What About the Defense?
Posted: September 5th, 2014 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 240 Comments »I was talking to a co-worker yesterday about football. He is a degenerate Giants fan (isn’t that the only kind?) and we were talking smack about our respective teams. His Eagles slam was that we had no defense. That was true for part of last year, but not even the whole 2013 season. The defense made big strides in the second half of the season and played well at times. Still, there is no question that the defense needs to take a major step forward.
I think some people were surprised when the Eagles returned so many starters and key role players. This is where you have to understand that improvement doesn’t always come through change. Sometimes stability is needed. That way players have a chance to develop as individuals, as well as developing some chemistry as a group.
This is the first time in Nate Allen’s career that he’s in the same scheme with the same coordinator and position coach for 2 years in a row. Mychal Kendricks moved around in college and then played OLB as a rookie, before going back to ILB last year. He’s in the same spot for the second year and that will help him. All the players who had to make the 4-3 to 3-4 conversion should be a lot more comfortable this time around. They actually know what they are doing.
The Eagles did bring in help. Malcolm Jenkins was the priority free agent signing. The team liked him as a player, but also valued his versatility and his leadership skills. Jenkins has done well working with Allen and Earl Wolff this summer. You can see that he’s a natural leader.
Depth at CB was a major issue so the team signed Nolan Carroll and drafted Jaylen Watkins. That group is much better off than they were last year.
Depth at LB and DL also looks improved. Marcus Smith is going to be a role player early on, although some question if he’ll even dress. I’m expecting him to play in the opener. We’ll see how things go after that. I’m excited to watch Brandon Bair and Beau Allen play in real games. Both stood out this summer in a big way.
I think we’re all curious to see how Vinny Curry and Brandon Graham play this year. Curry will be a key role player from the get-go. Last year he was inactive for the first 2 games. The question with Curry is how good can he be. Graham shouldn’t play as much, but maybe he’s more improved than I think. Graham doesn’t have to play a bunch of snaps to make his presence felt. He needs to pressure the QB every chance he gets.
I do expect the defense to play better this year. I thought the tackling looked better this summer. That was a major issue last season. I am less confident about the 3rd down defense. Last season players caught underneath passes and had lots of room to run with the ball. We saw some of that early in the preseason.
In the final couple of games, the defense was outstanding. The Steelers couldn’t do squat in Week 3. The Jets were awful in the finale. Granted, neither team played starters, but it was still good to see the backups play that well. After all, many of those players will be mixed into sub-packages in real games. They will play.
If you watched the Packers last night, you saw the importance of defense. Green Bay was awful. They couldn’t set the edge on run plays. They couldn’t get off blocks. They couldn’t tackle. They bit on fakes and left receivers wide open. Ugh.
The Eagles showed they could play the run in the 2nd half of last year. They were physical up front, they flew to the ball and they tackled well. We need to see more of that in 2014.
The biggest area for improvement is rushing the passer. It would be great if the Eagles had that one dynamic guy that offenses feared. But they don’t. Trent Cole will do everything in his power to get to the QB, but sometimes that isn’t enough. Connor Barwin is more of a complete LB than just a pass rusher.
Fletcher Cox led the team in QB pressures last year and played better than people think. He didn’t have a great summer so I’m not sure what to expect from him. If he can take a step forward, Cox could make a huge difference for this defense. Cedric Thornton did very little as a rusher last year. He worked on that area in the offseason. We’ll see how that goes.
Curry and Graham offer instant impact. Do they play much as backups or mostly in sub-packages? The coaches must feel they can trust the duo to execute assignments in the base defense for them to play as backups. There is no question that they will be key parts of the Nickel and Dime defense.
One thing we’ve heard from Bill Davis and the players is that the defense will be more complex this season. Last year they had to keep things simple since the scheme was new and so different. Players now know what they are doing. That allowss the coaches to expand the playbook and be more aggressive.
I’m looking forward to seeing how the defense plays. I have complete faith in Chip Kelly and the offense. That group will move the ball and score points. A good defense could mean a 12-4 season. Another year of erratic, mediocre play could be 10-6 or even 9-7. I don’t anticipate the D suddenly being a Top 10 juggernaut, but I do think they will be better.
_
Our defense is going to be so much better than people realize.. Got into it with a media member yesterday who was arguing that we didn’t add anyone so how can this defense possibly be better?
…
When you are so young, and inexperienced in the scheme. You can’t expect our players to be the same players they were last year… If you work your ass off at anything for months, and you aren’t better than you were before, there is a major problem.. Too many people look at our defense and think they have already seen the best guys like Kendrick, Logan, Thornton. Cox, curry, Wolff have to offer… If you expect these players to be the same players you saw last year, you are WRONG!!! You work hard at anything in life, and you will improve.
…
Eagles will field a top 13 defense this year.. Next summer, We will be going into the season as a consensus top 10 defense..
…
Prepare to be pleasantly surprised by the defense of the 2014 eagles
My goal is to get us under 21 points/game, that means a top 10 defense (not getting super toasted by Broncos and Vikings would have meant a top 13 scoring defense).
Yeah that’s were I’m at… 17-21 a game, occasionally giving up 24 if we score 40 and let up in garbage time 🙂
..
Meco agreed with the Jim Johnson number that keeping teams to 17 is the goal, he said our offense can score 21 on anyone…
…
If we average 20-22pts a game at the end of the year, we are probably a top team in the NFL
we don’t play the Bronco’s or the Saints. When you look at the schedule, which teams is(are?) offensive powerhouses? GB? Can we call Redskins/Cowboys powerhouse? 17 points should be attainable.
Cowboys with a healthy Romo and Redskins if they get going. Else its pretty much GB and Seattle who should be able to score on us.
17 pts/game is not in our sight in todays NFL, that would have put us top 3 last year. 21 is more realistic and if we on average allow 21 points game, we should have a great record
We should be shooting for 17, settle for 21,..
…
17 attainability depends on Chip and the offense… Can they learn to play with a big lead, and learn to run the hurry up, but kill the entire clock at the LOS the way Rivers or Manning does… If we can learn to play with a big first half lead and not let a few teams back in it in the second half, we could hold a few opponents to 17…
…
Figure if we average 21pts, a few games we will hold teams to 17, few games we let up 24, and we end up averaging 21
What we don’t know about the Eagles defense was how many mistakes the secondary made last year–coaches protected them. Also they were more physically a limited bunch. RE: Chung, Coleman.
Curry and Cox have to come up big as pass rushers–then we can be pretty good.
We will be very much improved. Its not possible for us to not be Improved… Jenkins will eliminate a lot of the secondary breakdowns me blown coverages…our presnap disguise should be much better. Pass rush will be fine. We will have to blitz, but so what, that’s what we always done in philly
I think its hilarious that the media talks about how our defense is going to be bad because we didn’t get better players. But then say that Dallas’ defense is going to play better because they can’t be worse than last year, even after they lost their 3 best players on defense.
It takes 2 years to switch from a 4-3 defense to a 3-4. It doesn’t magically happen overnight.
I’m worried about the Dallas/Niners game….the Niners are so banged up, that I actually think Dallas could make this a game. Would have been such a huge advantage if we played the Niners in September and the rest of the division played them in November/December when they get their guys back…Niners announced That Boreland didn’t win the starting position next to Willis
…
Suh and Ziggy Ansah should beat the crap out of Eli this week. A horrible OLine plus a QB who is not comfortable in the new offense is going to be disastrous.. ODB has been injured feels like since he drafted and may miss first 3 weeks of season..
…
RG3 should catch the beating off a lifetime Sunday against JJ WATT, Clowney and hard hitting nasty Swearinger(the modern day Bernard “lay the SMACKDOWN” pollard…don’t know what texans offense will look like against poor skins defense. But watching RG3 run for his life all day, not knowing how to slide lol and seeing him take hits from JJ WATT should be very satisfying..
..
I would like to get out to a 1 game lead over the entire division..hopefully the Niners aren’t too pathetic on defense.. That game is a lock to go OVERS. Niners should be able to run the ball all day against Dallas and Kapernick should have a big day running..hopefully they out score Dallas
What’s the over/under of the 1st Eli fumble? 1st quarter? first 5 minutes? LOL.
Lol I got a good prop bet for you…. Who turns it over sooner in the game, RG3 or Eli?
I’ll be on Eli…lol.
