Group Failure

Posted: November 17th, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 277 Comments »

Don’t blame Bradley Fletcher. Or Mark Sanchez. Blame the Philadelphia Eagles. Sunday’s blowout loss was not on one player or even a few guys. That was a total team breakdown. The Eagles were outplayed on offense, defense and STs. When the bright spot for the game is that no one died, I think that gives you an idea just what an ugly day it was.

Look at how my goals shifted over time:

4pm – Win the game, constantly pressure Aaron Rodgers and make him regret ever taking the field against us.

430pm – Please don’t give up any more deep balls to Jordy Nelson

5pm – Let’s win with an exciting comeback

530pm – If we have to lose, let’s at least make it a shootout

6pm – Let’s score a TD

630pm – Keep them under 40

7pm – Keep them under 50

So I pretty much went 0 for the night. Ugh.

I really thought the Eagles would win or lose a close game. I didn’t anticipate a blowout at all. The Packers played their best game of the year and the Eagles simply had no answer. The Packers destroyed the Bears last week even worse, but it sure looked like Chicago gave up in that game. The Eagles played hard for 60 minutes. No matter what they tried, the Packers had an answer.

I’m not sure whether to be encouraged or bothered by the total team collapse. Think back to the Chargers game from last year. The Eagles lost 33-30. If the defense had just made one or two plays, the team would have won. Remember the first Dallas game. The Eagles lost that 17-3. The defense played well, but the offense was dreadful. With even a decent showing by them, the team could have won. Yesterday was a team failure.

Green Bay won every quarter. The Eagles “only” lost the 3rd quarter 9-7. That’s the bright spot. Ugh. The Packers had a TD of at least 27 yards in every quarter. Ugh.

Let’s talk about some of the mistakes.

* Mark Sanchez – Did not play well. He threw 2 INTs and was involved in 2 fumbles. Beyond those, he missed a wide open Riley Cooper for a long TD and Darren Sproles open in the flat for what might have turned into a TD. The pick that went to Julius Peppers and was returned for a TD was the low point for me. Sanchez is a veteran. He has to know better on that play. That was all on him. A lot of people are milking the bad snap play as some sort of new Butt Fumble moment. “This just proves he sucks!!!” No, it doesn’t. Let’s see him play for 6 weeks. Let’s judge a body of work, not his best or worst moments. Peyton Manning led the Broncos to 7 points yesterday. QBs can have bad moments and bad games.

* The OL – They had done a masterful job in pass pro for most of the year, but yesterday wasn’t pretty. Matt Tobin got beat early and that led to a sack that ended a promising drive. Jason Peters slipped and that freed up his man to blow up a play. Evan Mathis was called for holding on a run play (looked questionable to me). And so on.

* Jeremy Maclin – slipped on a comeback route and the pass was picked off.

* Josh Huff – dropped another pass. Failed to tackle PR Micah Hyde, who was right in front of him. Huff just whiffed and that turned into a 75-yd TD.

* Brad Smith – dropped a pass in the Red Zone. Might have set up a TD.

* Trent Cole – jumped offside on 3rd/23 which led to 3rd/18, which they converted. Ugh. Cole had a chance for a sack, but couldn’t get Rodgers down.

* Vinny Curry – failed to tackle Lacy after chasing him down yesterday on pass play. That was 7 points.

* Front seven in general – failed to win individual battles and get pressure on Rodgers. Forget sacks, they couldn’t get in his face or move him off the spot yesterday.

* Mychal Kendricks – missed tackle of someone over the middle.

* Bradley Fletcher – Got beaten repeatedly. Fell down while trying to cover Cobb on crossing route and he was wide open for easy catch and run. I think that was on a 3rd down. Cobb caught pass in front of him on 3rd down and Fletcher wasn’t able to make the tackle and force the punt. Drive kept going.

* Cary Williams – Had Cobb catch pass in front of him. Sat on his heels and Cobb moved upfield to get the 1st down. Infuriating to see that. Why wait? Go attack the ball.

* Nate Allen – got run over by Eddie Lacy on long TD play.

* STs – While Huff whiffed on what should have been a tackle, the other 10 guys on the field didn’t exactly help.

The sad thing about all of this is that I’m going off memory here. I know I’ve left some stuff out. That’s what an epic disaster Sunday was.

The funny thing about the beatdown is that it happened so quickly that it numbed me. I didn’t have time to get angry, the way I normally do when the Eagles lose, especially in a blowout. I sat here speechless, trying to figure out what was going on. I was furious when the Eagles lost to the Cardinals. That had me in a genuinely bad mood for a day or two. I’m not in a bad mood at all today. I will let go of this game very quickly.

Next week’s opponent is the Titans. They’re on Monday night football so be sure to watch so we can scout them for Sunday. Do anything you can to wipe away yesterday’s disaster from your memory.

_


277 Comments on “Group Failure”

  1. 1 370HSSV 0773H said at 8:11 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Theres a reason Sanchez is a backup.

  2. 2 Brett Smith said at 9:40 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    If he pump fakes one more time when the guys are breaking open… man it was driving me nuts.

  3. 3 Tom McAllister said at 8:15 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    re: “Let’s see him play for 6 weeks. Let’s judge a body of work, not his best or worst moments.”

    Agree on judging a player by his full body of work and not just the highlights/lowlights, but we already do have a pretty extensive body of work by which we can judge Sanchez. He doesn’t have many snaps in Philly yet, but he’s got 4 seasons as an NFL starter on the record. His bad plays so far haven’t been new or seemingly fluky; they’ve been a continuation of the same problems he displayed in New York.

  4. 4 GEAGLE said at 9:25 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    I have my concerns about Sanchez too, believe me… But if we are being honest, he has NEVER looked the way he did yesterday since arriving in philly… Whatever Sanchez is or isn’t as a QB, he isn’t going to Carry an Offense, but the deal is supposed to be that the offense around him is good enough to where he doesn’t have to go out and win games,mjust manage them and let the rest of the offense do the heavy lifting….Sanchez was bad, but we didn’t step up and give him the support we owe a backup QB who gets thrust into game action…

    The Full body of work of Sanchez under chip, is better than yesterday. He simply isn’t good enough to overcome poor games from the supporting cast…. Looks like the “Ferrari” needs a tune up this week!!!

  5. 5 BobSmith77 said at 2:55 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    He averaged close to 2 turnovers/game in his starts with the Jets and hat his shaky decision-making was always his biggest weakness as a QB.

  6. 6 Michael Winter Cho said at 3:06 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    That’s okay, Bob, he can just sit back and choose his spots while Shady tears up the other team. oops… (btw, I am in complete agreement with you about Sanchez)

  7. 7 bdbd20 said at 8:16 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Gotta look at the positives.

    This may be the stretch of games where Jordan Matthews establishes himself as a legit playmaker.

    No injuries. Winning this game with a key player going down (Peters, Maclin, Kelce, Cox) would have been much worse.

    The team has been sloppy but always found a way to win. Maybe this sharpens the focus a little.

    We all remember the 1994 game at SF. A loss is just a loss. We smacked AZ back in 2008 and they ended up handling us in the playoffs.

  8. 8 daveH said at 4:05 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    I like how you noted “key players” and didn’t include McCoy ..right? now don’t go back an edit it
    ..
    who is more reliable: Sanchez to fumble or Huff to fumble/whiff ??

  9. 9 bdbd20 said at 6:45 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    It wasn’t intentional.

    However, the key back in this offense does seem to be Sproles. Shady seems a little off this year.

  10. 10 daveH said at 10:23 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    agreed. just watched the game on tape and im not as pissed any more.. weird things were happeninig
    ..weird turf, lots of slips and im surprised Shady didn’t break his own ankle. I liked how he ran. a few mistakes ..can someone PLEASE TEACH THE GREAT EAGLE TRENT COLE A HARD COUNT !!! damn can YOU BE MORE DEVASTATING EVERY FIN SINGLE TIME YOU GET BURNED ON THAT !!!
    sanches just isn’t that great and he is JETs Whupped inot some submissive competiteive frailty!! it will take a few games if he can even ever get out his Jets rut ..dam I cant stand how he trots off the field after a fumble on 3rd down like its freaking routine !!!
    ..a few psychotic connections btw A-Rod! he was insane .. their O LINe in unebleiveable ,..literally I think the refs passed them a note ‘we aren’t calling holding on you today’ .. stupid play by Huff, and a few lame miscues really undermined our own momentum ..
    and Sanches isn’t nearly as convincing, good and strong enough of a personality to bring the team on his shoulders yet
    blah blah bla theres my dumb&dumber to sense

  11. 11 Charlie Kelly said at 5:17 PM on November 18th, 2014:

    no we dont.. we gotta look at what went wrong and then try to fix them…

  12. 12 Gary Barnes said at 8:44 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Chip, the coaches and players need to get the run attack figured out….that is supposed to be the core of our offense and the offense is supposed to be the strength of our team…we must have balance; both the run/pass aspects of the offense need to be working at a high level and the run has struggled all season long…GB did NOT load up the box to stop the run and we still could not produce.

    I’ve never been a believer in Sanchez especially when he get’s pressured, but I’ll give that a pass since the whole team played horribly.

    The defense is flawed as we knew; if they cannot get consistent pressure the secondary will get exposed since no one can cover for that long. Rodgers had hours to sit back there and find the open guy and was barely touched all night. That cannot happen against good offenses.

    I know this can be dismissed as just one bad game, but the run attack issues have been around all year and the high points have been few…we cannot be one dimensional vs good teams plus Sanchez is a better QB in a less primary role – passing 45+ times is not a good formula for him.

  13. 13 CrackSammich said at 8:51 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    I found myself yelling at Huff more than I usually do Bradley Fletcher… That kid did not have good night.

  14. 14 Mark Sitko said at 11:41 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Huff has never had a good play – he makes more mistakes than any rookie Andy ever let play…I think Huff might develop into something – but I do not want him on the field any more this year, especially in big games…and get his ass off the punt coverage team NOW

  15. 15 CrackSammich said at 11:49 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    I assume he was only on the punt coverage due to Boykin being hurt, but again, that’s an assumption.

  16. 16 Mark Sitko said at 11:52 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Interesting…clearly that depth chart needs adjustments – but very good point

  17. 17 Nicodemus_09 said at 4:02 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    I read an article and saw all over Twitter that Huff is actually blaming the coaches for missing that tackle on the PR for a touchdown. Said “If the coaches let him play the way he knows how, he makes that tackle” . Not cool.

  18. 18 daveH said at 4:06 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    that is literally retarded.

  19. 19 Weapon Y said at 6:40 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Considering that Chip went out on a limb to get Huff, that looks very bad. Makes Huff look like an ungrateful punk. Talented kid who I think could be legit in Year 2 but he’s got to stop shooting himself in the foot.

  20. 20 Nicodemus_09 said at 10:50 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Agreed on all counts. I honestly hate doing the coulda woulda shoulda draft dance…BUT, I do wonder about the seemingly flagrant Oregon nepotism when guys like John Brown for example get selected after Huff did. I’m probably wrong, but I really do wonder if Huff was on anyone else’s radar for the 3rd round.

  21. 21 pjcostello said at 8:30 AM on November 18th, 2014:

    Who cares? It’s not a contest between teams to draft ‘X’ player. It’s about finding the guys whom you think will fit your team and scheme best, period. 31 teams didn’t think John Brown fit theirs — and over the long term, we’ll find out if they were right or wrong. 31 teams also passed on Jordan Matthews before we selected him. Does that make Kelly a genius? Does it make the other 31 idiots? Stop comparing things that don’t need to be compared, and shouldn’t be compared.

