Chip’s Breakfast Talk
Posted: March 26th, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 248 Comments »The media got to talk to Chip Kelly today for an hour during a coaches breakfast at the owners meetings. I don’t think we learned anything too shocking. That said, it is always good to hear the coach speak.
PE.com has a part of the talk posted.
The info I found most interesting involved personnel. Kelly said good things about Allen Barbre as the possible starting RG.
“I’m really excited about Allen,” Kelly said Wednesday. “We’ve been high on Allen for a long time. Was playing really well and then hurt his ankle in the first game. He came in the year before and did an unbelievable job when [Jason Peters] was out against Green Bay in a real tough matchup against a real good team in Green Bay and really did well for himself. Versatile player. Feel very confident in Allen Barbre.”
Obviously the coach is going to be positive rather than brutally honest, but Allen has played in a limited role for the Eagles. This isn’t a completely blind projection. There is some reason to think Barbre could play well at RG if he ends up with that job. He isn’t a long term answer due to his age, but he could be a solid starter in 2015.
Safety is a bit more open, to put it mildly. Kelly made it sound like Jaylen Watkins would be in the mix at that spot. He also mentioned Earl Wolff as a candidate.
“We’ll take a look at that,” Kelly said. “That’s what this process is all about, the offseason, you get a chance to see guys on the field. What is Earl [Wolff] like in Year 3? There’s guys on our team right now that can certainly play that role but it depends where they are when you get a chance to see them through OTAs, through minicamp, through preseason camp.”
“Yeah, Jaylen’s got versatility,” Kelly said. “How it will all play itself out, we’ve got a ton of time, and we’ve got a ton of reps between now and when we’ve got to make a decision on who’s going to end up opposite Malcolm. Jaylen’s another guy who will have an opportunity at the safety spot.”
I’m sure the Eagles will look for a Safety in the draft, but there are no guarantees they’ll come up with one. There aren’t a lot of great choices and as many as 31 teams could be looking for S help. The Eagles can count on coming up with solid WR in the draft. Safety is much more of a crapshoot. Worst case scenario, they have to be prepared to find the answer already on the roster. I’ll write more about Watkins as a Safety in a future post.
With Watkins being talked about as a S, that leaves Walter Thurmond, Nolan Carroll and Brandon Boykin to battle for the CB spot opposite of Byron Maxwell. Kelly did say Boykin would have a chance to play outside. He also said Carroll will stay at CB.
The Eagles have a good chance to add a CB in the draft. There is more depth at CB than S. Still, they can’t count on finding a starter there. The rookie can provide depth and/or competition. He might end up starting. But you can’t rely on the draft to find the starter.
Kelly talked about the idea that Maxwell is purely a product of the talented Seattle secondary.
“I think that’s a misconception because he didn’t have two safeties behind him,” Kelly said. “They were either a Cover-3 or a Cover-1, and they don’t play two-deep, and Kam [Chancellor] is usually down in the box. The one thing I think is interesting about Byron is because of how good Richard Sherman is, scheme-wise, [Maxwell] a lot of times got the best receiver.”
And there was this.
Kelly said that it doesn't benefit the #Eagles to tell everyone, rest of the league what his vision is for the team
— Eagles Insider (@EaglesInsider) March 25, 2015
This is the most complicated part of having a unique coach. Some coaches can talk about running the ball and playing good defense…the desire to have a tough, physical team. Kelly has very specific ideas about football, players and how he wants things done.
It would be great if Kelly could share every detail with us, but that would mean giving ideas to other teams, as well as telling them the kind of players you’re looking for and how you want to do things. It boils down to this…you either trust Chip or you don’t. That isn’t to say you can’t question him. His actions can seem very unorthodox at times. But in the end you have to just sit back and see what happens.
* * * * *
There is tons to read.
PE.com has a Twitter recap if you want a simple format.
Les Bowen offered his take on things.
Jeff McLane wrote about the Kelly-Roseman angle.
Jeff also covered Kelly’s comments on players/positions.
_
talkclubBy that logic, Byron Maxwell hit the jackpot: $60mil to cover the 2nd best receiver on every team he faces.
I don’t understand what you’re saying. Sherman is so good, teams would match their best WR vs. BM and not against Sherman. Kelly was saying that BM numbers might not be the greatest, but he faced the best wr’s.
He suggesting that Maxwell will be making 60 mil in Philly with our lesser-corners covering #1s … like he was aked to do in SEA
Which would mean, I’m hoping, that BM would have better numbers vs. lesser talent, earning his pay? (agreed, it’s too much, but the market is what it is). Again, hoping the defense is improved over last season.
Ok, this is common knowledge now, but here goes:
Because Seattle kept Richard Sherman on one side of the field and never had him mirror receivers, teams started rotating their 2s and 3s over to Sherman’s side and rotating their 1s over to Maxwell.
This is a special case that will probably not be repeated in Philadelphia; Maxwell will probably be asked to cover the #1 no matter where said receiver lines up.
Seems logical, but as far as I know that’s not the way Bill Davis has operated in the past.
How many times did he need to see Fletch get burned before Billy was willing to adjust? I’ll be shocked if Max following the top receiver.
The Coordinator does not necessarily make the individual personnel calls all the time. Like Staley, the posittion coach, choosing the RB. Perhaps the 2 fired DB coaches had some ‘splainin’ to do?
One of the better questions. I’d love to be able to cut Billy some slack, but his blindness/determination that Boykin is only a slot corner/starting Jaylen Watkins over Boykin in the Giants game , after saying Boykin would have a shot, really hurts my confidence. Trying to take a wait and see approach.
wouldnt be so sure… could easily see Billy just leave Max on one side and lineup against whoever is in front of him… Then again, all our corners now are capable of linning up in the slot and outside, so maybe he implements some shadowing where Maxwell follows the #1 WR around, and doesnt let opponents try to move their 1 in the slot to get a mismatch against our smaller Nickels.. Too soon to know, but I love that Billy finally has some real talent, depth and versatility in his stable of corners..
..
If only Wolff can become a little better then Nate, we would be golden
I wish Kempski would have been there to follow up on the question about using the phone. I’d like to hear more about that.
wish someone would have asked about Wolffs injury, mis-diagnosis, recovery?
Interesting story here of Randy Gregory testing positive for marijuana at the combine. I wonder how far this will drop him:
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000481581/article/randy-gregory-i-blame-myself-for-failed-nfl-combine-drug-test?campaign=Facebook_writers_jones
I think that usually a positive marijuana test is no big deal, but it can get him suspended/banned in the NFL and Gregory seems like one of those guys that just can’t stop smoking. I’d be wary of drafting him.
That said, while he may drop in the draft, he’s gone up several spots on my list of dudes I’d like to hang out with.
