Another Day, Another DB Update
Posted: August 12th, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 291 Comments »Chip Kelly held a press conference prior to Tuesday’s practice. As usual, he had plenty of interesting things to say, but one item stood out. Kelly said that Eric Rowe would be competing for the Nickel spot. Previously he had left Rowe out of the list of players battling for that job.
Rowe is a good fit for when he goes against guys like Jordan Matthews in the slot, but the question is how he’ll do when going against a Wes Welker type. Those guys are smaller, quicker and very elusive. They can be tough to cover for someone that is tall and over 200 pounds.
Rowe played CB and S in college so he is used to lining up all over the field. He has good cover skills and is a gifted athlete. He just might prove to be capable of playing in the slot. Byron Maxwell, who is a bigger corner, did a good job in the slot for Seattle.
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The Eagles added a DB to the roster, signing former Raven Marc Anthony. He was a 7th round pick back in 2013.
He is an interesting choice for the Eagles. A couple of years ago I actually listed him in a mock draft for PE.com.
Seventh Round (No. 218 overall) – CB Marc Anthony – Cal – 5-11, 196 pounds
Anthony is a talented player. He has good game tape. He played well at the Senior Bowl. Unfortunately, he ran slow at the Combine and that has killed his value. Corners need to run about 4.50 in the 40-yard dash. Anthony was timed at 4.63. In the past, teams would write him off. There is a new movement in the NFL to focus on corners with size and physicality, even if that means sacrificing some speed. The Seahawks are the best example of this. Anthony is a risk, but I think he’s a smart risk. Let him press and be physical and see if he can overcome the lack of top speed. He is a good athlete overall.
Interestingly, I also had the Eagles taking Lane Johnson, Zach Ertz and Joe Kruger in that mock.
Anthony helps with depth for Training Camp and preseason games. I would think of him as a long shot to actually provide competition for a roster spot. We’ll see him play on Sunday and get a feel for if he’s a camp body or could turn into something more.
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Marcus Smith got some praise. First up is Jimmy Bama.
Marcus Smith had the highlight of the day during one-on-one pass rush drills. He put Dennis Kelly on roller skates, and then on his back. Absolutely destroyed him. “It was a head fake bull (rush),” said Smith. “I came off the ball, and did kind of a stutter step to get him off his feet, and then I bull rushed him and got to the quarterback.”
After standing out for the first time since, um, ever, Smith then went into a celebratory dance routine a la Freddy Mitchell. “I was just happy I finally conquered the move I’ve been wanting to do, so now I can bring other moves off of that,” Smith said. The Eagles are light on OLB depth, and they need Smith to step up his game this season. Today was an encouraging sign.
Tim McManus also had a note on him.
Later during team drills, Smith blows up a run play, bursting into the backfield to corral Kenjon Barner before the back even had a chance to make a move. “Good job, Marcus!” a group of teammates yelled from the sideline. Pretty good day for the second-year linebacker.
We had a Marcus Smith sighting. The Eagles’ 2014 top pick delivered the pass-rush move of training camp, and I’ll get to that in a moment, but Smith was also very active later during team drills. I don’t want to overstate one practice, but the second-year outside linebacker showed some signs of life. Let’s see if he can translate that to game action once the preseason starts on Sunday. As for the pass-rush move, it came during one-on-ones and against OL Dennis Kelly. “I did kind of a stutter-step to get him off his feet and then I bull-rushed him,” Smith said. And, boy, did he get Kelly off his feet. Smith drove the 6-foot-8, 321-pound Kelly back as if he were on skates and, finally, onto his rear end. Smith then did a dance as his defensive teammates jumped around him (and over the fallen Kelly). “I don’t know what that really was,” Smith said. “I was just happy that I finally conquered the move that I really wanted to do. Now I can bring other moves.” Kelly said that he lost his balance, but that Smith, who added 15 pounds, was stronger in this camp than a year ago. “That’s not going to look good on film for me,” Kelly said. “But it was a good move.”
Smith isn’t exactly turning into Lawrence Taylor, but this is encouraging. Smith needs to build on this. Don’t let one good day be an anomaly. Having success on the field will help his confidence, which will then help him to have more success. Can’t wait to see him play this weekend.
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Your Sam Bradford highlights of the day. McManus again.
Sam Bradford is having another fine day. He connects with Nelson Agholor, then zips a back-shoulder throw to Brent Celek for the touchdown. Agholor is getting a lot of first-team reps today. It appears Josh Huff is not a full participant.
Bradford finds Murray for a short-gainer and then tries a back-shoulder throw to Jordan Matthews in the corner of the end zone. But Jaylen Watkins, playing first-team nickel, has good coverage and the pass is incomplete.
Bradford finishes strong. He finds Sproles in the flat, then connects with Jeff Maehl down the left side for a big gain. That’s followed by the play of the day. Bradford lofts a perfect ball to Matthews in the right corner of the end zone about 30 yards downfield. Watkins is on him and again has tight coverage but Matthews rises up and wrestles the ball in for the score. A fired-up Matthews celebrates with an angry flex and a series of chest bumps as he makes his way up the sideline.
That last plays sound like one heck of a throw/catch by Bradford and Matthews. It is also encouraging that Jaylen Watkins still had good coverage, as well as having broken up a previous pass. Good news all around.
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Brandon Lee Gowton covered the RBs.
DeMarco Murray runs ANGRY. The Eagles running back ran up the gut and completely bowled over Walter Thurmond head on. Violent. It was reminiscent of the way Murray once destroyed Damion Square.
Speaking of running backs, it was another day where Ryan Mathews looked pretty good as well. The Eagles’ backfield is stacked.
Murray has been in and out of practice. It is noteworthy because he’s such a key part of the offense, but I’m not worried right now. The Sports Science staff tries to prevent injuries when they can and that means being protective of players.
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McLane had a good note on the ILBs.
There was a flip side to the run drills, and a few linebackers stood out on defense. Rookie Jordan Hicks had a couple of “stops” that stood out. He shuffled to the sideline and caught RB Raheem Mostert before he turned upfield, and Hicks got to him again up the middle a play later. The Eagles drafted Hicks in the third round, which virtually assures him a spot on the roster, but he looks like he belongs so far. DeMeco Ryans’ recovery appears to be going swimmingly. He made one of those slashing run stops into the backfield, on a Darren Sproles carry, that have become customary over his career.
The Eagles expect Hicks to be a key player in the future. He won’t play a ton this year (barring injuries), but the team loves his athleticism and instincts.
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Sam Bradford can throw, which is nice. That's important. However, he does not look like a guy ready to get hit by a 270 pound DE.
— Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) August 11, 2015
If Sam Bradford plays on Sunday, expect run plays and quick throws. He's not ready to be hit yet, IMO.
— Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) August 12, 2015
I have not been to Training Camp so I can’t offer an opinion on this. I hadn’t even considered the notion that Bradford wouldn’t play this weekend. It will be interesting to see if the coaches do sit him or if he’s out there.
And if Bradford is on the field, will he look confident or timid? Guys coming off a torn ACL (or two) have been known to be nervous about the first contact of the year. Definitely something to watch.
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How on earth can Hicks make plays in TC? I was told he was a huge reach by twitter and we should have picked “insert guy x whose highlight film was more impressive”
Kid reminds me of a poor mans Bobby Wagner… Obviously he is no where as good as Wagz, but his “stumpy” body type and his style of play always reminds me of Wagz…. Love having 3-4 quality ILBs.. Even when Meco hangs it up, we could still have a beastly 3 man rotation of Kiko,Mykal and Hicks..
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Hicks should be a real nice additipn to our special teams this year
No we should have picked 450lbs OL who cant move and aren’t very good.
Once again with the completely unfair and exaggerated straw manning of people who disagree with you? Come on. You’re better than that.
I’m glad Hicks is playing well, but the fact remains that ILB was not remotely a position of need and it was a luxury pick. I’d much rather have a guy like T.J. Clemmings or Arie Kouandjio, both of whom were highly regarded prospects who were talked about as potential Eagles targets (Clemmings even at #20 overall), and were available with that pick. What’s more valuable to a team, upgrading from a B+ to an A at the 3rd string ILB spot on the depth chart (Najee Goode looked pretty good before getting hurt last year), or not being one injury away from having a stiff like Andrew Gardner lining up in front of your injury-prone quarterback? I know what my answer to that question is.
I’m a fan of “be true to your board”. For whatever reason, they didn’t like the OL on the board in the 3rd. But characterizing Hicks as just a 3rd string LB is a bit ironic, given that you started your post by chastising someone for strawmanning (is that the 3rd Manning bro?). 😉
As of right now, Alonso and Ryans are the starters. Kendricks is first off the bench. That makes Hicks 3rd string. He may be way more talented than a typical 3rd stringer but that is by definition what he is by virtue of his position on the depth chart.
As for “be true to your board”, I favor that philosophy too, but it’s a lot less pressing when the differences between players are small or you’re talking about a non-premium pick like a 3rd rounder, and at some point need has to factor in because this isn’t the NBA where you can use depth stockpiled at one position to fill in at other positions via trade Hinkie-style. The Packers for example are not going to take a quarterback over a pass rusher just because he’s the slightly higher rated player on the board.
We don’t know where the Eagles had guys ranked on their board, but Clemmings couldn’t have been too low since they bothered to bring him in for a pre-draft visit. And even if he wasn’t their cup of tea there were plenty of other well-regarded OL still available. If the Eagles’ journeyman guards struggle this season, Hicks is buried on the bench because of the depth at ILB, and the OL the Eagles passed on play well elsewhere this will look like a very dumb pick.
