Over
Posted: January 4th, 2014 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 183 Comments »The Eagles lost 26-24. So close, but so far. Issues on offense, defense and STs. The Saints were just the better team. They deserved the win.
More to come.
_
do you think we need to draft a CB,WR,SS,ILB,OG? i really like the way J. Skov plays he’s a good player and should be in the 3rd round there…what do you think?
Truthfully a closer game than I expected. We still need to focus our offseason on defense; that hasn’t changed. Perhaps a few pieces on offense. STs really need improving too, starting with the kicker. I’ve been railing on him all year & it showed up big tonight.
Still so proud of these guys for doing what they did this year. For the first time in a long time I can actually say I’m really optimistic after a crushing season-ending loss.
Well said.
The last time I felt optimistic at the end of the season was after the Eagles’ heartbreaking NFC championship loss in St Louis. That team overachieved and clearly was just starting their ascent. Hopefully this team can go on a similar run + Lombardi trophies
Funny, I was mad as hell after that one despite everyone telling me what you just said. Maybe it was a portent for the future.
I’m going to sit back enjoy the the offseason and look forward to the World Cup. Not going to think about this until August! Something to look forward to going into next year for sure…
you go enjoy yourself some futbol. not really a soccer fan but i’ll jump on that bandwagon if the us of a makes a run at it
I watch a lot of sports and I’ve got to tell you there is nothing more frustrating in the sports world than to watch a football team running out the clock to kick an easy game winning field goal.
But for the grace of Brandon Boykin, we’d have had this feeling last weekend.
Exactly. We got a 1 week reprieve along with a division title & a playoff ticket. Just glad it wasn’t Dallas that did it.
Hey Tommy, would love to hear your thoughts on not going for the first down on fourth and 1 inside the 5 down 20-14. Going against Brees you need that touchdown IMHO.
The reporters are harping on how Foles played? C’mon. No real issue with how Foles played though even though he did take a big sack in the 1st half.
Eagles OL just gave McCoy little/no room to run at all tonight. 2 All-Pros especially on the left side didn’t get the job done tonight and Jordan got the better of Peters.
plenty of blame to go around. the whole offense was stagnent the first half
both offenses were though.
He outplayed Brees for my money. Can’t believe how much the Saints ran.. and our ST
Tough defeat, but the three biggest things you need to be a perennial contender in the NFL are stable ownership, a good coach, and a franchise quarterback. We have the first two in place for sure, and while I’m not yet totally sold on Foles, he may prove to be the third. This is not like the Redskins, whose NFC East championship last year was basically purchased by mortgaging the future. There is a lot of reason for optimism.
Agreed although they have some tough decisions this offseason on what to do with Cooper and what to do with Peters.
Points allowed though covered up some really mediocre/poor stats for this defense and they still need 3-4 pieces to be a really good unit.
Agree 100%. This team still has tons of issues. My point was, when you have organizational stability, with the foundational pieces already in place, it’s easier to address those issues. Building a good defense (or at least a defense good enough to win the Super Bowl when paired with a great offense) is not as hard as finding a great coach or a franchise quarterback.
A well placed TD pass dropped: though a good game,still Cooper dropped a 3rd down pass that would of been a 1st down and a missed fieldgoal and you still quetion Foles` ability…!!!!!?????
I said “I’m not yet totally sold on him”. That’s not the same as questioning his ability. I’m just saying there’s not enough of a track record to declare him a surefire 10 year stud QB yet. What I have seen so far is VERY encouraging. If I had to make a prediction it would be an optimistic one, but let’s reserve at least a little bit of judgment until he has more than 16 starts on his resume.
Think Foles is on track to be the frachise QB
Need a better O-line to improve the power run
(didn`t understand Polk`s&BB`s absence).As for his
resume. few are better…time to work on other
parts of the team that need help
Foles is the real deal, there is nothing in his 29/2 run that isn’t replicable. The is not rg3 that can’t make the hard throws, this isn’t Vick who can’t see blitzing cb. No Achilles heel.
I’d like to see him continue to improve his deep ball, and develop a better sense of when to throw the ball away (he still takes too many bad sacks). Those are both things he can improve, and his mental makeup is exactly you want in a quarterback, so I think there is reason to be optimistic. Just holding off on putting him in the “elite QB club” until he sustains this level of play for more than 10 games.
He’s certainly earned next years reigns though, but that’s what you have to do and what elite QB’s do they earn the starting job every year (except Brett Favre).
that all comes with experience. hard to call a guy elite after he’s started the equivalent of 1 full season, and had a solid playoff performance.
