Getting Ready for the Giants
Posted: October 10th, 2014 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 100 Comments »Big game on Sunday night. The heroic Eagles host the evil Giants. At stake…control of the free world, or at least first place in the NFC East. The Eagles are 4-1 while the Giants are 3-2. Dallas will be playing at Seattle. In a fantasy world. the Eagles will win and the Boys will lose. That would put the Eagles a game up on the Boys and 2 games up on the G-men.
I wrote a piece for BGN on how the Eagles run game showed signs of life last week. We need to really see Shady and the ground game get loose (lots of yards, big plays, TDs) to fully buy in to the idea that things are where they need to be. Still, it felt really good to re-watch the Rams game and see the positive signs.
The real key is the OL. If those guys develop some chemistry and get some confidence, that will help the backs to feel more comfortable running behind them. If you think there won’t be any holes before the play even starts, that is going to affect the way you run.
The Giants are 10th in the NFL in run defense so this will be a good test for Shady and his blockers. A big game on Sunday night would be a great sign for the return of the run game.
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The Giants made a big change in the offseason when they brought in Ben McAdoo to install his version of the West Coast Offense (think Packers). Peter King wrote a good piece on the Giants and their change.
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The great Fran Duffy did his All-22 preview of the Giants. Great stuff, as always.
The Giants have already played several 3-4 defenses this year so they will be ready for the creative looks and exotic ideas. The key will be execution and simply beating the man across from you. That’s the way it should be when the Eagles and Giants get together.
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As expected, the Eagles have officially ruled out Mychal Kendricks for Sunday. Will be 4th game he's missed. DeMeco Ryans is questionable.
— Reuben Frank (@RoobCSN) October 10, 2014
We need Ryans. Casey Matthews is coming off his best game, but you don’t want him and Emmanuel Acho as your starting ILBs for a big game.
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Will have a knot in my stomach all day Sunday.
Bought this just in case. Have to hedge a little, otherwise my whole WEEK will be ruined.
http://i.imgur.com/kplxzMp.png
You should have donated your $30 to Tommy instead of the bookie
Nothing wrong with an emotional hedge, my friend.
No need to hedges his week… We not losing this game..we are a very bad match up for this team
You’re really understating the importance of this game. Victory over the Giants is much more important than control of the free world.
I keep hoping for more Ints so Jimmy Bamma can start up his Eli face GIF again.
Hey Tommy, Just a shout out to thank you for the DGR and the preview. As usual, very well written and helpful. Great, great stuff.
Just taking the time to say something a lot of us think many times. Thanks, Mr. Lawlor, you really are The Man.
What is up with Kendricks’ calf injury? Did he tear it?
must be at least partial tear — we’re almost in short term IR territory if it was a available. Seems like a lot of time off for just a strain.
No real feel for this one. Giants are a lot better than everyone thought, Eagles look lot shakier.
I just hope we don’t embarrass ourselves out there. Foles needs to get his shit together.
What we thought would be a W at the start of the season looks especially worrisome if Ryans is out – Gman could own TOP by 2-1
After watching Duffy’s piece, without Kendricks we don’t have an answer for TE Donnell, and without Ryans at 100% their power run game will eat us up. Beckham and Cruz will be tough for our corners (especially if Boykin is still a bit banged up). If we’re going to win it will have to be in a shootout, so Foles needs to bring his A game.
Not worried about their running game. I think their O-Line is overrated at the moment, because Eli isn’t sacked as much because of the quick passes. I wouldn’t have feared Jennings, I don’t fear Williams. Our D-Line is pretty stout against the run.
What worries me is the passing game. And it worries me badly. Kendricks injury really hurts, Ryans would hurt (alone for the checks at the line). Our CB play has to be better. At least we have our best Corner against their best WR. That’s a rare, but good thing.
I hope Davis defends them the way the Falcons did (see Duffys piece). Double team (Safety help) Donnell, maybe Cruz (depends on how effective Boykin can shut him down). Let Beckham and Randle beat you. They can do that if Cary and Fletch play the way they played most of the season, don’t get me wrong. But I don’t want Donnell to beat us. We can’t defend him one on one with the players we have at the moment. Maybe Jenkins can contain him to some degree, but Matthews, Acho or Allen against him is just a scary, scary thought.