“They actually know what they are doing”? I can only base my opinion on what the Eagles do because I can’t watch the Eagles practice on a daily basis. What did the Eagles do? They didn’t sign Allen. They searched around and came up empty. Before we get into the “they know what are doing”, let’s remember by Eagles actions, they appeared to be ok with letting Allen walk. Then when they couldn’t find a replacement(or they failed to sign a targeted safety) they signed him to a year deal. That’s not encouraging on how the Eagles feel about him.
Maybe it was a wake up call to Allen. Maybe the Eagles are already eyeing his replacement for next year. Maybe he improves this year and we’ll all be excited about his play. Until then, I’m not excited about him. Pre-season is one thing. Season starts it’s another. Let’s not all get slap happy after the Eagles spank the Jags. We’re supposed to do that so we can save all the “Allen looked great vs. a weaker team stuff”. I, for one, hope he proves me wrong.
I don’t see Barwin/Fletcher improving just by “another year in the system”. But the rest of them — sure, I see upside all over the place. Great read on a Friday morning with my DD coffee.
I just ask for 1 area of improvement(besides Allen) — get off the field on 3rd downs more often. The Saints game is still in my head about that inability.
It was the Chiefs game for me on the 3rds down. Yuk.
very true.
Chargers when they kept throwing underneath and we didn’t have the safeties to tackle them short of the first down that drove me crazy… Feel like we always had them in 3rd and 13 and we blew it because safeties couldn’t ankle WR short of first down..
Jenkins over Chung and steadily improved Allen should help against that
Yes sir….heck Nate looks to be tackling better. Even playing with some more aggression.. If he can keep building on it, a few more Good performances could give him the confidence to let loose and attack
Chip and Billy spoke a lot about Nate this week and I get the impression Chip actually Iikes him…
…
You are assuming we had no interest, when we don’t know that to be the case, possible we were adamant about only wanting to sign him for 1yr(before we commit to him Longterm) and it took so long to sign him, because he had to test the market and see if any long term offers were available before we can get him to sign for one year…
…
I’m 100% convinced that we really wanted Jenkins instead of Byrd and Ward and money didn’t factor into the equation..WHAT we require for our safety makes it pretty obvious why they liked Malcolm… Heck just adding subpackages like Dime should be a big help throwing different looks at QBs and is an extra tool to matchup against what we see. I also don’t rule out Wolff putting everything together by midseason and take Nates job.. Even if Nate is playing well, Wolff is such an athlete that if and when it clicks for him, I don’t think Nate will be able to hold him off and keep Wolff on the bench… Wolff has serious serious potential…just because he hasn’t reached it yet, doesn’t mean he is destined to sit the bench all year… Just watch that kid fly around by the 6th, 7th week…
…
I expect Thornton, Kendrick, cox, Boykin, Logan, Curry, Wolff to be better players than we have seen out of them…. We have so many young defenders that play a role, that if they all improve a little bit from last year, get a little stronger, little sharper mentally in the scheme and presnap recognition, be a little more experienced at the nuances of the position…when you get improvement from like 8 players, they should add up to a much improved defense…
..
I’m telling you, you will see a good defense this year… I know it
I’m excited for it. I do think we wanted Jenkins as well.
I assume we had no interest on Nate because if Chip really believed Allen had the tool set he’s looking or showed promise that it would longer than a 1 year deal. Chip clearly wants Mac here because of those reports. There were no such reports about Allen. It is all possible there were a lot of behind the scenes stuff — but just going off what I saw.
Just Jenkins alone is an upgrade over last year…
See my thing is I think we are really high on Wolff, and that we wanted a 1yr deal as insurance for Wolff not being ready in September…and as the season goes on, if Wolff ends up coming into his own, it will be Nates last season…however Nate gets an opportunity while he starts over Wolff to prove that he can improve enough to be here past this year…
..
Think we really hope Wolff grows into a starter, and we wanted one year of Nate as insurance, and a stop gap so that we didn’t have to rush Wolff on the field in September, if he wasn’t ready yet. Just because Wolff isn’t ready in September, doesn’t mean it can’t click for him in November and turn it up a few notches til we can no longer justify keeping him on the bench… I think that’s what our ideal situation is…but unlike Andy, Chip won’t assume, he will make sure he has contingency plans in place, thus. Bringing Nate back for a one year deal
Wolff has to stay on the field and get better at playing with eyes instead of legs. Obviously he has more talent but that’s just the baseline in this league.
We’re up to 194 comments right now and doing a search for ‘Logan’ I only had 2 hits and they were both from your posts.
I’m kind of curious why our starting NT’s name never seems to come up in the context of potential improvement for next year.
His name gets used in vain an awful lot whenever people want to look at the very last game where the Saints started running all over us at the end but is it so farfetched that a 3rd round rookie NT who wasn’t even a starter until halfway through last season might improve in his second year?
I know people would like a bigger guy to clog things up in the front but do people really think his ceiling was the second half of that Saints game? Maybe missing so much time in the preseason has caused people to forget he’s on the team?
Allen was very good this pre season. He was super sure tackling and looked good playing deep. He isnt Thomas or Byrd in terms of range or coverage ability, but he is far better tackler than both of them (seriously look at GBs first run where Thomas totally miffs and also look at Kuhn’s TD where Thomas bounced of Kuhn and did nothing)
I’m hoping you’re right. I have no issue with Allen proving me wrong.
I am also a Nate Allen fan. I am hoping he puts together another solid season with at least 2 interceptions. I will be happy with that. He doesn’t have to be a superstar. As long as he knows what he is doing and playing with confidence, he will be okay. I need to see more out of Wolff. Still don’t know if we have a special teamer or a special player with him.
“The Saints game is still in my head about that inability”. Then let me remind you of the KC game, and it will probably explode.
I more got the vibe out of Allen that they and he were content to allow him to test the market. They probably always wanted him back on a 1 year deal. When he couldn’t do better he quickly took the 1 year.
Last night watching that game felt like the montage of the beginning of Rocky III when Mr. T is beating the sh#t out of everyone. Oh boy.
I know GB maybe didn’t have the OL and DL to get it done, but c’mon the Seahawks look frightening. In all phases.
GB is not as bad as they look. That is not an 8-8 team. They’ll finish better than .500. I’m not sure they are better than us though. That’s going to be a fun game.
Rodgers versus our defense will be murders row, but their defense is crappy as hell and we should be able to score at will on them
There is a few things to take away.
1. Seahawks is much different at home than on the road, therefor getting 1st seed would be a big deal
2. I really think many offenses have lost half the battle before the game even starts. Offenses looks like they are scared to execute their normal gameplan which plays right into the Seahawks.
Think WR aren’t enough to beat Seattle. Need to have a strong intermediate passing game to running backs and Tight ends,,,packers were really week in that area,. They either run in with Lacy or want to get the ball to Nelson. Cobb or Boykin…their passing attack played right into the strengths of Seattle, where as their CBs are going to be bored when we keep throwing it to our backs and multiple TE’s
…
Also think you really need to use tempo to get that defense sucking wind … Packers “tempo” was fraudulent. Seattle hasn’t seen a tempo like ours yet…
…
I always talk about how Chip is going to pick on the fact That they don’t move Richard Sherman around. They will keep him on the right side no matter what, which means you are letting Chip dictate the matchup…BAD IDEA. Chip will stick Ertz in front of Sherm and just rough him up all game.. Maybe put Celek and Coop in front of him a few times and just keep roughing him up all game…every once in a while, give him a change of pace and stick the tiny Sproles in front of him..
…
Maxwell is good, but he can be got! He is NOT Richard Sherman….their LBs can run, but they can’t run with shady and Sproles as pass catchers… Like to see Celek go after my boy Kam Chancelor..say what you will about Celek, but he is a tough mofo who will not be intimidated…
I think run game and TEs are the way to beat Seahawks. The Seahawks run a cover 1 robber, so they are really vulnerable to 4 verticals (most common route scheme for us) and that should be huge for Celek, Matthews and Ertz.
Celek getting hit by Chancelor might cause a seismic event and Celek will pop right back up and be ready again.
That tempo was lol. They were using almost the entire play clock after the first series.
Only team who I have seen consistently use a high tempo is the Bills and of course Peyton and Brady when they want to. The Jags also wants to play uptempo so its going to be fun to see how fast they really go
Eddie lacy went against cam and lost big time. Think you can discount a lot about the pack for that game but Seattles speed on d is crazy. Jealous we can’t move / react that fast.
I was surprised they only threw 1 WR screen. The blockers got out in front, but when jordy had to go back for the ball it gave the defense an angle. Could of been a big play. I think that would be an effective play against their aggressive defense.
