Good Start to 2015 Preseason
Posted: August 16th, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 344 Comments »The Eagles beat the Colts 36-10. The Eagles were far and away the better team, but they still were sloppy at times and made their share of mistakes. There is plenty to be happy about, most especially the fact that there were no major injuries.
Let’s go over some of the hot topics.
QB – Mark Sanchez did not play well. I think his adrenaline got the best of him and he missed a couple of throws that should have been easy TDs. The one TD pass he did throw was high and only a great effort by Nelson Agholor kept that from being an incompletion or a short gain.
Matt Barkley took a major step forward. I think part of that is the fact he got to play with the backups. He had good blocking and receivers that got open. Barkley got the ball out quickly and seemed to make good reads. I don’t want to oversell this as some great showing, but that’s the best I can recall Barkley playing in the NFL. His arm strength remains an issue, which you saw on a couple of plays, but he did make some good throws.
Tim Tebow did not play well. Part of that was due to his teammates. The blocking was sloppy. Chip Kelly also said receivers ran wrong routes a couple of times. This was Tebow’s first game in a while and his first time running the Eagles offense vs a live defense. All that said, Tebow is a guy who has started in the NFL and won a playoff game. You would have expected a better showing from him. I’m interested to see how he looks when I re-watch the game.
RG – I’m not sure anyone beside Andrew Gardner and John Moffitt played RG until late in the game. Gardner was in there for a few drives and had a solid showing. He and Jason Kelce had a really good combo block, giving Ryan Mathews an easy path to a 13-yard gain. Gardner seemed solid in pass pro.
Moffitt seemed up and down. I was surprised that he didn’t get much movement in the run game. That may be a case of him still being rusty.
Matt Tobin played only LT that I could see. Dave Spadaro said on the telecast that he thinks this is down to a two-man competition between Gardner and Moffitt. Kelly said after the game that things were still wide open, but he wouldn’t even acknowledge that Gardner had earned the right to start in this game. I don’t know why he’s being so awkward on this issue.
Nelson Agholor – The rookie dropped a couple of passes, but finished 3-57-1. He showed outstanding RAC ability on all three catches. You can see how dangerous he is with the ball in his hands. The drops must be cleaned up. One of them came on 3rd-and-long and would have extended the drive. Those are like turnovers.
RBs – Kenjon Barner was 6-29-1 as a runner. He made a diving catch as well. He really stood out with his 92-yard punt return for a TD. You want role players to stand out in as many phases of the game as possible. I was actually more impressed with his backup, Raheem Mostert. He had 11 carries for 33 yards. Mostert is known as a speed guy, but looked solid as an inside runner. He caught one short pass and turned that into a 40-yard gain. Maybe his most impressive moment came on Barner’s long PR. Mostert flew up the field and got just enough of the punter to take him out of the play. Both Barner and Mostert made their case to be the number four RB.
The New Secondary – For the most part, good. I need to check the tape to see exactly what was going on. I love the fact they didn’t give up any big plays. They kept the ball in front of them and then attacked it. Eric Rowe had a nice FF.
Bennie Logan – If you had never seen the Eagles play, you would think #96 was the best player on defense. He controlled the middle of the line and made it darn near impossible for the Colts to run the ball. Logan was credited with three tackles, but that doesn’t come close to telling the story of how well he played.
Marcus Smith – Smith did more in one game than he did all of last summer. At least it feels that way. He did a solid job of setting the edge on run plays to him. He jumped to the inside a couple of times to get involved with making the tackle. Smith had a good day in coverage. He still needs work as a pass rusher. There were a couple of good moments, but he needs a lot of work.
Emmanuel Acho – I was surprised when Acho started ahead of Najee Goode. That decision made complete sense by the end of the game. Acho was only credited with two tackles, but he seemed to be all over the field. Goode was badly burned by a RB on a pass route.
Bryan Braman – I feel like the Eagles don’t take him seriously enough as a pass rusher. Braman came in the game and was instantly disruptive. Yes, he was going against third stringers. But he was still consistently disruptive. Why not give him a chance to play with the backups? He almost came up with a safety on one play and did have an impressive FF on another play.
EJ Biggers – Good game. Biggers broke up one pass and kept another from even having a chance because he rode the rookie WR out of bounds. Looked like a veteran out there.
Ed Reynolds – On a day when the Eagles scored 36 points and Tim Tebow ran for a TD, who would have guessed that Ed Reynolds would be the talk of the game? Really good showing. Reynolds picked off two passes. He broke up another one. He made an impressive tackle on a kickoff. Reynolds is at his best playing back and attacking the ball. He was really good at that while at Stanford. We didn’t see much of that at all last summer. Reynolds made plays today and they weren’t just luck. He made them the way he did at Stanford. Reynolds needs to build on this game to really make it matter.
Cody Parkey – Going against his former team brought out the worst in Parkey. He missed an extra point and a field goal. Yikes. Kelly says not to hit the panic button yet. And he’s exactly right. Parkey was too good in 2014 to worry about a sloppy game and even a sloppy practice or two. While you shouldn’t worry, you could maybe pay a bit more attention to Parkey. Kickers can be erratic, even when coming off a great season.
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Any major concerns?
The pass rush wasn’t as good as I hoped for.