I say this every year. You have to be either a special kind of stupid or a total druggie not to be able to hold off smoking pot for the biggest job interview of your life.
https://twitter.com/dpbrugler/status/580944125224099840
Meh, he can go play in Denver….or D.C., or Seattle or many of the other places that are shifting the marijuana policies. NFL rules will change on pot as the political climate changes, but the thing that worries you about something like this is the lack of self discipline and how that projects to other things.
I used to think that way. Justin Houston failed the pot test and it dropped him from late 1st to the 3rd round. Sometimes, the risk is worth the reward.
Bowmann got tagged for weed too.
Agreed. Even if he goes to a state where pot is legal, he still failed the idiot part. If I told you we were going to pay you a couple of million dollars, but you lost half of it if you wore anything with the color orange in it over the next 90 days, what would you do?
What if your friends wore orange?
What if you needed to wear orange to get into a party?
What is you planned to wear orange every day after you get paid and live only in an orange-approving state?
It isn’t about the moral implications of marijuana, it is about making smart decisions.
I agree with you. It’s just another data point that you will develop your projections off of. I he was stupid enough to smoke up (or be around those smoking up) 30 days prior to the combine, you worry about his overall decision making process and self discipline and how that projects to his work ethic and staying out of trouble in the future. The fact that it is pot, to your point, is irrelevant.
I wouldn’t hold your breath on NFL rules changing anytime soon. Pot will be a banned substance for awhile (even if it’s legal in a state), so teams can’t count on that.
I disagree. I think there will be legal actions against the league for suspensions of players that are residents in states where pot is legal. We’re not talking small potatoes here for some of these fines/suspensions, so the $’s involved will be motivation enough for litigation. Sure it is on the NFL banned substance list, but no one can argue that it is a performance enhancing drug.
As a business the NFL is better served by not having the bad press associated with their players failing tests for pot than the harm that comes from the players actual pot smoking. I may be wrong on the timeframe, but I think it is eventually going to happen.
Eventually, yes. Drafting a player counting on it to happen during his career though is a huge risk. I think the legal challenges will come, but they’ll be slow and limited (due to collective bargaining). Companies living in pot-legal states are still working out their own drug test policies, so it’s not like this issue is exclusive to the NFL.
I suspect the NFL will move much more slowly than the changing of the laws. They only realized domestic violence was a bad idea last year.
And of course local laws mean nothing as long as that locality is in the US where there are federal laws against marijuana.
The CBA is a legally binding contract, so there can’t be any legal actions against the league. The only legal action can come if the NFL has a illegal clause in their contract.
Good point! The NFLPA accepts the CBA, so therefore all players accept the terms of the CBA. It will be interesting theatre when the new CBA is negotiated in 4-5 years (current CBA runs 2011-2020).
Pot? Performance enhancing? What?
might be a genius strategy… you lose a few dollars, but atleast your odds drastically increase from going to some crap franchise, to one of the better franchises, since usually only the usual suspects take advantage of character flaws that fall: patriots, seahawks, niners, Cardinals, worst team you will end up with is like Dallas or the Rams.. some reverse idiot savant genius strategy…sure you have to worry about a team like the Raiders.. but todays society only the coaches with clout can take chances on the character cornerns if a guy like Ozzie newsome is going choir boy
You mean like Philadelphia? http://www.phillymag.com/news/2014/10/01/marijuana-possession-civil-offense-in-philadelphia-decriminalized/
Unfortunately, it doesn’t really matter what the law says if it’s against the NFL rules.
C . . .
It’s all about the CBA. (Which I think is what you’re saying).
Yea who cares what the Federal Law says…
I don’t care that he’s smoking weed, the point is he’s known for a long long time that he was going to be tested and wasn’t smart enough or lacked the will power to smoke.
Also yes the rules will eventually change but that’s going to have to be collectively bargained, which will likely not be until the next CBA, so until then despite the legal status of marijuana it’s a banned substance for the league, no matter where the players live.
And the stupid perhaps can’t learn NFL playbooks.
I don’t know how any team takes a risk on this guy in the 1st round at this point. How many more exceptional talents completely flame out due to lack of self-discipline before NFL teams learn.
He didn’t, did he?! Lol, what a prick…
So looks like we will have to choose between the guy that choked his coach, the domestic abuser and the pot head at 20.
All solid picks.
Marcus Peters didnt choke his coach
Well yeah I was just being outrageous about how the best players probably going to be available at our pick have some baggage.
I wish we were chosing one of those 3
Talent being equal, I’d go with the coach choker.
I’d also settle for a GM choker.
woman beater has the highest upside, and the most likely to get shanked if he ever ends up in jail.. everyone loves a Sprewell every now and then.. who wouldnt want to see Coughlin get choked? what color would his face turn? lol aqua blue
Kiss the bud Dupree dream good bye….. To have any slight chance of that kid falling to 20, we needed 4 edge rushers to get drafted before him, which is already a stretch since I think Bud is the 2nd best behind Fowler…..
…
Wonder what chip would do if Gregory fell to 20? Pass him over some pot?…. Not much of a Gregory fan, just wondering…
What an idiot…seriously. How dumb can you be????
I was worried that Chip Kelly was going to waste picks by overdrafting Oregon players, but now that is no longer a concern since Chip has pointed out that it was actually Howie Roseman who was filling the roster with ex-Ducks. I’m glad Chip cleared that up. His candid honesty is refreshing.
There always seems to be a dearth of safetys in the draft. Is safety now the hardest position in football to play besides QB?
There are 2 principle issues with safety play coming into the NFL.
1) College spread and option defences do not test and develop safety skills the way that NFL passing attacks do.
2) the more gifted players (both physically and mentally) tend to play CB because it is more high profile and has historically paid much more in the NFL
Because of this there is a shortage of good players coming in to the league, which because so few teams actually develop players well means poor play through out of the league.
I’ll toss my two cents in here as well. Safety has also, arguably, become the second most difficult position (to QB) to play in today’s NFL. Rule changes have made really hitting anyone across the middle of the field a flag waiting to happen. I doubt Ronnie Lott or Steve Atwater would have survived in today’s NFL. I also agree wholeheartedly with your second point about where the best athletes tend to congregate.
The three headed monster
Most of us, including myself, thought about the Saints when it was clear that Kelly will sign Murray and Mathews, to go along with Sproles and Polk. But well, how about this angle?
For the record, I think we will be more of the 2011 version, with a star RB + a good back-up + the receiving back. Obviously, in 2012 they had Mariota, which changed the running attack.
From this article on over the cap (which is worth a read anyway, imo)
http://overthecap.com/demarco-murray-and-the-team-building-strategies-of-the-cowboys-and-eagles/
Down the stretch in the three years before Kelly left for the NFL, he
had an incredible three-headed attack in the backfield each year. This
is what he’s recreated in Philadelphia and it’s a great example of the
way that the best organizations are building a roster to what they need.
