Just Like We Thought
Posted: September 7th, 2014 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 217 Comments »What a game. The 1st half was a nightmare. Nick Foles looked like the guy from the first Dallas game of 2013. He held the ball forever and then was off-target when he did throw it. The defense and STs did everything they could and the game was “only” 17-0 at the half.
The 2nd half was about as good as life gets. The Eagles outscored the Jags 34-0 and totally dominated the game. Foles still wasn’t sharp, but played well enough and got help from everyone, including the Jags.
This was an ugly win. And it could prove costly in the form of injuries.
Early indications on Evan Mathis' injury is that it's not a torn ACL. MRI tomorrow will reveal more. Probably a MCL. #Eagles
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) September 7, 2014
Allen Barbre also went out for the game. He had an ankle injury. We’ll have to see how that situation pans out. The Eagles OL was very stable last year. Clearly that won’t be the case this season.
The Eagles did show us something today. Last year they tended to build up big leads and then had to hold on for a tight win. Today they dug a major hole and were able to climb out of it. That shows a mental and emotional toughness that not all teams have. I’d prefer smooth sailing in most games, but you do learn a lot about your team when they are tested like this.
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How bad do the Jags and Jags fans feel right now? Wow.
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The STs were pretty special.
* 51-yd FG
* 5 touchbacks
* A couple of long PRs that set up scoring drives. 15.5 yds per PR for the game.
* A blocked FG by Brandon Bair. Very convenient of the Jags STs to show Oregon bias by letting Bair block that kick and none of the other Eagles.
* Boykin downed a punt at the 1.
More of this please.
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Overall, today was a good day.
* The Skins lost to the Texans 17-6. The Eagles defense outscored the Skins offense 7 to 6. Nice.
* DeSean Jackson lost 9 yards on an end around. He was 8-62 as a receiver, with a long of 17 yards.
* Dallas is down 21-3 and Tony Romo already has 2 INTs.
* The Saints lost to the Falcons in OT. Conference losses for the Saints are a good thing.
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KC lost and bad. I’m actually not anti-KC or Andy, but I know some of you are. It is interesting that both the Eagles and Chiefs fell behind early. The Chiefs couldn’t do anything about it and lost 26-10. The Eagles were able to right the ship and then dominate. The Chiefs had a terrific season in 2013, but I’m still not sold that they are a good team.
To make matters worse, the Chiefs lost DL Mike DeVito and ILB Derrick Johnson for the season. Not a good start for Big Red and his new team. Good luck to them.
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I’ll have some insight on the game tonight. I need to watch Dallas play for now. My kind of game.
_
Romo having a great day.
Ugh.
I just hope as the season goes on we learn that Jacksonville actually has a very good Defense. Nick looked absolutely lost most of the game.
Screen game was totally ineffective, not sure if because our O-line was playing poorly or Jax was just playing disciplined D.
Long season. But really want to see Nick bounce back next week. This was really ugly.
He bounced back every time last season (after a bad game… or even half) – so there’s certainly optimism on that front, though this happening in week 1 of his “prove it” season is scary.
I’m more interested in attempting to discern what causes BAD Foles, or, whether this is just something that happens. I’m sure Rodgers, Manning, Brady, etc., all would have occasional stinkers (and might still have them), but are there ways to “snap out” of it? The other BAD Foles games were Dallas 1 last year (his first home-game as a starter against our rival), and the first half of New Orleans in the playoffs… so one could make a case for “nerves.”
You know, that’s tough to be really crisp about.
Essentially, one of the core issues has always been those lead feet. When Foles is put in more positions where he has to make reads, he is not effective with pocket movement if he is not anticipating where the rush is coming from. This tends to throw off arm motion and other issues.
Good point. He’s lethal w/ the one-two let ‘er rip. He who hesitates….
So are there only three teams that have been able to get him in lead feet, multiple read positions? I don’t disagree that there are times when he looks lost, but I’m not sure definitive or crisp conclusions can be drawn about his mechanics. There are other games where he moves effectively with pressure and is able to make multiple reads. To me, it seems like it’s more of a sporadic, mental issue versus a fatal, physical flaw.
There are other issues. I just talked about one of them, and I was talking about something a defense could do against Foles.
so defenses should try to bring a lot of pressure that Foles can’t see? that would work against everyone
Everyone but Joe Webb, I suspect.
Foles took five sacks today. Losing 47 yards. That’s not that normal for QBs. Yes, QBs don’t normally do well with surprise pressure, but many of them are harder to take down without good contact, like Kaepernick, or are slippery like Russel Wilson.
At least four of them were in the first half. The wheels came off the bus for the first two quarters, no doubt.
You gotta love how he did a little Geno-esque probing in the first half though, right?
