Safety Dance
Posted: December 10th, 2014 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 142 Comments »The Eagles made their move, but it wasn’t a WR. They signed S Jerome Couplin III from the Lions practice squad. This is an interesting guy.
Couplin is 6-1, 213. That’s pretty good size. He has an 81-inch wingspan. That’s freaky. We know the Eagles love players with long arms so they must have really been excited by that. Couplin, from William & Mary, had a great showing at his Pro Day.
40 – 4.55
VJ – 41.5
BJ – 11’02
3C – 6.94
He also did 18 reps, which is very impressive for a guy with such long arms. You can see that he’s got straight line speed, agility and lower body explosion. That’s NFL size and athleticism.
Couplin was a big hitter at W&M. You’ll see strength, power and explosive ability in his highlight video.
Watch a game video and you get more of the whole picture.
You see his physical potential there, but also some issues. There is some hesitation on certain plays which makes you wonder how quickly he’s able to process what he sees. I didn’t see anything that would make him look instinctive, which is a huge trait at Safety.
I’m glad the Eagles took a chance on him. Couplin has NFL size and athleticism. Some of those highlights are really impressive. It is worth bringing this guy in to look at him. He’ll be on the roster heading into the offseason so the Eagles will have time to teach and develop him.
More than a few people saw this move as a sign that the Eagles aren’t happy with Ed Reynolds. That isn’t necessarily true. As Chip Kelly pointed out in his PC today, the only way to add a player from someone else’s PS is to put them on your active roster. If the Eagles wanted to add Couplin for the offseason and future development, they had to put him on the roster. That was the only choice. Kelly’s explanation does make sense.
The flip side is that if Reynolds had been more impressive to this point, maybe the Eagles wouldn’t be looking for a Safety.
I see Couplin as being similar to Earl Wolff. I think this move is more about him. They have similar builds and skill-sets. We have no idea if Wolff is going to be part of this team in 2015. Couplin offers some insurance. He spent time with Buffalo and Detroit this year, playing in 8 games for the Lions. That gives him a bit of experience.
The bottom line is that the Eagles need help at Safety. I’m glad they’re looking all over. I don’t know if Couplin will ever be anything more than a STer, but he does at least have some special traits. Take a chance on that guy.
As for Reynolds, I don’t know what the Eagles think about him. They say all the right things, but that’s the Kelly way. I do think there is some wisdom in keeping him on the PS for now. He’s not going to be as good a STer as Chris Maragos or Chris Prosinski. He’s not going to be a starting DB. Keep him off the field and let him develop. I’ve paid attention to some young Safeties in recent games and many of these guys are just awful. They were thrown into the fire and you can see them developing bad habits.
Let Reynolds spend the year learning the scheme inside-out. Let him practice and get a feel for NFL speed. Let him have a full offseason to get ready. Put him in the best position to succeed. If he’s not showing us anything by next summer, then he might one and done. I can’t say I’m a big believer in Reynolds, but the coaches loved him. I hope I’m wrong and they’re right.
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Couplin does seem like he’ll fit the culture here.
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The other benefit to this move is that it should allow Jaylen Watkins to focus more on CB, where I think his future is.
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A lot to like about this signing. Physically he’s a freak of nature. Seems like a good kid.
Let’s get him into the Eagles program and see what he can do. Definitely has more upside than Roc.
I am actually a little excited by this. Couplin was one of my favorite safeties I saw last year leading up to the draft. He and Tyler Starr were two small school prospects I hoped we could sign as UDFAs. Good luck to the Osprey.
I want jOnathon Dowling, but the raiders still have their yucky paws on him
Dowling is not a PS guy?
I love this steal, let’s hope he sticks around.
How many II and III do we now have on the roster?!
Marcus Smith II
Nolan Carroll III
Jerome Couplin III
Cannot wait to sign Nick Foles IV in 2134…
you think that’s what he meant by QB for 100years?
Maybe they’ll bring in Randall Cunningham II
That would be a perfect fit lol, his dad (of course he’ll say it) says his kid is much better and smarter than him with the game.
He’s concentrating on track for now. Here is is on the high jump
http://www.reviewjournal.com/sites/default/files/field/media/web1_PREPS_TRACK_051813rc_02_4.jpg
built like RGIII, i’ll pass. I’m not taking any QB under 200lbs.
