OTAs Takeaways
Posted: June 15th, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 210 Comments »With a couple of weeks of practices in the books, I thought this might be a good time to talk about some of the things we’ve heard about the team. These are non-contact practices and the NFLPA limits what the players can do even beyond that, but you can still see the players in action so there are some general takeaways.
I put my thoughts together in this week’s PE.com column.
This is the time of year to feel good about your team. Optimism is high for just about everyone.
Due to Chip Kelly’s crazy moves this offseason it is understandable that some of you are nervous about the Eagles. I completely get that. I trust Chip. That doesn’t mean I don’t question the moves, but it does mean that I’ve got faith in his plan.
Chip wouldn’t blindly make these moves. He believes in them. You and I won’t suffer any consequences if this team goes 4-12. Chip’s reputation will be tarnished and his job status would be compromised. It would affect him forever. I don’t think he would have made these moves and risk all of that if he felt he couldn’t make them work. You can make the argument that he can just run back to college and get a huge deal there, but his legacy as a coaching genius would be tarnished. Chip is highly competitive. He doesn’t want to be Nick Saban or Steve Spurrier, college gurus who failed in the NFL.
Me having faith in Chip and him having faith in his ideas doesn’t mean anything. Sam Bradford could tear his ACL again. The Eagles could have the worst pair of OGs in the league. Walter Thurmond could make Nate Allen look like Brian Dawkins.
While my faith doesn’t guarantee anything, it does help me to see the potential of the moves. Bradford could finally show the talent that got him drafted #1 overall. We could find out that Allen Barbre and Matt Tobin are solid OGs in a run-heavy offense. Thurmond could find a niche as a playmaking Safety.
I can’t wait to see how Chip’s grand experiment turns out. It won’t shock me if this team goes 12-4 or 8-8. I think there is too much talent for 4-12, unless the team has a mixture of bad luck and lots of injuries. I see the upside in the moves Chip made, but I’m also realistic enough to know that some will fail.
The first test is 2015. Can this team win? Can this team have postseason success? Beyond that, who knows? These days the NFL definitely means “not for long”. 2 years ago the Niners were arguably the best organization in football and their roster was loaded with talent. Now they are a franchise in disarray. What you know changes in a friggin’ hurry.
For now, I feel good about the Eagles. I don’t see this as a Super Bowl front-runner, but I do see a playoff team. Of course, some Titans and Jags fans are saying the same thing. The difference is they’re delusional, while I’m completely rational and level-headed. Right?
_
“Chip wouldn’t blindly make these moves. He believes in them.” — I agree that 90%. I think CK has shown a ‘ok, I’m done with you side’ and banishes a player. I’m not sure how genius those moves are….
As an offensive play-caller he’s been elite as well.
Chip the GM is unknown as he will be for a couple yrs most likely.
I should say scheme-caller
Not sure…several defenses we played last year stated they knew what plays were coming and the reality Chip’s teams have only beaten 4 elite teams so far in 2 seasons argues against the “elite” label IMO. Now some of the problems were defensive and ST-related which did improve last season, but Chip’s forte is supposed to be offense and they struggled last year and Chip struggled to find solutions/make adjustments all season.
The point of CKs offenses is that they are easy to understand for all the players and yet still successful. It’s predicated on reacting to what the defense gives you. The formations can give away the plays on occasion but it doesn’t make them easy to stop because the play is designed to go wherever the extra defender isn’t.
There is no offensive scheme that can beat superior athletes on defense like Seattle has, 49ers had etc. We had Nick Foles and a real beaten up O-line. The fact that we were even able to put up big #s on poor defenses is a huge credit imo.
I’d like to hear some examples of Chip not making adjustments before I respond to that. I’m not sure what you’re referring to.
The point is if we are to do well in the playoffs we need to be able to beat elite defenses consistently. The offense will not be elite nor will Chip be considered an elite play caller until that happens. Beating up on weak teams is fine for the regular season, but those teams are gone by playoff time and our goal is winning a SB.
One example was defenses, since we had no deep threat, stacked the box to stop McCoy and dared Foles & Sanchez to beat them. Chip never really found a solution to make defenses pay for that approach. He continued to run his normal schemes even when they were ineffective.
Another example was the hurry up tempo. Chip, even after it was clear the defense was being hung out to dry repeatedly and was giving up big plays consistently, continued to run the same hurry up tempo, kept making 3 and outs quickly, kept making turnovers etc. and put even a bigger load on the defense with expected results.
Another example was continuing to play starters who had proven ineffective (Fletcher, Williams, Allen etc.) until is as too late in the season to recover and refusing to at least try Boykin on the outside or Carroll earlier. Related to this was the refusal to use other players more who may have helped – Polk for example showed when used that he could get tough yards and give the defense a different look yet Chip used him rarely.
Ok. Problem is if your personnel have specific limitations, you need to coach to that. Sanchez’s deep ball is horrific thereby limiting the number of deep passes you want to throw.
The way the offense is designed, the QB decides where the play goes on probably 50% of the calls or so. When the defense stuffs the box, the QB usually has some sort of read to redirect the inside zone run. It makes sense- run it where they ain’t.
When you can’t run the ball well, the hurry up tempo is not effective. Neither is any offense. When you can run the ball effectively, the hurry up tempo increases productivity exponentially as the defense tires out fast. Again, no offense will be successful when you can’t run the ball. The offensive line had very little continuity last yr as we all know.
If Chip controls the defensive personnel then ya, I agree. I’d assume that’s Billy Davis’ role though.
If you remember, Chris Polk was injured for a good chunk of last season. They used him more as the season wore on once he started to get healthy. Chris Polk is a mediocre running back. He’s better than average probably.
Not following, if you knew you were trading/cutting DJax which Chip clearly did, and that would remove your only deep threat, why would you sign Sanchez when you know he is a turnover machine and could not be an effective counter QB? Chip stated they knew defenses would stack the box and crowd the middle of the field in coverage and yet he signed a QB that would not be able to handle that type of approach consistently?
“When you can’t run the ball well, the hurry up tempo is not effective” – exactly! That is why you pull back on the hurry up, huddle up a bit more and not throw ineffectively 40-55 times in several games. You cannot hang your defense out to dry if you want to be successful especially when you know your defense is susceptible to giving up big plays.
Chip has nothing to do with the defense? C’mon, I do not believe that for a second. A control maven like Chip has his hands on every facet of the team as he should as the HC. Davis does not have a track record that shows he should be entrusted with full control of the defense anyway so, if that is true, Chip needs to change that structure.
Polk played in 14 games last season – he got 46 carries total. No one is saying he is a star, but if Chip was so tired of McCoy’s “dancing” it would not have hurt to give Polk more chances and give the defense something different to handle.
Sanchez is a backup QB. We signed him because he’s better than the other backups. Foles can throw deep better than Sanchez (though still not particularly well.) Desean is good when you hit him on the run because he’s great at getting open deep. We didn’t have a QB who could do that consistently. Good QBs don’t grow on trees.
If you know you can’t run the ball effectively either way then yes, probably better to slow the tempo down for the defense’s sake. You are correct.
I have no idea what Chip’s involvement on defense is besides his overall defensive gameplan. He likes a defense that takes chances and tries to force as many turnovers as possible because it means his offense gets the ball more. This is his way of getting his defense off the field more.
Polk actually played in 8 games last year. Look at his individual game stats. I do believe he was battling a recurring hamstring injury.
I’m not sure what you’re looking at re. Polk: http://www.nfl.com/player/chrispolk/2533037/profile
He was active for 14 games, if Chip only used him in 8 of those that supports my argument more
http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/gamelog/_/id/14889/chris-polk
He’s there as the emergency RB for some games. I wouldn’t want to risk reinjury just to give the defense a diff look.
My apologies for not readying everything below — my only comment here is — there is no secret to what CK runs or even a secret what play. It’s execution. The defense will have a choice as to what to defend. The offense is supposed to recognize and attack the opposite. Foles left a ton of yards on the field last season.
