A Year Later
Posted: August 23rd, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 402 Comments »Last summer the Eagles started the preseason 0-2. That’s hardly a big deal since preseason records don’t matter at all. But the Eagles lost to Chicago 34-28 and to New England 42-35. The Eagles gave up 76 points in those games. Ouch.
This year the Eagles are 2-0. That’s nice, but doesn’t necessarily mean anything. The scores do offer some hints. The Eagles beat the Colts 36-10 and the Ravens 40-17.
Two preseason games don’t tell us the defense is going to be great. Opponents haven’t had a full complement of starters out there. Schemes are vanilla. And starters are playing limited snaps. Still, there is no denying the progress that has been made this year.
The Eagles have not given up a 1st quarter touchdown so far this year. They shutout the Ravens unitl the 4th quarter. X-plays were the huge issue with the defense last season. So far this summer they have not been a factor at all. Think about the one deep ball Joe Flacco tried to throw. His receiver was well-covered by Nolan Carroll. Flacco made the throw anyway. Carroll got his hand up to deflect the pass. FS Walter Thurmond was in perfect position to help on the play and picked off the pass. This is worlds different from Bradley Fletcher getting burned time after time and never getting help from Nate Allen.
It is too early to say the X-plays problem has been solved, but the Eagles have absolutely improved in that area. New secondary coach Cory Undlin has made a difference. The new players have made a difference. This won’t be the second coming of Troy Vincent and Brian Dawkins, but if they can be as good as Bobby Taylor and Greg Jackson, the defense will be much improved.
There is no doubt the Eagles will score points. If the defense takes a big step forward, this time might prove to be more of a challenge to the Seahawks and Packers than anyone anticipated.
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Sam Bradford showed glimpses of what he can do. He found Riley Cooper open deep early on, but the ball was a bit off. Mark Sanchez has failed to see open receivers downfield so just seeing Cooper is a big thing for me. The timing between Bradford and his receivers will take some time. Practice is one thing, games are another.
Bradford made good throws to Jordan Matthews and Darren Sproles. You can see his tight spirals. He’s just a gifted, natural thrower.
Bradford was awkward in the pocket. His timing was off. But it was encouraging because he didn’t go into some kind of panic mode. Heck, it almost looked a couple of times like he was caught off-guard by having such good protection. I guess coming from the Rams he simply isn’t used to having time to scan the field and find a receiver.
The coaches will go over the tape and work on the things that need to be fixed. Bradford is still a work in progress. I was encouraged by what I saw. The most important thing is that he took some hits and played through them. Remember, he hadn’t been truly hit in 12 months. That is a tremendous lay-off for a football player.
Now that some of the rust is gone and Bradford has taken his shots, I’m curious to see how much better he looks next week. The Packers will be a good test for him and the Eagles.
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The Eagles haven’t lost any key players to injury so far. That’s very encouraging when you look at how some other teams are losing players. I don’t blame Chip Kelly one bit for being cautious with his guys this summer.
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Stay classy, Baltimore.
Just more proof that the Ravens are dirty (via @Deadspin) http://t.co/DUda0Wo30l pic.twitter.com/J6nog88YQz
— BleedingGreenNation (@BleedingGreen) August 23, 2015
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Dear Kenjon and Raheem, If you want to make the team, work into a conversation with Chip that your girlfriend wants to move to the Dallas area. Good luck and blessings of Tebow.
PS: The problem with this plan is you may be traded to Buffalo, but Shady and Bryce Brown know how to throw a party!
They both are making strong cases. Barner on special teams, bug mostert as a rb.
I’d guess that Barner is less likely to clear waivers. A lot of teams look at the tape and see a guy who can start for them at PR.
Mostert would be deep depth on most teams, and just about everybody wants the guys they have in their own camp for depth.
What were people’s evals of Ed Reynolds for this game?
Sorry to have seen him drop and INT, but under the “anybody but Nate Allen rule” I can’t say anything negative.
Didn’t Nate Allen get the job under the “anybody but Sean Considine plan”?
Initially, but that should have expired after his rookie season.
Nate Allen was good his rookie season. After that… not so much. I think the defensive staff turnover and chaos really hurt him (among others), but a lot was on him too. Granted the secondary coaching didn’t seem all that hot last year either. Our safety depth is still bad enough that it might have been nice to see what he could do as a backup with Undlin’s coaching, but of course not at a salary anywhere close to what he got.
I wasn’t saying Allen was bad as a rookie, I was saying the “anybody but Considine” should have only lasted for a year no matter who we drafted.
I’ve been on Anybody But Jarrad Page so long that I still like Kurt Coleman.
I think the shelf life for “anybody but” has to be one year and one year only.
It goes until a suitable replacement is found.
I agree with the corollary that we can add on complaints using names of unsuitable replacements that were used.
As in any but ___________, or _______, or _________.
nice Takle in the second quarter
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Key block on Barners PR TD
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Wish he who led have caught that INT late in the game
That makes it a possible 4 ints for him this preseason.
Not his last year at stanford, but the year before, Reynolds was a playmaking ball hawk in centerfield.. He was a monster that year in terms of Interceptions and even running them back…… We didn’t see this ability last summer when the dumb graduation rules caused him to fall behind.
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His last year at stanford wasn’t as great, but after the ball hawk he was the year before, defenses stopped testing Reynolds…. Hoping he can continue to improve for us and eventually gets Back to being that ballhwaking, playmaker he was at Stanford before teams stopped throwing at him
Having a DB with a ball-hawking reputation means our front 7 gets sacks while the QB thinks twice.
Maybe the biggest plus of the game is Suggs appointed himself the lead debate team affirmative on “Resolved, the read option means you can take a shot on Bradford.” Suggs began his remarks with “If you want to run the read option with your starting quarterback that’s had two knee surgeries that’s on you. That’s not my responsibility to update you on the rule.” No, it’s not his responsibility, but he updated us anyway, and with his reputation as a dirty player he didn’t help those who wanted to do the same thing, going straight for the knee when Bradford clearly didn’t have the ball. Suggs sort of has a point (which Harbaugh no doubt tried to make) but now everyone knows the refs will call it (and Suggs may be fined) and others won’t try as much.
It wasn’t a read option nor was Bradford attempting to carry out a play fake. He handed the ball off and at no time gave any implication he was a “runner.” Not only did Suggs take a free shot, but he went after the knee.
Suggs is such a fool. You’re entitle to take out the QB when he’s still pretending he has the ball and/or moving towards to line of scrimmage as he’s trying to simulate running with the football. When his hands are away from his body and he clearly doesn’t have the ball…………….that’s not when you can hit him.
Suggs doesn’t have a point or a leg to stand on in this debate, and Harbaugh sank to new lows in trying to defend his actions. SMH…
“His receiver was well-covered by Nolan Carroll. Flacco made the throw anyway. Carroll got his hand up to deflect the pass.”
Who is this Nolan Carroll? Did we just sign him or is there some other reason he wasn’t playing CB last year?
Conspiracy theory take: the plan was to ensure that, by missing the playoffs, chip would gain the authority necessary to finish gutting the team. Respect his Athoritah!!!!!
http://gifrific.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/cartman-respect-my-authoritay-south-park.gif
Not bad, but I’ll stick with “Billy Davis isn’t a top tier DC.”
That’s a good one too. I’ll take “Chip is too arrogant to change his ways.”
Oh, wait. Maybe I should go with “this pace by the offense makes things impossible for our defense.”
You know, if we aren’t careful, “Davis didn’t have good enough pieces with which to work” might become a thing. That would be dangerous, because it is supported by the wordy “Carroll wasn’t this good last year, was made hungry by not getting on the field, had the best off season possible, and is now reaping the rewards and I know this because he said so” thing.
I find it maddening that we were screaming for Carroll to get a shot out there as the D was helping choke away a division title, yet Fletcher was run out there week after week after week.
I think you may have mentioned that once before. There is no going back. And, what if Carroll ends up better because of it?
There is always going back because that vile and gutless choke of the division title has yet to be remedied.
How do you propose we remedy last year’s outcome?
By improving upon it this year. So until that is across the finish line, I’m still going to lay grief.
Win the division in a landslide AND crushing Dallas twice this year.
Lovett insisted Fletcher was better.
Well, thankfully he’s gone! So now we’re narrowing down the suspect list.
Lol, how is Lovetts NFL career going right now?
Fletch loves cheese.
Smh absurd
I don’t even know if he is middle tier and he still is by far the weakest cog on the coaching staff.
BD said as much in an TC interview earlier this summer. He said “”I’ve got this beautiful view of hindsight right now that when you’re in the middle of it, you don’t quite have it, and as it works out and plays out against what you thought, you kind of say to yourself, ‘I might have made a mistake there,'” — this in reference to not starting Carroll III the last 3-4 games over Fletcher.
For the 300th time, Nolan CAN PLAY, this city will be pleasantly surprised… thurmond is the bigger question for me but he seems to be adjusting to life as. Safety pretty well…
No BLEEP Nolan can play. That isn’t a new development.
