Fear the Vikings?
Posted: December 13th, 2013 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 116 Comments »Minnesota is 3-9-1. They should be a pushover, right? Wrong.
Since a 1-7 start, the Vikings are 2-2-1. And they came painfully close to winning last week. Leslie Frazier will probably be fired when the season is over, but you have to give him a ton of credit. The Vikings never quit on him. They have played hard all year long. Anyone who expects the Vikings to roll over and play dead is sadly mistaken.
Let’s not overstate things. The Vikings aren’t good. They hare mediocre on offense (14th), mainly due to Adrian Peterson. They are awful on defense (31st). You don’t get off to a 1-7 start for no reason.
They do have enough talented pieces to make you nervous. We don’t know for sure whether Adrian Peterson will play. He’s one of the few truly elite players in the league. Rookie WR Cordarelle Patterson is a dangerous player because of his RAC skills. He can score from anywhere. You saw that last week when he caught a short pass and ran it 79 yards for a TD.
Jared Allen can still be a force off the edge. He’s got 7 sacks this year. Brian Robison is the other DE and he’s got 7 sacks as well. Chad Greenway is one of the few LBs in the league that leads his team in tackles, has 3 sacks and 3 INTs.
The Vikings style of play is a concern. WRs Patterson, Greg Jennings and Jerome Simpson all have good RAC skills. The Eagles have had issues with receivers making plays after the catch. Minnesota’s ground game can be an issue. They like to use 2 TEs and a FB as blockers at times. Those sets have given the Eagles some problems.
Nick Foles will face a good pass rush. Minnesota has 30 sacks. They can rush 4 or they can blitz. With the Vikings at home, crowd noise will be a factor and can help the DL get off the ball quickly. The Chiefs pass rush gave the Eagles fits early in the year. The Vikings aren’t that good, but you never know when they’ll have a great game.
The Vikings also have 3 return TDs on STs. We saw last week what a difference that can make in a game.
The Eagles are the better team. They should win this game. But don’t dismiss the Vikings. They’re talented enough and a tough enough matchup to give the Eagles some problems on Sunday.
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The great Fran Duffy did an All-22 preview on the Vikings. Tons of good info, as you would expect.
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Interesting note here on Vikings pass rusher Everson Griffen. He is a backup and role player for the Vikings. Griffen is an ascending player that will hit free agency in the offseason. He is 6-3, 273. Natural 4-3 DE, but I’m curious if he might fit at OLB in the 3-4. I’ll be watching him Sunday as an opposing player and as a possible free agency target.
Griffen said he was more effective in this game because he was allowed to play on the edge more. Sitting behind established starters in Robison and Allen, the 6-3, 273-pound Griffen has been asked to be more of a utility player. Most of his time has come as an interior pass rusher. Griffen has been fine in his role, but desires a chance to be an every-down end.
“I’m the guy that’s able to do it all because of my versatility,” Griffen said. “I stand up when we have our stroker package. I drop into coverage. I play nose tackle, I play tackle, both ends. So I play everything on the line and with a little bit of linebacker presence to it. I’m the do-it-all guy. It’s been a fun ride doing it all, but I really want to be able in the upcoming years to perfect my craft at one position.”
Will that be with the Vikings? The team has locked up Robison with a contract extension, but Allen will be a free agent.
“People said I want to test free agency—I never said that,” Griffen said. “Wherever I end up, I just want to be able to perfect my craft at one position. I will play inside sometimes, but I’m an end and I want a chance to show people what I can do year in and year out and not be a guy that moves. I love doing what I do, moving around, but either I can stand up in the 3-4 at linebacker or I’m an end.
I’m interested to see how Griffen plays.
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I agree the Vikings are kind of sneaky tough competition. The one area that they really struggle (and I feel confident saying this after watching a couple of their games) is that their pass defense can be horrendous at times. Maybe not as bad as ours last year, but pretty bad. On that front though, I hear Harrison Smith might play this week, which would give that secondary a boost.
The nice thing about playing the Vikings now is you don’t have to deal with their monstrous run defense like you used to, so that’s a plus.
We should still win even if Peterson, Smith and Gerhart all play, but these guys aren’t pushovers, proceed with caution and careful of the trap game!
