A Bit of Redemption
Posted: November 29th, 2014 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 566 Comments »Mark Sanchez. Epic failure.
Brandon Graham. Bust.
Nate Allen. Bust.
Casey Matthews. Failure.
These players have dealt with a lot of negativity since coming to the NFL. They all played key roles in beating Dallas on Thanksgiving and it must feel good to them to be finally be enjoying some success.
Sanchez didn’t turn the ball over. He ran for one TD and threw for one. He did a good job of running the offense at a high tempo and wearing down the Dallas defense. Sanchez unleashed a new weapon and ran the ball a bit. He was 5-29 on the ground (non-kneel downs). Sanchez ran for a couple of first downs. Kelly’s offense is boosted by a QB who can run the ball just enough to keep the defense honest. That’s what he did.
The best word I can use to describe Sanchez’s performance on Thursday is “smart”. He didn’t throw the ball recklessly into traffic. There were a couple of decisions that weren’t ideal, but that’s going to happen in an NFL game. Sanchez was aggressive when he needed to be, but made sure to put the ball where his guy could get it. Sanchez led an offense that piled up 464 yards and 33 points.
With every start that goes by, Sanchez the failure from NY gets buried a bit more. We’re not ready to anoint him as a Hall of Fame candidate quite yet, but at the very least Sanchez has shown that he can be a good backup QB. There wasn’t a hot market for his services in March. That will be different come this March. Is he a guy you trust as a starter? That’s still very much up in the air, but at least there is a discussion. That’s a step in the right direction for a player that was considered a total failure just months ago.
Graham still isn’t a starter, but he has become a highly productive backup. He is third on the team in sacks (5.5). Graham leads the Eagles in TFLs (7) and FFs (4). That’s highly impressive for someone that doesn’t start. Rather than worry about getting more playing time, Graham seems focused on making the most of when he is on the field.
Part of Graham’s redemption comes from the fact he’s embraced playing OLB. He was a DE in college and his first couple of NFL years. He was taught to attack up the field. Graham now is being used in a variety of ways and he has expanded his game. He can set the edge. He can drop into coverage, although it still isn’t something he’s especially good at. Graham can fly off the edge or use a hard inside move. On Thursday he got a sack by lining up at DT and beating the LG. The crazy thing is that Graham has failed to close out a few plays or his sack and TFL totals would be even higher.
What is Graham’s future? No idea. You cannot just assume that his success in the current role would make him an impact starter. He still could be in better shape. Playing in more snaps might wear him down. Or maybe he would thrive. Does he want to stay in the 3-4 or would he strongly prefer to get back to being a DE? We’ll start to find out the answers when the offseason rolls around. For now Graham is just enjoying the fact he’s no longer a bust that is relentlessly judged against JPP and Earl Thomas.
Allen is having a mixed year. The hope was that Year 2 of playing for Bill Davis would bring out the best in him. Allen has bounced from system to system to system with a plethora of coaches. Finally, some stability. Unfortunately he’s proven to be the same kind of player. He’s better than his harshest critics would like to believe, but you can’t call him a good player.
Allen has been productive in recent weeks. In the past 5 games he has 2 INTs, 1 FF and 3 FRs. He’s making plays. There are still mistakes in those games and that is why you have to limit how much you praise him. Allen is a free agent at the end of the year. Will the Eagles want him back? Will some other team want him as a starter? This is a complex question because there are so few good Safeties in the NFL. The one thing I think we now have to concede is that Allen is what he is. He might still improve a bit here and there, but he’s not going to get significantly better.
If you want to appreciate Allen, just re-watch the Dallas game. Don’t focus on him, but rather the Dallas Safeties, JJ Wilcox and Barry Church. They were awful. And look at the season stats.
Wilcox and Church combined: 3 INTs, 0 sacks, 2 TFLs, 8 PDs, 1 FF, 2 FR
Allen: 2 INTs, 1 sack, 0 TFLs, 3 PDs, 1 FF, 3 FR
The Eagles could do a lot better than Allen, but they could also do a lot worse. He had an INT and FR in the win over Dallas. He had another INT taken away by penalty. I guarantee you that a few Dallas fans watched him play and said “Why can’t we have a guy that good?”.
Matthews is only here because of Chip Kelly, right? Kelly forced Andy Reid and Howie Roseman to draft him back in 2011. He forced them to start Matthews at MLB as a rookie in a year without a normal Training Camp and offseason. Right? Believe it or not, there was a time where there were high expectations for Matthews. Kelly was busy recruiting Marcus Mariota when NFL teams were scouting Matthews. The Eagles and Ravens showed a lot of interest, with Philly actually taking him.
Matthews was made the starting MLB, which normally would be a dream for a rookie. But that was the strike season. There were no mini-camps. Training Camp was different. Complicating matters, the Eagles were installing a new scheme. Matthews couldn’t lean on teammates for advice since they were also learning. Disaster ensued.
Matthews started a few games before being relegated to the bench. He was mixed in as a role player at times, but largely spent the next few years on STs. To his credit, Matthews embraced that and did a good job on STs. This was supposed to be the year that Matthews finally got cut. Instead, Jake Knott got suspended and then hurt. His absence opened a hole and that helped Matthews to make the team. Then Najee Goode got hurt and that moved Matthews up the depth chart. Injuries to Mychal Kendricks and DeMeco Ryans put Matthews into the starting lineup.
What happened? Matthews stood up to the challenge and is playing the best football of his career. He has 1.5 sacks, 2 TFLs, a FF and a FR this year. Matthews is now playing the MIKE position and he’s responsible for getting the defense lined up correctly. Kelly and Davis have praised him for the job he’s done with running the defense.
Does Matthews have a future in Philly? ILB is hardly set for the future so it is possible, but let’s also be careful not to make too much of a few games. Having a guy step up in the middle of a season and play solid football is different than seeing him as a 16-game starter. Matthews could be brought back to compete for a spot as a backup and STer. The key word there is compete. Matthews helped the Eagles shut down DeMarco Murray and Dallas, but he’s a complementary player. No matter how things play out in the future, Matthews has shown that he can play in the NFL. That has to give him a sense of satisfaction after several years of frustration.
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Want to read something funny?
Check out this Skins blog post on the Eagles and why they would fail this year.
Always fun when trash talk backfires.
_
I was thinking bout giving these guys a bit of credit ..you read my mind man! best writing.
.and I got ripped for suggesting I had no f in clue with all of sanchez’s fake runs that no one fell for ..glad to see him running
Everyone is talking about the improved line play, but you have to wonder if Sanchez being more of a threat to run than Foles is helping McCoy. Shady did have one of his best runs immediately after Sanchez kept it the other night.
Agreed. I think the threat of the run is more important than the run itself. It opens things up on the run and pass off the read option. It also may have some intangible effect on Sanchez – some QBs (e.g. McNabb) were at their best when they picked up some yards on the ground. It’s kinda like getting a few easy baskets via layups to get a shooter going.
that was the beauty of young mcnabb, that explosion in the open field and his scrambling/keep plays alive skills.
plus seeing how mcnabb was successful in reid’s WCO, imagine how awesome he’d be in kelly’s O.
Sanchez went 3 games without keeping the ball once. Yet his yardage totals went up in each of those three games. You would think it would be the other way around if the threat of the QB keeping it was playing a major factor. The longer Sanchez went without keeping the football, the more likely he wasn’t going to and that Kelly had instructed him not to.
Repeating myself from another post about Sanchez:
Regardless of a few mistakes, from a player who just missed a year and a half on the field !!, I see a veteran QB who is MOBILE. Not running 100 yards a game, but with quick feet, sees the pass rush coming most of the time, gets outside of the pocket when necessary, is a threat to run 10 yards, and most of all, is QUICK in his decision-making and actions. The offense is moving, not plodding.
Yes, running for adults like Rodgers or Wilson (or McNabb or Steve Young) rather than running for dopes such as Newton or Kaepernick.
I thought the Sanchez signing was an excellent move.
I never lost faith in Graham.
I stood by Nate Allen, though I was hoping for a little more this year.
Casey Matthews still stinks.
Id rather have had vick than sanches. great job by sanches to adapt!
I never lost faith in graham
im ok w nate but still wish for ..
I hated casey but im OK with how he has elevated his game even though he runs right into blockers still
So these are the dilemmas of football.
1st Its anticipating the cliff in older players , 2nd its figuring out who’s the CORE future signees. With the cliff sometimes you guess wrong (see the Saints on Sproles) and sometimes you guess right (see Eagles on McNabb/Westbrook). The Cliff also anticipates Salary due and production out of the backup and/or draft pick. The problem with CORE signees is that they are the foundation of your team, they are irreplaceable but they will eat up a ton of your financial resources so if you guess wrong that will prevent you from signing other key positions AND potentially letting one of the other CORE players going.
So people approaching the cliff: Trent Cole, Todd Herrmans, Jason Peters (yeah i know – but its true, its coming)
Potential Core players: Graham, Curry, Cox, Kendricks, Thornton, Fletcher (not as crazy as you think), Matthews (see article above), Nate Allen (see)
With Core signee players you have to take into consideration the kind of contract Jeremy Maclin will get maybe something like a 40M contract depending on guaranteed. Nick Foles performing bad actually saved us another year.
But this is going to be a DIFFICULT offseason and M. Smith II not being a productive OLB will most certainly make things harder than what they are.
future core player locks: Cox (best player on the defense), Kendricks (seems to be finally putting it all together), Boykin
Thornton and Logan are a tier below cox and kendricks but have potential to be part of the core.
malcolm jenkins is part of the core for the next 2.5 yrs. hard to predict beyond his current contract. would not put any other current 2ndary members aside from boykin
Logan is the best Nt in the NFL,and will be for a long TIME!
Is Brandon Graham really that much of a liability in coverage that he shouldn’t see the field more? His snap counts seem to hover between 30 and 40 percent. He’s extremely efficient with the amount of snaps he gets. I doubt he’d continue to play this well snap after snap if he was on the field, say, as much as Barwin. But it’s tough to imagine that he wouldn’t outplay Cole at this point in Cole’s career, and the more time a youngish player like Graham sees at a newish position, the better. I’d at least like to see 50/50 Graham/Cole split (if not 60/40) when there’s only a chance for one of them to be on the field at a time.
I’m a Michigan guy so I’ve always wanted to see BG succeed, but it strikes me that BG has the most untapped potential out of everyone on the redemption list.
Im very curious about Graham next year. I am of the opinion that he will be resigned and either start or see increased playing time with a restructure on Coles contract. Or i beleive Cole may be a suprise cut which i think is less likely. Just my opinion in which i dont think alot of people agree with.
Given how hard a worker Cole is, I would be surprised to see Kelly cut him. Kelly has consistently praised the hard working veterans on this team like Cole and Celek. Both guys are still starting over younger more talented guys who have yet to display the same work ethic. Seems to me that Kelly values work ethic over talent pretty consistently.
If Cole doesn’t restructure/take a paycut he will be cut there is no way we are paying him 11.5mil next year
What you have to remember is that soon his production is going to really start to slip due to age. Do you trust Smith? I dont, i think Graham would be best option. Yes, i do agree that its unlikely he will be outright cut, but his CAP number is huge next year and ig Graham goes we need another OLB. Therefore, i think what makes the most sense is resigning Graham and restructuring Coles contract.
Good points by both you and oreofestar on Cole’s cap number. I honestly expect a restructure of Cole’s contract this offseason. Even Trent has to realize that his play has dipped some the past few seasons.
As to whether I trust Marcus Smith? Before I heard Kelly announce that an injured Acho would have been forced to play over a healthy Smith, I would have said yes. I know he hasn’t done much in preseason or on the field this year, but I’ve been impressed by his combination of athleticism and how naturally he moves. Clearly he is failing to be physical enough or he’s just making too many mental mistakes (or both). I won’t call him an outright bust yet, but he needs to get on the field next year make a positive impact to avoid that label.
I think with Smith it is a couple things. The mental aspect does not worry to much because that can.be corrected over time. I think he needs to learn more pass rush moves along. Also something that can be learned over time. The thing that worries me is that he seems very finnese, and some players just dont get over that. I dont know if it is because in HS and college he could just use his speed and athleticism and he has to get used to being more physical again, or if it is just because he is flat out unwilling to be as physical as he needs to be in the NFL. That being said it does seem as though putting more muscle on would help as long as that doesnt affect his athleticism which is one of his good attributes.
Yeah, I agree that it isn’t an issue of strength. It’s an issue of physicality/violence. He has all the tools, but thus far just hasn’t shown the willingness to get dirty. As a LB, you’re almost always the smaller guy taking on 300lb plus lineman, but you have to attack them as if they were the smaller guy anyways. Leverage and surprise can do wonders for a DE or OLB.
I still remember Strahan who weighed in around 265 managing to toss Jon Runyan a few times. Jon won more than his fair share of battles, but Strahan got him on occcasion. Marcus really needs to find that side of football.
This debate reminds me of all the criticism for not starting Boykin outside at corner ALL the time. Excellent most of the time inside, in certain packages. Skill and talent in one type of situation does not always translate perfectly to a different situation. The coaches might be using Graham just right. Isn’t there general agreement that both of the Eagles line coaches are great?
One of the fun parts about a site like this is we can debate whether a coaching staff is using its players to their full potential. I’ve argued before and I will again that Boykin should be starting over Fletcher or Williams. I believe that the coaching staff has made up their mind that no matter what happens on the field, their preconception about how tall a corner needs to be overshadows on field performance. Do I know this without a shadow of the doubt? Of course not, but after watching Boykin last preseason clearly make the most plays in training camp only for the coaching staff to make the same excuses over and over, I am fairly confident in that assessment.
For the Cole vs. Graham debate, I believe that work ethic is a big part of why Cole continues to start. There is no questioning Cole’s effort every play and he is consistently in great shape. He has dived headlong into sports science and done his best to make the difficult transition to OLB. Graham is obviously talented but also just as obviously a guy who struggles with his weight. He has improved dramatically in setting the corner this year and is no longer a complete joke in coverage. I just don’t see Kelly and co. rewarding Graham over Cole’s superior effort both on and off the field.
Ultimately, I don’t care how great I think the coaches are. For the record, I think Kelly and co. have done a phenomenal job. That doesn’t mean that I will agree with every move or how they use every player.
“Graham is obviously talented but also just as obviously a guy who struggles with his weight.”
