Good and Bad at OLB
Posted: December 17th, 2014 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 237 Comments »Let’s start with the bad news. Trent Cole is having surgery on his hand. He won’t play against Washington on Saturday afternoon. Cole’s status for the regular season finale is undecided. If you read into the comments from Chip Kelly and Bill Davis, it seems like Cole should be back for that game, and the playoffs if the Eagles make it.
Cole’s absence means that Brandon Graham will be starting at ROLB, the Predator position. I’m sure “BG” (as Kelly likes to call him) is stoked and can’t wait to be on the field for 50 snaps. This will be a national telecast and against a team that gives up lots of sacks. BG will be looking to have a big day.
The good OLB news is that the Eagles and Graham are talking about a contract extension. Tim McManus wrote an excellent piece on the situation. There are a lot of factors to consider.
* How much money is Graham looking vs how much are the Eagles looking to pay?
* How does Graham fit in with Connor Barwin and Trent Cole, in terms of salary and playing time?
* Does Graham want to stay in the 3-4?
This won’t be a simple negotiation for either side, but it would be cool if they could get something done. Graham looked like failed pick after his injury and the move to the 3-4, but things are on the upswing now. It would be great if he could work out for the Eagles as a long term fit and good player.
Stay tuned on this situation.
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Fletcher Cox is drawing a ton of praise this year, and rightfully so. NFL.com’s Chris Wesseling had him at #10 in the race for NFL Defensive Player of the Year. That’s pretty darn cool.
10. Fletcher Cox, Eagles defensive end: We noted on a recent edition of the Around The NFL Podcast that Cox has been one of the three or four most dominant defensive players in the league over the past month. He and Watt have been the NFL’s most complete defensive lineman in the second half of the season.
Some guy named Watt was up at the top of the list.
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PE.com had a cool article on ILB coach Rick Minter a couple of days ago. He offers serious praise for Mychal Kendricks, but I found these bits more interesting.
Q. Not sure many fans would’ve predicted that Casey Matthews would be on the team, and playing so well. Let’s talk about Casey and how far he’s come.
Minter: “I’ve known Casey since about 2005, 2006. He was a high school guy out in California, and we recruited him when I was a defensive coordinator for Notre Dame. I really liked him then. When I was at Marshall in 2008, I was working with Jerry Azzinaro. In 2009, Jerry leaves for Oregon and joins Chip, who becomes the head coach. Azzinaro and I maintain our friendship, which actually has a lot to do with me being here today. He says, ‘Oh, you won’t believe this guy we have out here at Oregon. He runs our whole show; we can do all kinds of check-with-mes and blitz-with-mes.’ And I said to him, ‘That wouldn’t be a guy by the name of Casey Matthews, would it?’ And he goes, ‘How did you know that?’ So I told him the story of how I had recruited him at Notre Dame. I love the guy. I love the family and he has a lot of things going for him. He’s a guy who’s an example of knowledge is strength, and knowledge is power, and confidence exudes into success.
“Casey’s always in the right place at the right time. He’s got great football instincts. He’s got pedigree. He’s got a sense of where to be. He’s got intelligence on how to set the fronts. We didn’t have any drop of at all, to be honest with you. When (Ryans) went down and Casey stepped in – and Emmanuel’s got very similar traits in the leadership and setting the points, giving the right things – we haven’t dropped off a beat right there. I’d like everybody to be a little faster than they are, but he ends up in the right place at the right time.”
Q. Marcus Smith II, what’s important for him from this season and heading into next season?
Minter: “I know people are dying to see Marcus a little bit because he just hasn’t exuded the qualities of a No. 1 pick’s instant impact. He’s really been a developmental player. Had he stayed at outside backer, he probably still wouldn’t be playing a lot. Because of the emergence of our Super 3 out there, who have played great – I mean BG (Brandon Graham), Trent (Cole) and Connor (Barwin), really all three have come on – so it would’ve been hard to play out there regardless. The opportunity came, when Mychal went down, to move him inside and just see, just use it as an experiment, because we weren’t going to hire anybody else.
“We weren’t going to expand the roster. We had a guy on the roster, so it was like picking up a guy off the street in my room. He’s a guy who knew a little bit about what we were doing. He’s got some abilities. It’s an entirely different world to go from outside to inside, and that’s where people have to be fair. We didn’t draft him as an inside linebacker. We’re just seeing if he can play inside backer, particularly during this emergency period of time.
“We think he has some attributes that involve some planning. He needs a good offseason weight training program, put on a few more pounds, get more assured of himself. But playing in my room really is going to expand his knowledge, vastly, of what we do, whether it be inside or outside. After another season of offseason training, OTAs, Training Camp, I’m sure his dust will settle where it does. Whether it’s inside or outside, depends on what happens with the roster. But I’ve been pleased with him. He’s a great young man. He’s eager to learn. I wish we could get him in there a little bit more, but it’s hard to take Mychal off the field now. We’re rolling in that linebacker room.”
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good insight… thank you for sharing.
Just read an interesting Jeff McLane Twitter question: he’s got the over on 5 sacks against the skins..
What’s your take?
I’m not thinking the Eagles get more than 5. It’d be nice, but I’m not counting on more than that.
Hey, Tommy, I’ve been getting real annoyed with the Internet and Sports radio this last week, because everyone is so down on this team. I know you don’t lack for optimistic talking points (I kid, I kid… Lol), but I’d love you to do a post about two things…
1. How the “offensive woes” might have more to do with tons and tons of turnovers rather than, say, Chip Kelly being a fraud.
2. How we are actually a better team this year than last as evidenced by the fact that we only managed to go 10-6 last year on a last place schedule despite everything breaking our way (e.g., we were super healthy and our opponents were not, Foles miracles season, etc.), and we’re probably going to go 11-5 this year on a first place schedule with everything breaking against us (e.g., never having our starting O-line together, Sophomore slump Foles/Half a season of Sanchez, fumbles every time we have the chance to go up on a good team).
I mean, is Bradley Fletcher good at his job?… No. But would it matter if we had, say, 25 turnovers right now instead of 35 or 36?… Probably not (at least insofar as we’d probably the leading the Division and possibly the Conference). Same goes for the Marcus Smith pick, or the “basic” offense (yeah, that’s the hot new complaint), or whatever. If our QBs had just 2:1 TD:INT ratios (which seems like a decent baseline for “good” QB play) we’d have 2-4 more wins. If had 5 or 6 less fumbles, same thing. Maybe that’s the problems, dummies!!!… Sorry… Anyway, please, help a brother out.
On 1 – I don’t see Chip as a fraud, but turnovers are from carelessness and lack of focus. I trust Chip to clean those motivational issues up. I’m still disgusted we found a way to choke ourselves to a net swing of -34 points in two weeks vs the same team.
On 2 – Better vs. worse team last year is irrelevant if we don’t win our division again. There shouldn’t have been a team within 3 games of us in division this year, but we didn’t respond with a win in a must win game with the division on the line. If we ultimately win the division with an 11-5 record (hoping for that Dallas loss to Indy) I’ll be in the mood to cut the team some more slack. If we backslide from being division champs it will represent a failure of a season.
1- So tell me what has changed in Chip’s coaching that has led to the drastic increase in turnovers (there’s a considerable chance we’re going to double up year over year). We all knew Foles was going to regress (statistically), just not this far. Sanchez is what he is. And fumbles are basically 50/50 once they’re on the ground. So I’m not shocked that we have more than our franchise low from last year. But seriously, Chip was asked about it and he said they work on it every practice. Coaching only goes so far. If guys aren’t holding on to the ball, the coach can’t run on the field and duct tape it to their hands.
2- Better or worse does matter because they need to be moving in the right direction. Last year was an anomaly. Everything broke their way as far as every good opponent having one or more key injury down the stretch, and Foles had one of, if not the, greatest statistical seasons ever, despite only doing OK in the “eye test”. They never should have made the playoffs last year. They didn’t earn it, they lucked into it. It was entirely possible that they wouldn’t make it this year, because they were not as good as their record last year.
This year is also looking to be a statistical anomaly, because they may well go 11-5 and miss the playoffs. Which is just bad f’ing luck. And all that despite having to overcome numerous injuries (the exact opposite of last year).
If all that matters is the end result, then there’s only one good team every year and everybody else sucks, and why are we even watching a league with 31 bad teams and only 1 good team? If I told you when they hired Chip that he would go 11-5 in year 2, you would have been happy to have it. If last season changed your expectations that much, then you weren’t really paying attention last year.
“If last season changed your expectations that much, then you weren’t really paying attention last year.”