  22. 22 Charlie Kelly said at 5:19 PM on November 18th, 2014:

    yeah, huff is annoying…. he also was baliming them earlier in the year for not playing him… even tho he hurt his shoulder.. smh.. he has mental problems…

  23. 23 GEAGLE said at 9:15 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Totally agree TOM…as bad as Bradley was, the team didn’t show Up. Sucks, but it happens from time to time…. I can assure people that the Rams arent double digits better than the Broncos…

    They say getting Blown out is better than losing a close heartbreaker….sure doesnt feels that way tho lol…
    ..
    While there is no need to over react, I’m not sure how you pick this week to not show up, playing an elite QB in his house where he is very tôugh to beat, no one in the Nation gave us any respect, and we didn’t even bother to show up? Frustrating,,,
    ,,
    Sanchez was no where near good enough, but the supporting cast didn’t do it’s part and give the back up the support we owe a backup when he gets thrust into action…starting QB goes down, up to the team to step up and rally around the backüp, yet no one bothered to show up yesterday,
    ,,
    I see people complain about the refs, and rave about the Packers…fact is, we would have lost to the Browns yesterday. We didn’t lose because of the refs, we didn’t lose because of Sanchez or the Defense, we lost because we decided not to show up.
    ..
    When the #1’ranked ST, isnt covering kick returns, fumbling returns, even the punter was off… We know for a FACT our special team is better than that…

    Dissapointing, but we are still in pace to stick to the script and finish 12-4… Heck I struggle seeing who will give us the 4th loss…by now, we should believe in the character of the coaches and these players…since FOles took over, Chip never lost two games in a row which is very impressive…hopefully that continues this week and we get back to normal…but if we play like we did yesterday, we won’t beat the Titans…we would have lost to most teams yesterday, so I can’t even chalk it up to the greatness of Rogers. Rogers is great, but we are better than that…

  24. 24 A Roy said at 9:17 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    There were many things wrong yesterday. In my mind, the fact the refs let GB hold constantly was a contributing factor as to why discount double check had all day to pick apart the secondary. That snowballed into a blizzard of points, which seemed to put everyone off their game. Different officiating crew would’ve led to a closer game. It’ll be different in the playoffs.

  25. 25 GEAGLE said at 9:20 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Refs were bad, but it wouldn’t have made a difference. We didn’t show Up to play. Simple as that…. Bye, refs werent as bad as the arizona robbery….but you can bet they would have called personal fouls if we hit Rogers the way they hit Sanchez

  26. 26 Gary Barnes said at 9:25 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    And its interesting because going into the game, that crew had called a pretty high number of penalties – cannot remember what the average per game was, but they had been pretty aggressive.

  27. 27 P_P_K said at 11:53 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    It seemed like Trent Cole was repeatedly held.

  28. 28 Daniel said at 12:45 PM on November 19th, 2014:

    And Cox.

  29. 29 GEAGLE said at 9:19 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Problems with Huff continue. Head coach prioritized securing huff in the draft…bout a week ago he was telling Eagle fans to go to hell on twitter(not that I really blame him)…yesterday he was asked about blown coverage giving up that kick return, and he wouldn’t take responsibility, instead he replied “I did exactly what my coaches instructed me to do on that play”…. Lol some how, I find that hard to believe…
    ….
    Move Over Earl Wolff, hope there is room for two in the doghouse.

    If Huff doesnt make some crazy Alshon Jeffries type leap of play in year two, I’m going to hate this kid lol

  30. 30 Anders said at 9:22 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Huff is a 3rd round draft pick, I think you expect way too much of a 3rd round draft pick.
    Also who knows who blew the coverage on the return? Consider 99.99% of fans know shit about ST play.

  31. 31 GEAGLE said at 9:26 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Lol ok

  32. 32 CrackSammich said at 9:50 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    4 strawman arguments in one sentence. You constantly elevate bad arguing to new levels.

  33. 33 Buge Halls said at 3:44 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    I guess you haven’t been watching Jordan Mathews the last few weeks…

  34. 34 Mark Sitko said at 11:43 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    WHAT – expect too much of a 3rd rounder – are you kidding? NO ROUNDER IS ALLOWED TO MAKE MISTAKES EVERY TIME THEY ARE INVOLVED IN A PLAY! Beau Allen is a 7th rounder and he is playing GREAT football – no excuses, Huff is playing like crap and needs to sit the bench with our 1st rounder until he can play without harming the team

  35. 35 Mark Sitko said at 11:45 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    When the guy catching the punt does not wave for a fair catch you run through him like a paper bag…there is no reason to stop in front of him…you don’t have to know what special teams IS to understand that…come on man

  36. 36 P_P_K said at 11:52 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    My problem was that we took him in the 3rd. I thought that was too early for a guy like him.

  37. 37 daveH said at 4:11 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    yes so far proving to be an entire draft class too early.
    ..
    that dope should stop reading about hisself and cut his twitter umbilical because he is making hisself look likes SUCH A FREAKING DOPE ontop of his many mistakes !!

  38. 38 Brett Smith said at 9:38 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Huff is a rook.

    In my eyes Sanchez is very inconsistent with his throws and that does not help a rookie.

  39. 39 GEAGLE said at 9:47 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    BREAKING NEWS!!! Huff is a rookie!!!!! Lol jk..
    ..
    Not exactly sure what Huffs ST play and his mouth have to do with our backup QB, but OK… I’m not the typical dumb eagle fan that expects instant gratification and doesnt understand youñg player development cycles, so I’m not at All Down on Huff as a WR… I known ts one of the hardest position to transition to as a rookie…..Nothing Huff has done, makes me think that he can’t be a quality offensive weapon down the line..

    but I’m surprised to see these issues from a player Chip brought in that he knew so well….

    I do still think he can be a nice offensive weapon for us

  40. 40 Brett Smith said at 9:59 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Yes you are right, not Sanchez’s fault Huff blew the coverage of the punt return. But his problems within the offense are not all on him. Someone needs to hit him in stride… (and hope he doesn’t fumble fighting for extra yards 😉 )

    I think the real gaff was on the punt return. I am pretty sure Huff should have blown the guy up. He didn’t, he hesitated and the dude took it yard. But I didn’t see a fair catch signal so he should have T’d him up.

  41. 41 Mark Sitko said at 11:48 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Sanchez hit Huff in stride 2 weeks ago and the ball popped through his stupid hands and went right to a defender – Huff needs to sit the bench, that is what huff needs

  42. 42 Mark Sitko said at 11:46 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    So is Beau Allen – but he isn’t costing us games – SO IS MARCUS SMITH BUT HE ISN’T ALLOWED TO PLAY BECAUSE HE IS NOT READY – so why is the mistake that is Huff allowed to play?

  43. 43 daveH said at 4:18 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    I am loving your Huff hate .. for me I don’t mind the learning curve, I think he must lead 3rd rounders in mistakes EVER, but his attitude is exactly what gets him ripped apart!! im not on twitter but if I was id be ripping the boy just to get him all twisted up and acting like a dope!! glad others are doing this, it means im not an UtzSnack (who said NutzSack ??)

  44. 44 daveH said at 4:12 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    agree. She should know better by now for sure !!

  45. 45 pjcostello said at 8:31 AM on November 18th, 2014:

    How do you ‘prioritize’ a third round pick…? A PRIORITY is a first round pick. MAYBE an early second rounder that the other teams picking before you missed.

  46. 46 bill said at 9:23 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    “They had done a masterful job in pass pro all year…”
    We clearly have been watching different football games. Yesterday was pretty much par for the course for the season, and actually better than some games. The OL’s been the biggest issue with this team from game 1 this season. Well, the OL and Shady not taking the easy yards. I won’t be surprised to see Barkley get some game action soon, given the pounding the OL is giving up on the QBs, and the failure of the run game to be dependable enough to keep the pass attempts/game number down. I feel pretty confident that Sanchez suffered a concussion yesterday, but no one’s going to own up to it or allow him to get tested.

  47. 47 Michael Roman said at 9:27 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    I know I’m gonna take heat for this but at what point do you put some blame on Howie Roseman? He brought in Williams and Fletcher two years ago. They clearly weren’t very good last year but he Howie didn’t show much interest in upgrading. He brought in Nolan Carroll, who we figured would take over one of the starting positions — that hasn’t happened. Jaylen Watkins can’t get on field. Earl Wolff is so bad that he’s been inactive the last two weeks and we signed a guy off the street to take his place. Aqib Talib and Darrelle Revis were there to be had but we showed little to no interest. Now they’re both playing really good football for two of the elite teams in the league. I can’t rip him much for Nate Allen. It’s hard to replace both starting safeties in one off season. But what has happened to Malcom Jenkins? While he’s been solid and not getting beat, we’re not seeing him make any plays like he was earlier in the year.

    Yesterday’s loss was sobering. It’s almost hard to be excited for the remainder of the season knowing that if Rodgers, Brady, or Manning stand between us and the Lombardi trophy, we have virtually zero chance with this secondary. You want to be hopeful, but you have to be realistic too.

  48. 48 GEAGLE said at 9:32 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Actually Howie did well at CB considering the market, and sorry to inform you that Cary and Brad are better than anything you will find on this years cornerback market… And penciling in rookie CB to start in September, is something I strongly suggest against…

    Most likely we will have to draft a CB, retain our current corners, and hope the corner we draft can be ready to take our outside CB jobs come next years bye week or Midseason…..
    ..
    You can trash our corners or be down on them…but Howie can’t put a gun to a GMs head and force him to give up a quality cornerback either…. Telling you right now, don’t look at this upcoming years cornerback free agent market, it’s depressing
    ..
    Word is We liked Bradley Roby a lot last years but off the field issues steered us away from him.l.i would have prefered fuller….still, we weremt going to fix all our holes in one draft

  49. 49 RobNE said at 9:48 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    I know there are limited resources, but the Pats signed Revis and Browning this past off season. Denver signed Talib.

    The Pats had one sack last night. It’s not all about pressure from the front 7.

  50. 50 Mitchell said at 10:30 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Talib is not a high character guy is he?

  51. 51 RobNE said at 10:55 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    no he is not. I’m not saying Chip would want him, I’m just responding to comments that Howie had no chance to upgrade at all.

  52. 52 GEAGLE said at 11:25 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    TAlit ain’t coming here when Broncos and patriots would pay him. Revis isn’t worth what his name brand command.

  53. 53 Mitchell said at 1:26 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Fair enough.

  54. 54 D3FB said at 3:55 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Talib is the furthest thing from a high character guy.

  55. 55 Phits said at 11:03 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Pressure from the front line isn’t just about sacks. The point us to make the quarterback feel uncomfortable which (hopefully) leads to mistakes.

  56. 56 oreofestar said at 1:00 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    give me Harris or Jackson this year, dump Cary resign Fletch for dirt cheap like dirt dirt cheap

  57. 57 76mustang said at 1:05 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Surely the Saints and/or Texans have DBs ready to come play for us 🙂

  58. 58 Gary Barnes said at 9:35 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    I agree some of the draft/personnel issues have contributed and the secondary does need to be upgraded in the off-season, but like every aspect of the team the secondary does not play in a vacuum…

    If the pass rush gets home, the secondary will be better.