Bubble screens or tunnel screens are tough against a man defense and the Hawks defense really flow towards the ball.
I think the double screen to a TE or RB or the Jail break screen is better because you get OL blockers and you fake one way first
I thought the Steelers played their ones on Offense well into the 3rd quarter. The Brandon Graham 3 play sequence at the end of the 1st half that included a sack, strip and stop for loss was against the Steeler starting left tackle.
I expected that BG would play more last year. Maybe this year? As far as a D breakout player, I’m hoping Nate Allen gives Kendrick a run for his money. Just hoping.
yep, the Steelers 1st defense got abused two times by the Eagles backups
I know preseason doesn’t count, but if you were a Steelers fan (and I have relatives who are), you had to watch that game and think – we are not ready.
and no amount of game-planning could stop that DL for getting their asses kicked so badly as they did.
Graham scores really well in all of the stats that can be easily measured. He is pretty lacking in everything else. This leads to the opinion that the coaching staff is holding him back or not using him enough, when he would get toasted if we wasn’t limited to never having to worry about playing the run.
BG is actually very good against the run. His problem is covering someone. Not sure how much better Cole can be than him on that though as one of the stat sites stated Cole give up a completion to his man every time the opposing QB threw a catchable pass.
I think the worst thing about last years defense was depth. You would see us dominate teams in the first half only to let them come back in the second as the defense got tired. I think now we have some legit back ups that will keep everyone fresh. That means getting the backup DL playing time, the back up Pass rushers playing time and hell maybe letting Wolff and Carroll do some spelling too. I think that will go a long way in improving the unit.
Also, lack of depth equates to lack of subpackage variation… Our depth this year makes us much more suited to play successful situational football… Last year we severely lacked subpackage variation on 3rd down… This years depth will change that. We already know we added a dime package that we didn’t have last year, who knows what other subpackages we have waiting to throw at QBs on 3rd down…we couldn’t add subpackages until we added the right depth…mission accomplished. Curious to chart the different looks we throw at teams on 3rd down passing situations
What pissed me off last night was seeing Obrien scofield get the first sack for Seahawks… Last year when we hD no OLBs, scofield was on waivers like 3 different times and we never took a look at him…we could have signed him again this year and we still had no interest… Not saying I want to give the dude a starting OLB spot, but I would have liked to see him competing in camp with us….maybe we aren’t comfortable with his medical
and that first sack was a coverage sack, he was just the pass rusher on the field.
Michael Bennett was a guy I really wanted
Yeah I like him too…but Obrien sat on waivers like 5 different times back when Casey Mathews was our 4th OLB. It used to drive me crazy
Would he be a scheme fit though?
Yes, he is long, can rush the passer, stop the run and drop in coverage
He looked pretty dominant last night
Our offensive players look dominant bc of chip it’s the opposite on seatles d. Their d players look awesome bc of the scheme.
Bennet is not a scheme fit for a 3-4 OLB, he’s a 4-3 end. I am not sure how you’re able to conclude he is able to play coverage (based on snaps?). He was a rotational pass rusher that was often moved inside on passing downs.
Aaron Rodgers is soft for not even considering throwing at Sherman. You are an elite QB, you shouldn’t fear any CB to that extent that you won’t even look at that side of the field..soft!
IT was the offensive game plan
Mike McCarthy was a pussy too.. He told his entire locker room, we aren’t good enough to compete with him. He is so good that we are only going to play with half the field… What a soft performance, I lost so much respect for that coach and that QB last night…
I really hope the Eagles do not budge and just play our own game.
Keep to the IZR and then use 4 verticals and mesh concept to get WRs open against the Hawks cover 1 robber
If they can get Ertz against any of those LB or Cam, it’s over.
Cover 1 and Cover 3 is really vulnerable down the seam if you run 4 verticals because it puts the FS in a bind
As fast as their LBs are, I doubt they can keep up with Sproles or Shady as pass catchers.. That’s a different level of speed.. LB speed ain’t matching up with Sproles speed… Seattle has dealt with an Elite OLINE like the Niners before, but we will throw an elite and agile line at them that will be in shape to play uptempo while we catch you with a sub on the field, not let you sub. And make you suck wind…and start sending our OL out to burry Wagner, KJ and Malcolm Smith… Hope to see Mathis maul Chancler
.
I don’t know why, but I keep feeling that Marshawn lynch will get injured… I even drafted Christine Micheal in fantasy because I just can’t shake this feeling that BEASTMODE is going down…
You can bet Chip won’t just concede half the field to Sherman… We will make the cover every inch of the field. That Seattle defense does great against traditional pro style offenses like broncos and packers…. Let’s see what happens when we spread them thin and force them to defend the entire field… Plus, we will give them a battle in the trenches, where as they outclassed packers at the LOS
Kelly tourched USC when Carroll was coach and he ran the same defense at USC and had guys like Clay Matthews and Cushing
Yup… If you go back and look at the USC defenses, they were similarly built to the Seahawks…Chip shredded them
You mean like when we didn’t want to kick off to the Vikings??
The Packers looked lousy last night. Same erratic D, same offensive line issues as last year.
As for being Chip Kelly (mid) west, in running our offense–they don’t have the right player mix, o-line, or experience yet, with it. Lacey is not the real McCoy.
I think an overrated team. Makes me appreciate our versatility.
They played like a bunch of bitches. The great gun slinger Aaron Rodgers, and Mike McCarthy stuck little Jarrett Boykin all game in front of Sherman and conceded that they would only play with half the field… They didn’t even look Richard Sherman’s way,.. They basically told the entire team, we aren’t good enough to attack that side of the field… That’s soooo SOFT for an elite team…and where was Jordy nelson and his shiney new contract? Micheal Irvin, TO would have demanded the damn ball and they would have licked their chops at a chance to go at Rashard Sherman…
…
Packers were gutless last night…..they laid down. It’s one thing to get outmatched in the trenches…but all your elite players ran away from a CB.. So soft.
Look at the Hawks vs Raiders pre season game, Carr attacked Sherman 3 times
We might not beat Seatle… But I can’t see the eagles play like the cowardly packers… I’m ok with losing, but if I see us play like cowards it will break my heart. Celek, Ertz, Coop, guys need to attack and not back down
I wanna see Cooper line up versus Sherman, gonna be chippy as hell
Would be great to see him get picked on and exposed.
No way Chip Kelly concedes half the field to Richard Sherman…we will attack every inch of the field, stretch them thin. And then let’s see them stop us
When it comes to posting comments, you should do some less.
GB had some young/inexperienced guys playing key roles, esp. on their line, and having their “welcome to the NFL” moments collectively.
I agree that GB had a terrible game plan. SEA had a great offensive game plan, keeping GB’s aggressive defenders guessing/overrunning plays, while GB ran the same things over and over on offensive. Too predictable. Didn’t think GB really had a chance anyway, but it didn’t help them.
The QB – handoff – run – pass option is not something I have seen from Sea before last night. Did they steal that from Chip? I don’t watch Seattle much btw. Their games are usually boring and I just don’t like them.
Don’t watch much of their games either, but I think it was a new wrinkle for them. You can definitely see why they traded a 1st-rounder and more for Harvin. They had/have big plans for the guy — almost a co-centerpiece with Lynch. They looked scarier than ever last night.
I’m sure we will see Chip incorporate some of the stuff they do with Harvin! for Sproles..
..
Also thought that was the best Russel Wilson I ever seen. He wasn’t a game manager last night..
I don’t know man. I get it, he is good. But the comparisons between he and Rodgers last night I find insulting. The Seahawks had 200+ rushing and are tremendously balanced. Wilson was 19-28. I’m not calling him a game manager, but he isn’t freakin Rogers. Wilson is like the anointed one. Get back to me when he has no rushing game, is throwing 40 times a game and winning games on his own.
This isn’t responding to you as much as the “media”.
Wilson can be the guy, but he made some bad plays last year
Only 2nd year in the NFL for crying out loud. Of course he made some bad decisions last year, just like Luck or Foles or even newer guys like Geno Smith or like EJ in Buffalo. Just like Rodgers or Brady or Bradshaw in their early years.
Yeah I’m def not ready to put him up there with Rodgers… I just made the comment because this was the fist time I saw him as more of a game manager,..