In 2010, LaMichael James, Kenjon Barner and Remene Alston combined for
2638 yards rushing, 345 receiving and 37 total touchdowns. Quarterbacks
Darron Thomas and Nate Costa added 624 yards and seven touchdowns, while current Eagles wide receiver Josh Huff added another 214 yards rushing and two touchdowns with an astounding 17.8 yards per on his 12 carries. As a team, they averaged 286.2 yards per game rushing, 3.2 rush
touchdowns per game and 5.9 yards per carry.
In 2011, they stepped up with James back carrying the load, but Kenjon Barner, who is currently on the Eagles practice squad almost running for 1000 yards of his own, De’Anthony Thomas was the third back, playing the role Darren Sproles’ in now and was remarkable. Together, the three of them ran for 3339, added another 999 yards receiving and had 49 offensive touchdowns, which are some remarkable statistics from a three-pronged backfield. The team averaged 299.2 yards rushing at 6.7 yards a clip, and 3.0 touchdowns per game. Quarterbacks Thomas and Brian Bennett combined for 206 yards and three touchdowns. Fourth and fifth running backs Tra Carson and Ayele Forde had 400 rushing yards and three touchdowns, just a stacked backfield.
In 2012, Kelly’s last year in Eugene, they had their best year rushing with Barner, Thomas and Byron Marshall totaling 2915 rushing, 715 receiving and 43 offensive touchdowns. It was Mariota who put them over the top with 752 rushing and Bennett added another 165 before transferring to Southeastern Louisiana, they had 11 touchdowns rushing. As a team, they averaged 315 rush yards per game at 6.0 per carry and 3.7 rush touchdowns per game.
Those rushing totals are just plain sexy. Maybe CK is going after some maulers at LG and RG to mix with the athletic technique in Kelce at C.
doubt it… what do you need a mauler for if the guards are usually executing combo blocks in the run game, and then peel off and go hunting for LBs and Safeties at the next level… stick with the super athletic Lineman. dont need maulers to double team a defender
Why not a combination of both like Peters?
And while they’re at it, why not a QB like Aaron Rodgers?
you seem upset.
Nah. Pretty much the opposite: Highly amused.
Because athletes like Peter’s are as rare as snowflakes in July, even in the NFL. Peter’s is a freak.
There has been an influx of strong and mobile OL for awhile now…
Was his Line that way at Oregon? OregonDucker wrote a few days ago that he had a pure finesse line in Oregon at the beginning, but after he saw what an SEC D-Line can do to that O-Line in the CCG, he prioritized O-Line in recruiting, wanting them agile and strong.
Obviously he would like to have 5 Jason Peters (who wouldn’t??). Will be interesting where he lower one’s sights.
Oregon during Chip’s era utilized zone blocking. So he needed those athletic OL.
I know. It’s just, would Chip give up a little strenght for agility, or would he give up a little agility for strenght? Depends on the situation, I guess. He obviously likes Kelce, maybe he prefers strenght over agility for his RG? I don’t know. We can’t really know so far.
I’m sure Chip would get a blend of both if there was the option too. IMO, Chip won’t deviate too much from his zone blocking for just one OL. If the guy isn’t able to pull well then most likely he’s not a fit here. That’s not to say that Chip won’t take a big 320+ lb mauler that can do what he asks him to do (look at Peters).
That is what I was thinking. In a traditional power running offensive line, the RG is that big mauler, like the Shawn Andrews. Cutting Herremans and shopping Mathis made me wonder if that indicated a change at the Guard position philosophy. Plugging in guys like Barbre or Tobin do not support that line of thinking.
At this point, the only one who knows anything for certain is CK.
Kelly arrived at Oregon for the 2007 season.
He inherited big RBs Stewart and Blount.
But by 2009, Oregon was relying on little guys — like James, Barner, Thomas.
Now, after a couple years in the NFL, Kelly’s going big himself. But I’m guess if Jamaal Charles had been on the market, that’s who Kelly would have taken.
_______________
Peaking back at Oregon’s player stats during the Kelly years, it’s remarkable how close QB Darron Thomas’s numbers in 2010-2011 mirrored Mariota’s in 2012-2014.
Not identical. But pretty close.
As always, I enjoy your input, AC. But even though you are only pointedly making the Mariota/Thomas point (I think), don’t forget that the most important thing a QB has are his arm and his brain. And the brain doesn’t have measurables. 😉
Chip keeps saying that he deferred the final decision to Howie. Sounds like Chip really wanted OB last year. Well, besides that, is Howie the reason we didn’t sign another safety when the FA market had a handful of safeties available last season?
FA market had the same this offseason with Chip in charge and we still haven’t signed one. Plus, Kelly stated after last year’s draft and has stated many times since that he doesn’t like giving up multiple draft picks to move up. He said last year that teams were asking for too much when they tried to move up. Regardless if he was in charge or not, he should be held to his previous statements.
Last year, Chip Kelly stated that he had to be convinced by Howie Roseman not to take Taylor Hart in the 3rd round.
Had to be convinced?
If Roseman supposedly had final say, why did he need to convince Chip Kelly of anything? It was his call, wasn’t it?
Lies! All Lies. Chip Kelly in the off season “Howie, there’s a bus coming through at 430, I expect you to be under it” …
…and then the bus actually comes at 4:00. And it isn’t a bus at all, but a hooker carrying blow and pictures of Goodall.
What’s monkey lady Jane got to do with this?
AC Viking has been commenting on the honesty of Chip’s statements. I think we can see here where Chip explains, honestly, why he often lies to us and examples of him doing so. Not that his motives surprise any of us, just that it is almost ironic to hear Chip say the true reason for his lies mixed amongst the lies themselves.
Chip said that explaining what he wants and why does not help the team. I think that statement covers the answers he refuses to provide as well as the times where he refuses to provide accurate ones.
As an example, I don’t think we should believe that Chip is any higher on Barbre than we did two days ago. Allen has played on our OL (most?) recently and is on the roster, so he gets the benefit of the doubt until Tobin proves healthy and better. Same with Wolff: he played safety for us so he gets mentioned before Watkins or a guy new to the team.
Now, this is an obvious example, but I think it illustrates the answer to the question AC Viking has been raising (most likely because he already knew the answer). We shouldn’t ask whether Chip is telling the truth, because the truth is irrelevant. We should be asking how his statement, what we know, and what we are guessing mesh, and use it to adjust our guesses.
You could have just said “Chip Lies” :).
Barbre was the top backup last year before his injury. Why would Kelly be down on him?
Before that, though, Tobin looked more promising before his injury. But I wasn’t asserting that he is down on him, just that his statement has more to do with earning your spot on the depth chart than it does with Chip’s opinion of either player.
Well to be fair to Babre there has been consistently good news about him in 2013 and 2014 offseason’s with both his team mates and his coach’s speaking very highly of him. Think last training camp people did not talk about him at guard because he was playing RT in preparation for Lane’s ban.
Yes.
