Good and Bad From Sunday
Posted: September 29th, 2014 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 328 Comments »There are positive and negative angles to all NFL games. Since the Eagles lost on Sunday, let’s start with the bad stuff.
* Blocking – Notice I didn’t just single out the OL. Zach Ertz was called for holding on a run play. Shady McCoy got run over once by a blitzer. On another play late in the game, he failed to get outside quick enough and let the blitzer hurry Foles. Bradley Fletcher had a terrible “block” on the final punt return of the game. He got his hands on the back of the gunner and drew a flag. There was barely any contact, but the point is there should have been NONE. When you see the guy’s name on his jersey…do not touch. Nothing good will come of that. The Eagles should have been close to midfield, but that backed them up to the 30.
The OL did have a rough day. Jason Peters got beat right after Fletcher’s mistake and that put the offense back even farther. Ugh. Todd Herremans was once badly beaten to the inside. This isn’t all about Tobin and Molk. The whole Eagles team did a poor job of blocking on Sunday.
* Physicality – This ties into blocking, but then goes beyond it. Anquan Boldin caught a pass short of the sticks on 3rd down. He didn’t hesitate, instead running right at Nate Allen and bowling him over. The Niners have some “grown ass men” on their team and you aren’t going to block or tackle them unless you are a strong, rugged individual. Frank Gore and Carlos Hyde got way too many yards after contact. Receivers too. The Eagles didn’t match the Niners level of physicality.
* The passing game – This is more than Nick Foles. Riley Cooper had the go-ahead TD go through his hands. You simply have to make that catch. Foles did have a poor game. He made questionable decisions and then was off-target way too much. I thought the Eagles focused on downfield plays too much. I’m not sure how much of that was Foles and how much Chip Kelly. The blocking for the passing game was obviously a factor.
The Eagles got very little in the way of RAC yards. They did get fumbles from Cooper and Ertz, but limited yards. Receivers have to make something happen when they get the ball on quick throws.
* The run game – Many of you wanted Chip Kelly to run on 3rd/goal from the 2. No way. The Niners were in a goal line defense at that point. The Eagles weren’t getting any push against their base. How on Earth do you expect them to get push against the GL defense?
The run game is a mess right now. The plays Kelly is calling are not working. Shady has no room to run. He sometimes makes things worse by trying to go outside and get the big play. Better to get upfield for 2 or 3 yards than go wide for 0. The biggest problem is the blocking. Most of that goes on the OL, but the TEs and WRs are not helping matters.
It is crucial to get the run game fixed. You must stick with it to balance out the playbook and make the defense honest. We’ve all see what happens when they focus on just the pass and that isn’t pretty.
* Run defense – If you take away Kaep’s 58 yards on the ground, SF still ran for 160. Unacceptable. My biggest issue is that the Eagles gave up the edge too often. Setting the edge is a huge priority for the Eagles defense. SF got the D in some creative looks and then ran to the outside. It wasn’t always easy to tell which player was at fault.
This isn’t about an individual. The Eagles defense must do a better job fo funneling runs to the middle. OLBs, DEs and DBs all had a hand in the sloppy defense.
* * * * *
And now for some good.
* Special Teams – The Eagles have won the STs battle in 3 of 4 games this year. They are getting impact plays. I would guess you have to go back to 2001 or 2002 to see this kind of play, and I’m not sure even those units were this good.
– Blocked FG
– Blocked punt for a TD
– 2 FGs of more than 50 yards
– Game-winning FG
– KOR for a TD
– PR for a TD
That seems like a season’s worth of big plays. And we just finished Week 4. Great job by Dave Fipp and his players.
Darren Sproles has been an amazing addition. He has more PR yards after 4 weeks (200) than the Eagles had all of last year. That stat just blows me away.
* Pass rush – The Eagles hadn’t sacked the QB in 2 games. Yesterday they got 4. Actually 5, but they took one off the board when accepting a penalty. The Eagles pass rush was outstanding on Sunday. They regularly got pressure on Kaepernick and forced him to move. He burned them a time or two, but that’s just part of his game.
Sacks really are a complicated stat. Kirk Cousins got rid of the ball quickly. The Eagles got some pressure on him, but no sacks. Kaep tends to hold onto the ball and look for big plays. The Eagles were able to get to him. If the QB focused on getting the ball out quickly, there just isn’t much you’re going to do about it. The Eagles were able to take advantage of a QB who doesn’t do that.
* Coverage – I haven’t re-watched the game, but I felt like the DBs did a good job. You have to give credit to the Niners receivers for making some incredible catches. And Kaep made some amazing throws. Anquan Boldin might be slow and 200 years old, but he can still come up big on 3rd downs. The Eagles saw that yesterday.
* Toughness – Last year the Eagles had 2 awful offensive games. They lost 17-3 to Dallas and 15-7 to the Giants. Yesterday the Eagles went on the road to SF and lost 26-21. And they had a chance to win at the end. Good teams find a way to stay in games even when things are going very wrong for them. We’ve seen this from Eagles opponents plenty of times over the years.
There is no question that the current Eagles team is having some issues. But the team is still finding ways to stay in games. That shows a kind of mental and emotional toughness, something that can often pay off in big games late in the year. Anyone can win with their A-game. How do you do when things aren’t going your way? Can you stay in games? Can you still find a way to win?
_
Tommy thanks for being our therapist.
one positive: boy did the Eagles do a good job evaluating other teams’ talent in Sproles and Jenkins. If Chip is able to describe in detail the kind of talent he wants for each position (which from past reports he is), and Howie can find it, sounds simple but this can be a competitive advantage.
And you might think well it’s only year 2, so some of these folks are not ideal fits and can be replaced. So we cry about Cooper, but maybe Chip knows darn well he isn’t in the plans. He’s not going to tell us that b/c he needs Cooper now.
Cooper has been extremely dissapointing. yesterday was perhaps the worst, with the ball right in his hands and a chance to seal the win. Ugh. Not earning that contract right now for sure.
seem to remember we had a speedy guy with actual talent that played the position and whose presence by itself made everyone else better…someone thought it was a good idea to show him the door tho. *shrugs*
lol, here we go. What does Jackson have going for him this year? Maclin will probably end up posting bigger number than Desean but it would be nice to actually have 2 wideouts on the field instead of 1. Jackson was a cancer that needed to be let go.
Djack flatout out worked in our system, I dont care if he has 12 catches for negative yards in DC. He made life easier for Foles and I wont even start on how Shady is suffering based on lack of repect for the passing game. There was one cancerous instance on our team last year if you’ll remember…and concerned #14. SO DON’T. You dont cut players with elite talent AND production. PERIOD, This isn’t Eugene. There were 4 guys with elite talent @ production on our team last year: Peters, Shady, Djack and Mathis…
Cooper should be cut too. As I stated above, Maclin blew the top of defenses yesterday too and is a better overall receiver. Shady is suffering more from lack of our O-line than lack of Desean……
NO. WRONG.Both of those things are affecting him…when you can’t make them pay for staciking the box you keep doing it. With one personnel move Chip turned out WR corps from one of the league’s best to average. Dez Bryant is cancerous and speaks up to..think the cowboys cut him? that riley got more $ over the summer adds insult to injury. And the addition of Huff makes the ‘we only want big WRs” assertion look silly.
Cooper won’t be cut after 4 games, but I’d sure like to see Matthews targeted more and Maehl given some of Cooper’s snaps. You are absolutely right that Maclin was blowing by the coverage. If Foles was more accurate yesterday, there could have been fireworks.
I was dumbfounded yesterday watching vincent jackson drop pass after pass… maybe we just needed to throw it to cooper 5 times. Or maybe pooper just needs to spend more time with the jugs machine.
Huff. Not Maehl.
NO. WRONG.Both of those things are affecting him…when you can’t make
them pay for stacking the box they keep doing it. With one personnel
move Chip turned out WR corps from one of the league’s best to average.
Dez Bryant is cancerous and speaks up too..think the cowboys cut him?
that Riley got more $ over the summer adds insult to injury. And the
addition of Huff makes the “we only want big WRs” assertion look silly. We’ve all watched football long enough to know 1) you throw out your best/worst games and 2) what you do against non-playoff teams isnt a great indicator of success.
#2 above – Desean had a big game against SD last year but his other big games were against NYG, OAK, MIN and TB. So, in other words, I think Chip agreed with you.
I do agree they need a real WR to play opposite Maclin though.
He still had solid games against quality opponents. What he provided from a matchup standpoint was priceless tho…the benefits for guys like Ertz and Sproles all of a sudden getting matched up with a 4th CB or 3rd LB are obvious.
So what am I wrong about? Macklin being a better receiver? Our oline is giving Shady holes he isn’t running through? I dnt agree with keeping Cooper but it’s all we had at the time. I also dnt necessarily agree with drafting Huff but the jury is Still out. You want us to follow the Cowboys mold, keep divas and go 8-8 every year?
c’mon, bo birds fan wants to follow the cowboys “fuck good, lets be popular” mantra…but what Chip did shooting us all in the foot with Djack was idiotic. This isnt Fredex we were talking about.
I agree that Cooper has had his fair amount of struggles, but there’s no reason to blast him over a couple of bad plays. He did have a solid season last year, those 7 8 TDs were not a fluke. Cooper has the combination of size and speed that Kelly likes. He’s also a pretty good run blocker. I don’t think we should even be mentioning DeSean Jackson because of 1 loss (to an elite NFC powerhouse I might add). This offense is still developing its chemistry in the trenches. They Oline will get better as the season goes on. Having the same 5 starters on the offensive line for all 17 games last season to now missing 3 key starters is crucial and knocks the team out of sinc. Foles has been getting hammered and so has McCoy. This offense will get better. Period.
As for Josh Huff, I’m sure you’ve seen his film. He’s an aggressive versatile receiver and will get eased into the offense as Ertz was as a rookie. We’re 3-1. One loss doesn’t derail a season.
Golden Tate signed a 5 year 31 mil deal with Detroit. Way better player than Cooper, but we inked that deal with Riley so quick only to find out he’s average at best (like many already knew).
and tate returns balls.
I dont know how you can realistically compare him to Dez.
ur right..DJack played at a high level from day 1, has essentially five 1,000yd seasons and has led the league in plays of 20+ yds since he came in the league. Bryant has two 1,000 yd seasons. grass not always greener in dallas, fella.