Seems like D line hit the rookie wall towards the end of the season, especially tonight.
NFC East Champs with a first year HC and a division which is weak? There’s reason for optimism people – I have faith in the FO to make the right decisions in the off-season
I wouldn’t necessarily put this on Foles, but I would put it on the offense. The defense played far better than I would have guessed against the Saints offense.
Defense game up 185 yards running to a team that was without their best RB and allowed the Saints to control the pace of the game.
Exactly. That really just should not have happened. Coach Az must be sick over this.
The Saints run a committee at RB, and they controlled the pace of the game because the offense couldn’t sustain a drive.
…..
And because our defense had trouble stopping them. Stop pinning everything on the offense.
I don’t only blame the offense. ST wasn’t good. The defense struggled late in the game. It’s just that the ST and defense aren’t good units. They haven’t been for most of the year. The only reason the Eagles made it to the playoffs was the historic offensive production. They couldn’t manage it in this game, and so they lost.
The defense allowed 2 touchdowns of 53 and 66 yards to one of the best offenses in the NFL. That is amazingly good. That should have been enough to win.
That is a fair point. New Orleans’ defense is pretty good though. You are not going to hang 40 on them anymore.
Going forward, the majority of the upgrades that are needed are on defense. We don’t have the talent you need to win in the playoffs on that side of the ball yet.
That I don’t disagree with. The defense lacks talent and needs major upgrades. That’s actually why I find it hard to blame them tonight, as they exceeded my expectations.
if the FG wasn`t missed …
They way NO was running at the end of the game, they could have walked right into the endzone. Regardless of how the rest of the team played (looking at you Henery), the run defense was TERRIBLE!
I think Billy Davis probably decided to stop the pass, and hoped that would be enough. Personally I think it should have been, but I think my opinion has been adequately expressed.
Yeah Nick Foles and McCoy needed to get out there and make a tackle.
How does Drew Brees get 4 yards every QB sneak?
Yeah… drove me nuts too. The problem though is how are the Saints constantly in 4th and 1 or less?
The O did this Bob, not the defense. D played well enough to win. Problem was eagles put NO pressure on NO all night… Esp in 1st half when they were gifted with TOs.
Offense wasn’t great but did enough to win. Defense couldn’t stop the Saints from churning out critical first downs when everybody in the stadium knew that running plays (with backup RBs, no less) were what was coming. The majority of the blame has to go on the defense for this one.
I don’t think 24 points is enough to beat the Payton/Brees Saints, especially when 7 of those points came on a short field after a defensive turnover. The D got worse late, but they kept them in the game when the offense could barely manage a first down.
Saints got some of their points off of short fields too. And the offense would’ve had a chance to put up additional points if the defense had, as I pointed out above, stopped a few running plays that everybody knew were coming.
I’m not totally absolving the offense. But they got it together and got the team a lead in the fourth quarter. It was the defense that failed at the game’s most critical juncture and couldn’t hold it, or even give the O a chance to get it back once they lost it.
The Saints had touchdown drives of 53 and 66 yards, both of them after Eagles 3 and outs.
I really think the final drive or drives are skewing things. Yes, they couldn’t stop the Saints when it mattered. But the offense, which has almost all the talent on this team, struggled all game.
except when they needed a TD to go up.Which.. you know.. is kind of a big deal. Come back better. We weren’t playing against an NFC East Defense out there. I think the Saints D is a little overrated but 4th in yards and 5th in points I think is pretty darn good.
Again, they started moving the ball in the second half. and when the pressure was on them to produce, they did. They scored the go ahead touchdown with under five minutes to go in the game. It was the defense that coughed up the lead.
Isn’t the offense having “almost all the talent on this team” kind of the problem? When the talented players had the ball late, they got what they needed. Those other guys though…we have too many other guys
I thought we were assigning blame due to our disappointment. When did this become about the need to upgrade talent in the offseason?
Stay on topic, man.
24 points was enough to take the lead only for the STs and then the defense to squander it.
I’m thinking more like 27.
28 is even better.
http://www.sadtrombone.com/?play=true
Give Ryan the Saints’ defense a lot of credit. Until Lewis went out of the game, they kept this offense in check.
Did a great job of defending the stretch play the Eagles tried to run to the left all night long, snuffed out the screen game early, and in general kept Jackson & McCoy in check.
Just watched Foles’ presser, I’m in so much fucking tears right now..