Well said. The corollary is that we need not interview or listen to coaches because they will lie to us. That’s why–unlike the press, which makes their living parroting what others say–I liked Andy Reid’s press conferences. “I’m not going to get into any of that.”
Head coaches have no reason to tell the fans, or anyone else, anything.
I disagree with that last part. Or, at least I disagree with what it literally says, though probably not what you meant.
Coaches have lots of reasons to tell us stuff, just not necessarily the truth.
I disagree, between Reid’s “I will say nothing of substance” and Kelly’s “I will say nothing truthful” at least the latter is entertaining.
I think there’s a lot of truth in what Kelly says. There’s a boatload of dissembling to go along with those nuggets. When he actually talks about specific football plays, it’s extremely informative. Now, when it comes to discussing front office moves etc. yeah, hard time trusting a word out of his mouth.
I have no problem with Chip Kelly lying about his intentions when it comes to team strategy. That’s just smart and it could benefit the Eagles.
But his lying about the way decisions have been made over the last two years have nothing to do with benefiting the team and only seem to be an attempt to benefit the reputation of Chip Kelly.
You’re assuming that the only bad decisions were all made by Kelly in this scenario. Should he tell the truth when underlings make wrong decisions? Should he tell the truth when co-executives make wrong decisions? He could always pull out the old “I take full responsibility, the buck stops here” response that so many coaches utilize.
Part of team strategy can involve the decision making process. It only makes sense that as Chip has established himself in the league and the Eagles organization that those processes and relationships would evolve.
To surmise that Kelly lacks character and integrity because he’s not forthcoming about the way decisions have been made inside the organization – especially without knowing Howie’s true involvement in all this – is assumptive speculation.
Barbre was the top swing tackle going into last season, and presumed first OL off the bench. Tobin was presumed to be the top interior backup but Barbre would have likely played over him if Todd or Evan had been the first to go down.
Barbre started the season at RT and was done by halftime.
Tobin played 7 games midseason and played better than popular opinion holds. He then got concussed against the Packers.
Who knows why he’s trumpting Barbre, maybe he feels Barbre needs a public pat on the back, maybe Tobin needs an indirect kick in the ass.
More than likely it’s just that Barbre is 30, and more experienced.
Arguably one of the most vicious hits I have ever seen..
http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/page/instantawesome-RugbyHit150322/this-one-most-massive-rugby-tackles-ever-seen?ex_cid=sportscenterTW
God do I hate england rugby team.
I would not want to get hit by Courtney Lawes lol. You get some brutal hits in rugby, with a hell of a lot less protection than you do in the NFL.
Did BARBRE ever see any time as an eagle at guard? My recollection was him filling in for Peters in limited snaps when he gets banged up for a play or two, then last year we penciled m in to replace Lane during his 4’game suspension but he got hurt right away…dont put much stock into throwing out the BARBRE name because no doubt OL will be drafted…but surprised that he threw BARBRE name out there iinstead of Tobin, but I wouldn’t be shocked if we keep both on our bench and draft two OL..
..
CHip contradicts recent reports saying we gave Mathis permission to seek a trade like last year, but ultimately he hopes Mathis comes back? Then again, I doubt he would publically state that we were going to cut Mathis if no one gives anything for him. That wouldny be too snart
..
Also interesting that he admits to trying to slash Shadys salary but Rosenhause was unwilling to budge from the 11mil…hard to argue when we got two starting caliber RB a for combined 7mil…
…
Not surprised that we are looking at Wolff, Huff as in house replacements for Nate and Maclin… I’m sure rookies will be added, but I wouldn’t expect rookies to beat out wolff and Huff in September… Wish reporters would have asked chip some questions about Wolffs injury and the recovery timeframe he is looking at
Last year there was a discussion that Babre would be having an open competition with Todd for the RG position in training camp – but that got called off when they found out about Lane’s coming suspension and they wanted to use him as RT for the first 4 games, and he then was out after the first game for the rest of the year.
thanks.,. I didnt remember that. always knew he was a swing T/G, i just didnt remember if he was ever really working at guard.. If Lane didnt get suspended would we have seen Barbre/herremans loser start at Tor G on the second team?
I love Wolff’s potential, but the knee injury that just wouldn’t go away worries me. Combine that with the coaches clearly losing faith in Wolff last season makes me wonder how much damage was done to their relationships. Chip publicly called Wolff out, questioning his toughness, only for the Eagles medical staff to have missed a serious painful condition in his knee.
Regardless, I have to admit that I’m amused at the assumption of many of the posters here that the collection of Wolff, Reynolds, Couplin, Maragos and any drafts picks will automatically be better than Nate was last season. For as much a we rag on Nate, his play these last two seasons was actually fairly solid. He made a few really glaring mistakes, but I believe the film boys will back me when I say that Wolff and the others made more when they were on the field. Can’t wait for the draft and camp where we’ll actually get answers instead of hopeful speculation.
How is our media even allowed to ask our coach questions about Mariota when we are picking 20th? Is he supposed to openly admit that he feels like he has to have this QB picked top 5 when we are sitting at 20? Is he really supposed to reveal something like that to our media? Are we retarded? Chip talks once in a blue moon and you waste your credentials asking some fanboy question that you have no shot in hell of getting on honest answer? How the hell is this ok?mEagles should have Byko make it clear that MM questions won’t be asked, and if you proceed to ask chip about it, you will be removed from the press conference… This is getting absurd…wait months for chip to talk and these donkeys ask questions that no coach can answer publically? If we want chip to get Mariota so bad, why the fuck are we trying to make it harder and make everyone think we are so desperate? Not getting value for Desean wasn’t enough?
…
Enough, Eagles need to grow some balls and make Byko shut down this MM crap Til the end of the draft… How worthless can this local media be?
Chip must reveal all his plans and do it now!
he needs to just put it all on the internet, and say here, leave me alone, if we end up sucking we end up sucking…give them what they want lol
10am, Chip posts his plans for the draft.
10:00.001 — messages boards blow up with fans/media screaming “wtf is he doing giving his strategy out so everyone can see them” ….
Fans were getting upset with the all 22 stating that other teams will see that and can now scheme against the Eagles. SMH. Imagine what would happen if Chip said “Yes, we’re targeting MM”….
it would be awesome…. then again, id Bet Bellichek already has every coaches plan… cheating scum, coaches put everything on computers and Ipads now. you cant tell me he hasnt hired some world renown computer hacker on every government watch list to hack into every teams database already…. not surprising the NFL is having a presentation to front offices on “cyber security”
I think he video tapes eating cereal to figure out his angle…lol
I’d like to see the contents of these notebooks, personally… Is that too much to ask?
This is the silly season now, so you have to understand the game. For example Whisenhut, Titans coach, recently expressed his admiration for MM: translation – we are open to deal our pick to a team that wants a top QB.
Chip has said he is “philosophically” against trading picks to move up the draft. Then he makes a statement about Columbus going against prevailing “philosophy” that the world is flat. Chip does not believe the football world is flat. Translation: he is willing to make an offer for MM at the right price.