I can understand Nick having some nerves today.
Jax aside, this was his first game as the anointed starter of the Eagles, at home, in a game they were supposed to win.
Mechanically, its the usual with him: Lack of decisiveness. When Nick is decisive and aggressive he generally makes good decisions and plays well.
It seemed like he was 2nd-guessing himself a lot today, or worse, looking for a “better” play instead of just taking what was given.
Overall, it’s worrisome, but nothing that he can’t recover from.
And like I said, I think Jax ends up being a decent D. Those guys were flying around and getting penetration. O-line wasn’t to blame for Nick’s struggles, but didn’t exactly help him (there weren’t any “holding the ball for 9 seconds and then getting sacked” plays like the Saints game).
Like Rodgers really didn’t look so great on Thursday? and I like him.
“Nick looked absolutely lost for the first half of the game.” Fixed.
I think you’re completely discounting how he and the team bounced back in the second half. 322 yards, 2 TDs, and 1 INT. The offense scored 27 points in one half of football.
Wow, Romo 3 picks in the first half. I thought Foles had a rough day.
Yeah, I need to sent Tony a thank you… All of a sudden I feel better about Foles
On a different note, both Ertz and Maclin had more receiving yards than Djax… Not that anyone would be counting
a tale of 2 1/2s…
sad about 2 birds down
to brighten my day,
deadskins got scalped and
the cowgirls are being whooped as i write
tomorrow nite will complete the trifecta
Andy is off to a bad start.
Edit: Maybe I should read the full article before I comment.
Kelly and Tobin only OL on 53…
Good thing they carried 9 OL.
I live in NY and was hearing from my NY “buddies” all the first half. My reply: they are just trying to make the second half competitive for the jags. I got no messages in the 2nd half lol
Weird, I have a Cowboys friend with an almost identical story.
Steve ,
Never compare me to a Cowboys fan again. Not cool 😉
I KNEW (God I sure hoped) Foles would bounce back. I have been on his bandwagon since college.
They’ll be having a tough time of it tomorrow night…trying to block Suh with trash cans.
Wait, we lost Trash Can?
Joe Flacco managed to have 62 attempted passes. With 5.6y/a.
Brady was even worse, he had 56 attempts for a 4.4 Y/A.
eeeewwww.
Did you see the highlight where he was head-butting Gronkowski after a TD to fire him up? Man – I’m sure people love playing with a future hall-of-famer, but that kind of stuff would drive me nuts.
if they both got hurt that would be really funny
Like an old-school “double knockout” from a sports follies video?
And what was Foles? Even with a crappy first half? 7.2.
Who cares? Did he probe?
Reid doesn’t coach Baltimore too, does he?
Another important thing:Win your friggin home games.
All that stuff was going through my head….someone posted 2012,…Never thought we were out of it though. Watching Oregon yesterday kept coming to mind. Thought our D-line was getting good push….What’s anyone know about Jimmy Rad and his quick-blast exercises and conditioning.
The Cowboys… what was the word Jimmy K used? Dumpster fire.
cousin sal’s son’s middle name is romo
Tommy, you nailed it!
I asked on Twitter if it sounded like there were more than a few SF fans in Dallas for the game. Got this response. Pretty funny.
https://twitter.com/TrustInChip/status/508730904588857344/photo/1
niners have the richest fan base in the country. they travel well, as evidenced by the sections in which red dominates (the good seats)
it’s all that pension money they’re handing out
looks about right from the way they sound on the tv (which is effing loud)
It is so enjoyable watching Romo tossing all those INTs..
for your viewing pleasure
http://deadspin.com/a-very-special-first-half-highlight-reel-for-cowboys-fa-1631719979
I am glad this comment wasn’t a reply to the neighboring Septhinox/Baloophi conversation.
Tommy, Andy’s inability to adjust showed big time. He’ll always have his accomplishments, but he is going to be exposed sooner than later.
I should hope Andy never gets exposed…
Hahahahahahahahahahaha
Hahahahahahahahahahaha
hey now
You’re right!
Terrifying!
http://deadspin.com/a-very-special-first-half-highlight-reel-for-cowboys-fa-1631719979/all
A few (positive) observations from today:
1) The 4th and 1 Sproles TD call was a thing of beauty. I’m not sure if there’s another team in the league that even has the mechanics to get that call in and run the play as quickly as we did. We obviously caught the Jags in a bad spot, but wouldn’t have been able to if Kelly had quickly decided to go for it, and the team wasn’t set-up to get the call and race to the line. Compare to Gus Bradley’s 4th down attempt in the 4th quarter – even had they wanted to race up and run a play, they couldn’t.