It’s like you just read my mind! There’s no doubt that his conditionning needs work. You look at him sometimes and he just looks fat. I find it disturbing to see his belly hang over his belt while Cole and Barwin look like they’re in tip-top shape. I’ll even go further: increased snaps might wear Graham down in a flash. I’m not a nutritionist or anything, but last time I checked BG played OLB, hard to cover when you carry that unwanted extra fat…
We do have an example in front of us of how rotating players in and out, especially the big guys, keeps them fresh and wins games. The Seahawks last year. I’m also fairly certain that those guys don’t give a rip about Pro Bowls or playing every down, when they’ve got those big heavy rings on their hands.
http://media.komonews.com/images/140620_seahawks_ring.jpg
first time ive seen that ring. not impressed, weaksauce as far as SB rings go
I don’t disagree that Cole is a hard worker or that Graham has weight issues. But from all accounts, Graham works harder than anyone else on the team in the gym. He also slimmed down quite a bit for last year, so for whatever reason, it seems like an intentional decision that he’s playing at a higher weight this year.
Yes. His coverage skills have improved. They were “Graham is in coverage? Consume Cyanide” to “Graham is in coverage? Dear (recite all names of religious deities as fast as I can) please let him not embarrass himself”.”
But think about Aldon Smith, or Terrell Suggs in coverage. Honestly no better than BG.
Though, both of those guys do bring so much else to the table. Can BG really bring all that? (Given his numbers, maybe, but there’s no telling unless he gets more PT.)
Anyways, Cole is better in coverage than BG, but is Cole that much better? It’s an opportunity cost thing – what exactly do you lose and gain by playing Cole over BG by a 40% margin or so?
Aldon Smith was never that impressive against the run, frankly.
And would Aldon Smith be as impressive without the Cowboy in front of him hooking two O-linemen at once with that combination of strength / un-called holding as he hooks the 2nd O-lineman?
Conditioning a factor with playing time too…just saying could be an issue with BG?
im a penn state guy and im glad graham isn’t going up against us anymore
I think the 2 gap system is helping Mathews tremendously. Helps keep him clean. One of his biggest issues in the past was his inability to shed blocks which the Wide 9 did not help. The 2 gap is very LB friendly esspecially when you have great linemen in front of you executing.
Very good point.
Not to harp on the Ravens two posts in a row, but Killer Lewis has said the same thing. You have talent on the D-Line keeping the ILB clean, and he looks like a Hall of Famer.
Who did Lewis kill? That’s an accusation typically made by low IQ and scared Steelers fans with little or no understanding of the law.
STFU. He’s a killer on the field, dipshit.
Strong words from a weak point of view. Go choke yourself, you’ll get the message without actually hurting yourself due to your overall level of weakness.
Quit while you’re only three or four laps behind, you mental midget.
Where’s Tyler Perry when you need him?
Agreed. He plays much better between the tackles and in tighter spaces.
I’ve always liked Sanchez as a player. He is smart. He was thrown into a ridiculous situation with the Jets. Hardly any qb could have succeded in that mess. I think he’s an NFL starting-caliber athlete.
Brandon Graham has started to show streaks of what made him a top prospect. I think he was also a victim of bad coaching in the form of Washburn and Castillo. I sure hope he gets in shape and fulfills his potential.
Nate had a very good rookie year and then got hurt. He’s never lived up to the promise he displayed in that first year. He does play well at times but he still gets lost and burned for big plays.
There is no way I’m on the Casey Matthews bandwagon, yet. A few good games does not mean he really hs shown he can play in the NFL. He seems like a good guy, the coaches must like him because he’s always on the roster. Maybe he’ll be the guy who sticks because of grit and determination.
I don’t have the eye to see the difference between Sanchez and say, Joe Flacco. Flacco has a stronger arm, maybe, but its not Sanchez is Koy Detmer or anything.
If Flacco can lead a hot Ravens team to the Superbowl, no reason that Sanchez can’t do the same.
Flacco had a one of the top defenses. Also, Flacco still throws a great deep ball and the offense during their Super Bowl year really took advantage of that. What Flacco hasn’t proven is that he can carry an offense.
Sanchez has to prove that he can not only play well in streaks but avoid the killer turnovers. I, for one, still do not trust him to not crumble under pressure. I hope he proves me wrong.
Ravens weren’t a top defense during the year. They got few guys back and had a great playoff run.
My point is that Flacco isn’t all that different from Sanchez (except for arm strength/deep ball).
Not taking sides or anything here. Just… Foles can throw half the length of the field, but Sanchez moves. Once in a while he even moves forward 10 yards or so.
Yup. Ryan and assistants are doing the same thing to quarterbacks in New York that his father did to Cunningham in Philly.
Ii would include the strong comment about Graham blatantky stating that he is playing his ass off hoping that it can be enough to let him be a part of the Eagles future because he is convinced chip is bringing a siperbowl to philly and he “desperately wants to be a part of it when it happens”-Graham..saying we don’t know what Graham wants is bogus, he has stated it numerous times this year emphatically, he DESPERALY WANTS a future in Philly, he doesn’t cAre about snaps… This is a guy the Eagles ar costing 2.5mil in bonus’s not giving him 45% of the snaps, and instead of being hostile about til enjoying being a hot commodity on the open market, he talks like he feel he still has to do more so he can ensure he has a future here. This isn’t me reading into a situation, Graham has said this all emphatically on a few occassions this year…so clearly he isn’t motivated by snap counts, or playing in a 4-3… Those questions have already been answered… He is playing the best ball in his career as an OLB, why exactly wluld he want to be a DE?
Only note, people say one thing and do something completely different all the !@#$ time. I hope he does come back and I wish the Eagles would use him more. I love Trent Cole and I still love his effort, but he’s no longer a guy I expect to beat the tackle on a regular basis.
Good point, Tommy, about Brandon’s ‘football shape.’ It’s easy to get caught up in how well he’s playing in very limited snaps without considering whether more snaps would benefit or hurt his production.
We’ll see what happens. I hope he’s able to stay here and have a good career, but the business of football can change things, for both players and teams.
I pray to my new #55 jersey that Graham stays here for a lot longer.
Eagles will miss Graham and Curry if they don’t re-sign them. Graham becomes more important as Cole ages.
plus if he doesn’t resign we lose a big chunk of our ability to rush the passer. this defense is still a work in progress and like it or not we need graham’s production from his backup spot.
old king cole (emphasis on old) is still awesome but how many more games does he have left as an impact player. Marcus Smith is still a multi-year project and howie is also going to have make a decision on Vinny pretty soon.
i still think we’re in pretty good shape moving forward but graham’s importance can’t be understated.
This is fun. Enjoy.
http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2014/11/28/7301839/the-dallas-cowboys-are-pretty-much-eliminated-from-playoff-contention
What an awesome line- why do they call the Cowboys ” America ‘s team?” Because they have 50 stars and no leadership.
Ouch. Remember though, that nickname was given in the 70’s, shortly before Reagan was elected. So maybe you’re right! ;~)
The comments are also quite fun.
Love to see Graham being successful. He’s caught so much crap for being a “bust” over the years, its ridiculous. Would love to have seen what his career would have been like without the microfracture surgery and the circus that was the latter Andy Reid years.
well I was just salty over not getting Earl is had nothing to do with Graham
Do you still seriously think that Thomas would have thrived here? In the circus mentioned by SteveH?
We’ll never know, but I tend to agree that his odds wouldn’t have been very good.
Idk but on draft night that I’d who I had hoped we went up for
Idiot McDermott would have switched Thomas to corner and/or linebacker.
Speaking of Wilcox, on Shady’s first long run, he should get all the credit for providing absolutely no backside contain. Really, when you prep to defend an elusive runner, isn’t the one thing you tell your defense not to lose contain? And yet Wilcox just trots right along the LOS with the rest of his teammates, like a lemming. Thank you JJ Wilcox for all those yards.
I’ve been pleased with Nate Allen this year. Yeah he’s blown a few coverages and cost us a game or two, but what young safety doesn’t go through these struggles? It’s not an easy position to play, especially in this passing league. For Nate to have been able to remain in the picture at the Saftey position says a lot about his work ethic and ability to keep his focus on where he needs to improve his game. He has been around the ball more consistently and has shown some improvement with continuity in the scheme and within the coaching staff. Considering the difficulty to land a quality safety in this league, I’d be interested to see what Nate can do in his third year in a comfortable situation.
Except Allen is in his 5th season. “Young” only applies to guy in their first two season. Judgement cometh in year 3!
Nate is just turned 27 today. He’s still very much young in my book.
Your book is based on life, the NFL is based on an average career of less than 5 years for most guys.
You’re right bro.. Let’s see what a 3rd year in the same scheme does for him.. I really hope he pans out.. Hopefully he gets re-signed.
Great link, Tommy. Hysterical!
That article from the Redskins was gold. Idiots.
Scroll down the comments to rg3.4.mvp defending Bob. Hilarious.
My favorite was the one about the geriatric Darren Sproles.
In fairness – most of the ten reasons could have a compilation of some Eagles fans own comments over the past two years- let’s face it the guys Tommy highlights and some of the others, like Foles, weren’t exactly heroes a month ago. I assume this is attribute to Kelly and his coaching staff that we are just getting to know. Great job Chip
Seattle has one of the best Defenses in the NFL. Sanchez has a rep of folding under blitz pressure.
My personal belief is that Chip will use bootlegs, where Sanchez excels, and bubble screens to negate Seattle blitz packages. In college, Chip was always smarter than Carroll.
Now Carroll is an SB winner. How will Chip scheme against such a formidable opponent? Answer – Chip will find what works and ram it down their throat again and again. Then when they think they know what’s coming Chip will show misdirection like in the Dallas game where Pope Jordan, the 81st, was wide open for a TD catch and run. If our guys can execute, we will see a Chip clinic on offense.
If you ask Sanchez to throw 40 plus time against LOB, we are going to lose. No,question about it….
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This week is going to be a physical battle, and this game is the perfect test for play off football. When you get into January everything becomes pretty simple.
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1) Can you run the ball in January?
2) Can you stop your opponent from running the ball in January.
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The team that does those two things better will win the game.
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For this specifc matchup Seattle. We won’t win without our run Game this week. You can’t ask Sanchez to go out and win this game against LOB…need to run the ball down their throats, tire them out with our tempo, and if we are able to be successful running the ball the way we need to, Sanchez will only have to throw 22-32 times. I have a feeling that we won’t lose another game this year when Mark has under 40 attempts
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Since the run game is EVERYTHING this week and we still need to respect the SEAHAWK defense even if some teams have had success running on them, it’s imperative that Sanchez do his part in the run game, and take the open yards when they are there to eventually free up shady and the backs.. A few times Mark dove Head first,but I also saw him slide, It was probably the most graceful slide by an eagle QB in like 20 years.. So now that we have a QB capable of sliding, don’t let them crash down on our backs, take whatever yards they dare you to take, just remember to SLIDE!…
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Defensively, same game plan as KAp amd Cam, mush rush, contain, Rush as a group(which our front 7 does better than any unit in the NFL).. We might not have that 20 sack monster who creates his own sacks, but we have a bunch of Quality rusher, who rush better as a tandem than anyone…. The discapline in our front 7s Rush is beautiful…we almost always have a defender on each side of the QB, and always twist a DL inside or whatever to make sure you have pass rushers coming from the front to take away the ability to step up, or take off. Really like seeing how unselfish our pass rushers are. They rush beautifully as a group…like watching a pack of Lions hunt their prey, one flanks to the rigjt, one flanks to the left, one always comes up the middle, and close in on their prey…. romo will look like a Christian being fed to the Lions at the Linc, but that’s a different story.
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Keep wilson in the pocket, even if you don’t sack him, keeping him in the pocket is a win, he doesn’t have the weapons or the developed game to beat us from the pocket….keep him in the pocket, stop the run, get our run game going, and we win…this is how we have to win in Janary, so we might as well start now….
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Be really big if our offense can score two TDs early, to help our defense get them to stop the run and don’t let BEASTMODE get into a Rythem
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The Cowboys OL was a tougher test than Seattles OL will be, especially with their starting center out….we dominated Cowboys OL. So I expect to Dominant an inferior OL at home and make the night miserable for BEASTMODE….it should be easier to get to BEASTMODE than it was to get to Murray, but it’s going to be harder to run on seattle than it was dallas, that’s why we really need Sanchez to help the backs, and pickup 10 yards on a run or two early to create some extra room for shady
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this again is another opportunity for a win to hang your hat on, 10 days to prep i hope we can do that thing. SEA doesn’t look good offensively at all.
legion of doom>legion of boom.
but do agree sanchize can’t be chucking it up more than 30x against seattle
From your lips to …. er fingers … to gods ears.
i expect sanchize to be utilized more in roll outs in general. it’s hard to believe that chip wouldn’t want to play up a players strength and add a bunch of new wrinkles into the O.
Seattle’s ability to make just about everybody look bad is why I hope people will temper their expectations a tad going into next Sunday. Even if we lose badly to Seattle (I think we only lose 13-10 or something like that), we’re still a 12-4 football team with a strong shot at a bye week.
The Eagles under Kelly are 19-2 if they score 24 points or more. That’s their magic number and with this offense very doable.
I can’t find the link, but it was in the Daily News when I went to my parents yesterday.
I believe you on that stat and believe I saw a similar one for this year. I don’t see 24 points vs. Seattle as realistic for a few reasons.
1) We’re still not executing properly in the red zone; even against poor Ds like ‘allas.
2) Seattle’s D is playing lights out right now.
I’m hoping he pulls Cooper out of RZ packages. Let’s give Huff a chance.
That and I want them to run Polk in inside the 5. I think some of it is personnel. McCoy dances too much inside the 5, so put Polk or Sproles who run better N-S.
Cooper too many mistakes there, I’d like to see Huff get a shot. He’s physical and at this point wants that opportunity.
IF, and it is an IF, Maclin gets huge dollars and signs elsewhere next year, we need to add more height at WR.
I think they want Maclin here. I think he’s worth the $11-$12 mill he’ll get.
They already established they don’t see wideout as a $10 mil + /year position.
I’d be shocked if they went over 5 / $45 mil in an offer to Maclin.
Hmmm. So the question is Mac cool with $9 mill a year with a SB shot – or does he go for the extra $1-$4 million?
I could see Jones or Snyder offer him like $14 mill to pull him from the Eagles.
That’s really the thing. Maclin would need to take a home town discount to stay here given that he’ll be the best WR to actually hit the market. Maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t. I just don’t criticize a guy for going to get paid.
I’d be pretty surprised if they didn’t franchise him if they can’t work out a deal.
The problem with tagging a guy (and/or tagging him a 2nd and 3rd year) is that you indirectly tell him that his value per year is the number of the tag…….. at a minimum.
