Quick Take – Eagles are the Best Team Ever
Posted: August 21st, 2014 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 274 Comments »It sure is a lot more fun when the Eagles play well, huh? They certainly did look good on Thursday night. That said, we cannot ignore just how bad the Steelers looked. Was Mike Tomlin coaching that team or Mike McMahon? Yikes.
Quick thoughts on the game
* Nick Foles was erratic early, but then seemed to get into rhythm. Played well overall.
* Welcome back, Jeremy Maclin. That was his best showing since the 2012 season. He didn’t do anything great, but had a good game. I was encouraged to see him block well and also work the middle of the field.
* Goodbye Jeremy Maclin. Or so it seemed for a moment. He went down awkwardly in the 1st quarter and all of us were scared. Luckily, Maclin was able to come back to the game and he’s just fine.
* The OL had another good outing. RT Allen Barbre struggled in pass pro early, but it looked like he settled down after that.
* The defense eliminated many of the mistakes they’ve been making and suddenly they look worlds better. Also helped to have Nolan Carroll in place of Curtis Marsh.
* Beau Allen got time with the starters and looked good.
* Mychal Kendricks was terrific. He flew around the field and made tackles. He blitzed on one play and forced an INT.
* I have no idea what to make of Chris Polk vs Matt Tucker vs Henry Josey. Polk has the most experience and is the most versatile. Tucker has looked the best this summer. Josey is the most explosive of the group.
* Travis Long played a lot of snaps at ILB. The Eagles want to know if he can handle both ILB and OLB. That would give him a boost in his quest to make the roster.
* Vinny Curry and Brandon Graham played well. Graham beat the LT for a strip sack.
* LT Andrew Gardner and LG Matt Tobin had another good game. Remember when OL depth was a major concern?
* WR B.J. Cunningham had a terrific TD catch wiped out by a penalty.
* TE Trey Burton flashed. Definite PS candidate.
* OG Michael Bamiro is playing like he’s ready to get on with his post-football life. Ugh.
* Alex Henery had better depth on his kickoffs. And then he missed a chip shot FG. Ugh.
* The Steelers were just 17-58 on the ground. The Eagles were 35-182-3. The Eagles were more talented, but also seemed like they were the more physical team.
* Mark Sanchez had another strong outing. There shouldn’t be any questions about backup QB.
All in all, it was a good night.
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I thought the RB battle became Tucker v. Josey v. Barner v. Polk.
Barner did look pretty comfortable out there for his first game here.
that ST fumble really hurts him, though.
that said, Tucker had some bad turnovers too, so maybe its not a huge deal.
Barner probably brings the most special teams value tho..Polk is prob the only RB ahead of Barner in ST ability. Barner can return kicks and punts, cover kickoffs, personal protector… I think gunner too(but I’m not sure about that one)
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I really really hate to lose Polk! but if we do, I really hope we keep Tuck… Every team needs a power back in it’s stable of running backs
That was a great game to watch and I can’t wait for more of those this season. How about that Josey kid? Looks like a good runner regardless of the competition he was against. He has looked good all pre-season really.
Momah was a non-factor tonight which upsets me but Cunningham looked pretty good on that TD catch. The penalty that wiped it out was complete bogus.
I always have a hard time finding Kendricks for some reason but he is always making a play. I mean, I make it a point to find him pre-snap and then my eyes wander……
Carrol gave up a completion early but then had the int which was great to see. Generating turnovers are always a good thing! I thought I saw him stick his nose in on some running plays as well.
What the hell is up with Riley Cooper and he butter fingers? He must have just dipped his hands in some Land O’ Lakes or something. I mean I know he drops passes but holy cow!!! Another related note on WR: Matthews looked pretty good, I like the screen run to him, although the line blocked well for him. He is definitely showing much more speed than his first game.
Say goodbye to Keelan Johnson. I think some of us were high on him at the beginning of the year? but Reynolds looks better at this point. I thought Wolfe was pretty decent tonight as well. He was able to break up a deep bass and showed good range.
i’m really trying to spin Henry Josey into a joke re: The Outlaw Josey Wales. its too early in the morning.
Coop was expected to need to knock some of the rust off from being sidelined for weeks..
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Kendricks will be a star…I have no doubts
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As awesome as our offense was last year, we didn’t have anything like Pope Jordan the 81st in terms of the WR screen game. Desean was a bitch in the screen game.. Jordan is a major upgraded in the WR screens,,,,, wait til he catches a screen when we split BANE Johnson out wide lineup up in front of him…. I laughed last night, Jordan got great blocking on that WR, and Jordan just outran the blockers lol
Lol, saw the same thing on Jordan. So eager!
Johnson is a low-life anyway. Glad to see him gone.
Maclin definitely had that TD if we challenged it, right?
Also, our 2nd string OL was handling their starting D pretty well. I know you get some effect from fresh legs but they had entire halftime + steelers O possession to catch their breath so that shouldn’t be an excuse. Considering the starters shouldn’t be playing next week they should be in game-ready conditioning by now or it would be a bloodbath for them trying to hold up to our starting OL…
Definitely a TD. I’m sure Chip woulda challenged if it was regular season.
Yeah… But why bother challenging it… We got to work on a redzone passing play, and a redzone goal line run play… That’s getting some good work in
Agree on that–you take 1st and goal reps in pre-season every time.
However it’s something people need to keep in mind when they bring up Maclin’s stat line or if you counted that as another TD for Foles his stats look even better. Doesn’t change anything in the context of a detailed game review but I know there are still Maclin haters out there who will bring up the stats to get down on him…
True that!!
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I like what Maclim said after the game..
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He said that the way his knee got stuck a nod jammed up in the dirt last night, was very similar to how he tore his knee up last year, so he takes it as proof that his knee is strong…
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Maclin was running some really quick and sharp routes last night…he was always getting open.. For him to look this good already is an EXCELLENT sign…
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Figure he has barely even played 4 quarters worth of football yet since he last played a game in 2012…..very good signs to see him play like this and not really need to knock any rust off..he seems ready to go
Tommy:
I’m interested to hear more of your thoughts on Kendricks. Does he look better now than at this time last year? Do you think he is starting to play more under control and can continue what he showed at the end of last year all the way through this one?
Really, really made a huge difference for Kendricks, Cox, and Allen to all play in the same scheme and under same coaches for more than 1 season. Especially guys like Azz, Minter, and Lovett. This cannot be mentioned enough, IMO. And at least for Allen, the bonus of playing next to a competent safety as well.
Natural progression of young players..just like next year Marcus smith will look significantly better than he does this year.. Now if Chip gets fired at the end of the year and the new coach switches us to a new defense, then it will change the trajectory of his development and will need more time to improve as much as he would had we not switched the scheme we playing him in…. Think Nate is a different story! The continuity and coaching is saving his eagles careers….
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Last night was the most agressive I think I ever saw Nate play..
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Heck, we even used Nate on Special teams last night which I don’t remember ever seeing him on ST….
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It’s not even just the continuity he is finally getting… He is going from a scheme that exposed safeties so much and put so much pressure on the safeties, to now playing in the most safety friendly scheme possible.. 3-4 is designed to be able to stop the run with your front 7 and let the safeties focus on playing the pass… On top of all that, we finally stuck a quality veteran next to him….
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Wolff also seems to be coming along now…bet we get the best safety play we have seen in too many years….bout time!!
Kendrick headed to the probowl next year…he is going to be SOOO good. . We really haven’t seen much yet in terms of just how good he will really grow to become
The bright side of the Polk/Tucker/Josey conundrum is it doesn’t appear to matter which one actually carries the football.
I say keep Polk and Josey.
This season’s over/under on the number of heart-attack-inducing-knee-clutching-fall-to-the-grounds by Maclin: 2.5
It really seems like the solution to the Eagles pass rushing problem is to figure out schematically, how to get Curry AND Graham onto the field.
Pittsburgh sucks tho
I just don’t think you can make an argument not to keep Tucker at this point. He’s the only power back on the roster and he’s been killing it in preseason.
I thought Polk ran with power last year and in college. Tucker might be the only healthy power back though…
Polk is never healthy. Not in 2012, not in 2013, not in 2014.