2) Molk and Gardner. Obviously losing Mathis and Barbre is devastating, but could’ve been even more so had Molk and Gardner not been effective backups. Both impressed in the pre-season, but does getting so many extra reps because of Kelly’s practice style make that possible?
3) Kendricks, Cox, Boykin. Young players that we’re hoping make an extra step this year looked pretty good today. I was going to add Graham but he’s not technically “young.” Maybe we can include him from a positional switch standpoint.
http://deadspin.com/nick-foles-was-really-shitty-and-then-he-wasnt-1631694666
“The Jacksonville Jaguars shut out the Philadelphia Eagles in the first half of today’s game, which made absolutely no sense. But the game shifted after halftime, Darren Sproles and LeSean McCoy sprung a few plays, and, crucially, Eagles quarterback Nick Foles appeared to simply decide to stop sucking.”
Looks like an Onion headline.
On the Chiefs and Reid, it sounds like they’re having some rather familiar issues. KC running backs combined for 11 carries and one of those came on a fake punt. Seems like Big Red didn’t learn his lesson yet.
And his carry-over defense from the last coach is slowly getting poached away by other teams…just as happened here in Philly!
Of course I have Jamaal Charles
So glad we didn’t hire Gus Bradley as our HC! That 4th and one from the 30 (thereabouts) was HORRIBLE! Them losing it on downs sealed the game for the Eagles!
Don’t forget he was out of timeouts – ergo, unable to challenge the spot on the preceding 3rd down (it looked like a bad spot to me).
the TO was just Henne been bad
But that didn’t keep them from punting. They were only down by a TD then I think. Giving us the ball on their own 30 all by guaranteed an Eagles FG and a two-score lead. Dumb, just dumb.
Oh, definitely a dumb call. I didn’t mean to imply his lack of timeouts (whether Henne-generated (Henne-rated??) or not) forced him to go for it. Even though his D didn’t look like it could get a stop in the second half, you have to punt it there.
That was a bad spot. Very lucky there was no challenge.
didn’t see it but how are you out of time outs with so much time left? Did McNabb and Andy use them all up, like coming out of a TV time out.
Anders is pointing at that at least one of them was Henne not knowing what was going on, but they had used at least 2 of them pretty early in the 3rd quarter…
EDIT: meaning, there weren’t any egregious, “take a timeout to decided whether to challenge something, and then challenge it, and lose” style timeouts. Just blowing 2 timeouts in the 3rd quarter when you have the lead in a close game seems like bad management from someone…
The first was after a deep incompletion, took them a while to get set back up and the play clock caught up with them.
On the second, they broke from the huddle and the WRs didn’t seem to know what they were supposed to be doing and the Eagles had 6 men on the LOS which confused the OL and the play clock ran out while Henne was telling them who to block.
The third was the play immediately before the 4th and 1 – Henne didn’t seem to like what the D was showing him on 3rd and 10 and called a timeout to change plays.
Interesting to note that all three timeouts were called by Henne rather than the coaches, though.
Very nice recap, Deg0ey. Yeah, they did have 3 rookies at WR to deal with. They weren’t “Classic Andy” timeouts, that’s for sure. I didn’t pay much attention to the Jags last season so I’m not sure whether clock management / timeouts were a problem with Bradley before. All I know is that I’m sure he wished he had more at the end.
That was the TE’s fault. The play call was perfect.
.Barwin made that play, jumped up forced the QB to throw over him which made an easy pass more difficult,
Even more than his jump, was his batted passes earlier that got in Chad’s head.
i thought it was a good call. no TOs and the other teams offense clicking on all cylinders late in the 4th quarter. no guarantee you get the ball back
I don’t know if Derek Anderson can make people with questionable hands look good or if Kelvin Benjamin is the real deal.
Derek Anderson was he the Bengals QB when they lost to Joe Montana in the SB? That name sounds familiar.
The Browns QB when Braylon Edwards was good lol.
No, I’m pretty sure you are thinking of Kent Tekulve.
That’s just another guy getting by on his looks…
I had that card!
Derek Anderson is still who he is. KB was noted as an inconsistent catcher, but he’s catching everything in the NFL. Anderson, to his credit, is keeping most of his throws short.
KB is def for real… He has no one around him and he makes plays everytime he steps on an NFL field. He is legit for sure
Is Jim Harbaugh annoying to everyone else?
Yeah to the SF front office.
BAM, I’m here all week.
no doubt, fuck him, he’s a fucking child
can’t stand him. Not watching but they are up by like 30 right, so why would he need to be acting up on the sidelines at all?
Sometimes it’s about him I’m thinking.
I was just coming here to say the exact same thing. Harbaugh is a terrific coach, but I can’t stand guys that are constantly on the refs. That might be okay in basketball, but not football.