Was I watching the part where we won the division and finished two games ahead of Dallas by virtue of beating them in our decisive December game?
Or was that a different season.
My expectations were on an improvement from last year. We finished 10-6 and choked away a playoff game at home I expected 11-5, a division win, and a win at home in the wild card round prior to losing on the road in the division round. Not a big playoff run. Not an appearance in the Super Bowl. Not a title. Just improvement; and potentially choking away the division title to Dallas is a backslide. Unacceptable.
First of all, we were only in position to do all that last year because we were: 1) Playing a last place schedule, and 2) Every good team we faced after Foles took over had a major injury just in time to lose to us. We OVERACHIEVED and had EVERYTHING LINE UP IN OUR FAVOR, and it was OBVIOUS that we were overachieving and getting lucky. You have to take the whole season IN CONTEXT. We had an easy schedule, made easier by opponent injuries, our only major injury actually IMPROVED us, and the Cowboys choked down the stretch as usual.
None of that should have made you expect much more than (and funny enough this is your exact number) an 11-5 or maybe 12-4 season. Well you’re probably going to get that, and because of rare bad luck circumstances 11-5 might not get you into the playoffs (apparently it will be the 3rd time either ever or at least since the wildcard was instated). So between that and Dallas not choking (yet), we might miss the playoffs. But we’ll have won more games, against a harder schedule, despite TONS OF INJURIES. IN CONTEXT that is WAY more impressive than what happened last season, and is a STRONG indication that we are headed in the right direction. Sometimes everything breaks your way, sometimes everything breaks against you… If you want to be upset because we’ve fallen victim to a statistical anomaly (number of wins to get in) the year after we benefited from a statistical anomaly (27:2), then feel free. But you’re getting upset over what comes is the equivalent of losing to a royal flush immediately after winning with 4 Aces.
Funnily enough, what has happened to the team is what I said might happen to Foles. Statistical regression, but better actual play overall. So yeah, we might not make the playoffs, but (assuming we get better QBing from someone) I’m much more confident going into next year than I was coming into this year. Because the team clearly got better, and should do so again.
Do you really need someone else to tell you that chip ISNT a fraud?
No, but despite knowing that the points I’m making are correct, I don’t feel like doing the research to back it up. So I figured I’d asked someone who does that anyway to do it for me, so I can maybe call up WIP and explain to the hosts (even the ones I usually respect) why they are idiots for thinking that this “team is worse” and “the offense has regressed”. When the team likely ends with a better record and the offenses problem is turnovers, not lack of production (when they actually hold onto the ball).
But turnovers are an example of lack of production…how can turnovers happen yet no players or coaches are responsible for it? This has been a problem all season and Chip has said numerous times they will fix it, but they have failed to do so. Chip, the coaches and players should all be held accountable for that and so criticism of them is not unwarranted IMO. The offense has regressed, how could anyone draw a different conclusion compared to last year? WHY it has regressed is the more important question and IMO there are a wide range of answers including bad QB play, mediocre play calling, inconsistent OL play even when healthy, inconsistent run game, weird usage of players like Ertz, Sproles, Polk, lack of a deep threat at WR and a general lack of adaptation to how defenses have played us this season. Chip has been more conservative this season and not adjusted well in the game planning and in-game.
If you drive 90 yards and then fumble at the goalline, it’s not the same thing as if you go 3-and-out and punt from your own goalline. Neither drive results in points, but one is certainly more productive than the other…
And I’m not saying that there is zero blame to go around on the turnovers. There have certainly been enough balls thrown that never had a chance. THOSE are most certainly the QBs fault. There’s at least 3 or 4 tipped balls that are somebody’s fault (QB or Receiver; case by case basis). But fumbles… everybody fumbles at some point if they touch the ball enough. And there’s some stuff you can do to help, but you’ve got to give me a reason that we went from barely fumbling to constantly fumbling, or I’ve got to assume that it’s probably mostly random. Same players, same coaching, and you can’t tell me that someone “schemed up” a defense that makes a Chip Kelly offense turn the ball over. That’s just not how football works.
So better record with worse circumstances means it’s a better team. If the QB is suddenly missing wide open guys that he was hitting before, that’s bad QBing, not a “team” regression”. If guys who never used to fumble start fumbling, that’s probably bad luck, not a “team regression”. In football, just like in life, there are things you can control and things you can’t. And in football, just like in life, there’s a lot more that you really can’t control than that you can. Seriously, any game that’s decided by less than a TD may as well be a tie, because it probably hinged on a guy slipping on wet turf, or an uncalled penalty, or a fumble bouncing right back to a guy, or something else completely random. That’s just the reality of the game.
No, but it is nice to hear for a national media change of pace
That would be a safe bet if the Skins are going to hand the ball off as often as possible to reduce the number of time RGMe needs to attempt to “read” the D.
Eagles need to get a lead early and the skins will pack it in. Once that happens, the sacks will pile up!
With Graham having a good year is it a good thing Eagles didnt get to sign Worilds? Sometimes non signings are good signings i would think
Yes Casey Matthews has played better then expected based on past resume, but if I was Demeco I would feel a little insulted that my position coach is saying there has been no drop off. Clearly Ryans can get off blocks better and have more impact with A-gap blitzes to free up other rushers.
Just fluff Q&A and not a comparison to Ryans.
He’s saying the on field play calling / organising and checking into coverages / blitzes hasn’t dropped off from ‘Meco
Let me break down the current BG situation (full disclosure, I haven’t read the Tim McManus article, I’m trying this new thing of not reading any eagle media the next two weeks lol)
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So far we offered BG two contract offers. brandon really wants To remain an eagle. his agent Joel Siegel strongly doeamt want him to sign any extension until he hits the free agent market, but if BG doesn’t sign an extension, before he hits the market, we will sever communication and not make him any offers and we will see Brandon play for a new team next year. Brandon can either work something out and remain an eagle, but if he wants to test the market, he will have reached the point of no return….so BG is going to have to make sacrafices and go against the wishest and council of his agent, if he wants to stay.
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Rigjt now we are still in Early negotiations (lowball stage), current offer is a 4yr deal at 6.5m per year 11.5 Mil in Guarantees. HOwie and BGs agent both know that you can’t get any decent edge rusher on the open market for less than 20 mil in Guarantees, so hOwie knows right now, that there is no chance BG and his agent will accept 11m in guarantees..so this is just a startng point.
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My guess is eventually we will see HOwie up that offer to like 6.5-7mil per year for 4yrs and 16-18mil in Guarantees will get it done and keep Brandon here against the wishes of his agent of course. When this happens and the extension is announced we will hear hOwie publically praise BG for proving how bad he wants to be here and how committed he is to the Eagles making it very clear with how he handled himself in th negotiations,,..and BG will be wreaking havoc for us the next 4 years,
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This will get done, since Howies only other option is 11mil for 33yr old trent Cole. We won’t want to lose a class act whp worked as hard at BG, not only did he grow into a quality Predator and Jack, but he grew into a special team monster. Wanna know how much of a class act he is? His rookie contract we wrote a clause that when he plays like 35% of the snaps it triggers a 2.5 mil roster bonus. It was written as an easy to reach incentive that we planned on giving BG but his career took crazy turns and it still never kicked in… This year he is playing out of his mind deserving way more snaps then he is getting, he is onygetting 30% of snaps… 5% more which he easily deserves and he gets a 2.55mil bonus he was always supposed to get….yet the man has a smile on his face at all times. We will cost him 2.5mil and he won’t utter a bad word….
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HOwie and Chip won’t want to lose a player like that, especially when OLB is so important, you have to have more than two pass rushers, and if we want to sign any decent pass rusher from another team on the open market, the starting price is 20 mil in guarantees…so there is no reason why hOwie won’t work it t and get it done around 18mil. EVerson Griffin was like BG a. Never started, quality back up, got 20mil in guarantees on the open market next year… HOwie knows if he loses BG it will cost ATleast 20 to replace his production at that highly valued position, so it’s in his best interest to get the extension done and Keep BG here…Brandon recently married his wife from Detroit last spring, they created a home here, BG is close with cox, curry, Kendricks and all those young defenders….
…I got a beer that says BG signs on to remain an Eagle before Free agency starts!!! Any doubters? Lol
PS: marcus smith was a first round pick so we get the 5th year option which means, we have Marcus at 4 more years on a rookie,contract. We pay Brandon to stay for the next 4 years, his contract and Marcus rookie deal will expire the same year, BG will be old so he walks, and we use the money we have been paying BG for the next 4 years, and give it to Marcus for his second eagle contract….works out perfectly!
