opposing clan would take him on. “Fight me, dammit!”

Jason Kelce had his typical good game. He pulled to the right a few times and had some really impressive blocks. He did get called for a hold on one when he got his arm around the defender’s neck. Todd Herremans didn’t have any standout moments, good or bad. Just a good game. Lane Johnson mostly had a real strong game. He missed a DL on the 3rd/2 run where Brown had to do a Houdini act just to get back to the LOS. A good block by Johnson would have given Brown plenty of room to run for the 1st down.

Allen Barbre and Zach Ertz had the highlight moment of the game when they drove the RDE upfield and into a LB. That took those defenders out of the play and gave Brown a ton of room. That’s when he had the long TD.

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DEFENSE

Aggression and execution.

Those were the big differences from the previous week. Bill Davis was more aggressive with his players. They played more aggressively within those playcalls. And the players executed well. You saw Bears getting tackled shortly after catching the ball. You didn’t see Bears running wide open on a regular basis. The players up front got pressure. They back group covered well and got to the ball quickly to limit RAC yards.

I said all along that stopping Forte was the key. I was happy that Davis focused on him and not trying to double-team both the WRs. The Eagles played a lot of 8-man fronts to keep the Bears from running the ball successfully. That put the Bears into known passing situations and then allowed the Eagles to mix things up coverage-wise.

The Eagles played good situational defense. They held the Bears to 5-14 on 3rd downs. We know that’s been a huge issue for the Eagles. They came up with a Red Zone stop. The Bears got inside the 20 and the Eagles responded with consecutive sacks to force the Bears out of FG range.

PLAYERS

DL

The DL had a strong game as run defenders. There was a 1st Qtr sequence when Ced Thornton stopped Forte on 1st down and then Fletcher Cox got him on 2nd down. That’s what you want from 3-4 DEs. Thornton made the big play when he got in the backfield in the 3rd Qtr and tripped up Forte for a safety. Bennie Logan had a TFL of his own. The DL was somewhat quiet in terms of pass rush. Ced did get loose in the backfield on one play, but he was unblocked.

The backup DL did okay. Vinny Curry had a good sequence in the 2nd half when he got to Forte on consecutive run plays. He also had a TFL when the QB bobbled the ball and just fell on it. Curry fell on him. Clifton Geathers got in on a couple of run stops.

OLB

Trent Cole was the headliner with 3 sacks. He beat Forte for one. He then beat the OT inside and outside for the other 2. One of them came when Cutler had to dodge Thornton in the backfield and Trent hit him from behind. Trent got pressure on a few other plays, but didn’t have any big QB hits. Connor Barwin was somewhat quiet. He only had 1 tackle. He got pressure on a pass play when he beat the RT with a real good inside move. Brandon Graham didn’t have any tackles, but he did get the hardest hit on Cutler of any Eagle. Came free off the edge and lit him up, cleanly.

PE.com has a video of Cole mic’d up. Great stuff.

ILB

Mychal Kendricks was the defensive MVP of the game. He had 4 solo tackles, 2 sacks and a FF. He covered well on some underneath plays. He was good vs the run. There were a few plays when he hit Forte right at the LOS. Didn’t get any TFLs on those, but limited him to minimal gains. Kendricks still had a couple of sloppy moments so saying he had a great game would be a bit much. He did make a difference. One of the sacks came when he blitzed up the middle and beat Forte. The other came when he blitzed off the edge and hit Cutler from the side, also knocking the ball loose.

DeMeco Ryans had 4 solo stops and a pass break-up. His highlight moment might have been getting pressure on a blitz in the 4th Qtr, which caused a hurried throw by Cutler. That was picked off and run back for a TD. Najee Goode and Jake Knott played late. Goode blitzed and was able to break up a pass with pressure right in McCown’s face. That dude can attack.

S

Patrick Chung played his best game in a while. He covered Martellus Bennett a few times and did a good job. Chung had 3 solo tackles. He also helped with downfield coverage on a pass into the end zone. Chung made sure the receiver didn’t catch it by getting all over the WR as the ball got there. Earl Wolff saw his first action in a while. He broke up a pass, but got hurt and was kept out of the game since it was a blowout. Nate Allen was quiet, but not in a bad way. Keelan Johnson got in his first ever NFL game and had 1 tackle.