The reason I think we’ll lose this game isn’t even the pass D. It’s our running game. Chip must earn his money to get this thing going. They shut us down with Mathis and Kelce + Lane at 100 %. The good thing is: since they had such great success and have the same D coord, they will rely on their scheme from the last two meetings. So if Kelly finds a great counter, it could work. But I don’t really see it since our talent level is decreased heavily compared to the last two games.
Not talking about the future, but I think right now, Nick can’t carry this team on his back against a solid D if the running game isn’t working. It worked against the Skins, but the Giants D is way better, imho. No running game, erratic Foles, Giants passing game, I think that’s too much to overcome. I don’t think they will blow us out, but I think it will be a loss after a hard fight.
But boy, it would be sooo freaking great to somehow win this game. 5-1, Giants 3-3, if Seattle doesn’t screw us Dallas 4-2, after the Bye week Kendricks will be back, Ryans hopefully at full strenght, only two more games without Mathis and Kelce – we have 10 more games to go and would already have half the wins we need (imho) to win the division.
It’d be interesting to see if Riley Cooper can improve as lead blocker — or if James Casey gets used more as a led blocker thank just a sift blocker. I know we’ve one to a lot of 2TE even 3TE sets to improve blocking but itd be nice to go 3 wide and have casey provide some holes for McCoy.
Lol TE are defended by jenkins and Barwin… Kendrick only really deals with TE if he is in zone and they come their way…smh
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Everyone hide under your beds.. The big bad Giants are coming… Give me a fucking break, they need to be worried about what we bring to the table
Yeah boyyyyy! Get under your bed bitches!!!
This particular tight end is too fast for Barwin. Davis had Kendricks on the quicker tight ends last year in more than 50% of passing snaps.
Giants beat Houston with who at qb? Atlanta with a terrible D and Wash… And the eagle fans are all…”oh I’m worried”…get a grip men and women…eagles aren’t facing an elite team..eagles are not over matched… Eagles can easily dominate IF they execute… Don’t count me as one of those fans shaking all day at the fear of the VaG_iants..(see what I did there)
At the end of the day it’s a division game and the Giants and Eagles always seem to be dogfights…
Hollah!! Sorry soft bitches. VaGiants!! Love it brah! We should meet up at the 700 level. I’ll be wearing the beer helmet with no shirt on. Huge Italian Horn too. Look for me there. Me and you is boyz!! Ride or die!!
Sadly I have seen the Eagles defense and offense play, so every team scares me.
Eagles fans have bcome. Soft group of bitches,.. Hide under your beds… The big bad Giants are coming… give me a break.
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5-1 into the Bye, right on schedule
AMen Brah!! These fools are soft! Can’t wait for St Nick to throw for 300 bills and 4 tds this week. FOles is the truth!
How many interceptions for Big Game CWill this week? I think he only gets 4 picks, but returns two for TDs. He’s a big game corner and will shut down all these damn haters!!
too funny
Love it.. It’s not Frank caliendo, but for now it will do
Sounds like you have your ruler out and are measuring your peanuts.
Clever… Back to the kiddie table you go now..
All your retorts are the same. I guess just like your posts.
You need some new material, maybe try reading a book or something.
Kid.I don’t read what you write.. This is the grown folks table..just look at your above comment..no one cares dude. You don’t move the needle.. Get attention on your own merits not off of my name…sorry kid I have no clue what you just wrote
And yet…..and yet, you spend more time responding to me than I ever have to you.
Is your twitter feed where you stalk eagles players like a creep?
You don’t have a following. You vomit on the comments section and then a couple of sheep lap it up.
Thank you. Honestly, I really can’t even stand coming to the comments section anymore. It used to be that there was such incredible insight and intelligent conversation and even debates that I looked forward to on this board.
We gotta win this game. Hopefully Ryans feels better by tomorrow night.