The pop play was taken from Auburn
https://twitter.com/smartfootball/status/507710826351190016
Kelly as far as I know have never used that version. We ran the TE pop pass last year and run the bubble screen pop pass (WR fakes blocking for the bubble screen and runs behind CB, http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap2000000247386/Avant-22-yard-touchdown )
I’m not talking about the Trenches… I expected Seattle to win the battle of the trenches… What I didn’t expect was the best QB in the NFL, a SB winning coach, and Jordy Nelson who just got PAID to concede the entire right side of the field to Sherman… You gotta go after him. Keep him honest… Heck by the second half he was probably so bored at no one looking his way you could have caught him off guard…
…
GREAT PLAYERS impose their will… Sherman chumped Rodger, McCartney and Nelson. And if I’m Jarrett Boykin, I would be pissed on the ride home that you had me out there like a decoy all game and you disrespected me by not thinking I could do anything against Sherm
Agree that their game plan seemed to be based on fear: fear of Sherman, fear of the pass rush. I understand why you have to game plan for those things and try to exploit better match-ups, but it ended up making them too one-dimensional. Thought Rodgers was at his best making things happen and should have been given more freedom to do so. Felt too simple and predictable and that played into the hands of the SEA defense.
Well said… By halftime it was evident they wouldn’t thow to Sherman’s side, so Seattle could just role it’s coverage to the other side and it played right in their hands… Micheal Bennett was Beasting Sherod… Baluga, Lacy went down, they were done…
Yeah, I pretty much agree. But my big takeaway was they’re not Chip Kelly-midwest. All this nonsense about GB getting Kelly’s asst for conditioning, and GBs “great” new training methods, and how they would be a new-look team.
They don’t have the right players to do what Kelly does. And you can’t experiment with it–you gotta be all in. Take away Rodgers, they’re not much.
They better never compare their tempo with ours ever again… Everything we do, is designed to be more prepared to play with tempo than anyone else…from how we practice, how we lift weights…
..
That’s why I laugh at the talk out of jaxonville that they will use tempo on us LOL…why would anyone be so dumb to do that? They will have trouble keeping up with our scoring…they better try and keep our offense off the field.. They have to be retarded to try and tempo us
Just occurred to me… wonder if GB’s lack of creativity on offense had anything to do with their version of the uptempo attack. Those WCOs and their twenty word play calls, wonder if they struggle calling a variety of plays with such a clunky system.
If so, makes you really appreciate Chip’s system which is so streamlined for an uptempo offense. Why Chip preaches being a no-huddle organization.
Losing Bulaga’s “country ass” (“Iowa” –stern emotionless face–) was obviously a big blow. Seattle really took advantage of that.
Yea he’s good, but I didn’t see anything like Kelly’s efficiency in the Pack’s Eagles-wannabe offense.
Word is the Texans tried to trade for Matt Barkley before settling on Mallet…
Wonder what the Eagles were asking for. I’d have ask for JJ Watt, think that’s pretty fair.
JJ Watt is not a scheme fit.
Bill Davis wants a mirrored defense, and since there is only one person of JJ’s talent, we can’t get him.
What if were to put JJW at NT?
Smart.
is JJW ambidextrous? if not, he would prefer one side over the other, which means he might not be the best fit….
Isn’t Watt a pass rusher, with lot’s of screaming and arm waving when he makes a sack? Nose tackles are almost invisible while absorbing blocks.
The fact that we didn’t trade Barkley tells me we still value him and aren’t just willing to dump him for whatever pick we can get… I’d assume it would cost more than the 4th round pick we paid for him to get us to agree to unloading him, especially when we only have Sanchez on a 1yr deal
It looked like NE was pretty desperate to trade Mallett at that point (basically gave him away for a 7th) and didn’t want to carry a 3rd QB on their roster. Eagles probably asked for at least a 3rd, and Houston probably thought Mallett, even with his expiring contract, was a better value there. I don’t blame them.
The Pats were going to cut Mallet and the Texans have first waiver rights. So very little leverage. Mallet looked awful in preseason. Barkley was not getting cut. This could be so little news that it could be just that the Texans called about Barkley. Barkey has 2 more years after this one on his contract. We are giving him away for anything close to what the Texans (with their waiver spot) would need to get Mallet.
Check 24/7.
Oh, we already have a whiffle ball set and didn’t need another one.
48 comments + 4,018 words.
19 of those comments (39.5%) and 2,387 words (59.4%!) are by GEAGLE.
Amazing.
Carry on.
why all the hate? guys got good insight… i think.
To each his own. I prefer intelligent, thoughtful and meaningful comments to an unedited, repetitive, and barely coherent stream of conscious from the type of person who has the time to post over 2,000 words in 2 hours.
How could anyone complain about GEAGLE. He’s a character on this site and a few others. If he wasn’t posting I’d be thinking something was wrong. He loves this team and just happens to be enthusiastic. Follows the college game, and gives good draft analysis. Made my winter go a little faster. Be talking about AC next !!!
He sucks. He’s the Should Pad Guy of the blogosphere.
Do people still say blogosphere?
Don’t know…..Think it all goes to a clouds now.
AC is a national treasure. My favorite poster on the board.
Putting him on the same level as GEAGLE is…..unfortunate.
Have to admit they’re both Iggles blitz characters.
Be glad he doesn’t think you’re female.
Maggie….That made me laugh, Really! The thought of some of your exchanges.
Seriously. Some really vile language back over on 24/7.
Dude is a grown ass man calling a woman a c***. Still can’t believe that.
I just saw Anders is the #1 commenter on this site after T-Law.
Just shows that frequency doesn’t make someone annoying, ‘cuz he’s a good poster.
HAHA, I didnt knew that. I do have a few years head start on GEAGLE, but commenting on this site has really picked up for me as well (there is way more activity now than when this site started)
Anders is awesome.
I prefer when the comments section of a football blog is about football.
But go ahead prove your case ? Or are you just stating that using big words but unable to specifically back up your particular stance ?
Let’s just hope he doesn’t use any big words while making his case!
That’s some internet Sabermetrics there. What’s his VORP?
-50, and even that’s inflated by an unsustainable BABIP.
I don’t know much about sabermetrics, did I do that right?
Glad I’m not the only one keeping statistics on this. You’re a saint.
GE puts in his work!
how is this helping? lol can’t you just quietly ignore the guy instead of hating on him?
Hard to ignore when 59% of the comments are his garbage.
You have a scroll button on your mouse right? Easy to ignore
Eh, if it was easy to ignore I wouldn’t complain about it.
This is the internet dammit, if I want to vocalize my extreme displeasure with something, I will!
Hello. I’d like to cast my first vote for you as “his majesty, the emperor” of iggles blitz comment section. It would of course be only an honorary title.
Where was “hate” mentioned?
your word count is off…
I did it really quickly by copying and pasting into Word. Spent like five minutes on it. So it won’t be exact. Also it was clearly as of a certain point (when there were 48 comments).
i dont know geagle but just from a comments standpoint hes at like 350 and your over 800… seems like you make more comments… maybe they are less words though? who knows… just a saber-metric addition
That has to be some sort of disqus bug / name change thing.
He had 19 comments on this post alone when I posted that.
Truly amazing that you had the time to put into numbers what we already knew. Must’ve been while you were at work. 🙂
Took 5 minutes! Very “back of the envelope” though. Should’ve provided a disclaimer.
All of which are more insightful than this. No place for personal attacks on this board, by anyone.
Carry on.
Well that’s just not true.
“Sometimes stability is needed”. all that needs to be said.
cant decide ill wear my LAWLOR or my KAPADIA jersey . . .
Prediction time. Eagles 30, Jaguars 13.
10 Cody Parkey field goals, 6 coming from beyond 50, two of which will be from beyond 60.
After the Eagles build a 15-13 lead, they take knees on every possession to run the clock and rest up.
That’s a can’t miss philosophy!
37-16… I said 37-17 yesterday but they won’t score two TDs… Give em a TD(if that, STATEMENT game for our defense) and a few FGs
Does Bill Davis have full control of the D? In many articles including this one, I read about Chip & the offense, but isn’t Chip the head coach of the whole team? Is he involved with the D?
Only thing Kelly have part in is what type we play and what type of players he want. It is Kelly that wants a 3-4 2 gap, so he went out and found a DC who can coach and run that.
Its Davis who along with the defensive coaches (I guess Todd Lyght, the LB coaches and Azzinaro is the biggest part), but Kelly is totally off hands with the defensive game plan
Thanks for the info. I guess the questions then are is Davis the right DC, does he have the right talent and can the 4-3 guys like Cox/Cole/Graham/Curry etc. take the next steps in becoming fully productive in the 3-4 scheme.