OK, but the eagles obviously didn’t feel the same way and put way more energy (to understate it incredibly) into having an educated opinion on the matter than you.
Just saying.
And the Eagles braintrusts of the time thought Mike Mamula over Warren Sapp, Freddie Mitchell over Reggie Wayne, and Jon Harris over anybody were the right picks, whereas the majority of the fanbase disagreed with each of those choices. Turned out the fans were correct. Just because the scouts and GM are professionals doesn’t mean they necessarily know better in every case, so I think we have a right to second guess them.
But even taking your point – if Clemmings (who was widely mocked as a first rounder pre-draft) was so low on the Eagles’ board, why did they waste one of their pre-draft visits on him? You don’t generally do that for guys you don’t have ranked highly or don’t have on your board at all.
They probably got miffed by Clemmings’ injury situation or his character by using those resources to look into him. They might be wrong or they might be right in the end, but I have no reason to doubt their process right now. Maybe after a couple years of bad drafts that leave the team as a smouldering ruin I’ll reconsider.
I like to refrain from loudly proclaiming things I’m not in a position to know. You are certainly entitled to an opinion, and you might even be right on this one. But I would not for a second trust whatever process led you to this opinion if it involves none of A) watching film, B) studying medical documents or C) actually talking with the players and getting an idea of what they’re like as people.
Notice my statement above doesn’t make any grand proclamations. I didn’t say Hicks will be buried on the depth chart, the OL will struggle, and Clemmings (who I’m just using as an example BTW – there were lots of other highly regarded OL prospects on the board at the time) will develop into a good player. I framed all those statements as ifs, the only will being in the conclusion if they all come true.
Hicks could turn into the second coming of Ray Lewis for all I know. If he becomes a Pro Bowl player, then great, I’ll say it was a highly unorthodox pick but it got the team a great player so it was worthwhile. In the far more likely scenario that Hicks turns out to be only average or below, however, it remains a pick that prioritized a position where there was already plenty of talent on the roster over a position of glaring need at which several highly regarded prospects were available.
Just reckless speculation here, but it seems to me Chip may be a bit too enamored with “Chip Kelly guys” and inflexible in dealing with players who rub him somewhat the wrong way, but are very talented and productive. You have to deal with some of those latter kinds of guys to be successful in the NFL because there just aren’t enough talented players who are also gold star locker room leaders to go around. That is much less the case in college.
Agreed, like all picks Hicks can blow expectations out of the water or flame out brilliantly and everything in between.
This is a comment section, so I shouldn’t try to be so hard on you. But yeah, my opinion is we should give Hicks a chance to actually play a snap, as well as the guys we could have drafted instead, before we start talking about that pick being a mistake.
You said earlier that Hicks was a luxury pick. I don’t think this exists. You can go into a draft either looking to fill needs or to get the most talented guy available at each pick. I will never fault a team for choosing the latter, especially with how injuries hit in this league and fortunes change from year to year. The rest is just quibbling over how players are rated. Maybe you’re right that Hicks shouldn’t have been so high, but this assertion has been very light on research or backing of any kind. That’s all.
I don’t think it’s an either/or between filling needs or getting the most talented guy available – there is always a tradeoff between the two at work, the question is how heavily you weigh each factor. To me a luxury pick is one that almost exclusively focuses on the latter when there are players of a similar tier grade-wise available that do fill a need, which seems to me like the situation with the Hicks pick. The Eagles’ graders may disagree but I’m just going with what scouts in the media say.
Also, I think we need to dispense with this notion that the grades scouts give prospects are somehow a precise quantitative measure of their talent level. What they really are is a combination of metrics and evaluations, some of which are objective and some of which are not, blended inside a black box and given the sheen of objectivity and scientific measurement. They’re no different than judges’ scores in figure skating. What seems to me would be far more useful (and from what I read many NFL teams and most if not all NBA teams do) would be to separate prospects into tiers and then draft for need within each tier. If (for example) Clemmings rated a 6.9 on a 10 point scale, and you have a chance to draft an ILB who rates an 8.9, obviously you take the linebacker even though it’s not a need position because the talent disparity is so great. If however Clemmings is a 6.9 and Hicks is a 7.1, you take Clemmings because both players rank around a 7/10 and Clemmings fills a need and Hicks does not, rather than have too much faith that the arbitrary numerical values your scouting system has spit out have any meaning within a margin of error as small as 2%.
I have no idea if the Eagles do it this way but approaching the problem from a statistical/probability analysis standpoint, that’s what I’d do. In any case I find it hard to believe that of all the well-regarded OL who were on the board when the Hicks pick was made, the Eagles did not have a single one rated worthy of a 3rd round pick.
Most teams factor in both need and talent when assigning those ratings, and Kelly pretty much came out and said that the Eagles do. So 7.1 is better than 6.9 at all times, though this is obviously an oversimplification. Kelly also said no one left was even close to Hicks. Not that Kelly (or any coach) feels obliged to be honest to the press. But in this case, the only real incentive to lying would be to keep other teams guessing.
My point was not that 7.1 isn’t higher than 6.9. Obviously, it is. My point was that the difference between those numbers is so small that it is essentially meaningless. This would be true even if the quantity in question were easily and objectively measurable – if I had two basketball players, one of whom made 71 free throws out of 100 and the second who made 69 out of 100, I could not say with confidence that over the course of their careers player A is likely to make 7.1 out of 10 every free throws he takes and player B likely to make only 6.9, because with such a low number of attempts in the observed data pool the difference could literally be one shot that rimmed in for one guy and out for the other. This is what small sample size is all about (and being based on the evaluation of a few scouts, scouting grades have even smaller sample sizes than this example). The meaninglessness of this difference is doubly true with quantities that are inherently based partially on arbitary measurements, which scouting grades are. A 20% spread has a good likelihood of being statistically meaningful, even with a problematic metric and a small number of data points. A 2% spread does not.
Agree with all that. Trust me, I’m familiar with statistics. Sorry if my post gave the impression that I was commenting on your number choices (meant to imply the opposite, that they aren’t pertinent to the point). That point being, Hicks was higher rated, and was therefore the correct pick. Not statistically irrelevant higher, but enough to have the team pull the trigger.
Agree with all this. Trust me, I’m familiar with Statistics. Sorry if it came across as critiquing your numbers, meant to imply the opposite. The numbers don’t matter, only that the system the teams uses factors need into player rating.
As for how close they were, no way of really knowing. Kelly said that Hicks was rated much higher than anyone left on the board, for what that’s worth.
The thing is, just using Clemmings as an example is unfair. The draft is obviously an imprecise process. If all you need to call the Hicks pick a bad one is for one OL still on the board to have a good year, you’ve stacked the deck in your favor. The Eagles had to pick actually pick just one of those OL, and their process felt that Hicks was more likely to turn into a solid contributor than any one of those players.
BPA boards factor in team need (I know, misnomer), so if the Pack had a QB above a pass rusher, they pick him. The Eagles almost certainly do that, so they had Hicks higher than any OL prospect left. It’s almost a guarantee that a late round OL will do well, but that would be a terrible way to evaluate a draft. Not to mention the fact that it takes a few years to really evaluate a draft.
If the 3rd is a non-premium pick, you aren’t expecting immediate impact, from either OL or LB. Evaluating Hicks based on what he is to the team this year seems shortsighted. Also, there are 2 ILB positions. Not clear that Hicks wouldn’t start if 2 go down again this year. Calling him 3rd string may be an exaggeration. It’s quite possible he is in the exact same spot on the depth chart as any OL they might have drafted.
The Pack are not going to pick a quarterback ahead of a pass rusher when they have Aaron Rodgers and their lack of a pass rush is one of their primary team weaknesses. Sorry.
Of course they have. Must not understand your point here. The Packers have drafted QB’s while pass rushers are still on the board, because they have those QB’s rated much higher than the pass rushers.
I’m not talking about the Packers as a historical franchise or in the abstract. I’m talking about the Packers of 2015, who have the best quarterback in the league in his prime. Quarterback is not a pressing need for them. Maybe in the middle rounds they’ll take somebody as a developmental guy, but they are not going to take a slightly higher rated QB prospect over a slightly lower but similarly rated pass rushing prospect with a high pick in the draft next year. It wouldn’t make any sense for them to do so because the guy isn’t going to get on the field.
Didn’t they take Hundley? You can be sure there were still quality pass rushers when he was drafted.
Quoting myself:
Maybe in the middle rounds they’ll take somebody as a developmental guy
Hundley (5th round pick) would be that guy. The calculus is different with picks at that stage of the draft. You just want guys who have raw talent or are assets. I think in rounds 1-3 you should be looking for guys you expect to develop into quality depth at positions of need.
Don’t want to get into a quote war, but didn’t you say that a 3 wasn’t a premium pick? Anyway, this has gotten a little nitpicky. The Eagles took the guy they wanted, anytime you surprise fans and media there will be naysayers.
Looks like a pretty solid pick so far, seems like he gives the team a lot of flexibility for the coming offseason. Be surprised if OL isn’t a priority then, and having Hicks allows more resources to be put into that. Don’t think there was a solid OL choice in the 3rd who was a high probability to step in and contribute right away. May be wrong, but it’s clear that’s how the team felt.
No, I said the opposite, but to be perfectly fair it’s borderline.
Yes, this exchange has gotten a bit pedantic. You are correct that the team feels the way they do about the guys they picked, I think we should just agree to disagree on whether we approve of their approach at this point.