And here I was thinking that our offense was ranked highly in points per game.
The Eagles offense was ranked 3rd in points per game last season.
They were ranked sixth the year prior.
In Andy Reid’s final season, the Eagles ranked 29th.
https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/points-per-game?date=2013-02-03
Pretty sure with the pace and simplicity of the base offense the defense is intended to know what’s coming a bunch. That is also how you lure out the big play.
There aren’t many elite teams in the league. That’s why we call them “elite”.
Kelly seems to be the least likely person to make a football decision based on any emotion..such as ok im done with you..it all comes down to can the typical vanilla thinking eagle fan trust this mad genius
Agreed – but, what’s the case/football reason for dropping Mathis? Was it because of simple distraction?
Saving 5.5M in cap space for future years
nah — well, yes, there is a savings, but if that was the plan — why wait until now?
Distraction pushed over the edge mb. Or there’s something we’re not hearing about
I’m with you here. There are a lot of behind scenes stuff we’ll never know about and most likely that’s what happened here. My expectation of CK is not to do knee jerk reactions…sometimes it appears he does that…
He signed a contract and a year later was complaining about getting a raise. He went on Twitter to specifically tell CK to suck his balls, sat out any team activities from the end of the season, and is probably the reason (or Rosenhaus) that the details leaked of the offer from last year.
He didn’t take the offer, and other members of the team were starting to get irritated with him. IMO, he was let go because of the distraction element + the chance for one of the other guys to step up.
That’s what my point is about. CK — who is supposed to be a super genius and always has a plan(those are my expectations of him anyway) but this Mathis ‘thing’ is done without a plan. CK played hard ball and said you’re not getting a dime.
….
IF this was the plan all along, I would have thought another lineman would have been drafted/signed/traded for to prepare for this move. The first thing they did was sign Wheeler(wait, is he official yet?). People will certainly now get that chance.
I don’t know. But sometimes things like that happen. It’s impossible to have a plan for everything. I think the Mathis distraction was starting to be too much, and who knew it would snowball this way. His situation is toxic to the culture CK is trying to keep. Any animosity in that locker room is a deterrent to long-term success.
very true
I think that’s what everyone else is assuming too. I think his plan is to be fluid and react to what happens around him. That’s his strategy for the offense too.
Remember that Mathis took this tack last year, but stayed mum, and Kelly didn’t budge. Mathis upped the ante by tweeting and deploying Rosenhaus, and perhaps Kelly just saw a season where the noise was not going to disappear, and for 12M, felt his resources could be better allocated. I don’t have the impression that Kelly planned to cut Mathis, but he felt motivated to act.
I don’t really think it’s about Mathis.., if Chip didn’t think guys like Barbre, Tobin and Gardner were ready and capable of taking over, I think Mathis would still be here.., I think Mathis and Herremans were blocking younger players that chip is confident are ready to move into starting lineups, and Mathis gave chip the excuse to get rid of him and make way for young players… Some of these backup OL will be on our roster for the 3rd year under chip and stoutland. They know them well, they seen their growth rate… I think some of these kids have to be better then we think to be investing in their development going on the 3rd summer
I agree wholeheartedly. Mathis made a huge mistake when he decided to make public, his private contract negotiations between the Eagles and Mathis, as he released details about how the Eagles offered him a million dollar raise per season last year through Howie and told the world he turned the Eagles down.
Then he decided to also add the fact that he went back and asked the Eagles if they would offer him the same deal a year later, after Howie was “laterally” moved, and the Eagles and supposedly Chip shot down that offer.
This made Mathis angry as he then blabber-mouthed his way off the Eagles roster.
I could be wrong, but that was my interpretation.
I can’t wait to see our defense this year. If there is one thing I am optimistic its that our defense is going to be improved and you cant tell me it is not. There is too much influx of secondary talent and coaching talent. Then you add quality starting and depth to the LB core. The OLB looks thin but Travis Long is healthy and Marcus Smith should be ok depth.
Once the secondary and ILB core becomes our strength I think that goes a long way and limits plays like we saw in the Arizona and Dallas games. I would argue a 1.5 win increase from our defense alone. But our offense is where it may go the opposite way because of QB and OL situation. I hate that we have to worry about Bradford being healthy every second of our days. If the football gods can please bless us this once so we may see the SuperBowl light. Thank you.
agree that our D should be quality .. our O line is uncertain, receiving corps should be good, QB highly wild card
I think our O-Line is better than we think, not many teams can boast that 3/5 of their line are Top-5 individually (JP, Kelce and Lane will be a top-5 RT by years end)…. now depth is another story lol.
Yeah people are really Under rating what it means to have 3 Elite players like Lane, Peters and Kelce at the key positions….I expect the starting OL to continue to perform, like one of the top lines in the game….Im much more concerned about OL depth (specifically backup Center) then I am about the starting OL
i think Molk is serviceable at the very least at C, to be totally honest I am a bit pissed still that the Cowboys got La’ El Collins for nothing, then again he said he doesn’t want to play in cold weather so maybe its for the better… but 100% agree about depth, I think the penciled in starters right now are fine, but if anything like last year happens we are in deep sh*t.
I can’t stomach Molk being on this team. Put him in the game, and you are just asking for a defensive tackle to throw him into Bradfords Knee..
..
I don’t worry about the starters, I’m really hoping a decent backup center gets cut so we can find a better backup for kelce.. Vandervelde and Molk Both have to go
I would rather worry about the health of someone with Bradford’s talent than worry that our QB will turn into a much better QB than he’s ever shown in the past. Not a knock on any particular player, just pointing out that worrying about Bradford’s health rather than being excited by his talent level is choosing the half empty glass.
I share the same sentiment xmbk,
Bradford has never had so much god given talent surrounding him that he has never in his professional career experienced.
He seems to know it too, if you listen to him talk.
I think Bradford is going to blow many minds this season.
Good news is oline and QB were terrible last year and we still won 10 games.
I don’t know I recall too many teams managing to have the success we had with a OL mess and average QB play… To still go 9-3 when our secondary couldn’t get off the field on 3rd down is crazy impressive… I don’t even know how we pulled it off. Testament to what probably is the best special teams I have literally ever seen
Those special teams single handedly won me half a dozen fantasy football games. When you have a defense like ours that was giving up a good amount of points and you’re still consistently putting up 30 every week in fantasy, your special teams are seriously killing it.
If you look at this year, going into the offseason the biggest concerns were WR (with the loss of Maclin), our secondary, QB and Oline. This year, WR has been addressed nicely with the additions of Agholar and Austin, plus the additions of two top RBs allows us to utilize Sproles more in the passing game, and Ertz’s continued development and dedication to improving as a blocker will get him on the field more too. Secondary is much improved with Maxwell (the top FA CB available), Rowe, Carroll and Thurmond plus a healthy Boykin. QB – at worst we have Sanchez now more comfortable in year two with a healthy a shoulder, which as I said, at worst, is an improvement from Sanchez last year or Foles backpedaling and heaving the ball up for grabs all last year. At best, we have the most talented passer that we’ve possibly ever had who could conceivably be a complete revelation at the position and, at worst, if he’s just as bad as Foles last year, Sanchez can come in and give us better QB play than we saw last year, so that position is improved. And, offensive line…how much worse can the situation be than Peters, Tobin, Molk, Andrews, Gardner? We should expect that our guys will be better than that dreck last year.
So with a much easier schedule (at least as it appears now), I see no reason for anything less than 10 wins again, especially when you consider the addition of Kiko on defense and Murray/Matthews at RB on offense.
If you think the D has improved, you better prepare for disappointment. There is a possibility for improvement, but no slam dunks anywhere, just a lot of stuff thrown at the wall and hoping it sticks. Recall the “Dream Team” was also a Dream Team of coaching talent. Given Ryans’ age and injury status and the loss of Cole, there is no guarantee LB will be improved.