CB

Who knew the Eagles corners could cover like this? Cary Williams had his best game as an Eagle. He tripped up Cutler in the open field on the opening series. That kept the Bears from getting an easy 1st down. Williams had 4 solo tackles in all. He broke up 2 passes. He covered tightly throughout the game. I think that was simply due to the fact that the Bears WRs are bigger guys who aren’t going to make dynamic cuts. They’re more like big pickup trucks than sports cars. That made them easier for a big corner like Cary to cover. Or maybe that’s only part of it and Williams is just in a zone. I’d love that to be the case.

Bradley Fletcher had 7 solo tackles. He was good in coverage, but not great. He had a deep ball thrown to his side. He and Jeffrey got tangled up. There was no call and even former WR Cris Collinsworth didn’t complain. Brandon Boykin had an exellent showing. He didn’t have the ball come his way a ton, but broke up one pass and picked off another. Not only did he pick the ball, he ran it back 54 yards for a TD.

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ST’s

JONES – Lazy. Was only willing to punt the ball twice. Averaged 44 yards per kick. Both were downed inside the 20. Now has the Eagles record for punts downed inside the 20 in a season.

HENERY – Nailed a 49-yard FG. His KO’s were covered well. There seemed to be the right combination of height and depth.

KOR – Brad Smith had the only real KOR, and it covered just 17 yards. Riley Cooper picked up the free kick after the safety when that ball landed in no man’s land. Chris Polk got a mortar kick in the 2nd half. He took that 8 yards.

PR – Damaris Johnson and DeSean split reps. Damaris had a 5-yd return. That was the highlight play.

– MISC –

* The highlight moment came on the KO after the first TD. Devin Hester started to get loose. Bradley Fletcher ripped the ball out as he made the tackle. Cary Williams was there to recover it. Huge play. Helped the Eagles go up 14-0 almost instantly. Really threw the Bears off.

* Brad Smith had a couple of tackles.

* Chris Polk had a great moment in the 4th Qtr. He made the tackle on a KO, moments after he scored the TD that set up the KO. Love that effort.

* Brandon Boykin downed the punt deep that set up Ced Thornton’s safety.

* The Eagles first TD was helped by a Bears shank on their first punt of the game.

* Devin Hester had 6 KORs. He only averaged 23.8 per KOR. His long was 37 so there is still work to be done, but he was basically neutralized by the kicks and the coverage.

GAMEBOOK

_


80 Comments on “Detailed Game Review – PHI 54, CHI 11”

  1. 1 Westport_Johnny said at 12:20 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Thanks and get well soon

  2. 2 Richard O'Connor said at 12:20 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Like everyone, I’m happy to see Cole being a major contributor late in the season. To me, though, it seems the big difference between now and the early weeks is the inside push from Thornton/Logan/et cetera.

    We talked about him being “close” early in the season, but now the pocket is regularly being pushed he’s notching the sacks.

  3. 3 GEAGLE said at 7:23 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    This week Cole benefitted greatly From the havoc Kendrick and Meco were creating blowing up the A gap…Forte tried to block them, but we consistently ran him over,

    Really really like our blitz where we blitz one of the ILB in the A gap and run a twist stunt where Cox loops out wide, and Cole crashes inside….

  4. 4 ACViking said at 7:25 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Ciao amico mio, buon natale

  5. 5 bdbd20 said at 12:22 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    “He did get called for a hold on one when he got his arm around the defender’s neck”

    Old school.

  6. 6 CrackSammich said at 12:24 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Tommy, would you say that Thornton has surpassed Cox as the best DL?

  7. 7 TommyLawlor said at 2:00 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Ced is the better run defender.

    Cox is the better pass rusher.

  8. 8 SteveH said at 3:36 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Do you think Ced’s frame is a big reason why he’s such a good run defender? He seems to be more short and stout and seems to really get under and into OL’s pads at times, but has the thickness to really do damage when he gets there. Cox on the other hand doesn’t seem to be able to get as low as Ced and usually engages much higher up. Am I seeing this right or is this not accurate at all?

