Preseason Opener – 2nd Half Thread

Posted: August 8th, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 74 Comments »

The Eagles lead the Bears 21 to 14, but the score is pretty meaningless in preseason. The Eagles starters were sloppy. Don’t make too much of that. The opener is the least important preseason game there is.

This game has actually been a success so far. The biggest key…no major injuries. Beyond that, some young players are playing well and showing that they might be able to help the team this year.

* Josh Huff with a long KOR for a TD

* Damion Square with a blocked FG

* Backup DL Brandon Bair has been excellent at RDE

* LB Marcus Smith has shown good athleticism so far

* NT Beau Allen is playing his butt off. He’s all over the place

* LG Matt Tobin has played well

* WR Ifeanyi Momah actually has a couple of catches against NFL starters…didn’t expect that

I was also impressed with Malcolm Jenkins and Nate Allen. Earl Wolff didn’t catch my eye. There are plenty of veterans who looked good or flashed, but I don’t want to get into all of that right now.

There are several things to be concerned about. We’ll be discussing them for the next week.

For now, cheer for no injuries and more young guys to play well.

_

74 Comments on “Preseason Opener – 2nd Half Thread”

  1. 1 Dragon_Eagle said at 10:03 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    I see #57 and I think Gocong. Need another beer.

  2. 2 shah8 said at 10:04 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Wonder if that means Momah is still a long shot.

  3. 3 shah8 said at 10:06 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Man, I’ve stuck with this Bills Panthers game. Aside from Tuel and Blanchard stinking things up, a lot of decent football. Had expected to move on…

  4. 4 shah8 said at 10:15 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Seeing a rb that is almost certainly not making the Buffalo squad with a billion good rushers just fly for his preseason TD is a lot of fun. It could have been the Tampa-Jax game and I’d be wanting to spoon out my eyes, but no, having a good time.

    Had I been watching either the Eagles or Vikings, I probably would not be having as much fun.

  5. 5 ICDogg said at 10:06 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    I think he improved his odds of making the team tonight from 10% to 11%.

  6. 6 ICDogg said at 10:04 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    flag on the play
    pants on the ground

  7. 7 ICDogg said at 10:07 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Barkley still throwing to the wrong color uniforms

  8. 8 FairOaks said at 10:07 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    nfl.com had the blocked FG credited to Kruger… was it Square?

  9. 9 TommyLawlor said at 10:27 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Per telecast. They could be wrong. Wasn’t clear.

  10. 10 SteveH said at 10:10 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Really not feeling Mathew Tucker. Falling over your own feet and fumbling is not a good look for a guy trying to make the team.

  11. 11 Corry said at 10:12 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    There’s no excuse for it, but they are at Soldier Field. That turf is poo.

  12. 12 SteveH said at 10:16 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Already made more plays than CJ Gaddis ever did.

  13. 13 ICDogg said at 10:17 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    closing in on Na Brown

  14. 14 ICDogg said at 10:13 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Ed Reynolds II making his case

  15. 15 Insomniac said at 10:18 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Huff shouldn’t have done that. A cocky rookie is a bad one.

  16. 16 TommyLawlor said at 10:20 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Needed some humble pie.

  17. 17 ICDogg said at 10:18 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Jordan Matthews with a 1st down

  18. 18 TommyLawlor said at 10:20 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    He looks kinda decent.

  19. 19 Dragon_Eagle said at 10:19 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Nice zip there from Barkley

  20. 20 ICDogg said at 10:21 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Spell check wants to correct Fluellen to Flugelhorn.

  21. 21 TommyLawlor said at 10:26 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Makes complete sense.

  22. 22 Insomniac said at 10:22 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Matthews TO’d that one.

  23. 23 SteveH said at 10:26 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Fluellen > Tucker.

  24. 24 ICDogg said at 10:34 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Matthews has dropped a couple easy ones today.

  25. 25 Insomniac said at 10:35 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    He had this issue in college too.

  26. 26 Insomniac said at 10:37 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    I have to say we got lucky on ST twice today. Huff’s return had everything right going. Now this shenanigan.

  27. 27 ICDogg said at 10:38 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Barkley coughed it right back up.

  28. 28 Insomniac said at 10:40 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Yea i just saw what happened. It’ll be interesting to see if Huff ran the wrong route or Barkley’s being Barkley.

  29. 29 Corry said at 10:38 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Barkley with an underthrow there, but I will say that the ball seems to have more zip on it. (or Huff ran the wrong route)

  30. 30 SteveH said at 10:40 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    I think he was throwing a different route than Huff ran, actually.

  31. 31 SteveH said at 10:40 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Ahhh yes, we’re well into the late preseason game slopfest.

  32. 32 Corry said at 10:42 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Watkins is struggling.

  33. 33 Insomniac said at 10:43 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Yup. He’s going to need a great game 2.

  34. 34 Mitchell said at 11:18 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Why? He’s a rookie in his first game. He’s playing better as the game goes on.

  35. 35 A_T_G said at 10:58 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    I wonder how long it will be before I read that statement without thinking “Danny.”

  36. 36 Corry said at 10:59 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    With the right therapy, years.

  37. 37 Insomniac said at 10:45 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    I gotta say..great awareness from Clausen.

  38. 38 SteveH said at 10:51 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    After all the hype I’m not sure what the fuss is about for Jordan Mathews. Looks like maybe a solid receiver but he’s not exactly lighting up 2nd and 3rd stringers out there.

  39. 39 Insomniac said at 10:54 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    He was pretty over-hyped for awhile now. Some draftniks saw nothing special and some just saw a guy that broke a SEC record.