There were some errant snaps. I’m just not sure who they were from.
Tackling was a bit sloppy at times, especially on Indy’s TD run.
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Posted from last thread: To MSIIs credit, he did use 2 spin moves today. The first of which won’t be mistaken for Freeny but was pretty quick, unfortunately he ended up tripping at the end. The second spin was a bit better, he used a speed rush to get the LT going to the outside and then spun back in. Got a little pressure on the qb and it may have been a sack of it wasn’t a quick throw. The only truly negative thing, as mentioned elsewhere was getting fooled by the option, however, I have seen him blow that play up in college. He wasn’t as agressive as he needed to be and I pray he develops more of a nasty streak.
One thing I noticed a couple of times was that when MSII used his bullrush he would get off balance, it only took the OL moving slightly to the side for MSII to sort of fall forwards onto his knees. Not sure if that would be a pure technique issue or a strength issue.
Apparently he only just started to even show a bullrush this last week in practice. Looking forward to next week already. Btw, who did the Eagles play against today? Hardly noticed. ;~)
I saw the same and it’s probably a combination of both. He did get some movement but probably needs to get under the OL more and not think so much.
Balance. Underrated key to being a good football player. One of the reasons the Eagles emphasize staying on your feet in several drills I’ve read about.
Tebow was plagued by horrible offensive line play, a horrible running game, penalties, and about 4 bad snaps by the center.
He was also plagued by the inability to make an even somewhat accurate throw under pressure. The inability to get to his second read if the first was covered and finally, the belief that holding the ball when his OL was getting trashed was the right decision 😛
One things seems obvious, regardless of the QB this year, this team is going to score a lot of points. To think that we really haven’t even seen the run game yet.
To think that we really haven’t even seen the starting quarterback yet…
We hope…
Was at the game. Really the first time I’ve watched Agholor. His athleticism jumps (literally) out at you. Excited about the receiving corps. If Bradford is as accurate as advertised….
I couldn’t see it for myself, but I just read that Bennie Logan couldn’t even be moved off his spot when they doubled up on him. VERY impressive.
Agholor really surprised me. His acceleration was impressive. Seemed like he went from a stop to full speed in no time.
Sanchez really surprised me too…just not in a good way.
Agholor runs like a spider on rollerblades, in a good way.
Rowe may have caused another ff as well. While he didn’t directly knock it out. He fought with the receiver for the ball enough that the actual tackler was a able to punch it out. I was amazed that he could disrupt the ball carriers that much in his first game. Always trying to strip the ball.
i thought he had it loose before Maragos got there. kid’s a playmaker, kind of like Reynolds, or at least ER2 was at Standford.
THANK YOU!
But he did directly knock it out! OMG this is gonna bother me
I’m a little torn overly criticizing Tebow. Because he kind of is what he is in ways. I’m not saying Tebow is anything special and doesn’t have the same issues he’s had or he’s making the team but he hasn’t been in game action. I have never been a fan of his NFL Qb ing ability but what do you expect? Sanchez looked almost as crappy. If he was playing with 3rd string. No way does he score with those receivers abd the likes of Kevin Graf.
Also I don’t think Tebow had his legs under him consistently. He’s not in game shape yet.
Tebow also had worse OL play in front of him than Foles did all of last year. At least he can take a hit, which was really important today. Maybe next week we can see him behind Peters and Kelce et al. Then see if his arm or passing moves have improved.
No way will Tebow get those offensive lineman in front of him. They are starters, how could they possibly share the field with a 4th or at best, 3rd string quarterback?
Why no love for Tomlinson?
No one seems to be giving him any, he’s gonna replace Celek next year I bet
He’s so damn slow.
Thought he had a really solid day. Caught the ball well, which wasn’t his strength coming out. Nice job.
Solid safety valve, very patient but purposeful running after the catch. Reminds me of a skinny Chad Lewis. WHO I LOVE by the way
Bennett stated down both throws but regardless Reynolds still made the play. It would be nice to have some depth at the safety position.
His pass breakup, Reynolds really had to move to get in the right position there. Impressive regardless of QB play
I missed that one but good to hear. I’m pulling for him.
Jenkins, Thurmond, Prosinski and Maragos are going to make the roster, but with Maragos and prosinski really only being ST players, they are Probably going to keep 1 of the young safeties: Reynolds, Couplin or Wolff… No chance Wolff makes the roster now, so it will come down to Couplin vs. reynolds… Reynolds last year at Stanford was quiet, but the year before he was an INT Machine making all types of Big plays, he also had a good play on ST which is Important for him…. Out Of the 3 Young safeties, Reynolds won round 1.. Hopefully he can build on it… If he plays better then wolf and Couplin each www, he will win the job, but I wouldn’t count out Couplin yet.. Wolff, you can stick a fork in him
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Only Way Reynolds or Couplin both don’t make the roster is if a #6th corner is playing well and we keep a 6th instead of 5 safeties and 5 corners.l
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Watkins, Biggers, ROWE all made some plays today, Maxwell and Nolan were solid in limited action… Those 5 corners are probably Locks to make the Roster… Along with the 4 safeties Thurmond, jenkins, Maragos and Prosinski…
That means that the 10th DB will be contested between:
Reynolds
Wolff
Couplin
Denzel Rize.