  9. 9 D3FB said at 4:36 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    They are actually pretty close in size. Ced is 6’3 or 6’4 depending where you look. Cox is 6’4. Ced’s arms are 33 and 5/8. Cox are 34.5″. Whoever was responsible for his writeup predraft on NFL dot com is a joke.
    http://www.nfl.com/combine/profiles/cedric-thornton?id=2495356

  10. 10 SteveH said at 7:14 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    That’s interesting that they’re so close, on the field Ced definitely looks shorter. Maybe he just does a better job of getting low.

  11. 11 jackpotsdad said at 1:03 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    > JONES – Lazy.

    Heh. Would anyone have guessed this preseason that Donnie Jones would be best free agent pickup of the off season? I think those Eagle smoothies must agree with him because he’s playing out of his mind.

  12. 12 ACViking said at 1:15 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Re: QB-RB Same-Team Leaders and How the NFL’s Changed

    There’s been some conflicting reporting on the subject of who were the last QB-RB teammates to lead the league. The standard measures, I thought, were QB rating and RB rushing yards.

    So, first, it was not the Chargers QB John Hadl and RB Paul Lowe in 1965. Lowe did lead the AFL in rushing. And Hadl did lead the AFL in passing *yardage* — but not QB rating. (He finished second to HOFer Lenny Dawson of the Chiefs, who led the AFL in QB rating 6 times in his 8 seasons in the AFL.)

    The last QB-RB tandem to lead in rating and yards were the Packers’ Bart Starr and FB Jim Taylor in 1962 — the only season of the great Jim Brown’s career he did not lead the universe in rushing, because of an injury to his right arch.

    Also, it happened the prior season, 1961, when the AFL Champion Oilers’ HOF QB George Blanda and former Heisman winning FB from LSU Billy Cannon led the AFL in rating and rushing yards.

    Since 1962, only twice have any teammates come close.

    In 1972, the SB-bound Washington team’s QB Billy Kilmer led the NFL in passer rating — after replacing an injured Sonny Jurgensen — and NFL MVP HB Larry Brown finished 35 yards short of the NFL rushing crown won by the Bills OJ Simpson.

    In 1990, a pair of teammates came even closer. The K-Gun Buffalo Bills — and their no-huddle offense — dominated, led by NFL QB rating leader Jim Kelly and HB Thurman Thomas. Kelly beat out Warren moon by 5 points for the QB crown. But Thomas finished just 7 yards short in the rushing race to Barry Sanders.

    Since that 1990 season, as the WCO offense spread through the NFL, the passing games grown more important at the expense of the running game.

    And no QB-RB teammates have come close to leading in rating and rushing since Kelly and Thomas.

    That was 23 years ago. Another bit of anecdotal evidence that Kelly’s offense is unlike anything the NFL’s season since Bill Walsh’s WCO became all the rage a bit more than 30 years ago.

  13. 13 A_T_G said at 3:14 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Thanks for finding a definitive answer. Great stuff, as usual.

  14. 14 mtn_green said at 5:34 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Thanks. I’ve a feeling that we will see more similarities between the See Coast Offense and the K-Gun. And the secret of why Brent Celek has played so many snaps.

  15. 15 ACViking said at 7:19 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    M_G:

    Regarding Celek’s role . . . you’re making a case for Kelly changing his off-hand name for the offense from “Sea Coast” to the “C-Coast” offense.

  16. 16 A_T_G said at 7:56 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Personally, I would like to see Chip refer to it as the Tommy Gun offense, as a nod to the quality coverage he receives.

  17. 17 ACViking said at 7:59 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    I’d love that one, too.

    But no need for protests around the Linc.

  18. 18 Joe Minx said at 1:25 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    I may be alone in this, but I actually prefer the DGRs when they’re written like this. Feels more like I’m reading a story than trying to go back & remember so many specific plays/situations.

  19. 19 Mitchell said at 2:46 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Was gonna say the same thing.