    If the offense actually performs consistently and builds a lead or, god forbid, controls the ball and minimizes Rogers chances, the secondary will be better.

    If the turnovers can be contained and the defense does not need to play for so many extra snaps, the secondary will be better.

    If the penalties can be curtailed which extends drives for the opposition or kills them for our offense, then the secondary will be better.

    You get the point, this is the ultimate team sport and every aspect needs to do its JOB well to win consistently especially against good competition like AZ, SF, GB etc.

  59. 59 Avery Greene said at 10:05 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    He might not be making plays due to the offensive coordinators. Why go toward the only player in the secondary that can make plays?

    I’m not totally upset about Roseman right now. They stayed patient with the guys they have and the front 7 sans yesterday has shown up this season. They said that these guys needed some time to learn the system and then we would see improvement. That’s the case with the front 7, but the back 4 sans Jenkins haven’t improved. They deserved the chance, now we know for sure.

    I’m not mad about Wolff either. When you pick guys in the draft, you don’t expect them to not handle the game very well. I think Huff is heading in the same direction as Wolff.

    Before the season, I think the majority of the people wanted a playoff win, and we’d look at this season as a success. We seem to be mad as if they should have been superbowl contenders this year. It takes time to turn over the roster Reid left us. I’m disappointed in the game, but let’s see how they respond over the next few weeks.

  60. 60 Jernst said at 10:23 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    I’m happy with Jenkins’ play. It’s just too easy to avoid him as a QB when the other 3 members of the starting secondary are complete garbage and our nickel CB can’t run on a bum hamstring. Dude just can’t be everywhere.

  61. 61 Jernst said at 10:28 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    We also don’t know what Howies plan was either. You only have so many resources and there’s only so many available players. Just because Revis and Talib were available doesn’t mean either wanted to come here. Sometimes you can have a good plan and things just don’t work out. Jenkins was a great signing. Nolan Carroll was a good signing. It seems like Green Bay trading up in front of us and taking Haha Clinton-Dix removed the last 1st round graded talent that we had on the board and few people if any saw that coming. If we had drafted Haha, teamed him up with Jenkins like we planned, we’d have replaced half our secondary and upgraded our DBs tremendously in one off season.

  62. 62 Brett Smith said at 9:27 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Sanchez is what he is. No need to look at a 6 week sample. Does it
    matter? Not really he is all we have for the rest of the season so no
    reason to complain about him.

    Now to complain… how do you continually throw the ball high and away on
    Sproles on the out routes? The dude is short. Stop throwing the
    jump ball… he is not Spud Webb.

    Is Ertz still on the football team?

    Bradley Fletcher is Gilligan stuck on his Island.

    I am excited about Mathews. Looks like he is everything promised.

    I think the worst thing was the smile on Rodgers face as he came to the line for the snap. That smirk was painful… l

  63. 63 P_P_K said at 11:50 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    “Bradley Fletcher is Gilligan stuck on his Island.”
    Best line of the day.

    “I am excited about Mathews. Looks like he is everything promised.”

    The dude is going to be a Pro-Bowl wr.

  64. 64 Mark F said at 9:41 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    LOL. I am looking forward to seeing what we do in the draft as far as the secondary goes…

  65. 65 Mitchell said at 10:27 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    I thought so too. I have no idea why Huff wasn’t in the returners face when he caught the ball. Huff just stopped 5 yards away and let him run.

  66. 66 P_P_K said at 11:49 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    We were yelling, “Here comes a fumble.” Looked like Huff has a chance to destroy the returner.

  67. 67 peteike said at 12:41 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    I think people forget sometimes that it can be easy to make the first guy miss esp when hes slowing down to a halt from full speed and then trying to guess the returners first move. At that point hes frozen, then again he could/should have been closer w no fair catch. You almost always see returners beat the first man down if they have any kind of room.

  68. 68 Nicodemus_09 said at 4:20 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    You absolutely aren’t wrong about that but the returner literally didn’t move & Huff blew right by him. Totally inexcusable bonehead move that has a lot of company in that kids short but already checkered history with the team. His gaffs are quickly becoming legend in my book.

  69. 69 daveH said at 4:26 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    agree. I think Huff likes UtzSnacks (that’s my new funny insult)

  70. 70 GEAGLE said at 9:41 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    What’s frustrating is that before Nolan came to philly and became our Dime CB, most of his past experience is playing outside CB… Bradley Fletcher also happens to have experience playing slot CB…so really, we can move Nolan outside and make Bradley the Dime corner whenever we want….frustrating that it seems like Billy won’t make the switch….

    Think Billy looks at it like, most of our defenders sporadically have bad games like Bradley Fletcher, but it’s not as obvious to the fans. Easy for fans to see a CB not playing well…… I am NOT much of a bradley Fan. Personally I wouldnt mind extending hm and having him in a depth emergency role, but that’s probably not likely. I would welcome Brad back, high character guy, versatile to play inside and outside…but I don’t want him as a starter, would love him as a backup tho, Prob wishful thinking ….

    This upcoming cornerback free agent market is depressing!

  71. 71 Anthony Hart said at 9:57 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Revis, Byron Maxwell, Chris Culiver probably the only guys who fit the size mold and aren’t over 30

  72. 72 Avery Greene said at 9:58 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    I don’t like either of our starting CBs. I like Boykin in the nickel, but I think he’s been playing hurt all year. He just doesn’t have that speed he had last year.

    I’m not upset with our starting CBs. They are what they are, average players that can’t do anything great. I’m more upset w/Billy Davis for giving single coverage to A-A-Ron.

  73. 73 Jernst said at 10:19 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Couldn’t have said it better! Boykin is clearly hurt. He can’t open up and hit top speed with his hamstring. He’s ok in short areas but when he’s running down field WRs are just blowing by him.

    Outside, this team needs a big upgrade at CB next year. Ideally, I’d like to cut Williams, sign a top 15 FA CB if one comes available, and spend a high draft pick on another while signing Fletcher to a cheap deal to compete with Nolan for depth.

  74. 74 Mitchell said at 10:35 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Watched Ladarius Gunter from The U last night. Hes big 6’2″ and I saw him play press/off man and some zone. Also saw him play some safety this year. He is very good at tracking the ball and seems like he has good speed for his size. Take a look at his game tape. I think you’ll like him.

  75. 75 Ark87 said at 5:01 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Yeah, Fletcher just came off of a dominant performance, and he’s a skilled guy but when he is outclassed in talent, it shows bad. Speed always gives him trouble, and the rules have really screwed him, just has to watch them run by him all day, nothing he can do about it. This league just isn’t for him anymore.

  76. 76 Daniel said at 9:49 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    I still can’t figure out why the o-line look so bad. What in the world was the story there?

    The dline could get zero traction at the start of the game — I really think the equipment manager needs to be smacked around for this one. I don’t know how many lost opportunities we had from slipping on that turf.

    Dlinemen were on the ground every play. I saw at least Sproles, McCoy miss opportunities from slipping. Saw big passes giving up from our secondary slipping. That’s bush league stuff. Have to get the basics down from the support crew.

    First half with bad cleats – 30-6. Third quarter with fixed cleats: 9-7.

  77. 77 bdbd20 said at 9:53 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Apparently Jimmy Kempski was the scapegoat.

  78. 78 RobNE said at 10:07 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    where is he going? just read his good bye

  79. 79 bdbd20 said at 10:08 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Jimmy Kempski ‏@JimmyKempski 32m32 minutes ago
    I’ll be the Eagles writer for PhillyVoice. Very excited about the opportunity, and what we’re going to do. More to come

  80. 80 RobNE said at 10:10 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    what’s PhillyVoice?

  81. 81 MAR2691 said at 11:28 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    I expect Jimmy is doing very well. According to the Philly mag writeup, it seems like a serious startup by experienced people in local media. Eagles beat would have to be a key part of what they are trying to build. Kempski deserves to be rewarded, he did after all break the biggest off-season story of this year,

  82. 82 Anders said at 1:06 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    I also like the fact they are hiring a “blogger” instead of recycling a burned out “real” journalist.

    Some of the best writers in philly right now is bloggers

  83. 83 D3FB said at 3:52 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Les and Geoff are unbearable. They turn everything into a negative. Maclin scores a deep touchdown? Desean would have scored a 10 point touchdown. Brandon Graham has a revival? Earl Thomas is the best safety in the league. The Eagles win? They didn’t earn enough style points for the BCS voters.

  84. 84 Anders said at 1:05 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    New Philly website

    http://www.poynter.org/mediawire/top-stories/279893/philly-com-alums-join-news-startup-philly-voice/

  85. 85 knighn said at 9:54 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Fuster Cluck.

  86. 86 P_P_K said at 11:46 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Yup, about sums it up.

  87. 87 RobNE said at 10:10 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    of all the problems, the biggest should be fixing the running game. This will make life easier on Sanchez and the passing game, keep the defense off the field a little etc.

    After the Pats game against the Chiefs, the Pats OL was a complete mess, the end of days was upon them and then yesterday they run for 240 against the Colts. We desperately need a game like that.

    I really don’t want to hear next Monday that the Titans put 8 in the box, so we passed all game. I don’t give a st. The team needs to get its running game moxie back.

  88. 88 GEAGLE said at 11:49 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    I hear that!! Fuck how many people they put in the box, if they stack the box, friggin get out of shotgun, go against your normal “spread them out and run” philosophy..but a 3rd Tackle in fhe game, Celek and Casey, Beau allen at fullback, and impose your damn will against the Defense…. There are more ways to run then spreading them out from the gun…switch it the hell up… Defenses aren’t spreading out. We aren’t getting the QB play to force them to not stack the box, so fock who is in the Box, go with a Power set that teams won’t have prepared for cuz chip never does it, impose our run game and force the damn run to work!!
    ..
    When they stack the box and don’t spread out against your shotgun run, you have to throw. But u can ditch the damn shotgun and lineup in other ways where u can still run against 8 man front..u just can’t run out of shotgun against 8 men and I’m tired of pretending shotgun is the only damn way to run the ball…screw the gun, and ADJUST damn it!

  89. 89 76mustang said at 1:03 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Would love to see this approach, with Polk as the battering ram. Pound on the D, and then insert Sproles and Shady as change of pace. Would be a whole new arsenal array for D Coordinators to fret over. Chip says he’s an equal opportunity scorer, want to see his approach to a power rush attack.

  90. 90 Jernst said at 10:14 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    You forgot the coaches, Tommy. I think they failed too. Couldn’t understand our defensive game plan at all. Chip has said multiple times, “with guys like Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, the really great QBs in this league, you can’t just sit back and play coverage, because they’ll just sit back there and pick you apart. You have to be able to mix it up and confuse them to even have a chance.” And, then what do we do against Rodgers? We sit back, play straight coverage, don’t even fake a blitz, and we let him sit back all day with no pressure picking us apart.

    And, where has our screen game gone. Ever since the Wild Card game last year when New Orleans seemed to be able to diagnose every one of our screens immediately, it seems that every team we’ve played has been able to sniff out our screens before the play even starts. Am I the only one that is concerned that this seems to be the only thing Chip hasn’t been able to overcome schematically. I just can’t believe with our stable of excellent pass catching RBs, why they are not more involved in the passing game, and why we can’t slow down other teams pass rushes with what should be a potent screen game.