IIRC, Polk has a lot of wear on him from college & what little time he has in the pros. considering the short lifespan of RBs in the NFL, it might not be too wise to make a long-term investment in Polk.
if we do cut him, i think he will find a job somewhere pretty easily, assuming he is ever healthy…
Polk is a stronger power back, I think we should keep him regardless he’s got a unique skill set of bruiser yet pretty elusive, good at catching passes too.
Many years ago I was a Steeler fan so was a little sad to see how bad they were in this game. Glad the Eagles won, but a little sad too.
it’s not that long ago when you throw their rings at us now and again.
Troll
LMAO how does one go about switching teams?
hard to evaluate anything bc pitt was soo bad.
I hate to say it because I really like him a lot, but I think you have to cut Polk and go with 4 RBs.
Shady,Sproles,Josie,Tucker. When Shady left, you quickly realize that Sproles is not a 3 down, bellcow back at all. If we only carry 3, and especially if Polk is your third guy, you have a 50% chance of him not being available.
Really don’t want to cut Polk…but the kid needs to stay healthy
That would get my vote.
When we signed Sanchez I literally CRINGED. I was dubious to put it mildly and even more disconcerting was all the abuse that I was fully aware that I was goig to take from all the Pats minions I live amongst as well of course from my NFC East compatriots. But I have to say, I’m shocked, happy & couldn’t feel much better about our back up sitution this year. I also get the sense that there is n one happier about his change of adress than Mark himself. He seems genuinely thrilled to have all that weight off his shoulders. But far more iportanly, if God forbid Foles misses any time, I feel EXTREMELY confident that Sanchez can win games for us. Wouldn’t youguys agree? A few quick things, I have this horrible feeling that Maclin is like one of thise ols cartoons where there is a piano about to drop on his head :/ I tweeted 2 Weeks ago that I feel like he’s a ticking injury time bomb. Hope i’m wrong. Lastly, I really like Chris Polk, he seema to work really hard & seems like a heck of a ST’r. Bit if he can’t get healthy, what can you do.I haven’t been able to see a singke pre seasin game, so I’m in the dark on Tucker & company. Do aby of these guys look legit if one of them taes Polks spot?? if someonw fills me in I’d appreciatrit! Go birds!
Have to tell you. Josey and Trucker looked pretty good. The name “Trucker” given on another board, but seems to fit.
i think the eagles have earned a bit of reputation for buying low/finding value when it comes to qb signings
….but, but, Bill Lazor!!
I agree with all this about Sanchez, I HATED the signing. But now I do think he’s got to be one of the best backups in the league. Texting my cousin (Steelers fan last night) who kept saying we’re never do anything b/c we have Sanchez and I could just reply “another TD drive by Sanchez”.
Does anyone still think that Bair doesn’t deserve to be on this team? The guy killed it tonight.
Not sure, let me ask Kruger.
Chip was asked about Bair in terms of the age debate we had, and responded: “we aren’t building for the future. The future is now”
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Bair has a very good shot at making this team, hopefully it doesn’t cost us Krugs.
RE: RB battle
I have not watched this game yet, but my understanding is that Polk and Tucker plays some ST, does Henry play ST as well? . Also, cutting Tucker (or Polk) for an “unproven” guy like him with what I guess is a fragile knee would be surprising. Like the kid and his history, played really well last week, but not sure how realistic it is to have him making it into the final roster barring an injury.
he’s looked like the most explosive. polk is gone. tucker got an extended look, but every time josey plays he breaks one so i’d make him no 3. he’s also good at blitz pick up.
I’ve never wished so hard for someone to get cut as much as i do now towards our kicker. He’s big reds secret revenge towards us for letting him go.
I think it’s the Akers curse for cutting him for sucking in a playoff game while his baby girl was in the hospital with cancer (if I remember correctly). Shoot that might not even be Akers, that might be the football gods, or even real God for that matter.
No Akers had 48 hours earlier received notice that his daughter had cancer. Brett Favre threw 5 TDs on a night when his father had died hours earlier.
Also, Akers had been causing huge problems behind the scenes that year over demanding a huge money contract extension because his finances jammed up over his foolish investment in a unrealistic scam / scheme and he wanted the Eagles to advance him a huge signing bonus to keep himself solvent.
Akers was an a-hole.
Interesting. I’ve never heard such a strong rebuke of David Akers before.
The contract issue he caused during that whole season was reported by Eskin (presumably given to him directly from the team) after the conclusion of the 2010 season.
I wasn’t disputing it or anything, just hadn’t heard it before. I haven’t lived in Philly in awhile, and when I see Eskin’s mug or hear his voice, I run as fast as I can the other way.
I hear you there, but I found his reporting on Akers to be very accurate and enlightening.
If any one is big red’s secret revenge it’s Casey Matthews.
At least it isn’t Reno Mahe.
This was going to be a reply ro Jernst in the last thread.
So far Matthews is being himself.I still wasn’t amazed since what you saw what Chip is doing with him so far is what he did in college. What do we know so far? Chip likes his players to know what they’re doing despite being mediocre in some aspects.The best thing you could do is do what the Bengals did when they had Chad Johnson, Chris Henry and TJ Whosyourmama. Isolate Matthews against the biggest mismatch and let him use his size to beat those short slot receivers. Like TJ Whosyourmama, Matthews will never be a #1 WR on a team but he’ll be a good complementary receiver if he ever hits his ceiling.
little early to say never, but not impressed with his ability to stay upright after the catch and run in traffic.
Good reply. I definitely agree. He can be a great piece to the puzzle and a mismatch problem. Guess with all the hype I was expecting to see jerry rice 2.0 and have just been a little disappointed with his athleticism. He seems awkward and stiff to me. In this offense tho, he’ll still put up 45 catches and 700 yards, which is more than we got from Avant
http://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/assets/4910112/Latimer_concusses_Bethea_medium.gif
Nasty block by Cody Latimer.
thta’s crazy wonder why we took jmatt over him, must have been mental.
I think the coaches saw JMatt as more polished, in terms of production of course; not taking anything away from Latimer. Great talent. And of course, I doubt Chip interviewed a kid with more work ethic and preparation than JMatt
My nephew would pick Alex Henery last for his kick ball team.
niece
I have a quick question and have not been able to scroll though all 500 game-time posts. I really don’t have a lot of problem with Demeco’s hit being a personal foul under the new rules (i DO have a problem with the rules, but I’m not winning that debate…). But, how can the two hits Celek took to the head NOT be penalties under the same guideline? Tommy? Anyone?
The first one the hit blind sided him right in the earhole, but after he had already crushed one guy and began scampering down the field for extra yardage, officially shedding him of his “defenseless receiver” protection. I don’t remember the second one very clearly.
I’m pretty sure that he got hit in the back, not the head, on the second one.
That’s okay, neither does he.
Did Smith ll play? Wondering how he looked. A friend showed up before halftime and ruined my isolation for the rest of the game.
He flashed nicely. He had some plays where he got completely handled (One particular play our entire d-line was getting up field except one dude, Smith got stone walled at the LOS and was trying to do a silly loop inside), but there were some nice things from him, made some plays. The guys is incredibly athletic, next preseason game will be big for him.
Thank you.
boy, if we can get him and Kendricks going this year and into next few, that’s a lot of athleticism and speed at LB. both could stay on in a 4-2-5 nickel, say with a line of Logan/Cole-Cox-Curry-Graham.
Kendricks will have a probowl year, but he won’t get his first pro bowl birth until next year, unless he is an injury alternative this year…
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Marcus will start to contribute around mid season, but we won’t really start to see how awesome he will be until next year..
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Kid responding really nicely to adversity, that means ALOT!!!
Cooper has a bad case of the drops. Need to fix that ASAP. Foles’ mechanics looks a little off. Overthrew on 2 different plays where receivers beat their man. Throws off his back feet sometimes. Maclin is a drama queen but he looks good.
Foles was definitely off early. Lot of errant passes, some out of reach, some not in stride. Thought he got a lot better as things went along though. Cooper… yeah, but this was his first game back. Not worried there yet.
If they don’t replace Henery with another kicker, he’s going to lose an important game for us this year.
Yep, he cost us 3 pts in playoffs against N.O., in a game we lost by 3. I dont have much confidence in Henery right now
3 against chargers, lost by 2.
What do you have to say about Mykal Kendricks today?
I’ll be honest with you, beating San Fran this year would be quite possibly the non-division highlight of the season! I can’t stand that QB / head coach combo. I’d love to see Cary Vick-6 Kaep, and then let Harbaugh know what’s up on his was back up the field.
