Three’s Company
Posted: August 21st, 2014 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 102 Comments »Move over Alex Henery and Carey Spear. There is a new guy in town and his name is Cody Parkey. The Eagles dealt RB David Fluellen to the Colts for Parkey, a rookie PK from Auburn.
We don’t know a lot about Parkey. PE.com did have some details.
Undrafted out of Auburn, Parkey signed with the Colts following this spring’s NFL Draft. He went 2-for-2 on field goals with the Colts during the preseason, including a 45-yarder. At Auburn, Parkey finished his senior season 14-of-19 on field goals while ranking first in the nation with 69 touchbacks.
That last bit of info is key. Parkey has a strong leg and is very good on kickoffs. Even if Parkey isn’t good enough to win a roster spot now, he could be a practice squad candidate. It will be interesting to see how much work Parkey gets in the next 2 games.
As for Fluellen, he was impressive in the preseason opener, going 6-25 on the ground. I didn’t think he had NFL athletic ability based on college tape, but he was better than expected that day. Still, those numbers don’t jump out the way that Henry Josey’s did (8-56). Chip Kelly loves big plays. He’s going to side with the more explosive RB over the bigger guy in a lot of situations. He certainly did in this case. Fluellen’s health is also a factor. He missed the last game and UDFAs can’t afford to be hurt at this time of the year.
Good luck to Fluellen in Indy.
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Is it fair for Chip (and other NFL coaches) to pressure players in the summer? Unfortunately, yes.
Football is a hard sport. Durability is generally the most underrated trait among players. We talk about guys being injury prone in regard to season-ending injuries (ACLs, shoulders, etc.), but we don’t always appreciate how hard it is for guys to make it through the daily grind and not have a sore back, hyperextended knee, sprained elbow, bum ankle, hamstring, etc.
Nolan Carroll was great in camp. But we have yet to see him in a preseason game. Curtis Marsh and Roc Carmichael haven’t exactly lit it up, but at least they’ve been on the field.
One of the key reasons David Fluellen was dealt is that he’s hurt. Chris Polk is under extreme pressure to get back on the field and show what he can do. The Eagles like him, but if he can’t go, he’s useless to the team. That’s the harsh, cruel reality of the NFL.
I really hope Polk and Tucker are able to go next week. Play well in the finale and a lot can be forgiven. Miss any more time and the Eagles might be looking for another RB.
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A few of you had some questions you wanted answered.
Why didn’t the Eagles address ILB in the draft? Let’s focus on a couple of points here. First, let’s not make a mountain out of a mole hill. The Eagles have good starting ILBs. The question comes with the backups. And even that isn’t some crisis. Najee Goode played well off the bench last year. He might be just fine as the #3 ILB this year.
The disappointment is that Jason Phillips couldn’t make the full comeback from his ACL injury, Jake Knott hasn’t been healthy this summer and Emmanuel Acho looks so-so, but not nearly as good as he did last year.
All that said, the Eagles did want an ILB in the draft. The right guy wasn’t available at the right spot. ILB will be more of a priority position this year since DeMeco Ryans isn’t getting any younger.
What is the point of cross-training LBs? Is that hard? Chip Kelly has done this kind of stuff since he got here. Remember Clay Harbor at LB and Jason Avant at DB? Kelly wants to get the most out his gameday roster that he absolutely can. That means backups often need to know multiple positions.
I think Long can play ILB. He lacks the ideal speed and range, but he is tough and relentless. He’s not afraid to battle blockers so he can stay clean on the inside and then get to the ball. And remember that we’re not looking for someone to be good at this. The only way one of these guys plays is due to lots of injuries. The player just has to be good enough.
Barner as a RS. Kenjon Barner isn’t Devin Hester or Brian Mitchell, but he does have experience. He posted solid stats at Oregon. He returned both punts and kickoffs. He had a TD in each category. No one is trying to make the guy out to be some star, but that’s a successful college track record as a RS. He’s not here in Philly to be The Guy, but rather to add depth and challenge for a spot.
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I think one of the biggest reasons we didn’t address ILB in the draft this year is because it was a crappy draft for ILB’s. Mosley was the best but had some injury questions. Shazier played last season lighter than alot of SS’s in the league. Everybody after them was either a “two down” backer or “nickel” backer only. I’m sure the Eagles wish they were able to get an young ILB or OL in this past years draft but when they go to early in the case of OL or just aren’t worth heavy investment like the ILB’s, there’s not much you can do.
I’ll trust your word on this one. 😉
But let’s also don’t forget we needed the positions we drafted, too.