As far as taking 2 weeks off from the Philly sports press, I’m doing the EXACT same thing! I took it even a step further actually, I stopped reading the local stuff because the negativity & chicken little-ing was harshing my reality to an unbearable degree. But I also had to tune out ESPN & NFl network because the Cowboy worship is even more intolerable. Igglesblitz & its accompanying thread is always the center of my Eagles universe, & for the time being it’s also the only object IN said universe.
Yeah.national news is,ridiculous. They didn’t give us any respect all year when we were like 9-2, I can only imagine what’s being said now smh
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Honestly, out of everything you read from our local media this year, how much of it ended up proving to be accurate? 50% at best?… might get some decent accurate intell, but how much of it ends up being proven to be completely false? What am I getting out of some donkey reporter telling me that our franchise QB definitely ismt n our roster? Who the hell is he that I should trust his opinion on growth of young players more than mine?
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Not to mention I hate supporting the pathetic vultures. Watch every single chip kelly press conference after a loss. Whenever we lose, that pathetic, poor excuse of a man Les Bowan ALWAYS can’t wait to ask questions that are basically taking blatant shots at chip Kelly for their silly personal bias… God forbid we ever ask decent follow up questions…
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Obviously there are certain valuable things you can find from our media like Sheil Kapadia’s all 22… But you have to sift thru so much false crap to get a little bit of decent Intel that ends up proven correct.
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I want to see how I view,things without letting our media have any influence on my thoughts and oppinions,…rathef than let the media deliver the info, I try to watch all the player interviews, so I know all the quotes that article are made out of…
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Often even when reading something from our media, I skim thru the article and only stop to read the player or coaches quotes anyway
I can’t help but worry sometimes that the kind of stuff you mentioned that Les Bowen & others say/ask will sour the amazing thing we have going with Chip. I remind myself that every coach has to deal with stuff, but I feel like it’s a notch or 5 worse in Philly. Truthfully, I frequently have an unhealthy desire to slap the negative Nellies around a bit. It. FEELS like they’re just not happy unless they’re miserable. I wish they’d take a long walk off a short dock with all their subversive undermining bullshit! lol There, I feel a little better.
Preach man…it drives me crazy. It’s because these hack reporters DONT even know the game well enough to really provide,readers with accurate, quality content, so if you can’t get attention off of the good quality of your work,,hacks have to resort to the negativity to get attention and rule fans up… Pretty pathetic.
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When elliot shorr Parks writes an article about how Desean is a California gangbanger, that’s when I have seen it all. How someone is allowed to write that article and get to keep their job baffles me
This is really interesting information. I like how they know they’re going to make him take a hometown discount or let him walk (and not pay him the snaps bonus in either case).
That said riley cooper took a reasonable contract (which he’s underperforming) but was in a similar situation as BG in that they hadn’t really done anything until their contract year. I think that situation is probably instructive for this one.
It won’t get resolwed any time soon, but I’m sure it gets done before free agency… Same with Maclin… Not sure about Casey Mathews tho. He managed to come off the bench, and run our defense..I wouldn’t mind having him on our bench
It’s not “information”, it’s speculation.
Hahahaha your inferiority complex puts the biggest smile on my face. Don’t think you really get how pathetic, groupie behavior you consistently exhibit… Being obsessed with other men is gross.
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No I have made you way more relevant than we know you are worth for one day… Run along boy
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I would never be able to sweat and worry about another man the way you do…. Not back to your insignificant existence
Just clarifying facts. Which you, as always, have no purpose for.
Stop embarrassing yourself.
this thread has gotten way too personal for you brother. why don’t you just take a break, and we all get back to football on the next thread. Personal attacks don’t win arguments or change opinion to fact.
Blow me
@tommy, hope you can get his IP. Let the North Koreans have it. birds 24/7 is much better off with the help of a Mod
One thing, Cole is not Howie’s only option
He is, if HOwie doeamt want to spend 20mil guaranteed on a pass rusher
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On the open market, edge rushers start at 20mil in guarantees…
..I don’t want to go crazy talkimg about this for the next two momths, because I believe it to be a non issue, and BGs extension with the Eagles will get done after the season.
I think all our guys need to go to bare is methods like BG and milk did they are clearly better for it.
No idea what that sentence means
I meant Barwis methods. BG and Molk went there over the off season and were much better for it. Barwis methods is the place on american muscle if you had the opportunity to see it.
Oh ok…not familiar with it
Win or lose, I’ll take any beer bet. That means hanging out, drinking beers, and talking sports. I’d take a beer bet that would say 2 + 2 doesn’t equal 4.
I don’t want to be a doubter, but there are a few things that affect your scenario. Given BG’s loyalty and attitude, he is vulnerable to the proddings of an agent who tells him he’s being disrespected. Also BG, despite his evolution at OLB, is still a natural 4-3 end. He may just be a tad curious to see who wants him. I do agree that Roseman’s hand looks pretty weak, but only Roseman knows what he can get and for how much. I’d love to see him offer a ransom to Justin Houston, if he isn’t franchised, but either way Trent Cole is playing somewhere else next season, and I think BG probably gets that. So I don’t doubt that BG signs a new sheet for Philly, but I am skeptical that it will get done before FA.
yea but when your having success and continuity its not in your best interest for another change. I think if BG gets a decent offer he will stay
You are entitled to doubt whatever you want…we won’t bid on our own players in free agency man. That will never happen. The only reason Nate Allen became a free agent, and then we brought him back is because no one wanted him.
You can’t point to another player this front office let hit the open market but then end up bringing the back. Not one player, so you might want some actual tangible Intel or precedent that gives you reason to doubt.
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Justin Houston is One of my favorite players in football. 0.00% we bring him to philly, I’d bet anything we don’t give 50million dollar contracts to any other teams free agents this pffseason, but we’ll see….
Joe Banner said that he expected Dawk to get back to him, but there was a misunderstanding. That is not exactly precedent, but contract negotiations are not inherently defensive. BG wants to be here, but if Howie respects the fact that BG wants to know his value outside Philly, because he probably doesn’t know, letting him scan FA could be an act of deference. I don’t know,you may be right. BG is unlike any other free agent Eagle I can remember. If Howie says “go out that door and there’s no getting back in…” BG will probably be getting low-balled, and if it were me, it would motivate me to check the market. Like you say… we’ll see. Re your absence of a glimmer of hope that Howie would go heavy for a stud – you think he’s still smarting from 2011? He’s got to get over that if he wants to hold onto his job.
If we re-sign BG trent cole is gone easily next year as a cap casualty. So he would just have to beat out Smith II and a potential draft pick to start here.
Did Minter really say all this about Matthews with a straight face? Ain’t the truth, Coach. Casey is not in the right place a lot of the time. Far from it. Also, it is terribly disingenuous to claim the team hasn’t had any drop off since Ryans went down. I appreciate a coach speaking up for his players but this is ridiculous. I can’t believe even Casey would buy this. I think Minter does a diservice to his athletes when he lays out this kind of line because it causes one to question the validity of anything else he might say.
What was he supposed to say? Casey is hot garbage? Then see him tomorrow in the meeting room and be like yeah well casey you’re starting try not to suck this week bro?
No, not at all. Davis is an example of a coach saying all the right things in the way he discusse Fletcher. Support your players, definitely, but don’t lay it on so thick it is not realistic. There’s a lot of posiitves he could have said about Casey’s development, etc. But, really, no drop from DeMeco? No one can think that’s straight talk.
I think it was rather clear that he meant there was no drop off as far as getting the defense set, making pre-snap adjustments, or making post-snap reads. Y’know, the “QBing the Defense” stuff. He’s not comparing his physical ability to DeMeco’s (which isn’t exactly “special” at this point in his career). Hell, he literally said he “wishes everybody (non-specific, but the whole conversation was about Matthews) was a little faster.”
Yep. That “wish[ing]” part was definitely directed at Casey, but instead of singling him out, he acknowledged what is probably a truth about 90% of NFL linebackers – the coaches wish he was faster. DeMeco’s not been a speedster since he’s been here, either. Kendricks probably fits into the other 10% – they’re fine with his speed, they wish he was a little taller/bigger.
Absolutely right on the rest, too. Minter was praising the mental side of Casey’s game, while acknowledging his physical limitations.
Agreed. When you look at any position coach or the OC and DC, none of them say anything negative, and that is probably by order. CK is the only one who walks a tightrope re: player ability, and even he will only admit a missed play or a missed opportunity. He could have thrown Brad Smith under the bus for the botched kick-off, but he cited the wind. I’m ok with keeping it in the meeting room/locker room. It doesn’t help anyone to call out players who obviously sucked. Casey Matthews was off the team until MK went down. If they address need at ILB, he’ll be off the team again.
