Attack Mode

Posted: October 6th, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 352 Comments »

Marty Schottenheimer was a very good, if not great, NFL coach. He developed outstanding teams in Cleveland, Kansas City and San Diego. But Marty never took a team to the Super Bowl. He had 11 teams that won 10 or more regular season games. His career playoff record….just 5-13. One of the biggest problems for Marty is that he played not to lose. Avoid turnovers like the plague. Run the ball. Limit penalties. Use play-action passes to get big plays. Work the clock. Play good defense.

That is a formula for winning. But not building great teams.

Great teams attack. They are bold. They take chances. They play to win.

When the Eagles were up 34-14 on the Rams on Sunday, many people wanted the Eagles to start running out the clock. Chip Kelly wanted more points. The 4th quarter was just beginning. In Kelly’s mind, this wasn’t the time to sit on the lead. This was time to keep attacking and grow the lead. The Eagles drove down into scoring territory, but a fumble by Nick Foles killed the drive and gave the Rams a chance to cut even more into the lead.

Some of you will think Kelly was being careless or dumb with his mindset. I don’t. The offense was working the clock a bit. They weren’t going at hyper-speed. Nick Foles snapped the ball with 12 seconds left on the clock. That was a middle ground between when the Eagles like to snap it and a team trying to maximize the clock.

The Eagles also kept the ball on the ground for the most part. That would keep the clock running. Kelly wanted the clock to run, but he didn’t want his team standing around and going into “don’t lose” mode. The Eagles offense is at its best when it is in rhythm. That means playing with some tempo.

Kelly will work the clock more conservatively in other situations. If the thinks the Eagles can run the 4-minute offense and essentially put the game away, he’ll have Foles really run the clock down before snapping the ball. Kelly is an aggressive coach, but he’s not reckless.

Kelly’s strategy is only going to work if properly executed. Foles fumbled the ball on the verge of FG territory. It would have been interesting to see what happened if he held onto the ball. Would the Eagles have scored a TD and eaten some more clock, leading to a convincing blowout? Maybe there would have been a FG. That would have helped the Eagles, but it wouldn’t necessarily have sealed the game. Or maybe there would still have been a punt and the final result would have been pretty similar.

The Eagles are still a work in progress. As Foles works through his issues and the OL gets better, the offense should do a better job at putting games away in the 4th quarter. There will be other chances. As long as Kelly has weapons, he’s going to keep attacking.

* * * * *

The Eagles made some practice squad moves on Monday.

This is an interesting move for a couple of reasons.

First, Earl Wolff did not play one snap on defense on Sunday. The Eagles had a huge lead and played a ton of pass defense. They didn’t use Wolff in any package. He did get 19 snaps on STs so he was healthy enough to suit up and go block/tackle. Maybe I’m making something out of nothing, but you wonder if the Eagles are souring on Wolff. He is a solid player, but nothing special. And he’s been brittle.

Kovacs, 5-11, 205, is just on the practice squad so this move may simply be about taking a look at a young DB.

Malcolm Jenkins is a good starting FS. Nate Allen is a functional starter who has some good moments and some bad ones. I think the Eagles really hoped Wolff would push him this year, but that’s not come close to happening. The Eagles have Ed Reynolds on the practice squad, but he’s probably still not ready to do anything. Kovacs played in 9 games last year for the Dolphins. He was just a role player, but at least has been on the field in a game and has a couple of Training Camps under his belt. The Eagles can watch Kovacs in practice for a couple of weeks and decide if he might be worth putting on the roster. Or, as I said, maybe he’s just a young guy to check out.

I’m still curious about Wolff and his situation.

The other reason the Kovacs move was interesting…I thought about him while watching Michigan play on Saturday. He was a likable overachiever at Michigan, even to a Penn State fan like me. While watching the Wolverines struggle vs Rutgers, I suddenly wondered whatever happened to Kovacs. I meant to look it up, but was so caught up in the great day of college football that I never got around to that.

Today the Eagles helped me find out what had become of Kovacs. Nice of them.

There is still one opening on the practice squad to be filled.

* * * * *

Good stuff from Chip here.

Talks about the defense.

Talks about the use of CBs in the 4th quarter.

Talks about Shady pulling himself out of the game (happens all the time…all RBs do it).

Always interesting.

_


352 Comments on “Attack Mode”

  1. 1 SteveH said at 10:53 PM on October 6th, 2014:

    I’m 100% on board with playing aggressively. I hate the play not to lose mindset. I also hate prevent defenses.

  2. 2 iceberg584 said at 11:02 PM on October 6th, 2014:

    He didn’t *fully* cross the line of scrimmage; this won’t be a penalty. Not sure why broadcasters, coaches don’t understand this yet.

  3. 3 bridgecoach said at 11:03 PM on October 6th, 2014:

    Key quote from the press conference: “We don’t run the zone read as much as you think we run it.”

  4. 4 anon said at 11:22 PM on October 6th, 2014:

    it was a stupid question from a reporter that doesn’t know the difference between a zone run and a zone read

  5. 5 holeplug said at 11:33 PM on October 6th, 2014:

    Kelly pretty much took that out after the bye week last season.

  6. 6 Mitchell said at 11:31 PM on October 6th, 2014:

    Hopefully Ed Reynolds will be a starter eventually. He looked pretty good with not having a full off season to practice (due to Stanford’s rules). Even though he isn’t super athletic he can make turnovers happen. Him and Jenkins might not be a bad combo.

  7. 7 SteveH said at 11:33 PM on October 6th, 2014:

    Woooow officials just missed a really obvious hold on that long pass to Lynch. Washington got boned hard there.

  8. 8 anon said at 11:51 PM on October 6th, 2014:

    they got 3 tds called back i don’t feel bad.

  9. 9 Ark87 said at 9:27 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    Percy Harvin fantasy owners must be sooooo pissed

  10. 10 BlindChow said at 12:21 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Someone else in that ref’s fantasy league must have had Harvin…

  11. 11 Gary Barnes said at 11:50 PM on October 6th, 2014:

    I agree in being aggressive as well…I think the question in some people’s minds is where is the line for when you’re being aggressive and the players are not executing well enough to make it work…and thus you give the ball back to tthe other team and they keep shredding your defense possession after possession…

    At some point you’ve got to change strategy: enforce your will on the other team, keep the ball on offense, protect your defense and seal the win…

    The offense is supposed to be the heart of this team, the special unit, this is Kelly’s brainchild…so they need to take charge and get it done.

    Kelly and the players needs to get these consistency issues fixed – the 2nd half of our schedule is much harder and we’ll get killed if we play this sloppy and continue to run the same ineffective plays.

  12. 12 CrackSammich said at 11:51 PM on October 6th, 2014:

    And so the NFCE might not be the pushover we thought it would be. Cousins made some throws that would have been fawned over for days if it weren’t for Wilson doing whatever the fuck he just did.

  13. 13 xeynon said at 1:18 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    I’m okay with continuing to be aggressive, but Chip’s approach has it precisely backwards. If you want to score more points, it’s okay to keep dialing up pass plays. But having the QB snap the ball with 12-14 second left on the play clock rather than 3-5 gains you very little. Sure, maybe it tired the defense out a bit more – but it’s not as if you’re running the hurry up. And it means you burn off 30 fewer seconds with each successful three down series. I had no issue with Chip’s play calling in the fourth quarter (other than his insistence on running shotgun draw plays in obvious running situations – those won’t fool the defense if they’re not bothering to keep the safeties deep to guard against the pass). It was the clock management that bothered me. If the Rams had scored the winning touchdown with their final minute of clock time, a minute they wouldn’t have had at their disposal had Kelly more carefully ground clock, he would’ve caught hell for the loss – and rightfully so.

  14. 14 eagleyankfan said at 7:35 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    I didn’t agree with the run play on 3rd down going into the 2 minute warning. That was a low percentage play. A pass play would have taken them to the 2 minute warning too, so a an incomplete wouldn’t have stopped the clock. I thought if they were truly in attack mode(which they weren’t) they would have thrown the ball to get the first down.

  15. 15 anon said at 7:39 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    he said in a press conference they were in a 2 TE set and the rams were in nickel so they thought they could run the ball.

  16. 16 eagleyankfan said at 9:10 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    So Foles called the play at the line? Otherwise, how did Chip know they were in nickel? I’d have to see it again, I didn’t see them set up for a pass play and have Foles change to a running play. They did that play on 3rd down prior. Rams were waiting for a run play — even in nickel. Eagles were going to fool them twice….

  17. 17 BobSmith77 said at 1:20 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    “They stacked the box,” said Lane Johnson.
    “They knew what plays were coming. We had some success. But obviously
    there in the first half, we had two field goals I think we could have
    punched in, would have made this game not so close.”

    Read more at http://www.phillymag.com/birds247/2014/10/06/zone-read-eagles-rams-day/#xsCfWAWgFFgFphbX.99

    This is the 2nd week in a row now that an offensive starter has been quoted that the opposing defense knew what plays were coming.

    Kelly placed some blame around on Monday but et tu Kelly?

  18. 18 Anders said at 3:33 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    There is nothing magical about Kelly’s scheme and no matter if the defense knows what is coming, the OL still has to block his man.

  19. 19 BobSmith77 said at 2:21 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Not what Johnson said and it was the same thing that was said last year too.

  20. 20 Anders said at 3:28 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Again, Kelly’s scheme is super basic. The biggest problem right now is:

    OL not blocking well in the run game.
    Foles making the wrong reads (Handing of instead of passing or not keeping when unblocked defender crashes. Teams do not respect Foles as a runner at all right now)
    Shady not trusting his blockers

  21. 21 Cafone said at 2:33 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    So, through 5 games DeSean Jackson has 200+ yards more than Riley Cooper. 18 yard average vs. Cooper’s 8 yards per catch. 13 first downs vs. Cooper’s 5.

    But who’s counting…

  22. 22 Mitchell said at 3:31 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    Yeah dude it really sucks.

  23. 23 anon said at 8:16 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    150+ yds against the seahawks.

  24. 24 tomw said at 8:31 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    Maclin took over DeJax spot.

  25. 25 Cafone said at 9:12 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    Yeah, our #2 got moved to #1. So? If Jackson was still here, Cooper would be getting Jeff Maehl touches.

    Jackson is the #2 in Washington and has about the same number of touches as Cooper. Maclin has about the same number of touches as Garcon.

    We can compare our #2 to a #2 in our division. It is a valid comparison. Luckily Maclin is doing more with his touches than Garcon.

  26. 26 eagleyankfan said at 9:14 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    it would be great if they ran the same offense but they don’t. Comparing 2 people in 2 different offenses means diddly squat.

  27. 27 Cafone said at 9:16 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    What exactly is Jackson doing differently in Washington?

    Are you saying that Chip was tired of having long downfield touchdown passes in his offense?

  28. 28 eagleyankfan said at 9:25 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    I’m thinking you need to let it go already. What is Jackson doing different? I don’t know, running Wash offense which is different than Chips offense? Second — Cooper is no number 2. Cooper is place holder for the number 2 spot(not that Chips offense has 1’s and 2’s). DJ IS a dynamic player. He’s fun to watch. He was one of my fav’s on the Eagles(I have several of his jerseys). I hope DJ becomes a top 3 wr in the NFL. DJ is also a Diva. Celebrating a TD when you’re losing vs. the Eagles? Stupid. Doesn’t matter though — He and Chip didn’t see eye to eye. We’ll never know why. But comparing what DJ is doing vs. Cooper is silly. DJ nor Cooper would be a reason why the Eagles do/don’t win a SB. Even though he’s one of my fav’s, I don’t think this team is missing him at all….

  29. 29 Cafone said at 9:29 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    We cut one of our best players, a guy that was on pace to pass Mike Quick’s numbers this year and was on pace to become of the the Eagles best receivers of all time.

    We are starting a stiff in his place.

    That gets let go when the Eagles win a Super Bowl or Jackson is out of the league and not beforehand.

  30. 30 eagleyankfan said at 9:33 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    LOL. Understood. I get that DJ did well vs. Seattle. IF DJ was still here, there’s no guarantee he’d do well vs. them only because Chip might have a different scheme to attack Seattle’s D. I think everyone wishes Chip would come clean and tell everybody and then show video on where DJ didn’t “fit” during games. I don’t buy it wasn’t a “fit” thing. I think it had to be more than that.

  31. 31 xeynon said at 2:14 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    If you can’t let it go, then go bitch about it someplace else. It is old news and frankly, it is really, really boring to read people like you continually harp on it. I come to this site for news and commentary on the current Philadelphia Eagles. If I wanted updates on how DeSean Jackson was doing I’d go to ESPN stats page for the Redskins.

  32. 32 daveH said at 2:23 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    I loved Roman Gabriel, had his rams poster. but trading away Harold Jackson !! damn I cant get past it .. but eagleyankfan above helps a lot!
    uhm wait .. YaNk ?? like an A ROid fan ??

  33. 33 GermanEagle said at 9:33 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    Celebrating a TD when you’re losing vs. the Eagles? Stupid.
    AFAIR the game was pretty close by that time.

  34. 34 eagleyankfan said at 9:34 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    did that TD put them in the lead or win the game? Close is for horse shoes…

  35. 35 GermanEagle said at 2:26 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Last time I checked it put them in the lead. So your comment re ‘when the Eagles were winning’ was not politically correct. Now posting a stupid Instagram pic after the Redskins had lost, that’s another story…

  36. 36 xeynon said at 2:40 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    DJax’s score tied the game at 27 (technically brought the Redskins to within 1 point at 27-26 pending the extra point), not put them in the lead. If you’re going to rip someone else for getting the facts wrong, get them right yourself.

