Preseason DGR – NE 42, PHI 35
Posted: August 19th, 2014 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 99 Comments »Not much defense in this game. But plenty of turnovers and penalties. All in all, it turned out to be a successful game. There were no major injures. And some young players stepped up. It was also good to see the starting offense and Nick Foles come alive. They weren’t great but played well enough to make me feel a lot more comfortable about them.
OFFENSE
Plays
* Some of you wondered why all the GL runs for Damaris Johnson. Why not run Josey? I guess he was trying to rest Josey since there was nothing left to prove. The rookie had looked good. With the Eagles having some banged up RBs, why not save him for next week. At this point, Damaris Johnson is expendable.
Players
QB
FOLES – Looked much better. Amazing what some good blocking will do. Threw a strike to Celek over the middle in the mid-2nd. Held the ball forever on one play. It was a screen that the Pats DL read and Foles was forced to look for other options. Hit Foles in the flat for an easy gain of 6 yards. Tried to hit Momah for a TD down the left side. The ball was just a bit out front and he couldn’t make the grab. Hit Celek with a good throw right after the punt block. Hit Ertz for a short TD. 8-10-81. TD, no INTs.
SANCHEZ– Another strong outing. Came in late in the half. Hit Ertz for a gain of 20. He was covered well, but Sanchez put the ball up high and gave his guy a chance to make a play, which Ertz did. The next play was a good throw to Matthews to the left side. That gained 18 yards. Made a good throw to Momah in the end zone that turned into a TD for Benn. Threw a dumb INT to open the 2nd half. Forced the ball to Ertz and didn’t see the DB playing behind him. That DB jumped the pass and made an easy pick. Hit Matthews with some quick throws, over the middle and to the outside. Had an easy TD pass to Damaris Johnson. DJ was in the backfield and just went upfield. The LB was slow to get out there. Easy pitch and catch.
BARKLEY – Solid game. 9-12-132. 1 TD, but that came on a screen. 1 INT, but that came on a WR drop. Just hasn’t stood out the way you hoped so far, but has had some good moments. Came into the game in the late 3rd. Had a pick on his first drive, but it wasn’t his fault. Johnson had a pass go off his hands and right to a defender. Best throw of the night was an 18-yd strike to Cunningham over the middle of the field on 3rd/long. Accurate with some velocity. Threw screen to Josey that went for 27-yd TD on screen. Barkley did sell that play well.
RB
MCCOY – 6-19. Couple of nice moments. Actually had a couple of good pass blocks as well.
POLK – DNP
SPROLES – Only played 8 snaps. Caught 2 passes for 13 yds.
TUCKER – DNP
JOSEY– Good game. 8-56 as runner, 1-27-1 as receiver. Showed quick feet. N-S runner. Showed good burst on draw play that went for 14 yards in the early 3rd Qtr. Looked good on just about every carry. Caught a screen pass on the final play of the 3rd Qtr and took that for a 27-yd TD. Did a great job of working through traffic and staying inbounds. Really helped himself. I don’t know if Josey is going to push for a roster spot, but he could challenge for a practice squad spot. Kelly had to like the way he hit the hole and the burst he showed.
FLUELLEN– DNP
TE
CELEK – 2-45. 2nd catch put the Eagles in the RZ. Had to turn to catch the ball and Chung hit him pretty hard as Celek turned upfield. Knocked Celek’s helmet off, but Brent held onto the ball. So tough.
ERTZ – Caught a 6-yd TD. Used his size to get the best of Chung, then reached the ball over the goal line. Blocking still needs a lot of work, whether in-line or out in space. Effort is not an issue. Needs to be more under control. Doesn’t take advantage of his size. Made a terrific leaping grab from Sanchez late in the half. The LB was right there, but Ertz played the ball perfectly and fully extended to make the catch.
CASEY – Caught short pass from Sanchez over the middle in the early 3rd. Caught another short pass. Looks good.
IGWENAGU – Only played on STs.
BURTON– Lacks ideal bulk/strength, but a willing blocker. Plays with good pad level. Engages the defender and battles. Just doesn’t get the movement you want.
ANNEN – Has good potential as a run blocker. Good effort. Able to get some movement. Had a poor block on 4th/GL. Got knocked back.
WR
MACLIN – DNP
MATTHEWS– Terrific game. 9-104. Caught a short pass from Foles. Sanchez hit him for 18 yards late in the half. Caught that ball in traffic, but made a smooth grab. The next play was a screen to him. Matthews caught it toward the middle of the field, then broke outside for a gain of 10. Good RAC skills. Caught quick pass in the early 3rd and used stiff arm on CB to get upfield for 8 yds. Biggest play was 25 yard catch and run in the early 3rd. Sanchez hit him on a crosser. Love the fact Matthews turned upfied and didn’t dance. Tried to run over the CB. Big guys gotta play big. Showed really good RAC skills in the late 3rd. Caught a quick screen from Barkley behind the LOS and turned that into a gain of 19. Got by tacklers using size, speed and elusiveness.
COOPER – DNP
MOMAH– Used his size to get open and catch pass over the middle in the 1st Qtr. Unfortunately had the ball stripped from him as he was being tackled. Can’t make mistakes like that. 2nd catch came on a dig route. Didn’t have separation, but didn’t need it. Used size to make the grab. Looked comfortable making a contested catch. Had a chance for a 30-yd TD catch in the mid-2nd, but couldn’t quite get to the ball. It was just a bit out in front of him. Had tight coverage from the CB and S, but still made a good attempt for the ball. Should have had a TD catch late in the half, but the ball bounce off his hands and it went to Benn. Worked well for the team, but that’s a knock against Momah. Put a CB on the ground while run blocking in the early 3rd.
MAEHL– Caught WR screen in the 3rd and then had the ball stripped away.
HUFF– Got hurt in the game.
