Winning
Posted: November 19th, 2014 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 218 Comments »The Eagles are 1-3 this season against teams with winning records. Does this mean anything? Pop open a can of cold PBR and let’s talk about it.
In a word…no.
There are 3 factors for judging a game: who did you play, when did you play them, where did you play them. The Eagles beat the 8-6 Chicago Bears by 43 points. The Bears then finished the season 8-8. Chicago needed that game to make the playoffs. It was crucial for them and they were at home. The Eagles dominated the entire game and won 54-11. Nice win, but because the Bears finished 8-8 it wasn’t against a team with a winning record.
Earlier in the year the Eagles won in Green Bay 27-13. Green Bay was 5-3 entering the game, but Aaron Rodgers missed the game due to injury. That win came in the middle of a down stretch for the Packers, but they still finished 8-7-1. That was a win vs a team with a winning record.
Which win was more impressive?
I have no problem with checking a team’s record vs teams with winning records and using that as a simple tool, but it doesn’t come close to telling the whole story. Houston is now 5-5. If they win next week, the Eagles will suddenly be 2-3 against teams with winning records. The Rams are 4-6. They could get hot and finish with a winning record.
SF is 6-4 and has a win against the winning Eagles. Good for them. But the Eagles OL in that game was a huge mess. And it took Riley Cooper dropping a TD for the Niners to secure the win. Just how impressive is that? SF went to the Saints and won. New Orleans now has a losing record, but that was an impressive win because of where the game was played. It is brutally hard to win in the dome.
Seattle went 4-3 against teams with winning records during the regular season. That’s good, but not special. They went 3-0 in the postseason. That’s all that matters.
The Eagles were 2-3 in 2013. They lost so SD, KC and DEN in a row, all early in the season. After that the Eagles won vs GB and ARZ. The Eagles did go 2-1 vs .500 teams. It wasn’t as if they only beat last place opponents.
I think something more important would be to play more games against winning teams. Back in 2008 the Eagles almost made it to the Super Bowl. The team was just 9-6-1 in the regular season. They were 5-4 against teams with winning records. Those tough games got them ready for the postseason and helped them understand what the playoffs would be like.
I have written before about how the down nature of the NFC East is bad for the Eagles. You need good teams to challenge you, to push you. As much fun as it is to watch the Skins turn into a dumpster fire and Eli into an INT machine, that actually hurts the Eagles. Seattle won the SB last year and came out of the toughest division in football. The Ravens won the year before and the AFC North is always tough. That year two teams went 10-6. The Steelers were 8-8. Cleveland was just 5-11, but were very competitive after an 0-5 start.
The AFC East has been a weak division for years. I think that has hurt the Patriots and has played a part in them not winning another Super Bowl. New England knows how to beat good teams, but they aren’t getting pushed, week-in and week-out. That’s what a good division can do for you.
The regular season gets you ready for the playoffs. The more tough teams you play, the better off you are. You need to be challenged. The intensity level goes up a nothing in the postseason. You can’t just adjust to that unless the team has experienced moments or even games like that during the year.
The Eagles are 1-3 against teams with winning records. They still have Dallas (2) and Seattle left to play. That could be 3 more games, but there are no guarantees both teams finish as winners. Seattle is 6-4 and doesn’t have an easy game left on the schedule. Dallas is 7-3, but has been addicted to 8-8 finishes in recent years. If the Eagles sweep them, who knows where Dallas ends up.
Of course you can always cheer for Houston, Carolina and St. Louis to get above .500 so those wins, which aren’t impressive now, can be used in a future argument about how impressive the Eagles ended up against teams with winning records.
Simple.
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Well said…. A team that suffered all the key injuries we have, wouldnt make it to 7-3 without being a pretty tôugh team… It’s such a weird year, everything is so wide open. Pick a team any team, and ill list the same amount of issues and weakness that the Eagles have… Heck, only the Patriots and Cardinals are on 3 game winning streaks without having been blown out in the last 3 weeks.
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This season will be decided by, who can stay the healthiest down the stretch, who can hide and mask their weakness while exploiting the weaknesses of our opponent… Patriots are probably the best team in the NFL today, Cardinals deserve respect for how the handled this year, but I can’t help it, I just don’t fear that team, with or without Carson.
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As for our Huff debate yesterday, heard we are really high on him and think with time, he wIll grow into a nice playmaker for us… “Ask any Eagles DBs at practice about Huff and they will tell you he is just as talented and has as much ability as any eagle WR at practice”
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Our year was never about the team we would see in September, October or even November… The plan was we were supposed to keep growing throughout this year, and by January we would have grown and matured into a team that can make some noise in the playoffs….. Hard working group, healthy as it’s been all year, the growth will come, hopefully we get hot and parlay it into a nice playoff run
I had major doubts about Huff when we drafted him (biased because I wanted another player at the time), but I see serious potential from the guy and have since become really excited about him. He’s really delivered on the identity as a YAC guy, which i was skeptical of since he wasn’t a particularly dynamic athlete, and college physicality doesn’t always translate when you get into the man’s league. That physicality has been translating, and I’m totally on board with you. He’s making rookie mistakes, pushing it, but he’s a nasty player that we need on this team.
I also had doubts about Huff. It seemed that there were many other players on the board that were better players and fits for our team and needs. However, I am not a scout and will defer to the team on this one. As for the Marcus Smith pick, I think that was more concerning. We overdrafted him. 90% of the teams and scouts felt that way then, and the proof is in the pudding. Others can say that MSIII was a great development pick (GEAGLE), but even our damn coaching staff is questioning the guy now. Bad, bad pick. I don’t even like to look at the guys that were drafted immediately behind him because it hurts my heart. This team is not some stacked dynasty that we can afford to draft a LB that will not contribute for a few years with its first rounder. The guy doesn’t even have a defined postion anymore, can’t play special teams and his coaching staff is publiclly calling him out. Yes, this is all really bad stuff.
Who would you have taken instead?
Off the top of my head, I would have gone CB. I think Dennard was still on the board at 22, I would have taken him and not traded down. However, at 26, I wanted Bradley Robey or Deone Buchanan. It was obvious to everyone that our seondary was deplorable last year and it should nnot be a surprise when we look like hot garbage this year. There were other positions and players that fit better than MSIII here, but I wanted to help our secondary.
The only one I would have made a case for is Dennard. Robey has character issues and that obviously doesn’t fly here. Is Buchannon good in coverage? I didn’t think he was so again it doesn’t fit what Chip wanted. MSIII was the best scheme fit for what was on the board and still has a lot of upside. It is easy to go back and say we should have gotten someone else or overdrafted but we still don’t know.
I completely understand the frustration when seeing other rookies contribute right away. I wish he MSIII was doing some thing right now too but at the time I think it was a fine pick and still is a fine pick. I do wish we could have gotten a CB a bit earlier but if you look at the board we had the first cb on a run of cbs in the 4th.
In summation, I understand the frustration and the pick may be a bust overall, however at the time it may have been the best pick in the coaches eyes and we will see what happens.
I appreciate your well written point of view. I tend to trust the football guys to make football decisions. However, when their decision flies in the face of most other personnel opinions, it will be second guessed. This will especially happen when the player is criticized by the people who drafted him while not even getting on the field for ST. I just named a few secondary players that were optimal, IMO. I have not even named delved into the WRs that were left on the board at that time. As for the character issues surrounding Robey, didn’t Huff have a fair amount of character issues as well? Either way, I would love to blindly believe that MSIII will work out, but I am a bit battered and shell shocked by the Danny Watkins pick still(at least he played his first year though).
The “character problems” that were circulating about Huff predraft pertained to him having some odd interviews at the combine. He had a really rough upbringing, and has gone through more shit than most people ever will, and obviously has some lingering trust issues and so forth.
Roby on the other hand has been in a bar fight before his junior season, and got a DUI during the pre draft process. Not to mention just turn on the tape of him against Abrederis.
Dennard has played extremely limited reps. Justin Gilbert has been surpassed by a UDFA. Deone Buchannon doens’t fit our defensive scheme.
I distinctly recall at least one arrest by Huff. Someone also had MJ in the car during the arrest also. That was primarily what I have read along with maturity issues. Apparently the maturity issues have shown up before his game breaking talent has.
As for Dennard, the limited reps he has played still surpasses MSIII. Can you honestly and objectively say you aren’t worried about MSIII?
Charecter problems don’t matter if we have intimate inside knowledge of the young man…… Huff can make a mistake, and still get drafted because Chip knows him and believes in his character more then he is worried about the mistake a kid made…… But when some other kid who none of our coaches know, gets arrested and has character issues, it will be harder for us to reach a comfort level with his,character…..
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Huff and Lyerla. Two talented pass catching weapons chip recruited. If both got in trouble, you don’t see Chip overlooking Lyerla’s problems, and that kid is as talented as any TE prospect. Chip KNOWS Lyerla well and intimately, but obvious he isn’t comfortable giving Lyerla another chance… He obviously feels different about Huff..
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Personally, the LAST youñg prospects I would worry about, are offensive players that chip knows really well having already coached them. Chip knows what his players are capable of, and by now he knows what works and doesn’t work in the NFL and what it takes to be successful….. If Chip thinks he can win games with one of his former offensive players, who the hell am I, or who is Mel Kiper to question Chip? How can I worry about chip Draftimg Huff, when its a rare occasion/advantage where all the guess work has been removed from the selection process… The last players I question are the offensive players we bring in who chip has already coached… Chip will know if he can or can’t be successful with Huff at this level…why would anyone question that?