  20. 20 A_T_G said at 3:23 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    I agree this one was more reader-friendly. I am under the impression that the DGRs are Tommy’s notes that he archives on each game and the articles are more of him allowing us to share in his research. From that perspective, I am willing to put in the extra effort from the reader’s perspective. Plus, there are so many times when his notes remind me of a play that I wanted to bring up for discussion here, but forgot about in the moment.

    If one is looking for some light reading, the typical DGR is not it, but for a concise, catalogued reference to a game, they can’t be beat (unless Tommy finds some hot intern to insert video clips of the plays in question interspersed with herself rolling around in a vat of pudding).

  21. 21 ACViking said at 4:22 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    A_T_G:

    You have my join.

  22. 22 P_P_K said at 5:55 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Hot intern? Where? Tommy didn’t tell us.

  23. 23 Tumtum said at 4:59 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    He sort of just expanded his overall notes on each side of the ball here. I liked it. I really appreciate the usual DGRs though.

  24. 24 ACViking said at 1:38 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Re: Casey at H-Back

    James Casey’s been hammering the back-side DEs the past couple weeks on those split-zone running plays.

    In the RZ . . . it’s just about time for Casey to pass up the block, run a short flat route to the goal line and catch a TD.

    Very early in the season, Vick hit Casey on a similar play but he dropped a tough but catchable pass. We didn’t see Casey again for awhile. And we haven’t seen that play but once the entire season.

    If the Eagles need it Sunday night, it’ll be there. Otherwise, maybe in January.

  25. 25 jackpotsdad said at 2:20 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Ooh I agree. This is exactly what Chip will pull out of his bag of tricks when the Birds need it most.

  26. 26 theycallmerob said at 2:35 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Brilliant idea. Chip always seems to keep a few weapons up his sleeve. Having multiple options at TE seems to be a key component.

    Was it the ’08 season when Celek went off in the playoffs, after having a (relatively) quiet year?

  27. 27 ACViking said at 2:41 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    BC had a huge game in the NFC title game.

  28. 28 iceberg584 said at 5:58 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    He also had big touchdowns in the Divisional Round vs the Giants and in the 44-6 season finale win against Dallas. He basically cemented himself as the successor to LJ Smith.

  29. 29 ACViking said at 7:22 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    LJ Smith . . . ouch. Birds passed on Whitten in favor of the more athletic Smith.

  30. 30 iceberg584 said at 9:37 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Ironic that L.J. Smith came up in a string of replies originating from a comment about a player new to the Eagles dropping a catchable red zone pass early in the season…

  31. 31 Mitchell said at 2:45 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Pretty sure that’s the play that will win the Super Bowl .

  32. 32 Mitchell said at 2:44 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Tommy:

    As you know “there can only be one,” so who is your Highlander on this Eagles team?

  33. 33 TommyLawlor said at 5:32 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    LeSean McCoy has the moves that make him seem un-killable.

    If Riley Cooper can survive last summer’s nightmare incident, he might be indestructible.

    Trent Cole is the best hunter so taking out others would be something he’d do well.

    But I’m going with Donnie Football. He’s a Punter and the fans like him. That’s pretty much a freaky achievement.

  34. 34 Ark87 said at 5:51 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Disagree, People also absolutely love Pat McAfee, whose become something of a folk hero.

    http://www.stampedeblue.com/2012/10/30/3575694/colts-punter-pat-mcafee-uses-twitter-to-recount-story-involving

    http://cdn2.sbnation.com/assets/3426623/patBOOM.gif

    http://cdn2.sbnation.com/assets/3506275/bestworstpunt.gif

    http://www.sbnation.com/2013/11/14/5090976/breaking-madden-pat-mcafee-destroyer-of-worlds

    I give my vote to Dorenbos

  35. 35 ACViking said at 7:54 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    A87:

    There was a time earlier this year I thought Alex Henery would deliver that kind of play.

    Then, last Sunday night, who was the guy in front of Hester just before he fumbled the kickoff after the Birds’ first TD?

    None other than Alex Henery. Fearing the big “kicker’s hit”, Hester was distracted enough to get stipped by Fletcher.

    Run back the film and you can almost see Hester shiver with fear before the fumble. It’s very subtle.