  37. 37 GermanEagle said at 2:50 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Mea culpa. I shouldn’t trust some random posters before looking up the score by myself. I know I can always trust you though.

  38. 38 xeynon said at 2:38 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    I get the sense that DJax is perfectly happy to be playing for a 1-4 team, since he’s getting his.

    Riley, on the other hand, has flat out said he’s let his teammates down by not making a few critical makeable catches, acknowledged that he needs to do better, and not blamed his teammates for the fact that his stats would be better with better quarterbacking (Foles has missed him wide open on would be TDs at least twice this season).

    That difference right there is why Jackson is a Redskin and Cooper is still an Eagle. Chip is all about team first guys, and in the long run I think that’s necessary to have a sustainable winning culture.

  39. 39 Sean Stott said at 12:45 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    He posted on instagram about it too, after they lost.

    He’s a clown.

  40. 40 GermanEagle said at 2:24 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    I could tell by your previous idiotic comments that he’s not your bro…

  41. 41 daveH said at 2:27 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    he is a C L O W N however. our clown I loved him but there aint no clown in pro, Canadian, college and high scholl football any bigger!
    Hall of Fame CLOWN in fact.
    he is dope and he is a dope.
    his clown highlight reel is unmatched. his great play highlight reel also very very exciting.
    I love him. that runback was out super bowl – I had to pull over in NY on rt78 to jump up & down.
    im down, but he is clown.

  42. 42 BlindChow said at 12:26 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    LOL. Foles has been trying the deep ball all year. He’s just been missing wide open guys.

  43. 43 TXEaglesFan said at 8:39 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    Ok but Deseans team record is 1-4 and Coopers team record is 4-1. But who’s counting?

  44. 44 anon said at 8:42 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    so there’s no good players on bad teams? what a silly argument.

  45. 45 shady25 said at 8:45 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    Still would like to know what really went down with that situation. It’s gotta be more to it than just the Saints game and beating press coverage.

  46. 46 anon said at 9:04 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    his attitude. the fact that he didn’t buy in. that they wanted bigger run blockers on the outside. it’s everything really. it was something kelly had to do to build his team, but i think you try to work with talent or just don’t re-sign him, but cutting does seem a little extreme.

  47. 47 shady25 said at 9:22 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    Bad scheme fit and cap number also. Guess there are too many negatives to try and work with. Revis also got cut because of bad scheme fit and cap number. Julius Peppers cut for cap reasons. So we weren’t the only ones who did it, but we are kind of paying for it now. Well Shady is….

  48. 48 eagleyankfan said at 9:30 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    I don’t think cap had anything to do with DJ.

  49. 49 Caveman_Bob said at 10:17 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    Well, we do know that there wasn’t a single NFL team (not even the Redskins) that was prepared to pay him the $ he was due this year under his Eagles contract.

  50. 50 Engwrite said at 10:21 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    He wasn’t asked to re-negotiate

  51. 51 Caveman_Bob said at 10:33 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    You’re probably right about that, but I’m not certain. I expect DeSean wouldn’t have taken the request too kindly. But I do think his salary was a factor.

  52. 52 anon said at 10:57 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    yeah but i think he’d be fine just getting guaranteed $. Twigs break easier than branches.

  53. 53 anon said at 9:31 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    i’d understand if we needed cap space this year i think we should have tried to work it out. could have just benched him.

  54. 54 eagleyankfan said at 9:06 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    that’s so off base it’s not even worth addressing….

  55. 55 Cafone said at 9:14 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    Yeah, I guess it’s not really fair to compare an elite receiver to bench trash.

  56. 56 eagleyankfan said at 9:30 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    I mean, really that’s most of it. Cooper has his moments and I think he’d excel at a number 3 in 3 wr sets. Problem is, Mathews isn’t ready to take over the number 2 or number 1 spot yet.

  57. 57 Sean Stott said at 12:37 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Now Desean is elite?

    That’s why so many teams were barking up the Eagles tree to get him on a trade?

    Makes sense.

  58. 58 Anthony Hart said at 9:48 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    This is so stupid. DeSean being released had NOTHING to do with Riley. Chip hated him, the front office hated him, sounds like a few of his teammates didn’t really like the guy. He was gone no matter who was starting at WR, Chip wasn’t going to put up with him again. Comparing his production to RIley is just fans finding another thing to cry about. Riley stinks, don’t think many people are going to argue that but he has nothing to do with DeSean.

  59. 59 anon said at 10:57 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    He had the Revis disease, that was his problem.

  60. 60 Anthony Hart said at 2:08 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    He had much bigger things going on then the contract stuff, which was obnoxious enough.

  61. 61 Caveman_Bob said at 10:27 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    Allocation of resources. DeSean would have cost us twice as much as Cooper. Although I can’t say the Cooper $ are looking like a good investment, at the moment.

  62. 62 Cafone said at 10:40 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    That’s only an issue when you are close to the salary cap. The Eagles are nowhere near the salary cap.

    Maybe they will be close to it next season? Possibly… But in that case they could have cut him next year. We will certainly have a much better idea on the rookies by then.

    But you raise a good point. It’s not just the cutting of Jackson that is an issue here. There is also the issue of the very bad contract they gave Riley Cooper. Say what you will about all the shadowy behind the scenes reasons for Jackson’s release, but there are only two possible reasons for the contract they gave Cooper: Either they forced themselves into a desperation move or Chip Kelly is not yet a good judge of NFL wide receiver talent. It may also be a combination of those two things.

  63. 63 lewel said at 11:13 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    You? We’re Philadelphia Eagles fans. Who cares what Jackson is doing on a 1-4 Deadskins team? It’s over and done with it. That’s it. He’s gone and he’s not coming back. We’re 4-1 heading into a great divisional matchup. Let’s talk about that. Cry about Djax somewhere else.

  64. 64 anon said at 11:16 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    so no one talked about bdawk after he left? to after he left?

  65. 65 lewel said at 11:19 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    LOL. So we’re comparing DJax do BDawk now. Holy cow. I am DONE with this conversation.

  66. 66 anon said at 11:21 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    i mentioned TO too. good players that left in their prime.

  67. 67 BreakinAnklez said at 7:08 AM on October 8th, 2014:

    Let’s not kid ourselves. You cannot compare the two. DJax is what, 27? BDawk was 35. DJax is still in his prime. BDawk was not. He was still a good player, but he was no longer in his prime. If you want to compare fan favorites, go for it.

  68. 68 Cafone said at 11:38 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    Good point on the upcoming divisional matchup.

    DeSean Jackson had 195 yards in two games against the Giants last year. How do you think Riley Cooper will do this season?

  69. 69 peteike said at 11:38 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    he lit it up, was hard to watch, made me miss those big plays. That being said it was the usual big play ability he has thats unique. What happens though when he goes 2 for 15 yds in the next 2 games. It will start to be Santana Moss territory, big huge plays every 4 games. I still think hes better than that but I think he will eventually be reduced to that type of player, just a matter of when.

  70. 70 anon said at 11:42 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    that is what he is. a big play guy. he could be more, i think he proved that last year but he has a skill and he’s the best at it. the psychological effect of a big play can be backbreaking. djax single handedly made the skins competitive yesterday.

  71. 71 BlindChow said at 12:31 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Maclin’s been open for big plays this year. Foles has either been over- or underthrowing him. I’m not convinced the same thing wouldn’t be happening with Djax.

  72. 72 Mac said at 4:08 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    succinct

  73. 73 Ben Hert said at 12:54 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Honestly, what do you hope to accomplish by bringing this up? You know all its going to do is start a pissing match. He’s gone, Cooper’s performance is down, cool story bro. On to the real issues.

  74. 74 xeynon said at 2:11 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    DeSean Jackson is also more of a primary target in the Washington passing game (37 targets to Cooper’s 31). He’s also an inferior blocker and by accounts a selfish player who’s a bad influence in the locker room. Clearly in terms of pure talent he’s better than Riley Cooper, but Chip decided that pure talent wasn’t worth the tradeoff, and since the Eagles are 4-1 and the offense has not fallen apart without Jackson, I don’t see any reason to conclude he wasn’t right to make the decision he did. He’s the one who’s job is on the line after all.

    Also… DeSean Jackson no longer plays for this team. Let it go.

  75. 75 daveH said at 2:18 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    and all the money we are saving

  76. 76 mtn_green said at 2:54 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    Rewatched game and eagles fans SUCK can’t even make noise and stand on 3rd and goal.

  77. 77 Cafone said at 2:56 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    Some are so bad they don’t even go to the games and just watch them on TV

  78. 78 shady25 said at 9:24 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    At what point in the game was this? Because I know it was hard for me to get going for that final Rams drive after they just scored 21 straight and the way our CB’s were playing.

  79. 79 Corry said at 7:03 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    If Chip wants to stay aggressive he should probably pass the message to Bill Davis. All the prevent defense does is prevent you from winning.

  80. 80 shady25 said at 9:25 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    Prevent defense is stupid. Only time you use it is at the end of the half or game.

  81. 81 eagleyankfan said at 7:37 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    2 + 2 is not equaling 4 here so I’m not buying it. You can’t have “prevent” defense in the 3rd quarter and say you’re attacking on offense. Doesn’t make sense. You don’t tell the offense to attack and score quick(as that’s their normal offense) and ask your defense to sit back.

  82. 82 Avery Greene said at 10:13 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    Yeah I was thinking the same thing. If you are going to attack, you need to do it on both sides of the ball.

  83. 83 anon said at 10:55 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    very smart point. Sometimes i wish we had better quality reporters.

  84. 84 eagleyankfan said at 7:39 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    It may have been discussed already and I missed it … but I believe there was at least 1 Huff showing. Did I miss more plays he was in? Anybody know how he looked? This was the pick I didn’t like at all, but still hoping he’ll pan out to be something.

  85. 85 TXEaglesFan said at 8:37 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    He played 10 offensive snaps. 1 catch on a screen that got 4 yards that ended in an awkward pile on Peters. Drew an illegal contact call in one of Foles back-footed bloopers. Didn’t notice him on special teams.

  86. 86 GermanEagle said at 9:12 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    – Eagles Offense in 2013 [DeSean]:
    > 427 YDS/Game (NFL rank 2nd)
    – Eagles Offense in 2014 [post DeSean era]:
    > 364 YDS/Game (14th)
    Wonder if there’s a causal relationship…

  87. 87 GEAGLE said at 9:18 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    Best OL in this history of this franchise: 2013

    OL in shambles 2014….. I’m sure that has much more to do with it than Jaccson

  88. 88 eagleyankfan said at 9:39 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    Throw in some of Foles issues with his passes. If Foles was right as rain like last year those number would be different. Throw in a few drop TD’s….

  89. 89 anon said at 9:41 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    it was too easy last year.

  90. 90 eagleyankfan said at 9:45 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    it really was. Even Foles bad passes ended up being catches and we knew he couldn’t repeat those numbers. I do think he’ll be fine but man some of his passes has me scratching my head. I still wonder if it has to do with the QB coach leaving….

  91. 91 anon said at 9:47 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    he would just toss up passes and let the receivers adjust and make a play on the ball. you’ll notice good qbs continue to move their feet when they are progressing through reads, Foles just stands.

    I think he can get it back 11 games left.

  92. 92 Ben Hert said at 1:02 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Agreed. If we have all 5 OL starters and Foles has anything close to last year’s accuracy, we’re looking at an easy 5-0 and best team in the NFC talk. Luckily much more time left in the season to get to that point.

  93. 93 GermanEagle said at 2:27 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Probably. Still curious to see how the offense will do with Kelce and Mathis back.

  94. 94 Cafone said at 9:20 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    Well, Jackson has been good for an average of 40 yards more a game than Cooper, so put that 2014 number at 364 + 40 = 404. That’s still 21 yards less than last year’s 427, but I wouldn’t consider it far fetched to think those 21 yards would be added by Jackson freeing up other players.

  95. 95 GermanEagle said at 9:31 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    It will highly surprise me if opposing defense coordinators game plan around Coop the same way they do with Desean…

  96. 96 CrackSammich said at 10:04 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    You really seem stuck on the idea that Cooper replaced Jackson. Maclin replaced Jackson.

  97. 97 Cafone said at 10:16 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    That’s nonsense.

    When both were healthy, Jackson and Maclin were our #1 and #2 receivers. Now, Maclin and Cooper are our #1 and #2 guys.

    Your “well, technically….” argument is nothing but semantics.

  98. 98 CrackSammich said at 10:41 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    2013- Jackson and Cooper
    2014- Maclin and Cooper

    If you’re going all the way back to 2012 to make your argument, you’re not in a place to call me out for technicalities.

  99. 99 Cafone said at 10:55 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    Again, that’s nonsense. Maclin and Jackson were the starters for Chip Kelly in training camp before Maclin’s injury. You know that. I know that. Everyone here knows that.

    It’s like you are trying to make points to people who don’t follow the Eagles.