I’m not taking anyone under 230. You gotta have meat to take some of these hits.
Our 250 pounds QB has really been healthy the last 3 years. Our old 250 pound QB was really healthy all the time right? Hell Cam Newton is 260 and often injured
Yeh can you imagine someone smaller? Been out twice as much. Don’t come at me bro.
How much time has Drew Brees lost to injury outside of a freak shoulder injury?
This discussion is in the context of rushing qbs. There’s gonna be outliers. The more Fat and muscle The more cushion. Bigger people have more cushion. I’m speaking in generalities. If you had a chance to take some who was 230 compared to 200 with the same skill set who would you take?
I take the better guy no matter size.
Foles isnt even a running QB, yet he has more injuries in 3 years than Peyton Manning has in his whole career
I said they were the same talent level. You would take the big guy. I’m not talking about Foles….
C’mon, he’s like 17 years old in that pic.
That picture is very disturbing… *gigglinglikealittlegirl
I’m sure Coach MicroChip RoboKelly will be very excited to coach Nick Foles IV
Nate Allen, Casey Matthews, Bradley Fletcher, and Riley Cooper are all playing like human II
Osprey = Seahawk. Is this a good thing?
Kid reminds me of Chancellor. Hits like a ton of bricks. Hopefully he can recognize routes and make some plays for us. Gee, we need all the help we can get at Safety.
With his experience, maybe we can see him play during garbage time. You know, the second half of the Cowgirls game when we’re up 40 points.
When the Eagles signed Roc, I had a (kind) argument with one or two
users here. I said “we know Roc doesn’t have it, sign a veteran Safety, maybe he fails too, but at least we don’t know that yet”.
Now, they didn’t sign a vet, but I also like this move. He won’t be active on gameday, that’s for sure, but he has upside. Chances are, he won’t make it (he’s undrafted for a reason – you can bet the 31 other teams saw his measurements and Pro Day numbers, too). Same situation with Momah. But if the unexpected happens and he develops fine, you have a capable player with huge athletic traits – for free.
Getting something for nothing (or at least, not much) is the way you gain a competitive advantage in this salary cap driven league. Just look at the Seahawks. They invested 1st (Thomas), 5th (Chancellor, Sherman), 6th (Maxwell) rounders and a minimum salary (Browner) for the Legion of Boom. Now, after they prove how good they are, they see money, but that’s life in the NFL – and it’s deserved money after the team saw what you can do.
Of course I’m not saying that Couplin will develop that way. That would be absurd. But at least he brings something to the table. And the chances that he makes it in this league are higher than the chances for Roc. I’m sure Roc is a nice kid, but it’s just not enough on the field. He shares that fate with many, many other talented young players.
One good quality is that it looks like he’s a solid wrap up tackler and not a shoulder or launch tackler. Not being instinctive really worries me — but if he was instinctive he probably would be playing.
Does Detroit have good safeties? Can’t imagine they do. Also if this wasn’t about wolff or reynolds why sign Roc at all, did this guy just get demoted to PS last week?
That whole Detroit defense is playing pretty well, I don’t even know their safeties names though to be honest.
Grover Quinn is a pretty big name safety..
Didn’t they pick him up in FA? Forgot all about that. Delmas is in Miami now.
Delmas actually stayed healthy played every game for miami and played pretty well, but he just tore up his knee again, done for the season.
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Funny how message board Eagles fans were ripping Malcolm Jenkins prior to us signing him and so many wanted Chris Clemons because he comes with size like this kid we just picked up… malcolm went on to be a steal, and Chris Clemons didn’t have a job all year and was finally just picked up last week as depth for the cardinals for a few weeks while the honey badger is still injured…
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Lol Chris Clemons.. How many Eagles fans spent months arguing that we should sign him?
I remember seeing his name around a lot but it didn’t seem like he was a real possibility with the front office, had a mediocre season in Miami. I think it’s good we didn’t pick up Mike Mitchell too, seems like steelers fans (and even the team) hate the guy.
Oh, the guy we all wanted the Eagles to sign in 2013 instead of Patrick Chung.
Could you imagine Quin and Jenkins as our starting safety tandem right now?