Davis seems like the right DC for now, we do not yet have the right talent, as we need upgrade over Ryans, Cole and the CBs (except Boykin)
I think Graham, Cole and Curry is gone after the season (leaves in FA, cut and traded), Cox was really good last year, so I think he will stay good.
Vinny curry to Miami for Dion Jordan… There are a bunch of edge rushers in this next draft, the problem is that it’s a position you really need to be patient with. We should be contendng next year, if we are going to lose Cole AND BG, we can’t fill that with a rookie and Marcus in year two….not if we are contending,,,,, might be a good idea to get an OLB going into his 3rd or 4th year, someone who is still young And can grow with you, but someone who can contribute day 1,
…
Trading Curry for an OLB, Leaving an opening at DE…draft junio duck, 6’7 295lb Arik Armstead to play with Hart and Beau on the #2nd team DL(running out of time to draft kids Chip recruited)
…
Draft 6’5 Athletic ILB Miss St benardrik McKinney
…
Draft another ILB Eric Kendricks, Mykals brother
….
Probably need another WR…if Polk doesn’t stay healthy we prob invest in a young back …
…
The backup OL showing up will be HUGE for us, we won’t have to dump a bunch of draft picks into the line
…
Lots of CB in this next draft….people are talking about Landon Collins as if he is another Kenny Vaccaro type but I don’t think he is THAT Good! I’m not even sure he is better than haha Dix yet…looks like Another meh safety draft… That extra pick for Bryce will come in handy
what makes you think the Dolphins are trading the overall # 3 pick for Curry? this is not going to happen
Because Jordan’s value is no longer 3rd overall pick. If Jordan’s fails to produce as a DE again (something he is not suited too), his value wont be high and a team like the Dolphins might be interested in trading him then.
ok but for Curry straight up? really? I know we all want this, but it seems slightly biased as a proposal.
Really depends on what kind of season Curry have. If Curry have a 8+ sack season (plausible), his value will be pretty high and if Jordan do not flashes at DE (after he is back from suspension), the new GM might sour on him (its important to note the current GM didnt pick Jordan, so no attachment)
ok we’ll see. I’m just pessimistic when this is our game plan to get better as a team: our guy will exceed expectations, their guy will be bad, then we’ll trade.
Jordan wont be bad, he is just a super terrible fit at DE, just as most people think Curry or Graham is bad fits in 3-4.
The reason you trade Curry for Jordan, is because you will lose Curry anyway, so trade him while you can get something for him and Jordan is a perfect fit for us as oppose to super bad fit.
It’s actually a deal that could really pay off for both teams…
Not only that, the current GM just cut like the 88th pick in the draft they took Dion.(Egnew)… He is cutting top 100 picks of Dions draft, you can bet he will trade him if he can’t produce at DE…if curry has the year I think he will have. The new GM would consider him lucky to turn the ost GMs mistake into Vinny curry
If curry has 6-8 sacks in a limited role, you can bet he will have value, especially at second round money
After he has a quiet year, you can rip up that #3 pick label….Miami LB suck, and they refuse to play him at LB… They aren’t using him right, so I don’t see them being happy with the year he has… They are trying to make him into, exactly what Vinny curry already is…that trade is going down….only way it doesn’t is if Dion has some crazy 13 sack year as a DE
Arik Armstead either goes super high or super low in the draft.
Im not a big fan of McKinney, I much rather have a guy like Shaq Thompson from Washington, as its coverage LB we need, which allows Kendricks to be more of downhill LB.
Biggest need is CB for me. I would love if we could get one next year (Marcus Peters is my favorite,but we aint drafting high enough for him).
I’m hoping Arik falls to 3… Hope comes from the fact there is so much DL and edge talent in this draft class.
…
I love Shaq…remember I said this, I bet you the Seahawks draft him to replace KJ Wright since they won’t be able to pay him in free agency… I love Shaq Thompson..like the Washington state CB too
Problems is, if Arik is only worth a 3rd round pick, he has underperformed imo.
If KJ Wright leaves Seattle, I would love him here to replace Ryans. Wright has good coverage skills and great size.
I’m keeping an eye out for Trae Waynes and Eric Murray.
Vinny Curry is a better 3-4 OLB, 4-3 DE, and 3-4 DE than Dion Jordan. And a better pass rusher. And better against the run. Why would you want to trade for a significant downgrade?
There are folks who fell in love with Dion Jordan 2 years ago and refuse to see that they might have been wrong. He has shown little so far. Kind of like the naysayers who were desperate for Byrd, while the Eagles wanted a team leader, not a showboating loner, with bad feet.
I’m not buying Landon Collins until he can actually produce. Top prospect who has been a disappointment.
Graham Cole and Curry all gone? No way.
Cole will get cut and Graham leaves in FA (some 4-3 team will pay him more than us) and I think there is a good chance Curry is traded for a pick pr player
That leaves precisely 0 edge rushers. Who would be the replacement? You can’t draft a rookie pass rusher and expect them to contribute anything whatsoever, they’re way too weak.
Jason Worilds should be available. I think he’ll be unrestricted next year.
Marcus Smith?
If you listen to players quotes from training camp, even the defensive players talk about how active Kelly with them in practice and the meeting room.
It doesn’t sound like he’s “hands off” at all. But it does seem like he delegates authority and trusts his people.
We shouldn’t forget that Azzinaro is not just the D-Line coach, he’s the Assistant Head Coach (or something). While I’m certain he’s not undermining the DC -like some line coaches we know -he’s very much “Chip’s guy”.
Kelly him self have said that he is hands off (aka not involved with gameplanning) of the defense.
I was speaking of defense, in general, though I see you were talking about specific weekly plans.
We can only take him at his word. But when guy who wants players to walk around the lawn in a certain way says he’s “hands off” about one of the most critical aspects of his job we may have to look at it on a bit of a curve.
Like I said, it comes down to Kelly trusting his staff.
It is Kelly who has demanded a 3-4 2 gap scheme, its Kelly who wants long CBs, its him who wants 6-9 DL if you could get his hands on them etc.
He has specific demands for every single position on defense that he relays to Howie to find and the defensive coaching staff to coach.
I have to agree with you Bert.
Chip wanted a 3-4, 2 gap defense and he wanted versatility and an uptempo team on both sides of the ball.
That was not a Billy Davis idea, that was Chip Kelly.
To think that Chip would not have a huge impact on defensive game planning does not make much sense.
He has put his signature all over this team and I truly believe that he has a lot of say on how we game plan on both sides of the ball for any given opponent.
I don’t care what Chip tells the media, he eats, sleeps and breathes Football, so why would he only concentrate on the offense?
Kelly hired Davis for his ability to run a 3-4 2 gap, remember Davis learned most of what he knows from Dom Capers and Dick Lebaue, two 3-4 2 gap guys.
Do we have the deepest arsenal of offensive weapons in the NFL? I see teams wit a nice stable of WRs, or a quality group of backs, but is anyone more stacked in terms or RB, WR and TE combined?
…
Broncose have a bunch of WR and a TE, but aren’t anything special in terms of RBs
…
Colts have a bunch of WRs, two decent TEs, meh at RB
…
Bears are up there in terms of weapons. They are probably the only team I listed who compares to us in terms of pass catching RB weapons, tho Shady + Sproles probably > Forte…
..
If we don’t have the most stacked arsenal we are certainly up there..
..
Keep in mind, that I don’t think we are done building our WR corp. when we cut Desean,mwe were reconfiguring the WR position….I don’t think we are done. Not only do we have a decision to make with Maclin, but I don’t think this WR group will be complete until Brad smith replaces Maehl as the 6th WR.. Brad would be an excellent 6 WR, bringing depth with ability to lineup inside and out, while being on of the Top ST players in the league. he isn’t a great 3rd or 4th WR, but once he becomes your 6th WR, that’s when you know your WR corp is complete
Overall I say we have the deepest and most versatile group of skill position players.
We can’t even be close to done with building the WR corp. I think we have more WR’s than Cheerleaders. And we’re 1 injury away from disaster. Do we really know what we have? Mac off of injury. Will the real Cooper please stand up, please stand up. JM — the rook – right now, the only WR worth watch. Huff(IMHO) is a dime a dozen type of player. And the rest are eh.
They could all be outstanding. But right now, all are question marks -except maybe Cooper???. GBay has a very good duo at WR and a talented RB – but no TE.