Actually to alot of people it is. Even one of the announcers last night went on record as saying he never has started in his 5 year career before. Mean while before he came to us he was a starter in MIA.
That right hook to the body is a nice clean punch in a boxing match. A little bit less so on the football field. Not a forearm shiver, not the old school hockey face wash, but a punch. That Ravens squad are a bunch of straight up bullies that got punched in the mouth last night and found out they didn’t like it.
I guess they were frustrated because the Birds were doing the same to them at joint practice and then embarrassed them on TV.
Frustration tends to come out of people when they are consistently beat down.
At what point does Harbaugh start to get some “credit” for the behavior and actions of his players? He deserves a reputation, IMO…
Ravens have always been like this. Even before him. It’s just been the long standing culture of the organization passed down along the years.
Younger players see older players do it and it keeps going that way.
As the HC Harbaugh does deserve some credit/blame but it didn’t start with him.
It’s really only a full blown problem when you are not winning. They are regularly in the playoffs and recently won a SB.
Remember, they used to be the Browns… I guess even winning doesn’t completely get rid of the stench.
True on both accounts.
However ever since I remember them being the Ravens I do recall them having this mentality.
I think this mentality just comes with being a strong and at times elite defensive team.
Reading some around the net, I came across the “Baltimore didn’t game plan” meme over and over. Well, yes, but the Eagles ran just 2 running plays over and over and over all night, and it worked every time. Baltimore’s run D is supposed to be their strength, and they couldn’t stop a basic IZ plunge play even though they saw it during practice all week.
That’s my biggest takeaway here. If the Eagles force you to change your defense to stop their basic plays, this allows Chip to start having fun.
Not only that, but the Ravens were sloppy and undisciplined. The Eagles were the opposite. Considering how penalties derailed so many drives last year, I have been very encouraged by their discipline so far this preseason.
Penalties, turnovers and terrible in the red zone were some of our biggest weaknesses. I think we improved in all 3 so far.
2. The fumble last night and Barkleys INT.
Very encouraging though. Especially due to the fact that the turnovers were committed by our third string QB (wasn’t that bad of a pick as picks go) and a RB that is not coming close to making this team.
Ya I’d sure say so. 17 penalties I believe Baltimore had? That was about as frustrated, overwhelmed & embarrassed team as you’ll ever see in a Preseason game.
They also tried to intimidate and get into the Birds heads as well. Nice to see our players didn’t get caught up in their heads. Sometimes players let that make them lose their focus.
Kelly said in the press conference they ran 2 basic running plays and 5 basic passing plays in the 1st half and keeping it ‘very vanilla.’
If that is what people are saying in Baltimore’s defense then we can say we didn’t game plan either. Our players best their players solely on talent then.
From all reports including Baltimores reporters we were taking it to them in the joint practices as well.
not only that but i love the “it’s only preseason” meme that national pundits have said so far about the eagles, yet if they had been outscored 76-27 so far in preseason people would already be hinting at what a failure Chip is
I imagine the Eagles’ tempo can really throw teams off, especially earlier in the year, and most especially when you don’t train for it. Although I imagine the Eagles had run at that pace in the two joint practices earlier in the week.
Of course, that has nothing to do with the Ravens’ offense. But throwing two picks pretty much ate up the time the starters were in, so the rest of the game was mostly backups. Without those (one of which was a pure gift from Flacco), the game could go very differently.
I believe the Ravens have a number of injuries on the OL right now (and got a couple more injured during the game), so it might be a little disconcerting actually that we did not get a lot of pressure early on.
Watched the game at my friend’s house with the Baltimore announcers. Maybe a couple of the penalties were weak, but they were penalized in practice all week. Practices how you play. Cant wait till green bay.
The Philly announcers were actually pretty fun. And they knew the players names all the way down the chart -guys I had never even heard of.
I think people said that last week, but I got the Indy crew (who sucked).
They even made reference to Sam Cooke (legendary singer) in reference to the Baltimore punter. It wasn’t “You Send Me”, but still.
I had no complaints with this team. I’ll take them over many of the regular season national duos.
Sacrilege. There are none other than Merrill and Mike for the call of an Eagles game. No smoothie for you.
I have a problem with the whole TV football play-by-play schtick. There are tons of players on the field, and when a ball carrier is tackled we get a Chip Kelly story or a John Harbaugh historical biography, but if you didn’t get the number of the tackler, you’re out of luck It isn’t the guys that are doing it so much. It’s the assumption that “the viewers can see what is happening so don’t bore them with redundant facts.”
Al Michaels perfected this BS in his years as MNF’s play-by-play guy. He had producers feeding him all manner of minutiae, for 3 hours the guy never shut up, rarely addressing play-by-play protocols. My favorite way to watch football on TV is to mute the TV audio and tune in the radio broadcast. If you catch a game from the 60’s on youtube, Ray Scott and Pat Summerall had a “need-to-say” policy. If it didn’t need to be said, it wasn’t. They were the Sgt. Joe Friday and Officer Bill Gannon of the broadcast booth, and they were the class of the medium before we were privileged to get wall-to-wall noise.
Bingo! Well said, unhinged. Somewhere along the line, someone in power decided that the game needed to be “sold,” or otherwise the casual viewer would tune out. So now the filler is the meat of the broadcast, and 95% of the audience is left saying “WTF… Are they watching the same game I am?”
My thinking is that an ever-accelerating eddy of hype, for which no one is singularly responsible for initiating, is the culprit. The television medium is a selling device, and though the game has been a major attraction for millions of fans for decades, salesmen must sell, so we get the likes of Michaels who suffer from diarrhea of the oral cavity, and we get pushed further and further away from the very thing to which we are drawn. MNF had 3 show opens in the 90’s. That is 3 ballyhooed introductions to “what is about to take place”. A football game!
The national crews are literally in competition to see who can be the worst and still have a job. And the more prominant the duo, the worse they are.
Maybe they should study more Tao of Chip. “If you accept it, expect it.”
Sadly I missed the game last night, but I’ve been catching up with ESPN highlights. If I understand correctly, Suggs cheap shotted Bradford who got hit a couple times then Tim Tebow came in and won the game by himself with a TD called back on review?
Also, how did Vinny look? Did he get any reps at OLB?
Curry looked somewhat lost, but not in over his head.
Kind of like Trent Cole two years ago.
Yeah, I think he needs more reps/time to get it down. His body just has to match his mind, but I think one day it’ll be like a light came on and it’ll translate to the field. He’s practically playing 3 positions right now, DE, OLB, DT. He’s basically a hybrid player.
He didn’t even know the linebacker checks…it was good experience for him in his transition to OLB but he has some work to do before we can play him at OLB in the regular season
I think if he were to ever fully make the switch over he would have to lose some weight as well.
While a good comparison, I think the better comparison would be BG two years ago.
Still good at rushing the passer that’s for sure. He got caught in play action on a naked bootleg a couple times.
You are only missing the part where the backup punter inexplicably took over place kicking duties.
Was it Tebow making those kicks?
No, but, as Jimmy pointed out, the kicks looked like tebow throws.
I guess the answer to that question is based on your personal opinion of the power of prayer.
Ugly but it worked. The knuckle ball.
Vinny played alot of OLB. Ravens were able to fool him a couple times on play action bootlegs, sucking him into the RB causing him to lose contain on the QB.
He played how you would expect. Can get after the QB but you don’t want him doing anything other then that right now untill he learns the intricacies of OLB more.
Very reminiscent of when BG was learning OLB.
DID YOU SEE DEMARCO MURRY MAKE RHAT SACK! PRESEASON FAKCING SUPER BOWL! I WANT TO SUCK OFF ALL THE EAGLES PLAYERS AND THEIR COACHES!! COME ON MY FACW CHIP KKKELLY
Had to change your name again, huh?
yeah Philly.com is quick to ban. thank god disqus doesnt verify email.
CHIP I WANT TO SUCK YOUR DIKC!!!!!
Got to love the five year old trolls who sneak onto daddy’s computer to post.
While it’s great to see the improvement in our starting secondary, but what’s really impessive isits we didn’t just improve our starting DBs, even bench players like ROWE, Biggers and Watkins are showing better coverage then we have seen in a while..
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The Ravens were no match for our skill players, and I expect most teams will struggle matching up with our weapons… We are shredding defenses and we don’t even have one of our best mis match weapons on the field yet, ERTZY!
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Bradford has a Howlitzer for a throwing arm.. He had plays were his feet weren’t even set, using just his arm, and the ball still came out like a fireball.. Really looking forward to seeing this offense led by an Accurate QB with all the arm talent we could ever ask for..
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While it’s true that it’s only preseason, our defense is shutting teams down without two of its best players Kiko and Kendricks… This defense will look amazing once we stick those two behind our DL.
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First two weeks. We gave up no X plays… We forced turnovers, but the best was how well we stepped up our 3rd down defense last night…impressive improvement from game 1
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Barner is going to make the team..