Plus he’s up 25 and the right call was made. Bitching for the sake of bitching. Hate it.
That’s the thing, and they are beating the crap out of Dallas and he’s still pissing me off. No coach who is handing it to Dallas should be making me angry while they are doing it.
Meaning I usually look at any coach who is beating Dallas very lovingly.
“No coach who is handing it to Dallas should be making me angry while they are doing it”
No explanation needed. That is an awesome statement.
He’s more like Joe Walsh than Bill Walsh.
It’s either him or Darrel bevel coaching Giants next year… As annoying as he is… Harbaugh red face, to Chip era, could be the COUGHLIN red face of the Andy era
Probably still irate about the call in the first, when a Dallas player stuck his fingers into Vernon Davis eyes, yet Davis was called for something or other. Can’t stand inconsistent officiating.
great summary, hoped you enjoyed that ride tommy. it made me a little nauseous at first but it was fun near the end.
you hit the nail on the head with STs. That unit from top to bottom kept us in the game.
I was pretty bummed in the 2nd Qtr, but kept taking my own advice and looking for the bright side. Not easy to do.
The first TD changed everything for me.
Yeah… down 10 with almost 2 full quarters to go? That’s nothing.
not just that we scored, but the way we scored (sproles exploding on 4th down) gave us a jolt. you could just feel the relief/electricity pour out of the crowd
Imagined getting stuffed on that play? One play completely changes the whole game.
i literally cringed just thinking about it
Yeah – that would’ve been real bad. But that was the right call. Brent at Eagles Rewind posed a good question about Chip Kelly and the 4th down math and the emergence of Cody Parkey. None of these 4th down decisions (or field goals) qualify, but still interesting to think about:
“Henery is not a very strong kicker, and was therefore rarely trusted
with a 50+ yard kick. In a perverse way, this may have actually forced
the Eagles to make the correct decision (going for it instead of kicking) more often than they otherwise would. Or maybe Chip knows the
math. Parkey’s usage will go a long way towards answering that
question.”
Yep. It is hard to picture an ending where they get stopped there, turn it over, and still win.
That TD changed the game- and my fantasy prospects
I had FOles, Ertz, maclin and eagles defense gave me 12 pts
when it was 0-17 I was just thinking, just win. In OT, by 1 point, anything. I am proud of this win.
It’s a pretty satisfying day, even more so now watching the cowboys get blasted.
Yeah really, the Cowboys are down by 18!
Eighteen!
How bad does your team need to be to fall behind by 18 points? Seventeen, sure, 17 happens, but 18? Wow!
It’s like the difference between a statutory– I don’t want to finish this thought.
for sure, enjoy it now. we have all week to scrutinize all the mistakes (of which there were a lot)
Jerry Jones golf clap. lol
I guess the only way to go through life with the name Looney is being 300+ pounds.
random thought but i really like fox’s new score box. simpler and more compact
Let me know when they lose the robot…
do you mean the animated robot or joe buck. i don’t like either one
Yes.
Joe Buck isn’t going anywhere, sadly.
DeAngelo Williams with some really pretty hair today.
Eh don’t make fun. He’s doing it for his mom who lost her battle with breast cancer.
I wasn’t necessarily making fun. Had I known this back-story would I have made the comment? We’ll never know. (but “no.”)
I didn’t see it as an insult to begin with.
guys, look for the Vine of Pitt’s Antonio Brown literally stomping the kicker…
link?
saw it on nflosophy’s twitter
seemed like maybe he was trying to leap over and misjudged?
I think you could make that case. He certainly left his feet with the intention of leaping over the kicker… it’s whether he then – in air – decided to just kick him in the face. Don’t know how you could decide that. Also, his choices were kick the punter in the face or fall awkwardly on his other leg.
Didn’t look like he started extending his leg in mid air as if to kick through your opponent.
he initially does but you could make the case there was some kick like follow through
http://deadspin.com/antonio-brown-kicks-a-punter-in-the-face-in-extreme-sl-1631681037
saw it on deadspin, some people are calling for a suspension
i hope not he’s my second round pick in fantasy.
Wow what a lousy call
Now Harbaugh should go crazy
that was a chickeshit call
Jerruh must’ve slipped the zebras a few Benjamins at halftime.
strippers and coke in the officials office after the game
Is SNL bringing all their old skits to commercial?
Have the Eagles ever had a delay of game under Chip Kelly?
Does that count the intentional – “more room for the punt” delay of game? Or the “try to draw them offside” delay of game?
Ok so they officially have had one, I wonder if they had one they didn’t mean to have because it would damn near impossible I would think.
I vaguely recall Vick having one last year, but I’m probably mistaken.