Your statement, “This isn’t Eugene,” is an interesting point. For better and for worse, Chip, understandably, is a product of his career thus far.
No question. but the actual players headline the NFL…not coaches. you deal with them and their issues. Not the other way around like in college.
I initially didn’t want Chip, or any other college coach, because of the difficulty of transitioning from college to the NFL. At this point in his second year, I think Chip is successful and will have a fine career in the pros. I’m on board the Chip wagon.
Still, like you’re saying, it sure seems he still hasn’t unpacked all his dorm luggage. I didn’t like the draft because our early picks should be guys that can play right away. Chip drafted like he was recruiting high school players who would not play their Freshman year at Oregon. And, yea, the way he handled DeSean might have been influenced by being a coach of amateur athletes and not professionals. But maybe not. It’s hard to tell what truly went down.
So every time adversity sets in it’s “because we don’t have Jackson”? That’s gonna get old real quick. He had a whopping 9 yards against the Giants. Get over it.
youre mentioning one bad game when a backup QB is starting? how about look at his play since he entered the league? I mention it because self inflicted wounds are the worst…and this is an obvious case.
Wah Jackson wah
If you’re going to use hindsight to make the evaluation, you could at least pick a compelling receiver to say we should have picked up… like Steve Smith.
I’ll add that Maclin had beat coverage deep several times yesterday but Nick didn’t get him the ball.
Those misses kept a lot of points off the scoreboard.
I love maclin’s play so far and i’ve never been a big fan of his. Still, Maclin going up against the #2 CB starts a chain reaction that has Ertz with matchups that we love. Alas, tis’ not to be…
maybe mac isn’t good at tracking balls — also think he doesn’t high point, just wants it in his chest.
Its probably on both of them. Maclin is like the only one who is getting deep balls thrown to him.
Cooper has been epically bad, but DJax is wildly overrated. Doesn’t run sharp intermediate routes, doesn’t get off press coverage, doesn’t block competently, doesn’t really do anything exceptionally well except run the go route. Plus he’s a prima donna who was not liked in the locker room. He’s a weapon, but not a $10 million/year elite receiver.
As much evidence of him being unliked in the locker room as of his gang affiliation. NONE. Gosh you did a whole paragraph of stuff he cant do…(lil of which I agree with) reeks of sour grapes. I guess he’s just in the NFL playing at a high level by accident, yeah thats the ticket….
Jackson = Superbowl woooooohooooooooo! Seriously it’s old just cut it out. He’s gone and we’ll be fine. Biggest problem is the run game not WR. Jordan Matthews will be excellent and Jackson has played like garbage this year. I will admit we lack speed in a way but so do many successful teams. Get real cut the hyperbole and semantics out.
When Kelly cut him Kelce tweeted out something to the effect of “I know we just made an unpopular decision but I couldn’t be happier about the direction this team is taking”. Maclin said something similar. And the number of teammates who came out and outright defended Jackson against the accusation that he was a bad teammate was… zero. All circumstantial, granted, but I’d say the evidence isn’t in his favor, and is pretty damning.
As for my opinion of his on-field performance, it is based on a realistic assessment of his capabilities, not sour grapes. He is a top 15 WR in the NFL. But that is based entirely on his deep speed. He doesn’t really do anything else at a significantly above average level, and his lack of blocking, inability to catch contested balls, problems getting off press coverage, etc. are all things I (and many other Eagles fans) lamented while he was still on the team. I wouldn’t have outright cut him the way they did, but I don’t really think he was worth $10 million/year and had no issue with them getting rid of him. Not replacing him with someone better than Cooper, now that’s another matter.
Let’s add posts, corners, shallow crosses, hitches, and comebacks to that DJacc route tree lol. My goodness, somebody leaves the team and everyone magically forgets what they did. Amazing.
It was an exaggeration to say he only ran go routes, but it’s not an exaggeration to say that he only excelled at them (along with other speed-based routes – everything you list is based on deep speed). He cannot run slants, fades, buttonhooks, or any other route that requires physicality from a receiver, and he was surprisingly mediocre on bubble screens and the like because for all his elite speed he isn’t especially elusive.
He’s a good player. He is also, if not quite a one trick pony, rather limited in what he excels at. $10 million/year is top 10 NFL WR money, and DJax is not a top 10 NFL WR.
You have made 2 legit points. The first is that DJacc lacked physicality…absolutely. The other is that he was overpaid. Can’t disagree. Everything in between really doesn’t matter because he was definitely in the Top 10-16, which more than good enough to qualify as a top tier player at his position. Everyone can’t be a Megatron, and I don’t think you’ll find anyone on this planet that will say Riley + Jeremy > DeSean + Jeremy.
Oh god another Jackson fondler. Gtfo here we’re playing better overall than last year. Scoring more with inconsistent play. It’ll come together it’s still early and Foles is still timing routes with mostly new receivers in this offense. Maclin didn’t play in it last year but they had a connection in 2012 so I’m sure it’ll come together.
that my biggest issue. real birds fans know finicky and fragile young QBs can be (hoying, detmer) give them extra weapons…dont subtract them. So much of this game is being comfortable and familiarity. If Foles loses confidence he might never be anything more than average. he’s the biggest victim here…”Lets take away his best WR and really see how good he is!”–NO ONE, EVER.
Josh.McDaniels.
You have a lot of issues, it seems.
Look, if you’re that hot for Jackson — go chat him up.
For those of us here on planet Earth, the man’s been gone for 6 months? 8 months? LET IT GO ALREADY.
I remember similar sentiments from the “we dont need trott” crowd…until Barry Gardner (his replacement) let a slow pedestrian WR take a 5 yard crossing route for 50 yards in the NFC championship.
That’s a stupid analogy. Match up any middle linebacker in the NFL with any WR in the NFL and you get the exact same result. Joe Jurevicius ran a 4.45 40. Ray Lewis in his prime couldn’t have covered him on that play.
please go watch the play, Bardner has a clean shot…and if you think JJ ran a 4.4 you need to be drug tested.
I was wrong – it was a 4.49, not a 4.45, that Jurevicius ran in college. But the fact remains, if you have a coverage scheme on which your middle linebacker is expected to cover a wide receiver, and the result is a long completion, the problem is with your coverage scheme, not with the player in question.
I don’t want to argue about plays that happened 10 years ago though. Complete waste of time.
Some more good things: Jordan Matthews looking solid, and Maclin looking like the #1 we want him to be and absolutely clutch.
Casey Matthews made an impact play as well 😉
Ha. Law of averages says that he was bound to have at least one at some point!
we all must have gone “wtf?!?!” at the same time
Maclin has played at best one average secondary. He’s not a #1.
We’ll see about that. His numbers say otherwise even with inconsistent play.
Considering that a fifth of his yards came from a blown coverage by the Jaguars…yea you need to see more.
5th in the NFL in receiving yards and 7th in 20+ yard plays despite being only tied for 21st in receptions, numbers that would be even better if his quarterback weren’t missing him on multiple plays on which he’s wide open every game. Almost as many career TDs as DeSean Jackson despite playing in 20some fewer games.
Is he Calvin Johnson? No. But by any rational evaluation he is a number one receiver, considering that he’s more productive than only a handful of other WRs in the game.
Cooper is quickly becoming one of my most hated Eagles.
jimmy kempski holding him accaountable today .. w the vid’s attached
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/sports/eagles/Riley-Cooper-is-coming-up-small-in-big-moments.html
Honestly guys… I’d be way more upset if I were a 49ers fan after this game. Their defense pitched a shutout and they only won by 5 points. How messed up is that? Our oline plays like a steaming pile of garbage and we are a bit of glue on Riley Cooper’s gloves away from victory?
Somehow, I have faith that Stoutland and Kelly will get this blocking scheme working again and that the Eagles offense will score points. Next week though, isn’t a freebie game. Our oline will be challenged by St Louis. Can Lane and Todd make some holes for the run game?
I think it’s easier to deal with fluke plays (the blocked punt, etc.) and say they are unlikely to happen again, then it is for us to say our entire O stinks even against a D with injuries and suspensions and can’t score one point. But it’s just how you choose to look at it.
I disagree with referring to a blocked punt as a “fluke” play. It isn’t a random occurrence, it is a result of poor protection or some other breakdown. Infrequency does not define something as a fluke. The special teams for SF were poor all game long, that should be troubling for them. And those break downs directly led to what you termed “fluke” plays.
product of being backed up in the end zone
ok fluke isn’t the right word but my point stands. It’s easier to think those are less repeatable, more easily fixed mistakes than your offense having zero points and being god awful.
that depends, was the 0 points as much an anomaly? How many games has the offense been inept and what were the causes? You can’t look at a singular game without considering the distribution. So far this season there has been 1 game out of 4 for an offense that was leading the league in points up until this game. Seems like the 0 points was potentially as much an anomaly as a blocked punt (happens what, 1 or 2 games in a season).
This game was disconcerting, but we have to look at the causes and see what is different in this game, what is the same. Anomalies can be far more interesting, and lead to improvements. Hell, as a scientist, we find things that defy our expectations exciting because it gives us something to study. What we can ask is:
1. 4/5 of the offense of line was either replacement players or starters playing out of position. They were getting no push, so that is an issue with technique or talent? A combination of both?
2. Cooper has continued to be inconsistent at best. He had a slow start last year before coming on in the second half the season. Are we seeing the same or was last year an aberration?
3. Foles has been off: is that a function of the lack of run support, inconsistency in his receivers (2 dropped TDs by Cooper alone this season), changes in his technique, normal variations in his play?
4. Is Shady fully healthy? Is lingering turf toe limiting his cutting ability?
5. Is the depleted line limiting what Kelly is calling? Where are the wheel routes? Why does he keep calling that fake screen that all teams seem to anticipate? Is the screen game compromised?
and I am sure we can lump on several more of these questions. The bottom line is that this was the first game that the offense was limited and as we saw last year, after defenses shut them down Kelly responded. And several of these issues will fix themselves over time (the OL returning to health etc.).
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Once again Tommy talks us back from the ledge.
The Fipp!
I’m doing back fipps over our special teams!