Further background on the kid. I like his comments about needing to improve his footwork.
http://www.chiefsdigest.com/william-marys-couplin-hungry-for-nfl-shot/
I just wanted to say here that so far Dion Jordan is killing his worth in Miami, he can’t get on the field for anything other than special teams still and coach Philbin didn’t sound too thrilled talking about him. I’m still praying for a trade at some point. He’s just not a 4-3 end. Maybe he proves everyone wrong or Miami changes defenses but so far nothing is clicking for him. Maybe we could swap one of our 4-3 players for him cause he’s not worth much after an offseason of training, love to have Curry stay here but he’s showing how vicious and relentless he can be and proving he can make an impact regardless of scheme.
Why would you think he would succeed here? The only headlines he made was getting suspended for a PED violation.
Worth taking a shot on him if there isn’t much of a price to be paid.
Because everyone thought Trent Cole was going to fail and be a liability in this scheme, same with BG, and look how they turned out. Same with Barwin.
He’s still going to be worth way to much to take a chance on unless he gets cut, but he wouldn’t be the first player to come into the Eagles front seven and have career years.
Why would you think he wouldn’t? Lol
So did players like Lane Johnson, Jake Knott… he’s still a good guy. Made a mistake that he knows he made and is trying to make up for. Wake is getting old but Miami still has some good young rushers otherwise. I think with his speed, strength and height, being a stand up rusher would do wonders for him. I’m sure Miami would love to have a rusher more suited for their scheme. I love Curry, 8 sacks is nothing to blink at in the little time he’s on the field. Very disruptive, but Jordan offers so much more with his drop back skills. We’re missing that and it showed with Cole on Sunday. I just wonder if we ended up getting Jordan, what does our oline look like?
Except Lane can actually play..
MSII for Dion? Sounds about right tbh.
He will be an eagle sooner or later, let his stock continue to fall… Last year they could have gotten Vinny Curry for Dion.. Keep him in that 4-3 another year and they won’t be able to get Bryan Braman for Dion lol
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Worst case scenario, he comes home as a free agent in a few years, hopefully he brings Kyle long with him too… Kiko would be asking too much lol
tommy you obviously know way more than me about looking at film, but i felt like i saw a few “hesitations” that ended up keeping him in the right spot to clean up the play. they were also using some weird coverages that i didn’t fully follow. regardless, he looks like a strong fast hitter who could do great ST work and reduce (at least slightly) our chances of reaching for a safety in may.
I like it. What have you got to lose on this one? Kid has some good upside and he won’t be stealing reps from someone we actually want having them right now.
Sounds like a cheaper rawer Deone Buchanon type… Like his body measurements for sure… 81 inch reach is insane Jon Bones Jones UFC LHW champ type of reach..
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I don’t view any of these long shot safety additions as threats to wolff or Reynolds. I assume we will collect as much young talent as possible and make them all kill each other over roster spots next summer
I love his hitting ability though, tossing some guys like ragdolls. Him and Wolff for our future would be fun if he works out, they both are athletic enough to play back or punishing enough for in the box, still like Reynolds though too I really do.
Reynolds was always a kid that if you draft would need a year to get acclimated. He was never going to be ready as a rookie.. People see that and just assume he can’t play. But I wouldn’t rule him out at all at this point… Kid had that playmaker gene two years ago and teams stopped throwing his way… Grew up around pro football, our fans would be foolish to rule him out already
How many rookies come in and are ready to play safety? I don’t think many, especially as a fifth rounder.
Nothing I hate more than rookie DBs and OLBs.. WR too but they are starting to come more NFL ready than the past…
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You damn sure probably can’t expect much out of a rookie from Stanford who is going to miss a lot of the offseason due to those ridiculous graduation rules..let alone a DB
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Last cornerback propsect I really believed in was Desmond Trufant in the Lane Johnson draft. Atlanta started him as a rookie… I would have sat him for a year and started to play him this year…. That was the last cornerback I really believed in to the point I was ok spending a 1st or 2nd round pick on him
Media loves to assume their stories and opinions to sell to fans I guess. Click click click, no disrespect to Tommy either. Just how it is, it’s his opinion and many may buy it as the absolute truth and that’s not his fault. Just wish some fans knew better and developed their own conclusions, that’s what makes football fun to talk about, being opinionated. I think it’s asinine to think in less than a year he’s ruled a bust without playing, seemed like in preseason he was around the ball a few times. We’re all about development.