I assume Chip knows exactly what he has in huff and he wouldn’t be here if he was a dime a dozen.
..
Cooper, we know what he is. A flawed WR, who won’t get separation, but won’t let you jam him at the LOS. He is good for Screens, and coming down with jump balls in man to man coverage…. I don’t see why all of the sudden he would forget how to come down with jump balls…
…
Mac is ?… But the only question I have is his health… If he holds up, I expect to see the best year of his career.. Maclin was a Spread player, and he looked OK in Andy’s offense, but it expect to see his best in chips spread attack…don’t sleep on Macliv also doing some damage from the slot this year… Health is a legit concern tho…
…..
best case scenario we only need 1 more WR, ditch Maehl, sign Mac long term… Just because Jordam Mathews and huff haven’t looked like Colston nvmd Randall Cobb yet, I’m not at all down on them…. I’m sure Chip knows what a quality WR looks like, and both have the work ethic that we can count on them not being underachievers..I’m not at all worried about the two rooks… I just don’t expect much from rooks, everything we get from them is a bonus in my eyes…
…
I don’t get what the concern is with Cooper? He won’t start burning people with speed and route running, but he will continue to bully smaller CBs and come down with jump balls.
Or — Huff went to Oregon….
Mac can, and just might be, special. Playing for a contract too.
I’m not worried about JM, we just can’t say we expect 1000+ 10tds from Mathews. Next year, we just might have those expectations of him.
Huff? Wasn’t impressed with the pick. Not impressed with his play. I need to see more of him.
Cooper. 1st year in the system, with DJ as the deep threat. People can talk all they want about how DJ did not demand attention because he did. This year Cooper is number 2 and will demand respect. Cooper is one of my favorite guys, no question. Love his heart and toughness. Maybe Cooper is outstanding for this offense. It’s like Foles. 1 year doesn’t make you great. Can Cooper do it again? There are times when he gets thrown to in tight coverage and almost makes the play. Almost.
Chip, so far, is amazing with offense and we’ll see what he can do. If Huff turns into a solid number 3 would be awesome.
Look… Unless you think teams will start double teaming, bracket coverage on Cooper or putting their #1 CB on Cooper, neither which will happen, then Desean Jaccson has NOTHING TO DO WITH COOPER!
…
Forget the silly media talk…go watch the saints game tonight, put our pass plays in slow motion and you will see that the saints shut Desean down one on one and actually were rolling coverage to Coopers side more than Desean… FACT!
I have simple rule in FF, bench who ever is playing the Seahawks. Simple to great of chance they wont produce
OK. Just read the piece and haven’t gone through the comments here, but I imagine this theme will be repeated. I am hopeful about the stability in the scheme, the addition of Jenkins, and the depth. That said, I have yet to see anything to make me believe the pass rush will take a real step forward. IF that improves (not just sacks, but pressures, QB hits, forcing the QB to move, etc.) then a great season will be upon us. The other areas will provide a bit of improvement, but a much better pass rush will make everything else, so much better. I would venture to say its the difference between just making the playoffs and doing some real damage once we get there.
LOL @ cowboys having a press conference for a practice squad player
I agree Nate Allen could be better this year, but it seems that if the Eagles considered him to be a guy they want starting back there they could have signed him for more than a year.
Yes we have more depth at cornerback, but that isn’t necessarily going to make the starters any better.
The Eagles defensive backfield was bad last year. This year we are hoping they improve, but the ceiling seems to be “ok” and the most likely scenario is “not as bad as last year, but still bad.” They are still several players away from hoping for a good defensive backfield, and I think the organization realizes this considering Allen and Fletcher are not signed past this season and Williams has a salary increase that will make retaining him unlikely without a renegotiation.
I’d say the DB’s were better than I thought they’d be, especially Nate Allen, Cary Williams, and Bradley Fletcher. The results that one might blame on the DB’s I tend to look to the pass rush. The back end got hung out to dry a LOT last year. I’ll say the DB’s were solid overall, solid in coverage, solid in run support, the one place I didn’t like them was giving up the short stuff too easily in situations where short stuff hurts (anything that isn’t 3rd and long) followed by that damn shallow crossing route that single-handedly demolished us the first half of that season.
Davis’ decision to give up short yardage, remember? Bend don’t break? Shouldn’t a shallow crossing route be more in the LBs area?
Valid points. The 3rd downs were on the coverage calls. I disagree with Davis on them, let the big physical CB’s contest those first 5 yards, give the pass rush a chance by making the QB look to a second or 3rd read. I said shallow crossing, meant shallow slants (like the one Donnie Avery gashed us with over and over with). That one is the one that made Chung infamous. Shallow crossing routes gave ‘Meco some of his best highlights between decleating the crossers and coming up with a pick or 2.
Yeah we basically give first downs with the way we play off coverages we drop almost past the sticks immediately. I’m not a fan. But we do get turnovers which to me is the point of the defense so going by that we’ve been successful.
I think Howie took a calculated bet last summer that he could bring Nate back for pretty cheap. Seems to have worked out.
I don’t know, I can kind of see not believing in the Eagles D. Still no pass rushers (that will play). New rules that might make our starting CBs an extinct species.
Watching the Seahawks DB’s and they still looked about the same. Looked to me that the flags did let up a little from the preseason. The penalty exists, but the times it got called were pretty blatant.
Everyone has faith in Chippie Pooh my is rushing the QB. I am hoping they do not have to blitz a lot to pressure QB, secondly this teams picks before Chippie came were 4-3 players not 3-4 players which brings me to wondering why they changed. You need special players who are experienced in playing that scheme. I am hoping another year with Bill Davis who I like a lot will make them tougher. The offensive show is one I can not wait to see along with the new kicker and special team players. Wish Huff was playing, however we get to see if Carroll can hold down the fort.
Oregon vs. MSU tomorrow evening for anyone that wants to see the legacy of Chip’s scheme vs. the best defense in college football.
Also, this is the best hype video I’ve ever seen (Eagles should hire whoever made it):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjpZBJB8glk
Can’t wait to see that game. Was channel surfing the other night came across the Miami game, thought it was the Ducks. Uniforms looked just like an Oregon style.
http://vimeo.com/77251183
This might be my least favorite time of the year. So much hype and hate and nobody knows a damn thing. It even bothers me to be double digit favorites in week one with nothing but preseason and paper to go off of. So anxious to take the training wheels off and get a taste of what 2014 has in store for us. This team has such variance, we might be good enough to win a Superbowl or we might have regression based on not being as healthy/ having a harder schedule (but who even knows if the schedule will end up being easier or harder right now).
I’d love to steamroll Jacksonville and never look back, but I think we’re going to have a luke-warm start this year while: Barbre subs for Johnson, the NFL reveals it’s grand response to Chip Kelly, and the offense slightly adjusts it’s identity without DJax. I think we’ll pick up speed over the course of the year and make the playoffs, then anything is possible. Can’t wait to get started, it’s killing me!
Relax!
Have faith in Chip. He’s a chess grandmaster, always gonna be multiple moves ahead.
There will bumps in the road, but not this Sunday.
45 – 17 sounds right.
Know where your coming from, remember being double digit favorites and losing. Think that ends with Chip, hope so anyway. Like to have a good start. Can’t wait till Sunday 1:00 pm, and euphoric by 4:15.
Preseason is my least favorite time of year…can’t tell what’s real and what isn’t, that’s why I try to just stick to my pre preseason opinions… Week 1 is certainly frustrating because like the preseason it can be misleading…. We had a fantastic season last year after starting 1-3… We need to get off to a good start, and finish strong since last 4 games are Seattle and 3 division games..
…
If the 49ers can’t score 40 on Dallas, shame on kap
At least in the preseason it’s a zero consequence opportunity to get a look at our depth, see some of the team’s projects in action, which is interesting in a big picture sense. But during the week up to the first game it’s just….waiting. Tons of yapping in sports world, everybody is making bold predictions, declaring champions and writing off others. I hate that stuff, let ’em play a down first, once we get into a real football game I’ll be on cloud 9, just hate the period between preseason game 4 and week 1. The excitement and anticipation makes for a loooot of talk but there’s so few real things to talk about so it’s purely empty prognosticating. BRING ME FOOTBALL (just over 27 hours to go)!