D JOHNSON – Spent a lot of time in the backfield. Caught short TD from there. Eagles ran a rub route and the LB was slow to get outside. Johnson had an easy grab and stepped into the end zone. Failed to catch a downfield pass from Barkley in the late 3rd. The ball bounced off his hands and went right to a DB. 7-14 as a runner. 3-30 as a receiver. Love his attitude. Willing to do anything. Just hasn’t done enough to put himself in serious consideration for a roster spot.
BENN – Was out on the field with the 1’s. Had an excellent block on a run play to his side in the mid-2nd. Engaged the CB and stuck with him as the ball came that way for a good gain. Didn’t have any passes thrown his way. Played in the slot and outside. I need to re-check and see if it looked like he was getting open or not.
CUNNINGHAM– Caught an 18-yd pass on 3rd/long that moved the chains.
OL
PETERS – Gave up a sack in the mid-2nd. The Pats ran a stunt and Peters made a good block initially, but he wasn’t able to control the defender, who then got loose in the backfield.
MATHIS – LG. Had a good block on toss play to his side in the late 2nd.
KELCE – C. Had some issues with Wilfork. Got moved back on a few plays. Moved Wilfork off the ball on a run play up the middle that gained a few yards.
HERREMANS – RG. Good showing.
BARBRE – RT. Gave up a sack on the initial 3rd down of the game. Too passive with his hands. Never got control of Ninkovich, who then got around Barbre and to Foles. Had a play in the mid-2nd when he didn’t use his hands well and the rusher got free to the inside. Didn’t affect the play too much, but a sloppy mistake that shouldn’t happen. Had a solid game overall. Better run blocker than pass protector.
JOHNSON – Backup RT. Sloppier than I would like to see. Should be dominant against the guys he’s facing.
TOBIN – Backup LG. Another impressive game. Solid in pass pro. Good run blocker. Gets off the ball well and is very good at getting to the next level. Uses his hands well. Has some pop when he engages LBs, but stays under control. Good block on ILB on run by Josey in the early 3rd.
GARDNER – LT. Good game. Good block on opening play of 2nd half. Sealed DE and gave Josey running room. Had a terrific down block of DE on 3rd Qtr run to his side. Cave the guy in and gave Josey room to run. Has really impressed me. Plays with a wide base in pass pro, but keeps his knees bent and his feet active. Isn’t a reacher. Physical run blocker. Has athletic limitations which keep him from being starter material, but looks like a solid backup.
MOLK – Does a good job of getting downfield on screens. Not a watcher. Will find someone to block. Called for holding on pass play at the end of the 3rd Qtr. Had a couple of blocks on Josey’s screen for TD. Generally solid in pass pro, but is sloppy at times.
KELLY – Backup RG. Doesn’t sustain blocks as well as he should. Failed to pick up stunting DL and the guy hit Sanchez. Kelly was there, but didn’t make the block. If he were a rookie, I’d be impressed with what I see. For a 3rd year guy with starting experience, I was hoping for more. That said, with injuries, could still make the team. Has some good moments.
GRAF – LT. Excellent effort on run blocks. Can get off balance when he’s too upright. Limited athlete, but he’s experienced and tough.
ANDREWS– C. Lacks ideal size/strength. Engages the NT/DT, but often is knocked back a step. Needs better pad level. Let DL under his pads on 4th/GL.
BAMIRO – Played LG. Still big and awkward. Tries to block ILB on one play and got knocked back. Not good for a guy his size. Way too upright. Very discouraging to see him this year. Has taken a big step back. Was a dominant run blocker at times in the summer of 2012. Only question was his pass blocking. Now his run blocking has disappeared. Zero chance of making the team. Not sure he’s got much chance to be on the practice squad at this point. Ugh.
BARTON – Played RG. Fired off the ball on a run play and got a good block on an ILB. Love watching him run block. Really fires off the ball. Excellent effort. Love watching him run block.
HAWKINS – RT. Good block on goal line run. Got off the ball and helped drive the DE into the end zone. Intriguing.
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DEFENSE
PLAYS
* There was a bootleg pass to the H-back for a nice gain. I think Najee Goode may have had the HB, but I don’t know for sure who blew that coverage. Could have been another LB or S.
* There was another blown assignment with the H-back. Both Long and Acho covered the TE on a vertical release and let the H-back go to the flat uncovered. The QB hit him with a quick throw and he ran it in for a TD.
PLAYERS
DL
COX – Helped stuff a run play to the right side in the mid-1st. Got into the RG and RT, then flowed with the play. Got free and helped make the tackle. Shed the LT and tackled the RB, but gave up a few yds on the play. Shed the LT and stuffed the RB on a play that came right at him.
LOGAN – Returned to action as the starting NT. Best play came when he read a screen pass and stuck right with the RB, forcing the QB to throw the ball away. Knocked the LG into the backfield on a run play. That drew a holding call. Knocked off some rust. Wasn’t overly impressive, but looked okay.
THORNTON – LDE. Got pancaked on a run play to his side. RT dominated him on that play. I think that got Ced’s attention. Disrupted a run play on the next drive by pushing the RG into the backfield. Drove the RG into the backfield on the next play, which disrupted a screen pass. Shed the RT on an inside run and got to the RB.
CURRY – Played DT in Nickel look on opening series. Drove the RG back toward Brady on 3rd/4. Stayed in the game and on the next play he was driven off the ball. Showed great hustle on Williams INT. Ran downfield and blocked a Patriot so Williams could get into the end zone. There were a couple of plays when Curry was getting by the RT, but I’m not sure the coaches would like it. Looked like he was trying to penetrate more than 2-gap. Disrupted a 2nd Qtr run with penetration, but couldn’t get hold of the RB. Shed the C and got the RB on a run up the middle. Hustled outside and helped to make a tackle on WR screen. Love his motor. Split a double team to pressure the QB late in the half. Easily could have been holding. Pats got away with holding him on the final drive of the half. OL clearly had a handful of jersey.
