Blame the Blockers
Posted: August 9th, 2014 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 142 Comments »Nick Foles looked shaky, but I figured out a big reason why. The offensive line struggled in a big way on Friday night. I was surprised to see them play so sloppy. And it was “them”…as in the whole line. Actually, Todd Herremans is the one guy who I didn’t see get clearly beat or make a major mistake.
Jason Kelce got driven right back into Foles lap on one play. Evan Mathis had 2 holding penalties. Jason Peters had one holding penalty. Allen Barbre struggled in pass pro on a couple of plays. The line didn’t magically just start to suck. This isn’t about age or talent. They just played poorly. The one thing that stuck out to me with Mathis and Barbre is that they let defenders get into their body. Linemen need to get their hands on defenders quickly to try and control them. The guys were slow to do that and the rushers got the best of them.
Brian Baldinger went on and on about how the Eagles lack of hitting in camp was the problem. Maybe. But I sure remember plenty of very physical Andy Reid camps that produced poor preseason results as well. I just think the guys had a bad night and the Bears came out ready to play. Some games you can get by with sloppy play. That wasn’t the case on Friday night.
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There was no rhythm to the game. Part of that was due to penalties…on both sides. There was one play where the Eagles got 6 yards on a run by Shady. That set up 2nd and 4. But there was a penalty on the Bears. That stopped the flow. The Eagles got the Bears off balance early on and they called a timeout. That killed the momentum of that drive. The Eagles had a good pass play over the middle, but that was wiped out by a bizarre facemask call on Jeremy Maclin. That drive stalled.
The no-huddle needs some rhythm to really work. That didn’t happen for the starters.
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Vinny Curry loves summer football. He is unblockable in the month of August. Part of that is because he’s going against backup OL. Still, we’ve seen Curry give starters fits in real games. There is no doubting his explosive quickness and ability to be disruptive.
But we need to calm down on all the talk of him needing to start. Listen, I’m not a 3-4 guy. But Chip Kelly is. That scheme is here to stay and Curry will never be a 3-4 starter. I do agree that the coaches need to play him more. Curry is disruptive and that’s the number one quality I want in a defensive lineman. I hope they embrace him more and use him creatively.
Brandon Graham got his big pressure when he lined up at DE in a nickel look and then shot hard to the inside. The LG had no chance vs his quickness. Graham is really meant to play in a 4-3. Curry has a role in the current scheme, but Graham is awkward. He tried to cover a TE in the flat and got juked out of his shoes. I was really hoping Graham would look better in space this summer. That wasn’t the case on Friday.
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LT Andrew Gardner had a good game. He did a solid job in pass pro. He showed nimble feet and was active with his hands. I also was impressed by his physicality as a run blocker. He knocked the crap out of DE Trevor Scott on one run play. On Tucker’s second TD run, Gardner fired off the ball and got good movement, which created a running lane for Tucker.
I have yet to study the whole game thoroughly, but Gardner really caught my eye. Matt Tobin did some good things as well.
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Ifeanyi Momah started and caught 2 passes. I can’t believe how far this guy has come since last summer. It is probably too soon to start calling him Momahtron, but I’m so glad he’s showing real ability this year.
About Jordan Matthews and drops…this has been an issue for him for a long time. Some guys are born with great hands (Cris Carter). Others work to develop great hands (Jerry Rice). Then you have players that are good receivers, but drops are an issue for them. The prime example is Terrell Owens. He worked hard to develop good hands, but was among league leaders in drops plenty of times.
Matthews had a rough game, but there is no reason for concern. He’s just got to keep working on the hands. And I do think part of it was him trying to live up to the hype. Just go play and be yourself.
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we still cant cover TE’s. and Sconces is still just a guy…love his grit and tenacity but he’s still just a guy. Roc looks like chung 2.0 out there.Gonna be a LONG SEASON for this defense.
That pretty harsh, our run d was pretty damn good and I thought Cary did a pretty good job. I think we can all agree Roc is turdible but I like Jenkins’ aggression and maybe, MAYBE, Allen can make more plays this year like last night. Dt forget we went up against arguably the best receiver duo in the NFL. AND we haven’t seen what Carrol can do.