Eagles emphasized improving special teams this offseason, and it sure looked like it was a good idea today. Good special teams, doeamt hurt you.the best special teams are a weapon.. Today was a good first step towards becoming the later…
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Gut check game by the defense…on the road to showing Everypne they are a top unit, ATleast heading towards that. Kendricks flew around all day. Sack, tackles short of first down. Cox was a BEAST. 6 tackles for a two gaping DE is nothing to sneeze at, someone who fans don’t understand how well he has played, deserved a TD.. Barwin was a stud as usual. How about them safeties? They weren’t the liability they were last year today. Jenkins was making plays, Nate was prob the most aggressive I ever seen him..even Wolff came in and flew around a bit…I liked that we used every DB that we dressed today with the exception of Maragos. Cary. Brad. Nolan,Boykin,and the 3 safeties all were used today. Liked Cary after the game! took full responsibility for early in the game promised that won’t happen next week. Then he was asked what changed to turn it around, did we start rolling coverages or something? Cary responded “Naw we just pressed them to sleep, got physical”.. Love that fucker, flaws and all…
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FOles was sacked 5 times in the first half. None in the second half. Also some impressive holes in the run game….nice job with a patch up OL..
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jags ran 23 times for 60 somethin yards, average of a little over 2 yards per carry… Defense holds the Jags to 17….. Basically picking up where the defense left off at the end of last year were as it took us 5-6 weeks to hold teams under 24 last year…
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As flawed as today’s Was, important to know we can come back and win even during bad days…There was plenty that needs to improve, fortunately, NO one plays their best ball in September… As rough as FOles day was he had a better game than Brady and Brees,..all had similar struggles today, FOles was the only one who could salvage the day and get the win….. Jenkins and Sproles both showed their value today, and saints lost without them…
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I hear RG3 was hit 16 times today lol… CANT wait To see Jjj Watts sack and Swearingers sack of Romo… Cowboys getting Shalacked by the Niners. Either I wrote their Eulogy too soon, or the cowboys just suck like that…. Tomorrow the giants will get killed and alls well in the NFC East
If no one plays their best in September Seattle is going to be scary good by December.
Seems like it…. Unless injuries pile up of course
Miami looked good too, but who knows if that’s real.
Naw, they’ll peak to soon.
im with you so, so fucking pumped about STs, from parkey to maragos’ KO tackle before the 20 to bair getting a paw (see what i did there) on the ball for the FG block to Donnie Football. all excellent
i can’t say this enough; STs kept the game within reach.
if it’s last year with henery (lacking leg on FGs and KOs) and shaky kick coverage i don’t think the deficit is only 17pts.
Braman was an inch away from a big punt block too
yeah i don’t know how griffin plays 16 games
Should we be worried about Foles Tommy?
i’d wait for the all 22 to be analyzed before making that call
I’d wait for more than 1 game. Games early in the season can give false positives/negatives, and often do. Again, remember the week 4 Monday night romp against the eventual SB champ cowboys in the early 90s? Remember the charlie garner domination of the eventual SB champ 49ers? And those are just off the top of my head. Foles was bad, bad, bad this game. Nice thing, even when he’s bad, he can still win a game. Now we have to see if he can be good this year.
I would say it’s something to keep an eye on, but not to be worried about quite yet. It seemed like Foles was having a bit of an off day. It happens, regardless of position or experience. The Jags seemed to be buzzing and jumping the underneath routes, essentially gambling that the rush would get there before guys came open down the field. This seemed to also throw Nick off, and then he started getting hit, which I’m sure wreaked havoc with his internal clock.
Bucs / Panthers have identical “incomplete or fumble” decision in their game…
Maybe because he had tucked the ball it’s different?
Yes, one game provides definitive evidence:
Saints spend $54M on all-world safety to shore up back center of defense and surrender 448 yards and 3 TDs to Matt Ryan.
Washington spends $24M on stretch the field and make life easier on your QB and other receivers speedster and amass 241 yards through the air, 6 ypc avg. and no touchdowns.
The Eagles turned the ball over 3 times and still won by 17 pts. Foles and the offense left plenty of room for improvement, but the defense really stepped up after a challenging first half. Sproles, Ertz, Maclin TDs, Parkey bombs, there’s a lot of positives to take out of the game as well.
Wonder if the Rams make an offer for Barkley?
djax can’t throw to himself. thanks for not mentioning coops k vs performance.
Eagles won, football is a team game, Coop is part of the team. Djax didn’t want to be an Eagle in the Chip era – Eagles really suffered without his double team, field-stretching presence. Djax got paid and gets to kick it with RGIII – sure they’ll light up the league.
