Potential Playmaker?
Posted: June 2nd, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 305 Comments »Walter Thurmond has a chance to start at Safety for the Eagles. The first reason for that is simply that the Eagles don’t have a very good situation at the Safety position. Right now you might label the group Malcolm Jenkins and the 5 Heartbeats. After all, having a pulse is about all it takes to be in the mix for a starting gig there.
I’m fascinated by Thurmond as a Safety. The more I think about it, the more he reminds me of Damarious Randall, who the Eagles supposedly liked a lot. Randall played in the slot a lot in college. Thurmond has played outside corner and in the slot. They can cover. Both lack ideal tackling skills. Both have good ball skills.
Thurmond was a big time playmaker in college, but hasn’t been one in the NFL. It is harder to be a playmaker at CB, since you don’t spend as much time watching the QB. As a Safety, Thurmond would be able to watch the QB on a regular basis.
Thurmond picked off 12 passes at Oregon. He was a very good PR and KOR. He knows how to catch the ball and he’s dangerous with it when he does get it.
I could see Chip Kelly pushing Thurmond to try Safety because he would like more plays being made from that spot. Nate Allen picked off 4 passes and deflected 5 others last year. With the amount of plays being run against the Eagles, those aren’t compelling figures.
I need to do more tape study on Thurmond, but there is no question that he’s more athletic and more instinctive than Allen was. That gives him a chance to be a playmaker. Obviously the first key for Thurmond is staying healthy. That hasn’t happened much in his NFL career so the Sports Science group has their work cut out. If they can keep Thurmond on the field, he has a chance to be Kelly’s kind of Safety.
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Zach Berman wrote a good piece on Thurmond.
Walter Thurmond received an offer from Eagles coaches four weeks ago. He could stay at cornerback, where he has played his entire five-year career, and compete at a position that became crowded this offseason. Or he could move to safety, where the Eagles’ glaring need has been ignored.
The decision was left to Thurmond. He is now a safety.
“I chose to go to the safety because of the defense we play – there’s going to be a lot of opportunities to make plays on the ball,” Thurmond said. “They felt confident in me to be able to move to that position.”
Thurmond said better access to a starting job was not part of his consideration, but “that’s probably something [the coaches] looked at.”
And
Thurmond practiced at the position in college and has done scout-team work at safety in the NFL, but he has never played it in a game. He believes it’s not much different from his duties as a nickel cornerback, where he made a living in the NFL.
“He’s always around the ball,” Kelly said. “I think he’s had a lot of experience playing nickel, so he’s been an inside guy. He can see things. He’s very intelligent. He’s an intuitive football player. He is the first guy out of that corner mix that is getting a shot at inside.”
I’m glad the Eagles took a chance with someone. I was worried about relying on Earl Wolff (coming off an injury) and Jaylen Watkins (little experience) as the frontrunners.
Thurmond is far from a slam dunk, but he has started on a great NFL defense (2013 Seattle) and knows how to play DB. There is a serious adjustment from CB to Nickel to S, but he at least has some idea what he’s doing. Wolff and/or Watkins could outplay Thurmond and win the job. That’s fine. You don’t mind them winning the job. You just don’t want to hand it to them.
The Eagles don’t need another Dawk or Wes. At this point, they’d settle for Greg Jackson. We’ll see if Thurmond can be that guy.
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Sorry for the rant… For the most part, I consider myself to be a fairly level headed individual. Get stupid around cowboy fans and spend too much time in here probably but oothe than that I’m a god fearing bloke. But… I lose my sh!t when I losten to Bruce Arians. I can’t deal with that smug prick. And please don’t try to defend him. I know my hatred is wrong but so is his hat.
It’s cool man, its just football. I indulge in all kinds of irrational likes/dislikes.
No apologies necessary. There are evils in this world that must be combated and destroyed at every turn.
I’ll co sigń your hatred for that pig faced fool
The more competition the better at safety, especially since I believe Wolff is not long for this league.
Remember to thank the “doctors” employed by the Eagles for doing such a great job with the diagnosis on that one.
Hope that staff isn’t the same as the sports science staff.
Are we still on about how the guy that had an undiagnosed knee injury the entire year is too weak to play the game?
His knee might still be too weak to play the game. Injuries suck.
Sure. It might be. But that’s not what I’m talking about.
A sizable portion of the fan base thought that Wolff sat out last year because, you know, he’s just so weak, mentally and physically. Most of those people changed their tune after the news of his untreated injury came out, but the radio listening mouth breathers are still complaining about his “toughness”. There’s some overlap here from those folks.
I’m not there yet with Wolff.. But I will say that since James Andrews has fully cleared him, if Wolff thinks he can spend this summer working with strength and conditioning coaches on the side, waltz back in with two weeks left in the preseason and think he will make team, let alone be named starter, he is mistaken…
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We can blame the doctors, we can blame wolff, whatever…If Wolff ISNT on the field for at the very least the entire training camp, his roster spot will be in jeopardy… Wolff is a major X factor.. He has the talent to start if he puts it all together, but he can just as easily get himself cut this summer.
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hopefully this kid will be right in time for the mandatory mini camp, and stay healthy throughout Camp, joint practice and preseason so this young man gets a fair shake to see what he can do…. But he better get on the field, I doubt chip tolerates him dicking around with Trainers for the next month after he has been fully cleared to return
It is an interesting approach to try to solve a problem at a position of need. Considering the lack of good safety play across the league, why not take a chance?
At this point who can say which of the five heartbeats will eventually start at safety? Maybe it will be Thurmond, or maybe it will be someone who isn’t even on the roster yet. The Eagles failed to address an empty starting position adequately and now they are hoping a capable starter magically appears.
That said, they’ve done well elsewhere on the roster so hopefully it won’t be a fatal issue.
Hey Tommy, eventually I’d like to hear your opinions on Brandon Graham as a starter. Should we be worried that a guy who was not deemed good enough to start last year was just given a big contract and an almost guaranteed starting role? Does he have the skills needed to play 3-4 OLB or are there holes in his game that teams will look to exploit?
The thing you have to remember with Billy D’s D is that their priorities seem to be, stop the run, stop the run stop the run. Everything else comes from limiting the run game and making teams 1 dimensional. (3.7 Y/A the defence gave up was 4th in the league).
Trent Cole is one of the best run defenders in the NFL as a DE/OLB, so he got to see a lot of 1st and 2nd downs.
Graham was not as good a run defender, but was a better pass rusher and in coverage last year than Trent.
The thing to take into account is the $$ and age – Trent was making too much money for what he was contributing. Graham was retained for what he does on the ‘money’ down.
Now Graham is not a bad run defender – he makes far more splash plays – TFL’s and FF’s, but is less disciplined and is more likely to get moved by a LT.
The only question mark in my mind is can Graham keep up with the physical grind of playing 700+ snaps a season and keep up his power and impact.
It’s practically a “no lose” situation for Thurmond.
He signed for CB money. If he succeeds he’ll be a full time starter instead of a role player/second tier player (as he’s been for the past 5 years). If he fails, it was a coaching mistake and he can go back to corner.
All upside, no downside.
reality i think is given his size he probably wasn’t going to play outside. Maybe he’ll be our Devin Mccourty.
I wonder if Boykin was approached about this same offer this year, or even last year, and chose to stick with corner. It would explain some of the negative subtext that seems to come from the coaching staff.
so small though. i know they want a cover S, but even considering that i’d be afraid he’s not enough of a physical presence
They also didn’t have the same CB depth last year.
Negative subtext? You mean starting boykin a Nickel every single game since chip has been here? No matter how much people cry over the outside CB nonsense, it doesn’t change the fact that the Nickel is an extremely important position in TODAYS NFL that eagle coaches consider a “starter”
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You can have the best Nickel CB in the NFL who in a “down year” didn’t allow a single TD caught over him all year, why the Fuck are fans so obsessed with fucking with that to move him outside? Rhetorical question, I’m not actually interested in silly reasoning…
Can we move Kiko to safety? 1 – he’s from Oregon, 2 – he’s intelligent, 3 – he’s injury prone, 4 – ILB is crowded. This is a match made in heaven.
I hear Bradford was a heckuva safety back in his pee wee days
Not to defend Allen, but 4 INT is acceptable. He definitely stepped up a couple of times with clutch turnovers last year, hard to expect more from a safety, and it got him a silly contract. That said, his lapses were killers. I could see Thurmond being more of a threat to opposing QB, and his good plays being less of a surprise than Allen’s.
If I remember correctly, several of Allen’s turnovers where at the end of halves/games where it didn’t really matter. Which ones we’re clutch because I honestly don’t remember. The big plays is what disways so many fans and maybe Undlin could have helped but I think it was time to move on from Allen. We knew what he was. I would route for him every year after his injury to really turn into a good safety while everyone was down on him. I would have supported the Eagles resigning him but I also support letting him go, especially at that price.
Big fumble recovery in one game, at least one big interception. Though I agree, it was time to move on.
I do remember the one interception that clinched the game. Overall, I remember him being in extremely fortunate positions for the takeaways be it skill or luck. His ints last year of a perfect example of why stats don’t tell the whole story.
yea, i remember he had one int on a hail mary to end a half/game that really should have just been batted down. i remember thinking “that will look nice on his stat sheet later this year when we all forget about the circumstances”.
that said, got did get the ball out of the air and the defender didn’t so he should get some props for that.
Better access to a starting job was not part of Thurmond’s decision? Yea right…Eagles basically said you can either stay at CB where you are a long shot at making the roster or you can move to S where we need help. No brainer, he moved to S. It will be interesting to see what happens, but this is very strange to not have a S option who really is any good to play alongside Jenkins…like the OL I hope this does not come back to bite us again.
How is Thurmond not a potential great fit to play alongside Jenkins?