2 WR – check. Some people are angry that we have no one better than Momah or Benn to be our #6. 😉
1 OLB – triple check
1 NT – check
1 DE – check
1 CB – check
1 S – check
That wasn’t all we needed, but we needed it. 😉
Yeah we needed just about everything this draft ha.
Wasn’t really a case of needing many starters, but we needed depth at practically every position
exactly, just about every position we needed an impact starter or we were a bit old at and needed to get a player groomed to start in 1-2 years.
Yup yup… Now that we strengthened our depth, I expect the next draft to focus on Quality where as we have had to draft quantity these past two years to turnover the roster… We don’t need like 8 rookies to make the team next year, so I wonder if we will see the eagles packaging picks to move up for talented impact players…
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For example, this past draft we couldn’t afford spending 3’draft picks moving up to get Barr! because we had so many depth positions to fill…. This upcoming draft we can probably afford to package picks to go up and get a player we view as special….
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Good LB draft coming up, both at ILB and OLB..
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Safety draft class will suck again..
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Wonder when is the next time we see a special safety prospect, one who merits a top 10 pick
if a lot of our young guys pan out for us and look like they’re on the path towards being starters, you may be right about quality over quantity. Boy we could sure use a stud OLB and ILB, not immediately maybe, but you can never have too many!
Yeah, I expect Meco to restructure and be here next year… But you don’t want to wait until he is gone to go find an ILB… You want to draft an ILB who can be tutored by Demeco for a year or two, and when the kid Develops to the point where you can no longer justify keeping him on your bench, that’s when he should take over for Meco…. That’s the best way you can transition from old to young… It’s a much healthier way of replacing starters, then to wait til we lose a starter, draft his replacement and stick him in the game right away…
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I like the big ILB Miss St… He is like 6’4 and athletic.. Reminds me of the ILB version of Marcus Smith..
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I also wouldn’t mind Mykal Kendricks little brother from UCLA.. But he can’t start next to Kendrick.. Think you need someone bigger in Meco’s role..so if we were to add Mykals brother, it would be as a subpackage coverage LB and backup to Kendrick..
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IF Molk doesn’t prove to be the solution to Kelce’s Longterm backup, I assume we will be stuck drafting Oregons Hroniss Grasu… Even if Molk pans out we still could like Grasu to eventually replace the Todd father..
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If we lose Cary or Brad, we will have to add another CB
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I’m not so sure we can package picks next year. We were lucky enough to have no older starters we HAD to replace this year. But that could change. Up to 3/5 of our O-Line, Meco, Cole (if he takes a pay cut or not, he’s no long term starter, to put it this way… is Marcus Smith ready in 2015? What about depht?), one or two of our CB starting CBs, maybe Mac – we’re talking starters here, not depth.
And this all while we need depth at ILB and maybe on the O-Line.
I don’t know if he fits in our scheme, but maybe next year could be the time to sign a quality FA – I’m thinking Mike Iupati. The Guard position is crucial. They hope to have JP for a few more years and we hopefully have our future LT already on the roster, RT should be easier to find. But to replace our two starting Guards – that’s tough. Mathis maybe has one more year, but it’s no sure thing. And Chips offense lifes and dies with O-Line play. If he fits, Iupati (for the Toddfather) would give a boost in 2015 – while we could grow a 3rd-5th round pick one year to replace Mathis in 2016.
I’m not concerned about Marcus after this year.. I’m not concerned about him now.. I didn’t expect anything different than what we are seeing with him right now, but I love the pick… Btw, he will make some plays tonight…
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We really disagree on the OL… I think we are in really good shape, and can be in GREAT shape if Molk proves that he can be our backup center of the future…. With that said, I wouldn’t rule out OL addition, but nothing crazy like a makeover.. The only OL that I have questions about is Herremans. But if you are realistic about his situation last year his struggles were understandable and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him rebound nicely this year, but I’m in wait and see mode this year with him.
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I feel really good about Tobin and Barbre in backup roles, with tobin possibly having a chance to grow into a starter! but at the very least he can be a really solid backup for us… If Herremans doesn’t rebounds. Has a really bad year and Tobin doesn’t capitalize and grab the starting RG spot by the throat, we could very well sign an Expensive FA.. OL is that important plus it’s one off the safer positions in free agency to bring you your money’s worth unless the guys you signs body breaks down….. But if Herremans year isn’t a disaster, I think we will add a OL In the draft…Oregons Grasu being a good possibility
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It can’t be easy to project how lineman can come practice and play at our crazy tempo. Being able to draft a Kid that can play Center Guard, who Chip recruited and knows can handle the crazy tempo could be too good to pass up.