Preach
Lol anyone see the cowboy highlight on inside the NFL?
Lol DE Mincy was MIC’ed up and the dork kept running around asking his team mates, “isn’t this so much fun.”, “we are having so much fun”, “see, I told you when we have fun we can beat anyone”…lol jackass sounded like a dork who was t ready to come to grips with the fact thatthey DONT have the Charecter and Talent to rise to the top and emerge as a playff team…
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Can’t wait to SMASH them. I doubt Mincy is going to have much “fun” against Jason Peters… He DEf won’t have the type of fun that Cox has against Leary, or Barwin has against Free…. Mincy came from Denver, this is his first time coming to Philly as a cowboy, doubt the trip will live up to those chumps standard of “fun”…. Dorks
“The other benefit to this move is that it should allow Jaylen Watkins to focus more on CB, where I think his future is.”
Took you until the end to say what I was thinking the whole time. Either they don’t trust Watkins to play safety this year, or at all. My guess was that Carmichael was signed to replace Watkins, who was moved to S to replace Wolff. That didn’t work, so they dropped Carmichael and moved Watkins back to CB. Now Couplin is here to replace Wolff’s roster spot.
Watkins still may fit better at safety, but he probably wasn’t making enough progress midseason to take the practice reps.
Not sure how it fits into Eagles’ thinking, but Watkins is not a great tackler – would not seem to be a good thing if you’re playing safety.
Sounds like he has a lot of accomplishments,by reading his Forbes article, but didn’t even get invited to the combine. This is the biggest potential diamond in the rough I have ever seen.
I thought eagles grabbed a player of PS last year near end of season, can’t remember who though.
Seems like a smart plan if your not needing that depth, or to protect some other young prospect like Hart and MS2
Nooooooo Colt McCoy says he is feeling a little better. Noooooooooo!!!! We want Bob Griffin next week!!! Hitting McCoy is no where near as fun as it is to Tee Off on Bob Griffin
Would love to see this kid get to like 225 230 and just patrol the middle.
Funny thing is: Kim Chancellor/Earl Thomas wouldn’t be an ideal combination at Safety for Billy D. Of course he would take them, thank the lord 10 times and just run, run, run with them, but Billy wants mirror Safeties. That’s one of the reasons for Jenkins and neither Byrd/Ward.
But we are way, way ahead of ourselves, of course. 🙂 If this guy turns out to be a Chancellor type monster SS, Billy D would make it work. Like he made Graham/Cole/Curry work.
the one article says the Seahawks told him he could be a CB, think that is our plan?
he looks freakish with those arms.
I dunno…if seahawks told him he can be a corner, his coverage skills is what we would look for in our safety.. Having a safety that can Man up on TE allows us to play our base defense, where as teams need to put nickel in to account for TE like Witten which is why we see the Cowboys use Demarco to run over teams nickel package,. We sat in base all game cuz jenkins,could handle Witten and shut that run down!
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Coincidence we didn’t have jenkins n the playoffs last year so we had to go to nickel and the saint ran all over us…that problem has been solved with the awesome signing of Malcolm
I think I read somewhere that Davis/Chip thought he would do well in the slot? Maybe move Carroll outside.
That’s a quote from Chip himself.
“He could be a dime [corner] for us. He’s got a unique skill-set”
http://www.phillymag.com/birds247/2014/12/10/notes-dallas-prep-foles-new-safety/
It’s good you say that, because in my mind, he was more of a Chancellor type strong safety, simply because of his measurements. But that seems to be wrong.
dime lb?
this week has to feel pretty good for the eagles offense going against a defense that’s not even in the same league as the last d we faced. cowboys are going to be fired up and they are better on the road, but we should be fired up too.
this is almost for all the marbles. big night coming sunday and it should feel like a breeze for our D line since room cant move and our offense since the cowgirls are weak asses
I’m worried about let down and confidence factor after Seattle drubbing, actually.
Starting to have a feeling Eagles will be interested in two members of the LSU secondary, Jalen Collins, 6’2 195 Corner…and Jalen Mills, converted corner to safety who does a great job covering TE and slot in man coverage, basically exactly what we look for in our safety…
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Two LSU boys would fix our young talent…but we need a young ILB, and not taking advantage of KEndricks brother being a stud seems like a waste of the perfect opportunity for us..