  36. 36 Ark87 said at 8:15 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Alexander The Great, Conqueror of Worlds

  37. 37 D3FB said at 1:22 AM on December 27th, 2013:

    I’m starting to think part of Alex’s problem is that he has an eating disorder. I keep waiting for a commercial telling us that for 25 cents a day we can feed and clothe our very own kicker, with sad music playing in the background.

  38. 38 Tumtum said at 9:56 AM on December 27th, 2013:

    Air smoothies *boggle*

  39. 39 theycallmerob said at 8:26 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    I love Pat. Knew him during his WVU days, my buddy who I’d go there to visit was a good friend of his. Drank like a hockey player and had the mindset of one too….he lived for the opportunity to hit like that.
    I’d still take Donnie Football, though. Just one classy mother f*cker, that guy is.

  40. 40 Ark87 said at 8:31 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    totally agree, just pointing out that Donnie isn’t the only Punting Legend around (and there can only be one highlander).

  41. 41 Tumtum said at 9:54 AM on December 27th, 2013:

    That almost reminds me of a hit David Akers threw on the sideline. Except when he did it he tried to rip the guys head off and got a 15 yard penalty. The announcers at that point remarked how he had more of those flags than any other kicker in football.

    My man crush got pretty hot and heavy at that point.

  42. 42 OregonDucker said at 2:45 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    The following video narrative is by Chip on a number of offensive and defensive plays. It was posted in late Nov. but I thought you all would enjoy the videos as much as I.

    Behold coaching brilliance! “Watching game film with Chip Kelly.”

    http://smartfootball.com/coaching/watching-game-film-with-chip-kelly#sthash

  43. 43 Weapon Y said at 3:04 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Casey’s been getting more and more involved in the offense. With how much cap room the Eagles have, I’d like to keep him even if he costs a few million dollars. Of the tight ends, he is the best suited to play an H-back role. For the power run game, I’d like to incorporate more multiple-back sets like the 49ers do and Casey would help with that.

  44. 44 Erik Richardson said at 3:10 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    As usual great work TL.

    I just need to show something for the few who think LT needs to be addressed this upcoming draft…

    Until I see any other LT going out 20 yards opposite field and hash to run block, I think Peters has his spot on lock. This is an amzing player, who few can emulate.

  45. 45 Ark87 said at 4:32 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    In the second frame he’s got his arms down and leaning forward like a ninja, that’s why we keep him. http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/040/2/e/running_ninja_by_blueamnesiac-d5ue8jf.png

  46. 46 Tumtum said at 4:58 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    So why do Ninjas run like that anyway? Also, would it be better if he ran like a pirate? I say yes because, clearly, pirates are cooler than ninjas. Jason Kelce is a pirate.

  47. 47 Ark87 said at 5:39 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    the more I think about it, the more i realize that hands and arms are just extremely awkward during any tasks they aren’t involved in. We constantly try to keep them occupied doing something. Standing around? Chances are you have your hands in your pockets, or folded across your chest, or twiddling your thumbs or….Standing around talking to someone? Yeah look at your hands the next time you do, then try not to feel weird about your hands. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqhkdHlCHLk When we do the standard upright run and pump the arms, it looks like we’re wishing for some ski poles to help out or something.

    Anywho Maybe they do it as a counterbalance so they can get low to the ground without falling over? And yes, Pirates run with swagger, much better.

  48. 48 SteveH said at 7:06 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Let them rest naturally by your side if you can’t think of anything else to do with them, its a very neutral posture.

  49. 49 ACViking said at 7:24 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Excellent advice to any young lawyer who gets in the courtroom — especially before juries.

  50. 50 theycallmerob said at 8:18 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Kelce is clearly a lumberjack, the top of the cool pyramid. I’d say Herremans has more of a pirate build.

  51. 51 Tumtum said at 9:16 AM on December 27th, 2013:

    If we are gonna go that route Kelce is clearly a Viking, and Vikings dominate both ninjas and pirates. The problem is that Vikings are really just the original pirates. So lets circle this back to the pirate and ninja discussion since everything in life can essentially fall into one of those categories.

    Kelce is a pirate. Peters is a ninja. Pirates > Ninjas….but who has thrown the farthest block down field all season?!?!