How did Joe Webb do today?
clowney out 4-6 weeks
Beau Allen and Bennie Logan were fantastic today. Cox and Thornton really brought it against the run….Can’t wait to go watch the film. Brandon Graham was nasty out there. Curry was getting pressure. I was pleased at the number of snaps curry and Graham saw…. We got some solid production from OLBs today..the 3 veterans all made plays…our Meco and Mykal are going to have a great year…
…
It was only against the Jags, but the most important improvement we needed to see was our ability to get off the field on 3rd down and we showed some big strides today. Next week should be a much bigger test and better gauge for where our 3rd down defense is at right now
1. All that matters is the Eagles won today and the OL injuries. Eagles D (especially after the 1st qtr) and the special teams did their part but the Jags’ playing calling in the 2nd half was horrendous.
14 passing plays (almost all in shotgun) and only 3 runs in the 3rd quarter really helped the Eagles tremendously. Put the Jags in 3rd and long on every drive in the qtr.
2. Henne played well today and when he had time he really had nice touch on his intermediate/long balls. A few drops didn’t help his numbers either. Just failed to execute on that critical 4th down in the 4th qtr. Jags coaching staff also asked him to do too much.
3. Can the Eagles please basically play a 4-3 and something similar all season getting Cole, Graham, and Curry (both at DE) on the field (Cox sliding inside to DT) on 3rd down passing situations whenever possible? It would do a lot to help their passing rushing.
4. Caught a lot of the Skins game and man RGIII looked tentative and uncertain of himself. Didn’t take off when he had a chance a few times. Also doesn’t look comfortable at all in the new system yet either. Good completion numbers but a lot of dink and dunk stuff underneath or the outside.
Terrible playing though including not giving Morris the ball more often. He and Helu were wearing tearing up the Texans’ front 7 and only got 18 carries. Texans played conservatively all game long on both sides of the ball and it worked.
With Dallas turd, the NFC East appears to be the Least again in the NFC. Role-reversed from where the NFC West was 5 years ago.
They played with 4 down lineman on 3rd down all last year too, you didn’t see anything new today. It’s called giving kids a chance to grow into men, and in the scheme,. You didn’t see any special new defensive tactics today…miracle what some continuity can do.
I’m not sure what to make of this game. Am I happy that we were able to come back from 17-0 and 3 turnovers in the first half? Yes but it was against the Jags, although their d looked pretty good the first half. What was with Nick holding onto the ball?!?! I’m interested to see what analysis we get this week.
Daniel Jermiah was convinced our WR’s were getting mauled at the line of scrimmage (some things never change). That’s not good, but then Gus comes from a coaching tree that knows how to coach up DB’s.
Still Nick is going to have to be mindful of the internal clock, you can’t sit in the pocket that long, tuck the ball and move out of the pocket, that action alone makes coverages break down to get into position to stop a potential scramble.
I’d really, really like to see some all-22s of the WRs from the 1st half.
Not at all to excuse Nick’s performance, but I did not see too many short routes coming open. Curious how much the WR/DB situation played into his poor decision making.
I know he missed Mac being open deep twice, but other than that, nothing seemed to be working for us.
If this was an Andy Reid coached team, they almost certainly lose this game because they don’t make enough adjustments at half time and continue to pass the ball too much.
Eagles are really going to benefit this year I bet from a coach who is old and tired (Coughlin), a rookie coach in over his head (Gruden), and a lame duck coach who is a good bet to the first fired coach in the NFL (Garrett).
A few thoughts: Never felt good about this game, Gus Bradly is a smart defensive coach whose had the whole offseason to try to figure out Chip Kelly and Nick Foles. And you know the jags would not be lacking for fire with the only double digit spread (and “DO YOUR F-ING JOB”). Strangely after the first half I wasn’t feeling the apocalypse coming on. The offense was ok, but it hadn’t been able to just drive the ball and score TD’s, it was all off of Turnovers. 2nd half we got back to establishing the run and it was good. As soon as it was 14-17, the win felt inevitable, we could get back to playing the way we wanted to play, not massive catch-up mode. Funny how the score is what everyone expected but happened in a way nobody expected.
Pros:
– A wonderful defensive blueprint 6 months in the making has been revealed and torched with some half-time adjustments. A full week of practice will do us good.
-Kudo’s to the back-up blockers!
-Defense took care of business, especially in the second half
-ST: they started hot last season, but it turns out that was because washington the the worst ST unit of all time, I think this time Fipp’s fielding the real deal.
Cons:
-Possibly more important than the result of the game, we may have lost Evan Mathis for the season, Lane’s suspension can’t end soon enough, our depth may be tested.
boy, qb play sure is down league-wide
For everyone not named Matt Ryan.
figure it’s worth noting here too.