Cary was rock solid… Silly fans are SOOO confused between Cary and Brad..
There were several times Bradley was beat and I think he had at least one penalty on him, if not two. I know Cary had one as well.
Bradley was beat a few times, missed a tackle. Cary is a step above Bradley, but becausof the sconces, everyone blows Bradley and hates on Cary smh
Well, most people judge CBs by the times they get beat. Maybe people like Fletcher more because he was on the field less.
Also, every CB gets beat once in a while, even Patrick Peterson. Also who are the Chicago WRs, again? Some nobodies named Marshall and Jeffries?
There isn’t a coach on our team that would say Brad is 1 and Cary is 2…. Stats don’t really matter. It’s not like they defended the same WR and we get to see who played that WR better.
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Say what you want, Cary is our #1 CB and Brad is #2
It’s just idiots who hate on Cary because of his mouth… If you switch their personalities around, silly fans would praise Cary and hate on Brad… Absurd to say Brad is above Cary…. Lol we will see when Nolan plays his way into startng lineup, he would 100% be replacing Brad NOT Cary
Yeah the only time I saw Williams get “beat” was when he got flagged for the WR running straight into him at the apex of a comeback route. They picked the flag up, but that was OPI.
For all the empathize on OPI, I was surprised that wasnt flagged.
Insane how so many people in this city think Brad is the better corner…doubt there is a single coach in Novacare that would call Bradley our #1 and Cary #2…
Bradley was the better CB last year
Laughable…and don’t you dare throw some bullshit PFT stat at me… Ridiculous. I’m ghost
I think you mean PFF and while I love Williams aggressive nature, Fletcher was the more stable guy in coverage in 2013.
EVERYBODY on this page thought so, too, last year. BF had a bad game in preseason so far. That’s all.
LOL
Hear, hear.
And please do not use statistics to try and prove your point. Instead, USE ALL CAPS AND SUM POOR SPELLING.
LOL Cary was balling yesterday, and Bradley Fletcher was stinking it up…another fan who pins Bradley shortcoming on Cary smh
More than the blocking it was refs wouldn’t let our offense get in the flow. QB isn’t going to be successful if you stop the game every other play, move us back 10 yards every other play….no Rythem, QB probably won’t look good
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No big deal
Those refs were posing me off so much. First it was the holding calls then the new rule so that dbs can’t touch anybody ever.
We knew their would be a lot of penalties, but last night was absurd. Even worse is how long they were taking to announce the penalty.. Teams are trying to get their first team offenses some work, and they are stopping every other play…ridiculous.
Outside of the Maclin call, all the calls was legit. If the OL didnt hold the refs wouldnt throw flags.
Ok
OL hold on every play.
There is difference between normal holds and the blatant holds where the refs have to throw the flag, the Eagles OL was holding so badly the refs had to threw the flags
. Every ref crew is different, every game refs call it different, when you see that there is a penalty every single friggin play, …you can always find a penalty on almost every play, absurd to interrupt the flow of the game THAT much when teams are trying to give their starters some limited work..l
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And if you are going to call that many penalties, you can’t take 4 minutes to announce every penalty. It was ridiculous. Game don’t count, let the starters get some work
Wouldn’t be a peep out of any of you if the calls were all on the Browns. The line was holding every play and it was blatant.
Ridiculous. The Oline played poorly and contrary to when people thought it was the best overall unit on the team I think it will be mediocre at best especially as the season wears on & the older guys (Mathis, Peters, Herremans) begin to wear done.
The Momahtron is real Tommy.
I’m still waiting for Momah to turn into Mumm-Ra…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umU8vKRNnRw
LOL in time.
Can’t help but wonder if the Bears had a little extra in the tank for us. They got humiliated by us last time. Or maybe it that GD field, not even talking about the condition (reportedly good for once), the damn thing is cursed!