  52. 52 Tumtum said at 4:55 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Wow first DGR I have read in one sitting. Wasn’t going to have much time to sit at the ole desk when I first saw it and didn’t even start it. Still a great review. Perfect game for an abbreviated DGR no less. Mine would of read “We kicked ass…that is all”.

    I do have one question though. More starters played on ST this week than usual I heard. I don’t normally get to see who specifically is on ST. Obviously it worked well when BF and CW combined for a takeaway.

    Were there actually more guys playing ST from the starting line up than usual this week? Other than the 1 play how did that work out?

  53. 53 TommyLawlor said at 5:34 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    With Colt and Kurt out, Cary Williams volunteered. Bradley Fletcher is on STs on a regular basis, but I’m not sure he’s on the KO cover unit.

  54. 54 Ark87 said at 8:34 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    I had no idea Cary stepped up like that. i have so much respect for that guy these days than I did in the off season.

  55. 55 Scott J said at 5:50 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Eagles website has video of Trent Cole mic’d up during the game. Great stuff!

  56. 56 P_P_K said at 5:57 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Any thoughts on why Cole is coming alive this late in the season? In years past he would start out strong and then fade. Could it be the new position he’s playing? Maybe some new conditioning program? Regardless, it sure is great to see.

  57. 57 Neil said at 7:05 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Three obervations

    1) He was good early in the year.
    2) He hasn’t faded.
    3) He’s been in the right place etc a lot lately, that’s all. So it goes with sacks.

  58. 58 GEAGLE said at 7:12 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Cole wasn’t an unblockable force…he was the beneficiary of Kendrick and Meco blowing up the A gap consistently wreaking havoc, freeing up the twist stunt Cole and Cox kept runningll
    ..
    Kendrick was so disruptive that even if Cole missed,Cox was always right behind him closing in on the QB…

    Kendrick away the FORCE on Sunday, not Trent…great TEAM game tho.

    This is what it finally looks like when all 3 phases play a complete game, and for it to come this time of year….That’s a damn good coaching job

  59. 59 P_P_K said at 11:05 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Is this resulting in Trent not being double-teamed as mich this year?

  60. 60 GEAGLE said at 7:14 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    If you are going to call Lane out for miss, I would like to see you point out how on the goal line! he blocked their leading tackler all the way down the line then threw him on the ground so Bryce could walk in untouched

  61. 61 GEAGLE said at 7:15 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    3 stars of the game:
    FOles
    Mykal Kendrick
    offensive Line

  62. 62 GEAGLE said at 7:20 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Loved seeing Chip line up Riley Cooper from a 3point stance on the LOS..seemed to confuse the defense…

    We were killing them with the packaged plays where we used Ghost motion with Desean!!!?Dallas will work on defending there screen to Desean if the CB doesn’t follow him to the other side, and handing it off to shady oft he motion down take the corner to the other side away from where shady is running…Dallas will work on stopping those ghost motion packaged plays all week, Chip will anticipate how they defend it and have wrinkles waiting for Dallas…..for example, I’ll bet money right now that at some point during the Dallas game, Desean will ghost motion and we will run a reverse with him….

    Guarentee we run a reverse off Ghost Motion to Desean in this game..I know it

  63. 63 ACViking said at 7:27 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    There was once a time that all NFL WRs lined up in the 3-point stance — no matter where they were on the field. (Unless in motion.)

    With one exception . . . The Oakland Raiders. Al Davis always had his WRs upright before the snap. The guy was a genius . . . for a long time.

  64. 64 Ark87 said at 7:44 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Why doesn’t a WR line up in a sprinter stance, or play like a DE during press coverage for extra explosion anyway?

  65. 65 ACViking said at 7:51 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    A87:

    I wonder the same thing. But I have a couple of theories.

    One is that press coverage — Raiders in forefront followed by the Steelers — grew in usage. Easier to direct WRs out of a low stance, maybe.

    Increased use of motion. No tells if both (or all 3) WRs are standing when they come to the LOS.

    Also, defenses grew more complex. A vertical WR has a split second longer to read the defense than a WR in a 3-point stance. A bit like the shotgun for QBs.