BAIR – Lined up as DT in a Nickel look in the 1st Qtr. Shed the C and flowed left, getting in on the tackle of the RB. Only gave up a yd. Shed the LT and flowed left, tackling the RB on an inside run play. From DT, shed block of the G and got to RB up the middle. Really does a good job with his hands. Is able to get into the blocker and look for the ball. Shows good awareness in locating the ball and then getting to it. Had one play where he shed the C, moved left and shed a pulling OL and then almost got the RB at the LOS. Great effort. Had one play where he just shoved the LG to the ground and went after the QB.
ALLEN – Got on the field in the 1st Qtr. Was able to hold his ground vs the C on an inside run play. Shed the C and got in on tackle of RB at the LOS. Used a good swim move to get right by the C and pressure the passer in the early 2nd Qtr. Showed good hustle on a run play to the outside when he fought through blocks and got out there to help tackle the runner.
SQUARE – No compelling plays. Falling behind Allen.
HART – Took on a double team in the early 2nd and held his ground. RB came right at him and Hart helped to make the stop. Played NT in a Nickel look. Shed the C and helped to stuff the RB. Didn’t do much as a pass rusher. Has looked more physical than athletic so far. Usually young DL are just the opposite.
KRUGER – Played in the 2nd half. Shed the LT and got to RB on run play to his side. Chased down a RB from behind and made the stop. Really good athlete who is at his best on the move. He’s trying to be better as 2-gap defender, but just isn’t natural to him. Much more effective when he’s allowed to attack or chase after the ball. Plays hard.
MAYS – More interesting than I expected. Big guy shows good power. A bit stiff, though. Moved down the LOS and stuffed a run in the early 4th. Had a shot at a sack in the 4th. Played NT and DE.
VILLANUEVA – Got a sack in the early 4th. Graham created the situation and Villanueva finished it. Looks good on the move. Would be interesting if he had time to develop.
OLB
COLE – ROLB. Dropped into coverage and tackled a WR after a short catch. Set the edge on a run to his side in the mid-1st. That ended in a group TFL. Got badly held on pass play in the mid-1st, but there was no flag. Blatant hold.
BARWIN – Lined up on the right side on 3rd/3 in the 1st Qtr. Rushed off the edge and just missed a sack of Brady. Didn’t beat the LT. They tried to block him with the LG.
GRAHAM – Didn’t see him on D until the 3rd Qtr. Made a dumb mistake early. Went to the inside and got sealed. QB ran right through the area where Graham should have been. QB ran for TD. Showed great hustle on WR screen when he turned and ran outside. Just missed making the tackle. Got easily caved in by LT on run play to his side for TD. Ugh. Not good. Set the edge on a late 3rd Qtr run. RB cut inside, where pursuit got him. Got a sack on the next play…he was unblocked. Shed the LT and stuffed a run play that came right at him in the early 4th. Came off the edge and got a RB from behind on the next play. Drove the LT straight back to the QB and almost got a sack. Very impressive power. Was dominant against 3rd stringers.
SMITH– Got to play in the 1st Qtr. Called for illegal use of hands on play late in the 1st. Almost had a TFL in the early 2nd when a run came to his side. The TE was grabbing him (holding???) and Smith couldn’t get his hands cleanly on the RB. Had very tight coverage on TE in the end zone. Had an odd play late in the half when a TE started to release and hit Smith, knocking him to the ground. Showed very good burst on 3rd down just after halftime, but was too wide and QB took off running. Pats ran a bootleg to his side in the mid-3rd. Smith bought the fake, but was athletic enough to recover and get some pressure on the QB. Got a good rush off the edge in the early 4th. Dips well. Needs to work on his ability to break hard to the QB and not be so round. Hustled to the outside on a WR screen and made the tackle. Struggled with cut blocks in the 4th Qtr. Showed good change of direction ability and speed when he almost got a sack on a bootleg play. Used an inside move to get by the LT and almost get a sack in the early 4th. Blew up the play and Villanueva got the sack. Good athlete with lots of potential, but needs to be more of a playmaker. Getting experience will help him to learn how to finish plays in the NFL. Did an excellent job of that in college.
LONG -Got to play some snaps in the 1st Qtr. Showed the ability to set the edge. Able to engage and shed blockers. Lined up over the LG in a Nickel look. Shed him and got to the RB on an inside run. Dropped into coverage a few times. Looked comfortable playing in space. Showed good awareness. Showed good hustle late in the half when he chased after the QB and almost got to him. If only he had more explosion as a pass rusher…
BRAMAN – DNP
ILB
KENDRICKS – Got TFL on 2nd play of the game. Partially due to Thornton driving back the RT. Came upfield on a run play and tripped up a RB just beyond the LOS.
RYANS – Moved to the right and stuffed a RB for only a gain of 1. Helped stuff a run to the left side for minimal gain. Helped stuff a run to the right for a short loss.
GOODE– Blitzed off the edge and got a good shot on the QB. Tackled RB in space on pass play late in the half. Needs to be more physical with taking on blockers, whether OL or FBs. Couldn’t get off TE’s block on run to his side that went for a TD. Got 30 snaps on D. I was hoping he’d stand out more.
PHILLIPS – This is the most I’ve ever seen Phillips play. Came away with mixed feelings. There were some good moments. Attacked up the field late in the half and almost got a TFL. Did get the RB down. Tackled RB on a draw on the next play as well. Fired into the backfield in the mid-3rd and had a chance for a TFL. Couldn’t get the RB down and he turned it into a TD, although penalty wiped that out. There were other plays where Phillips wasn’t as impressive. Not sure what I think of him at this point.
MATTHEWS – Played 35 snaps on defense. Good effort, but not a good showing. Doesn’t look like a veteran. Wasn’t credited with any tackles.
ACHO – The anti-Momah. Last summer Acho looked terrific. This summer he’s so-so. Just doesn’t stand out. Chased down H-back in space and made a good tackle. Hustles to the ball. Solid tackler. Did lead the team with 6 tackles. Another player I’m unsure about.
KNOTT – DNP
S
ALLEN – Covered slot receiver down the field. Hung right with him, but wasn’t able to make a play on the ball. The pass was out in front of the receiver and fell incomplete. Not an ideal matchup for Nate, but he did okay. Came over and made a good hit on a RB on a run to the outside. The runner was headed out of bounds, but Nate got a solid shot on him and knocked him out. Went low on Ridley on inside run in the early 2nd and made a solid tackle.