  100. 100 CrackSammich said at 11:35 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    “When Maclin was healthy…”

    He wasn’t healthy. Not for a single game. Not even for a preseason game. The fact that Cooper entered training camp in 2013 as the #3 (or 4, depending on how you classify the slot) doesn’t negate the fact that he played as the #2 the whole season. Peters was not the starting LT in 2012. Chris Pronger is not currently a starting defenceman for the Flyers. Joel Embiid is not starting for the Sixers. You can’t just say that they *would* have been playing the position if they were healthy and then compare stats as if they were. And so again, Maclin replaced Jackson as the #1, and Cooper is again the #2.

    All of this is to say, that nobody disagrees with you that Jackson is better than Cooper, and that I think your low-hanging fruit argument isn’t really worth making.

  101. 101 anon said at 12:03 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    argument works if you ignore that all three were on the team before 2013

  102. 102 bill said at 12:22 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Under the current offensive system?

  103. 103 CrackSammich said at 11:58 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    And while we’re on the subject of technicalities, your argument is that this is how the roster looked:

    2013- 1. Jackson, 2. Maclin (3/4. Cooper)
    2014- 1. Maclin, 2. Cooper

    Even if I conceded that to you, you’re still comparing stats of a #1 to a #2. Again, nobody here is going to argue with you that it’s not true, I just don’t see the point of you actually talking about.

  104. 104 bill said at 10:04 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    I don’t think it’s like fantasy football, where you can just aggregate numbers from players – they have to play as a unit in real life. And the one thing I’ve been saying since the loss to the Saints – Chip isn’t going to roll very much with Maclin and Jackson on the field at the same time. Chip likes at least one of his receivers on the field to be a “plus” blocker. Neither Maclin or Jackson are going to provide that, they’re “get in the way” blockers. If you look at Chip Wagon, you’ll see that Chip wanted Cooper to be a lead blocker on some run plays, and Cooper kept reading the play wrong, but the point is that you’d have to be insane to even attempt those plays with Jackson or Maclin.
    So I highly doubt that Jackson eats too many of Cooper’s snaps – more likely he’s taking a majority of his snaps at Maclin’s expense and perhaps as many of Matthews’s as he is Cooper’s. I think his release is simple as that – they wanted Maclin at his $$ more than they wanted Jackson at his $$, and they didn’t see a role for both of them at the same time.

  105. 105 anon said at 11:39 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    I think Coop is so bad that he’s a better fullback than WR.

    Maybe jdax effects the run game in other ways besides blocking. How many people you going to put in the box knowing you’ve got the best big play guy ever lined up?

  106. 106 Cafone said at 11:43 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    I’ve often thought that maybe they should try him at TE, but we’ve got three TEs so it hasn’t been feasible.

    Maybe in the future when Celek and Casey are gone he could turn into a decent backup for Ertz.

    The thing about Cooper is that even if Matthews and Huff eventually become starters alongside of Maclin, and Cooper becomes the #4 WR, we’re going to be thinking that it would be nice to find an upgrade for that #4 WR spot.

  107. 107 bill said at 12:16 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Maybe he does. Maybe Chip is stupid and bullheaded about his preferences for WR. Maybe Chip should have cut bait with Maclin and stuck with DJax. I can’t answer those questions definitively. What is apparent to me, though, is that Chip’s desired offense doesn’t have room for two high priced WRs that are just “get in the way” blockers. Also apparent is that 1) the OL injuries are taking a toll on both the passing and the running game; 2) both Shady and Foles have played subpar recently, which is at least partially related to 1); 3) Shady’s and Foles’s struggles are reinforcing each other – they’re feeding into each other’s feedback loops; 4) There have been plenty of downfield chances available despite the above; 5) Cooper’s not executing on receiving or blocking very well. Based on all that, I don’t think they’re missing DJax all that much. They’re missing the consistency a capable line provides, and Cooper’s poor execution has hurt the team, but I don’t DJax necessarily is in a better position to help the team on the sorts of plays that Coopers is screwing up. Maybe Chip Kelly flames out this year and we can all say that his offense can’t have long term success in the NFL. But I don’t think we can say that Chip’s offensive vision is being impacted too much by the loss of DJax. For better or for worse, the skill players are pretty good matches for his vision at this point. His problem so far is making the proper adjustments to the challenges that subpar (in some cases, atrocious) OL play is presenting.

  108. 108 Anders said at 9:54 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    look at pass versus rush yards okay?

  109. 109 GermanEagle said at 12:01 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    no. Shady is missing Desean. As teams Are not fearing the deep ball and hence loading up the box.

  110. 110 BlindChow said at 12:41 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    No. San Francisco didn’t load up the box, and that was the Eagles’ worst game offensively.

    And teams WERE loading up the box all last year. Don’t you remember all those “the run game doesn’t work with Foles!!!” arguments? But last year they had a better OL and a QB who could actually throw a deep ball and so had success anyway.

  111. 111 Anders said at 2:16 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Teams played cover 1 last year as well and loaded the box, yet we had no problems running the ball, now some teams does not even both loading the box (like the Niners) yet the OL gets no push.

    Last I checked, Desean does not play OL

  112. 112 Sean Stott said at 12:33 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Gotta be one of the dumbest comments I’ve seen.

  113. 113 GermanEagle said at 12:57 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Please feel free to elaborate, smart arse.

  114. 114 Sean Stott said at 1:32 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    I stand by what I said. It reminds me of when a creationist says “If we evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys? QED!”

    That level of idiocy.

  115. 115 GermanEagle said at 2:22 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    And I still strongly believe that reading comprehension is not one of your strengths.

  116. 116 Anders said at 2:52 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    No you are not wondering, you are implying:

    “no. Shady is missing Desean. As teams Are not fearing the deep ball and hence loading up the box.”

    As I said, look at the rushing numbers and see why the yards are different. Foles is average 50 yards more passing per game, so the difference is solely in the run game

  117. 117 GermanEagle said at 2:54 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    And as I said DeDean’s absence has already an impact (partially) on the run game. However we will never agree. So why don’t we leave this discussion and wait until Kelce and Mathis will be back. We will certainly have a clearer picture where this offense around Shady and Foles is headed…

  118. 118 Anders said at 3:26 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/8k4sizdq1vbtue7/Sk%C3%A6rmbillede%202014-10-07%2021.23.46.png?dl=0

    This is 2nd play against the Saints. I count 7 in the box and not even a safety over the top of Jackson, but that cant be true right because it does not fit the narrative right?

  119. 119 GermanEagle said at 3:45 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    One swallow doesn’t make a summer.

    Again, I happily tend to disagree but as I said, let’s wait until the season is over to draw a resume.

  120. 120 Anders said at 4:37 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    That was just the first play I looked at, pretty sure I can easily find 100 more where the opposing team plays cover 1 against us.

  121. 121 GermanEagle said at 5:10 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Go on then. I’m too busy at work I’m afraid.

  122. 122 xeynon said at 2:24 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    You were “wondering”, and your hypothesis of causality not only has nothing to back it up, there is an alternative explanation (bad O line/QB play) that is far more plausible. Thus it is what we who use statistics for a living refer to in technical terms as a shitty hypothesis.

  123. 123 GermanEagle said at 3:21 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Alright nutty professor. Your bad QB play argument doesn’t back this thesis up any better though since Foles has passed for more yards compared to last year. And I was simply quoting yards/game, and not pure Offense points per game.

  124. 124 xeynon said at 3:46 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Foles has missed receivers running wide open deep on multiple occasions in almost every game this year. He makes those throws, and this offense is just as productive (or more productive) than last year’s.

    It is a much bigger stretch to find evidence that the absence of Jackson is hurting the offense. They are completing passes to the wider receivers on shorter routes and getting RAC yards from them. They are getting guys open deep. These are the two things that he presumably would help with. If you have a quarterback who can’t hit the deep throws regularly, as has been the case with Foles this year, it doesn’t matter.

  125. 125 GEAGLE said at 9:17 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    New practice a quad safety has NOTHING to do with Wolff…. We already have Ed Reynolds as a young Safety to look at when we are ready to quit on wolff… I don’t think practice squad has anything to do with position on needs… Just 10 players they see as the most worth developing…

    With that said, I wouldn’t be surprised if we are sour on Wolff, tho I doubt that has much to do with his play… How do you sour on Wolff, when your starting safety Nate friggin BLOWS? If they are soured on Wolff I suspect it has to do with the continuos battle between the doctors saying he is healthy enough to go, while Wolff insists he can’t play, that has been dating back to last season.

    Friggin demoralizing that after all these years with shit safeties, we finally found a Quality safety in MAlcolm… All those years to finally find a top safety, and now that we found Malcolm, we still have to find nan other safety…demoralizing!
    ..
    When will we have two safeties we are thrilled with?

  126. 126 Cafone said at 9:24 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    Did you miss Wolff attempting to shoulder tackle Frank Gore and bouncing off like an eight year old? He deserved a game benching for that alone. Dude needs to watch some little league instructional videos and learn how to tackle.

  127. 127 anon said at 9:46 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    everyone is on someone else’s highlight reel.

  128. 128 eagleyankfan said at 9:43 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    Jenkins has been great. What a great find in the off season. People during the off season stuck up for Nate and we even thought he’d improve just with Jenks being on the field. How wrong was that? I’m still waiting for the interception someone on this board told me he was going to get. Maybe he has a shot with one of Eli’s floaters?

  129. 129 anon said at 9:45 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    nate would have one if jenkins wasn’t such a ball hog.

  130. 130 BobSmith77 said at 2:17 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    He didn’t have a good game last week and I am expected him to become more of the mediocre player he has been his entire career the rest of the year including the INTs.

    As for if the Eagles made the right call, they did and he has solidified what was a real issue last year without a large $$$ amount or long-term guaranteed money.

  131. 131 GEAGLE said at 4:09 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Yeah Nates appologist are hibernating right now..

    Even funnier was the fools who would argue that Malcolm Jenins sucks because of garbage PFF, and they wanted to sign Chris Clemons instead LOL… Chris Clemons who was home on the couch watching NFL season these past 4 weeks… Dude ain’t even good enough to be on a roster right now…
    ..
    Majority of this city owes malcolm an appology… They ripped him since he was signed.. Media too..
    ..
    No clue how PFF Gets anyone to visit their site after years of proving to be drastically innacurate

  132. 132 ACViking said at 12:24 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    GE wrote:

    “How do you sour on Wolff, when your starting safety Nate friggin BLOWS?”
    _________

    Daje!

  133. 133 RobNE said at 10:01 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    I just don’t agree Tommy. In college, if you are up 20 maybe normally it means there is a big difference in teams, one team is just better. You can get away with this. In the pros the difference in talent is much smaller. If you are up 20 at the beginning of the 4th quarter and continue snapping the ball with 10 seconds left on the clock, that is bad coaching (according to me at least). I don’t understand any argument to the contrary, but I am open to listen.

    IMHO, being aggressive is going for the jugular when you are tied and want a TD rather than a FG. Or up a TD and want another TD not a FG. It’s not being up 20(!!!) in the beginning of the 4th and running less play clock off.

    If you have to do that to keep “pace” b/c you are used to a faster pace, then you need to practice at a slower pace. The solution is not to run more plays, bleed less clock, have more plays where turnovers or injuries can happen, etc.

    To me this is not just well it’s ok but need better execution, it is NOT ok.

  134. 134 Engwrite said at 10:19 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    This is Chip’s team. He’ll do as he pleases [or thinks is correct] as long as he is winning. Remember that “big guys beat little guys.” So Boykin sits while Williams and Fletcher are burned. DeSean too is a little guy; can’t block. So he is gone (No one outside the Eagles FO knows why) There is no way we wouldn’t be better if DeSean would be here and Cooper would be #3.
    As far as Boykin starting, I believe Chip is now in hardheaded territory.
    As far as changing what you are doing when you are ahead, I am reminded of YA Title, Giants qb in the 60s. He ran the same play, exactly the same way, until the other team stopped it. Billy Davis doesn’t subscribe to that philosophy. He has allowed teams back into the game before; both Washington games last year were blowouts until they became nail biters just like last Sunday.
    We could have been 5-0, (of course, we could also have been 0 and 5) but we are what we are and we are 4-1, so I am not complaining, merely making some observations.

  135. 135 Sean Stott said at 12:30 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Jackson was an overpriced receiver who did not fit the system and was probably a cancer to the team first mentality. You can tell he was overpriced because exactly 0 other teams wanted him at his contract.

    Brandon Boykin is not a good outside corner. He has played there, and he doesn’t look nearly as good as he does in the slot. He’s too short to cover tall outside WRs. He also does not have elite speed, I always remember him getting burned bad by Rob Streater last year.

  136. 136 Avery Greene said at 10:20 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    I see some talk about Jackson as an elite receiver. Elite receivers don’t have 1 reception games against Jacksonville or NYG. Sorry, he’s a one trick pony that only has good games once every 3 or 4 games. 6 games a year when you play 16 in a season doesn’t really help the team. Please, let’s stop talking about how much better this offense would be with Jackson when the receivers aren’t the main problem. When Jackson consistently puts up numbers every game, then lets talk about it. Until then, can we please squash this conversation? He’s an average receiver with elite speed. He can’t block, doesn’t run routes over the middle, and is gun shy about getting hit.

  137. 137 Cafone said at 10:48 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    Harold Carmichael, the Eagle’s greatest wide receiver ever, had 28 one reception games. DeSean Jackson had 4.

    You were saying?

  138. 138 Avery Greene said at 11:01 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    Okay, elite receivers can step up their game to help their team in the playoffs when it matters. What happened last year in the playoffs? Shutdown by an average corner. Carmichael could block, can Desean? Carmichael goes over the middle, does Desean? It’s a team game and he’s not a team player. Elite receivers can do it all.