Its exciting that this game is meaningful. Beginning of the season I though all these divisional games would be boring (though, are they ever, really?).
Sunday night on National TV at home against divisional rival Giants. This has all the trappings of a Nick meltdown game, so for some reason I think he flips a switch this week and wins this one. Would fit his M.O. I’m envisioning last year’s Chicago game.
If he doesn’t we’re gonna get blown out. Giants are playing well right now and now that the D is shorthanded, Eli is going to be able to make some noise.
I’ve never seen fans complain about and criticize a 4-1 team as much as has happened with the Eagles this year. They are flawed to be sure, but firstly, many of the problems, such as the discontinuity on the O line, Foles’ mechanical issues, and coverage breakdowns in the secondary, are fixable, and secondly, there is no other team in the league playing perfect football either. Last week everyone was talking about how the Bengals had a complete team and were a Super Bowl favorite, they go to Foxboro and get waffled by a motivated Pats team, and all of a sudden they have way too many issues to be more than a wild card team.. It is a long season. Too early to know who the real contenders will be come January. But piling up wins even when playing at less than your best is something to be happy about.
With all that in mind, let’s not make too big a deal out of the Giants. Yes, they have played pretty well the past few weeks, but it’s been against suspect opposition, and they have some serious matchup problems of their own against the Eagles – there’s not a single guy on their roster who can cover Sproles or McCoy out of the backfield, for instance. The Eagles will have plenty chances to make plays in this game.
i think people feel like DST scoring is fools gold and are waiting for the offense to get right. Hard to think averaging 2 TDs a week is sustainable.
Even though we have a scoring defense they still allow 24+ points a game. So offense does have to score. Eagles playing well blow the giants out of the water. Let’s hope they play well.
Two D/ST TDs per week may not be sustainable, but there’s no reason to think that excellent special teams/turnover-forced defense isn’t – the 2006 Bears, among other teams, sustained that kind of production all the way to the Super Bowl. There is a ripple effect even when your D/ST aren’t scoring, e.g. a threatening punt rush/punt return unit leads to more max protection schemes and worse punt coverage, which leads to better returns, which leads to better starting field position for your offense.
Besides, it’s not like the offense is awful. Even with the QB being up and down, the running back going through the worst slump of his career, and the offensive line depending on a patchwork of off-the-street guys who haven’t played together, they’re putting up enough points/yards to be in the middle of the pack statistically. That performance will probably improve as the OL gets healthy and McCoy and Foles get untracked.
ehh the offensive points are skewed by the first couple of games. We’re in a slump but we can come out – see Pats and GB, but it’s gotta start with the QB. That’s the difference between GB and everyone else in the NFC north.
When you’ve only played five games, the “first couple of games” aren’t skewing the sample – they are a significant portion of it. The offense’s best game of the season in terms of points scored was Washington, the 3rd game. They played the best defense they’ve played all year in game #4 and took their foot off the pedal for a good portion of game #5 because they had a huge lead – you can equally well say those results are skewing the statistics downward. The truth is with so few games played you can’t really get a reliable read on what a team’s baseline performance is.
many of the problems, such as the discontinuity on the O line, Foles’
mechanical issues, and coverage breakdowns in the secondary, are fixable
And yet here we are, seeing the exact same problems every week. It may have worked against the Rams and Jaguars, but some fans realize that hoping your special teams scores a touchdown or two every week isn’t the smartest strategy for winning.
The offensive problems likely won’t be totally fixable until the OL gets healthy, but that is fortunately projected to happen within the next month – they need to get through 3 more games with Molk and Tobin, then the preseason projected line should be back together.
Last year at this point they were 2-3 (on their way to 3-5), and had been blown out in two of their three losses. The defense looked completely hapless. Foles was only just establishing himself as the starter and wasn’t playing that well. Everyone was talking about whether they’d take Teddy Bridgewater or Marcus Mariota with their top 5 pick. You know how that turned out.