JENKINS – Quiet game.
MARAGOS – Got in on one tackle,
REYNOLDS – Quiet game compared to last week. Was in on a couple of tackles, but didn’t make any plays.
WOLFF – Good showing. Looked really good when allowed to fly off the edge. Exploded into the backfield on one run and was able to chase down the runner and strip the ball loose. Later blitzed off the edge and batted down a pass. Good in run support. Active and aggressive. Finished with 3 solo tackles. Good to see him play better.
MORGAN – Not meant to be an NFL Safety. Got a snap or two at CB. Would like to see him play more there.
LOWE – Physical tackler.
CB
FLETCHER – Quiet game.
WILLIAMS – Played off and gave up quick pass to Thompkins. Got juked when he came up to make the stop and gave up 5 extra RAC yards. Sloppy play. On the next play he picked off a pass from Brady and ran it back 77 yds for a TD. The backup TE made the wrong cut on his route and the ball went right to Williams. Left the game with hamstring after that.
BOYKIN – Not his best game. Played inside and outside. Biggest mistake came on a 2nd Qtr run. Had a chance for a TFL, but took didn’t keep proper leverage and let the RB get to the outside. That became an 18-yard run. Dumb. Was called for holding in the end zone, but it ended up not affecting that play. Made a good tackle on a WR screen to his side. Tough due to traffic.
MARSH – Rough game, to put it mildly. Called for penalty on 3rd/3 in mid-1st Qtr. That extended a drive that should have been stopped. Tripped up a RB on screen pass in the mid-1st. Called for PI on a pass play down the right sideline. Gave up TD to Thompkins on back shoulder throw. Had tight coverage, but never saw the ball or made a play on it. Got off balance while trying to cover LaFell in the early 2nd and gave up a 25-yd play. Wasn’t even close on that one. Had tight coverage on LaFell in the mid-2nd, but the ball still got to him for a short TD. Had tight coverage on Tyms on a pass down the right sideline. That was an incompletion. Broke up a pass late in the half. Hit LaFell as the ball got there. Gave up a 17-yd TD to Tyms in the mid-3rd. Had tight coverage, but wasn’t able to get a hand on the ball. Almost gave up a long TD in the early 4th, but the WR dropped the ball.
CARMICHAEL – Played slot and outside. Covered much better than the previous week. Tackled TE after short catch in the early 3rd. WR got behind him on deep ball, but the pass was overthrown. Was called for illegal contact on the play. Had pretty good coverage on a ball thrown his way down the field in the late 3rd. Pass was overthrown. Was in on 4 tackles.
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ST’s
JONES – One punt. 57 yards. He’s ready.
HENERY – Had 3 touchbacks on 6 kickoffs. None of them went out of the end zone. Missed his only FG attempt. Was from 47, but missed bad. Said he hit his foot on the ground prior to contact. Looked like he might have over-extended his plant step.
– MISC –
KOR – Huff 1-26. Johnson 1-27.
PR – Johnson 3-19.
* Benn blocked a punt in the mid-2nd Qtr. Got by the LS and extended to get the ball just as it was kicked. Great effort.
The Eagles got MANY PI and Illegal Contact penalties that game that extended drives for NE. NE got a share of penalties, but not nearly as many in the secondary. In general, I am worried about the “big, strong CB” if the Refs really do not back-off on the PI / Illegal Contact calls.
Curry and Graham belong in 4-3 defenses. I love Curry’s story and I am sure if loves his life playing for the Eagles, but both of those guys should be worth something to some 4-3 team somewhere.
It’s mostly a problem for the young players, Williams hasn’t had many flags, he knows how to “cheat.” Haden had a couple last night, but mostly it’s the kids who get beat and grab.
b. fletch. only reason he didn’t get exposed is b/c marsh was playing all game.
Are you ready to cut Marcus “the reach” smith? Lol
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Fastest player to earn bust status in the history of the eagles?
It’s getting a bit silly.
Yeah it’s bad. and I don’t even think this comment section on his site is close to an accurate representation of how bad it is everywhere else… When you already start talking about going to your backup QB after 1 preseason game, you have officially hit over-reaction rock bottom
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On one hand I feel embarressed by the over reactions of our fanbase, but in some cases it can be valuable.. For example, Marcus had a bad game in New England, but no way it should have caused such negative reactions… We over reacted to it so much that Marcus heard it! felt it! and I bet we see him play his ass off against the steelers on Thursday
The entire league is trying to add big Corners.,. It’s not like this will be some major disadvantage for us… This is something every franchise is struggling with, to the point we see coaches take drastic measures like the Browns coaches making their cornerbacks practice wearing boxing gloves so they literally can’t grab anyone..
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No one’s secondary is ready to play right now with these new Cb rules…think the teams who improve the most from now til September will have a nice advantage early in the season, but by October this should all die down… Refs probably won’t be as psychotic about it and cornerbacks will be better adjusted… Do think who can adjust to these rules will play a role in the first few weeks of the season…
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Take our defense, we should have recorded a pick 6 and a 3 and out against Brady’s first two drives,,but the stop we got on 3rd down was negated by a CB penalty…. We certainly aren’t ready today to play with this new emphasis on CB rules, but I don’t think anyone is much better at it right now…think every secondary will be racing these next two weeks to see who can improve on this the most for the beginning of the season
I think we will be hurt more than most. The games where the CBs did the best last year was the games where they was allowed to tug and battle with the WR during the route. There was some games last year where we had quite a lot of PI, holding and illegal contact that clearly affected the CBs.
If the refs keep been flag happy, we should just throw fades and corner routes to Ertz and Cooper all day.
Chip today said he sees the misconception out there about how these rules hurt Cary and Bradley but it’s wrong because they don’t play that way at all lol
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Check it out, it’s chips newest press conference video on PE.com
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How about Manziel giving the Redskins bench the finger? This guy is even more immature than I thought.