Some of us, myself included, are a broken record on this, but it still seems crazy to me that they didn’t convert Curry to an OLB when they moved to a 3-4. He had pretty much the same size/build as Marcus Smith before he gained weight to play 3-4 line. We already know he can do one of the OLB’s main responsibilities extremely well: rush the passer. It’s hard to believe that he might be more of a liability in coverage than a guy like Graham.
I really like what Curry does as an interior pass rusher, very impressive. I get the feeling if Curry slipped away from us the Giants would be the highest bidder, even if it was just to have him come on the field on 3rd downs as an interior pass rusher to revitalize their “nascar package”
Agreed. Curry is outstanding against guards. It’s not like he’s bad as a two-gapping four-technique either. I fail to see how he’s a liability against the run when teams don’t run the ball at him. There’s no reason not to start him when he is definitely one of the two best 3-4 DEs on the team.
Thornton and Cox are far better DEs than Curry, remember you have mostly seen Curry against backups in pre season, where Cox is against starters.
If Cox played reserves in pre season, he would look like a HOF
True, just can’t help feel for Vinny, get drafted by the team you love, bet if asked he’d be glad to fill the cups of gatorade . All that cat wants is to hear the crowd roar for him……..and playin time…..maybe 4 3.hehe.
Curry like Graham is build to move forward, not backwards. Only difference is Curry was around 280 as a 4-3 DE and 6-3 high, where Graham’s height means only position in a 3-4 is OLB.
Vinny Curry:
http://mockdraftable.com/player/66/
Marcus Smith:
http://mockdraftable.com/player/4610/
They have similar builds but Marcus is a much better athlete. Marcus had terrible 20 yard shuttle, and 3 cone times, but that didn’t match his tape. I never got official numbers on his pro day numbers but they were much improved on those two events.
HE LIVES!!!!!!!
He is actually more valuable as an interior pass rusher. Those guys are much more Rare than pass rushing OLBs… If Curyy was capable of doing both, it’s probably more valuable to use him as a pass rushing DT..,doesn’t really matter where he lines up on 3rd down, he is gonna get after QBs regardless where he lines up
Graham and Cole certainly aren’t good in coverage by any means, but I think the significance of that weakness is overstated. For one thing, they’re only in coverage 10-20% of the time. That costs us maybe one or two short passes a game. Complaining about that is making a mountain out of a molehill.
Here’s the real weakness: Teams take vertical shots downfield against our weak secondary who can’t stop any receiver (the big culprits last night were Bradley Fletcher and Malcolm Jenkins) and throw over the middle where DeMeco Ryans is a liability in coverage.
I love DeMeco’s passion and effort, but he just can’t cover TEs to save his life. Was totally lost on that first Bears TD. Getting dangerously close to London Fletcher territory.
This is a bit premature but I think Allen has the safety job on lock. Dude looked good last night, didn’t notice Wolff as much.
A bit premature… that’s what she said last night lol ;-0
I made a rule for myself that I will always upvote that reference if properly used. So here you go.
I went back and rewatched Brandon Graham in the preseason game.
He honestly played very well and I’m surprised no one noticed. He covered a receiver with press successfully. He got to the QB a couple of times. His swim move on the Nate Allen interception was awesome.
The bad tackle is honestly more to blame on Wolff, who had the high coverage on that TE.
Another thing I saw going back was that Bradley Fletcher played pretty poorly. He’ll definitely be the one that Carroll replaces if that does indeed happen.
The missed tackle was a cardinal sin on terms of tackling, always use the sideline as 12th defender, never allow a person to get inside you.
The oline played very poorly for Foles, but Foles compounded the problem with what appeared to be poor decision making and trying to throw off balanced into coverage. I certainly don’t think we need to panic after three series of preseason football, but poor decision making is something you would prefer not to see from your starting QB regardless of oline play.
There’s plenty of concern for Matthews. He was one of the most hyped players in college and in off season. He’s simply being exposed for what he is right now and what he was in college. A rookie 6’3 finesse WR that is not the best athlete and just not reliable. He needs a ton of work despite all of this garbage from the media. What you do in live games heavily outweighs what happens in practices.
Wow, thanks for bringing me back down to Earth.
Oh yeah he was hyped so much in college… sike.