Hoping we can stash Tomilson and Sheeed Baily on Practice squad, Mostert top if they want, but chip will find a Mostert, Josey type every summer..
Mostert won’t make the practice squad, but I think he’s a better RB than Barner. Barner has the clear edge on special teams. I wish we could keep both.
I dunno.
I think Eagles fans may be overvaluing a depth-RB.
Mostert will get picked up by another team, but he’s young (and so is Barner) and it’d be nice to have them ready to go when it’s time to pass the torch. The OLine is saying that both Murray and Mathews will have a 1K yards this season. I hope so.
We’ll see.
Seems like every year there are Eagles running backs who get cut and wind up on the practice squad or unsigned.
Most teams are looking to keep their own guys for bottom of the roster jobs.
That’s why Barner is more likely to actually get put on a 53 man roster. He can be a primary PR, #3 back.
I think he’s the new Sproles.
Barner?
I wouldn’t at all be surprised if Kelly dealt Sproles and kept both Barner and Mostert. Because Chip Kelly.
I dunno about that… Many teams have a “Mostert” type at camp… Think about how well the RB in the 4th quarter played against us last night..
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How much more talented is Mostert then last years favorite RB Henrey Jose?
a lot of teams have promising long shot RBs at the bottom of their depth chart, im not convinced that if we cut Mostert teams are going to line up to sign him… He very well could get poached from our Practice squad, but I don’t think he is so talented that it’s a foregone conclusion that someone would poach him.
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Mathew Tucker showed some skill, and we were able to stash him on the practice Squad..
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Barner ran well on that TD last week, and Barner is the only backüp RB who can be used as a WR like Sproles.. I wish Sanchez would have threw that oass to him last night, but he made a mistake and threw it to the other WR who drew an interference penalty..
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Mostert has shown some ability, but think we are getting carried away, just like last summer over the Josey hype…. And I bet next year we pick up another Undrafted RB who happens to look good in our system
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I’m not sure teams will be Linning up trying to sign Mostert once we cut him,
They’re (Josey and Mostert) better than Barner.
Lol yeah ok
Barner ran well into a giant gaping hole that even Reno Mahe could have scored on. What’s the point of keeping Barner over Mostert when our main returner will still be Sproles?
Two words. Henry Josey.
Who is #74 that got punched by a Raven in the above Gif?
Malcolm Bunche.
Thanks
Will we see two fines for Suggs and the punch?
I have a feeling people around here are gonna love that punch. Not sure how I would feel about it if it were our guys. TBH I don’t think I mind it. I know I would never do it, but that’s probably why I couldn’t make it as a pro football players. Besides the obvious lack of conditioning, athletic ability, and natural talent of course.
So my whole stance so far on this team has been sort of a revert to 13′. Wait and see, enjoy it as it goes. The way the first team is playing (forget the score), they are quickly starting to give me some clear expectations. The ONLY real flaws I have seen have been with the QBs. If Bradford can eliminate some of those things that really looked like nerves to me, look out.
I hate myself… I’m too fan boy. Superbowwwllzzzzzz, Bradford hall of fameezzzz. There I said it.
BTW last night’s game was extremely significant for me. I was able to talk so much trash to all my buddies last night. They predictably tried to blow it off, but of course that didnt stop me from being loud and generally annoying.
“Hey Matt, don’t you think its not fair that you guys get to throw the ball to our players to give us the ball back and we have to kick it to you? **3rd and bazzillion failed to complete, Ravens send out punt team. Barner takes it to the house** “See what I mean, you guys kicked it that time and we scored. We should have two more touchdowns, this is BS.”
We saw this secondary and defense take some giant steps forward so far this preseason… We didn’t give up X plays last week but we let teams concert on 3rd down too much… This week we kept up our NO X PLAYS in our NOflyZONE, while Also making sure we tighten up our 3rd down defense and the Ravens only converted 1 of their first 8 third down attempts..
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This defense is really going to soar when we add Kiko and Kendricks to our coverage..
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next week we really get to test our secondary when we face Aaron Rodgers in the game 3 “dress Rehersal”… Packers vs. Steelers airs at 1pm on NFLN
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FOles vs. Mariota tonight, but I don’t think that game is on TV
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ncFadden and Randle are back, playing for the Cowboys today, anyone know if that game is on TV in Philly?
Speaking of X plays. It sure seemed pretty obvious that they were trying to set us up for a play-action bomb on the first series. Pretty elementary man. They still go for it when the run was shut down.. wtf.
FLacco didn’t look very good last night..
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What I like is that yesterday wasn’t some fluke… Both Ravens and Philly reporters said we were carving up that Ravens Deffense all week, Ravens couldn’t handle our skill players while our Defense made Flacco and that offense work all week… ALL THE REPORTS from the joint practice practicially materialized in last nights game..
Run wasn’t shut down. Mayock even noted that early in the broadcast. Score got out of hand so I doubt many people remember that.
Rewatch the first drive on your dvr.
Raven’s ripped a 14yrd run off the top. Followed that with 6, 3, 0, 3 (on a 4th and 1). 26 yrds on 5 runs is over 5 yards a carry as well as a fail in 4th and short. We got gashed a bit on the ground early.
How the pass D looks vs. Green Bay is going to be really important, but I’d caution about reading too much into what they do against us because they are they are far and away better passing the football than any team we play this year.
This team has a ton of new faces, which means we should see a team that grows significantly over the course of the season… How we look in November should be better then how we look in September. Just like Chip Kelly’s 1st season 2013, our Defense struggled the first 4-5 games, then After the Denver loss they improved and tigjtened up for the rest of the season holding everyone under 24pts.l
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We should be much better in September then our starting point in 2013, but with all these new faces, it’s going to be a work in progress this year. Who we are at the end Of the year should be better then who we are in September, but I do think we will already be a solid team in September… I expect to get out to a good start, but no matter how good or bad it is in September, we should be much better come late November which is Improtant because we have a tough strechof games from mid November to mid December…
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We should see a quality team in September that gets off to a hot start, but what’s exciting is we should be just scratching the surface of how good we can be at the start of this season
I’d but that for a dollar. And the way the schedule is comprised, we only play one complete team; New England. I still don’t buy us as better than Seattle and Green Bay in conference, but I like our chances to run up wins vs. flawed teams.
I like how we matchup with Seattle… I would so much rather face them then the Packers.. Seattle has played a ton of games these last 3 years, their entire secondary had surgery this offseason.. If we have to play them, Im ike that it won’t happen TIL January, by then we should be much better as long as injuries don’t slow us down..
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GB is the only team that I would be afraid to face going into the game. To beat them you have to rough up Rodgers and he is probably the toughest QB to sack.. He has the Wilson escapability with his legs, while also getting the ball out so fast that it makes their Ol look even better then no they are…. If we are going to beat GB, we would need our Special Teams to make a big impact on that game…
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I have a feeling that after this season, seahawks will need to make changes to the roster..this curremt group of players has been playing Late into Januaryfor years now… We saw how quickily the window slammed shut on the Niners after playing deep into the playoffs for 4 years…. I could see the Sehawks breaking down late in the year, needing them to restock their team Mext offseason like we did this offseason (fingers crossed)
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I wouldn’t have minded testing ourself against seattle if they were on our schedule this year…where as, Im happy to not find GB on our schedule
Completely agree..i feel much better matching up against the seahawks than Green bay…i actually was just talking to my pops on the phone a lil while ago and said the exact same thing while we were talking about last nights game
Agreed GEAGLE. I’ll also point out that despite being completely outplayed by Seattle last year, we were actually in that game. One big play and it could have gone the other way. Green Bay was the only game where we just looked completely outclassed.
NE has a big problem at CB. It would be enough evidence that they have Fletcher, but that they’re moving a safety to CB shows the position’s a dumpster fire.
True, but given that we might meet them in the playoffs and that they completely embarrassed our d last year, I want to see a better showing. I’m not expecting them to shut down Rodgers and co. but at least make them work for it. If they keep limiting the big plays, I’ll be happy.
THANK YOU FOR THE SUPER BOWL PRESEASON I WANT TO SUCK YOU OFF CHIP KELLY!!!! EVERY GUY EVERY GUY IN THIS WHOLE CITY WANTS YOUR COME CHIP KKKELLY !!!
Can’t you IP ban this guy Tommy? It’s gone on long enough. This isn’t EMB.
IP ban yeah. suck my twat.
have at least some semblance of a clue bro. Go sukc off Chip KKKelly
Is there a replay at any point today? legally or illegally?
GEAGLE, got the line on the torrent file?
Reported to the Fed
Haven’t checked any torrents… But you should be able to find it on Piratebay.com
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If you have DVR, NFl Network shows a replay at 5:30am… But they will probably show the replay again on NFL network at better times on Tuesday and Wednesday
[…] Eagles’ defense appears to be much improved from last year’s preseason to […]
Eagles haven’t emerged ‘injury-free’ given what has happened to Ertz, Alonso, and MSII but so far (knock on real wood desk) yeah no serious injuries so far.