Orakpo is that rare Washington player who’s likeable:
https://vine.co/v/M3TMil3YHFe
Meh… Think he is waiting for a Longterm contract, then he will kick his feet up and never again be the player that he is now,,,
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Someone will pay him a ton and not get their money worth IMO
Any reason you think that? Any proof?
Probably RANDOM CAPS. That proof enough?
Play aside -where he’s very good at his job -I think Orakpo’s got a likable personality.
After hearing about the incident at the Manning football camp, witnessing his “money” antics post-draft and seeing the picture with the rolled up 20: he’s just about as immature as I thought.
I think he’s overhyped as a football player / QB, too.
It’s like someone took Tim Tebow, made him smaller and turned him into a total douchebag.
With all of this in mind, I think we need a new nickname for “Johnny Football”. Which do you prefer?
“The Douchy Tim Tebow”
“Bizarro Tim Tebow”
“Johnny FUBAR”
“Little shit” works for me
I know but I really thought he would get a good talking to by the team that picked him and his advisors. I’m sure he has, so the fact that he isn’t listening just makes it all the more outrageous to me.
I’m more surprised that Lebron James hasn’t gotten thru to him and teach the kid how he needs to behave. He can even live the same way he does now, but he needs to take measures to hide it…
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Word is, that Derrick jeter makes you hand over your phone if you want to step foot in his home…
It’s not up to Lebron James, Manziel has a whole billion dollar organization and his own team of professionals to tell him to grow up.
It’s not up to Lebron or the the browns,,, he is a pro. It’s up to him to conduct himself right. But you know he looks up to Lebron who managing team umbrella he is under…with them both being in Cleveland, and as professional as Lebron is, I’d be embarrassed to let him see me make a jackass out of myself…
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I don’t blame Lebron, I don’t blame the Browns.. Don’t think anyone is responsible for baby sitting him…I’m just surprised that lebrons influence/interest in the kid, along with the fact that he isn’t some sure thing to end up having a great pro career, needs to fight to improve to have a successful career hasn’t gotten him to get it together and take things more serious……
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I would hate to see Andrew Luck act like this.. I use luck as the holy grail of young sure shot top NFL QBs… I would think poorly of a can’t miss great QB like Luck to be acting like this..I find it ridiculous for a kid who has to improve so much to have a chance making it in the league to be acting like this after he has been told a few times already. Showing no signs of maturing, seems more like he was
NTs to be deffiant and show that he will continue to do whatever he wants,,,
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Wonder if the browns already regret drafting him?
Did he really? Haven’t seen any news or highlites from that game yet… What a little shit
You have never felt the urge to give Redskins players the finger?
On Damaris Johnson at the goalline. I have no problem with this in a practice game. You want the OL to score that touchdown, it’s not on the ballcarrier.
This needs to be seen by all. http://youtu.be/VkoJysrDymw
I can hear the Rocky theme in my head playing while I watch this
totally going to start using Advocare, my fingers are going to get so damn swole from all this typing.
Damn, Nick’s hair looks good!
Tom has Herremans having a good game, PFF graded him as one of our 5 worst players,.. I haven’t watched his snaps to weigh in on the discrepancy.. I think most of PFF is complete and utter bullshit.,,but I assume that their OL and DL are their most accurate rankings,,, you can’t even see DBs on every play from the television broadcast, ATleast they can see the players in the trenches on every snap…. Don’t get how that site became so popular being the farce that it is,,,
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PFF says our OL had a fantastic game.. Molk was the highest graded eagle out of the entire team, followed by Gardner… Lane and Barbre were a!so top 10 best grades..
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Nice to see that “unproven OL talent” doesn’t seem to equate to “Lack of depth” like so many of our media has been writing about..
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One thing that has stuck out for me is a comment The experienced pat Shurmur made earlier this offseason…said that this may be the deepest offensive line he has ever seen at his NFL stops… When our lack of OL depth was being trashed, I warned that it’s probably a mistake to think Stoutland has been wasting two offseasons with backup Trash at OL that all needs to be replaced…..
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This time of year we tend to over react to the negatives we see. But I think the best story of the preseason might be the play of some of our young unproven backup OLinemen along with the play of our but fumbling Fratboy backup QB..
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Tobin is also getting a lot of work in at OT these last few weeks of practice. Hopefully he is growing as an OT, because I would love to see him put some pressure on Barbre.
its crazy that Bamiro had such a drop off. sounds like he is a longshot to even survive first round of cuts… wow.
Right,,, he is like the forgotten man… You don’t even hear anything about the guy… Is he eligible for practice squad? Doubt anyone poaches him…not sure he even showed enough Improement to earn a practice squad spot….
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Curious about our 6’9 players. Think Vallanueva is a lock to make the practice squad! but what about mays? I see him make a few plays but it’s usually in the 4th quarter. Is he showing enough potential to also make the practice squad or is it a case of mays vs? Villanueva, only one gets to make it?
don’t forget it’s 10 now not 8
That’s soooo awesome.
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Think only having 53 players and dressing 47 is one the things Chip hates about NFl…
Molk’s hold was a good play, he was double teaming the DT when another player looped around, came off his block and reached to grab the defender to protect his QB from getting hit – if you’re gonna hold, that’s when you do it, to protect your QB from a clean shot. On Josey’s TD, he looked like Kelce, running downfield to the sideline, taking out one guy, then seeing the play was still alive, pick the guy further downfield and let the RB juke the other guy, setting up the TD.
Important to see him play well, because he is a lock to make this roster and he knows it. I really don’t like not having a UDFA compete for a roster spot, but with Vandervelde having surgery, it’s the hand we are dealt…. Really pleased to see a backup with a free roster ride continue to improve and play well because backup center was a major concern when the competition DIED and Molk was Anointed.
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We have another center Andrew something but there seems to be a major discrepancy between the two, and the Andrew kid seems like more camp body than legit competition… I know PFF gave Molk the highest grade on our team for the pats game! and the Andrew kid got one of the 5 lowest grades..