I don’t know if they see Maclin as a guy who is worth WR tag money over a long term deal.
Dez Bryant and D. Thomas as guys you tag because they’re worth more per year than the tag.
Maclin isn’t quite in that class.
WR tag for 2014 is a tick over $12 mil. I don’t know if the Eagles want to set $12 mil / year as what they’ll pay for Maclin.
That’s definitely a valid point. I think they’d rather pay him that for a year (when they could be very serious contenders) than let him walk, though. I’m hopeful that it will all be moot and they can come to a deal before that. I think Mac is reasonable enough that we could come to a loser AAV contract even after we tag him, but I certainly don’t know that for sure.
Here is what kills that. He’s not allowed to be signed early because he’s only on a one year deal. That is why we had to sweat out getting Mathis and Donnie Jones back after their great first years here.
Also, he just fired his agent. Guys almost never get a new agent if they’re looking to do a simple and cheap deal. Any barnyard animal could negotiate that. New agents are employed to get blockbuster dollars.
My recollection of the rule could certainly be wrong, but I thought there was still a brief window before the start of free agency for negotiating with players on one year deals.
I was very worried when he fired his agent as well, and it certainly is hard to construe it as a good sign. It’s possible that it’s just related to whatever is going on with CAA though.
That is not right. The rule about not being able to resign during the season applies to players one a one year deal for the veterans’ minimum salary. That rule does not apply to Maclin this year.
Ok, I didn’t realize it didn’t apply to all one year deals.
Anybody watching some College ball today?
All I’ve been doing
Love watching our secondary creating turnovers. Most happy with Allen back there actually doing something. I think we should resign him for depth at the very least.
Allen has good hands… always catches the ball with his hands and arms extended. He needs to teach Cooper that skill.
Les Bowen at philly.com wrote a piece that was funny!! In spots anyway. Here’s one of his quips that made me grin:
“*(Nate) Allen, by the way, was a Williams holding penalty away from a two-interception, one-fumble-recovery day, the sort of thing that gets you NFC defensive player of the week. It’s a shame, because Williams’ tug had no effect on Dez Bryant’s ability to track an underthrown pass. And because it would’ve been fun to watch Eagles’ fans heads explode when the award was announced.”
Cary 1 INT 3PBU’s,…Look back the past two years(eagle and raven) Cary has played his ball in December and January the past two season, and I’m assuming that trend will continue this year. Plays well against big WRs that he fears and respects, struggles with the smaller burner types.. The infuriating part is he plays down to the level of competition…like giving up those big Catches to Hurns againsg Jacksonvile is SOOO “Cary Williams”… Think last years let down vs. The Vikings, beside that let down, he hasn’t really had any other bad games the last two years in December and JAnuary where it matters most……. We will be too good to go into next season as contenders starting rookie CB in September, so I’m assuming we renegotiate a two year deal will Cary, amd keep him as the starter until a rookie we draft is ready to take over, so while we renegotiate a two year deal, next year will be his last year because we will draft a corner who should be ready by year two,,,cutting Cary after next season means we will be paying our outside corners cheap rookie contracts for the next 4 or 5 years and that is what will allow us to fork over the money to make boykin stay as a slot corner for the next 4 years, by then boykin will be getting old, and the outside corners we are paying rookie contracts to will need to be extended.
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Brad is a free agent, but I assume we try to extend him as well, Espevially since he is a high Charecter guy who will be a good solider when the rookie is ready and go to the bench where he can backüp both the outside and slot CB,…. We are going to try to keep both Cary and Brad in place for next year even tho we will draft a corner, but if we can’t keep Both cary and Brad, Nolan can replace one of them…but I’m assuming next year we have Cary,Nolan,Boykin,Jalen, Rookie, and possibly Bradley
….
My bet is Boykin,Carter (or any rookie) Jalen, Fletch,Nolan
I can’t see how Cary is worth $6 million next year. Good CBs don’t play down to their level of competition, and even if he does cover well during games – there’s too many times he avoids contact.
I could see resigning Fletcher or restructuring Williams. I don’t expect to see them both here next year. One or the other that doesn’t hit too much against the cap.
I can’t deal with the blown coverage on deep balls and missed tackles. We’re still only 2 weeks past Allen laying on the ground hiding from Eddie Lacy.
He played a great football game on Thursday, but we need an upgrade there.
Yeah it’s hard to find though. He is at least good depth.
After enjoying a GT win, decided to watch some Winston and Mariota. Even with Winston’s 4 INT game, so far I’d really prefer Winston. The contrast to what these guys are trying to do is really drastic. Winston is just operating on a higher degree of sophistication, and I can see how his play can translate to the pros. Mariota, for all of the numbers he generates, is in a wack offense. Doesn’t mean he can’t be good, but it does mean that you don’t know what you have until you see him in the NFL, in terms of reading defenses and making window throws. Also in terms of moxie, a little bit. Definitely physically able to play in the big show.
Cannot wait until Draft Breakdown has the Arizona game clipped up.
Looked at the Cal game that was available. Pretty much the same as with the Oregon State game. Good throws, generally pretty accurate, but at a core level, he’s simply not asked to make difficult decisions on passing plays. I would have loved to see Oregon play against Florida. That defense was really quite impressive against Winston, and I wonder if it is strong enough to defeat excellent playcalling as what Oregon does.
THWG!
A+++ for playing to character. Your “shah8” was strong in this take.
Sanchez got deep into the playoffs on a good team. We know he can be very adequate when surrounded by talent.
well it depends. most of that talent for those jets teams was on D. most of our talent/strength is on offense. sanchize has to carry a lot more of the load in his current situation. so far im encouraged but taking it with a grain of salt because of the small sample size.
I’m an Oregon fan so there may be bias but damn is Mariota good
Video game numbers. Game after game. Filthy.
I want him bad but I have to stop wanting him soon or I’ll just hurt buself like last year with Evans
I like how people think saying Philthy instead of Philly is an awesome, clever burn
Filth.
A bunch of us have been talking about the special teams needing a nickname..
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Our young defense doesn’t deserve a nickname yet, but if these pups stay together they will… On Twitter, the defenders seem to call themselves the “NO PHLY ZONE”
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Awesome that Fletcher Cox(23yrs old) is younger than rookie Zack Martin(24) who he dominated.
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Going back and watching the game, all the talk has been about how great it is to see Mathis and Kelce back to their elite selves, but quietly Lane Johnson may have just had his best game as a pro. He was really really good against Dallas. Curious to see how Tommy interprets his performance in the DGR.
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bennie Logan was awesome, outplaying his higher ranked sophmore yeàr counterpart, center Travis Frederick who everyone credits jerry for drafting in the first round. Yeah, Fredrick is a nice round center, but we found a NT in round 3 of the same draft who will spend the next decade kicking fredricks ass!!!!
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Brandon Graham, Vinny Curry and Papa Bear Bair were all pretty damn beastly this week….quiet game from beau allen tho.
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cedrick Thornton might have won every single play lol. Such a quiet stud!
Damage, Inc. is the nickname I have wanted for the Eagles D for a long time. Hopefully they can consistently play aggressively well to deserve it. The lyrics to the song fit well… to an attacking defense…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QorV8fNffLk
glad that you can appreciate the classics.
How about the Hounds of Philadelphia for the whole D? The tune, “The Sound of Philadelphia” plays on my hard drive every day, so it seems close enough.
Maybe if we still had Disco Stew on D.
and from the screen grab of that youtube clip, individuals in Damage, Inc. can be named “damage jackals” or jackals for short.
STs name suggestions: Fightin Fipps, Special Greens, SproleTide (this one is lame as hell i know [also fuck bama]), Marvelous Maragoses, Braman Bombers, Special Dream Teams (totally joking on this one [also fuck vince young]), Fipp Fipp Fippadelphias (for you always sunny fans)…
“cedrick Thornton might have won every single play lol. Such a quiet stud!”
credit Connor Barwin, who said that in a post game interview. You can continue to spam the comments section all you want, but I’m not going to let you take credit for other people’s analysis.
Sanchez is looking like the best option to be the Eagles starter into next year, because:
1. He runs the hurry up more quickly than Foles or Barkley, and that’s crucial to the effectiveness of Kelly’s strategy;
2. The Eagles lead the league in play action passes, and Sanchez is excellent at fakes and footwork, especially on the play action to a east west sweep where the quarterback runs the other way, where Foles famously had difficulty with the footwork. Foles is better suited to be a pocket passer than run the read potion and the hurryup;
3. There’s nothing promising on the free agency front, and the Eagles will have a low pick. Sanchez feels that Kelly’s system makes him a better player and wants to re-sign here. Foles can be traded in the offseason for a good pick, if the team were to have a GM that could get a draft pick for a Pro Bowl WR.
Allen is good at catching errant throws when not fighting for the ball with a receiver and picking up fumbles. The criticisms of him relate to his tackling and pass coverage, and I am skeptical he will ever improve much in those areas.
Egads.
umm i like sanchize, like qb competition next year. And you’re right we ran the offense so fast that the game was really over after the 1st quarter. If you’re down 14 against us, you just have to pass all day and that’s when we can get you.
Offense was faster than we’ve seen in the first 2 years and sanchize has only been running if for 4 games.
the qb competition is key, both foles/sanchize still have to earn it. too many questions with both but i also like the upside of both.
Everybody that wants a competition next year is glossing over the fact that Sanchez is an FA after this year.
He’s going to make more than $2 MM a year.
So if you bring him back on say a 3 year / $24 MM contract , do you want to pay that much for a back-up if he loses his job to Nick?
if the team were to have a GM that could get a draft pick for a Pro Bowl WR.
Can`t let go,huh? hahahaha
If the Eagles had been more slick about wanting to part ways with Jackson, they might have reaped some type of return.
I’ve been trying to sell my Porsche, worth $30,000, on Craig’s List. I’m offering as low as $10,000 for this pristine car. I can’t get anything for it, and I’m pissed and confused! Why can’t I get anyone to trade with me?
Added irrelevant information: I owe $35,000 on the car and I need the buyer to assume the loan.
19a. The Inflated Comparison Argument
Eh, I might have the numbers out of sync, but you’d have a stronger argument you would acknowledge that the All-Pro WR’s contract was a factor.
Blame Howie if you want, but blame him for the contract in the first place. That’s why DeSean was untradeable.
Just stupidity…l brandon Flowers is a pro bowl cornerback, Cheifs cut him, couldn’t get a draft pick for him either…why? You don’t trade form players in the NFL you trade for contracts. And Desan was untradeable…enough already. Get a clue, or get over it…it’s friggin DECEMBER and we are 9-3.. Fuck that loser. Bad enough that jackass Kempski won’t let it go
don’t recall Flowers getting $8M/year guaranteed for two seasons five days after he was released
Probowl corner, cut in his prime, why couldn’t he fetch a draft pick?
so it’s Jack Kempski I thought it was Jeff
Foles is slated to make about 12 cents next year, so we (in theory) could bring Sanchez back on a one year deal for anywhere up to and including the $10 to $12 million range without committing long term and/or busing up the cap.
I’m actually more of the belief that we’ll see Sanchez next year here on a cheaper deal for a greater chance of long term success than Maclin who I’d imagine is going to collect an offer in the 5 year / $60 mil range from some WR needy team.
I would only advocate trading Foles if they got a good pick for him. There are a lot of teams looking for a QB. He has trading value this offseason. If they can’t get a good offer than he’s good to have on the roster.
I can’t imagine you’d get a strong offer for Foles after how his season went.
Teams that need QBs: Tampa Bay, Jets, Washington, St Louis, Texans. Two likely 1st round grades in the draft, if they declare, one with baggage; no seniors graded 1st or 2nd rounds. Foles proven, league whispered ‘wish I’d picked him’ in late ’13, stats and performance hasn’t been as bad as other starters in ’14.
It’s funny. Nov. 17th fans were lining up to jump off bridges. Eagles were man handled the day before. The pitch forks and torches were lit. T-Law comes to the rescue with article after article saying to just breath and trust in Chip. Fast forward to Black Friday and all the pitch forks and torches were thrown into the rivers. People are now holding hands and singing by campfire. Beating a terrible Tenn team and an overrated Cowgirl team does wonders for the fans.
Never get to high(well, unless you’re at the right concert) and never get too low.
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Now people want Sanchez as the future QB. Resign “Nate the Great” for 100 million as he has great hands. Sign Casey to a 15 yr contract before GB realizes we have the better brother. Easy folks. The Eagles are going to win more and lose more(hopefully – a minimum of 1 more regular season). If they happen to lose, just remember how giddy you are today.
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I’m hoping all the “pro’s” pick Seattle to win this one too.
Good balance, but two things:
1. I bet we could get Nate for 85M, and
2. Hopefully- you meant a maximum of one more, and during the regular season.
When did Ruben Amaro start proposing contracts for guys on the Eagles?
Thought it was Billy King.
Well played! The original bad GM summit on ESPN was a classic.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060224
If this post is about redemption from guys “who have dealt with a a lot of adversity” in the NFL, then Billy Davis should also be considered here. He’s not a player, but still…
Eh, he is still the genius who said, “Let’s make Aaron Rodgers beat us with his arm!”
One game.
One very crucial game. If you can’t figure out something as basic as “stop Aaron Rodgers” there’s a problem.
10 reasons the Redskins are going to be a dumpster fire this season:
1. dan snyder
2. dan snyder
3. dan snyder
4. dan snyder
5. dan snyder
6. dan snyder
7. dan snyder
8. dan snyder
9. dan snyder
10.dan sndyer
read the article, here’s my breakdown.
1. element of surprise: do you mean you’d be surprised if jay gruden’s revolutionary offense will take the east by storm or would you just be surprised if rg3 stays healthy the whole season. probably you meant you’d be surprised if your first year coach benched your healthy “future of the franchise” qb. yeah, that’s probably what you meant.
2. strength of schedule: from the article; “(insert terrible fight song chant here).” fly eagles fly is way fucking better than your piece of shit hail to the redskins. we also didn’t have to change our lyrics to exclude a verse that included ” swamp ’em scalp ’em”
3. nick foles is a god: hey, he may not be a god but as we found out this season, rg3 definitely isn’t a god.
that kolb tattoo is pretty bad, but can it be any worse than this beauty of a photo shop
http://www.clevelandfrowns.com/2012/03/so-much-for-that-franchise-quarterback-thing/
and hey people get bad tattoos/questionable shirts from time to time;
http://www.sportressofblogitude.com/2012/05/09/we-have-perhaps-our-first-redskinsrg3-tattoo-folks-photo/
4.lets cut our star WR and let him go to our rival: culture is a huge axiom in kelly’s team philosophy and i think desean said it best; “you can’t do epic shit with basic people.”