  91. 91 Avery Greene said at 10:25 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    How many touches did Sproles have? I know Sanchez missed him a couple times, but they should have tried him on some more screens. I think he had like 2 touches yesterday.

  92. 92 Jernst said at 10:39 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Every time he touches the ball something positive happens. Gotta design some more opportunities for him. I’d rather see him playing slot that Josh Huff on some plays. I love Chip as a program builder and HC, but I’ve been underwhelmed by his play calling this year.

  93. 93 jay ray said at 11:15 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    What?

    Billy tried everything, and nothing worked. The screen game was probably the lone bright spot of the offense last night.

  94. 94 P_P_K said at 11:47 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    I was going to write the same thing about the coaching. Maybe Davis dialed up more blitzes than we realize but it sure didn’t look like it while watching the game.

  95. 95 MaggieMagpie said at 3:38 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    My concern about coaching were the seemingly endless calls trying to run McCoy into 8 D linemen. Can’t anybody else run the ball? somewhere besides straight up the middle? Yes the blocking was iffy, so all the more reason to TRY SOMETHING ELSE! sorry, couldn’t see the whole game, but that p!$$ed me off.

  96. 96 MFlick said at 10:15 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    How many games now has Huff made a 7 point mistake? It seems like every game he played. And every game it is something new:

    Fumble at the goal line
    Batted pass for a pic in the red zone
    Now the special teams PR deer in the headlight moment.

  97. 97 Avery Greene said at 10:26 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    He’s moving into Wolff territory right now.

  98. 98 MaggieMagpie said at 3:35 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Rookie!

  99. 99 eagleyankfan said at 3:51 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    I don’t agree at all. There are plenty of rookies drafted after him not making half the mistakes he’s made.

  100. 100 fran35 said at 10:23 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    I don’t think the team quit as a whole. However, I definitely saw some guys on defense just quit trying to tackle. In particular, I remember one specific play where Lacy broke about 7 tackles en route to a TD. When you watch the replay, Cary Williams is just standing there, a few feet away watching while lacy trucked guys. It reminded me of a nnamdi or DRC moment. So we can say the team kept fighting as a whole, but there were individual players who quit at times. The tape backs that assertion

  101. 101 Cafone said at 11:03 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Nate Allen completely whiffed on that play.

    Though the most comically bad tackle of the night might have been Matthews trying to shoulder tackle Peppers. Well, make that the second most comical, next to Huff.

  102. 102 peteike said at 12:38 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    ya cant believe you guys watched that long, I saw the replay on the highlights and I was watching game with a Packers fan. The network changed games it was such a blowout. I agree, for a talker like Cary I dont expect quit in a blowout, have some pride there.

  103. 103 fran35 said at 2:10 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    I thought the tackling efforts last night reminded me of Juan Castillo’s defense. Or maybe that was just my PTSD flashback seeing Casey Matthews starting at MLB again.

  104. 104 76mustang said at 10:42 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    This is the NFL – last year the Eagles face-planted in Minnesota and then came back with a dominating performance against Chicago. Will be a good measure of team and coaches on how they fare against Tennessee.

    Denver looked bad yesterday as well. Watch the media jump on the Patriots and Packer bandwagons…Arizona still looks good, even Detroit remains formidable. There’s still a lot of football to be played, and it’s cold weather season – Eagles need to shake this one off and refocus.

  105. 105 RobNE said at 11:00 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    The Pats just beat the crap out of Denver and the Colts. They deserve a bandwagon right now. Undrafted journeyman ran for 200 yards.

    yes I’m jealous.

  106. 106 anon said at 11:03 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    pats believe in big backs that can run people over.

  107. 107 Nicodemus_09 said at 4:38 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Living amongst Patriot fans is absolutely unbearable right now. I’m SURROUNDED. BARF.

  108. 108 RobNE said at 10:58 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Huff’s mistakes seem to be mostly physical and if mental, they are mental mistakes during plays. This is all fixable.

    I don’t see the comparison to Wolff, who apparently has a mental make up that has pissed off Chip. Chip knows Huff from Oregon, he loves his mental make up.

  109. 109 Cafone said at 11:00 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Sanchez missed Riley Cooper, or Cooper was too damn slow to get under a perfectly thrown ball? I think it was the latter.

    About not giving up… How is Cooper stepping out of bounds and leaving yards on the field to avoid hits not giving up?

  110. 110 A_T_G said at 11:21 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    I think you may be viewing things through a biased lens. Cooper cannot get faster mid-play any more than Sproles could get taller. Those were some bad throws.

  111. 111 Anders said at 1:10 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    If the guy is open, it is up to the QB to hit him, cant blame the WR for getting open if the QB overthrows him.

  112. 112 fran35 said at 2:07 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    But wait…he had the CB and the safety beat. So, was it his speed that caused the problem? Or could it be because Sanchez is the same QB that played for the Jets? The same guy who “was a product of poor talent and coaching”? The same QB who had Dustin Keller, Santana Moss, Braylon Edwards and Plax to throw to? Please, I am not jumping off the Sanchez bandwagon. That damn bus left the parking lot without me. The guy is a back up QB.

  113. 113 Ben said at 11:01 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Feelin’ the same way Tommy. That was so bad it didn’t even hurt. I just keep telling myself it’s good to get our one dud game of the year out of the way now. Plus, this should light a fire under the teams ass to show them that this is how you have to play if you want to mess with the best.

  114. 114 GEAGLE said at 11:23 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Instead of people being jackass talking out their ass defending huff for being a rookie, do the dopes understand what he said?
    ..
    Asked about the blown coverage “I did exactly what the coaches wanted me to do, if I played the way I know, I would have made that play”..
    ..
    Are the blowhards really going to defend him throwing coaches under the bus to the media? He should know better because he is a rookie? Lol really? Yous sure u don’t want to go edit your posts? Lol

  115. 115 eagleyankfan said at 3:48 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Huff — he’s on the weekly report where something bad always happens. Tipped ball for int or missed easy tackle on special teams or fumbles or drops a pass.
    Each draftee has expectations, depending on a which round they were drafted. He should have been drafter 6th round or later and so far, his play has backed up my feelings about him and my continued questions as to why he was drafted where he was picked by Chip.

  116. 116 Mark Sitko said at 11:38 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    I hear you on everyone is to blame, but there is no question – FLETCHER needs to be gone next year. He simply can not be the CB covering on the strong side with Allen on his side…Allen may need to go too – but Fletcher is simply unacceptable to return. I am not sure if you have access to stats like this but how many more times is Fletcher targeted a game compared to Cary and Boykin? I bet you the ratio is staggering…that is where I would throw it.

  117. 117 jay ray said at 11:51 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Truly amazing how many people fail to complete their own analysis. Get rid of Fletcher and Allen, and then……………?

  118. 118 GEAGLE said at 11:53 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    People just assume u can pencil in a rookie corner next September and award him a starting job immediately smh

  119. 119 Mitchell said at 1:29 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Well hopefully you would be able to place Carrol there or even Watkins but apparently Billy D doesn’t want Carrol out there. Don’t forget our friend Reynolds GEAGS because we are some of the only ones who actually remember him!

  120. 120 fran35 said at 2:03 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    We bring back Mark McMillan at CB. Sports science will help him play, even though he is 45. Oh wait…..Mark McMillan was only 5’8. Bad idea, his measurables won’t cut it with our stellar secondary.

  121. 121 MaggieMagpie said at 3:33 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    True. It’s so easy to shout “Off with their heads,” but don’t bother me with details.

  122. 122 Mark Sitko said at 11:44 AM on November 18th, 2014:

    Someone called out my failure to “complete” this analysis because I did not mention a plan to replace our LCB and SS – the guy seems to have erased the comment but it is a valid point.

    First. LCB is not going to be filled with a Rookie. Bring in a FA and have them challenge Carroll and Watkins for the spot. On the other side is where we draft a top 100 pick to challenge Cary (have not even started to look at college kids yet so I have no idea how the CB crop looks).

    As for Allen, if we can find another Jenkins this FA period I say go for it. But Allen might be ok with a decent CB playing on his side…right now every single 9 route is going over Fletcher so Allen is forced to run back and help him out…the other team just needs to draw his attention with a TE or mid breaking route and he is toast. Not his fault, easy strategy if you look at our 11 on D – the clear weakness is the top left corner of the field – and you see it in targets each week…

  123. 123 GEAGLE said at 11:39 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Love this ridiculous city lol… Prisoners of the moment. Last week they wanted to trash foles, they loved the sanchize. Now they hate samchez, half want foles back the other half want to draft a franchise QB all because of a game lol. These idiots who think they want to draft a QB, don’t even have the patience or intelligence to let the drafted QB play his 3 developmental years of ups and downs. The kid we draft won’t develop in the time frame the fans who think they want to draft a QB will be willing to give the kid…lol

    Over reacting to a game would mean that today Peyton Manning and the Broncos are getting too old and regressing losing by double digits to pathetic Rams.
    ..
    Andrew Luck would be a bum for letting the Pattiots whip him at home,
    ..
    saints and Drew Bree’s would be garbage for getting their ass kicked at home by garbage Andy dalton.

    packers wouldn’t have won yesterday because they would jav had to bench Rogers after getting blown out two games ago against the saints.
    ..
    Russell Wilson going thru some struggles….
    ..
    ITS NEVER as bad as it seems, or as good as it seems, stupid to judge a team off only the most recent game..

    It be one thing if we didn’t turn it over, if we got pressure on Rogers, if top ranked special team had a great game yet we still were no match for Rogera and got blown out…but yesterday wasn’t close to our best, and we would have lost to most teams yesterday that we would normally destroy… It sucks, but we are capable of so much more than we saw yesterday… Chip n foles never lost two games in a row, and to have success we need to go into the playoffs on a win streak..that is still within our grasp…

    Still on course for 12-4 and I’m not even sure who is going to give us that 4th loss Cuz our schedule is perfectly winnable unless we decide not to show up like yesterday

  124. 124 ACViking said at 11:49 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    GE wrote:

    “saints and Drew Bree’s would be garbage for getting their ass kicked at home by garbage Andy dalton.”
    _______________

    I think that this season, the Saints and Drew Brees aren’t very good. In fact, they’re lousy.

    But you’re overall point — fans as “prisoners of the moment” — is well taken.

    When people are as invested emotionally in something over which they have no control — an irrational act, to be sure — as fans are in their teams, disappointment expresses itself in irrational ways.

    And those irrational responses pass as fast as the next good thing comes along.

    Not true of all fans.

    But I still have a hole in my basement wall from Desaun Foster’s TD run in the 2002 NFC title game. I’ll never fix it to remind myself how angry I still am over that game. Totally IRRATIONAL!!!

  125. 125 GEAGLE said at 11:51 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    I don’t disagree but the saints blew out the team that blew us out yesterday two games ago. That division is a disgrace. 7 wins will win u that division

  126. 126 ACViking said at 11:58 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    I know.

    Weird season.

    But generally speaking, the Saints have taken a big step backward this year.

    And when Brees leaves, Sean Peyton would be smart to leave with him . . .

    Like Belichick after Brady’s done.

  127. 127 Bert's Bells said at 2:49 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Peyton -who I think probably one of the best coaches of the decade, #2 even -is nearing the end of his string in New Orleans.

    Go by what Bill Walsh said about coaching tenure, it’s almost always on the mark.