For the reasons Tommy mentioned…he has never played S at this level before and is injury prone…
Quite a lot of CBs have made the change, its not that unnatural if the guy also has nickle experience
I’d love to know the CBs who have shifted to S and done really well at the new position…if you could name some, that would help lessen my anxiety about this…I think this is a fairly big risk and the result of not being able to get the S they wanted during the off-season or draft…they are now forced to make due the best they can unless another team cuts a starter they like or one of the young guys step way up…
Jarius BYRD, Antrel Rolle, tashuan Gipson
add Mccourty, Godfrey, and Woodson.
yea majority of good safeties these days are converted CBs.
There is one on the Eagles named Jenkins and there was a certain all pro safety we went after this off season.
Also Charles Woodson, Ronnie Lott among others went on to become great safeties
Anything can come back to bite you. Rodgers going down could bite the Packers. Every team has a “weakest” link. If OL is ours, we should be SB favorites. As for S, I think Undlin is the real key here. D could be fun to watch this year, we’ll see.
Undlin could take the DC job from BD if things go poorly this year for the D as a whole.. DBs CANT be any worse this year.. i think Undlin is a huge pick up as well!
Stop it… Billy davis is going no where
Hey Guys! Im Coach Undlin… first order of business, that whole not turning your head thing, scrap that…
That’s obvious I doubt Undlin is the only coach would make that a priority after watching last years tape…..somehow he will need more on his resume then getting NFL corners to turn around before he can even be talked about as a DC. billy Davis is much better then this fanbase seems to think.. And I’m very particular about my eagles defense but billy is legit
Hey, I’ll take Rodgers to see how that works out…;)
We entered the off-season with 3 main areas we needed to fortify/fix….S to play with Jenkins, CB and OL depth.
At CB, we signed Maxwell, brought in Thurmond/Biggers and shifted Watkins along with retaining Carroll and Boykin.
At OL, we largely did nothing other than let Herremans go and hope that Barbre, Tobin & Co. were better than last year.
At S, we also did very little, retaining Maragos, Wolff, Reynolds, Couplin and now shifting Thurmond over to S from CB.
If S and OL depth hurt us again this year, it will not be bad luck; it will be due to calculated risks Kelly took with constructing the roster that did not pan out…that will be on him if it happens.
Nice, though I’m pretty sure Philly fans would find something to worry/complain about even for Rodgers.
FWIW, I think they did a helluva job on roster construction this offseason, I see a roster much more likely to compete in the postseason. But it really all comes down to Bradford. Without him we can make the playoffs, with him we can do more.
What? How does a franchise QB going down compare to moving someone to a whole new position? Or, how does not addressing a position have to do with a starting QB?
Because “not addressing a position” is a fan perspective, not a team one. You can find a lot of support around the NFL for the Eagles having a top 5 OL. Are there issues/concerns? Sure. But name me a team that doesn’t have those, especially when fans are worrying about who the 7th lineman might be. If we have 2014 injuries there, we (and every other team in the league) will be in trouble. If we are closer to 2013, I expect a fun season.
Likewise, our secondary has every chance to be solid. There isn’t exactly a depth of solid safeties in the league. Give Undlin and the new blood a chance, we may be in decent shape when the season rolls around. And the depth at positions such as ILB will help reduce the pressure put on the secondary last year when injuries kicked in.
your reasoning is sound but doesn’t support what you tried to compare. Eagles are attempting to move a corner to safety. Could THAT move bite them? Yes. Can Rogers going down hurt? Yes — but how does that compare as something ‘coming back to bite them’? Apples n oranges….Mixing and matching an argument doesn’t make it sound…If A. Rogers was moved, to say wr and THEN you compare the two, you’d have a point. Comparing a franchise, established player vs. someone who’s being moved — just doesn’t compare…
Any move or lack thereof leaves an org open to criticism. Filling S with Thurmond, not having young backups at OL, or the extreme of not having a proven backup ready to go for Rodgers. Personally, I’d take him in a second and be willing to run with no one as a backup. But my point was that Philly fans tend to see their beers as half empty. 😉
Didn’t really see why trying Thurmond was particularly vulnerable to second guessing. Depth and competition seems to be a good thing, if it shakes out that Thurmond is the best choice come opening day, so be it.
Typically I dont pay much attention when QBs say there arm is much stronger now then last year, but sanchez keeps talking so much trash about his “noodle arm” last year, that I can’t help but to believe him…. He keeps publically trashing his own arm strength last year, called himself a “crappy arm”… Lol he is so Embarressed by last years arm, and the fact he is so comfortable making fun of how shitty his arm was last year, makes me think he is actually telling the truth… It pains me to admit Im happy the Fratboy is an eagle
last week AP went on his silly, naive Twitter rant bashing the vikings for how they are treating him(takes some nerve). He was ripping the vikings left and right… A week has gone by and now AP claims “he has been away from his team for too long, tucking his tail and taking his sorry ass back to the Vikings.. Hopefully AP’s agent who came to his senses gives Evan Mathis and Drew Rosenhause some advice, and saves us from the disaster Rosenhause is steering Mathis into…. my Concern is Eagles will have to cut the all pro guard, and Mathis will end up having to sign with someone else for half of what he is scheduled to make from us, and the ONLY winner in all this is a slimey agent who gets to cash a new commission check after costing his client money..
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AP stopped his bratty tempertqntrum… Evan, if you are out there, come home son… It’s a cold cold world out there, come home….
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truth is, playrs will always be forced to “grab their ankles” in the end, when they go to war with management. That won’t EVER change, until the players are willing to sit out an entire year during the next collective bargaining agreement… Players won’t get anything they want until they collective have the fortitude to be willing to strike an entire season
why will Chip be “forced” to cut him? I’m going to be pissed if that happens, and I just don’t see why it’s an option. We all think Mathis takes care of himself and can miss OTA’s.
A lost season should never happen again in football. Pressure from too many other places besides just the NFL and NFLPA. I have no doubt the networks have a larger say than we know. If you are paying $1 billion a year (or more) to broadcast games, you want that product to be available. Too much money on the line for that ever to happen IMO.
Ultimately Mathis has no leverage so I assume he will be an eagle this year… But after how the owners bent over the players association with little resistance at the last collective bargaining, I think the owners will always win the game of chicken until the players prove they have the stomach to draw a line in the sand and prove they are willing to sit out as long as it takes to force change
Even AP couldn’t make the Vikings watchable.
My issue with the secondary is that we have 1 Good CB and 1 good safety and then question marks. To me it’s not enough that the guys across from our good players merely turn out adequate, propped up by the good player next to them, because if one of our good players goes down we are left with a mess. I can’t feel too good about the secondary unless some of those unknown players end up independently solid players across the good players, then an adequate back up and then we’ll be able to weather some of the wear and tear of a season.
this is the situation most teams are in.
True enough, most relevant teams are an injury away from irrelevance. Luck is such a major part of the NFL. Serious contenders have depth though.
All teams have inherently flawed rosters.
That’s the importance of a franchise QB.
And it’s frankly why anyone who wants to argue Russel is a better QB or more valuable to his team than Luck is outside of their damn mind.
24.7 percent of throws to Zach Ertz last season were uncatchable, according to Football Outsiders.
That was the seventh-highest uncatchable rate among tight ends. Ertz still finished with 58-702-3 as fantasy’s No. 14 tight end, but it could have been so much more as he consistently ran free. The arrival of accurate Sam Bradford along with Ertz’s expected snap-count leap gives him serious 2015 upside.
Wow. That’s more than one pass per game. Assuming he makes 75% of those throws if they’re on target he’s got 70 catches last year.
AND… rewatch the Indy game from last year with Nick throwing… Celek is WIDE OPEN on the 10 and nick misses him with a long over thrown rainbow. Not just Zach…
Maybe it’s the route?
Nick was pretty bad last year honestly. Was Sanchez any worse? The OL and QB were big problems last year and they still are.
Depending on how you look at it, you could say both areas are weaker this year than last. That is saying something…
Sanchize was good when the games where going his way but as soon as the games got tough you could see his frustration come through in a big way. I would be more comfortable with Nick in the home stretch of a tough game.
sanchez’s picks came at the worst time. HE had the O running better than i’d ever seen nick or anyone else run it, but those interceptions, man.
Where do you see this stat? I really wonder what it is for Maclin
Roto
Couldn’t help breaking out in hysterical laughter. Turned the car on, and what’s on the Radio? Jimmy friggin kempski. What’s the first thing I hear him say? “A concern that isn’t being talked about enough is the offensive line” beahahahaha you obsessed, predictable, broken record, stick to your expertise aka drawing stick figures.. All those years I thought the “hack” label was just a joke, turns out Lawlor was on to him sooner then everyone else…
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Most experts expect the Eagles to have one of the better OLs, stick figure boy thinks it’s a major concern up there with Bradford and the safety spot…
He’s talking mostly from a multi-year perspective. I think he would agree with you that 2015 should be fine. It’s just a concern to have not invested any resources into it for 2 years straight. We’ve landed ourselves in a position where to maintain performance levels for years to come without a period of decently significant drop off we may need to make a significant trade/signing and or spend some high draft picks that are able to help sooner than later.
A lot of this rides on if Tobin can live up to what the Eagles see in him and how many good years JP has left with him. If he can play at a decent level in 2016, that would be tremendous. If we could make nice with Mathis and get a good 2016 out of him as well (not looking likely) that would be tremendous. Would give us time to reinforce that O-line in a more organic sort of way.
Color me optimistic (the O word…) but I assume Chip and staff probably know this. If not Jimmy will ALWAYS be there to remind them.
no doubt they know, which make Chips handling of Mathis super ballsy, holding the line on the contract (good) and then publicly shitting on Mathis’ value by testilly pointing out nobody is interested in getting Evan Mathis (dayum!). So either Chip is playing the ballsiest of hard ball on the public stage. Or he believes in his O-line situation behind Mathis. If that’s the case, Kempski is justified in raising a ruckus, however it plays out, you want to try to keep it out of the hands of the football gods as best you can.