This is great OD thanks. I don’t need Chip to reveal his plan, I was just toying with the fans. You worded it perfectly. Someone argued with me saying A. Reid was an out of the box thinking like Chip. It’s not even close…
According to chip, history says shoulder injuries have been worse for QBs then ACL’s…. Lol we got one of each, and Barkley with a bum shoulder lol
But Barkley was a Roseman choice.
After all, Kelly didn’t have final say.
Surely Kelly was objecting forcefully, and Roseman gave him an icy glare and said “shaddup Kelly, I know what kind of QB will work best in your system”
just posting so you can’t get 4 in a row. Connect 4 —- blocked!!!
Many fans and definitely the local media are far too fixated on what Eagles personnel say and how they say it INSTEAD of what they actually do and how they do it…these press conferences are the biggest waste of time; the reporters are trying to get information they cannot get by playing games of gotcha and the coach/GM/owner etc. are trying to explain things without giving anything away. The result is a cliche-filled and testy shorthand back and forth that helps nobody. I guess it is good that the honeymoon with Chip is over now, that he fully understands how the local media operates and they fully understand Chip, like Reid and others before him, will not give them anything. It becomes a wash and allows us fans who do not care about what the Eagles say, but only about what the Eagles to focus.
I have to disagree, there are genuine nuggets of information there if you sift through it – and it can explain things you can not see just from their moves off the field. You can often come to opinions based on roster moves that are in correct because you will never know the situation behind closed doors or their vision.
Obviously most of what is said needs to be reviewed, and often what is not said about players is more enlightening than what is said.
Agreed…
Disagree…those “nuggets” are misdirection or statements to satisfy the media enough for the story to be dropped or simply to get through the press conference…the team constructs story lines they believe will get the media to drop it/move on without providing any real information…the media plays games of gotcha like this week with Lurie/Chip on whose idea the change in authority was…OMG they lied to us!! when in reality neither said anything of substance…Chip stated Lurie makes the decisions, well duh!! and Lurie said Chip has his own vision and Lurie decided to support him on it…well duh!! None of it has any value and parsing the statements for some hidden meanings is exactly what gets the media into hot water since they end up misleading the fans by distorting what was stated…which leads the team to give even less the next time since they want to strip the media of any ammo to use against them…it is a silly game
Based on the available evidence, it’s hard to disprove (and relatively easy to substantiate) what you say. It really is silly.
Chip is getting some slack because he’s winning so far. Mike Smith won a lot too but never had much playoff success..that’s the same boat Chip is in right now.
That’s always been one of my concerns with our local media, shock radio and some fans and definitely one of my biggest concerns with Chip especially since Chip will likely bail before the down slide starts…I think he is here for the short term even if successful since he loves challenges and will always be looking for the next one, but if this revamp starts to go sideways or the league continues to adapt successfully to his schemes, I could see him leaving in a shorter time frame. That’s why, while I understand/support, the changes Chip has made for the most part, I do worry he will not see it through to completion which will hurt the Eagles…
I mean he has been accused of being the Donald Sterling of the NFL by Dopey, I mean SAS.
Actually, we should credit Chip here. Yes, he’s been winning, but not where he wants to be, which is winning it all. Instead of coming back with the same core, which is what Smith and the Falcons did year after year, Chip had the guts to completely makeover a winning roster to get over that hump. Scary as hell, but gutsy.
All true… And I wouldn’t have a problem whatsoever if the coach / GM NEVER spoke to the media; it’s not that I don’t want the truth, it’s just that I know we’re never gonna get it, so what’s the point? They do end up getting caught up in lies and contradicting themselves sometimes, but mostly they just try to say nothing. I believe that any one of us could LITERALLY sit in for one of these guys and if you just read the transcript, no one would know that it was just some schmo filling in.
Having said all of that, since the NFL (pointlessly) insists these guys make themselves available, the press has to show up…
No it would be obvious if I did it. The stenographer would note that Chip Kelly got much younger and more handsome….
Forced availability is because of all the $$ in the blog / sports reporting industry. For lames like us who want to dissect everything that happens it makes the offseason longer.
It is good that there’s people like Tommy, Sheil, Chip Wagon, that try to do some work for themselves instead of hoping the coach will give them all the answers.
Man you aren’t kidding. What did Banner or Lurie say in 08’ish? “We’re going for it”. The media (and EMB) would not stfu the whole year about that. What in the F did you want him to say? “We just hope to win a few games”.?
Yea, if I never hear “gold standard” or “we’ll be fine there” again from a media member or fan followed by a snarky smile or dismissive laugh, I’ll be a happy man…
See, I have the pleasure of working with drug addicts, alcoholics, and criminals. You know, LIARS. Really, really convincing ones at that. Maybe that’s clouding my judgement, but Chip has moved into that category where everything that comes out of his mouth has to be verified independently. He seems like the kind of guy that could sell you your own car.
Agree for sure.
In time, I believe Kelly will become much more proficient at dissembling and saying nothing reliable but not being so obviously inconsistent.
He’ll find his own gaggle of catch phrases and clichés.
And, maybe, like Belichick — who’s invited to weigh in — Kelly will simply stare at the reporter, allow for a long, awkward silence, then say “next question.”
im waiting for him to go full “Im just here so I dont get fined” on our media
I think he enjoys punking the media too much to ever go that route. Would be entertaining though.
Nah, he seems to generally enjoy holding court and giving reporters threads of information hang themselves on. It’s entertaining as a fan, but as far as actual information? We’re not getting any.
I love how he is posed a question beginning with “Hypothetically”, and turns it completely around, demanding they are specific with their hypothetical. They just want a quote to use out of context.
Try to be a scumbag with CK? Get trolled. Its awesome.
I think Kelly is way too smart to not have these things planned
“You want the TRUTH??? You can’t handle the TRUTH!!!!!!”
Just to elaborate on this comment. If you know Chip and the way he transmits info to others, and you understand how coaches at this time indirectly communicate with one another about willingness to deal, a person can “try” to decrypt public comments. Here is a repeat of my post below. (Some of these conclusions have been echoed on NFL Network.)
This is the silly season now, so you have to understand the game. For example Whisenhut, Titans coach, recently expressed his admiration for MM: translation – we are open to deal our pick to a team that wants a top QB.
Chip has said he is “philosophically” against trading picks to move up the draft. Then he makes a statement about Columbus going against prevailing “philosophy” that the world is flat. Chip does not believe the football world is flat. Translation: he is willing to make an offer for MM at the right price.
If anyone is reading the tea leaves…we upgrade to Bradford, Whiz/Rivers reunion discussed in the press, Browns thrown out as interested in Bradford, no Bradford extension despite sending your QB and a high pick out the door., JL saying it is all about the QB…there is clearly a trade in the works between us & TEN.