Predictions get more accurate the larger a body of information you have to base them on – 5 games this season, with a lot of extenuating circumstances making subpar performances more likely, is not a large body of information. It’s more likely LeSean McCoy is the guy with the 4.6 career YPC average than the guy with the 2.9 YPC average we’ve seen this year. Nick Foles is not the guy we saw last year (whose numbers projected over an entire career would make him the best quarterback in NFL history), but he’s probably better than the guy we’ve seen so far this year. And so on.
we weren’t blown out by the chiefs. if you remember after (another slow start) we’d been scoring but the chiefs went on a 9 minute long td drive to seal the game.
We were blown out by the broncos but so were most teams.
Even if OL is back by week 8 it’s probably week 10 before they get back to 2013 form. The difference between $12m nick and $20m nick will be in those 4-5games. Same can be said about $12m shady and another RB.
The OL won’t be elite until Nov 10 when our starters get back… But I’d bet that Tobin and Molk improve with each game under their belt,,.
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The main problem was that members of OL weren’t getting continuity playing next to the same team mate..
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This is litally the first time we started the same 5 OL two games in a row, and we should see a difference this week because of it… God willing no Othet OL gets hurt and then we should see more improvement after the bye from Tobin n Molk…
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If no one gets hurt on the OL any more…mid bet that this group of 5 OL grow to play some decent ball before kelce anTobin get back. Id bet it’s not as bad as it looks, but playing next to a different team mate each week made it seem much worse than it really is….
If OL stop getting injured, we won’t have to wait Til our starters get back to being an explosive offense…but when they do get back, we will get hot and be that team no one wants to get matched u against in the playoffs
Projections don’t mean anything. You might as well call it a random guess using linear math. This is not a team that could get deep into the playoffs without having incredible luck. You can blame the OL all you want but when we did have the OL intact this year, the team still looked shaky.
My point is that firstly, this is not necessarily the team that will be playing in the playoffs if they make it that far, and secondly, the other teams aren’t who they will be in December either. The 2011 Giants barely made the playoffs, but got hot at the right time and made it to the Super Bowl as a result, and it wasn’t luck. Injuries, schedule surprises, natural variance in performance levels throughout the season – these are all factors that will influence where everyone is come December/January in ways that are very hard to predict at this point. Five games in, no team is definitely a contender – all you can ask is that a team not knock itself out of contention by piling up losses, and this team hasn’t done that as of right now.
As for the OL, at no point has it been intact this entire season. Johnson was suspended at the beginning of the year, by the end of the first game Barbre was out, and Mathis and then Kelce followed in short order, all before Johnson got back. More than any other position, lack of continuity kills you there, because communication, timing, and teamwork are so critical. This team has had zero of any of those things this year, and yet has scraped by. That is pretty impressive as far as I am concerned.
If I were a Giants fan (what a horrible nightmare), I’d be very concerned about the Eagles. You’re right, there is noone on their roster who can match up against Shady or Darren. Plus, who is going to cover Maclin, Ertz and, Matthews (who, you heard it here, is going to have a big game). If Foles plays decently, he and the receivers should slice and dice Prince and DRC.
Yeah it’s pretty disgusting to see how the media and FANBASE is treating this team right now… Just shows how stupid we are. A young team THATS growing like us, probably wouldn’t get as much out of winning 4 games by 30 points as we gain by having to overcome all types of adversity, learn how to win ugly to earn this 4-1 start..
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We will be better having gone through this stretch of ugly games. This is making us tougher, and more united….
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What’s funny is, even tho we have struggled and we don’t look as potent as we are capable of…how many teams in our conference actually look like they are much better than us right now? Not many..
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.september/October is just about getting as many wins as you can, so hopefully when you catch your stride and get hot in December, collecting these ugly SEPTEMBER wins gives us a chance to get home field advantage,,
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The way we are collecting these ugly win..stay on this pace and that early December game against the Seahawks could have major home field implications,,
#HumangousLOL:
http://m.nydailynews.com/sports/football/giants/eagles-mock-giants-qb-eli-manning-new-animated-video-article-1.1970147
That is the best! BlackSunday, Eli. You’ve been warned.