5. nate allen: a quote from this section; “Nate Allen has a special place in the heart of Redskins fans since that is who the Birds drafted with the botched McNabb trade.” yeah, i wonder who really botched that trade. a quarter back who is done in the nfl for a 2nd rounder who at the very least has been replacement level/serviceable. i wonder who got more production out of that trade. how many games did mcnabb play for you guys again?
6. OLine: another quote; “The Eagles made it through the entire 2013 season with their OLine intact. That simply won’t happen again.” very true and you were absolutely right but you know what, rg3 staying intact through an entire season will NEVER happen.
7. Special Team: this sections centers around making fun of parkey because he looks 7 years old. this may be true but i think we got the last laugh on this one.
8. Delusional Backups: besides the “geriatric” sproles comment which in and of itself is hilarious they take a pot shot at jordan matthews. matthews isn’t a backup, he is beast in the slot and a big piece of this offense’s present/future. also delusional backups are waayyy better than delusional starters (see: griffin, robert; jackson, desean).
9. Oregon Ducks: another passage; “It worked for Spurrier…Saban…good luck with that Chip.” I’ll say this only once; DON’T EVER, EVER, FUCKING COMPARE NFL SPURRIER AND NFL SABAN TO KELLY.
10. Loserville: making fun of philly because we haven’t won a super bowl. ha ha, very fucking original. the eagles on the whole haven’t had a winning past, but we do have a winning future. hope you guys enjoyed ’93 because that’s the last super bowl you’re going to win. while dan snyder is in charge (and i don’t think he’s going anywhere anytime soon) you guys are the new loserville.
Bonus: this little blip at the end of the article makes fun of us trading up for brandon graham, in the process giving up two 3rd round picks. all i have to say is those in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones; three 1st round picks, one 2nd round pick to move up and draft rg3! and the last sentence of this post makes fun of B graham for not starting anymore. it is also pretty prophetic regarding the skins current qb situation; “At least you’re not starting him any more. Progress!”
0) RG3andOut
Tommy missed the part where idiot Sean McDermott spend Graham’s rookie year jerking him around by not letting him get consistent snaps playing DE correctly by either; a) dropping him into coverage (which Trent Cole spent considerable time complaining about) and b) playing snaps at DT (which slowed down his development of a full compliment of moves / skills at DE)
Graham also lost the back end of 2010 and major portions of 2011 trying to recover from junking his knee that was weakened severely from a horrible cheap shot chop block to the back of his knee from Tyson Clabo in the Atlanta game in 2010. Clabo, in spite of the Eagles sending film to the NFL, wasn’t even fined on the play. He should have been executed for it.
In any case, it’s nice to see Graham playing well, I’ve always been a fan.
(bites tongue on Casey Matthews and Nate Allen)
Every game that passes, i go back and watch the trenches, and every week Im amazed at the player Graham has grown into…. No doubt he will BE here next year, Wish I could bet on it
My fav play from the cowboy game might be seeing Sanchez execute a perfect slide..waited years to see,a,philly QB execute a simple slide.. Now that we know we finally know how to slide, hoping to see Sanchez continue to run with the ball, it will really help free up the backs…
What about Riley Cooper? I never knew he could make a clutch reception until Thursdays game and he had a few.
Lol @ Didinger, after he ripped my defense, week in and week out, now he is on CSN talking about how all of the sudden he thinks this can be a Super Bowl defense LOL… Idiot… If he had a clue, he would have known last year that these kids a would grow into a quality unit, now, that they have grown into it, everyone all of the sudden believes in them? After inaccurately judging them for two years…. If I knew last year that we had 70% of the personel for an eventual top defense, already in place, I expect paid “experts” to have figured this all out before they saw Cox rack up a few sacks in late november.. Smh
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Didi can analyze the film, and tell you what happened, but predicting isnt his thing, and he is even worse when it comes to the draft….Tho he did have Cadinals WR john Brown as a special player pre draft
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Like I promised, we will go into next season with a consensus top defense, after the December ass whooping my front 7 is about to dish out
I think everyone is too elated over the Dallas loss. If I see consistency from our secondary, we can be a superbowl defense. They are still too inconsistent.
Though, I’d like to see a rematch with GB. Go back to the team that embarrassed you and make amends.
Can we get that rematch at home rather than on the road?
I’d prefer that. If NE does us a solid, we just need to take care of business the rest of the season.
Big “IF!”
I don’t see the Pack losing again this year.
I didn’t either, then they squeaked one out against the Vikings.
Just remember Tom Brady is on the other side. He can shootout with the best of them, though I expect NE to utilize the running game a bit more this week.
That was a road game. Brady is the man, but the game is in Green Bay. The Pats D does a great job forcing teams to go away from what they like to do. Rodgers can still no-huddle the Pats. See what personnel group they have on the field, and call the correct plays at the line. If the Pats are in base; throw all day. If the Pats put extra D backs on the field; kill them with Lacy.
I just see the game being in Green Bay preventing the Pats from doing the types of things that make them successful at home.
That’s what makes this game difficult. I think the Pats are the best road team over the last couple years.
I’m not sold on GB’s defense, so I’m expecting a high scoring game. something like 41-38. Plus having Revis on Nelson helps NE quite a bit.
I’d take the Pats on a neutral field and in New England. The game being in Green Bay really is my sole determinant in picking the Pack.
I picked them too – don’t get me wrong. But if there’s a team in the NFL right now that can do it, it’ll be the Pats.
Yeah GB defense is average at best..expecting Gronk to be the most dominant offensive player of the game, and I think the Patriots will run the ball against GB defense, better than the Packers will run aganst the patriot defense…
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Going to be one of those 150-175 yard rushing day for the Pats Rba combined
Watch GB lose TODAY, and then watch GB lose @ Buffalo, bills defense at home will put a beating on Rogers (watch you re collarbone pal lol)
The Bills defense is legit and Rodgers isn’t the same on the road. At Lambeau, he has 29 TDs and 0 INTs in his last 11 games. If they lose today or against the Bills, we have a legit shot at getting #1.
I think AZ loses at least 2 more. They have KC, Seattle, and @SF in their last 5 games. That’s a tough schedule.
Yeah arizona def can’t be feeling too confident these days. WE should learn a lot about them today. Take the QB position out of the equation, they should SMASH the Falcons. Cardinals are a much tougher team… At4-6 Falcons are in first place of their division(tie) and they have a ton to play for today, so I’m Curipus to see if Carfinals can show how much better they are than atlanta today, or it the QB issues will pull the cardinals down to the Falcons level and end up seeing a close game…. Hoping Cardinals can hold on to the division, but im not so sure
I would love to get to play GB again, but at the Linc. Rather, avoid Lambeau in January.
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I’m no position to speculate on it…. But Brain Dawkins from his experience believed that the Lambeau turf really hurt us
Watching the game, I thought a lot of it was the turf too. It’s hard for anyone on the team to have success when they’re slipping all over the place. Receivers can’t get separation, defense can’t cover, lines can’t get any leverage. Maybe I’m the only one, but I’m not afraid of going back there. I doubt Chip would let turf stop his team from succeeding twice.
Rodgers is incredible, but he’s not invincible, and we have possibly the best TEAM in the league. The Packers are not as good as they looked against us.
I really only say one team slipping. Somebody on the equipment staff needed to be fired over that.
Dawkins argument was(don’t shoot or praise the messenger):….. When games are slippery from rain or snow it really kills your speed Attack. Everyone knows when it’s slippery you ditch the speed and switch to the Power Attack. problem is the eagkes are built for speed, NOT power so we were at a distinct advantage…. When slippery field is slowing down your speed rush against an hall of fame QB who was on fire, you are going to have a long day. It’s not complicated concept, if you want to beat GB, you have to hit Rogers ALOT!
That must be why we did so bad against Detroit in the snow game last year 😉
Nate graded out well from the Cowboys game, either he was really solid in coverage, or Romo just sucked because they really didntn throw at Nate at all in Dallas. it’s important to acknowledge his improvement, but we need to be realistic about it… Nice to see Nate make some plays and get some turnovers, but really he has just been johnny on the spot… It’s not like Brandon Graham who is out there creating turnovers, hitting throwing arms or punching balls out of RBs grasp every week…. To be johnny on the spot, you have to prepare well and put yourself in the right situation, but don’t want to get too carried away with the improvements Nate is showing..
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Curious to really know what Malcolm thinks. Would he want Nate back next to him next year, or does he think it won’t be hard to get a little upgrade at the position?
I’d think he’d be more concerned about replacing the CBs than the S. Allen I think for the last few weeks has really been what you said – on the spot. Sometimes being a veteran and knowing where to be is most of what it is.
Yup, often being johnny on the spot, and being “lucky” comes with preperation, being where you are supposed to be. continuity matters more than fans and media think..
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Personally, I expect Howie and chip to try to bring back, Nate, Brad, renegotiate cary 2yr deal, cut him after next year. The harder it is for rookies to earn playing time, the stronger team we will be. Our cap, is too healthy. And our coaches are too smart to ditch our corners, and pencil in a rookie replacement. That won’t HAPPEN. We will draft talented Corners, but keep our outside CB in place, and the rookies we draft won’t take over until they are ready, and they prove THAT they can no longer be kept on the bench
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1) they will want to renegotiate a two year deal with Cary, but cut him after next year (by then the rookie we draft this year will be ready to take over). Which means, that when cary comes off the books, his money will go to keeping Boykin, we can afford to pay our slot CB because our outside CB will be locked into cheap rookie deals til like 2018……so next year will be Cary’s last year in philly
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2) Brad is a free agent, but we will try to bring him back at the right price of course. We ain’t overpaying for him, but he is a high character guy who won’t make a stink out of going to the bench when the rookie is ready so we will try to keep him for another two years. Plays ST, can backüp outside Cb and slot CB
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Basically I agree that we are upgrading our outside CB with young talent, I just disagree with the process we go about replacing them. We won’t rip off the bandainds, and lose cary and Brad this offseason, draft outside Cbs and pencil them in as day 1 starters when we are going into a season as contenders. CB is NOT a position you want a rookie in. Cary and Brad(or Nolan) will be the starting outside CB next September, earliest the rookie will replace them is november, most likely the following September. No matter what deal we reach with Cary, next year will be his last, because we will need to give his money to Boykin. Howie won’t care how much we pay a slot CB, he cares how much we are spending on the position group as a whole. If our outside corners are on rookie deals for the next 4 years, you can afford to pay to keep a quality slot CB like boykin for 4 more years…
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cary will be the starting CB in September, good chance BRADLEY will be across from him, but if not, Nolan will replace him, until the rookies are ready to take over (probably won’t come til sophmore year)…. Safety position is much more simple, Jenkims is a stud, we just need 1 more starting safety, we have solid backup and ST safeties
Perhaps Watkins might try becoming useful?
I heard he was going to get a look at safety….worst case scenario, he eventually takes over the DIME CB spot and move Nolan…
I’d like to start with any type of “active” scenario for him. Our DB situation is still substandard. I don’t mind Taylor Hart not playing yet because we’re doing well at DE, but we need CB upgrades badly.
The game Jalen played, it was a very impressive ST performance. Can’t remember which game it was but he had some bigtime plays as a gunner..
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i hate rookie CB almost more than I hate rookie NTs.
Good point, but I hate 75% of our “starting” DB play more.
If Cary restructures, I don’t mind seeing him here next year. It’s funny, to me if you could combine Williams and Fletcher, you’d have a decent CB. Fletcher can’t cover and Williams avoids physical play when going for the tackle.
I’ve learned with this team to just wait and see. Last year after the loss to the Saints, we looked to this year with a 1st place schedule and thought if we went 10-6 with a playoff win that was progress and we wouldn’t be upset.
Then we jettisoned DJax, didn’t go after a big name S or CB, and picked up Sanchez. Everyone thought the draft was a bust sans Matthews.
Now, we have aspirations of a deep playoff run with players most people didn’t like.
I’m enjoying this season and the process, because in Chip I trust. If they go into the next season with both CBs, then I hope we got a stud S somehow. They are more right than wrong and it really bothers the media and talking heads because it’s not done conventionally.
I really think though that we’ll see a new starter at the S and/or CB position next year.
For the record I had us 11-5 this year with a win in the wild card round at home and a road loss in the divisional round.
My losses were Indy, Arizona, Green Bay, Seattle, and a random division game.
I’m still inflamed over that loss to Kaepertrash and Harbaugh in San Fran, but enjoyed seeing the Indy upset. I’d still rather lose to Luck than Kaepernitwit however.
I’m still sticking with our playoff loss being our road playoff game. I just don’t know if it’ll be in the divisional round as the #3 seed or in the NFC Title game as the #2 seed.
That was my pick exactly, I’d thought they’d lose to Indy, GB, SF, AZ, and Seattle. This is working out really well.
I had 12-4, loss in the conference championship game.
Losses I had were trap games. I had us going 5-0 and then losing the trap game to the Rams,.. But when we lose to the Niners, the Rams no longer is a trap game..
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But going into the season I had us losing all trap games, and the GB game.
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1) Rams
2) Texans
3) Titans
4) GB game.
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I had FOles beating all the young QBs this year, Luck, Wilson, kAp, cam, Bob Griffin the 3rd,… And I had us sweeping the division.
If we won all of those tough games, but lost all 3 of your trap games, people would be burning down the Linc.
Lol right…. But the way the season unfolded, my predictions became all screwed up, because they were no longer trap games..
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Lol sad that Fans should appreciate how impressive it was to overcome all the crap we had to overcome early in the season….instead fans were crapping on every win because it didn’t have enough BCS “style points” lol
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Bad teams, heck average teams, dont overcome what we overcame. Take shady for example, last year was the sexier year, what he has overcome this year, takes a special back to do what he did this year behind the OL mess amd with the way every defense played him…
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Our fans and media crapped on this team because the wins werent sexy enough, but we really had no business winning those games considering all the crap that was thrown our way… Bad teams, average teams could never perservere thru all that the way we did…. we were always a top team, we just were dealt a crazy bad hand, so instead of playing as a top team, we went into survival mode early in the season… Now that we are getting healthy, no surprise we starting to look scary again… You Should fear a team that overcame everything that was thrown out way and is now getting healthy and picking up steam.