I would still only let Bradford play one quarter max vs GB. Kelly said last night they want him in for 10-15 scripted plays. Imagine they’ll likely double that and call it a night for him vs GB.
I’m good with that.
Personally, I think he needs to play. Saw last night that as supposedly good as he’s been in camp, there’s still a fair amount of rust to knock off. Only thing that will do that is playing against live competition.
P.S. I think he’s made of glass too, but refusing to play him meaningful snaps in the preseason won’t change that. Only way to prove us wrong is go out there and play and stay healthy.
I guess I don’t see the value in him getting another QB in the GB game as being that beneficial in terms of ‘knocking of the rust.’
One way or other that will be something they have to deal with in Week 1 and to a lesser degree vs Dallas.
All I’ve read about all summer is how great Sam’s looked in camp. He’s soooo accurate. Not to agree with the troll, but frankly some of the local media and fans have been over the top with their praise of Bradford. He didn’t look bad last night, but he also didn’t look like the 2nd coming. His accuracy wasn’t great and while I liked his reads, he failed to execute on a few of those throws. My point is, I want to see him actually execute and look great when people are actually trying to tackle him before I’ll be happy that he’s our QB. Green Bay game is his first real chance to do that, assuming Kelly doesn’t do the quick hook again.
You always have to take what guys look like in practice with a grain of salt. Yeah I get what you are saying and the few people who have questioned how Bradford has looked in camp have gotten their share of flak via Twitter.
Doubt Bradford ever will be the ‘second coming’ and that he’ll have his share of up & down moments this year. Really just a question if he is better than Foles would have been & a better option than Sanchez.
Didn’t dislike the Bradford trade except for the part where I thought Kelly the GM didn’t drive a very good bargain.
Agreed, but I’ll also point out that given both what the Eagles are paying him and what we gave up to get him, he doesn’t need to be better than Foles. He needs to be much, much better than Foles to make the trade make even a little bit of sense. Biggest gripe about the trade was what the Eagles paid, never about how good a player Sam can become in this offense.
Dollars thing didn’t bother me as much although it would have been nice if the Eagles could have used that money elsewhere. Still ended up trading Boykin/Mathis though and their attempt to land McCourty failed.
It was more having to give up a ’16 2nd round pick no matter what. Just one more indication to me where Kelly the GM doesn’t necessarily have the best personal attributes or experience to strike the best deals in FA.
Is it completely nuts to think the Eagles might pick up another kicker before Week 1?
Not nuts, but I don’t think it’s happening.
Yes it is..
No, there’s some dried fruit mix in there, but mostly nuts.
Adam Schefter
@AdamSchefter
2m2 minutes ago
Former Colts WR Reggie Wayne arrived in New England last night and is taking a physical with the Patriots today, per league sources.
That’s interesting. Didn’t think WR depth was an issue for the Patriots. Doing a little research, it appears Brandon LaFell may be injured.
91 retweets
26 favorites
Depth, maybe not…………… but they have a general lack of overall talent in that spot.
So far, so good in the red zone. 3 trips last night in the 1st half (2 TDs, 1 FG). Last week it was 2 trips and 1 TD, 1 no score.
This offense is going to move the ball even if Sanchez is at QB. They did last year.
Last year the Eagles were only 23rd in the league (49.1%) in converting red zone opportunities into the TDs. Two teams that were worse made the playoffs (Carolina at 48.1%; Arizona at 43.6%) but the Panthers were a fluke and Cards were playing with 3rd/4th string QBs.
In 2013, the Eagles were 13th at 53.2% but closed the season much stronger than they began.
To finish in the Top 10 the last 3 years, it was generally required a team to convert at 57% rate or higher. There isn’t a huge correlation with making the playoffs if you finish in the Top 10 (5/10 teams in ’12, 4/10 teams in ’13, and 6/10 teams in 14) but even if the Eagles can get to middle of the pack again this year again they’ll score a bunch of points.
Same with turnover differential (t-26th at -8) Don’t need to lead the league but just can’t do so badly at it again about turning it over. With Bradford at QB, I don’t think that will be an issue but it will if they are forced to play Sanchez a lot again. Also don’t see them leading the league in turnover forced again too including INTs (21). That really surprised me last year especially with Boykin not having at least 3-4.
If the Eagles can even just be middle-of-the pack in both categories, I like their chances to win 10 or 11 games and make the playoffs.
i think we’ll force WAY more turnovers, i think we’ll be SEA the year before they won the SB. I think generally better secondary, better dropping lbs and people that are focused on stripping the ball will help.
They lead the NFL in turnovers recovered last year (36 total with 21 INTs, 15 FF). There is almost zero chance they’ll do ‘alot more’ of it. Hell, if the have 30 this year they’ll likely be in the Top 5-6 again.
we’ve had 6 in 2 games, and our schedule is cake
Red Zone offense is the one area separating us from being a truly elite offense. Better QB play and for that matter, better play calling will go a long way in determining just how good the Eagles are going to be this season.
ha ha ha ha ha ha. Green Bay just abused the Steelers first team “D.”
I was looking for Boykin out there. I wonder what happened with Nelson. I hope he can play next week
Apparently it was non-contact and he just fell to ground. Not good.
I hopes its just a sprained ankle and not something serious like and Achilles
Saw the replay and it looked like when he turned to get upfield that he strained a muscle. Hard to tell exactly but it seemed higher than knee/ankles. When I first saw it, I thought maybe abdominal or groin strain. He did have hip surgery this offseason and it could be related to that.
I wanted to see our DBs against him next week. Gives us a good test going into the season
I assume he would be Byron Maxwells responsibility, which is good work to get ready for Julio game 1, but I trust Max to be ready and the Packers still have plenty of weapons to test our secondary..
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This preseason has been great, we are lucky that we got to play against 3 teams that are all playoff contenders.. You don’t want to play playoff games against garbage teams that you outclass
They just said knee , uh-oh.
Jordy Nelson limped off field. Something to keep an eye on.
steelers Offense should be No joke tbis year. But the defense is pathetic..
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antonio brown blatantky pushed off
It seemed like Cooper could have made more of an effort on that long ball.
I don’t think he has the extra gear to run under that pass
I hate when the QB gets criticized for “overthrowing the ball”. No, the damn receiver just didn’t run fast enough.
QB have to know the receivers somewhat though.
We all know a ton about Cooper; I’m not blaming the QB for that skid mark being on this roster.
Ironically, they’ve known each other a long time, their fathers grew up together. And QB needs to complete throws he decides to make.
Why would you let your child hang around with the Coopers?
Hanging with Riley Cooper? Sounds like a good idea for a bit.
Exactly. It wasn’t a lack of effort.
Happened several times last year as well.
Yet he’ll still make the roster and get a lot of PT early on I bet.
Just is such a soft player who gets ripped by the fans and in this case more often than not I think their right.
Part of why the whole ‘Chip is a racist’ thing has lingered too isn’t only that Cooper said what he did/remained on the roster but that a lot of teammates quietly question his toughness and even effort at times I bet.
I don’t think it was a lack of effort as much as physical limitations such as a lack of speed.
Have to watch it again but I think he also wrongly adjusted to the ball which he seemed to be good at in 2013. Regardless if he adjusted wrong or not he was not going to get to it with his lack of another gear or gears.
Rodgers got mollywhopped
GB is going to be a great test for us, They aren’t afraid to play Rodgers and their top players in the preseason. Like the Eagles, they have brought in an infusion of young DB talent trying to tighten up their secondary… they Have speed on Defense so It should be a much better preseason test for all our weapons then what the Colts or Ravens provided..
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Clay Mathews and Peppers is good work for Lane and JP to get sharp for the season.. I’d like to see Lane shut them down, make up for letting Dumervill get by him… their Inside Linebackers are still week… solid DL but nothing our OL shouldnt be able to handle..
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GBs OL is up there with ours, Dallas, Ravens. Lacy behind that OL is great work for our front 7 getting ready for the season.. A lot of our defenders im sure felt Embarressed in the last Packer game. like to see guys come out and make a statement in their last preseason action before the atlanta game..obviously we won’t be throwing a bunch of stunts, twists and disguise against GB, but I’d like to see us get some pressure on Rodgers even out of a vanilla defense…like us, they have a ton of weapons, Jordy, Cobb, Devante Parker, TY Montgomery, Jeff Janis.. Great team to work against in the preseason because we will need all our DBs to show up and play well or Rodgers will take advantage of a weak link..
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They provide a decent front 7’to work on our run game against,., the interior of Our OL should keep the packers off Bradford, it’s up to Lane and Jp to not let Peppers or Clay get shots on SAM..
Great test . . .
Will either team do any game planning? Even minor GP?
Or will they both still be running their own schemes without regard to the opposition?
You never know when either coach will want to try something different, but I don’t think it will be in the context of game planning.
Its so tiring every year to see people say stuff like “Its only pre-season.” over and over and over again.
Everyone knows this. But you can see some stuff.
We wont know if McCarthy is going to outcoach Chip in the playoffs, or out gameplan him. Its not much of a showcase for coaches.