The front 7 is absolutely improved. The front 3 with another year of continuity will be improved. The addition of Alonso makes the inside baskets significantly better. Barwin is already really good. Graham may be a question mark but Cole was in steep decline anyways so that would be addition by subtraction. The secondary is the question mark and in my opinion Maxwell will be better then Williams and a trash can is an upgrade over Fletcher. Thurmond could be a pleasant surprise but that’s a question mark. Overall your pessimism is unwarranted and you have no real valid argument as to why people should be prepared for disappointment.
Sorry, to me those arguments rely on hope, not evidence. Perhaps Cox will improve, but there’s no reason to expect a huge jump in performance at this point. Graham and Alonso could just as easily flame out or push it over the top. Matching Demarco’s contributions from last year will be difficult, and Cole was still a very solid veteran player. All in all, I say a push for the front 7 is the safe bet. I agree the secondary is the true unknown and that’s where my I place my pessimism.
My post simply reacted to the idea that the defense “should” be better. I don’t see any evidence for that. IMO, Kelly rolled the dice.
player evaluation and projection is based on pure luck?..millions of dollars committed in salary on the roll of the dice?.jobs on the line coaches,players,scouts waiting on the luck of the draw?..damm Kelly is a genius to get that cushy gig
Doesn’t having any combination of brand new starters rely on hope as opposed to evidence? You switch things up exactly because you are hoping for better results. You can’t have evidence until they’ve actually played together right? The only variable is if you are optimistic or pessimistic in your outlook. Gunna go way out on a limb here and guess you’re the latter camp.
Changing out starters is difficult at the best of times. But there is another major variable–proven players versus rookies, backups, and injured players. I am more optimistic that someone like Maxwell or Murray is going to work out than Rowe, Thurmond, or even Kiko. Combining both factors, there is a lot of uncertainty here.
Even a push still puts our front seven in the top ten league wide. We were 7th against the run last year and had a bunch of sacks. There’s literally no reason to expect any type of decline for Cox and a million reasons to expect that he improves. Vinny Curry has an amazing first step and has already proven that he’s capable of getting ten sacks from a 3-4 DE position as a part time player, seeing only 30% of the snaps. Every reason to expect, at the very least, continued improvement from Curry, Cox, and Logan no in their 3rd years in the system.
Sure Kiko could flame out, but really whats the chances that that actually happens? He was an absolute beast his rookie year. Even at his worst, he’s a massive upgrade over Casey Matthews who was our starter pretty much all of last year.
Secondary is truly a bunch of question marks, but Maxwell has the makings of a top CB, and even if he’s not, there’s almost no reason to think he’s a downgrade from Cary Williams. So, the only real questions are, is Carroll/Rowe going to be better than Fletcher, which as stated above, if they’re better than a trashcan they’ll be better than Fletcher. Carroll has proven to be a decent starter in Miami prior to last year and Rowe has top talent, so at worst, I’d say we’re probably even at 2nd CB with last year and most likely improved. The other safety next to Jenkins is a complete mystery. But, just one of Thurmond, Wolff, Watkins, Reynolds, Rowe, Couplin just has to be as good as Nate Allen who was a step above atrocious last year.
Sure theres questions. All but the absolute top teams have some questions. But, it’s very very easy to see that we could see pretty decent improvement from last year.
If the Giants had Curry on their line, the mainstream media wouldn’t shut up about how awesome he was even as a guy playing 1/3 of the snaps.
And here I was thinking that Kelly put a ton of resources into the defensive secondary unit, exactly where we needed it most.
I am on the other side of the fence on my opinion of our defense.
I mean, we were really, really bad in the secondary and Chip brought in the best corner available, and dedicated free agency and most of our draft picks, with the intent on improving the defensive secondary.
I am not saying we will definitely be a top ten rated defense, but just not bottom ten.
Although deep down, I think Chip is just too smart to have all those decisions blow up in his face.
I will be happy if we can be a top 15 defense, as that would be a major improvement.
The only worry is BG starting. Kiko/Kendricks > what we had last year. Barwin is Barwin, so we only have one LB position to be figured out. BG and Cole are similar players, so I expect similar results.
Maxwell > Cary Williams
Carroll/Boykin > Fletcher
Thurmond ? Allen – this is a wash at this point, but both could surprise us this year (though not tough to impress on a bad team in Oakland).
If you have more plusses than minuses, at least on paper this is a better defense.
I expect OLB to be improved. Both Long and Smith2 are wild cards. At least one of them should be good competition for BG, and also be able to spell Barwin.
This is what I’m hoping for. It would be really good if they both can spell at times.
“Dream Team” was largely FA acquisition. Only Maxwell fits that on the defense. Maxwell is not a sure thing but A LOT closer to a sure thing over NA. His age and production and scheme fit would prove so playing at Seattle.
We went heavy draft of quality corners, so I feel confident there. Added a proven ILB playmaker in Alonso.
Wolff, Watkins, Reynolds, Jenkins all another year into the system. I am not saying they are world beaters, but from a competition and talent standpoint, the numbers would suggest that out of all the corners and safeties we as a group will get better.
Kiko and Kendricks with DeMeco coming off the bench is a vast improvement over DeMeco and Matthews or Kendricks and Matthews with Acho coming off the bench, which is what we saw all last year. Barwin is still Barwin and right in the middle of his prime. Graham is probably no better or worse than Cole. The only question mark with the LBers is who gives Graham or Barwin a break. One of either Travis Long or former first round pick MSII, needs to step up as a back-up. That’s really the only question mark. Add in Hicks, Jones, and Braman filling out the depth and how can you not be excited by our LB corps?
Cox who is only 24 and truly just entering the meat of his prime is a true All-pro difference maker up front that can dominate games. Thornton and Logan are damn good 3-4 Dlinemen and Beau Allen and Taylor Hart entering their second years should provide good depth. And, Vinny Curry is a pass rushing beast.
In the secondary, if Maxwell, Carroll, Thurmond, Rowe, Biggers, Boykin, Jenkins aren’t better than Williams, Fletcher, Carroll, an injured Boykin, Jenkins and Allen – I’ll eat my own hat.
The way I read the situation is that we swapped out Kiko for Ryans (essentially) and Graham for Cole. And have some young people we hope pan out for depth. That could work out fine if Kiko, a man who was playing great before missing what was only his second season in the NFL. They should be good, but they were good last year. I am reading multiple comments where people assume they are going to be _better_.
As to the secondary–What is this Boykins injury thing, is that known to have made an impact on his performance? He had more reported injuries in 2013. And you’re really confident we’re going to get a starting safety somewhere? And you are quite confident a mixture of rookie and other teams’ backups are going to hold down the other CB spot? Football Outsiders had the pass defense ranked 18th in the league last year–merely average. There is a lot of room for improvement, but also plenty of room to get worse.
Yeah, the secondary might get better. I sure hope so, I am tired of losing games on 80 yard bombs. But just in case:
http://www.magicaldaydream.com/2013/08/how-to-make-edible-nacho-party-hat.html
LOL smh only in philly can you add a bunch of talent, lose Cary. Brad Fletcher and friggim Nate Allen lol and people think there is any Chance in hell this defense won’t drastically improve,.. This post is absurd.. We could do nothing on defense and bring the same group yet and they would improve because so many young players will be better then they were last year. Of course people are so delusional that they think kids in their first 3 years will work at their craft for an entire year and NOT improve…LMAO only in philly…
Seriously, you’d think we got rid of Bobby, Dawkins and Troy and replaced them with a bunch of question marks. We lost 3 garbage players. Players who we knew for a fact were garbage and the results proved that. And, we replaced them with some top talent. Yea it’s no sure thing. But, I’ll replace known garbage with top talent question marks all day. That’s called improvement in my book until proven otherwise!
I’m excited to see us beat down some above .500 teams but by the looks of our schedule, there may not be many. I think my perfect scenario would be to thrash the Cowboys twice, beat the Pats or lose by the slightest of margins and then destroy the Cardinals and smug Arians.
F Arians.