All joking aside: we all should bomb this writer’s Twitter account:
@nydnmabramson
What a clown…!
That’s an insult to clowns.
What a poor excuse for a man…nancy-boy… Needs to spend a month in a Russian prison..
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This modern day society is producing some soft men…what a shame… Pussies need a “what would Fedor Emeilienenko do” bracket…. They just don’t make men like him anymore..smh
Hopefully we see Huff take some of Cooper’s snaps this week.
cant see it happening with cooper’s size and speed. He’s also being used as a FB in the run game. Huff on ST. Be interesting if we see 4W where we shift and bring a guy like huff or sproles or matthews into the backfield.
Hopefully we see Coop do what he did last year…start the first 5 games off very slow, and come out of his shell in game 6 to go on to be the playmaker he was last year….doubt he all of the sudden forgot how to out jump 5’10 corners and come down with jump balls..
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Coop was invisible the first 5 weeks of last season.. Too soon to write hm off, when n reality he is ahead of schedule compared to last season..
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Huff replacing Coop doesn’t do much. We need both to start contributing., doesn’t have to be on or the other
Cooper actually played pretty decently last week, but even putting aside the possibility that he might come on, why do you suppose Huff is any better? He’s a third round rookie, such players aren’t usually impact receivers.
Hype for Oregon vs, UCLA
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Couple future potential Eagles in this game:
Oregon:
DE ARik Armstead
OT Fisher
C Grasu
..I don’t list their top CB prospect because no chance we draft a 5’9 corner in round one when we have boykin and Watkin already
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ILB Eric Kendrick
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oregon also has this WR/track star convert… Been showing some steady improvement.. Won’t be in this draft, but he is the type that can go deep and “stretch the field” so worth keeping an eye on his development
Would love to draft all 3 Duck prospects, Armstead would be great rotational DE, Fisher can be LT of the future and Grasu can be a guard.
Would also love Kendricks, problem is all 4 guys just named are 2nd-3rd round picks
Yup..problem indeed..especially since chip will Prob also want to draft another WR early…
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Don’t think we are done “reconfiguring the WR position”
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Although we will prob have that extra pick in the bryce trade… You figure we are going to pick late in round 1… If we trade out of round 1, trade up from round 4, maybe trade a future pick now that we don’t have as many roster spots available…maybe we can pull off a haul Like that…or ATleast close to it…
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I love this draft class… not only is it filled with edge rushers but there are a lot of high quality big, long, highly athletic two gapping DE types, in the Margus hunt mold..like Armstead and the Kid Shawn Oakman..
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We are getting to the point in the roster building process where soon, we won’t have room for like 7’draft picks every year..maybe we are more filling to trade a future pick, especially since soon we will lose the advantage of chip knowing so many of the college kids..
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As for The OL. If we have to draft OL, would love Fisher or Grasu.. Oregon OL would be great, removing all the guess work of how 300lb men can play at our high pace.. Both Fisher and Grasu can also play Guard..so we would be lucky to land either.
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Really like this draft class.
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What do you think of the ILB from Auburn…what’s his name…frost
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Assume TCU beats Baylor today
A WR early? You think Maclin walks? Coop is here, Huff is here, Matthews here, Smith and Maehl could be replaced but not with a tope pick pick.
Agree not seeing a WR early unless its a crazy talent that falls.
I think Ty Montgomery would be a very realistic target in the 1st round.
He could be but I rather see us draft a top CB first next year.
OL, OLB
From what I’ve seen so far, it’s not really a great OLB class next year. OL and CB is unquestionably the biggest need so far. It’s a good draft for OL next year though.
Yea, it would fill a need. Problem is Ifo isn’t on our board for size reasons (he’s also overrated). Peters is the most talented and has great size, but he’s been suspended for arguing with coaches, and apparently has a reputation for being kind of a dickhead. The other guys who could go in the first, I haven’t done much tapework on.
PJ Williams or Trae Waynes? I don’t know anything about Williams and only seen a few minutes on Waynes. A CBS analysis said Waynes was a younger Kyle Fuller.