He’s a great guy. Proud to have him as our QB.
west lake still loves you bro. i think that was the name of his highschool. the media relentlessly beat that story into the ground.
nonetheless no joke proud of FOOOOLLLLLLLEEEEESSSS (and i say it like a wolf thats howling) and season he had
I love his attitude. Trent Dilfer raved about his intelligence and ability to fight through adversity on NFL Network this week and I have to agree with him. Those are two critical attributes for a successful NFL quarterback to have, two that are chronically underrated, and two that Foles is off the charts on.
I want to see Foles start for an entire season, but I am 75% sold on him. I think at the very least he’s going to be an above average NFL starter, and he could be a lot more. The improvements he made from his rookie year to his second year were marked, and he didn’t even get starter reps through the offseason.
Why? Missed it
this game felt eerily similar to our last playoff loss against the packers. the difference is that the team was on the downslope of reid’s tenure. i’m fairly confident we’re on the upswing of the kelly era.
Foles: TD, FG, TD to end game. Defense didn’t give him the chance to be epic for a last drive. The intentional grounding was a sack, he turned around and it was a sack, not on him. Brady had a kicker who would hit something from 47 yards when needed. Foles wasn’t all that great all around, but damn, he was moving them at the end. He didn’t drop the Cooper ball. This is the first year from a 4-12 year guys, we draft, pick up some things and start our run next year. No one would’ve thought that, last year would’ve been this year at best. At best remember, no one was sure about Kelly, we are now. E-A-G-L-E-S Eagles! We didn’t finish on a thud like Andy, we finished 7-2 including playoffs.
If you remember Brees from 06, he did it to us twice, last drive we couldn’t get the ball back, one regular season in their stadium, again playoff in their stadium. Last drive couldn’t get off the field, look it up. 7 years later! Damn
Yeah those 2 (Brees/Payton) really seem to have our number. Whereas back then I felt like we’d never be able to match them now I feel like we can surpass them rather quickly with the right moves in the offseason.
Yea, we got the youth, things should turn around, we’re ready to make runs now, long runs.
a lot of officiating calls seem to go New Orleans way back then.
that’s when I finally realized the NFL is fixed.
lol
Payton really impressed me tonight too. Shifted gears in the 2nd half and was able to pull out a victory despite a subpar performance from Brees.
Easily one of the best 2-3 coaches in the game today.
Thanks for telling us all the things about the saints we should praise
Out coached Andy, now did it to Chip, he’s too good. Hate him in a football way.
i wouldn’t say outcoached. both games were one score affairs. that usually means its a tossup if you’re subscribe to the sabermetrics crowd. so coin flip twice, got it right both times.
not to say that he isn’t a great coach. i thought he did a hell of a job tonight
Gutsy onsides in the Super Bowl, actually do like him as a coach, not now though.
I hear what you’re saying, but I’m not ready to say nice things about the Saints. They were the better team. I hope they get destroyed.
I hope they get destroyed
Oh, don’t worry, I think they will. They’re not beating Seattle in Seattle.
4-12 to 10-6, knocked Dallas out of the last game in Jerry’s World. Good season to look back on.
This wasn’t one of the Eagles’ playoff losses under Reid too where I thought he was a stubborn fool and got out coached/outmaneuvered either.
Eagles just didn’t execute in the trenches for yet another week on both sides of the ball and lost again as a result.
Agreed.
Lets improve this team via the draft and FA let, Chip to put together his team
enjoy the ride, this was a “rebuilding year anyway” looking forward to our Iggs
representing the NFCE for a long time.
We have some good,young players, time to shore it up draft, free agency and our other Maclin, don’t forget Maclin.
eagles go 2-4 against teams that finished with winning records in 2013, including playoffs. that include 8-7-1 greenbay
How many NFL teams have winning records against teams with winning records?
Well improving teams, like the Eagles should be, will turn that around next year.
better the record better the team?
2-4 this year, hopefully 4-2 next year, probably more winning teams we’ll be playing next year. Hope we don’t get the NFC East jinx.
i dont know. saints 4-3 including playoffs
3 of those losses were early in the year .. they were a different team then. Chargers, Broncos, Chiefs.. no shame in losing to those teams especially when we lost to them so I’m not sure what that stat is supposed to say.
I came in down 20-6 and almost saved the season with my energy, I apologize for not being earlier. Really, this game is on me, let Chip know.
don’t worry about it man. win as a team, lose as a team
Thanks man, now that shows you’re a real player, I’ll be in your trench anytime, no homo. Not that there’s anything wrong with it.
A little too much energy there… we needed a slower drive for that last TD.
Via sources I’m unable to disclose, I was able to obtain a picture taken of Howie Roseman’s trusty whiteboard from his suite at the Linc, obviously just taken tonight…
He forgot, “deliver first born to chip Kelly.”