I’m not overreacting and calling for anyone to be fired or anything, but I am having a hell of a time wrapping my head around how the Eagles got 21 points from their D and special teams, and still lost. That is just an embarrassment.
I actually feel like the coverage I’m seeing across the fantastic Eagles blogosphere is being a little too understanding of this. I mean, sure, the o-line is decimated by injuries, but the rest of the team more than did its part to pick them up. You get 21 points from your d and special teams, and the offense just needs 1 TD to seal the game … you gotta get that win.
and that touchdown was right there….slipping through Cooper’s hands…sigh 🙁
jimmy kempski article addressing what we are all worried about-
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/sports/eagles/Riley-Cooper-is-coming-up-small-in-big-moments.html
Also on that last 4th down, if Shady makes even the SECOND worst block in football history, I think we had a TD there.
Yeah but the running game is setting the offense back. As Eagles fans, we should all know we won’t pull through a tight game by only passing the football, which was our only option yesterday. This running game needs to pick up, it’s nonexistent. Getting Lane Johnson back will be a good boost.
hopefully
You know, I don’t want to get into second guessing individual plays because that’s pretty random: they guessed right, we guessed wrong, it happens many times every game. The real problem is all those other possessions that went nowhere.
That Any Given Sunday speech about it being a game of inches is so right, it’s not about that inch at the goal line, it’s about all those other, easier inches you missed that made it come down to that one at the goal line. And boy did we miss a LOT of inches on Sunday.
If the score was 26-0 like it easily could have been, the talk about how putrid our offense really was would be a lot more intense. I think the final score softens the blow a lot and makes the game look closer than it really was.
That defensive holding call on the great Cary Williams was a real back breaker for us. Tommy didn’t mention it in this post, but he certainly will when he watches the tape. Horrible game for Williams.
Williams was meh, but that was a bad call. Just a bit of light contact, and within the five yard zone – didn’t look like defensive holding to me. Even my 49er fan buddy agreed SF got lucky that call was made.
Eagles benefited from a pair of phantom O-interference calls against SF.
The officials did a lousy job against both teams.
____________
As an aside I get that there’s a rule book.
But the NFL needs to tell the refs to cut back on the calls.
WAY TOO MANY.
Besides off-sides and false-starts . . . Let the players play.
If a receiver’s tackled before the ball arrives, throw a flag.
If a D-lineman’s tackled, throw a flag.
If a face-mask is grabbed, throw a flag.
OTHERWISE, MR. OFFICIAL, PLEASE BE INVISIBLE.
flag football
Agree. Nobody pays to see Ed Hochuli.
I reckon Ed Hochuli does
Ya but, Ed needs us to see all the curls he’s been doing in the off season . You KNOW he does that “first down” move in front of the mirror at home. Then does 2 more sets… lol
Unless you take the opposing players head off and hand it to one of the specialist to punt into the stands, hands to the face needs to be dialed way back.
D3FB . . .
I should have said the list wasn’t exhaustive.
Absolutely, any assault on the opposition has to draw a flag.
Plus, the types of plays that threaten injury: Chop block for example.
My point’s just that the officials need to dial back the flags.
Riley has had some pretty bad drops this month. Yesterday’s drop will bring him some unneeded attention this week.
Hopefully it will bring him some needed time on the bench but I doubt it.
I doubt it too. He just needs to make those key plays.
gotta give Jimmy Kempski his credit today.. here they are
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/sports/eagles/Riley-Cooper-is-coming-up-small-in-big-moments.html
yikes watching the Saints gif is especially heartbreaking. There is open, then there is being that open.
I realize there’s really nothing you can do but tip your hat to the other team in those situations, but I feel like this happens way too much to us. Every game so far has had at least 1 or 2 of those kinds of plays.
Good summary Tommy. For me the thing that worries me more than anything is how “streaky’ the offence is – they can’t seem to string together more than 2 quarters in a row and are so reliant on big play, we don’t seem at all capable of stringing together consistent long drives.
Can’t decide if that’s Chip’s play calling or Foles inconsistency or maybe a bit of both.
Foles has been missing a lot of open receivers. Chip could’ve called a better game though.
Is it too soon to buy a Malcom Jenkins jersey?
How long is his contract?
3 years, 16.25 million.
He’s 26 years-old. He had a solid career before joining the Birds.
He wanted a second shot at big money.
He’ll get it unless he turns into Nate Ramsey in the next year and half..
Thanks for the info. He’s a great addition to the team.
He’s showing us why he was drafted in the first round.
I think the thing that really hurt the offense was not being able to run bubble screens or crossing routes. The ref’s made it pretty clear early on that those plays were suddenly illegal (I have no clue why). A good chunk of our offense is based on the run game, the quick bubble, and those crossers, as they allow us to keep up with the sticks and not get in third and longs.
That penalty on Riley was brutal. Feel like Chip will be calling the league this week to get some clarification on what is and isn’t a penalty.
Saw a tweet suggesting Harbaugh “pre-complained” about those plays during the week to officials.
I thought the Refs called two of those on the 49ers, also?
Or was it 1-1?
Yeah, they caught SF twice for picks, and one on Riley for blocking his man on a screen before Jordan Matthews caught the ball. But it was right on the line of scrimmage and the ball was behind the line of scrimmage. I don’t really know what the rule is, but Chip looked pretty confused about the call on the sideline.
Note the 2nd time they called SF for an illegal pick was the penalty that Chip should have declined (I think), and Kap ran for the 1st on 3rd and 13. Ended up helping SF.
And one those pick calls on SF was completely bogus.
I think EVERY head coach, EVERY GM, EVERY owner has a list of complaints against the refs this season. I hate when the lame calls go against us but I hate also see lousy calls all over! and missed calls also. I don’t want the frekkin colts being able to cry that they were ripped off.
..and EVERY announcer, especially Ray Lewis, should lodge a REF complaint against the REFs for their strange REF’ing !
And too many rink-dink calls. Slows the game down so much. This is the first year ever I find myself looking for a flag after every play.
Whenever Hochuli’s on the field I expect a lot of yellow laundry.
The guy loves to be on camera.
We shouldn’t know refs by name, they should in the background. This guy wants to be celebrity.
That’s why I want more people to jump on the twitter bandwagon with #flagfootball.
I was really confused. The pass was behind the line. Cooper should be allowed to block. Between that and the bad calls on the “pick” plays, I think Kelly was annoyed because he couldn’t run a good portion of his offense. If you can’t run the ball, and two of your best high percentage plays are taken away by the refs, it’s hard to effectively run an offense. Throw in untimely penalties and the offense couldn’t get out of it’s own way. That’s why I’m not terribly concerned about the offense. It was more just a off day combined with the perfect storm of bad refs, and self inflicted wounds rather than the offense suddenly being “figured out” or whatever bullshit narrative the beat writers are going to suggest all week.
Perfect summary. There were three or four flags thrown yesterday that I can’t remember ever being thrown before – the “rub” plays on both teams, and the Cooper PI. And then they showed some of the contact on Matthews and Crabtree that was allowed downfield, and this game struck me as almost a 180 on everything the league has been doing rules-wise the last few years. Really favored a run-oriented gameplan, IMO.
A lot went wrong offensively.
Nick played poorly, but at the very least showed some balls on that last drive.
Chip will get it straightened out. But Rams will be a tough out. Their strength against our weakness.
SF didn’t just shut down the running game.
SF also shut down the passing game.
Yes, there were some misses by Foles.
But he had misses in Games 1-3, and the Birds posted 33 pts/g.
I’m very interested to see what the All-22 shows.
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D3FB noted that the officials nixed crossing routes early.
So what else did SF do schematically to shut out the Eagles?
Missing open receivers against a bad defense like Jacksonville’s or Washington’s is less costly than missing them against a good defense like San Francisco’s. A team like the 49ers is going to defend a greater percentage of your offensive snaps well, making it more critical to take advantage of the opportunities created when they don’t. Nick is leaving way too many plays on the field. It was bound to cost us eventually.
X:
Your point’s well taken.
You can’t leave as many plays on the field against good teams.
But SF seemed to make the Eagles TE’s invisible (save another missed corner pattern to Celek).
And the WRs seemed well covered most of the day, too. (Even on Cooper’s non-TD, he a DB on his back.)
Plus the running game is a disaster at the moment.
The Eagles are a run-first team . . . and they’re averaging 38 yards on the ground the past 2 games.
Injuries hurt. But running the ball is so much attitude. And the media loves to talk about all the repetitions the Eagles back-ups get compared to other teams.
So I’m just curious what exactly went on yesterday.
It seemed to be more than just Foles being “2014 Foles.”
Oh, I agree. The offensive line has been (to quote Sir Charles) flat out turrible, meaning Foles has frequently been under duress and has been forced to hurry throws at times. Riley Cooper has been atrocious, and other guys (Celek, Matthews, the RBs) have also dropped catchable balls. Bad run blocking has left Shady with no holes to hit and appears to have gotten into his head since he’s trying to bounce things outside too much. The team has not taken care of the ball as well as it did last year – in addition to more interceptions, they’ve put the ball on the carpet at critical junctures the last two weeks. There’s a lot wrong with this offense beyond the quarterbacking. But Nick has been missing on deep throws that he hit on regularly last season. That has to change.
Yeah . . . I’m with you on the misses by Foles.
And he’s missing by a lot. Not just fingertip deals. Or even mis-communications. Just bad misses.
The NFL’s a passing league.
You need a great passer to win.
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I wrote after the game yesterday that I liked Foles better when he wasn’t hurraying to avoid the sack.
“Be quick but don’t hurry” — a great John Wooden-ism.
Foles just seems a bit off. I wanna believe he’s hurraying instead of being quick — so as to avoid sacks.
It does look to me like his mechanics are off. He’s throwing flat footed or off his back foot too much, not stepping into his throws and driving the ball. If you have the arm strength of Rodgers or Kaepernick, you can get away with that. But Foles can’t afford shoddy technique. Obviously part of this is on the offensive line since he has often lacked a clean pocket or good platforms to throw from, but he’s gotten sloppy as well. I hope Musgrave gets with Foles this week and works on ironing these things out. He was much better mechanically last year (and had the accuracy to show for it), so we know he can do it.
Does any of what you described have to do with consciously thinking — which is always bad for an elite athlete — “I have to get the ball out”?