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Is it true Molk is freakishly strong?
“No compelling plays” maybe a little generous for square lol. He was a major liability early in the game. Seen him single handedly cost us a few plays. Then again, I don’t think he is being treated fairly.
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No one. I repeat no one, carries 3 NTs on the roster and Beau and Bennie are locks… We have known for a while that Square isn’t a suitable NT.. But I like the dudes Charecter a lot.. Tough, Grimey, nasty mofo that I like to have on our side in the trenches… Reminds me of grimy “Styles P” from “The Lox”
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Over a year now we been asking him to play a position he clearly can’t handle.. With his eagles career winding down! I’d like to see the man get some DE snaps to show what he can do in these next two years…
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Really like the way he is wired, so I don’t find pleasure in him only having two weeks left as an eagle..
Logan can play any spot on the DL, so having 2 NTs behind him isn’t crazy. If we need it Logan can move over.
Square is the one who needs to show that versatility to make the roster… He won’t make the roster because of bennie’s versatility….
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I don’t know that Square can be effective at DE…. But I do think we already know that he isn’t an NFL NT
Anyone know where I can find detailed special team evaluations? I need to get an idea of how the players entrenched in roster battles are measuring up on ST’s..
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I’m a football junkie, but evaluating second and third team special teams is where I draw the line,,, plus I don’t have much ST experience, or technical understanding of special teams to really be able to speak on it..
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I enjoy watching Braman and margis types fly around and play like special team maniacs.. But I don’t put in the time to know how Travis long’s special team play compared to Brandon Graham’s, and without that piece of intel, we don’t have all the pieces of the puzzle to even make an educated guess on whether Travis long makes the team or Brandon Graham gets another year in midnight green
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Momah only got a handful of ST snaps against the pats! Normally I would view that as a horrible sign for his roster chances…but that could be a product of being so thin at WR and needing him to play so many snaps on offense…
As far as I know there isn’t the all-22 angles for preseason, which is probably why it’s so hard to evaluate the ST play.
GEAGLE (or anyone): I wrote in the last post but late, can you tell me how the 12 formation with Sproles and Shady is necessarily able to run the ball easily on a nickel. I get that if it’s a LB (not nickel) and you can get the LB on Sproles, you can actively pick on the LB. But now say it’s nickel, in the run game there are so many moving parts how do you pick on someone (the lighter DB in for the LB) not even in the front 7. It just seems to me to be an advantage but way out on the margins.
Plus, if your 12 includes Sproles (who is like 5′ 4″), doesn’t that negate your advantage b/c he naturally is smaller than whomever he is blocking.
Summary: I read with a 12 we will “run all over” a nickel, but I don’t understand why that is so easy. It seems taking advantage of that is rather hard.
RBs like shady and Darren Sproles are pretty darn good in pass protection, which asks them to take on linebackers with a full head of steam and block them to keep them from blasting your QB… If Sproles and Shady can play on their heels and block a linebacker flying at them, I think we can safely assume that either RB can block a slot CB especially since run blocking you actually get to attack the defender where as pass blocking you are trying to stone wall him as opposed to driving him backwards like you do when you are run blocking…
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We also can read defenders and let one come free…which gives us 10 blockers to block the other 10 defenders,
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We can line up shady and Sproles in the backfield intending to run the ball and when the defense is in man, we can motion Sproles or shady away from where the run play is designed to go and have one of our backs take the better run defender away from where the play is headed… When we don’t motion a back away presnap, I assume most of the running plays will include the element of making the defense think it’s going to one running back, but giving it to the other..using the fake to momentarily freeze defenses..,
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If Sproles is responsible for blocking a monster like Keachly on a run play designed to go to shady, we can just motion Sproles to the left and the linebacker matched uo with him follows him to the left and the. Shady runs right… You can’t really play zone defense with Sproles on the field, anytime we have two backs on the field against man defense, both are very capable runners, so we can just motion whichever has the best defender matched up on him taking him away from where the play is going.
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Hope that helped..
Geagle – You GET Chip! I am surprised at your insight so soon in his tenure. Mismatch through scheme then add a twist for a TD, that’s Chip in a nutshell. He’ll repeat the same successful play throughout the game, sometimes two in a row. Then when the D thinks “here we go again” his change-up will KILL them.
Thank you sir… The NFL is in trouble. They should have never let Chip get both Ertz and Sproles. Perfect players for Chip. Pick your poison type players. Players that require a CB to be able to cover them, but they can then just bully the CBs,. Not many linebackers will stand a chance…
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Thinking 22 personel, with Coop, Brent, Ertz, Sproles and Shady will be our checkmate formation…unless you have like 3 Lavonte David type linebackers on your team, how ever you defend this formation Chip will have a big mismatch waiting for you…it’s our “checkmate” formation!!.,
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We can flex Sproles and Ertz put wide and the slot and use our 3 WR a plays to exploit defenses that play us with a bunch of linebackers, and when they are tired of getting their LBs roasted, they can put CBs on the field, and we will lineup tight in traditional heavy two TE formations and stampede you in the run game…all while you are sucking wind and rushing to get lineup fast enough to account for match up nightmares like Sproles!
Let’s win a playoff game before we rename the SB trophy after Chip.
Cuz that’s what I did,,,
and for defense?
What about the defense.. This time last year when you were all running around talking about how we would be historically bad on defense again, I was making statements like “we already have 70% of the personel in place of an eventual top 10’defense” and “we already have the personel for the best front 7 in the division”…..
Struggled in September like every team that’s learning a brand new scheme would do and then when crunch time came defense buckled down and went on to have a stretch where we held teams to like 21 points for two months…How could you expect me to be down on the defense?