He def was reliable in college. he was the whole team. He made a couple nice plays. Even on a play where he dropped it he showed me something.
Its funny how much of the people reporting from TC didnt keep the hype consider Matthews flaws was always something there wouldnt show in TC, such as poor separation and drops issue in traffic.
It showed up on tape anyway. The average DBs in pads run what he did in his underwear. IMO, his potential might just be Hakeem Nicks which isn’t all that bad but he needs to work hard to even be close to Nicks.
In reality, most of the “hyping” was done right here.
I would relax on judging a kid from his first preseason performance….
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Look,around:
Clowney 1 tackle
Ebron 1 catch for 2 yards
Sammy was bad
I can go on and on and on…
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By now we should have learned to take the preseason with a grain of salt… A poor, or GREAT preseason performance from a rookie, is equally worthless…
Yeah, he had a poor showing in the first pre-season game. CUT HIM NOW! Sheesh. Do you people understand what pre-season is? Here’s a hint, IT’S PRE-SEASON!
You’re right, and preseason is, essentially, practice. So we haven’t seen him in live games.
People keep talking about the drops Jordan had… thats not what concerned me most. That was when he caught the short pass and tried to juke out the defneders instead of doing what pat shurmer said he was doing innpractice… and thats catch the run and run with your hair on fire. When he tried to juke (and he looked goofy) those guys out, they didnt flinch. i dont want to see that from jordan anymore, just use your size and strength and get the most yards you can.
But i still liked what i seen. Because what i seen was he does has the size and strength to be really good. He caught one pass after getting seperation going across the field. And that one play where kyle fuller knocked the ball ,lose at the very end was still a great effort. Thats a glimpse at what he can do downfield.
Was his first NFL action…got mixed up and played like his hands were on fire.
I rooting for Momah.
I’ve been since they resigned him. Not many out there were giving him any consideration. But just the thought of that size and speed…thinking if only this guy can put it all together.
Humility is a good thing for the 2014 Eagles team…
OT Manziel doesn’t have the burst to use what speed and agility he does have as a QB rusher. Very agile, yes, but doesn’t actually pop forward towards holes very well.
And box score watching…obvious that Fitzpatrick has no place as an NFL starter.
Oooh, a good burst proving me wrong!
I didn’t expect to be very impressed, and so far I’m not. Throws short passes with velocity, but it’s all whole body stuff. Doesn’t have any real sense of situational awareness, like not throwing an easy toss and opting for a harder run for the first down. Had one good run.
Strong arms. Logan Thomas throws a pass. Some poor fool thought he could jump it, since Thomas was staring down the receiver. He was late.
Logan Thomas is not having one of his crazy days. Obviously looks equal to any of the top prospect. Thomas is consistently making top end prospect throws.
Okay, I’m done with this game. Not sure how Bortles actually played, but Thomas certainly played like a high first rounder against scrubs. Most intriguing.
I have to say, I’m with shah8 on this one. Shah8 made some good points, too, but he has no chance against shah8s very well thought of reasoning.
Keep calm, though, guys. Don’t get personal.
I have to disagree. As shah8 pointed out, shah8’s logic was faulty, and thus, shah8 made a better point.
Shah8 lost me when he wrote that “I know that I know nothing”, while shah8 disagreed with it and said that shah8 knows a lot of things.
I never understood why Bortles was a 3rd overall and Thomas so low.
Dion Lewis with a fumble, glad we traded him. Hahahahahahahaha!!!!!
Concerns? Yes, I’m concerned about waiting for the next. That’s about it. It’s pre-season.
Curry should start over Thorton. I know Thorton is head and shoulders a better run stuffer but our problem is pass defense. If Curry Starts or at least plays more snaps we get pressure on the QB which helps our secondary. We struggle in pass coverage so we play our best run stuffer???
Line up Trent behind Curry. Curry is not a liability in the run game, but if he misses something Cole is cleaning it up for him. Meco is better against the ruin than he is against the pass. So play the pass rusher.
The league is a passing league.