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Also wonder how Chip would feel about Marcus Peters…top CB talemt who got kicked out of school because he isn’t coachable, but we pick at the end of round 1, getting an elite corner talent that late could be a steal but we would have to be sold on his Charecter which I wouldn’t bet on
Just read that JP got an award for being the most fundamentally sound OL. Grats big guy you deserve it.
Since we’re back to the topic of Dion Jordan..would you trade MSII straight up for Dion Jordan?
He is a sure shot hall of famer, no other award can keep up with that…but congrats to a class act stud LT…wonder who will give JP hall of fame speech? Andy Reid for saving him from Buffalo?
Probably AR or Shady.
I don’t think either of those guys.
Unless McNally’s passed away.
Will have to be Chip Kelly -as the coach who led him to multiple Super Bowl victories.
/thread
JPeters’ HOF presenter would most likely be . . .
Jim McNally, the O-line coach in Buffalo who convinced then-general manager Tom Donohoe and head coach Mike Mularky to (a) sign Peters as an O-line project as a RFA out of UArkansas, (b) keep Peters on the roster as a OL project, (c) teach Peters the foundational elements of being an OT, and (d) start Peters as a rookie.
Shouldn’t be a close call.
Love this. Nice work.
One poster writes that Andy Reid “saved” Jason Peters from Buffalo.
Another knowledgeably writes that it was a coach at Buffalo whom is effectively responsible for Jason Peters’ Hall of Fame career.
Don’t get lost in the narrative kids.
He doesn’t ever speak too fondly of his bills experience even if that’s the team he switched to LT with, that he owes his multimillion doLear bank account to….Whenever conversation come up he always sounds so appreciative and indebted to andy and the Eagles for quote “getting him out of Buffalo”..
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But your guess is certainly as good as mine…
GE . . .
We’re all just guessing, to be sure.
The recent fad’s been for HOFers to have a family member be the presenter.
There was a time when someone critical to the player’s success was the presenter.
But to your point, I think Peters’ problems with Buffalo had nothing to do with McNally.
In fact, McNally was cut loose by Buffalo two years before Peters left. Seems, from this perspective, that losing McNally was just the start of Peters’ unhappiness.
But we won’t know for about 7-10 years.
Nice… Certainly a well thought out, plausible hypothesis…
The best part about Peters is that his technique is so flawless that when coupled with his athletic talents; it doesn’t look like he’s playing that hard when he’s dominating people.
How can you have such a great technique without even spending your college career at that position?
On the other hand, sometimes that happens. Rarely, but it happens. Sherman has an incredible technique to watch the QB while still covering his receiver – and he didn’t play CB at college.
Wish you had gotten some answers to Q… I think it’s a good one, even if it has very little chance of ever happening.
I’m in Dallas Week mode. Help me out if you can. What’s with all the love still being given the Cowboys? We wrecked them in Dallas, and in beating the Bears, they looked like a second rate team winning over a third rate team. Still, Vegas has us as only 3.5 favorites. At home, no less. I’m thinking of getting some action for this game. Am I missing something?
maybe because its a divisional game. I wouldn’t expect to be big favorites in a divisional match up. you know how tight these games are usually, and romo has had his rest, and shots
I do think that the short week adversely affected Romo more than others. He typically doesn’t practice until Wed. or Thurs each week.
He will be way better, that’s for sure.
I think that, too. On the other hand, home field is 3 points. The Cowboys are great on the road, but do we really only have a 0.5 talent advantage? Seems kind of silly to me after the first game, to be honest.
Same mistake they made last time. Most bettors rely on quarterback comparisons and Romo will rate higher than our guys
Fipp wants to get him to block kicks.
http://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2014/12/10/7370815/eagles-injury-report-nick-foles-making-progress-josh-huff
Win Sunday and Nick returns against the skins. All according to plan.
think about the stick figure Kempski would draw of Couplin and his arms.
Summons up all sorts of drawings and monster references. To quote the 70s: “Apollo Creed vs the Italian Stallion. Sounds like a damn monster movie…”
Kurt Coleman is an original “Men without Hats”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v2n3jOEYBY
Kurt got a lot of shit here..but he had everything but the physical tools to succeed.