We all laughed at Dallas for neglecting their OLine during the first decade of this century.
We were right, their OLine was terrible and they got Romo killed.
If everything goes perfectly (which assumes someone like Barbre or Tobin step up at guard and Mathis plays and age doesn’t catch up with him and/or Peters) the team is set for 2015.
How often does everything go perfectly?
Even if 2015 is perfect, moving forward there are 3 spots that will need addressing sooner than later.
So, yeah, I agree with you Ark87 that it’s a long term concern. But I look at your second paragraph and see too many question marks for this season to say shouldn’t be something to keep an eye on.
QB is always interesting especially with a new guy.
The secondary was so bad last year is has to be concern this year.
Beyond that, though, you’d be a fool to say that OL wasn’t the biggest worry on the Eagles.
No he really isn’t… He been doom n gloom about THIS years OL. Every single week since the draft ended
If Mathis is somehow not here, that would be an issue. Or an injury. We were in a better OL position last year and it was a problem due to injuries. We have lost Herremans (who was still effective; the line got noticeably worse when he finally went out last year) and have not added anyone, while gotten a year older everywhere else (and crankier in Mathis’ case). Johnson is on the upswing so he could be even better than he has been, and maybe Kelce too, but it is a concern from a depth standpoint. We are exposed and just hoping that we don’t get the injury bug there. He may be more pessimistic on Mathis as well, which endangers this year a lot more.
I wish Kempski wrote as much as you did.
There are limited resources to build teams. Chip thinks the CB’s at the time available in the draft were better prospects than the OL, taking into account also the needs of the team. We can’t just draft 20 each of OL and CB’s and safeties.
I’m tired of all this gloom and doom. We don’t have depth at OL, we don’t know who is playing safety. Everyone who posts here knows all this.
Almost all teams have problems. The Pats lost both their starting corners.
This is team building plus a high level super complex game of resource allocation. I’ve not read anything that makes me think Chip doesn’t realize you need to allocate resources effectively. He might make mistakes, but GD all this the sky is falling is tiresome, both from Kempski and some of the posts.
Also Chip isn’t trying to just be good. So maybe he thinks I could take that OL in the 3rd, and maybe he is ok, but I want this ILB who will replace Ryans and be my defensive QB when my team is great.
I trust Chip to figure out this puzzle more than Kempski and others. This is like chess and you have to think many steps ahead. Do I know Chip is right? of course not. But just saying “we should have drafted more OL this year” is looking at one simple step in a long multi-dimensional process.
Yes, all teams have problems. One potential problem with the Eagles is an aging line with little depth.
When discussing concerns about the season -the offensive line should be on a very short list for this team.
yes but is this news at this point? Of course it’s my fault for reading and I could just look away, but we all get it. Maybe I just need to step away for a few days.
June 2. Football season. There is no news.
Folks like us have heard it million times because we’re reading the blogs everyday.
There is always TEBOW.
I heard he drank Gatorade with his left hand today. What do you make of that?
I heard it was powerade.
I see bringing the doom and gloom as a needed correctional for the types of thoughts floating around like “Mark Sanchez will be a good starter for us” and “our secondary will definitely be better this year”.
Kempski could make the same case about McCoy’s contract being too high for the cap; or Foles not being good enough; the corners being terrible; or any number of things. He is really click baiting at this point. Chip can only do so much and he may not be aiming to be a finished product this year.
Cameron Jordan – DL – Saints
Saints signed DE Cam Jordan to a five-year extension worth up to $60 million.
The deal, which runs through 2020, includes a hefty $33.6 million in guaranteed money and nearly $27 million over the next two years. It’s a ton of cash considering the down year Jordan had in 2014, but we saw his sky-high ceiling in 2013 when he graded out as a top-four 3-4 end in PFF’s grades. Still just 25 years old, Jordan 28 sacks in his last 48 games. The Saints continue to invest heavily in their defense and running game this offseason.
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This deal looks like it could be the benchmark for a Fletcher Cox deal. I wonder if Chip would invest that kind of money in Cox.
Cameron Jordan is really a 4-3 DE and is getting paid like that.
Cox should get paid like a DT and Wilkerson’s deal will be a good benchmark for what Cox should get.
Kelly him self have said that OL and DL is the two most important parts of a team and assistant HC Azzinaro looooooves Cox and Kelly called him the team MVP.
Doesn’t really matter what you say he is, what matters is the position he plays now which is 3-4 DE. Also your logic seems off again because regardless of what you think they should be paid as, they should be paid as the position Cox plays which is 3-4 DE same position Wilkerson plays.
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Chip also says a lot of things so that doesn’t necessarily mean he would invest big money in Cox. Don’t get me wrong I want Cox to be around for the long haul but I second guess Chip handing out contracts to players he inherited. I hope for the best outcome which is a long term deal for Cox, but I wont believe it until I see it.
My point is sacks is what pays you in the end and everybody knows 3-4, 4-3 means shit any way, its more a matter of where you line up.
Take JJ Watt, listed as a 3-4 DE, but lines up like a JPP or Justin Tuck used to do for the Giants (how Darren Howard did for us)
Wow, forgot all about Darren Howard. I was very excited about him. He had some very good moments for us but overall disappointed.
New Orleans let Howard walk 1 year too early instead of 1 year too late.
I thought Howard worked out very well here. He wasn’t the best DE in the league here, but he wound up being a VERY good piece.
I agree. I think I was just expecting more from him. He did good for us but I did expect even more.
Yeah, the Saints are a 1-gap 3-4, Eagles are a 2-gap. Saying they’re both 3-4 is kinda like saying Andy Reid and Chip both run a WCO.
But I’ve been saying for a while that I don’t know that they’ll pay enough to keep Cox given how much he could really dominate in a 1-gap scheme. We’ll find out soon enough, I think.
With Cox if we don’t get him locked up before he hits FA it will matter that he can play DT in a 4-3 and it actually fits his skill set better. 4-3 teams may be willing to pay him top DT money which is more then top 3-4 DE money. That is something we may have to compete with especially if Cox think he will be more valuable on field wise and financially wise as a 4-3 DT.
excellent
If cox continues to stay healthy, he isn’t a player that you will allow to play out his final year without an extension…
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Maclim was coming off an injury, and even then we offered him a 5yr deal(trying to lowball him into an extension of course). There was no way you could offer Maclin a crazy Longterm extension before seeing how he would play this past season coming off the Injury… I Would assume Cox won’t even play a single game of His 5th season on his curremt rookie deal.
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I could understand when people doubted chip would extend Brandon Graham, that I could at least understand…. But I have no clue where people got this idea…
Honestly I don’t think you can say anything is a guarantee with any player on this team.
How many times have we all guaranteed and swore about something this off season and we were wrong? That goes for me, you and others.
What is the limit Kelly is willing to go with him finance wise? I really think he is going to blow up next year and the perfect time to extend him is now. If his agent is doing his job he wouldn’t even listen to an offer now.
With how he is a better fit in a 4-3 1 gap scheme the smartest thing for Cox and his agent to do would be to hit FA to force the Eagles to pay more.
Due to Coxs talent, his fit, and our scheme this isn’t a normal extension like you seem to suggest it will be.
Thats silly… Guarantee Lane Johnson signs an extension with the eagles. There! See how easy that was?
Ummm yeah, that’s really obvious. Johnson fits best as a T, unlike Cox who fits better as a 4-3 DT and can potentially earn more money at that position. The agent is going to do his job. Not acknowledging that is ignorant.
Comparing Coxs situation to Lanes isn’t smart.
JE:
Excellent points.
Cox is the Eagles’ best D-lineman. No question about that. The question is one of money.
Davis’s 2-gap 3-4 scheme seems not to depend on game-changing 3-4 DEs. Rather, the scheme seems like a mirror of the Steelers’ defenses of the ’90s-’00s.
Also, Cox hasn’t put up the kind of sack numbers that Watt or M.Wilkerson have posted.
For example, Wilkerson — playing in Ryan’s 3-4 attacking defense — has posted 21.5. Cox, in a 4-3 1-gap as a rookie and the past two years under Davis, has 12.5 sacks in the past 3 years.
Part of that is scheme.
In fact, Cox’s best year so far is 5.5 sacks as a ROOKIE under Washburn — who was dead-on right about Cox as a 4-3 attacking DT.
But with Kelly’s arrival, Cox — despite being on the field for just about every passing down, and playing ALL across the D-line — hasn’t moved into the next tier as a *Pass Rusher*.
Ultimately, when Cox’s deal is up — if not resigned in advance — we could see a Maclin-like situation.
Kelly may set a ceiling on how much he’ll pay Cox.
But another team –one that runs a 1-gap 4-3 defense — like the Lions, for example, may see Cox as worth more money.
So I’m with you on the “believe it when I see it” approach.
Bingo. He has to be worth more to a team like the Lions than us. Sad but true.
It’s very important that we get him extended before he hits FA. Unfortunately the only way I see that happening is if he wants nothing else then to play in Philly.
On his side though I think he would be stupid to not hit FA though. There is no doubt in my mind he will make more money as a DT in an attacking 4-3.
Winning a playoff game or two might help.
Yes it would. With how easy our schedule is and our improvements I think as long as Bradford doesn’t go down we will definitely get to the playoffs. Fingers crossed.
As far as winning in the playoffs let’s hope we have greatly improved.