    You were saying?

  139. 139 Cafone said at 11:06 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    Yeah, I guess you are right. Jackson didn’t have a great game in the playoffs so the logical move was to cut him and give the job to the guy whose wide open dropped ball had more to do with the playoff loss than any other single play.

  140. 140 Avery Greene said at 11:08 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    You cut him because he wasn’t buying in and doing the things Chip wanted him to do. Not that difficult to see.

  141. 141 anon said at 11:06 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    He had a big play in that game. he’s gotta get the ball thrown to him. he didn’t drop the n word, then drop a wide open game changing pass in the playoffs and then get a new deal in which he just steals money from the team.

  142. 142 Avery Greene said at 11:07 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    Umm what does Cooper have to do with what Jackson does?

  143. 143 Cafone said at 11:09 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    We had two very good receivers. We cut one and now we have one good receiver and a stiff who sucks and should not be starting in the NFL.

    What doesn’t Cooper have to do with what Jackson does?

  144. 144 Avery Greene said at 11:59 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    Because this discussion was about whether he’s an elite receiver. Cooper has nothing to do with that.

  145. 145 Bleedgreen said at 2:09 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    I’d agree with you if this was the first time Desean has been shut down in a big game, but it was a recurring theme. Other than the Cardinal NFC Championship game, Desean has been nowhere to be found in the playoffs…Saints, Packers, Cowboys. Big time receivers come up with big plays in big spots and the biggest times and Desean never did that. I never saw him come up with a big third down catch with the game on the line. Desean acted like he was a big time #1 receiver, but that’s not what he is…he’s an above average #2 receiver. Granted, I wish we could have gotten something in return for him, but he’s not an elite receiver and other teams saw it

    Give me a guy like Boldin who willed his team to the Super Bowl and made Flacco look like a HOF QB

  146. 146 ACViking said at 12:19 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    C . . .

    Amazing what people can learn from history, right?

    Nice touch.

  147. 147 anon said at 10:52 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    no receiver puts up numbers every game. He’s got he most plays of 50+ yds EVER in the NFL.

    Jackson single handedly got the skins back in that game. Energized the team and the fans — you can tell the psyche of that team was completely different after that play. He’s a guy that if you sleep on him he’ll put 50 and a TD on you.

    You can see in the way teams are playing us. Last year 7 man boxes. This year 8, 9 man boxes and teams aren’t that worried about the over the top stuff.

  148. 148 peteike said at 11:39 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    ha, I just posted something similar below. I sort of agree, hes not there yet but I think hes headed in that Santana Moss direction.

  149. 149 Cafone said at 11:54 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    Jackson is in his 7th season. Moss had two 1000+ yard seasons and 3869 yards in his 7th to 11th seasons. If Jackson is headed in a Santana Moss direction we definitely should have held on to him.

  150. 150 peteike said at 12:58 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    ooh good point, I only remember the bad Santana Moss. Im not a djax hater just can sometimes sort of agree with the limited skill set opinion.

  151. 151 suthrneagle said at 6:00 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    you`re talking individual stats only…not quitting on your teammates because of an unsatisfactory contract,fighting with the coach on the sidelines(due to non-effort), changing agents to renegotiate an already well-paying contract…I could go on but this dead horse has already been beating too often

  152. 152 McNabbulousness said at 12:57 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    he def lost a lot of his utility when he stopped returning punts. for a stretch he was a major league weapon on offense and STs

  153. 153 BobSmith77 said at 2:14 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    So the Eagles are better off with Cooper and Huff/Maehl on the outside and on deep routes? Please.

    This continually gets asserted on here and it is one of the dumbest things that keeps getting mentioned.

  154. 154 Avery Greene said at 6:21 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    This was never my argument. The argument here is whether Djax is an elite receiver. I don’t think so.

  155. 155 BobSmith77 said at 2:28 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Skill players have been a clear issue though. Celek/Casey are the better blockers but with Celek’s noted failoff in the passing game (he’s getting covered effectively now by LBs routinely) it hurts the passing game when both are of them are in the 2 TE set. Ertz continues to be a below average run blocker and erratic in his blocking. That really hurts because this offense really picked up last year in the 2nd half when they played more of the 2 TE set employing Celek/Ertz with a lot more PT for Ertz.

    As for the WRs, they have been an issue too with little production outside of Maclin. Cooper’s struggles have been well-noted, Matthews has been playing better but is still just a rookie, and after that there is a huge dropoff. Maehl/Smith are pure roster filler as WRs. Huff is just a rookie who had a setback with the shoulder injury and anything he really contributes right now is a bonus.

  156. 156 Tumtum said at 11:07 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    This post harkens back to your Chip Kelly – Buck Showalter comparison. When it is time to go for the W neither guy is scared to attack it aggressively. Game 3 ALDS, bottom 9, Buck walks the winning run to fill first and get to a lesser hitter. Gutsy move that The TBS crew was fully ready to rip him for when it didn’t work..

    As we ll know it was a gb double play that completed a 3 game sweep of the last 3 CY Young winners. That is a go for the throat mentality. I love it!

  157. 157 ACViking said at 12:16 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    No one attacked winning more than Andy Reid.

    And his 4th Q calls on offense drove lots of the people on this blog insane.

  158. 158 eagleyankfan said at 1:21 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    you mean — those 4th quarter, 3 straight incompletes that kept the clock stopped? nope, never bothered me….lol

  159. 159 BobSmith77 said at 2:12 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Because it was foolish and MLB managers have generally stopped doing that (intentionally walking the tying run) because the odds/data show it is clearly a poor strategic move.

  160. 160 Tumtum said at 11:39 AM on October 8th, 2014:

    Buck has done it all season, and he did it commonly when Johnson was pitching well. I would be very interested to see some stats on that… especially with sinkerball pitchers like Britton or Jim Johnson on the mound (really more specifically the stats with Britton on the mound).

    BTW it was also the WINNING run. My guy has juevos, and it worked out well. Your position on this one is tuff because reality has already proven out that it was a great move. I invite you to convince me though.

  161. 161 Tumtum said at 1:29 PM on October 8th, 2014:

    I replied, and I’m not sure if discus is just sucking and won’t show me or if it was never posted. At risk of being redundant:

    Those stats don’t reflect the Orioles team. They are an A+ defensive team, and Britton has an A+ sinker. It was the right move, and history supports me.

    I am open to hearing your case if you care to convince me, but you are in a tough position because it worked.

  162. 162 D3FB said at 11:08 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    Would people please stop calling the fourth quarter defense “prevent”? It was not a prevent defense. A prevent defense is quarters where the DB’s line up 10+ yards off the ball and immediately bail. That is not what the Eagles were playing. They were in their normal nickel and dime packages playing either cover 3 or man. They were playing a little farther back, but that is the equivalent of playing a “no doubles” defense in baseball. The bigger issue is that our corners suck.

  163. 163 anon said at 11:16 AM on October 7th, 2014:

    i don’t know why billy d keeps playing off coverage we get burned every time.

  164. 164 Anders said at 2:14 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    We get burned no matter what coverage he dials

  165. 165 Sean Stott said at 12:22 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    It’s not the prevent defense literally, but they were definitely playing way more off than usual (which is already off quite a bit). So the DBs were like 13 yards off the LOS.

  166. 166 eagleyankfan said at 1:19 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    yeah — call it what you want. It’s prevent defense. In baseball, NO doubles is the last line of defense, meaning, there is no “stop the triples” defense – so it’s not the equivalent to baseball either. If it’s a defense you play with a big league in the 4th quarter, no matter what you call it, the goal is no big plays — aka prevent. Corners sucking is another issue.
    If the D is doing fine and not letting up big plays — why change?

  167. 167 anon said at 1:37 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    billy d gave an interesting pc.

  168. 168 D3FB said at 3:33 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Language and terminology matter. That’s like saying well our offense is a zone read offense cuz it’s close enough. It’s not like the Jet’s power run game, so therefore it’s a zone read offense. It’s not.

  169. 169 Anders said at 2:13 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    They played a soft cover 2 shell and allowed the RBs and WRs a ton of cushion for Davis to dink and dunk and allow the recievers to gets tons of yards.

    That is a prevent defense compared to the normal cover 3 with a ton of blitzes (something he we abandoned as well). It wasnt the normal “prevent from winning defense”, but it was a close version of it.

  170. 170 D3FB said at 3:37 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Compared to normal defense? Of course it was different. Defense changes based on the situation. That’s like saying we shouldn’t change personnel or coverage patterns on the goal line versus 3rd and 25 in the opponents territory. The defensive philosophy was sound. The fact that the players didn’t execute isn’t the fault of the coverage.

  171. 171 GEAGLE said at 6:00 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Check out billy Davis press conference today…he addressed all your points.. Really informative stuff…

  172. 172 ACViking said at 12:12 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    T-Law:

    I’m late to this string.

    But I strongly disagree with the popular perception that Marty Schottenheimer played not to lose.

    Take a look at the QBs on the teams he coached.

    Then take a look at the QBs on the teams he lost to in the playoffs.

    He twice took Cleveland to the AFC title game, only to lose on “The Drive” to Elway in 1986 and to Elway again in 1987 on “The Fumble.”

    The Browns had the statuesque Bernie Kosar. And a pair of very fine
    RBs. The WRs? Brian Brennan and Webster Slaughter. Not very good.

    In ’86, the Browns posted 20 points on a miserably cold, windy day in Cleveland. Schotty’s team lost because Elway was a HOF QB who drove the Broncos 98 yards.

    In the ’87 title game, the Browns put up 31 points on offense, and were a fumble at the 2-yard line away from 38 points. How is 31 points plus a near-7 not “attacking”?

    In the early ’90s, the starting QBs for Schotty’s KC teams were an over-the-hill Joe Montana (ages 37 and 38), and a pair of scrubs in Steve Bono and Elvis Grbac. Who were the RBs? Christian Okoye, Barry Word, and part-timer Marcus Allen. The WRs? No one of note.

    KC lost to Houston with HOF QB Warren Moon.

    KC lost to Buffalo with HOF QB Jim Kelly, HOF RB Thurman Thomas, and HOF WR Andre Reed.

    In San Diego, Schotty had his best chance to win — if he’d been allowed to stay.

    In 2004, the Chargers lost by a FG to the Jets with QB Drew Brees in just his 3rd full season as a starter. The problem? PK Nate Kaeding misses a game-winning 40 yard FG.

    In 2006, with QB Philip Rivers in his first season as a starter– facing off against sure-fire HOFer Tom Brady and the Pats — the Charges lose 24-21. Why? Because PK Nate Kaeding again misses a FG.

    Schottenheimer was about as bold as he could be with the limited weapons he had on offense. QBs like Bono, Grbac, Montana on has last legs. An immobile but gutty Kosar with no WRs. A young Brees. And an even more inexperience Phillip Rivers.

    I know I’m in the minority on Schottenheimer. But I think he did a fantastic job with what he had at QB.

    His teams had a bad habit of running into HOF QBs.

    As for “attacking” and being “bold” . . . who did that more than Andy Reid?

    How many more SBs did Reid win than Schotty?

  173. 173 McNabbulousness said at 12:54 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    don’t forget that pats/chargers game where the chargers made the game winning INT but the DB started running around and fumbled it right back to the patriots. nfl films had a great clip of one of the coaches telling the DB to not run around if that situation came up (ofcourse the DB didn’t listen).

    agreed. schottenheimer’s super bad luck is pretty remarkable when you lay it out over that long a time span

  174. 174 ACViking said at 1:52 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    McN . . .

    That was one Marlon McCree.

    What a heart breaker that INT-fumble was.

    In a flash New England is dead and Schotty’s on his way to kick Peyton Manning’s ass. Because one thing SD did under Schotty was beat the crap out of Peyton.

    Then the Pats are resurrected. Turned the TV off at that moment.

    GREAT STORY, by the way.

  175. 175 McNabbulousness said at 2:09 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    another BS skin of their teeth win by the pats, that never gets old…

  176. 176 Nailed it! said at 1:16 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Kendricks returned to practice! But Meco sat out.

    Now, who would you rather have sitting out of our two linebackers? I pose this question as if they both never were injured as a hypothetical to who is more important to the defense.

    I would have said Meco is more important, but I am thinking that with Kendricks play making ability especially on third down we need him more now.

  177. 177 anon said at 1:24 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    meco qbs and makes fewer mistakes. kendricks should be given a chance to show what he can do in that role.

  178. 178 Cafone said at 2:01 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    That’s quite a Sophie’s choice, highlighting our lack of depth at ILB.

    I think I’d go with Kendricks. He needs the reps.

  179. 179 Anders said at 2:11 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Kendricks by far.

  180. 180 BobSmith77 said at 2:32 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Yet Smith still can’t get on the field. Gave up another decent-sized gain the only time he was in coverage and only played 6 snaps last week despite Ryan’s injury in the 2nd half.

    Desperately need help at ILB and Smith has been such a liability on the field in coverage when he is out there the coaching staff obviously feels he can’t be out there.

    Give credit to Matthews though who has played a bit better and actually had a productive week last week on defense and ST. Desperately need him (and Acho to a lesser degree) to continue to be adequate if they want to win this week.