Teams pass 55-65 % of the time
Our O will score points so the other team will have to pass more to catch up
We are week in pass coverage
We are stout in run defense (most of the time)
Demeco is weak in pass coverage
We lack a pass rush without blitzing
Everything points to why Curry should play more or even start. Just like everything points to a 4-3 defense.
Cole/Graham—-Cox—Thorton—-Curry
Conner (SLB)–Demeco (Mike)— Kendrix (WLB)
The main problem is Cole, he is run stopper only at this stage.
Disagree. He can still collapse the pocket and force hurries, which can be as good as a sack.
You make a solid case
All good stuff — but beating a dead horse at this point. Chip doesn’t want a 4-3.
Who really cares who starts at DL? It’s the one position were backups consistently play…6’DL play in each game, I like our starters to be our run stuffing tandem of Ced,Bennie and Cox….. Cury, Beau, Kruger/hart line will get it’s opportunities to make their mark in every game.
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If Curry is more effective than Ced, you will see Azzinaro put Curry Into the starting lineup. If he doesn’t start he still gets to be very valuable to our defense
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It’s really the one position where starting doesn’t matter.l
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I’d rather see Curry on 3rd down, than on 1st down. Ced is a better first down player, but Ced could never be more valuable than Curry on 3rd down, aka the,money down..
What non starter had more plays played than the starter? Of course it matters who starts. The starter ends up with the most downs played.
It matters to every D lineman who starts. It matters to the rest of the players behind the D lineman who starts. It matters in pro bowl voting and contracts.
The point of the post is that Curry should be the main player getting the most snaps and Ced only comes in on short yardage or obvious run downs.
Cole’s liability is in the passing game but excels in the running game. DeMeco’s liability is in coverage. Play Curry more than Ced.
Momah had a nice snag/hands catch. He does need to learn how to sit in a hole. There was the obvious wrong route he ran on the INT. But even his crossing catch he should have pulled up because he was running out of the hole and into coverage. Hopefully he makes it to the practice squad to develop another year
Just curious because I really don’t know: how do you know that wasn’t on Ertz?
In all honesty I don’t know the routes. None of us do. But based on Baldy’s comment during the game and then Nick made the comment that a defender peeled off of another route to make the int. After watching rewind Foles is locked in on Ertz and is throwing him open on the back side. He never sees Momah coming across.
Hey, is anyone on here from around Tioga County, PA? It’s weird to ask on here,but I’m looking for some guys to watch the games with this season.
I’ve heard of Tioga county, but I’m not exactly familiar with location– where is it? I’m in north east PA
About an hour straight north of Williamsport.
What a shame for Brandon Graham that his considerable pass rushing talents aren’t able to be displayed in our system. I really wish we could do him, and ourselves, a favor by trading to a team that will feature his pass rush abilities. The guy is the best pass rusher from his draft, but all we’re stuck hearing about is overrated JPP.
Still hoping they trade him this summer… as long as it’s not to DAL.
If Dallas overpays us for him, I might not argue.
So, you’re thinking about a first rounder from the Cowboys, so basically the #1 overall pick in 2015?
One thing I liked about the plays Momah made is that he got to use his size. A lot of people think of size only in the sense of catching a ball over people’s heads, but it really is about the full catching radius, when he dives for a comeback route, the person covering him has very little chance of covering that, or the crosser, a person can be stride for stride with him, but when he goes horizontal with the field (lays out for a catch), that length gives him access to a window that the person covering him does not have. I doubt we’ll get to see Momah play with Foles again to see if that’s been something they’ve been working on or if Foles was just missing throws that Momah’s freakish size was accommodating.
He really showed that he isn’t a big stiff I thought he was, which was big to me. He can actually move that big frame around. Here is to hoping he continues to outplayed the other fringe guys. As intriguing as Benn may be, he has had a real shot in the nfl and no one has been impressed.
I’d be happy with him on our practice squad. Kid improved a lot, working on his own this year…I’d like to see how he looks aft a year with our coaches before we give up on him…
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Not sure if he would get poached off our practice squad or not
Who is your 5 right now?
