Big Game Blues
Posted: December 17th, 2014 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 290 Comments »The Eagles are 9-5. Let’s look at the losses…
at SF
at ARZ
at GB
SEA
DAL
Those are 5 tough games. The one good thing about this Eagles team is that they are beating the teams they are supposed to. No upsets this year.
The problem is that you can’t lose all those big games. The Eagles did win in Dallas and Indy so it isn’t as if the 9 wins all came against completely lesser teams. Still, the Eagles needed to beat 1 or 2 of the teams in the above list. That would put them atop the division and in contention for a bye. Instead, the Eagles are sitting around hoping for help.
I wrote about this and the Dallas loss for my PE.com column.
This isn’t a bad year by any stretch, but 9-5 never felt so hollow. Weird.
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Marcus Smith is moving back to OLB with Trent Cole’s hand injury. Bill Davis talked a bit about Smith at his PC and admitted that moving Smith around has hurt his development. That’s just Davis being honest. No real revelation there.
I don’t get why some fans and the media are so set on making pronounced judgments on Smith. His rookie season has been disappointing and I think even Smith would agree with that. That said, he hasn’t negatively affected the team at all. The Eagles have gotten great play from their 3 OLBs. Even if Smith had looked really good this summer, I’m not sure how much playing time he would have gotten at OLB. Barwin, Cole and Graham have been terrific.
There were injuries at ILB so Smith moved in there. But the Eagles got good play from DeMeco Ryans and Mychal Kendricks as the key guys. Casey Matthews has played the best football of his career and overall the ILB play has been fine. Smith hasn’t been needed on the field. The coaches did mix him into some Nickel looks to see how he would do. He had one busted play vs SF that led to a TD, but was mostly nondescript.
If the Eagles were getting poor LB play this year, then Smith would deserve to be a hot topic and point of criticism. That’s not been the case at all. His slow development hasn’t affected the team. Let’s give the guy some time and find out if he can play. If he turns out to be a bust, we’ll have plenty of time to talk about that and criticize him. I just think too many people confuse poor rookie season with bust. Those aren’t the same thing.
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DeSean Jackson is back in the news since the Eagles are playing the Skins this week. Jay Gruden had some awkward things to say.
Gruden was very complimentary of Jeremy Maclin, but not so much with Jackson. Is this a motivational ploy? Or is Gruden another coach who has gotten frustrated with DJax?
Gruden isn’t afraid to speak his mind on his own players so this isn’t typical coachspeak. I’m not really sure what to make of it.
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The one good thing about this Eagles team is that they are beating the teams they are supposed to. No upsets this year.
Duh, you just jinxed our tiny playoff hopes, Tommy!!!
I had the exact same thought with 1. Now I need to double down on all my superstitious pregame rutiuals
Double down?! Did you not rather mean DOUBLE UP?! I will make it a QUADRUPLE UP regarding Stella Artois instead..!
yes, doubling down means the same thing. Sorry, I forget non-native English speakers do not know some of those colloquialisms.
I love me some colloquialisms.
I think animus isn’t direct at Smith personally, because you’re right he himself has not negatively affected the team this year, but as a first round pick Smith the player/roster spot/draft pick doesn’t exist in a vacuum.
It’s allocation of resources/value and a hit at the team’s assessment of the draft and their own roster (though I’ll be somewhat forgiving they didn’t see this dramatic pass rush improvement coming). Drafting for perceived need at the cost of talent/value instead of addressing other, just as important needs where the value was there left some big very visible holes on this current roster that still need to be filled with future resources. On top of that if Smith isn’t any good you’ve burned a really important chip and potentially set yourself back developmentally because even if he can play, is his development (essentially learning how to play, evidently) on track with when the rest of the team is going to be stepping towards the next level.
Then again, all moot points until someone emerges as a legitimate QB on the roster.
Smith kinda left Gore wide open… but besides that… i dont remember much minus ST play here and there..
you can look at that as the game winning play. he hasn’t seen the field much since.
which is a shame, since there are other players who get to stay on the field with more mistakes – if that’s the reason he hasn’t seen the field again.
well billy said he just didn’t outplay the other ilbs, casey has been playing great. but i don’t think that’s the real issue we’ve barely seen him in blowouts.
I’m confused about this situation. I’m not down on the kid, but I would like to see him get some garbage time during those blowouts.
I hope we make the playoffs this year, because I don’t want to start the offseason early.
After this year, I doubt they can bring Fletcher back. Either Watkins steps up in the slot or outside, or Carroll goes outside. But I don’t see how they can sell Fletcher on the outside next year.
Lucky for you, COLE went down, Now it’s time to unleash my beloved Maaaaaaaarcus Daaaaaaaarling! I was so down after the Cowboys. NO disrespect to trent Cole, but Knowing I’m going to see Marcus and BG in a starter role, is like snorting a line of pure Eagle adrenaline for me! Only thing better could be the return of the Rainmaker or Mufasa!!! I’m hype!!M
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Bob Griffin is going to Feel Maaaaaarcus Daaaaarling on Saturday!!!
Can’t wait. I’m tired of hearing all the talk of bust when he hasn’t done anything either way. He’s learning and there’s 3 guys in front of him.
What’s going to bother me is that after the game, if he had a good game it’ll be that it was against Washington and it doesn’t mean anything. If he has a bad game or makes a couple mistakes, it’ll be everyone knew he was a bust.
It’s a shame he’s in a damned if you do or damned if you don’t position with the Philly sports media.
I personally won’t complain if he puts up stats, it’ll be against washington, but whatever, he’s a rookie
Yeah,I def expect hm to make some plays this week, like you said it won’t matter. It won’t be enough to settle down the restless ignorant natives lol
While THATS TRue, it’s not like Marcus responsibility was man to man coverage on Gore from the beginning to the end of the play, and marcus made a mistake or couldn’t keep up with Gore
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That play was just a “scramble drill”, when play breaks down and mobile QB starts running around, eyes down field looking to make something out of a busted play, it’s up to every defender to “plaster”, which means forget your assignment, find the closest offensive player, and guard him closely so the QB can’t find him down field. I don’t remember if Marcus was late plastering, or if he plastered someone else on that play, or if he just didn’t see Gore in time to plaster him, get into position to not let Gore be an outlet for KAp.
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I would be more concerned if that was a normal play, where Marcus assignment was just to defend Gore coming out of the backfield and Marcus couldn’t keep up with gore, or blew the assignment, then I am concerned about a rookie not seeing Gore on a scramble drill
In terms of resource allocation you have to keep in mind that you draft a player for multiple years, not just a rookie year. You can’t judge a player on a single year, but on the body of work throughout their contract, and development from year to year. first round picks shouldn’t be measured by where they are their rookie year, but their ceiling, and whether they reach their ceiling during their career with a team. Furthermore, for every player you “overpaid” for in the draft, you find one you “underpaid” for, balancing the allocation of resources.
so first couple of years are free $ and then you hope he was 1 where he totally outplays his contract?
not exactly. You hope for contributions throughout someone’s career. Also, development costs money. The initial investment for development far exceeds the actual manufacturing costs. Why shouldn’t we think of player development in a similar manner, the cost to train and develope someone skills is an investment in their future ability.
Don’t disagree with a word you said in General terms.
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marcus Smiths case is Different!..
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We have 3 Stud OLB playing ahead of him, with barely enough snaps for brandon Graham, why the hell would Marcus be expected put any of those 3 players on the bench?
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Typically the counter argument to that statement is, Ok but why ismt Marcus contributing on Special teams? Then you look and we have the top ranked special team in just about every category possible, so why the hell would we want to replace anyone who is playing ahead of him on special teams? Not to mention we may be one of the only teams I ever seen dedicate a free agent period to signing special teams players and subpackage type guys…… How can I complain that Marcus ISNT playing Special teams when we are paying Braman and James Casey good money to be the special team studs that they have been all year on the top rated Special Team Unit
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Young players NEED to earn their snaps, and there is NO WAY In hell a rookie OLB was earning playing time on the Eagles this year… You could draft anthony Barr, his ass would be on the bench behind Barwin, COLE, BG too…so it takes a Donkey to be ripping
Marcus this year! I don’t even understand why people care?
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I could understand if marcus was a 1st round corner back and we been watching Bradley Fletch get Roasted all year, but why the hell does anyone even want the rookie OLB to play when Pur studs are healthy? COle went down, so Now I want to see our young OLB, and Saturday, bet your ass we will see him fly off that edge!!
actually, your entire argument is in line with what I was trying to say.
To expand: With Smith, the argument could be that at OLB development is a far higher premium than immediate impact due to the high level of play of the top 3 OLBs. Since he isn’t needed on the field, they can focus on teaching him the defense, working on fundamentals, and building his strength. As a bonus, injury risks are reduced. He seems coachable and eager, so that also raises his value. Since he didn’t need to see the field, they were also able to cross train him further raising his long term value.
We also need to remember that edge rushers are extremely highly valued in general, when you have the opportunity to draft and develop one with high potential, you need to take advantage of that, regardless of immediate impact. The potential of hitting on a stud edge rusher far out ways the risk of missing on one.
Absolutely…. There really isn’t any reason at all not to be excited about the kid…
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And getting him last year, could be a great opportunity for this upcoming draft…. This is a STACKED pass rusher draft, but like you said, it’s such a highly valued position that they get snatched up early no matter many of them their are….. We don’t at all need to be drafting any more OLBs…..if Bud Dupree is available when it’s our turn, I would strongly consider him because I think the world of him, even if he isn’t a need…
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But in this upcoming draft it’s going to be like an edge rusher feeding frenzy. There are a lot of good ones, but when needy teams see a bunch of other teams start taking edge rushers off the board, it will probably start a run..a lot of pass rushers are going to be drafted in the top 100 this year, not needing a pass rusher may be an opportunity to get good players at other positions falling a bit…. It’s also a really strong Wr class again. Figure like 7-10 edge rushers go in round 1, 2-4 QBs, 4-10 offensive Tackles.. Leaves a few really good players at other positions available for us…
Dude, the point is, he is a 1st round pick and the Eagles are down at the linebacker position, and the Eagles fans don’t feel like we can count on him to step up and contribute. There are 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round picks contributing all over the NFL. As far as contributing on special teams …. who cares, they are stacked there.