  181. 181 Nailed it! said at 2:39 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    I do not remember asking about Smith… He has had two or three weeks learning a completely new position. But please continue to rail on him damnit! He should be Lawrance Timmons already! Gah put him out on the street.

    Let me guess then you will say he can’t make it out there as an OLB yet either, but who would you have him play over? Cole is playing quite well, Barwin is our best OLB and Graham has been huge as the back up.

    Please stop the Smith bashing.

  182. 182 GEAGLE said at 4:03 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Let the fools bash marcus… They will just look ridiculous when he grows into a stud… I’m not the least bit concerned with that kid… He is exactly the OLB I wanted to draft, and I already understood that he wouldn’t provide much as a rookie. Raw high ceiling players require patience…if a fan is too dumb to realize, so be it..

    Keep in mind half of these idiots were ripping all of their favorite young players as rookies because they didn’t provide enough instant gratification… Marcus has a chance to improve and contribute come the second half of the season, but even if he doesn’t he will be ready to handle a big role next year
    ..
    If it was up to me, we wouldn’t even play rookies…

  183. 183 BobSmith77 said at 4:09 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Not ripping Matthews or Huff and I’m not expecting Smith to even start but contribute when his team really needs him to due to necessity. He hasn’t.

    If Smith isn’t able to start by the beginning of next year at one of the OLB spots, he was a bust. Graham has largely been a bust too although that is largely due more to bad luck with injury/health & playing in a scheme that isn’t entirely well-suited to his abilities.

  184. 184 GEAGLE said at 4:10 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Lol ok…..

    No one is a bust Til you see what they look like in year 3

  185. 185 BobSmith77 said at 4:14 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    He was a 1st round pick and he isn’t a QB or another position where there is usually a steeping learning curve.

    If Smith is contributing in the 2nd half as an outside pass rusher and playing in passing downs and looks like he be the likely starter to replace Cole at OLB, then he’ll have had a decent 1st year.

  186. 186 GEAGLE said at 5:15 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    You are showing football ignorance sayng THATS not a position with a steep learning curve,,, you can draft an OLB in the top 10 and if he can be a 3rd down pass rusher as a rookie, that’s considered excellent production from a rookie OLB

    There is absolutly NOTHING wrong with a first rounder who isn’t ready to contribute before year two…
    ..
    I can’t stand this fanboy shit

    ANYTHING you get out of a rookie is just a bonus…not being able to produce as a rookie, means NOTHING…it really doesn’t….front offices DONT even want to judge draft picks Til after year 3….

    Instant gratification is just fan, media crap…front offices DONT view it that way

  187. 187 BobSmith77 said at 4:25 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    If Cole doesn’t begin to generate more pressure consistently either (he has the past 2 weeks but almost nothing the first 3), I bet Graham starts to take more of his playing time as the season goes on as long as Graham continues to get to the QB as much.

  188. 188 CrackSammich said at 3:58 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Did you really expect Smith to play ILB at an NFL level when he’s never played the position before?

  189. 189 ACViking said at 4:08 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    A long-overdue point.

  190. 190 GEAGLE said at 3:49 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Kendrick didn’t practice today.. He had his helmet on at the beginning of practice and reporters thought he was a full go, but he just ended upbeing. Limited participant like the past few weeks…

    Meco is playing Sunday, kendrick won’t be back Til after the bye

    Casey Mathews and Acho actually surprised me watching tape of the game, considering how well they played in run support.,

    Interesting that Billy has Nolan Carol, our Dime corner, basically playing like an ILB in our Dime package

  191. 191 Nailed it! said at 3:55 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Yeah I saw that after I posted based on the tweets, then heard Meco say he didn’t really do much except for light running. Sounds doubtful until after bye like you said.

    Was suprised seeing Nolan blitzing so much the past two weeks, haven’t seen him get home, but would need to look harder at him in a coverage perspective in Dime packages.

  192. 192 GEAGLE said at 3:59 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    He didn’t get home, but Nolan blitzing up the middle forced the bad throw against the Niners that Malcolm turned into a pick 6…

    My impression from billy Davis is he expects to have Meco against the Giants, but not Get Kendrick back Til aftr the bye….
    ..
    Eagles defense is starting to really hit its stride… Clean up some small mistakes and we should be playing some quality defense come November.. We are starting to get pressure with our front 4 which is huge for our development

  193. 193 BobSmith77 said at 4:22 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Hitting their stride? Against who? Only thing they have done is consistently give up huge chunks of yardage and big plays week after week so far.

  194. 194 GEAGLE said at 4:33 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Blah blah blah blah… Guess you forgot about November and December of last year, when they hit their strides..
    ..
    Defense the beginning of this season is way way more advanced then defense of last year in September… By November that pathetic September defense was showing SERIOUS improvement…
    ,,,
    We started much better this year than last year…. Comtinue to improve every week like last year and we will be playing some impressive D at the end of the season
    ,..
    Problem with most DOPES aka eagkes fans, is you are prisoners of the moment. You see the way a team plays the most recent game and you think that’s the Exact way your team will look all year… If you haven’t noticed this is a team full of young players, that shows improve,met with each week… The team you see in September,mOS NOT GOINGnto play at that same level in December, either we suffer a bunch of injuries, have locker room problems, implode and play worse later in the season, OR if we do have good coaches, high Charecter and work ethic in the locker room, you will see a team that improves as the week goes by…

    If you want to to be simple minded and think people that bust there ass to improve week after week are going to play at the same level in Nvember THATS on you..,

  195. 195 BobSmith77 said at 4:40 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Do you even read what you right some of the time? You just said the Eagles were ‘hitting their stride’ and they were a few drops away from giving up the tying score last week & allowing the biggest regular season comeback in NFL history.

    We were supposed to see the improvement at the start of the year but now that narrative has changed I guess now too.

  196. 196 GEAGLE said at 4:58 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    A,quarter away from a 34-7 blowout…until they got complacent they were playing some serious defense on Sunday… And if you watch the defensive film of the past two weeks you see real improvement…. Actually started to see defensive improvement in the skins game, but they played a really good game of getting the ball out quick so our improvements didn’t materialize..
    ….
    As a matter of fact. The offense is improving too.
    ..
    Even thos it’s been bad and the defense has had bad moments as well, it’s very encouraging to see consistent improvement… You don’t see bad play scrambled all over place for example, it’s not like we see great Defense against Washington, bad defense against th Niners and worse defense against the Rams..

    every game, most areas are showing improvements from the week before… That continues, we will grow into a quality Defense that will be ready to compete in the playoffs…
    ..
    Plenty areas Of the defense are “hitting their stride” like front 4 getting a pass rush, front 7 in run defense… Against the Niners we were stout up the gut, but got ran on in the perimeter..this week we took a step and continued to play inside run well, while our OLBs were fantastic and not letting anypne get outside them

    You aren’t seeing many cases were something was great last week, but sucks this week… Even when something isn’t operating well enough yet, for the most part we are making gradual improvements each week… Hopefully no more significant injuries occur to set us back, and we can continue this growth…. I’m convinced this defense will be NASTY in december/January…as long as it stays healthy

  197. 197 ACViking said at 5:17 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    “Blah blah blah blah… ”

    La migliore introduzione mai

  198. 198 GEAGLE said at 5:20 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    LOL “Blah Blah Blah… Ti piace chiachiera! Blah blah blah…Ti piace Chiaciera”

  199. 199 Avery Greene said at 6:32 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    A lot of people forget the return TD and the other turnover that lead to another 7 pts. This defense is seizing opportunities more each week, so I agree with you that they are starting to hit their stride. Davis just needs to know not to go nickel/dime too early like the beginning of the 4th quarter. But I think I read somewhere that was because Ryans was hurt, so I guess his hand was forced a bit.

  200. 200 BC1968 said at 8:48 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    I love someone who calls people dopes when he says hitting their strides then mentions last year. WTF, Bob I completely agree with you, that mofo is all over the place, reads everything with the rose colored glasses. So they are hitting their stride, wait til next month, not now. History always repeats itself. You know, like the Eagles not winning the Super Bowl.

  201. 201 GEAGLE said at 3:51 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    MythBuster:

    Often hear the theory that losing Bill Lazor and replacing him with Musgrave is screwing FOles up…. THINK AGAIN!
    ..
    Eagles did a great job of keeping this “in house” last year, but FOles doesn’t like Billy LAZOR AT ALL… FOles couldnt stand him, very arrogant personality allegedly to the point where if LAZOR didn’t get the Dolphins job, he would have still been replaced this year because of his bad relationship with Saint Nick…

  202. 202 RobNE said at 4:15 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    is Cedric’s wife your source?

  203. 203 anon said at 4:22 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    remember GEAGs works in hospital billing – is that right? hope all is well with their family.

  204. 204 GEAGLE said at 4:24 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    No health issues… They love my dogs… Promised them a pup

  205. 205 D3FB said at 4:23 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    No, Mclane published it back at the senior bowl, but it was buried in an article. He was on WIP this afternoon and elaborated on it.

  206. 206 GEAGLE said at 4:25 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Yup!! Not sure if it was McLane… But it def came out during senior bowl, it just flew under the radar for whatever reason…you sure that was McLane who originally reported it? Heard it from Domo…but he also refrences the senior bowl

    Question: does anyone know why Merrill Reese asks questions at Novacare press conferences? He doesn’t writer any columns or anything does he?

  207. 207 GEAGLE said at 4:23 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Doubt she knows much about FOles/QB coach relations,,
    ..
    Check out my Twitter feed during Eagles games.. Usually find me celebrating on Twitter with Tammie and her sister

  208. 208 anon said at 4:21 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    knew they had a bad relationship, probably the only reason he was allowed to leave. that doesn’t mean he’s a bad coach. Foles’ mechanics look like they’ve regressed, he’s certainly not as accurate. Like the 49ers and Harbaugh, or the Eagles and TO sometimes you gotta deal with that.

  209. 209 ACViking said at 4:07 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Re: “The Mysterious Nick Foles — Or Not”

    I made the following comment last December. I’m re-posting because I think it’s even more relevant now:

    +++++++++++++++++++++

    Re: Young Foles v. Young Brees, Young PManning, Young Brady

    Just for the sake of comparison . . .
    ________________

    From 2002-03, Drew Brees had his first 25 starts. (Brees rode the bench his
    rookie season of 2001.)

    In those first 25 starts, Brees posted 28 TDs agst 31 INTs.

    And that was in a conservative Marty Schottenheimer offense with All Pro
    LaDainian Tomlinson at HB.
    _________________

    In Peyton Manning’s first 14 starts, he had 24 TDs and 25 INTs.
    _________________

    In Tom Brady’s first 14 starts, he threw 18 TDs and 12 INTs.
    _________________

    * * *

    Has he [Foles] been as good as the Brees, Manning, and Brady we’ve been watching for the past 5 years?

    Of course not. Why would he? Those guys are now in their 13th, 16th, and 14th seasons as NFL QBs. So 5 years ago, they were hitting their professional
    peaks.

    Aren’t we setting the bar just a bit high with Foles?

  210. 210 anon said at 4:15 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    You could say that but it’s a different NFL today. Should locker and bradford get new deals? probably not happening and i suspect they have stats similar to those posted above. qbs today are expected to perform out of the gate. why? b/c FO guys’ jobs depend on it.

    Coaches and GMs don’t keep their jobs without Ws and those are increasingly hard to come by without good QB play. Further after 4-5years you have to make a decision whether to pay these guys 15-20mm a year, bad QBs can also franchise killers.

    Just like no one takes RBs in the first round QBs don’t get 4-5 years to grow into their jobs.

  211. 211 ACViking said at 4:17 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    A . . .

    No perfect comparisons. To be sure.

    Your point’s a fair one.

    As an aside . . . jeez, Russell Wilson looks good.

  212. 212 anon said at 4:19 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    talk about the best value in football? Interesting he did as much on his legs as he did in the air, took some shots as well.

    Does watching wilson make us want to pine over mariota?

  213. 213 Henly125 said at 4:26 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    The price we’d have to pay for Mariota would be a hefty one. If the draft were today, he’d be the first player off the board.

  214. 214 anon said at 4:27 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Agree. and no not 100% sure i want to go there. think foles has a better chance of playing 15years than a mobile guy.

  215. 215 ACViking said at 4:32 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    It’s going to be a few years ’til another Russell Wilson-type — with his intangibles and skills — pops up.

    I like Foles. Root for him every time he steps on the field.

    But it’s hard not to wonder how, if Roseman had been willing to package the Eagles’ 2012 3rd Rd pick with the 5th Rd pick that turned into Dennis Kelly or the two 6ths that were OG Brandon Washington and WR Marvin McNutt, Wilson would look in Kelly’s offense.

    We’ll never know. That’s for damn sure.

  216. 216 RobNE said at 4:33 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    in that alternative thread, who knows if Reid gets fired.

  217. 217 anon said at 4:35 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    i’d say yes. russell wilson doesn’t play defense.

  218. 218 Maggie said at 4:19 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    You are right, but it doesn’t matter. The “fans” who like nothing better than venting on line would snarl bitterly if Foles had one INT all season, if McCoy had even 1 fumble, if the corners were Patrick Peterson and Richard Sherman. incidentally I have seen both of those corners get beaten at times. There are some who are so full of anger about their pitiful lives that they must have an outlet. They would go on about how Foles couldn’t possibly repeat NEXT year. You may have noticed the idiots already carrying on about Mariotta again! They cannot comprehend logical thinking.