That is a strong argument, but let me weaken it just a tad. Cox is more valuable than your rational deductions allow for because our D is much more of a hybrid than those Steeler defenses, and Davis utilizes his versatility as 1 and 2-gap DE/DT. Replacing Cox with a prototypical 5 technique, 2-gap DE might yield similar results v the run, but the QB pressures and the attention of the OL that Cox can draw by his ability to rush when it suits him is a valued weapon. His sack totals may be unimpressive, but the DL’s ability to create mismatches and find holes to the QB begins with 91’s dominating play. Those Steeler D’s were much more dependent on OLB pressures than this Eagles D. If Graham and Smith are the extent of our OLB punch, we cannot afford at this stage to not keep Cox. But I do concede that there will be a ceiling on how much he will get to stay in Philly.
That must suck… I would hate to be a fan who has to worry about losing the best player on our entire roster… I would lose my mind if I felt I had to “see Cox get paid to believe it”…I do not envy you my friend
Why so much faith in Chip handing out a big contract to Cox? In hindsight yes no GM should want to lose there best player, but again Chip isnt a normal GM. Everything Chip says or does must be taken with a grain of salt until it actually happens.
Fair enough, you are entitled to see things how you see them… Personally, it’s not something that registers as a concern in my brain.. Chip might do things different, but he doesnt do things different ENOUGH to devalue the battle in the trenches.. By the end of this season, Fletcher will be nationally recognized as one Of the very best elite NFL players under the age of 25
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Fletcher Cox had impressive stats, but his stats don’t even do him justice.I can assure you when Chip watches tape, he realizes that a portion of the stats/success all our better defenders raćked up are a DIRECT RESULT of the Dominance of Baby Fletcher…
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Fletcher is the best player on this roster, easily the most valuable defender, Has,been extremely durable, is a class act, and is Known for being a dominant practice player which Im sure chip adores… People act like we are a 3-4 2gap which is a load pf crap. we are a multifront defense that uses plenty of 3-4, but whenever it’s the MONEY DOWN aka 3rd down, we are typically in our 4 man line… The,goal of our defense is to be able to morph into a different type of defense from one snap to the next, even if the offense doesn’t let us substitute… A multi Front defense can’t find a player more valuable then Cox. Who can be elite no matter how you want to line up….
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We are talking about a franchise player, Cox not playing his next 5 years in philly, is what I have to see to believe
if you aren’t going to pay one of the best players under the age of 25 in the NFL, who has been totally durable, is a class act and is known to be an excellent practice player, someone who sets the tone every day… Name your favorite front 7 players, bet you Cox is almost responsible for 20% of each of their stats lol..he was DOMINANT at the age of 23, his second season ever two gapping.. I think he just started to realize how dominant he is and this year we will see him reach the status of hands down, the best this city has seen since Jerome and Reggie
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DAWKINS being in the news today got me thinking how DAWKINS is one of the very very few defenders we have seen in recent Eagle history who would have been Good enough to play for the 1990, 91 Eagles defense.. Think about it, As crazy as it is to say, that Defense was so darn STACKED that it’s hard to find defenders since then that would have been good enough to play for that defense, which is crazy when you think about how great the Jim Johnson defenses were…
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I guess Troy Vincent and Bobby could have made those rosters. sheldon Brown was AWESOME, but he won’t be overthrowing Eric Allen…
trotter and Demeco are two of my favorite LB that I could ever root for and they wouldn’t start on that 91 defense..Hugh Douglas, Trent Cole, not good enough…
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DAWKINS, Troy Vincent and Fletcher Cox may be the 3 Defenders we have seen in the past 25 years that were good enough to play for the Buddy Ryan Eagles, and that’s just a crazy testament to how amazing that defense is, amd how talented young Cox is,,.
Kelly loved Maclin too but there was a point where the price just got too high. The question is, how much does he value Cox (I assume very high), and then how much do other teams value Cox (if it’s even higher, he could leave).
maclin reached the open market bud, partly because he was coming off an injury so we weren’t comfortable offering him enough early in the season to keep him away from the open Market…
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A player like Fletcher,Cox, if he continues to stay healthy, I HIGHLY DOUBT he ever even plays out his final year without getting extended..
“partly because he was coming off an injury so we weren’t comfortable
offering him enough early in the season to keep him away from the open
Market”
Cant be true he was annualizing at like 2,000yds early in the season. I think he wanted to wait till the end of the year, probably b/c the offers we were giving were in that $7-8m range, which is probably the right range if you don’t consider the cap increases over the next couple of years.
We offered Maclin a pretty hefty long-term contract the year before, but he decided he wanted to hit the open market, so he opted for the one-year deal instead. If Cox is determined to hit the market, then he can — he doesn’t have to sign. The Eagles might have to offer him what his agent think *other* teams would value him at, in order for him to sign early. There is no telling, really.
I see Cox getting a very fair deal for himself. Chip really appreciates players like him. Look what he did for Barwin. Chip seems to reward players the he really appreciates. Sends a good message to the team.
I’m unclear what exactly happened to Barwin’s contract.
My impression was some salary was guaranteed.
But that’s it. No pay increase.
Yes? No?
Reports were they added $750K for the years 2016-2018, but yes, most of it was that they guaranteed salary for 2015 and a chunk of 2016.
Thanks for clearing that up.
I was under the impression there was a slight pay increase. Maybe I’m wrong.
Agreed. Fletch has never shown the pass rush prowess of this guy, and that is why he is making that money.
“Azzinaro looooooves Cox”
At a certain point, i figured this would stop being funny. I was totally wrong.
personally, I don’t THNK I have to “Wonder” whether we are going to lose the best player on our entire roster…. As a GM chip has proven that he will pay for quality. See Byron Maxwell.. if ANY eagle is going to get paid, my money is on the Best player on our entire Roster, Fletcher Cox
Tebow is the left handed guy.
Its clear that Tebow still thinks more about his release compared to Bradford, but once he starts it looks smoother and faster than it did.
The big question is of course how much it breaks down in real life football
It looks like Tebow is still thinking about the whole motion in general, including footwork as compared to Bradford is just doing his thing. Looks like Bradford has a nice “snap” to the release.
I think we already did some of that last year in practice.
95 limping vs the dummies. siiiiiighhh. I really want him to stay healthy and make Chip love him as I do. Ye will be missed kendricks.
Yeah, but to be fair, that is high density, closed-cell foam.
In another era . . . that technique was described as: “Head across the bow – Arm thrust.”
Q-Rollins — the B-ball player turned CB at Miami Ohio — tackled just that way. He hadn’t played football long enough to develop the bad tackling habits of most CBs. Instead, he used the form tackling he was taught 12 months ago in spring practice . . . and looked very good applying that technique in games.
Certainly a position I will be watching very closely come camp time.
sure sounds like tebow is no good at all.
so much so he is making barkley look like manning. (peyton)
news flash I know
How many Heismans do our QBs have?
can’t throw a Heisman trophy
you totally can, it’s not that big.
can it be deflated?
The winner’s ego can be.
Tebow can’t, anyway.
hey, if Shane Falco can throw a trophy underwater…
Give Tebow enough time to wind it up on his catapult and just maybeeee he could.
didn’t vince young win the Heisman?
To those who DONT believe in what will be the opening day starter at CB, Nolan Carrol:
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“If there is one guy who has been Killing it from on the field to the weight room has been Nolan Carrol. His technique has drastically improved I think he feels a lot better playing outside corner a lot more confident. he still has the ability to play Dime and nickel but he is really starting feel comfortable and making a lot of plays on the outside too so THATS been really encouraging to see the work he has put in, in the weight room and how well his technique has transitioned to the field”-Malcolm Jenkins..
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“Nolan has done an unbelievable job this offseason. he is a guy that stands out in terms of what he has done in the weight room and some of the other things”-chip kelly
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last summer, if you attended any of the open practices, usually Nolan was the star of the secondary, putting together what was an impressive camp. kid got hurt at the worst time Imaginable and Bradley put together a decent 2013 campaign… Because the coaches stuck with Bradley during his slump, giving him a chance to fight his way out of losing confidence in himself, fans think Nolan is some bench scrub and ARENT very excited about the prospect of him starting on the outside… But from everything I have seen, he is capable of being better then most seem to think..
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with Thurmond moving to safety, and Corner being a terrible position to start a rookie at, the outside corner position is Nolans to lose, and all the indications point to him working his tail off this offseason, really trying to make the most of this opportunity…..
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I also think,Thurmond replacing Late Allen in centerfield could turn out well for us.. But even if he doesn’t win the job, it’s good to have a veteran competing back there considering how many young players will,be competing at that spot… I think Thurmond has a better shot to make it at safety, then Nolan..so far, so good with the DB decisions..
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Players claim that Byron Maxwell is one of the funnier guys in the locker room, a guy that is always happy, always smiling when you see him in the building, sounds meaningless but that sort Of thing matters to chip
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if you have never heard Kiko Talk, take the time to check out a few of his interviews on Eagles homepage. The dude is naturally hysterical, such a space cadet/football savant.. The media is going to enjoy interviewing him… KIKO says he thought he would have to take it slow when he first got here, but he is surprised how well his knee feels and surprised that he has been able to do EVERYTHNG, be a “full participant” since he arrived…
Start back four will 99% be Nolan, Maxwell, Jenkins and Thurmond
I’d bet money on Nolan, Maxwell and Jenkins starting….
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While I can absolutely see Thurmonds skill set transitioning well to the safety position in this defensive scheme, and I would easily give him the best odds of being the opening day starter, I DONT think I can say that I would bet on him starting in September… I PROJECT he will do well at safety, there are just too many young competitors at that position that I just have no fucking clue what they will bring to the competition… I’d be comfortable betting on Nolan, because I have no faith in rookie corners and have an idea what we will get from the other players competing against Nolan for that spot..