Sure, but I don’t agree with the hits and misses entirely because the opportunity cost of drafting him in the first round and missing is much higher than using a 3rd or 4th rounder and hoping to find a gem. In reality they’re probably all lottery picks yes, but getting return on the value of higher round picks when you have them is important.
Take for instance Graham, who I like and like that they’re now moving to extend him, but the cost of drafting him and developing him came at the expense of the opportunity to draft the players available when he was picked at the time and play those same players during that time he was developing (no, I am not over not taking Earl Thomas, even if the analogy here isn’t perfect).
I think we (football fans/media as a whole) are looking at the draft in the wrong way, and I think that is why mock drafts get around 5 picks right at best. The cost of drafting someone is not really based on the player in a vacuum, yes it is based on the player as a prospect and current state of development, but it is also market driven. You have 32 teams with varying needs based on roster wholes and scheme dictates. On the other side you have hundreds of draft picks at varying positions with varying skill sets and experience in vastly different schemes. From year to year, based on the saturation of a position and the market need, a player may have very different valuations. In many ways the draft is as much an economics problem as a player evaluation one.
On the other end you have player development influencing the evaluation of how a draft went. You bring up Earl Thomas, well, yes he is a great player, but he had the luxury of growing behind a strong front 7, under a great defensive coaching staff, and beside Richard Sherman. What would have happened had he been behind the Wide 9, under a dysfunctional infighting coaching staff and next to Nnamdi and DRC? I doubt we would be talking about him as a pro bowler.
The counter to the Thomas example in those terms is that you’re describing a mutual relationship. Seattle’s defense (Carroll helping the secondary’s development has been crucial I’m sure, I wouldn’t argue that) is built on the collective talent of the unit including Thomas, so while a portion Thomas’s role may be dictated by Sherman’s ability, it’s a symbiotic relationship and they benefit from playing with one another as very talented players. That he was able to play from day 1 at a solid to above average level, even in a good position for him to do so, is also part of the value that pick yielded them.
I think talent has to win out. Nate Allen drafted in Thomas’s spot would not have had the same career. The coaching instability Allen’s had has definitely been a problem and I wouldn’t discount it, but I thinking you’re weighing it too heavily in that situational example.
But, citing that example, what confidence should we really have that Bill Davis is going to be able to put any drafted players in the secondary in a position to succeed with how he’s been deploying the veterans back there? Maybe should give me hope Watkins can play a little and just isn’t ready to play the single high by himself or be on an island all game.
Yes, it is a symbiotic relationship, and yes talent plays a role in the ceiling of a player. But I do not value a player based on where he is when he is drafted as highly as his ceiling, and his ability to reach his potential (part of that is coaching part of that is drive/desire/discipline). Take Clowney, all the talent in the world but he has shown a consistent lack of discipline. Perhaps he can over come that, but the past is littered with people who thought they could get by with talent alone. Football doesn’t work that way.
As far as Nate, I agree he wouldn’t necessarily play at Thomas’ level, but he would be significantly better than he is now, and you can still see the ghosts of wide 9 past in his bad habits, like biting on every play action. Would Thomas have developed the same tendencies? Would his raw talent have been enough to overcome them? To argue either was is pure speculation, but that is the point, there is a significant and real influence from coaching/situation a player is drafted into.
You bring up an interesting question about Billy Davis and the CBs. With the current state of things, perhaps the short term solution is in free agency while the young guys develop into long term solutions.
With their comfort level with the younger players back there and to expand on what you’ve laid out there, I would have to think that would be the move. Get Watkins involved (or hey I wonder how Reynolds looks), bring in someone to replace Fletcher.
I do worry about their defensive strategy scheme-wise with their secondary specifically, but the player development specific side of the combination of the two I hadn’t thought of and now probably have even more reservations. They’ve been hesitant to make a larger move there changing up what they’re doing (but what can they do midseason, really I guess) but if they did get younger back there that would probably warrant a change in how they approach that scheme.
Counting on rookies is what bad teams are forced to do. Anything you get from a rookie is just a bonus, nothing more, nothing less… Great rookie production, no rookie production, it’s a mistake to get carried away by either.
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I can promise that there isn’t a single GM that liked Marcus Smith, who would have drafted Marcus smith because they thought he can step in and be an immediate stud as a rookie, he wasn’t tht hat TYPE of prospect. If you wanted to Be short sites and fill an immediate hole, trent MUrphy would have provided more instant gratification..anyone who knew anything about Marcusnbeing snap knew this. It’s not a secret. Heck I talked about Maaaaaaarcus Daaaaaarling every day leading up to the draft. Every time I pounded the table for him, I also warned that he wasn’t the type of pick that would be able to have a big rookie role, but I thought by year two he could start being ready to show hs stuff as a 3down OLB.
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You can take a kid like Trent MUrphy, and he would provide much more than Marcus as a rookie.. That wasn’t a secret. Everyone knew that… You take marcus if you believ that you can take a kid with his attributes, skill set, raw ability, and character, and in 2-4 years Groom hm into a veteran that will be on a different (higher level) then trent MUrphy…
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Our immediate future was set with Barwin, COLE and BG….if anyone could take a high upside OLB, it was us… Why would we take a kid like Trent MUrphy, who is more ready now, but doesn’t have half the ceiling as this kid?
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There is absolutely NO reason whatsoever to be down on marcus smith right now. We EXPECTED THIS WHEN WE DRAFTED HIM… He was never drafted to play a major role this year. Read any of my pre draft posts about him, every person who LOVED Marcus Smith KNEW that BEST Case SCENARIO for his rookie season, he would be able to earn some snaps on 3rd down by Midseason…. He isn’t even behind schedule lol, so It makes people really foolish to have been crapping on this kid all year. Instead of welcoming him to Bird Narion, leave him alone and try to put him in the healthiest environment possible so he can grow into a high caliber player on our defense for the next Decade
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Who the hell are you taking snaps from to play marcus this year? LOL Barely enough snaps for BG with as well as COLE and Barwin, why the hell does anyone even want marcus to play instead of them?
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If you are a fan and you are down on this kid, ask yourself if coach McGovern has proven to know a thing or two about outside Linebackers and grooming him…Trent Cole, BG, they weren’t playing like this 2-3 years ago. The more time Barwnin has with McGvern, the more he is improving.
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he had 3 Beasts playing ahead of him, he has coach McGvern working with him and believing in hm. Even Tre Thomas and Jason Peters take the time to work with him and give him the perspective of the offensive tackle, Chip Kelly has proven to know a thing or two, Tom Gamble comes from OLB heaven aka the 49ers…..as a fan, what the he’ll could you have possibly seen, or not seen to make you think that your OPPINION of Mqrcus should be trusted more than all those men?
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This kid has an awesome bdy, nice package of sixer explosiveness, speed, athleticism, the long arms. Ability to bend..qll the raw talent we could hope for in a young OLB, and we have proven to have good player development coaches, if you are down on Marcus and you thibj he is a bust, o the hell are you to think you are more qualified than all these men who have PROVEN to know a thing or two about identifying Talent, and then developing it
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Marcus is going to be a really nice player for us in the future and he is q good, humble kid….shame that this city has treated hm like this during his rookie year..
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I had no one specific in mind when writing tha post (honestly) so please no one take it as a personal attack…. Just frustrated that we are still dealing with the sane crap, when the coachng staff and front office has EARNED the benefit of the doubt
The problem with your essay is that your not supposed to draft ( 1st round ) projects. Everything about this guy screams ” project. ” He literally has to learn how to play the OLB position from the ground up. He played minimally in College, and against lesser talented college programs. Yes, his story is yet to be fully written, but there are some highly possible headlines brewing.
Smith was a offensive player in high school, who only transferred to defense because of personnel [ per son nell ] ( needs ) in college. In 3 years he only registered 58 solo tackles. Khalil Mack was a much higher 1st round pick OLB, but just to make a point, Mack made 130 solo tackles in 3 years of college. He made 52 tackles in 1 year of college, as opposed to 58 for Smith in 3 years. Ryan Shazier had 210 solo tackles in 3 years of college. He had 102 solo tackles in his Jr. ( final ) year. My point ? This kid is NOT experienced at playing ( defensive ) football. He is a young version of Danny Watkins. You have to have a ( want to ) and ( desire to hit / tackle ) people on defense. I don’t think this kid has the desire to be a bad a$$, and crush people. Football is 90 % heart / desire, and he doesn’t appear to have it. We’ll see.
I am not making a statement either way with respect to Smith because I have absolutely no data to work with. No one has any real data to make any real statement as to his progress, much less his desire. One thing we do know is that he has not been seen moonlighting as a fireman and he did play football before college (most players play a variety of positions before the Pros, case in point Barwin started as a TE) so the Danny Watkins analogy is not that accurate.
I also would like to see a correlation between success in college and success in the pros, I have a feeling it probably won’t be 1 otherwise the Draft would be much more predictable.
In all honesty, I find it presumptuous to make any statement on someones desire to hit/play football without any evidence to back it up, interaction with the player, time at practice or in the meeting room, or a reasonable amount of film.
I mean, seriously, look at Dee Ford:
http://youtu.be/xkLnxP7Mhxc
I’m too lazy to post the link for the 400th time, but Eagles Rewind did a nice historical analysis 2 years ago, and what most casual fans think of the first round (impact prospects that contribute from day one) really is only picks 1-15. After that, historically, and from my own somewhat limited evaluations over the last few years, the success rates and impacts nosedive. Pick 16 has much more in common with pick 40 than it does with pick 8.
After pick 15 (some years earlier), you’re either picking a project with extremely high upside, or a polished player that has a low ceiling.