I think it’s the “slightly higher” language that is causing confusion. My whole point is that team need is factored into the draft board rating. So slightly higher is still higher. Of course there comes a point where they are rated close and you have to look at what’s left and what you’ve already drafted. But there’s no reason to think that was true in the Hicks case.
It’s hyperbole, not a strawman.
I was front and center for taking Clemmings at 20.
I mean I literally wrote the report on him for this site.
http://scoutsnotebook.com/2015/02/03/scouting-report-t-j-clemmings/
But clearly his medicals were very bad for him to fall that far. You can’t just brush that under the rug.
Arie isn’t very good. He wouldn’t have been an improvement on what we have.
From his nfl dot com write up:
Bottom Line While Kouandjio has been part of a successful team at Alabama, that doesn’t mean he is ready to take that next step. At times it’s painful to watch Kouandjio try to move in space and he’s
limited to blocks that are right in front of him. His lack of functional athleticism and versatility will limit his NFL chances.
Tre Jackson is super immobile.
The Oklahoma kids weren’t great options
Glowinski, Terry Poole, and Jamil Douglas all had very blah tape.
I’m a huge OL guy, I played it in college, but I said it before the draft. There were 4 guys we had a realistic shot at getting that I was interested in: Clemmings, Fisher, Sambraillo, and Morse. No one taken after those four was going to be a contributor this year.
Well the difference between hyperbole and a strawman is often so minor as to be me meaningless. 😉 I guess my point was this: I think you usually make really smart, well-reasoned, insightful posts, even when I disagree with you, so I thought one that was nothing but substanceless snark was below your standards.
I’ll take your word for it on Kouandjio and some of the other prospects. I don’t watch a ton of college football and watch very limited coaches’ tape, so my opinions on prospects are based mostly on consuming a large variety of content from media people who do do those things and whose opinions I generally find well-reasoned and reliable. But it’s possible I read the wrong sources on Kouandjio (or was assuming that some of his brother’s talent must have rubbed off on him).
As for Clemmings and his medicals: I agree 100%, you shouldn’t brush these concerns under the rug. But I’m mystified as to why Chip Kelly would view the opportunity to get a really talented prospect at a position of need for nothing more than a third round pick as too risky for medical reasons, given that he’s the same guy who’s spent significant resources to bring in a franchise quarterback who’s a huge medical risk, signed free agents with well-documented problems staying healthy like Mathews and Thurmond (and is relying on them to play key roles this season), etc.
I mean 450 lbs was clearly just me being tounge in cheek. I’m glib, I’m snarky.
I’m here, I’m sassy, uh huh!
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So that was weird.
I think the difference with Clemmings, is that the whispers said the foot problem was degenerative. Plus it’s a foot problem on a 300+ pound guy. I’m guessing that’s what made the difference between guys with more common and therefore quantifiable injuries.
I forgot
what’s CK history with the # of plays for the starting QBI in the first pre-season game anyway? Number can’t be high. He’s not going to run the Eagles offense like it’s game 1. Plain vanilla as usual. Not sure why that’s even a question about what Bradford will be doing.
Typically chip has given the #1 QB two drives,,,
I was figuring 2 or 3 for Bradford depending on how the very 1st drive goes.
Doubt 3…. Maybe if starting offense goes 3 and out the first two times they Give him a 3rd drive…… I’m fine with however they decide to treat him as long as they get him to the regular season healthy
I’m not sure what people are expecting Bradford to do. It’s game 1, shake the rust off, move on. I’m not concerned about him as much as Jimmy is. Can’t baby him.
My thoughts exactly. Let him take a couple hits (within reason) and see how he does. It’s not like he was the #1 pick this year and we have a leaky offensive line. The OL should do it’s job and give him his 3 seconds to throw the ball.
Plus, I don’t believe in babying at this stage. Baptism by fire – he’s been in the league 4 years already.
I don’t want us to baby sit him,,… I also don’t want him taking too much neccessary risk in a meaningless game… Two drives, let him work on our run plays since it’s so different from what he is used to, let him throw a few quick hitter passes.. Łet him see how well he uses our tempo right now, maybe łet him take 1 shot down field off play action…two drives is fine. If he goes 3 and our twice you can give him a 3rd… But game 1 should be just for getting his feet wet, he is going to be very nervous, all types of butterflies going into his first game action in so long… Just let him get the butterflies and fear out of his system, let him face a live rush…. Gradually get him where we need him to be for september, without risking his healthy too much
in 2013, Kelly goes goes 2-2 in 1st Q drives w/ Vick and Foles. and in 2014, Kelly goes 3 in 1st Q drives w/ Foles.
so not sure how you come up with “typically 2 drive” using a 2-year sample size where its 2 once and 3 once.
anyway Kelly seems like a guy that the word “Typically” doesn’t apply to anyway.
In 2013, Vick and Foles each had 2 drives (QB competition).
Last year Foles played the entire 1st quarter of the first preseason game (3 drives)–though he was awful so it’s possible Kelly kept Foles in to see if he could actually do something.
Too small of sample size to make confident predictions for this year.
Thanks BC.
for some, a 2-year sample size doesn’t stop them from telling everyone how Kelly operates?
If Bradford’s knee is totally healed, then why not let him play? Bradford said it himself, he needs to get used to the speed of the game.
He is playing,,.relax
2 plays from MS = 2 days of ink. wow. It’s great news to read his name. I don’t think he was ever mentioned last season so the young man is progressing. Let’s hope we read his name again and again.
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How many people are able to cover Wes Welker types? Not many people can cover the speedsters AND the big body types…
This is an important thing to remember. You have to hope the size of Rowe can jam the Welker-types and disrupt their timing, rather than a free release and trying to keep up.
Problem is how do you jam the slot WR in a bunch formation?
True, but there is 5-yd contact within reason. Plus, I would figure that there would be S and LB help on the intermediate routes.
I always love it when Demeco is in coverage against a running back and he knocks them over within five yards.
Slot receivers line up in the backfield more often than not. Because if there is a TE inside of them they become ineligible.
Do you think on our offense that’s how we’ll see Sproles get in the offense more this year?
Maybe but probably not more than 30 snaps or so, barring injury to someone. Maybe they use him in the backfield and motion him out to go empty, but I just don’t see him lining up in the slot more than on rare occasion.
The problem is who do you take off the field.
One of the three dynamic young WRs? Ertz? Murray/Matthews?
So we should assume he’s going to stay the punt returner and spell in the slot and backfield?
Yes, I don’t see a way (barring injury) for him to emerge as more than a great special teamer and explosive rotational change of pace on offense.
I expect the small, quick Welker types to give us fits all season. Big CBs are great but unless they’re Richard Sherman they sacrifice speed and quickness for that size.
” They can be tough to cover for someone that is tall and over 200 pounds”
Wow. Bring back Boykin.
nerd
You know that isn’t an option, right?
a second rounder should get it done.
Where do you play poker? I’d love to sit at your table for a bit.
Hicks won’t play on Defense but I expect him to be a beast on special teams this year…
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do NOT SLEEP on Jaylen Watkins….. Kid can play.
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not surprised that things are starting to click for Marcus, but Im happy to see it
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Tired of training camp…dying for preseason… While I agree with how chip runs camp, keeping our injuries down, it’s frustrating that tbis style of camp is worthless in evaluating the trenches… Chip talks all the time anout how OLand DL need to “cooperate” to practice together, so it frustrating that you can’t make any judgements of the OL competition in practice other then technique… Looking forward to the preseason to see what type of “movement” our guards are getting against opponents.l
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Hard Knocks was awesome last night… Got me jacked up and ready for the season… I was disgusted by the skins behavior in joing practice.. Who the fuck do the skins think they are acting like Tôugh guys? Can’t wait to smack them around and show them who the big swinging dick of the division is… Dangelo Hall continues to act like a jackass… Fake ass tôugh guys.. If Vince Wilfork has anything left in the tank, playing Watts next to him will be scary…. Glad we don’t have to face the Texans again… deandre Hopkins looks ready to bust out into Elute WR status
There have been a lot of ideas floated about the secondary. Watkins, Rowe, and Biggers in the slot, Carroll sliding inside, and Chip even said they discussed Jenkins’ and Thurmond’s histories playing slot but are starting with corners filling it.
So, my question: what do you see as the ideal outcome? By midseason, fully in stride and playing well, who do you hope to see as the outside corner and as the nickel?
Trade a second rounder, every player over 6’3″, and Kelly’s head on a pike to Pittsburgh, and get Boykin to play outside. Equip him with a section of Kelly’s entrails to use as a lasso for the high balls.
Wait, wait, that isn’t mine, that was someone else’s wishes.
I think ideally, by mid season Watkins and Rowe make it hard for Carroll to get on the field, and he is relegated to dime LB again.
I’m wondering about this. You want your best players on the field, so I really think it’s how everyone is playing at that point.
So my question would be, who is better Carroll or Watkins? Carroll can play Dime, and Outside – and I would think he can play nickel. If Watkins shows better on the inside, then yeah. If Rowe shows better on the outside, then maybe Carroll or Watkins inside.
I’ll say this. If Rowe does well inside as well, then we’re good with injury to either position (as long as he keeps progressing, which is assumed). I think they were right to be okay with the depth. We still have options and we lost a player there. I think the coaches know what they’re talking about.
Rookie corners suck, and Carroll is much better then this city seems to realize. No way ROWE will be ready to beat out Nolan THIS year…
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Outside: Carroll and Maxwell
safety: Thurmond and Jenkins
nickel: Jaylen Watkins kids going to Impress fans
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Doubt we play much dime this year
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Longterms we are always better off keeping rookie corners on the bench for a year to learn… I know that’s not sexy way to treat our players in this impatient city, but the team and the rookie corner will be better for it in the long run…
As long as our ILBs are healthy, yeah I doubt we go Dime much.