Not to say Foles was good, great, or anything else. Just pointing out the difference statistically. Tale of Two Games.
[with 2 backup OL in 2nd half]
3rd qtr — Foles is 12 of 15, 82 yds, 1 TD
4th qtr — 3 of 5, 101, 1 TD
2nd half total — 15 of 20 (75%), 183, 2 TD
1st half — 12 of 25 (48%), 92 yds**, 0 TD, 1 INT
**- includes 5 sacks in 1st half, for -47 (not to mention 2 fumbL)
Although the stats look better, he still didn’t look “right” in the 2nd half. As I say below – good news is he was still able to lead a comeback in the 2nd half, despite not being very good. That’s a good sign. Now we have to see good Foles, especially against a good defense.
And to add – a game where the run game was inconsistent, at best, behind 3rd string RT and 2nd string LG. Don’t think they caused him to be off, but it certainly didn’t help him in the comeback, bid either. He couldn’t hide behind dominant line and run game, like some of the other young QBs can (and Nick could, last year).
Yeah, we can say his numbers were great in the second half, and he didn’t play “great”. But he was good. Debatably very good.
Tommy – Can you do a breakdown on the Eagles’ production when they had 2 TEs on the field today when you do you review cap later this week?
Didn’t seem like they used that set as much they did last year in the 2nd half. Curious to see if that is right nor not
and how does a games worth of data help?
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This isn’t Andy Reid… Chip will morph us into a different version of this offense every week depending on the opponent. How we attacked the jags has nothing to do with how we will attack the colts! San Fran….
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Don’t see what we can get out of studying the personel packages… Chips vision was clearly a stacked arsenal of weapons, so he can tailor an attack to beat whatever defenses present this year…jags defense won’t be the same as the colts defense, or Niners defense… So I don’t see the point of how many times we used two TE’s…. What am I missing? How we attacked the jags today! probably isn’t going to give you may clues on what we will do next week..
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The good coaches like Sean Peyton, Chip, Bellecik, use very different variations of their offense from one week to the next
Eagles notably used alot more 2 (and even some 3 TEs) set in the 2nd half last year after Foles had those 2 terrible games and their production out of that set was notably more than anything they ran the rest of the year.
He actually was at his most efficient last year out of two tight end sets… But that’s going to vary week to week, sometimes drastically… For example, when we play the cardinals again, we will probably see a Multi TE centric game plan…where as other weeks we will feel exploiting the CBs is the way to go.
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A coach like Chip, things change as the season goes along…after 4 games, he self scouts the eagles and we adjust accordingly… I think the reason we are so stacked with an arsenal of offensive weapons so we don’t have to be pegged as a heavy two TE team, or predominant 3 WR team…we leave it up to the opponent. Wherever they are week, we have something in our arsenal that can exploit it…that’s the beauty of what chips building
Any numbers to back up your assertion about the very different variations? Tend to think the opposite is true and that good offenses that are very consistent tend to have a fair amount of consistency in their sets from week to week with slight-to-moderate levels of adjustments depending upon the personnel matchups/injuries
Jags did a really nice job today vs McCoy and the Eagles stretch plays to the outside. Kind of reminded me of how teams used to defend Sanders.
You weren’t going to shut Sanders down completely but you take away the corner, don’t over pursue, and be willing to let him cut it back a few times as long as he doesn’t get the big gains and you take him down a few times at the line of scrimmage or even behind the line because he is looking for the big play instead of taking the sure 4-5 and getting tackled.
D. Jones also had a great game too. 5 punts inside the 20 and really had nice hang time on most of them too.
Been a long, long time since I can remember the Eagles special teams turning in this kind of performance including a huge blocked FG, a couple of big punt returns from Sproles, clutch FG kicking, touchbacks, and excellent coverage.
Football Outsiders had them ranked 32 in Special teams, today they looked significantly better.
About how much preparation do you guys think Gus Bradly put into defending sweeps, screen, and then jamming WR’s this off season? The Jags definitely had that down.
rlscatch
If you think they are biased or not biased, it’s the right call.
Our rookie kicker in his first game, ties the longest made FG. Alex henrey has made as an eagle..
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Can’t believe how many eagles fans Are killing FOles after the win…. I don’t know if I missed 3 Super Bowl champion Eagles teams or something, but when did eagles fans start thinking that an NFL game is a picnic with no adversity? You can be a great team, but you aren’t going to be in control for 60 minutes every games. We are going to be a playoff team but today wasn’t the last time we will face ugly adversity and be seriously tested…. Tired of every time our QB doesn’t look like Montana, fans act like the sky is falling…a bad half, shouldn’t mean anything compared to all the times he proved himself last year in spite of this fanbase treating him like shit……. Don’t see it as much on this message board, but all the concern for FOles because he had a bad half is really crazy talk…. Fans just waiving the white flag in the first quarter… What the fuck happened to this fanbase?