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but too much competition at safety that is a complete unknown to me, and I try not to be close minded and assume that an unknown is always a,bad thing. I didn’t see Jaylen Watkins play safety last year, I didn’t get to see Reynolds play much safety last year along with 3 other competitors, even worse, I have No clue how much they will improve from Last year
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3 years ago I would have bet on Wolff having the talemt to be a bad mother shut yo mouth by year 3 who will be starting for us, but who the hell knows what that kids going to look like these days…
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I am excited about moving Thurmons to safety, while I’m not ready to bet on him winning the spot, I damn sure won’t be betting on any of our young safeties beating him out,…… Hopefully Thurmond thrives, and at least 1 young safety steps up and is Able to at least be legit competition for Thurmond
My hope is Thurmond or Wolff wins, while both looks good and one of Watkins or Reynolds also looks improved.
As long as someone wins it and it doesn’t result in a shrug and a committee effort all season, I’ll be satisfied.
I just want someone to actually WIN IT, and not just LOSE IT Less then all the other options,… If we get Lucky, we end up with at least two guys who are actually looking like the can play, stepping up, rise to the occasion and try to fight there way into that starting spot.. Hopefully we have a few guys looking good, and we see a real camp battle for that spot….
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We have a stable of young safeties with a great opportunity getting to compete for a wide open starting spot.. Hopefully we find out that a couple of these kids can play. not ONLY do we NEED a starting Safety, but we NEED DEPTH too
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I think we have decent amount of corners that I think are going to be good enough to still be here in 2016 and 2017.. Hopefully we find out that Malcolm Jenkins isn’t the ONLY safety good enough to still be an eagle two years from now.. NOTE: I do not count Maragos as a safety. I think he will be here in 2016 and possibly 2017, but not because of his safety prowess..
that or a new D coord. I also think safeties and DBs are getting burned weekly with the rules and the crazy offensive numbers that seem to go up every season. Fans might be a little myopic there and think they are so much worse off than other teams when maybe its closer than we think. Thats where scheme and coaching can help.
from 24/7 piece on Boykin. Repeating myself etc.
Or DBs getting beat because of coaching?
Or “behind only New England’s Darrelle Revis, Indianapolis’ Vontae Davis, Buffalo’s Corey Graham and Houston’s Kareem Jackson”.
This means that EVERY CORNER, other than these 4, in the league was beaten more than Boykin, who only played FIFTY percent of snaps. As I’ve mentioned before, ;~), all DBs get beaten. Often. I can’t wait until the screeching starts on these sites when some receiver beats ANY Eagles corner or safety.
Oh the humanity.
I think you’ll see more of a rotation like we had for parts of 2013 season, instead of same people playing all of the time.
Hate to say it I don’t take any stock in anything team mates and coaches are saying about Nolan right now. I have always kinda liked the guy. Wanted him to take over for Bradly (like the rest of you) early last season. Just not buying it.
you aren’t buying that Nolan is:
A) sticking out to Nolan as Somene who is going about his business there right way this offseason, putting in the work to try and win the job?
And
B) that he is standing out as Someone who is looking more comfortable now then he did in his first year?
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Lol ok…. Somehow I don’t think Chip or Malcolm have made any outlandish statements worth questioning….No One is telling you that he is looking like Richards Sherman these days…but, players compete with each other in the weight room, all they are saying is Nolan happens to be one of the more impressive weight room performers this year, which im sure is Factual, that any player who has been working out here can confirm, especially the players in the DB room… And saying a guy sticks out as looking much comfortable in his second offseason them he did a few months after just arriving in Philly is something that’s Hard for you to buy?
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before Nolan Became an eagle. He was one of the bargain basement free agents available that I though could offer better value than what they cost.. then the Eagles signed him. Since then, I saw him stand out in numerous practices last offseason, I saw him have a solid season as our Dime Corner, and with an opportunity for a starting spot is wide open, I hear he happens to be working his ass off, and that he looks better in year 2, then he did in year 1.. Sorry, but that’s not anything groundbreaking that I would call chip and a and Malcolm a liar off of…
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personally, If I had My way, fans wouldn’t even have to listen to anything players say because they would take the minimal half our to check our his technique in the Miami days, and if you really care, take a closer look at a free open practice or two, so fans could form their own opinion but THATS too much to ask, I know.. I live in a world where an Unknown player is a BUM! Even if every great player at some point was,an unknown who people just assumed was a bum…
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Truth is. Because the Eagles Played Bradley Fletcher ahead of him, people scoff at him as a starting option?. I’d bet if you take the time to watch his technique, you would feel better about him. I like his balance of being a strong. Physical, tôugh corner, but still a smooth, fluid athlete…
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Nolan can play…Rowe is going to be a stud, so eventually he is going to play opposite of Maxwell, but when THAT happens, I bet we still see Nolan on the field helping our defense. he will find some other role or Subpackage to play in… He isn’t going to be the next Bradley Fletcher who we will be stuck watching, counting down TIL we can get rid of him and never see him again…when Rowe eventually takes that corner spot, You will still see Nolan find his way onto the field to help tbis defense in one way or another, the kid can play
I never said I didn’t like Nolan. I do. I just don’t put stock into these types of June comments. It can set you up for disappointment. When buying stock nothing garunteed, just as these comments garuntee nothing.
I think Nolan can win the job and do ok. I just am not willing to buy stock right now.
Been saying that about Nolan since we got him. He really was a solid player in MIA and because Davis didn’t adjust sooner and put Nolan in there people think he sucks. Not the case.
If I was Maxwell I would be smiling as well after getting that contract. Seriously though, I am glad to hear that news regarding him.
Yeah Kiko has seemed like a funny guy. He should be a player worth interviewing for a laugh.
I was thrilled when we signed Thurmond. I didn’t see the safety move coming, but I do think it is a very interesting and smart move. People don’t know that he is actually very active in run support, and is also known as an effective Blitzer. I think he does need to gain a little weight though.
He just had solid corners ahead of him in Miami, sort of like this years free agent “Davon House”, who is projected as a good corner but hasn’t played much because of veteran corners ahead of him on the depth chart…. nolan can play.. Smart, tough, competitive fucker…
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thurmond could turn out to be a major steal, but his health will dictate that. with him, there has never been a question about Ability…It’s been a question of keeping him on the field…
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even if we didn’t move him to safety, I love his versatility to play outside, nickel and dime. Didn’t give much thought to safety, but it actually could make sense, I’d definitely rather try him at safety instead of moving Nolan to safety…
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I love what they are doing with the secondary. they are basically blurring the lines between safety, corner, and a lot, adding a bunch of DBs who can cover, but are physical enough to play the run… most of the players that we will see in games, are capable of playing multiple positions in the secondary, giving us a ton of versatility.. Even a guy like Maxwell can easily move inside if we find ourselves in a situation where we need him to shadow a top WR in the second half who they are moving atound to try and get away from Byrons maximum security lockdown….
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if we can keep Thurmond on the field, We could be pleasantly surprised by our secondary this year. And the best part is even if Nolan and Thurmond end up doing an awesome job, we already have top end replacement Rowe being groomed on the Bench… So take Nolan for example, even if he proves to do a solid job for us outside, but Rowe is ready to take over next year, Nolan and also Thurmond have the ability to move to other Subpackage roles so we will still have use for them on game,day…. Once Rowe takes over opposite of Bmax, Nolan either goes back to being a HECKUVA Dime CB, or replaces Boykin in Nickel if we lose him…
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We could see a situation where Rowe replaces Nolan outside in 2016, a safety upgrade replaces thurmond or whoever wins that job this year, and Thurmond becomes our Nickel, with Nolan going back to Dime…
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Gone are the days of a scared secondary playing on their heals on 3rd down.so afraid, lacking all confidemce that they don’t even turn around to try and make plays on the ball… We are big, long, and we were going to play an attacking style of defense and really go after teams on 3rd down. jam the WRs at the line, while curry, cox,Barwin, BG get after it..
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I also expect blitzing Kendricks and KIKO to add a major boost to our pass rush. jenkins also happens to be one of the best blitzing safeties in the game.Its not a DAWKINS blitz, but it will do..
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I’m thinking we start brainwashing our safeties. break them down, censory torture, blasting loud music in their ears, crazy flashing lights in their face, while we hold their eye lids open and force them to watch highlights of DAWKINS for days at a time…
http://www.phillymag.com/birds247/2015/06/02/three-eagles-numbers-that-matter-8/#more-2963544
This article is definitely not a feel good article. Hate being in the stats are dumb camp haha.
Pope Mathews 3:16
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jordan allegedly made a “beautiful one hand, over the shoulder catch along the sideline”…
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When reporters tried to ask the Pope about the amazing catch afterwards, the pope blessed them with the “I already turned the page man, don’t worry about it”…like a boss…
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Dave Spadaro just nicknamed B-Max, “Swaggy B” on the air… He has no shame…
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the pope also claimed that “swaggy B”(I guess) was the toughest corner he went up against last year. They both got their hands on the same ball today, fell to the ground and stayed on the ground wrestling for the ball, neither wanted to get up and let go of the ball…
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love the competition… hate that Huff sits out with a hip issue, MS2 and Wolff are both still out.. basically 3 of the young players who need to get their butts in the field the most, are still out..
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multiple media members claim ArchBishop Agholor’s speed stuck out today.
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BREAKING NEWS:’Allegedly, Timmy TEBOW Sucks,,,
Yeah, it is awkward and a little uncomfortable when someone takes it upon himself to just assign a nickname to a player, instead of letting it develop naturally, isn’t it?
MUah..
A rose by any other name…
A_T_G_DAHHHHLINGGGGG
So that makes Tebow “SEAGLE”? sucky eagle…?
teblow
Sorry, but I refuse to recognize him as an Eagle sooner then I absolutely have to.. As of right now, he is a summer Arm, which is basically a little better then being a lifeguard., Do what you are good at all year(SEC NETWORK) and in the summer you spend a few months throwing at Novacare or life guarding down in Margate..
he “sails” passes right over WRs heads. Okay Ill see myself out
“He has no shame…” says one guy who gives terrible nicknames to Eagles players to another.