And after 1 preseason game, Reynolds is in the lead. But Couplin comes back to practice this week
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Loved what I saw fom the secondary today.. Good 1st step for the NO FLY ZONE!
Still not willing to write off Prosinski as 3/4 S.
What do you mean? I assume Prosinski is making this roster, he is one of our 5 best ST players… He is so good at ST what he does at safety DOESNT even matter…. I have no clue how good or bad he is a Safety, but dude is a BEAST on ST
He’s horrible when asked to cover, but he’s a great special teamer. Sometimes worry that we sacrifice necessary depth so we can have great ST. Especially at safety.
But if one of the young guys steps forward strong and can be the third safety it isn’t an issue. The Birds special teams are such a weapon, I think they can be game changers like they were last year. Anyway, if they get down to playing the fourth safety, they’re the Giants.
Right, I think everyone is lumping him and Maragos into the same player. I’ve seen flashes that he may be more adequate as a short term sub at S. Given that they are taking 2 of at most 5 Safety spots, be nice if at least one of them can competently fill some play time.
Thanks for breaking that down. I was literally trying to figure this out in my head on the metro this morning. I hope ED takes it and coupling and Rice get on the PS. Rice. I like his size and build. But didn’t really see enough of him/pay attention to him enough to make a judgment.
So Mayock said Eagles think Rice is like getting another mid round pick. I like Mostert but Barner may bump him off roster if we keep 4 backs and teams will be watching our situation since we have great backs.
Hopefully Mostert get some kick returns. You would think teams would keep the ball in play on Kick Off to work on coverage during Preseason. Additionally I didn’t expect Barner to play that well.
Mostert and Barner both competing for that coveted Henry Josey award.
Was gonna say… let’s not get too excited over what these guys do in the second half of the first preseason game. There are always guys who look good in the preseason, cause fans to throw fits when they’re cut, then are never heard from again.
Henry Josey was good. Im sticking with that. Im worried mostert will get cut. I like Barner and he definitely showed up. But my eyes tell me Mostert will be a better future investment. he gives you that N-S running that you have to love
Agree on the Braman confusion. Seems like he could be more of a contributor.
Dominated 3rd stringers. Want to see him against better competition before I believe he can be an adequate backup.
Completely dominated 3rd stringers, the suplex was great lol.
Not the first time, but I agree. Coaches see him plenty, i could see where he might lack the discipline to be relied on.
He’s the 2nd coming of Ike Reese. Makes his name in the league as a special teamer, becomes a useful situational guy on defense.
I feel like the team may have been holding back on the pass rush, keeping it vanilla and seeing what the line can do with a straight rush. Also gave the secondary more work, which may have been working as intended.
A big part of the 3-4 is the blitz packages to generate pass rush, also add Cox in a live game with curry and that solves alot
The ILB stunts were as fancy as it got
Yeah I noticed 3- or 4-man rushes in the beginning more than a few times.
I realize this was only one game, but it reinforced to me why Tebow struggles as a NFL level QB. He takes too long to get the ball out i.e. his motion is still slow and complicated, he seems only able to complete to his first read, if the first read is covered he cannot make the next read quickly/decisively, he does not get rid of the ball when it is clear the play is dead and the consistency of his throws is not there.
Sure, he was playing with 3rd stringers, but he was also playing against 3rd stringers.
The competition is not over, he’ll probably get to play with more of the backups in Game 2, but I just think his flaws are fundamental, they are the same ones that have always shown up during his career and I did not see the rumored improvements he has made. I think he best fits as a RB/TE hybrid for the red zone and short yardage situations and certainly do not want to sit another player on game day so we can field 3 QB.
1st read covered, he’s toast. thought we’d see a ton of read oprions, guess they know what they have.
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i dont see it. Barkley isnt much better, but he could win a 24-21 game w/ limited TOs. just not sure Tebow can.
Seemed like a sideshow circus freak to me… Basically today was like the NFL version or “Rudy”
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TEBOW should not be able to hang with Bakley who has been h this offense for 3 years…Hopefully Barkley can build on this, and chip make him look good enough to get something for him…unless he can become a Longterm system QB backup
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I know this city hates Barkley, but if Chip kelly can’t trade Barkley, I have a hard time picturing chip justifying ciutting barkley after he plays better then TEBOW throughout the preseason… if Chip really does want to keep Tebow(can’t imagine why) he better find a trade for Barkley…. I don’t see him beimg able to cut Barkley after he plays Noticably better then Tebow
Chip talked about how he Doesmt allow his players to go full force at Practice so we really have to go by preseason performance to make these roster decisions…and he gave example “If Kenjon Barner continues to perform the way he did today, we will have to make a spot to keep him”.. He also talked about how Ed Reynolds really put himself in a good position today with such a strong game. Wonder if part of that was because wolff sat out and Couplin was still out with the Appendectomy..