  219. 219 ACViking said at 4:21 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    M . . .

    We’re minorities here. Beneficiaries of experience.

    Shah8 once called me, “Grandpa” (though we’re not related).

    That abt sums it up.

  220. 220 Maggie said at 4:31 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Well, I could be Grandma, lol. I don’t begin to have your knowledge or reference library ;~), but I have been watching sports, including the NFL, for many years. Once in a while I still pine for my 70’s team. The one across the state from Philly. I was living in Edmonton when Moon was there. A truly outstanding QB, surrounded by many excellent players, with some very good coaching. I always enjoy a team playing as a team rather than individuals. Thanks for the reminders.

  221. 221 ACViking said at 4:35 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    M:

    Love your tid-bits on the great Steel Dynasty.

    Edmonton w/ Moon?! I’m a huge CFL fan. Lived in Buffalo and got the bug.

    When Moon won the ’78 Rose Bowl, I thought here’s a big QB with mobility who’d look great on the Eagles.

    Shocked he was passed over entirely by the NFL. Shameful. Absolutely shameful.

    But what a dominant player he was in the CFL.

    If you can, work in a story or two about those days.

  222. 222 Maggie said at 4:44 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Unfortunately my bigger concern during that time was raising 4 children as a single mom. Sports were more of a distraction from real life, so while I was cognizant of wins or losses and even great players/teams, I sometimes paid more attention to my son’s Little League games (after a Big Brother gave him a glove and paid his fees). My condolences on your time in Buffalo! Were you there during Danny Gare’s or Gilbert Perreault’s time? Those Sabres tems came close a time or two.

  223. 223 ACViking said at 4:47 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Didn’t miss the Sabres glory days by much.

    Saw a heap of games at the Aud.

    What a tremendous viewing experience. Seeing Perreault in that venue . . . W-O-W.

    Side note. No handbooks or shortcuts in life. The road runs up and down, for sure. Hope you and family have the momentum of a downhill run.

  224. 224 Maggie said at 5:01 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    All grown now. One son is a graphic artist/illustrator. Does murals on the side. Second son is an electrician, largely working in systems now. Third son is in the oil patch in Alberta, drives a variety of large trucks, and my daughter is a Director of Operations for the world’s largest retailer. With help and lots of student loans (all paid back!) we made it out.

  225. 225 ACViking said at 5:13 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    so much to be proud of.

    from the top down!

  226. 226 Avery Greene said at 6:28 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Were you there when Buddy punched Gilbride (or was it Fisher)?

  227. 227 Media Mike said at 6:30 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Buddy would never punch a high quality coach like Fisher. He punched Kevin Kill-drive.

  228. 228 Avery Greene said at 6:34 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    I forgot, it’s been years. Though I still think about that every so often. LOL

  229. 229 Maggie said at 2:01 AM on October 8th, 2014:

    Fisher probably would have driven him into the ground.

  230. 230 Maggie said at 2:00 AM on October 8th, 2014:

    I’m afraid I wasn’t in Houston. I have seen the replays though. Funny now, but that team fell apart completely. I would not like to hear coaches ripping on players publicly, the way some seem to expect, because it would have the same effect. Have seen other stuff about Buddy, too. Apparently a good D coach but lousy HC. Maybe ruined Cunningham in Philly?

  231. 231 P_P_K said at 9:59 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    I had forgotten about ol’ Shah8. Where has he been?

  232. 232 RobNE said at 4:24 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    straw man

    went from question about evaluating Foles to basically calling all of us idiots and quotes around “fans” like now no one else can even be considered a fan if they don’t match your opinions? And the fact that Sherman gets beat sometimes somehow means we can’t think our CB’s need to improve or be replaced? There’s so much here to unpack I don’t have enough time.

  233. 233 anon said at 4:26 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    yeah i thought that was a ridiculous place to go — it’s silly to attack posters when we’re only here to attack our favorite team!

  234. 234 Maggie said at 4:55 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Gee. I make one somewhat negative comment, largely in agreement with AC, and you come back spewing all over the place! Why don’t you take offense with the thousands of insulting comments telling everyone on this board what fools we all are, while using ugly words for genitalia, made by one other person? By the way, why is your silliness not addressed to AC’s comment as well? Boys all playing together?

  235. 235 RobNE said at 5:49 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    AC said maybe are we too harsh on Foles. Maybe we are but I have some doubts. You went passed that in making up a fake position of a fan. It has nothing to do with male or female. I do sometimes counter others but I can’t do it all the time and that doesn’t mean I can’t do it once in awhile. I’ve done that in the past, to posters that I assume are male. I think I am particularly sensitive when someone tells us we have to feel a certain way in order to be a fan. But anyway enough of a substantive argument.

    we all just want a distraction and to root for our team and vent sometimes. I’m not here to be personal, or to be taken personally and I did not mean that to happen (if it did I apologize). I will move on and try not to do that again, and you are welcome to the last word if you want it.

  236. 236 Henly125 said at 4:12 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Foles on Sunday: 9 for 12 and 1 TD on Play Action passes.

  237. 237 ACViking said at 4:14 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Whatever other issues Foles may be having . . .

    His play-action passing stats have been outstanding since last season’s Oakland game.
    ______________

    Related Question: How’s he doing agaist the blitz the past 2 weeks?

    Bueller? Anyone?

  238. 238 Henly125 said at 4:24 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Casey Matthews in the 4-3 defense Vs. Casey Matthews in the 3-4 defense, anybody see the difference? I sure do.

  239. 239 GEAGLE said at 7:47 AM on October 8th, 2014:

    I hate Casey as much as the next man, but I can’t deny that he is pretty solid at playing the run in our 3-4 scheme… I almost couldn’t believe my eyes when I watched the Rams game again…finally Casey Mathews and James Casey both were being used and making plays to help out their unit

  240. 240 ACViking said at 4:27 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    RE: Off Topic, Sort of . . . and Back to the NFC East.

    With Jay “You Can Bank It” Glazer having reported that Jim Harbaugh won’t be back in SF next year . . .

    I’m just wondering where the folks here think he’ll land.

    The NFC East would appear to be spoken for.

    But what if Jason Garrett and Cowboys finish, you know, 8-8?

    Tom Coughlin’s seems to have turned the corner with the Giants. But what if he’s, you know, nudged to leave on a high note when the Giants’ season ends with a solid season?

    WHY DO I ASK?

    Because Harbaugh’s a good coach. And he beats the Eagles (whatever the reasons).

    Would Jerry hire him? Maybe, if he wants to win.

    The NYGiants? A very stable organization. Maybe.

    Just wondering.

  241. 241 D3FB said at 4:30 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    He’s going back to Michigan. He’s an alum and that program has to be desperate to getting back to the glory days.

    If not there my bet would be Oakland. Reggie McKenzie has worn out his welcome, so he would likely be granted control of player acquisition decisions, they would likely pay him a small fortune and he wouldn’t have to relocate.

  242. 242 Anders said at 4:35 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Rumors has it he wont leave Cali, so best bet is Oakland

  243. 243 Henly125 said at 4:38 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    I just can’t see Harbaugh in Oakland. He’d go back down college before he goes there.

  244. 244 Anders said at 4:41 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Why not? He started his coaching career there

  245. 245 Henly125 said at 4:50 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    I just think he’d like to go into a better situation than Oakland. Yeah they have a young QB and a few pieces on defense, but, that team won’t be a quick fix. It’ll take him at least a couple of years to turn that franchise around.

    That’s why I don’t think he’d go to Oakland.

    Jon Gruden once coached Oakland and he was quick to say he’d rather stay in the commentators booth.

  246. 246 anon said at 4:41 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    it would be terrible. i’m moving to sf and am going to enjoy cheap football tickets. it’s too bad eagles played there last year and sf this year.

  247. 247 holeplug said at 4:46 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    don’t see college b/c of the $ he’d pass up. Someone is gonna back the truck up for him this offseason

  248. 248 D3FB said at 5:36 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Ehhhh IDK. Saban’s compensation would make him the 4th highest paid coach in the NFL. Stoops, Sumlin, and Strong would all be the 11th highest paid coach. Michigan is a massive program and could give him a nice raise on the $5 million salary he currently makes.

  249. 249 anon said at 4:38 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    but SF was locked and loaded personnel wise, as was KC. Oakland was somewhat loaded but reggie fixed that this year. plus wonder if he’d want to stay in the NFC so as not to play his brother.

  250. 250 Henly125 said at 4:39 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    I think he stays in the NFC.

  251. 251 Anders said at 4:41 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Why? Easier to win in AFC West then NFC West come the future

  252. 252 Henly125 said at 4:46 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Not with Denver and San Diego in that division.

  253. 253 Maggie said at 4:33 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Oh my! I wondered the same thing yesterday on another board. Someone there was expressing hatred for both the Giants and Harbaugh, I think he threw up after any hint of the 2 getting together!

  254. 254 Henly125 said at 4:36 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    If history repeats itself, Dallas would miss the playoffs despite the 4-1 start and would result in Garrett getting the axe. I could see Jerry making a play for Harbaugh, he’d be a fool not to.

    As for New York, you’d have to wonder if Eli’s hot hand will continue for another 10 weeks or so and they end up making the playoffs, highly unlikely. Coughlin – OUT.

    If those two teams tank and miss the playoffs, there would be not only be 2 coaching vacancies, there would be 2 coaching vacancies that are NOT in Oakland… I could see Harbaugh in the NFC East… Boy would it suck to play him twice a year.

    That outcome would make the NFC East the most exciting division though. A little competition won’t hurt.

  255. 255 anon said at 4:39 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    oddly garrett doesn’t call offensive or defensive plays, doesn’t have gm obligations, wonder what he actually does day to day.

  256. 256 Henly125 said at 4:40 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    That’s a very good question.

  257. 257 ACViking said at 4:42 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    REALLY nice framing.

    LMAO!!!

  258. 258 Maggie said at 4:48 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Takes the heat.

  259. 259 NickS1 said at 4:50 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    “What would ya say, ya do here?”

  260. 260 ACViking said at 4:42 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    nice framing

  261. 261 GEAGLE said at 4:39 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    If Harbaugh comes to our division, it wou.d be the Giants… Can’t see,him at all working for Jerruh or Snyder

  262. 262 ACViking said at 4:50 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    GE,

    Regarding your response to a comment on Wolff much further down . . . Daje!

    [I posted a comment after yours; don’t know if you saw it.]

  263. 263 GEAGLE said at 5:03 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Lol visto il bel accento Romano…

    When you have some free time, hit up YouTube and watch some “Cecco Zalone” movie clips… Funniest dude in Italy right now…really talanted… He is like the new modern day Roberto Begnini
    .
    You ever see the movie “Johny Stechinno” in Italian? Funniest movie ever made in any language lol

  264. 264 ACViking said at 5:07 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Have not. Will check it out.

  265. 265 GEAGLE said at 5:27 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Oh man…. Promise me you watch Johnny Stechinno one day… I don’t even like many iTalian moves but it’s by far the funniest thing I have ever seen in any language…. It’s like an Early 90s movie around the time he made “la vita e Bella”

  266. 266 levdog said at 6:26 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Much speculation he will end up at Michigan next year. NFL candidates are Oakland, or maybe Miami if that is open.

  267. 267 botto said at 4:51 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    i really like Foles, and want him to be the man for years to come.
    BUT, how many poor games does it take to be replaced by the Sanchez?
    i dont want him benched at all, but at some point my love for the eagles has to outweigh my feelings for foles. benching a qb ruins everything but Sanchez did look sharp running the offense in teh preseason didn’t he?
    he toasted the steelers 1st stringers and looked good doing it.
    i dont want this to have to happen but i’m curious what people think is the time frame for it to be possible?
    and if shady could get some yards Foles woudl be way better off. the QB’s bets friend is the running game, adn of course it only works with an offensice line that can block… so its hard to say.

  268. 268 ACViking said at 4:55 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Maybe not Kelly’s style.

    Plus the Eagles are 4-1. Whatever the reasons.
    If the Birds were 2-3, maybe we’d be hearing whispers out of Nova Care.

    But until the Eagles slide into mediocrity at the same time Foles struggles, I don’t Kelly doing anything *in season.*

  269. 269 botto said at 4:57 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    thast true. we are 4-1 aren’t we? yes!
    i wonder how many times a team has been 4-1 and the fans think the qb should be benched?

  270. 270 ACViking said at 5:05 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Off the top . . . the 1971 Vikings.

    Long story. Former Eagles QB Norm Snead ended up taking over from Gary Cuozzo — long considered the “best back up QB” in the NFL. Cuozzo may have been. He just wasn’t starting material.

    That’s the problem with statements like, “He gives the team depth at [ fill in the position ].” The player is step below starting quality . . . and that’s exposed quickly in the NFL.

    True in ’71. True in ’14.

  271. 271 Henly125 said at 5:09 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    To be hornet, if we were 1-4 i highly doubt you’d see Foles get benched in favor of Sanchez. After the year he had in 2013, you’d have to think that Chip would keep Nick in hot water to see how he responds, and situations like so are what makes or breaks a QB in the NFL.

    The Saints and Patriots (to name a couple) have had slow starts from the QB position, despite them being HOFs. Which is to say that it’s natural to have a rough stretch. The best of the best go through it, why can’t Foles?

    To be fair, his numbers aren’t as eye-popping as we’d like them to be, but he’s got a decent TD/INT ratio at 8:5. Completing close to 60% of his passes, with a banged up line and sluggish running game those numbers are pretty decent if you ask me.