Dennard has played 49 snaps on defense or 6.5%
MSII has played 54 or 7.5%
I can honestly and objectively say I’m not concerned about MSII prospects. I feel confident in my evaluation of him based off of his college tape. He does a good job setting the edge, has good hips, and is above average for an OLB as far as coverage skills. He needs time in the weight room and practice reps to refine his functional strength. He showed solid oass rushing ability, and had an unrefined counter rip, and spin move, as opposed to someone like Dee Ford who relied solely on his speed to be lead footed SEC RTs.
As far as the Huff arrest, he was cleared, having passed the breathalyzer and drug test. And the process took a year to clear up, so it’s not like a friendly DA or local PD just dropped the charges coughfloridastatecough.
http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/01/25/josh-huff-acquitted-of-duii-charges/
I completely agree. I’m not the least bit worried about Macus Smith. he has everything to grow into an explosive well rounded OLB that this city will love(after removing their feet from their mouths that is)…Marcus has the Character, the work ethic, he CARES and wants to be great. Not only is he in good hands with coach McGverm, but Connar Barwin also also taken him under is wing…
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Perfectly confident in my pre draft evaluations of the kid. People talk about him being a “reach”, for those that remember, before the draft I was worried about the Cowboys shocking everyone and taking him in the top 20. I didn’t expect Maaaaaaaarcus Daaaaarling to provide much instant gratification during his rookie year, but I’m completely confident in the kid making a nice year two leap and come next training camp and preseason, we should start seeing flashes of an exciting pass rushers cover guy, and he is learning from the best how to set the edge and stop the run… Heck our hall of Fame LT Peters has taken the interest in working with him on his pass rush since Peters can give him his opponents point of view,
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A lot of people in Philly are going to owe Marcus smith a big appology. It drives me so crazy, makes me furious, and I really feel for the young man, that this city crapped on the kid since the moment we drafted and why? All because that hack Kiper didnt evaluate him correctly….nhis job isn’t supposed to be who he thinks should be picked where…his job is projecting the point of view of NFL front offices, and considering arizona and other teams were hot on Marcus around that time frame, and simple AMATUER scouts like me, you, and plenty of others KNEW FOR A FACT that he wouldn’t last to the 3rd round like all the “experts” were saying…all because Kiper and our media evaluated Marcus completely off from how we saw him and other front offices saw him, this kid has his dream come true, he gets drafted to Philly. I finally get one of my favorite prospects in a draft class, and from the moment we pick him, our media and city have been crapping on this kid while he is in the middle of trying to translate to life in the pros,mwhere smart fans such as yourself knows that typically OLBs need a year til they really show their stuff in the NFL.
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Best case scenario Marcus would have just been a 3rd down pass rusher his first year….turns out that we have 3 monster OLBs at a postion everyone thought we were weak at. I wouldn’t want to take snaps away from Graham and Barwin to get to Jadeveon Clowney this year let alone take snaps away from them for marcus..
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fans and fake media that pretends to be fans of this team should be ashamed of how they treated this young man since the moment he became an eagle, this kid didn’t deserve to be crapped on all because Fans and Kiper were too ignorant to evaluate him correctly,
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Big Things in MSII Eagles future!
Yes, it is tough to hear the coaches talk about MSIII that way. I can’t imagine why he is getting NO time. It’s not like he was complete trash in college and while he may have been a reach in the latter first, even players picked in the top of the second should be able to contribute SOMEWAY.
Huff does have some problems and has shown them recently but Chip knows what he got into. It’s better to go with the devil you know? I would have fancied Moncrief, however I think his hands were extremely suspect.
He is getting no time because you can’t learn how to play ILB at the NFL level in a month… They are still having a problem building his “inside LB eyes”
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Kid has all the tools to be an awesome OLB… Way better suited to play OLB, than to run sideline to sideline making tackles as an ILB
Heard that Roby was the corner we liked, not Fuller like Billy Davis happyily revealed to everyone before the draft
Dennard? We don’t believe in 5’8 outside corners who will have to give up 5-7 inches in height every single game, every single snap of his career.
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when Marcus turns into a first round caliber OLB, everyone will act like they were the ones that supported him all along, instead this city has treated the young man like crap since the moment his name was called, and why? Because Yous trust that hack Mel Kiper more than your coach?
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.. When someone asks “what would you have done” what’s the point of answering something our coaches are completely against…. If they don’t be.iee in midget corners, they don’t believe in midget corners, amd I for one, APPRECIATE THE HECK out of them only loolimg for size and height outside.,, it’s like if someone asks me what I want for my birthday and I say a pink unicorn that flys
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These conversations comparing and contrasting prospects in the middle of their rookie season are so dumb and pointless, Nd especially short sited
I have no problem admitting that I was wrong in regards to MSIII. In fact I welcome the chance. Are you not at all concerned that he is not even playing ST? As for the height issue, that stuff is ridiculous. Dennard is 5’11 200 pounds. Not sure what you are blathering about in that regard. Jimmie ward was 5″8.
Not the least bit worried about Marcus. I know he has all the ability to grow into a OLB this city adores… Much better suited for OLB than to run sideline to sideline as an ILB… We aren’t even really using him at ILB. It’s not like we see him playing ILB behind a 3 man line THATS two gapping…. We use him as an ILB in Nickel, but there really is No ILB and OLB in Nickel, it’s just two linebackers, call the, whatever you want…. I have never seen him play ILB in our base,
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Not at all concerned about maaaaaarcus Daaaaaarling. Not all great NFL players had an easy instant transition to the NFL. There is No reason to be down on the kid. Anyone who really KNOWS, knew the kid wasn’t going to provide instant gratification when we drafted him, we drafted him so he could be ready by next year in case we can’t agree to renegotiate with COle and BG
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Darquez Dennar is under 6ft… 5″11 isnt 6ft…. Right now we have our stop gap secondary. We need to start drafting young talent, and once they are developed then we can replace our current DBs.. Drafting a CB and penciling him as a day one started is DUMB…. If we have to invest assets into young corners, we should try out hardest to find 6’2 CBS, at the very least 6’1
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4 years,from now when these rookie corners are about to be free agents, by then, every franchise will have Big outside CB…. At the very least we need 6’1 outside CBS who are super athletes…but preferably 6’2, 6’3 would be awesome
I adore Deonne Buchannon, but you will NEVER see a safety like him in Billy Davis scheme, and Billy and our HC don’t believe in playing outside CB’s who give away 4-6 inches against their opponents every snap, of every game in every year of their career. NFL WRs are becoming amazing as it is, they are getting bigger and bigger and the league makes it easier and easier for WRs every year, so I appreciate THE HECK out of our coaches for not playing anyone under 6’1 on the outside….
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It’s bad enough that short corners like Boykin in the slot, have to see these Gigantic WRs like Dez BRyant because they move all over the field instead of strictly just being on the outside like back in the day…. It’s bad enough that a handful of Snaps a game, boykin has to overcome the 6 inches a guy like Dez BRyant has on him,. I would HATE to see an Eagle outside CB to consistently overcome 6 inch size advantage every snap of their career in today’s NFL where corners can barely even touch WRs…10 years from now we wont even want short corners in the slot any more because once every team has two giant super athletes playing outside WR, amd each team has a super athletic Monster sized pass catching Freak TE..once every team has those big monsters, to gain an advantage coaches will have to start getting BIG,SLOT WRs, and once every team catches up and has big slot WRs, 15 years from now, a corner under 6ft will probably be rare
Lol…ok.
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Hope you acknowledge Marcus great leap next year
Very well said and you are completly right… It certainly looks like his physicality will translate and that was definitely a concern..really like how tough he plays the position. His physicality in YAC reminds me of a young player TO would like..
I wamt us to add one more Big explosive Cordarrel Patterson type of WR and then we will be set, once we announce a 5 year extension with Maclin of course..
I believe if Huff had shown anything thus far that Riley would have been relegated to 4th WR by now. I think he’ll be fine next year, but I’m the most disappointed he hasn’t pushed Cooper for snaps.
I lliterally don’t care at all about rookie contribution/production…I view anything we get during a kids rookie year, as gravy…… I think trying to judge rookie is a foolish waste of time, but to each his own.
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I wasnt talking about Huff being some beast THIS year…but I do expect him to make a big time yeàr two leap, and I think he will prove people like myself who didmt like him as a prospect missed the ball on the kid….. Explosive, quick, aggressive, PHYSICAL,nexpecting him to grow into a HECKUVA YAC WEAPON in the future, who we will see lineup every where. In the future we will see Jordan lineup outside on occasion instead of always being in the slot. We won’t have to shackle Jordan in the slot. Because Huff can step in and line up in the slot any time we want to stick Jordan on the outside..
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Huff to me is a well rounded, Gadget weapon, who will be used in a million different ways…. Thinking we need 1 more Elite WR talent with size…like a Cordarrel Patterson type
You misunderstand my intention. I was just lamenting how shitty Cooper has been, not trying to slight huff for being a rookie.
Gotcha…doubt you find many people defending Coopers play these days. Coop was supposed to be retained because of his chemistry with our young QB…didn’t see much of that this year… He has made some big blocks, but gotta get more out of #2 WR
Houston and the Rams are quite sneaky. I wouldn’t be surprised if they did end up with winning records byt the end of the season. The Rams especially, have been extremely competitive for the majority of the season and against good teams. They have a shot at their division, as crazy it seems.