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Not to mention, all the early season ugly dogfight wins that fans amd media took for granted, were awesome for team growth, and young player maturity. Every young player from struggling FOles to all pro year Cox will have grown into better players for having to go thru this years adversity….. Sad that fans and media were too dumb to appreciate it…
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Worst part is I don’t know when our fanbase became this way, that they now have these expectations of dominance 36-10 wins….. You would think our fans had been used to rooting for BRADY and Randy moss for the past 10 years…….when did our fans start to think that we shouldn’t face any adversity in games and that we should be in controls every minute of every game and that good wins are 36-10 gams?
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This early season adversity (minus FOles getting hurt) is probably the best thing that could have happened to a growing team. Of course I can say that now, knowing we overcame it….would have sucked if it broke us…..
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cary will never get to keep his current contract, nor will he want to, why would he want to be a lame duck when he can get a new deal, I assume it will be a renegotiated two year deal, but next year will be his last year.
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I can promise you chip is too smart to go into the 2015 season as legit SB contenders, with rookie CB penciled in to start on the outside. The harder we make it for rookies to earn playing time, the better our team will be.
The ONLY reason we have to bring our corners back is because starting rookie CB is a terrible idea
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Brafley situation is different, his contract expires. He can be replaced by Nolan, but Brad is a high charchter Guy who will help groom corners to take his spot and be a class act and go to the bench when the young player is ready to take over, as a backup Brad provides ST play, outside CB insurance and inside slot CB insurance, so if we can work out a cheap fair 2-3 year deal, Bradley will also be back, but he won’t have much leverage because Nolan can play outside until the rookie is ready and Jalen can take Nolans dime spot over….
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We both agree that we need two new young talented outside CB. I just think we are too smart, too healthy cap wise to rip the bandaid off and pencil in a rookie to start outside…I expect the transition to be more gradual…. Only teams that rip “the band aid off” and cut the veteran and start the rookie are the ones that cant afford to pay the veteran for the gradual transition i described…
Yup, I can’t hate that reasoning. If they could somehow find an above average corner, we can cut the field in half.
Here are your choices:
http://www.spotrac.com/free-agents/nfl/cornerback/
We are going to have to draft a long, 200lb corner who can grow into a much better corner than both cary and Brad. We need ATleast 1 quality corner. I wouldn’t mind having cary as a number 2 if we have a quality number 1, but I’m assuming we need to pay two outside CB on rookie deals for the next 4 years to be able to pay boykin t stay in the slot…
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I’m thinking chip and Billy will like Stanford Cormer Alex Carter, Jaylen Collins of LSU 6’2 200lbs, plays a lot of man to man at LSU, I’m wondering if he is going to be malcolm Jenkins eventual tag team partner…this LSU corner is exactly the type of player billy had always liked at safety.
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Who’s the Safety flying up the charts, can’t think of his name, but the kid has like 13 interceptions this year which is crazy…
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Love Safety Jaylen Ramsey, my favorite safety in college but he is young
If you want to go FA route to upgrade from Nate; here are you choices:
http://www.spotrac.com/free-agents/nfl/safety/
Almost all of the quality safeties got locked into lngterm deals the past 3 years.
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CB free agent market is going to suck this year
They need to get something done. I’m not sure how they do it, but upgrades are needed.
Seems to me that we have all the veteran defensive backs we are going to see already in place and that the secondary is a position we need to add young talent at.
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Only safety who may be available that id be ok with is McCourty, but he is unlikely. Doubt the Pats want to lose him and you will have to grossly overpay for him on the open market since all the other safeties available suck this year. He is a medium sized fish in a small puddle, we aren’t going to outbid a bunch of teams for McCourty…
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And CB, by the 2016 we will need outside CBs starting on rookie contracts to be order to pay boykin to stay in the slot.
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So my guess is we try to keep as many of our veteran defensive backs as possible for next year, while also drafting defensive backs, to learn from the veterans next years and to start replacing them in the strting lineup in 2016
I only have one problem with your theory, GEAGLE. If the Eagles retain both Cary and Brad this offseason, then draft say two corners, they will have a glut at the position. Cary, Brad, Boykin, Carrol and . . . . how many corners can the Eagles carry? Five is high for most teams unless one of them can double as a safety and I don’t think any one of the guys above is someone you want doing that. Ideally, I think you’re right. I just think it will be very interesting to see how they juggle the roster.
The best part about this young defense is the character and closeness of our defense. Just watch any post game video, any time a reporter praises a defender and talks about what a great game he had, the defenders instead of taking the praise, they talk about how great all their brothers played..
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1) all the reporters were praising Cox asking him about what a great game he had, and fletch wanted to talk about how Connar and trent setting the edges bennie beasting in the middle “kind of made it easy on him”
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2) Reporters tried to praise Barwin after the game, and Connar als wanted to talk about his team mates ” I don’t think Ced lost a battle all game, Cox plays at a probowl level every day
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3) thru all BGs hard times, he ismt interested in basking in individual praise, he prefered talking about what a great team win it was, and how this defense plays together
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Heck look at all the post game interviews from the locker room from this season, everytime Barwin, BG, COLE or Curry would be praised for their sacks, they all acknowledge that they are getting sacks because of the great work Cox has done all year…
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This is a real close knit TEAM. Chip weeded out the players obsessed with individual glory. All year shady did a great job putting team wins over his stats even if the media wouldnt let it go. Maclin reached a 1000 yards and he isn’t interested in celebrating it. Cool to see Huff and Jordan Mathews on Twitter congratulate here my for reaching 1k and then both rookies thanked Maclin for the example he sets for them and all his help this year… Maclin responds with how we are all in this together….Sproles has been the MVP, yet certain games he doesn’t get many touches, yet he never complains. polk produces whenever he gets snaps, when he doesn’t get to play, he never complains..
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The Cultire chip built, the team unity…. This is how you win lombardis
Ranking the Eagles linebackers, I’m sure most of us would rank Graham #4. I don’t know how far behind Trent Cole but certainly well ahead of Casey Matthews at #5. So, why not play our top 4 linebackers? Couldn’t Barwin play ILB, maybe for half the snaps? Casey’s brother is doing it for Green Bay and Barwin every so often lines up in the middle.
With our top four LBs on the field at once, all quite capable of going after the qb, the offense would be hard pressed to figure out who is coming.
As far as Sanchez, I am optimistic. He came out of college too early (as per Carroll, his college coach) and went to the wrong place (not his fault). What Kelly (the anti-Buddy Ryan) does is adjust to his players’ abilities. (The best way to visualize it is to look at a duck [no reference to Oregon implied] A duck can fly and swim very well but, if you insist on making him run, he will fail) That was a lesson I learned in industry, as a manager.
I am hoping Sanchez, as well as Johnson, Kelce and Mathis, are rounding into form. It is a lot to expect that either of them can come in after weeks off and play at their best. All of them have been playing noticeable better. The coming game against Seattle will be a real test. I am looking forward to it.
As far as Nate Allen, I am disappointed. I thought this would be his year. I hoped he would be this year’s revelation (2nd year in system plus accomplished partner in Jenkins) He has all the tools but hasn’t shown it.
It’s a mistake to get too caught up in starters, especially when it comes to the front 7, you really want to be able to rotate and play 10-14 different players each game….
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And there are times, we use different packages where you can see cole, Barwin, BG and Kendrick all in the game together
I agree. What I would be looking for is giving some of Casey’s snaps to Graham. Say 20 more snaps for Graham, 20 less for Matthews. To do that, Barwin could slide to ILB for those snaps. Right now they may go to the dime. That is one approach.
But with the CBs we have, pressure on the qb tends to work better than extra coverage.
Can’t,,.unfortunately we need Casey and Acho to QB the defense, get everyone lined up and make the checks…. We need one of them in the game on 1st and 2nd down unfortunately. Thankfully Casey is playing better each week
WTF I hate when the 1pm games are worthess.
CBS Chargers @ Ravens
Fox Saints @ Steelers
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This blows, I was hoping they would air Browns Vs. bills. Like watching those defenses, plus Josh gordon is back
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Also was curious about Cardinals Vs Falcons..
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Guess I’ll watch the Saints who still are in the playoff hunt, and laugh he at how they look without Sproles n jenkins
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First time in my life I will be rooting for BRADY like a diehard fan today lol need him to beat the Pack so we can control our own destiny.,
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Lol hope the skins win with Bob griffin on the bench and Desean only having 20yard game 😉
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Can’t really complain when this late in the season, we get to watch BRADY vs.mRogers at 4, and Peyton vs. Andy Reid tonight (praying for big Jamaal Charles game)
On a positive note, a Saints win would cause a lot of Stillers fans to kill themselves. Seeing as those folks are all also Penguins fans, I’d welcome a few less of them on my planet.
They ain’t going anywhere.. That secondary is a mess! I don’t know who is older Palomalo or Ike Taylor, they just paid youñg 25yr olds corner Cortez a big money deal early in the year, and since they paid him he has completely imploded to the point they have to bench him hahaha.. He embezzled the crap out of the steelers.. LOL AND THATS JUST THE SECONDARY.
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They could use some help in both the trenches..
WTF Shefty sayng that Jim Harbaugh could end up traded to the Raiders or the Jets….LOL!!!!!!
Ha ha ha ha ha. Harbaugh can ruin those team with bad QB decisions as well.
And keep an eye out San Fran doubling down on their bad bet with Kaepertrash by hiring Kyle Shanahan as their new coach in order to bring some of that old 2012 RGKnee magic as San Fran continues to plummet and the league continues to catch up on that scramble trash BS garbage.
Lol this is true. It’s a shame Kap hasn’t taken that next step as a passer.. A gimmick offense would only be a temporary solution if he can’t get his game together.. What a turnaround in the Bay Area..
I would NEVER trade FOles for KAp, or Cam, or RG3… No BRAINER if you ask me.
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#1 attribute I look for in a QB, ability to pass the ball out f the pocket. Why? Look around, those are the QBs who still play at a high level at the age of 36…. Look at where VICK is and where Brees is, or old man Peyton and all the neck surgeries compared to VICK..
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Nick is the truth, he is one of the special ones, just need to give him the time it requires. Even a stud like Matty ice needed like 4 or 5 years to really develop into being able to win in teplayoffs.folesy will do it much sooner than Maty Ice did…. Don’t be fooled by Nicks struggles, he is out future
kyle will stay employed for a while with the 2012 performance.
Consider how bad they was before him, I say he is a very good coach.
I agree at the start of his work, but his act has worn thin. He needs to act less like himself and just focus on coaching. He strikes me as one of those high pressure type bosses that have to jump from job to job because people want to kill the guy after too long.
Slightly better version of Ray Rhodes 😛
Well, with a name like “Independent investigation LOL” no one was going to take it serious. It was doomed from the start.
Goodell did exactly what he needed to do: wait out the public’s short attention span and the media’s desire to cater to it. It is the same ploy used by big business and politicians across the country and across the isle.
I know, Its SOOO crazy that something so serious can be “waited out”.. Proof that the media doesn’t give a,crap, all they care about is the initials shitstorm, a couple days worth of stories created from the same topic, and then it goes away, and when the media no longer covers it, the “outraged public” no longer cares… It’s really pathetic that it’s this easy. Just go underground, don’t show your face for 6 months and everything will blow over. That’s pretty pathetic of us as a society when you ghink about it. Goodell laughing at us mindless sheep, who he can just fool, and “wait out” do whatever he wants….
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Lol you have the balls to tell the public that you will hire someone to investigate yourself ….. There is no stopping your bullshit!
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It’s absurd that the players are going to let him get away with this. Good for Richard Sherman for making fun of all the NFLs bulshit at the press conference but he should have also taken shots at Goodell
they got sportscaster in line too after they ruined APs season and Ray Rice’s season.
Who will have a better day for the Patriots? Vereen or Blount? Racking my brains, know which to start, and this is a must win game for me
Neither. Gronk, Gronk, and Gronk.
Unfortunately I can’t line up Gronk gronk gronk at RB… I need a compliment to Jamaal Charles.
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I feel like Jonas Gray can take some of Blounts carries, but Vereen is going to catch passes no matter what, feel like Vereen is safer, but Blount could get all the redzone carries….UGH! UGH! Don’t know which to start
Blount fits Belichick’s power run game. While Blount has character issues, he always returns the favor when given a chance. Expect “beast mode” times 10.
Off-topic: Look for a complicated coverage scheme by the Patriots D. I saw last night that they used a split zone/man coverage scheme against Manning that confused the heck out of him. Maybe Billy D can learn a few things here.
I worry that Jonas will take some carries from Blount, while Verreen still gets his throws… So hard to defide, because last week Gray didn’t get snaps because he was being disciples no idea what the split will be between Boount and Gray who scored 4 TDs two games ago
Roger Goodell is definitely a Draconian Reptilian…… He has to be
Gonna be hard for them pulling Sanchez if he keeps winning. I do agree it would be ideal to get Foles back in there with two games left, but would it make the offense any better? With Foles back in the lineup, not only will the tempo slow down, but the element of keeping the opposing defense on its heels with the read option goes out the window. lets see what happens.. I do think the flow of the offense will ultimately determine who plays QB in the postseason.
Foles will have a “setback” if Sanchez continues to play well and will be “ready to go” once Sanchez has back to back bad weeks.
Agreed…unless foles is really ready to go with two games left, that IMO would trump anything samchez is doing. If Nick is really ready to roll for the skins and giant game, I assume he takes over. If nick isn’t comety healthy and mark is playing well, they will stick to your narrative. But I’d bet that if chip has a chance to get nick back in with time to shake the rust off, Chip will make the change even if sanchez continues to play well. My assumption is chip understands circumstances of nicks bad play and is still extremely high on him, but we’ll see
I still have a feeling that we’ll see Sanchez straight through the playoffs.
I think taking him out (unless we choke vs. Dallas at home) is a risk to momentum going into the Washington game and that going back to Foles in the playoffs (if Foles hasn’t played in the reg season) is a risk due to rust.
Barring Sanchez playing out of his mind, I still want Foles back as soon as he’s healthy enough to play. I’ve seen too much of Sanchez, and even here in Philly, I see too many of the same bad habits. Foles is still young enough to change and I love his dedication to the game. One thing that concerns me about Foles is his tendency to absorb unnecessary punishment. Honestly not sure if that’s correctable (seen too many QB’s who just can’t change that).
I don’t know if the vets on the team would be accepting of benching Sanchez other than due to poor play in back to back games. I don’t want to generate “camps” in the locker room.
I think it’s still Nick’s team as far as the locker room is concerned. Maybe Sanchize proves me wrong. Hell, for the Eagle’s sake I hope he does.