Sad to hear that Peters is a dick. Him and Green-Beckham have bright futures if they grow up.
I liked what I saw out of Williams in preseason tape, but it’s so hard to tell with the sheer volume of talent FSU had on defense. I haven’t done any film on Waynes, and he’s been up and down in live viewings. He’s one of the first guys I’ll watch when I get back into film next month.
Yup…been talking about him all year… I think chip will love him
I like Ty but not as a first round target for us. He is not the type of WR we want to fight for the ball
He’s 6’2 215. He will take the top off the defense and run circles around them just because he can. He blocks, he gets YAC. He has some concentration lapses and isn’t TE tough, but he’s tougher than Maclin and would be the most dynamic receiver immediately.
The only crazy talent this year is DGB and maybe Coates. We do need a receiver that will fight for the ball and isn’t inconsistent like Cooper. I don’t see Matthews or Huff doing that anytime soon.
Coates has really underperformed this year. Kevin White and Devin Funchess looks like a guy who could easy replace Cooper
Funchess is that hybrid TE/WR guy but he can’t really block. We have Ertz for that role right now but Celek hasn’t performed. I like White but not as a first round target. I would love to have Stefon Diggs but he’s an idiot. Jaelen Strong reminds me of Alshon Jeffery but less polished.
Can’t wait Til this line improves enough for Nick and shady to trust it, so Nick can go back to throwing with the mechanics that made him Into a philly demigod.. A lot of people who wrote off our young QB are going to look very stupid soon
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This is just a slump in mechanics due to being really banged up being a line he doesn’t trust… No coincidence that his best throw of the day Sunday came out of Max protect, when he knew and trusted that he would have time because we were keeping 7 guys in to block.. Backed up at his own 5 he threw a beautiful 23 yard pass on the money to Maclin on a crossing pattern… The play he knew he was getting max protect, he was confident enough to set up and throw with the proper mechanics that he went 27-2 with..
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As the OL gains continuity and improves, so will our young Qb…and when we get the best centers and guard in the NFL back, we will start hitting our stride and we will be that team that no one wants to run into in the playoffs..
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And by then we get to find out which media members are worthless trash, and whch media members had a clue… For half of this city to now think THATS 27-2 was a fluke….smh shame on YALL… Just wait Til Nick gets it together…it’s coming… Judgment day is cp,ing soon
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Don’t be THAT dumb fan…support your young gunslinger.. These are very fixable issues.l not openng up his shoulder enough(wonder if that’s due to the shoulder pain), his feet are all screwed up right now, he is stepping sideways as he throws instead of stepping into his throws… This ISNT logan Thomas who you have to teach to be mechanically sound… FOles already reached that level as we saw last year, which means he will be able to reach that level again..
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All the adversity we are facing…two yards short of 5-0… Learning to win ugly, no matter what goes wrong is HUGE for a young growing team.. We should take this 4-1 record as a good sign, instead of crapping all over your team and thinking we got lucky…
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FOles won 11 of his last 13 games.l.in the NFL, no one is THAT lucky… Not easy to win in this league…
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I’ll bet anything Nick gets it together this season and gets back to the Nick we know and Love…shame that the kid doesn’t have his cities support…smh
The fact that they are 2 yards from being perfect, without Michael Kendricks says a lot about this team. Lets hope D. Ryans is able to play tomorrow. Win and get those 2 healthy after the bye for a tough game in Arizona.
I would be surprised if Meco doesn’t play tomorrow… I assume he will be out there.. He even managed to practice some this week..I’m thought he would play even without practicing…for him to practice two days ago..I’d bet he is out there..
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Like I always said, by December this defense will look pretty damn good.. Much better than people thought..