But we will learn how our talent stacks up against theirs after this game. Thats pretty important.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say McCarthy isn’t going to outcoach anyone. Having the best QB in the league covers over a multitude of sins.
Clay is hurt but totally unknown if he’ll play but he’s dirty.. He didn’t make Pitts. trip and has had knee and elbow inj.
I noticed Dion Lewis playing with the 1’s with New England. Looks like he’s their third down back.
He looked good, shifty as ever. He’s someone who always seemed to produce when given the chance. He even looked decent in pass protection.
I think Belichick wants his own Sproles.
Saw that. I wonder if they disabled the firm alarms in Foxboro.
That is a name I haven’t heard in a while.
Wow, forgot all about him.
WE ARE thechampioon we are the champions… Of the preseason!!!
On that front, I agree with that that win/losses and even how individual players do doesn’t mean a hill of beans in the preseason.
Just get out as healthy as you can and get just enough snaps for your and starters (which easily could be done with a 3-game preseason too).
About the only thing I have learned this preseason is that both Barkley/Tebow still look pretty ragged but then again how many 3rd string QBs in the NFL are that much better?
Damarious randall with an int..curious to see how rollins looks
Did Randall get hurt?
Boykin just gave up a catch. I don’t know what Boykins role is, but Mike Tomlin has him in the game during the 3rd quarter which is odd for a starter..
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Jordy Nelson they say has a knee injury which means it’s not a pulled muscle.. Could just be a sprain, hyper extended or it could be more serious
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TJ Lang might have a concussion
Boykin’s been 2nd string so far for Pittsburgh. Haven’t been reading up on their sites constantly, but to this point he hasn’t broken into the starting lineup. Given that Rowe’s been getting torched and we still don’t have a reliable nickel, I still miss him. Possible Boykin never breaks into the starting lineup, but he’s at least got a legitimate chance on the Steelers. Never was going to happen here.
I’d be surprised if he doesn’t win the starting job at some point. He can play in their scheme, where he has no business playing for press teams like us and the seahawks…I would have rather kept him for depth this year, but I’m sure I will be happy we traded him during the next draft…
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EJ,BIGS has really surprised me and been much better then I expected, Jaylen has been up and down… RoWE is still learning the position, but overall they are light years ahead of where our backüp corners were these last few years,.. I’m sure we will be fine, worst case scenario we bring our safeties Jenkins or Thurmond up to guard the slot until ROWE, watkins or BIGs is ready to be trusted…. Damn shame we didn’t get to see JaCorey Shep,.
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Pleased with Ed Reynolds.. Not as good as last week, but he still made some nice plays last night on Defense, and blocking for Barner on that PR TD.. I thought Reynolds was better then Couplin last night, so Couplin is going to have to make plays and stand out these next two games to hVe a shot at beating out Reynolds for the 5th Safety behind the two starters and our two ST aces Maragos and Prosinski…..Thinking Ed Reynolds is going to make this Roster…
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If Chip keeps 5 corners then BIgs,Jaylen and ROWE all probably make it, unless we LOVE Denzel Rice and don’t think we could sneak him onto the practice squad…. I sure wouldn’t mind if Tomilson or Rice happen to unfortunately get this horrible in grown Toe Nail forcing them to spend a year on our IR….
Biggars, who was awful in Washington, has looked the best of the deep reserves. Rowe’s been getting beat regularly at the top of the route. Needs to improve his drive and plant. Not giving up on him, but hasn’t earned playing time either. Would like to see Rice vs. better competition.
yeah row probably isn’t bet suited for slot, but it’s the ony way he’ll get on the field right now.
Ian Rapoport @RapSheet 5m5 minutes ago
The initial diagnosis on #Packers WR Jordy Nelson is a torn ACL, source said. Horrible news. Awaiting MRI results to confirm.
God I hate preseason! Love watching Jordy. (except when he is torching the Eags of course)
This can’t get enough upvotes.
3 games (including 1 game where the starters played a half) would be more than enough. This isn’t the 60s where the Eagles’ players have a desk job in the offseason and need the 2/day in July/August to just get back in shape.
Adams and/or Jeff Janis will step up. Not to that level though.
Janis fumbles punt return as soon as I say it.
janis Played well up to that point… Love Stanford rookie TY Montgomery as a Percy Harvin gadget type and ST weapon…. devante is very under rated. Kid can play….
Nelson’s injury may have just sured up Janis a roster spot. News from Packers camp so far is that Janis has been a giant disappointment. Montgomery and Myles White were outperforming him. I think Janis would have made it anyway because he is still viewed as a project but it hasn’t been looking good for him so far this year
There was a fake account @RapSleet thy reported something similar. If this is true, that’s awful. Worst aspect of the sport. The only positive is that ACL is no longer career ending.
NFL network reported it during Packers game Broadcast.. The announcers even commented on the news… It’s real
This is a MAJOR LOSS! I fear them much much less then I did this morning. Horrible news for GB, and a big break for the other playoff contenders in the NFC.. Bet the Packers are happy they decided to pay Cobb in March..
That absolutely sucks. Huge loss for them and NFL fans everywhere.
geez that is awful….can happen that quickly
He was a staple on my fantasy squads the last couple of years.
Was gonna draft davante adams late in the draft..definately gonna draft him earlier now
After overcoming a bunch of Knee injuries and allegedly having a strong Camp, Arrelious Benn broke his collarbone last night…that poor guy has about as much luck as Travis Long..
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as much as I look forward to Eagles 3rd preseason game when we get to see our starters, im almòst as excited to see the Redskins 3rd preseason game. RG3 playing for a full half (assuming he is healthy from last week) is a can’t miss TRAINWRECK I can’t wait to see… unfortunately Desean is injured.. can’t wait to see him pout, and get frustrated because RG3 is a mess.. Watching the RG3 era completely crumble in Washington this year will be so much fun. these idiots traded like 3 years worth of first round picks on this TRAINWRECK of a QBBig.. They finally got to pick in round 1, and the genius’s spent a top 5 pick on a Guard THATS getting steamrolled in the preseason… The last couple years in Washington have been bad, but this will be the true disaster season that brings the end to the RG3 era, and I assume Jay Gruden iwll also be fired after 2 years LOL..
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Dying to see what McFadden and john Randle do for the Cowboys today. I know it’s prseason, but Dallas needs to give those RBs some work… But game 3 should be fun getting to watch their top RBs play an entire half
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Giants I struggle to take serious with an OL like that.. We will destroy Eli when we play him… That shutout last year was no ANOMOLY, our defense will whip that team again. That OL was crap to begin with and they lost Baetty which was probably the least crappy of all their lIneman.. Joke of an OL, weak secondary, I’ll be dissapointed if we don’t beat the, twice this year..
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I so desperately want to run the table in our Division. I’m dying to see us go 6-0 in the division… 3-3 would be a failure. 4-2 is average for us, 5-1 would be a good year, 6-0 would be a memorable year…
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Kick our divisions ass, we should be able to smack around the Falcons, Panthers, Saints, Bucs division..
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How we do against the Patriots division should decide whether we win 9 or 10 games, or 11-12 games,.
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I wrote about all the big losses to the Panthers, and last night there new starting DE Alexander tore his achilles, Greg Hardy the other DE is Gone! Star Lotululie DT is Injured! kurt Coleman is beating TrenBoston for the starting safety next to old man Roman Harper, LOL…what was an elite Panthers defense is a Mess….. They have two elite LBs, but so do we, so do the seahawks… It’s not enough for Carolina…. Who’s their RB? Kelvin Benjamin done for the season, and Rookie Funchess now has to be their #1, and I don’t love that kid at all in college
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Against the Saints, you have to worry about Brandin Cooks who the pats praised..
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Shut down Julio, hit Matt Ryan and the Falcons lose
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Can’t wait to play Jameis..
4-2 and at least a split with the Boys gives them a fighting chance to win the NFC East. Yeah a bye would be great but winning 10 or 11 games and at least getting a 1st round home game would be a good season.
It would be nice to see them play well at home too last year. Eagles were just 4-5 (including the playoff loss to the Saints) at home in ’13 and have been the worst team at home vs their overall record since the Linc opened through the ’13 season.
I would be curious to see if the numbers last year (6-2 at home) changed that.
4-2’is certainly logical, but I have a hard time envisioning us lose a game to the Giants and Skins…. Both teams have serious problems on the OL that our front 7 should Feast on..
F that. Take 2 from the boys, tee off on Romo when they can’t run.
Is there a chance Austin gets cut even with the decent paycheck he got from the Eagles?
Doubt it,.. He isn’t even injured an chip held him out last night along with Kendricks and Kiko.. Instead of letting him fight for his job in the game… His spot seems pretty secure to me..but I wouldn’t mind if we did cut him, just doesn’t look like it will happen
Not buying that he’s not nursing some kind of injury. Agree with the assessment that he’s probably sticking on the roster regardless.
probably a hamstring
That would be ironic and expected.