Tommy, I’m sure Griffen has talent, but where would you see a guy like that fitting in our defense? It seems like his desire for playing time may hit a snag here as well.
As of now, Barwin is our JACK and plays that position at a high level. Cole and Graham get more of the rushing in across from him. We’ve all talked a lot about the need to upgrade the OLB rush, but I’d imagine the ideal scenario for that would be to get a kid in the draft. I don’t think Griffen is talented enough to surpass Cole and Graham (whoever stays, if either). If I’m not mistaken, the Eagles also kept Travis Long on the PS in the hopes of developing behind Barwin.
I’m also pretty underwhelmed by the impending FA class. Of course, rush OLBs with talent don’t often hit the market, but aside from Orakpo (when he’s healthy), not many names on the list worth much. Save the cap space to lure a talented DB, or some OL depth.
http://www.kffl.com/static/nfl/features/freeagents/fa.php?option=LB&y=2014
I get the feeling Griffen would be brought in for the spot Cole and Graham are currently in. I expect Graham to get traded in the offseason and Cole only has one more year (his cap hit jumps from 6.6 to 11.6 in 2015, so he’ll definitely be cut then if not before).
I don’t know anything about this Griffen guy, but I think you could probably sell him on being a backup/rotational guy for a season and then taking over the job fulltime the year after.
But if traded Graham’s bonuses still count against the cap. He is under a pretty friendly team deal making only 3.4 next year and 3.2 the year after. We get no cap relief through cutting/trading him. Griffen has similar production to what Michael Bennett had entering his contract negotiations last year. Bennett received 4.8 on a one year deal from the Seahawks. In other words you would be using somewhere between 6 to 9 million dollars worth of cap room for a marginal at best upgrade backup OLB and also whatever pick you get for Graham (which won’t be more than a late 4). The pick we get back for Graham which will either help to move up slightly in the draft at some point or will go to a player who only has a 50/50 shot at even making the team and will likely only ever be a special teams contributor. Doesn’t seem like the smart play.
I’m kinda working on the assumption that trading Graham for a late 4 is what will happen regardless of Giffen coming in. He’s seen more snaps as the season’s gone on, but still isn’t close to what you’re looking for from that position. Better to ship him for a guy with a 50/50 chance of making the team than keeping him when you know he’s a bad fit for your system and that you’re going to draft and/or sign a replacement anyway.
I’ll say again that I know absolutely nothing about Griffen and if he’s not a better fit than Graham then fine, but I really don’t see a situation where BG is still with the team next year unless there are literally no other options at OLB.
I thought if we trade them then there is no dead money or cap hit … ie Sops trade w Pats? Can someone weigh in on this
Assuming no hit, trading one of them makes sense but at best you get a fourth for Cole and fifith for Graham .. nothing really worthwhile unless you believe Long or the draft pick is ready to blow up.
If we cut them its a 3.4 mil hit for graham or 4.8 mil. for Cole. No chance we cut either especially considering their play has been above average and the free agents suck. That is way too much dead money. We ain’t the cowboyz.
At the least we need to draft an olb to back up barwin and groom to take over for Cole the following year when his salary baloons to 10 mil.
This Everson kid is very very versatile .. can play a number of positions ..Im interested to see how he looks but I could see us being interested. I cant see his contract being that much whatsoever but comparing him to Mike Bennett doesn’t really work considering Bennett’s track record. I think Everson would be much cheaper.
Well said.
Looking over the list, Knowshon is a free agent. Maybe we should get him to back up Shady O.O
That was my first thought when reading Tommy’s blurb about Griffen as well. However, I seem to remember talk in the off-season about Kelly preferring the deceptiveness of versatility. In other words, he wanted both OLB to well rounded, so that the offense can never be sure which one is rushing and which is dropping. Don’t know if that’s true, but it does seem to fit in with some of his other overall philosophies. If true, they may not be looking for a pass-rushing stud at OLB opposite Barwin, but rather a Barwin clone. That’s a question we probably won’t have definitively answered until next year at the earliest. The next question obviously is – “is Griffen a Barwin clone?” I have faith that Tommy and the commentariat here will give us a pretty good answer to that question by the middle of next week, at the latest.