Pls don’t make me choose between beating the Cards or Pats. I have to choose Cards b/c it means so much more for playoffs and seeding etc. But my heart says Pats.
If the Eagles can be New England in Foxborough in December it means either the Patriots have uncharacteristically imploded or the Eagles are a legit contender.
CK strategy turns out to be getting all cold-weather players for the sole purpose of beating NE in foxboro. We finally know his plan!
Or Brady is forced into playing with regulation balls.
I’m down for ANYTHING that involves smashing on Dallas TWICE!!!
I want to see us be the team that goes undefeated within our division for starters and it would please me to no end watching Murray running out the clock in dallas with jerry jones with his “agnony of defeat” facial expression as the camera pans to the Owners booth repeatedly throughout the game.
Now that would be priceless.
Optimism is high? You do know you’re writing about Philly fans? 😉
Believe it or not, everything chip does is to Improve the team.. Sometimes you have starters on the bench, and you just need to clear room for them in the starting lineup to prove it… This isn’t to say that mistakes won’t be made, hopefully the handling of the Guard position won’t be one of them,.. It’s very possible that chip feels we have younger starting caliber Guards, and Mathis gave him the excuse he needed to get rid of him, clear out his contract and make room for kids chip and Stoutland view as starting Talent…
..
No point ripping the move or praising it… Nothing to do but play wait and see… Considering in this scheme the Guards have to execute combo blocks and work closely with the Takles, Id bet it won’t be that hard playong next to dominant Lane and Dominant Peters this year.. Give a kid 4-5 weeks to play next to lane and Peters, let them get their chemistry up, and we should be fine.
…
mathis should Know better.. NFL veterans try and take every rep possible for fear of giving an opportunity to a younger, cheaper player to take your reps and prove he can do your job… I don’t doubt that Babre, and Tobin can play, and I don’t rule out Garner or kelly either..
..
OL is too important to football, especially a coach obsessed with offense, I can’t possibly believe that we would not draft any OL, and cut both starting Guards if Chip didn’t think we have players who can step up and get the job done… Everything chip does is aimed to improve the team, sometimes we don’t see it right away, but when we see the complete picture,It should make more sense to us….. OL is SOOO important that I assume our backups can play and just need a chance in a healthy situatipn to prove it
.
When we first got Mathis, talk would have been Not to get excited about a veteran journey men who would probably never start for us, few years later losing him is now the emd of the world? 4-5 years ago, Mathis was in the same position as Barbre…. Barbre hasnt played much, but when he has played, you can’t poïnt to anything negative. in limited opportunity so Far Barbre has always handled himself well no matter who he had to briefly replace,, might not make sense now, but I won’t bet against this making sense when we see the complete picture
“I can’t possibly believe that we would not draft any OL, and cut both starting Guards if Chip didn’t think we have players who can step up and get the job done”
Yeah, they probably knew since the beginning of last November that they were going to let Herremans go and we know that Mathis has been on the trade block for at least a year.Then there were quality OL available in the draft but they drafted at other positions and traded away picks to stockpile for next year.
It ALMOST looks intentional!
Some times you actually have future starting talent on your bench, and the only thing holding them back is opportunity….
..
NFL teams get rid of respected older starters all the time because they have unproven talent on the bench that they think just needs an opportunity to prove it…it’s the nature Of the league… Coaches see these players every day For two or three years… We saw Barbre like a few plays a year ago, how can we say that coaches are idiots and he ISNT ready to take the starting position and run with it…… Unproven to us fans, is not unproven to our coaches who work wth these kids every day.. Stick Cedrick Thornton in front of a young backüp offensive lineman every day. You will find out quickily if he can play or not lol
‘mathis should know better’ — 100%
I read elsewhere we have replaced 9 of our starts from last year. That is remarkable for a 10-6 team.
via MMQB on Birds 24/7…. one little tidbit that caught my eye.
“And little-known secret: it’s Shurmur, not
Chip Kelly, who oversees most of the passing game concepts in
Philadelphia. (Kelly is a running game guy.)”
I know we all respect Peter King and his cronies,but does this hold any weight? Not a big deal, I just find it interesting.
My understanding of it was that Shurmur was the one responsible for installing a lot of the pro passing concepts with QB’s, improving the timing to multiple reads on the progression, but Chip is the guy that designs the route concepts to utilize the field space responsible for getting our guys running wide open. It’s likely they coordinate closely to ensure that Chip’s philosophy works with pro passing concepts.
This has seemed to be the longest off-season in history…so tired of the debates about Chip since we will never know anything definitive until the real games begin and that is still 2+ months away.
I like Chip and respect his approach. I sincerely hope the team will win and get us a SB ring before Chip leaves.
One thing Chip could do though in the meantime…pull Jason Peters aside and tell him to stop talking. It is getting to delusional stage at this point with his latest “we were close to winning the championship last season” not to mention the Eagles being the best OL in the league. Hopefully the sports science program includes regular drug testing, may be time to get another urine sample from Peters.
Let your play on the field do the talking for you. Just win. I get being confident and having high standards, agree with all that, but the talking does nothing and only reminds people of Freddie Mitchell, Vince Young and other embarrassing foot in mouth moments.
Wish I could up vote multiple times. You made a few points in this post and they’re all dead on.
The year before McCoy was the leading rusher in the league, and they didn’t get the praise the Cowboys got this year with Murray getting like 1000 carries. For me, I understand the context. We hear so much about how great the Cowboys Oline is, and that the line made Murray a good RB – but the Eagles held Murray to his two lowest outputs of the season.
This was a top-5 offensive line in 2013, then injuries decimated them in 2014 but somehow managed to be the #5 offense in the league.
It isn’t like this is a bottom 10 OL and he’s talking out of his arse. He’s confident with the team/guys in the room. They should be in the conversation, but I understand the frustration from the Cowboys hype train.
Non-Eagles writers have been labeling him “Potential HOFer Jason Peters”. He’s not Freddie Mitchell or Vince Young. He’s not saying anything he can’t or hasn’t backed up on the field.
When he says stupid stuff like he has recently, he puts himself on their level which is what I am talking about. We were NO where near winning the championship last year and with Tobin/Barbre at OG there is NO way we are the best OL. It is senseless and meaningless to talk crap in June. Peters himself struggled down the stretch last season so focus that energy/frustration on your game and making sure the OL is very good this season. Stop talking.
Its entirely possible for a Pro Bowler to give quotes to the press and still play at a Pro Bowl level.
Nothing a football player says ever makes a difference on the field.
The “Dream Team” didn’t blow because the third string QB uttered its moniker. They played badly. That’s all there is to it.
The point is they looked stupid due to the hype/comments and so when they failed we had to sit through months of endless media and other fan banter and we still hear it randomly now. I agree talk is cheap and does nothing to help the team so I would tell the players to be as boring and bland as possible with the media and, again, let your PLAY do your talking for you.
Yeah, but then everything would be boring for the other 30 weeks of the year.
why are you so pissed at JP? be pissed at Evan.
I count one game last year in which the Eagles were embarrassed – the shellacking in Wisconsin. They went toe-to-toe with Seattle, Arizona, San Francisco. A first year back-up QB won four games and has said he cost them a few others. Despite a spate of injuries to the starting OL, and despite the alarming number of turnovers, that whole group and many on-lookers have no trouble believing, knowing that they should have fared no worse than 12-4. I have no problem with any player expressing confidence, optimism and swagger because it means that they believe in themselves. They will go nowhere without that at the very least.
I was embarrassed to lose to San Fran and that giant piece of garbage Kaepertrash. F him.
But I agree this team was competitive week in and week out.
Losing to pig face Bruce Arians bothered me more. I want chip teams to dominate the cardinals until Arians gets fired. We won that damn game, we were a 3rd down stop away from beating the cardinals two years In a row which would have drove Arians crazy, yet Jackass #1 Cary and Jackass #2 Nate, let a rookie burn them deep giving up a TD on 3rd down… Make that damn 3rd down stop and The Cardinals would be sick losing to us two years in a row
Man, I’ve read your comments here for over a year and you frequently have some keen insights that I enjoy, but I have to ask, have you ever been to court in the basement of the Vet?