Jerry Jones is bringing back his coach, whatever his name is, so things aren’t looking bad.
lurie interview after the game. gushing about foles. he’s locked in as the qb of the future. no way lurie says what he did without kelly’s approval, right?
I will say this though. If you had told me we would hold Brees to 250 yards, Graham to just 3 catches & 44 yards, & get 2 turnovers I’d have thought for sure we’d win.
Then again, Chung on the field cancelled it all out.
Logan looked weak tonight. I’d look very closely at Nose Tackle prospects in the draft. I’m not comfortable asking him to be the anchor of the defense for all of next season after an awful showing against the Saints. Cox and Thornton looked weak too. This is a case where Davis needed to be more imaginative, use more 1-gap principles, and turn his DL loose on Brees. Instead, he went conservative most of the time and the Saints did just enough to jam the ball down the Eagles’ throats.
I think when you have d-line guys this young, they’re going to be overpowered sometimes.
(which won’t be solved by drafting more kids).
We don’t have a legit nose tackle on the roster. Logan isn’t big enough to be an anchor. He’s around 310 lbs. Because of his lack of size, good O-linemen will push him around like the Saints did. A true NT needs to be at least 330 lbs., preferably 340 lbs. or more. I’d rather move Logan to DE.
If they’ve got a chance to, say, sign Raji, maybe that’s something they do. I wouldn’t draft a nose unless he’s a guy who can dominate, there aren’t many of those around, and probably won’t make it to 21-23.
Honestly I’d be pretty pissed if they drafted a nose tackle in the first round. Logan didn’t have his best game tonight but he’s been pretty good this year on the whole. It’s far from their biggest need.
agree. We have bigger needs. NT might be weak but upgrading NT gives us far less then upgrading CB safety or OLB.
I don’t care about biggest need. If the next Wilfork were out there, I wouldn’t pass on him just because I had a young guy who was pretty good.
Yes but I think a scenario in which a nose tackle is far and away the best player remaining on the draft board when their pick comes up is unlikely. AFAIK there aren’t even any elite nose tackle prospects in this year’s draft, while there are several such prospects at other positions of need (OLB, physical WR, etc.). I’m not saying reach for need, I’m saying it’s better to get an elite prospect at a position of need (of which this team still has several) than overreact to one playoff loss and look to replace a guy who on the whole has played pretty well this year by drafting a guy who may or may not merit a first round pick.
This. Elite NT’s are almost as Rare as elite QB’s in the draft. It’s an incredibly specialized position.
Yes, very difficult to find.
Well, yeah, we agree about not overreacting. I still am more slanted towards taking a better player than taking a “need” position, if it comes down to that distinction. I look at the first round of the draft as the chance to get a rare talent, and drafting further down if such a guy is out there I don’t think we should be fussy as to his position unless it’s something we absolutely have no use for.
Fair enough. If the best player on the board is a NT, I’m happy for them to take him – Logan can play DE as well. Just don’t think landing an elite NT should be the first priority.
I think Logan hit that Rookie Wall. Not sure. Kids out of College like that play what 10-11 games? This is game 17 for him. I know he didn’t start the whole season but I think once he gets a whole off-season of conditioning under his belt he should come back more prepared.
I’m all for upgrading the defense everywhere though. Specifically CB safety and OLB. I think not having that aggressive down hill 3-4 OLB who can dominate a weak LT is something we need. Cole has looked good at times this year but he’s getting up there in age and playing a bit out of position.
I agree with you on Cole. He didn’t get enough pressure. None of the guys got enough frankly, but OLBs especially need to put pressure on a QB. Upgrading that position is my top priority in the draft, with the possible exception of NT.
I think he can be situational. Bring him in as a down lineman in Nickel or as a back up OLB, but we need that pass rushing OLB. I think CB and or safety might be higher priority but I think those are easier to plug up in free agency. That pass rushing OLB is hard to find.
I also think Lane Johnson didn’t play particularly well today. Really I think the OL in general had a down game. But hey it’s a good defense don’t forget that
BPA all the way.
Looking WAY ahead, I believe we will be “at worst” pick 23, and at best pick 21. Need Packers and Chargers to win tomorrow for #21. If one of them wins, we’ll be #22.