If we do go Dime, I assume nolan slides inside on these Rare Occassions and ROWE takes over outside.
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We can also go other routes… For example, when Boykin got hurt during the Niners game, our in game adjustment was that when we wanted to go to Nickel, Wolff subbed in and lined up at safety next to Nate, and Jenkins moved to the Nickel corner… And as soon as we went back to out base, Wolff went back to the bench, and Jenkins went back to Safety….. So when we want to go dime, we can either:
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1) bring ROWE off the bench to replace Nolan who we move inside at the Dime spot..
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2) Moves Walter Thurmond into the Dime slot and have Wolff, ROWE, or Couplin replace him at safety…
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Either way, Probably won’t see much dime.. Our base defense should be pretty strong in coverage, considering Both our safeties were highly rated Corners before moving to safety,,,
Who gives a $hit. All those players suck. The secondary is going to get freaking torched.
Lol
sounds like you torched up this morning ShortDing…
Ideally Watkins wins the nickel job. He’s cheap for 3 years. Plus if Biggers or Carrol is the nickelback this year I don’t see the team spending any kind of big money to bring them back. $2-3 mil max. So you’re right back to square 1 next year.
You’d like to see Rowe play some this year. Whether that is through rotating with Carroll, starting a game or two because of injury, or overtaking Carrol for the starting job by midseason. Give him some reps and get some tape, so that he has some experience and the coaches have a baseline of where he needs to improve going into year 2.
Watkins and Carroll in whatever capacity, though I imagine the former in the slot. Just the way it sounds like it is going to play out.
I find it pretty disturbing that people already are overlooking a corner we drafted in the 4th round last year, who is such a smart football player Chip had him taking reps all over the secondary as a rookie
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We will be perfectly fine with Jaylen Watkins in the slot this year…. Maybe if you hear it from the Pope:
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“jaylen is an amazing athlete. I have been going up against Jaylen since college. back when he was at Florida we came in at the same time so I saw him….from the Jump. While we were going against each other in college there used to be all this talk about all the other DBs at Florida. marcus Roberson, Louchez Puorifoy. but when anyone asks me who I thought was the best one, I always said Watkins was the best one because he was so versatile. he could play Nickel, corner and he could play safety. he’s really smart. So when you put a guy like that on the inside who knows where his defensive help is, who knows how to come in and play and can step outside and play corner too. I think that’s a very valuable asset to our team. I think he is going to be a great guy for us”-Pope Jordan the 81st….
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From the practice reports, sounds like Watkins and Pope are having some really competitive Battles in the slot.. Sounds like Watkins really makes Jordan work in practice and has some success against Jordan. Every day Almost I read that Jordan had to make a spectacular difficult catch because of the tight coverage from watkins…
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having such an accurate QB in practice will be HUGE for the development of our WR’s AND DBs… DBs have to be perfect against a QB like Bradford with elite ball placement comperable to a missile guiding system…. Coaches say our DBs are playing tighter coverage then the past years, and it will only improve now that they are practicing against a Surgeon from the pocket…
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I really don’t understand whats wrong with this fanbase…. Not uncommon for rookie corners to sit the bench…he even flashed some skill during the little playing time he got… Instead of being excited about the big year two improvement Jaylen should show this year, people are already ruling him out as if he was a waste of a 4th round pick
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I dont know when Watkins will arrive, but he will grow into a quality addition to our defense…. Kid can play, solid athlete, with a very,high level of football intelligence ARENT kids I would bet against…
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fans are sheep anyway,,. If Chip didn’t mention JaCoreys name after trading away Boykin, no one would give much thought to losing Shep to injury…I really don’t understand how this city can already assume a 4th round corner from a year ago can’t play…. think this FANBASE will be pleasantly surprised by the ability of both Nolan on the outside, and Jaylen in Nickel….. Only real question mark I have is Thurmond, simply because my eyes haven’t seen him DO IT yet.
You are nothing if not endlessly optimistic… We’ll see how much we miss Boykin and we’ll also see what Watkins can do. I’m apprehensive about both frankly, but what do I know, I’m just part of the “fan base.”
Trolls go away quicker when you don’t feed them.
I know he’s a troll, but I find myself agreeing with what he’s saying. Kind of funny…
Some questions to get the board talking.
1 – What’s up with Ed Reynolds? I haven’t heard anything about him all camp.
2 – Do we think the coaches have an idea who they want at G, but they are giving others a chance to step up and grab the spot? Or is it really close between a couple of them and they want to see who makes more mistakes?
3 – With a fully healthy defense, how long do you think it will take for them to gel over the season?
4 – Ditto offense with question 3.
A lot of this defense has been together… It won’t take long for them to Gel.. By the begginning of October we should be firing on all Cylinders as a difference.
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For me the RG position will come down to Moffit vs, Gardner….. I think Gardner is the best of the young RGs, I like him more on the right side then Tobin… Basically I feel like either Moffitt returns to form meaning he will get the starting spot, or it will go to the best of the young backs ups which IMO will prove to be andrew Gardner……people are saying Vandervelde is in the mix at RG, but I don’t buy that… If there is a 4th man in the RG in the competition, I wouuld go with Bunche as the RG sleeper…
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I really don’t think the coaches know who will be the RG yet… The OL and DL DONT go full force against each other in practice, so I don’t see how the coaches possible could know… They have an idea who looks good technically speaking, but OL comes down to how well can you “MOVE” people and our Camo style practice DOESNT allow us to get the answer to that question,.. The OL positions are so Physical, I expect Preseason performances to decide our OL depth chart order…wanna know who the RG of the Eagles willl be? The answer can be found in the preseason footage…
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I have lose all hope for Ed Ryenolds.. I think Jenkins, Thurmond,Maragis,Prosinski are locks to make the roster with the 5th safety being decided between Couplin VS Wolff… I’m sure if Ed plays great in the preseason he could put his name in the mix for that spot, but I’m not expecting anything significant out of Reynolds. maybe he makes a big year 2 leap but I have no Intel to suggest that… Sucks that Couplin had an Apendectomy and won’t play in Sunday’s game…. He is going to have to beat out Wolff to make the team
So here’s a follow up question. Couplin is still probably eligible for the Practice Squad. If more CBs show up, could Eagles go 4 S and keep an extra CB?
Sure… Our DBs are all so versatile, that we can pretty much keep the best 10 DBs and worry about how the positions fit later…
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I assume our roster At DB will look something like:
Byron Maxwell
Nolan
ROWE
jaylen Watkins
????
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jenkins
Thurmond
Maragos
Prosinski
???
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I assume Couplin vs. Wolff will decide who makes the roster as a 5th safety..we could keep 4 safeties and 6 corners. But the problem is two of our safeties are basically just ST players (Gos and Proz).. Thurmond never played safety before. I would think as a 5th safety they would want to keep a young safety like Wolff or Couplin to develope… I’m not sure what Couplins status is in terms of having Practice squad eligibility Or not…Couplin, I assume will also have a Special teams advantage over Wolff… I would love to keep both young safeties to see how much we can grow this yaar, but I assume they will only keep 1.. I think Wolff has to really stand out in the preseason to save his eagle career..
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As for the 5th CB spot, I’m assume it comes down to Denzel Rice vs. Biggers, possibly Marc Anthony…. I have no idea what to expect from Biggers and I didnt think very highly of Him before he became an eagle so Id probably rather keep the UDFA Rice instead of risking someone poaching him if we try and sneak him on IR… I would HATE to have someone steal Rice from us over friggin EJ Biggers…. randall Evans I assume is headed to practice squad ..
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im legitimately excited by this sexondary….this defense really only needed,to improve its ability to get off the field on 3rd down. That was the only thing really keepimg us from Elite defensive status, and with key young defenders being another year more mature and developed as an NFL player, and a few talented additions, I expect us to go from a defense that couldnt stop anypne on 3rd down, to a defense that will kick your ass if you let them get you in 3rd and long… Our pass rush is elite, and you are adding some big time ILB blitzes now that you can send Kiko and or KEndricks after QBs… I Think we should be one of the very best defenses defending Tight Ends… And I expect Nolan and Maxwell and Nolan to be strong jamming WR at the line, disrupting their timing and give our stunts, twists, blitzes an extra second to get home.?
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I don’t know overall what level of safety play to expect from Thurmomd, but I do expect a significant upgrade on not giving up as many Xplays now that we are basically starting two former corners at safety. Because Thurmond is so new to safety, I think he wI’ll take the job of not letting ANYONE behind you to heart, which is a rule, nate never respected..
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Very excited by the defense and the signifcant upgrade in our secondary… My only real concern is depth in sexondary. injuries need to STOP! Boykin, and JaCorey gone, not sure how many more injuries to our secondary we can overcome… SYay heallthyand it will be a fun season
1- He was always a weird pick. His prospect status was basically based on, a single season w/ large number of INTs (overhyped by fans, consistently terrible measuring stick) and his pedigree. He’s a pretty average athlete for the position, and he doesn’t have a calling card skillset. Basically if his dad was Joe Schmoe and he played for Iowa State he’s a camp body and not a fifth round pick.
2- One of the best ways to help figure out who the best player is, is to watch him when he’s not playing with the ones. Kelce and Johnson will make alot of guys look pretty good. How do you handle life when you’re playing with Molk-Graf or Andrews-Kelly. It’s these reps that personally tell me more about the quality of a player.