We will beat San Fran, Seattle and the Colts this year… But lose a few stupid games like the Titans, maybe the rams
Except it’s very possible that we can’t find someone better. Unless he is actually regressing from last season.
What really hit me was Kelly after the game–in response to a reporter about 29 year old Brandon Bair and building for the future. Kelly replied that we’re not building for the future, we’re trying to win now. He must feel good about his talent level.
Just wondering — on the 1st catch by Celek — defender comes in, helmet to helmet tackle — why isn’t that a penalty? Is it because Celek was considered a “runner” at that time? I thought all helmet to helmets were illegal.
only if the receiver is in a defenseless position.
Why do I feel like we could play tomorrow with our 2nd team offensive line and still have a better o-line that a quarter of the league? We should start platooning them with the starters, much like defensive line substitutions. I kid of course, but that would be funny to see.
Barner looked good last night but I don’t think he sticks. The other guys in front of him have just looked too damn good and I don’t think he’s good enough as a RS to hang around. I ultimately think Sproles will handle return duties in week 1.
I’d hate to lose Polk but he hasn’t played and Tucker is playing so well. Josey, as Tommy said, is explosive and he’s played well too. You can try to sneak him on the PS but I’m not so sure he’d clear waivers. Can you put Polk on the short-term IR, then move Josey to the PS when he returns? That would be a creative way to keep all 3 of those backs. That would mean that Josh Huff has to be on the 53 man roster, but he could just be a weekly inactive until he’s ready to return.
I know I had a couple (or more) glasses of wine while watching the game but I really don’t remember seeing much of Benn or Momah. It looked like Maehl and Damarius Johnson got more time this week. Both actually looked productive, btw.
I was listening to Ray Diddy and Eskin this morning. Say what you want about Eskin, but he’s on the sideline for games, works hard, and does a pretty good job of getting info from the team. It sounds like Momah is another guy they’d like to put on the PS but are afraid won’t clear waivers. Anyway, the WR picture outside of the top 3 doesn’t seem any clearer to me at this point. You can make cases everyone. Personally, if it came down to Benn vs. Maehl, I’d go with Benn. I don’t see Maehl getting picked up by another team so he should still be available if Benn gets injured or just doesn’t work out.
Marcus Smith looked better this week. Brandon Graham….ugh. He continues to produce when he can rush the passer but he’s lost playing out in space. A 3-4 OLB has to be at least somewhat competent in coverage. I just don’t know what you do with the guy.
Heard Hollis Thomas talking about Vinny Curry yesterday. He thinks Curry has to get more playing time so they need to find some ways to get him on the field, even if it means some hybrid looks where he can 1-gap.
Secondary looked a lot better. Nolan Carroll is going to come up big for us in spots this season. I didn’t really see Nate Allen do anything good or bad yesterday, but I’m okay with that. I’m comfortable with our safeties for the first time in recent memory.
The illegal contact is just damn ridiculous. DBs have always reached out and touched a WR just to keep track of him while they look back at the QB. Now they’re flagging just the slightest touch. If you don’t push, grab, or otherwise impede the receiver, then let it go. Oh, and it seems like officials still can’t figure out that when a WR runs directly into a DB and pushes him that it really shouldn’t be illegal contact on the defense. Like him or not, Belichick nailed it about a month back. The rule is the rule. It should be called the same way every year.
Goodell is systematically taking defense out of the game. Soon the NFL will be arena ball on a 100 yard field. I love football, but guess what? I don’t watch the AFL. Why? Because there is no defense. It’s the same as a movie with no antagonist. If the hero can rescue the princess without any obstacles, it’s just not compelling to watch.
He’s still determined to expand the league; add games, add teams, go overseas. The product is already watered down. There aren’t enough NFL caliber players to fill rosters of 32 teams. There are a dozen teams that don’t have a legitimate QB.
Oh, and now this bullsh*t where they want the Super Bowl halftime acts to pay for that exposure? Are you kidding me? The halftime show helps draw in non-football fans. People know who Coldplay and Katy Perry are without the NFL.
It won’t be long before we’re referring to Mark Cuban as “Nostradamus”. Eventually this balloon is going to pop.
** Sorry for the rant. I’m a little tuned up today. lol
Ha, nice rant!
Could not agree more re: the WR situation. Honestly think Benn or even Momah (!) would be more likely to get plucked from PS than Maehl (especially with increase from 8 –> 10). Still think Smith is 5th WR as of now. Huff is wild card. Pratt also looked like a keeper, at least on PS.
TE, from top to bottom, seems like our biggest strength. After that, I’d say we have best depth and talent in the trenches on both sides. Which is great, considering my opinions/fears before training camp.
Oh, and RB? great problem to have. I do like Polk a lot, but boy did Tucker and Josey show up. OL opened big holes, but Josey looked great in space again. And Trucker just ran through some tackles. I had some Buckhalter flashbacks
Could not possibly agree more with everything you said!
Funny how many doom n gloom articles we had to read all offseason about our lack of Oline depth LOL..
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I fought with Kempski about this for weeks… Tired of when media doesn’t know about a player, they automatically assume he sucks
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Unproven OL depth does NOT have to mean, NO OL depth
Remember when everyone was so excited at drafting Marcus Smith because we finally had someone to replace Trent Cole? Over and over again we were warned that he lacked the strength to rush in the NFL. “But he had tons of sacks in the ACC!!” everyone pointed to, completely disregarding the tape showing most of his sacks coming from being unblocked. He might yet develop some semblance of pass rushing ability, but I doubt he ever becomes the complete OLB Davis desires. I just don’t see the ability or talent to become a guy who is a threat rushing from the OLB spot. Maybe he becomes the next Connor Barwin if you’re super lucky, but you don’t draft Connor Barwins in the first round.
At best he’s a sub-package player. And we’ll see how much those even get used in the future with a lot of NFL offenses incorprating the hurry-up. Put him in the 3-4 and he completely negates the point of it, because you know that he can’t rush the passer. There’s no confusing the QB when Marcus Smith is lining up against you. I hope I’m wrong, but there hasn’t been an inkling of information this year to come out that can prove otherwise.
it’s 3 preseason games. Maybe we can give him a year or two?
If you’re having to give a first round pick a year or two, you’re doing it wrong.
reality would disagree with you.
here is just 2013. You can review ’12, ’11, ’10, …. as well. Especially considering where he was drafted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_NFL_Draft
Don’t see what you’re referring to, but just because a couple of teams’ late first round picks don’t produce for a while, doesn’t mean that they’re doing it right as well.
I don’t think its unreasonable, in hindsight, to say that if a guy picked later in the draft has more of a contribution than a guy picked earlier in the draft, that it was a misallocation of resources, bad evaluation, and hence, a mistake?
no even that is results over process
You are usually not getting NFL-great-already players at the bottom of the first round unless you get really lucky. They would go earlier. You might get guys who can play some now, but won’t ever be great, or are good at one thing but not another (and likely will never be good), or ones who could be great in a couple of years. I hope Smith is that latter one. It will take some time. To say “they are doing it wrong”, you would have to look at previous years’ drafts and see that a majority of picks in that area of the draft were ready to play (and play well) immediately. Also, it matters greatly who the incumbents are. It’s one thing to play right away if you have a gaping hole at a position, but when the starters are Barwin and Cole, you’re going to have to be awful good to beat them out immediately.
You can always get an NFL ready player at any spot you want… The problem is taking an NFL ready player and passing on a raw kid who won’t provide instant gratification, but will end up being drastically better than the safe, lower ceiling NFL ready player you were short sited enough to draft…
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Marcus smith will prove to be an absolutely brilliant pick.. No doubts… I always believed in the physical aspects of his ability..but since we drafted him we are able to learn about how he is wired…..this kid is going to be a stud… He passed a big time mental test this week. Kid can handle playing in this city and that’s the last piece of the puzzle that I needed to see…. Don’t know when, but he will pay off for us and make Howie/Chip look reaally smart and a lot of people look really stupid….
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Does anyone actually think that we drafted him thinking he would be a beast this year? I hope people realize that Chip could have easily gotten a player that could have provided more as a rookie…but NFL personel people don’t even start to judge draft picks til year 3…only time teams pass on the best talent for the most NFL ready is when you are in Super Bowl or bust mode with like a 36yr old QB and you don’t have 3 years to wait on a kids upside…
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GB put Aaron Rodgers on the bench for a couple of years. While I’m clearly cherry picking, I’d have loved to see what you’d have written about that if you were Packers fan back in the day.