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if Molk doesn’t prove to be the Longterm answer to Kelce’s backup then I think we will definitely try to get Grasu because he can backup Todd and Kelce, but if Molk takes care of our need at backup Center Grasu doesn’t become as important and we could end up drafting some other guard from a program that uses tempo
You tend to forget that Mathis is old, too. If Mathis would be 29, I wouldn’t be scared, because we should be able to replace Todd (and down the road find a RT). But Mathis and Todd in 2 years?
I’m not really worried about Mathis this season, but I think 2015 could very well be his last season. Have to be prepared.
From Tobin, I want to see more. He has a good PS, no doubt, and for depth, he’s fine. But before we’re talking Starter, I need to see more (and I think Chip too).
Guards can be a little older. Figure when a great LT gets old, he moves to guard for a few years. Mathis also doesn’t have the wear and tear of a guy his age who is the best player at his position. Not many dudes become the best at their position so late in their career.. Top players usually have been studs and playing top player snaps since the age of 24…
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It’s really not fair to view him as a typical guard his age IMO…
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Of course in the back of my mind I always the dream scenario of not needing to replace the second of our old OG’s til Kyle Long becomes a free agent lol.. I have dreams of him in between Lane and Kelce blocking for FOles..
I can’t tell you how pissed I was that he didn’t last til round two so now we have to wait an extra year for him to become a free agent….
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I think if we draft a OL In the first 5 rounds each year for the next 3 years we will be fine.. We can continue to enjoy a quality OL and transition to the future OL of the next era…. There is always a chance that we can move Jason peters to OG to squeeze out an extra year or two out of him…. Think the fact that we already have Lane and Kelce is HUGE and puts us in a good position. Center will have years of continuity and we already has he Jason peters eventual replacement,,.
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Heck we could end up with a scenario where Jason Peters is the LG and Lane is The LT lol
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Draft one OFfensive linemen in the first 5 rounds per year, for the next 3 years and we will be fine!
I don’t know mate. They paid Peters good LT money (7th ranked at the position, according to Over the Cap). Don’t know if he’d be fine with playing Guard or if the organisation wants to go that road. JP playing RT in 2016 or 2017 would sound more realistic to me.
First step is Lane coming back to full strenght. I think his Rookie season was ok, but he should dominante those 2nd teamers he’s facing in PS and he doesn’t. Plus he’s out of the facility for a month. I hope it’s not the case, but it could be a lost year for Lane.
From what I saw Lane has played well… Also seen him get high grades and have yet to see anyone give him a bad grade…I don’t at all worry about Lane…
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I really don’t see anything to suggest that he isn’t going to show improvement this year… I haven’t noticed anyone else down on his play,..
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I’m sure the eagkes will use Herremans to communicate with Lane during the suspension and keep Lane up to speeds with what Stoutland wants him to do during the month long suspension…
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I was expecting some nice improvements this year, and my opinion of him hasn’t changed at all
Except a QB, O-Line starters and a RB. 😀
Chip is building depth, but we are not there yet. Remember Casey Matthews being your #4 OLB? Well, that’s history (hopefully he won’t be our 4th ILB now :D). We improved our OLB depth, D-Line depth (Geathers and Square… ugh), DB depth (Colt Anderson, Kurt Coleman and Roc Carmichael on Defense – do I need to say more?) and WR depth (Damaris Johnson anyone).
Doesn’t mean we don’t need O-Line depth (altough it looks OK in Preseason – Tobin looks good, Gardner is OK and we have Barbre in Week 5 back) or ILB depth in the future. Concering ILB and O-Line, we need future starters, also.
Sadly it is absurdly possible that Casey Matthews makes this team (at least initially, since Knott is suspended for the first 4 games) at the #4 ILB if Long doesn’t come through for us in the cross-train experiment. The team isn’t particularly high on Acho. And while the fans despise Casey, he is a Duck they “gets” the Chip way. Also a valued contributor on ST’s.
Going into the off season, I also made that assumption….now :-/
Yeah, I thought for sure he was gone this year, but… :-/ At least they won’t try to make us believe he’s an OLB; he’d be back at a better position for him.
I just hope for the best. I don’t want Henery, Maehl, Matthews or Bair on this roster. If they are, I hope for the best but fear the worst.
something to live by
The thing with Matthews is how much he sucks. You shouldn’t lose perspective, there are always a lot of bad players on 90 men NFL rosters. But Casey M. barely has any NFL talent, he really should be the 80-85th player on the roster or so. Having him on the 53 roster AGAIN would really suck.