And what if Foles looks like he did before the injury? Throwing picks, making stupid mistakes, looking spooked on every snap. Then Kelly looks like an idiot for changing something that was working.
I think the only way Foles comes back is if Sanchez starts playing like garbage.
And they’ll lie about the injury status of Foles up until that point.
Agree
The thing that worries me is that he will more then likely be rusty. This is the wrong time of the season to be rusty. By the time he will be ready it will be playoff time or a game before playoffs. I dont know if you can risk a player esspecially at the QB position being rusty being rusty when his backup is playing just as good as him if not better.
unclear what foles will look like. in giants game he still threw 2 picks line looked great. hopefully we blow out skins / cowboys / giants and foles can play 4th quarter,
Agree with you anon. The performance of the Eagles lately is eerily familiar to me. It reminds me of the Duck’s BCS Championship year. It’s just a feeling I have right now, can’t put my finger on it, other than the smiles on the players faces after recent games.
we could be clicking at the right time. especially if gb and arizona lose today.
As of today I agree Foles is the future and expect Sanchez will be gone after this season. But…Sanchez should be getting better every week. Notice that Kelly isn’t taking him out even after the game is well on hand. I think he wants Sanchez to get as many reps as possible. By the time Foles will be ready–whenever that is–Sanchez should be at his peak and Foles will be rusty. I am not sure one or even two games before the playoffs will be enough to get Foles ready. Foles isn’t Rodgers. Even McNabb, the year he came back from injury to start in the playoffs, didn’t do so well.
If Sanchez plays the rest of the season and wins the SB, all bets are off.
Wouldn’t it be fun to read all the rants on who should be the future qb after a SB win!
I expect Sanchez will be back to backing up FOles next year. Not sure past next year tho
Why would Sanchez back up Foles? Not like Foles has outplayed him this year.
If both are back, there will be a competition
SUNDAY READING ASSIGNMENT – Sanchez now understands how to execute Chip’s package plays and read option. Pop quiz next Sunday.
http://www.thechipwagon.com/eagles/2014/11/extra-extra-read-all-about-it-sanchez-and-the-read-option.html
the offense looked crazy the first couple of series. sanchez did just enough with his feet to keep drives going and opening holes for mccoy.
Sanchez played on the OL?
Just for reference to actual facts sake, by the time Sanchez had his masterful, electrifying 8 yard scramble against the vaunted, star-studded Dallas DL in the 3rd quarter – Shady already had 105 rushing yards, and Sanchez had 3 yards on 2 runs. And of course, on Sanchez’s scramble, the Dallas DL was totally afraid of Sanchez’s run game such that none of them even looked at him until he was well outside and over the LOS. So for approximately 2/3 of Shady’s yards, there is 0 evidence that Sanchez had anything to with it. Even after that, if you watched the game carefully, you’d notice that Dallas still didn’t pay attention to Sanchez on the RO – they were justifiably less scared of Sanchez’s running than the pounding Shady was putting on them.
The OL was dominant, not only in the run game, but in pass pro. Sanchez’s run was a product of that, not a cause.
i’m talking about mccoy’s 30yd td run that came right after sanchez’s keeper. hard to say those two aren’t correlated. line definitely did it’s job as well but you’d be crazy to think that RO doesn’t help running game.
Nah. I think it’s crazy to think that a guy who already had broken some big runs, and had *105 yards in the early 3rd quarter* needed anything from the QB to break another big run. They are correlated, yes. Did Sanchez’s run *cause* anything Shady did? Nope. They’re correlated because the offensive line’s utter dominance was a big factor in causing both, nothing more.
If Sanchez had broken a 20 yarder off at some point during the season, I could at least stomach it is a distantly possible argument. Absent that, my eyes and pure logic told me that the Cowboys never once feared Sanchez’s keeper – they were too scared of Shady or Sproles gashing them for a 20+ yarder, which both have done enough times this year for it to be a plausible fear.
We have a young QB who just got a little experience playing behind the best OL in the history of the franchise and an elite run game, rip that all away, put him behind a mess of an OL and run game and it’s a testament to Nick and the players who stepped up around him that he could steer us to a 7-2 start…. If we asked Sanchez to play behind the line Nick had in San fran, with no run game, mark would either be dead or booed out of philly by now….and once Nick got banged up and Severly bruised and could no longer take the hits he always was willing to take, he couldn’t trust the line and his mechanics went out the window……. Not a coincidence chip only had mark attempt two passes over 20 yards against Dallas and we will see something similar against Seatle. Last two games Nick play before getting hurt he completed 3 BOMBS, he was just getting his deep ball timing as the line started to play a little better.. And we know nick is willing to run with the ball when shady needs him to create room. Praying Nick is ready to play after dallas!
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We seen what the rainmaker can do with HIS LINE and his Run game! As well as they are playing, the run is flowing, add nicks play action deep ball Attack off the run amd our offense will really explode rigjt n time for the playoffs. But Nick has to be ready in time to play the last two games or we can’t make the chage…. Fingers crossed. We gave shady back his line and poof the magic is back!! GIVE THE RAINMAKER HIS LINE and RUN GAME BACK!!!!! And the legue is in trouble!!!
What I would give to see the skins win with Colt McCoy today lol
colt put up 3tds 350 yds that’s a win from a qb perspective, defense just didn’t do anything.
get your crystal balls out…
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GB Packers:
vs. patriots…….Loss
Vs. falcons……..win
@ Bills……………Loss
@ Tampa,.,……..win
vs. lions………….Loss
Finishing 10-6
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Cowboys:
@ Bears………Loss
@ Eagles……..Loss
vs. colts………Loss
@ Skins……….Loss
Finishing 8-8 season with the most promise provides the biggest disappointment lol
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Seahawks:
@ Eagles……..Loss
Vs. Niners…….Loss
@ Cardinals…..win
Vs. Rams………win
Finishing 10-6
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Lions:
vs. Tampa………win
vs. VIkings……..win
@Bears………….Loss
@ Packers………Win
Finishing 11-5
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San Fran:
@ Raiders……..win
@ Seahawks….win
Vs. chargers,….Loss
Vs. Cardinals….win
Finishing 10-6
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Cardinals
@falcons……….win
Vs. Cheifs…….. Win
@’Rams…………Loss
Vs. Seahawks…Loss
@ San Fran…….Loss
finishing 11-5
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Eagles:
Vs. Seattle………win
Vs..Dallas……….win
@ skins…………..win
@ Giamts………..win
Finishng 13-3, NO ONE had the Eagles being THAT good this year, exceeding all our expectations having to overcome a ton of crap to get there.
Didn’t we talk to you already about huffing crazy glue out of a paper bag?
Two 10-6 teams will miss the playoffs….
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No point in trying to make sense out of that other pathetic division
Ha ha ha ha, too true but I think you’re on operation wishful thinking on a few of those losses out of Green Bay and Seattle.
Why? I have GB losing to bills, Patriots, lions aka the physical teams(atleast lose two of those games)When has GB proven they can beat the physical teams? When they were dominated by lions? Chumped by Seattle? Or smashed by the cardinals?
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Don’t think Seattle losing to rival niners is that crazy…
Did you watch color blind Kap tossing pass after pass straight to Richard Sherman this Thanksgiving?
Not sold on the Bills yet, and GB at home vs. Detroit is a different story than on the road.
http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/2dd50d1dcc10911670b50b08f121fdb4e7686813/c=141-0-2346-1658&r=x513&c=680×510/local/-/media/USATODAY/USATODAY/2014/11/27/635527292488610009-USP-NFL-Seattle-Seahawks-at-San-Francisco-49ers-007.jpg
Our picture was awesome. Shady and the OL minus Kelce… Who tweeted to hot Erin Andrews that he had to miss the picture because he “needed to drain the main Vein” bwahahahahaha caveman is so nuts he told a hot reporter he hD to take a piss
Not impressed in Seattle enough to see them sweep their rival. What you see today, can look different in two weeks. All the rumors of har aight being done in San fran, plus the bad loss, think they get it together for one last sfand and win a few games down stretch, rather than completely fold and lose out.. They have a good performance or two left in them, let’s see how mighty Seattle looks when we blow up their OL, shit down the run and force Wilson to sit in the pocket and throw to his mediocre WRs… Think San fran can still win a defensive struggle against their rival…
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Thinking niners go on a mini run out of pride, but it won’t be enough and that team will be blown up after the season, all the veterans are getting cut, Jim Tomaaula will be the coach, and they will rebuild. Figure they empty the clip and put up one or two last fights before they get blown up
I don’t think Green Bay loses again all year. The Pats and Lions games being in Green Bay are huge. Buffalo is a possibility, but I don’t see it.
The Niners QB situation is an embarrassment to the position. Kaep has made mistake after mistake after mistake when playing in Seattle. That game will wind up being a huge win for Seattle.
Everyone is all gaga about GB, but I seen this song and dance before. What’s so much better about greenbay now than the past two years when they took back seat to the physical Seattle and San Fran teams. GB still had great WRs and hall of fame SB Winning QB why haven’t they been unbeatable, and what’s so much better about this green bay team that all of the sudden they are done losing?
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GB is about to embark Into that point of the season where running the ball and stopping the run is Crucial, and that 30th ranked defense against the run is like bringing a sling shot to a gun fight and I’d bet we will see what im talking about when the patriots run over the packers today for 200 total rushing yards..
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GB can run the ball, but I don’t think they can stop the run well enough this time of year to be a top dog. We will find out soon. Should be an exciting December/january
I’m not saying that GB isn’t beatable. I think they are still vulnerable to teams with physical running games (Seattle and SF come to mind.) That’s why I’m not ragging on you for taking NE to win today. With that said, the other teams you have beating GB have their own flaws as well. Do you trust Kyle Orton? Detroit has yet to win a pressure game in the entire Stafford era. Detroit might surprise, but they rely more on the passing game and I believe the key to beating GB is the OL mauling their front 7.
One at a time:
1. Packers – I’ll be surprised if they manage to lose two games before the end of the season. Playing about as well as anyone in the NFL.
2. Cowboys – I will LMAO if that happens.
3. Seahawks – After Kap couldn’t do anything in SF, you think he’ll win in Seattle? Other than that, I can see it.
4. Lions – Switch the Bears and Pack and I can see it.
5. SF – I have no idea what team will show up from week to week, but at this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if they imploded.
5. Cards – I think you have the W/L right, but not so sure about which games.
6. Eagles – IMHO it all depends on the Seattle game. Every other game I would absolutely pencil in as a win. Seattle in Philly I lean towards us, but our losses have been to pedestrian offenses with good defenses (with the exception of the debacle in GB).
Thanks for your unrelenting positivity, GEAGLE.
Re Seattle, remember they have a long trip with jet lag. Factor in Philly weather and an opponent hitting on all phases of the game equals Eagles Win.
Anyone around for a general chat through the day’s games? I prefer the discussion in here relative to the alternatives.
Sure, GEAGLE has all of your winners!
Excellent. I hate not knowing the outcome ahead of time.
“…relative to the alternatives.”
The alternative wouldn’t happen to be visiting relatives, would it?
Tell ya what. If I’m the Pats or the Broncos, the one team I don’t want to see in the playoffs is the Ravens. That team looks like they are putting it together and have a history of knocking off the Broncos and Pats.
Ravens do a great job under Harbaugh of not being intimidated by either the QB or the gaudy record. They do play down to the level of their competition on the negative side.
I think I’ve never seen two one handed crabs in one single drive by a team. The Ravens just did though.
mmmm crabs.
🙂
And then, over on the other channel, there’s the Steelers. On some days they look like absolute crap – a team that should blow it up and rebuild – but on other days will play lights out.
Put up 50+ on Indy, then lose to the JETS.
I’ll be shocked if Pittsburgh doesn’t seriously consider changing coaches if they miss the playoffs. The bad losses this season are just inexcusable.
Doesn’t fit the Rooney m.o., but it’s a new NFL so you never know.
You’re quite correct. They almost never rush a coaching change.
You’re both right. I just know that if I was a fan of Pittsburgh, I’d be screaming for a change. Rooney does tend to hold onto his coaches, though.
You’d also have trouble completing a sentence in English if you were a “Stillers” fan.
And #5 is rocking it in the broadcast booth.
Oh, is Donovan doing the Saints-Steelers? Hadn’t noticed. Will pay more attention.
Dumervil owning the SD line.
Since I brought up possible coaching changes for other teams, curious who the forum thinks would be a good choice if your team needed a new coach.
Thankfully as an Eagles fan, we don’t have to worry bout this, cause I don’t see a coach out there that I like very much.
If Chip left here, promoting Shurmur would be my first choice.
Not sold yet. Even though I don’t love him, I think I’d prefer Billy Davis.
Shurmur was able to help Kelly adapt his stuff to the NFL and had Cleveland playing really well when they fired him.
Shurmur was ok in Cleveland. Not certain he’s fully immersed in Chip’s play style and wouldn’t go back to more of a typical WCO. Even though I don’t always agree with him, I appreciate Billy’s openness and his adaptability. He’s gotten a lot out of a D with a very suspect secondary.
I would think every team in the market is going watch very carefully how things play out in SF with Harbaugh. He should be on everyone’s short list, including a lot of college programs.
I wouldn’t want him due to the headaches he brings, but I can’t deny that the man can flat out coach.
And we are lucky. I’d bet about 2/3rds of the league or more would trade in their current coach for Harbaugh right now if it were possible.
He fits better in college. He only has 4 years (or less for guys leaving early) to get on people’s nerves.
He’s a more rounded version of Nick Saban 😀
I wonder if Todd Bowles is going to finally get his shot next year.
Good call. He’s done a hell of a job in Arizona (despite being awful in Philly). Also, hate to bring it up, but he fills the affirmative action side.
His time in Philly should not count against him. Took over a dysfunctional, broken defense ruined by idiocy, incompetence, and arrogance – Reid, Castillo, that wide-9 jerk who’s name escapes me at the moment, and the finger-pointing tackle avoiding collection of DBs.
George Halas could not have fixed that mess.
He was the secondary coach before becoming the interim d-coordinator, and the secondary was abysmal. Still, your point is taken.
You’re right. But signing DBs (and knowing you have Nate Allen) with tackling issues while switching to the wide-9 was not on Bowles. The whole defense (and offense) was a dumpster fire that year. Dumpster fire – I love that concept.
Overall you are right, but if you remember, the secondary actually played really well at the beginning of that year before Castillo was fired and Bowles took over as defensive coordinator.