Especially with the locker room issues of seattle and the Niners… Seattle is DONE!.stick a fork in them!
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Not only did they lose the key to their run defense, but center Max Unger is done for the season, their LT is already playing thru injury that requires surgery at the end of the year…. Suffering some KEY LOSSES in the trenches, they won’t be the same beast we are used to seeing.
Teams are gonna start running all over them
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Niners have a veteran leader who refused to go in the game because a rookie was given some of his snaps…thats a sinking ship especially with Harbaugh basically being a lame duck
I don’t buy, for one second, that division with a winning record = SB’s or “gets them ready for the playoffs”. Its fun to talk about I guess but there isn’t much merit. Almost by definition, with 4 teams in each league, it’s hard(impossible) for each division to always have 3 teams with winning records. If 1 team(out of the 4) is very good — you can say they sweep the other 3 teams giving them 6 wins. That means the second place team — at best would be 4-2. The other 2 teams have no shot a winning record within their division. You’d have to count on them to win outside their division to be over .500. For THAT to be possible, the teams they are playing(outside their division) — would be hoping for the same thing(wins vs. outside division) Basically, not everyone can be over .500.
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It’s hard to find any year where 3 divisions have 3 teams with winning records– let alone that being the reason a team wins the SB. Giants won the SB with them being the only team in their division over .500. Ravens won with 1 other team being above .500. GB was a wild card SB winner. Other division had 3 teams over .500 but didn’t win. I guess, on a stretch you can say it builds character…..
And how rare is it for the team with the best record to win the Super Bowl or any championship? We could go through the list of failures but it would take far too long. i also keep thinking about 2008 when Az was considered the worst playoff team in history… Regular season we blew them out only to lose that heartbreaker in the NFCC. A lot can change between the regular season and the playoffs, from week to week.
It’s only rare because of vast random factor in all football games. That they had the best record would have had a random component, and the games they play in the playoffs are greatly random. Anything within a touchdown is essentially a tie.
I don’t buy that tough divisions tough up teams either, to me it seems a narrative that we use to fit a certain pattern of events.
I agree to a point, playing close and tough games does harden a team mentally to withstand the ups and downs in emotional games. That said, you are right that a game can swing so drastically on a single play, which heavily influences what we perceive as a good/bad team.
Or when the Giants beat NE when NE’s record clearly said they were the superior team.
Re: the latest roster moves
We have the best ST unit in the league, so Kelly is doing something right, no doubt. But don’t you guys think the last move (signing Carmichael) is a little bit too much?
We have two safeties at the moment. Nate Allen plays really bad football, but that’s not even the point. Prosinski and Maragos can’t play Defense. Maragos showed it in preseason, Prosinski was cut by the Jaguars. They are elite STer (we know it with Maragos, Chip said it with Prosinski), but players you cannot play on Defense.
Now your #3 Safety goes to IR and they sign a CB who can’t play Defense? I don’t get it. Watkins is now practicing as Safety, after spending at least most of his time as CB this year. We have depth at CB – 2 starters, Boykin and Carroll with a meaningful role. But why not sign a veteran Safety who can actually play Defense in case Jenkins or Allen are injured? Those guys have to play 100 percent of the snaps now, because I don’t know if they trust Watkins enough on a new position on this team for him and Maragos and Prosinski can’t play if it’s not garbage time.
We lost Ryans and Wolff to IR – two players who were on the team to play Defense (or sit on the bench as back-up, in case of Wolff) and signed two players who are pure ST players. I get the point of emphasis on ST, it worked. But that’s over the top for me. Chip can’t be seriously considering giving Carmichael one snap on Defense. The guy simply can’t play there, he showed it with great consistency while he played on this team, in this scheme.
How many other DBs out there know our Defense well enough to join us in November? If it wasn’t going to be Roc, would we really prefer Marsh? Doubt Roc gets many special team play, just happens to be one of the few defenders mid season that can provide depth in emergency circumstances because he already spent a year in this defense….. If we have to play Roc in games, probably means the sky is falling
I know it’s no easy thing to do. But that’s the price you pay for investing heavily in players who can’t play D or O, only ST. If the players who you thought of being a back-up gets injured, you’re having a problem.
I can’t name names for you, but like you said, if Roc plays the sky is falling. Why not sign a veteran who learns quickly (and maybe played in a similar scheme before) and who could, in an emergency, maybe play Defense? We know Roc can’t. If the veteran couldn’t there would be no harm to the situation we’re in.
Plus, I’d prefer Watkins learning one position until he’s ready to play meaningful snaps. He’s a rookie and not ready yet, according to the coaches. That’s ok. But let him develop into a position where you can trust him a little.
Sign a veteran who can learn the system quickly? Name names.
I give you one name who definitely can’t play Defense: Roc Carmichael.
I don’t expect greatness from guys of the street. Not even close. But at least someone who can give you a Casey Matthews/Acho level of playing if they are called upon. There have to be veteran Safeties out there who could potentially (!) deliver something like that, or something close to that.
It’s the old thinking: we KNOW Carmichael can’t deliver that. If we sign someone unknown it’s maybe the same in the end, but at least you have a slight chance of a player who could see emergency (!!) snaps on D. Carmichael can’t give you that.
What kind of veteran can you find on the street in November?
roc carmicheal
If there were an equal number of back-up level safeties and corner backs available I think you’d have a strong argument.
It looks like there aren’t enough starting caliber safties in the NFL to begin with, so we’ve got back ups on first teams across the league. The depth just gets worse from there.
You have a point. I’m not naive, I don’t think you can replace Allen with a guy from the street. It’s an emergency option.
Carmichael isn’t the answer to any question besides: Of which players do you know they can’t play for the Eagles on Defense?
Carmichael struggled last year. But he also had some moments when he played at an acceptable level. Anyone you bring in at this point is going to have major warts. Older CB’s on the street are likely too slow. Poach a guy off a practice squad? You don’t really have a feel for his game. Roc knows the playbook. I can live with a guy giving up a contested catch because he’s just not good enough. I can’t live with guys running free because of a blown coverage because the new guy has been here 2 weeks and missed the coverage check.
How did NE re-signing Chung work out for them this year?
Why do you not provide the name of that veteran Safety who can actually play Defense? I understand your criticism, but where is your solution?
Belichick uses Patrick Chung as a box safety. Apparently, he can play solid or close to solid in that role. He’s no center fielder and never will be. He’s no mirror safety and never will be.
But Belichick also signed a RB of the street who nobody knew and he just scored 4 TDs against the Colts in Indy. When it comes to finding roles for limited players who are only good in certain roles, no one is better than Belichick.
And look, I’m not saying Adams, Bell, Mikell, Gregory or Giordano (just f.e., all are on the street, according to NFL .com) are good players. But can you seriously say it would be worst if one of those players would see emergency snaps at Safety compared to Roc Carmichael playing CB? This guy on the field means a TD is coming your way. We all watched it in Preseason, we all watched it against the Saints or whenever he had to play last year.
Hopefully Roc doesn’t see the field, but can help prepare the starters – he does know the Eagles routines and coaches expectations. Seems the coaches valued that more than the warts on all the options. Good take on Belichick and Chung, though I do think Chung is playing more within himself this year…perhaps Roc will have a similar epiphany…
Belichick has often had to do that in recent years because his drafting in general has left a lot to be desired the past several years.
Why does he has to supply a solution? It’s not his team. It doesn’t have to be his team to see the issue. I drive my car all day — if it breaks, doesn’t mean I know how to fix it — but I can tell you it’s broke….
`Why does he has to supply a solution?`
Supply a solution when the situation is being badmouthed,or don`t talk bad about the situation.
pretty clear to understand.
Watkins at Safety is intriguing, simply from the aspect that if Davis truly wants mirrored safeties, Watkins comes from a similar background as Jenkins. They’re both extremely athletic CBs that switched to Safety.
But I say that in the same way that, man, wouldn’t it be awesome if Casey Matthews suddenly became an All Pro. So, you know, we’ll see.
Watkins at safety is an intriguing option at safety due to Nate “The Situation” Allen. Anybody is intriguing when that guy is a starter.
F-35:
I’ll always remember your christening today of “Nate ‘The Situation’ Allen”.
That’s a great nick name.
It’s really great if you know who the original “Situation” is… Lol an all time Jack ass ;), one of those “Jersey Shore” trashy reality show guys, who gives real Italians such as you and “Myself”( as Desean would say) a bad reputation, often bastardizing our Language..but I Digress.
Ahh.
That puts things in perspective.
Ma io continuero a vivere nella beata ignoranza
Hahaha meglio per Te
Thanks AC. But if I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of others like you AC.
In all seriousness, I like Nate Allen the person. Seems like a quality kid. I want to see him succeed. This isn’t like the DRC or NNAMDI implosion where those guys were genuinely unlikeable. Nate tries most of the time, he just can’t get over the handicap that is “being Nate Allen”
Watkins will most likely be better MOFO safety than Allen because he has better speed
Thanks Tommy for hitting the nail on the head.
Also I highly doubt that any Eagles fan with an IQ would swap our 7-3 record with the Rams’ 4-6 who are now praised as the ‘Giants’ killer of the NFL.
GermanEagle . . .
I’ve not seen anyone wishing the Eagles could swap records with the Rams. And I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone say the Eagle are anything but a good team so far this season.
Just seems that during the humdrum of the six days between games, it’s fair for fans to explore where their teams are and which way the arrow’s pointing. NO?