That’s my hope too, but after reading the article seems he’s more exclusively a rush guy; can play multiple DL roles, not sure how the coverage would hold up.
http://collider.com/wp-content/uploads/admiral_ackbar_trap_obama_shepherd_fairey_poster.jpg
We haven’t seen the Eagles in a “trap game” situation yet, but I don’t get the impression that most of the players on this team allow themselves to get complacent. I think (hope?) that we purged some of those types of guys in the offseason.
If they look complacent in practice, Chip will NOT start them.
Minnesota had a good record last year and 3 first round picks, so it is strange how they got to where they are.
Something to ponder…
It’s all a Webb of lies…
All day to deal with it too.
Hard to say who’s Wright and wrong.
But clearly, they need more weapons on offense. AD has been carrying the Loadholt for far too long.
It appears their Castle is falling down around them.
They’ve just been Joshing the competition, they’re really quite good.
They’ve painted themselves into a Cordarelle. Wait, that doesn’t work…
By not having a QB. The whole of the NFL is predicated on having that QB. He doesn’t need to be elite like some people think but he needs to be better than most. Kaepernick, Eli, Flacco, Smith are guys you can win with but I wouldn’t say they’re in the upper echelon
There’s a lot of talk about this being a trap game. How has Chip fared with these situations in the past?
Counter-traps.
I dont think he ever lost a trap game in college
Let’s see…
vs. Tennessee Tech 63-14
vs. Colorado 70-14
vs. Missouri St. 56-7
vs. New Mexico 72-0
vs. Portland St. 69-0
This post sums up Chip’s approach. Win the Day is not a slogan. He means it. You better practice hard and do your film study or you do not start.
Well, the talent disparity between a top NCAA football program and one of these patsies is just a little bigger than that between good and mediocre (or even bad) NFL teams.
EDIT: sorry, this should have been in reply to BlindChow.
week 17 vs. Dallas 63-3
All this talk about this being a “trap” game – I’m just really happy the Eagles are in a position to have a “trap” game after the past couple of seasons!
What If? – If Gus Bradley had become coach of the Eagles instead.
Jags won 4 of their last 5 and have been playing very well lately. Jags easily could have turtled on him & quit. Instead, they are playing well and been a couple of articles about how the team really likes Bradley a lot.
Hard to believe they would be 8-5 right now but I am curious to have seen what Bradley would have been able to do with the defense, if the offense would have been everywhere near as potent and high-scoring, and what Bradley would have done with Vick/Foles.
With how weak the AFC South is, don’t be surprised if Gus gets the Jaguars a division title in 2-3 years. It will take a major roster overhaul, but they have a few very good skill players that they can build around. I love Gus’s attitude and defensive scheme ideas. The great unknown is whether the offense will become a respectable unit. With Chip, that isn’t unknown. It’s just flat out dominant. While I do prefer Chip to Gus, I don’t see it as a “Whew! Thank God we didn’t get that guy” situation. It’s more like “we could’ve had a pretty good coach, but we got the guy who might become the greatest coach in the NFL instead.”
Hard to say. Defense would look.. different. Not sure how that would have played out this year in Philly somehow I think Billy Davis is doing a near Perfect job… and if you went back to march and told me that Billy Davis would be the KEY coaching hire for the Eagles Staff I probably would have hit you.
Offense would be a complete mystery. I think the talent we had was a big reason Kelly came here and I don’t mean Vick. I think shady, jackson and the o-line were big factors.
Vick might not have been Kept Gus might have rolled with Foles but being that there’s no comparison who knows how that would have turned out. Cooper might have gotten cut under gus especially if he went into full rebuilding mode.
Remember when we all laughed when Kelly kept going on and on about trying to win right now and not tanking to get a good pick because we all thought the Eagles had not shot…
I feel silly now.
I think talent was a far less important factor in Chip coming here than in the quality of ownership of the team. Small point, but ownership trumps everything when it comes to winning games, and I think Chip knows that. It’s like he said immediately after taking the job, “I just want to win games, and I think the Eagles give me the best chance of doing that.”
Xavier Rhodes probably needs to be mentioned. He’s doing a heck of job on WR’s. Guessing he’ll be match up on DJ.