Let’s just hope it really is his last dance here. I don’t even want to imagine we replace Meco and because of the resources we invested we have no depth and he, again, is the ILB# 4 in 2015. If he even has that last dance, we shouldn’t completely forget Acho.
Why have a kicker on the PS? They won’t help in practice and a team could sign them the same as if they were on the street.
Out of sight, out of mind. If you have a person in your building salivating to get your job, better step it up. This guy should bring legitimate competition.
signing a kicker out of college whose career was good but not great and having to put the kicker on your 53 – I don’t think there’s a high chance that happens.
I’m not saying I want to put this guy on the practice squad either. I think they churn some kickers that get cut and hopefully have enough time to make a decision.
Lol two hours before the steelers were supposed to board the bus to philly, laveon bell and Lagarret blunt get pulled over with 20 grams of weed? Bwahahahahahahah
Seems like they had plans for a nice evening after the game…
True that… Lucky for us, our run defense is a strength… We will field a top 10 run defense, but I would still have liked to see young players like hart and Beau get some work against starting backs… I just can’t believe the stupidity by some some players… We make a lot about chips Charecter prerequisites for becoming an eagle, but when ish like this happens, I’m appreciative that we don’t have to deal with crap like this…
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Injuries play such a huge role in how NFL seasons play out, don’t need to also be losing key players to being a jackass..
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What I don’t get is the regular season is about to start how aren’t these two RBs going to be tested before the season starts? Lane Johnson failed a test like 8 months ago, yet the season is about to start, and is guarentee these two RBs can’t pass a drug test before the season starts, how aren’t players getting tested going into the season? And when this happens and players get arrested for drugs, how aren’t they instantly drug tested by the NFL? These two RBs can’t pass a drug test now, yet they won’t even be tested… How can you KNOW of two players who will piss hot right now and not test them?
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But we have to play without Lane over some test he failed in March? WTF
It isnt hard to pass a drug test for weed.
Depends how much weed you smoke and how soon since you smoked it’s been when they test you…
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I have seen people do the craziest things to try and pass a drug test for having weed in their system
They also fail you for having too dilute of a sample.
Very true,,
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When guys get arrested for Drugs, the NFL should drug test them the next day… The NFL has guys banned for a year for weed like Jpsh Gordan, yet the entire world now knows Blount and Laveon were smoking weed during the NFL preseason but neither is going to fail a drug test for pot……
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You get caught with drugs, you should be drug tested the next day!!
Any chance the Eagles carry two kickers, with Parkey being the KO specialist? I would hate them giving up a roster spot for that. I want a K that can clear the end zone, but bringing in a rookie with 2 games to go in preseason is the definition of risk. I detest the kicking situation. It reminds me of the KOR situation when Jeremy Bloom did not work out.
Yuck, I just mort’d…
Doubt it….
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Chip hates only being able to keep 53 players..
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We are cross training 4 of our linebackers to see who is the most versatile for the end of the roster… I don’t view two kickers on a chips team as realistic..
…Kicker situation is fluid… If we traded for a kicker yesterday, they you can bet that we acknowledge it’s a problem and we have our eyes on the kicking battles around the league… A lot of teams have two kickers right now, so a bunch of kickers will be cut soon… If we traded for a kicker yesterday, you can bet we will be waiting to see which kickers around the league get cut…. Good chance our kicker isn’t even on our roster yet
We making a lot of all the penalties and I hope we play a cleaner game tonight, but it’s really a league wide problem…
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This past episode of hard knocks showed how falcons are really struggling with the penalties… I can’t help but laugh at the falcons every time I see their Coach… How would you like to lose Chip Kelly and be stuck units the Falcons coach? Lol… And Mike Tice walks around like a Dufus… They should just make Brian cox their HEADCoach
He’s been incredibly successful during his tenure. I don’t get why since we think we have a guy who has won one year we knock people that have had success in the league. It’s not easy to win 10 games a year consistently.
He had his run… I think last year was the beginning of the end for him, not to mention the falcons use Dirk Koeters offense.. They aren’t like us who have an OC who uses our HC’s offense….. He did an average job considering the talent he had to work with… Doubt anyone will say he got those Atlanta teams to overachieve..
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Like COUGHLIN, I think both are headed for crash and burn
Mike Smith:
2008: 11-5
2009: 9-7
2010: 13-3
2011: 10-6
2012: 13-3
That’s a good head coach.
wow. Think of what Chip Kelly could have done with those teams.
I love Chip as much as the next guy, but that’s unfair to trivialize Smith’s performance.
I don’t like the dude…is that ok?