WRs? I think 5!WRs are a LOCK, and the only question is if a 6th WR is better than the fringe players at all the other positions…
I look at it as a lock that Mac,Coop,Huff,Jordan, and Brad smith make the roster… If we keep a 6th WR he has to outperform all the other positions, not just the other WRs. Brad trumps all the other WR because of his versatility, quality ST player(Brad is really good on ST) and for chips gadget plays
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A 6th WRmwould have to beat our Trqvis Long, Bair, marsh! and all the fringe players at the other positions
I hear Ya, I don’t know that input him over Smith yet but easily could depending on preseason. I want the back of my roster to be upside players.
Bair is 2nd string atm, and with the way he played it’s probably more accurate to say square, Kruger, etc.
Pleeease, stop with Bair. Yes, he played good on Friday, no doubt. But the guy is 29 years old (and will be 30 in November). He has to be 10-20 times better than your 22-23 year old other bubble guys to justify taking him on the 53, imho.
We have good young D-Line talent. Why waste snaps for those guys to a 29 year old?
I think he is safe on our PS this year, especially since the Eagles have really taken care of the kid since we signed him. He knew that last year (when we cut him) that it would take a bit to get back into football shape– but he also knew the Eagles had interest in re-signing him to give him another shot this year. He worked hard over the off-season and it’s paying off now; why wouldn’t he want to stick with the team that has invested a decent amount of time and resources into his progression? Especially considering to any other team, he’s just a tall WR that has questionable skills— I think he shows us the same favor. Also, as a PS player this year (considering how much he improved from last year to now), he would have a serious chance to be a 4th or 5th WR next year with us.
Momah is VERY agile for his size. He had something like a 6.7s 3 cone drill and we already know he can run fast.
From an untrained eye — what either didn’t impress me or things I thought I’d see but didn’t — Kick off team was/is still weak. After all that hoopla — where was Jenkins? Are people considering JM 1st missed catch a drop? I thought that was a great defensive play. Huff missed a ball right before that one but I guess the spotlight is on JM. Allen made a nice INT on an overthrown ball. He was also late on several pass plays. Overall pass defense looked slow. All correctable things. On to the next one…
If memory serves I thought the cb got his hand in there for sure.
Yes — but isn’t the safety the help on that play?
Henery kicked several out of the end zone or at least they weren’t returnable. Jenkins had a massive hit on a receiver at the beginning of the game. Allen looked really good to me. I think that ball was actually tipped. Old Nate would have just made the tackle. This new aggressive Nate made the int.
Left to right was with the wind, though…in Chicago. Still, it was an improvement.
it appeared..and I certainly can be off here, their average return was beyond the 20…we didn’t make it to the 20 very often. 1 specific run was special though — and a welcomed site.
Jenkins had a hit? That was nice. Nate we can certainly debate (but it’s just pre-season) so it’s neither hear nor there. 1st TD Nate “Always Late” was responsible for the over. Being late cost a TD. Nates INT was nice and late to get the over throw-not to mention the QB was hit on that throw. Give one, take one. Although, Nates take didn’t result in 6. If Nate and Jenkins were effective, the headline would not have been “Bears QB’s shine”. Granted, the success of Chicago was not all their fault — but there are more expectations this year. Starting week 1, not today.
I mean you really only need that 1 td return to make your special teams very good for a game. We dt know if Nate was even supposed to role over and help Meco with coverage. They were playing against Cutler, Jeffries and Marshal. They did a decent job but that offense is gonna score points on anyone. Kapadia and McManus have a good breakdown of te defense on their site.
Exactly, it looked like Nate was in cover two, he had the TE running the seam with Ryans in his hip pocket and he had Cary vs Marhsall or Jefferies who looked to be running some kind of a stop and go fade route. I would much rather have Nate staring down the receiver than worried about a no name TE. People forget the other guys are professionals who get paid a cubic shit ton of money too.
Zack Miller is a no name? Would it matter if their “starting” TE had 2 TD’s? As a safety or a coach — you see a TE matched on Ryans(who can’t cover anybody), who is your over help? You’re not leaving Ryans 1-on-1. If you do, the results will always be a huge gain or TD. If that’s the defensive call all season, the Eagles have no chance.