From the EMB:
01 = Houston
02 = St. Louis (from WSH)
03 = Jacksonville
04 = Cleveland
05 = Oakland
06 = Atlanta
07 = Tampa Bay
08 = Minnesota
09 = Buffalo
10 = Detroit
11 = Tennessee
12 = N.Y. Giants
13 = St. Louis
14 = Chicago
15 = Pittsburgh
16 = Baltimore/Dallas COIN FLIP
17 = Baltimore/Dallas COIN FLIP
18 = N.Y. Jets
19 = Miami
20 = Arizona
21 = Green Bay*
22 = San Diego*
23 = EAGLES*
24 = Kansas City*
25 = Cincinnati*
26 = Cleveland (from IND)*
27 = New Orleans*
28 = New England*
29 = San Francisco*
30 = Carolina*
31 = Denver*
32 = Seattle*
My only draft wish is for DAL to lose the coin flip to BAL
The fact that it’s such a QB heavy draft, with several QB needy teams picking ahead of us, means that prospects who otherwise wouldn’t be available are likely to drift down toward the middle of the first round. Roseman had dynamite drafts in 2012 and 2013, another like those two and we’re really in business.
STs was rather quietly this team’s weakest link. Not one big play from that unit the entire season. Honestly disappointed, especially considering all the time and effort they put into it leading up to the season.
Our punt units and coverage I think were pretty good. Kick offs were just terrible. I can count the touch backs we had on my hands.. Not sure what happened to Henery but when we drafted him he was touted as having a big leg. Major upgrade needed there. and another draft will improve our coverage units.
Donnie Jones was clutch all year.
Not only that – there wasn’t one kickoff return this year where I felt like an Eagles returner had a chance to take it to the house. I can’t even recall one coming close. A stud return man is definitely on my offseason wish list.
oh Definietly probably a CB, Safety, or 3rd RB who can do that. Brad Smith.. ugh. Yeah a dangerous Kick returner paired with this offense would be pretty devastating.
Brad Smith seems a tad slow for a return man
Donnie was a great punter, but I don’t consider punts “big plays.” He had a few that were impactful, no doubt. I’m really talking about scoreboard-changing plays: blocks, returns, fumbles. None of that happened and they were just horrendous on kickoffs following scores.
Donnie had a lot of teams pinned inside the 10 and 20 I consider those pretty big plays especially with our defense… You might not think those punts are big plays but a shanked punt is a HUGE play and we really didn’t have any of those. But yea you’re right our kick offs were dreadful and our kick off returns were dreadful..
What happened to Damaris Johnson? ? He looked like he might be ok last year but he got into the dog house early or something.
Not mad we lost, just disappointed we didn’t maximize the opportunities we had to win this. Was also disheartening to see our DL get manhandled so easily.
This. Except I’m mad….
It’s amazing to me how much of a disappointment Fletcher Cox has been, but no one’s pointed it out. When you spend a high first round draft pick on a defensive lineman, he better be on par with the elite players at his position like Ndamukong Suh, Gerald McCoy, or Geno Atkins. Instead, he’s an average defensive lineman who gets a sack or TFL every once in awhile. Offenses don’t fear him. They don’t build a game plan around him. I look at him and see a lineman who struggles to shed blockers and can’t get into the backfield quickly enough. I know the scheme is different, but someone’s at fault. Either light a fire under his ass, change the scheme, or change the coach. I love DL more than any other position and hate seeing an Eagles DL get dominated. I want the elite player the Eagles paid for, not the newest edition of the mediocre Andy Reid D-linemen (Patterson, Bunkley, McDougle, Graham, Simon).
We’ll see how he does with this off-season ahead of him. I kind of agree he faded down the stretch and was basically invisible the last few games. I’m willing to chalk some of this up to such a drastic scheme change. But I agree Cox has something to prove. I still think he’s a very good 3-4 end.
The Eagles don’t have a single guy on defense who teams fear. The Patriots had Vince Wilfork until he got hurt. The Broncos have Von Miller. The Chiefs have Tamba Hali and Justin Houston. The Colts have Robert Mathis. The Bengals have Geno Atkins. The Packers have Clay Matthews. The Saints have Cameron Jordan. The Niners have Justin Smith, and Aldon Smith, and Navorro Bowman, and Patrick Willis. The Seahawks have Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas. The Panthers have Luke Kuechly. Most playoff teams (only excluding the Chargers and Eagles) have that kind of guy. I was really banking on Cox being that guy, but he just isn’t. Not yet anyway.
I don’t think he can’t be yet but very few 3-4 DE’s are that guy. We need an OLB to be that guy… Never bring up Earl Thomas again the pain is still to fresh….
I am hoping that Kendricks becomes the man.
He missed too many tackles tonight. I wouldn’t hold my breath. I’m not ready to pull the plug on him yet, but I’d consider a midround draft pick on an ILB to potentially replace him. If Kendricks does pan out, then that guy could replace DeMeco in the future.