Seems like the NFL thrives on this level of fan passion. One financial way or another. And I think owners in places like JAX, ATL, CAR, and CINN, for example, would welcome in their fans the passion that Eagles fans have — generally speaking.
As for coaches and players, I don’t think that the NFL and the owners — behind closed doors — care all that much if the fan-driven criticism keeps raising the number Zeros in the dollar amounts of the TV contracts.
i have a lot of new found respect for Jay Gruden. Good for him for standing up and putting RG3 in his place and showing the team that the bratty fraud QB won’t be getting special treatment while Jay is here….ngood for GRuden.
..
Not only did he tell RG3 that he needs to shut up, worry about what he is doing wrong, and not talk publically about his team mates,. Then Gruden opened up to the fanbase about the things Rg3 is doing wrong like only taking 3 step drops when it’s supposed to be a 5 step drop, and simple things that are absurd for a QB to be messing up
..
Much respect to Jay Gruden, wonder how his hard stance of that Over rated QB Brat will sit with Rg3 butt budy, Dan Snyder?
Agree with you here. RGIII is a mess. Not sure he comes out of this mess as a functional QB. He has basically been handed the keys to the kingdom before he ever earned anything. His fundamentals suck, he can’t read a defense, and he breaks his legs when a defender even looks at him. Throw in the fact that he is a douchebag and they surround him with some questionable character guys and this has the makings for a soap opera. But you are right, I feel bad for Gruden. I dont think this ends well for him
were they so bad in 2012? it’s hard to figure out how he’s regressed so much.
Dan Snyder’s golden touch
Yes. They were just able to exploit the NFL’s lack of preparation for that zone read/dunk pass option play. Once D coordinators had an offseason to work on the scrape exchange, and saw more of the option as everyone else incorporated it into their offense, the easy plays for RGIII disappeared and he was forced to read defenses and execute within the offensive scheme. He couldn’t hide his flaws behind his superior athleticism.
Don’t get me wrong, he can still be a serviceable NFL QB with a run-based offense that doesn’t ask for much production through the air and strong D (think Kaep in SF), but he’s going to flame out if he doesn’t improve his work ethic.
Got to disagree with you. These things are better handled in the locker room. Slam the guy in front of his peers, bench him, whatever, but keep it in the family. Chip handled DeSean without any of us knowing what actually happened. Gruden may be right and he may be within his rights, but I think he shouldn’t have said those things in public.
ehh ajax never made any public disparaging remarks and was super successful last year. rgiii blamed his teammates and is playing like hot ass after the team gave up crazy picks to get him.
he really didnt say much though except RG3 needs to worry about himself which is true. Grudens hand was forced because hes the leader there (minus the owner who you wouldnt want speaking publicly anyway) so he has to address that. Everything with that team is being nitpicked esp qb so its Grudens job to steady the ship. I didnt think this was a case of speaking down to his players, more trying to get control back of his team before it spirals even worse in the locker room.
You and anon (below) make valid points. Maybe I’m in the minority, but I think a coach should hold himself to a very high standard and never air a teams dirty laundry in public. There were many things that drove me crazy about Andy Reid, but I always respected him for taking responsibility for team failure, at least in front of the media.
Yea, RG3 needs a serious kick in the butt, as does DeSean. Ream them in the confines of the locker room, put those same butts on the bench, but once you go public the floodgates are open. If the coach is talking to reporters about players, how can he tell the players not to do the same?
All in all, it’s a pleasure to watch the Redskins implode. I can’t wait until we play them again.
Its not the losses that make me question the team’s “contender status” viability. Its that the offense has been MIA vs 49ers and GB. And for half the games vs IND and ARZ.
The O has been an issue in every game vs a decent team. Throttle the crap teams all you want. The herky-jerky nature of the O can be attributed TOs partially, but it is also reminiscent of the O in the playoffs last year.
Tough games be damned, if the offense can’t get out of this rut (which it hasn’t been able to vs quality teams this year), we could very well make the postseason, but it will be another disappointing 1 and done.
Im disappointed even if we are 2 and done in the play offs. SB or bust every year
The lack of player development has hurt us especially in the secondary. Who was the last good CB that we had drafted besides Sheldon Brown?
Nobody, except maybe Boykin, but hes barely been avg this year.
Boykin is a playmaker for sure but giving up chunks of yards for the occasional pick (which he doesn’t have this year) isn’t what we need right now.
Boykin is a playmaker for sure but giving up chunks of yards for the occasional pick (which he doesn’t have this year) isn’t what we need right now.
This has been frustrating because I keep thinking who are we going to develop in the secondary? At least we have Watkins. I also think Reynolds will pan out but those are both up in the air. We have no idea how Wolffe will turn out but it doesn’t look good. We need to spend a 2-3rd on some secondary players Imo. However we are technically building so I guess we see what happens this draft
Reynolds has a chance to be a solid safety if he can develop. Watkins has the Earl Wolff syndrome right now. It’s a shame since he’s not even given a chance to show what he has.
Since 1960, the Eagles have drafted roughly 60 CBs:
Here’re the best of the starters:
* Irv Cross — 6’2″ 195lbs, 7th Rd pick in 1961 from Northwestern (in what was a 12-team draft, which makes Cross’s selection the equivalent of a late 2nd in the current 32-team draft . . . also, a 2x Pro Bowler)
* Roynell Young — 6’1″ 180lbs, 1st Rd pick in 1980 from Alcorn State (1x Pro Bowler and the last piece Vermeil needed to get to the SB).
* Eric Allen — 5’10 185lbs, 2nd Rd pick in 1988 from ASU (1x All Pro, 6x Pro Bowler . . . maybe the best the Eagles have ever had at CB)
* Bobby Taylor — 6’3″ 215lbs, 2nd Rd pick in 1995 from Notre Dame (1x Pro Bowler; Won Defensive Player of the Week honors his rookie season for shutting down Michael Irvin [3 rec, 40 yds] in the game the in which Switzer TWICE went for it on 4th and 1 at the Dallas 29 with 2 minutes left)
* Lite Sheppard — 5’10” 195 lbs, 1st Rd pick in 2002 from UFlorida (1x All Pro, 2x Pro Bowler).
(Brandon Boykin’s not on my list only because he’s not a starter at CB in Kelly’s defense.)
_______________
In the 1970 draft, the Eagles needed a CB and had zeroed in on a pair of senior DBs from Southern University, who practice every day against a 6’8″ WR named Carmichael.
The two CBs between whom the Eagles had to choose were: Ray Jones and a guy name Blount . . . Mel Blount.
The Eagles spent their 2nd Rd pick, number 34 overall on the speedier Jones.
The Steelers chose the bigger Blount a round later.
The Eagles cut Jones in training camp in 1971 — after only 1 season.
The Steelers kept Blount for the next decade-plus, including 4 SB titles, a HOF career — and a rule-changed made just because of him: the 5-yard chuck rule.
_______________
A couple of footnotes:
Ben Smith — Buddy’s last 1st Rd pick in 1990 — would also be on the list, but a devastating knee injury after 10 games in 1991 effectively ended his career. (He played in 1993 for the Birds but was shell of what he’d been before the injury; then he knocked around a couple more years before retiring.)
And Joe “Bird” Lavender, a 6’4″ 190lb 12th Rd pick in ’73 from SDSU, is also worth mentioning. Vermeil traded him to Washington after his 3rd season because of a contract dispute, where he started for the next 6 years and won a SB in 1982.
____________________
So there it is. Hard to find CBs.
Damned hard.
Excellent work, as usual. Hadn’t thought of Ben Smith in a long time. I remember how excited I was about the secondary early in that season. That D could have been epically stacked, instead of just monumentally stacked.
I had not known that Blount could have been an Eagle. Btw, he is still doing good work. Also looks almost like he could still play!
Interesting. And impressive to read what kind of man he’s become.
Imagine being at the pinnacle of your profession — which, especially now, because of money and time force you out when you’re just figuring out what it means to be a man.
Then to re-invent yourself, as Blount — and not too many others have done — is a real testament to their character.
Kelly’s said of JMatthews, he’d run a Fortune 500 company if wasn’t an NFL player. Not sure if that’s true.
But he seems to have the kind of mettle that guys like Blount and Jaworski have.
I CAN only imagine what it means to be a man! Couldn’t resist!
http://rivercrestdentalblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/smile.jpg
I think development in the secondary is the only one severely lacking.
Same can also be said with safety outside of 2-3 years of Michael Lewis, last safety to even be decent was Brian Dawkins in 1996.
Good article Tommy. besides that, our current list of losses can be spun any number of ways. We aren’t losing to bad teams, that’s refreshing. We only lose to good teams in their house.
Exactly.
Love the discussion of context. People always try to point to numbers in a vacuum which is dangerous. As any scientist will tell you, understanding where the numbers come from and what they truly represent is as important as the numbers themselves.
thank you for this article, Ive been complaining about that argument for years now. I put it just a notch above the strength of schedule arguments. Not that you proved anything with the article, I just agree
The record that a team has when played is the record to be judged against, not what the end of the season record is, which is why the Eagles beat the Chicago team of a winning record(8-6),not the 8-8(non-winning record) Bears.To say otherwise is only a manipulation of numbers to suit someone`s agenda for a story. If a team goes 9-0 to start the season, then falls apart,goes 0-6 and then you beat them in the final game , do you beat a winning team?
Honestly, the record at any time may or may not mean anything. The packers example above is a great case study of why you can’t look at anothers team’s record as the end all and be all of how “good” a win is. Every game is unique in its own right.