The Eagles, being in year 2 of a rebuilding project that included fundamental scheme switches, took the project with high upside. Could still flame out. But MSII has the potential to be an impact player at a high value position where the sure things get taken top 5 year after year. I would have been upset if they took a polished, but limited player there. That’s not where the Eagles are right now. If they want to have an impact OLB for this team, they’re going to have to take some risks. MSII was a good risk to take, IMO.
Good stuff. If you get bored enough for a 401st re-post, I’d love to read it.
The freaking Green Bay Packers drafted Aaron Rodgers, when they didn’t even have a need for a QB. You draft ( the best player available ), unless players have similar draft grades ( then you draft the position of need. ) You ALWAYS lose players through injuries / free agency, etc. , that’s why you always draft the BEST players, ( regardless ) of need. These discussions are in NO WAY a indictment of Marcus Smith, but rather a confirmation, that WE knew, it was a poor pick.
What bothers me with MS2 is the same problem I have with our corners – they all have the right “measurables”, but aren’t good players. I think Smith is the poor man’s Dion Jordan. He looks the part, but can he play the part? We’ll see, but with the bar set so low for him right now, it’s hard to believe he’ll make any kind of an impact for years to come. The excuses are already starting with Davis saying putting him at ILB hurt his development. I have a feeling we’ll be talking about him like we do Nate Allen – “Hey, he’s gotten better. He doesn’t totally suck like he did last year!”.
Ugh.
So far, Dion Jordan has been the poor man’s Dion Jordan.
DId you watch his college tape? Do you have any idea how to scout players? Or are you just regurgitating shit other people say? MSII can play football. Period.
You’ve been really testy of late brother. lol
He is absolutely right…MS2 is going to be a stud, and it’s a shame this ridiculous clueless FANBASE is going to shit on the young man every step of the way until its obvious to our Donkey fans/media that he can play,.
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Welcome to philly young man. Hope you grow into a great player who can help us down the line for years to come, but for Now, Eat Shit……. Like WTF
I don’t disagree with him (or you for that matter) one iota. Just noticed that he has seemingly stepped up his suffer no fools game recently is all.
Lol!! Everyone has to drop the smack down on a candy ass sometimes
Dude, if you haven’t already, check this out. Oh the dysfunction… http://was.247sports.com/Bolt/Gruden-Wants-More-From-DeSean-Jackson-Loves-Maclin-33915146
never post again
I reserve judgement until we actually see him on the field… He might light it up in a game u never know
Kids going to grow into a beast… Just watch…
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Bet he opens some eyes against RG3
If your tough ” eating shit ” can push you to prove people wrong. See – Brandon Graham. Let’s hope Marcus Smith serves up some revenge on his doubters.
Whining from the ill informed drives me a bit nuts. That or I’m menstruating.
Ha! I’m thinking those are far from mutually exclusive. lol
http://www.csnphilly.com/football-philadelphia-eagles/sources-brandon-graham-eagles-extension-talks
This would be good news!
I shed the gloomy cloud that has been following me since the terrible loss, and I’m not pretty Jacked up after hearing BG and marcus talk.
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You can’t even interview BG without him getting Jacked up and feeling like he wants to hit someone. The passion he has for the game and this defense is awesome to see. I think it was Mosher who was talking about how BG feels that he is going to start, and play so many snaps this week and BG started giggling like a school girl, told the reporter to stop because he was getting too excited lol
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Also liked to hear BG say that he is excited about seeing Marcus, and him finally getting an opportunity to let it loose and attack QBs this week. BG seems to think Marcus is going to get a nice share of OLB snaps this week
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Marcus talked about how now that he switched back to OLB, his time at LB has helped him. ILB forces him to see the who.e field, where as OLB just worry about half the field. He seems to think the perspective he got from his time at ILB wll help him…
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Really excited to see our defense this week, my beloved D against Bob Griffin? YES PLEASE!!!… Wish I was as excited about our OFFENSE
Billy Davis settled a year long debate. I warned people were over reacting to marcus moving to ILB, and that it would NOT be a permanent move, the only reason he was moved inside was because we were short on bodies.
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Like I said a million times, his future is at OLB, NOT ILB… Wish people would stop over reacting to every little thing they see in the moment. Thinking his future was at ILB just makes you Braindead.. As if he has ever show sideline to sideline abiliary, or anything that would lead anyone with a brain to think he was actually more suited to play ILB instead of OLB…shame on those who echoed that nonsense all year…
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some there interesting Tidbits:
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BIlly finally explained to our DUMB media why Nolan and boykin don’t move outside every time some adversity presents itself. media members asked this question 300 friggin times all year, hopefully the explanation they got today, makes them stop asking that ridiculous question that they been asking all year. How dumb do you have to be to see that they are all listed technically as cornerbacks, but think you can just snap your fingers on the fly and switch corners inside and outside in the middle of a game. Billy explained:
“moving Nolan and Boykin outside isn’t the problem, the problem is you can’t just ask cary and Brad to move inside on the fly, they need to be trained to play inside. It’s two completely different positions. Leverage is different, your eyes are different..people need to stop grouping all the corners together and just think that a cornerback should be able to line up any whee and play corner… It’s two completely different positions, that require different training… You wouldn’t move a nose tackle to outside linebacker on the fly, so why would people think it’s so easy to switch corners inside and outside?
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Meryl Reese made some interesting comments. He Talked about how the flashes of quality play Huff shows, and the boneheaded rookie mistakes remind him a lot of Jefemy Maclin mistake filled year as a rookie, citing some key plays Maclin blew his rookie year… Reese was warning not to get too carried away with rookie mistakes
glad smith may play, you missed the part where billy d says he likes him at olb? i hope me makes a play on saturday.
The only problem I have with Davis saying that, is Carroll was an outside corner in Miami. It’s not like this is a foreign position to him. At some point, you have to try a change. They know what they have in Fletcher, doing the same thing and hoping for a different result never works.
Davis didn’t say that. He said he can move Nolan and Boykin outside, but the problem is, Cary and Bradley don’t have the training to move inside of the fly, and he is right. ..
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Unfortunately it’s too much to ask our simple minded beat reporters to ask a simple follows up question so we can hear why Billy then can’t start Nolan and Boykin outside, but move them back inside on nickel and Dime? since he said that the problem was Cary and Brad not being able to move inside on the fly,, of course a follow Up is too much to ask if our media, so your guess is as good as mine..
Hey look, I’m not saying the reporters are doing a great job. My question would have been centered around moving Watkins or some of the other DBs on the roster to the dime slot.
They knew all year Fletcher was a weak spot. Are they telling us they aren’t prepared if he got hurt? What would they do then? Have they not been practicing someone else at the dime spot? What if Carroll got hurt?
To me those are the follow up questions, but if their goal is to win every game – you can’t sell that Fletcher is a good fit out there.
Granted, the coaching staff should take a lot of blame for this as well. Dawkins I think said it best about the safety shading over to make sure they saw double coverage on Bryant.
I knew Fletcher was bad, but now he’s moved in to Carmichael and Marsh territory.
Good stuff… All questions I would love to hear asked.
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At this point, I have made my peace with the secondary. I have DB fatigue. One way or another, I’m only going to si through a few more games of the 2014 Secondary, and they have cost us enough this year, to where I think we can comfortably expect them to invest quality assets into addressing the position, as opposed to shopping in bargain Bins, or swing for the fences in round 5…..
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When you look at our Roster, the Depth, we don’t have so many needs that we have to,short change the secondary any more.
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Figure we have 5 key needs:
OL (G)
WR (outside)
Safety opposite Malcom
#1 CB, pushing Cary to #2
ILB
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If we can adequately upgrade 1, ideally two of those positions, we go into the draft with only a few needs, so we have the option to spend multiple picks trading up to fill that position with young players we targeted who we expect to grow into studs,,..
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If we CANT get our hands on Byron Maxwell or a number 1 CB in free agent, which is a big concern of mine, with Bradley’s contract expiring we have the option to go with cary and Nolan outside next September, but also draft young corners in the top 100 who we can groom for a year. After the season Cary contract expires and hopefully the corner is ready to take over opposite of Nolan in 2016, draft another young one who can be ready by the following year to replace Nolan, so by the 2017 season, we have two developed young Corners starting outside for us, and we wouldn’t have had to play them too soon, so we were able to compete while transitioning to the next starting tandem of outside Eagle corners…
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But hopefully we get lucky and by some miracle, land a starting #1 in this week upcoming free agent market, if not the transition to new outside CBS will be gradual, so we don’t have to take two steps backwards to eventually take 3 steps forward
That’s a weak excuse from davis IMO. You can’t sacrifice a starting position because the quality suffers in a reserve roll. Top of that there are other options like you said to overcome this like having carroll start outside and move him inside in dime packages if that’s so crucial.
then why can’t we just move Boykin to safety???? Just kidding …
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Huff — is different IMHO. If you have a college coach, taking a player from his school too soon in the draft, there should be higher expectations. WR was seriously deep in the draft, Huff was not needed in that spot. Or maybe that’s just a completely different argument? 🙂
which WR in round 3 would you have taken? I think Huff has had the worst luck. His 40 yard play was outstanding. Better than anything Riley Pooper has done ALL year. In the replay, you can see 2 Cowboys right on him.
I can’t see Huff having a year like this again. Everything that could have gone wrong for him this year did. It kind of reminds me of the lack of injuries last year. One very unlucky and the other very lucky. It’ll even out and he’ll be a pretty decent player.
I’m wondering if they move Matthews outside and Huff to the slot next year. Cooper is one of two people I can’t see being here next year barring injury. Huff strikes me as a slot player, and Matthews to the outside. But this also means we need to resign Maclin.
I think the only one you can make an argument for is Martavis Bryant. He was taken in the fourth but I dnt think He has the versatility of Huff. As far as I know he is a straight line runner who gets behind defenses.