Not sure I totally understand the optimism. No one is like eagles have or have acquired x player who is one of the best in the league at doing y. The defense largely is what it was last year when it was ok, except this year we have a much tougher schedule. We take Jenkins and the best that anyone can say about him is he’s a great leader, not he’s a great tackler, he’s great at covering the slot or covering linebackers or making a ton of plays. By the numbers he not great at any of those things. We’ve got a no. 1 pick that isn’t dressing against one of the worst teams in the league?
The offense should be great so people are giving the d a pass. Everyone wants to compare us to pats and broncos but those guys are paying for playmakers. Let’s pray for curry and cox and Kendricks, but I think it’ll be a tough year for billy d. Last year there were no expectations this year the offense is ready to move, there will be little patience if the d is holding us back.
Haha Clinton-Dix did not get on the field much for the Packers – bust right? If your first round pick is playing meaningful snaps at the start of the year you have a bad team. No one was up in arms when Ertz had limited snaps first 6 games last season, and he is closer to where Smith II was drafted than Lane. Look around the league a lot of the picks from 20 and down in the first round will have limited roles initially.
As for our Defence, it is 2nd year in the scheme which normally improves a unit, with MUCH better depth, remember the games were we had Roc Carmichael playing meaningful snaps? Urgh! He is not on the roster now. Remember our Safety depth were our starter was so bad we had to play a raw 5th round project to be more reliable? Eagles wanted Jenkins because he is OK at everything, can do any assignment for the team, and he is the perfect player for that. Byrd is a dedicated deep safety which is not how the eagles scheme wants to play it.
It’s absurd how this media and this fanbase is talking about Marcus Smith….what a bunch of Braindead idiots.. “Smart fanbase” lol
There can be as big improvement going from a scrub to an average player as going from an average player to a stud. Last year, in the games which Allen and Wolff played, the defense hung together better. When Chung had to play, look out. Likewise, when Williams and Fletcher were healthy the CBs were reasonable. They would give up some plays but would not be consistently torched. When Fletcher got injured and Marsh/Carmichael were playing instead… we got blasted. I guess it’s a weakest-link-of-the-chain theory; we replaced the weak links we had last year. With Jenkins better than either safety we had, that position is shored up, and hopefully Carroll will do the same with the CBs. I would agree that without real playmakers we will almost certainly not be a great defense, but we could improve to decent. Pass rush does remain a concern. (As for Smith… it’s not the quality of the opponent which determines playing time, it’s the quality of players in front of him — unseating Barwin and/or Cole is a tall order for a rookie. The hope for him is that he becomes a stud in time, not that he’s expected to be one now. But yes, that means he won’t have a major impact on this year’s D, at least not for a while. But maybe he can cover and let Barwin rush…)
This defense will show serious improvement this year…
FO has our schedule as 25/32. Last year it was 29/32. So about the same. I know ppl see the NFC West and freak out but the NFC East and AFC South are both dumpster fires this year and we have 10 games against them.
AFC South? How can you call the Colts or Texans “dumpster fire”? Both are somewhat like the Eagles. Have had up-and-down last couple of years, but do not expect them to stay down! They both have too much talent and good coaching. Won’t say fear them, but would certainly say be wary of them.
Whom should the Eagles have overpaid to acquire in FA? How are people giving the d a pass?
I think you’re like my brother, a born pessimist that doesn’t relate to optimism at all. In fact, I don’t think it would matter what the Eagles did, you would find reason to doubt no matter what.
The improvement from the D will be for the following reasons:
1. Continuity – in scheme and in key personnel returning. Davis was able to add a nickel and dime package and expand his playbook this season. The players know their assignments, and the coaches can provide answers for situations they couldn’t last year.
2. Malcom Jenkins and the safety group – the defense needed a QB in the back end assuring DBs are in the right position with the right call being made.
3. Growth and depth of the front 7 – CK and BD emphasizing the defensive rotation mitigates the need for first or second team designation as they’re all going to play.
4. Conditioning – this is the second season in Chip’s program and all the returning players will experience a jump in their abilities to play fast. The Eagles will not run out of gas.
5. Turnovers – Chip’s D is designed to go against his O and account for the usual time of possession difference, and the playing from behind offensive plans. Since 2010, the Oregon Ducks lead the FBS with 81 interceptions. With the addition of Jenkins and Carroll, the growth of Boykin and Wolf, and the rotation of the front 7, expect to see more TOs in the 2nd half of games this season.
6. Pass Rush – with the improved nickel and added dime packages, the Eagles will get to the QB more often this season. Expect an increase in hurries, batted passes, intentional groundings, and sacks as Davis dials up the pressure early and often.
Hopefully, you can find your way to the dark side (optimism) more times than not this season and experience the joy of Eagles football in the Chip Kelly era 🙂
It’s the day before the season.., If someone who posts about the eagles every single day doesn’t get it by now, they won’t..
…
Had the same argument with Missanelli… How the hell can anyone feel as tho they watched a bunch of young players and new players play in a new scheme with new coaches last year, and think they could possibly have seen the best it can get from that unit.,.. Maybe if we only had 1 or 2 young players I could understand… But we have like 7 young players who get snaps, how could someone possibly think none of them will be any better after lifting weights and practicing all offseason?
,,,
I don’t even understand… Then again last summer they all said we would be historically bad again, when we went on to hold teams under 21 for almost two months, so what can we really expect? Media, fans, national, local gonna be eating some crow because of our defense this year
…
All he kept responding to me was tell me how they are going to be any better than they were last year when all they added was a safety..hahaha lol…can I really argue with such a simple minded bastard? How do you even argue with someone who says that?,… People I guess think that young players just lift weights, watch film and practice all year so that they can maintain the same level of play I guess.i really don’t know to many things in life where if you Genuinly work hard at something over the course of time and you don’t end up improving…
…
Something so simple like lifting weights…don’t people think our young players will be a little stronger than they were last year? If soo wouldn’t that help them maybe be a little better? I just don’t get it
Tommy, a co-worker? Does this mean you have a J-O-B? Your loyal following needs to pony up and support you full time – you are the best. I have donated $100 twice this year – maybe it’s not enough. Keep up the great reporting.
As tommy always says, the local Dairy Queen can’t manage itself.
Anybody going to be at the game who went to a lot of game last year? I’m wondering if the new additions to the stadium will really help it be louder. Let me know if you notice a difference, I want to be undefeated at home this year.
I’ll see what’s up
Hype day of college football. Plenty of quality prospects on display that should Interest Eagles..they asked Chip why he went to see Ohio st vs. navy live last week and he said, “recruiting trip.. I asked Tom gamble were he was going and I decided to hop in the car and go watch the game”… Not sure who would interest us from that game… But kids to watch today:
…
Oregon vs, MSU. You can easily identify a media member you shouldn’t pay attention to you this year by whether or not he mocks Oregons Ifo OLOMU to us in round 1 which will never happen. Emergence of backup OL prob means we don’t have to spend a pick on Grasu..so the Oregon prospect Chip will covet the most will easily be Arik Armstead 6’7 295lb DE look great opposite of hart with ROCKSTAR Beau Allen in the middle of both… Kid is super talented so I selfishly hope for a season battling injuries and like an ankle injury or something that causes him to sit out the draft process so he falls in the draft like Taylor hart lol…..wouldn’t be shocked if he ended up being our first round pick…Doubt we have much intrest in edge rusher Tony Washington… MSU has Calhoun but we won’t pick high enough to have a chance at him
…
Stanford vs USC
Stanford WR TY Monthomery 6’2 215lbs last week had a TD on a punt return and bubble screen which screams Chip Kelly round two target
…
Vtech vs. Ohio St.. Only OSU player makes sense for me is suspended, Noah Spence… But Vtech has Kyle fillers brother Kevin who may end up being the better brother
…
BYU vs. Texas.
Texas Cedrick Reed 6’6 271.. Like Kruger we will probably have trouble figuring out if we make him DE or OLB. I don’t love him for us
BYU Junior Bronson kaufusi 6’7 265lb OLB, sounds chipish… Round 3/4 I would think,
…
OL Miss vs. Jordan mathewsville
Safeth Cody Prewitt who I like more than Landon Collins. 6’2 220lbs(doesn’t sound like our safeties)..last week he had some big hits out of his 8 tackles and 1 INT……
…
UCLA vs. Memphis tonight…
Watching Mykal Kendricks brother Eric and RB/LB Myles Jack might be my favorite thing to watch this season? Myles is too young, but Kendrick should be picked on #25-45 range.. A little taller than Mykal 6’0 230lbs… Probably the closest thing you can find this year to Shazler…… The Kendrick brothers flying around the middle of our defense behind a wall of beast two gappers for the next 7 years sure sounds good to me…. There isn’t a Clay to Casey drop off between these two brothers..