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I will say other than the one Booo… The crowd at the Linc was fantastic and it don’t know if it had to do with the renovations but it sounded louder than last year….thru the ups and downs the crowd remained pretty ROCKIN today
Truth. I thought it was an Oregon game. Chip can make in-game adjustments for the 2nd half that kill. This was a good example of those adjustments and team improved performance.
it’s good to have a qb that can help his players.
OD congrats on the MSU win!
I was worried in that game too. Need better faith in Ducks and Eagles. Good coaches and players find a way to win.
The Eagles are undefeated with Cody Parkey as their kicker.
It’s never fun when your QB struggles, but it happens to the best of them, and the best of them bounce back, just like Foles did in the second half.
They booed constantly in the first half, were quiet, and were really late coming back in for the 2nd half due to the crowds wanting a drink & the stinkfest of the 1st half.
They got loud a bit in the 3rd quarter after the opening TD but this was a boo bird and quiet crowd in the 1st half. Part of the reason why the Eagles have the worst home-road splits vs their overall record in the NFL since the Linc opened.
Any QB in this city is going to get booed if they played the way he played, the QB could be manning (the real one) i think it’s just part of playing in this city.
I’m glad foles and the rest of the team got their collective shits together, lets be thankful we were playing the jags not the hawks, or 49ers.
I don’t know about you, but I’m grateful every week we’re not playing the hawks.
I knew we could come back after that rough first half because I know that our offense can literally score whenever. That being said, I was getting so damn pissed at the play in the first half!
I kept up the faith also, knowing once things settled down they could get rolling, not meaning they would, but it was very possible to come back. With the booing thing, well even Chip said he would’ve booed too. No biggie, the fans will boo again at some point. Dallas got booed off the field in the first half, the Redskins fans were quitting on their team, maybe with good reason, somebody even called for the Shanahans to come back. . That’s the first half I saw that. I don’t troll, I just like to skim through comments of other teams fan comments. Everyone gets pissy when their teams are playing shitty, but I don’t agree on giving up, never give up on the team, there way too much time when they got down
Parkey Perfect.
Seems to have gotten lost in everything else that happened, but important nonetheless.
Huge difference in the game — and games going forward — long field goals, touch backs, great punting ability, etc.
Wait, he punts too?
i mean sts generally.
Chip must love not having to worry his ass off like he did with a certain noodle leg kicker.
Kempski dubbed him “The Baby Faced Beat.”
Sproles had 18 touches today on offense. Last year with the Saints he averaged just under 8 touches/game (7.8). The most he ever averaged was in ’11 (10.8) and outside of his rookie year it has been just under 8 touches/game (7.5).
Curious to see if he is going to see anywhere near this kind of usage on a regular basis in the offense and if so how he holds up & what happens to his production.
Had to take Polks touches too today.
Best part of today is that the whole division looks like crap.
I’m waiting for Tommy to review how the WRs did but I don’t have a good feeling about them. I don’t know if it was Foles not finding them or if they were struggling to get open.
BTW that fumble that got ruled an incomplete was totally a fumble. The receiver clearly had possession and fumbled it away. Believe it or not, we still have 6 plays over 20 yards this game…. crazy.
That would put us almost exactly on pace with last year… (99)
I counted three steps with the ball in his control.
I agree was fumble, but if reversed Wolfs return yards would not gave counted due to whistle blown. With the resulting punt and personal foul on Jags they ended up with 1 yard better field position.
The Manning Machine rolls on. He’s like some sort of football automaton, powered by an unquenchable thirst for touchdown passes. IDK how he’s still this good this old and with a near career ending neck surgery that was supposed to make his already so so arm even worse.
I’m debating with a buddy right now whether or not to take the over or the under on breaking his own TD record this year. Call me crazy but I might take the over.
Under if he throws for less than 5 TDs today.
I think he gets at least 5 unless its such a blowout that the Broncos stop caring.
over rb is much weaker than last year, wrs are better.
New post is up.
http://igglesblitz.com/2014/09/sunday-night-reflections-2/
For someone who is not anti-Reid, you certainly talk about him a lot and take shots when you can, Tommy…maybe you’re just playing to your audience, but I think it makes you look petty. Why don’t we just let it go and focus on the Eagles now, Kelly, Foles etc. We always complain when our players/coaches hold onto things and seem to never get over them…well the fans are just as bad if not worse than the players…Reid did a ton more good than bad here and deserves respect. Reid is gone and Kelly is here. Let it go and get over it.