I loved Huff’s response to Jackson’s comments. Maclin said the right things, Huff spoke his mind:
“First and foremost, I could care less what D-Jack thinks of the receivers here,” receiver Josh Huff said. “Secondly, he has his own opinion. My personally, I can only speak for myself, I haven’t done anything, so I can see what he is saying….I feel like we have a great receiving core here. Whether other people would think that or not, that’s there opinion”.
“It totally pisses me off,” Huff said.
Get mad rookie!
http://www.nj.com/eagles/index.ssf/2014/12/jeremy_maclin_responds_to_washington_redskins_desean_jackson_taking_a_shot_at_eagles_receivers.html
Oooohhhh. I like That!!! Thank you, hadnt seen that.
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I don’t knoabout You guys, but I got the feeling that Chip Kelly desperately wanted Josh Huff in the draft and he would have been furious if someone stole him. Anyone else get that impression?
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Chip Kelly knows what it takes to be successful in the NFL after seeing it Up close for a year, and he knows Josh Huff better than any prospect in the draft. NO GUESS WORK INVOLVED…. I find it very exciting that we managed to get a player our coach desperately wanted, who our coach knows better than he will ever know a draft prospect…I really like the physical nature of how he plays the position. Riley Cooper is a big WR, great blocker, uses his size…but even Cooper, I don’t think brings the nastiness at the WR position than we will get from huff as he matures into a NFL play. Love the toughness, nasty fighter in him at that position….. I expect really big things from him in the future.
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Our city has fallen in love with Pope Jordan, huff has almost been the younger step brother…..my expectations is that when its all said and done, Hiff will be as. Valuable if not more, than Jordan who I am extremely high on….. I have a feeling those two are going to compete with the Eagle past tandem of young Desean and Maclin….. Which was the better young eagle duo should be a nice debate when it’s al said and done
i think Huff will be great, i doubt he was on anyone else’s radar but think he could outplay his draft position once he cleans up the (consistent) mistakes.
I had a 4th-5th round grade on him predraft. Obviously I screwed that player evaluation up.
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But even before I saw him play for us, I changed my tune and was thrilled to get him. Chip knows everything about the kid, Chip knows exactly what his offense needs to achieve its “master plan” of “Score Some F’in points what’s your plan? Lol”… Who the hell am i to think I know more about Josh huff who Chip has been watching since friggin Highschool and knows and desperately wanted on this roster.. Chip thinks the world of him, and that excites the hell out of me!
There’s the way to beat us, 2 WR sets, just motion the WR’s into the slot where our outside CB’s will cover no one in the outside zone or follow the WR in man into a twilight zone where it’s a different sport where leverage confounds them and they don’t even know where to look.
Hopefully our front office gets their heads out of their asses and properly build a depth chart for 4 outside CB’s, 2 nickle CB’s and 2 dime cb’s. No wonder our depth stinks so bad, we don’t keep enough CB’s!
Sarcasm aside, the positions are different, but properly building rosters with proper depth for all the variations of corner back is a luxury we don’t have. This is the pro’s, outside receivers are big, small, fast, quick powerful, and line up all over. If your starting CB’s ability to cover any variation of those breaks your defense, you have a problem. It’s different, yeah. But and nfl fan can only see Julian Edelman successfully line up as a DB so many times before the nickle CB can’t play outside CB defense gets old. Maybe this is the very best set up we can possibly have, but if so, we have a ton of work to do this offseason.
It’s no secret that we were putting a stop gap secondary in place while we could focus assets on building other parts of the team, and that shouldn’t really be a surprise since Team Building 101 says start in the trenches and work your way back.
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The problem is Chip kelly had too much instant success last year regardless of the fact that our roster was still like two years away from being where Chip needs it to be. Today’s society, we have turned into instant gratification whores, and Chip came in, took andy’s 4-12 slop and had too much instant success, it’s threw EVERYONEs expectations out of whack, when in the back of our minds we still all knew there was still a few BIG holes to fill… We happen to have really good coaching to where we can overcome those holes more times than not… But the better opposition we face, the more they will Attack and expose those holes, and our coaching won’t ALWAYS be able to overcome them…
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When we got to training camp this year, it was clear as day that our Roster was DRASTICALLY better than Chips 1st training camp. We filled tons of holes, build all types of depth that we didn’t have last year.. It was so much harder to make this years eagle roster than it was to make last years…. So we did a pretty awesome job so far of building this thing up each of the two offseasons…but no matter what any of our expectations were from this season, every last one of us knew the team building was not finished yet. Going to take 1 more offseason to further build the roster. If you select the right kids and you are able to retain most of your young chore, than after the next two offseason addittions you will have reached juggernaut level where you undoubtably have one of the 5 most stacked rosters in the league.
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Look at all the investmets we made, building this team so far, it’s no secret we have short changed the secondary. with the exception of malcolm Jenkins we put a stop gap secondary in place.. Fortunately we only have few more holes to fll up front, so this should be the offseason where we can invest quality assets into secondary talemt that can help and grow with Malcom jenkins long term….
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Look at our Sevondary, it’s what Undrafted Cary, when was Brad drafted, the 3rd? Two 4th rd corners in boykin Jaylen… We are starting a safety who is still young in his prime, who we allowed to hit the open market, and NO ONE wanted him, so he came back…. I mean there is only so much lemonade Billy can make out of the lemons he is given…… Some of these stop gap investments proven that they can be nice pieces here for this next era of Eagles football, like Cary, Boykin, Nolan Carroll…. But are we really that surprised THAT ALL of our long shot, stop gap DB’s haven’t exceeded our expectations and proven to be Gems? LOL.. We have some nice pieces in the secondary going forward. We aren’t completely bare in the secondary. We also have a few young pieces that can still go either way, bust or welcome addition…. But it shouldn’t be a surprise that we still need help in the secondary, we aren’t done building it… It’s amazing how often we have been able to overcome it and win NFL games with a stop gap secondary…..
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If you have to bet on a position group that the Eagles would upgrade the most this pffseason, I’m sure the consensus would assume the secondary gets some of the highest odds
Good points. But we know Carrol could do both, even if Fletcher could not, if sliding Carrol back inside for Dime is needed, this shouldn’t be like moving mountains.
Hey man, I was screaming at my computer at our media to ask that follow up question
NFC Offensive Player of the Week goes to Dez Bryant
NFC Offensive Player of the Week, Not Against Bradley Fletcher goes to..
Gruden has doubled down on his critique of Griffen. I think he was genuinely shocked at Griffen’s poor fundamentals. May not be “coachspeak”, but it sure as hell is making Dan Snider’s decisions re RG3 clear and easy. One of ’em has got to go.
think he might be trying to get fired
Lol No doubt. About all he HASN’T done at this point is to bellow out a “Redskins SUCK!” to close out a presser.
“Casey Matthews has played the best football of his career” — hahahahaha — and that’s suppose to mean something? On a different note — I just went out and ran 5 miles. It took me 3 hours to do it, but it was the best 5 mile run of my career — so it must mean something….
was Jordan Matthews hurt? I saw he got a fair amount of snaps.
how many of the people who are freaking out about marcus smith think brandon graham is a great player? how many of them called BG a bust before this season?
And if I have to read one more time about why we should have taken JPP instead OF BG I’m gonna hurl my poi… Long term people, long term.
Those are two completely different situations. Brandon Graham had 3 sacks his rookie year. People that called him a bust were dumb because they were criticizing an injured player in his second year after having a decent rookie campaign.
Marcus Smith isn’t injured. He was brought in as a pass rushing OLB and he couldn’t get on the field because he couldn’t rush the passer. His irresponsible play against the 49ers was responsible for one of the biggest losses of the season.
Is it possible that Smith can improve and become a fine player worthy of his draft position? Sure. I’m not calling him a bust yet. But I’m not disagreeing too forcefully if other people want to call him a bust because so far they have a pretty good argument, unlike those that criticized Graham.
the situations are nearly identical because, just like with BG, during year one there is not one human in the world that knows how it’s gonna shake out. he might well become the worst bust since jerome mcdougle but he might be a freaking all-pro in year 3. rookie year behind quality, there’s just no way to know and unfortunately the default mindset for a lot of eagles fans is “everything’s screwed.”
Is Jordan Matthew’s performance equally discountable, or is it only possible to judge players when they perform well?
JM has been great as a rookie. i have no idea what he will end up being for this team in the long run. i do know that i’ve seen a lot more rookie wideouts do well than i have seen rookie pass rushers do well. JM also didn’t have two pro-bowlers (Cole’s been and Barwin deserves to) ahead of him on the depth chart. If someone said JM is showing tremendous promise, i’d agree, if they called him a definite future superstar all-pro, i would certainly think they were counting their chickens before they hatch.
and blaming a rookie for a coverage mistake at a position he’d only been at for like two weeks doesn’t make much sense. did he screw up really badly? yes. does it mean anything at all in terms of the player he can become? nah. and wolff’s screwup on that play was even less excusable.
I think people calling him a bust are really just wondering why we took him in the first round if he was so raw at a position he played (if even for a short while) in college in a scheme very similar to our. All offseason we hear about picking BPA and not need. Then first round of the draft they pick for need. That’s what’s frustrating. OLB generally has been fine this year and Billy D has done a good job helping the ILBs out (which is why i suspect that the DBs look so shitty right now).
Will MSII be something, unclear. Has he shown flashes when playing this year, or during the preseason, no. but he’s a rook it’s “ok”. Will he play much Saturday, I doubt it.
Them mentality I don’t understand is how you don’t expect “any” production from a 1st round player in his first year. He doesn’t need to be a stud, he doesn’t need to be a starter. It’s not like he was brought in and the staff immediately said he’ll sit and develop behind Cole / Barwin, it was clear from the first instance that he was drafted and at the very least a rotational spot was available.
i have no problem with someone calling him a reach.
He wasn’t a reach. plenty people knew there was a discrepancy with how NFL front offices would value him and how he was being mocked…
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The only way you can really say that Marcus is a reach, is if you think Dee Ford is going to be a HECKUVA lot better than him, and that ain’t happening IMO..