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He isn’t a bad coach, but he isn’t a special coach who is going to get his team over the hump either…. Plus he has one of those faces that really bother me. It’s a cross between jerry Jones plastic surgery face and Jim Mora Jr..
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3 years from now he will have to take coordinator job
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Btw, I’m probably more impressed with the job that dimitrof has done for Atlanta than what Smith has done….
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Do you view him as a coach who did such a great job that his team overachieved?
I’d say yes, they’ve overachieved. Their roster has never been stellar, proven by how much they shit the bed after a few key pieces went down last year.
I’d say Dimitroff hasn’t done the best job assembling that roster. I’d also say that the Falcons should have been in the 2012 Super Bowl, if it weren’t for some bogus penalty calls that went in the 49ers favor. Finally, I’d argue they were the best team in the NFC that year and would have been very capable of taking down the Ravens.
Then we have to agree to disagree…
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Because I think those last two years with Tony Gonzales. You could replace Smith with 10 NFL coaches and we would have seen similar results…
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Anyway…. Anyone know anything about their wide reciever from Amsterdamn? Who is that kid? Seemed to play physical from what I saw in last nights episode
I’m joking! I thought it was pretty funny too.
In 3 seasons, Alex Henery is 72 – 81 (88.9%) inside 50 yds. He is 2 – 5 beyond 50 yds. Last season, Henery was 23 – 28 (82.1%) his worst season as a pro.
Last season, the Eagles scored a combined 53 TDs in 17 games. Counting the opening/2nd half kicks, the Eagles kicked off 70 times. They had 52 kicks returned for 1229 yds. (23.6 avg.).
So, if the Eagles are unable to find a kicker that can kick it out of the endzone, and match Henery’s accuracy inside 50, which is their better option:
1. Keep Henery for his accuracy inside 50 and deal with shorter kick offs.
2. Keep strong legged kicker that can kick out of the endzone (cold weather included) and sacrifice accuracy inside 50.
3. Carry 2 kickers.
Pick your poison..
Don’t ever recall seeing an eagles team so negatively effective by poor kickoffs.
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What really chaps my ass is the 3 FGs he missed between 40-49 yards… Under 50 should be automatic for an NFL kicker..to miss 3 kicks under 50 drives me nuts,,,
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Fortunately we aren’t done looking at kickers. Bunch of teams have two kicker battles at camp and are days away from having to cut a kicker. If we traded for a kicker yesterday, you can bet we have our eyes on the kicking battles around the league hoping a better kicker than what we have hits waivers soon..
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Must be a tough decision for Chip… He has a young kicker with pedigree who has been kicking well all offseason, showing improvement….and as soon as we get to the games, he chokes.
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At what point does an offseason worth of improvements take a back seat to shanking kicks under the bright lights of live game action? How many FGs does Alex have to shank in games to wipe away all the improvement he showed at Novacare this offseason?
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I would bet money on Chip not keeping two kickers… Doesn’t seem like something “Mr Efficiency” Chip Kelly would be down with…
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And if you have a kicker, that you feel the Need to carry another kicker, you should tie both in bag and drop both kickers in the middle of the ocean…sleep with the fishes!!
It used to be that anything over 40 was a hard FG… anything over 50 was something you only tried in dire circumstances. Just getting a kickoff into the end zone used to be good, let alone out the back. The kicking game has really changed. Still, 40-49 is not an “automatic” kick. There have been a number of misses of the 32-yard extra points even, so there are going to be a certain number of misses to be expected in the 40+ range. Henery had been OK with those until last year, with just the 50+ falling behind the pace. Last year was not good, and not-even-close attempts like the 47-yarder the last game do not inspire much confidence either. (Gostkowski badly missed a shorter FG in the same game, so that does happen). I thought his kickoffs were pretty good early last year, but did get worse in colder weather. Our coverage units may not have been very good either; that can negatively reflect on a kicker. Still, there are clearly a number of kickers in the league who can do better, and it would be good to see if we can stumble into one. And Parkey could be one — he wasn’t going to beat out Vinatieri so he could actually be good. I suspect while he’s got the leg strength he also has less accuracy than Henery though.
GEAGLE nothing is automatic. I get that we want a more accurate kicker, but saying e.g. that the Auburn kicker is no good b/c he missed one kick in the BCS game is taking small sample size results to mean something it does not mean.
Granted, the Auburn kicker might not be good enough, but don’t base it on one missed kick. And same with Henery.
Frankly, I’m so beaten up about Henery I’m almost ready for change for change’s sake.
“Frankly, I’m so beaten up about Henery I’m almost ready for change for change’s sake.”