I’m sure that’s part of it. You see it all the time with guys who depend on technique rather than physical talent, like Eli Manning – a slight change in timing or approach brought about by circumstances such as offensive line or receiver problems can produce a large variance in performance.
Man, your posts are converging with shah8. Endtimes are near!
Oh man… that’s disturbing.
I hope the fact that a.)I acknowledge that guys who are less than supremely gifted physically can still be outstanding quarterbacks and b.)the fact that I don’t believe there’s an NFL-wide conspiracy to deny the world the wonders of Joe Webb’s quarterbacking differentiate me.
Foles seems a bit off. And shady. And Cooper. Is it all b/c of the OL injuries? And if so, Kelce and Mathis are out for awhile.
I really hope Lane back, Todd back to OG is enough to prop things up.
I read (sorry, don’t have time to find the article) quotes from one of our OL saying the DL knew how to play our run. Like, when we stretched they didn’t charge forward, they directionally often knew which way to go.
Obv I hope it’s not something like “they figured out the Eagles O” but those quotes made it sound like that.
ok here it is I couldn’t stop myself: http://www.phillymag.com/birds247/2014/09/28/got-whooped-front/#more-2848213
“If we tried to run outside zone they
wouldn’t even run with us, they would just sit there and run straight
upfield,” said Tobin. “The ‘backers just like their spot. Say we were
running [outside zone] and a guy was right over me and I wanted to reach
him, I didn’t even have to go right, I could just run straight at him.
And the d-line would just sit in their spot, too. And then the outside
linebackers were pinning the play in so there was no room to run the
ball.”
I’d seen that. Damned interesting.
If I had the time and resources, I’d like to go back to the games from last season in which defenses shut down the Eagles’ run: Dallas I, Giants II, Chargers, Cardinals.
See what those teams did. See what Washington did last week.
See if a pattern’s emerging.
Of if SF did something different.
harbaugh and ck aren’t strangers. think he did same things he would have done at standford except that he’s got one of the best front 7 in the league.
A . . .
That thought occurred to me.
But I don’t think it works.
In the 4 Kelly-Harbaugh/Oregon-Stanford games, including 2010 when the very same Vic Fangio was Stanford’s DC . . . .
Oregon scored 55, 35, 42, and 52 points.
So Harbaugh’s familiarity with Kelly has been no advantage.
The thing is, if they’re doing that, it should make them vulnerable to other forms of attack. There is no action in football without counteraction, no strength without a corresponding weakness. It’s time for some jiujitsu. Chip needs to look at the film, diagnose these problems, and develop a few plays which build off what the Eagles do now but exploit the weaknesses of the defenses being employed against them. Fortunately, I don’t think he has Reid’s stubborn streak and we can depend on him to do so.
yes sweep the leg!!
Kouchi Gari – minor inner foot sweep (judo) couldn’t resist. What’s funny is given the amount of time the offense was on the bench I was shocked Chip didn’t make successful adjustments.
San Fran blew our center into our backfield all game…
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Pressure up the middle is the pressure that hurts a QBs game the most…
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like Chip said, we got our butts whipped up front. We can talk about all the other small things that went wrong….but if we correct all those small things for the next game, but the interior of our OL gets manhandled again, correcting all the other little things won’t matter, and our offense will have similar struggles to yesterday..
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If we don’t get the interior of our Line straightened out, fixing the other stuff won’t make much of a difference,. The OL is crucial.
,..
Fortunately Lane coming back moves Herremans back to guard were he can help slow down some of the interior pressure we are giving up
It was very nice to see the Eagles defense play pretty well. The offense continually put them in bad positions, but they made the most of it. The way they set that edge was pretty atrocious though.
If the Trent Cole injury was serious we might be in some serious trouble. Our number one pick is already playing ILB. Some people look at that as a way of showing versatility and forcing his way onto the field. I don’t. BG is NOT suited to start in that role.
They got whipped the whole game. The score could of easily been as bad as the Indy Oak game, but they were in the thing until the last play. I love that, but hope it isn’t flukey.
BG was Awesome at OLB yesterday..
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Marcus playing ILB has nothing to do with him… He is playing their our of desperation because we lost our two fastest, most athletic LBs Goode, and Kendrick….
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If Acho or Mathews were injured instead of Naje Goode, we would be seeing Marcus play at ILB…. We lost our two fastest best LB in coverage…Marcus playing ILB has NOTHING to do with him
GEAGLE at this point, are you working on trading BG for Dion but now making the Dolphins throw in a pick?
Can’t trade BG, his contract expires… Need to trade Curry for Dion
Yes BG looked awesome rushing the passer yesterday, which is what he is suited to do. He does not look awesome playing the pass, which is something that position needs to be able to do. That is my concern.
I disagree about Marcus. If he were as good as I would like him to be at OLB there would never be a thought of changing his position, just because he is capable. The thing that is most unsettling about it to me is that the way Davis talks about it, you would think there would be some sort of permanence to the move. Essentially saying if he screws it up he will move back.
Before those remarks from Davis I sort of took it as a guy doing what he had to do. After those remarks I take it as a coaching staff thinking a guy isn’t necessarily a special player at his current position. Look, I have no problem with a young pass rusher having a slow first (or even second year). When I get concerned is when the coaching staff gives a tell that the guy is nothing special.
I prefer to go buy Billy Davis saying that he will be fine as an OLB by the beginning of next year…
read a quote on roto that NF has gone deep 40 times already 20 more times than any other qb through 4 games. interesting fact considering i think the deep ball is his worst ball. it seems like foles really likes working down field rarely do we see the intermediate passes that we saw when he first became QB in the system.
Damn. Gotta connect eventually. At least we hope.
I think part of this is the playcalling/defenses the Eagles have been playing. When teams crowd the line to stop your running game and leave you with single coverage on the outside, burning them with the deep ball is one of the best ways to make them reconsider their strategy. I’m sure Kelly has told Nick to throw it deep, and Nick has mostly made the right reads about when to do so. He just hasn’t made on-target throws for the most part.
Just gotta remember, too, that those deep throws ARE harder throws to complete. Nick’s been bad, especially yesterday, but some people act like he should be completing 70% of his deep throws in order to be considered merely competent. There’s a reason most teams don’t throw it that deep that often, even when they have a good run game – those are not high percentage plays, even when called against favorable coverages (notice that SF has never featured them to the extent that Kelly does). And they’re especially difficult throws to wait to throw when your OL is a mess.
To be clear, Kelly’s system’s success depends on executing high difficulty plays with more regularity than other teams due to more practice reps, so Nick must clean that up. But against quality defenses, with a patchwork OL, expect a lot more inconsistency. It’s baked into the scheme at some level. And Nick is not a top 5 QB who can be expected to have continued success when the run game is consistently producing 1.8 ypa.
Shah8 might point out to us how Bridgewater was available when we picked Smith II.
Looks like he can also continue to shed light on Ponder, as apparently, there’s a good chance he starts next week.
Very unlikely.
smith ii gave up the big frank gore play. feel bad for him almost.
Another game, another non-factor for Smith II. Yeah, yeah he is an outside LB learning the position but every 1st pick already made some contributions. Smith barely can stay on the field and is only getting dressed due to injuries.
Really? Can you find ODB’s statline or snapcounts for me?
Go down and look at the rest of the 1st round picks and their contributions so far. Only one who hasn’t done anything is Beckham and that is because he is hurt.
People are nuts,., this isn’t a battle we will win
ODB hasn’t gotten on the field. Justin Gilbert is a backup for the Browns. And they’re still trying to get the scorch marks out of Calvin Pryor’s jersey after his performance on Sunday. Smith has not contributed much so far, but it’s not like he’s the only first round pick in that boat. So come off it.
Besides, we all get it already – you think Smith is a bust. Repeating that opinion after every game and in every comment thread is not going to make your premature conclusion more persuasive.
I knew we weren’t going to pick him. If we were going to dump a viable QB for Napoleon Dynamite, then we certainly weren’t going to draft someone to replace da dream.
Vick’s so viable he can’t displace Geno Smith, who flat out sucks.
Foles QBR looking crazy he’s right in the middle around 17th (next to kaep). does everyone think he’s been that bad or better than stats indicate?
yeah it’s a bad stat but it’s bad for everyone equally.
Foles is never going to be a Brady or Manning but the question to me is he good enough to be a Top 10 QB consistently. It is a fair question yet and the jury is still out.
The only way Foles should be benched is if he physically can’t do at this point or is only 50-60%.
I’ve never been more frustrated with Foles than I am now. He hasn’t looked like a starter at all.
Watching the Eagles lose so pathetically and watching the Cowboys dominate is a great recipe for depression, ugh.
only 4 games, long season left.
Exactly why I’m not contemplating suicide right now.
1st half i was saying we were going to sb. now…i think it’ll make a good redemption story when we beat the 49ers in the playoffs.
I know you’re joking, but seriously – if an Eagles loss depresses you all week, you need some other hobbies. Following sports is supposed to be fun.
RE: Strange Goings On and Offensive Geniuses
T-Law wrote:
“But the team is still finding ways to stay in games.” Including yesterday.
___________
Respectfully . . .
I don’t want to depend on (i) a blocked kick/punt TD, plus (ii) a kick/punt return TD, plus (iii) a defensive-return TD every week to keep the Eagles “close” at the end.
That trifecta has happened just 78 times in more than 22,000 NFL games (or 44,000 team-chances) in the past 54 years.
That’s less than two-tenths of one percent of all NFL games played since 1960 . . . which translates numerically as odds of: 0.0017727 to 1.00.
Or 1 time every 35 years.
What happened yesterday does not (again, respectfully to T-Law) fairly make the case that the Eagles found a way to stay close yesterday. The Eagles were close at the end. True. But given the extraordinary intersection of special plays on one afternoon . . . I don’t think the Birds “found a way” to stay close. It just happened.
As for Weeks 1-3, the offense did plenty. And the defense just enough. Against the 49ers. The defense did enough. The offense was just shut down.
____________
** HISTORICAL ANALOGY to Kelly and the Struggling Running Game **
In the post-merger NFL, no team ran the ball better for longer than Joe Gibbs’s Washington teams (in his first tenure from 1981-92).