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Personally on draft night, I was honestly worried that the Cowboys would take him in round 1), either at 15, or trading back to 20… Even if we would all agree that marcus was a second round prospectl, people need to remember that there isnt a perfect number of first round prospects enough for each team to get one, in every draft…..it was pretty obvious that the entire top tier of prospects was off the board, and it became a no BRAINER to trade back with Cleveland. And by the time we got that Farr back in orimd 1, there were no more round 1 prospects on our board. II don’t think Dennard or Jason Verrett were even on our big board.
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If the Eagles would have traded away their first round pick for a draft pick next year, I still think Marcus probably wouldn’t have lasted TIL round 2.. Arizona was said to take him if we didn’t.
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It’s no secret that the 3 most valued positions above all the rest are QB, edge rusher, and LT.. … NFL drafts reflect that statement every year, as does the price tag of those positions on the free agent market… So if there ARENT any round 1 grades left on your board and you have to take a second round pick, makes sense to add one of the 3 most valued positions, especially when the position wias a need we needed to get younger at…on top of all that, the edge rushers in last years draft were going to dry up quickly
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Ultimately we got a quality young man, at a very important position, who has all the physocal tools, and ability for our player development gurus to grow into a stud this city will eventually be very happy to have, just like BG a….
All that’s premised on the assumption that Marcus was a must have in the draft, i don’t agree.
Ok..
It wasn’t even a coverage mistake, which really makes it stupid… He made a mistake in a scramble drill and “plastered” the wrong man.lli assume he would have “plastered” Gore had he saw him… No surprise he didn’t see him playing a position his eyes aren’t yet trained to play
Yeah but he got straight benched after that — you think that’s all it was? Other players make mistakes on the daily but don’t get straight benched.
Take that more as an admittion that he should have never been in there to begin with…. If you have to play a rookie at the very beggining of his rookie season, it might be a good idea to ask him to ATleast play the position you had him working at in training camp…but whatever… Even if it was too soon, so what? That proves nothing….
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By this fanbases Standard, imagine if we would have spent a 1st round pick on Aaron Rogers, and made the fanbases wait 4 years too see him. Lol Rogers would be talked about worse than MIke Mamula LOl
That’s b/c he was sitting behind a first ballot hall of famer / super bowl winner. They didn’t draft AR for need. MS was drafted b/c we needed an athletic OLB and there really wasn’t anything else in that draft.
Name the BPA who was a scheme and character fit.
At OLB? Or any position?
Try any position. Marcus was the best pick especially considering we traded down.
Any. Without hindsight.
Aside from the guys in the mix at his position, there were still a number of WRs (lattimore especially), Stanely Jean-Baptiste (you may argue that he doesn’t play a lot of press man but we don’t only play that way and he’s got size physicality), the guard su a filo.
All of these would have necessitated moving back into the second round which I’d be fine with.
Are you saying there’s no other guy after MSII and before JMatt that matches what we do — or could be molded that way?
Su’a Filo fits. But people would hate that pick 20000 times more than MSII.
Hageman fits from a scheme standpoint, but would have been a massive redundancy.
KVN fits, but you probably have to transition him inside.
When your see flashes of quality play in a young player, it shows that he has that ability in him to produce at this level. Now what will determine if Jordan becomes a great player is if he can turn the flashes of great play into his consistent game…. But if that ability is in him, if he has shown to be capable of it this year, ATleast we know the potential is there.. From that point, work ethic and coaching will determine if he can grow from Brilliant Flashes, to consistently brilliant…
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So while there is a HECKUVA a lot to be excited about with Jordan, the level he grows into ismt a guarantee. But the fact that he is famous for an insane work ethic, crazy passion for the game, and quality young man who is 100% committed to growing into a stud….it would seem pretty foolish to bet against that young Man at this point
I think it’s a bit unfair to blame MS2 for the SF game. Had the offense done a little bit during the game, that play doesn’t look as bad. The defense and special teams scored all 21 points, and as bad as that play was – that isn’t what cost them the game.
There were barely enough snaps to get Brandon Graham on the field this year and he has been awesome,. Where the hell are you finding OLB snaps for ANY rookie OLB with Barwin,COLE and BG all having destructive MONSTER seasons? Why the hell would anyone even want the rookie in the game? I could understand if our OLBs were a major liability and we weren’t getting anything out of them, being upset that our 1st rounder can’t get on the field… But why in the world does anyone care or ever want Marcus in the game this year? It’s baffling to me.
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Had we drafted my man crush Anthony Barr, I wouldn’t want him in the game either this year. Combined COLE and Barwin barely went to the bench enough to get brandon Graham about 30% of snaps backing up two positions combined…where the hell were Marcus Smiths snaps coming from at OLB?
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And It really takes a “special type of Moron” to be down on Marcus because in the middle of his a rookie season, he couldn’t learn a new position he never played (ILB), well enough in 1 months time to outplay Casey, Acho and produce at an NFL level.
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Maybe someone can argue “why couldn’t he help out more on special teams?”… My answer would be, why the huell do you give a fuck when we boasted the best Speciql Team in football? Obviously there were some special team BALLERS doing something right in front of him
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So there is NO RATIONAL reason to be down on Marcus Smith…and if people think they were wrong about Brandon Graham? Wait til they see the monster this Big explosive Athlete grows into 2-3 years from Now…. kid has everything to grow into a high caliber OLB, and I think it’s mistake to bet against him.
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There is no reason to be down on the young man.
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If you didn’t believe in Marcus predraft, where we were drafting, your only other option was Dee Ford, and Dee Ford sucks Donkey Dung! No Thanks. Andy can have his “fastball”
Marcus Mariota possessed superior athletic skills to Darren Thomas when he started his career at Oregon, yet Chip went with the “veteran” Thomas (who took them to the Championship game). Next season, Thomas sees the writing on the wall with Mariota and leaves school early, while in 3 years Mariota wins the Heisman.
I wonder how many posters on these blogs understand the complexity and detail involved in running an organization like the Eagles? How much data is being captured on every player and prospect in the NFL? How is that data being parsed and used in developing strategies and executing plans? For the draft, how many scenarios get modeled and used in the process? How far into the future is management projecting roster and free agency considerations in their planning?
This organization is full of intelligent, forward-thinking talent. People want to question (rightfully so) the Eagles draft selections. The bigger question, in my mind, is do you believe in the Eagles process and criteria for reaching their draft and FA decisions? In fairness, we will never know all the working parts and influences on the inside, yet it’s hard to imagine that
What’s really sad, is as much as the posters on this blog DONT get it…. They are still way ahead of the majority of the FANBASE, media,… When it’s bad on this board, everywhere else is unbearable,.,
Actually Bryan Bennett was the presumptive favorite to win the starting job. He apparently didn’t take it seriously enough that summer though and Mariotta passed him on the depth chart. Bennett transfered to SE Lousiana and has had alot of success at the FCS level.
Criticizing his play against the 49ers is stupid. He was playing out of position. Kaep scrambled, Marcus chased. There are NFL vets that make that mistake, let alone rookies playing out of position.
Thank you…it’s starting to get frustrating, the silly misplaced negativity
One thing is for sure, if D-Jax was still here he would be frustrated with Sanchez never throwing the ball downfield.
That’s for SURE. For that matter, I miss our big pass plays so much it’s painful. Foles certainly never threw dimes on his deep stuff but he sure kept firing them. I also realize that Sanchez has limitations in that dept. but I’m going to miss all those check downs & throws short of the sticks on 3rd down like a hole in the damned head. lol
Todd McShay has the Eagles taking Trae Waynes, CB, MSU, 6’1″ 182 at #20.
I don’t know much about him. But McShay has us passing on Bud Dupree, OLB, Kentucky, which would piss me off.
Dint know much about him. He only has one cut up on draft breakdown but he is projected to be one of the best this year for whatever that is worth right now.
I don’t know that they view OLB as the main fix. I could see them going after Kendrick’s brother for ILB. MS2 will be the future on the outside, but Barwin still has a couple years left in the tank. Couple that with BG, and I can’t see them spending a 1st on OLB.
The biggest need is CB or S. Unless Watkins or Carroll is moving to the outside, something has to be done about Fletcher. We don’t know the deal with Reynolds, but who knows how that will be fixed.
The OL is aging in places. We need a G to replace Herremans spot and a T to eventually take over for Peters.
To be honest, I could see them going OL in the 1st round if they don’t go after an ILB. We had a ton of injuries at both spots and it hurt us over the long haul.
There’s far too many holes to fill before OLB in the 1st round.
BPA vs. Need will be the question. I just think Dupree is a stud.
DFB will have to opine here, but I’m pretty sure the only potential 1st Round OG that may fit our scheme is La’Ell Collins from LSU. I’d be okay with that as well.
True, I don’t have time to look at the drafts in that way. I did read an interesting article a few months back that talked about this very thing. In short, it was saying BPA works out better long term because there’s so much turnover on teams (and injuries) that the average career of a player is like 3-4 years.
If that dude is a stud, it could mean both BG and Barwin may only have a couple years left here.
Sambraillo.
I think guard can be upgraded with a pro bowl type guy in the 2nd or 3rd round. Taking a guard in the 1st round is a waste of ressources (take Warmack or Martin, both aint even the best from there class in Warford and Biteno)
I loved Jonathon Cooper, he hasn’t done anything either. LOL @ drafting a G in the top 10, let alone round 1
As a side note, this guy does look like a Chip Kelly guy.
http://www.si.com/college-football/video/2014/11/26/michigan-state-spartans-trae-waynes-rising-stars
One of the comments said it best.
That dude was good enough to get into the NFL without even really *trying*. The waste of all that talent on someone who’d rather be a fireman was sad, given everyone who’d give their left nuts to be as naturally talented.
I agree, I was just going for laughs on that comment.
Waynes and Drummond are two of the guys that I want on this team next year.
if he’s not graduating in 3 years with a dual degree in math and applied physics you can cross him off the board.
don’t forget a year in the Peace Corps
does firefighting count?