Kinda like what I`m sayin. The end of year records are not valid in determining whether or not the team beat other teams with `winning` records. All that matters is not losing in the playoffs; cause then nobody would care if we lost to every winning team during the regular season.
EN:
To prove your point, look no further than the 1994 Eagles.
7-2 to start the season. 0-7 to finish.
Among the worst 7-2 teams I can remember. Sheer imposters.
yes thank you for putting that whole thing in perspective.
Tommy, I’ll have to respectfully disagree with your point on strength of division. While that has been important historically in the NFC east, it’s not a universal truth. The dynasty of the Niners was built on a consistently weak nfc west. That’s not just me speculating; I lived in the Bay Area for a long time it it was a widely accepted fact amongst the fans and media. There were occasional good Rams teams, but otherwise, it was a terrible division. A weak division often meant advantageous playoff seeding. Remember, this was also when the nfc west had the craptastic Falcons of the 80s and 90s. Even New England’s success was built on a relatively weak afc east in the aughts. The fact that they haven’t won it all in recent years is perhaps a separate issue.
delete
Huh?
had a comment, but reread yours and i was only rewording the benefits of a weak division, so that`s why
-delete-.
LAE . . .
Where you been?!
I’ve been around, thanks for asking! I find it daunting to reply half the time when there are 200 responses, like there usually is these days. I did manage to watch the Green Bay game with Baloophi, though. Much whiskey and Led Zeppelin was required to make it through that dark day…
You’re right about the comment volume — seems way up this season.
By the way, what’s your whiskey of choice?
I think it was bourbon this past weekend, but given the choice, usually Macallan or a Jameson’s, depending on the mood. Though my body can’t handle hard liquor like it used to. Monday was a rough day.
some of that is probably the winning season generating buzz, but the other part is that succubus-like job sucking out Tommy’s soul and reducing the frequency of his posts, allowing some of these comment sections to fester.
I think people make too much of this stat. The 08′ Eagles did play a tough schedule, but were frustratingly inconsistent during the regular season. By the post season they clicked, and they really should have gone to the SB.
It’s all about getting hot at the right time, to me. The Eagles are 7-3 right now, and I don’t think anyone feels they have gotten hot yet. That is a good sign. Get to the dance and hope to get hot. Maybe it doesn’t happen, hopefully it does. That’s how the birds were in AR’s best years, and I think that is the best chance you have at winning one. Of course just about every other Eagles fan disagrees with that sentiment.
I think everyone agrees that it`s best for any team to be winning games at the end of the season and be on a roll. Makes no difference how the team plays in the beginning, or even the middle, as long they`re part of the post season, and heating up towards the end is obviously best.
Great post, but just want to point out that, while the 54-11 rout might have been crucial for Chicago, they were definitely not playing at home. One of my favorite memories of the Linc.
Chip’s whole offensive strategy is based on run game success. No matter the record in the NFCE there is no chance of Playoff success unless the run game is fixed. Birds 24/7 has a good write-up on the run game FAIL: http://www.phillymag.com/birds247/2014/11/19/22-whats-ailing-eagles-offense/
you can say that again.
No success unless the run game is working well.
that’s what we had last year going for us.
not this year.
Been on my plate of concerns for 3 weeks.
What’s more arresting after GB is the Packers didn’t load the box.
Ditto. That and the plethora of turnovers…. Woof!
Actually his offensive strategy is not based on run game success. His Oregon team was that and so was Eagles last year, but at New Hampshire he was a high volume passing offense
I agree with some posters below that toughness of schedule does not translate into a positive. The Pats haven’t won recently due to randomness, not because they were not tested in the division. A weak division has been a huge benefit to the Pats for a decade.
If you took the same team A that could win x probability of time, and then played out scenarios:
1. very tough division: result would be sometimes you don’t make the playoffs, when you do you play an extra game, or away games.
2. really weak division: you get the number 1 or 2 seed often. This is the Pats. This results in more SB appearances.
I don’t agree with the argument that scenario 1 is better because although you have a disadvantage (lower seeding, extra game or away game) you are now battle tested so your win probability (which is affected by ALL kinds of things, including playing away v/ home) has increased enough to offset the detriment of being in scenario # 1 in the first place.
I just don’t buy this. I think the Pats prove the opposite (that they hugely benefit) not that they were not battle tested. They lost to the Giants, Pats were likely 70% winners but the 30% happens sometimes too.
I want the NFC East (other than the Eagles) to suck for a long time. I am not rooting for a tougher division.
We could also look at Arizona last season.
Sorry, but what does this mean?
It means I agree that toughness within a division does not necessarily work in any team’s favour. Although there is merit in the belief that “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”, it doesn’t apply across the board. Basically what you said.
Re: Yes and No
T-Law:
I don’t disagree with your general premise — and I especially agree with your statement that “I think something more important would be to play more games against winning teams.”
__________________
Your post reminds me that my own use of the phrase “teams with a winning records” has been imprecise.
My use of that term is as a proxy for the phrase *QUALITY OPPONENT* measured based on a number of off-the-cuff factors, including: the prior season’s record, perceived talent level, the QB quality, the current season’s record — particularly after 8 weeks — and most important *injuries*.
_________________
So, for example, you wrote about the 49ers game:
“SF is 6-4 and has a win against the winning Eagles. Good for them. But
the Eagles OL in that game was a huge mess. And it took Riley Cooper
dropping a TD for the Niners to secure the win. Just how impressive is
that?”
_________________
A couple of thoughts in response, because I think SF beat the Eagles by much more than the score shows.
First, the 49ers — like the Eagles — were also missing key players, particularly up front on the defensive side. Out were DE/OLB Aldon Smith, D/NT Glenn
Dorsey, and ILB Navarro Bowman. And Patrick Willis apparently was
playing with a nagging toe injury. Plus Vernon Davis had a back injury that ultimately cost him the last part of the game.
Second, the Eagles were close at the end because the team had blocked a
punt for TD, returned a kick for TD, and returned an INT for a TD —
something that’s happened only 77 times in the history of the NFL (which
is well over 15,000 games). Yes, the Eagles created those breaks for
themselves — but they’re the kind of lightning-in-a-bottle plays that
can skew an assessment of the teams’ overall performances.
Finally, until their last drive, the Eagles offense had not threatened all day. Heck, including the last drive, the Eagles gained only 213 yards on offense for the game.
San Francisco — missing three key defensive players — played the Eagles straight up. Yet they dominated the Birds like no other team has dominated Kelly’s offense.
[In anticipation of the argument that Frank Gore scored a flukey TD because (i) Marcus Smith blew the coverage and (ii) Earl Wolff blew the tackle, I’d reply: The Eagles scored 3 even more flukey TDs via STs and defense.]
___________________
So if someone wants to measure the 49ers by the score, then it was a close game. With both teams in some flux due to injuries.
Which team was more in flux? That depends, as the saying goes, on “whose ox is being gored.” [no pun intended]
At bottom, I think there’s a good argument that the 49ers put the wood to the Eagles physically that day.
Snyder should really cash-in on the annual ‘Dumpster Fire’ idea.
Any year where the Skins finish less than .500 he has a team-sanctioned event event where fans can pay $$$ money to buy admission, get food/beer, and burn old/former official Skins merchandise. Proceeds to a charity of Snyder’s choosing.
To really raise money, the Skins can auction off items like ‘official Jeff George game day-worn jersey’ with the bidding starting starting at a cool $1k !
They could give the proceeds to some Native American charity, only to have the money refused.
That would be so awesome for everyone.
Genius post.
In the immortal words of Dr. Kildare . . .
“I concur.”
Surprised to see that there isn’t a single team that hasn’t had to suffer thru a horrible blow out loss. I figured there would be ATleast 1 or 2….NOPE! Every single team has had a very Embarressing loss this year, no reason to carry it with us and let it drag us down in future games.
..
On the Weekly Podcast Lane On a few occassions mentioned how everyone is walking atound with a big chip on the shoulder this week and that we would have a great week of practice… On a bad note, again Tobin wasn’t able to practice. Lane is a second year puppy, who has built good chemistry with the Todd father, now he was working on his chemistry with Tobin, who was already dealing with playing on the others side.. He got two weeks of continuity with Tobin, and now Tobin got a concussion towards the end of the last game, so we are now asking Young Lane to get ready to go to war with Gardner next to him…… This isn’t an ideal situation for a year two RT who is still pretty Raw as an offensive lineman.
…
Jenkins press conference just exudes Leadership. He confirmed that Jalen is now playing safety which made sense to Malcolm since “Billy Davis doesn’t like tne big traditional Box safeties, he prefers the fast, former cornerbacks who can matchup and cover at safety”…. Probably should take OL mIss Safety cody Prewitt off of my watch list…. LSU has a 6’2 200lb Corner Jalen Collins,,who has experience at safety, corner, slot…. This year he is playing corner, had a rough game against Amari Cooper as most corners would… I like Jalen a lot, fast and smooth…. Like his height and length, athleticism, speed, ability to match up with WR and TE, could make a nice tandem with Jenkins
…
To your point on blow-outs . . .
The 1962 Packers — at 13-1 and maybe Lombardi’s greatest team —
suffered its only loss at Detroit in a blow-out . . . down 26-0 in the
4th Q before getting 2 garbage-time TDs against the Lions’ back-ups.
The 1979 Steelers — 12-4 and a SB winner — lost two games by scores of 34-10 to Cinncy and 35-7 to SD. Blown out.