Casey has done a good job from a mental and positioning standpoint.
Casey struggles athletically.
Nothing Minter said in that interview is remotely disingenuous.
Shame without the athletic ability — mental and position only gets you so far — like a warm body. Let’s not(not you D3FB) piss down the fans back and call it rain. Mathews is nothing more than a connection to his past and family as to why he’s on this team. Anybody(cough Nate Allen) can be at the right place all the time — just that getting there late doesn’t do the team anything. People can crow all then want about CM — but this defense is nothing more than mediocre with CM at LB. He’s a backup, nothing more.
Casey isn’t as good as Demco. No arguments there. But he hasn’t been some great weak link causing this defense to not play well. To claim such is to argue based on narrative absent the facts. I get it. It’s fun to shit on certain players who have struggled in the past. But Casey has been play ILB at an acceptable level.
To put in in simple terms for anyone to understands, you don’t play elite run game like Demarco and Beatmode as tough as we played them with an incapable pigeon at one of our ILB spots……takes a quality front 7, with every,single player executing their assignments well to play the tough run defense to have the type of success we had against Demarco and BEASTMODE
Casey’s interviews do not inspire much confidence.
I can’t imagine Graham not being here next year. He’s probably the best isolated edge rusher on the roster right now, and is just entering his prime along with a comfortability in the scheme/culture. More than that, he’s taken to all Chip’s changes and expressed outright interest in staying (going so far as to call out situations elsewhere, and how blessed he’s been here).
The other guys on the market are mostly projections. and those of (what we see) as equal or better talents than BG, such as J. Houston, are –newsflash– also going to be incredibly expensive.
because you know what? pass rushers, especially young ones, don’t often hit the market. BG has peaked in the last year of this contract; rare these days. mostly, it seems, due to all the instability in his early career.
this is exactly the point of having a ton of cap room; to keep pass rushers here by opening the checkbook. And for what he’s (presumably) asking for, based on Segel’s comments? it’s a no-brainer.
Honestly, I think in the discussed parameters, we’ll also be able to get good deals this year on Cox, Kendricks, and hopefully Vinny. Of that group, I’m betting Cox takes home the biggest contract/most annual $/most guaranteed $.
Derek Gunn reported that there is a huge gap in what the Eagles offered and what Graham is supposedly looking for (~$20M guaranteed, ~$30M total). Highly doubts the Eagles are going to be able to resign him before he hits FA.
Usually take what Gunn reports as pretty accurate and not sensualist. $11M vs. $20M guaranteed is a huge gap especially when the $11M was the essentially the Eagles’ revised offer.
We’re 4 months away from free agency. The talks have to start somewhere.
“not sensualist”
Tell me that was spell check
That means Howie doesn’t want to cuddle w/BG?
LOL
Fletcher Cox getting some love:
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000445210/article/jj-watt-leads-list-of-top-10-defensive-players
I’d like that Trent Cole for his service to the team and welcome him back next season only if he’s willing to take a salary reduction down to $3.2 million which happens to be his dead money number if we cut him.
A few of us were discussing numbers yesterday and I figured with some reductions and cuts of Casey, Celek, Herremans, Cole, DeMeco, and Cary we’d get to $40 million of cap space under next season’s projected cap of $143 million. I forgot we’re rolling $20 million from this year.
The Eagles will have as much as $60 million to play with next off-season. That could get interesting.
Whenever the cap goes up the price of top tier free agents seems to go up even more, percentage-wise.
It’s a shame that this doesn’t apply to the normal workers like us. I would love to see my salary increase more than inflation…
Thank your local supply side economist.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.static-economist.com%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Finequality1108a_1.png%253F1415284532&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fblogs%2Fgraphicdetail%2F2014%2F11%2Fdaily-chart-2&h=824&w=1190&tbnid=YpDn2Odi9gmVIM%3A&zoom=1&docid=1mBfc8wtQsEG_M&ei=FkCTVOn6MInmatCTgKAN&tbm=isch&ved=0CCIQMygEMAQ&iact=rc&uact=3&dur=595&page=1&start=0&ndsp=14
i think half those guys will be here next year.
Wouldn’t mind BG suffering a minor ankle sprain today. Nothing serious, just tweek it enough to miss the next two game lol
Awesome idea.
Keep chirping
Just paraphrasing you my dear. 😉
No worries sweetie.. MUah! Slap your ass and send you on your way 😉
then we are more likely to lose to the Redskins. Trent is out you know. Let’s not lose the season so that a billionaire can pay less to BG in his next contract.
it might be so he can see his boy MSII get a little in game action… at least i hope that is the rationale…???
Nope…
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BG and his agent, are going to be soooooo jacked up for this game. This is his opportunity to showcase his game in a big role right before free agency……he is going to use these two games to dominate, play his ass off and up his value and negotiating party….
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Watching him dominate and play the game of his life, will be so bitter sweet, I’ll be very happy for the man, Tho every good player makes it harder for us to retain him
gotcha gotcha, well i dont want him to get hurt but maybe double teamed??
i see your point though, makes sense. and it was nice of you to only wish for a slight tweak..haha GO BIRDS!
Man, I love BG…. BIG FAN!!! I’m such a big fan, that I can’t stomach losing him… We put up with all his struggles, he has turned himself into a beast playing predator, Jack and a ST monster, after all the patience we exhibited with him, all be DAMNED if i watch him dominate for someone else next year.. I can’t stomacjh that
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I asked for a two week sprain, that’s a boo boo lol not an injury…. I’m all for players getting paid, but he made enough 1st round salary, without providing us 1st round ability, that I don’t think it’s too horrible to hope for him to only get 18mil guaranteed, instead of 24 mil from the Falcons or some bad franchise that will throw money at him
I do agree, hes been PAID a ton so far for basically this years production.. 18 guaranteed seems like a good number 24 sounds like a lot.. I like the guy too i dont question that you dont…
Plus THATS just 18mil in Guarantees. If he continues to produce and earn his new contract, he will still be able to make like 7mil a year, for each of the next 4 seasons… He is going to get like a 28mil deal.
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His agent doesn’t want him to sign an extension and wants at least 30mi deal with 20 guaranteed…. Howie knows that any decent edge rushers on the open Market’s price tag starts at 20mil GUARENTEED.
Our last offer to BG was 11.5 guaranteed, 6mil per year (24mil)… His agent wants 20mil, 30mil deal(7.5 per year)
but this is just beginning negotiations. In the end, HOwie knows he won’t be able to replace him on the open market for less than 20guaranteed, so I’m pretty sure 17-18guaremteed,l, 6.5-7 per year for 4years gets the extension done, and keeps BG in philly for the next 4 years…
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Which would work out perfect because we have Marcus under rookie contract for 4 more years, so when Brandon Graham’s 4 year deal expires, if Marcus develops the way he is supposed to, we can just give Marcus the money we have been paying Graham for the last 4 years….
that`s the worst comment you`ve ever had the stupidity to post
Shut up simpleton. I been rooting for this kid and trying to point out how well ha has been playing for years, when people like you realized he was balling two weeks ago!!
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You can be an idiot and root for him to dominate these next two games, me personally, I prefer to root for having him on our team next year
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We are the ones who spent a first round pick on him, we are the ones who been paying him first round money for years, and just recently we started getting our money’s worth, so excuse you if I don’t want to lose him
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Him and his agent are looking at these next two games as his showcase opportunity to get his value as high as possible for free agency,… Excuse You simpleton, if I would rather see BG only get 17mil in guarantees from us and see him playing as an Eagle for the next 4 years,…. You can be the moron who roots for him to dominate Saturday, and then cry in March when we lose him to Atlanta who threw 24mil in guarantees at him
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So you talking about someone elses stupidity is a little rich!! Short sited simpleton
Why not just root for that then, don’t really like wishing an injury on our own players
What injury? A two week sprain? That’s a fuckin boo boo. You act like I’m wishing real harm on the man.
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I’m hoping he only gets 18mil from us, instead of 24mil from Atlanta….boo hoo, GEAGLE is horrible cuz he only wants BG to get 18mil, and. Two week boo boo…. Cry me a river build a bridge and get over it…. This isn’t aimed at you brother, because you have always been able to disagree with me, but keep it respectful, so I’m just speaking in general terms
Shut up simpleton…ooohhh!
Wow, intelligent response to you wanting an injury to any player. And on top of that.your desire for an injury to a player you`support`.
People like me,as in me, have been thrilled to have him as an Eagle since he was drafted.
You generalize and draw conclusions about things and people you know nothing about.