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Back when Andy was coach, he had playërs practicing full contact against each other in camp, where as Chip doesn’t allow that, he doesn’t let us tackle each other to the ground, he asks the OL and DL to cooperate with each other, asks Defenders to pull up at times where they could deliver the Boom… So when you think about it, Chip really has no choice but to put so much weight on preseason performance when it comes to picking his roster….. Seems that under Chip, training camp and OTAs are just to prepare you for your final exam, the 4 preseason games.. The cool part about that is, for fans, who ARENT privy to what happens every day at Practice, if we,watch the preseason games, and Have a good grasp on how each player performed, we should be able to have a decent idea about who he will keep for the final roster…
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Curious how often we will see a scenario where For example: Let’s Say Ed Reynolds clearly plays better then Couplin and Wolff in all 4 preseason games, but because Couplim has been consistentky better then reynolds in practice, chip passes on the best game day performer (Reynolds) and keeps the better safety day in and day out at Nvacare( Couplin)?…
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if we rank who performed the best in each preseason game, I wonder how closely chips 53 man roster compares to the players who simply performed the best in each Preseason game..
this offense really is amazing. there’s no way in my eyes Bradford to Ertz on that 1st play isnt 7. Parkey leaves 4 on field. still score 36. know it’s pre-season and meaningless, but if every drive can end with a kick, i really like eagles chances.
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love that Mostart (sp?) kid. his speed and power looks really nice. Reynolds is the perfect centerfield safety. he isnt going to cover slot, but he is a ballhawk and doesnt get beat deep.
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stinks for Wolff. hard enough to make it in NFL, stinks when injury prevents you from realizing dream. sounds like knee is shot.
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could really use some of Tommy’s common sense to talk me off T-Rex arms #37. like that Denzell Rice kid. saw him play live at CCU-live in Myrtle-he was physical and stuck to WRs.
Good stuff Tommy.
anyone check out Hart? how’d he play?
I thought he looked slow and awkward. Not sure if that 20lbs agrees with him.
how many fast 6’6 300 dancing bear white boys do you know?
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kidding, thanks. all he has to give is 10 plays a game, that DL is going to be a handful. wait till kiko and mk are flying around behind untouched.
I was surprised, really. So much so that I think he may have an uphill battle to make the team if he has another bad game. Bair still looks better, so he’s fighting guys outside of his position for a roster spot.
ew, i’ll have to watch. Bair’s just a big white goon, but he does his job.
Bair n Hart play the same position, I’m so tired of hearing guys post about football which they clearly know nothing about
So tired of morons that don’t quite have a grip on the English language. Read again, slower, and maybe you’ll catch up little man.
Hmm, I only noticed him a couple of times, but each one he was climbing up out of the bottom of the pile where they shut down a run at the line of scrimmage.
He made a play or 2 in the run game, but was really just average overall.
If I’m Bradford, I am hoping, praying, and spending some coin to get some good juju cast on the OL starters to ensure they stay healthy.
Backups certainly didn’t show much to inspire confidence today and their play was lacking to be kind.
Well Graf won’t even make PS unless he vastly improves. I didn’t concentrate on OL when Barkley was in.Who was center with bad snaps was it Molk or Vandervelde?
Josh Andrews
I thought Tobin pretty well at tackle, and I imagine Moffit will do better as the rust shakes off. Anything more than 2 injuries, and we’re screwed no matter what anyway.
Kelly and Graf are gone.
#45 (Watkins) showed up, IMO. He was actually doubled (kinda) on the only sack.
yeah, who the heck is he?
Diakeem Watkins out of UAB.
I heard that school has a great pollination program.
I see what you did there.
Definitely alot of buzz around it. lol Sorry…
Thanx, doesnt help, but again, thnx
He was signed after Long went down. Small DE converting to OLB that looked good, especially for only being here for 10 days.
Based on his scouting report, he has no prayer of sticking, but at least he’s getting some film for other teams.
“Defensive end Diaheem Watkins (6-3 1/2, 260) ran the 40 in 4.87 and 4.89 seconds. He had a 31-inch vertical jump and a 9-foot-1 broad jump. He did the short shuttle in 4.63 seconds and the three-cone in 7.52 seconds. He also performed 20 reps on the bench press. Watkins is one of those guys teams bring in as a free agent and sometimes said team will find itself a good, serviceable player.” – Gil Brandt
It’s the 4.9 forty for a LB in our system that imho pretty much eliminates him getting any meaningful snaps. We ask our LB’s to at least be somewhat respectable in coverage.
If only one out of four LB’s is below average speed (timed), and not great in coverage I’d say you’re still pretty good. I’m not saying this kid makes the final 53 but he showed up in a good way tonight. I think the only reason he saw the amount of plays that he did is because Dewalt-Ondijo got dinged.
There’s “below average speed” and then there’s 4.87 speed. That is painfully slow – I don’t think there’s a RB or TE in the NFL who couldn’t dust him in a footrace.
That’s almost Burfict slow 🙂
He’s a outside linebacker his job is to set the edge first,rush the QB secondly n drop in coverage thirdly but his job is to not allow his man to get by him n 4.87 is slow but not as slow as u may think there is a thing called game speed where a guy just plays faster than his 40 because he’s got such a high football IQ, n what’s the widd receivers name who played opposite larry Fitzgerald for some yrs then he went on to play for the ravens n now 49ers I think man he don’t drop shit anyway he was another one ran a 4.6 n hes been I think so damn near as good as his ex teammate Larry Fitzgerald Anquan Boldin ran a 4.6 flat at the combine n he’s a beast so no MORE SPEED TALK!!! PLZ N THANK U
Is it too much to ask you to use at least a little punctuation? I’m not a grammar nazi but reading that gave me a headache.