  128. 128 shah8 said at 5:53 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    As a rule, offensive masterminds do reasonably well reloading to a new QB. Mike McCarthy from Aaron Brooks to Favre and Rodgers. Or Mike McCoy’s work in Denver to Philip Rivers. Martz even made Bulger decent, and so on. Defensive masterminds have greater trouble with reloading defenses.

  129. 129 Anders said at 1:03 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    What if you have wanted to draft Mariota since start of last year? 😛

  130. 130 GEAGLE said at 6:31 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    And I want a friggin pony

  131. 131 anon said at 1:29 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    That’s not true. The Colts have won games against marquee teams.

    When’s the last this team has won a game they weren’t supposed to win? We have 0 statement victories as an organization in a few years (i’m going to include the last couple of years of AR’s tenure).

    If we did have wins against marquee teams it’d be different..

    Personally, for QBs Foles and Sanchez are playing the same. We have Foles for free for another year, so he’s got one more year to figure it out. Our situation is way better than the Skins.

  132. 132 peteike said at 2:49 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    the colts at Indy? I never buy this tough opponent angle. You beat whos in front of you, if it gets you to the playoffs then it starts over. Very few statement teams except for 2 or 3 every year, even less this year. I think being on a roll and having momentum is more important than who you beat. Id say winning tough games matters and coming from behind etc but not against who. Its the playing well when it matters thats important. I think GBs D can still be exposed although its playing better. They just have to hope they are still hot come playoff time. We have to move past this game and hope they can get hot if they make it to playoffs.

  133. 133 ACViking said at 11:39 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Re: Aftermath

    The playoff-consequences are the only take-away from this game that means anything — since blowouts happen and rarely portend continued failure.

    For seeding purposes, if the Eagles end up tied with GB — who I assume will win the Central — then obviously, the Eagles would have to visit Lambeau again in the playoffs.

    Not that the Birds can’t win there. Just that Rodgers has a history of performing measurably better at home than on the road.

    As for AZ, I don’t think facing them at home again gives the Cards nearly the advantage that GB has at home.

    Other than that, I don’t think yesterday’s game means a hill of beans.

    The Birds had a bad day against the best QB in the NFL right now.

    Blowouts like that are a once-per year thing for good teams. And the Eagles are a good team.

  134. 134 jay ray said at 11:48 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    The Packers probably won’t win the Central, but they can definitely win the North.

  135. 135 ACViking said at 11:51 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    JR:

    Thanks for clearing that up.

    I’m living in another time, obviously.

    Correction to be made.

  136. 136 botto said at 12:02 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    maybe we should make sure the eagles make the playoffs first

  137. 137 Gary Barnes said at 12:51 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    It definitely means more than a hill of beans…lol. Every game has a lot of meaning and can impact our playoff chances/seeding. The Eagles will definitely need to battle hard to hold off Dallas and get good seeding for the playoffs….they lose tiebreakers to SF, AZ and now GB all of which should be in the mix for seeding. If we lose the division to Dallas, we’re going to be in a precarious position….we need to absolutely win the division and go from there.

  138. 138 ACViking said at 1:12 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    GB:

    I don’t disagree with you.

    What I wrote was based on the assumption that the Eagles at worst split 2 games with Dallas and win the rest, leaving them at 12-4 — and in 1st place in the East.

    As for AZ, even if they win top seed, going there versus GB is a huge difference for obvious reasons.

    Regarding SF, the 49ers they’re 6-4 now — with 3 games left against Seattle (2) and AZ.

    I don’t see them running the table.

    But if they do, and AZ still wins the west, the Eagles would still be at home against SF.

    If the Eagles have to go to SF — because the 49ers somehow win out and win the West — then you’re talking about a red-hot 49ers team at home.

    If Settle somehow wins out and takes the West, then that’s a red-hot team hosting a playoff game against the Eagles.

    Anyway, at 12-4, the Eagles could very likely end up with the 3rd seed in the NFC.

    Right now, I believe it would be GB and AZ ahead of them. And, as I wrote, going to AZ for a playoff game is nothing like going to GB.

    But for those other teams to leapfrog the Eagles, they’ll need to go 6-0. My prediction at least

  139. 139 Gary Barnes said at 1:29 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Thanks ACViking for clarifying. I agree the Eagles still have control of their success, but they better get on the stick and play more consistently vs good teams or the run will be quite short or may end with missing the playoffs unfortunately…

    You have the Eagles going 5-1 to close out the season, losing only to Dallas. That is possible and 12-4 would put them in the running for that 3rd spot.

    I think the games vs Dallas & Seattle, based on how they’ve played against good teams, are going to be severe tests. The game tape is out there and those teams seem to have figured out the Eagles and how to beat them.

    This also assumes we beat TN, NYG and WSH which again I think is possible, but going 5-1 vs the division is not easy.

    Obviously, the games vs Dallas are the key; if we lose both we likely lose the division and thus are thrown into the WC pool. If we lose to Seattle, that will make it even tougher. Thankfully, two of those tough games are at home, but this loss to GB cuts the margin pretty close and they need to play much better.

  140. 140 ACViking said at 2:12 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    GB wrote:

    “I think the games vs Dallas & Seattle, based on how they’ve played against good teams, are going to be severe tests.”
    _______________

    I think you’re spot on.

    The Seattle game offers great intrigue. The Seahawks have their own struggles. But they’re dangerous.

    It could be a helluva game.

    If the Eagles lose that game, the could actually miss the playoffs altogether — again, assuming a split of games w/ Dallas, and some other things happening.

  141. 141 P_P_K said at 11:55 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Tommy lakes a goog point about the Eagles playing hard for 60 minutes. At least the team didn’t throw in the towel. It shows guts to keep fighting when you’re getting your butt kicked.

  142. 142 ACViking said at 12:00 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Others didn’t see it that way.

    Not saying Ruben Frank is right about anything ever.

    Only that he saw a different level of intensity than T-law.

  143. 143 fran35 said at 3:13 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Not sure that I agree with Tommy completely. This wasn’t a 2012 quit job, but I didn’t see 100% effort from the team, especially the defense.

  144. 144 GEAGLE said at 11:55 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Wow boy am in the dark this week. Just realized Gurley tore his acl… Hope that kid bought insurance

  145. 145 ACViking said at 11:59 AM on November 17th, 2014:

    Did not know that.

    What the heck happened?

    Value pick for some team loaded w/ draft choices in Rd 3 or Rd 4 — unless Gurley comes back for another year of college to try to jack up his rookie contract.

  146. 146 BreakinAnklez said at 12:30 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    In garbage time of a blow out game…dumb move (yet again) by Richt

  147. 147 ACViking said at 12:41 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Damned shame.

    Richt must have wanted Gurley to get live reps since he’d missed the past few games.

    Sort of like Kelly keeping the 1st-team offense in yesterday in the 4th Quarter to give them more live reps with Sanchez. Playin’ with fire.

  148. 148 Anders said at 1:02 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    getting picked in 3rd round > chance of blowing out the other knee.

  149. 149 BreakinAnklez said at 12:30 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    UGa bought him a $2.5M policy

  150. 150 T_S_O_P said at 12:03 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    [b]When the bright spot for the game is that no one died, I think that gives you an idea just what an ugly day it was.[/b]
    This line is certainly a second bright spot. Thanks Tommy, it bought me real joy.

  151. 151 botto said at 12:38 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    we already knew about everything already that happened in this game. we penciled in this game as a loss from day 1.
    Rodgers is too good for our secondary and corners. at home he is unbeatable.
    sanchez will be ok and I was excited for him to get in there the last couple of weeks, but yesterday I was wishing for Foles, as soon as we were down because I just think Foles doesn’t get as rattled to give the game away.
    the pick 6 was a killer. we wouldn’t have won with Foles but I would have felt more comfortable in that situation.
    We will bounce back but we aren’t not strong enough to do any damage in the playoffs right now. sanchez can beat the titans.
    but we are nothing with a running game. NOTHING!

  152. 152 Ark87 said at 12:48 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Can’t help but feel if the road to the superbowl is through Greenbay, then the road ends there. That’s one of those games…yeah we might get to the playoffs but there is just no way, maybe next time we could make it more competitive, but we are going to need another year.

  153. 153 P_P_K said at 2:49 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    I think that’s reasonable. GB may be the best team in the NFC. Let’s play them again in the NFC Finals and be more competitive. I’d be willing to call that a successful season.

  154. 154 76mustang said at 1:10 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    How ’bout those LOLSkin!! (deflection attempt)…

  155. 155 Anders said at 2:02 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Did you see Desean Jackson’s instantgram after the game?

    http://instagram.com/p/vgJr0buNoA/

  156. 156 P_P_K said at 2:47 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Is this really from DeSean? If so, some of his teammates will want to kick his butt/

  157. 157 A_T_G said at 2:53 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Yup, it is real:

    http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2270401-is-desean-jackson-calling-out-his-redskins-teammates-on-instagram

    Get your popcorn ready.

  158. 158 MaggieMagpie said at 3:28 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    A quote from Explorer51 on 24/7:

    “Deep thoughts on DeSean Jackson’s Instagram: ‘You can’t do epic [bleep] with basic people’

    By Scott Allen November 17 at 9:33 AM

    DeSean Jackson shared some canned wisdom via Instagram the morning after Washington’s 27-7 loss to the Buccaneers.

    “Top of the Week !! & this how I’m feeling !!,” the Redskins wide receiver writes.

    “You can’t do epic [bleep] with basic people,” his post reads.

    (Via DeSean Jackson’s Instagram; edited for language)

    Deep. Maybe Jackson started Ben Tate instead of Jonas Gray on his fantasy team. You really can’t expect to win your weekly fantasy matchup (an epic feat) with basic Ben Tate contributing zero points. Or maybe it’s about something else.

    Jackson seems to enjoy re-posting quotes on Instagram. He followed the one above by posting this:

    “Think about it !! In reality they only love u when u doing something for them !! The moment U don’t they Hate U & sayin U ain’t Sh*t !! But at the end of the Day ima Have my own Bac !!”

  159. 159 Anders said at 4:00 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Its him, he even linked it from his twitter account

  160. 160 Michael Winter Cho said at 2:58 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Wow….

  161. 161 Mitchell said at 3:22 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Wii Shuld has KEPTD Deeshawn!

  162. 162 shah8 said at 5:57 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    This is entirely correct.

    You can’t do epic shit with basic people, and I have a feeling this is directed at Jay Gruden, who is one of those coaches who loves his system such that he is not wise to being flexible, or adjusting it to personnel. He’d rather lose with bad QB running things the way he wants than deal with a QB he has to cater to. The media might be all chattering on his side, but I bet most of the other smart GMs have took some notice about his attitude.

  163. 163 Mitchell said at 1:25 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    The Sanchize cometh and the Sanchize taketh away.