Yet, I`m the simpleton.
You need to get back on the meds.(see how I did that, drawing a conclusion about you being under medication based on your constant misuse of the English language, your childish rah-rah behavior,and ludicrous predictions{see GB,Dallas,Ariz.},and your never-ending display of Tourette Syndrome symptoms.)
What have you ever added to make you think that I would read two paragraphs of your writing? Lol just curious
You responded to what you read(I wrote),I responded in turn. To deny you did what you did is beyond stupid, it`s sad. How do you expect people here to take you seriously?
That question can be posed to you a gazillion times over…but since you dominate the comments, it’s not like passive readers have a choice. Just be polite, unlock the caps key every once in a while, and…breathe. This board is more fun to read when you aren’t insulting people every 3rd thread.
You know I love you Geagle but this comment is just not in good taste
Cry me a river, a sprain is a fuckin boo boo. Yous can get over it
Re ‘Spending Money Wisely’, Part II.
If I was Howie, I’d make the following (internal) soon to be Free Agents my top priority, in particular order:
1. Fletcher Cox – he will get the most money and he deserves every $$$ after his breakout season. He now belongs in the elite group of DE’s.
>>> Projected guaranateed money: $35m.
2. Mychal Kendricks – not only is he flying around on the field, he will also be getting a high flying contract [extension]. He’s our best LB who needs to be in Philly for years to come.
>>> Projected guaranteed money: $28m.
3. Jeremy Maclin – while Mac should be amongst the finalists for “comeback players of the year”, I wouldn’t necessarily put him atop of our FA priorities. The WR FA class looks more than solid, and to be perfectly honest I’d rather show a game-changer like Dez Bryant the big bucks if Maclin is getting to greedy.
>>> Projected guaranteed money: $25-30m.
4. Brandon Graham – BG, how Chippah likes to call him, has really proven Eagles fans (including me!) wrong this season. He’s young, and besides Connor Barwin our 2nd best OLB. Given Cole’s huge cap number BG needs to stay!
>>> Projected guaranteed money: $22m.
5. Ced Thornton – he might be one of the “nobodys” according to Bennie Logan, however he is such a great run defender who sets the edge in the Eagles’ 3-4 defense that keeping him should be one of the higher priorities.
>>> Projected guaranteed money: $16m.
6. Brandon Boykin – despite his struggles (and I honestly believe they are far more injury-related than he’d openly admit) he’s a young and promising DB with some potential. While he most likely needs to stay in the slot, losing him would lead to another not needed need.
>>> Projected guaranteed money: $10m.
7. Vinny Curry – I love Vinny, the city of Philadelphia loves Vinny, and Vinny loves Philly. However his contract negotiations might get tricky, given the fact that getting him on the field is tough behind a starting lineup of Cox – Logan – Thornton. It will come down to how much the Eagles FO is willing to spend on a backup DE.
>>> Projected guaranteed money: $10m.
I agree but the downside is none of this money spending solves our deficiencies. Is there so much money that we can do all this and still try to help our DB situation?
I think we will have enough money to sign at least one FA outside this organisation to upgrade our defensive backfield.
Also Nick Foles’ subpar season helped our salary cap situation for next season.
Yeah we can go put guns to other GMs heads and we can force them to cut their good DBs so we can sign one…. Awesome Post
Don’t push it if you lose it.
Aren’t we both pure awesomeness, my friend.
I realize we need to go fishing & hopefully land some nice talent for our backfield in F/A but I’m absolutely PRAYING we can draft & develop some real talent for the first tine in far too long (outside of Boykin). Not or only do we desperately need it it wouldn’t hurt not to have to lay out all that F/A money. I’m aware that I’m just stating the obvious, but wouldn’t that be just fantastic? A guy can hope…
I have to ask you about Cary Williams. Yesterday I suggested cutting him and putting that money towards an upgrade at the position. You believe that Cary is not going anywhere even though he is making $8mil next year on the last year of his deal. Why are you so cinfident he stays? Why no upgrade the position? Or use sone of that money to lock up the guys you listed above?
I don’t think the Eagles will be able to upgrade both starting CBs in one go. Sign one FA to replace Fletcher, and let a high pick corner compete with Cary on the outside.
The list above is strictly a list for our own pending free agents. It doesn’t restrict the Eagles from looking for greener gras on the other side.
Funny how when I used to say that Cary will be Here next year, EVERYWHERE would jump down my throat, and No one agreed with me loln
That was before Fletcher turned into Roc Carmichael. Fletcher has done more to keep Cary here than Cary himself.
Not saying it’s right or wrong, just for me looking at Cary’s salary was a big red light. If Cary and Fletcher were about even, yeah stay with Fletcher. But at this point there’s no way they can keep Fletcher out there.
Doesn’t mean people have to jump down my throat and be disrespectful because they were too short sited to see my opinion..
Nobody jumped down your throat, you attacked everybody who disagreed with you (and you still do)
Hahahahaha actually it’s clear to everyone that you CLOWNED yourself trying to argue that Nate was actually a good safety, and the best was,your player evaluation skills leading you to the conclusion that Braley Fletcher was a better corner than Cary lol that was one of my alltime favorite Anders moments..l MUah sweetie, run along
Fletcher played better than Cary in 2013, but lets twist my words. Also I have never called Allen a good overall safety. I called him a good tackling safety and always said he was sub par in coverage, but again lets twist my words right?
Oh, relax. Last year Cary was on his way out the door because of his price tag. He still might be, but his chances are looking better because the situation of another player changed.
If I remember correctly, about the same time last year you were predicting Earl Wolff to be our next starting safety, and pimping your list of must sign free agents, none of which happened.
Things change. Enjoy the conversation.
Wolff has knee legions bothering him for a year and a half that werent diagnosed….you might want to find a better example than that.
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You never see,me talk shit under one of Anders posts unsolicited es, but every once in a while he has his,bitch moment, acts like a pussy and talks shit out of the blue for no reason, or to play captain save a hoe,, and I put him in his place fo acting like a bitch for no reason…. No big deal
First, I picked Wolff on purpose to demonstrate my point. Situations change when more information becomes available, it doesn’t mean the original view was unfounded. Just like your original view of Wolff wasn’t dumb once more information came out.
And, since you asked (because I wouldn’t want to be accused of jumping into a conversation on a public forum), yes. Yes I do see you talk shit out of the blue. I see it every time you come on an Eagles fan site and talk about the stupid Eagles fans that all think (insert anything other than what you think). I see it when you said, in this very thread,
“Funny how when I used to say that Cary will be Here next year, EVERYWHERE would jump down my throat, and No one agreed with me loln”
Now, I am making an assumption (dangerous, I know) that the all caps word to which you are attempting to draw attention was actually supposed to be EVERYONE, because otherwise your post is nonsense instead of just chock full of grammar and conceptual errors. But, based on that assumption, you are talking shit, out of the blue, to EVERYONE.
…
http://www.slate.com/content/dam/slate/blogs/browbeat/2011/09/29/hugo_chavez_caption_contest/Mic_drop_Key_Peele_obama.jpg.CROP.rectangle3-large.jpg
I might give a fuck… Truly
I still would love to upgrade Cary, but replace Fletcher’s sconces first.
It would be good if we could find out if Nolan Carroll could replace Fletcher. He hasn’t really been given a shot.
All your projected guarantee money is in general way too high.
Maybe. But given the future salary cap increase it might be not far off from what those players mentioned above could get on the open market.
Take Kendricks, the highest paid guarantee for an ILB right now is Patrick “future HoF” Willis at just around 20 mill, so 25 is way to high no matter what. More releastic is most like 15 max
Like I said, do not use “older” contracts as a benchmark. Maybe $25m was a tad too high for Kendricks, but I will be positively surprised if we can keep him for 15 max. It will be probably somewhere in the middle.
But aside from Kendricks, what other projected gtd moneys do you find “way too high”?
As said pretty much all of the contracts
As far as money and salary cap are concerned, Boykin really chose an opportune time to be injured. I imagine the FO knows that, though, and they’ll have to overpay his current value.
Thornton is a mucker who is taking on one or more offensive lineman, and he is a great run stopper, but he does NOT set the edge. He’s not playing the friggen’ edge.
Lol correct… Kind of hard for Ced to “set the edge” when their is an OLB lined up outside of him… But that’s germanEagle for you
Ced is an RFA. You can tender him to a second round pick for like 1.5 mil.
Boykin and Curry aren’t free agents. They are both role players. To extend them early would be a misallocation of resources.
None of those three players are getting new deals this offseason.