You mentioned 2-2-1 over the last 5. Was their offense and defense ranked 14th and 31st over that time or are those stats on the season? Their D has been playing better than 31st IMHO.
I believe the reason he was left unmentioned is his (presumed) inability to play this week. Vikings haven’t confirmed yet, as far as I can tell, but the ankle sprain he suffered last week against Bmore appears to be pretty bad.
http://thevikingage.com/2013/12/11/cb-rhodes-expected-miss-couple-weeks/
Also, the other starter (Robinson) is out from breaking his sternum, might not play as well. That leaves 3 on the roster- Chris Cook, Marcus Sherels (really just a ST guy), and Shaun Prater (remember him? They picked him up from us off waivers)
Hope Foles takes advantage.
I was starting Cooper in fantasy with confidence thinking Xavier would take on DJ leaving Cooper alone. You just squashed my confidence in Cooper.
? Wouldn’t this be a good thing, knowing that nobody on the MIN roster can respectfully cover DJax or Coop?
Heck, I’m starting both in my league!
I believe Rhodes is injured and won’t play this week.
correct. I linked to that above.
I’d assume the big-bodied Rhodes(6’1) will be on Riley Cooper while the speedy Josh Robinson will be on DeSean. The Vikings play a primarily cover 2 defense though so they may just keep each guy on one side of the field and let them play.
I’m pretty sure you just said the Vikings have a mediocre offense because of Adrian Peterson… and I almost fell out of my chair. haha
AP is wildly overrated, he’s holding that offence back, without him Joe Webb would run wild on any NFL defence, and worst of all he’s the Jimmy Bama of RBs
Lol!
I was reading a Vikings blog this morning, and they were talking Cassel vs. Ponder. One commenter mentioned Joe Webb as an option, and he was instantly ridiculed by most of the other participants.
shah8 needs to get over there to enlighten them…
Maybe those fans weren’t alive — or watching TV — on that historic Tuesday night.
They always do that, because there was always a big anti-Webb faction who keep predicting that he’s so worthless, he’ll get cut and stuff. By and large, Vikings fans *are* stupider than Eagles fans. Arif Hassan? He’s hanging out with the Vikings West folks half the time.
And no, I don’t go and enlighten those people because I’d get banned. I’ve already got banned from one forum because I completely freaked on Christian Ponder after the 2011 season (not that getting into an argument over Colt McCoy helped). But by and large, most Vikings forums are dominated by passive agressive freaks who think you’re a bad person if you disagree with them. It took two and a half years before the cows “leading the herd” finally had to agree that Ponder was shit with no prospects of being better. And much of that reason was because Ponder was “media friendly” to them, and there are *still* determined Ponder Dead Enders who think Ponder got a raw deal from the defense in those forums. There are simply very few thoughtful people that comment on Vikings forums–because it’s just not worth the grief. Manic depressive Eagles fans are.
Gotta give props when they are earned. That is some funny stuff right there shah8. You’ve truly outdone yourself on that one!
As in, it would be much worse than mediocre without AP.
It’s humor is precisely in the fact that it can be read either way. Sheer brilliance that can only be found by an Eagles blogger/lasik surgeon.
The Vikings should be a pushover. Thta’s right. The Eagles match up really well and should win big. We’re just afraid to say it because we’ve been Eagles fans so long that we’re afraid we’ll jinx the mojo. But this is no more. We’re in the Chip Kelly era and we will beat this weaker, banged up Vikings team. I’ll be back on Monday to say, “Told ya’ so.”
Your more than likely right, still can’t help feel that way.
http://www.csnphilly.com/sites/csnphilly/files/styles/scale_282px_wide/public/shadyhof.jpg
Nice shot.
By the way, when the HOF adds an exhibit like this, do they get rid of another one? Or move things around, in a sardine-can sort of way?
I’ve never been to Canton. But how does the Hall keep expanding exhibits without expanding its real estate?
I was wondering the same thing. Did they just move out all the great 2012 memorabilia?
Yes . . . 2012 is ancient history.
(Excellent!)
They actually moved stuff around so that there was an empty spot on the floor with some dust on it. as
“The official 2012 Eagles memorial.”
Makes perfect sense.
They put the Nick Foles 7 TD exhibit right on top of it. Which is fitting since that performance Crushed the memories of 2012.