…
Michigan vs. Notre Dame.. THe battle of the Tight ends. It’s probably not realistic, but if Chip Kelly sees Devin Funchess on the board when we pick, I would assume he would rip up his plans and be forced to take the kid. 6’5 235lb who’s thriving as a TE and WR… That’s a scary compliment to Ertz
…
Suspect this year to be the most interesting draft. We built our core, fixed our major depth problem.. Soon we won’t have the room to be adding 7 rookies every year.. Going into this draft with an extra Bryce pick, I think we could see Howie at his most agressive… Packaging picks to move up for studs, more willing to Trade future picks to move up… The greatest thing to happen to this draft is the emergence of the backup OL. It was an Unknown, but as it turns out, it’s a non issue, which will really provide the freedom to fill other needs with high end talent.
OSU have quite a few NFL prospects, so it makes sense. Kelly is also good friends with Urban Meyers and have huge respect for NAVY.
Yeah ii know, they have a ton of prospects, I just personally not really a fan of them.. Think their highly touted DL is over rated… navy runs the crap out of the football so you know Chip had his popcorn
…
Who am I missing that I should be watching today(No cornerbacks tho) from the teams I mentioned? I don’t like stanford two NFL prospect DE’s.. They have a safety who will be drafted and we have no use for the OT
…
If Polk battles injuries all year, you know we are drafting a RB
Are we ever going to draft a Florida state kid, or you think that’s one of those Undisciplined programs Chip would ignore? I mean, the coach doesn’t even care that the QB is accused of some serious ish… Say what you will of Chip cheating in recruiting, but he always held players to a high standard in Terms of Charecter and behavior..
…
We need TY Montgomery to fill our year stanford draft Quota..
At MSU there is also their safety and Cook might be a great 3rd round QB to develop. He has the size, arm and athleticism, but Im not sure he will go super high.
I have seen Kendricks play, but I doubt he is more than a low 2nd right now.
Bronson will be a 2nd round pick when all is said and done (he reminds me of Michael Johnson who Kelly wanted to play OLB this year)
GOOD!!! The more Kendrick falls the better:)
…
Yeah Bronson could def go the Ziggy, Dion route, of shooting up the board come draft time…
…
Looks like another ILB year like last year where we won’t see more than 1 or two ILB in round 1, and none in the top 10.. Similar safety year to last year too.
…
I love watching that maniac WR Dorian green! but you know Chip Kelly ain’t touching that dude…kids a walking Red Flag Unfortnately.. Some team like Seattle will get to take advantage of a talent who falls because of Charecter..
Why, if Kendricks falls, its because he isnt good enough to be an early picks
I don’t believe you need to pick #25th to get a good player,,, great players come out of round two and three all the time, especially at non QB positions…
..
Don’t care if a guy struggles today..as long as they have the talent, character and work ethic, I’m confident our coaches can turn them into a player in a year or two…
…
Mykal Kendrick wasn’t a first round pick and he should have a probowl caliber season… I’d be thrilled to have another LB like him…
…
Draft prospects not players, and you develop them into players…. I don’t expect to be picking early in each round so it does me no good to see a player I covet play his way out of our range…
Mychael Kendricks got knocked down a round because he is 5’11 at a position where 6’0 is considered small.
Im just saying, you hype Erik Kendricks like he will be a great player yet you hope you can get him in the late 2nd?
Yeah, I think you can get great players late second and late 3rd all the time… In my eyes, there isn’t much difference between #25 and 45…Mykal Kendricks was an awesome player that we got because he was docked a few points for height…I’m talking about his brother who is like a half an inch taller lol…Bobby Wagner, Lavonte David.. These aren’t round 1 LB…
…
I also happen to think, with the core in place, and all the depth we added, we will see a different approach to the draft,..instead of trying to get 8 kids that can play, I think we will be more willing to move up for players and more willing to trade future picks to secure a few kids we think can be really good… 6 draft picks made our roster this year… Next year, if 4 make the roster it won’t hurt us… Not to mention we go into the draft with an extra pick from Bryce trade….
.
For example we could end up using all our picks in the first 5 rounds to come away with 3 high quality players…and still end up hitting on a few fliers in later rounds and UDFA…
…
We are no longer at the turnover phase of the roster building to where we need to hit on 5, 6, 7 draft picks… Shit to quality over quantity…
Maybe an extra pick from the BB trade. If both players work out, I think we get a pick for the following year.
That safety, Drummond, would look good playing here on Sundays.
I like the Cody Prewitt kid from OL Miss, but I have. Hard time seeing us draft a 220lb safety…
..
This safety class is a turn off.. Need to see more of Drummond…..
…
Wonder who the next safety or inside LB to get drafted in the top 10 will be?
I can’t take the Curry isn’t a scheme fit talk. You know why curry doesn’t play that many snap? Because Cedrick Thornton and Fletcher Cox are monsters…
I don’t care who you replace Curry with, they probably aren’t going to play ahead of Thornton and Cox.
…
I’m a HUGE Fan of the modern day Papale, but the only time I care if he is on the field or not is when the other team is passing on 3rd down… Thornton was one of the best run defenders in football, why would I want to take him out of the game?.. We have our Starters, now we need specialist and rotational players…and Curry fits that role beautifully,,…
…
The ONLY negative is we probably lose him in free agency.. But when it comes to this year, he is the PERFECT FIT…why? Because he is awesome at pass rushing, which is our starter, Cedrick Thorntons weakness….
I hear you with the Curry vs. Cox / Thorton talk, but that isn’t getting us off of the field on 3rd down. If that doesn’t improve over the season with the current roster, I’m going to need to see a major push on the talent acquisition front or Bill Davis needs to think about getting a bit more flexible on running straight 3-4.
Figure we are losing two of our main pass rushers in Cole/BG.,.so we have no choice but to get pass rushers in here anyway….but I think our 3rd down defense will be so much better than last year…
…
Hey guys, this is off topic, but I’m planning on going to my first game at some point, coming from Canada. It obviously has to be a home game. Which game do you think might be a good one to attend. Dallas seemed like a good choice if available. What area of the stadium might be good to try for as well?
Also wondering what hotels might be a good option to try to book at. I went to a pirates game last minute in may and had a brutal time finding a hotel. I imagine it might even be too late to book now. Thanks for any help.
Does it have to be Philly?
…
If you have to make a trip to see an eagles game anyway. You should give some thought to eagles AT Dallas, Thanksgiving day,,,..
..
But I understand if you want to take advantage and catch a game in philly….depends what you are looking for, do you want to go to a game you can count on winning, or do you want to go to a battle of titans? I will be at almost every home game, and the one I look forward to the most is Seattle coming here in December..but that’s a risky trip if losing would put you in a bad mood..
…
If you want to catch a win it suggest October 12 vs. Giants or December 14 against Dallas(last home game of regular season)
Penn’s View Hotel is on Front and Market. Great riverfront view, good rates, easy public transit to the stadium.
Independently owned too, better than giving your money to Paris Hilton.
Depends if you’re flying or driving into Philly. I would just mess around on Orbitz and see what types of deals you can get on one hotel vs. another as you cross-reference that with maps of the city’s public transportation. The train lines in and out of the city can do a nice job extending how far you can go. Once you get back into the central part of the city, the subway lines to the stadium complex are easy to navigate.
Suggest using Trivago for hotels. Look through schedule and pick the game you are most interested in, or an opponent you might want to check out.
GE:
If you’re checking in . . . You’re spot on abt Ty Montgomery.
He’d look great in Kelly green. All he does is impose his big play ability on the opposition.
Yeah.. Figure not only would he be an Ideal fit for our supposed “reconfiguring of the WR position”, but he also meets Our yearly quota of drafting a Stanford player…. I like him much more than USC WR Agholar..
..the U of Michigan WR/TE Funchess would prob be too tempting for Chip to pass on
Eagles officially released Rejus Benn with an injury settlement,,, so much for his eagle career
..
Cecil Short has been ruled out of the eagles game, which means the jags will attack us with an All rookie WR corp.. Our CBs better not get embarrassed by a band of rookie WRs…
I wonder if Chip’s conditioning he keeps the team on was one of the reasons they had more in the 2nd half than the Jags. Or maybe that’s something that works in their favor as the season wears on? You know the sleep hours he requires, the health food, shakes whatever.