  272. 272 Media Mike said at 5:22 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    They’d need to be like 5-8 before we see Sanchez.

  273. 273 GEAGLE said at 5:06 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    You would have to see us go in a bad losing streak for chip to consider making the switch…. Chip and Nick won like 12 of their last 14 games together…going to take a really bad losing streak to see Chip bench FOles….

    Keep in mind that sure we saw Sanchez look great but that was in the Vanilla preseason against second and 3rd string defenses, playing behind our second team OL that was DOMINANT in the preseason,..
    ….
    As long as we keep winning, Chip will be happy to keep winning ugly with nIck

  274. 274 ACViking said at 5:11 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Another QB looked lights out in the preseason under CK.

    Vick.

    So lights-out he opened the season as the Eagles starter.

    Would anyone want Vick back here ’cause he looks great in Kelly’s offense against vanilla defenses at 7/8 speed?

    Didn’t like that decision last year. Still don’t.

    Vick would win every “competition” in preseason in Kelly’s offense until he drops over dead. He’d have looked great again this year.

    Preseason is not a great indicator of much.

    I’d like to think Kelly knows that.

  275. 275 anon said at 5:14 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    i know vick is worse, but that ro could help right now.

  276. 276 BC1968 said at 8:41 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Vick was an Incomplete because of his injuries last year. He dominated the Chargers with a 400 plus yard game, lost because of bad time management at the end of that one. Vick for some reason, quit last year, didn’t really care about getting his job back, basically gave it up to Geno, and he sure as hell doesn’t look like he wants to keep it. Wonder wtf happened to him all of a sudden.

  277. 277 botto said at 5:18 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    yeah its a crappy thing to change qbs because if the next guy doesn’t do well you are screwed going back to the first guy who now has no confidence. Just keep winning! thats all that matters.
    go FOLES! kill the giants!

  278. 278 Media Mike said at 5:21 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    32

  279. 279 unhinged said at 5:19 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Reasons for Foles’ funk in no particular order: 1) he’s getting less time to see the field, run through his progressions, set and throw; 2) he’s not setting well on many pass attempts; 3) he misses Kelce, Mathis and yes, he misses DJax; 4) he’s not as good as everyone wants him to be; 5) there’s lots of tape on Kelly’s schemes, and he is a known player; 6) he’s dependent upon an effective running game to be an efficient QB.
    It’s early October, and Foles is a grinder. I think he’ll be fine down the road.

  280. 280 Media Mike said at 5:21 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    1, 2, 3, 6.

  281. 281 GEAGLE said at 5:36 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Not rocket science…. We,saw this kid throw with really sounded mechanics before.. He isn’t at a logan Thomas stage where you have to teach him how to be fundamentally sound, because he already reached that stage last year… You don’t go 27-2 without really strong mechanics.. FOles didn’t bump his head and forget how to throw one day…

    When you see a quality pocket passer start to become uncharecteristically innacurate, it’s usually because of the offensive line…to see him throw off his back foot so much, and breakdown in mechanics IMO it’s clear case of Not trusting your OL..

    Some of that also has to do with being too BANGED UP to take the Big Shots he always willingly took to deliver a pass to his WR,..since college he played with a bad line, and had to stand tall in the pocket, make some big throws knowing that the defender is bout to BLAST him.. Sort of like a fighter willing to eat a punch to land a punchl FOles was always willing to take the Hit so that he can burn the defense with a big completion… For his mechanics to break down, and for him to not trust his line during this stretch tells me that he was too bruised to be able to endure the shots he was always willing to take, to deliver the ball…
    ..
    I’m not concerned… Especially with the bye week here to let whatever bruises he has left to heal up…
    ….
    Soon he will trust his line again, and he will trust his body to eat a shot to land a shot like he has always been willing to do… When that happens we will see him consistently throw with the sharp mechanics we know he is capable of…

  282. 282 botto said at 6:04 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    i think all qbs are dependant on a good running game if they want to be at thier best.

  283. 283 anon said at 6:12 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    chicken and egg problem. some schemes pass to run, other schemes run to pass. perhaps being in wco has influenced the type of rb we have where now we need a rb that can run to set up play action.

  284. 284 GermanEagle said at 5:29 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    No wondering and implying this time:

    Eagles had NFL record of 99 plays of 20+ yards last year. On pace for 67 this year. Redskins had 55 last year. On pace for 77 in 2014.

  285. 285 GEAGLE said at 5:37 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Skins are on pace for a 4-12’season…. Hope they enjoy those “big plays”

  286. 286 GEAGLE said at 5:47 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Very good sign IMO from watching these last 4 games closely..

    There is plenty that still needs to improve and be fixed.. Even tho what we are seeing ISNT good enough, it’s not scattered all over the place… It’s not like we do something really well one week, then do it really bad the next week, and do it good the following week… For the most part we are seeing gradual improvements in really a lot of areas… I’d be more concerned if we were erratic playing great one week and like crap the next week… We really are improving from one week to the next…. And a lot of the problems we are seeing are small fixable things that add up to look bad, but when we play bad, it’s not because of some limitations that we are doomed to get burned by all year long…most of the issues are fixable and we are seeing things get fixed from one week to the next.. Heck, just look at Molk, Tobin, Casey Mathews, Achos improvements just from the San fran game to the Rams game… Keep working hard, keep listening to our coaches,a, continue to stick together as a team and we will be fine…

    After all the crap we have already had to put up with this year, we are still on schedule… Improve every week, get Kelce and Maths back at the beginning of November, by December we really catch our stride and go into the playoffs as that hot team no one wants to face….

    If this is correct, than we will see Tobin and Molk play even better this week than the improvements ts they showed on Sunday… Lane should be a little better this week too…

    As long as we stop getting injured, we will be fine…

  287. 287 Avery Greene said at 6:23 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Lane was an instant upgrade though he had some rough spots. I thought the line played better this past game, and I think they’ll be even better Sunday. I think we get more holes on the right side and the run game takes a step forward this week.

  288. 288 GEAGLE said at 8:44 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Yes Sir.. All true.. Like I expected we also stuck Peters between Lane and Herremans and ran unbalanced lines..sure we will see some more Of that. Lane, Molk, Tobin should all be a little better this week

  289. 289 GEAGLE said at 5:54 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    As ugly as it has been at times, and as,bad as it’s been for our heart andnblood pressure, I am a believer that learning how to win, even when you aren’t having a great day is CRUCIAL! The best teams can struggle all game, yet no matter what they find a way to make enough plays to win… While it sucks tor not see our best….In terms of team growth, taking that next step as one of the top teams, this can be very valuable growth experience…
    ….
    We managed to beat 4 NFL teams, and we haven’t even come close to playing 60 minutes of eagle football yet…. No matter what has happened, how bad things have been, this Defense and this offense steps up when it matters and make enough plays to almost be 5-0 right now…

    You think the Cowboys or the Giants can play horrible games and still find ways to win?… You think the Cowboys can lose their 3 interior OL and find a way to win?
    ….
    This is a stressful time, and there is so much that needs to improve still, but there are also a lot of good signs, growth…. Stop getting injured, stay together as a team and we will be fine

  290. 290 GEAGLE said at 6:07 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    So friggin tired of this crap… Two days of the media obsessing over Sproles playing that 3rd down instead of ShAdy,,, two days of trying to get to the bottom of it,, did ShDy take himself out?nwas it DUCE call? Did Chip prefer Sproles over shady? Who gives a fuck and why is this being talked about for two straight days…
    ….
    Last week the media bitched all damn week about why Sproles didn’t play more….so he plays more this weeks,we win, and now it’s Substitution-gate in Philly? It’s 6pm on Tuesday, how is this still being talked about by every media outlet?

    We put Sproles in for Shady and it worked… Why is this so important to the media?

  291. 291 anon said at 6:14 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    b/c you are benching a $10m all pro for a $3m 32yo. it’s dumb but it’s legit. what else can people obsess about all week to sell clicks and articles?

  292. 292 Maggie said at 1:52 AM on October 8th, 2014:

    People, including the “media” weren’t talking much about McCoy being benched. They were all agog over who made the decision! As if it mattered.

  293. 293 botto said at 6:16 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    sproles should have palyed more also….much more

  294. 294 Henly125 said at 6:27 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Lol that’s the media for ya. They’ll squeeze juice out of anything these days. Could they really be that naive about McCoy not being on the field with a lead to close out a game? Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t this 3rd down play happen AFTER we stopped the Rams in the 4th and were running out the rest of the clock?

    Doesn’t matter, there’s no reason to make anything of it. We have 2 quality backs, one of which had 314 carries lasts year without a good enough backup to spell him on 3rd down situations.

    It appears that no matter what we do, good or bad, the media will just talk about the bad. As always.

  295. 295 GEAGLE said at 6:10 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Billy Davis talking about shaking up the starting rotation: “If there was a move to be made, I promise we would be making it.. Not making changes just for the sake of Change”

  296. 296 eagleyankfan said at 8:13 AM on October 8th, 2014:

    Love me some Kelce. Can’t wait for his return.

  297. 297 GEAGLE said at 6:19 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    If the Eagles beat the Giants 17-3 it’s a Failure right? LOL

  298. 298 Media Mike said at 6:21 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Not beat the Giants is the only failure. I hate that team and that fan base.

  299. 299 GEAGLE said at 6:22 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    You know if FOles only scores 17 points, even in a win, this retard FANBASE will want him benched…

    Did you hear Coles comments about dog fight Giants matchup?

  300. 300 Media Mike said at 6:25 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Ha ha ha ha. I don’t give a flip how they win vs the Giants. I want a win and a murder / death / kill on Eli.

    And I need to see some Giants fans getting knocked out on You Tube from Sunday’s game. The Niners fans just set the bar quite high; we need to out goon that.

  301. 301 GEAGLE said at 6:28 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Soon as I heard COLE talk about how he hates the, I thought of your hatred for them… I can’t stand them.. Every one is crazy about the Dalas rivalry but that not even a rivalry, we own those cow bitches… You are one of yje few that shares my deep rooted hatred for the midgets

    Of course if we only score 17 points it’s considered an absolute failure…who cares that we will be 5-1, THATS not good enough for the BCS lol

  302. 302 Avery Greene said at 6:44 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    For a long time since mid-90s this was the team we were chasing. When Mcnabb was drafted we were chasing the Giants. They’ve won 2 superbowls recently. And their fans are intolerable. They are our toughest game every year. This is the better rivalry. These two teams hate each other and it’s much deeper than what the other clowns in the nfc east have against us.

  303. 303 GEAGLE said at 9:51 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Yes sir.. I never really minded the Redskins until recently, now they are very high on my shit list..

    The Cowboys aremt even worthy opponents for a rivalry.. Don’t get why so many fans fixate on hating them… How can I worry about hating a team that literally implodes and beats its self every DECEMBER?

    Plus as a fan, for me the best rivalries are the ones the players really hate, and in our division our players have been hating the Giants the most during 2000-2014..

    I’m sure this current group of players has some new found hostility/Hatred for the skins players..after what that piece of shit Baker did
    ..

  304. 304 Maggie said at 1:51 AM on October 8th, 2014:

    A point of interest: Today, Tuesday, I caught a promo on a Canadian sports network, encouraging viewers to go online and vote for the Top 10 moments of some rivalry or star player’s career. One of the choices was Wayne Gretzky’s top 10. The other choice I remember was for Top 10 moments in the Giants-Eagles rivalry history!

  305. 305 eagleyankfan said at 7:42 AM on October 8th, 2014:

    A Canadian sports network? 🙂

  306. 306 Avery Greene said at 6:38 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Punch first according to Jenkins…
    http://instagram.com/p/t0kr67noJP/

  307. 307 A_T_G said at 9:19 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    I approve of this message.

  308. 308 eagleyankfan said at 7:38 AM on October 8th, 2014:

    So — up above — you said you weren’t talking about “this” board when referring to idiots/morons. This post you say “this retard fanbase” … just wondering if you’re still referring to somewhere else…..or is THIS fanbase just retards and other sites are idiots/morons? lmfao!!!!

  309. 309 Henly125 said at 6:41 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Lol a failure would be the Eagles losing at home, nationally televised, while sporting all black uniforms (jersey and pants) for the first time ever.

  310. 310 GEAGLE said at 8:52 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Please.. If the offense doesn’t score ATleast 30 points and we don’t win by ATleast 10 points, it’s considered a failure in this city… If Nick FOles and this offense only score 17 points, the sky will be falling in philly for two weeks(because of the bye)…

    Winning 12 times out of the last 14 times we took the field is no longer good enough in Philly… Terry Bradshaw is soo lucky not to have played here… He would have been a stone cold bum in Phily lol

  311. 311 ACViking said at 7:01 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Genius!

    (I hear the Rawhide music in the background)

  312. 312 Maggie said at 1:47 AM on October 8th, 2014:

    Okay.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSHr4ubuD64

  313. 313 botto said at 7:29 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    yeah this is the one game where no one will care how we do it as long as we do it.

  314. 314 eagleyankfan said at 7:50 AM on October 8th, 2014:

    Win or lose its going to be a failure. Come next Tuesday — someone will complain about DJ not being on the team or how terrible Foles was or why Boykin isn’t on the D 100% of the time or why Sproles is still a role player…..and … 3 points? Have you not seen this D play? HA!