GB also got Clay Matthews at #26 overall his year. So you sometimes get lucky 😉
Or at the very least lets give him a few regular season games, let him get his feet wet?
Cut him now!!! Off with his head!
So we’re not allowed to have concerns about a player in the preseason? We can gush and gush about this every other player, but when our first round pick is getting the least hype out of any of our draft picks, I’m all of a sudden a moron?
Guess I’m just sick of certain people on this board who think every single player the Eagles have on their roster is the best thing to ever happen, and refuse to be realistic about this team. Then when the season rolls around and we realize have holes on the roster, they pretend they knew that player was crap all along. It happened last year, and it will certainly happen again this year.
There’s about 5 commenters left on this site that are worth reading anymore. 2 years ago I would look forward to reading the comments on every article Tommy posted, and now I have to brace myself to comb through 70 comments of indecipherable, rambling bullshit from GEAGLE and co. to find the rare ACVIKING, austinfan, iskar36 or D3 posts. Even shah8 and his Webb-mania created some really interesting discussion. I’ll always love and read Tommy’s articles, but its an absolute shame what the comment section has turned into.
For any of you who want a good reminder of how great this comment section used to be, read this and tell me how much better it is:
http://igglesblitz.com/2011/12/being-7-8-sucks/#disqus_thread
think about some of the best rushers in the game now. aside from Mario Williams and Aldon Smith, who came into the league recently and starting destroying NFL OTs?
Suggs, Dumervil, Ware, Quinn, Hali, etc all needed time to adjust. Even this year, the only sure thing was Clowney, basically the andrew luck of DEs. Of course he’s not the most natural pass rusher. He wasn’t drafted to be. But does that mean he never will be? Absurd assumption.
And if he wasn’t drafted where he was, we’d be going into this year with no hope at all for that position.
I never made an assumption. I just stated that he isn’t what we thought we were drafting, or what we were led to believe we were drafting. He’s been a disappointment thus far, and he hasn’t shown any signs of improving. When he does, I’ll be more than happy to give him his due. But its absurd to not expect your first round pick to make a reasonable impact in his first season. You don’t draft projects that early unless their raw talent promises to be generational. Marcus Smith is not that. At this point, he was a bad pick.
But its absurd to not expect your first round pick to make a reasonable impact in his first season.
again, history would prove you wrong. Just the last 2 guys at #26 alone disprove you. Whitney Mercilus and Datone Jones. Look ’em up.
After about the top 10-15 picks, most 1st rounders are either extreme athletes/high-ceiling type guys or “polished” starters who can fill in as rotational guys for very good teams.
Have you watched Barr and Mack this year, for example? And do realize half of 1st rounders never pan out every year?
You’re talking apples and I’m talking oranges. You’re assuming Smith is going to turn into a pick worthy of the 26th pick, and that he’ll be worth the pick. I’m saying that, overall, I don’t think its unreasonable to expect the 26th guy picked out of 256 to contribute consistently in his rookie season, when there are dozens of players picked later who end up doing just that. That, to me, is a bad pick. Seems pretty logical to me.
Since history shows that more often than not that very thing you think is so reasonable to expect DOES NOT occur, it is, in fact, unreasonable to expect it. The majority of people drafted at 26 or later I the first round do not produce immediately and are rarely anything close to a finished product. So why do you think it’s reasonable to expect that our pick at 26 will be any different? Even the players that have succeeded around that range, more often than not, took time to develop. So why should Smithbe any different. EXPECTING him to buck trends and go against recent history is the unreasonable expectation.
Idiot..
I liked the irony before you edited it better.
Sorry to ridiculous to waste time really responding…
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Enjoy being absurd..
A sentiment we’re all too familiar with when it comes to you.
I miss all those wonderful commenters who had insightful and thought provoking words to impart upon us. Shame you spammed them all away.
Lol
Spot on. I never comment, but used to love to read them. Unfortunately, reasonable people move their conversation elsewhere or just straight leave the room when there are 1-2 fools just screaming at their top of their lungs relentlessly.
eh. Barwin was taken 46 overall. Smith at 26. 20 picks difference. i don’t see that as too much of a gap, really. i would agree that the talent in the draft is rather top-heavy, but thats more for the top 15 or so picks. at 26, we’re basically looking at the guys that are second round picks, but might have more potential.
Smith was routinely drafted at the end of the 2nd / beginning of the 3rd. I love the talent and potential, but we’re seeing why it wasn’t really necessary to draft him in a round where guys are supposed to make instant impacts.
routinely drafted? like he’s been drafted more than once? 😛 lol i know what you mean. but i’m not sure that late 1st rd picks are supposed to make immediate impacts. don’t get me wrong. i’d LOVE for him to play great football right from the get-go.
i dunno. i’m not in love with the pick, but all i have to complain about is that it was a few picks higher than i think he should have gone. in an ideal world, we could have still moved back a little and got him… and maybe a 5th or 6th round pick? i’m not going to complain too much about not having another late round prospect
Routinely drafted by me on the first pick web site!
Connor Barwin was drafted in the first round.
You should double check that. If we drafted Smith at Barwins’ spot, I would have been elated.
You’re right, second round. Not sure why I thought he was drafted in the first. He certainly had first round measureables coming out of college.
that years draft (2009) seems to have been pretty loaded at LBs (and DEs that moved to LB). if Barwin was coming out of college this year, i think he would have been a 1st round pick. instead, he came out in a year where a lot of really good LBs also came out and that pushed him down to the 2nd.
for roster spots, I’d go with Smith > Benn > Momah > Maehl
I’m just kind of tired of Maehl, I think just a guy. Benn may be too, but I think his floor is the same but his ceiling might be slightly higher.
I didn’t even see the Momahtron train last night.
I don’t know what I would do with the RB’s. Jonesy just seems to keep breaking one for a TD. Let’s see game 4 and if Polk plays. Polk has been good, sad if he gets cut.
I was happy for the Barner trade at the time, seeing as how I didn’t want damaris taking RB snaps again. but Tucker and Josey both looked strong last night. Maybe 1 guy as trade bait, for a conditional 6th/7th? couple teams I can think of that need a decent RB and may not get him on waivers
forgot Barner. He seemed ok, but I’d put him last (and he loses tie breaker b/c costs a 7th).
yes, I also assume he’s cut. Didn’t mean him as a trade option; I always saw him as a camp body to get snaps 3rd and 4th game and more importantly reps in practice. Needed healthy bodies for TC. Just good to know that, at worst he’d cost nothing but a 7th, and it’d take something special for him to achieve that.
I meant more that we have 5 pretty good RBs, who I could see playing in the NFL. And there are a few teams with need. 1 on display last night
Barner was really added because of practice… We were killing shady and Sproles in practice, they were having to play way too many practice reps… We really needed fresh legs for practice…we traded for Barner instead of picking up fresh legs for practice because of banners special teams versatility. People only think of him as a return man, but he is EXTREMELY VERSATILE on ST. He can:
Kick return
Punt return
Kickoff coverage
Personal Protector
Gunner
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He has worn a lot of different hats on special teams..
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Real nice move to get him for a conditional pick, instead of just picking up a RB off the street to practice. Long shot to pay off, but if he doesn’t, it costs nothing
Before getting a detailed game review, it’s hard determining how much of the run game’s success last night was attributable to RB play, OL play, and defensive front 7 play
I’m not just talking about the overall run game, I’d personally put a lot of that on the OL. But even without game review, you can see the attributes of the RBs on display. Trucker ran through some tackles. Not afraid to go N/S. Seemed to have good speed, at least as much as a guy like Barner.
And Josey was explosive in the open field. For a guy with the injury he had, it displays that he is healthy, both physically and mentally (i.e., trusts knee). I don’t need game review to tell me he juked a few DBs
i REALLY liked what i saw from Josey in that game. he looked really explosive. he seemed to dominate late in the game. granted, that doesn’t mean he will dominate against starters, or against a better defense, but i think it does say that he has some potential.
i don’t know about his injury aside from it being quite serious. is it something that would be of a concern for his football future?