  164. 164 GermanEagle said at 1:30 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    I don’t know how anyone can be angry with the Eagles coming off a bye…

  165. 165 Tumtum said at 1:37 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Had a 50$ bet with a buddy. He gave me 7, but backed out when he realized the real spread. I wouldn’t even give him 6.5. Hahaha….sucker…. 8(

  166. 166 Mr. Toledo said at 1:37 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    dont wanna make too big a deal out of this..but this is a game where i
    feel like we really missed foles. the man does make mistakes but when we
    needed sanchez to start slinging the ball the team pretty much
    completely fell apart. i think at his best sanchez is in the upper tier
    of back up quarterbacks as in he can beat mid range teams and keep the
    train rolling for the most part…weve seen foles play from behind and get us back into games….just thought yesterday was a time where the team really missed foles

  167. 167 Matt said at 2:12 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Foles wouldn’t have made a difference yesterday, the game was over after the first quarter. But I do agree that Foles has alot of the intangibles you look for in a QB and seems to manage to put together some “clutch” drives even when he hasn’t played well earlier in the game. The thing that worries me about Sanchez is that his play seems to be confidence driven. We saw it in New York when the situation around him wasn’t ideal and he was a disaster from the pressure surrounding him. We saw it yesterday when we fell behind big. I think he’ll be alright since yesterday was an anomaly, but if the game is close and within reach we want Sanchez to be playing his best, not pressing and making bad decisions.

  168. 168 Mr. Toledo said at 2:30 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    yes. the look on sanchez’s face yesterday was all too familiar with the face he consistently had as a jet. i believe sanchez can still get us to a comfortable spot in the playoffs… but the next time we see rodgers come playoff time….id much rather be in a shootout with foles at the helm than sanchez

  169. 169 A_T_G said at 2:58 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    I said he looked like he was pouting because things weren’t fair.

    He got hit in the head and it wasn’t called. Everything went right for the Packers. And when things went wrong, his face and body language said, “See, there is another one. It isn’t fair.”

    He was right, the game wasn’t fair yesterday. They were better than us. That isn’t how a leader acts, though.

  170. 170 fran35 said at 3:11 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    I agree. Even Sanchez’ quotes after the game irked me.

  171. 171 anon said at 3:33 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Really? I thought he had a pretty good press conference. Said GB had a great game, said he made a lot of mistakes but that the team will stick together and they’ll fix mistakes.

  172. 172 MaggieMagpie said at 3:20 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    According to Aikman, Sanchez was targetted at least twice. At least once was helmet to helmet. Why wasn’t it called? Remember Vincent?

    “Baker didn’t do anything wrong with that hit,” said Troy Vincent, the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations. “When you look at the rule, he didn’t do anything illegal. People can say it’s a cheap shot and you can talk about whether it might fall under unsportsmanlike conduct. But when you know the rule and you look at the play, **he didn’t hit him in the head. He didn’t hit him in the neck.** We looked at it. I looked at it very closely. He’s not going to be fined for that.”

    Different rules for different players/teams apparently.

  173. 173 A_T_G said at 7:36 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    No, without a doubt, both hits should have drawn flags and extended the drives. They were missed calls.

    But they were missed, and Sanchez never recovered.

  174. 174 oreofestar said at 1:38 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    reading hogshaven they are screaming about trading up for the top QB the bastards never learn

  175. 175 BC1968 said at 2:13 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Oxycontin is composed of chemicals, chemicals have to do with science, add some football in and what do you get? Sports science.

  176. 176 ACViking said at 2:14 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Or do you get football players feeling no pain?

    Both, perhaps?

  177. 177 BC1968 said at 2:19 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    This stuff has been going on for years. The DEA really don’t want to bother with this. Somehow I think the trail leads all the back to this. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

  178. 178 ACViking said at 2:37 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Why do you think the DEA’s looking at this at all?

    Good publicity?

    I’m guessing that the cost of conducting yesterday’s spot investigation of the Docs would have been better spent on — just spit-balling here — doing something to target the drug gangs on America’s Southern border that routinely kill people, including innocent folks.

    But that’s just me talking as an ex-federal prosecutor.

  179. 179 BC1968 said at 2:51 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Considering they spent no more than 5 minutes looking at the 49ers and then let them go along their merry way,(Some more merry than others I would bet). What a waste of time, as little as it was. That’s if that report on the 5 minutes is true.

  180. 180 MaggieMagpie said at 3:15 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Or how about updating some of the textbooks still used in too many schools? Along with some teachers’ salaries? Sorry I am big on a *quality* education.

  181. 181 anon said at 3:30 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    after school programs, etc.

  182. 182 eagleyankfan said at 3:43 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Where do you stand on this “core” garbage? Clearly known where I stand …

  183. 183 D3FB said at 3:38 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    I’d imagine it had something to do with the lawsuit against the league by former players who became addicted to prescription painkillers.

    As far as a better use of DEA time, they have been waging a “war on drugs” for 30 years with the latin american gangs, with little success. There is too much money to be made to ever successfully reduce supply, any results will likely come from the demand side of the equation.

  184. 184 Ark87 said at 2:19 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Worst day ever, can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard : “pretender” and “exposed” today

  185. 185 BC1968 said at 2:22 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    You mean the same labels that were attached to the Patriots after the Kansas City game, or the ones attached to the Packers after the Saints game? Actually, twice for the Pats. I remember Dolphins fans claiming it was over for NE after the first game of the season.

  186. 186 OregonDucker said at 2:25 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Don’t forget Denver!

  187. 187 ACViking said at 2:44 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Eagles v. Denver in 2013?

    Or Rams v. Denver in 2014?

    Denver’s lost home-field advantage in the AFC for this season.

    And New England’s on a mission.

    Denver should be very concerned today. Not so for the Eagles (IMO).
    _______________

    I don’t put much stock in early season blow-outs, before coaches know what they have and can start making adjustments — especially a guy like Belichick.

    And I put just as much stock in late-season blow-outs, like yesterday. They happen.

    But what happened to Denver — w/ 2 losses in the last 3 games — was no blow-out. That team was shut down. Very different.

    At least for me.

  188. 188 anon said at 3:30 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    yeah after getting smashed by NE you’d think they’d have a “statement” game against the Rams… But i think the rams are better than we think they are they’ve beaten SF, SEA and now Denver this season with NO QB to speak of.

  189. 189 Mac said at 4:20 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    I heard the Rams have a picture of Dan Snyder up in their locker room and all the players give it a high five before practice and games for good luck.

  190. 190 Ark87 said at 2:32 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    They had doubts to begin with, saying we are 1-3 vs half decent teams and all that. Either way, being a proud eagles fan has a price. Makes you and easy target on days like these.

  191. 191 A_T_G said at 3:04 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    And the same labels that were applied to Tommy when he went to the Megan Fox movie wearing a trench coat…

  192. 192 botto said at 3:57 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    its a bit easier to bounce back when you have Brady and a decent corner back or two…

  193. 193 OregonDucker said at 2:24 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    TURF and CLEATS – The OL and DL got no traction. WR slipped and the QB footing was bad. Conspiracy by groundskeepers to give the Packers an edge. It worked, we sucked. 🙂

  194. 194 ACViking said at 2:34 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    I wonder how the playing field was different from last season — when the Eagles visited Lambeau on November 10, 2013.

    I don’t recall any footing problems last season for the Birds.

  195. 195 OregonDucker said at 2:43 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    You know, they said in the game telecast that the Eagles have exactly the same turf and that it can be a real problem. It seems to me we should have had the best chance to take TURF out of the equation, but the slips and traction problems by our players were unmistakable.

  196. 196 ACViking said at 2:47 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    I heard that and kinda scratched my head.

    Noticeable traction problems this year in GB.

    But I don’t remember any team — home or opponent — slipping at the Linc like yesterday.

    It almost seemed like Soldier Field, without the large chucks of turf flying up.

  197. 197 A_T_G said at 3:03 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    I think it may be an issue of latitude. They continue to patch up the field between games, but the grass isn’t going to grow and root and interlock.

  198. 198 Mac said at 4:18 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Exactly, they need to move the Packers to LA.

  199. 199 Dragon_Eagle said at 10:23 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Mexico city. Cabezas con queso.

  200. 200 Mac said at 4:18 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    At one point, the cameras did show large chunks of turf missing from the field.

  201. 201 peteike said at 6:37 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    ya I heard that also, I watched game with a packer fan and he guessed that maybe they warm the field up underneath which causes it to be sloppy like that. Maybe when its colder thats the case, didnt seem to bother them though

  202. 202 GEAGLE said at 6:35 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    It wad enough that Maclin changed cleats after first quarter.
    ..
    Dawkin thought that bad field really hurt us..we are built on speed. Fast OL, fast pass rush, fast weapons. Dawk said a team built for speed would be at a big disadvantage yesterday, on field like that, speed doesnt work so you have to switch to “Power” and we aren’t built for that. Dawks words, not mine

  203. 203 Spooonius said at 2:35 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    And to think, I was pissed that I had a gig yesterday and couldn’t watch the game. I recorded it, but I’m not sure whether or not I have the stomach to watch it.

  204. 204 Mr. Toledo said at 2:36 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    just dont.

  205. 205 ACViking said at 2:39 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    I’d recommend going on youtube and watching this:

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

    A trip down memory lane, for sure.

  206. 206 Spooonius said at 3:09 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Wow! I watched that game (I was 7 so I don’t really remember it). I guess the takeaway is that we can expect a superbowl appearance in the next 3 years. As for this week, I think I’ll re-watch the Panthers game. Thanks for the nostalgia.

  207. 207 ACViking said at 8:13 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    It wasn’t a very good game.

    But 2 guys on the Eagles defense jumped off the screen:

    ILB Bill Bergey

    NT Charlie Johnson.

    Once the Birds inserted CJ into the lineup at NT, Vermeil’s defense became playoff quality.
    ____________

    Just having some fun.

  208. 208 BobSmith77 said at 3:52 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Best part might be the commercials.

  209. 209 BobSmith77 said at 2:52 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Onion Sports presents its winners and losers from the 11th week of the NFL season:

    Losers

    Aaron Rodgers: For the second week in a row, Rodgers’ numbers greatly suffered in the fourth quarter

  210. 210 Mac said at 4:16 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Also, he has no comeback wins in the last couple of weeks…chump!

  211. 211 Bert's Bells said at 2:56 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Tommy, if you do a DGR of this game (Odin bless you), can you check out the protection Rodgers was getting?

    It looked like the Packers were keeping 6 or 7 guys in to block on every play. If so, that’s a great game plan. Rodgers with time will do exactly what we saw yesterday even with 8 in coverage.

  212. 212 BobSmith77 said at 3:09 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Including the playoffs last year, Kelly is just 2-7 against teams with a winning record (including records through Week 11 this year).

    It is a fair criticism to say they have been underwhelming against quality competition during Kelly’s tenure here so far.

  213. 213 anon said at 3:28 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    and Andy Ried’s teams were just as bad. The tough thing is it’s hard to know what expectations to have for a team that needed to be rebuilt but that also wins a lot of games while rebuilding.

    Team keeps building up expectations and then letting us down 🙁

  214. 214 BobSmith77 said at 3:29 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Really? I would have to go back and look but I highly doubt that was the case during the 1st half of Reid’s tenure here.

  215. 215 anon said at 3:30 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Yeah referring to last couple of years.

  216. 216 eagleyankfan said at 3:41 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    meh — no stock in this. Look at who the Rams beat and lost to this year …

  217. 217 BobSmith77 said at 3:28 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Friend said this team feels like Ray Rhodes’ teams in ’95 and ’96 because of the shifting QBs, offense anchored around a RB (still take Watters over McCoy any day of the week including their time at Bishop McDevitt), and a defense that had some decent players but was mediocre at best with a couple of key weaknesses.

    There are some similarities but disagree a bit especially in regards to how much more dynamic this offense is & what Kelly’s scheme has accomplished so far.