  315. 315 anon said at 6:36 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Anyone know if we’re playing more 3 or 4 man fronts on first and second downs?

  316. 316 Flyin said at 9:48 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    yes – ck

  317. 317 GEAGLE said at 8:48 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    To the idiots who in September are already questioning if the talented Marcus Smith is a bust……

    Rams got a FANTASTIC LT in Greg Robinson..lim talking about Lane Johnson type talent…. That team stinks, they won’t make the playoffs…they spent the #2 pick in the Draft on Greg Robinson and they could be playing him at Guard or Tackle right now…with that in mind, this fantastic future all pro Tackle has played a Grand Total of 10 snaps these first 5 weeks…

    The #2 pick in the draft has played Less snaps than Marcus smith….and in no way is Greg Robinson going to be a bust…there is seriously nothing dumber than being worried about Marcus Smith in early October of his rookie year… Us Eagles fans do a lot of stupid ish… Calling this kid a bust during his rookie year takes the cake… First team all stupid…. Congrats

  318. 318 anon said at 9:06 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    You’re talking about a team that’s gotten a kings ransom of draft picks and still can’t win 8 games?

  319. 319 BC1968 said at 9:19 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Are you a little tired of him coming on and crying and calling everyone stupid? Believe me, I’m far from a genius on this board, and i don’t see anyone who claims to be, but when you keep using the words stupid and idiot about other fans it gets sickening.It’s like we have Howard Eskin on this fucking board, ME ME ME I’m fucking right and you guys are wrong!! Having the nerve to say that the Cowboys will suck down the stretch because of history? Well then I guess the Eagles will never win a Super Bowl because you know, FUCKING HISTORY! It’s sad that none of you guys can have an opinion and not be called stupid. I know one thing, you’re a moron if you don’t wish you had a Quarterback who could run the read option without looking like he’s running in quicksand and who could throw a better deep ball.
    Shit I hope he’s right, I hope we are all idiots and the Eagles win the Super Bowl, but it’d be nice to see the back and forth be not have the idiots, stupids, shit like you would see if we had a Cowboys’ troll on here. He’s playing Eskin’s game, it’s not about whether the team wins or loses, it’s about whether he’s right. Having said, I still like reading his posts and don’t have any hatred for the guy, it’s only a game. Just figure I’d join in some of his shit talk.

  320. 320 GEAGLE said at 9:43 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Stupid is at stupid does… I’m tired of sharing a team with a legion of morons,. Guess we are even…

    I have to be a fan that has to listen to like 70% bullshit worth of Eagles coverage every week… If you are tired, imagine how the hell I must feel…lol

    That addresses the first 10 words of your post… Didn’t get any further than that..sorry

  321. 321 BC1968 said at 9:54 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    I don’t consider these people morons, they are my Eagles brothers, that’s on thing my ex-bro-in-law taught and believed in. He’s been around the block. We argued with people in parking lots on game day about stupid shit, about players and things we don’t agree on, but we all laughed and said fuck it at the end of the day. If you think you’re immune from the stupidity, well then that’s the Eskin arrogance in you, enjoy it, you live on a different planet than most.

  322. 322 Flyin said at 9:54 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Don’t listen to the 70% bs. And if you do, don’t let it get to you. If you want to respond, just make a logical point to counter their statement. Tommy style.

    This is something I need to learn…

  323. 323 BC1968 said at 9:59 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    To be fair, and something I should point out to apologize, he’s had enough of him being called a moron and idiot for the Cary love, so there’s that.

  324. 324 Flyin said at 10:10 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    I don’t read all the responses, this article has over 300. If that’s the case of all the name calling, it doesn’t belong here.

    I have followed Tommy since ’03 on the EMB. There was always something sacred about his threads, it was about intelligent football discussion and I learned more about football and the Eagles than I ever imagined. It wasn’t a place to attack other posters.

    I feel the same here as well.

  325. 325 BC1968 said at 10:15 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    I’m with you right there, and I think it’s a disservice, and I think you would agree, if we did it to each other on Tommy’s board. If he’s saying well this is what I heard on sports radio, read this here, well that’s my fault for not reading the whole post.It looks like that’s what he’s doing by scanning quickly. I want to reserve the idiots and morons for our division foes lol but yea, our fans go crazy with comments, hearing a 3rd string qb wouldn’t surprise me on some of those stations. So yeah, my full apologies for starting a long rant that was wrong. We move along….

  326. 326 Flyin said at 10:21 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    I get what you said.

    No worries. I have banned myself on this site for going over the top on a rant about the Eagles a few years ago. I didn’t attack anyone but the players on the field and used a few too many F bombs in a short period of time. This is not the place to rant like I did.

    This is nothing.

  327. 327 GEAGLE said at 10:03 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Wasnt referring to this site… When I rant about media and dumb fans, I’m not talking about this site.. This site is too educated, it’s not a accurate representation of our fanbase and its opinion… I’m talking about not being able to turn on a radio, not being able to watch CSN.. Not being worth while to read the majority of the media… For the most part, our reporters are dumb, and they brain wash impressionable fanbase into zombies walking around convinced that a pocket passer can never play for chip, or our defense would be historically bad again last year…. Just the coverage of WHATS ctuLly happens on the field on Sunday for the most part is horrible…

    this site has been educated by Tom and Fellow posters so I feel like it’s not an accurate representation of the pulses of our fanbase…. For example: outside of here, you can find plenty of people who already been talkng about Sanchez this year which is ridiculous….you don’t really see any of that here…

  328. 328 BC1968 said at 10:10 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    My apologies there, sometimes I see moron, idiot and I stop reading. I love the posters here, and there are things that are said out of anger, but I think everyone here is pretty grounded. Things go up and down, they can go bad in a second and look like we’re going bad, but teams have recovered from that. I LOVED BUDDY RYAN and his philosophy that teams that win in nov/dec win jan. Happened last year. Too bad he didn’t come through, but god I was rootedfor those playoff teams til I sometimes literally was in tears. Great thing about this team, they are winning the home games early and often and it’d be great to go into the bye with this win. Still, not the end of the world if they lose.

  329. 329 Mitchell said at 10:20 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Honestly after being on this site for around 2 years, I can barely watch ESPN anymore for analysis. Sometimes I turn on First Take to watch that dumbass Bayless. He said the Eagles won’t win the division today and hinted the Cowboys would beat the Seahawks.

  330. 330 BC1968 said at 10:31 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    The squeezed by the Texans at home and are going to beat the Seahawks on the road? I think they do the blind squirrel finds an acorn shit if a miracle happens so they look good. I wonder if they realize when it goes the other way how ridiculous the pick was in the first place? Ehh what do they care?

  331. 331 GEAGLE said at 10:33 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    I’m so starved for football that every time, I will still turn on the radio, put on ESPN, read a les Bowan article. ..after two minutes I get mad and shut It off

    I Genuinly believe that if I dont let the media cloud my judgment, I will be a much smarter fan and understand the game better than if I let their crap taint my opinions.
    ..
    Figure if I watch all player and coach interviews, and f
    Game film for myself, I don’t need the media for anything, because I’m Goimg directly to their source,,.sort of like cutting out the middle man
    ..
    Only thing they are good for are key statistics,,

  332. 332 GEAGLE said at 10:46 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Lol today Jason Garrett was already talking about having to start cutting down Demarco Murrays Carries… Lol they finally did something right, and they are tired of it already…. That joke of a team has been so pathetic that now that they score a measly 20 points and squeek past that bum Fitzpatrik in overtime Everyone is soooo impressed with the great Cowboys,… But if we don’t wn 40-20, we had a bad game lol

    Cowboys barely beating Ryan Fitzpatrik lol

  333. 333 CrackSammich said at 9:52 AM on October 8th, 2014:

    70%…. Isn’t that generally the percentage of posts are by you on this blog?

  334. 334 GEAGLE said at 9:44 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Crazy ain’t It? What I don’t get is, you obviously arent making the playoffs in that division, what are you waiting for to develop your young stud?

  335. 335 Insomniac said at 3:13 PM on October 8th, 2014:

    They still don’t really have a QB. Suck for Mariota

  336. 336 BobSmith77 said at 9:59 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Did anyone including myself say Marcus Smith was a bust or that he even should be starting now? Not in this thread or last week.

    You hyper-exaggerate what other people say or completely make it and then go off on a rant or complete tangent.

    I said what I would expect out of Smith as a player this year and yeah if he can’t push Cole out and be a starter by the start of next year then yeah I start to consider him a bust who the Eagles had no business picking in the 1st round.

  337. 337 GEAGLE said at 10:05 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Half the fanbase…really did t have anyone in particular in mind when I wrote this so you shouldn’t feel persecuted.

    This isn’t something I hear from one or two people…this kid has been shitted on by the majority of this fanbase and local media since the moment he was drafted… Am I lying?

  338. 338 Flyin said at 9:44 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    After listening to the press conferences of Chip, Davis and Shurmur, I feel these coaches are really rounding into form. Every one of them shows intelligence, logic and the willingness to spread accountability without putting anyone under the bus. These guys plus what Fipp is doing, we have a strong team of coaches!

  339. 339 GEAGLE said at 10:18 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Billy’s press conference I think is very important. Every fan should listen to it…in detail billy addressed all the issues and misconceptions of our dfense and sundays game:
    1) talked about Cary and Brad
    2) bOykin staying in the slot
    3) Nolan Carols quasi ILB role in dime
    4) the improvement of our 4 man rush
    5) thought process behind why he played the prevent style he played in the 4th

    He really addressed every issue that we been debating about the defense..and he was honest and pretty detailed.. if you post on this site odds are you are a diehard who really cares to undstand this team.. Billy Davis press Confrence was must see for sure
    .
    So were the others… But especially Billy… People don’t like Pat Shurmur but I dont know what it is about him, but I like the dude..I don’t even know why I like him, he is dry, bland, but for some reason I get a kick out of him

  340. 340 Mitchell said at 10:21 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Is this on PE.com? Did it happen today?

  341. 341 GEAGLE said at 10:25 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Yeah… Go to PE video section…and billy, Shurmur and chips press conference will be one of the latest videos…appended today… Billy’s is must see

  342. 342 Flyin said at 10:35 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    I put a lot of focus on what people say and how they say it. I take the off the field interviews/actions to determine what kind of people are involved with the Eagles. Players and coaches. I really like this team as a whole. I think it is greater from top to bottom than the ’04 Eagles. That doesn’t guarantee anything, except I wish Dawkins was next to Jenkins.

  343. 343 GEAGLE said at 10:42 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Couldn’t agree more…

    Just the unity in the locker room, the belief these pro players have in their coaches… The way a veteran like Jason Peters makes it his job to help grow the young players…it’s one thing to help his fellow lineman who are in meetings with him, but when the best LT in football is staying after practice to teach young TE Ertz to run block, or our first round pick Marcus smith, working with the kid on his pass rush moves offering the point of view of the LT that will block him….

    All the emphasis we put on intelligence and character..you are seeing pro players, Super Bowl winners from other successful franchises talking about the special family atmosphere which is more like college than the pros.

    I have NO doubts that some thing special is brewing at a Novacare….don’t KNOW WHEN it will pay off, but I know it willl….and the only time I ever felt we had something really special brewing was in 2004… For this to be yeàr two, and our coach showed so much success that if we don’t score 30 points our fans are pissed

  344. 344 Flyin said at 10:52 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    In the summer of ’04, I knew the Eagles where Superbowl bound. I am not sure I will ever have that confidence again, however, I feel this team has what it takes to be special. They already are in many ways, just have to prove it with results..

  345. 345 eagleyankfan said at 7:43 AM on October 8th, 2014:

    I was sold last year pre-season on these guys…..

  346. 346 GEAGLE said at 9:54 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    QUESTION:
    ..
    I hear that piece of crap Baker “got what he deserved” for being a cheap shot scum bag last night… Something happened to him in the seattle game, does any one know what happened?

  347. 347 D3FB said at 10:55 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    James Carpenter buried him after Baker fell down on a pass rush. Carpenter was flagged for unnecessary roughness. No one understood that call. Most neutral observers thought the refs had money on the game. It was poorly called all night.

  348. 348 GEAGLE said at 7:41 AM on October 8th, 2014:

    I saw it on inside the NFL… Wasnt that just a legal “pancake” block? I enjoyed thinking of all of Carpenters weight coming crashing down on that scumbag Bakers back n rib cage..

  349. 349 D3FB said at 11:42 AM on October 8th, 2014:

    I have no clue why it was called. It was a terrible penalty. Baker got his ass whooped and fell down. Carpenter finished his block. The refs were trash that entire game. Calling false starts after the play was over, and dumb crap like that.

  350. 350 Mitchell said at 11:09 PM on October 7th, 2014:

    Gonna go ahead and pat myself on the back. I noticed the great coverage Brandon Graham had during one play on Sunday and then Billy D brings it up in his PC. Great job Mitchell, you’re learning the game.

  351. 351 GEAGLE said at 12:01 AM on October 8th, 2014:

    He really was,good in,coverage… Showing a ton of OLB improvement this year…

  352. 352 eagleyankfan said at 7:59 AM on October 8th, 2014:

    just to throw it out there — Foles — What if, he continues playing the way he’s been playing and finishes the season the way he’s playing right now? Still a franchise QB? Still a question mark? It’s hypothetical because…Disclaimer — I like Foles and I think he’s very “fixable”. I expect the best game of the year out of Foles Sunday night.