I have no problem with the guy. Solid contributor for a 7th round pick/back of the roster player.
It’s funny how Eagles fans pick on the Kurt Colemans and Reno Mahes of the league -relatively unathletic players who work hard and do everything they can with their opportunities. As much as Philly fan claim to love ‘lunchpail” players, give ’em Terrell Owens diva types any day of the week.
(of course, TO was immensely talented so….)
We don’t “pick” those guys, management chooses to trot them out in important roles and they get put in positions to fail miserably because management isn’t honest about what to expect from that player.
And how about we have talent with lunch pails; like Dawkins?
Do you take off the shoulder pads before you type, or do you leave them on?
Did Chip kelly miscalculate the year two adjustments?
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After last season all the talk out of chip and Novacare all offseason was how everyone was playing us man and how we would be focusing on having to beat man coverage…. Fast forward to the season and we are seeing a HECKUVA lot of zone….
I honestly think he overthought it. You need to adjust year to year, but overadjusting based on what we saw (and demolished). I don’t get the thought process behind adjusting to play against the coverage that we owned last year. Why wouldn’t we see different this year?
Good teams change every single year, see Pats and Broncos. Very hard to stay successful doing the same thing. Think it was naive of us to think we were going to be “better” this year — everyone has a sophmore slump as they adjust to how people adjust to them.
Had the same thought, too. And it’s kind of important because, well, Cooper is here to be a man beater. Ertz kind of the same thing. It seems to benefit Maclin, who just finds his spots in zones (Ertz can develop into that, too, route running isn’t his problem, his lack of snaps is more of a run blocking thing, probably).
But looking at Rileys contract – Chip can defend him all he wants, the numbers just don’t match the contract at the moment. And we can’t get out of it until 2016 (6m dead next year).
Not sure what I look forward to More, watching my front 7 Dominate the Cowboys game, or if I will enjoy Monday and Tuesday more when all the dysfunctional quotes of the imploding Cowboys start piling up after the realization that they probably pissed away their playoff hopes yet again… And who says the Cowboys aren’t consistent? Seem pretty consistently fraudulent to Me…
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All those excuses after the last game, and all the crap they talked, I can’t wait to hear Dez BRyant quote after we dominate them and end their season AGAIN! The romo press conference should be fun, if he can even sit at the podium after all the hits he takes sunday night.. But the post BEATDOWN traditinal Jerruh interview should be the cherry on the top
GE wrote:
“. . . or if I will enjoy Monday and Tuesday more when all the dysfunctional quotes of the imploding Cowboys start piling up . . . .”
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Is there any greater regular-season joy than that?
I think not.
Nice fight in Skins practice
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2295721-redskins-andre-roberts-and-bashaud-breeland-get-into-wild-fight-at-practice
I’d love to be a fly-on-in-the-offices of the Washington team — going from Snyder’s office to Gruden’s to the asst coaches to the locker room.
Then rinse and repeat.
What a truly screwed up operation.
What I don’t undstanding is wtf is jay Gruden doing? I assume part of him getting this coaching job was him selling Dannyboy snyder on being able to rehabilitate his butt buddy. Bob Griffin the 3rd of a long line of jackasses …. To get this job he had to convince snyder he was the man to develop Robert, a year later he is taking a Him or me stance? How does he plan to survive this
I think the problems may be more about Snyder’s mercurial personality and ever-shifting expectations than the blueprint Gruden described during the interview process.
Proof? Snyder swapped a pair of 3rd Rd picks to KC to get the rights to HC Marty Schottenheimer.
After one season, Snyder fired Shottenheimer.
Mercurial, to say the least.
I’d imagine he sees the writing on the wall and wants the public record to reflect why he failed and was fired.
Whether future employers view him as a bright coach put in a bad situation or a rouge subordinate who airs dirty laundry remains to be seen.
Scene: Gruden family homestead, Christmas
Jon: No Jay, that’s not the right pattern, it’s outside, up, and then back across.
Jay: [looking in mirror] I just need to look right for dinner tonight, Juan’s eating with us this year, and the Ravens are looking for an assistant.
Jon: Jay, that’s perfect. That’s the perfect shade of red to highlight your Cheekbones. Harbaugh will definitely want to hire you as his subordinate.