I was aware of that.. Thanks for pointing out to others though. 😉
We need Grigson and the Colts to do us ANOTHER solid (thanks for Parkey!!).. and beat the Cowboys on Sunday!!
How about we beat the Skins first on Saturday!?
But it helps to HAAAAVE A LITTTTTLE HELP FROM YOUR FRIENDS… and yea, thats a given seeing as we need to go 2-0 and NEED the cowboys to go 1-1…
Luck should have a ball against that secondary
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Wouldn’t be surprised if nasty veteran Qwell Jackson forces a fumble from Demarvos injured hand
If we’re looking to take on another washed out QB to compete with Foles, Cutler might just become available…
Anticipating responses, before you rip cutler to shreds, who do you expect to get for free (as in cash only and not through picks/trades) that is better than him?
If he throws INTs with arguable the best receiving tandem in the NFL, a solid running back, and solid TEs, what do you think he’ll do in this offense?
I think Sanchez has proved that you are what you are and it carries to any offense you run.
Have you seen how many hits he took on Monday night? That line is serving him up to get killed. Either way, it’s always good to have a backup QB with starting experience. And if we lose Sanchez this offseason, We have…. Barkley…
I want no parts of Cutler. I’d be interested to see how the line plays with another QB.
The likely list of the best QBs available will be:
RG3
Locker
Bradford
Cutler
I’d take any of the three as a backup or third stringer in a second.
I’d take a flier on Bradford and Locker. I’m worried about RG3’s health, and I don’t think Cutler is that good.
if you’re worried about rg3’s health why would take a flyer on locker? the dude is made of peanut brittle
I think I look at him as a backup and if he’s better, that’s good for us. If RG3 comes here, he’s here to compete for a #1 at some point. I never thought Locker was that good, or that he had the talent to be a true #1.
But I wonder if Sanchez will want to come back, and if not, do I really trust Barkley at this point?
Plus, Locker won’t bring a high price tag IMO.
it’s attitude. but i’d tale him if bmarsh came with him.
We’ve been told all season long that having a sieve of an offensive line is an “excuse,” and that a young QB, let alone a vet, who can’t rise above that circumstance is trash that needs to be move on from.
Lol I love how Eagles fans think Sanchez will have all these imaginary suitors lined up to offer him a starting job the moment free agency starts… Where the hell is he givng? Sanchez bidding war?
Not to mention any team that trades for Cutler has to pay him 16mil inext year or something crazy
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Wasn’t Cutler the highest paid offensive player in the NFL this year?….. Bears are a mess. they wI’ll want to fire Trestman, get rid of Cutler, which will probably be followed by getting rid of his butt buddy Marshall…… But what so all these Hadks have in common? GMs Phil Emry…. If that diude gets to keep his job, he has some kind of pictures of the owner in compromising positions…
As much as I would want Marshall to be available, they just gave him a big extension this year. I think he’ll be there for a few more years.
Cutler? Maybe he’ll end up in DC when the Skins get rid of RG3. Actually that situation has me intrigued. Is Snyder going to get rid of RG3 or Gruden? That team isn’t big enough for the both of them, so it’ll be interesting to see how Snyder handles it.
Yeah good point, I forgot about that,.. Cutler just signed a mega deal and now they are worried about getting rid of him…LOL the Bears are a proud franchise, Emry has run that team into the ground. Everything he touches is turning into crap recently.
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Getting rid of recently signed Cutker contract will be bad enough, probably too much to also get rid of Marshalls
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I have no clue what Jay Gruden is thinking, other then, trying to get himself fired so he can just keep getting paid to leave that mess. You know in order to get hired for the skins coaching job he had to convince Danny Boy Snyder that he was the man that could fix Rg3. That was most likel the selling point to even get that job. Lol less than a year later he losing his damn mind declaring WAR On RG3 publically, drawing that him or me, line in the sand…. So Bizzare, what a mess
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Danny Boy Snyder, Jay Gruden and Bob Griffin 3 should go on one of tnose jerry springer love triangle shows. Such a dysfunctional mess, and they thought adding more players like Desean to that locker room? Lol Brilliamt.
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The ONLY thing that would be more comical, and a true gift from the football gods, would be implosive, delusional psychotic, giving up Draft picks to trade for Jim Harbaugh out of the blue without even talking to Harbaugh first..Bwahahahahahahah that would be SOOO awesome! I might have to move to DC for a front view seat if that were to ever happen… Set the over and under at 1 month before Harbaugh loses it and strangles Danny boy, and then goes and gets a “switch. Bends Rg3 ass over, and do his best adrian Peterson impersonation on RG3’s ass! It would be glorious. Popcorn sales would go thru the roof!
Come on down, I live about 15 minutes from FedEx Field. When I moved here, it was rough at first seeing all these Skins fans. But they know they stink and only hold on to the fact that they used to be good up to like 1990. Watching it unfold on tv down here is hilarious.
I have a running lunch bet w/two guys at work. Loser buys lunch. 4 free lunches last year, and it will be 4 free lunches this year. Actually 6, one of the guys wants to do a double or nothing.
U must have so much fun listening to sports talk radio after their pathetic losses,
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Need to send you on a mission, go undercover as a skin fan, infiltrate the FANBASE and start a “trade for Harbaugh” movement…hoping that implosive idiot snyder hears it. Put the thought of trading for Harbaugh in Danny boys head lol
I’m going to the game on Saturday, so I’ll work on it!
GEAGLE who is your pigeon of the week? you were wrong last week, it was Gardner.
Not really, my pigeon talk is based on offensive lineman. Pigeons are what Jim Johnson would call the weak offensive lineman of the opposing team. jim Johnson would identify the pigeon, and devise a game plan teased on attacking that pigeon all game, with various blitzes, and wreak all types of havoc….garner has been a consistent pigeon the past couple of weeks…. Dallas beat the Eagles, but that doesn’t mean that PIGEONS, Ronald Leary and Doug Free were out there dominating our front 7…. I don’t know about you, but I don’t blame the front 7 for the dallas loss
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I haven’t looked at anything. I literally haven’t visited any eagle sites or read anything about the Eagles besides what I see on this site.
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I don’t even know who the skins have at OL these days, not sure if it’s the same 5 we faced early in the season or if any of the starters have been injured recemtly..
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I get that I’m ridiculously accurate compared to most, but believe it or not, this wasn’t the first time I was wrong, and it won’t be the last, but it’s flattering that you view me being wrong as this rare, momentous occasion that needs to be singled out lol..
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As fans all we can do is project what we think will happen, if everyone on both teams plays up to their ability…clearly we didn’t get the best all our players have to offer against Dallas. I can’t tell you who is going to roll out of bed Sunday morning and not play up to his normal level that day, but our Front 7 is like the last players I blame for this loss.
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I don’t know how you interpret what happened sunday, but seemed To me that we werent prepared to play such an important game. We didn’t come out with the energy a game like that requires. We started the game looking like a bloopers video, fumbling around all types of stupid execution problems… I don’t know how else to interpret our performance other than overconfidence, not respecting our opponent. Seemed to me, like we just expected to show up, and smack Dallas around and dallas wasn’t going to do anything about..really dissapointed with our effort, execution to start the game. I don’t jknow if we just expected to win by just,showing up, but at the start of the game, we really weren’t prepared to play.., spotted them 21 points, then we Roared back to go up 24-21, the Linc was explosive, all the momentum on our side, amd just like the SEAHAWK game, we started the 3rd with a boneheaded turnover,refs gave the Cowboys a bunch of gift calls, extending their long drive, and they went the length of the field and scored a TD… From that moment, we just folded…
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I couldn’t believe what I was seeing from this group of men. No matter how bad we played this year, no matter the injuries making us show up to a nuclear war with a sling shot, the one thing we could count on no matter how much adversity we faced was for this group to bring the effort, play with heart, keep fighting no matter what…..
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I wasn’t so surprised to see us get upset on a football level, that will happen from time to time (obviously you hope it doesn’t happen in such important games)…. But what really really surprised me and ripped my heart out was losing the INTANGIBLE battle: they played tougher, they played smarter, we came back from down 21 in our house, went up 24 we had our foot on their throat and instead of finishing them we let them play with more heart then we played with….. And being out performed in terms of intangibles by a team build by Jerry Jones, for me will go down as one of the most heartbreaking losses in recent Eagles hstry, that I won’t be able to quickly get over it
What’s the deal with Tobin that they sat him for Gardner? Is he that much worse or is it continuity at this point?
No, if it was a continuity thing, we would have kept Tobin in there who was playing RG before Garner took over…. I haven’t watched Tobin closely enough, and I wasn’t familiar with him enough before we got him for me to offer any worthwhile OPPINION on him..