I have no idea. Technically I have been in Canton, but just driving through on I-77.
Sharif Floyd (1), Xavier Rhodes (1), Cordarelle Patterson (1)
vs
Lane Johnson (1), Zach Ertz (2), Bennie Logan (3)
I like our guys better.
I think Rhodes and Patterson are already good players. Sharrif Floyd could absolutely be too. But it’s frightening that you can definitely say those two sets of players compare pretty well.
It looks like Bennie Logan Might be the steal of the draft.
Wow eagles drafted great last year. Was worried Logan was an undersized high motor NT, but he bench presses Guards into QBs and really looks good.
Rhodes and Patterson just cracked the starting line up and they’re playing really well. I’d take Rhodes/Patterson over Ertz.
Vikings have definitely played better lately for Frazier (whom I thought was recently told he’d be back next season).
But the teams with which the Eagles have had trouble this season all had good to great QBs (or, in the case of KC, an defense playing off the charts at the time).
I don’t see Matt Cassel close to being in that group.
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Also . . . are the Eagles good enough to have a “trap” game?
They play with the desperation of a team trying to prove itself.
And for what it’s worth, I think losing to Dallas at home may have wiped away any thoughts among the players that they can win with anything but their best effort.
Just wondering.
Any team that everyone expects to win handily can have a trap game. Especially when they’ve taken the lead in their division and made the cover of a major sporting magazine.
BC:
Is the line Eagles giving 4.5? Would support your thesis.
On the other hand, this team reminds me of Vermeil’s ’78 Eagles — his first playoff team. They had some fine offensive talent (Jaworski, Montgomery, Carmichael, Sisemore, Walters, Morris) but were much thinner on the defensive side (Bergey, ?). I don’t remember any Eagles team playing as hard as that one. Every week was a war.
This 2013 version is so tough-minded. Not good enough yet to take anything for granted.
I read an article on CSNPhilly today about that 2010 Tuesday Night Vikings game, and how the veteran players still remember it.
That’s a good omen that they won’t be taking this one lightly.
That game must make those guys sick.
From the opening kick off, the game was a disaster.
Reminds me now of Buddy’s ’89 and ’90 playoff games. The Eagles were ultra-flat. Horrible, horrible days that left such a bitter taste. Bitter as hell.
I think the key mentality for the team is not to think about the playoff’s, or being the front runner to make the playoffs or any of that. You start thinking the playoff berth is yours to lose, you start playing to not lose it. Truth is the berth belongs to no one until the season is over, got to play each game trying to win/earn that until then. Chip seems to have these guys super focused to play and win *this* game, not the Bears or Cowboys game, or the Carolina/SF game, or the Saints or the Sea Hawks game, or the SB.
Seems like Chip has everyone getting that. I really like the new personality of this team, even if PTSD has us all bracing for a let down.
Damn you, Antoine Whitfield!!! You gave the NFL the blueprint to stymy Vick
Jim Johnson gave the NFL the blueprint to stymy Vick in 2004. Teams were caught off-guard in 2010 I think.
That team Kotite inherited was pretty talented. Too bad that team didn’t inherit a good head coach.
Kotite had been there as Buddy’s OC before taking the job.
I was thinking about coaches from outside the organization.
If Foles plays well (which he will), and AP is out, We’ll smoke them.
You think Matt Cassell and Gerhart (and maybe not even him) are gonna beat foles and shady and chip? no way.
But . . .as NFL announcers like to say (without the slightest hint of irony):
“Anything can happen on any given Sunday, and usually does.”
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About the dumbest thing that’s repeated routinely on network television.
I’s put our chances at around 90%. We’ll force turnovers and score on their crappy pass D. If AP plays I’d knock that down to 80%, to factor in the chance of him going berserk. I’m honestly not that worried. If AP doesn’t play, they only have one player (cordarelle) who concerns me
It’s kind of a twist on the Gambler’s Fallacy isn’t it? People see a hot team, they won a bunch in a row and they start thinking the team is “due” for a loss when no such thing exists. They see the Vikings as a “Trap” game because it fits a better narrative when the simple truth of the matter is that the difference between the best team and worst team in the nfl isn’t as wide as people like to think.