It seemed lik the Steelers really didn’t come to stop the run. Maybe their conditioning isn’t up to snuff (AFC north is a control the clock division)? There were a few plays where I don’t think you could even really point to great line work or back work. The Steelers were just jogging to the ball.
i think you are right – which is weird when everyone should know by now that we are a run-first team…
At one point 39 (why is his name escaping me) ran about 6-8 yards off right tackle until one guy finally ran in to tackle him. I had a really good chuckle about the doubt of the hurry up the announcers had before the game.
After Smith, who is a cut above, the other three, the question for me is who offers the most on special teams, because none inspires as a receiver. I’m no expert on the subject, but from what I perceive, I’d flip Maehl and Momah, but I’d shake both of their hands and thank them for their hard work.
Brad smith is a lock… He doesn’t belong on the list of players competing for roster spots
chances Henery is one of the cuts for Tuesday, and we just say forget him, let’s see what else we have? Or is it not that hard to get to 75 so no reason to do that.
I don’t think you can cut him yet. New guy may be a train wreck. Don’t get me wrong; Henry is a bottom-third-of-the-NFL kicker at best, and I’m still fuming over the waste of a fourth round pick on him (or any kicker). But he has NFL ability. Eagles need to make sure they have somebody better in house before moving on. Sadly, I doubt it happens this year.
Fortunately or unfortunately I think he is the only kicker on the 53.
Ike Taylor looked like Curtis Marsh lite. If Curt could make a play for the ball….he would of equaled Ike Taylor last night.
Troy P’s anticipation is freaking other wordly.
Starting D looked great…shut Antonio Brown down, who gets the credit?
Margos isn’t as good a safety as the last guy to wear his number…
James Casey seems to be the forgotten man again.
Brent Celek needs to figure out the helmet thing.
Got the Steelers broadcast on NFL preseason live (why miss the gym to watch it live on TV?), they knew ZERO about the Eagles, and said some pretty embarrassingly wrong things (Like listing Maclin’s 2013 stats shortly after talking about his injury). Their color guy was actually really good in terms of pointing out what he saw though. He didn’t over sell it, trying to over complicate the sport to sound smart. He also made some good points to hear about the Eagles from a football smart outsider’s perspective who had clearly not watched them before.
Very good points.
and yea, same broadcast….I knew it was bad 5 min in when, introducing players, they said Phila OL was a “work-in-progress but anchored by the very good Kelce.” also described our front 7 as tenacious, lol. which they were last night, at least
Yeah that one really had me scratching my head. Hi, I would like to introduce you to All-Pros Evan Mathis and Jason Peters.
They also kept saying why aren’t the Eagles slowing the pace down with this lead, as if the purpose is to win the game rather than to see your backups in your primary offense.
Couple observations:
– These defensive contact penalties are horrible. “I really wish the refs would crack down on all the times a DB barely touches a WR and doesn’t in any way effect his ability to catch the ball” – said no one ever
– Matthews despite his production just doesn’t look impressive to me. Looks stiff. Little to no wiggle or agility. Hope I’m wrong.
– Barbre seems to be worse than last year. The difference between him and LJ is substantial
– Our 2nd team offense is infinitely better than other teams 2nd team defenses. In fact, I think our 2nd team offense would be an improvement on more than a few 1st team offenses around the league.
– Sanchez continues to look legit
– Josey looks like a true find and a legit prospect at RB
– Alex Henery blows
– Our pass rush is pretty lame and our CBs are pretty mediocre. Bad combo in a passing league
– Impressed by BJ Cunningham even though he has no chance to make the team
– I hope Curtis Marsh has his resume for Kinkos already filled out
– what the hell is with the ugly, large black collars on the Eagles jerseys?
Plus, tommy, check and make sure that was Henery with the better kick off depths. They had the new guy out there kicking off to start the game if I remember correctly.
i agree with the penalties. we saw a number of times last night where the RECEIVER would initiate contact, and the defender would get flagged for a penalty. thats just unacceptable. the illegal contact penalties have to go both ways.
at least we saw the one called against us… was it Cunningham? or Pratt? Murphy? late in the game for blocking downfield before the pass was thrown.
the way i see it, if the DB can’t touch the WR, the WR shouldn’t be able to touch the DB either.
Our second teams got a lot of snaps against steelers starters
Trey Burton would not last on the practice squad, imo. He’s a very good receiver, just small for TE. His value to any team is his versatility, and his toughness. He’ll play for somebody just based on his ST value. On an offense that looks to run a play every 17 seconds, Burton is an obvious rotation guy with any receiver and a blocking back/fullback. If he does not make the Eagles, I expect to see him playing somewhere on sundays.
that’s ok, let someone take him or trade him for someone else’s crap, we have great TEs.
I agree I would prefer the Eagles keep him to be WR6/TE4. The problem would be getting him through waivers, the eagles could easily retain him if he cleared waivers. A practice squad player is a free agent, he can be signed by another team but has to choose to go. The Eagles really liked Thorton when he was on their practice squad back in ’11. Another team tried to sign him,, so they upped his pay from practice squad pay (aprox 5k a week) to rookie minimum, which is what he would have been making if he signed elsewhere.
Nice game.. Tho part of me wanted them to have another meh game so people can continue over reacting and show how clueless they are by talking bad about what will be a top 15 defense
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all the doom n gloom articles about our back up OL… Now people are understanding that unproven backup OL depth doesn’t have to equal No OL depth… Looks like pat Shurmur wasn’t blowing smoke when he said this was one of the best backup OL he has ever been around…
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Appreciate baldi showing fans and media what Cox does out there so they can’t continue to talk about how bad he has been
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Vinny and BG each notched a sack a piece, no surprise..
I’m sure the coaches are struggling with how they are going to keep BG and Long.. Which is why we are trying to see him at ILB so much to justify keeping both.
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No surprise, Marcus answered the bell and played much better
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Kendricks will be a probowler next year
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Malcolm Jenkins starting to show his game
Kudo’s to you for predicting that Todd H. will be a strong force this year, He has looked unbelievable so far and looks back to his form when he was our best lineman.
Thank you sir… Just looked at it realistically…
He was the last of the 3 injured OL to get healthy
Didn’t get to benefit from the offseason program because he was rehabbing
Needed time to adjust to a new position
Was playing next to a rookie that he had to carry…we didn’t get to see Todd and Lane work together as good as they can yet
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Some things take time… It wasn’t realistic to expect him to show the best he is capable of at the start of last season…so when you see him start to improve as he gets more comfortable and Lane starts to settle into his role as the season goes by, it shows that his unacceptable play wasn’t a case of age starting to kick in…and if age isn’t starting to make his play decline, we can count on a hardworking guy like Herremans to get back to his level of play before we asked him to play Guard on the opposite side..
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Think around week 6 and 7 when Lane comes back and they get a game or two under their belt we will really see that right side play it’s best ball and reach a level we haven’t seen them reach yet
you thought the steelers were worthy opponents? i think we looked so good bc they looked so bad.
Your second team out plays any NFL teams starters…it’s a solid game
to those of you who have a digital copy of last nights game, i beg you for a GIF of the Coach Fipp stare from some time in the first half.
i saw him come on the screen and half joking said to the missus: “hey look at this guy, he’s got the crazy eyes”.
she looks, i’m laughing because i think its kinda funny.
after a few seconds she says, a hint of fear in her voice, “why isn’t he blinking?”
i look back at the tv now and see… my god… she’s right.
the camera stayed focused on Fipp for what felt like a minute.
my laughter grew to the point where i’m pretty sure i was screaming in fear. it felt like my soul was being searched for ST insight.
thank god the camera stayed on him long enough to capture the blink. otherwise i would have never known it was something he needed to do…
Did you feel compelled to rush down field and cover the kickoff? I did
Curious to see Billy Davis give the defense some extra tools to be effective with. We weren’t the bland vanilla base defense we have been. Billy unleashed some blitzes, twists, stunts.
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Even tho we don’t have the edge pass rushing terror, think we will be fine in terms of pressuring QBs,, we will compensate with interior pass rushers and quality blitzes like Kendrick and Malcolm who graded out as the best safety in the NFL at pressuring QBs
i think we got a lot of pressure up the middle last night. not really a whole lot of pressure of the edge. IIRC, graham’s strip sack came when he bull rushed the OL and went inside, not around the outside of the OT.
We,didn’t get many sacks off edge pressure last night, but I thought we got some decent rush on the outside.. We were always forcing Big Ben to step up in the pocket, we were forcing him to move off his spot all game….