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But my best guess is he just happens to be one of those lineman that struggle to switch sides. Some OL can jump back n fourth and play well on both sides, some OL for whatever reason, just struggle to play on the opposite side……that’s my best guess.
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When Tobin played LG, he Ws always better than he has been these last two weeks….
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If Herremans came back healthy today, but Mathis got hurt tomorrow, I assume we would play Tobin instead of Garner on the Left side…. But they obviously think Garner is better than Tobin on the right
Tobin had a really bad game, really bad. SF? Not sure he has seen the field much since then.
I actually like your pigeon of the week posts, it gives me a lot of confidence. I was just disappointed in Gardner last week. Nothing to do with you.
I know I know…. I’m just really down since finding out FOles Wont be back this year, I’m on an emotional ROLLERCOASTER. The bad times were bearable because we were supposed to get everyone healthy in time for playoffs,..Monday morning, I find out THATS probably no longer going to happen so I was down for a few days, then I find out COLE is hurt, so BG and Marcus would play a lot at OLB and I got excited again…. THEN I REALIZE BG and his agent are Salivating over using the next two games as their showcase and now I have to worry about pricing his way out of philly……as if watching Mark Sanchez wasn’t bad enough….
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ATleast I get to see Bob Griff get hit which is always fun….the game isn’t far away so I’m sure I’ll get excited soon and take a look at the matchups.. Prob on my train ride home…
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I just don’t know who is healthy for them and who got hurt, outside of their skill position players with fantasy impact…..
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Is Trent William healthy and playing these days? The SILVERBACK would present a nasty test for BG and MS2… We would have to give Trent the advantage in the match up if he plays… I’ll post something tomorrow afternoon…
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It’s also killing me that for the first time in years, I have been eliminated from fantasy playoffs
Cutler is going to kill me in the finals for fantasy. RG3 is there. Eagles less Coles pass rush — is RG3 a viable gamble knowing that every QB does well vs. the Eagles?
No. I had rg3 for first few weeks and he didn’t get more than 10 points in two weeks.
Hot mess is hot mess. Oline is their weakness. Rg3 isn’t an accurate passer, eagles will feast. Rg3 can’t run either, I’m guessing this will be closer to the Panthers game with can Newton unable to escape than wft qb2 (forgot his name). Skinning eagles secondary alive.
Not saying we should just asking opinions, would anyone be opposed to bringing in one of the Seattle LBs in Wright or Smith and try them out as ILBs to pair with Kendricks Its just been on my mind
I wouldn’t hate it… But with Mykal entering his 4th season, I assume it’s a position we want to get young at and I don’t know if we can ever find an eater opportunity to get a young player than Mykals little brother Erik…
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one of the many reasons i think he would be a great pick for us, besides eliminating so much of the guess work, is that I assume we will pick in the #24 range. people need to remember that there are rarely 30 kids with first round grades in a draft class. there weren’t 30 first round takents last year, and that was a pretty solid draft class..,..There is a good chance when it’s our turn to pick, we will be selecting from kids with second round grade anyway, and I’m pretty certain that when we get to the 25-35 range, Mykal Kendricks will be high on our big board.
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Then agan, if we don’t work out an extension with BG, Bud Dupree goes from a luxury to a need,… Only having 2 quality OLBs is not enough. But if we keep BG, drafting Mykal,Kendricks brother could be the last young player we,need to fill out our front 7
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Fill that ILB spot with some serious young talent, and our front 7 is set and we can focus on the secondary..
Wright just got re-signed. Malcolm smith is largely overrated and probably isn’t big enough to be a full time starter for us.
On another note I agree with Geagle about how to tackle need we need CB,S,WR,ILB,G (and technically OLB but I am under the impression Graham coming back so I won’t count it).
We need to tackle 2 (maybe 3 but I won’t push it) of these in FA so we don’t go the the draft with 10000 needs.
Franklin, Iupati could be guard targets but the latter will be expensive he’ll get elite guard money.
ILB market is bad there are the 2 Seattle LBs who might be able to pay Inside in a 3-4, there is Marshall and Irving too and Carter could be a cheap signing.
CB is biggest need obviously I would love Maxwell not sure how expensive he’d be but he would be perfect, I think Kareem Jackson would be good for us.
S market is trash, Mccourty is pipe dream even more than Maxwell, you can try for a guy like Rahim Moore but meh…think we should solve this in house and let Watkins and maybe Caroll compete with a draft pick
WR I would like to resign Maclin but if he gets to expensive they might move another way, Thomad and Bryant are pipe dreams but a man can dream, there is Cobb too. If they aren’t too expensive getting Crab or Smith to pair with Maclin is an idea (not one I really like). Of course there is the Vincent Jackson wildcard.
Yes. Howie and chip seem to really like the slightly under the radar solid FA signings.
That’ll change when Chip realizes that you need more than just culture fits to win the big one.
even SEA had a marshawn, and a golden, sherman is quite a talker i don’t know if he’d last here despite the talent.
I’d be really made if we lose MACLIN, Dude had a monster year, first game back from injury, first year in this offense, without very good QB play this year and he still managed to HORSE this season….
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year two is when he should REALLY be back from injury, comfortable with the offense, hopefully getting better QB play..his best games are still ahead. He even turned himself into a good blocker
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He wants to be here, chip likes him, we drafted and developed him, I will be pretty surprised, followed by furious of he hits the open market
L.
People always talk about if there price gets crazy, but we need to understand that we aren’t going to bid against other teams for our own players. THATS just not happening. If you want to be a part of what the Eagles are building, you have to sit down and work out a fair extension without getting to go on the market and testing your value…. In the end, hOwie will pay fair money, but we aren’t bidding for our own players…
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I highly doubt Malin ever hits the open market. He wants to stay, look at the Cooper, Jason Peters, Kelce contracts hOwie has been giving out, he hasn’t gotten over on anyone. He gave fair contracts,l…no reason why Wencant work it out with an important player that wants to be an eagle, who we don’t have to worry about getting suspended because of some stupid arrest, and Embarress our organization
You can draft a good guard in the later rounds. I like Matias from FSU. Safeties and ILB isn’t a deep class this year, they’re both top heavy. It’s a good year for WRs this year, a lot of system fits and talent-wise I think they’re better than last year..
In other news…
That’s a romantic couple.
these people are national heroes. subtracting a couple points for the black alts but it’s still a winning combo.
I like the detail too (the choice of player numbers…).
Unfortunately I have to agree with Jimmy Bama’s latest tweet:
Eagles over Redskins feels like a gimme to many. Wouldn’t be shocked in the slightest if the Eagles are eliminated this time next week.
We just had our first two game losing streak since last years september games.., what have you seen from this coach, and the men in this locker that suggests to you we will have a complete meltdown, lose our 3rd game in a row to Robert Griffin led redskin team? Just curious
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Not the least bit surprised that came from Jimmy….don’t know wtf happened to that guy since the bloggingthebeast
Umm remember how we barely beat the redskins with our strarting QB, when they were playing with a guy they won’t even let near a football field.
Skins aren’t the Cowboys, Romo is legit whereas RGIII…that said it’s not a gimme game. Can’t have 4 turnovers in a game and expect we’ll lose even against the skins. I don’t know how you clean up the sloppy stuff that’s been plaguing this team. Plus i expect djax and garcon to have big days if RGIII can get them the ball. I think not having another LB that can play in space (even as bad as meco was) is hurting us (be nice to see if the all-22 proves that as well. I expect to see a lot of 3wide and a heavy dose of A. Mo, i just don’t know if we have personnel that can match up that well.
All that said i’m expecting we kick ass — maybe shutout? I’d like to see another shutout.
All that, just for you to agree with me? 😉
come on you know it could happen. a couple fumbles, a few interceptions etc… doesn’t have to have anything to do with the coach, just the way the ball bounces sometimes.
we don’t even play next Thursday
I can see how that would happen, but i can’t help being cheerful about the very real possibility that Dallas completely murders the Colts, leaving us having to live with the talk of them being a favorite to win it all this year, only to have them lose to the Redskins.
Preferably they lose a tight game with a couple of bad calls and individual mistakes, so they dont go changing things up other than complety overpaying for a mediocre upgrade of the player who made a mistake, filing their to start with deep salary cap hole with quicksand.
http://www.thechipwagon.com/eagles/2014/12/no-chris-collinsworth-this-is-not-the-read-option.html#more
read about Riley Cooper and the first play. Huge sidewalk but he tried to take it outside. Mitchell isn’t going to be happy.
That play was so frustrating and a wth moment.