The 1985 Bears — a 15-1 team that won by an avg of 17 points — lost to Miami that year 38-24 on MNF in a game that wasn’t that close.
Over 16 games, blowouts happen.
And they don’t affect good teams.
The Eagles are a good team.
Thanks AC!! I’ve been down all week because of the magnitude of the GB loss.
I feel like every college player is named Jalen/Jaylen these days.
Tried to watch Prewitt and had to turn it off. Did not impress me, granted it was 1 game.
Sorry, but what does this mean?
“The intensity level goes up a nothing in the postseason.”
I believe it is a reference to the super-secret, unreleased and destroyed cut scenes from Spinal Tap. We have all heard the reference of turning the volume up to 11 because it is louder than 10. In the cut scene, they bought an upgraded amp after a door-to-door salesman shows them that “nothing is above 11, so we made an amp with nothing” and turns the volume right past 10 and 11, to nothing.
Either that, or it was a typo. Could go either way, really.
guessing spell checks version of notch
think he meant `up a notch`
I don’t know if you ever try to use a board like this on a little phone, but for those who have not been initiated, it is quite an experience… there are predictive technologies that think they know what you are trying to type in order to save you time and trouble, and when they work they’re great, and when they don’t, they are a major pain in the butt. There is also autocorrect, which sometimes corrects words that you put in correctly into other things that make no sense.
Also, there is the option of dictating what you want typed, which again if it works is great, and when it doesn’t, it’s even more of a pain in the butt than the predictive typing can be.
I work with a guy who practices predictive dictation. When you talk to him he try to guess the what you are about to say and finish the sentence for you. It is also a pain in the butt.
Will this be the week that we finally stop pretending that the only way to run the football is out of single back shotgun?
…
This is supposed to be the “See-Coast” offense. Do you not see that the defenses arent spreading out and letting us run like we want them to do out of shotgun? Why the hell should the backüp QB have to open things up for the all pro RB? That’s ass backwards!! The all pro RB and our run game should be helping out the backüp QB….that can’t happen if we insist on only running out of single back shotgun.
..
This is the “See Coast offense” HELLO!!! Do we NOT see teams every week face 8 in the box, so teams count by putting an extra tackle in the game with two blocking TE and a Fullback and you run over the entire “BOX” with all 8 defenders in it? That can’t happen if we continue to act like the only way to be successful is only using single back gun!
…
At what point is getting some YARDS running, more important than doing it out of a certain formation? Don’t care how we skin the cat, as long as all the fur is gone!
GE wrote:
“Will this be the week that we finally stop pretending that the only way to run the football is out of single back shotgun?”
____________
The odds of Secretariat winning the 1973 Belmont Stakes were 1-10. (By race-time, he paid off just 10 cents on a $2 bet.)
I’d say the odds of Kelly running ball with the QB under center more than a just a few times are in the range of Secretariat at Belmont.
Then we can continue to waste our running backs and watch the run game struggle until Sanchez has like two big games and completely destroys the next two opponents tnru the air making teams re think playing 8 in the box…. Don’t wanna adjust? Then we can continue letting defenses dictate to our offense. I get “Taking what the defense gives you”, but at some point we have to stop letting defense dictate to us, and IMPOSE OUR WILL!
but we killed the giants that way!
come on chip!
Air runs out of the HOPE balloon……………
Wait, aren’t you saying the odds are good? Almost a certainty, in fact? The responses don’t match how I read your comment.
The crying shame of it all is that when we do run the ball from under center, it seems as if the running game is MUCH more successful.
Word. It’s time we exploit some matchups by running and passing out f sets with celek, ertz, and Casey on the field.
We have no FB and have used a lot of 2 TE sets, so do you want us to sign a FB?
Why would I want to sign a fullback for rare occasions or when we need to pick up a first down in short yardage. When I have Hbacks Iike James Casey who Practicalky spent one of his Texans years functioning as a lead blocker in the run game? Also have Burton?….
…
We can always Go, single back. But an extra OL in the game, and 3 TEs…. Or extra OLineman, two TE and beau allen or someone as the fulback
…
And in short yardage situations, it’s not that difficult to grab Beau Allen, show him where to lineup in backfield in front of the running back, you show him which gap to run thru and tell him to DESTROY Anything he finds in that hole….
..
We have a coach who is obsessed with prioritizing blocking in our skill positions, sure we have plenty of Capable blockers for the rare occasions were it would be nice to have a fullback…no need to ever carry a FB
My point, you claim Kelly only runs out of the spread gun but he has run plenty out of two te sets with Casey as a hback
To put into perspective how much the Cowboy’s O is keeping the D off the field: Cowboys defensive snaps 591, least in the league!
Here some stats for your amusement and edification.
Jeremy Maclin: 57 rec- 921yds – 9tds – 16 of 20+ – 37 1stdowns
DeSean Jackson: 40 — 819 — 6 — 11 — 25
Certainly there are a number of variables that result in a receivers stats. Still, a fella’ can’t help but smile.
P_P_K:
How ’bout this for a comparison, insofar as one can be made:
Project how Maclin would perform this season on Washington with QBs Griffin, Cousins, and McCoy.
Would Maclin’s numbers be better in those circumstances than Jackson’s numbers?
yes because he is better
Ok then.
Serves me right for not asking for something more in the way of an argument.
Maclin overall is the better WR but Desean is the best at his niche. Of the two,I think Maclin might have more TDs but Desean would have more yards if they switched situations.
Agree with you.
DJax is dynamic in his niche.
I wonder how he’d do opposite a Fitzgerald or CJohnson?
Jeez, he’d get lots of single coverage, I think.
And in 2013 . . . if Maclin hadn’t blown out his knee, BOTH of them — along with FOLES — may posted unbelievable numbers.
Just using Riley Cooper’s 2013 numbers suggests Maclin and DJax — ‘specially the way Foles was flinging last year — would have been dominant.
Soon enough it`ll be Matthews, Ertz and Maclin, with McCoy and Sproles, terrorizing the the opposition, and keeping DC`s up late at night.
Jackson made his own bed, he needs to learn to lie there.Being the one trick pony he is is not enough to be in Chip Kelly`s show. Could he he have made that block that let Sproles waltz into the the end zone against Carolina? Would he have even tried?
That’s whay I stated there are many variables. I will say the stat showing Jeremy with more 20+ receptions caught me by surprise.
how about comparing DeSean to Riley Cooper
I don’t think the comparison holds because they are expected to do different things. Maclin and Jackson are more comparable.
Except Maclin blocks a bit.
so you pay a guy $5m a year to block sometimes but you wont pay a guy $10m/yr to catch 1400yds in passes + 9tds?
Cooper also makes an effective decoy and pick too.
Cooper is turdible. Can we get out of his contract soon?
I’m with you. I wouldn’t and I would.
I’m with you guys. I wouldn’t and I would.
I believe DJax himself was commenting on just how impressive Maclin’s numbers are, and how this is indisputable proof of Maclin’s quality as a receiver when he said, “you can’t do epic shit with basic people.” Epic, indeed. And, kudos to Jackson for keeping tabs on his former teammate and for being so magnanimous.
I spoke with a Mr. Webster. He said he is editing a dictionary and wants to speak with you about an entry. Something about “satire.”
If we were going through these offensive struggles this season while Deseans was still here that jackass would be unbearable. And considering having Desean doesn’t fix the Giant disaster in the middle of our foundation AKA 3 interior lineman replaced by backups, good chance we still go thru This season’s adversity, and we are fortunate he ismt here during this mess, he would only find a way to make it worse. I am enjoying the drama free, all business approach to the 2014 eagles
I bet he wishes he was still here…well at least I do.
Why smile? The lack of respect for the passing game this year has given Maclin great stats, but we’d possibly be playing better overall (and from McCoy’s stats) with Jackson here. Why kick dirt on a guy management threw out the door?
How would Jackson help the OL block?
not in box, safety.
watched the coaches tape, that in-box safety isn’t there, there have been times where we’ve had a blocker for every man in the box (that is extra light, typically you match the offense’s # of blockers +1 for the runner) with nothing but a deep safety between shady and the endzone and it’s been getting stuffed for 1-4 yards. It’s gotten bad these past 2 games.
The point MM was making was that the Eagles as a whole Offensee would be more dangerous with Mac AND DeSean. I don’t think anyone would dispute that notion.
Or would you hinesy prefer a WR trio of Mac – Coop – Matthews to Mac – Desean – Matthews.
No, right?!
I have always said I rather have Desean over Cooper, but not sure how Jackson helps McCoy when the problem is we cant even run against bad run defenses who do not even load the box
Jaccson had 2 touchdowns last year.
Jaccson had 4 touchdowns year before that.
Fear him!!
It’s not about TDs only. I have said the offense as a whole would be more dangerous. And it’s not really rocket science. Every OC would take a WR trio of Mac – Desean – Mattews. Apart from Chip. Lol
I’m willing to kick dirt on a guy who publicly kicks dirt on his teammates.
HELP!!! Much needed fantasy advice,
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Was offered a trade that seems too good to be true, especially in terms of name brand, but I feel like this is a trap. What am I not seeing?
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The Trade offer is me trading away Kelvin Benjamin, and in return I would be getting Calvin Johnson and Brandon Marshall.