Gibbs was an offensive genius. He’s as responsible as anyone for all but ending the 46 Defense. (Gibbs made max-protection and bunch receivers a staple.)
Anyway, in 1989, Washington lost 3 of its starting 5 O-linemen for at least 6 games each.
In the midst of that injury run, Washington had back-to-back games where the team rushed for exactly 20 yards and 50 yards.
(Sound familiar? Like the last two Eagles’ games with 54 and 22 yards.)
But Gibbs straightened out his O-line. Quickly. And not because his starters became healthy either.
Gibbs refused to quit on the running game.
Against the Eagles, coming off that 50-yard rushing game, Gibbs called 43 runs for only 99 yards in a 10-3 Washington victory.
Washington went 6-1 after its 50-yard rushing day.
And Gibbs did that with QB Mark Rypien starting 6 of those 7 games. (Doug Williams QBd the other.)
_____________
Is Kelly an offensive genius?
By all accounts the answer’s been “yes” so far.
But he’s hit a bump in the road with the ground game. Here’s a great chance to prove that, yes, there’s no one behind any curtain in the Nova Care Complex.
If it happened 78 times in 54 years, how does that translate to 1 time every 35 years?
Math.
2 teams per game.
16 games per week.
16 weeks per season. (The bye makes no difference.)
54 seasons.
(Adjust those numbers for the number of NFL teams since 1960, and the 12 – then 14 – then 16 game schedule.)
You end up with *odds* for a single team of 1 in 35 seasons.
At least I did.
OK thanks
I’m actually getting a kick out of today… All the miserable crappy fans who been acting like we lost after these past 3 wins, finally have a real loss to legitimately bitch about…
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Molk is a disgrace who should be cut today. After getting manhandled all day yesterday and the team losses a hard fought game, two minutes after the game ends this DOPE is doing interviews talkng about how happy he is and even tho we were losing he kept thinking how great it was to be playing in an NFL game.. Are u kidding me kid? Act like you fucking been here before..
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Cary Williams is an idiot for some of the things he says, but a center who got his butt whipped who’s team mates and fans are pissed after a loss should know better than to immediately do an interview talking ability how happy you Are to just be there… Infuriating!
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I think we took how great our OL was for Granted.. Just think to how often the line would get shady to the second level so he could put on a move and make a LB miss…we knew we had a top line, but it think we may have taken how great it was for granted, and what we are going through now should help us appreciate it,,
,,,
All I keep thinking of is THANK GOD Kelce and Mathis aren’t done for the season… Don’t know WTF we would do if they were season ending injuries..
Getting Lane back is huge! Herremans slides back to guard where he can help Molk! and slow down some of the interior pressure teams are getting on FOles.. No pressure effects a QB more than pressure up the middle..
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Tobin will get better and better with every week that passes….but I wonder if we will consider Wade after another week or two when his conditioning should be up,..
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Yesterday’s game was simple..Chip said it best: “we got our butts whipped up front”… When your OL loses the battle by a nice margin, you probably aren’t going to win the game… This offense is based on rythem..when we pick up a first down, we are off to the races.,. We couldn’t get first downs, we could to keep the chains moving, whoch means we weren’t able to wear down the defense with our tempo, which is supposed to be the equalizer that helps our backup OL win the battle in the second half when the opponent is gassed..
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No big deal… We live to fight another day
The thing is, Molk literally never has been there before.
Come on man… I understand feeling that way…you can keep it to your damn self….
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I’m sure there were 52 men who fought their hearts out and were really upset about the loss… You can’t show how happy you are when your team mates are hurt, because for them, just being here isn’t good enough…..
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If we are being honest, and not doing the double standard thing…Molks actions weremt at all any less selfish than Desean being happy about a TD and 100 yard game even tho his team loss… SELFISH, and a smack in the face to the players who put everything into yesterday’s games and who were upset about the loss…
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I understand him feeling that way… No fucking excuse for why you should be expressing that in an interview right after the game…..selfish selfish selfish…
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It’s like when you go to the casino with your friend..on the way home he is all pissed off because he lost all his money, you can’t be celebrating on the ride home next to him giddy over how much money you won…. It’s just not a good look, and he should have been smarter than to give that interview to Gunn
especially when it’s poker and you took his money
LOL
Do you have a link to the question and respone?
Sorry heard the audio… Pretty sure it was Gunn who did the interview so we should be able to find it
On CSNPhilly in the next 24 hour..
,.
As humans we don’t get to choose our feelings. If he was happy, he was happy..I don’t fault him for that…but he can be happy and keep those types of statements to himself…it’s a slap in a face to a guy like Jason peters who gives his all every single games and takes losses hard…
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What’s crazy is this wasn’t the first time Molk played… He should have made these statements two games ago when he had to play guard and we won
Who exactly should the Eagles pick up? Making much ado about nothing here.
Where the fuck are you reading me talk about needing to pick up a centers?
The clips I’ve seen have edited out the context of Gunn’s question. It appears he is responding to Gunn asking him what it was like playing and getting to make his first NFL start. That’s a journalist being an asshole and setting up a guy who doesn’t spend alot of time with the media to fail. It a dick move by Gunn. If you seriously think Molk isn’t disappointed int the results yesterday, you’re outside your damn mind. But he was asked what it was like to get to finally start an NFL game. The guy has put tens of thousands of hours and made countless sacrifices to get to that point in his life. Don’t dismiss him or hate him because a veteran media guy was able to trip him up. That’s naive and lacks any context.
Agree, Molk being so chirpy after that game (and particularly after the way he performed) got on my nerves too.
I get what he is saying.l. But we all been in a position where we were happy, but had to hide it because it would hurt people around us… Or because it wasn’t proper form to be outwardly celebrating,,,
,,,
I’m sure the veterans, if not Chip, talked to him about it,l
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At this point, you can’t just be happy to be here, we need you to play. You need to expect to win, not be happy with just playing,…
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You got a fan base that is going to feel this loss all week, you have to be smarter than to go on camera talking about how You were getting your ass handed to you during the game but you still kept thinking how happy you were to be there.. Like WTF
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All you should have been thinking of is to destroy Ian Williams before he pushes you into FOles lap…
Imagine you’re really hungry because you haven;t eaten all day. You order a pizza, and when it arrives, you’re so happy to finally have pizza. Then you burn your tongue on it, and you’re so angry. But still happy to have pizza.
TL;DR: what’s so complicated about the concept of having two conflicting emotions? Molk likes his job. Lucky him.
No reason he can’t keep it to his damn self..
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What he did is no different than Desean being happy to gain 100 yards and a TD in a loss…. You can be happy inside, but make sure you hide it from your hurt team mates and fanbase,,,,,
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Oh ow the fuck is this even debatable?
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Locker room full of dejected players, probably not a great idea to be publically talking about how happy you are…
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Wouldn’t be surprised of Chip called Molk in his office today to talk about it
You’re seriously the worst. Jesus F Christ. Breathe.
Hahah it eats at you that no one gives a shit what you write..
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LOL hahaha I love you… You give me a big head. You flatter me, my Most loyal cocksucker
Same act as usual from you…..
Hopefully you’ll grow out of it as soon as you move out from your parent’s basement.
The reaction to this loss reminds me why there are a lot of Eagles fans I can’t stand talking Eagles with. The bitterness, negativity, and irrational pessimism from that portion of the fanbase is worse than the disappointment of the team losing.
Right!! Lol that bothered me after a win… People complain when we don’t play perfect and win by 40….makes losing unbearable…but the same idiots will tell you they are the best fans, smart fans who can’t b fooled lol
Something else that’s been in my head… Chip, like most coaches breaks the season down In quarters…after the 4th, 8th and 12th game…he goes back and self scouts the team.mI. Remember last year, we struggled during the 4th or 8th games play calling got stale as the quarter ended…then we saw Chip self scout, and we would come out the 1st game of a new quarter, with all new plays and we would go on to have big games..
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Feel Like the play calling got stale during the 4th game of this quarter, Chip will see scout and I expect a big offensive game next week which is what happened usually last year after we self scouted…
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Then again, I don’t know if I can call the play calling stale when we are playing with 3 inexperienced backups… I’m sure there were plenty of plays we would like to run, that we didn’t feel like we could run with the back ups… I’m sure we weren’t calling the same game we would have called with our healthy line,,
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No big deal…. A win Sunday, and 4-1 is nothing to sneeze at…
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If we can win 3 of 4 games in each quarter of the season, I’d take that all day
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LOL @ over rating the cowboys! I saw this movie a thousand times..Americas team always looks good in September/October???don’t know about y’all! but is remember December Romo very well
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OL will be better Sunday than it was yesterday, and against the giants it should be better than it will be against the rams..improve a little each week, and in no time, we get Kelce back
last week we kept running even though we got no yards. this game seems like we didn’t. also need to figure out another play other than tossing over the top to maclin – accuracy just not there and when you don’t have a run game those deep shots end up being drive killers.
When we self scouted this time last year…we realized we were doing certain plays too much, and then Chip adjusted and changed The variation of the play and it ended up burning defenses for the next few weeks….Kapadia did a all 22 about it last year…. Remember the first 4 games, we were running those crossing patters where Celek and the WR would slap hands to stay close when they were crossing by each other creating a pick…and then defenses picked up on it, Chip realized it when the quarter ended and he self scouted us and then he ran that same concept but instead of them crossing each other. Ertz would pivot and go the other way and it ended up working like a charm…
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Remember what I’m talking about? Kapadia did all 22 on this exact Example last year…
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Curious to chart the 4th, 8th, 12th games under Chip and compare them with the week later after we self scouted…so I’m curious to see the difference in our attack from game 4 to 5, 8 to 9 and 12 to 13..
i remember asking myself where that play was on sunday.
Eagles keep saying just 4 weeks but I would be surprised if it wasn’t closer to 6-7 weeks at least. Even then he has a slightly higher chance for a occurrence of a tear coming back so soon and if that happens it likely will mean his career is over.
Expecting Kelce in early November.. Hoping to get Mathis back for thanksgiving that way he can knock the rust off against the cowboys and have 10 days to recover for the SEAHAWK game in the first week of december
Still don’t understand the rationale for not accepting the penalty and giving SF another shot at 3 an 13. Was Kelly really that lacking in confidence in this offense and they have had 3 previous game-winning drives including 2 4th ones already this season?