I’m ready for that. Of course it could technically get worse. If they sign you or me (no offense ;)), of course Henery would look like the best kicker ever. But we’re in the NFL and I don’t think you can have a worst combination than Henery – no leg strenght for an NFL kicker combined with inaccuracy last year.
If we cut Henery and Parkey turns out to suck, well, sign a vet. If he turns out to be bad, sign another one. You can’t do that with any other positions, but I see no reason why you shouldn’t do it with a Kicker. Look at the Saints, they just cut their Kicker right before the Playoffs.
Having a longterm solution is the best thing, of course, but I don’t think Henery is that longterm solution. He was the last three years, but he just didn’t show enough.
Right I am just about there. Just go with someone else with a stronger leg. Replace that person if/when you don’t like him.
Wonder if Cody will see any action tonight? Doubt he can kick FG never really working with our holder, but I dont see why he can’t line up and get a kickoff or two in…
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I’m hoping that tonight, provides some opportunities to test Alex with some long FG’s
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Allegedly he has improved and had a very good offseason and last week he hit his foot on the ground and got tripped up..since then he watched us trade for a Kicker, making him the 3rd kicker we have now because we can’t count on him…trading for Cody yesterday is probably fresh in Alex brain today, so hopefully we get some opportunity to put him in difficult FG situations to see how he answers the pressure we putting on him
I’m not saying the kid from Auburn can’t be the answer, I’m just saying that soon like 15 other kickers will hit waivers so I view the kicker situation today as fluid..
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If we felt the need to trade for a kicker so close to the regular season, I assume we have our eye on some of the kicking battles league wide and it’s possible,Cody isn’t the last kicker we add this offseason…
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But Alex and Cody are property of the eagles right now, so my ideal scenario is one of those two stepping up and becoming the answer to our kicker problem
I say carry 2 kickers. A KO specialist seems to add more to this team right now than what any other 53rd player on the roster can do
Would it be more of a hindrance to have them both active on game days? Do all 44 guys typically see the field, excepting the backup QB?
The bigger issue is with the active 46. That extra spot really hurts in terms of game-day depth.
Yeah, 46 and 45 if you allow for the backup QB, that was what I meant.
Didn’t they change that 3rd string QB rule? Maybe not, I could have imagined it.
The NFL makes so many revisions to the rulebook, it’s tough to keep up.
i think you are right – the qb labeled as the ’emergency’ qb can dress, but doesnt count against the active count for that game. the other side of that is that if this QB comes in, no other QB can return to the game, though i’m not sure how they rule that part. if Brad Smith came in the game earlier, would he be allowed to play QB after the emergency QB came in??
Yes, they did away with that and just allowed 46 active instead of 45 active + 3rd QB.
I forget last year what we did with our backup QBs… Were we dressing 3 QBs(when they were all healthy) or was Barkley inactive at the beginning of the year?
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I’m under the impression that we only dress two QBs this year since whenever Chip is asked about Brad smith he usually mentions how he is our emergency QB on Gameday that allows us to only dress two QBs..
As you know the league is about what have you done lately. Henery missed a number of clutch kicks inside of 50 and showed he didn’t have the range to attempt anything outside of 50. The best kickers have ranges in the low to mid 50s but we can’t even attempt those kicks.
Could be a 1 year anomaly but then when you come out and shank a 47yarder in fair conditions it doesn’t look great, especially given our need to score points. Saints dropped Garrett Hartley mid season and he’s been good for the last few years including getting a ring.
Except for that 60-yarder he kicked that hit halfway up the upright. Would have had distance from 65 easy. That was weird.
Yeah feel like it’s accuracy more than strength.
So you would take a strong legged kicker less accurate from within 50, but capable of 50+ yd. attempts over Henery right now?
Yeah, I don’t know either. I guess the ideal would be a guy that was 100% up to a certain point, then missed everything beyond that. I think less variability would be desirable.
If he was 100% up to 50yds and then nothing after I’d take that. Need predictability out of that position b/c you can plan around it.
Right now we have a guy that hits everything in practice including some 50+ but is wildly inconsistent in games (last year). We’ll see if he nails everything tonight.
Isn’t he in the top 5 for accuracy, or something like that? Wildly inconsistent might be a stretch.
Who knew Akers would be almost as hard to replace as Dawkins?
Right! Whoever our kicker is, I’m hoping the Longterm answer to this problem emerges soon… I’m tired of the kicker issues… And my nerves can handle going into the playoffs with a suspect kicker..