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Now Kelvin is extremely valuable because him and Olson are the only weapons for cam to throw too. He gets so many balls thrown his way, all it takes is coming down with one jump ball and he gives you a good game. What really really makes me reluctant to trade him is this is a DYNASTY LEAGUE. I drafted Kevin in round 8, that means that I can Designate him as a “Keeper” and I get to keep him next year and it would only cost me my 10th round pick
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I know marshall and Calvin are both banged up this year, and haven’t been spectacular as previous years but Lions look like they have a good shot making the playoffs so Calvin shoulda ace a lot to play for in the second half of season, and Brandon Marshall is trying to not get embarressed and try and save face in a year that could see a lot of heads get placed on the chopping block after the year….
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Any opinions?
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Other offer is me trading Reggie Bush for Steven Jackson and Oakland TE Micheal Rivera who Carr Tarbets ALOT… Not sure what to do hear but I’m leaning towards keeping bush even tho he hasn’t had a good year, banged up, missed games, but the Lions have a lot to play for…… I assume Steven Jackson is washed up, but I haven’t paid attention to him or that mess of a falcon team… Surprisingly Atlanta is sitting first place in its division, so they have much to play for, does Steven pj ackson have anything at all left!
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I usually play Jammal Charles and Shane Vereen and Keep Reggie Bush on my bench,,,and start a WR as my Flex
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I placed claims this week for:
Ben Tate, he signed with VIkings and Assiata got a concussion
Jonas Gray 4 TD game for Patriots( I already have
isiah Crowell Browns now that Ben Tats is completely out of the way
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I
Steven jackson is hit or miss and even the good games is low ceiling
Yeah I don’t like him as all…
I got Gray off waivers today!
My waivers don’t go thru til thursday. Hopefully I’m awarded 1 or 2 tomorrow
I’d make both those crazy trades no wonder you win leagues every year. The problem with the KB trade is that you’ll be tempted to start Calvin and sometimes he shits the bed. As for bush he’s about to lose his job to theo riddick.
I should have jumped on this trade already, I don’t know why it’s so hard for me to pull the trigger……Can Calvin Johnson really not produce down the stretch when he finally has a real chance at a playoff birth? No idea what’s up with Marshalls injury, serious, not serious?
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I can’t belive don’t have the balls to make this trade and give up Kelvin…. This is a new league I got in this year, I actually don’t even know any of the people in the league
Question:
It is not my impression that Celek is a excellent blocker, he’s more functional than shutdown. We also have James Casey. Wouldn’t it be more fair to say that Ertz is a serious liability as a blocker, in the same way preseason heroes at RBs don’t make it because they can’t handle blitz assignments?
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Been reading some of the analysis of our offense, especially Kapedia’s take. It looks more and more to me that my intuition watching the game is correct–we really need some sort of genuine viable rushing threat at QB to have a viable run game against a defense playing well. Or at the very least, Sanchez doing keepers have to be very routine and out of several looks. This offense is effectively an NFL-lized triple option where the a backs are WRs. And when you’re trying to force them to play the whole horizontal field, the QB is a big part of that. Without guesswork forced on the run stoppers, we’re being forced to ask more of our TE than we really should, and more complex OL operations have to be used, introducing more points of failure.
Yes see Mike Vick + Shady rushing numbers. However, if you had a straight line power back (like that ex-Duck that was in Pitt) then I think you’re better off b/c he’ll bowl over a DB instead of getting tackled by one.
I thought about that–and went with a scenario of Marshawn Lynch, because the Seattle OL is all sorts of messed up…
I then concluded that Lynch just does with power what Shady does with jukes, and the fact that Wilson is such a threat as a keeper, keeps the DL straight and not bunching into Lynch (smack ’em one at a time, most of the time) like they are McCoy. Sproles seems to hit the line quicker than Shady, I mean in that burst sense, not vision sense, but a lot of the time, that only does so much, though he has had more long runs.
It’s important to emphasize that an offense has to be able to intimidate a defense. Rep does a lot of work for good players, because it helps the weaker parts of the offense out, and then the big bad can be blended back in after the paranoid defense is beat up. Saying “just dive, McCoy, and get the three yards” isn’t really right. It’s about the blend of not having lots of negative plays, and getting plenty of big plays. If you won’t go for it all on a regular basis, your effectiveness at even getting three yards will decline as the defense becomes psychically balanced. Thus, asking McCoy to change his game is very unlikely to get especially positive results, especially since his talents are unbalanced into the direction of agility and some quickness over size or speed. McCoy has to have opportunities to hit defenses one man at a time in order to embarrass anyone. If he can get swarmed easily, then…well, even when he doesn’t get swarmed, he’ll be too hesitant and unconfident to juke a safety out of his shoes, as Kapedia shows.
DL’s gotta get straightened out. We have to force them to do that. Be easy with a terrifying rusher like Vick, Webb, Newton, Kaepernick, etc…, but one way or another, for the run game this offense is centered around, the DL’s gotta get made straight.
No thanks. Rushing threat at QB = often injured threat at QB with poor passing skills and a shortened career.
In mock tragedy news:
2 American University frat students died today of alcohol poisoning while watching RGIII’s press conference. Supposedly based upon a conversation earlier in the day, the two frat brothers & Skins’ fans were planning to take a shot of Jager every time RGIII mentioned ‘focused on’ or ’49ers’ during his press conference.
After consuming an estimated 15-20 shots of Jager in under 10 minutes, it is estimated that both frat brothers passed out into an alcohol-induced coma which from they never regained consciousness and later passed away after being rushed to the GW Hospital.
Tom, wouldn’t be mad if you decided to skip the DGR this week. I tried to go back and watch the game last night, I couldn’t make it past the special team TD. No one should have to relive the Horror
Amen to that.
If you insist on watching it, just focus on Jordan Mathew the entire time. Silver lining kid played like a beast, and we managed to block another punt
[…] Tommy Lawlor of Iggles Blitz talks about the Birds’ struggles against teams with winning records: […]
two of these teams won’t make the playoffs:
Arizona Cardinals
Eagles
Packers
Cowboys
49es
seahawks
lions
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It’s too wide open, too much parity to not win this division. I don’t have the stomach to sweat out wildcard births. These games against the Cowboys are EVERYTHNG! Let’s do it the “Easy” way and beat the Cowboys twice and take command of our destiny and theirs… If we split with the Cowboys, next tie breaker becomes division wins, Cowboys already have 1 division loss..
When this year started, the Seattle DECEMBER game was EVERYTHING to me. Now that game is the least of my concerns. beat dallas twice and handle our business. Split with them and it becomes crucial we beat the skins and Giants giving us the tiebreaker over the Cowboys…
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12-4 was the “script”..hopefully the script doesn’t need to be adjusted because of the loss of FOles…
Thanksgiving Day will give us more direction on the future. Win that one and maybe … just maybe ….
We have no offense. If we don’t get one in the Titans game, Thanksgiving will be painful.
Our offense isnt far away. And A ittle novacare biirdie whispered that Nick Foles is healing well, he is busting his ass rehabbing trying to stay in shape so once he is cleared he doesn’t have to then get in shape. The whisper is he is healing ahead of schedule, and he could return for the last two games of the season instead of the playoffs. Now the last two games are skins andGiants and we don’t need Nick to beat them, but it would be significant because Nick would have two games to knock the rust off before the playoffs.
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My understanding is as soon as Nick is ready to go, Sanchez goes back to the bench and I would completely agree with chip
Question… Who are the defensive players in the NFL that have the same name as stud offensive players in the NFL? For example, isn’t there a Linebacker named Brandon Marshall spelled the same way as the WR?
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What other NFL defenders have the same name as offensive players?
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Lol in my Dynasty Fantasy league, we play with defense and individual defenders… So I want to claim defensive players with the same name as quality offensive players and offer them in trades to the teams with better records than me,,, lol hopefully I can trick a competitor in weakening his team by trading me one of his key offensive players for
Brandon Marshall the linebacker, thinking he is trading for brandon Marshall the WR lol…. What other defensive players have the same name as offensive players that I can try to trick and weaken other fantasy owners with? Lol Diabolical
The more interesting question I was askin a couple of weeks ago: has there ever been a 1-2-1 matchup of two players with the exact name?! I was wondering this after watching WR Kevin White against CB Kevin White in College the other day.
GermanEagle:
In 1984, NYG WR Bobby Johnson faced off against Saints CB Bobby Johnson.
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I’ll repost again to make sure you see it
No offense, mate. I was sure you’ve already answered this question reliably. 😉
I have to ask…why PBR?
Tommy’s a total Hipster
I think Tommy’s response would be; “Why NOT PBR?”
I disagree on the Pats point…the AFC East was horrible back when the Pats were winning SB as well and it never seemed to hurt them, in fact it helped them stack up wins and get byes/HF advantage. I’d love to get 6 wins out of the division each year, that would give us a huge edge over the competition. I get the theory of being battle tested, but I’d rather the Eagles stay healthy, get HF advantage and the bye and be as prepared/focused as possible for the playoffs. If we pick high character and tough players, we should be good to go.
To go further with this idea of easily winning the division, the harder competition would come with the more difficult schedule given to division winners, and so maybe that would battle-test them in preparation for the playoffs.
I figure since the titans suck against the run they assume we will try to run it and so Kelly will outthink himself and go pass crazy. I mean come on RUN THE BALL! and by run the ball I mean give it to polk and sproles. let shady decoy or something
Tobin has been cleared from his concussion, and he was back practicing which means Lane will get to play next to the same guard for the 3rd week in a row, and I wouldn’t bet against those two being better than the week before and next week I wouldn’t bet against them being better than this week. But it’s imperative that they stay healthy so they can build their chemistry these next 6 games for playoffs
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We,clearly haven’t gotten Kelce and Mathis playing like the best at their position yet, but one more week shaking the rust off from the injury lay off has passed which means we will get better play from our C and LG this week. I’m sure the timing will be better than it was last week, since we are finally getting OL continuity
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Everyone talks about how well the steelers ran against the Titans, and that’s exciting, but what I really like is they seem to consistently have problems overpursuing which means it should provide some cutback lanes for shady to get jiggy with it..