Whiz wants Bradford more than MM and What I think Chip said is they need to figure out the player combination they want in return because he is not giving up too many picks to land MM. We also have to understand that Chip recruited this draft class and knows them better than any other coach in the league. His advantage is being able to land talent in the later rounds. This is why he feels comfortable trading Proven NFL talent to get what he wants.
Plus, mm has to be there – TB are a wild card at this point, can’t make the deal until draft day.
OD . . .
No “TRUTH” ’til after the draft.
Please!
(Nice job on the quote)
🙂 agreed…that’s why I was always annoyed when people would mock Reid and his stock answers…Chip is more biting now in his sarcasm than Reid was, but over time if he stays long enough he’ll learn the “dance” like you said and come up with his own cliches
I loooooooooooooooove Belichick’s blank stare. It cracks me up pretty much every time.
I personally love Bill’s (talking in the third person) press conference style. Why tell anyone anything? Because the fan base “deserves to know”? That’s horseshit. I’ll take a coach who wins and puts an entertaining product on the field, over a guy who is super forthright, plays 3 yards and a cloud of dust football, and loses.
The people asking the questions:
1. Don’t understand the schematic or personnel intricacies well enough to ask or understand questions of any value
ex. Roob or Les or McLane couldn’t tell you the pros and cons of running a 4-2-5 vs. a 33 stack as your nickel package. So instead you get dumb questions like “That play that didn’t work, it didn’t work, you call it cuz you dummy?!”
2. Are just going to twist your words to fit their stupid narrative anyways.
ex” “Chip you subbed in Polk on the goalline, is that because Marcus Smith is the worst pick ever by anyone ever?” -Mosher
It’s not that Chip doesn’t love talking about football, he clearly does that’s why he goes to all the pro days and visits other coaches religiously. But for Chip and Bill it’s like an astrophysicist being forced to answer questions from stoned philosophy undergrads all the time.
I’m reading these comments, so I’m one of you. But the real addicts here are clearly us.
I’m curious what you do? Do they give you a good vacation/sick package? I think people who work in social work-ish type jobs need more vacation than most.
Child welfare. Can’t argue with the sick/vacation time, as they give us plenty. I just don’t make enough to actually go anywhere or do anything with it.
With the company you keep, are you a politician?
No, but Chip should be.
On the subject of lying, dissembling, layering bullshit on top of bullshit, I don’t find it an issue when it comes to my team. It’s not my elected representative, it’s not my personal physician, it’s not my wife and it’s not my mistress, so why do I even care? I believe Kelly is a talented football coach, and I believe he wants to win. There is a lot of evidence to support my faith, which I am too lazy to cite. I will say that Kelly on a bad day is very entertaining, and way more interesting, if not way more revealing than Andy Reid on his best day.
100 up votes!
Couldn’t agree more. Have always hated Philly media’s entitled way of thinking. Just don’t get that in any other town I have been in.
The issue is the media distributes the organization’s nonsense combined with their own layers of nonsense and some fans believe it….thus one has conversations with neighbors or co-workers or their mail man about the Eagles and hears all the nonsense recycled as facts and tires of trying to explain why it is nonsense…
Preach!!? Months and months of.
Hearing Eagles fans talk about things u know are about 90% false. So frustrating…
..
Can’t turn on the radio without hearing How we will draft Landon Collins in Round 1.. I mean come on?
most people couldnt call what the eagles did. get rid of shady for gore, i had an inkling but shady for kiko, never saw it, dropping 3 starting DBs never saw, cutting heremans could see but not likely, trading foles and picks for sammie b, never saw it – knew they had to do something but i didn’t think that’d be the move and the lost picks.
Great point, and it should extend to the sports media. They’re not covering elections, wars, corruptions, or other meaningful news.
We demand more integrity from our sports journalists, yet we gulp up all the bullshit fed to us by mainstream sources like Fox News and MSNBC.
Sports is fun to us because we can grasp it and understand the concepts. I like coming to boards like this because the people here try and do that, instead of regurgitate the news.
Chip can say whatever he wants, at the end of the day all that we really care about is hoisting that Lombardi.
I bet the WIP hosts would be practically frothing at the mouth at how Chip is disrespecting the fans and the city and possibly even god by not giving them unmitigated access to his most inner thoughts and feelings though.
We need to invest heavily into OL this draft I think. I like that Chip likes Barbre but he’s not young either, and Peters is getting to the point that father time could catch him any year now.
The Pro Bowl in Brazil? Sigh, I’m in the wrong business.
http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/story/nfl-brazil-2017-pro-bowl-032315
Isn’t Brazil famous for football riots though? It’s like Goodell wants us to watch the Pro Bowl!
It was an interesting “boycott” from the players of the AZ pro bowl. Brazil is an interesting place — players would love to go and huge country, lots of football stadiums since they just had world cup and olympics next year. Smart move, long flight. Gooddell isn’t a terrible businessman.
Will also be interesting if any players have VISA issues.
They won’t boycott a chance to go to the beaches there, or if Goodell decides – to go during Carnival.
He’s actually putting a lot of these players in precious positions, wonder if the drug / sexual assault charges will spike after pro bowl in brazil.
that’s what I was thinking. something is going to spike in brazil…
Chips stated something about using Matthews as a wr and movng Cooper into the slot. I would really like to see what Jordan can do as a wr and, if the team is determined to keep Riley, moving him into the slot just might work.
Having his blocking closer to the point of attack on run plays also seems like the best maximization of the one thing he excels at.
Apparently this is a major reason Chip values him.
I could also see JMatthews outside and Sproles in the slot…Chip needs to get creative with Sproles due to most of the run carries are going to Murray and RMatthews…
Sproles is a player worth creating matchups he can exploit.
All he can do is catch dinky short passes anyway. Chip says he had a career year in catches and there is no better place to catch a bunch of short dinky passes than in the slot.
He is also pretty good at tracking deep balls across the field, which suits a slot receiver. Or a safety…
Additionally you put your biggest receiver in a better position to block LB’s and DE’s, instead of corners.
For as much shit as Riley took last year, mostly deserved, he absolutely blew up some guys on crack blocks.
His blocking was responsible for a number of TDs. I actually wanted to like Riley Cooper, I thought he was a good receiver that was buried under better guys, but he’s made it pretty hard over the last couple of years (actions, contract, drops).
Yea, I mean the contract gets shit and it’s probably a slight overpay but guys like Eddie Royal and Kenny Britt make comparable money. It’s effectively a 2 year deal, so it’s not the most debilitating contract. If slightly overpaying a 4th/5th receiver to be your WR2 is the worst contract you ever give out you’re doing pretty good.
As far as Riley he struggled last year but if he can cut down on a few of the drops he could easily have 50-60 catches, 750 yard, and 5 or 6 TDs, and in an offense with a some other receiving options, that’s a pretty decent statline.