I’m not a great initiator of violence, so I never had the pleasure. I also don’t really drink until after games, so no lock ups on that account.
I just have a very aggressive list of people who ruin football by not playing the game the right way; Kaepernick is right at the top of it.
That was a kind of tongue-in-cheek question, so thanks for a straight response. Your aggressive expressionism seems tailor-made for a forum like Iggles Blitz, where disagreement and commiseration are punctuated by heartfelt feelings of hatred for non-Eagles.
Well then, use the frustration to get better, use that energy to teach the young guys and get them up to speed and beat the Cowboys when you play them next, but the talk in June does nothing and sounds like sour grapes to me. Peters is better than that, again let your play talk for you and, if you actually win the SB, who would care about what the media says or how they ranked your OL…just win.
if anyone has earned the right to talk it’s Jason Peters’s…. in my mind him and Fletcher Cox are our best players on our whole roster.
To what purpose and value? That is the issue. Who cares who has “earned the right to speak”. The point is it does nothing good and has no value; stupid crap is stupid crap. STFU, focus all your energy on getting better, do not worry about what the media thinks or where the OL is ranked, it is silly. Peters, as a vet, should know better anyway.
Meh. It’s kinda the first time I’ve heard anything from him since Nick Baker hit Foles last year during the WASH game…..guys that don’t CONSTANTLY run their mouth I have little issue with (guys like Cary Williams I have a huge issue with). Jason Peters was asked a question he gave an HONEST answer, therefore no problem in my eyes….. or would you rather the normal banter straight from an Eagle’s PR cronie?
As a coach, I would find it hard to tell the most enthusiastic, positive guy on the team to shut up even if he sounds a little crazy.
So much hinges on the OL and DB groups. If the OL is poor, the run game and QBs (especially Sanchez) will struggle; if the OL is good/great, the offense will him with RBs and WRs.
If the DB group is poor, our defense once again will struggle to get off field on 3rd down. If DB group is good/great, this defense could be fun to watch and consistently putting a deadly offense back on the field.
What will it be?
Way too much of the “Chip did it, therefore good” going around in here today… Chip gets respect because he’s done a lot of good work. That doesn’t mean that ditching your two starting guards with a minimal backup plan is a good idea just because Chip did it, however.
It’s the offseason. Continue the guessing game, friends.
Cutting Herremans was a move most any GM would make. Clearly a declining player with a hefty price tag.
Unfair to put him in the same category as Mathis.
At some point you gotta give younger more healthy players an opportunity to play. I would have liked Mathis here, but lets be real the dude played 7 games last year. If he gets hurt again, and its a higher probability because of his age and history, we will be saying that we should have given xyz player a chance and a spot. I want younger players like Mathis, and I think the risk is about the same.
your last sentence is on, its all just so much speculation before we even see anyone play because…..NFL, summer football talk
This is a speculation forum.
no sh.. but theres a difference between discussing games that matter and coaching/scheme, plays etc. Talking every roster move to death so early in June is just that. Yet here I am, but it bears pointing out sometimes when some topics are just overkill
2 over paid..aging..injury prone andy reid hold overs..see the forest not the trees and kellys vision will be clear
Yea, those terrible Andy Reid holdovers, let’s get rid of all of them: see ya Cox, Boykin, Kendricks, Ryans, Celek, Peters, Kelce, Thornton, Graham etc. – we’d be such a better team!
really?i still see those buy in reid players there my friend
Huh?
what version of kellys offense do expect to see this year..specifically?
I should clarify that I’m not making an argument about the personnel moves, but about the fan base’s rationalization of them.
If your logic is “Chip is good, so his moves are good.” …you’ve got some more work to do. Chip has certainly made good moves to get to this point, but that doesn’t mean all moves from here on out are therefore beyond criticism. Good tacticians are capable of making bad moves.
That’s why we need the season to see how it plays out. If we look at each move individually, then we can criticize all we want. But taken as a whole, if the team plays/does better this year then for me at least it’s okay with a move that didn’t necessarily work out.
IMO inaction is a poor decision. The ceiling on the team last year was not Superbowl. Might be the same with this team, but the structure is in place to continue moving forward with the plan.
The move I’m most concerned about is Mac. It’s not lost on me they didn’t rush to get any OL in the draft this year. IMO, I think that speaks volumes about how they feel about what’s on the roster.
I agree although I do think part of it is Chip’s belief that it’s easier to scheme around having poor guards than a poor secondary. If we used picks on G/T it would have been at the expense of the secondary. A lot of the offense is predicated on reading individual defensive players, including interior DL and linebackers. That can help the guards by allowing them the luxury of not blocking the opposing team’s best player.
I’ve taken issue with the same thing all offseason. Particularly with the “In Chip I/We Trust” mantra. These moves could work out fantastically, but there are way to many question marks that were created this offseason for me to go into this season thinking we will succeed because Chip has had success in the past. I certainly hope we do obviously, but to me Chip making the move is not enough evidence that the move is a good one.
I haven’t put in the work to know if what Tre Thomas says is true or not, but if what Tre says is a fair legit analysis, as a former LT I could definitely understNd why Peters may not trust Mathis in pass protection. Like Peters, my preferred style of play in pass protection is to step back and let the pass rusher come to me. I can’t even imagine playing next to a guard who also wasn’t playing that style of pass blocking. Try says Mathis likes to attack of the snap in pass blocking, get a jump on the DL Well if Peters is dropping back in his pass blocking technique whe Mathis attacks forward sort of like run blocking, those two clash of styles playing next to each other are problematic and I can see why our LT wouldn’t trust Mathis in pass protection…. I haven’t taken the time to watch their styles for myself, but i would like to think Tra absolutely knows
What he is talking about evaluating the style of OL. I would like to think that I can trust Tra evaluation of what style of play OL are using without feeling like I have to go back and check the tape and question Tra evaluation…if our
OL is going to use the “jump set” technique, then we should be on the same page with all our OL using the same technique…. if Tra evaluation is true, make sense why we heard Jason Peters speak out against a Guard he has had success playing next to the last few years .
..
Mathis broke out in Philly under Howard Mudd.. stoutland and Mudd coach very different styles. if Jason Peters transitioned to stoutland style of play since he is a freak who can play any style, makes sense why he would t trust Mathis if he at times still uses Mudd techniques..,
..
Obviously I’m assuming Tra evaluation of what technique they are using is correct
“stoutland and Mudd coach very different styles”
Do they?
Some difference, sure. But they’re both zone blocking schemes. Stoutland and Mudd are more similar than Mudd and Castillo (or Stoutland and Castillo).
Castillo and Stoutland both teach a technique for passing blocking that involves dropping back and timing footwork to hand punches to control the rushing defenders. Mudd was vastly different in technique despite similar zone blocking schemes (which refers to run blocking not pass blocking). Mudd asked his lineman to fire out in pass protection and taught a very unique technique of actually turning your back to the LOS to ride the rushing defenders wide after firing out forward. Completely different techniques.
Thanks!
I remembered about Mudd’s attacking pass protection. I heard much about technique distinctions between the two.
I’m not sure that Thomas claimed that Barbre was better at run blocking, either. It was mostly about pass protection.
If I’m not mistaken, I think Tra talked about Tobin being better suited then Mathis (or did he say Barbre?).. And I’m pretty sure he was ONLY talking about pass protection…you don’t jump set in run blocking, everyone explodes off the line in run blocking, so I’m pretty sure the context of the discrepancy in styles Tra talked about was only in terms of pass protection.. I also thought the consensus opinion was always that Mathis was a much better run blocker, then in pass protection, but I don’t think his pass protection was ever bad, it just wasn’t as elite as his run blocking..
That was my point — Tra was talking about pass protection; even if Barbre is better there we still will probably take a step back in the running game with Mathis gone. And that’s almost best case. Fewer sacks would be good though — everything probably hinges on Bradford as it is.