Where did the name Pope come from?? lol
This is the first time you have seen Jordan Mathews referred to as pope? Not trying to be an asshole, that just surprises me. It’s pretty common at this point..
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it comes from basically exaggerating that he was the anti Tereell Owens who always gave the perfect answers and did everything a fan would hope to see from a young player.. Basically. If Jesus played football he would be jordan Mathews sort of thing…
Nah i always saw you refer to him as Pope.. Just never knew the reasoning behind it.. Oh the Anti-TO haha Hmm makes sense.. Pope just too clean for me.. Everybody has some bad boy in them lol
Lol fair enough… pope Mathews, Archbishop Agholor…
Our running backs can be the Holy Trinity.
I dig it,,,. Beats the old tired “3 headed monster”..
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bradford is the spiritual Indian Cheif…
Think of him as a Medici pope.
Wonderful historical reference.
The Medici Popes . . . more than a little “bad boy” among that foursome’s family. How else to explain all that money they had to support the arts.
The early popes had no problem with marriage and mistresses either.
Kiss my ring.
Thinking about this years roster I had a funny thought.. We decided to keep an extra offensive lineman because backups played so well in the pre season and camp… Bet had we known I starting offensive lineman would be left at the end of the skins game, not keeping the extra OLineman would have even been a consideration…
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Under reasonable amount of injuries, we should be fine this year returning all of last years lineman with the exception of Molk who I can’t stomach and doesn’t have the Guard versatility that we get from Vandervelde backing up Kelce..
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But Hopefully we can get lucky and one or two of the camp lineman we signed turn out to be a player.. What we basically need is for one, two if we are lucky of the 3rd team offensive lineman, overthrowing their 2nd team counter parts..
brett Byko
josh Andrews
Mike Coccia
Cole “the porn star” or “the anchore man”(havent decided yet) Manhart
malcolm Bunch
One or two of those names need to out play Gardner,vandervelde,MOLK, Graf or Dennis Kelly…I would assume MOLK would be the first to be replaced. Next would be either Graf or Kelly (not sure who we are more high on).
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most fans seem to assume we are only 5 or 6 deep at OL. But the Eagles knew what was going on with Mathis and they had no problem cutting Herremans immediately. he was under contract, they could have easily held on to him until you see who you can sign and what you can add in the draft. heck they could have cut him June 1st and Herremans still would have found a job.. I Think Stoutland and Kelly think one or two of the players who may have struggled last year can play. I don’t know if they are high on Graf, Kelly, Gardner, Vandervelde, but our handling of the OL position this offseason makes me think that Chip and Stoutland are high on a few more Young guys besides Tobin and Barbre(yes I know he isn’t young)… At least I hope..
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Think Molk will be the one with most pressure on.. Pretty much just a C.. Coccia, Andrews or even Vendervelde C/G versatility
Yeah if one of the 3rd team guys plays their way on the squad, MOLK would probably be at most risk of being cut,.. basically I think we have to be dissapointed in all the bachups who can play center for Molk to make this roster (fingers crossed)… When it comes to MOLK, I feel like it’s way too much overvaluing athleticism and devaluing strength and power for my taste.
All those guys either suck or are totally unproven. Sign me up for signing a center off the street.
WOULDNT “guy off the street” also be “unproven”
and suck
Some guys are released because of cap reasons or age. I’ll take old and average over young and sucks.
that’s what she said
We did that last year with the Wade fellow…meh
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Prefer mining for hungry young talents who may have stripped thru the cracks, or just so happen to fit what you do better then the team that kicked them to the curb
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Of course this depends on what we are looking for. If we are looking to pick someone up who we will have to ask to play right away because of injury disasters to starters and depth, obviously you aren’t going to go looking for unproven young playrs..
The Eagles kept an extra lineman because Johnson was suspended to start the season.
“Cole “the porn star” or “the anchore man”(havent decided yet) Manhart”
This is literally the next discussion thread after the one where you made fun of Spuds for assigning players nicknames.
That is too perfect for snarky commentary. You made my night. Thank you.
I like “the anchore man”. It sounds like an early 60s Otto Preminger film.
I’m a little surprised you still read his comments.
Though I have to admit the replies to him are usually pretty good.
First, I read almost every comment on here.
More importantly, GEAGLE makes a lot of good observations and shares some interesting thoughts. Some of his ideocincritices I just can’t let go, and some of the hyperbolic rhetoric makes my eyes glaze over, but I honestly read each comment with fresh eyes and usually I am glad I read them.
Eagles gotta keep Bunche, Manhart and Coccia just for their names! Also a couple grew up as Eagles fans. They might actually want to play here, so will shine. ;~)
Look who got a chance to return kicks at practice today! Offensive line, defensive line, garbage container and now kick returner… the guy does it all! #Versatility
I thought Chuck passed away recently?
And, looking at the picture, he seems to want to play both ways.
He’s keeping his lid on a swivel.
I was hoping for Kinne, but this is good news too.
I thought there were pressers today. I expected more news. Not real news, but you know over analysis of Chip being chippy with the press.
Chip did not speak to the press – just the players post practice.
Couldn’t help but be fired up by this blurb from Sheil’s daily practice notes: “Matthews gets lined up with Byron Maxwell on the outside. Sanchez faces a blitz and chucks one down the right sideline. Maxwell sticks with Matthews, but the receiver hauls in a terrific over the shoulder catch.
Matthews and Maxwell get matched up again. Maxwell jumps in front of Matthews, and both players go to the ground with control of the ball. Impossible to tell from our angle whether it is a catch or interception. Eventually, they get up, and Matthews has the ball.”
If you enjoyed that,Sheil has an excellent article up about Jordan Mathews being asked about all that after practice.
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Maxwell was the only Cb to hold Jordan under 20yards. the Pope claims that if you would have asked him who was the toughest corner he faced was last year “he would have easily said #41 Seattle, then I turn on my TV and the guy is on my team”…… Pope,goes into detail about what makes Bmax so great, and how much being able to go against him every day is going to help him. it’s an excellent read.
Loved this quote from Miles Austin:
“If they ask me to come out here with the lawn mower and mow this field,” he said, “that’s what I’ve got to do.”
Apparently this line of discussion came to pass after a reporter overheard Miles telling Cooper that he likes to keep it trimmed nice and short so that Cox looks bigger.
And Sanchez was saying, “If there’s grass on the field…”
The cool part is that quote reflects the mentality of most of the players on this roster..
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It’s year 3, and we are finally really seeing a roster full of the high Culture guys he talked about for the first two seasons. I think this is first time we are really starting to see the vision he has been talking about since he arrived.
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When you look at our Locker room now, can you imagone how much a guy like T.O or Desean would stick out like a sore thumb on this team?
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StronglymRecomend heading over to the PE site and check out the recent video of Fletcher,Cox in studio with McPherson…Just hear Fletcher Cox talk and its a microcosm of what Chip created. mcPherson kept trying to congratulate him on the all pro, and dwell on the individual accomplishments and cox isnt even comfortable going there.. He rather talk about the team.. Perfect example is when he talks about how even tho he reached this level, he helps everyone, and he takes coaching from everyone.. “I still take coaching from Bennie Logan, I still take coaching from Bair”… An 24yr old All Pro humbly welcoming coaching from a 30yr old fringe roster veteran?
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hear what players say about Bmax, and it’s the prototype of what chip wants. They call him one of the funniest guys on the team and a guy who walks around happy all the time, smiling whenever you see him in the building.. Sounds dumb, but the “always happy”, “always smiling at work” sort of thing seems to really matter to chip, no surpise to hear that quality in his prized free agent..
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All the players rave about Bmax and a lot of the young DB and WR talk about how they look up to him, then you hear Bmax talk, and you hear such a confidemt, yet humble, driven guy who raves about teammates like the “cerebral” Malcolm Jenkins who Maxwell praised “He has only been an eagle for one year, but he knows the defense like the back of his hand”.,.
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Most of Andys fingerprints have been wiped away, and we are now really starting to see the Vision we heard about and scrutinized the past two years.. Culture of highly driven, passionate, Intelligent, United teammates, deep roster, built on competition….. If we were to trade for a guy like Percy Harvin, or Desean Jackson, they would stick out like sore thumbs on this roster….yet, that used to be one of the stars our young players would look up to…. That says it all….
and jackson isn’t even showing up to OTAs for his new team.
Yeah that’s just crazy.. Especially after you sounded like a jackass calling yourself the team to beat and pretending that you didn’t just go 4 and 12..
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Such a talented player, but Pierre Garcon should punch him in his mouth
the older i get the more i realize that some people are just impossible to understand
these are voluntary workouts.
Yeah yeah, yet 98%’of the players show up
True, so my next comment isn’t about what you said, but the bigger picture (though I may be preaching to the choir).
Some people want to strive to be the best, and any voluntary work to make them better at their jobs – they want to be a part of it. It makes you better and your team better (and this isn’t just athletes). Either you love your job or you don’t, but generally I would think the people that love their jobs immerse themselves in it to get better.
Any chance at training or education I get, I jump on it. In any field, there’s new data and new ways to think about things (including football). The fact that he blew off the camp to hang with LeBron at least IMO shows he’s not dedicated to improving himself and the team.
Just my two cents.
Well said. But the players that need this explained to them, typically aren’t going to get it…
Panthers loves that Cam guy. Good for him…
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Any word on who’s not practicing?
MSduece said he would be back Monday
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wolff isnt practicing with the team, he is off to the side working with trainers
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huff did some stuff, but wasnt a full go, Hip problem, doesn’t sound too serious
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bradford did the minimal
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Demeco wasmt a full go, right now KIKO and Kemdricks are flying around as the starters and my understanding is while Demeco is much further along in the rehab then expected, he still has a ways to go before he can really play. I would be pleasantly surprised if he practced with no Limitations in training camp… once he is ready to contribute we will rotate the 3… Even tho he wasn’t as bad as people made him out to be in coverage, I think his days of playing on 3rd down are over. not when you have the young firepower we have at LB..