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The one player I worry about is Trent cole
Why worry? Trent was focusing on dropping back, he did it on a large number of plays. Had some good press coverage split out wide at OLB.
Playoff game was really really bad…
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Everyone busy dwelling on our puppies getting run on in their first playoff game, and I think worrying about it is dumb because we will be a top 10 run defense…..I KNOW IT like I know today is Friday…. But what really killed me from that,playoff game was Cole, our experienced veteran didn’t step up for this young defense in the playoffs. He was invisible against a rookie playing In his 4th game… Very talented rookie, but Cole, our veteran should have stepped up the way Veterans Grubbs and Jahri Evans stepped up and treated our puppies, like puppies…. Instead our veteran let their puppy dominate us!!!..
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Cole worries me… He wouldn’t worry me, if we are willing to take some of his 3rd down pass rushing snaps away… He is elite against the run, so I understand him in base…but we didn’t give BG enough snaps last year..Cole got more pass rushing opportunities than he should get at this point….. And Barwin is such a stud against the run, that Cole is no longer the only big dog run stuffing end
I don’t know… maybe I’m blind because Cole has been my favorite Eagle for a long time now. I’ll have to rewatch his Saints performance.
We need him this year… I just hope we cut his snaps, especially if BG makes the roster.
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Think it helps the defense and Trent to cut down on his snap count… If you do cut his snaps, I would like to take away some of his 3rd down pass rushing snaps, and continue to let him hold down the edge on 1st and 2nd down…
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IF we end up cutting or trading BG, then Cole probably has to play a lot of snaps early in the year, and mid season Marcus and long should be more ready to give Trent some 3rd down relief
save yourself the trouble, wasnot good from a pass rush perspective, kept trying to go around blocking didn’t use any moves — no bull rush, spin, swim, counter, etc.
GEAGLE can you really keep Kruger over Bair after another game like last night? Not trying to restart the whole conversation just asking how last night might have influenced you?
I missed most of the second half, so I can’t really talk about it in terms of last night…but if I had my way, we would keep both. I’d keep 8DL and skimp a player at another position..
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For you Bair fans, I will offer this:.chip was asked your same question with how his age factors into the roster battles and chips answer kind of surprised me: “we are NOT building for the future. Our future is NOW”
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Bair is very much in the mix… I mean, you think a defensive maniac such as myself isn’t enjoying Bair’s play? Of course I am… I’m not against keeping him….I’m just holding out hope that we don’t lose Kruger before next year…don’t really care if Krugs makes the roster or not! I care that we don’t lose him to another franchise.. I would LOVE us to keep Bair and stash Kruger on the practice squad where he can get coaching and experience this year, I’m just not sure if we can pull it off without him being poached…
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Since I fell asleep last night, can anyone speak on how Kruger performed? If Krugs doesn’t make the team, then I hope he doesn’t play good in these preseason games so no one wants to put him on their 53 man roster.. Steelers run a two gapping 3-4, so I hope Kruger didn’t have a good showing last night against them..
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MY BEST CASE SCENARIO, we both win…Bair makes the 53, Kruger gets to be coached up on the practice squad and no one poaches him…I’m just worried about the risk is all
Bair played against Steelers starters and looked the part. I think at this point it’s a foregone conclusion – Kruger is out, Bair is in. If Hart wasn’t in the equation they’d keep Kruger. Hart and Bair make the 53.
Bair came in the game before Kruger, because I was awake to see Bair make some plays… I dipped out before Kruger came in…..and then I woke up late to catch Alejandro Villanueva’s big ass making hustle plays, and I remember Cunningham making some noise before I fell back asleep…
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Did Kruger do anything?
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How about Momah?
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Barkley?
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Ed Reynolds?
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Anyone notice any of them making quality plays?
Benn had a really nice ST tackle. Momah was invisible. Maehl had a nice stiff arm on Shazier. Barkley was just OK. Reynolds was invisible.
Thank you sir…l really can’t speak on it…but how are people viewing Momah vs. Benn vs. Maehl now after the Pats and Steelers game… Anyone separating themselves yet or will it probably all come down to jets game?
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I would hate to be duce staley having to figure out this RB competition… Hopefully Polk, Friar Tuck(anyone who got the Robin Hood Cartoon reference ROCKS), Barner, and Jose all are healthy enough to play well, each get to play a quarter vs. The Jets…may the best man win(It would suck to lose Polk)
I think at this point Benn is solidly in the lead. He has brought it on special teams. Will hate to lose Momah though.
Nice,,,always had a soft spot for Rejus.. Liked him since College…
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Momah isn’t a lost cause. If he doesn’t make the roster, we will DEFINITELY put him on the practice squad… Not sure if he would be poached or not…..
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If Momah isn’t going to make the 53 man roster, then I hope he puts a terrible game on film in the 4th preseason game…. He improved so much on his own this year that we don’t need to see him do well to Practice squad him…don’t need him putting some great game on film next week that teams notice….
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Wonder who is safer to practice squad without poaching….Kruger or Momah
you think i thought it’d be maehl since they are all playing for ST.
I’m now assuming we keep Bair as the 6th, Hart as the 7th, Kruger to practice squad(hopefully they can pull it off)…
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Only other possibility right now would be:
Bair as the 6th
IR Hart
Kruger as the 7th
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If it were up to me, I would keep 8 DL and not risk it, but I don’t think that’s realistic at this point
Kruger didn’t stand out, but you’ll be happy to know your boy Marcus is finally making a bit of noise. Getting into plays more often. Still needs to work on the techniques required to take someone on and win, but he’s getting in to the plays now
I saw Marcus…. He played before I fell asleep.
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Think his showing last night was SOOO HUGE! It was more important than just the few plays he made…
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Seeing how he reacted to the adversity of your HEADCoach and DC publically call you out for bad game, hearing the entire stupid reactionary fanbase talk shit about how… How he responded was SOOO important. Great sign!! Very important to be able to handle it if you are gonna make it in THIS city
i wish pitt didn’t look soooo bad last night so i could say something with confidence but their whole team looked terrible. everyone on our team looked pretty good and im glad about that but you almost have to temper it.
i do like that josey has a td run every game he gets in.
Generally speaking, when one team looks really good on both sides of the ball, the other team looks really bad on both sides of the ball.
bair wins. kruger can sit on the squad again.
I’m almost more excited about the 4th preseason game then I am over yesterday when we played our starters so much….I didn’t need to see the starting offense and defense have success in the preseason…good game yesterday means nothing to me… I didn’t learn anything from yesterday’s game…. But I’m really looking forward to the 4th game… We have some dog fights going on at certain positions…out of all the fringe players I’m really curious to see which players will stand out
after pats and bears it was good to see everyone play well.
Meh,,, kind of like when the city is running around with it’s head cut off about how the sky is falling… We could have stunk it up all preseason and I wouldn’t have been at all concerned…
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Get annoyed when we have a good showing like last night and the next day you got national media talking about the eagles as potential Super Bowl contenders (Micheal smith, and Stephen A smith today)
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Plus I get a kick out of the day of the preseason game media member say things like “I need to see this. This and this tonight or I’ll be really worried” LOL it’s a preseason game.. You should be confident in your own opinion of the team that you don’t need to see it in the preseason….. I get a kick out of hearing everyone say how Meco is done and he can’t play because of the preseason and then he shuts everyone up in the regular season…
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If you are so fickle that you take a preseason game as a true representation of our team and the season we will have, then you deserve to sweat this time of year lol
There is a 28yr old kicker who isn’t in the NFL… His name is Micheal Barnard… Keep an eye open for him
…anyone that played for Oregon…
Sidebar: What is wrong with Brent Celeks helmet?
I can remember now 8 different times his helmet has either slid off or came of his head completely.
Thats 8 more than I can remember ever from any other player…..
Seems to get loose around his ears. It’s not just a chinstrap.
Tommy, after the DGR (and maybe after the 4th preseason game) i’d love to see you put together something going over all of our concerns with this team before and after training camp/preseason.
for example, at the start of the offseason, everyone (myself included) was scared shitless about the QB depth. seeing Sanchez play so well makes it seem like that is more a strength of our team than a weakness.
we were all concerned about RB depth after losing bryce brown. now all of the backups look like all stars. i kid, i kid. but they do look capable for sure.