Well, in one sentence Tra Thomas has destroyed the credibility of PFF.
You should write clickbait headlines for Igglesblitz.
53 players who made the Eagles the roster -number 28 made me spit out my smoothie!
“You and I won’t suffer any consequences if this team goes 4-12”
Bullshit! if the eagles go 4-12 that means we’ll have to watch either the skins, cowboys, or giants win the division (and maybe another one of those teams grab a WC spot).
….well we won’t but the city as a whole will after I am done drinking if a 4-12 season unfolds.
Philly can’t handle a 4-12 season. Not after a summer with the crap Phils messing up the Philly equilibrium.
….and fuc*in Embiid now.
For real. How are the Sixers supposed to win 3 or 4 titles in a row with that guy getting injured? Bad enough jag offs in the NBA won’t acknowledge Wilt is the greatest of all time and the best NBA team ever is either the 67 or 83 Sixers. This doesn’t help.
He isn’t injured.. It’s no where near as bad as his foot getting healthy and suffering another stress fracture. That would be horrible..
..
Kid been a full go for workouts for weeks, feels no pain, swelling or soreness. If he didn’t have a routine cat scan scheduled he wouldn’t even know anything was wrong.
..
Sure this isn’t ideal, right when we were a month from seeing him play summer league, but this doesn’t warrant so much of the doom n gloom that I’m seeing. it’s not ideal that it isn’t as healed as we would have expected at this point, but that’s far from being as bad as his navicular bone completely healing and then suffering another stress fracture, if that’s happens, that’s when I abandon #teamCHILL
..
He may not have another surgery, but if they think another surgery gives him the best chance at a long career, then by all means have the surgery,, now is the time to do it… As awesome as it would be to see Embiid play this year, even if he plays we are still focused on next years draft. With 4 first round picks and saric joining us next summer, with or without Embiid, we are still in the “asset accumulation phase” until after next years draft..so whether Embiid can play or not this year, NOTHING is more important than Embiid ready to go for the 2016 season When we are really ready to move forward as a franchise, no longer being so dependent on the draft..
..
We NEED Embiid to really be healthy from 2016 to 2025, if playing this year doesn’t jeoprdize that? GREAT! Love to see Embiid this year.. But if redoing the surgery gives him a better chance of a healthy career NOW is the time to do it, while we are still in high draft pick mode.. 2016 season is when we will cash in all our chips and see what we sacrificed these 3 years to stockpile,,,
I won’t go full irate mode until we see him miss regular season games.
thanks, I need that to pull away from the ledge
Wilt is not the greatest of all time. good lord no
Sorry, but Wilt was …He dominated in a league which was geared to having great “Center play”. If you think todays NBA is physical, it is nothing compared to then. I heard the Hershey game when Wilt scored 100 and I saw him AVERAGE 50 pts. a game for the season and lead the league in assists another season….Russell andBosten were the better team, but Wilt was able to do anything he put his mind to…and 3steps was “walking” and a turnover..
Excuse me? Just because Wilt’s unparalleled excellence and dominance occurred prior to Sports Center and/or Bob Costas/NBC fluffing Michael Jordan every night, doesn’t mean that he wasn’t the greatest of all time. You don’t abuse the record book and rest of the league in this manner and being anything other than the greatest of all time.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/c/chambwi01.html
The last place I expect somebody to blaspheme towards Wilt is in a Philadelphia sports room. If you talk to people who were alive to watch basketball throughout Wilt’s career, they can set you straight.
I, for one, am sick of Bob Costas pontificating on issues that have nothing to do with sports. Never speak of him again.
Or that the “Philadelphia Warriors” are going to beat King James this year…
They’re a nice team, minus that false profit / overpaid / underachieving / poor attitude Iguodala, that doesn’t really have anything to currently do with Philadelphia.
brutal, our stress fracture nightmares possibly coming true. Hopefully just extra caution but not looking good with wanting that much more time to heal if its true
Both OG Justin Blalock, ex of the Falcons, and G/C Mike Pollak, ex of the Bengals, are retiring.
Blalock is probably the most talented G available outside of Mathis but he isn’t a fit for the Eagles’ scheme. He’s started a lot of games in his career and is just worn down. Pollak is actually a good fit for the Eagles. He had a knee issue that caused him to miss practice(1 day a week every week, but never more than that) but not any games.
Not sure if this means anything or not:
Chris Myers, ex C of the Texans(who have inquired about re-signing him after cutting him earlier this year, has this on his twitter profile(by a teardrop and above when he joined twitter):
Houston/Miami/Philly/Sea Isle
Seattle showed interest in him earlier in the offseason and Miami and Philly both run similar OL schemes. Could those be the teams showing interest in him?
Sea Isle?
Have no idea what the “Isle” part would mean.
Isn’t that in NJ? So is it autocorrect and he meant Seattle or is it the Giants/Jets in NY?
autocorrect. nailed it
Maybe he likes going to the beach at Sea Isle City, NJ., which is an hour and a half from Philly.
It’s a blast, you should all go there.
Collins off to a great start with the cowboys
Drug bust? Injured?
didn’t pay his escort, she says he should be drug tested too
her screen names, oh my, Jerry needs to just hook him up with some of his escorts
Most disturbing thing about that article:
“PS – I feel like black people often have that weird font for phones.”
W. T. F.
What article are we talking about?
I noticed that too. I wasn’t sure if I was offended because I’m black or that it was offensive. It was like regular conversation for the guy the way he wrote it.
And it distracts from the main point; Dallas sucks.
It’s interesting that he wrote it almost speaking to a white audience… Like he was saying what is it with black people anyway. As if no black people were going to read the website O.o
Nope it was just offensive. Black or white that should offend you all the same.
http://www.brobible.com/life/article/escort-blew-up-lael-collins-twitter/
Guilty. 4 games.
ahh the cowboys.. America’s team
ha, we all clamored for him, thanks Jerry
I didn’t read the article so I have no idea what he did, but I don’t care what he said, his talent was easily worth a 7th round Flier..
..
how many 6’9 DE’s do we add that don’t last more then 1 season on our roster? I’d happily have spent a 7th RD pick on Collins. His talent was worth a 7th round flier even if he acts like an idiot and WOULDNT make our roster,,
he pulled a Warren Sapp. Its times like these I love the culture fits
Better than pulling a Mamula though. Sapp should have been our player and we shouldn’t have traded up. Then we would have seen both Sapp and Derrick Brooks as Eagles.
And Mamula was all class off the field too
http://articles.philly.com/1997-12-08/news/25555127_1_mamula-with-indecent-exposure-sherri-happaney-mike-mamula
I feel for Collins. If he had been drafted where he should have been originally, he’d have plenty of money to pay for the hooker.
ha, and his agent fooled the entire league into not using a late round pick on the guy.
I guess it can be quite difficult to get actual dates when you’re known for murdering your ex gfs.
Smoked weed? Or the hooker? I’m not about to bash a kid for paying a hooker when the friggin police department put the history of his ex girlfriend on Blast lol… It’s bad enough the Police cost this kid millions and the draft spot he earned, if that’s NOT bad enough, they made sure he would be the only NFL player who has a hard time getting some ass… Poor kid, the least he deserves is some hooker love… Havent we cost this man enough? We want to talk hooker love from him too? What will we take next? His socks and underwear?
..
marijuana being illegal is a joke, and prostitution is the oldest industry in the history of the world… caveman use to trade 3 bananas for piece of ass, when he didn’t feel like going with the club to the back of the head, drag you into the cave aprroach (that’s typically was reserved for 2nd dates)…. #FREEcollins
yeah but he just shoulda paid her since its a profession
Oh he robbed the hooker? Bwahahahahaha
..
I love this kid!!!! collins with Jerruh might be entertaining enough to get over not drafting him.
..