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One of the few teams that will play us in true cover zero, man to man outside, no help, Maclin, Coop, Pope Jordan have to step up win individual matchuos and make some big plays!!!
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What do you do against a young QB? Blitz the heck out of him. All our various fronts, stunts, loops, twists, blitzes coming from everywhere, second in the NFL in sacks should equal a big game for our defense, rebound from Sunday and look to start a new defense forcing turnover streak this week by getting 3 turnovers this week
For the first time this year we are starting to approach “must win”territory. 7 teams fighting for 5 spots. Seattle, arizona, San Fran, Green Bay, Detroitl Dallas and Philly. 2 of these teams won’t make the playoffs, and the 6th playoff team comes from the jerkoff division where like 6 wins and and a tie gets you a playoff birth lol.
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I started looking at this Titans matchup and began to find myself getting nervous. Than I think, if I, nervouse over a friggin home game vs. Titans, imagine how some of these other fanbases must feel. Important weeks are up ahead. Every game the rest of the way is crucial with this type of parity
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9-1 Arizona vs. 6-4 seattle… Even with Stanton, not an easy game for seattle and I don’t know how much more their psych can take before it starts to implode. Desperate Desperate Seattle team this week. San Francisco has a nice winnable home game over the disgraceful. Redskins…
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Lion and Packers both Tied at 7-3 and both go on the road. GB goes to minnesota, and Lions go from their Dome to the out door cold of @ patriots. Doubt Lions fans feel too comfortable especially since who knows how banged up Calvin and Reggie are this week..,tough tough game for Lions..Green Bay on the road can never be trusted, especially Vs. Rival, even if it’s crappy VIkings team.
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While 3-7’skins try to not become a complete joke against the Niners, the 3-7 Giants have a home game vs. Hated Cowboys coming off a bye,..this has to be a pride game for the Giants who if they have any heart can play the spoiler role. The manning family was responsible for 7 INT last Sunday. eli had 5 on his own…anyone on that group of LOSERS have enough pride to put up a fight against Dallas?
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Out of all the 7 teams fighting for 5 spots, we are the only ones playing against a rookie QB. I also noticed that their aggressive defense has problems constantly over pursuing..might be just the right team to provide Shady the cutback lanes he has missed…
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Thankfully Tobin is back from concussion already, Lane is a year two RT, he needs to start getting continuity with the lineman that will play next to him in the playoffs. Enough with the injuries!! #NoInjuries
I am rooting for a Sea loss since there is no chance we will catch the Cards who are two wins ahead plus own the tiebreaker against us. Sadly I think the Seahawks will win this one and make matters even more interesting/worse.
I dunno man, By now you Prob know that I’m a major believer in the battle of the line of scrimmage dictating how the game plays out. Teams were running on seattle all year, now that Mebane is gone, they will struggle to stop the run… On the other side of the ball, center Max Unger came back from injury, but got hurt again, done for the season…and they already have a LT who is playing thru injury that needs surgery after the season…against a Cardinal team that’s strong in the trenches…
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You really don’t want to play the cardinals without your starting CEntet because they blitz so damn much, you really need your starting center against them to diagnose what they are doing and make the right line calls….
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I wonder about seattle psych right now. 6-4 with home Losses, this point last year they were 9-1 and the entire league feared going to seattle. Arizona was one of the few that always played them tôugh in seattle…. Of course Arizonas run game is nothing special,mFitzgerals playing thru sprain MCL, and at the end of the day we are still talking about a career backup against the L.O.B
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Intersting game.. I want arizona to get the #1 seed if we don’t get it they can’t win in the play offs, they can’t run the ball in January, and they are too reliant on the blitz to have playpff success. You face the good QBs in the playoffs that can pick your blitzing D apart…
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Would LOVE to see the Giants kick Dallas ass!!! It’s around that time that Dallas starts imploding
I’m with you with the Giants. And I’ve got a better feeling this time around for Sunday night.
Be nice if the skins could steal one in San Fran, highly unlikely….and the vIkings stealing a home division game from GB. I’m not completely sold on GB ability on the road yet. Curipus to see their next few games.
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What CANT HAPPEN, is The Patriots losing to the Lions. the Pats are the best team in the NFL at this moment, Detroit is used to playing in a dome. We need the Pats to take care of business. We camt have our rivals gain a bunch of moments and even win games that they should lose. Brady needs to take care of business. Although Lions tied for the division with GB, maybe they can still steal the division
Bench shady… Win the toss, take the ball… First play come out lined up on 3back Pistol lol(Diamond Shape):
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…………………………….Sanchez…………………………….
……………James Casey………….Polk
………………………………..Sproles
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Lol the Titans won’t know Wtf is going on lol. I used Casey because he has Hback experience where he acted like a fullback a lot one of those Texan years, but we could also go wirh Burton, he probably can’t block as well as Casey, but he is a better and more credible runner, for the fakes, and the few times you give it to him to make defenses honor him……Polk and Casey can lead block for tiny Sproles…..after that play, we can go tempo, don’t let them substitute, keep Polk in the Bacfield, motion Casey back on the line like a TE and motion Sproles t the slot and you have a complety different formation that provides different problems for the defense you didmt allow to substitute…
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We are lucky that by now, everyone practices to face single back shotgun aganst us..l how often do teams practice against other formations the week of the Eagles? Use that to our advantage. There is SOOOOOO MUCH that teams would NEVER Expect the chip kelly Eagles to do because we have been so strictly single back shotgun operation, .. We can run basic normal plays out of basic every day NFL formations and be able too completely catch teams off guard because teams only expect single back shotgun. Why wouldn’t we go into games with 5 plays out of different formations in our arsenal for some key moments?
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Trotter was talking and he said as a linebacker, he would crap himself if he saw,shady and Sproles lined up at the same time and at that point him and the defense would be forced to pick their poison..why aren’t we doing it? Cause one can’t block for the other? So wha? Faking a hand off to shady going left, before you pitch it to Sproles leaking right. Is its own block. Defenses or so focused on not letting shady get off, that just faking a handoff to shady going the opposite direction gets the defenses attention and functions like a block, freezing defense to give Sproles and extra split second to get the Jets going..
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Also, last year Sproles caught 70 something balls. We 10 games in and I don’t even think he has reached 40 catches yet(too lazy to check).. Our offense and QBs have struggled, those are easy passes to Sproles that could help QBs get into a Rythem more, get positive yardage so we can use our tempo more… Sproles needs more carries than the two he got vs. Packers, but he def needs more catches his way… Would like to see us throw to shady more too, and not just screens
Sounds like a Power-I. I’d like to see something like that with the depth at RB that we have.
GB used something similar, their “full house” formation.
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You can do so much out of it, even send two of the guys in the backfield out for catches…maybe even stick a WR life Huff in the backfield si he can get a free release.
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So much different things we can do that can catch our opponents completely unprepared and off guard
So… whats up with JimmyK? I see his farewell on Philly.com but no mention of where he is off to next.
Philly voice.
I’m such a junkie I finally made it thru re watching the debacle that went down in Greenbay.,Silver Linning: I Did Not Realize what a beast Pope Jordan the 81st was in Lambeau. Kid made some impressive, well contested catches, some nice YAC, really was our their battling, and won on many of his routes. No matter what the score he was still battling and playing Hard…
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can’t wait to see Jordan, Maclin and Coop this week against a defensive coordinator who really leaves his corners on an Island and expects them not to drown. Going to be a lot of 1 on 1 opportunities for our wideouts….with that said, I hope that doesn’t give chip a Licemse to go all “andy” and chuck the ball 60 times with a backup. That would be soooo andy….For a 2-9 team, Titans have some real talent. Jurell Casey is a beast, 300lber can move!
This is a very aggressive defense, but they are susceptible to getting their aggression used against them. They can get caught overpursuing, which should come in handy for the cutback King, shady McCoy. They will blitz a lot and leave us plenty of open shots for Maclin and Jordan….
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I expect our DEFENSE to be FUMING after Lambeau and put on a show against a rookie. Start the Eagles defense this week, 3-5 turnovers they Force this week
Few days, we play a 2-9 team Tougher than their record. Suggests, but a team we should outclass non the less…. After Sunday, it’s CRUNCH TIME!!
@ Dallas thanksgiving
Seattle @ Philly
Dallas @ Philly
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That’s the season rigjt there.that 3 game stretch is EVERYTHING! I would happily trade a loss to Seattle for two wins against Dallas. We have two win two of three eitner way, but it would be huge if the two wins were both Dallas…or even better….not losing at all.
Mate, let’s beat the Titans first, shall we?!
If we can’t beat the Titans after just playing in a game where at a,certain point we were down 40 points, we might as well forfeit the rest of our season and just keep our guys healthy for next year, but I feel ya….
This.
Latavius Murray man oh man did I want us to pick him up.. I think it was only me and Tommy that knew of him. Dude just gashed the entire Chiefs front 7 in just a few minutes.
Good thing your dude only needed a few minutes to gash them since he couldn’t make it thru a half 😉
Hey Tommy,
I guess we’re still ‘Winning’?! 😉