Watkins wasn’t drafted largely because he was an undersized 4-3 end in college who’s really, really slow to make the transition to outside linebacker. He may prove able to overcome his lack of speed with instincts but since he’s being asked to change positions I think that’s doubtful. I don’t think he even makes it past the first cutdown day, decent showing in the 4th quarter of the first preseason game or no.
He was making plays early in the 2nd quarter. His play speed appears to be much faster than his timed speed.
Look stop with all the speed stuff OK, because the game has so much more intricacies then speEd,vision makes up for speed because u see the field n play breaking down n where its going a second before your faster lb so that’s one way to make up for lack of top speed at your position,what did luke keukly run it was like a 4.75 but he is the best inside linebacker in the game since Patrick Willis retired some may say ,damn, plays for bucs I think unless he left during free agency anyway there is no middle linebacker with the vision n ability to read a play like he does n ya know who matches up in measurable almost identical as kueckly none other than kiko Alonso, kueckly just has 1 inch n 10 lbs on em n last but not least why speed should not ever be brought up, the greatest wide receiver of all time never ran under a 4.5 n actually hit 4.6 just as much as 4.5’s cause ppl don’t realize a second gear isn’t some made up term n no one had a second gear like Jerry rice so think about it there r lb’s running faster 40’s than Jerry rice but it didn’t stop him from being the goat
Hmmm… Is it the individual words you’re fooled by or does your non-mastery begin once sentences are formed? You’re making an argument for the same side I am and acting like you’re schooling me. Settle down young buck, you’ll eventually get the hang of this.
Yeah but every lb doesn’t have to run a 4.5or6 to be a good defender , most of your linebacker covecrages they don’t rarely reach there top speed cause there covering crossing routes n maybe a rb catchin a delayed screen so I take back they will have to run there fastest but they rarely if ever cover routes meant to be caught further than 15 yds cause then if they do there risking int’d by the db’s
Ok, let me make this simple. 4.9 forty is on the extremely slow side for a 260lb linebacker. 9-1 broad and 31in vertical means he’s not exceptionally explosive. You’re correct, he doesn’t need to be a 4.5 – 4.6 guy if he’s an exceptional pass rusher, but Billy is trying to move us to a mirrored defense where both outside LB can be depended on in coverage against most RB’s and average TE’s. I’m aware there are exceptions to the rule, but Chip and Billy thought 2inches was too much for Boykin to overcome, so I highly doubt they’ll think those #s are satisfactory for more than a camp body.
Yeah, size does matter in (height,) important roles but what I don’t understand is in the past 10 yrs chipkelly has watched cb,’s 5″ 10′ or less go to pro bowls n no not slot corners, shit asante Samuel was only 5″ 10′ n he don’t have half the vertical of boykin the soon to be bears great if he retires after this season n I think he should , Tim Jennings played outside n inside mostly outside,guess how tall? Hello boykin Tim Jennings is 5″ 9′ another guy who is the shortest corner I know to play outside n have a , he had to go to at least 6 pro bowl ronde barber 5″ 8′ alteraun verner don’t know where he is but when he was with Tennessee as a pro bowler n still playing pro bowl football I’m sure oh I think the bucs signed him when ronde barber retired ,what a coincidence but is listed at 5″ 9′ n a half I can keep going but I won’t so I’m sure you guys get my point if I was Boykin and I wasn’t going to get a look at outside corner being the best corner on the team, I wouldn’t want to play for the Eagles either
I only noticed him on one play, but that was a man play- shedding a block with ease and making the play. Im sure he did more too. I just didnt notice it.
“Young players who work hard every day under the tutelage of quality coaches will IMPROVE from one year to the next”…
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if you believe in the coaching of this team, you can’t expect ypung player to not improve and remain the same exact player we saw a year ago…. If you have untapped potential, and you WORK HARD and you WORK SMART, you will grow from ojne year to the next….
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Barkley doesn’t have many fans in Philly, we been ripping him for two years, but it’s pretty safe to assume that a QB chip ikelly has invested his time in for years is going to start showing Growth and improvement… This is Barkleys 3rd year as an NFL player, 3rd year in this offense… Of course he is going to be better then he was last year….. and we saw that today….the arm strength will never be ideal, but you saw a kid who was in command of the offense, decisive, most impressive was how he was going thru all his reads before knowing,exactky where his check down was,,, he played the position much much better then Tebiw did, but that’s exactly what should be expected from a kid in his 3rd year… Hopefully Batkley can build on this… We have an extremely talented arsenal of weapons.. If Barkley plays the way he did today with our starting weapons, I could see him win a game or two in emergency situation if need be… Today he didnt try to do too much, he was in command and under control.. Keep grooming Barkley in this offense and he will continue to improve,.. Will he EVER improve enough to be a start? Probably not….but if we keep grooming him, by year 5 he could grow into a system QB backüp who knows chips offense like the back of his hands, gets it to our weapons and let them carry him…..