I see him as DRC that actually gives a shit about football. That being said there’s not many breakdowns on him yet.
Said to be able to run a 4.2.
Believe it when I see it.
Fair enough.
Don’t think he’s quite in DRC’s class in pure talent. Frankly, I don’t care, because his I agree, his attitude is a million times better.
I take the CB in this situation. If we keep Graham, CB is way big need and Waynes is the type of CB we need to draft
I’m outing myself as not particularly knowledgeable in the college player department (I cram after the season is over) but I’ve heard this Dupree kids name tossed around a lot lately. Looks like a real good prospect? More on the polished side than developmental?
opportunity cost, opportunity cost, opportunity costs.
It’s a real thing, mane.
Jay Gruden makes me grateful to have Chip Kelly as the Eagles head coach. I have my complaints here and there, but they’re trivial compared to what Redskins fans have to complain about.
it must be very dysfunctional in that building
I really hope RG3 is available in a trade for a mid-round pick or gets released. At least, he would be an upgrade at backup QB over Sanchez. At best, could challenge Foles for the starting job. If Foles and RG3 both rebound, could trade one and get a good return on the investment.
I don’t believe Chip would ever want to work with Robert. I can assure you Chip kelly doesn’t have time for any QB who will spend any Porto
N PF his time, worried about “His Brand”…’we are talking about a kid who is supposed to be a leader, and this week it’s a big national story that RG3 is taking a break frm Twitter and Facebook for this week!
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Chip would NEVER work with that mutt, fatal Charecter flaws that will put a limit on his success playing THAT position,
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RG3 knows QB is supposed to be a leader, his team mates hate him.
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I haven’t even gotten to how underdeveloped passer/QB he is… If QB talent were food, this dude would be the equivalent of a malnourished Somalan Pirate..
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Will never, never, never see Chip work with RG3. VICK isn’t anything special, and RG3′ ISNT half the QB that VICK is…… I might rather have Geno Smith or EJ Manuel..l ATleast when they suck, I dont have to keep hearing about their brand
You know a QB who used to be all about his brand? yep Mark Sanchez. Last I checked Kelly picked him to be one of the QBs on this team
We can agree to disagree
I would be rather cautious with remarks like this. Only Chippah knows what he really wants. No offense to you though.
I heard similar comments whenever I said no way Chip wants GENO or EJ during That draft, No chance Chip wants Johnny football before he perfectly fell to us..
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Hopefully RG3 gets waived, and someone signs him for cheap so I can watch Chip not be interested in him
I’m hoping for Kaep. be interested to see what happens they. They probably have to keep him b/c they don’t have a backup.
Me too. *kissingmybiceps
KAp is more likely than Bob Griff, but FOles will be better than both, I assume chip would agree..l but what do I khow
I’m a firm believer in ‘never say never’. Especially when it comes down to the Philadelphia Eagles.
the only problem with RG3 is that he isn’t a good QB.
other then that though he is super annoying…
Chip can fix him. He had Darren freaking Thomas take Oregon to the National Championship. He had Michael Vick playing very well until age caught up to him. He had (and could still do so again) Nick Foles look like a superstar.
Or maybe Jay Gruden is a horrible playcaller and coach, the Redskins o-linemen are injured or suck. Sure, he makes his mistakes, but none that Chip cannot fix. He won’t be Lurie’s buddy, like he is Snyder’s. He stays out of the spotlight as an Eagle.
If the Eagles trade for RGIII, then you can take what Kelly has said that ‘culture beats talent’ and throw it out the window.
I can’t imagine RGIII playing nice if he were to lose the starting job to Foles.
I’ll just have to admit that I have no clue WTF is going on.
People blow things way out of proportion with RG3. His comments were likely due to the front office pressuring him to be a “leader,” which is absurd for any young quarterback. Let the veterans lead the team. He overstepped some boundaries, but he’s not wrong.
If I’m Chip, I tell RG3 that he is the backup to Nick Foles on day one. He will have no sense of entitlement in Philly. He will not be Jeffrey Lurie’s buddy like he is with Dan Snyder. At the same time, Chip will take the pressure off of RG3 that exists now in Washington. Chip will keep all issues with RG3 internal and let him stay out of the spotlight. I think a culture change and far superior coaching (who do you trust more: Chip Kelly or Jay Gruden?) could transform RG3 into a much better quarterback. Clearly an intelligent player and excelled in a system similar to Chip’s. If he sucks, he rides the bench and we lose a mid-round draft pick. The potentially massive upside cannot be ignored.
Chris Polk taking some first team reps.
CK didn’t like McCoy’s djacc video?
Those were my thoughts exactly.
My video player is on the damn fritz. Was the video entertaining?
I thought it was not funny at all. Quite foolish actually.
Yikes. Maybe they should consider enacting a strict “Ask yourself what Connor Bar win would do” policy for cats who abuse their media privileges. lol
polk is good
I’ve been reading reports that mgt. is currently in talks to extend Brandon Graham’s contract. I really hope this proves to be true/worked out. This kid has straight up persevered. #DontForgetVinnyCurry
Brandon will be here next year, you have nothing to worry about.
Hope you’re right. Here’s this in the meantime… http://phi.247sports.com/Bolt/Report-Eagles-In-Contract-Talks-With-Brandon-Graham-33932613
Well, if I was BG, I couldn’t wait to hit Free Agency…Look for the Eagles having to overpay for him should he reach the open market.
Lucky for us you aren’t BG, and BG ISNT excited about free agency, he is worried about playing well enough so he can be here when Chip brings his inevitable Super Bowl to Philly…. BG’s words not mine!
..
We will see if it won’t be all about the money.
He won’t ever even hit the open market….
Why wouldn’t he want to test the waters?!
There is no testing the waters. It’s perfectly clear that if he wants to be an eagle he has to work out a deal now! That’s the Sacrafice he will have to make if he really wants to be herel of course his agent will be against it… But it’s pretty clear that if he wants to test the waters, we will sever commutation and not even make him an offer…… If he “tests the waters” there is a 0.00% chance he signs with us,,….so better root for an extension now!
GEAGLE I hear you on the quotes, but isn’t that what every smart player says. There is no upside for him to say “I’m definitely checking out free agency” during the season. None. So I discount quotes like this down to near zero.
We will find out how bad he wants to be an eagle. I can tell your right now, his agent is strongly against him re signing with us… If BG doesn’t hit the free agent market, it means he really wanted this bad.
,,
You aren’t wromg, but some athletes are genuine, and ARENT as calculating, for example, Maclin didn’t sign the 5yr deal we offered him, but I do believe he really wants To be here and we try hard to work it out
….
So far we offered BG two different deals, but we are still about 9mil apart in terms of GUARENTEED money… But negotiations just started… Recently the offer is something like, 4yrs 6.5per year with 11.5 mil in Guarentees….agent wants 20mil guaranteed, which is the starting rate for any decent edge rusher on the open market. Eagles know that, I assume we get up to 17,18,19 guaranteed, we get the deal done, Howie praises Brandon and his Camp for his behavior really reflectng wanting to be an eagle Longterm…
…
But we’ll see…
Think they find a way to give him that 2.5mm playing time bonus?
he would be incredibly stupid not to test FA this year
There is a theory that, the more plays there are in a given game, the more likely the better team will win. The theory is that, with a small number of plays, randomness can greatly affect things, so the odds move closer to 50/50 than you would otherwise expect.
If we apply this theory to the Eagles, we would expect to see the Eagles beating the teams they are better than and losing to the teams they are worse than — simply because Chip’s style of offense makes those outcomes more likely.
There is a major issue with that argument. To say a smaller number of plays increases the effects of random events assumes the random events are independent of all influences. However, than the theory you are proposing would require the random events to favor the weaker team in order to move them to a more even footing with the better team. That is contradictory to the idea that random events are independent as you earlier stated. If the events are truly independent then there would be an equal probability of helping the weaker or stronger team, and the odds should remain the same.
Not necessarily. The random events can be 50/50 — and have a high impact (think of fumbles). If every other play is 70/30 (in favor of the stronger team) but has an average impact, then the existence of these random plays would reduce the favorite’s chances of winning from 70/30 down to closer to 50/50. (They also increase the chances of a blowout, but a loss is a loss).
To put it another way, the fewer plays there are, the higher the variance. It’s the same theory as to why you will occasionally see a weaker team (in sports with more games) pull off an upset against a strong team, but then lose all the rest of the games they play against those teams. The higher the sample size, the more likely the stronger team has an overall favorable result.
The variance of individual players and teams is very different from the randomness of an independent event. You could make the argument that a player will play closer to his mean over the long haul, however that assumes the variance follows gaussian statistics, which may or may not be the case. We can argue the validity of applying Gaussian statistics to football, but I need the time to really draw conclusions.
There are other factors at play, too. Chip’s fast pace may cause some players to play worse (due to fatigue, for example). It is also true that the overall ability of teams (and players) isn’t static.
That said, I stand by the assertion that, as the number of plays in a game increases, the chances that the better team wins also increases. I’d bet that, if you only looked at halftime scores, you would see many more objective upsets than you find when considering the results of full games.
The first stamens is the most telling, that the play of players is influenced by governing factors. It isn’t purely random which is my point. More plays gives the better team more opertunities to capitalize on their strengths, yes, I agree, but it isn’t due to randomness.
but then when the O plays worse (last two weeks), the opposing O has that many more plays and the D is on the field more, wearing down.
so um, it only works when it works.
I think I’m a reasonably intelligent person, but I have to confess that your post(s) sometimes have me feeling like a dunce. I pray I’m not the only one! lol
I hope I don’t do that, I just work with math all day. In all honesty, I am not smart, I just spent too much time studying science and engineering…
Oh no man, please understand I’m paying you a compliment. It’s actually really impressive! As an aside, I am actually completely fanatical about science myself. Especially anything to do with astronomy which makes me a big fan of your avatar & handle. Using an image of the Eagle Nebula is icing on the cake. My twitter account in fac, has an image of the Somber galaxy & I’ll confess to coming SUPER close to stealing your moniker! lol
Kind of like best of 7 series in NBA where almost always the better team wins out
Exactly — but you do occasionally see single-game upsets.