    What do you think?

  66. 66 Ark87 said at 7:56 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    My only guess is that the 2 point stance, while not faster, is more versatile for lateral movements, but it is interesting that the duel between an LT and a DE doesn’t look anything like a CB in press coverage vs a WR.

    so I’m of a similar mindset to your second point, multi-directional mobility.

  67. 67 ACViking said at 8:00 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Great point about passing rushing.

  68. 68 Ark87 said at 8:30 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Perhaps it’s in the hands rather than the feet? WR’s and CB’s do a lot of hand fighting, essentially a WR can use their hands to prevent a CB from getting hands on their pads and engaging. Or maybe having hands out of the dirt makes them a threat to catch the ball as soon as it’s snapped?

    I played O and D line, wish I knew an old WR’s coach right about now haha.

  69. 69 D3FB said at 1:17 AM on December 27th, 2013:

    Alot of it is fairly similar to pass protection/rushing the passer. Press corners want to use their arms and hips to stop the initial charge and ultimately redirect the receiver in the direction they want them to go. The receiver wants to create separation between himself and defender by getting the defenders hands off of him and using his own hands to create spacing between their hips. Very similar conceptually to what you see between Tackles and DE’s on throwing downs, obviously with a different end game.

  70. 70 Tumtum said at 10:14 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Also not much threat of a quick pass or wr screen from the 3 point. At least your intent would be obvious much sooner.

  71. 71 ICDogg said at 7:31 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Bucky Brooks expands on his comments about Sean Lee’s role in the last Birds-Boys match along with some all-22:

    http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000303790/article/philadelphia-eagles-will-bring-heat-in-rematch-with-dallas-cowboys

  72. 72 jshort said at 9:07 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    lot of good stuff. Thanks

  73. 73 ACViking said at 7:56 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Anyway . . . I’m going with the “C-Coast” offense from now on. Not “Sea Coast.”

    In honor of TE Brent Celek — just the way the Bills called their offense the K-Gun in honor of their very versatile TE Keith McKellar.

    Plus, no one asked Chip Kelly how he spelled “C-Coast,” when he named his offense (with tongue firmly planted in cheek).

    Commenter Mtn_Green prompted this re-spelling.

  74. 74 Ark87 said at 8:38 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    That moment of glory belongs to ATG. Frankly I’m a fan of the C(hip)-coast offense.

  75. 75 Gary said at 11:00 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    I always assumed he meant “See Coast.”

  76. 76 ICDogg said at 11:06 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Yep, he even described it as such:

    Here’s our offense. We run the see-coast offense. If we see something, OK, and we like it, and we think it fits, we’re going to run it. The Philadelphia Eagles run the see-coast offense. Let’s run with that today, and we’ll go from there.”

  77. 77 Gary said at 11:40 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    That sounds right, yeah.

  78. 78 ICDogg said at 11:04 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    pic.twitter.com/6vVpbe0HRG

  79. 79 ICDogg said at 11:15 PM on December 26th, 2013:

    Chip responds to Riley Cooper asking what his plan on offense was:

    http://youtu.be/QTiFRa70m48

  80. 80 austinfan said at 10:27 AM on December 27th, 2013:

    I think Chip realized that his defense impacts his offense. When they play it safe, with soft zones, they prevent big plays but allow teams to have 12-15 play drives and keep his offense off the field. Playing more aggressive defense may expose you to a couple big plays a game, but also allows you to force 3 and outs more often, getting the ball back to the offense in either case. The result is more snaps on both sides of the ball, allowing you to wear down most NFL teams that aren’t in as good of condition and/or don’t utilize their bench as consistently.

    It’s also an attitude issue, if your philosophy is attack, “bend don’t break” kills the momentum that you gain on offense, while aggressive defense pairs well with aggressive offense – and what team in the NFL, other than Denver, is as well designed to come back from a deficit? So playing a more risky, aggressive defensive style fits with the overall Chip approach to football. Keeping the petal to the metal also puts more pressure on the opponent, a 10 point lead in the 3rd Q doesn’t feel safe (ask Detroit), so they never get to relax.