    Those Rhodes’ teams though did struggle against quality competition especially on the road & had both of their seasons end on the road with weak performances.

  218. 218 anon said at 3:32 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Execution issues have to be frustrating for Kelly.

  219. 219 MaggieMagpie said at 3:42 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Something to agree on.

  220. 220 peteike said at 6:34 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    you must mean the Watters on the niners version otherwise no way. Not getting this fan McCoy bashing, its way too soon to speculate anything esp with what hes already shown.

  221. 221 Buge Halls said at 3:39 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    At least we’re not Redskins fans! That locker room is falling apart in a very pubic way!

  222. 222 BobSmith77 said at 3:42 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Pubic Way? I knew the Redskins had chemistry issues but didn’t know about the inappropriate and lewd behavior too!

  223. 223 ian_no_2 said at 3:51 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    I’m not blaming Cody Parkey.

    Just 24 hours ago you didn’t want to rewatch the Carolina game..

  224. 224 botto said at 3:59 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    we beat the rams, the rams beat Denver. henceforth, therefore, and everything else as well.

  225. 225 eagleyankfan said at 3:59 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Where’s the panic button? Where’s the bridge to jump off of? Where’s the oxygen masks because we’re going down fast. I’ve seen a ship go down with Rats holding on longer than some fans.
    Next week we’ll be back to winning — and fans complaining about the win. Games have a way of getting away for you and as soon as that happens, there’s nothing you can do. That’s all this game was. We knew(or should have known) that GB’s wr’s are 10 times better than anybody we have covering them. We knew they were going to score at will, we just hoped our offense could have kept up.
    They blocked and extra point!!! yeah. and now — onto next week….

  226. 226 Anders said at 4:03 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Another Was team gem

    http://thebiglead.com/2014/11/17/jay-gruden-robert-griffin-iii-media-what-will-dan-snyder-say/#sthash.FsKGhJfI.uxfs

    Is that team just a hot boiling mess?

  227. 227 Mitchell said at 4:05 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Good news is, we get to play them again for what should be an easier win than before!

  228. 228 Anders said at 4:21 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Albert Breer ‏@AlbertBreer 50 min.50 minutter siden
    This is interesting … RT @BrittMcHenry: RT @DaAnsahonSports: Jay Gruden admits Desean Jackson frustrated with RG3

    The gift that keeps on given

  229. 229 anon said at 6:16 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    you must have mentioned djax’s i can’t do explosive shit with basic people twitter/instagram.

    3 firsts and a 3rd going down the drain…

  230. 230 ACViking said at 6:59 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Assuming phrase “the gift that keeps on giving” is a shot at DJax . . .
    _____________

    D-Jax is saying publicly what, I suspect, the coaching staff, personnel people around the NFL, Wash fans, and people who follow the NFL — including degenerate gamblers — are all saying.

    Wait for the anonymous “personnel men” quotes this week in the Washington Post.

    Does it matter that he went public? In the big scheme of things, I doubt it.

    He’s calling out the QB who’s played like crap for two years. And that’s a big deal because . . . ?

    If the Eagles were doing as poorly as Washington this year, don’t you think there’d at least be whispers about players not carrying their perceive load?

    Hell, Kelly himself has said publicly that Wolff is playing poorly — using coach-speak — and having what appears to be an unacceptably low pain threshold for Kelly.

    Is the difference that the HC said those things instead of the best offensive player?

    Not sure I see the difference.

    But that’s just me.

  231. 231 anon said at 7:04 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    The quality of your posts is amazing. Jay Gruden went ham on RGIII, basically calling him terrible from fundamentals up.

    “Robert needs to worry about himself,” Gruden told reporters, via Mike Jones of the Washington Post. “I’ll worry about everybody else. . . . He elaborated too much.”

    But Gruden also will worry about Griffin. The first-year coach said Griffin “had some fundamental flaws” on Sunday.

    “From his basic performance, critiquing Robert, it was not even close to where it needs to be,” Gruden said, via Jones.

    Gruden pointed out that Griffin overthrew receiver DeSean Jackson three times.

    “Those were big plays,” Gruden said. “Big difference in the game. Josh McCown hit his three with Mike Evans. We missed DeSean three times.”

  232. 232 Anders said at 6:47 AM on November 18th, 2014:

    Nah, he Redskins organisation is the gift

  233. 233 mtn_green said at 6:16 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Ah. The misery of others.

  234. 234 unhinged said at 4:29 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    I didn’t think the Maths play was a penalty either.

  235. 235 Ark87 said at 4:34 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Everytime Sanchez got crushed with helmet to helmet contact I couldn’t help but wonder if it would get called if his jersey said Rodgers on the back of it. I think about that 2010 win over the Colts that we almost didn’t win because Trent Cole’s hand barely brushed the crown of Peyton’s helmet.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvYhtFjtruc

  236. 236 mtn_green said at 6:07 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    There was a hand to helmet tap earlier this year, maybe Logan. 15yards

  237. 237 wee2424 said at 6:23 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    It was against Cole versus the 9ers. Gave them a first down after Kap threw an imcomplete pass on 3rd down. They either scored a FG or TD a few plays later. Kaps head didnt even move.

  238. 238 Ark87 said at 8:16 AM on November 18th, 2014:

    I know Beau Allen had one that was a little silly

  239. 239 Weapon Y said at 6:27 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    I’m more bothered by Sanchez falling down and playing dead every time a pass rusher came within 6 feet of him than I am by his horrible interceptions. He was just a total wuss. I really think most people are understating how bad he played yesterday. Sure the offense in general was horrible but he made some mind numbingly awful decisions on his own.

  240. 240 GermanEagle said at 6:36 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Go Titans.

  241. 241 anon said at 6:43 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    “Packers put up 50 points in a rout and became the first team in NFL
    history to score 28 first-half points in four straight home games.” – Grantland

    We just got hit by a truck — hopefully they’ll slow down…

  242. 242 GEAGLE said at 6:47 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    I was taking the loss hard, until I looked at the landscape and realized practically the entire legue is screwed up…you lucky if you can find more than two teams on a 3 game winning streak that haven’t gotten blown out with in the past 3 games,., we got our asses handed to us yesterday, but so did a lot of our playpff contenders..as bad as yesterday was, injury bug didn’t bite. Look around, teams lost a lot more than us yesterday.

  243. 243 GEAGLE said at 6:49 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Not used to seeing healthy Peyton put up 7 points. And that wasnt a fluke, they have real problems right now… Both RB are injured and they rely heavily on RB to block for Peyton…Emannuel Sanders concussion, stud TE leg injury… Offensive line not playing that well…like us, Denver added to its loss column yesterday but they lost much more than us

  244. 244 GEAGLE said at 6:51 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Saints: Having a rough year, but ATleast they were still great at home… Yeah that’s gone too now. They blew out the Packers two games ago..not only did they get crushed at home yesterday, but they lost a key piece Brandin Cooks for 5-7 weeks…if that division wasn’t so pathetic we would be having their funeral today.

  245. 245 GEAGLE said at 6:53 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    San Francisco…wins, losses, it doesn’t even matter, bunch of dead men walking. That’s a sinking ship that will be completely blown up next year. Ahmed Brooks subbing himself out and refusing to go back in the game, Mad that rookie Lynch is getting some of his stats and that they tried to trade him to the Browns.. coach is practically a lame duck, only they are pretending he isn’t…mtoo dysfunctional to be taken serious. I’m sure they will be erratic and most likely can’t sustain success down the stretch….that Window is close to slamming shut…

  246. 246 GEAGLE said at 6:56 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Seattle, another team that has too many locker room issues right now, to get hot and make a run…losing Mebane will destroy that defense…

    What’s insane is that seattle and Niners are so screwed up right now, that they probably won’t be able to catch Drew Stanton, when they should have united and gotten a second wind from Carson going down…

    Lol Dallas isnt the only freakshow with a winning record this year

  247. 247 GEAGLE said at 6:58 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    packers, Rogers was on fire yesterday.. But he doesn’t always play like that on the road.. They were blown out two games ago, and THATS a team that needs to be paid attention to down the stretch, particularly how they look on the road…..for them, beating the Eagles was a big win, it could launch them into a big run…but so far, they have been very beatable on the road..

  248. 248 GEAGLE said at 7:04 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Patriots, Cardinals, are the only teams with a 3 game winning streak I believe. patriots probably look like the best team these days…

    cardinals deserve a ton of respect. Pig face arians is the coach of the year, but I just don’t fear them. I can’t help it. Love how we match up with them….Fitzgerald MCL sprain yesterday

    After those two teams, I guess,I would put KC, Packers as the next two teams, but I don’t completely trust those two teams yet. Need to see them have road success.,..

    COLTS:’got smacked around at home by the Patriots..only Eagles and Patriots have been able to beat lUck at home…worse than the loss Bradshaw broke his ankles..they have no choice but to rely on Trent Richardson lol good luck with that,…

    Teams paid some steep injury prices yesterday that can effect things down the stretch..This is such a Wacky year, RESILIENCE will be Crucial, and going into the playoffs hot becomes more important than ever…it’s just so WIDE OPEN!

  249. 249 ACViking said at 7:59 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    I wouldn’t put AZ and NE in the same sentence right now.

    Pats are the dominant team in the NFL right now — even more so than GB.

    Since the laugher against KC, the Pats have done exactly what the early Andy Reid teams did after the quarter pole . . . get stronger and better the rest of the season.

    Belichick — as long as he has Brady — is the best coach/GM in the post-free agency era.

  250. 250 ACViking said at 7:56 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    GE wrote:

    “Ahmed Brooks subbing himself out and refusing to go back in the game.”
    ____________

    No matter what the consequence, SF needed to give Brooks his walking papers today.

    Pull that stuff in a real job . . . .

  251. 251 ACViking said at 7:55 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Must dissent on the Saints.

    So far, New Orleans is only 3-2 at home.

    Avg margin of victory is 3.5 points — and that’s inflated by their 21-point GB victory.

    The Saints’ homefield domination could return, of course.

    The NFL’s crazy this year . . . like you said.

  252. 252 imnotsorryisaidthat said at 6:53 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    this team believed its own hype and was shown the cold lambeau reality

  253. 253 James said at 7:09 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Perhaps the genius that is Big Chip considered the fact that we will probably be playing the Packers in the playoffs and decided to hold back (a lot) in this game.

    It’s all I’ve got…

  254. 254 GEAGLE said at 7:23 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Just a bad game, against a hall of fame QB who was on fire. I don’t recall too many games where we lost and were out of it on the first drive… We were driving, letroy Goulin beat Tobin like a drum and sacked Sanchez killing our momentum, two minutes later we were down like 30-3…. They straight up Blitzkreig us…. That was a perfect storm of ass whooping,..

    parcels this morning talked about how he has watched the Eagles all year, really impressed with us and that we really are a good team. Talked about plenty times his giant teams got blown out in real Embarressing games like this, and then they bounce back and play great after that …really seemed to Genuinly respect us and be impressed with us…Parcells usually ain’t the type to shower anyone with BS compliments…too many mistakes, against a team that wasn’t messing around that day…once you are down by 30. Your entire gameplan changes and the game just got away from us… They blitzed us from the start,…
    ..
    No time to get carried away and dwell on that team, we need to bounce back strong and pick up two wins in 5 day span…bounce back to 9-3 after giving the Cowboys a loss, and Ill forget about yesterday’s ass whooping and put yesterday’s game in last years denver ass whooping pile

  255. 255 GEAGLE said at 7:15 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    At chickies n Peres tonight, Maclin said some interesting things… Talked about how he is mentoring Jordan. “Right now he is strictly a slot WR, next step we will start growing him as an outside WR”.. Nothing ground breaking, but confirmation that he is destined to be more than just a slot…seems to be a big believer in the kid “jordan posses the talent and work ethic that you can’t teach”… When asked what he needs to work on..”right now we are focusing on growing Jordan into a better blocker. Important that he improves as a blocker”

    Seemed to also think Huff can be a nice weapon, in his opinion missing the preseason with injury probably hurt him..