Demeco, Kendricks, Barwin and 1st round pass rushing OLB I think will be a pretty good group.
Bengals and Patriots have played most of the year without Atkins and Wilfork, yet still fielded good defenses. Imagine how many points the Colts would have scored had they not feared Houston and Hali!
Suh, McCoy, and Atkins all play an entirely different position than Cox does. Suh and McCoy were the 2nd and 3rd overall picks in their draft, Cox was the 12th in his. It’s not quite the same.
Someone’s got to get pressure on the QB. Cox isn’t doing his job. All of those guys are doing theirs. J.J. Watt actually would’ve been the best comparison (still not perfect, but closer), but still the point is the same. Yeah, maybe the expected ceiling for Suh and McCoy should be a little higher than Cox, but Cox is still WAY underachieving for his draft status.
Cox was drafted as a 4-3 pass rushing DT. He has different responsibilities in the 2 gap 3-4 he reads and reacts. He’s not supposed to pin his ears back and rush the passer. He’s been rather good against the run all year (today notwithstanding.)
J.J. Watt is not a good comparison for anyone. He’s simply a freak. A lot of people declared McCoy a bust after his first two seasons, and he was playing the same position both years. He broke out in his third. Cameron Jordan, a similar player to Cox, didn’t break out until this year, his third season.
The comparison was only because they are both 3-4 DEs, albeit in different 3-4 schemes. I hope your optimism prevails in the end.
He’s had 2 coaches, 3 DCs, and 3 line coaches. 2 vastly different schemes. Just turned 23.
Go look back at Watt’s rookie year (surrounded by better talent no less). see if it doesn’t look similar.
You’re wildly overreacting
“In order to succeed, you must first learn to fail” – MJ 23.
When you lose a game by 3 points, you can point at many different things. It’s just the way it goes.
Really hard to see right now but finishing the season losing an effort filled 26-24 game, vs Nnamdi/DRC failed, no effort blowout to the Giants.
Eagles maximized their talents. Excited to see Howie add more to this roster.
Lets go get:
CB, Safety, OLB, WR, O-line depth and Kicker.
We already have the best available QB: Nick Foles.
The main issue again was the incompetent kicker we have! When was the last time he kicked the ball out of the endzone on kickoff? Can he make a FG over 40 yards? One of the reasons Kelly keeps going for it on 4th down is because he doesn’t have a kicker he can rely on!
Three points left on the field and too many starting field positions for the Saints on the 35+ yard line.
And Chung is terrible!
Where is Earl Wolf??? I refuse to believe that a hobbled Earl Wolf would be any worse that patrick Chung. For gods sake put Colt anderson in!
Agree totally! Was excited to see he was active, but where was he?
They both have to go, but Henery was far from main issue tonight
Kelly may have been outcoached by Payton, but it was only by a little, and he’d probably win the rematch with the right players, like a secondary that’s not made of rebuilding year placeholders. Belichick was probably thinking about how far ahead Kelly was from his first year as an NFL head coach.
Well now the off-season talk officially begins. Looking forward to scoutsnotebook to be alive again.
Hey Tommy does this count as a big situation 4th quarter drive in the playoffs by Nick Foles to put the team ahead? I mean yeah there was still time (about 5 minutes) on the clock but I think if we got the ball back with over a minute left we’d have driven and scored again.
I agree with you. But it wasn’t a “put my team on back situation” that QBs have down with under 2 minutes. The whole playbook was still open at that time of the game, as opposed to being in a situation where the QB needs to make a play. I’m a Foles supporter, but his unwillingness to take a chance and be aggressive is something he’d need to adjust in a situation down by a score with 90 seconds on the clock.
I don’t fault Foles much for this loss, but he did take a bad sack when he absolutely did not need to which probably cost us some points.
Absolutely a bad play. His version of a bad play. Other QBs get too aggressive and throw a bad interception. He gets too conservative and holds onto the ball or throws it at his toes. Unfortunately, that play it was nearly as costly as a turnover.
Thinking about this in terms of being “aggressive” isn’t right. You can be “aggressive” like Derek Anderson, and it will still be bad.
Why not think in terms of…”Man, did you see Andrew Luck just recover that ball and run it in himself?!?!” The lack is in what doesn’t happen. You never really see Foles rescue *any* bad situation. What the system asks for, is what you get with Foles, and little chance of anything transcendent, sort of like the sound of one hand, clapping out on the field.