StSt:
I think there’s some truth to that. Quite a bit, generally speaking.
14 yrs of reid, trap games 100% do exist. maybe not with kelly, well, hopefully…
Traveling west to play a bad team? You could mail it in as an L that week.
or teams get beat on days because the other team simply played better(game-planned better or just got luckier). The implication of a trap game is that had the team been less focused on something else they would not have been beaten. Like I said the difference in talent in the nfl from one team to the next is razor thin.
sure, why really good nfl teams go 13-3, 14-2. game that sticks out in my mind is Cincy tie game. reid always seemed to have that 1 road afc game where eagles just came out flat.
Also that’s a more exciting quote than the alternative .
“Usually the better team wins.”
that’s a great comment
pic.twitter.com/gQxHEeqe5G
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000285876/article/robert-griffin-iii-colin-kaepernick-facing-similar-growing-pains
So what you’re saying is Nick Foles is the best of all the young-gun QBs in the NFL?
I actually believe that — with the caveat that no one can reasonably expect 2nd or 3rd year players to perform like 10-year vets. Because those 10-year vets weren’t so great in their 2nd years either.
I’m not really saying anything like that, I just am taking it as a cautionary “tale” of how the young QBs that everyone things are great might not look so great the following year once the NFL adjusts to them.
ICD . . .
I was not serious. Some x-examination fun for a tired lawyer — taking one thing you said and drawing an inference that’s defensible but not at all what was meant.
I should have made that clear.
Nah, all’s fair… I probably should have seen that one
I love your point though.
It’s so true about every player at every position.
How ’bout JPP? Even before his injury (I think), his production began to sag.
To find sustained greatness in the NFL — or even sustained “OK-ness” — is so difficult. Week after week every opposing coordinator and applicable position coach is trying to stop the best guy on the other team.
And — as with the Antoine Winfield CB blitz (and Antrell Roll SS-edge blitz) against Vick, once a team finds a weakness, it gets exploited relentlessly.
By the way . . . one of the best QB “cautionary tales” is that of Dennis Shaw.
He played QB for Don Coryell at SD State in the late ’60s. The Bills drafted in Rd 2 in 1970.
Shaw won ROY. And his career grew worse and worse over the next couple of seasons — even as OJ Simpson began to find his place in the pantheon.
Shaw was gone from Buffalo after ’73.
Uh, yeah…That’s basically what I think is going to happen to Foles, eventually, and even worse, because both Kap and RGIII did make plays and window throws in addition to runs and PA. Wilson has continued to be successful (not *that* much more successful, defense has kept him in games) in part because Wilson has much better touch on his throws and in part because Wilson was steadily moved to a more complex offense as the season went on last year, and this year he’s operating something like a full offensive palette, with the result that defenses face a “pick your poison” situation.
I do not think Kap and RGIII are especially inferior reader compared to Luck or Wilson. Especially Luck, who’s not finding open guys like he should, especially without his security blanket. I think the big issue is what I’ve said before, they aren’t throwing the ball with great touch or with quite enough accuracy.
I don’t think we can really know one way or the other how well Foles will adjust once all the defenses adjust to him. I do think overcoming those sorts of things are less a matter of physical skills and more a matter of a quick and adaptive mind. So Foles may well be “the guy”, but it’s too soon for me to make that assertion.
And hard work. Identifying your weaknesses is the first part of solving the problem. Then you need hard work. I think Foles knows his weaknesses. The key for him will be whether he’s going to put in the really hard work required to improve them.
And I’m one of the folks that thinks Kap is an inferior reader. Most of what I’ve seen from him was extremely simplified reads, usually one, sometimes two, and then it was pull it down and run. Personally, I think too many people are obsessed with physical attributes at several positions in the NFL (not just QB – RB, LB, and S are also positions that rely on subconscious pattern recognition skills to varying amounts depending on scheme). The mental side of it (note, I’m not calling it intelligence, or even equating the concepts) is often just as important, and can be as insurmountable as athletic deficits.