In general he probably gets a bit too much shit, some deserved, most of it not. The way people talk about him sometimes you’d think he’s a pedophile who got $20 mil a year and caught 5 passes.
isn’t he? He’d be out of my dog house if he just had the red zone production. Tha’s really what i’m looking at on this team, i don’t think yards btw the 20s will be an issue. just need people that can finish — hopefully thats our 2 headed horseman and Riley.
He still caught a few nice endzone jumpballs. Between an improved Ertz and Matthews, Cooper, 2 bruising backs and anyone we add in the draft, the redzone should improve.
That’s the hope i like the moves so far. We were a terrible team in some ways, but if you change a couple of those FGs to TDs we at least make the playoffs.
Sounds more and more like the E.M stuff is Rosenhause generated. The Eagles respect Evan enough to let him seek a trade partner. The know that their contract on him is fair though, considering his age and recent injuries.
Roob logic on Twitter: Foles is great because of W-L record… If you mention the saints playoff game: Ignore playoff loss because he left field with the lead and played well.
All said in seriousness. And he wonders why Chip talks in circles to the media. Also why I appreciate Tommy’s dedication to studying the film.
yeah if cooper had have held on to that one 3rd down pass across the middle we would have won that game
True, but that isn’t the point. Roob is arguing that Foles should be judged on his record, not how he played in the games he won, then arguing that in a game he lost he played well but the D let him down. He is forming his argument based on selective data, which is a form of bias. He is also undermining his own argument without realizing it.
That being said, the impact of drops on the perception of a QB is a great discussion we should be having. That, and missed opertunities (missed open receivers).
You mean Roob “Jeff Lurie said Howie Roseman was his GM at the end of the season, so he lied to us!!! Burn him!” is crafting a narrative that fits his own viewpoint and refusing to view the situation objectively?
Surprising.
I guess I am stating the obvious. But the more I watch the way he presents his “data” the more I feel the need to call him out.
I had to unfollow all of the beats.
Les because he comes off as old man sanderson yelling at kids to get off his damn lawn about the offense.
Geoff after like the 4th tweet trying to make something random MSII’s fault.
And Roob after trying to get people upset that the Eagles wouldn’t talk to the media, and then insisting that he totally wasn’t salty because it made his job harder.
Jimmy and Sheil are the only ones left. Fortunately Sheil watches film and when Jimmy’s being ridiculous he goes full on over the top tongue in cheek with it.
I actually find les funny, maybe because I have an odd sense of humor…
Tommy does as well, but I just got frustrated and rage quit after Heath Evans level comments about the offense.
Understandable. I did the same with Ike Reece and sports radio. I tend not to get as angry at twitter which is probably why I haven’t started unfollowing everyone…yet. I can see myself doing that too though.
he played alright in that play off game, the offense did nothing in the beginning and the truth is the defense played well until the last drive really.
if we had have scored in the first half more we win that game.
foles was ok sure he left the field with the lead but only because the d held up while waiting for the offense
Boy do I need football, especially eagles football. Can’t wait to see the new look of our D and if our O will keep performing. Go eagles.
It’s interesting to me that Eagles had targeted Robert Woods initially in the trade (either Kiko, Woods or both is apparently what Ed had said).
Bills chose Kiko instead of Woods and the deal was done
Seriously, this report is fake. How can chip ask for kiko OR woods or Kiko+Woods. How retarded that would be?
Sal Pal reporting. It does make the whole thing seem pretty amateur.
I wonder if the Bills are trying to get even because of what CK said about them leaking it. Nothing lost on either side, but just an f-you to the Eagles.
possible, though i guess it doesn’t mean that bills were first team they called.
wonder what other teams they called about WR.
Didn’t you post this on another thread already? lol, just sounds familiar…
Eagles ILB Kiko Alonso (ACL) is on track to participate in OTAs.
Alonso blew out his knee while working out on his own last offseason. The Eagles seem confident in his health, as they pinpointed him as a target in the LeSean McCoy trade. If Alonso and Mychal Kendricks are both right, they’ll form a speedy and exciting inside linebacking duo for Chip Kelly. DeMeco Ryans (Achilles’ tendon tear) is also in the mix.-roto
..
Chip Kelly said he wants to get Darren Sproles on the field more this season.
Sproles was among the most effective running backs in the league last season, averaging 5.77 yards per carry, 9.67 yards per reception and scoring six touchdowns. But he was given just 6.4 touches per game, making him a poor week-to-week fantasy option. No matter what Kelly says, it’s hard to see that number rising now that the Eagles have made serious investments in DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews.-roto
….
Demeco Ryan is easily one of my favorite eagles since 2000, but i am so excited about the Kiko/kendricks era, flying around between Barwin and BG, behind our beast of a DL
..
This defense is really getting close to having all the pieces of a top unit.. just a few pieces away, or a few young players surprising us and growing into those rolls, paging Earl Wolff, paging Earl Wolff
Would love to see our fair share of double A gap blitzes this year.
Would love it if Earl was able to step up and grab that safety spot but honestly I just don’t see it. My reason is the microfracture surgery. That surgery usually sets guys back over a year. Really curious to see what Jaylen can do at safety being the CB/S hybrid I think he can learn a lot from Jenkins in that regard.
huh? what microfracture surgery has earl wolff had? finally the kid is getting treatment for his issue, why rule him out now? im also interested in seeing Jaylen back there
Yea Earl had a “minor” microfracture knee surgery last year. All the times he was complaining about a pain in his knee apparently that was the issue. I am not ruling Wolff out entirely, just that procedure gets me a little nervous about him or the team possibly rushing him back to the field when he isn’t 100%. Like I said I want him to grab that spot and run with it but if Watkins lights it up i’ll be just as happy.
wasnt it diagnosed as Lesions in his knee that went undetected for over a year?.. they shut him down early in the year..should have had plenty of time..no?
mini-microfacture. Must have been a tiny issue.
Dr. Andrews’ solution was “mini-microfracture” surgery.
http://www.phillymag.com/birds247/2014/11/24/wolff-mini-microfracture-surgery/
thank you… wonder how much athleticism “MINI-MICRO” can rob from you compared to “regular micro”?
“Wolff had the knee examined by Dr. James Andrews, who wound up performing what Wolff called “mini-microfracture surgery” on the knee. ”
http://espn.go.com/blog/nfceast/post/_/id/66088/eagles-earl-wolff-has-surgery-on-right-knee
It does sound like it was not micro fracture on the usual scale of that surgery, which is the type which is harder to come back from. We shall see, but it’s a lot more possible that he could play more than normal microfracture. I guess it was a small localized area.
Can i blame the last 4-5 years of terrible defense on howie et al? I literally never would have thought I’d see a good defense on this team — especially not while we had an offensive minded coach.
Not really. The team went through two major scheme changes. The only player left from the pre wide 9 defense is Graham, and yet we have one of the better front 7’s in football, and an improved secondary.