  40. 40 anon said at 12:27 AM on August 9th, 2014:

    I saw a guy with a high drop rate in college. Seems like that’s the same guy we saw tonight.

  41. 41 Insomniac said at 2:30 AM on August 9th, 2014:

    He had no blocking to get RAC yards too. Matthews isn’t strong or elusive.

  42. 42 jpate said at 10:57 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    You mean he didnt set the world on fire on his first ever NFL (preseason) game?

  43. 43 SteveH said at 10:58 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Yes, yes I do.

  44. 44 Ben Hert said at 12:02 AM on August 9th, 2014:

    In this day and age, I’d think its reasonable to expect some kind of decent performance from an super-hyped 2nd round pick. Not just, “…meh, he did ok on the second team.”

  45. 45 Sean Stott said at 11:21 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Nerves. He’ll be fine.

  46. 46 Insomniac said at 10:55 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Carmichael is gone.

  47. 47 anon said at 12:26 AM on August 9th, 2014:

    I can’t believe he made it to camp.

  48. 48 Insomniac said at 10:59 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Jaylen redeeming himself a bit.

  49. 49 Insomniac said at 11:02 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Playmaker and Damaris Johnson just doesn’t sound right…

  50. 50 Mitchell said at 11:12 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Marsh just destroyed a chain gang member. No F’s were given by him.

  51. 51 TommyLawlor said at 11:12 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    I don’t know about the players, but Baldy is already in midseason form. Wow.

  52. 52 Mitchell said at 11:14 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    I live in Illinois so I have to watch the Bears commentary. It’s so frustrating they dnt know half the players names (didn’t know we had a Casey James) and keep gushing over the Bears.

  53. 53 Mitchell said at 11:15 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Idk Marsh is looking pretty good.

  54. 54 Mitchell said at 11:16 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    There we go Watkins. Nice tackle at the line for no gain.

  55. 55 Mitchell said at 11:23 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Braman is definitely a freak athlete. That burst off the line is pretty sick. Plus he kept up with Huff on his return.

  56. 56 SteveH said at 11:25 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    It’s the hair, like a modern day Samson.

  57. 57 SteveH said at 11:24 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    This games Hot Takes;

    Fast riser: Beau Allen

    Stock dropping: Roc Carmichael

    Hype Bubble Bursting: Jordan Mathews

    I’m not really worried but I am a little worried: Nick Foles

    Rookie Moment: Josh Huff’s KR TD

    Happiest man in the building: Dave Fipp

    Person we can ship to Siberia: Mathew Tucker

    Best Chipism: Country balls and City balls

    Surprise performer: Nate Allen

    MVP: Mark Sanchez

  58. 58 Mitchell said at 11:28 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    What’s wrong with Tucker besides the fumble? He had 2 tds right? Pretty hyped by Nate Allen as well. I am more worried about Matthews than Foles. Roc’s stock has not only dropped but it hasn’t been this low since the early 1930’s.

  59. 59 SteveH said at 11:36 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Tucker looked not especially fast, elusive, tough, or powerful. Very plodding. Bad fumble just makes it worse. Fluellen looks clearly better IMO.

  60. 60 Mitchell said at 11:43 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Agreed.

  61. 61 anon said at 12:24 AM on August 9th, 2014:

    If Sanchez was the MVP what does that say about this team? To be fair — Pats looked terrible.

  62. 62 Sean Stott said at 11:27 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Both of Foles’ interceptions as well as another that was dropped by CHI were underthrows. It looked like he didn’t get his hips into them at all and they came out flat.

    A 3rd string receiver (?) made Wolff and Graham look really foolish. Especially Wolff.

    Watkins got burned pretty badly. Still, it was mostly just a poor press technique that backfired. He looked like he’d have recovered with another 5 yards, but surprised he couldn’t recover. Looked bad, but his interception was pretty.

    Marcus Smith looks promising.

    Jordan Matthews needs to work on his stone hands. He also does not come off like a big player.

  63. 63 Mitchell said at 11:33 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    A lot of the throws Matthews dropped were thrown by Barkley and they were bad throws. I agree though needs to work on that.

  64. 64 Insomniac said at 2:29 AM on August 9th, 2014:

    They weren’t hard passes to catch though. He let two of them hit him. He couldn’t fight off coverage for one of them. The ones that he did catch were 3-5 yards.

  65. 65 SteveH said at 11:38 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Foles’ first pick was tipped as he threw, his second looked like there was some kind of mixup as 2 receivers were in the same area. The 3rd that wasn’t intercepted was underthrown.

  66. 66 Mitchell said at 11:30 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Damaris is quick as hell but just doesn’t do anything. We have Sproles and Huff, I dnt see why we need him at all.

  67. 67 Corry said at 11:35 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    So that was ugly.

  68. 68 Mitchell said at 11:35 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Pratt and Kinne got something going on. Pratt looked pretty good tonight.

  69. 69 Flyin said at 11:37 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Kinne is the worst qb I have ever seen!

    edit: recently

  70. 70 Mitchell said at 11:45 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    Kinne & Pratt= 2015 Super Bowl champs.

  71. 71 Flyin said at 11:48 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    The Turd Kings.

  72. 72 Mitchell said at 11:54 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    The Bears had a TE named Masturd LOL!

  73. 73 Flyin said at 12:00 AM on August 9th, 2014:

    You normally don’t expect that from a TE.

  74. 74 Flyin said at 11:54 PM on August 8th, 2014:

    I thought the officiating was the the best from the replacement refs that I never saw.