He has something but I assume he could play if it was a real game… If he needed to compete for a job I’m sure we would have saw him play thru it.. But we will see when he returns to practice
I’ll be annoyed if we can’t get Sheed Baily on Practice squad.. Leave our Vincent Papale 2.0 alone…, hoping the lack of pedigree, and speed keeps teams away from him.. I would hate to lose him just so Coop, or Austin can be an eagle for a season before we get rid of them..
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Sure wouldn’t mind if Sheed Baily mysteriously happens to get unlucky with a season ending impacted wisdom tooth forcing him On IR for the season..
Sammy Coats seems to be having trouble in Pittsburgh. Probably separation anxiety now that Mitchell has stopped stalking him.
Not an Eagle= dead to me.
The tip and pick by Carroll and Thurmond perfectly showed as to why Kelly was did not want Boykin on the outside. Boykin may be a good coverage CB but eventually his size could get him beat for a big play in which this team is trying to put an end to.
The throw was actually a good pass by Flacco. Carroll used his height combined with arm length to knock it down. On a shorter CB that could very well have been a TD.
Half of the outside WRs would toss his tiny ass out of bounds if he tried to press them..
Yeah, I think press would have been a real issue with him against bigger receivers. I like him against Jackson but I think Dez would have had a field day against him if he tried to press him.
It hit Carroll on the shoulder pads. Let’s not get carried away with the height thing.
Huh? What game were you watching? He jumped up and swatted it with his hand.
No body is getting carried away, it’s just making a statement on what happened.
How about not making things up just to be pessimistic.
Well if you want to imagine it was the shoulder pads that did it then we can say a shorter player would not have it hit his shoulder pads and deflect into Thurmond for the pick.
I think it did hit off his shoulder.
Rewatch it.
Yes, and?
http://www.baltimoreravens.com/videos/videos/NFLN-Flacco-intercepted-by-Thurmond/48bd58c6-d3dc-4302-b981-f57feaec03eb
Might have been the arm between the elbow and shoulder. Carroll definitely had his hand up but that’s not what tipped it.
The link you just provided clearly shows the ball deflect off of the side of his hand on the close-up slowed down view.
And I think it’s just as clear it hits closer to the shoulder 😉
Lol. Looked at it again. He goes to hit it with his hand. You can actually see it impact his fingers by how his fingers move.
It then continues down and hits directly above his elbow then deflecting to Thurmond.
Either way the point is that it didn’t just deflect off of his shoulder pads. Carroll had good coverage and went to make a play on the ball. He showed good ball awareness and the ability to do something about it.
That is alot more positive then just running behind the WR and being lucky that the ball hit you in the back or pads.
Here’s another look:
https://twitter.com/NFL/status/635228856543113216
You can actually adjust that one frame-by-frame… not perfectly conclusive, but the angle of the ball was clearly not at the hand. Might have glanced off the elbow before bouncing up off the shoulder or base of the arm, or something like that. I watched the other video several times as well.
Your larger point does stand — Carroll was definitely tracking the ball and trying to swat it away. It was very good coverage. The interception was a bit lucky, but not the incompletion. Boykin had pretty good leaping ability — it’s press coverage and catchup speed where Boykin may struggle more.
Just watched it again. From the tv angle, looks like it bounced off his shoulder pad. May have hit his hand and you just can’t tell from the camera angle, but length was not an issue on that play.
Pretty sure I’m not being pessimistic, but using that play to bash Boykin is a bit OTT.
I was joking regarding the making things up and pessimistic view.
Height wasn’t as big as I thought in the play upon review.
I wasn’t bashing Boykin. I wasn’t simply trying to illustrate how two different size CBs may have the same good coverage, but the taller CB with longer arms has more of a radius to make a play on the ball.
And while it was a good pass by Flacco, I’ve seen him throw better deep balls. If that were an Eagle qb, we’d be bemoaning the fact that he didn’t lead the receiver more.
Still an improvement from what we’ve seen in the secondary, and encouraging. Fantastic play by Thurmond, Allen would have been up playing a crosser.
Are we getting too riled up about pre-season? I don’t think so.
nah. maybe the score, but that’s what fans do. what we should be excited about is Kelly brought in 10-12 new impact players, ton of moving parts, and Eagles look like a veteran played together for 5 yrs team.
Did reynolds stand out yesterday?
no big plays, but played a lot of snaps, dropped a pick.
Not like the first game but he did some good things, and he played better then Couplin which is what was important.. He had a few tackles, block on Barners punt return TD, dropped an INT… He seperated himself a little more for Couplin which is who he needs to beat to make the team
And I thought Couplin tightened the race back up. His tackles were solid and sure and he seemed to be flying around. Reynolds had the nice block, but missed another pick.
I think Reynolds is more assignment sure at this point(has been with team longer and probably knows scheme better) but Couplin seemed to have more physical upside. There was one play where the receiver caught the ball near the sideline and his closing speed to push him out of bounds was quite impressive.
Reynolds also had some nice tackles… I wouldn’t say Couplin Made up ground yesterday… If anything it was a wash between those two yesterday.
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Ed Reynolds played the most snaps on the team 79
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Haven’t gotten around to watching it again but I’ll get a better idea soon…reynolds played with the 2nd string next to Maragos and made a couple tackles, and then he played with the 3rd string next to Couplin, and it was pretty close… But I got Ed still ahead,,. Don’t really care which wins it…
With Reynolds and Couplin both doing well on STs, not out of the realm of possibility that they keep both and let Prosinski go.
detroit long arms looks like he has more talent. bigger stronger longer (who isnt he longer than) more physical.
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surprised he never got picked up by Seattle to be Cam’s understudy.
Steelers had both Pouncy and Stephan Tuitt carted off….. Those would be huge losses on both sides of the trenches that steelers can easily overcome
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panthers lost starting DE Frank Alexander to a torn Achilles after losing Kelcin Benjamin earlier in the week
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Jordy Nelsom is a big loss for GB
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hopefully we are done with injuries and we get out of these last two weeks healthy
Besides Bradford . . .
Who can the Eagles least afford to lose for the season?
1. Jason Peters?
2. Jason Kelce?
3. Fletcher Cox?
4. Byron Maxwell?
5. Someone else?
sammy b, peters, everyone else
Chip Kelly
…and Tommy Lawlor.
True!
(Play on your trademark response to the un-nameable commenter)
Definitely. With Shiel and Bo gone … We are losing all the good writers
With this post, I’ll add MattE to the list.
yeah we can’t afford tommy getting carpel tunnel any time soon
Hmm I think it’s on the O-line because it’s pretty thin. JP gets hurt, the performance level at that position plummets. Though the case can be made that Tobin on his preferred left side next to a steady vet in Barbre might be able to limp by but if Lane were to go down and Tobin had to play tackle on this side he isn’t comfortable on apparently, next to Gardner, that just might be even worse depending on the team we’re playing. Or does Tobin end up at RT either way and Lane swings over to LT? If that’s the case and we accept JP>LJ at left tackle (for now), then yes JP would logically be the bigger loss
I don’t see Tobin as a LT for any stretch of time. I imagine they are cross training him there so he can be first man off the bench for an in game switch if someone gets dinged.
If it’s going to be more than a one or two week injury you likely slide some guys around. Barbre would kick to one of the tackle spots and Tobin slides in at LG.
I don’t want to ever see Tobin at LT unless it’s in the 4th quarter with Sanchez because we’re winning 45-3.
Barwin should easily be Top 5 given the injuries and lack of depth at OLB.
Argue they can lose Bradford too before Kelce, Peters, Cox, and Maxwell too given Sanchez is at least an adequate backup.
Are you trying to jinx us or something? Boo!!!
Considering how thin the OLB depth is, Barwin (or anyone else at this point)
Bob smith had this covered… Sorry I didn’t read first
After Sammie and JP, I’ll go with Lane Johnson. I believe we have the depth to cover any one person going down on the defensive side of the ball (Barwin would hurt), but I am terrified if we lose either of our tackles, because that puts Sammy at much greater risk.
I also think Jordan Matthews gets an honorable mention. After him, name one reliable receiver on our team.
Jenkins and Barwin. Horrid depth at those positions.
maxwell and/or jenkins. 2ndary depends mightily on those two being healthy
Is McCourty being moved to CB?
Their has been talk about it but last night he played safety and saved a TD In the Redzone when Bree’s threw to Brandon Coleman on 3rd down, Brandon caught it but McCourty got his hand on it at the last second and Knocked it out of colemans hands
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Brandin Cooks looked good
yup, for now Maybe B. Fletch not good enough?
Wow, Pouncy fractured his ankle will miss at least half the season… Life without your starting center is no fun…. Tuitt was only an ankle sprain
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Bennett Jackson (I think that’s his name) emerged as a contender for Giants starting safety…. But now he can join the other safety on the IR OUT FOR THE SEASON..the Giant secondary suck to begin with, but it’s all types of banged.. Landon Collins is banged up and they lost two safeties for the season already..