I can read an NFL defense at this point, given enough time and ability to focus. The trick is being able to read it in a micro-second, without having to expend much conscious thought about it. This takes a natural inclination PLUS many, many, many reps in the pocket going through progressions. If you’re missing either of those ingredients when you come to the NFL, you’re facing an extremely uphill climb to develop the skill. Kap probably has the natural inclination, or he wouldn’t have had the success he’s had – but he’s clearly lacking the reps, and he’s not really getting them now with the simplified offenses he’s been running. I admit that I could be wrong, but I foresee that he never will acquire the necessary pattern recognition skills to become an adequate NFL level passer.
Nobody said Kap and RGIII were “inferior readers” what they said was that they were never asked to actually go through the progressions in college or their first year in the NFL. You would say they are “developing readers.”
RG3 and Kap were supported by devastating run games predicated on defenses not having a clue how to defend the zone read. I don’t think the eagles’ run game would regress as significantly from this year to the next because ours is built on execution and Shady being Shady.
still hating on Foles? lmao man. You must be the only one left.
Not just Foles. He hates on most non-mobile Qbs.
He is hilarious. Always cheers me up reading his nonsense
What exactly are teams going to take away from Foles?
Based on your posts thus far, they’re going to somehow force him to only throw 15 yard outs from the opposite hash.
What I like most about this year’s team is that they don’t fear anyone but they respect every team in the league. You watch the press conferences and listen to what the players say, they’re not worrying about the playoffs but about this week and the opponent that they will face. That’s why I don’t believe this will be a trap game. Chip won’t let these guys think about anything other than the task at hand and at this moment their sights are set on the Vikings.That focus and attention to detail is what they last couple of teams under Reid were missing. Under Reid, this particular Vikings teams would give you an uneasy feeling because you just knew the Eagles would lose to team that they should have beaten.
I had a bad dream today (I work at night so I sleep during the day). We were down 17-15 with less than a minute to play and no time outs. It was 3rd and goal at the 1 yard line and we ran a run play up the middle with Shady and the Vikings stopped him. But the refs then turned around and said that was 4th and goal and gave the ball to the Vikings and we lost in controversial fashion. Then my wife kicked me in the crotch because I was crying like a little baby. I hope this was not a premonition.
Wait, was the kick to the crotch part of the dream, or how you were awoken?
That’s apparently how they deal with crying babies in the Parker household.
lol. My son probably wouldn’t cry as much then. The kick to the crotch was part of the dream, thank goodness. And I think that’s when I woke up.
Ahh, then you missed Chip challenging the play. After further review we got the ball back and kicked the field goal. Eagles 18-17
I remember watching the Minn-Wash game earlier this year (that was the one where Leslie Frazier called a TO late with Wash driving to give his defense a rest even though Wash was out of timeouts and the clock was running). The quick pace really affected the Minn D-Line. If the Eagles can get their fast-paced offense clicking, they should neutralize the pass rush and open up some big lanes for McCoy.
I really think the Eagles will break this game open and win by 10-14 pts. We’ll see though…
nice point. i remember yelling at the TV about taking that timeout. if CK can get his offense going, i expect it to roll down the field.
Re: Fear the Viking?
To whom have they turned in friendship? Have they made anyone suffer? This very day or any other? Are the Vikings so honest that they should have enemies?
No. The Vikings have no enemies. And no one to fear them.
these types of games are why i wanted kelly and his running offense, and got so sick and annoyed with reid’s pass happy attack. nothing takes the fight out of a 3-9 team quicker than shady/brown running right down their throats. dropping back 50 times, letting rusher bring energy, crowd getting into it, etc., running it takes all that away. instead, kelly just quickly runs it over and over. pittsburgh for years traveled well-plus hard nose defense. probably has alot to do why Eagles should be 6-1 on road after this week.
Blowing up and stuffing runs for losses/ no gain, revs up defenses and crowds as much as anything.
Points early (regardless of how you get them) demoralize a battered team and crowd. 3 and outs (regardless of how you get them) early will make a battered team and crowd believe, then watch out.
Chip will do whatever is best suited to get points early, the most important statement is expressed on the score board.
This is great, Jerruh Jones just extended Orlando Scandrick: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000297665/article/orlando-scandrick-dallas-cowboys-strike-extension
Better throw some more money down the drain at some mediocre players Jerry, that’ll fix your horrific pass defense. And all 9 million is guaranteed too!