He is on the perfect team. No matter what he does, Probably won’t be as bad as that scumbag Hardy
totally until she put out that he should be drug tested but who knows what for. I so wanted the Eagles to draft Sapp that year, him falling was so dumb. I forget what exactly Sapp did to lose his nfl network job, sort of got into it with hookers over the money right, so not same but similar.
Provided we aren’t unlucky with injuries, it’s all on Sam Bradford’s shoulders. If he stinks up the place, we might end up 8-8. If he’s mediocre I can still see us going 10-6 and maybe making the playoffs. If he’s good I think we can get 11-5 or 12-4, and make some noise in the playoffs. If he’s great, then maybe we can start thinking of ourselves as super bowl contenders.
Again, provided we aren’t unlucky with injuries, and considering some of the guys we signed I think we will count ourselves lucky indeed if we don’t lose at least a few key guys.
Durability is the best ability indeed.
strongly Disagree.. last year, we were 9-3 with:
OL problems which led to regression in our run game
Erratic QB play
A secondary that couldnt get off the field on 3rd down
..
We were so banged up and screwed up that we asked Sanchez to throw over 50 times in a game. This isn’t Braindead andy Reid in charge, for Chip to have called 50 pass plays with sanchez in the game, things had to be all types of screwed up.
..
last year, the only real consistent positives when we were 9-3 was:
1) Our Run Defense, which is elite and will be even better this year.
2) ST, Probabky the best St I ever saw, no Reason to expect drastic regression
3) Maclin was pretty damn consistent especially while FOles was still playing
..
i can’t say that everything comes down to Bradford when, if Sachez has to start 16 games, I’m still expecting a playoff birth and won’t be handing out any free passes just because Bradford can’t play. I absolutely think we can win with Sanchize, if we “ARENT unlucky with injuries”..
..
not every team has a great QB, yet I see plenty of teams that have contended by turning their QB into a game manager, riding the defense and run game…
..
I know everyone is worried about the Guards, but I doubt chip is paying more then anyone for runningbacks if he isn’t planning on running down teams throats THS season,.. If our starting OL is healthy, I expect to see a potent run game. I expect a defense that will improve on what’s already a top run defense, and a team that is significantly more talented in the secondary then these past two season.. 3 of the 5 secondary spots are filled with STUDS! jenkins, Byron Maxwell, and Boykin the best Nickel in the game…. And some how I doubt it will be too hard to coach up replacements for what we were getting from Nate and Bradley Fletcher. Even if you are pessimistic about our two spots in the secondary, you have to acknowledge that are Linebakers, should be one of the best units in coverage in the league… Barwin, Kiko, Kendricks, MS2, these boys can really cover,, BG is said to be in the best shape to play OLB. I hear he looks much more agile, while still being pound for pound one of the strongest guys in the weight room according to chip…Curry and Cox should be better pass rushers then last year. BARWIN can be counted on to produce.
..
our Defense, and Special teams, along with our run game should be good enough to make the playoffs regardless if it’s Bradford or the Sanchize…
..
If Bradford gets hurt in August, every last one of you would still hold the Eagles accountable for not making the playoffs next year, and that’s Perfectly understandable when you have a roster as Talemted as we do. We are also told that culture matters, and from that perspective, chip should be pleased with the culture he has in place now, after how much emphasis he put in building the culture..
…
if Bradfird starts all 16 games, I’m expecting the Eagles to win a playoff game.
.
If Sanchez plays 16 games, I’m expecting a playoff Birth..
..
chip got us to 10-6 with someone else’s ingredients,,. This is more of a chip kelly team then the previous two years, and it’s year 3, so I’m expecting results, regardless of what happens with one player…. chip kelly preaches that 1 player doesn’t matter enough to make or break a team, THATs what his entire system is supposed to be about,,,,so I’m going to hold him to that, Bradford getting hurt is not an acceptable excuse, especially since I think Sanchez should improve enough this year to be just fine if we don’t ask him to throw 50 times..
We’ve officially signed Jared Wheeler.
He has center experience, so If he can make sure MOLK isn’t on this roster, I will be a big fan… I know everyone worries about Tobin and Barbre starting,… But a COMPETANT back up center is my biggest concern with Kelce’s injury history.
..
I don’t know much about wheeler, but I hope he can be a much better backüp center then Vandervelde, MOLK ISNT even an NFL player so I already assume wheeler is better then him..
Camp body and anything more than that is a pleasant surprise.
Absolutely…
..
if we sign a T/G, he will face a lot of competition to make the roster as a back up.. No T/G can be counted as anything more then a camp body.
..
But if you are a young back up center, who also has Guard versatility that’s trying to find a roster that you have a shot at making, Eagles are one of the first teams Im looking to sign with..
..
While Wheeler ISNT a guy you can count on to make the roster, If he has legit NFL talent, it shouldn’t be that hard for him to make our roster. Like Wheeler,Vandervelde has G/C versatility, but he is almost as banged up as Earl Wolff… Vandervelde missed last year with an injury, and he was sitting out for most of the OTAs with an injury, yet we focus on Wolff because no one really cares that Vandervelde hasn’t practiced much.. Molk doesn’t have the Guard versatility that Wheeler and Vandervelde have, and keeping Molk is sacraficing too much strength to overvalue agility. I saw Molk get blown back into FOles lap too many times… I NEVER seen wheeler play, but if I have to count on a backup center, I’m taking 320lb wheeler without ever seeing him play over a,center like Molk that’s not strong enough to play on this level… I don’t know if Wheeler is any good, but I’d rather gamble on him then to let defensive lineman throw Molk into Bradfords knee…
..
in terms of camp bodies trying to make our Roster, I’d probably say winning our backup Center spot is easier then sticking on this roster as a backup at any other positions..
..
I’m hoping that a decent C/G are two get cut, and when agents see Vandervelde and Molk as our backups, the agents try to funnel their Center clients to Philly…. It has to be the easiest position to surprise and win a roster spot… Wheelers size alone, puts him ahead of Molk as far as I’m concerned… Vandervelde better get healthy and stay on the field or he will find himself in the “Earl Wolff dog house”….
..
Molk is the player from last year that I don’t want to see make this team the most..
.
#teamWHEELER
Misspelling “COMPETANT” is so great.
lmao INCOMPETANT is even better. 🙂
I promise you don’t even speak half as many languages as I do, so don’t be that dick sucker dude nicogroupie.. It’s unbecoming, you Are better then that. Wipe your lips, take a swig of the mouth wash and try again tomorrow 🙂
Uhhhh… I have to confess, until your tirade I didn’t even look to see WHO misspelled it. Just thought it was humorous that of all words, it was that one. Chill dude.
The centerpiece of the offseason lol
Now the whole “plan” is unfolded
I think we’ve all said what we’ve need to on what the roster looks like through mini-camp, so here is what I’m looking forward to next
– lots of injuries to guys on teams I hate. Shopping list starts with injured Giants, Cowboys, and Steelers.
– some actual games in the pre-season. I need to bring my viscous criticisms of Barbre and Tobin to life via some actual live snaps.
– getting Sam Bradford on the m-f-ing football field for some life snaps. All of my complaining about everything else aside, I want to see our QB play.
– none of my fantasy leagues drafting too early and none of my draft picks winding up down the depth chart rather than starting. Nothing says “crappy coach” like sitting my guys behind dudes that suck.
Eliot Shorr-Parks
@EliotShorrParks
16s16 seconds ago
Zach Ertz dropped a new website today with this logo. #Eagles http://www.zachertz86.com
Can the team drop having Celek in for so many plays? I need some better stats from Ertz this year.
Ertz worked his a.. off in offseason on blocking so we can hope
Good. We need some pro bowl action from Zach!
how many years left on his K? He killed me in fantasy last year.
Ertz is in year 3 of his rookie deal.
Good. We need some pro bowl action from Zach!
If Ertz can be a quality blocker in our run game, think it’s big because it will be harder for defenses to know if we are running or throwing.. Last two years it was no secret that when Ertz was on the bench and celek was on the field, good Chance we were probably going to run the ball, and when Ertz was in the game, better chance of us throwing it..