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412yds in 23 minutes
imagine if kelly cared. if they had 34 mins, it’d be near 600, right? RIGHT?!
or if tim tebow didn’t play a quarter and a half
or sanchez 2 series. or Barkley 2 quarters. baby jesus, imagine Bradford becomes what we hope. 2 layup passes to pope and burton, that’s 100+ right there.
be interesting to see how we look against ravens
i’m a homer, proud card carrying one, but i really believe eagles lead the league in layup points left on field. it’s crazy.
no doubt, it’s not the scheme its’ the players
no team has more wide open WRs. that sanchez and barkley’s noodle arms cant connect with. Bradford probably cant believe WRs get that wide open after his yrs in stl. he’ll see more 5 yd wide open guys in 1 game than he saw in a season
i might have to watch next weeks pre season game alone
Or if Sanchez could have hit the broadside of a barn today. Not like he missed tough passes.
first pre season game
Don’t care. High school QB should be able to hit those throws. W I D E O P E N
At over 1000 comments in the game thread, I would say that we are in mid season form.
Anyone know whether Couplin even played today? Know he just had that appendectomy earlier this week and didn’t hear his name at all during the game.
nope
Of all years to not make the playoffs in the NFC last year was the best. Think about it:
Detroit: Probably got ripped off
Dallas: Probably got ripped off
Packers: Dumb
Seattle: Dumber
I wouldn’t want to be in that group from last year.
I’m certain my bias probably has something to do with this but:
Detroit: Did get ripped off
Dallas: Didn’t get ripped off
Well I won’t argue, because I was as happy as you. If that catch wasn’t legal by letter of the law last year, that rule should be changed this year. Even if not ripped off, they lost in a terrible way. Quite enjoyable actually. I wanted Green Bay to win of all those teams though.
that packers loss was bad too
Yep, that’s why I put dumb. I can’t forget the guy intercepting the ball at his own 30’s and doing a victory slide when he had all this room in front of him. He could’ve at the very least ran into FG territory. They win that game then.
That rule’s been on the books for a while. Seriously doubt it gets changed, despite it being one of those ‘that can’t be right’ rules. I really didn’t care much who won them other than absolutely not wanting Dallas to win. Happy Seattle lost in the end too. Sucks that Brady won despite throwing a horrible pick early in that game and is now getting even more ‘best qb ever’ pub. Deflategate’s a joke, but at least it mitigates that somewhat.
Can you imagine New England losing a 3rd Super Bowl in a row because of some insane catch? That’s what was about to happen last year. I wasn’t crazy about Brady winning again either, but as I said above,dumber(Seattle)
If NE had lost due to another insane catch, couldn’t happen to a nicer team.
Could you imagine if the Woodson call hadn’t screwed them? Or how about if Kasey doesn’t kick the KO out of bounds? Or if McNabb doesn’t throw up!
McNabb throws up and then throws a TD pass to bring the game within 3.
So many thing went wrong that day and the Eagles still almost pulled it out. Worst four minute offense in football. Whether it was McNabb’s conditioning or Andy’s play calling, we’ll never know for certain.
Yep, I think the general consensus is that they lost it in the first half. They lost some drives to turnovers. Then apparently the Pats, according to some Eagles defensive players NOT me, came out in the second half and were able to somehow pick up every Eagles’ blitz and Brady was able to get the ball off. Went from 14-14 to 24-14 after that. Hmmmm LOL
The middle of the OL was bad all day, McNabb was running for his life most of the game in hot humid JVille. He was very well conditioned; problem was NE shut down our run game and got the lead so we had to battle back through the air. Our defense also could have had a better performance. I agree we could have put ourselves in better shape in the 1st half.
Thought it was clear the last one was a joke…guess not 🙁
No worries dude, I just answered from memory, wasn’t even thinking. lol
I agree 100 percent. Unfortunately the teams that beat them, not so nice. In my eyes anyway .
deflating to Brady to lose again
Montana never lost a Super Bowl, Brady won more championships and just as many Super Bowls. In the end I think Montana had tougher competition. I want Montana first. No wait, I want Randall Cunningham first! Damn the others!
looks like barner trying to be baby sproles: http://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2015/8/16/9162861/kenjon-barner-darren-sproles-punt-return-touchdown-eagles-preseason-colts
like that mostart guy better. speed and power, really wanted to see him return a kickoff
He’s actually smaller, but I liked the way he put his shoulders down and ran behind his pads inside. We do need a backup punt returner, but I don’t know why they haven’t given Agholor a shot back there. Wanted to throw up when they trotted Riley back there.
thought it’d be huff and sproles like last year, but mostert would be good
return fodder. bet he’s trying to kick field goals and long snap at practice. he’s trying to hang on to 5th/6th wr. aint no way he’s keeping alcohol huff and pope on sidelines.
I thought going into this year Huff would be our primary PR or KR or both. With his speed and tough running ability I thought it would fit him. I guess not.
the FA pickup i bashed the most as a waste of time space and reps, EJ Biggers, didnt look half bad. he stunk for potatoes, but CBs sometimes just need a new zip code.
Want to see more solid play out of him. He was hot trash last season, so not buying yet after one pre-season game, but yeah, he played well.
i’ve probably written ‘ej sux’ 50 times over at 24/7 this year, you dont even know how painful that initial post was to write.
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but, he does have dreds. Rice has sweet set too.