3 and 4- I’m not really a fan of the concept of “gelling”. There are a few positions where having an understanding of how the guy next to you handles the nuances and how the two of you play off that (OL and S, QB to an extent) but for the most part I think it’s an overrated media construct.
You just taught me a lot Re: Question 2. I never thought that the reps were about how they do away from the 1st team, but now this makes more sense.
Thanks. 🙂
for 3 and 4 — are you saying, for example, Nate Allen issues were do to blown coverage? I’ll agree to that. I do think QB’s and WR’s have to gel though.
Like I said there are some positions at which it does have importance but overall its used as too much of a catchall term for playing well.
If the Jags returned every starter so they are all “gelled” and go 1-15, is that because they didn’t gel? or because they just suck?
I think the concept is more around when there is talent, but the team isn’t playing up to it — but as they get used to each other, they find out what works, etc. Maybe like the Giants front 7 down the stretch in their SB years… they certainly weren’t playing that well early in the season.
A lot of the time you’re probably right — just a way for fans / media to hope the team might get better when they are simply just bad.
I also feel that way about 3 and 4 in the years the eagles turn over a large portion of the starters. Then 2011 happens, bleck. I think the overall premise of chemistry on the field and off is important, even if the on the field part is over-rated by itself.
why why why why!!!!! stop it!! don’t jinx it!!! (RE 3 and 4) … never yell — hey, 3 more outs for a perfect game … or hey, 1 more strike for 300 … or pull on supermans cape … or, after 8 days declare fully healthy!!!
I think he was setting a condition for his question – If the defense all stays healthy, how long… – rather than declaring it so.
Still, we can blame any bad luck that comes on Avery. I am good with that.
We beat the Falcons only 27-0 b/c the O and D haven’t gelled yet. Then we gel for the Cowboys in game 2. Look out.
I’ll honestly be happy with 1-1 after the first two games. 0-2 wouldn’t shock me. The Falcons are a talented team that fell off last season because of injuries and the Cowboys are still the class of the division.
Class and Cowboys in the same sentence. Penalty box.
1. QB and S seem to be the positions where there is enough of a league-wide shortage that it makes sense to roll the dice on the long odds. Often though, nothing comes of it.
2. I don’t know who is winning, but if it was me, giving Vandervelt a shot would have been to reward him for working hard, set an example for the bottom half of the roster, and give the front runners a kick in the pants. I don’t think he is truly in the running.
3&4. I don’t think the coaches can worry about that. Getting the best combination on the field is much more important than getting the depth set quickly.
Makes sense to give Vandervelde time with the first team if he’s going to be the #2 C and active on game day. He may wind up seeing game time at G in the season.
Good to hear Watkins is stepping up. Nice to MS is showing some things out there. Seems to really have his confidence up and confidence can be everything.
I think it’s best Bradford plays for a series or two. It sounds like he is 100% or close to being physically back. He hasn’t played in a year and a half and needs to knock some rust off. Just as importantly him and the young wideouts need to develop a connection during live action.
glad i popped over to read this board-usually hang on 24/7, lot more rational positive and certainly less concern trolly over DBs.
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always nice to have TL talk me off ledge.
or..
talked away from a..
cliff? (refresh)
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Blyi-LSIIAA3Uca.jpg
you know how many times as a kid i heard ‘go jump off yourself’? well, it was countless
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cool looking pup, your’s?
He’s a reddit meme, you use when you’re about to drop an unforgivable pun
example: (refresh)
http://i.imgur.com/LqhCg9g.jpg
ah, well im a card carying member of the German Shepherd Dog fanclub, hence no one wanted Wolff or Shepherd to work out more than me. Huskies are in the next grouping, dobbies rotties and border collies are little badasses too.
I find it disturbing the MEDIA keeps ovelroolking My Boy SNoopy!!!!
Speaking of dogs (it is the off season…) I learned what a Plott hound is a few weeks ago when we adopted one from a local shelter. The shelter rescued him from a kill shelter in NC, and apparently a Plott hound is the state dog of NC. I thought Tommy might know the breed.
The dog is so gentle, fun loving and well mannered that I wish I could take some of the credit, but he was this way right out of the crate, so to speak.
Any way, welcome Cliff, I hope you become a regular.
thanks. i read almost every article here, and comments. sure most here read 24/7, just have to pick 1 and get to know posters.
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24/7 is just ridiculous concern troll heavy w/ token badgering
I was going to make that joke, but I didn’t want to scare off a new contributor.
no more sheil at 24/7, tim has a slight negative to his posts often.
Cliff’s a good poster at 24/7. Hope he keeps posting here.
thnx BB
I don’t comment over at 24/7 but I read it often. Is this the cliff that went all negative for July? Because that was hilarious!
beat me to it lol
yeah, was harder than you’d think.
Meh…
I miss cliff-all negativity all july
JulyCliff felt like conversing with my uncle
I’m not afraid to class it up, you know that
https://twitter.com/JimmyKempski/status/631415475419922433
That is some Chip Kelly logic right there.
I can’t seem to see a lot of your posts. Are they GIFs or something?
Twitter embedded. Maybe refresh?
I’m just posting some tweets from BGN.
ah ok. I’m logged into Discus so mb they purposely don’t show twtr embeds 🙂
You have to refresh the page to see it sometimes.
Via NJ.com, former Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson said Kelly is going to have to learn to adapt.
“He’s gotten rid of some high profile players who are talented and they’ve been successful in other places,” Johnson said on ESPN Radio. “Plus, some highly beloved players like LeSean McCoy. That’s going to cause a problem.
“That’s going to cause a problem. The only way to overcome that is winning. Not just winning 10 games, but winning big. The one thing he’s finding out is you can’t treat professional players the way you treat college players. Chip Kelly will adjust. He’s a very smart guy. Again, he’s got to win big.
“This is a crucial year for him. He has a lot of players who have been injured in the past. If those players don’t produce, that’s going to be a problem.”
Johnson talked about how he had to adjust his message based on the recipient, saying the same kind of tough love he used on Michael Irvin didn’t work on Emmitt Smith and Charles Haley.
Is that the same way Jimmy adapted right before Jerry fired him?
No firing.
Johnson quit.
Couldn’t stand working with Jones anymore, because Jones constantly misrepresented his role on the football side to the media.
And Jones’s whining to the media that anyone could coach the Cowboys and win a SB.
And just to prove it, Jones’s first move after Johnson quit was hiring Barry Switzer.
But with Johnson gone, and free agency beginning, the Cowboys could not replenish the talent pool through the draft — in which Johnson had done so well.
Success usually requires a combination of factors, and it’s hard to sustain some of them (luck), esp once you lose the element of surprise. In all fairness, Johnson wasn’t able to replicate his success elsewhere. It’s reasonable to think he would have had difficulty sustaining it in Dallas. It’s not like they stopped losing the second he left.
Chip’s apparently abrasive style could rub professional players the wrong way, this is a huge year for him, and things could go sour if he doesn’t win? Well slap me silly and call me Sally.
I’m so glad that Jimmy gets paid the big bucks to offer piercing insights like those.
Johnson was a great coach, not because of Xs and Os, but because he treated every player the same . . . as an individual.
This is probably something he needs to work on if that is the perception, but it’s a far cry from being racist.
I think the “Chip’s a racist” thing is beyond unfair, it’s absurd.
However, the “Chip’s an asshole who doesn’t treat his players like grown men” thing could be real, and if it is is a real problem.
Dear Lord Jesus, our Savior, Thank you for sending Tim Tebow to our Philadelphia Eagles. With your help Tim Tebow will guide our team to the Promised Land and protect unborn babies from the Evil of Planned Parenthood and that sicko doctor in Philly who should have been put to death.
So since you got no love for your post on here you went and posted the exact same thing at 247, lol talk about being desperate for attention. Clearly mommy didn’t hold you enough as a kid and dropped you plenty of times on your head.
We need to ask Tommy if he can bring down the ban hammer on this guy. I know the correct answer to trolls is not to feed them, but we don’t need this nonsense cluttering up one of the few good comments sections left on the internet.
Agreed fully.
yep
Disagree fully. Tim Tebow protects innocent children.
he’s mad the rest of us aren’t crying and freaking out for no reason
at least you are looking on the bright side, thanks for the input !!!!!! 🙂
Are you like some social experiment to try to prove how bad Eagles fan can be? You’re not doing well so far but you can go to other Eagles sites to do it and not here.
You’re going to have to up your game if you want to compete with the long-term troll here. Subtlety in trolling is high art. A good place to start might be talking up Joe Webb as a QB.
I think Shah’s troll powers have diminished since Vick left. Or maybe my ignoring powers have grown. Who knows?
Since you seem to have learned some of the names of God, try this verse. Galatians 6:7. Remember it.
Here’s my middle finger. remember it.
Very encouraging news about Marcus Smith. People are waaaaay too quick to label guys busts after their first year (I think people forget that Jeremiah Trotter hardly got on the field as a rookie and that even an all-time great like Dawkins was no great shakes), and he has the talent – he’s big, fast, and athletic. If he can put it all together he can still be an impact player.
Not surprised that Jordan Matthews is playing well, but very bullish on him. I honestly think people have undersold him somewhat by labeling him just a possession receiver. I think his upside is much, much higher than that. I think he could be a poor man’s T.O. – same type of receiver, but without quite as much explosiveness on the field (and a whole hell of a lot less off of it).
Less encouraging to consider that Bradford might not be ready for contact. It’s good to hear that he is nailing all the throws and looking accurate in passing drills but it’s all going to come down to how he plays under pressure and deals with getting cracked and I want to see that.
Trotter was a 3rd round pick, moron.
And?