Additionally if you do want to give all blame and credit to Howie for 2012-2014, then yes there are bradley fletchers and cary williams’s but he’s also responsible for bringing in Cox, Curry, Logan, Barwin, Kendricks, Jenkins, Boykin (and as GM in 2011 probably played a large part in bringing in Thorton). That’s the core of the defense in 2015.
True i guess really the only thing we did is paid for guys in the secondary – which Howie et al tried in 2011, we’ll see if there’s better results this time around.
I mean Howie deserves credit insofar as when the plug had to be pulled 16 months later, we weren’t in cap hell. It was a high risk high reward proposition, and it failed but in the end the lasting damage was minimal.
You think the Howie experiment was a failure? I thought he was doing a pretty decent job.
I think he was speaking specifically of the Dream Team.
I’m referring to the dream team.
I’m a Howie fan. The “football guy” stuff is dumb. So he’s not the easiest guy to get along with? Scott Pioli went full J. Edgar Hoover when he was in KC. He understood player valuation. That’s the most important part of being a GM. If you surround yourself with quality scouts, then you don’t need to be the greatest scout alive. The CEO of BMW isn’t an engineer, but they make some good ass cars.
You happen to see Reuben Franks “5 years” article he put up on CSN lately? I have never wanted to punch a sports reporter right in his big stupid face as much as I wanted to after reading that.
I’ve stopped following Roob.
“Jeff Lurie said Howie was going to be his GM next year immediately following the final game, so he systematically misled the public and is a big fat liar”
“The Eagles MUST talk to the media, it’s because the fans need to know all the drama of organizational structure, it’s for the fans, the fans man, not at all because it makes my job harder”.
“Nick Foles W-L record, because football is just like mens single tennis, W-L record is a fair barometer of talent”
I wasn’t gaining insight, just losing braincells.
If you read the one he just put up yesterday about Howie Roseman not being a “football guy” and how that set back the Eagles 5 years, your brain would probably put a gun to itself and pull the trigger.
Good god, I’ll avoid that because I do not want to cause the following to ensue:
http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121109111615/glee/images/2/27/Burn_computer.gif
I’m sure if I’d had the tools at hand something like that would have ensued. I’ve never read anything, even from a CSN guy, that was so totally brain numbingly stupid.
On the other hand, the CEO of the Cowboys isn’t a football guy either, and they have a bunch of big ass holes on their roster.
Howie listened to his football guys. And understood NFL valuation.
Jerry historically doesn’t.
I think his son is running things now.
I got the joke ATG. Then again I always scan your posts for potential puns before I think you might be writing something serious.
German efficiency, my friend.
I hope you are right about the secondary! I still think Cary Williams was a pretty solid pick up btw!
Year 2 of Jenkins, Maxwell, winner of CB comp, and STBNL > Year 1 of Jenkins, fake tough guy Cary, Fletcher, and Nate Allen.
It would be very hard to be worse than last years group.
And yet, I remember doing so recently…
Puke. I’ll take Bradley Fletcher over Cary any day of the week.
Blame Jim Johnson dying. The personnel control that Lurie handed to Andy Reid before Banner’s departure, and before Roseman’s ascendance set our defense on a downward spiral. Johnson was a brilliant schemer, but his departure was a very bad omen for the Eagles D. Howie had Banner and Reid as two so-so talent evaluators to learn from. I would take him any day over his teachers.
sproles had some bad drops last year.
that sort of surprised me considering he’s always caught a lot of balls. wonder if his catch rate dipped or not.
RB’s have a lower catch rate in general anyway
Thus, the rep of Philly fans. Certainly true that Sproles was not perfect last year, but damn he was good.
Sproles has always been ‘good’ for a few drops every year. His explosiveness mostly makes up for it. Wish he would cut those out of his game, but at this point, the Eagles likely knew what they were getting there.
Wouldn’t that be terrific if Wolff rose from the ashes? He showed he has the tools. Lets see. The potential of the defense is scary. The potential for the secondary to be bad is too though.
i expect significant improvements in the backend especially if Thurmond stays healthy
..
shane Vereen is a real nice signing for the Giants. pairing him with Rashard jennings is a nice tandem.. great to have quality LBs that can really cover to deal with Vereen joining our rivals
Jonathan Martin released….
His problem has always been he is not very good and struggles to play hard enough, so i doubt we have interest.
Yeah, there are certainly red flags. Not sure how I would feel about him. Giving Tobin a 2nd round caliber player to compete with wouldn’t be awful though. He has been a part of some ok O-lines.
I watched him play for SF, no way.
I never really did pay attention to him. Gore seemed to hit runs up the gut pretty well though. Easily could have been others clearing that out. Really not sure how I would feel if we grabbed him. Chip should know him pretty well as a player from the college days. If he makes the move it will be from first hand knowledge.
Probably would be happier if we didnt…
yeah i mean great camp body and let him fight it out, he could have been good at run blocking i mainly looked at pass pro and watched him steadily move backward.
interesting they cut him now instead of the beginning of FA.
Maybe they were hoping to attract less attention, kind of an incognito move.
nicely done.
The incognito move would have been to call him a pussy and tell him he was going to kill his mom as they shoved him out the door.
id guess the colts bring him in….but whataver, im not much of a fan
Harbaugh will bring him back as an 8th yr. Sr…NCAA must have a clause somewhere to allow.
Pure awesomeness:
But the league is now starting to look at expanding the International Series to
include regular-season games outside the UK, with 2017 being a target, and
Mexico and Germany are the focus of those efforts. In Germany, Frankfurt and
Dusseldorf are the likeliest sites, with Berlin and Munich also under
consideration.
End of September, Football + Oktoberfest! Bam!
Ha! There will be games in Germany before LA.
Bring it on.
If playing games in Denver is a nightmare for teams, Mexico City is going to be hell on earth.
Sports Science team will have to come up with new smoothies to cleanse all the pollution from the players lungs and circulatory system.
I’m not sure even sports science can resurrect you once you’re dead though.
I’m more worried about the fact that it’s 7300 feet above sea level than the elevation.
er…?
They’d only make east coast teams do that right? They wouldn’t make oakland fly all the way to germany (12+hours) just to play jacksonville, would they?
Probably the only two teams they could get to do that. Teams should leave on Friday or even Thursday, just to get adjusted. Also, would need to arrange for practice facilities. Sorry, GE, just feels like a great idea in theory, but falls apart in practical application.
No need to be sorry. I actually only believe it when I see it…
Would love to see Chip convince Lurie to invest in a super computer and probability experts to take his sports science, player evaluations, draft/trade simulations, contract structuring/cap management, and game planning to all new levels. Who knows, maybe they’re already utilizing?
like SIMS football GM? Or Madden 2015?
I have watched the replay of the SEA/DAL game and Maxwell was on Dez Bryant and he left the game with a high ankle sprain making a spectaular play on a pass intended for Bryant, but BM tipped the ball out of reach as he landed awkwardly on his foot (carted off the sidelines, not the field).