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I don’t even get how you two preseason games and what you saw defensively last year leads you to have a negative opinion on our defense… It’s like you only count the September games and the saints running the ball on our nickel package, but nothing from September and December matters. Lol
How can you have a negative opinion on young defense after the way last year played out? We didn’t lose anyone..you act like the 8 young players we counting on are going to be the same exact young players you saw last year…. You act like the defense didn’t drastically outperform what the consensus thought it would be… And they did it with a bunch of puppies and new veterans that were just coming together…
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Think what you want about our defense because of a preseason game! but we are going to make a lot of people look stupid again… If they stay healthy this time next year the consensus will be the we will have a top 10 defense in 2015… Continuity matters, the defense will improve in so many different areas, and those individual improvements in so many areas will add up to a much better defense than people expect… Easily the best defense in the division.. Top 10 run defense… Better on 3rd down, how much better will dictate how good we can be this year..but no matter what this is the last year we go into the season with people talking bad about our defense..after this year our defensive improvements will be obvious to everyone
You can stay up in NE!
ok easy everyone. I was just making fun of his “The NFL is in trouble” comment. I’m not moving or not moving or turning in my Chip Kelly fan club membership card.
Also I’m not leaving until I find the backup tapes so we can overturn the result of SB XXXIX
Be careful watching unmarked tapes you find hidden in the back of closets…
“Hit Foles in the flat for an easy gain of 6 yards.”
Hey Tommy I know Foles is good but I didn’t think he was catching his own passes 😉
You are such a Negadelphian!!!! How dare you! Who are you to say this talented young player can’t catch his own passes? Give the kid a break!!! 😉
You obviously weren’t watching the game. Chip loves Nick’s ability to manipulate space-time.
That is the level of touch that Nick has achieved on his passes. He can grow the ball with enough loft and anticipation to have it drop into his hands 6 yards later.
Unfortunately, this play won’t work against Dallas. Their Jumbotron will get in the way.
I agree with your assessment of the Damaris GL runs to an extent, but with Chip I think there’s always more too it. The man loves efficiency. He’s not one to waste 3 GL opportunities for no reason. If he wanted to save Josie, pass the ball. Chip did this a lot during his first camp. When he saw a talented player that did not fit his specifications for the position they had on the team, all of a sudden you would see him start using them at other positions or even on the other side of the ball. All of these players eventually got cut, but I believe that the point of moving these players around was to give an otherwise talented player a way to showcase their versatility and give them a chance to show they can contribute to the team even if they don’t have the skill set he desires for a particular position. Chip handed the ball to Johnson because Chip wanted to see Johnson run the ball. It’s obvious now that Johnson is not in Chips plan as a WR, but right before Chip cuts him he’ll see if he has some untapped versatility or skill that would make him more valuable. But, no way Chip just wasted those reps to rest Josie.
As someone else posted, Johnson was not the only Eagle on the field. There were 10 other players to evaluate during a GL scoring attempt. My only question was why keep trying the same play? There must be other GL plays in the repertoire, however none of us is the HC or the OC.
It’s not about getting the touchdown. It’s about evaluating players for a specific situation. They got some good looks at the backup O-line with that GL attempt.
For sure! All the players on the field were being evaluated and whether it was Johnson or someone else, the GL runs allowed us to evaluate the other 10 players in that situation. However, I think my point still stands. I don’t believe that Chip Kelly, someone who is obsessed with efficiency would evaluate 10 players on a given play when he could be evaluating 11.
Johnson was put in that position because Chip wanted to see if he brought anything to the table as a runner, not because he was trying to rest or save his 4th round running back who had all of 8 carries in the game. Josie looked damn good that night, but I respectfully disagree that he had nothing left to prove. I still think he has a lot to prove and I think Chip chose to run Johnson on purpose, for a specific reason, not by default or because he was trying to save other players from getting tired or beat up.
Great job as always, Tommy. This paragraph epitomizes how lucky we are as Eagles fans to have so much great coverage from you and others:
“ANNEN – Has good potential as a run blocker. Good effort. Able to get some movement. Had a poor block on 4th/GL. Got knocked back.”
That’s five sentences worth of film review on the #6 TE in a pre-season game.
Of course, it also takes a special kind of fan base obsession to support that level of excruciating detail. Thanks for enabling my addiction.
Like seeing Marcus smith staying after practice and appreciate Tre Thomas trying to help him with his pass rush… Tre is working on becoming a OL coach, he doesn’t have to stay after practiced and work with a rookie defender.. But like always Tre is a class act! bleeds green and will do anything to hell this franchise! Tip my pimp hat to Big Tre
How long it will take him to heal? 3-6 weeks. How long before he’s 100%? Probably next season. Maybe longer if her doesn’t rest it and reinjures himself.
So basically we are down a WR for ATleast half a season. Momah lovers might have caught a big break…..wonder if he are going to see Huff late in the year or if he is getting IR’ed
The Momahtron will make the team!
He’s more like a MoBot.
Polk says he will practice next week whether he is 100% of not! talking about how he wasn’t drafted! he isn’t LeSean McCoy or Nick FOles…sounded borderline “tin foil hat” paranoid over his roster spot
The guy behind you having a great game and an impressive TD run will do that to you.
Not necessarily. The season starts in (almost) 3 weeks. He may be ready by then, assuming the injury isn’t too bad. (I’ve had gruesome ankle sprains that were gone in a week, and minor shoulder and knee problems that have lasted years. No way to tell which type he’s got.)
Even if he isn’t ready, I can’t imagine that Huff would really be contributing much except KOR until a good halfway through the season anyway. Seems like a good candidate for the short term IR.
Roster lovers might catch a break an IR him and go into the season with just 5 WR
I think they’d love to put him on IR or short term IR.
More like Benn fans might have caught a break. Momahtron was already on the team. hue hue hue.