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A pale imitation of some of your work, but I decided to step out and push my limits.
Yeah I saw… As if they don’t have enough dysfunction, now they have mid week fights between WR and DBs lol… Fools
Looked like defensive holding to me.
When I lived in Dallas — during the Buddy years — I reveled in the local sports literati’s post-game stories after losses, especially to Buddy, in which they crapped all over the Cowboys.
It was marvelous . . . especially after 25 years of “America’s Team.”
You’re mistaken if you think Romo will take a beating……he clearly drops to the ground before anyone can hit him.
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Last week, I think their rb touched the ball 22 out of their first 31(or 32 plays). Eagles should know what’s coming.
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Just finish the game Eagles. Finish the game.
dang the all-22 shows Jmatt wide open on that int to cooper Sancho threw… would have been nice to hit Matthews for the TD on that one after the turnover.
Think cowboys are just going to pass all day long. Jump balls to dez Bryant.
Eagles pass rush is fierce though.
That makes me think eagles have chance in any playoff game. The rush can rattle any QB and make them hear footsteps.
Don’t know what to think second time. Hard to beat a divisional opponent twice in a season. Really hope they don’t have to rely on boys losing to colts
Me too, but there are plenty of reasons to be concerned after the Seattle game…. Hope Birds don’t come out flat.
The length of those arms is crazy!
obviously he’s bent over somewhat in this shot but it highlights that arm length
http://cdn.fansided.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/53/files/2014/08/mary-tribe-jerome-couplin-perry-hills-ncaa-football-william-mary-maryland-850×560.jpg
as long as JPPs and 4 inches shorter
btw the Sea-ocks 1st TD was all gifts from the refs .. kept extending their drive
The highlights look impressive, and it is fun to get excited about the guy, but it is unlikely this amounts to anything. There is such a league-wide dearth of talent at the safety position, everyone is searching. The likelihood of finding talent on someone’s practice squad is like finding a perfect conch shell at the Jersey shore.
I’m a big believer in coaching and we have that here. Maybe this dude could turn out to be a solid S in the future. Taking on a project is not something that bothers me as long as the outcome is good (hence why I’m okay with the Sixers).
He’s got a lot of raw talent and that can go a long way.
Oh, the move doesn’t bother me regardless of how it works out. We won’t miss Roc, so we might as well use that spot on a flier.
I am just saying talent evaluators passed him over a few times, let’s not start penciling him in to the starting lineup yet.
True dat. I’m hopeful, but your point is well taken.
I’d understand if we’re talking about other position groups, but what young DBs have been developed by this coaching staff?
I would love it if eagles face Cowboys again in playoffs and crush them a third time, then play GB and crush them then play Seahawks and crush them too. Sweet justice!
What’s better than crushing cowboys on national television? Crushing twice then three times.
That’s a tall order after beating Dallas again.
To be honest as long as the next game we lose this year is on the road for the playoffs at either Seattle or Green Bay, I’ll consider this season a success.
How does djax still lead the league in plays for 40+yds? Crazy that almost half of his yardage comes from big plays.
Sooo… I just finished voting our Eagles for the Pro Bowl, and I skipped Cornerbacks and Safties…..
Sorry for putting everything in one post, but I was stuck in class all night…
I like the tape on this kid, with some time to focus on his game and not rushing him to play, maybe he can develop into a solid Safety. I think good coaching can get the best out of him. Detroit’s staff isn’t the greatest in coaching, especially with all that talent on their team.
I’m excited about Sunday and I really think we can trounce this team again. They should be ready to go after a bad loss this past week. Dare I say that I think Sanchez might go 1 TO or less as long as they don’t try to put the game on his shoulder’s like they did vs. Seattle. We’re a superior team and should show it on Sunday.
I’m tired of all the chirping from the Seahawks. I hate people that can’t be gracious winners. I hope we see them again, because I absolutely think the outcome will be different. Our defense was on the field for 35 minutes and they could only muster 24 points. Not the greatest offensive showing.