Oh God, please drop the Malcolm Gladwell pseudoscience.
Yesterday I did say that I was not happy with Shady’s video. Today it seems that Chippah wasn’t amused either.
Don’t be surprised if McCoy ‘acts’ his way into CK’s doghouse..
or he just had a maintenance day like he did earlier in the year?
Could explain why Polk got starting rep at practice??
Anybody else see the article about Danny Watkins on MMQB? Interesting read. http://mmqb.si.com/2014/12/17/danny-watkins-philadelphia-eagles/
Yes, just read it. Quite emotional reading actually. Bless him and his heart.
Did you follow the link in the story to CrossingBroad? Crazy stuff.
Not yet, Captain.
Hahaha
Les Bowen put this out on twitter today…
“Ex-Eagles teammates I spoke to this year held a less rosy view. They used the word “conman.”
The Eagles brass are to blame for wasting a #1 on Watkins. It’s hard to believe they couldn’t determine then that his heart wasn’t into the game. I wonder if it’s more of Andy Reid’s ego, and Mudd, that they could make anything work. And lay some blame on Watkins, also. The NFL is the real deal. If you’re going to accept the job, and the money, make it clear to your employers that you might not be very passionate about you employment.
He played college ball, worked out at the combine, dominated the senior bowl, and interviewed like his heart was in the game.
Con Man is appropriate.
That sounds about right.
of course personally he is to be commended for wanting to serve as a fireman. that out of the way, the article makes it sound like he was the 2nd coming of John Hannah. I don’t remember anything at the time that said he was as good as this article makes him out to be. I remember reading – he’s pretty good, and old, but they needed a guard.
I nearly vomited about 8 times while reading about that quitter / thief.
To thing we’d have a potential pro bowl level player under cheap cost control to the team right now except for a total lack of professionalism by Watkins is totally outrageous. This quote from the story and Mathis really sums up what a POS Watkins really is;
“When his ex-teammates talk about Watkins there’s a hint of anger, and more than a hint of disappointment.
“He was more than intelligent enough, and more than athletically gifted enough to play football,” Mathis says. “The reason he’s not in the NFL right now is because of him. This isn’t what he wanted to do.””
Stat of the day:
Of ALL Eagles first round draft picks since 1997 (!!!), Rookie Marcus Smith has played the least snaps on either side of the ball.
The player who was drafted in ’97 goes by the name of Jon Harris…
Everyone except Lito and Patt were taken earlier in the first round.
Also Danny Watkins played in his first year, but lets not act like it was great.
If MSII is on the roster in his third year, he outperformed watkins.
If he puts up 3 sacks and 31 tackles he’s better than mcdougle.
True. Like I just said above, this stat might be as meaningless as interesting at the same time.
Yea, i was just trying to add some context to the stat.
You did so successfully. 😉
MSII also have a forced fumble already
And just last game, he brought Witten to a dead stop with a stiff arm when Witten’s momentum carried him to the Eagles bench.
Awesome stat
Yes, innit?!
Before you blast me for ripping Marcus or labelling him as a bust, please bear in mind that the aforementioned post was not supposed to be judgemental in any way.
Sincerely,
GE
it’s what they call a “sneak diss”.
Brief times Marcus has been on the field, you can see the athleticism that got him drafted so high. What I haven’t seen is the physicality. He’s gotta get nastier to play LB at the NFL level. Sucks that he hasn’t made an impact, but I agree with Tommy that it hasn’t particularly hurt us this season.
I am cheering fo the young man and I can see his athleticism, But I’d be cheering just as loud and he’d be just as athletic if he were a 3rd round pick.
Yup, Big Billy D said as much.
is this going to be a recurring item?
Magic number: 2
Eagles just went from 34 to 33 turnovers. Elias ruled Huff never touched opening kickoff so no turnover. just an onside kick.
If the Eagles don’t turn over the ball more than once in their last two games history will not be against them.
Reminder: no NFL team has made the playoffs in the last 8 years when having 35 or more turnovers in a season.
There’s still hope…
Or – there’s a first time for everything!!!!
/runsandhides
Eagles DE Taylor Hart seems to be upto 300 pounds from his 281 when he was drafted
Where did you see that? I’m not disputing it, just curious
Wow. I don’t totally get it. But maybe they need more fat boys on the end to really get Cox in isolation / make the ILBs more effective? I don’t know.
300 is perfect size for a 3-4 2 gap DE.
Have no fear friends help is on the way. I have conversed in my mind with Howie and we are packaging Foles a 1st and conditional first 2016 for Mariota. Cb no problem we are going into the bank and bringing Revis island to Philly. Happy holidays friends.
Well…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udNHsk57f24
Lol indeed
49ers release Ray McDonald… After they used him to kick our young backüp Ol’s ass which is the reason we lost the Niners game.. Must be nice to keep a scumbags who is under investigation for sexual assualt so you can use his services all year and then release him as soon as you are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs… Weasle scumbags
…
edit!!! Hold up Hold Up! This isn’t the same November domestic Violence allegation… He is being accused by a different woman alleging that he sexually assaulted her this past Monday
..
Sounds like Romeo, Prince Charming McDonald is going to be the first example made of the new conduct policy
..
This is the first domino of the 49er Fire sale THATS coming this offseason
I had the same feeling.
If they do, I wouldn’t mind looking at Crabtree as an upgrade to Cooper
Crabtree is a “sorry” receiver. We can’t test the teams we’re trying to beat with a sorry reciever like Crabtree.
Wow, I would have thought Freddie Mitchel would be welcomed if it was as an upgrade to Cooper.
I thought Crabtree had a rough start to his career, but to me he seems to be doing the right things now.
What does that make Pooper than? Literally anyone opposite of Maclin is an upgrade.
Rather have vincent Jackson for a short two year deal like we gave Sproles. Use th reliable veteran VJax for two years by then we will have a bunch new young stable of WR, drafted and developed
Hate him
Marcus Smth has been a huge disappointment this year and there is no way to cut it. He has been so lackluster apparently in practice that he can’t even dress and contribute on special teams coverage.
More importantly, the Eagles are facing a tough decision regarding Cole this offseason. Overall, Cole did player a bit better this year but he has faded a bit this year as the season went on. Still a notable liability in coverage too even on RBs.
If Smith had had shown some flashes, I imagine the Eagles would be looking to move from Cole while going with a combo of Graham (after extending him)and Smith at OLB next year & using that cash to resign some younger core guys long-term or maybe going after a big dollar FA.
As things stand now, I bet Cole is back next year and for a team that has dressed building through the draft so much they can’t afford a miss on a 1st round pick.
Cole will only be back if he takes a significant pay cut. Because there’s no way in hell the Eagles paying him a base salary of $10m in 2015.
Yeah and I should have said that. I think he does take the pay cut and is back for another year.
Not really sure how Cole is a liability in coverage. He does what is asked, and has jammed receivers, chased down RB’s, and looked good in that respect.
Someone just tell me year 3-4 we will at the very least go to 2 NFC championship games.
Hard to say. Are we still rebuilding? Is Nick Foles pretty Nicky? IF you would have told me last year that our D would be higher ranked (DVOA) than our offense i wouldn’t have believed you.
Why? They didn’t do anything to upgrade the offense and they had a lot more injuries on offense including to Foles.
Defense has been healthy almost all year including a completely healthy secondary. Yeah Kendricks missed some time and ditto Ryans but they have been healthy for the most part on defense.
I’m a firm believer we would have a top 5 d if we didn’t have two 3rd stringers as our starting cornerbacks. I also feel if we had qb play even half as good as last year we would be a contender. If we can’t get Mariota we should at least try fto trade for rg3 and just see what happens in chips system.
Agree with the statement on the QB play. Even if Foles just progressed and had more picks i think we’d be there. Frustrating, i was (cautiously) optimistic. But he seemed different from the start this year.
I know I may get backlash for this but if we kept Jackson I think things would be way different as well…. Especially with maclin playing the way he has this season.
I’m a Djacc10 fanboy. I think the offense would be more dynamic. We all get the rationale, but I think it was a misstep, though no one would ever admit it (b/c what’s the point).
oh at least. Probably 3 in two years.
The criticism of Kelly this week is really overboard. Is it fair to say there is some doubts about his ability to beat better teams – sure. Is it fair to say that he didn’t have his team prepared well mentally for the Dallas game – yeah.
Criticism though seems much larger though and the fan base are acting like this team is on track to finish 6-10 with no shot at the playoffs while taking a huge step back.
If this team completely tanks the next 2 weeks against two dysfunctional divisional rivals who are playing for nothing and finishes 9-7, I could understand being a bit more aggrieved and critical of the team & Kelly’s performance.
Lived in several large US cities including SF, Boston, and St Louis and to me the Eagles fan base is arguably the most passionate but also the most overly emotional and overly reactive fan base too.
It was over reacting in a big way, but this doesn’t happen this severely everytime we lose. This was a home loss to Dallas with the playoffs on the line. The only thing that could be worse is losing an NFC championship game to them. Now we are all the biggest Andrew Luck fans in existence. Our passion invites everyone to let us Eagles fans know when our team stunk it up in a big way, so we can’t help but pay it forward to the cause of our misery.
Wow. Mike Vick should get an award. http://espn.go.com/new-york/nfl/story/_/id/12041876/new-york-jets-quarterback-michael-vick-nearly-debt
He should. For being the prime example of “you can change”. R-E-S-P-E-C-T, Mike.
I say Aretha did the best version. Anyone dare to argue?
Nah she owned that for,sure!!
I never understood some bandwagon fans saying they couldn’t root for the Eagles anymore because of Vick. He paid his dues and went to jail.
Compare to say Ben.