Which round you were picked in has little to no impact once you are on the team, just what teams valued the player as. The eagles valued Smith enough to draft him in the 1st even though he was a project. They then drafted someone in the 2nd that would be able to have a same year impact.
The idea that 1st round picks have to contribute their first year or be ‘busts’ is ‘moronic’ and short termist
Don’t waste your time Fufina, the kid is a troll and really stupid and bad one at that.
That’s why Marcus Smith is a bust. He was a 1st rounder. He sucks. he is a bust. B-U-S-T BUST
Busted!
over under 14 years old?? in reality he/she is prob around 27?
I say 35 year old fat guy living in his mothers basement wearing a cowboys shirt and playing world of warcraft all day while posting his nonsense.
Basement and WoW are such cliches. Im guessing cowboy shirt, lives in a 1br and plays halo. I’ll add pbr or natty lite to that list.
I can go with that.
Maybe a mix of principal skinner and the comic book guy?
You’re busted.
Who went on to be a very good player despite a nothing rookie year, which proves my point.
Now get lost. This is a great site full of intelligent, insightful commenters who remain civil even when we disagree, so clearly you’re in the wrong place. There are plenty of other Eagles sites out there where your fellow mouth breathers will be happy to engage with you on a level you might have some hope of being able to understand.
Apparently, you’re not from around here. We don’t call people morons on this forum.
The one GUy who actually is a moron does.
From “around here” you mean the Internet? I didn’t realize you could claim that as home.
It’s fairly apparent from your comments that there are a lot of things you don’t realize.
I’m sure you’re used insulting commentators at the other sites where you post. I respectfully suggest that you return there. I will not engage with you further here.
Good thank you! Tell that guy TypicalDousche to do the same you idiot!
Except for the fact that everything you say has no validity behind them and you speak out of your ass with your non factual statements. When you actually make a comment and have something logical to back it up maybe ill stop but your comments are soo moronic and idiotic I cant help but call you out on it.
he won’t but i will lol.
internet = home, done.
^^^weren’t you pretty much crying like a girl on here a few days ago about something? do you require emotional assistance? we can help
crying “like a girl” what only girls cry? You insensitive slob.
yes, only girls cry
He was begging me at one point to please stop responding to his posts, he couldn’t handle me attacking him with factual statements. LOL so for all the nonsense talk he does, deep down he is a little girl.
……ok
Those who brag seldom possess what they are bragging about. Why don’t you run along now, there’s the little lad, and leave the grownups to their business.
I dont think SB ever looked like he could withstand a hit from a DE so Im not sure where thats coming from. Seriously, he has always looked thin in the lower body. Then after the injuries its just more obvious, looks like he’ll break just planting. Hope that doesnt happen of course but we know the history.
hopefully his smoothies are protien smoothies
I hear goji berries are good for preventing ACL injuries
pomegranate.
Philip Rivers and others play with no ACL at all. Seems it might be simpler to just remove it if it becomes a bother. Or grow a new one. It can’t possibly be any harder than rowing a new hand.
http://yourhealth.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/original_images/Jan2014/20140102_severed_reuter.jpg
Seems Kempski sees things differently than others:
https://twitter.com/MattLombardo975/status/631505696794783744
he’s been kinda negative on the Eagles for awhile I think.
Yeah, that’s the tone I get from him. I don’t think he’s gotten over the DJax thing yet.
He made a big deal of Bradford’s injury history and he’ll be sticking to it until he does well, at which point he knew it all along.
saw ML have a 2nd tweet saying SB rolled out and after handing it off and looked fine.
.
but, i just tweeted new 24/7 writer, Josh Paunil to congrats (worth a follow has some cool vids), asked what his thoughts on Kempski/knee, he said basically ‘no frame of reference, but doesnt look 100%’.
Neither this post or BLGs post conflicts with Kempski in my opinion. This issue isn’t planting and standing in the pocket. It is moving around under pressure. JK specifically points out that it is Bradford’s ability to move around that is awkward, not planting or throwing.
@jerrytheazzman @E_Velazquez21 Nah, I think he’s throwing ok, just looks awkward/fragile when he’s on the move.
True, but ML said he looked fine running as well.
https://twitter.com/MattLombardo975/status/631518285335535617
This tweet is a bit more contradictory to Jimmy Kempski’s. The other two IMO didn’t contradict at all. Having said that, there was also this tweet:
https://twitter.com/JoshPaunil/status/631523121477099520
Doesn’t seem to me that Kempski would just say something like that about Sam Bradford for the sake of being controversial. I also don’t think Kempski is saying Bradford is completely unhealthy either. It would make some sense for Bradford to be a bit hesitant still with his knee and be cautious of sudden movements in his knees. The bigger question to me will be how long does that last? Will a couple of preseason games where he gets hit and gets back up be enough, or will he be thinking about his knee still going into the season?
I did see this tweet too!
I think Kempski was saying that he didn’t see how Bradford can take a hit. We won’t know that until game time, and a bit too early to make that type of prediction. That’s where I differ with him.
Lombardo is actually one of the few people I trust in the local media… I take Lombardos word over Kempski’s all day
Hmmm Kempski seems to be on an island
https://twitter.com/BrandonGowton/status/631514154285727744
Watkins seems like he’s doing well. That’s very encouraging since he has all of the physical tools to be a good CB. I hope he takes the job and runs away with it instead of old man Carroll.
it’s two different positions, slot corner v. outside corner.
Carroll has been a slot CB for most of his career. He’s easily the favorite there for slot CB. Chip changes things up all the time in TC so don’t think the positions for these guys are a lock (look at Rowe).
He was actually a outside corner for most of his Miami career when he played and didn’t even play the slot last year.
Yea i screwed up. I was thinking of the other journeyman CB in Thurmond.
Wonder if Thurmond has good info about giants secondary
“just run it”
maybe he has been, but right now he is the leading candidate for outside CB opposite Maxwell. Chip has sung his praises a lot. He isn’t battling Watkins for the slot CB position.
Now if say Rowe beats out Carroll for outside that could change, but your post made it seem like they are competing for the same spot these days, which they aren’t.
Rowe was the only exception that wouldn’t get slot CB looks. Well look at him now. There’s competition for every CB spot with the exception of Maxwell. The info we’re getting for the battle of CB #2/3/4 are only exclusive for TC not the roster.
Just think if Chip/Davis/Undlin change up players in various defensive backfield sets, the opposing Offensive Coordinator won’t know where to throw the ball to find a weakness.
ok offtrack but rather than engage with the troller, here is a question: who you got in an MMA rules fight Rousey or Mayweather. Discuss.
and would this be the greatest event ever? I would want Rousey to win, just not sure what I really think would happen. He has to be much stronger and faster than what she is used to. Of course if she can get him on the ground she wins.
Would rather just see Rousey go up with Cyborg with those rules. Both females would beat the hell outta mayweather in a ho hold bars fight.
Rather see Serena Williams (with or without racket) vs. Rousey lol
No contest.
going with Rousey. she might eat a punch or 2, but all she does is have to get ahold of him.
I think you are right, I just wonder if she can withstand the punch or two.
boxing gloves carry extra weight, (even if only 16 oz.)
well like rocky against Hulk Hogan he will need the gloves off to have any chance at all. He would never, ever get away from any hold or takedown with gloves on. Instead of the 5% chance he would have without the gloves.
ever get into a fight with a guy you didnt know was a wrestler? land a couple then in a blink you are begging him not to break your arm or leg
no I try not to. ok make this happen. I would even pay for the PPV for this one.
I’d wear a Greg Hardy jersey for a week to see that
if he can’t sprawl he ain’t getting away. boxers know how to use hips for power not for wrestling.
I saw her AMA and yeah this is a good question. She beats him in a no-rules fight, he beats her if they start dating.
Touche.
Yikes.
Floyd can evade but doubt he could knock her out. Floyd’s game is technical doesn’t match up well in mma
Rousey wins by submission from a flying arm bar.
Mayweather wins in literally seconds.
She might catch him being all superior and smug. All it takes is one blow hitting the right spot (or wrong one). Ask Mr. G. Smith, up there in a hospital room in New York, sipping soup.
Er, two people who have mastered their combat sports; except one has 40% more muscle mass than the other one.
And one combat sport has extremely strict rules which limit what kind of strikes are allowed (and need to be defended against) whereas the other does not.
The extra muscle mass would not help Mayweather if Rousey got a hold of him in such a position that she could arm bar him. And I think she could, because I doubt he knows how to defend against MMA tactics.
My guess is that Mayweather, because he’s never trained against a judoka, wrestler, jiujitsu practitioner, etc. would be in trouble unless he could keep Rousey from ever getting close to him. She may be a woman but he only outweighs her by about 10 pounds and that arm bar would be perfectly capable of breaking his elbow if she got ahold of him even once.
I’m 6’5″ and weigh 250 pounds. I’ve never trained in martial arts but I used to play offensive and defensive line so I know a bit about leverage. I used to date a Japanese girl who was about 5’2″ and 110 pounds but had reached the prefectural semifinals with her high school judo team. If I was prepared and braced myself I could use my strength to prevent her from tripping me up with a judo takedown (something she occasionally liked to try), but if she caught me off guard she was perfectly capable of putting me flat on my back. I think people who think Mayweather would kill Rousey just because he’s got a Y chromosome are severely underestimating her.
Gotta love Jordan Mathews. Wonder if this is a planned exercize or not…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeYau20v2a8&feature=youtu.be
That’s in case he tears an ACL. A couple of the other guys will carry him where he needs to go on the field every play.
Brilliant!