Hey guys, I hear the Sat game is on NFLN… While I’d normally go to a bar, I’m in bed sick but don’t wanna miss the game! Anyone know a way to watch or hell even pay to stream it from a safe site online?
You can usually find decent links here: firstrowsports.eu
Its not the best quality or stability, but they’ll have the game and doesn’t require any signup or downloading a player etc. It hasn’t led me down much.
http://Www.wiziwig.eu
yeah that’s the way, I live a long way from philly now and have never missed a game thanks to this site.
just keep closing the pop ups and it’ll work fine
Trap game: Buffalo upsets GB at home. Now travel cross country to play Oakland. Oakland wins this one, catching Buff in a trap game….
Buffalo vs. GB wasn’t a trap game. Bills front 7 dominated GB’s front 5, bills secondary is good. Jim Swatz came from NFC north so he’s used to A. Ro.
Yeah I called that upset weeks ago… I was really looking forward to that bills/GB game..
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Look forward to N-donkey-kong Suh going to Lambeau
That was a good game to watch too. I enjoyed it. I was a bit surprised that Nelson was kept in check. Buff weaker vs. slot guy so as expected Cobb did ok.
If Nelson doesn’t drop the easy 95 Yard TD his numbers for the day would look slightly different.. 😉
I wonder how many fantasy owners’ championship game hopes were crushed by that drop.
Probably a lot of mathcups decided by those 15 points
11,278?!
you did, good call. i hope detroit can do something i nlambeau — hoping that big calvin runs all over that secondary.
Didn’t say that one was — Buff going to Oakland is…
so?
just football talk — you want wake up pissy or something?
CONGRATS ON THE RADIO GIG! Mr. Lawlor. I would love coach and player interviews from you two… bring it.
Yeah, just saw the press release. http://www.crossingbroad.com/2014/12/please-welcome-jimmy-kempski-and-tommy-lawlor-to-liberty-broadcast.html Looks like the first broadcast is tomorrow at noon.
So will it broadcast on a website live and be available in podcast format do you think?
That’d be ideal.
Graham seems to have a preference for playing 4-3 defensive end
http://www.delcotimes.com/sports/20141217/grahams-plan-is-to-keep-moving-forward
Hmm thats not a good sign for retaining.. Might push his price up more to stay
I still stick with $20-22m as the gtd money ballpark for BG’s new contract.
The Seahawks have just extended LB KJ Wright for another 4 years. Be interesting to see his contract numbers…
KJ Wright nooo was on my FA target wishlist.. Hopefully Weatherspoon still hits the market then
I think Weatherspoon would project at ILB in a 3-4 defense. He would be nice replacement for Ryans but he’s coming off an injury as well.
isn’t that the game to play???
If guess eagles would match and will pay plenty to keep him.
Brandon Marshall would look good in eagles green.
Maclin – Marshall – Matthews
The big M&M as i would call them.
So would Cobb…
…or Dez.
…with the added tastiness of stealing him from Dallas.
Stop you’re getting me exciting about things that’ll never happen
No, it won’t. Jerry will rework another 5 contracts, stretch out Romo’s guaranteed money through 2045 and find the money he needs.
3M
Don’t see it happening through.
1 good corner, safety, Olinemen. Then depth everywhere.
Don’t think we will be able to upgrade S in FA since the only player that makes sense [insert McCourty here] will most likely get tagged or re-signed before he can hit the open market.
where is that GB safety in his contract he’s good, want to say his name is hyde.
Agree on McCourty, which is too bad. But you never know with billy b.
Ok I’ve seen you mention McCourty several times, maybe I missed it but why do you favor McCourty over other 2015 FAs like Rahim Moore, Will Hill, Kendrick Lewis or Gipson? I’m liking Hill the most out of the 2015 FA class, but he’ll be a restricted FA.
converted cb to safety is basically perfect b/c we require our guys to cover, can do more looks, etc. can also return kicks if needed.
I thought the Eagles preferred their safeties to be interchangeable, being able to cover and play in the box. They already have a converted CB and K returners. McCourty is small for a safety and I don’t see him being effective at the line (although I have not watched every Pats game) or covering TEs. IMO pefect would be a S that’s 6′-6’2″, 200+ lbs that can cover when asked and tackle with violence. Which is why I like Hill.
Because Devin is the reAl deal.
The following players combined will count for $27.6m (!!!) alone against our salary cap 2015 IF they will not restructure their current contracts or be released:
Trent Cole – $11.625m
Demeco Ryans – $6.8m
Todd Herremans – $5.2m
James Casey – $4m
DeMeco and Trent would be better guys to use to approach for a pay cut rather than cutting them outright. Also Herremans.
Celek is another guy who has production issues for his salary. He’s going to make almost $5 mil next year for a season that is on pace for 35-375-0! That sounds like a $2 mil player to me.
The cuts can be James Casey and Cary Williams…………. or anbody out of DeMeco, Cole, Celek, and Herremans who doesn’t take a pay cut based on their production being significantly lower than their salary.
Look, I’m one of the most vocal fans about the importance of continuity, gelling, building chemistry, but I am not to thrilled about this policy where there seems like there isn’t anything a,defender can do WRong to get himself benched.
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There are 15 reporters every day at novacare complex asking some of the same questions a million times that by now they have to know they won’t get answered…. WTF do we have to do to get 1’reporter ask a simple question to Billy Davis: why are you aggainst trying Nolan Carrol on the outside in Base and Nickel, and when we want to play Dime, slide him back inside and Bradley can come in outside? WTF Do I have to do to get this question answered?
Anyone remember our starting OL when we played the skins earlier this year? Don’t feel like looking it up,mbut i remember Lane was suspended, think Mathis was already injured before that game…don’t remember if KELCE got hurt during that game, or if he didn’t play at all when their NT scumbag cheap shotted FOles and put a damper on our season…
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Our OL has been underperforming for the past two weeks and it’s infuriating and Garner ISNT the only one out there getting his ass kicked. Our lineman are supposed to be elite, and they need to get their head out their ass and perform to their ability!.. Redskin pass rush has been ok, I need the OL to get it together and kick ass this week
kelco got hurd early i think then JP got ejected late in the game after the kurflufle
Yep. We ended the game with one starter still playing and no reserves left on the bench.
PIGEON ALERT! PIGEON ALERT!!!!
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Rookie CB Braushad Breeland from Clemson… Gave up most of the Damage ODB did against the Redskins last week in his 3TD Domination of the skins secondary….. Trying to defend ODB he also racked up 5 penalties in one game, which isn’t easy to do
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MACLIN is going to ROAST this kid, of Sanchez actually delivers it
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Desean talking shit about our WR this week, should give a kick to Coop in the ass, and get Jordan and Huff Jacked up for the game
wow so wonder what odb will do to our veterans CB’s?
it’s a trap game for ODB.
Repeat; “The first touchdown of the night might have been a bit more on Fletcher because he looked back a little early on a fade route near the goal line and chose to defend against an inside cut, but then Bryant extended his arms to keep Fletcher at bay before using his reach advantage to pluck the ball from the air.”
Gee. According to the geniuses (geniei?) on this board, Fletcher never looks around. Read the whole piece on philly.com. It contains quotes from Eagle teammates and corners on another team. You know, players who just might know what they are talking about.
Cograts on the podcast (get $ and fame). Are we going to get fewer articles on Iggles 🙁
We do get the podcasts back though. Tommy is finally getting national attention which is great.
I wonder how some games would have went with vick as backup this year?
ask the jets
They have a horrible offensive coordinator I dont think I would get an accurate assessment.
Congratulations on the new job.
Sorry you still have that hack riding your coat tails.
I assume you’re talking about Megan Fox.
Tommy is kind of a big deal now.
How bout eagles winning this shit!?
It might be tough, since we aren’t playing in this one.
Besides, Tennessee vs. Jacksonville? There are no winners here.
do you suppose these will be the lowest TNF ratings yet? Or do you think there will be some morbid draw to viewing the game, like watching 2 trains filled with livestock speeding at eachother, the horror, yet whose really going to look away?
I for one will be binge watching GFD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pyLflVhCa4
I don’t know. It that scenario, there is the anticipation of something happening. My expectation here is more along the lines of two trains sputtering along their own tracks, with a slight possibility of one derailing and of even slighter possibility of it being noticeable.
I think they actually showed the preview of this game to prepare the players to do that No More commercial where they are awkwardly silent while avoiding eye contact.
*looking at today’s schedule*
Don Cheadle: Are you fucking kidding me?
You guys need to watch the Jaguars locker room speech by Gus from last night.. Awesome. Feel happy for those kids..