A defensive call is a defensive call. Nate is not freelancing on who to cover.
First off, you are thinking of the wrong Zach Miller, this one is a no name.
http://www.nfl.com/player/zachmiller/238457/profile
Secondly Ryans had solid coverage on the play, it was well executed by the Bears offense.
Third, Nate wasn’t freelancing. In the cover two against that alignment, Ryans had the TE in man, the corner had the receiver, and Nate had a zone, there were two players entering his zone. If Nate had gone flying to the seam route, Cutler throws a fade to the corner. It was simply a matter of the other team having the right play called.
First off — I’m referring to the TE from Jacksonville who averaged over 10 yards a catch last season. This is a great pick up by the Bears. So yes, I am referring to the same guy I’m talking about. Why do you think HE was starting for the regular TE? Because he’s some scrub? Not a chance. Zach is solid — solid player. Not a no name.
Yes, it was a nice throw. Are we expecting a defense to only respond to bad throws(like his INT?). No, just like the offense is paid — our defense is paid to make plays as well.
Also — that’s exactly my point — Allen was NOT freelancing — meaning he didn’t have a choice on who to cover(that’s what you were eluding to earlier). That WAS his coverage to be there. He wasn’t peaking in on some WR(again, eluded to earlier) and swung coverage that way….
You opinion of this is fine. I went with my own eyes and now just backed it up with the suggested write up on the defense. To quote the article ” but Allen couldn’t get there in time to break it up.” That’s a direct quote – not my quote. By that quote alone, I’ll go by what I saw and not what you perceived to see.
you nailed it. I’ll take return any game. If we do that 3 times in a season I’ll be extremely happy. My concern is kick off coverage. 2 returns from the end zone and both were over 20 yards. A stop or 2 prior to the 20 would be nice. It’s things I’m sure they are working on and hopefully improve. it’s just 1 pre-season game.
LOL @ people who are down on Mathews after a preseason game
What if one never was high on Matthews?
Ryans suck in coverage, but he did so last year as well. so not really any difference.
I think Logan will help the DL a lot when he gets healthy, also in terms of pass rush.
I think Square has good body to play DE
In defense of Ryans, that TD thrown on him was perfect placement by Cutler. He could have gotten his head around at least though.
It’s a broken record. He’s been a liability in coverage for a couple years, and it’ll only get worse.
Ya’ll are crazy. There is a reason he has always played in passing situations. He isn’t amazing, but he isn’t a liability. The guy has to take on offensive linemen and smash running backs. He isn’t a CB. Not everyone is Willis. I would take Meco in coverage over Burfict all day.
You weren’t/aren’t high on Matthews or is that just a dig at ole GE?
I liked Matthews in the 3rd round. I wanted Cody Latimer or Davate Adams much more.
But should be noted my biggest problem about separation isnt a problem if he will be a pure slot WR for us (I looked at him in terms of outside WR), but his problems with drops is a problem no matter what
Bartrum. Remember he caught a touchdown against and snapped the ball almost to the 30
Yeah he was a beast. He long snapped and caught TDs… thats it. Back or neck ended his career.
There were 2 other long snappers between them though. One didn’t last long. Another was really good and made all-pro Im pretty sure, but didn’t offer ANYTHING outside of the snapping component. I really liked him and am blanking on his name =(
I say the most surpring but welcome sight was actually how well Sanchez looked. He is no treat to Foles at this moment, but Sanchez looks to have the ability to win a game or two if Foles goes down
I agree. Sanchez has been a starter in the NFL. He’s an excellent guy to be a #2.
I think the offense just needed to calm down and settle in. The O line had spent the whole off season playing a 2 gap 3-4 system. New faces playing 1-gap attacking up field, I’m sure it took some adjustments, like re-learning to ski after exclusively snow boarding for years. I have little doubt that if they played more of the game they would have settled down, blocking would shore up, penalties would subside and the offense would find it’s rhythm.
Good analogy. I expected more from the first team offense, although they were getting into a groove until Foles’ interception. I would also expect the qb to run the ball when the DE crashes the RB in regular season…no need for it in pre-season and several reasons not to.