I heard all the Eagles practice lying down now to end the ACL tear menace once and for all. Take that gravity!
someone is sick of the ODB hype.
What Matthews does with 3 hands, ODB does with one.
What ODB does with one, Tebow does with 0.
Any fantasy addicts out there want to discuss the Eagles players at their current ADPs? I’m in a few high stakes PPR leagues and have strong opinions but would love to hear your thoughts.
I feel like JMatt is overvalued due only to his ceiling being lower than a WR1. Due to the nature of the offense the ball gets spread out pretty evenly amongst the 5 eligible WRs. Makes it tough for any 1 guy to get WR1 targets (130+)
I think it’ll take Agholor a few weeks to get into the swing of things. Once he does I’m expecting Maclin-level production. I project 65 catches for 1050 yds. My confidence lvl is not that high on this one though due to uncertainty of Austin, Huff and Sproles and Cooper’s roles.
Austin, Huff, Sproles, Cooper… Ya… no idea. I’m guessing Sproles gets work in 4 WR sets. Chip loves to use TEs though…
Ertz- Probably slightly more productive than last yr due to being in on more plays from increased blocking productivity. Who knows if that’s true or not… Only so many targets to go around though.
I think Murray is going to eat. Regardless of talent, RBs tend to produce well in good offenses and in particular, good pass offenses. Maybe I’m overrating our pass offense but I think with SB healthy, it’s going to be rocking. The OL is worse than last year in talent but will overall be better if our guys stay healthy. Add a talent like Murray and it seems like a recipe for success. Lots of carries and lots of production. RMat will subract from his carries somewhat I believe but the fact that we run so many more plays than the avg will offset that.
RMat is real hard to judge for me. Obviously a great handcuff and on top of that will probably get around 8 carries/gm.
Bradford- big value at current ADP. Maybe less of a value in dynasty leagues though for obvious reasons 😉
Id take JMatt at right spot and avoid ags probably, just per the rookie. I would just stay away from our RBs because I have no clue how they spread it out and also think they will spread out the carries enough that no 1 guy will have huge games. Bradford is just a big question mark for me. At first I thought Id really be into taking him late as a possible big scorer but Ive kind changed my mind. I have to go with safer gambles but that depends on how the draft falls of course which is always different.
JMatt has the highest floor of any Eagle regardless of QB play/injury/W-L Scenario/Targets…..I think he is a lock for 1,100yds & 7TD’s, anything extra would be adding to value because he is a Low/Mid WR1….if you can pair him with a Top-Tier receiver you are doing pretty good…. if he is your #1 WR then you better have beastly RB’s…..bottom line if i get him in the 5th i am super happy, 4th meh.
Ertz: I am still on that bandwagon
RMat: Ditto
Huff: May go undrafted, I am a Huff fan more so than Agholor the first few weeks.
Bradford: Mike Vick type season from a few years ago, going to win a lot of leagues.
Ya I have him for 1050-1250 yds and 7-10 TDs. I guess that’s a low WR1, high WR2 and decent for the 4th rd
Yeah I thought it’s be Nelson before but jmatt is a stud. Def take eagles d in a total yards league. Sammy b will be my second qb taken. Rbs will have a big year, just hard to tell the split. I also like ertz late round. Sproles if a total yards league.
Wife sent this to me.
Marry her.
again?
If he wants, that was the joke
WOW!!! BREAKING NEWS!!!!
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Rex Ryan and the Bills signed the kid that broke Grnos Jaw!!! YES! YES! LOVE IT!
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I LOVE you Rex Ryan… incognito and dude thatt shattered Genos jaw… Rex Ryan is the greatest!,,
Someone on here called this move happening yesterday. I think this is just Rex being who he is and laughing at the Jets while doing this.
Players know that IK doesn’t mess around with his money. Rex drafted the guy glad his career isn’t over. Plus they’re in the division so I’m sure genocide is going to be playing scared when IK is on the field
If this was Any other coach IK would have to come in, super apologetic.. I bet IK is so nervous as he walks into the Bills facilitate for the first time and right away Rex starts joking with him like “I can’t believe you decked that pussy GENO. That’s what he gets for fuckin with your money”..
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It would be awesome to see Rex put that kid in on 3rd down if they play against GENO this year..
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not for NOTHNG, but we always see these sad stories about athletes who blew thru a fortune and are now Broke.. This is a rare young man, who is allegedly very realistic about his NFL situation and is trying to do things the right way, actually manage his money… There is no reason why the “Franchise QB” making 1.7mil should owe a fringe late round pick money for weeks and making an issue out of paying it back… As a QB you should be Earning the respect of the 52 other guys, you should male them want to follow you in war, go to War for you… doubt Manning, Brady would ever put themselves in a position like this…
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I DONT know who was in the locker room, but it sounds like GENO was acting tough, running his mouth thinking his red jersey is an invincibility cloak and he got what he had coming to him…. If His team ates respected GENO you would think someone would have stepped in and stopped this from happening, but guys probably wanted to see GENO get what he deserved, only thru didmt imagined t would lead to a 3 month injury …. But that’s just me speculating…
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You would think everyone would be defending GENO after this, but that’s not the case. After getting Knocked out respected Vets LIke REVIS are saying that GENO is also at fault.. You have to act like a pretty big douche to be the starting QB, get KOed, AND teammates are saying you are also to blame which basically means “he had it coming to hm”..
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GENO is Trash, and word out of Buffalo is that EJ Manuel might not even make the roster… Nassib blows, what a terrible QB draft 2013 was…
It’s entirely possible that the airfare actually came out of the charity’s funds. Makes it even more important to repay ASAP.
We play the Bills this year. If Bradford owes IK any money. I’m starting a Go fund me account to get Bradfords dept paid off before the bills game
i mean his scouting report didn’t look bad and he was having a great camp. if you believe, like i sort of do, that the version of this story we’ve all heard is BS (the camp body takes the fall), then it’s not the worst move in the world. plus, dude’s gotta be in Geno’s head.
Just glad there aren’t anymore injuries… losing Long and Sheppard wasn’t good but it wasn’t backbreaking either.
Where losing the 2nd tier/less important players hurts is depth during the season when someone goes down with a hammy or something. Instead of calling up a 2nd stringer to take over now you’ve got the 3rd stringer filling in. And with how jumbled our secondary is in terms of who’s going to play where right now, future injuries could start having a domino effect where multiple players need to shift around to find the optimal personnel grouping. (Thurmond forced to play the slot, Rowe moving inside despite training for outside, Nolan Caroll bouncing around, etc.)
Shhhhhhhhhhh. You act like there ISNT a month to get thru healthy left… But I feel you… It’s like trying to walk thru a minefield hoping you don’t step wrong and blow up
Yep. Every day I log on and think, lets hope this isn’t the day Bradford blows out his knee.
Yeah i’m not liking how Ertz gets dinged up on a daily basis. His career could be short. Also wonder if we see Kiko at all pre-season, he’s been out 2 weeks seems like w/ that concussion.
Watch Ertz practice and you’ll see why he gets dinged up, he puts everything into practice, he tries making circus catches regularly, and being the TE he goes across the middle a lot where he’s exposed to hits. I think he’ll be fine. Kiko will absolutely play in preseason, he has only been out for if I am not mistaken 5 days which I about right in the concussion protocol.
Nerve wrecking summer for me… I never so badly wanted to see what a team was capable like with this group of players…we also have a first time GM, it would be nice if we stayed Healthy so we can accurately judge the job chip/Marynowitz did putting together this roster
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Seems like every time this city took one of those High injury risk, high upside gambles on players, We LOSE… See Andrew Bynum
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Just for ONCE I want to be on the right side of one of these high reward injury gambles. Just once I want us to get lucky, take a gamble, and see it work out and chamge our entire futire the way it did for the Saints when they took gamble on Drew Brees health…
.,
For my entire fandom I have been stuck rooting for running QBs which I despise. All I ever wanted on a big kid who will sit in the pocket all day and surgically dissect defenses with his arm and QB Brain…
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FINALLY, On OUR roster this very moment we have the best combo of Arm strength, accuracy, Timing, anticipation and Touch, who can make every throw that this franchise has ever had in my 30yrs as a fan..Sam is easily capable of being the most talemted QB I have ever had the chance to root for…. It’s nerve Wrecking to have such a HIGH REWARD risk at the most important position in Sports
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If Chip kelly is going to gamble on players, this is the type of scary talent you gamble on… Im so desperate to get to see the SAM Bradford led Eagles..
Thurmond getting trucked over and over again. Do we really want him to be a starting safety?
Over and over? I heard he got trucked by Murray on one occasion but also heard he lowered the shoulder on another Murray run. I am good with him at safety because he can cover and at the least he has no problems trying to mix it up in the run game. Who would you rather have Wolff who cant stay healthy, Prosinski who is a complete unknown, Maragos is a pure special teamer, Watkins is another CB/Safety hybrid?
i rarely expect a S to take down a RB solo.
Murray trucked our backup NT, so I don’t expect Thurmond to have a chance, plus we don’t use our S’s primarily in run support so i’m good.
if we used a SS it would be different, but in our system if the S is stopping backs, our scheme is failing
Safeties will always be the last line of defense. If we had a perfect front 7 that ALWAYS stopped the run then I wouldn’t care who’s the starting safety but we don’t.
Man I can’t even remember his name. Is he still on the roster?
damien square…..didn’t know who he was when he got trucked, but now i’ll never forget it
Even Dawkins got run over on occasion.
i thought about mentioning that, but the time Witten ran for a first with Dawk hanging off of him was the first time i realized we wouldn’t have him forever . . .
hey hey take it easy
There is no reason to start talking crazy.