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brandin Cooks looked good against the Pats.. Caught a nice Bomb for a TD, Brandon Coleman had a TD catch but McCourty broke it up… Brees looked good. Ingram looked good to…Saints might be tougher then I thought… But after how much crap our FANBASE gave Bennie Logan during his rookie yeat for the saints loss. Our DL should be hungry to dominate the saints this year.. Bennie Logan is going to dominate that game.. Saints should win their division now that half the Panthers starters are on IR.. Falcons don’t scare me, and Bucs have a rookie QB… Looks like sainTs are going to the playoffs this yeàr
Falcons fans are already calling their game against us a win. Delusional fan base.
Wow really? Poor simpletons
Hey, its that time of year. Every fan base thinks things are going to get better. If you’re a Falcons fan and you are thinking about last year’s Eagles pass D, I’d consider putting them down for a W, too.
I think it comes from a lot of people thinking the Eagles are a mess because we got rid of DJax, McCoy, and Mathis.
That makes sense. Chip’s a nutter.
At the same time, Falcons have talent, but suffered major injuries and poor coaching the last couple years. They are due for a bounce back, especially in a division with everyone looking like garbage.
They can bounce back against shit squads like Carolina and Tampa. I’m not having any losing efforts to start our season.
I wonder if the NFC South will be won with a losing record again this year.
With the NFL’s ridiculous focus on “parity”, it’s strange that we played 8 decades of NFL football without someone winning a division with a losing record, then it happened twice in 5 years.
Kind of the way I see it too. That team underachieved last year especially in such a crummy division.
If their defense even plays marginally better this year, they’ll win at least 8-9 games which might be enough to take the NFC South.
Absolutely, but none of that 8 or 9 is coming on that Monday night opener.
What a bunch of dopes. With what O-line and D are they doing that?
We could try to get a 3rd rounder for Molk, since they are already committed on their fourth and fifth rounders.
My money league drafts Tuesday, so I did another mock to prep up for picking 4th.
Marshawn, Alshon. Lamar Miller, Jonathan Stewart, Brandon Marshall, Chris Ivory, Charles Johnson, Duke Johnson, John Brown, Phillip Rivers, David Cobb, Steven Haushka, Sam Bradford, Kyle Rudolph, Owen Daniels, Eagles D.
You got Rivers in the 10th round?
Yes. He’s rated significantly lower by ESPN than a lot of fantasy writers have him.
To add a bit more optimism, this is all without Ertz out there as well.
Hopefully we see Ertz in the opener and Chip isn’t mocking him for “pain tolerance.”
God i wanna punch heath evans in the face
haha i just watched the same thing
LOL – what did he say?
oh the usual, Sam Bradford is going to get hit if Chip keeps running those “high school plays” Willie Mcginnest thinks the hit was perfectly legal but when the host asked him why he went to the knees? Willie didn’t have an answer and just said it doesn’t matter who it is…..he knows in his mind the play was dirty
This is why I love Chip Kelly. The old guard hates him because he doesn’t do things “the right way.”
Keep on keeping on Chip.
yep, the hate is strong
I hope chip has Bradford play one series during the 4th preseason game just to stick it to the fools that do everything the same way.., who says you can’t play the first team in game 4… If rather play Bradford less in game 3, so he can get a series in game 4, then to only play him in game 3… Be good to have him play 2 more games, get the jitters out and get his adrenaline in check, plus I want to hear all the purist rip chip for doing it different
Someone needs to call these “analysts” out for not actually reading the rule book.
yea it was kind of painful to listen to….just have to remember these guys are paid trolls, not analysts. I put them in the same boat as Stephen A. and Skip and the Jabroni’s on ESPN countdown. Just pandering to the casual football fan
Welcome to America where everyone does.
OMG – Chris Carter. Really? Really dude?
once a jackass, always a jackass
guy has always been a loser as far as i’m concerned. This falls at the feet of the NFL i think, i mean it is at their Symposium, they are responsible for who they hire to give young people who are just about to get paid advice on how to handle themselves
But let’s go crazy over under inflated footballs, don’t want to ruin the NFL’s integrity
2 different things. But seriously this is on the NFL do they not listen to the people they have talk? Is that really the right message to send to 21 year olds? I mean how does the media defend carter here?
ESPN has already released a BS statement, he will keep his job. The NFL and ESPN are in the excuse making business especially when it comes to their own. It’s funny also how Carter is on video giving this advice and his son Duron, who is talented, was a giant headache wherever he played in college
really happy about team health (knock on wood), still sour about jacorey’s knee
[…] Eagles’ defense appears to be much improved from last year’s preseason to […]
Oh shit.. Randy Moss on the air said he wants to comeback during the beginning of tItans vs Rams broadcast
that’s straight trash, homie
His old ass, retired for two years could never play at our tempo, but someone will sign him for publicity alone..
anyone going to hate watch/scout the cowgirls with me?
What channel?
i thought it’d be on nfln, instead “a football life” is on, hmmm
replay is on at midnight
Can’t wait to see how their crappy RBs did
Yup. Rams vs Titans is on..
Fox Mariota vs Foles
I am finding myself rooting against nick foles in some weird way to justify the move so there is no doubt it was the right move and am generally rooting for Mariota to suceeed.
Cowgirls looking good so far…. McFadden 0 yards on 2 carries and Romo -1 yards.
49ers march straight into the redzone on their first down.
These are the things I like to hear.
I heard that they are only playing Fredrick from their starting line. I know I haven’t seen Smith out there.
That’s fine if you don’t want your starters playing until week 1. They’ll concede the first couple weeks of the season trying to knock rust off.
Well Romo is out and to the bench… his 1/1 -1 yard passing day was all the work he needed tonight. The Dallas OL seems to be in as far as i can see.
Oh and 3 and out for Weeden on next drive.
Free is playing LT and Collins is also in so I was wrong. Most of their line is playing and they look bad.
I like these updates. Now I just need to hear about Dez having a meltdown on the sideline.
Lance Dunbar must have eaten too much meat this morning. He just fell down with nobody even around him.
Foles is looking sharp. 1-1
And he just threw an INT.
and now a pick 6. uh oh
Folks pick 6.
Greeeeaaat throw Nick!
Foles pick 6
Pick 6 foles
Yikes Foles threw a terrible pick 6
a miscommunication between QB and WR according to the TV guys. thatll get ironed out.
Remember we thought that last year with Foles in the preseason.
They need Gurley back to make that offense work, because they will need to rely heavily on the run game.
I like Mason too.
In nicks defense, Austin did stop running the route
Oops britt
Dallas looking really bad. They are playing without their best offensive player but it is real ugly.
Their best offensive player is in Philly. They have bust written all over them.
Who’s not playing
Tyron Smith and I haven’t seen Dez either.
Oh and Romo only played first series.
Sounds like someone I know…..
I was just making the observation that their three best players on offense haven’t been playing so it puts the cowboys struggles in a different light.
Their offense will be okay with Dez, but with all the hype about their offensive line you’d expect to see a better running game.
I wonder if that’s a coaching issue. The Eagles back ups under chip in preseason games always look more talented than they probably are. I mean we freak out every year when their 5th running back gets cut right? Like we probably will with mostert. When I see teams 2nd and third strings look terrible in preseason I tend to think that it’s a team relying too much on top end talent. That doesn’t tend to pan out usually.
I forgot LeBeau went to the Titans.
Danorris searcy in Labeaus hands is a nice weapon
Dallas run defense struggling to set the edge.
is Gregory in? sorry don’t have the game
Yeah he had a sack.
Easy to look like a good defense when you’re not on the field. Not going to have that luxury this year.
orakpo looks funny in a Titans uniform.
Mariota with a nice pass.
Dallas punt coverage unit cannot contain that rugby dude from Australia. It doesn’t hurt he has had wide open lanes to run through.
So 3 series for the Dallas offence. 3 and out all 3, moving no one up front and a nice hold in pass coverage. Special teams looks just as bad – 49ers already have 2 big punt returns.
Cowgirl defence is getting some penetration up front but has no gap discipline and their secondary still stinks.
Cowboys RBs aren’t dominating? Shocker
Tennessee rushing attack is picking up chunks against an amazing DL for the rams. Thats impressive.
Chance warmack, Lewan they have some high picks invested in that line.. Shame for them that Andy Levitre is stinking it up and had to be benched. He got big money from the Titans
..
I’d expect Dick Lebau to have that defense playing well with Derick Morgan, Orakpo, Danorris searcy
one of my favorites in his draft class who I wish we drafter- Schwenke on that line as well.
Really crazy how Levitre went from all-pro type guard to benched.
Mariota looks pretty good… Bishop Sankey is running well
Yeah Sankey is a guy i need to target in fantasy, It is easy to forget how much read options open things up for the running back.
That Titans team have talent on offense, if they just had a better coach, they could make noise in the AFC South
Did anyone notice Chris Long not hit Mariota on the option read? #notadirtyplayer
Yeah Mariota even carried out the fake unlike Bradford who stood still
Yeah its really odd that Chris Long didn’t dive at his knees…
Consider Gregg Williams is the DC, that is an achievement
49ers defense just walked cowboys offensive line into QB’s lap and just followed it up with a sack. Eli Harold beat Collins with a stunt.