Very excited about Beau Allen. That kid was a steal in the 7th.
A full size NT who can move his feet is a dream. I hope Allen continues to improve his technique with our coaching staff.
Is this where we’ve gotten? Arguing which corner wasn’t beat as bad as the other? Debating who’s better, Cary Williams or Bradley Fletcher is like deciding between a turd sandwich and a giant douche.
Neither sucks as bad as Izell “Toast” Jenkins, so I can’t get that worked up.
http://articles.philly.com/1991-12-01/sports/25809554_1_eagles-cornerback-philadelphia-fans-izel-jenkins
We should have drafted Manziel!
Both also played far better than what we had the previous couple of seasons. Neither is awful (certainly better than your options above), but neither is great. The main problem was when one of them was injured; the falloff between them and the backups was huge. The hope is for Carroll to be about as good (or better) when that happens. Watkins will probably get toasted fairly often as a rookie but he did flash some ability to make QBs pay as well, which would be a welcome skill to have on the field.
The problem is we have no pass rush and lousy corners. That’s a bad combination.
I know Chip and co. want to run this 3-4 two gap scheme, but man it hurts to see talented guys like Curry and Graham go to waste. Curry in a 1 gap scheme could be one of the best pass rushing DTs in the league, and I bet starting on a 4-3 team Graham could be a 10 sack a year guy. Maybe not your ideal starting RDE, but a very good complimentary LDE.
On the same note, it’s lovely that Marcus Smith is good in coverage, has a high motor and chases the ball around the field, but what we desperately need is better pass rush. We got virtually no pressure on Cutler, and that puts a ton of stress on our secondary. It was a big problem last year, and its going to continue to be a big problem for us this year, because I don’t think Smith is going to be the guy that generates that pressure. I’m very surprised that we haven’t tried to work Smith in as our rush backer, because Trent Cole isn’t getting any younger, and hasn’t been a top tier pass rusher for a few years now. Mark my words, the lack of pass rush is going to come back and bite us in the ass.
Who would have thought Beau Allen would be the rookie who gave us the most to be excited about? He looks like a very viable rotation guy at the worst.
The starting offensive line was hot garbage, they need to get their shit together ASAP.
I’m surprised Earl Wolff hasn’t caught more heat for missing that tackle near the sideline. Yeah BG didn’t get the guy down, but he got closer than Wolff did, and I expect a safety to be a much surer tackler in space than an OLB. It was a really bad whiff for Wolff.
Josh Huff isn’t doing it for me. He seems like he has a really small catch radius. Read a lot about him having balls clang off his outstretched hands during practice, and I imagine they looked a lot like the one that went off his hands on that post route during the game.
The next step in Foles’ evolution is going to be faster decision making when the play is breaking down. He’s very good when he is climbing the ladder in the pocket or rolling out without a defender in his face, but when the walls are closing in on him he tends to try too hard to make a play. We need to get him to be more decisive in those moments. It’s a bad habit and it needs to be broken. Kevin Kolb never did get over his backpedal and heave the ball towards the line of scrimmage tendencies, I hope all effort is made to break Foles of his bad habit.
I like the fact that Jaylen Watkins bounced back to make a play. He got roasted on that long TD, but obviously didn’t get too down on himself. Very athletic interception.
It’s driving a lot of us nuts that Curry isn’t out on the field more. I’ve got to believe the coaches are trying to figure out a way to utilize his skills. I sure hope so.
With returns like Fridays, Huff should be doing plenty for you right now. He almost had a td but was ruled down at like the 2 or something. Sanchez did throw a very nice ball to him that was just out of reach. Would have been a nice catch.
I hate the 3-4 as well because it isn’t what I grew up with around here with the 46 and then some killer 4-3s under Carson, Rhodes, and Johnson, but I think your point on Curry and Graham really underscores that we lack the full set of personnel to really be excellent in a 3-4. We’ll get there, but we’re still a draft or two away on D.
Drops in preseason are not a big deal… Drops in post season sucks (right mr. Riley Cooper?)
I smell a DGR in the making.