This is a fair critique, but you don’t see Foles throw the kind of awful picks Luck threw today either. There have been plenty of successful quarterbacks who don’t really pull off amazing athletic feats to rescue bad plays but nevertheless win big (Aikman, Brady, etc.), and some supremely gifted athletes whose ability to pull off the transcendent was paired with a penchant for soul-crushing mistakes at the worst possible time (Favre comes to mind). Not sure which I’d rather have.
That’s the thing with people like you, and pretty much all the other people who pretend that talent doesn’t matter…
Talented people can make the mistakes Luck has made, or Brees has made. That’s because they can make up for it. Russell Wilson and Cam Newton both have long streaks of overthrowing people, and that’s generally okay if not liked, because they can make big time throws, through much of the game. Foles isn’t talented at all, at the NFL level. I mean, he isn’t even as talented as Christian Ponder or Blaine Gabbert. I keep saying it because it’s just painfully obvious to me.
He *is* vastly more competent, though. But pretty much almost every time Foles has to be the answer himself because something went wrong, he’s come up pretty limited. It’s fine when he does the read option and the D cares about McCoy and he goes off for twenty yards. But when he has to, or tries to, scramble out of a broken play, he is so often sacked or brought down for minimal gain. Compared to Brees, having a decent run or two in addition to the sneaks. At the end of the day, it can’t be just about wide open WRs or just fifty-fifty balls for most of his big plays, because next year, more defenses will understand the system. More offenses will have their *starting* QB on hand, and not be like Orton. There will be different injury luck and different refs. He should be able to have high numbers again, but you know? The QB for my college team, Vad Lee, is now my ex-QB for my college team. The numbers were still pretty high, but all the games that team won were against teams they should beat. There wasn’t the magic to beat Clemson, as there was against CJ Spiller. And Vad was never comfortable in the triple option. Now, while Foles is comfortable in some aspects of Kelly’s offense, it’s easy to see how much is lost because he can’t really be all of that offense credibly. It’s pretty likely, that in a year, in two years, Foles will be history wrt the Eagles.
And the problem with people like you is that you pretend that on field results matter less than some ineffable conception of “talent”.
Brett Favre had more physical ability than Joe Montana. But if I needed a quarterback to lead a crucial drive with a playoff game on the line, I’d rather have Montana, because his composure, intelligence, and ability to diagnose defenses were huge assets in those circumstances, while Favre’s recklessness and impulsiveness were liabilities. A quarterback’s mental attributes are a HUGE part of his talent, something which you seem absurdly willing to overlook.
You keep comparing Foles to guys like Andy Dalton and Matt Schaub, but there is really very little similarity in their on field performances to suggest that they are comparable players. Dalton and Schaub do things like throw four interceptions in a game and lead the league in pick sixes thrown. Foles has done none of that. Furthermore, neither of them has broken or tied multiple NFL records the way Foles has. With the HUGE caveat that we’re still working with a small sample size, his NFL play so far bears more resemblance to that of Brady, Manning, and Brees than it does to that of Schaub or Dalton. I’m not saying he’ll be on that level in the end – it’s entirely possible he’ll regress a bit. But so far, there is literally no evidence to suggest that what he really is is a mediocre quarterback getting by on luck. He has sixteen NFL starts, and his numbers over that stretch aren’t just excellent for a young quarterback, they’re excellent for ANY quarterback.
I have a feeling that even if five years from now he’s a four time Pro Bowler and two time Super Bowl MVP married to a Brazilian supermodel, you’re still going to be on here saying that he’s a mediocre talent, that defenses will figure him out, and that the Eagles would’ve been better off trading for Joe Webb. So I don’t see the point of arguing any further.
Joe Montana lost his job to Steve Young because Joe didn’t have it anymore and Young did. And if it wasn’t for deference to show as a sports icon, Young would have taken over earlier.
And besides, Favre has his rings. And he has them for his qualities, good and bad. Mostly good.
And yeah, would be better off trying out Joe Webb.
/me shrugs
Talent is talent is talent. Talent is what runs the world, man. Worship mediocrity all you want, but let’s see the dude be an actual four time Pro Bowler and two time Super Bowl MVP first. I’d have long since capitulated before then, though.
I think by talent you mean…. nevermind we all KNOW what you mean.
Sorry that he’s not Michael Vick. We all know what your motivation is Shah. and why it is. So your opinion doesn’t really count because you are blinded by your… ideals.
soo sooo tired
My takes:
–We are who we thought they were (though a tad better): I thought we’d be about 8-8 this year, mostly held back from our lack of talent on the defense. Our D rallied at many points this year, but today when we needed a stop, we simply weren’t good enough to get the stop, period. 20 points is too much to give up in a half of NFL playoff football. Get some more talent on the D and we’ll be back next year
–Follow-up to that: Great year. Proud of the team. Showed a lot of heart and effort but the D simply wasn’t good enough to make the run in January.