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So many playoff games are decided by a kicker…
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Dawk was at Novacare this week
http://www.csnphilly.com/sites/csnphilly/files/septa.train__1.jpg
geez… You guys see the fight at bills camp? They were beating the crap out of each other.. Someone got a heavy dose of ground n pound
If Shazier had fallen to the Eagles, I think he definitely should’ve been the pick, but I don’t think there were any other ILBs in this draft that would’ve been better than what we already have. RDS is gonna be a beast, though – would’ve been awesome to get him in green.
Shazier and Mosley would have definitely gotten very strong consideration….
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The Patriots game was kind of confusing for me in terms of LBs. I’m really high on Goode, but I like him playing Kendricks role, so as Mykals backup. I was surprised that we played him in Meco’s spot with Kendricks. Those two ILB spots aren’t interchangeable… Didn’t think Goode was strong and physical enough to play Thumper Mike
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We are going to spend a high draft pick on a LB this year..it’s a really strong LB draft and we will want to take of what time we have left having Meco to tutor young ILBs…. I’m really really curious to see who we draft as Meco’s understudy, and stylistically, what type of LB he is?
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It’s not going to be a big trotter type who can only move forward.. Think at the very least he will be Meco caliber in coverage! which isn’t a strength by any means, has it’s limits like man coverage, but isn’t a complete liability either…I don’t see us drafting a LB who is more limited than Meco in coverage….but I would assume it’s a LB who will be heavier, stronger and more physical them Kemdrick….I assume the big athletic 6’4 ILB from Miss St appeals to us since he is like an ILB version of Marcus smith, but. We don’t need our ILB to 6’4 either.
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I assume like Goode, we can’t pair Mykal Kendrick with his brother from UCLA because of the lack of size. I would assume Mykals brother could only be a subpackage LB for us…
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I look forward to not having to assume any more and getting some more information about the vision of this defense. We inherited Mykal none Meco….Chip loves Kendricks and he will clearly be the starter of the future for us, and I really look forward to seeing what kind of linebacker we spend a high pick on pairing him with….
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Nice LB draft coming up inside and outside..lots of different stylistic options… Really curious to see what type of LB they want to pair Kendrick with…
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I believe we would have drafted Kirksey instead of Jalen Watkins if the browns didn’t take him in round 3
I don’t think anything with Kendricks is clear. I think this year is SUPER important for him. Everyone knows athletically he’s a beast, but can he “get” the mental part and take it to the next level. We really need him to make that step in the middle bc its frankly one of the weaknesses in the pass d.
Next year he will be a probowler. He will play at that level this year, but you don’t make it to the probowl the first year you deserve it.. Kendricks is going to soar this year.. No Fear!!! Not at all concerned.
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But you are entitled t to your opinion.
Reports out of bmore are that Mosley is BEASTING. They are much easier on most players than Philly though. Cept Flacco…they hate Flacco…why? We are a stupid town..
What’s do people think is better for an eagles game?
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hearing our own announcers on the channel 6 broadcast who are more informed about our backups and our position battles?…or is it better to watch on NFL network and hear an outsiders, national media opinion Of our team?
You could always opt for the Spanish language broadcast and try to figure out what they’re saying…
lol. the univision broadcast of the world cup was soooo much better than the english guy on espn this year. i don’t know what they are saying except for “goooooooooooooooooooool”, but for the most part, its pretty self-explanatory
I understand Spanish, just even if I didn’t, the Spanish broadcast is awesome…
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During the Season, radio station the fanatic will joke around and play the Spanish calls from some of the biggest plays of the game like FOles TDs and clips of Boykins INTs in Spanish, so I alway try to hit their website up everyweek to catch the Spanish clips…
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What’s the our Spanish announcers name? Ricky Riccardo or something?
Yeah, Rickie Ricardo. (Insert “I Love Lucy” references here).
That dude is so awesome. I always try to catch his highlights…
Except in American Football, they never say;, “GOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAALL!!!!!!!!!!!.”
Just scrolled down far enough to find Roger Podacter already hit upon this point. Sorry, amigo.
I love the when they say a players name perfectly and get right back to Spanish.
i love hearing mike & merrill. i just wish it was easier to do for me when watching the games over the internet from a slingbox. haha. its difficult to get the audio synced up and even then, streaming the audio seems to harm the video stream as well. : /
They really are awesome…. I actually like to leave and drive 5 minutes to Wawa during the game to hear them for a few minutes..
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Hate to admit that I never had the patience to sink them up with the TV but I have to imagine that it’s AWESOME
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So far I been watching Baldi and our local team…maybe I switch it up this weekend
Being an out of towner I relish hearing the game called by hometown guys. I generally hate national announcers. They really do very little to no homework. As much as I hate saying this Troy Aikmen is probably the most informed about our team. Not to say he is good enough or unbiased. He is just the best of a bad situation. CBS has a much better crew than Fox imho.