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We are playing without:
1) one of our best defenders kendrick, who is crucial to our defense
2) the #1 Guard in the NFL
3) #1’Center in the NFL
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4) QB banged up, having a rough stretch
5) the best RB in the NFL being quiet
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All those major major problems..and we two yards short of being undefeated…
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That’s a scary thought! WHAT would we look like without these issues? Fortunately, none of these are lost for the season,,. We get all the important pieces in time for our playoff run
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And by now we should know that the best teams really don’t win superbowls… The hottest teams late in the year typically win SUPERBOWLS..and with the big boost we will get from Kelce and mathis coming back…we could peak at the perfect time
On top of needing a goal line stand to win, the niners needed several highlight plays. For example: the Frank Gore TD had blown coverage by a rookie playing in a position with only 3 days of limited reps in practice and a missed tackle by Wolf (who said he misjudged his location on the field). The throw itself was absurd, (looked completely out of desperation) on what was really a broken play. That is as “lucky” a play as anything we have seen all year.
Loss of OL is an excuse. It’s a good one but at the end of the day it is what it is. Colts were down two guards against the Texans, Luck ate that, brady gets his center traded away, he eats that, Rodgers perennially has TERRIBLE OLs, but he eats that and puts up numbers.
It’s an excuse for Foles; its an excuse for Shady. There’s no holes for shady to run through untouched – I could have run for 800 yds last year. But you’ll never see shady push a pile. Peterson will run over a dude, that’s why he’s the best, Lynch will run over a dude and earn that money. Shady will take that $10m and say he’s the best after 1 rushing title but he won’t run over anyone, you gotta ask if he’s built for that (mentally and physically).
I’m not trying to denigrate either of them. Foles put in work against the skins, but instead of it making him stronger i think it made him weaker. Quiet as it’s kept i think djax and shady made each other for a lot of year. It’s was guard one or guard the other, shady’s gotta put more on his back.
If you want to be that guy, you gotta make the sacrifices to be that guy. Otherwise get off First Take. Eagles win ugly 34-30.
I agree with your assessment that good players overcome disadvantages. However, poor play along the OL is a fact, not an excuse. Chip Wagon did an excellent job showcasing the issues in the run game. If you haven’t read this, do so:
http://www.thechipwagon.com/eagles/2014/10/dissecting-the-issues-in-the-ground-game.html
As far as shady not being willing to run over anyone, I disagree. I have watched him run into the pile in short yardage situations when necessary, and get the yardage. I do think he is more fixated on getting the big play than he should be, but that isn’t the same thing as claiming he isn’t built to run over people. Also, claiming the loss of DJax is effecting the run game is an excuse as well (in the same way injuries along the OL are), and one that I think holds less merit in light of the evidence.
“run into the pile in short yardage situations” is different than running over people. Remember Sproles in the Colts gave – taking contact and ping ponging instead of dancing, have you seen that from shady? Obviously there’s what beast mode does every week- but shady’s not built like that. There’s some adversity right now, i think players need to bring a different game.
I’ve seen the chipwagon. And i’ve been a huge believer in the line chilling Shady’s game. The holes aren’t there — what now? Sometimes you gotta truck that DB, not b/c that’s your style but because that’s what it takes to be the best.
On djax, i’m talking andy reid years as well. I think shady was used to a WCO where the pass sets up the run. So there are lanes instead of a run-based system where sometimes you just have to hit that pile and churn your legs to tire the defense and establish the run. Last year we were a “run-based offense” but between the RO portion of it and the downfield portion there were HUGE running lanes and great blocking (though you saw what happened to shady in the transition between vick and foles). All that’s gone for the moment so Shady’s gotta hit that pile.
Partially i think shady’s struggling under the pressure of being the self-proclaimed “best” and wanting to hit that 2k mark.
Maybe Shady need a FB / lead blocker. Chip doesn’t believe in that — but i think he’s a guy that can evolve (we didn’t have pistol last year – this year we do).
Fair enough about the pile comment not being applicable. However, as Chipwagon illustrates, in many cases (poor blocking/missed assignments, not sustaining blocks, shady not trusting the play and running through the hole) running through people won’t make a difference. There may be a play or two where a different running style would matter, but you can argue that if his style has paid off on other plays as well. I don’t think it matters, you win some plays lose some regardless of your style, and as long as you are getting predominantly positive yardage its all gravy. Unfortunately, right now they have bigger issues than his style of getting past a defender.