I don’t know how to make this clear, I’ll try in my crazy way. Vick went to jail and did his time. He paid his dues. I have no problem with a guy/girl who hates Vick, whether he’s an Eagle or not That was my thing with Vick, I don’t hate him, but I’m not going to wear his jersey I’m not going to sit and tell someone else the old bullshit line, “He did his time paid his dues”..So friggin what? And this isn’t anything towards you Rob, but paying his dues does not excuse what he did. It may lead towards redemption or whatnot, but here’s the thing….There are child molester who so-called paid their dues. Of course we all agree that’s UNFORGIVABLE in every sense of the word.
Yes VIck paid his dues, and me personally, I don’t try to make any excuses for him. He didn’t volunteer to go to prison because he felt he did wrong, he got caught. What he’s done since, good for him, he got caught and did what he had to do but I’m totally indifferent to his status as a person. If you love him, good, if you hate him good. Now if you tell me that about someone who committed a heinous crime against a child, fuck that, no forgiveness from me. So that’s my long babble as to why maybe now you can understand some people’s views.
yep that makes sense thanks. I guess I wasn’t so much saying this other person has to like Vick, or I am offended. Heck, it isn’t like I would raise him up to my son as a role model. I’d much rather my son never do anything to end up in jail. I guess my point, perhaps not well made, was comparing Vick to others who used their influence/wealth to avoid jail.
And I don’t mean to debate the merits of cases like Ben (though I think he’s a scumbag), either. that’s not a good use of this blog.
So I guess I was just rambling. Sports is a weird thing, and one should be able to root for whomever one wants, or doesn’t want to. Other than jumping on bandwagons like the Cowboys or Pats.
I really want to let you know I’m wasn’t meaning to attack you, I was just trying to put out a different view. Like I said, when Eagles fans were upset with people who didn’t forgive Vick and they used the “He paid his dues
…to me no, that person has every right to not like him whether he did his time or not. He still committed the crime. He did pay his dues, he did deserve a second chance, and he’s done an excellent job with the 2nd chance he’s been given, but if I’m conversing with someone who hates Vick it’s fine with me. If I converse with someone who loves Vick, I’m also fine with it. I’m pretty indifferent to him as a person, probably one of the few that don’t get into it one way or another with someone who has a strong view on Vick.
I want to make it perfectly clear that I respect your stance that he paid his dues and you are good with that, just like if someone else came on and said the opposite.
well I respect him, I’m not sure I’m a fanboy or anything. But I respect how he handled himself since getting out of jail. I didn’t mean to write it as strongly as I did.
I rethought and slightly revised my opinion based on your comment. Good god, shouldn’t we be screaming with ALL CAPS at each other.
He’s done everything he should’ve done, not everyone takes advantage of their 2nd chance. And your Ben comment, yeah, he got zilch and that is hard to understand how no charges were even brought up.
He got the Bill Cosby treatment.
I respect Vick for how he has handled himself after getting out. It seems rare for someone to make a true effort to change, and he has done so.
I’m with you.
I believe in forgiveness. Because you do a bad thing doesn’t make you a bad person (that’s my belief that’s nothing on you).
Even for a child molester, or a murderer I think people can change though there’s many more examples of people not changing than changing. You gotta hope that guys like Vick can be inspirations for us and for people that are on their second chance and need an example of people going above and beyond.
I stayed an Eagles fan, but it pained me to cheer for Mike Vick. I never became a fan and still am not. Yes, Vick went to jail and paid his dues to his country for his criminal actions. This does not lessen the horror of his treatment of many many dogs. Also, Mike Vick had the privilege of making millions of dollars in a high-profile job with a ton of public scrutiny. I make well under 100k a year, but if I committed a felony, I would never be allowed to get my job back, despite it being invisible to the general public.
Mike has done and said all of the right things since his release from prison and he may well have truly repented. I respect his actions since, but I will never be his fan.
I’m a huge animal lover so I understand why people are still hurt and angry by Vick’s actions. For me, though, the guy did time, real time. He paid his debt to society and since coming out of prison has said and done all the right things. I don’t know what more we can ask of him. He said he’s sorry and, as best as I can tell, he is sincere and is a changed man. People change and grow. I lean on the side of forgiveness and, for whatever is still lingering in Mike’s life, let his karma be his karma.
You know, I’m a firm believer in 2nd chances. As Jarock said, if it was him (or me for that matter) we wouldn’t be able to keep our jobs and it would be extremely hard for us to get new ones because a felony would be on our record.
But, that’s more a reflection of our society than anything else. I especially feel bad for young kids that do something stupid (i.e. get caught with drugs, stealing food from a store, etc.) and it haunts them for the rest of their life.
And we wonder why there are high recidivism rates.
These kids being putting away for pot charges, ridiculous. Politicians are finally opening their eyes to how dumb such a crime can ruin a person for life. A kid, teenager. The thing is, once the politicians see how wrong it is, it takes years and years and yearsssssssssssss…….why can’t shit just be done? I don’t smoke pot, but I don’t see it as anything that should ruin someone’s life.
College,I got arrested for smoking a joint taking a break the night before exams.. Over a joint I spent the night in jail, missed two exams the next morning, all over a,silly joint at the age of 19, failed two classes, wasted 4 months
DeMarco practiced today
Since the break is on his left hand, he’ll still be able to carry the ball. The injury will limit his ability to catch, block, and maybe make it harder for him to brace a fall.
Also now I see on cnnsi and espn that Tony Romo should get serious consideration for the MVP award. Wow do the media love the Cowboys.
I would love to see Luck shut everyone up by destroying the Cowboys. Just this one win, Andy, please, and the Eagles will take it from there and eliminate the Cowboys from the playoffs.
I really am hoping the Cowboys come out flat as a pancake. You know they were pumped up Sunday night and they gave everything they had emotion wise in that game. I hope the Coltsplay hard, not being happy just wrapping up their division.
They also had 10 days to prepare.
I heard this on the radio today, and forgive me if someone mentioned it, but I heard that the Eagles are working on an extension for Brandon Graham.
You are correct.
http://www.csnphilly.com/football-philadelphia-eagles/sources-brandon-graham-eagles-extension-talks
Looks like they are going to have to free up some money, quite a bit actually, and Trent Cole may be a casualty. Of course, I don’t know their cap situation. Graham turned down a 4 year deal last month I think, so he’s pulling a Maclin type of thing. With him starting these next two weeks his stock could rise even more.
Avril, Hardy, Orakpo,JPP,Wright,Houston,Worilds etc. there are quite a few pass rushers on the markert that lowers his value
With their carry over from 2014, their cap space in 2015, plus cutting aging vets Cole, Ryans, Cary Williams they will have over $40mil. They do not need to free up money. They can choose who to keep and cut who they want.
I was just estimating $40 mil on 24/7.
cary will be here next year.
No way we pay Cary $8+ mil for his level of play next year. We can save $6.5mil if we cut him and put that into someone like Byron Maxwell or Antonio Cromartie. Seems like a no brainer
Cary will,be here next year!
They offered him two delw already, but we are still about 9mil apart in terms of guaranteed money negotiations… It’s early, we aren’t dumb enough to lose premier edge rushers and let him hit the open market where he will cost is way more to retain. BG wants to stay, Joel siegel is in his ear tho…. I assume it gets done before free agency,
I hope badley fletcher retires after this season so we never have to hear his name again.
If Dallas doesn’t lose to Indy and we officially surrendered our division to Dallas as a result of that loss; you’re going to be hearing Fletcher’s name for years to come.
That is true he really looked like a helpless bitch out there was so embarrassing. It was like watching a little kid try so hard to best his dad but just got dominated.
yeah he’s going to be nmandi territory.
No not really. Fletcher is overmatched by top-shelf receivers but there’s no perceived lack of effort, negative attitude, finger-pointing or sudden decline as there was with Nnamdi.
that is true, maybe DRC? Was that him who dez dragged into the end zone?
Bad as Fletcher has been, I’ve never questioned his effort. Both DRC and Nmandi were just collecting checks by the 6th game of 2012.
I forgot Fletcher was the reason we lost to the Cards, Hawks, Packers and Niners?
Cross the packers off that list Jordy ate his lunch and his dinner.
Not at all, but with nothing to do except re-defeat Dallas for the 2nd time in 2 weeks, we choked. I don’t blame Fletcher for the game and/or the team playing with no effort; he’s just going to be the guy on all of the lowlight films about a wasted season.
[…] Good and Bad at OLB – Iggles BlitzI don’t get why some fans and the media are so set on making pronounced judgments on Smith. His rookie season has been disappointing and I think even Smith would agree with that. That said, he hasn’t negatively affected the team at all. The Eagles have gotten great play from their 3 OLBs. Even if Smith had looked really good this summer, I’m not sure how much playing time he would have gotten at OLB. Barwin, Cole and Graham have been terrific. […]
” I don’t get why some fans and the media are so set on making pronounced judgments on Smith.” I take exception with this comment by Lawlor. The fans of this team deserve more credit for their views and observations about the draft picks of this team. I remember, very clearly after the 2010 and 2011 drafts, where the fans were scratching their heads at many, many of those drafting decisions. As it turns out, WE fans were right on the money about : Watkins, Jarrett, Marsh – 2010 and Allen, Te’o Nesheim, Lindley, Clayton – 2011. Maybe it’s time for Tommy to place the blame where it actually resides, with ( Howie / Chip / Billy Davis / etc. ) Eagles fans, live and breath ” GREEN ” and know football. Marcus Smith III doesn’t pass the smell test. He didn’t when he was drafted, and he doesn’t now. At least 75 % of Eagles fans wanted them to draft Earl Thomas, ( even Mike Mayock ) thought they were going to. Truth be told, I’m very happy with the 2012 and 2013 drafts, but this year they took a step back, again. Tommy needs to give a little leeway when it comes to Eagles fans questioning draft picks ….. the fans have a lot of buyers remorse, still left over from the 24 picks from the 2010 – 2011 drafts, of which only 5 players remain on the team.