Glancing through the box office, one thing jumped out at me. 3/14 on third downs. Got to improve that asap.
tebow
snort
little off topic:
if anyone wants to watch some full classic eagles games (4th and 26, ’80 Nfccg, 44-6, TO returns to philly, etc), they’re on youtube right now. hopefully they won’t get taken down for a little while…
It’s a shame that Ed Reynolds has Prosinski and Maragos ahead of him as key special teamers. Do we keep 5 safeties? I have to imagine if we keep 4 he’s the odd man out no matter what happens because he can’t special teams like the other 2.
I think we keep 5, he contributed on teams, if he keeps picking of 2/3rd stringers have to keep him — put him in in nickel, move thurmond to slot, or just be able to rotate players. Gotta have some players you’re trying to develop.
Last year S:
Out of Camp (4):
Allen
Jenkins
Wolff
Maragos
Signed Maragos in November (5)
IR Wolff at end of month (4)
Sign Couplin from Detroit PS (5)
They can keep 5 S if they want. They could keep 6 if they really wanted to.
And with all these back of the roster guys it’s not so much “can we keep x amount of guys at position y” it’s does the player who is TE 4, RB 4, CB 6, S 5, OLB 5, etc provide more than his counterparts at those other fringe positions.
Can you go 5 WR if you cut Cooper?
Can you go 6 DL if you cut Bair?
There are some easy ways to get to 5 or 6 safeties as you said.
Algholor: Great RAC potential.
Matthews: Is watching a lot of Marques Colston tape.
Secondary: Active, looking better coached.
Barner: great game
Sunday night, checking Iggles Blitz for the latest comments before bed… Eagles football is back!
pretty excited for next week to see our d-line against Baltimore o-line who are much better than Indy’s
http://www.ourlads.com/nfldepthcharts/depthchart/BAL
If I look at things on a man for man basis; I’m not worried about our D line (and OLBs) winning battle vs. Baltimore’s O-line. Outside of Yanda, there really isn’t a strong player in that group. None of them suck (although I don’t know much about their RT), but I thing the corresponding Eagle is better at every spot.
My real concern is their D-line (plus OLBs) vs. our O-line.
NT Brandon Williams in 335, does Kelce get shoved back/around by him?
DE Chris Canty is Dallas and NY trash that our one guard should block with ease; will he?
DE Timmy Jernigan, in spite of his play for garbage piece of shit Florida State, has been building a nice rep for himself on the Ravens; can out other guard block him?
Suggs and Upshaw/Dumerville are awesome, but I don’t worry about Peters / Johnson vs. those guys.
Wagner is your prototypical Wisconsin OL. Good strength, good run blocker, speed rushers can give him fits.
Their second team OL is pretty solid. I was a big Hurst fan (still not sure how he went UDFA, I had a late second grade that I dinged to a fourth because of injury) Jah is your classic 6’9 King Dunlap type. Urschel massively outperformed projections when thrust into action late last year.
They have a solid group of TEs: with Gilmore, Williams and Boyle. Should get some nice matchups.
We should get a real good read on the nickelback situation as Campanaro is a stud.
I think how much Williams gives Kelce trouble depends on how much we actually game plan. In a normal game week you want to get him going latterally, and then use pace to keep him on the field. Good depth at DL too with Brent Urban, Carl Davis and KLM.
Solid corners. Trash safeties.
Shouldn’t we get a feel for these guys in practice even before we hit the game?
Yes, but in the game is 150 plays that we all get to physically watch not just ten or fifteen individual moments that get tweeted by the beats a day.
Thank you for the scouting or those guys.
I really look forward to week or Practice against the Ravens because I think it’s very valuable for our new roster.. Whether the Ravensare Great this year or just good, it’s probably safe to assume that the Ravens will be a big, tough, Physical team that will come to practice looking to Bully us, which should make for some valuable training this week against a team we can only run into this year if we both make the Super Bowl…let’s get thru another week of work with good health…
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Osmele isn’t bad,.. both Yanda and Osmele can play..
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I want To see Lane and JP completely erase Suggs,Upshaw and Dumerville all week long, making them irrelevant.
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I was a big Fan of Brandon Williams coming out of school, should be an interesting Battle between williams and Kelce
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I’m pretty confident in Gardner and 100% confidemt in Babre… All our coaches and players legitimately view Barbre as a quality starter… If our OL can just stay healthy and build chemistry together, we will be fine as long as our OL has stability..
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Hopefully Braishad Perriman Practices, like to hear how people compare and contrast him with Pur STUD Agholor..
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Old man Steve Smith is still a tough ornery fucker… I like our corners having to match up with his toughness for a few days of practice,..Jimmy Smith is a solid veteran corner for our young WRs to get different looks against for a couple of days… A week against Flacco should be a decent test for our revamped Secindary..
Only semi-rational explanation on WIP I have heard on why the Eagles should keep Tebow over Barkley that he give them a different option & way to improve in the red zone. Nor did the Eagles dress 3 QBs at anytime last year.
WIP is likely letting through the pro-Tebow callers threw because it makes for more confrontational radio but man the rationale of most callers makes no little/no sense. ‘He can run really well, the Eagles should keep 4 QBs, the Eagles should run the wishbone this year, Tebow can contribute on special teams, Tebow can play TE, etc.’ My favorite was because ‘Barkley is going to burn.’