Something that had been “concerning” me to some degree, is our apparent increase in penaltie as of late. Ok, I know thay it’s preseason and that by all accounts the ref’s are tossing laundry at DB’s like angry hispanic housekeepers. what concerns me & I HOPE is not the case, is that we are regarding in the mental/dicipline aspect of our game. I really doubt it’s Chip over looking detail! So what is it? Rusty players & Sloppy preseason play I suppose. I just pray it’s all cleaned up in 2 Weeks! One of the things I’ve appreciated SO MUCH about Kelly OS his dramatic decrease in penalties in general. For all big Red’s success, he never got a grip on that aspect of his game. So here’s to another (hopfully!) long season with MINIMAL flags tossed our way!! 🙂
It’s a league wide problem. Such an issue that the browns coaches making their CBs practice while wearing boxing gloves so they literally can’t grab WR jerseys…
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It looks horrible for us fans, but this is something everyone is struggling with and it will take time to adjust to
Great job Tommy. Thanks for all of the detail.
I know you are trying to not burry Cox at all and give
him another year in the system. I just didn’t see the hustle out of him this
game. The one play you mentioned was a third and 1 but he let the OT drive him 3 yards off the ball for a first down. Hopefully he will play with a little
more enthusiasm on Thursday.
Kelly had two blocks on
Josey’s TD. He chipped the crossing LB just enough to give Josey the edge and
turn it up. Then he peeled off and took out the pursuit that would have caught
up. He also had a pancake early on. I fully agree with your assessment of him
though. He seems really slow when pulling.
Chip made a comment about how Cox starts for us as an interior pass rusher in nickel.. Every time Chip talks some reporter asks him about how Vinny Curry doesn’t fit in this scheme… How much longer do I have to wait for a reporter to ask Chip if Vinny will be 1st team nickel DT with Cox?
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Media focusing way to much about what cox can’t do on first and second down and not providing enough intel about where he stands on 3rd down, when our scheme suits his talent?
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Not to mention 3rd down play is crucial in the NFL… So Curry doesn’t fit our base, big deal, no one is starting instead of Thornton and Cox anyway…
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But Even in a 3rd down specialist role, curry can have a monster impact on this years defense. Curious to hear where he stands in the coaches eyes in terms of this years 1st team nickel…
It’s a pretty weird situation.. In that, we can’t keep him here long term as a 3-4’DE, and we make such a big deal out of how he doesn’t fit in our base but i feel like he is one of the most important defenders of this upcoming season…
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We have done such an amazing job increasing our depth from last year. Everyone focuses on not have the pass rushing OLB, but I think one of the biggest depth problems left is interior pass rusher… As in I have no friggin clue who backs up curry and Cox as interior pass rushers in Nickel…. It’s rare that a player is so important this year but is clearly not a fit long term at the same time…
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Last year we were pretty awesome in base the second half of the year. Getting off the field on 3rd down is the number 1 area that needs to improve to take that next step as a defense and when it comes to getting off the field on 3rd down we are talking about a 4 man line…Curry may struggle as a two gapper in base, but all those two gappers besides Cox can’t hold Vinnys jock as a pass rusher in a 4 man line… We have better second team two gappers, than second team interior pass rushers.. Vinny has no future here as it seems now, but he is a key player for this seasons defense…
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Our base defense, especially against the run is very promising. The defense improvements will be determined by how much better we are at getting off the field on 3rd down, and none of those two gapping DE’s are half as good on a 4 man line that we use on 3rd down as Vinny is… You can line him up at every one of those 4 spots and he is still competing with Fox for our most impressive pass rusher.
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Shame that the only thing people talk to him about is how he doesn’t fit, when he is really crucial to our defense this year
On the Molk hold it looked to me like he might have had his guy single blocked and released to cover up someone else’s mistake, and held because the guy was already beyond him. I didn’t rewatch, so that’s just what I caught in real time and in the instant replay.
Not sure what I think about that. Protect the QB at all costs, or maintain your block and let the QB deal with a rusher?
We cut Jason Phillips. Wonder if his injury robbed him of athleticism, or if special teams isn’t everything..
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A lot of talk today about how we are cross training Long, Kadu, Casey Mathews at OLB and ILB…we sure trying to squeeze every drop of versatility out of this roster
he looked terrible. but i’m surprised he was the first one —
Barely noticed him
Kempski is suggesting Eagles put a kickoff specialist on the final 53. I would think that would make Kelly’s head explode, wasting a precious roster spot that way.
the very concept of “specialist” probably bothers the hell out of him. Probably kills him that the punter and kicker are 2 different guys, and probably would love for our centers to spend the off season practicing their long snaps haha
I totally agree on the long snapper. That is brutal, one guy just does that? Molk should practice it.
Or a #3 TE (a la Mike Bartrum)
How come Kickers n Punters cant do the same job in Football??
Personally, I want a long snapper, who can snap it to himself and put,,,
…Or a FG kicker that can hold for himself…
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With Ray guy finally getting a punter in the hall of fame, is the next push going to be to get a long snapper inducted into the HOF? Dorenbos, 15th ballot hall of famer?
Ahhhhh….because one kicks and one punts?
haha yeah i know one kicks n one punts.. But look at Rugby Union n League players.. Kicking n Punting alot can do both
Couldn’t help myself..hehe… There are kickers that can do both. Just lack the ability to do both well enough on the NFL level, I guess.
Yeah guess your right.. Just something i thought they should look into.. Opens up a roster spot too if they could do both
No doubt that crossed the Chippers mind too.
Can’t Donnie learn to kickoff?
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Not asking him to accurately kick FGs.. But carb he just learn to boot it down field?
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None of our players have freak ability to boot the ball into the cheap seats, Like a happy Gilmore type but for kickoffs?
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Think the eagles do a poor job of incorporating Dorenbos magic into the offense,.. I call for more Dorenbos fakes!!
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“Not sure what I think of him at this point.”
Well we know what the Eagles think of him as they have released him.
http://noonkick.com/under-center-marcus-mariota/
I dont care, can we somehow get this guy?
Can we just take a second to appreciate Nick’s short haircut? That comb over/sweep is so esquiresque (word?).
So we traded for another scatback…Barner seems like an average role player if he hits his peak.
seems like we traded for yet another Oregon player…
A conditional 7th round pick nonetheless. We got Bryce Brown with a 7th and got like a 4th in return. Fire Howie.
New post is up with thoughts on Barner.
http://igglesblitz.com/2014/08/eagles-trade-for/