I fought with Kempski all offseason over the OL depth
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Hate seeing a bunch of writers trash young players that they literally have never seen play, how could these brainiacs just assume Stoutland was wasting his time for two offseasons working with a bunch off backups that all needed to be replaced? How could they possibly think that?
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We had UNPROVEN backup OLineman… That doesn’t automatically mean our backups suck. There was nothing for fans or writers to do about the backup OL but sit and wait til we could see them play… How many negative articles did I read about the backup OL from people that had no idea what we had or didn’t have…
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Tired of UNKNOWN automatically being assumed To be BAD
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All the backup OL problem articles we read this offseason as eagles fans, and now we are watching backup OL holding their own against starters… Hate the assumed doom n gloom when talking about an unknown,,… These writers actually think they are smarter then Jeff Stoutland? Lol as if he will work with Tobin for two years if he is hopeless trash?
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Appreciate your responsible journalism Funyun God
“We had UNPROVEN backup OLineman… That doesn’t automatically mean our backups suck.”
No, it means they are question-marks until we had time to see them in action.
Yeah that’s what I said,… Not the same thing as writing articles about how we have no OL depth, we are doomed if two starters get hurt, next offseason we have to focus on adding multiple OL…..when in REALITY, we might have to cut an OL we really don’t want to lose because we have some nice talent…
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Just because me, you and a writer didn’t know, and had to wait and see, this wasn’t a mystery to our coaches. They knew we had talent. When our offensive coordinator who has been around an NFL block or two says this might be the best second string OL he has ever seen at any of his stops, and writers are telling fans that we should be concerned about our backup OL and judging the eagles for not drafting any or signing any better backups.., nvmd. This shouldn’t even require explanation
He was writing what his biggest concern was for the team. I imagine that has changed now that he’s seen the OL guys. Right now it’s got to be pass rush, or kicker.
Part of the problem is that they’re inexperienced. And that the O line is so critical to our success. It’s hard to have no fear in that situation.
That said, there’s definitely some reason for backup O line optimism these days. I still would be really worried if injury strikes one of peters, Mathis, or Kelce.
Disclaimer: Im 100% behind Foles and no way is Mark Sanchez going to unseat him
But did anybody see how good Sanchez was against the Steelers starters? That pass to Burton down the seam was just one the money. Its kind of scary how good Sanchez has looked so far.
Looks like the best backup in the NFL to me.
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SUCKS that we don’t have a second year team option in his contract.
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I can’t believe I like Mark Sanchez. How the hell did this happen? Lol I fucks with the butt fumbling frat boy now!!! God help me
The last sentence from geagles post illustrates why autocorrect has become critical for getting through the day.
Amazing what a little work and a lack of pressure can accomplish. If he had been brought in to be the starter, things might’ve been different.
True, but his arm strength is really the best of the 3 QBs we will have on the roster and he actually seems faster in his decisions than Foles.
Sanchez lead two great scoring drives against the Steelers 1st string (disclaimer, they looked very gassed so maybe Foles would have done similar)
Every single writer during OTAs and TC reported that Foles easily has the best arm on the team.
Can someone please explain to me, even from a pure dollars and cents perspective, how it’s a good business model to institute something that every fan of your product and every person that writes about or talks about or simply views your product hates with every ounce of their being, and then insist, for no other reason except “just ’cause”, that it becomes a prevalent and noticeable part of experiencing your product for the consumer.
No idea what the point of this emphasis on increasing the amount of ticky tacky calls that everyone hates is, and can’t fathom why the NFL thinks it makes their product better when every consumer of the product tells them it makes it downright unwatchable.
It’s not going to be like this in the regular season.. Maybe it’s bad in September, but by October we probably won’t even notice it
We may have improved in some areas…defensive holding and hands to the face come to mind, but when I tuned in in the middle of the 4th quarter, there had been 20 fouls, 10 each team, to that point. Immediately after that, someone (Bamiro?) had a hands to the face penalty. 11 fouls doesn’t seem like a noticeable improvement. Although, if there were 15-16 penalties in the NE game, it would represent a 50% improvement and still be bad.
I fell asleep and missed most of the second half…really only care about the players who will be on the field for us… I thought we definitely saw improvement in the secondary, both in how they played, and cutting down on The flags we saw in the Pats game…
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Pissed I fell asleep. Can’t wait to get home and watch the game again… Because I didn’t see it yet, I’m avoiding all the other sites and opinions of yesterday’s game… Like to watch it first before I start reading all the analysis from the game…
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I basically missed like the Kruger, Momah and Barkley snaps…I caught the Bair and Long snaps that came right before them, and then I woke up to catch some GJ Kinney and Villanueva…
I think the NFL is trying to essentially neuter the DB’s. They want more offense, because that’s what brings the casual fan in. They are willing to piss off the die hards in the preseason. They know most wont go anywhere. Then in the regular season they can dial back the number of calls and even though it will be a large increase over last year it won’t feel as bad as pre season.
Stoutland and Azzinaro deserve raises.
Secondary coaches showing their worth as well…
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We still had penalty problems, but I think it was a drastic improvement from the flag fest pats game
so hard to say anything b/c steelers looked sooooooooo bad. rather have played them in game 2 and pats in game 3. but our first and second teams dominated them.
Your second team outplays ANY NFL’s teams Starters,,,,it’s a good game
yea, just look what they have done with Gardner, Tobin, Molk, Babre and Kelly (that 2nd OL has looked better than some teams starters)
Also Thornton really took to Azz’s training and I really think Kruger and Hart with ayear on the roster and training will improve a lot
Yeah…think Azz and Kelly do a great job of getting the DL they want, and letting Azz coach them up…friggin Thornton plays so well that we forget how young and inexperienced he is.. Thornton and Cox could be a scary tandem… Hopefully we don’t lose hart or Kruger because I have visions of them as our tall, long, backup DE tandem, and we have “Papa bear” Bair(as our DLinemen call him) to play while Krugs and hart develop..
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Might be best to IR hart that way we can keep Kruger, not risk losing Hart and Kruger for the future! and still be able to enjoy papa bears NFL ready game
Funny, yesterday I wrote about how I hope the game provides some quality opportunities to test Alex henrey,… I wanted to see him have to kick from like 46 and 49…. I was so dissapointed to see him get a 30yard Chip shot,,,,and he shanks it anyway…..smh
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What are impressions of the new kicker in limited opportunities?
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Limited.
No touchbacks?
Never going to be one of my favorites, but gotta give respect were it’s due….props to Nate Allen. We all know that he has been playing some solid ball, but last night was the first time I reallthy thought hew as attacking. Seemed to play with an edge that he has been missing…he wasn’t just making plays put of fear from getting beat, playing on his heels like he has usually done…. Kid was flying around attacking the steelers last night…if he can continue to take these strides in improvement especially with his confidence it could be really huge for us… His career was hanging off a Cliff,.,.kids fighting his way back trying to become the player he was supposed to be,… Gotta respect that
As long as our dbacks are “average” all year, it’ll be an improvement.
glad we pay our starting safety $2m instead of $10m
Yeah we had pretty solid safety play (again, by current league standards) in general last night. Jenkins really got to flash as well. Wolff had a nice coverage moment where he was close to a pick. It’s not outrageous to think with consistency of coaching/scheme and the overall swagger the defense is playing with, that our secondary could have an upper-middle of the pack showing. I do think they will get hung out to dry by our pass rush at times though. Davis has some tools if he chooses to use them in that regard, but the base 3-4 rush 4 won’t have passers shaking in their boots.
3rd down, we should be able to get good pressure let boy cox, curry and all the blitzing twisting and stunting we do with our front 7… But when teams pass on first or second down that’s when our lack of pass rush bites us in the ass
Anyone hear or notice anything about the Undrafted rookie Jamaican offensive lineman? Any chance he makes our practice squad or is he just a camp body?
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Has Bamiro been that bad? Haven’t been paying attention….as in, so bad that we won’t want him on the practice squad?
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How many of the WRs make the practice squad? Pratt, Boone, Cunningham, Momatton?????
How much did Momah even play last night? I don’t remember him much, but I paid less attention in the second half. Any chance they played him very little so he’s not on teams’ radars in the hope we can sneak him to the practice squad?
If he isn’t going to make the 53 man roster, hopefully he plays like crap against the jets
Only a few teams are interested in picking up guys who cannot help immediately. Momah is a project.