Lastly, I’m still happy with where this season is headed after we win on Sunday. The future is bright for this team and I have to remember to temper my expectations. How many coaches have won a superbowl within their first 3 years in the league? I can think of Switzer, but the team was already in place and he wasn’t that good. Maybe someone else could answer that. I should remember that my goal going into the season was at least one playoff win, maybe more. Somewhere along the line I wanted a superbowl, but not sure if it was the fan or the fact they were so close in their early losses. GB and Seattle has tempered that, but we can def play with Seattle with a better gameplan. As to GB, well maybe the next time around will be different.
“How many coaches have won a superbowl within their first 3 years in the league? (…) Maybe someone else could answer that.”
Hmm, I wonder who…
yeah i thought earlier in the year we were a SB caliber squad. That’s over. It’ll be interesting to see what happens in the offseason. I think last year we wanted to just roll b/c it’s the first year in the scheme, etc. i think second year in you can really evaluate what and who works and who doesn’t.
I’m in the same boat. However when teams get in the playoffs you never know I guess.
We agree on this. And like you I want to see who we draft and how we approach next season. We realize we got some players (Cox, Kendricks) and some players that just aren’t good enough (Cooper, Fletcher, Williams, Allen).
Now that we know, how do we replace them?
As a rule, college coaches coming to the NFL, with no prior NFL experience, have found almost no success. (for meal and Walsh, for example, both had NFL coaching experience as assistance before becoming head coaches after a stent in college.)
Only Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer are former college coaches with no NFL experience of any kind who have won Super Bowls.
Quite a few head coaches with experience in the NFL have won Super Bowls within their first couple of years after taking over. For example, in 1970 the Colts Don McCafferty became the first head coach to win the Super Bowl in his first season at the helm. George Seifert did that in San Francisco. Then you have Joe Gibbs and Tom Flores who won Super Bowl’s in their second year as head coaches. Mike Tomlin is the most recent with the Steelers.
“As a rule, college coaches coming to the NFL, with no prior NFL experience, have found almost no success.”
The problem is the sample size is super small, so the failures stick with NFL owners/GMs. I mean just look at the endless list of hot shot OCs/DCs failing super badly as HCs, but teams keep hiring the next Hot Shot even through it might be clear at the interview this guy is not an CEO type
At least this guy is a good tackler. You can count on him to take a guy down and when he does it is hard and backwards. I love those deceiving guys where qbs think they have enough clearance to fit the ball in and then the safety reaches up 13 feet in the air and snags it.
As far as instincts go, is it something you can learn over time, or is it something you have or don’t have, like height ?
instincts can be learned to some degree, but some of that is just there and you cant explain how a guy knows to do what he did (see Cunningham escaping Bruce Smith, or watch a basket player or soccer player just know how to drift to the right spot all the time).
But with right coaching, you can improve the guys eye discipline and I wouldnt say his instincts are bad, just not great (Earl Thomas do not have great instincts, he just have super elite speed to recover and great coaching and scheme to use it)
There is some research out there that indicates that these “instinctual” players (and not just in athletics, I’ve seen it applied to surgeons and lawyers, as well) see the game in patterns, instead of individual facts, allowing them to react faster and better than others. Similar to what you said, it’s not apparently an “on/off” thing, but simply that some people start with a lot, others with none, and everything in between. All sets can improve with practice. Given a short pro athletic career, however, the guy who starts with none will probably never catch up to the guy who starts with a lot, if both work on it.
What used to be said about Wayne Gretzky. Somehow he could see the whole ice and estimate where everybody was going to be in 2 or 3 or 4 seconds. Can’t teach it.
I am old enough to see what you did there:
124 comments on a practice squad player who will not play a role this year during Cowboys week. Awesomballs…
[…] Safety Dance – Iggles BlitzMore than a few people saw this move as a sign that the Eagles aren’t happy with Ed Reynolds. That isn’t necessarily true. As Chip Kelly pointed out in his PC today, the only way to add a player from someone else’s PS is to put them on your active roster. If the Eagles wanted to add Couplin for the offseason and future development, they had to put him on the roster. That was the only choice. Kelly’s explanation does make sense. […]
Has anybody looked at him at CB? He looks to be solid tackler, and his 40 speed is not out of range. If he can back pedal, swivel, locate ball early, he could be yet another versatile cog in the BD machine.
Interesting move to get this guy. Could we see a LB/S hybrid ala Kam Chancellor from the Seahawks type of mold?
Really looking forward to seeing this kid play