.
We need Ertz run blocking to reach hiis level of pass catching, that way playing him won’t tip our intentions to the defense. Ertz being a quality run blocker will help or play disguise
Ertz worked his a.. off in offseason on blocking so we can hope
wow
Already better than Eli and RGKNee!
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2497008-sam-bradford-will-be-the-franchise-qb-chip-kellys-eagles-have-needed
wow
I’m nervous about our offense, but excited about our defense. Hopefully our defense has improved to where it can win some games for us, even dominate.
Don’t worry, be happy. The future is bright.
first time in a while you can say that.
What exactly are you nervous about? Is the loss of Mathis going to doom the eagles to settle for only Parkey FGs? Do you think there will be injuries? I don’t get why you’re nervous, please elaborate.
I’m not worried about our o-line, I’m nervous about Bradford, Murray, and Mathews staying healthy. I have confidence in Sanchez though. Although I might be the only one. If these guys can stay healthy, I think we’ll have one of the best offenses in the league. We could have a top 5 offense, top 10 defense and #1 special teams.
The eagles have had top 5 offenses in both years under Chip so I wouldn’t worry about that. Bradford is your, and my, only legitimate concern, but we have no choice but to be optimistic. I agree on Sanchez as well that if he needs to play he will be better then last year. Another year removed from the shoulder issue so arm strength should be better and another year in the system should help him tremendously. As for Murray and Mathews, yes that come with injury concerns but for the first time in there respective careers neither has to be the workhorse bellcow RB. That was the point in signing the both of them so Chip can keep legs as fresh as possible. The RB situation should be the least of your worries at the moment. I am all on in on the defense being vastly improved, which will help the offense.
Oline is a bit of a question mark for sure. Peters Kelce and Johnson are a stout 3/5. They all have all-pro talent. And, if those three stay healthy, the line will be better than most. Barbre at LG will probably be just fine for what we need. RG could be anywhere from a black hole of terribleness to serviceable. But, even then, if it’s a black hole, the line should still be plenty decent and certainly above average. The real issue is depth. If anyone gets injured, things could get real bad real fast. 1 injury to any of our 5 starters leaves borderline 3rd stringers as a starter. With the losses of Herremans and Mathis we no longer have any serviceable backups or swing players to be adequate 6th men off the bench. That should concern most fans. It’s a completely realistic and probably should be an expected outcome that at least one lineman gets injured, and the results of that could be devastating. Certainly not the best position to be in.
I’m just most nervous about finding a parking spot for the parade down Broad street.
but beating the colts in the super bowl will be awesome.
“This is the time of year to feel good about your team. Optimism is high for just about everyone.”
Except of course the dolts over at Philly.com!
Optimism doesn’t generate clicks.
rams want to sign big Nick long term.
good for him!
see in the nfc championship young fella
On One hand, they would be smart too… On the other hand, one of the main reasons Im ok taking a flier on Bradfords superior talent is because FOles hasn’t exactly been the posterchild for durability either… Broken hand in year 1, concussion in year 2 and broken collar bone in year 3… if they gave up on what may the most talented young QB after andrew Luck because of durability, might want to see Nick stay healthy for 16 games before they pay him… And if he ends up getting hurt again, they can probably pay him a Little less…
..
curious to see going forward, who can stay on the field more of the two.. Nick didn’t even have to start 16 games his first two years and still couldn’t avoid injury. of course moving forward his injuries are easier to overcome then an ACL, but ACL shouldn’t be too at risk for a pocket QB.. Who knows what effects another concussion can have on Nick… And if the next concussion isn’t bad, he certainly doesn’t want to have a 3rd….then again, we are talking about a sport where injuries are such a huge part of the game. We could be talking about an extremely durable proven QB, and one wrong step and he could end up like Victor Cruz, with one of the worst injuries in sports….
..
See you in the NFC championship? I sure the hell hope NOT! 2 Teams I want to avoid. the Rams and the Texans!! Not because I don’t think we can beat them, but because you fuck around and get your QB hurt playing against those Defensive lines…
I hope not too, that would be too stressful and their d is so good.
I was just thinking it would be pretty wild if it happened.
They could really be a player in a year or two.. NFL is a wild place. going into last year that division was flat out scary… Half the Niners retired, the other half get injured or arrested and what was a dominant team is now a joke. The Cardinals have a good roster, but these dudes are dependent on Old Man Carson Palmer coming off another ACL injury and they don’t seem to even be trying to worry about life after Carson Palmer. You would think they would ATleast start grooming a young QB behind him. JOhn Abraham, Dormell Dockett both gone, Daryl Washington who knows when he will be reinstated…… the Rams aren’t THAT far away from #2 in the division, and play seattle and their rivals tôugh! I would hate to have to play against that DL twice a year…Build that OL up, and if Gurley stays healthy, they aren’t too far away from building a nice team… Curious to see if Nick can get their young WR’s that they spent high picks on going, or if guys like Tavon and Quick will end up being replaced.
..
Shottenheimer was the biggest problem with that offenses. They had plenty of issues but it all started with him… Don’t know how he keeps getting jobs. HIre some hungry young college guy. Anything is tired then this tired, recycled washed up, vanilla scheme coach
With all the O Line talk recently, some folks might like to take a brief trip to go slumming. Just for a change of pace.
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/eagles/20150615_Texas_native_Jason_Peters_still_tired_of_Cowboys_hype.html
It all hinges on Bradford’s play. I think the back end of the D will improve but the biggest problem last year (on a team that went 10-6 remember) was the poor production/turnovers at the QB position. Teams that compete year in and year out have only one thing in common-production from their elite QB’s. Let Bradford get healthy and see what he can do.
“Walter Thurmond could make Nate Allen look like Brian Dawkins.” –
I’m not so sure. I don’t think Stephen Hawking would make Nate Allen look like Brian Dawkins.
Aren’t the raiders paying him like he’s Brian Dawkins ?
Inflation lol
Good read Tommy, and I also feel very much the same about Chip.
I still think many fans aren’t giving him enough credit that he IMO deserves.
He did take over a 4-12 team in his first season got ten wins and won the Division.
Many coaches that transition to the NFL get their feet wet as coordinators or assistant’s, but Chip jumped from College right into the top spot as a NFL Head Coach, just like a guy named Jimmy Johnson.
Many coaches like “The Great Jimmy Johnson” didn’t do so well in their first season as a head coach when the cowboys went 1-15.
His second year they went 7-9.
The third year they went 11-5 and won a playoff game.
In Jimmy’s fourth year they won the SB.
I think if we use Jimmy as a measuring stick, we should give Chip a little slack in his third season.
As of this date, Chip has 20 wins in his first two seasons, versus Jimmy’s eight.
That makes me optimistic as to how good the Eagles will be this third and fourth season.
Tommy kind of makes me feel like a hypocrite. I have bashed just about every move this off-season. I have been vocal in my displeasure. That doesn’t mean I don’t believe in Chip. I just question him. Rightly so, I think.
I do see a bunch of potential in many of the moves. I realize Bradford could become the next Brees. I just think it is risky and more likely he remains injury prone. Bringing up that I think he could POSSIBLY be the GOAT doesn’t further my main point that I thought the trade was dumb, so I don’t say it.
I’m on the record with it now lol. I’ll go further to say I think Thurmond could be a Byrd like safety, Cooper could easily have 1000 10, Kelly could be the next great guard , and of 1000 names we have a nice shot at a good rcb.
So there. I said it. Still don’t love the off-season. I do see potential though however deeply hidden.
Steve Spurrier and Nick Saban went back to NCAA, secured obese contracts, and resumed their winning ways.
Do you think they’re worried about their pro legacy? Let’s look at the stats:
Number of Damns Given, 2015
Spurrier: 0
Saban: 0
Heck, Chip is SINGLE. He gets to decide how all of his fat paychecks are spent. He could buy a custom Harley for every day of the week, and if his girlfriend complains tell her to GTFO.