Randall Gregory looking good rushing the passer. Has a sack and just got a hold called.
hmmmmmm…..wasn’t a huge fan of him pre-draft
It was against the second team LT.
His pass rush is supposed to be good. The problem is he will get steamrolled if he tries to set the edge against Jason Peters in the run game…. Just keep running straight at him
exactly, he has to put on some weight too, idk if he has or not since dallas drafted him, but even pre-draft gregory let it be known he has trouble putting weight on
i just think he will turn out to be a huge headache
its pretty amazing jeff fisher is never on the hot seat
whats more amazing is the hype every year about hte rams and they are always terrible.
Jeff Fisher has that weird disease people who’ve done something for a long time get. I don’t know what it’s called but the media just melts anytime someone has more than like 10 years of experience doing anything, especially being a head coach. As if doing something for a long time makes you good at it, or that you will always be as good at it as you once were.
You see it with guys like Shanahan, Joe Gibbs, etc. Parcells even. There’s this idea that because once upon a time you were good at something (or just happened to have success) you will always be good at it. It also helps that Fisher has a lot of friends in the media who were former players and he seems to be a coach players liked.
those guys have rings.
Yeah that was my point. Having a ring somehow makes you immune to criticism forever? yeah sure it does.
Mariota with Bradford double clutch lol!
Mariota has all the arm talent you could ask for, but when he throws just using his arm, no legs, it doesn’t look as hard as the fireball Bradford threw last night with just his arm
but he has some sexy ACLs
Pretty sure only Flacco, Rodgers and Luck can make the same throws as Bradford with pure arm strength (Vick and Cam might be able, but they are far less accurate)
Rams better pray Gurley can stay healthy
Haha 300 plus lb man with the pick six against the cowboys.
3rd QB threw it right into his stomach.
Anyone recall the Hakeem Nicks v. Jeremy Maclin debates?
Oh yeah..looking like mac was the best (and healthiest) receiver out of that class
Ah, the good ol’ Al Davis Raider days…
The WR class was so great to begin its career (except for DHB), but injuries have ruined them all except for Maclin, who will now be ruined by Alex Smith
Joseph Randle is still stuck at the kiddie table. Can’t even see the meat let alone taste it.
Holy crap. Keep Sam Bradford away from West Chester University… Legionnaires Disease.
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Legionnaires-Disease-West-Chester-University-Buildings-322629671.html
i know this has been brought up before but I am loving this Cris Carter story. What a fake holier-than-thou dummy! I love how he is constantly on ESPN preaching about morals and integrity, this guy has always been a creep, let’s not forget how he went from “the Eagles and Buddy saved my life” to “Hey Desean, the Eagles cut me for no reason too”
He tells these young kids that somewhere along the line they are going to screw up, but make sure you have one of the guys in your crew in a position to take the fall…while wearing his Hall of Fame jacket. Now the NFL releases a statment saying they are shocked and appalled…..What?! now that it’s public, why wasn’t this a problem years ago when he said it?
Another thing is this story coming from Carter’s employer ESPN, who did zero research (or did they?) to figure out who actually said it
I hate holier-than-thou people. I put him on Josh Duggar level.
yup, they are usually the people with the most skeletons in their closet
seriously – you think this is bad advice? What organization doesn’t have expendable people. You, as an NFL player are way more important than the rest of your crew. Just like rappers have someone to hold the weed, NFL players should have a guy willing to go to jail if it goes that way. That’s like telling kids to wear a condom vs preaching abstinence only.
are you being sarcastic? ….i hope so but can’t tell
Not at all, I don’t think it’s the kind of thing i would say in public but if i was a vet, i’d be guidance for youngins
it’s awful advice, it enables young kids to do whatever they want, because if caught someone else will face the consequences and I’m not just talking about someone holding a bag of weed, Should somebody else go to jail because Pacman Jones beat up a stripper? What does that teach him? I don’t know about the other leagues, but the NFL has their own babysitting task force for each team or a “fixer” to soothe over dumb shit players do. Just like with Ray Mcdonald….guy sexually assaulted a woman and the niners “fixer” was on scene before the police…..a couple months later he is arrested again for domestic violence and child endangerment, and prior to these two events he has been investigated for sexual assault
Sorry but i don’t put these guys on some untouchable pedestal where they are more important than the average person.Guidance would be telling these guys “if u screw up, be a man and own up to it”. Carter is just perpetuating this victim mentality that a lot of young players have today
Not doing anything illegal is very different from abstinence only education. For example, don’t bring a gun to a club is pretty common sense, don’t think that is too hard to follow so you won’t need someone to take the fall when you shoot yourself in the leg. No one is saying “don’t have fun”. i would say carter is giving something more akin to “no means yes – just have her sign a NDA” kind of advice which is clearly wrong.
It’s not bad “practical” advice, but the moral advice and the advice that the NFL would want Carter telling the players “officially” is not to do the type of things that would get them in trouble. Then when the rookie symposium business day is over and everyone is at the strip club(make sure no one has any cell phone videocamera shooting), then he can give the players the 411.
it’s great advice, if that’s your mindset. i’m going to royally F up, so what should i do, CC? oh, get a stool pigeon onboard, fantastic.
.
or, you could just draft guys like Pope and Alcohol. and Huff, who’d probably run thru a wall for kelly.
Don’t do wrong things in the first place. But if you’re going to, at least be smart enough to not get caught.
Kempski summarizing how the Cowboys faired at the beginning of their preseason game…
https://twitter.com/jimmykempski/status/635622112011649024
4/5 OL hurt, Dez hammy, 3 not really good RBs hurt, too. Hardy suspended 4 games, couple more DLs out, no Carter or Durant…Cowboys fans – “most improved defense” YEAH!!!
.
I don’t like the possibility of a new trend on every run play defenders trying to assassinate our QB because “he might have kept it on the option or play action, how’s a defender to know?!?” Suggs basically admitted he planned this, he went to the ref before the game to “remind” the ref of the rule (as he understood it), he was going to tee off on the QB regardless who had the ball, and he went for the kill shot, jackass. NFL needs to go ahead and come down on Suggs or this could be a recurring theme week in and week out.
I agree 100%. I think he should be suspended for the first 2 regular season games.
It was a penalty according to how they have said they are going to treat the rules, but one issue is that the rules as written by the NFL don’t specifically address the read-option. Blandino said that if the QB has handed off(or pitched) and is standing still or moving away from the direction of the play then hitting him is impermissible. The problem is that when you look at the rule book that is specifically from Rule 12, section 2, article 9, part f and that references when the QB is acting as a passer. Basically, the NFL’s officiating team has decided to apply the dictated protections for a passer to a QB in the read-option even though they’re not passing(even a pitch is a lateral and considered a running play). That’s all well and good if the refs and the league office are in lock-step with each other, but we saw with Chris Baker’s dirty hit on Foles last year(rules clearly said it was foul and Blandino had directly said plays like that were a foul in the past) that Vincent, having a bias toward defensive players, won’t necessarily interpret the rules the same as Blandino does. The competition committee needs to get together and spell out the rules regarding the read-option if for no other reason to clean up the language. I think there’s been too much disagreement within the committee because some of the members come from teams with traditional offenses and some employ the read-option. So they’ve punted on the issue and left the officials sputtering in attempting to figure out how to treat the plays.
You also have the issue of Suggs hitting Bradford in the knees. The prohibition for that is in part e of Rule 12, Section 2, Article 9. Again that is for passers, but if Blandino is saying that part f applies to QBs in the read-option, then it’s logical to assume that part e also applies. The problem is that the language of part e contradicts itself. It says that no rushing defender can forcibly hit a “passer” with one or both feet on the ground in the knee area even if the initial contact was above the knees. Then there’s a “note” attached to that which reads: “It is not a foul if the defender swipes, wraps, or grabs a passer in the knee area or below in an attempt to tackle him.” It is practically impossible to make a distinction between a defender trying to wrap up a player around the knees and forcibly hitting them. If you wrap up, you forcibly hit.
On a lateral, the QB is protected the moment he has pitched the ball, same if he slides.
There is no need to provide additional stuff, because the pitch or lateral has been there forever and ever defend knows not to hit the QB after he has tossed the lateral.
Suggs is just a dirty player and have always been.
Good Stuff.. And why are you not applying for an NFL Office Job?? Or are you already inside? A Chip Kelly double agent. : )
NIcky stixx not looking good 3/7 for 18 yards and a pick 6?
Wow…Jordy Nelson out for the year?
“Another rough outing for John Moffitt. It’s clear he’s been away from the game for two years. Moffitt allowed one sack and one hurry and failed to block well in the run game. Moffitt is PFF’s lowest overall graded guard in the NFL this preseason.”
Still waiting to see where Mathis lands and what he gets. He’ll sign sooner than later.