As far as DJax, if Foles connected more down with field with the receivers he has, the defenses would be forced to back off as well. There are plays to be made, if they are successful on those plays, the effects will be the same regardless of who is in there.
The bottom line is that more than scheme/play calling/personal the offense as a whole needs to execute better.
I’m really sick of hearing about DJax. Maclin and Cooper have both gotten open deep on multiple occasions this year, and Foles has just plain missed them. The lack of big plays in the passing game has not been because the opportunities aren’t there, it’s been because of poor execution. Having Jackson would not make the OL block better or Foles set his feet better before throwing.
I agree 100%
only using djax b/c he was the deep threat guy. Now you could say “ertz” or “maclin”
The Cincy game excepted Brady has mostly sucked this year, to the point that the possibility he might be benched was openly being openly discussed, and largely because his OL has been almost as bad as Foles’. Not sure he’s a great example in support of your “great players play great no matter what” statement.
used the cinci game specifically b/c it was him overcoming adversity.
34-24 Birdgang
I like the confidence.
I have a feeling we are going to beat the shit out of this team..Tho I respect the fact that division games are dogfights… …
Have a really good feeling about this week. First Of all, this is literally the first time this season the offensive lineman are playing next to the same man two weeks in a row..as a former OL I know exactly how important OLmcontinuity is to all the other players being effective on offense…
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I also see a Giamts team that’s running their mouth talking shit all week, but the Eagles ARENT taking the Bait..they remain focused and business like…
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Tho I hear that the Eagles are really pissed off at the media and fans who say they have been playing like crap even tho we are 4-1…for players to be fiesty and pissed off at our media, yet be cool enough to not take the bait from the Giants.. I’m expecting a Eagles explosion..
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Every once in a while the king of the jungle gets up and reminds everyone why he is the king….and we run this NFC east jungle!
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I also saw a group of Eagles players stay together, overcome all types of adversity and find ways to win, no matter what… I see an Eagles team with Heart, character, United…..I don’t believe that a group of free agent mercenaries have what it takes to beat this group of Eagoes in a dogfight game.. Winning these first 4 games ugly should have prepared us for NFC east dog fights..
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I can see us lose a game to a team that has Hard men like Joe staley, Justin Smith, Patrick Willis… But the Giants don’t have the men to take this win from us….JPP, Damontre Moore, these men aren’t HARD enough to take this from Jason Peters.. Justin Pugh ISNT hard enough t take this from Fletcher cox…
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Just look at our OL and DL.. Both lines will win the majority of the individual matchups… We win up front, we win the game..
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Not rocket science…
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Skins brought the best of FOles out….and these dirty stinking midget dwarfs domt have the men to take this away from us..
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We won’t lose this game… I’m not nervous
Anyone Hapoen to see tomorrow uniforms?
yes if hillman fumbles…again.
Its the normal black jersey but with black pants instead of white pants
Everybody talks about Marcus Mariota, but he obviously won’t be available.
Brett Hundley may be, but I don’t trust him.
Dak Prescott is the name to watch if Nick continues struggling. Is winning some big time games and showing a live arm and athleticism. 6’2″ 229, runs a reported 4.5
Following your post I switched channels from the Oregon game just to see Dak throwing a terrible pick in the endzone. Lol
haha yea, that int was bad.
But he has been impressive and has that rare trait even as a mobile QB to stay in the pocket against pressure.
I wouldnt mind him at all
18/34 246 Yds 1 TD / 2 INT, 21 carries for 121 Yds (5.8 YPC) to beat the #2 team in the nation – you take that, right?
For me its pretty much
Mariota
Prescott
Trevor Knight
as far as best fit for this offense.
To quote that lousy movie “Draft Day”, I don’t trust rookie quarterbacks. They’re scared, and they’re stupid.
I really, REALLY hope Foles rebounds and plays better, because if this team has to draft a new quarterback next spring, they are at least 3 years away from being a true contender.
I agree, but I still expect a rookie QB in the later rounds to fill the #3 role (assuming Barkley pans out as a back up and Sanchez moves on).
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