FG range?
Maybe but that is assuming though that they don’t call a draw play to Gore there or that Kaepernick doesn’t scramble. Eagles hadn’t done a great job of containing Kaepernick all afternoon & when the 49ers had run in the 2nd half they were tearing at least 4-5 yards a carry.
Thought it was a really suspect decision based on how the game has unfolded and what the current circumstances were. One of the few times I thought it was a real mistake by Kelly so far this season.
Any coach will gladly have the opponent try to convert 3-and-15 by running the ball.
What happened yesterday was an execution problem.
But in terms of the odds . . . “It was the smart move.”
it’s a bit longer field goal, what 51 yards? then we only need a FG to win. The O had maybe 80 yards at that point.
He prob thought (chances of keeping them to long FG here [and maybe they miss]) + (chances they convert but we hold to a shorter FG attempt – which is what happened) > (chances they score a TD on this drive).
I’ve no idea, but maybe Kelly’s math is better than ours at these kind of questions. Isn’t this an area where he is known to be pretty smart?
he’s done it before and it’s worked before. didn’t work this time, just as no play works 100% of the time.
it did work. We got the opportunity to hold to a longer FG, and held to the shorter FG. It’s not like we ran out of time at the end, we had 3rd and goal from the 1. We were killing time (letting clock go down).
or you could say his plan A didn’t work, but it didn’t fail (TD) either.
The “math” is irrelevant the defense had been on the field for about 70% of the game at that point math doesn’t factor human elements like how gassed are your players. Kelly should’ve had then 9ers kick the FG.
Chip didn’t know his D had been on the field? I mean, c’mon of all the 2nd guessing today this one is nitpicking. I’ll trust Chip on these kinds of decisions. Someone said before he isn’t paid to be “fair” to the D. If this gives you the best chance to win the game, you do it.
Nitpicking give me a break, the 9ers converted the 1st down after the penalty by a Kaepernick run, the D couldn’t strop SFs running game and you don’t think there’s no correlation between the Eagles issues and the TOP disparity. Maybe it was different on TV but at the game everyone I was with thought it was a bad call.
right but they only got a FG, same as if he accepted. Anyway, some people don’t like this decision, I think these are the areas where Chip has thought a lot about the math. Either way is fine.
Why? So he could end up with the exact same result he got, only without the possible payoff of a missed FG if the defense holds and they have to try it from 50+ yards instead of 40?
It was closer to 130 yards but Eagles had done a poor job of containing Gore in the 2nd half and Kaepernick on scrambles all game long.
I think that was exactly his calculus, and I think he was right.
Belichick would’ve made the same call, and told the naysayers to buzz off. So glad we have a coach with the stones not to be afraid of being second guessed.
Re: They’re not called “Centers” for Nothing
Kelce’s become a star. One of the handful of Centers whose play not only gets noticed every game. But makes a difference.
With Molk at Center, run production and pass pro have sagged quite a bit the past two weeks.
That said, look around the NFL.
How many teams have even a mediocre *starting* center?
How many Centers can anyone who reads T-Law’s blog even name?
(Pouncey brothers don’t count. As good as they are when they’re healthy, they have the unfair advantage of (a) being twins and therefore notable, (b) 1st Rd picks, and (c) in the news for the wrong reasons.)
Anyway, with the injury to Kelce and the precipitous drop in O-line production — both this season and in 2012 — I’m wondering . . . .
Where do centers now rank on the list of “most important player by position”?
QB . . . still #1.
But how ’bout Center v. LT? Or Center v. a Megatron-quality WR? Or Center v. an 11-13 sack OLB? Or Center v. Safety?
If you had to choose between having a great LT or C, which do you take?
You can scheme help for your LT with a TE, a RB, or even a slot receiver.
But how do you scheme help for the Center — who also has to call out O-line signals.
Are Centers the new LTs?
Are Centers the most important position after QB?
Just wondering.
some qbs set protection making the center less valuable, but agree.
TAke the LT, harder to find…because great LT need to have specific physical and athletic traits…. Harder to find these big special athletes who can move and keep your QB from getting killed,.
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One position requires rare physical traits for a man that size….center requires Football Brains…
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I will say it’s harder to get your backup center ready to play, then your backup LT, because the center has to have the cerebral part down pat
Things that make you go hmmm…
Center’s got PAID this offseason. Alex Mack, Jason Kelce…..
Dallas is looking smart for drafting Travis Frederick two years ago. They’ve invested heavily in that line and now its paying dividends.
Can’t forget our favorite one. Zack Martin who took out Sean Lee for the season
I know it might insult Shady, but I would at some point have liked to see Polk in for a series. You might say no, it’s the OL and there might be just a 15% chance Polk would make a difference, but let’s play those odds.
Fuck shady… He is on my shit list. I understand the human nature of being frustrated right now, but he can’t let his frustrations screw with the other parts of his game. Shady missed a crucial block on that 3rd and “4th down on the goal line that really hurt us and had a big hand in us not scoring that game winning TD..
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I understand being frustrated over lack of yards, but you can’t allow that to screw with your head and cause you to miss a crucial block I a key moment…
Foles missed I believe it was Casey on a dump-off throw. Casey was in position to fight for the TD at the 1-2 yard line. Foles just lobbed it into the back of the RZ.
Casey had almost no chance of getting into the end zone with that ball. Now, in retrospect, that was better than the other routes turned out, but at the time it was the right call not to throw short of the goal line on 4th down.
Herremans, one of the only OL we had that can’t be counted on, whiffed on a block on that 4th down play, which is what threw FOles off and resulted in the crappy outcome…. Herremans has to step up and hold his block with the game on the line and a Play where our QB is rolling out to his side…
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Shady didn’t hold his block well enough on the incomplete 3rd down, and Herremans screwed the 4th I down play up
“F**k shady . . . He is on my shit list.”
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Pearls.
Absolute pearls.
A whiff of Allen Iverson-itis?
I seem to remember off-season rumors that Kelly’s frustrated at times by McCoy’s attitude. The way he was w/ D-Jax.
And that rumor’s run a couple times this season, I think.
Rumors like that don’t spontaneously erupt from nothingness.
Better cut him and keep Sproles.
Makes no difference to me.
I’m not Chip Kelly.
i wouldn’t be surprised if he goes — overdraft a quality rb in the 3rd, rb doesn’t need to be that dynamic to succeed in the scheme.
Looks like someone asked Chip my question:
“It’s not the ball-carrier. We’re not generating what we need in the run
game at all. It doesn’t matter who we’re handing it to.”
Yeah he addressed It today… He said it would be one thing if shady is getting no yards but Sproles was able to run wild, than it would be a RB issue… But he said it’s an OL issue, when your OL is getting it’s “butt whipped” and getting NO PUSH, which RB is in the game doesn’t really matter
I hear him….but I still wanted to see Polk for one series to prove it.
More than a bit disingenuous of Kelly to create a hypothetical comparing McCoy’s production versus Sproles’s the past 2 weeks.
Sproles has had 3 carries in the past 2 games (for 24 yards, an 8-yd avg).
McCoy’s had 29 carries the past 2 games (for 39 yards, a 1.34 ypc avg).
29 v. 3. That’s a NON-Comparison.
The Eagles were winning yesterday for a good part of the game.
Still, Kelly called 45 pass plays to 11 running plays.
That’s an 80-20 ratio.
Wow. That’s more Marty-esque than Marty.
Think his point was that the way he evaluated our OL play, it wasn’t going to matter which RB young back there cuz we weren’t winning enough of the battles up front…
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His evaluation of our run woes is the Interior OL not getting enough of a push
Ah . . . got it.
Grazie
Direct quote: “we got our butts whipped up front” to the point where Chip thought it wouldn’t matter what RB we put in, when Ian Williams is blowing Molk back into FOles lap on every other play
Kinda hard to say when he isn’t really letting the backups have a go. Polk and Sproles don’t shy away from contact. Shady stops and tries to juke every time he thinks he’s about to get hit, so he’s not maximizing every touch.
Also might motivate shady
Lol bills just announced EJ Manuel is benched and they are going with Kyle Orton….. Lol I’ll take our problems over the bills problems lol
Bad gamble by the Bills in the 2013 draft.
Very bad.
Remember how the Bills management chirped about keeping their interest in Manuel “top secret” before the draft?
Was anyone else really that interested in him?
A mid-1st round QB . . . w/ 47 TDs and 28 INTs in college? Ouch.
The Bills — after trading down from 8th to 16th with the Rams (who took Tavon Austin . . . ouch) — passed on your boy OG Kyle Long. And TE Tyler Eifert. And WR DeAndre Hopkins.
Never liked that pick.
getting a good QB seems to be like 90% of the game. Which is kind of shame, I think. It credits those teams too much and makes it too hard to go from bad to good.
Great point. Well said.
Huge return if you hit. But an even bigger cost if you miss w/ a 1st Rder.
The whole NFL-as-flag-football skews the draft process and buries teams — as you alluded — that can’t find a QB
What I didn’t like was the way EJ Manuel and Geno Smith both were rated by knowledgeable people as being unready for starting roles, yet both were thrown to the wolves by their new coaches. Both should have had understudy roles for a couple of years, like Steve Young, Aaron Rogers, Tom Brady, etc. They are probably ruined now.
Sanchyz 4 Ratings
Yeah I never believed in him or Geno…
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I really laugh at them for the trade for Sammy Watkins, I love that kid, but they are going to suck this year, which means they are going to end up with a top 10 pick that they have to give to the browns.lol basically to trade for Sammy, they had to trade away the pick they needed to use to get Sammy a real QB lol… Not going very far with EJ
Re: Problem WITH the Backup O-linemen or WHO they are?
The O-line — specifically, the inside-three of Tobin, DKelly, and Molk — has been shouldering a lot of the blame after the 49ers loss.
But before yesterday, those 3 players had a TOTAL of just 2 starts at their positions. (DKelly had 10 starts at RT in 2012.)
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QUESTION:
Do Roseman and Chip Kelly bear any responsibility for this situation?
Those are the two individuals most responsible for choosing to keep 3 players with essentially zero experience in the middle of the O-line.