Having married into an Auburn family I can attest to Cody Parkey’s kickoff credentials. That said, he can only achieve great depth if the stadium chants “Waaaaaaaaaaar Eagle!” as he kicks.
That might also serve the ancillary benefit of enraging DeMeco Ryans, Evan Mathis and Damion Square…
“Ancillary Benefit” sounds like it could’ve been a Richard Gere / Demi Moore thriller from the early ’90s, no?
“Three’s Company”
After reading the title of the post I assumed this would be yet another “Mr. Furley vs. Mr. Roper” debate… but that’s cool if we want to talk football…
I think that’s Furley, not Farley
My God, you’re right. I’ll edit above, but take my lumps down here. Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop huffing Ginkgo biloba!
Really feel bad for Polk… Who knows how injured he still is and he is going to play next week regardless.. Since he is going to tough it out and play thru some pain, I hope he can have a good showing and give himself a shot to stay. Hate to see him play hurt in a preseason game and have a horrible showing..
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Hoping Polk, Tucker, Barner and Jose can each play a Quarter and all have good showings making this decision tough for our coaches and get themselves claimed off waivers if they get hurt…
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Wouldn’t he surprised if a team or two have their eyes on our backs and are waiting to see which we cut
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I’m definitely rooting for Barner as a RS but I don’t want to lose Polk because of Barner….. Don’t take this as me having any great faith in Barner or being blown away by the acquisition of him but I’m very much rooting for him to surprise us and be a great returner so we don’t need to risk players we are counting on as kick returners…. If Barner can be a great return man, we don’t need to use Sproles or Nolan Carrol..
There are only two things worth watching in GIants preseason – (S/LB) Cooper Taylor push to find a role and the Kicker Competition between veteran Josh Brown and Temple’s Brandon McManus. We should grab whichever kicker they shake loose.
Among other things, this Matt Bowen article in b/r has good things to say about Jordan Matthews
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2169515-matt-bowens-nfl-preseason-week-3-film-study
Week 2 Standout: Eagles Rookie WR Jordan Matthews
After watching the tape from Week 2, here’s my breakdown on how the Eagles are utilizing rookie wide receiver Jordan Matthews in Chip Kelly’s offense.
– Matthews had a productive night versus the Patriots in Week 2 (nine receptions, 104 yards) as he worked inside of the numbers (No. 2/No. 3 alignment) running the short-to-intermediate route tree while executing the bubble screen off the Eagles’ packaged reads.
– He looked strong and fluid after the catch. The rookie receiver displayed soft hands with the ability to accelerate and create angles in the open field. Plus, he wasn’t shy about dropping his pad level on contact versus defensive backs. A physical player at the receiver position.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/br-cdn/temp_images/2014/08/21/4848ea33acc55b3adb9fbe41f4ec81a9.gif?1408583502
– Within the Eagles’ offensive scheme, Matthews is running the same routes we saw from DeSean Jackson in 2013 based on his inside alignment. Think of the shallow drive route (Hi-Lo), the stick out (tare concept), intermediate dig, the deep 7 cut (corner) route and multiple wide receiver screens in Kelly’s playbook.
– Here’s a look at the shallow drive route (underneath crosser) with Matthews in a reduced split (tight to the core of the formation). Playing versus man-coverage, the receiver can take advantage of a defensive back in an outside leverage position to work across the field. And in zone, this is the ideal scheme for Matthews to find a soft hole, sit down and move the sticks.
http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/article/media_slots/photos/001/683/316/5b0ecea95dbbb6bb32819362bb73bddb_original.png?1408583564
– Matthews doesn’t have the lateral quickness of Jackson. However, given his size (6’3”, 212 pounds) and sub-4.5 speed, the Vanderbilt product looks like a fit for the Eagles from the slot position where he can work the middle of the field or produce on the bubble screen.
Just watched the Eagles Insider Podcast, or most of it, gotta say, Bair is really good dude. Kinda pulling for him a little bit. Now I need a nick name…the Stormin Mormon? Bair Necessities? Gentle Bran? Maybe just Duck Bair? http://cboye.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/platypus-bear.jpg
Bair-back..
The Bair will get you there!
Yogi!
Bair-back Mountain.. Nah jokes lol
Well…
(I almost don’t want to, but…)
he does back up Cox.
Platypus Bear from Avatar? Looks about right.
It’s a Duck Bair for my purposes, but yes lol