Might be unfair to say Wolff can’t stay healthy, when it’s really only a singular injury that was completely misdiagnosed for over a year.
Ok I will give you that but what about him being medically cleared yet wouldn’t practice.
How recent are we talking? Because there was a period of time where he was medically cleared, didn’t go, and AFTER that was diagnosed with the knee lesions or whatever and had microfracture surgery.
I am talking about this offseason at the beginning of training camp.
Doesnt matter that much…. Our Front 7 has been shutting down run games for years now without safety support… It’s kind of the poïnt choosing to run a 3-4…. No one will ever mistake Not so Nasty Nate for an enforcer or stout run defender….if Thurmond does a better job of not letting opponents get behind him, thus cutting down on the X plays he will be a welcomed addition…
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If you are going to have a safety who isn’t very physical, ISNT a good tackler, doesn’t help much against the run, he BETTER be GOOD in coverage… If your safety ISNT going to be physical like Nate, might as well play with an extra corner..
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We were elite against the run with a weak secondary last year… Our front 7 is so good, we will shut down the run no matter who they play in the secondary…. Although Malcolm Jenkins was very stout in run support..
LOL I think Murray and Matthews can truck most of the DBs in the league
I’ll give you Murray but not Matthews.
Matthews might be more physical than Murray. They both run around and through people
Matthews definitely does not run through anyone. He breaks some ankle grabs and bad tackles but trucking is nowhere near his skillset.
I meant Mathews… As in Ryan
By many accounts he has had the better camp on the field, hands down. But it’s camp, will be good to see them both in the regular season.
I can’t wait to finally get this preseason game and watch the rewind over an over. There’s no scheme hiding a weakness on the roster or anything, just putting every player in the optimal position to be evaluated. The lack of Eagles live has probably left us all a little nuts. We’ve been left with nothing but the on-paper merit of roster moves to debate and 2nd hand accounts from guys tasked with spotting every “wow” moment happening on a field with many many activities going on at any given time. No one here has gotten the in-depth looks at this team we were used to, and we’re finally going to get our fix. I can’t wait to take a look at the trenches. It’s been killing me.
Just to clarify before I get obliterated: Yes I miss Eagles Live, and Lehigh and all that, and yes I get why we don’t have them anymore and accept that, this is not a petition to bring them back or anything. But if you pretend you didn’t love watching those O-line vs D-line drills you are a damn liar. Kinda like I’d hate the Eagles being on Hard Knocks…but I would cherish every moment if it happened.
DYING for Preseason game… I like this roster so much, that I would watch the entire game 3’times even if we sat all our starters… Actually I don’t really even care about seeing the starters.. I want to see our young backups… I’m going to try and watch every snap from players like:
MS2
Jaylen Watkins
ROWE
Hicks
Wolff
Moffit
Gardner
Tobin
Agholor
Hart
Bunche
Burton
…
It’s pretty much impossible for the coaches to decide who will start at RG off of training camp performamces.. You could judge OL from andy Reid practice because he had guys playing full contact against each other, but chip doesn’t allow our DL and OL go after each other at full Force, these preseason game are CRUCIAL To deciding who starts at RG… If you watch the OL closely in the preseason. We should have a good idea who will start
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Heck, Our DL aka “The No Names” is stil so young, I can’t wait to see how much better they are, being a year older, stronger, more experienced, bodies more mature… For Example, we don’t talk about him much because Bennie aka “B-Loge” is one of the top NTs in the game, but I’m expecting Beau Allen to show some big improvements in year 2… I hear that we will be very surprised at how well “V-dot” aka Vinny Curry is two gapping and playing the run these days….when a young player like Fletch realizes how dominant he is last year, the next year you should see an absolute FORCE!… And of course our Technician “Swamp” aka Cedrick Thprnton is probably one of the most under rated defenders in the game… I’m sure Linebackers love playing behind them..
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As for the DL, the Motto Azzinaro teaches them is S.L.T.G as in:
Strike
Look
Throw
Go
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Get your hands on the OL, see where the play is Going, throw him out the way and go make the tackle…
Definitely, it’s always awesome to watch the preseason games smash the camp narratives to pieces. Obviously we have to watch for all 4 games to get a half-decent sample size, but I really want to see some of these guys I’ve never seen outside of some college tape.
Our DL isn’t “The No Names” when porn stars are tweeting at Cox, begging him not to hurt Romo
not to mention, the “No Name” moniker was used 40+ years ago to describe a defense that went to the SB 3 years straight.
Well here’s hoping they live up to that name and then some.
That’s what they call themselves…. Take it up with them
Embracing the contradiction. Way to go.
without ideological contradiction there can be no internal conflict that defines the pathological Eagles fan
I haven’t heard a word about Austin out there. He doing anything worth while?
Miles? i was at both open practices at the linc…..he was dropping passes left and right, i sorta hope they eat the guaranteed money and cut him loose…..Ajirotutu has looked good enough and is a good ST player
Kempski’s take from yesterday:
“Miles Austin had an active day on what has been a quiet camp. Austin isn’t just going to make the team. He’s going to play. The team gave him a million dollars guaranteed, and he hasn’t played special teams in five years. He’s going to be in the mix in some way as a receiver.”
Hope he’s wrong
Perhaps he knows he’s made the team already and is taking it easy through training camp. But regardless of that, if he’s better than the other receivers, I hope he sees the field as often as necessary until the young guys can catch up. The roster is the roster, and Cooper isn’t exactly the toughest competition to beat out.
Kempski had this to say about Boyko:
“One offensive lineman I thought looked pretty good in those one-on-one sessions was UDFA Brett Boyko. He went up against Brandon Graham a few times, and held his own. Boyko has one of the worst spider charts I’ve ever seen….
…Looking at that spider chart, you’d picture a tall skinny dude with T-Rex arms,Burger King commercial hands, and cinder block feet. After watching him today, he looked far more athletic than his spider chart would suggest.”
I made these for him but couldn’t share it on his site, so, I shall share the madness, I mean Joy, with you guys.
I’ve always been on the short side, and right now if I’m wearing sneakers I might be 5’9″. It amazes me that someone who is 6’7″ has smaller hands than I do. I have short stubby fingers, and measure 9+3/8″ hands when doing it the exact way they do it (spread out hand, pinky tip to thumb tip). I’ve never seen someone so tall in real life have smaller hands than I do. Is hand size overrated?
It’s definitely awesome for QB’s and WR’s, Tiny hands I don’t think is near as big an issue as the 0 percentile arm length. He was going up against graham, which tells me we was doing drills at Tackle, which is strange since Chip emphasizes arm length on his Tackles. Everything about him screams “Guard” in the NFL. Maybe it was just random that he kept coming up against Graham. Sort of makes sense that Graham wouldn’t expose him since he prefers the head-on bull rush and doesn’t have a long frame himself.
Maybe he can add some mass, but 310 @ 6’7″ doesn’t sound too stout for a guard, no?
He’s got awkward measurables no matter how you slice it, and he didn’t play at Oregon, if he makes the team you know he’s earned it.
ACViking:
RE: Pope blessing medals for Ron Jaworski
Didinger has an article on pe.com about the pope blessing medals for Ron Jaworski in the 1980 season, which is the year they went to the Superbowl.
Can we make it two Superbowl trips if he meets Sam Bradford and blesses his knees? I vote we give the Pontiff season tickets and make him a fan. It can’t hurt.
http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/news/article-1/Didinger-Pope-Blessed-The-1980-Team/b114cab2-ffb9-47d7-9618-5d7c9a687118
11 on 11… MS came through pushing Tobin back for what would have been a sack if contact were allowed. I know the victims have been Kelly and Tobin but it is still encouraging because he wasn’t doing this last year. Correct me if I am wrong but out of all the OLB in TC he has garnered the most praise.
He’s learning how to convert his speed into power. That was a big flaw for him coming out of college since he wasn’t a LB from the start. It’s definitely encouraging to hear about but I hope he doesn’t keep relying on bull rushing. I know he has a spin move so now he has 2 pass rushing moves.
He only needs to master 3 to be a monster. The bull, spin and one other counter move and he has it. I remember him using the spin a couple times in college and I would imagine he spent last year working on it so I’m hopefull he has a good grasp on that. The bull rush is his newest trick and he already used a speed rush often. There’s 3 moves right there not to mention what he can set up with a speed/spin, bull/spin, speed/bull combo. I think at this point it’s just practice practice practice. Excited for Sunday.
He needs a good rip or dip move.
For him to be able to use the bull rush effectively is a huge feat for him. He didn’t have the power to do that last year. He has the athleticism and speed to learn the rest. As Mitchell said below he used the spin effectively in college. The bull rush which he seems to be getting down is very important because he can use that as a base to build other moves off of.
Apparently he is also responding well to coaching and judging by his change this off season he has the work ethic to go with it.
If him and Huff continue to improve and Watkins is effective in the slot the 2014 draft class may end up being really good.
Dimitri Patterson sighting: http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/13424562/former-new-york-jets-cb-dimitri-patterson-facing-felony-child-abuse-charge
Injury sounds incidental, at least as far as the kid is concerned, but prosecutors generally don’t play around with child abuse stuff. They stick to the letter of the law and not intent. (In PA, anything that leaves a mark, unjury, bruise, or causes the child significant pain or impairment is considered child abuse.)
You know, unless you’re a star running back or something. Then it’s just community service that you don’t have to complete and a raise.
How can Kempski make that statement about Bradford? At least needs to give rationale. Gonna look dumb when Bradford does play.