Demeco will rotate in on 1st and 2nd down, but 3rd down iis for Mykal and KIKO to shine. Those two should be signifcant blitzing weapons for us
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I think that’s about it. Everyone else practiced except Mathis of course
Thanks.
[…] Potential Playmakers? – Tommy Lawlor of IgglesBlitz.com […]
barkley allegedly made some beautiful throws yesterday. mile Austin caught a big one down the sideline. Of course, he also had his over throws and misfires.
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Most of the reports I saw say TEBOW sucked yesterday, and some media member always brings up how DAWKINS says he is always Horrible in practice but that he is a completely different player on game day…. Even if THATS true, can chip really be ok with that sort of thing? Overlooking consistently poor practice play to trust a guy will “turn it on” in the Games?..
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TEBOW is like the boy who cried wolf. how many times have we heard he fixed his mechanics only to see them go out the window when live Bullets start to fly? The recent “wolf cry” was that in the past he didn’t work on the mechanics long enough for it to become second nature, but THIS TIME he finally worked on it long enough to stick…. But the first time the media gets to see him throw, he didnt seem to impress anyone. I don’t know how much we can trust local media to analyze a QBs tnrowing form, but if it’s funky looking enough I. Sure the media can notice….
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I’m not surprised to hear his accuracy looks erratic, passes were behind WRs or sailed over their heads, but what’s really disheartening is that the first time they got to see him throw, most claim his throwing form was still as funky as ever. He is supposed to be at least practicing using this new form that he supposedly fixed all year, if we arent at least seeing better mechanics, what are we doing with him?
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The ONLY positive report I saw of him was that he looked Great running the read option against defenders who aren’t allowed to touch him…anyone see any positive reports I may have missed?
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Think it’s awesom to hear Mark sanchez constantly make fun of and rip his own arm strength last year… Makes me think maybe it’s actually true that he is throwing much harder. There were times last year where his arm was Chad Pennington-esque. He was never known for having a Howlitzer attached to his shoulder but he was never a real noodle arm either… I’m curious to see what Mark Sanchez who had his highest career throwing percentage the first year in a new offense with a noodle arm looks like when you turn the volume up on that arm strength….
A buddy of mine summed up some expectations of Bradford pretty well. A lesser version of Matthew Stafford if Bradford ever puts it together.
I think he has more talent that Stafford. Not sure if I agree. Stafford also has crazy weapons to work with too, and arguably the best receiver in the league.
stafford is the worst, could be much better but doesnt want to be coached, holds his team back with bad decisions in close games
Yeah I agree. Too much talent around him to not be considered elite.
He’s Jay Cutler with Megatron.
I was thinking this, but I hate Cutler unreasonably. Is there a different stage of QB purgatory not at the bottom like Cutler? Something like Dante’s Inferno where you progressively go down levels and Stafford is on the one right before Cutler.
I agree, Cutler’s in a world of his own.
Must be a nice world, he’s getting paid like a king.
Stafford has Favreitis.
This was his argument. These two guys are way too dependent on arm talent, makes questionable decisions on the field, underachievers that will probably never reach their ceiling, and they’re hurt often. That’s a big generalization but it’s kind of true.
If he puts it together I expect him to be a much smarter QB then Stafford, especially if he remains in chips offense… Stafford is talented as all hell, but reckless. Wonder what chip would think about him in his offense..i could see him being the QB equivalent of shady losing yards not hitting holes driving chip crazy..
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But If Chip could harness staffords ability, get him to play Discaplined and take the defined throws chips offense will provide, he could be nasty in this offense.
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Personally, I think Bradfords ceiling is extremely high in Chips offense, but I’m preparing for Life with Mark Sanchez.. if he can be a better QB having a year of this offense under his belt, and we are good enough to really compete with Sanchez, then Bradford staying healthy is just a bonus…
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All Summer SAM is going to be working towards getting himself back to the QB he was. Where as, with Sanchez, we should be seeing the best he has to offer. This should be the summer of the Sachize, he should be elevating his game from last year, and he should be owning this offense this summer, especially with the added arm strength.. I want the Mark Sanchez Eagles to Improve, I want them to look sharp this summer, and be able to go into a season confident even if we have to ask Mark to play 16’games,.Im hoping to build confidence in the Mark Sanchez Eagles. if I can do that, then getting the SAM Brqdford Eagles for 16 games will just be a fantastic cherry on top…. What can’t happen is having a rough summer to the point where we go into the season feeling completely screwed if Bradford gets hurt or can’t play
Bradford should be much smarter with the ball than Stafford -therefore a better QB.
But he’s not right now. He’s dependent on arm talent and forces passes like Stafford.
Crap!
Looking at their stats for 2012, when both played 16 games, they’re both inaccurate, low completion% QBs, but Stafford’s passes go further. Bradford has negative DVOA, Stafford positive. Stafford grades out as a borderline top third QB, Bradford as a borderline bottom third, but both shades of average.
MWC:
You’re ruining the narrative with data. (And you didn’t even mention that Stafford’s not missed a game in 4 years.)
Having Megatron to throw to helps a ton!
If (and it’s a HUGE if) the Eagles were ever to win a super bowl with Bradford, how much would the Browns hate us? We would be the ones to outbid them on both a super bowl winning coach and super bowl winning QB
would we feel bad if chung and fletcher lead patriots to another SB? lots of elements to a team, browns gm is terrible so they have bigger problems than missing out on sammy b
Jimmy Haslam has, in a very short amount of time, sunk to the bottom of the owner pool.
That’s until Showtime Johnny Manziel wins him a Superbowl! Hey, why are these men in white jackets here? No, no, I’m not crazy…
yes I would.
as long as Sconces doesn’t end up their to then I am alright.
the Homer in me, is thrilled to see how highly PFF rates us, but if Im being rational, it’s tough to agree completely with such high praise.
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PFF calls the OL a “Dream Scenario” for Demarco “which is as good, if not better then the Dallas OL at run blocking”….. I actually don’t find THAT statement to be so crazy if we are talking about our OL at full health. Truth is Mathis/Peters is the best left side in the business.. Tyrone smith is awesome, but Ronald Leary doesn’t grade close to Mathis…, The part I find so absurd is that last year, PFF rates us as the #1 run blocking lIne, with Dallas #2, inspite of the insane amount of injuries… How can that be? Dallas line enjoyed significantly better health? The Only thing I can think of is in those early games when defenses were shutting Shady down, Sproles was a monster breaking some huge runs which could have balanced out Shadys ineffective run game. But still Sproles operates im big chunks of yards at a time, while shady was getting the high volume of carries.. even if Sproles big plays in the run game balance out Shadys bad games, I find it hard to believe our mess of an OL blocked better then the line that led Demarco to 1800 yard year….Dallas OL/run game allowed Romo to almost be a game manager, where as our run game had some really low points like asking Mark Sanchez to throw 50 passes, straight out of the andy reid playbook..
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I do believe that our OL is being under rated if Mathis ends up playing for us. I may not know exactly what to expect out of the rIght Guard position, except for th fact that whoever mans that spot will have an elite center linedup to his left, and a dominant Elite Right Tackle to his right… Will the RG be a downgrade from Herremans last year? Maybe, possibly. But the Right Tackle will be much better then who he was last year… With Mathis, our OL can still be spectacular at least for one more year…. That fact makes me want to maybe not take too much of a hard stance on Evan Mathis. maybe we try to extend an olive Branch and offer to add a few incentives to his deal to try and get a Happy Evan.. He will be forced to join us really soon, and we can’t give him a new deal, he is already well paid, but maybe a few added incentives gets him to stop this madness …. We can live without Mathis, but why the hell should we have to? He did get hurt last year, but he did work hard to rush back for us even tho he was going thru this contract beef, for that I could see a case for him deserving a few knew incentives….. But under no circumstances should he get a knew deal, ESPECIALLY because I don’t want to see Rosenhause get another commission check…
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mathis lost a little sway with the public when he goes on Twitter and says stuff like “DEEZ”. Think fans would take his side more if he just stays quiet and let his actions speak. After all we are a FANBASE suffering PTSD from T.O doing situps in his drive way, he automatically loses fans a bit just by having Rosenhause as his agent
Maybe because we didn’t run as much, it was more of a surprise, and teams weren’t keying on it as much. It looks like we were 43.3% rushing attempts last year (424 attempts) and 49.6% (500 attempts) in 2013. I don’t think Chip trusted the line as much, and early on Shady’s numbers were awful. But once Lane came back, I think Shady’s rushing numbers were pretty good overall, so maybe we were OK running most of the year — just mediocre at pass protection which got Foles out of whack. And maybe some of the bigger runs (such as Sproles early in the year) helped with PFF stats; no idea how they calculate them.
Cowboys were 51.3% rushing (508 attempts) so being that high on the PFF list when it was more of a focus and teams knew it was coming is pretty darn impressive. If their stats are meaningful anyways.
The Seahawks actually have had the highest rushing percentage the last two years (53.6% in 2014, 54.8% in 2013). They clearly protect Wilson.
Kempski basically agrees with you — he thinks we are fine on the OL if Mathis returns, just worried about the future (and the Mathis situation). Also, apparently Mathis messaged Kempski directly, and said the “Deez” comment was not in response to Kelly but was something unrelated, and didn’t like Kempski connecting those dots when there was no connection. So no idea what the Mathis/Kelly relationship is like outside of the contract issues.
Lesean says he “regrets nothing he ever says” re Chip Kelly comments.
Then threatens to end interview if more questions come up regarding Kelly.
Be a man Lesean. Chip addressed this in his interview, why can’t you?
F him. Lost all respect I ever had for that punk.