    Really proud of Jeremy. I wasn’t sure if he could be more than just a good #2, kid really elevated his game, and im loving the toughness..the clutch catches, stepping up for his QB, the tough blocking, running hard in the screen game, YAC Yards, catching BOMBS, when we supposedly didn’t have anyone that could “blow the top off the defense”…and this is Maclins first year back from bad injury, first year in this offense..he should continue to grow and get better in this offense under chip,,,
    ..
    Tonight Howies was raving about him, before introducing him, and a few times mentioned how we are excited about having Maclin for many years to come…music to my ears.l

  256. 256 ACViking said at 7:42 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    GE:

    Thanks for the scoop. Love this stuff.

  257. 257 GEAGLE said at 7:28 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Contenders not only lost, but they got weaker yesterday.
    ..
    1) Denver lost Monte Ball, they have major issues at RB, Emanuel Sanders, Julius Thomas
    ..
    2) Colts lost RB Bradshaw for season. They are now at the mercy of trent Richardson lol
    ..
    3) Brandin Cooks broken thumb…6 weeks

    4) Fitzgerald jacked up his MCL, not sure if he will definitely miss game time or not

    I would rather LOSE yesterday, than lose another key player. I’m not sure how many more injuries we can overcome this year, it’s been an upward climb all year. We DESPERATLY need to stay healthy….if we don’t have any more injuries, we could get hot at the right time and make something happen,,..

  258. 258 botto said at 7:51 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    we were very healthy yesterday and lost quite handily anyway.
    not trying to be negative, I know what you mean, it just looked pretty bad when Rodgers had the ball. and that doesn’t bode well going forward.

  259. 259 ACViking said at 7:37 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Re: Games after MNF

    Eagles are 1-2 after MNF games under Kelly in two seasons.

    In 2013, Birds lost to SD after MNF opener against Wash.

    In 2014, won a close game against what’s turned out to be a pretty lousy Washington team, and lost yesterday to a hot GB team.

    _______________

    The record of the Eagles’ MNF opponents in the next game during the past two years is:

    Washington 0-4 [in 2013, two MNF appearances – after which, Wash lost to GB and NYG; in 2014, two MNF games – after which lost to AZ and MINN.].

    Colts 2-0 [in 2013, beat Denver after MNF; in 2014, beat JAX]

    Carolina 1-1 [in 2013, beat Miami; in 2014, lost to ATL]

    _______________

    I haven’t had time to research whether — over, say, the past 5 years — any reliable statistical relationships exist between winning and losing after appearing on MNF.

    I suspect the data’s been looked at.

    Generally, I’m guessing bad teams — like Washington — do worse than the mean performance.

    But I’d like to see how winning teams do (“winning defined” by end-of-the-season record).
    ______________

    The Patriots, for example, are 2-0 after MNF games the past two years: beating Denver in 2013, and the Bengals in 2014.

    49ers are 2-1: beating AZ and the Rams in 2013, losing to Denver in 2014.
    ______________

    Maybe, no meaningful relationship exists at all. Just curious to see.

  260. 260 jpate said at 7:53 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    I thought this might be a factor as well because of Chips very precise practice regiment and upsetting this apple cart might be bigger deal for eagles then for other teams.

    Just not used to seeing Chip’s team unprepared like that.

  261. 261 GEAGLE said at 7:57 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    I would assume there is something to this.. Players pretty much all hate Thursday,games.. Some people want to see changes like teams should only play on Thursday coming off of their bye week.

    We got destroyed by Green Bay… Now we need to bounce back and win 2 games in 5 days, second game against our rival Cowboys…This is a tall order. How we handle these two games should be more telling than an off day in Greenbay against a hall of fame assassin who was on fire

  262. 262 GEAGLE said at 7:50 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    LOL good for Jay Gruden putting RG3 in his place.. Lol can’t believe he had the bals to say that about Snyders pet, RG3
    ..
    Redskins came off a bye week, lost to a 1-8 team, and then sat at the podium and talked about how he needs his team mates to play better! Hahahaha this dude is worse than Donovan ever was. Charecter flaws you simply CANT WIN with! Probably one of the worst “leaders” playing QB in NFL,, and they thought it was a good idea to add a Desean type to that locker room?. OK…
    .
    The Manning family was responsible for 7 interceptions yesterday… How does Eli throw 5 INTs? We just took the worst ass kicking I can even remember, yet even we didn’t throw 5 INTs… Wtf does 5 INTs look like? How does that even happen?

  263. 263 ACViking said at 8:05 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    For a HC to go so public, there has to be more going on than a QB under-performing.

    Last season, near the end of Shanahan’s Washington tenure, he more politely — but just as firmly — suggested more or less the same thing.

    Now Gruden’s doing it.

    I don’t think their rants have as much to do with Griffin as with Snyder.

    Behind the scenes, I’m betting that Snyder’s a terrible meddler.

    And Gruden’s making sure the NFL knows it. To protect his own reputation.
    _______________

    That said, maybe Griffin’s carrying some attitude-baggage around — sort of the the kind local folks put on DJax’s back.

    So maybe Gruden’s framing a “me or Griffin has to go” scenario.

    If Gruden’s a 1-and-done in D.C., then I’d say Washington is a bigger disaster than anyone suspected.

  264. 264 GEAGLE said at 8:11 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Did you hear RG3 press conference comments that led Gruden to Those statements? Picture the anti FOles lol

  265. 265 ACViking said at 8:18 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    No.

    If you don’t mind, what’d he say?

    (And give me a comparator for some context, too, if you would)

  266. 266 ACViking said at 8:23 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    We’re late in this thread — and have the rest of the week — but I’d like to hear from D3FB (whenever he may weigh in) on:

    1. The game — including the best, worst, and QB play.

    2. What he’d expect Kelly to say.

    3. The locker room behind closed doors.

    4. The players’ mindset this week.

  267. 267 D3FB said at 12:01 AM on November 18th, 2014:

    1. I kind of checked out to a degree during the game. I think our biggest problem was with the cleats. Our players were slipping and sliding all over the field. The punt return TD I think we had 4 players have their base completely slip out from under them. Huff couldn’t make the tackle because he wasn’t sure of his footing and seemed to be extra cautious to try to keep his feet under him while redirecting. Playing without the ability to have traction makes the game extremely difficult. OL/DL can’t fire out of their stances, CB’s are terrified of losing their footing coming out of their backpedals, WR’s have to round off their routes, etc. I know the broadcasters brought up the fact that the Eagles use the same kind of grass, but there are so many different variables such as grass length, how well the grass is held in by the soil, amount of precipitation that can drastically impact the way a field plays. I played on a grass field in August when the grass was healthy and cut super short and it plays like turf. Then a month later the grass is an inch taller and it feels like you’re playing in molasses. Then in November the ground is frozen and the field is solid, and that plays a completely different way.
    I thought the offense overall was ok. They moved the ball decently but seemed to stall out, which sometimes shit just happens. You have an off day. I was annoyed by those who were freaking out over the redzone play where it was 3rd and 2 and Chip ran a bootleg, and all the fans wanted him to run. That was annoying monday morning QB’ing. Clay Matthews should have been held by the run fake, and Celek would have had the first down and likely a touchdown had Matthews not made the play. Sometimes you just have to tip your cap to the other guy. They get paid a metric ton of money for a reason.

    2. I’d expect Kelly to pretty much echo to the team what he has told the media. We had a bad day, played like shit (short week, frigid Lambeau, and Rodgers tend to be a bad recipe). We had some bad breaks early, and things kind of just snowballed from there. My college coach had the 24 hour rule, “be pumped about the win or pissed about the lose, but when you come in at 4 on Sunday the focus is on next week”. My high school coach would tell us, if you played the best you could, hold your head high, the sun will come up tomorrow, sometimes your just not the best team that night, it happens, we’ll coach you guys up next week and try to get better as a team”. I think those words of wisdom are applicable in football as well as life.

    3. I’d expect the team and the locker room to be disappointed. The plane ride home probably full of booze, cigars, and poker. At the same time these guys are professionals. They know you’re not going to go 19-0. Every one of them has been blown out before, either in high school, college or the league. It’s certainly not an acceptable outcome but it happened. Being pissy about it isn’t going to fix it. Slamming helmets or flipping tables is for petulant children, not grown men. I imagine and would hope that a Celek or a Maclin pulls Huff aside in the coming days and has a talk with him about his comments after the game and better ways to vent his frustrations in a more productive manner. (This of course is the problem with Cary’s comments earlier in the year, they set a bad precedent for the younger players).

    4. New week, new game, new challenges and matchups. Spend a little extra time in the film room, stay after practice to get some individual work in. Other than technique or assignment lessons learned, the Packers are in the past. Only thing that matters now is that team from Nashville coming to our house. Defend this house.

    In general I found this tweet to be reflective of my feelings towards the game:
    https://twitter.com/Michael_Levin/status/534115606467850240

  268. 268 ACViking said at 1:15 AM on November 18th, 2014:

    Great, great stuff.

    Loved the life lesson

  269. 269 anon said at 8:38 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    “They stayed base versus our three wide-receiver set, they tried different things with that,” said Packers head coach Mike McCarthy. “We put the ball in Aaron’s hand and obviously he had a big day.”

    It’s great to be the boss when you have an all star subordinate.

  270. 270 JohnDoe610 said at 9:38 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Not to be a pollyanna but I think it’s a different game if we get calls on those two helmet-to-helmet hits that would have extended drives.

  271. 271 Wilbert M. said at 10:41 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Can anyone be worse than Bradley Fletcher? God forgive me for thinking this, but Nnamdi may have been better. It’s a shame that apparently there’s no one on the bench to put in instead of him.

  272. 272 Mitchell said at 11:18 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    Many Oakland Nnamdi but not Philadelphia Nnamdi. You’re drunk, go home.

  273. 273 Wilbert M. said at 10:02 AM on November 18th, 2014:

    Your incoherent response certainly wouldn’t make anyone question your sobriety! Too bad you’re unable to have a civil discourse.

  274. 274 BC1968 said at 11:43 PM on November 17th, 2014:

    After what I saw yesterday I forgive you

  275. 275 phillychuck said at 5:53 AM on November 18th, 2014:

    Yet Fletcher was excellent vs. Carolina

  276. 276 Eagles Wake-Up Call: Leftovers From Chip | The 7 Seven said at 6:44 AM on November 18th, 2014:

    […] Tommy Lawlor of Iggles Blitz offers his thoughts on Sanchez: […]

  277. 277 Charlie Kelly said at 5:17 PM on November 18th, 2014:

    im still so pissed off about that game…. and then u hear billy davis THOUGHT of benching fletcher… he just thought about it.. smfh… and then marcus smith sucking, earl wolff cant play with a broken finger nail…. smh