–Special teams. Looking forward to Tommy revisiting this. I remember at the beginning of the year, you saying this was something Chip really emphasized. Aside from the Chicago game, we’ve been lousy all year- particularly in the kick return game. Went a long way to ending our season tonight.
–Last 2 playoff games for the Eagles decided by missed field goals. That hurts. As Reid said at the end of the Packers game, “you do the math.” Henery’s inability to boot them deep in the end zone with the new kickoff rules is simply unacceptable.
–Offense certainly had its troubles, but I’m proud of the fact that we came back from 13 points down and took the lead. Tommy said he was anxious to see Nick in a comeback situation. This is the closest we’ve seen and I think that’s something good moving into the future.
–2013 was great. Suck it Dallas. Bring on 2014.
I saw where some media guys including Westbrook was advocating bringing back Maclin and Cooper as outside receivers and moving DJax into the slot. Not sure I’m fond of that idea.
Improving the Eagles in 2014:
1st round pass-rushing linebacker or dominating nose tackle
2nd round CB
3rd round big wide receiver
rest…BPA, including a decent coverage safety
FA kicker to challenge Henery, who must spend offseason learning to kick kickoffs deep in the end zone. May the best man win.
Bring back Maclin and Cooper and Peters.
Look for a free agent guard to challenge Herremans. Sign a good free-agent safety. Need depth at MLB and Center, too.
Most teams that improve substantially in one year regress the next year, although fans tend to believe they’ll continue to improve. You have to make drastic decisions to improve.
So enters Jackson Jeffcoat and Justin Gilbert.
I’m still torn on whether having Maclin healthy this year would have really improved our season.
brought out the best in coop. if maclin stays healthy theres no way coop gets a chance to step up. and if maclin’s healthy i suspect only a marginal bump in the offense. but you do have to wonder if coop is in the slot over avant how that affects things
Maclin>>>>>>>>>>>Cooper, don’t care about Cooper’s TD numbers. Maclin would have abused man coverage in a way Cooper hasn’t, really.
welllllll, even so i didn’t miss the chance for maclin to give us an entire season of underperforming
I agree. As a finesse receiver who relies on speed to make plays, Maclin is a little too similar to Jackson for my tastes. Coop is a big guy who can out-muscle defensive backs for the ball and break tackles, and despite having less overall talent complements DJax better in a way. Plus he’s a much better downfield blocker, which is an underrated skill in a run-heavy offense like Chip’s. If they’re going to let one guy go this offseason, I’d actually prefer it be Maclin, especially since he’s likely to command more money.
Eagles’ first 7 drives averaged 16 yards & netted 7 points. Their last 3 averaged 57 yards, netting 17 points.
I see him getting a chance to at least compete elsewhere. I think Barkley can grow into the #2 nicely
least shocking thing ive heard all night
Can’t blame him. I’m sure he still wants to start, and with all the stinky quarterbacks out there, he’s justified in thinking he can.
Eagles should sign a capable veteran who’s content as a backup and can win a game off the bench if Foles gets hurt to serve as the #2 for a year or two while Barkley grows into the role. Somebody like a Matt Hasselbeck or Kyle Orton. That’s all they really need to do at the QB position I think.
And by the way, Roc Carmichael’s screw-up has not been forgotten either.
Was in the stadium so I really didn’t get a good look. What is your general consensus on the Graham fumble/non-fumble? Obviously doesn’t change what’s done, but just curious if TV viewers thought it looked like clearly down by contact.
looked down by contact to me.
It was close, I thought they would uphold fumble because that’s what it was on the field.
Looking at it in real time I thought he was down by contact, and the replay only confirmed that judgment. About the only objection I could lodge was that It was ruled a fumble on the field and there wasn’t “indisputable visual evidence” to overturn it but given that I thought the refs blew the initial call I find it hard to get too worked up over it.
well according to collinsworth the shin is right above the ankle and collinsworth’s head is connected to his ass. what im trying to say is you missed some vintage chris collinsworth.
and he was for sure down by contact.
CHUNG… DEAD!
HENERY… DEAD!
CARMICHAEL… DEAD!
NIEDERMAYER…
I have a feeling Chung is headed for the despised Eagles goat pantheon, where he will take his place among all-time greats like Sean Considine and Barry Gardner. One can only hope he isn’t around to cost this team a game in which they actually are a legit contender.