“Be a man Lesean. Chip addressed this in his interview, why can’t you”. He already addressed it his original comments, what more should he say? What more would you want him to say? Everyone’s been telling him to move on, now he’s doing it and you want him to say more? for what?
I believe you mean, “For who? For what?” at the end there.
exactly
Lesean said that there was a reason he got rid of all the good black players. I want to know what he thinks the reason is. Why does he think Chip is racist? You can’t just say something like that with no proof especially if he regrets nothing he said.
In the therapy world we would say there’s a difference between facing something, making peace with it and moving on vs. throwing a sucker punch and running away.
That said, I’m not without sympathy for Shady, he has to make peace with this to move on with his life, everyone does that at their own pace. In some ways it sucks that people get to shove a mic in his face and probe to see where he is in that process, when it turns out he’s not very far along in that process and that manifests in the public eye, he’s got himself a bigger fire that he’s not emotionally ready to put out yet.
for now the best thing to do is say all the right things publicly even if he can’t be sincere about it yet, get the mics away, and get the time to figure it all out, and maybe mend things on a personal level for himself and with Chip (they probably won’t ever be buddies but just clear the air), privately.
Here’s some of what he said:
“I have nothing to say about that,” McCoy said. “I’m in Buffalo.
Everything in Philadelphia is over. I have nothing more to say really
about it. So it is what it is. Everyone can make their own thoughts and assumptions about it, but I’m done talking about it.”
“I just told you I’m not talking no more about Chip Kelly or the Eagles,” McCoy said. “So I’m done with that. You can ask me about the Bills. They looked good. A lot of players stepping up. The quarterbacks look wonderful. Myself, I’m playing well, along with the guys in the backfield. I’m trying to get this team going here. I have nothing else to say about Chip or the Eagles, alright?”
“I don’t need to explain myself to nobody. No, I don’t. I said what I said. It’s how I felt at the time and I’m done with that.”
“Yo, are you all listening to me?” McCoy said. “Can I say it any other
way? I’m not talking about Chip Kelly or no Eagles. I’m going to be done with this interview if nobody has anything else to say about the Bills.”
“I never regret nothing I said,” McCoy said. “Never. Nothing. I never regret it.”
I think my favorite guy was at the end, either because after Lesean being like WTF PEOPLE I’M NOT TALKING ABOUT THIS! you hear someone quickly and quietly slip in “why don’t you return Chip’s calls?” and the way he said it there is like a 50% chance he was trolling, and if so he got exactly what he wanted and it was awesome.
Those words are definitely from the same mouth that slandered Kelly. Doubt that Shady will reference Philly much in the near future, because even he has to hear the ego-centered, childish, petulant, bitter tone that he cannot seem to change.
Actually he said he don’t never have no regrets or some very confusing group of words which should never be used together.
Tommy it’s raining. We need fodder.
Tommy’s next article will be about how no one is writing about the Eagles aging offensive line.
it’s raining and i’m at work. i would definitely read that
see all of jimmy kempski’s articles for the last month.
not unless he’s using paint again
his fodder was a mudder
his mudder was a mudder too
Attn: BLIND CHOW and BALOOPHI . . .
Perhaps one of you tech-wizards can create a new banner for T-Law’s Incomparable Blog.
Same request to all other adventurers here.
* * * * * * * *
The winning submission receives . . . ENDLESS ACCOLADES!!!
true, just put a picture of chip up there
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Textbook case of “arousal/counter-arousal”.
Not sure I agree. I find Megan sucking on one of two hanging cherries pretty sexy.
Textbook case of whatever the word is for the visual version of syntactic ambiguity.
Yes you get it! Never heard of that term of before… from wiki, also called amphiboly or amphibology.
Yup. That’s all half the human race was born for apparently.
Tommy I pray that you see this and I also pray you contact Flyin and put this up as your banner. How funny would it be to see the people’s faces who came to this site for the first time with this banner!?
a 1000 upvotes,
+ Tommy needs a glass of PBR
I seem to remember Baloophi doing one already…
He must of left out the Funyuns.
This pic exists
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8367/8381311500_3c8d82fba9_z.jpg
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Close enough.
Not that I like when players are hurt, but I just saw that Darren McFadden isn’t practicing but is on the sidelines with trainers. ‘allas fans are so delusional thinking this guy and Randle are going to replace Murray, its comical!
I liked Jason Garrett telling the media that he “talked” to Randle about shutting his mouth, talking less, and playing more..
Hopefully ‘allas fans are in for a rude awakening!
In other news… LeSean is starting to sound worse than DJax, pretty sure DeSean didn’t even run his mouth this much after he left.
yeah djax dealt w/ it way better (publicly). be interesting to see the year that mccoy had, i think it helped desean.
he literally is sounding like he has comparable English skills to Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Which is slightly worse than Manny’s English.
DJax lost millions of dollars in the process, that probably has a way of humbling a person. LeSean just has a different signature on his checks.
Reporters baited him. He could have held his temper a bit better, but keep that in context when you read the words in print.
Billy D says he will use packages with Kendricks, Kiko, and Ryans on the field. Sounds fun.
43 defense on passing downs?
I can’t see taking Barwin off the field from the edge. Maybe sometimes he will use Kiko or Kendricks on the edge in certain passing downs.
Just a thought, but I don’t see CK going away from 3-4 since that’s his preference.
We don’t play a 3-4 on 3rd down….. 4-2-5 and a 3-3-5, or 4-1-6
Is Barwin a better edge rusher as a stand up LB than Graham or Curry is from a 3 point DE?
Legit question. I have no opinion.
Not a bad alignment to call up every once in a while. But, yeah, doubt they’ll go away from the 3-4.
I think Barwin is a better LB in terms of being able to both cover and rush over BG/VC. I def think Curry is a better rusher, and BG is a better rusher (IMO) from the LB spot.
I was just musing out loud, because I have no idea what their plans are to get those 3 on the field at the same time – but I do think MK/KA are better options on passing downs than BG if they stay base alignment.
Graham-Cox-Curry-Barwin
Kendricks-Meco-Kiko
damn our D might still look better as a 4-3, 3 years later
Sheil,has the article up,about Undlin who spoke to reporters today, and Jenkins went into detail about the ways he sees him, boykin and Nolan each ispecifically improve since Undlin got here
Undlin’s interview was great. He spoke about how they Eagles don’t want imposters who are going to line up at the line of scrimmage in press but retreat instead. Went on to talk about how the DBs are going to be very physical in your face this year and he’s very into teaching proper technique. Really excited about the defense with the front 7 being already as impressive as it is and with the edition of Undlin it’s going to vastly improve the defense.
Yes sir.. You figure getting Kiko is almost like taking our badass front 7 and sticking Luke Keachly in the middle of it. fans know he is a badass but I don’t think many fans really understand just how elite he is… Logan, Curry, Cox, Mykal, Beau, young players who to a man should be better then the beasts they were for us last year..
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if Thurmond can handle the move to safety the secondary could be sneaky good. Nolan can handle the outside corner spot. We just need someone to step up and play safety better then Late Allen did..
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Elite Special teams, Top 10 defense, potent run game, should be enough for Sanchez or Bradford to win with
Seeing how Julius Peppers transitioned to OLB at his age, wish we would have signed him..
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Knowing how crucial the OLB position is, I wonder if the lack of depth at the position means,Chip has a little more faith in MSduece then we think? Since no way he can count on Long staying healthy..
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Either we have some higher hopes for MS2 then we think. Or chip must figure we will compensate for OLB depth with Vinny Curry and blitzing Kiko and Mykal?…. any injury at OLB and Marcus has to step up
It’ll be interesting for sure. They have talent on that side of the ball, so BD should come up with some different and confusing looks to offenses, and even if a play isn’t run – it might burn a timeout.
Defense is going to be Nasty this year… I think the D will be good enough for me to not care what happens on offense.. As long as the,Defense and special teams shows up, I figure we can count on chip to find a way to score enough points whether it’s with SAM or the Sanchize..
He was prepared to trade for Dion Jordan so I don’t know how comfortable he is. But, that’s not the easiest position to find productive players. That said even if MS2 is fine, we could *still* use some depth behind him.
Absolutely… OLB is a position that should be rotated. ideally I would prefer Barwin and BG each having a backup that can rotate in and get a few,cracks at the QB… Even if MS2 steps up, we still need a 2nd backüp OLB for the other side… I love Braman, and Maragos but I don’t consider either defenders..they are pure special team players no different then Cody Parkey, Dorenbos and donnie Longball..
“Hardy’s work in Organized Team Activities has served as a reminder of that fact. Dallas tight end Jason Witten said Hardy has been excellent so far.
“He’s explosive,” Witten told the Dallas Morning News. “He plays until the whistle blows. . . . To have a guy come in and play that way, I think, speaks volumes for what kind of character he is and what kind of individual he is.”
Although Hardy missed today’s practice with an illness, Cowboys Executive Vice President Stephen Jones called Hardy “one of the hardest workers out here.”
” Hardy has been excellent so far.”
Hardy: 1
“Although Hardy missed today’s practice with an illness”
Air: 1
Looks like a draw.
“He plays until the whistle blows. . . . To have a guy come in and play that way, I think, speaks volumes for what kind of character he is and what kind of individual he is.”
Doesn’t Dallas have anybody else with character who plays hard? ;~D
The Mayor of Dallas and Roger Staubach would counsel the tight-end to avoid deep waters when he clearly cannot swim.
I think the Eagles will probably win the Super Bowl this year.
I’ve been saying this for the past 10 years. Right or wrong, I don’t really give a shit, I love my team.
That is a very astute, data-driven observation. I am glad you published it.
Also, I must admit, I am finding it hard to poke any holes in your theory. This means it has been peer-reviewed.
As everyone knows, published and peer-reviewed theories are basically facts.