Add in OT Andrew Gardner, and he had Zero starts before Week 2.
Management made the decision to go “young” and “inexperienced” on the O-line.
Was it because of money?
The belief that the Eagles O-line was immune from injuries?
Because there just weren’t many good experienced O-linemen out there available after last season to add to the roster on short-term deals?
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Is all this a self-inflicted wound?
Or just the way things are in an NFL with 32 teams?
(And the owners want to expand again . . . D-I-L-U-T-I-O-N.)
They do if you include that they had 3 projected starters in their mid-30s coming into the year on the OL and the chances of all 5 starters starting every game again was pretty close to 0%.
I dunno man… They extended Barbre who is a quality 6th OL…
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I don’t like how our backup OL looking these days, but I don’t know too many teams who can survive losing 3 starting offensive lineman… The fact that we are going into games expecting to beat teams like the Niners with 3 backup OL who barely have any experience is a testament to the job Chip has done up Until now..
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I was convinced we would win yesterday, where as if we were going into a game with 3 injured OL under Andy, I would never expect to win the game…
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The fact that they overcame it to a 3-1 start is really a job well done,..
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Don’t know many teams who have an 8th OL that can block Justin smith… Did you see the play where he literally threw Tobin out of the way? Justin smith didn’t have sacks. But he was hitting FOles all day yesterday including causing the INT when he hit FOles right as he was trying to throw it to Maclin
..,
The fact where we expect this team to beat good teams with 3 injured OL reflects the type of job this coaching staff has done to make us expect wins under such bad circumstances…
Sometimes things just don’t play out the way you expect. In a parallel universe Gabe Jackson or Trai Turner would be starting ahead of Tobin and Josh Huff would be playing for Seattle (or we’d have him instead of Jaylen Watkins). And we’d all be pretty excited about those guys, they’re playing well.
Howie talked about the run on OL….
Way too much complaining/grousing about a tough game on the road against a good team that had their back up against the wall. Just saw a veteran team that was more physical than the Eagles.
No serious injuries too with hopefully a chance to get back 2 key starters this week.
well I think we saw a win near our grasp, we are all greedy for wins and the way we lost with such a bad O performance just stings.
I think we’d rather have seen good games from the OL, Shady, Foles etc. that just came up short.
It was also going out to the West Coast. Not nearly as pronounced as West Coast teams coming East and the effect on the winning pct but it still matters since the home team in the NFL has own at around a 57% clip the last decade.
49ers also 13-3-1 at home the past 2 years too.
Eagles also played a very physical and emotional divisional game vs Skins.
especially when the fire alarm goes off all night at the hotel. Nice job by the team putting out a pic of the hotel.
Under Andy we would fly out on Fridays.. Chip flew us out on Saturday, made us go to bed at 9pm and tried to keep us on easy coast time.. A lot of what Chip does is still In the NFL trail and error phase for him…wonder if we will see him stick to this schedule, or change it and fly out on Fridays…
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Also, when it comes to Cary-gate, hearing that the frustration haven’t been brewing…think it was just a case of us playing on a Monday night, players expecting Tuesday off, but Chip making them come in on Tuesday… My understanding of Cary-gate, is that it’s not about practicing too hard in general, and that the complaint was about how Chip handled a short work week…
All night?
multiple times. Are you really posting to critique my misuse of the word all night, b/c you think they got a good night’s sleep despite the alarm going off more than once and they had to go outside? or b/c you are the grammar police?
Eagles under Kelly . . .
7-2 on the road.
Before yesterday.
The problem was we had a chance to win. “Wasted 2 STs TDs and a pick 6.
Howie Roseman will be in Cali scouting UCLA this week, visiting their practices… Can you say Mykal Kendricks brother Eric? Lol
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Under Andy we would have flown to San Fran on Friday…Chip didn’t fly us out til Saturday.. Wonder if he changes this after a little more trail and error
Myles Jack included.
Love that kid.. But I’m pretty sure he isn’t eligible to come out this year,.. Correct?
Rewatched the game in condensed version.. OL looked good in pass pro.. Molk, Tobin n Herremans had their issues especially in the 4th Qtr.. The run game Tobin, Molk n Ertz struggled.. I will throw in Cooper as well struggling in run blocking.. The play where Shady did a reverse the other way was Coopers fault he let Brooks get past him n then run away to look for someone else to block?? Foles is struggling big time.. Those throws are just off.. One thing i see hes getting into a bad habit is throwing off his back foot.. Not stepping into his throws in the mid to deep balls.. Shady missed that block on that crucial 3rd down throw to Celek.. But again if Foles steps up Shady rides Bethea around the back.. The play call on the Goal line was actually pretty good.. Was that levels concept hi low.. Instead of going to Mac at the back he should of dumped it to Casey.. There was a defender behind him but Casey had the size advantage on him n the momentum running towards the line
I said that too. He was in position to get the ball across the goal ljne but Foles was looking down the field to his left. Ended up as a high lob into double coverage.
Re watching the film was not fun…. Did you see Justin Smith literally throw Tobin out of the way like he was nothing? Other times he drove Tobin all the way back…all game Smith was hitting Folea right as he threw it, causing the INT to Maclin…
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Molks game film, I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry… He was getting driven all the way back into FOles lap all game
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Herremans really screwed up, whiffing on a key block on the 4th n goal play that we botched
After our first 3 wins I had to sit thru all the doom n gloom of this city treating the Wins as if they were losses…
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What’s funny is, that with the way that game went yesterday, even if he complete that comeback and win, fans would still be doom n glooming today, talkng about how we got lucky and how we shouldn’t have won… So might as well lose and give the idiots something to really bitch about…
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It’s hard to win games in the NFL… Not appreciating wins is absurd. Every win is a good win… There aren’t going to be many perfect games in September. There are things that you need to still work on after every win in September..
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The good teams win enough games now, when they are still growing, and Peak in December and ride it to a playoff run..
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I spent this day talking about what wasn’t good enough, what needs to improve…but there was also a lot of good in yesterday’s game…some quality improvement in important areas.
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We didn’t have a good game, but does anyone actually come away from yesterday’s loss feeling like the Niners are the better team? After yesterday, I’d gladly see us get paired up with the Niners in the playoffs, if they even make the playoffs… I know we will be there, let’s see if the Niners can meet us there…
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Really saw a lot of good signs in yesterday’s game..
Not surprising that our pass rush is better than people give it credit for… Be scary when we find our double digit sack guy to add to it and command the offense attention…
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BG, Barwin, Cox, Logan, Cole. Curry… Dudes were getting after kAp yesterday
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Malcolm Jenkins making a lot of eagles fans and analyst look dumb…
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We added Barwin last years free agency! Jenkins this year… If our scouting department can find one of these high caliber defenders who you don’t have to pay max money to every offseason, we will have a scary defense in no time…
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I was one of the few fans who thought we would sign Malcolm! but he has been even better than I could have imagined…
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9 PBU
3 INT
20 tackles
1 TD
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That’s crazy production for first 4 games playing on a new team with new team mates…
Justin Houston!
I wish…. Doubt we will see the eagles spend 50 million on another teams player when we have half a team of young players to extend… I’d love to be wrong tho
Re: Cooper’s PI call for Blocking on the WR Screen
D3FB raised a question about this penalty.
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Here’s the NFL Rule:
“Article 4 Other Prohibited Acts By the Offense.
Blocking more than one yard beyond the line of scrimmage by an offensive player prior to a pass being thrown is offensive pass interference.
Note: It is also pass interference by the offense to block a defender.”
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It seemed, on the replay, the Cooper beyond the 1-yard buffer and had already engaged a defender.
Anyone?
I thought it was illegal contact that was called?
Feels like its one of those rules that are never called as long as ball is thrown behind line of scrimmage. Until someone like Harbaugh points it out in the week leading up to the game.
I’m actually thrilled to see the cowboys do so well…. Just going to make the yearly implosion more entertaining..
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Blah blah blah to the cowboys love,,,, Demarco Murray is the Mike Vick of RBs. 5-1 odds I’ll give anyone that he dpesmt play 16 games…
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And if everything keeps going well, we can still count on December Romo to come fuck it all up..
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How can I worry about cowboys when we control out own destiny and we can hand them two losses in December when they are fighting for a playoff birth?
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Smh at America over rating cowboys… We are talking about a franchise so pathetic that the owner called last nights win the best win in 25 years… Last night wasn’t about the cowboys, it was about what a joke the saints were on the road…. I love hearing all this cowboy love…., the more we build them up, the more it’s going to hurt, when the leopards shows his spots,,,
Media love of the Cowboys boggles my mind.
I completely agree with everything you just said.
Don’t we do this same dance every year?
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Talk about how much talent the cowboys have, gush over how good they look early in the year… Only to witness an epic December implosion?
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Americas team lol…more like Americas favorite TRAINWRECK
Ok boys, Lane is back!
Foles was 1-14 on deep routes with 4 of them would be TD throws. I wonder if they include Cooper’s dropped throw? Interesting.
Wasn’t the one throw he made to a completely wide open Maclin against Jax?
Funny stat(?) Lane Johnson, Jason Kelce and Evan Mathis were all watching the game at Mathis’ house yesterday. That must’ve been fun for them.
They must’ve been crying all game.
118 points in 4 games equals 29.5…Not really counting last game but it does count on the PF stat. After all that though, still a shitload of points left on the field. Jesus Mary and Joseph.
Interesting week. Something has to give!
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Lane coming back actually improves us at two positions, RT and RG were Herremans moves back to…
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EAGLES seriously struggling to run the ball. We get Lane back in time to face the Rams 30th ranked run defense…who’s going to win that battle? Our shitty run game or their shitty run defense?
If big Red was still in charge we would still be passing 68 times…
Maybe Cooper could catch one of them then
Lol. Yes, but only shortly before he fumbles…
i did like ertz fumbling into the other guys hands. it just wasn’t our day.
We probably win without that Ertz fumble
can say that about a lot of plays but agree turnovers stink
We are 3-1… I’ll take 3-1 every quarter anytime and finish 12-4… Regardless of the problems we need to overcome, 3-1 during this next 4 game stretch is perfectly doable…
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When you look around the league, you can’t find much consistency in September. Feel like every team is jeckyl n Hyde until like mid october where teams start to settle into who they will be… Everyone has problems to fix right now…..we are a young team who is able to still win games without even coming close to our best ball and that’s very encouraging, especially when we are so damn lucky to be getting Kelce and Mathis back… If they were lost for the season. Things would look very different right now….