Bowles got a lot of praise that off-season — players said he really knew what he was doing. The defense was holding together that year until Castillo was fired; it was only at that point it was an utter disaster. And under Bowles it got better once they ditched the wide 9 and went with a more normal pass rush (Reid brought back Brasher). He was being forced to coach a defensive scheme not of his making and with no offseason to implement it — a wide 9 / Castillo combo. He had no chance.
Bowles is a really bright football mind. He’d be a great HC.
Gus Malzahan
If I was an owner, I would back up the brinks truck for one man.
Art Briles.
He’s a proven commodity who has turned a historical doormat into a contender at every stop he’s ever made. He has the most explosive offense in the country and he runs the most stable version of the Air Raid, which I for one would love to see as a test case for it’s viability in the modern NFL.
And then with whatever money I have left, I’m hiring Pat Narduzzi as my DC.
I go after either Art Briles or Guz Malzahan. I also like Dan Mullen and Sumlin.
Pat Narduzzi is a favorite of mine. I just wished he coached the 3-4 so Kelly might have been interested in him
Malzahan scares me just because I’m not sure of how viable it is in the NFL. For all the window dressing, it relies on a mobile QB and is more similar to a wishbone veer than a “pro style” offense.
No to Mullen. He went to Ursinus. Booooo.
Sumlin I think needs a couple more years before he makes the leap.
The same problem with Malzahan can be said of Briles super simple air raid.
I do think Briles has right mind set to be program builder (Things also said about Haubough, Kelly and Carroll)
Malzahan’s offense relies on misdirection. Briles is more similar to Chips in that he just creates a numbers advantage (chip through packaged plays, Art through spacing)
I argue is Chip is a lot of super simple plays dressed up.
I also believe Malzahan could develop a great NFL offense
FYI – not that anyone cares, but I am rooting for the Saints today. Made a bet (a pitcher of beer) at the start of the season that the Eagles would finish with more wins than the Steelers.
and lookie lookie, you’re up by a point.
Pretty sure you’ll be happily slurping that pitcher.
Has St. Loius scored 35 points in a single game all year? Let alone in a half? Raiders = Dumpster Fire
The Raiders are saving energy for their beat down of San Fran next weekend. And a whole ton of Niner fans are going to get knocked out in Oakland as well.
Nope. Most they put up all season is 31 against the Cowboys.
If St. Louis had a QB they would be a very good team.
Watch them trade a 6th round pick, that can conditionally be as high as a 4th depending on production, for RG3 LOL
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Snyder is in a cant lose position. He either trades his butt buddy QB who he mortgage multiple drafts to aquire LOL, or he has to Fire Jay Gruden after 1 yr, and it will be even harder for him to attract a decent coaches lol…
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After making the skins pay a kings ransom, it would be hysterical if the Rams are the only ones offering to trade for RG3 Nd the skins have to give him to the rams to get some value(6th TD pick could become a 4th lol)… Talk about sell high, and then by it back after the stock crashes and burns LOL!!!!
Skins are staring at a three year minimum rebuilding project. RG3 bombing was the worst thing possible that could happen to them (except of course for being purchased by Dan Snyder).
Giants will never be relevant again until they rebuild with new coach, new QB.. Will they be smart enough to blow it up after the season, or give us more of a head start and try to fix the Giants on the fly and waste more time with Eli?
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Cowboys will implode and finish 8-8 lol, 9-7 at best…. Will Jerry blow up the Cowboys? Can he even blow them up? Romos contract insane, if he fires the coach, it’s not like Any coach worth a damn will go coach for general manager jerry jones lol….. Cowboys are so screwed up that they might not even be able to blow this up…jerry will do what he always does, make flashy addition but the foundation remains rotten so it doesn’t matter… Jerry’s BIG CHANGE, will be screwing up his cap even more signing Dez to big money deal. He will lose Demarco Murray to bringing big name AP… And they will find a way to go 8-8 again next year…. It’s amazing, but they are destined to be 8-8 for the rest of Jerry’s life
I think the boy’s are well on their way to destroying any future career for Murray anyways. Not sure I agree on the Giants, but I wonder if the Cowgirls ever will be really good again with Jerry constantly sabotaging them.
LOL hilarious
Cousins flailing just compounds matters. Thought they made a good move drafting Cousins to grow with RGIII. Cousins probably deserves a real shot to compete for the starters job next year, but its not looking too hopeful.
Lol they thought they were set with two Young QBs… Too funny. RG3 was supposed to be the savior of DC. Lol skins fans bought him wedding gifts that he registered Bwahahahahahahah the great savior. It’s too funny. Geno smith might have more trade value LOL
Speaking of teams that would be good w/a QB. Dalton having another horrid game against Tampa.
Rams are playing much tougher than when we faced them early in the season, and they always play their rivals tough
Not sure Oakland’s a rival, but they have been playing better. Hope they shock the rest of the NFC West a few more times.
They had a big rivalry to get out of LA faster than the other.
Raiders are obviously winning the #1 draft pick though.
Raiders + Jameis Winston = JaMarcus Russell all over again 😀
They’re sticking with Carr.
Almost certainly. Still, it would be HILARIOUS!
Skins are still in the game. Was hoping to see Colt McCoy win, sucks that they are facing the colts tho.
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VIkings destroying the Panthers. Really like coach zimmer, can’t believe the panthers aren’t even competitive against a team like the vIkings.
,….
Saints vs, Steelers, two average defenses that offenses struggle to put up points against, what a terrible game to air
Giamts are beating the Jags. Good job, screw up your draft position with silly meaningless wins!
It would be tough for them to throw that game without it being obvious.
That was a new one. Officials not in position to officiate the play – ON A PUNT!!!???
Geaux Saints!! I want my pitcher o’ beer!
McNabb is calling a pretty good game again as an analyst.
Haven’t listened to him do that yet. Glad to hear he’s doing it well. Really hope he can heal his relationship with Philly fans one day.
I agree. This is the first time I’ve really heard him call a game. He is much better than a lot of others they inflict on us.
Still, I hope they don’t assign him to the Eagles anytime soon. It would just be grating to have to listen to him during a Birds game.
The Jackson injury happened just the way one would expect. Out of bounds, one player tap another, he flops, rolls into Jackson not paying attention.
Washington doesn’t even need to win. Plays like the TD to the TE will be enough to create paralyzing confusion.
Wait, what? what happened to DJax?
He stepped out of bounds to avoid a defender. His teammate tapped the defender on the shoulders as he went past. The defender flopped to the ground, and rolled over into Jackson’s legs. Jackson went down holding his ankle, I think.
I think it healed.
I just saw that, too.
O M * G
What a !@#$itty call in the Raven’s San Deigo game. Refs ignored a blatant hold only to call roughing the passer on the player who was held. I hate refs.
Bored with these 1pm games..
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One team I haven’t paid attention to is the Chargers, what happened to make them start imploding? Injuries?… Other than today rivers getting beat up
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No idea how the KC/Denver game will go
The Jags are up on the Giants.
LOL . . . I stand corrected. I guess the Giants DID find a way to blow that game.
They had to get creative, but they are trying to give it away.
. . . and they are back to trying to blow their draft pick.
HAHAHAHAHA . . . barring missing an easy FG, the Giants are actually gonna lose to the Jags. Might be better for their draft pick, but that’s embarasing.
And NY seals the deal with a sack-fumble on their final, desperate attempt. Perfect.
Wow, look at Ike Taylor acting like he’s tough. Typical Pittsburgh; all punk.
Big head Ike.
Or broke head, much like other Pittsburgh residents, if he actually tried to fight anybody.
The Johnny Manziel era has begun.
It’ll end soon enough as yet another run first bum winds up on the injury heap.
I so wish Jerry Jones took him in the draft. It would just have been so much fun.
Curse the bastards who wrastled the Manziel card from his gnarled, liver-spotted hand.
Johnny Manziel is number two.
LOL giants about to loose to the jaguars.
Although I’d rather they hurt their their draft position
You know Coughlin’s retirement has to be coming. I’m of mixed emotions. I have nothing but great respect for him. He’s been a phenomenal NFL coach and often got his teams to exceed their talent level. As an Eagles fan, I’m glad to see him go. As an NFL fan, I hope he lands elsewhere and tortures some other division.
Oakland, honestly, could not hope for a better coach.
Coughlin leaves the Giants to coach the Raiders? He’s old, but I don’t think he’s senile yet.
Yeah, not sure he’d be willing to go there. But Raiders fans should be ecstatic if they can get him.
So TB, down by 1, gets to a 1st and 5 at the Cincy 31 with 90 seconds remaining.
But it takes a special kind of ineptitude to be the Bucs. They quickly grab 2 penalties to move back and into a 4th and 20 from the 46, fail to convert and lose game without even getting in a figgie try.
Same old Bucs.
Scary part, to me any ways, do you remember early in the season when people were saying Cincy was the best team in the league? Dalton has become really, really bad.
Both Dalton and KAp plagues as youñg QBs…problem is they were supposed to improve a ton before plateauing… I don’t know what those franchises are Goimg to do about the QP position. Might as well stop wasting time with KAp and Dalton
49ers had a pretty good cheap QB in sSmith but they gave it all up for Kap and look dumb for it now and the more Bengals are stuck withDalton for a while
yeah gruden obviously was helping dalton a lot.
Lovie smith is so overrated. I don’t understand why he’s so highly regarded
umm first year around. look at what happened to chi. since he’s left. That 10-6 season with a D that lead the league in TOs seems like a long time ago huh?
NFL retread love. Lovie was decent in Chicago but wasn’t special. Like Reid, he got his team to the Super Bowl only to lose. Guys like that have to really blow it to not get tapped for the next opening.
Go Falcons!!!
Good start!!
IS CBS 3 SERIOUS? THE F-ING GREEN BAY / NEW ENGLAND GAME IS ON THEY’RE SHOWING ADS!
Go Cheatin’ Hoodies!!!
Refs are already bailing out GB. Ticky tack call on that illegal hands.
So, the Washington Snyders are currently looking at the 6th pick in the draft. I say they should trade up for the 2nd pick with Jacksonville to get Winston giving up their 2015 1st & 2nd and their next 2 1st round draft picks. Seems like a winning formula.
Oakland might actually field a decent team in three years if the skins agree to that.
Lol it wouldn’t shock me they’d be stupid to draft a round one QB though but they may, I just don’t want them to get Mariota and ruin his career
If they get Marriotta, I hope,Chip advises the kid to not sign any redskin contract and force a trade out washington immediately
Mariota is worth a fortune. He’s the only NFL ready college QB I’ve seen this year and he’s frickin’ good. Not Andrew Luck good, but not far off. I can’t imagine Tampa or the NYJ allowing themselves to be outbid for his services.
Jameis Winston, on the other hand, has bust written all over him unless he lands with an excellent QB coach.
Even better athlete than Luck. Not quite as pro-ready and I’m not sure if he has the protect myself gene that the really great QB’s all seem to have. Whoever gets him will have a hell of prospect Depends on the coaching and team as to whether he ever becomes a great one.
Mariota is not reckless at all.
Yet he’s been dinged every year he’s played so far. Not sure which is the bigger red flag (dinged or reckless).
P.S. I REALLY like Mariota.
Dinged might be worse, because Reckless has a chance to be coached out
Not sure I agree with that, only because I can’t remember the last reckless QB who’s truly been tamed by good coaching. Brett Favre might be the best example, but he reverted after Holmgren left Green Bay.
Might be true.
hard to say he’s nfl ready. i wouldn’t take a chip kelly qb unless i was ck. you see what sancehz looks like? you don’t think that’s scheme? unless you run a college scheme it’s not going to work for you, i’d take winston who plays in more of a pro style offense even though he’s got amateur attitude.
Can’t believe this is the first time BRADY and Rogers are facing off. I feel like that’s criminal
Well, it may be your lucky year. We may get to see this again in February.
Fuck you! Don’t even say that lo
Bite your tongue. Eagles all the way 😀
Crazy is, if its Eagles-Pats, it would be 10 year since and the Pats still has same coach and QB where we have gotten new QBs (a few times) and coach
I hope its Eagles-Pats if the Pats make the SB (would be 10 year anniversary for last Eagles/Pats SB)
Trade deadline passed so neither can be traded to the Eagles so that isn’t possible
OY!!! Not saying that the Eagles are not the greatest ever to play any form of athletic competition ever in the history of the universe ever. But those damn refs may conspire with the dark Hoodie to keep us from our destiny. Its happened before and you all know it.
So, we’d have to settle for Rodgers v. Brady. Jus’ sayin’
But you’re implying the Packers would best us in the playoffs which I’d inexusable
the Packers aren’t even going to make the playoffs (I hope)
really need detroit to roll through
Read again – a la conspiracy.
I know revis doesn’t meet the character requirements for chip but imagine if we signed him. This defense would be so tough. Revis one on one and williams/allen doubling on the other side with Jenkins moving around and Boykin in the slot.
Thought the same. Revis still got it and can still blanket a WR.
More than character, Revis is a merc. Only cares about the money, and Kelly isn’t interested in players who care more about money than football.
yea, that is the problem. Some would argue you sometimes have to give in, but consider we are 9-3 this year, its hard to disagree with Kelly
He does care about getting paid but he’s gotta be a football junkie to be this good. It’s not like he’s a super athlete.
Revis do have some the freakiest hips you ever see on a CB. He can turn them faster than anybody.
hips don’t lie? i don’t think revis gets real money (11m+/season) again. if he likes NE they’ll give him a more reasonable k (10.95m)
Twice in one week on the officials not ready for a punt.
Cowboys @ Bears Thurs… They say Thursday games are all blow outs…
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Bears have issues, but the dallas defense is terrible, I assume forte and the WRs can feast on the cowboy D, problem is Chicagos D ain’t much better. Romo looked like he got banged up against us and midway thru the game, Romo was no longer looking as fresh amd healthy as he looked the previous week….bears out of the playoff hunt, pressure is gone, need to see them play spoiler and win at home against Dallas.
Patriots getting handled….
Early…
Hate that Rogers is so mobile. Rogers is tiny, like to see him get blasted today!
Is Chandler Jones still injured? Hope Ninkovich blasts him from behind.
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As a diehard Eagle fan, thinking it be cool to take a trip one day, and go see two NON eagle teams face off, no rooting interest just take the game all in as a fan…for example it would be awesome to be at this games or a Peyton vs. Brady game… Even a stadium like arrowhead against Peyton.
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How is 225 pounds tiny?
Shorter than people think. Dude is like 6’0, heck Sanchez is short, ATleast for my taste in QBs.. I know watching Sanchez it always pops into my head how I’m usually so much more comfortable seeing our 6’6 240lb QB take hits, and I worry everytime mark is about to get hit…
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After having 6’6 240lb… Even like 6’2 225 Wont due.. I’d bet Rogers is really like 6’0 215..