Momah has flashed as a WR this summer.. Don’t think it’s absurd to think he could start earning snaps by Midseason.. And he is a special case because he always has the rare factor working for him since 6’7 WRs don’t grow on trees…
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There are some teams who’s 3rd WR might not make our roster….. I can’t rule out that given continuity, Momah could perform as well as Carolina’s 4th WR if not better…..
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Plus he hasn’t bust yet…because of the injury and lack of polish he wasn’t supposed to pay off yet…so a team could pick him up thinking they are getting a kid who is close to being ready to start paying off
I thought Momah had a chance, but after last night Im not sure. Give him a year on the PS
It was that bad? I didn’t see it yet… Just invisible, or was he dropping balls and not getting open?
Had zero catches and I think zero targets
well he blew it last week. he basically cut himself.
according to the snapcounts from BGN, he played in 19 snaps on offense, or 22%. he also played in 1 (one) ST snap, or 3%.
though BGN’s counts also say that Nick Foles had a ST snap. i don’t remember this. maybe he was the holder for a FG or something?? still seems reckless… wonder if its just a typo or something
FUCK!!! He only played 1 ST snap? That’s very bad news!!!
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He only played 4 ST snaps against the Pats, but I wasn’t sure how to read that because all our WR were hurt so we needed him to play the most snaps on offense..I wasn’t sure if his low ST snap count last week was because we had to play him so much on offense..
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But if he didn’t play a ton of snaps on offense and still only got one snap on ST, I read that as a very bad sign for his 53 man roster chances
Cheifs OT Donald Stephenson 4game suspension PEDs
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Cheifs other OT, Eric Fisher got ABUSED last week, Greg hardy treated him like a child…. Andy Reid’s draft pick so far does not look good.
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they’d say that about LJ too. Fischer probably go abused by all PEDs hardy was taking.
LJ played well second half of last year, and he has played really well in preseason against the #2s…so NO, LJ is not the same thing as Fisher….. And Fisher was supposed to be much more polished then LJ, or should I say BJ
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Waiting for you to realize Kendricks is a BALLER.. Let me know when it clicks
According to the Chiefs, Reid is no longer drafting for them
Lucky them lol.
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Andy made it sound like he has no GM duties over there… Smart franchise lol
yet still the KC draft screams of AR, but Howie also drafts for us and our draft screams of Kelly
According to ESPN, Leveon bell told the cops…” I didn’t know you could get a DUI for being high. I’m not high, I smoked two hours ago… He then said why would I be high if I have to get on a plane to go play a game in two hours? I play for the steelers”
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Bwahaahahahah hopefully Meco knocked some sense in the young idiot early in the game. Ill take that penalty all day from Meco early in the game. Penalty well spent, it set the tone for our defense yesterday and his mates responded
And he’ll have at least two games off to think about it.
good hopefully they drop in the draft. although blount may be a better back.
GEAGLE: 46 out of 202 comments.
You are in mid-season form, my friend! I love it!
Just can’t keep up with that kind of production, not in this scheme anyway. Maybe in a more “Haiku’s about Marlon Favorite” setting we could get you back to your elite levels. Tommy just needs to put you in a position to succeed.
I’m gonna need some sport science or I’ll never make it to the bye week.
You guys are my new tool. I need you’s to get thru 4 plus hours of train rides mon thru fri… ..time moves when you post
Of course Einstein would posit that time moves slightly slower on a train, but I see what you mean.
I wish I could commute via train… or find some way to post while sitting in stop-and-go traffic.
This is all new for me….so I’m enjoying it… Give it a few weeks and I’ll probably start driving once or twice a week…. Can’t post at my desk like I used to anymore
sounds like you need a notebook to write down all of your football thoughts and then post them while you are on the train haha
Actually time would travel at normal speed, relatively, for Geagle and we would move slow to him.
The last preseason crapfest might be a bit more interesting than usual this year since it will be Sanchez vs Vick both playing against the teams they recently started for.
There is also some nice talent I want to see more of in Burton, Cunningham, Momah, Johnson and Josey
More interested in the 4th game then I ever been… Have some nice young players and backend depth… The RB battle alone should be interesting
jarrett is a starter on the jets. wonder if that means he’s better than nate allen.
No, because Jets safeties sucks
babin also starting, had a strip sacks.
Not to say that Jarrett is that good, but all safeties were bound to look bad playing behind that wide 9 base.
We all assumed BG could wait to leave us in free agency at the end of the year, but after the game he talked to reporters about how bad he wants to be here, and take part in the special team we are building here, says he knows we will get to the Super Bowl and he wants to be here when he does…
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Is it possible that he would sign 2-3 yr deal as a backup to stay, instead of looking for a starting gig, with starters money on the open market? If he makes our team this year, I’d offer him an extension during the year, see if we can get him to a really favorable deal… BG and Curry might not “fit” on first and second down but they are the perfect fit for 3rd down since we rush the passer from a 4 man line…
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Really dying to find out what happens long vs. BG… Are we trying to get Long to show enough ILB skills to try and keep both? Of course we have some ILBs cross training at OLB so it’s not like long is the only one getting a look at another position.
if we get worlids or orakpo next year you’d keep bg over cole?
I don’t believe we would get either… I know about the Worlids tweet… I believe Vinny Curry or Dion Jordan will be our OLB next year
so if we got worlids — or any other olb (draft or FA) what do you do?
Dion is coming to philly pal..
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Dolphins just cut Egnew…why does that matter u ask?
Former GM Ireland made him a top 80 pick in the 2012 draft and they are giving up on him already…
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Another quiet year for Dion playing out of position and they will be ready to trade Ireland’s pick for Vinny Curry
haha no i meant what do you do with the depth? let go of cole or bg? who do you keep vs let walk.
Curry wont be an OLB for us ever. His force his his quickness to beat guards, not running around tackles.
I really doubt we trade for Jordan
Dude. Doesn’t matter where he lines up in a 4 man line, he is getting to the QB… If you move him to OLB and you don’t like how he is transitioning, you don’t play him on first and down, which is what they do with him now, and he would still fit as a nickel pass rusher in our 4 man line,,,
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I actually think this year, we will give him snaps at DT and at DE on 3rd down….
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Don’t expect you or anyone to agree,,, just a LONGSHOT gut theory,,,combined with a sprinkle of wishful thinking 🙂
Really don’t understand the love for Dion any more. Poor scheme or bad coaching or not, if he is really such an elite talent he should have showed something by now!
You wouldn’t…
Does Cole restructure or no? I’m leaning (with a significant tilt) towards BG if not.
what’s his option? get cut and then try to find a job as a mediocre 32 yo pass rusher?
Somebody will sign him
I think Cole gets cut and Graham if willing will stay unless Eagles really think Worilds or Orakpo is a much better upgrade for the money (and can get them)
You know how much pass rushers cost if you want them to sign Longterm? We ain’t giving Orakpo 40 million… Personally I’d be shocked… Worlids would be More likely but I don’t really expect that to happen either… I don’t see us willing to outbid teams on the open market for one of the most expensive positions,,,but we’ll see…
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I’d rather sign Jabaal Sheard… Kid plays Violently!!
BG could be starter next year when Cole is cut (no way he gets 10+ million)
JUSTIN HOUSTON WON”T NEGOTIATE WITH THE CHIEFS!!!!!
just sayin
Oohhhh,are you trying to seduce me? Lol I like him!!!…
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Yo you know anything about the WR from Amsterdam from the falcons? Seems like a good physical athlete…where he come from?
Amsterdam?
Yeah that’s what they call him… It’s his nickname
The kid from Boise? Wasn’t really much tape I ever got to see on him. Deep down the rabbit hole that is #drafttwitter a handful of guys I respect liked him as a long term project, due to size/speed combination.
Yeah.. He seems like a legit NFL talent….
I have no life except posting on these boards.
Why is this raiders vs, packers on CBS on Friday night?
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Lacy and MJD running all over the place,,.these defenses don’t look very good.. Haha Dix play was Haha laughable
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Checking out that cheesehead hurry up offense,,, I would like to see Jeff Janis but I can’t watch 3rd strings of non eagles teams… Catch some Khalil Mack
Lol dolphins cut Egnew… Ireland’s top 80 pick in the 2012 draft..l if they gave up on him already…guess what Ireland pick they will be ready to give up soon? LOL
Does anybody listen to me?
What is it like to touch a real girl?