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Hopefully when we start hitting our stride in late October November, we will we us get back to the potent run game, the disciplined offense that doeamt turn the ball over that we know and love
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Can’t get too high or too down about September wins… Not when one week you see Aaron Rogers struggle to put up 7 points, and the next week you see him put up 40… … We aren’t playing anywhere near our best ball, and we already have 3 wins in the bank…
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Can’t get too crazy over a loss when your young team led by this coach/QB are 10-2 in their last 12 regular season games…. Just sucks to see us lose to that team. They weren’t even good…
No one is complaining about our record. Our play has been a see-saw and there hasn’t been a middle ground for this team. One step forward and one step backwards. It’s just annoying to see when you expected improvements from the coach and team.
given their front 4 i dont understand why their run defense is bad. that said i think kelce and mathis were the key to those iz plays. i wonder if kelly’s been running outside in the hope that peters cant contain the LB/DE and let shady get outside
There are still way too many Eagles fans on here who underestimate the Cowgirls and Gnats.
I am not saying that I fear them, but I respect those NFCE rivals who may be in better shape than our beloved Eagles at the moment…
I think it’s more overestimating the Eagles.
Same difference. 😉
If Foles continues to be this awful, the Eagles will finish behind both of them. I still think the Eagles are better than the Giants. Not sure about Dallas anymore, until Murray gets his usual injury.
It’s kinda sad that we are currently relying on someone getting injured, isn’t it?!
Losing this division is unacceptable..
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I’ll respect the cowboys when romo makes it thru one December without imploding… September doesn’t impress me when year in And year out you fall flat on your face in December, which is when the cream rises to the top
I don’t want to be a party pooper nor kissing those cowgirls a$$ es, but every streak will have an end.
Fuck them… They have to play us twice in the last month… We get to face December romo twice 😉
Dallas looks great so far. Defense better than we thought.
Love that there are idiots who think they’ll just lie down and die in December.
Giants better than we thought as well. Luckily we’ll be closer to full health for the bulk of these NFC East games.
Dallas always lays down and dies in December.
The way to beat Dallas is to go up early on them. They are winning because they are using Murray and taking the ball out of Romo’s hands. Put the pressure back on him and you can beat that team. I’m not sold on the Giants, they beat up a tired team on Thursday night. TNF if horrible for the team that loses because they usually get blown out.
Romo has produced a not exactly small body of work indicating that his pattern is to play worse as the season goes along. DeMarco Murray has consistently proven remain healthy for 16 games. Expecting Dallas to tail off is pretty rational. The best predictor of future performance is past performance.
Put another way, I have this argument with the doomsayers who think Dallas is going to be unstoppable every September, and every December it’s proven I was correct. Methinks I’m not the idiot in said arguments.
I guess I just don’t think football works that way.
I see a team that right now has a dominant run game that is taking pressure off their still very good QB and just smoked a team that beat us in the playoffs last year (under different circumstances of course).
I hope you’re right!
i see you’re a glass half full kind of guy…
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t,,,,
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What’s funny is Chip probably could have easily scored the game winning TD for us… If you look at the play shady ran all the way down to the two yard line, the play ended with like 7 niner players on the ground… Chip could have probably easily hurried up the guys on the line and ran the ball again quickly, catching them out of position to pick up the one yard for the score…but there were two minutes left on the clock so you saw Chip get greedy, slow the guys down and kill the clock down to the two minute warming assuming we could kill the clock and pick up the one yard having two tries..
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Defense was playing well. And they had no timeouts, so instead of hurrying up the tempo, catching them off guard and running it in…we got greedy and tried to score while also killing the clock
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It’s funny because had he hurried up and scored and they came back to tie it with a FG, everyone would b pissed at the college coach who left too much time on the clock
We need to get something straight…
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I see too many morons talking bad about the defense and what they failed to do… The defense was excellent yesterday! I don’t care what negative aspect People want to point out, you won’t ever find a defense that has to play for 43 minutes to a much better job than our boys did yesterday!
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Very encouraged by continuing to see the growth of this young defense, and by December they will be playing some quality ball..
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I was convinced we would go 4-0, but I thought the defense would have to step up and win the game for us… Crazy that the defense held up it’s end of the bargain but the Chip Kelly offense was so horrible that it was too much to overcome…
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GREAT TEAMS, with Great QBs have shitty games like yesterday every now and then…when you have these bad games, it’s imperative for a great team to have a hood showing the following week…don’t want to lose two games in a row….,going to be interesting and a good test of where we are by how we respond to a loss..
I’m just wondering if FOles was still feeling the effects of the Washington game.
Took a beating…and Justin smith was hitting him good yesterday too… Wouldn’t be surprised… This team needs a damn bye week lol
Yeah I don’t understand the hate on defense. If the offense had a little success early, this could have been a rout.
defense allowed 5yds per play
Gotta tip my hat to Chip Kelly… I criticized him for why in the world have we been dressing Burton, a 4th TE when we barely use our 3rd tight end… Our coach saw what a potential monster this kid could be on special teams and has been starting him all season….past two weeks it’s really starting to pay dividends with the kid making all types or big ST plays…
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Looks like it didn’t take long for Chip to turn the pathetic special team he inherited and turn it into a weapon…and it’s looking like he really “weaponized” our ST in all 4 phases… Our ST isn’t just not hurting us any more…it’s making major contributions…and that will come in handy down the stretch and in playoff games where teams aren’t separated by much and every little bit of help matters
Glad someone sees a silver lining on a cloudy day. Your right on the money though
Hoping watching Andy’s KC look like crap, against Belliceks patriots looking like shit….makes me feel better I
KC looking pretty goodzzzz. In fact better than the Eagles.
Boldin ran over Boykins, not Allen. Allen was the second guy in the frame.
It was only a single Boykin that he ran over, but I think you are right. I also remember Fletcher whiffing completely before that.
Incidentally, having multiple Boykins would be awesome.
Demeco whiffed as well.
In the words of Aaron Rogers.,.. “R-E-L-A-X”
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Find out a lot about this team Sunday when we see how they bounce back from this first loss. Haven’t played against a 4-3 in a while..
Another thing Chip talked a lot about today was that players need to settle down and play football. He says everyone is trying to do to much and we are overcompensating for the loss of key players….seems to think guys are pressing too hard(I’m sure shady is one of the players he had in mind) and we need to settle down and play football… He hammered this point home a few times today..,
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Also put most of the loss on getting whipped up front…so I went and took a closer look… Note to Tom: the DGR of the OL is not going to be fun this week..
Saw Tobin get thrown out of the way by Justin smith, Molk gets driven like 5 yards back…Ray McDonald splitting our initial double team blocks which destroyed our run plays before they even started…this will stop if we can get some continuity letting two players play next to each other, for example, Herremans and Lane prob have good chemistry on those initial combo blocks! which means it’s probably going to be much harder for a DL to split them and get between that block… If the DL gets passed your combo block, the running back won’t go anywhere… We need to hold that combo block long enough to let one guy control him, so the other can peel off the block and go hunting for linebackers at the next level…when Ray McDonald the wife beater is splitting combo blocks all day, it’s not rocket science that we can’t run the ball
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Also hearing whispers that Folles is hurt more than we think. Reporters questioned Chip about FOles always being seen stretching and rotating his left shoulder like something is wrong with it..l
yeah he is injured i think. if you listen to the press conference a reporter ask a question about something that foles is doing after every long throw. Kelly dismisses it but he slips for a second and says “the injury” and then tries to retract.
I think if you’re injured and it’s affecting your accuracy and you’re constantly getting hit, then just let sanchize play. long term health is WAY more important than trying to play through something if it’s affecting your play.
I think he knows what happened last year and he doesn’t want to give it up. He scared of losing his job. Considering the way Sanchize played in the preseason, I can understand.
yeah, that’s a sad position for your qb to be in.
I totally agree… Think that’s exactly the problem. He doesn’t trust admitting he is hurt
it’s at about 3:15 in the press conference when people are asking about Foles’ accuracy.
There is NO INJURY to Foles.
I know that for a FACT.
Just check out the Eagles’ official injury report for the 49ers game.
You will NOT see Foles’s name on it.
So . . . because the NFL requires all teams to accurately report injuries. And because the Eagles did not report Foles to be injured. Ergo, Foles is NOT injured.
http://www.nfl.com/injuries (scroll down near the bottom).
AIR-TIGHT LEGAL REASONING.
what “is” and injury?
Conspiracy theory
i would say its very obvious that since this is a run first offense, when your line sucks and the running can’t happen what do you think will happen to the offense? it goes no where. add to that the line sucking and Foles under pressure constantly and this is what you get. add to that a game winning touchdown pass perfectly put in the recievers hands and he drops it, what do you expect to happen? we lose. simple. but we will be better next week. and i would say its a must win, at least for confidence. and then the giants….
sometimes a qb has to win a game. if foles is better than a rw then he’ll have to carry that load till the run game gets better.
you’re right, thats why he hit cooper with a bullet in the end zone for the win.
that’s his fault for even throwing to coop! lots of mistakes all over the field. but do think chip is putting a lot on foles’ shoulders.
Maybe KC’s record from last year wasn’t a fluke…!
Patriots are regressing though.
Nick Foles still holds on to the football too long:
Nick Foles #Eagles also has 3rd-longest average time before pass at 2.77 seconds, #NFL average is 2.5 seconds (2.45 time in pocket – 28th)
he takes the most shots down the field so makes sense.
Yes. Am still not really sure why. Intermediate throws over the middle to Ertz and Celek would make more sense in my eyes.
bc he heard “mac is open deep” for the first 3 weeks
that would indicate that the O line is not doing as bad a job as people complain about
ne defense looks terrible — revis not getting that second deal.
You know who is getting a second deal? Justin Houston. Hopefully with us.
Wow, this is some serious fluff. Anyone buying this??
Philadelphia: How the **** did we lose to San Francisco?
New Orleans: How the **** did we lose to DALLAS?
New England: How the **** did we get blown out by KANSAS CITY?