Haven’t you seen those State Farm commercials?
yeah nick isn’t rothlesburger. he’s been hurt every season. if we didn’t have sanchez we’d have barkley and be out of it totally. broken hand year one, concussion in the supreme season.
Rodgers was 6’2 and 223 at the combine.
Sanchez is same size and not sure why a 6’6 240 dude is more durable consider how much time our big dude has already missed with injuries (3 injuries in 3 years now)
Rooting for injuries again?
Aaron Rodgers is unfair.
If I’m not mistaken Matthews leads all rookies in receptions
Fun having a win for the week vs. Dallas and watching Giants and Redskins lose. It’s the trifecta!!!
I want them to start ruining their draft positions
Fuckin patriots.l the one time I root for them they have to piss me off. All day I been racking over whether to start Blount or Vereen and this hoodie jackass hands it olff to friggin Bolden who hasn’t gotten a carry since like October, smh!!!!
Reason why you never draft a Pats RB. Only Gronk and Brady from that offense
Waiver. Don’t draft pats
playing fantasy you should know better about Beli-cheater and his rb’s…
I think that scoorge does it just to give FF players the middle finger. No other reason to explain it
He definitely does
sat joique bell for blount this week…
I kno I know!.. I stared Jaamal Charles,Reggie Bush is hurt. I wasted one of my roster spots claiming adrian Peterson off waivers in case he returned. Dude got emotionally pissd off and dropped him. I’d figure I pick him up, worst case scenario I get to designate him as a keeper for next year…it’s a dynasty league. I just picked up doug Martin, but wanted to see if he was healthy before I picked him up, and Shane Vereen has had a few big weeks in a row for me… I got too cute and decided to go with Blount today, when I should have road Vereen til he failed me, whatever..
Could be worse. I started Romo over Philip Rivers.
Last week of the regular season, I need a win to get into the playoffs, and Tony Romo lets me down. Holy shit, is this what it’s like to be a Cowboys fan?
By the way, I have never been happier for one of my fantasy players to stink it up!
Arizona, knows they are playing with a backup. If they want to continue being a top team, the deal is the defense and everyone has to step up.. Giving up 17 first half points to atlanta is not gonna cut it…. We need them to hold onto the division…
Won’t matter. If we take care of business vs Seattle, we get the bye.
Randall Cobb is such a pain in the fucking ass.
If we have to play them again, we Should consider having boykin shadow him all game, move bradley to the slot for that game where he probably see Devante Adams… And leave Cary on the other side wifh Jordy Nelson, keeping Maldolm jenkins over top coverage…we doubled Dez bRyant at times, need to give Jordy the same treatment and let boykin step up, study Colbb all week and follow him all over the place…our starting corners don’t do well against the smaller burners like Randall
I agree that Boykin vs. Cobb is our best bet. GB does a better job schematically getting Jordy singled up though, and I don’t trust Cary to do a better job than Fletcher did. Slanting a safety his way is the only way I see us slowing him at all.
eddie lacy? the good thing is that they don’t have a tight end to compete with.
New England’s defense playing far better than ours, and they’ve still given up 16 in the first half. Really need GB to lose a game or two and it isn’t looking likely.
Geeb Bay isn’t great on the road I could totally see Buffalo getting hem in NY
You’re putting your faith in Kyle Orton????
Yes!lll if the Bills beat them it will be a 17-10 sort of domination the way the Lions whooped them. Yes I think Orton can score more than 10 points… Team like the Bills would never beat them without getting to Rogers and placing a beating on him all game…
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It’s not like there is any chance in hell the bills can win a shoutout against them… lions are interesting because they proven thatth they could rough them up and not let them score, but Calvin is also starting to heat up, so they can also get into a shoutout with GB if need be..
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Very curious to see the Bills game and the Lions game
I have more faith in Drew Stanton.
Well, 23 in the first half, because A-Rod and Co. are freaks who can march the length of the field in 60 seconds.
i wonder on plays like that OL would scream out to the QB. Like “Tom watch out!”
Gronk is an animal.
Per Football Outsiders the Cardinals have a 94% chance to make the playoffs. The Cards are in trouble.
that whole division is crazy right now. rams might be the best team in the division.
Pats scored TD and are back in it. I feel so dirty rooting for them.
heard rodgers hasn’t tossed a pick at home in 2 years? that’s insane.
God I hate nelson
and that was Revis he beat.. . . ugh
nice pick play. they’re good.
Rodgers almost 300 yards passing in the first half against the Patriots. Not just us who he makes look ridiculous.
Not sure if this makes me feel better or worse 😛
Agreed; if we meet them again and he hasn’t slowed down we haven’t a prayer. I’m not sure anyone has a chance against them unless he wakes up on the wrong side of the bed.
He really is unfair
He’s the best QB in the NFL playing some of the best football in history. The Packers are virtually unstoppable unless he falters.
Don’t think we’re in the same class as either of these teams yet.
We are really close. Biggest concern I have is how mistake prone we’ve been this season. Clean those up and we are right there with either of them.
QB play is obviously the biggest difference.
And secondary.
yeah holy shit rodgers is good.
I agree on QB play, for sure. Eagles secondary depends on how the game is called. If the refs are allowing a physical game, they’re much better.
Eagles have superior lines than both teams, and better running game. And Parkey.
QB play usually trumps everything else.
But the Eagles are too far behind (getting blown out in Lambeau notwithstanding).
Rodgers and GB aren’t the same on the road.
Here’s a stat for you, on 14 completions in the first half Rodgers averaged over 20 yards a completion. Murderous.
with secondary receivers .
Need NE to pull out a fluky San Diego like win at this point. GB’s D is bad enough to let it happen, but they need Rodgers to make a mistake too. Not sure that’s going to happen.
NE is a strong team too, they could pull it out but…. Rodgers is freakin formidable man. When he’s on his game he’s just unreal.
Edelman looks like like he might be out for the game, pretty terrible limp over on the sidelines.
The biggest difference between this years Pats and previous incarnations is their OL is not nearly as good.
that’d be nice more lafell.
Hmm, wonder if that Crosby miss will jumpstart something for the Pats momentum wise…
Did quite the evaluation of needs and possible fixes with some buds, I think S,CB,ILB,OL,WR are biggest needs in that order QB could be considered a need and maybe a big one but I don’t know where I’d put it. Just wondering how you guys think we could fill those needs
S, CB, CB*…
well yeah I thought about just putting DB first because we may need up to 3
I don’t disagree, I’m just bored and figured I put my two cents in.
I’d swap S and CB, IMO.
yeah I just said below I was thinking about just putting DB because they are equally needed to me
unless we get vjax for cheap i don’t see us doing much at wr. hoping matthews and huff each develop.
We might still need a pass rusher depending on how SEA and playoffs go.
i’d put getting a new guard no. 1 assuming gardiner doesn’t become a starter.
it is up there, we need OL as a whole outside of Kelce and Johnson none of our O Lineman will be here for long, need to start thinking replacements maybe a guy like Ogbuehi if he falls or Grassu in round 2
I don’t think it is a huge need but maybe getting Montogomery in the 3rd or going after a guy like Smith or whatever
well, Matthews already has 7 TDs.
Wonder why the Pack are running so much. Pats have generally been all over it. Rodgers doesn’t need run game support.
wasting time.
Arizona is getting owned by Atlanta.
Pats ask for a flag, they get a flag.
good with me
NE defense tightening up, this could be a win if they can score.
hopefully
YEEESSS!
I hate rooting for this team
blount is crazy.
Wait. Rodgers is going after Patrick Chung in coverage. Why didn’t anyone think of that before?
wow…
Haha, Tom Brady angry is so funny. Dude might need some serious anger counseling post career.
I think they should pair him with Marino.
Fuck man.. Packers cannot get home field in the playoffs. If they do, we’re boned.
http://www.fbschedules.com/nfl-15/2015-philadelphia-eagles-football-schedule.php
and we get to go Green Bay again next season!
That can’t be right. That link (if you go through for each team) says that all four NFC East teams play away games at the respective NFC North team that finishes in the same place. I think it is split up 2 and 2 depending on the position of finish.
This year, the first place teams (Eagles and Packers) played at the NFC North team, so I would guess (but, I’m not sure) that if the Eagles and Packers both finished in first place again, the game would be in Philly.
No. The 2015 schedule has us playing at NFC North team of similar position of finish.
Exactly, but that does not mean it will be an away game.
I know that is what the link you posted says, but that link says that each NFC east vs. NFC north game will be an away game for the NFC east team, and that is not right.
What I was trying to say before is that I think (but I’m not sure) that they rotate home and away for a particular position in the standings. This year’s matchup first place teams (from the previous season) of NFC east v. NFC north was a home game for the NFC north team. I think that means next year’s matchup of first place teams (from this season) of the NFC east vs. NFC north will be a home game from the NFC east team.
No, I don’t think they do.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Football_League_regular_season
I think the division home / away is already set on that rotation.
I agreed that it was already set on a rotation, I just thought that they split the home and away for the divisions each season.
Looking into it further, I think I was wrong. For example, the entire NFC east this year played away games against the respective NFC north teams and home games against the respective NFC south teams. So my initial point was wrong and it looks like we will play on the road in green bay (assuming we both win our divisions) next year. 🙂
Yeah the NFL cartel demands total predictability in all scheduling ventures!
I think its the best scheduling setup in any major sport except top tier soccer leagues in Europe.
I told y’all the Green Bay was going to win! Somebody make sure my boy GEAGLE is ok.
Eagles have the best record in the league 🙂
I really think if GB doesn’t lose next week, we end up with the #2 seed. I see AZ losing 3 of 4 to end the season. If GB loses and we take care of business, everyone is coming to Philly!
What games is Seattle losing?
potentially us plus their division games won’ be easy
I’ll believe that when I see it.
so you think they win out?
Yes. I see both Seattle and Green Bay winning out.
Well I don’t PHI, AR, SF, STL is not easy especially divisional games
We’ll play them tough. Arizona just died today. The Rams are a revenge game. The Niners play like turds in Seattle.
I really think we beat Seattle. We have the advantage along the line on offense, and I think the offense will be fine. I’m concerned about Wilson getting into open field.
I’m more concerned about losing that game 13-10 or something like that.
Our offense should score in the 20s. I can’t see them being held under 17 points now that our line is starting to hit on all cylinders.
This would be a great week for our ST to give us a boost, or the defense to do the same.
yeah I think with good field position we should be able to score 24 points which may be all we need, Seahawks haven’t played an offense as good as us in November
Better hope so pass game will be limited
But they can run too. This offense isn’t one dimensional.
If they lose to us, if we win out we got it.
huge “IF”
I’m not getting swole about home field unless we win on Sunday.
I think they can. Seattle isn’t the greatest road team, and I think we win the battle between our Oline and their Dline. There’s a reason Chip Kelly says big people beat up little people.
if we get homefield we may very well get to the SB
Get your Bills gear out. That is Green Bay’s hardest game left.
Yeah, and our last hope. If not, we have to go back there and win. But hey, meet the challenge and make it happen!
Nah, they play the Lions last game of the season. Division games are tough no matter where they are played.
Haha… the Giants lost to the Jaguars… Haha.
So, while we’re all fantasizing, er, I mean considering the inevitable fact that we will be playing in the Superbowl, which team would you rather face as the Eagles: Patriots or Broncos?
Bengals
Neither, yeah, I get it. C’mon pick your poison.
Patriots. I’m not trying to see that WR corps from Denver with Fletch and Cary out there.
I don’t think anyone is. No one is looking forward to having to go back out to GB.
same thought I had, plus we have advantages on the lines with them, Denver would destroy our secondary
They’d no huddle us, but Manning would be laughing as he called out “Fletcher Fletcher” instead of Omaha
KC
You know that would end in an Eagles loss and mass suicide of all of the Reid haters.
LOL
I think we aren’t fantasizing this is the best shot at a SB we have had in a while, we are tied for the best record in the league and if we get homefield can be contenders. Now if we were to get to the superbowl I’d want the Pats
Those concepts are not mutually exclusive. There is some fantasizing involved, but at the same time this is our best shot since 2008.
I mean I have been fantasizing about my man Cox holding up the Lombardi while I sit at home with tears in my eyes
OK. I’m just walking away from that one.
There is no way I wouldn’t cry if we won the superbowl don’t judge me
I’d only cry if I didn’t get my personal day off request set up in time to have it honored for the parade.
Dolphins
Rematch vs. the Jags!
IDK they looked good today, may be dangerous
Browns
So that’s a statement win? Ugh
By the Jags? The statement is “ELI SUCKS!” And so does all of New York.
Maybe we should be hoping San Francisco gets the last wildcard. They always seem to handle the Packers, even in Green Bay. Kapernick always lights up the Packers for some reason. Maybe San Fran could win in the first round and go in and knock of the Packers in the second round. I would much rather face San Fran at home in the NFC championship than go to Green Bay.
I’m not rooting against them but it would be a stretch for them to make it in
F them. F Kapernick. F Harbaugh.
you kidding SF getting rid of GB for us would be God sent
I’d rather anybody but San Fran win.
but it is all about us in the end and give me a home game against San Fran before going to Green Bay
I’d have more fun watching the Niners lose out and end any discussions about Kaepernick being anything other than garbage.
Good example of big people beating up little people from today: https://vine.co/v/OnxwFAqW1Pw
Latest work on the playoff machine:
Pats 12-4
Denver 12-4
Colts 12-4
Bengals 11-4-1
Chiefs 12-4
Dolphins 10-6
Packers 13-3
Seahawks 12-4
Eagles 12-4
Saints 9-7
Lions 11-5
Cardinals 10-6
It would suck to have to lose in Seattle in the divisional round, but it would be GREAT to stomp Arizona here in the wild card round.
what’s the playoff machine? you put in who you think will win each game?
seems kind of early to be focused on all that. Next week’s game against Seattle will tell us a lot.
The AFC blows.
Yes. Google “ESPN playoff machine” and have a fun time!
So the PAts go for it on 4th and 3 from around the 50 but then try a 47 yard fg down by 5 on the same drive. I don’t care if it’s 4th and long. How does even making it, which is not a gimme from that far, help you when you haven’t stopped the GB offense ALL day. Shocking to no one, the PAts did not get the ball back.
I can’t believe the one game I need the Pats to win, the one time I care about them winning, they do this and Belicheck gets all conservative. Somehow I hate them even more now.