Part of the group of Eagles’ fans who also are wailing on Sanchez for 7 throws on 2 drives in a largely meaningless preseason game.
If he was more of a true dual threat, that would make more sense to me. As it stands now, he’s not enough of a threat with his arm for me to take him seriously trying to throw in the tight windows of the redzone. Frankly, I think he has pick-6 written all over him.
I not disagreeing but it at least that one caller had a cogent and somewhat reasonable response.
Most of the callers are just crazy or can’t even articulate a basic reason why.
i love the complete revisionist history too….” Denver was 0-6 and Tebow came in and willed them to 10 straight wins, the guys just a winner……” Orton started out 1-4 but led the offense to at least 20 points in 4 of the 5 games he started, Tebow came in and they went on a 7-4 run (losing their last 3 games and truly “backing into the playoffs”) where tebow eclipsed 20 points only 3 times in 11 games. they finished 8-8 yada yada yada everyone knows the end
Odd thing is that if it was up to me, I’d take Tebow over Barkley for my third stringer because if i’m down to the 3rd guy it might as well be Tebow, Barkely hasn’t shown much through 3 years for me to think he can win games
Those shall now be called a “Vick 6” due to major stretches of 2011-13.
Here is an option for the red zone; let your #1 overall pick in the draft QB and top money free agent RB make plays.
Nice.
Especially if I wind up with Bradford and/or Murray on my fantasy teams.
Yeah, that’s going to be a tough call. I’ll pick up Bradford at a reasonable spot, but I don’t want to root for the team overusing Murray. I’d love to see a Duck split with the carries.
Just not seeing all the Barkley praise. He made one decent throw, had an under thrown jump ball that Miles Austin made a terrific play on, and other than that it was wounded ducks, INTs and off the mark passes. But, the thing that stands out the most is that he simply doesn’t have an NFL caliber arm.
He looked better than Tebow because he got decent protection, a decent running game and had WRs running the correct routes. But just looking at him alone (not comparing to Tebow) I thought he looked like garbage, albeit less shitty garbage than he looked like last year.
as compared to the Matty B of the last two years i saw big improvement. I think this is his first TD drive as a pro.
The Austin throw was well placed. If Barkley led Austin so that he didn’t have to slow down, the safety would have been able to make a play.
Austin gets most of the credit on that play. A good throw, but a better throw could have been a TD. That said, Barkley played well.
Too harsh. INTs? One deflection that was far from egregious. Didn’t see all the wounded ducks, but arm strength is clearly a weakness for him. “Off the mark” is definitely off the mark, his accuracy was solid. But the best part about his game was staying calm in the pocket and running the offense well. That’s all you can ask from a QB who’s job is to finish a game, maybe at worst start one game. If your 3rd is playing any more than that, you’re screwed in any city in the league.
For the first time I saw him as a possible 2nd string QB. He didn’t flash starting potential, but suddenly he seems like the guy that will fill in Sanchez’s shoes when he inevitably moves on because of his big contract. I’m still addicted to the Reid model of QB depth chart, Starter-veteran backup-developmental young guy. Barkley isn’t that young guy you have hopes for, but I think he can be that guy that knows your system like the back of his hand and can spot for the starter (if he has to do extended time, your season is sunk, that’s true for every team).
I’m no barkley fan, but he played the position well… He had full command of the offense, he was decisive, most importantly he was going thru all his progressions.. I never seen him look like that since he was in the NFL…. Now he didn’t look so good that I would want to see him in a real game, but it was a Giant step forward for him, and he should be looking better now that he is in year 3 of the same system…his ball placement still needs some work, but the kid showed obvious growth since last year, I don’t like him, but I can’t take that away from him… Solid performance, curious to see if he can build on it thruout the rest of the preseason..
Right I mean if he had to start and we were playing a bad team, I would feel pretty good. If he had to finish a game and we were up, same. What more can you expect out of QB3. Now whether at this point Chip thinks he has hit a ceiling and we should instead have no QB3 or a younger guy with more potential (too late draft is passed and that isn’t Tebow), that’s a different question.
Offensively, I saw the same thing I’ve seen for two years now. This offense is insane. The best I’ve ever seen. I’ve never watched this many WRs run completely open on every play. Unfortunately, we’re plagued by mediocre to atrocious QB play. But, watch out…if this team ever gets a QB that can consistently hit wide open WRs, we’ll score 50+ every week. It’s unbelievable that with the garbage QB play we got today they still put up 36 points and that’s with their kicker leaving 4 points on the board.
I believe we have such a person.
Teeeee-booooow!!!!
(Just kidding)
No silly. He means Ed Marnowitz
http://media.philly.com/images/101413_Kelly-Vick-Foles_600.jpg
I checked out the Colts blog and they mention they had a lot of DB’s with slight injuries not playing. (they also said their team played poorly, so not an excuse) My point is who knows how good our O really is.
I’m a homer and think it’s awesome. I want to be like $500 on the Falcons game b/c I think we are going to be all over them like a spider monkey.
I was just happy to see Davis make an in-game defensive adjustment. After Bennett beat them with his legs on a couple plays, Davis started having Smith and Braman spy him.
A couple of things.
David Molk was responsible for most of those bad snaps. and it had a impact. Take that with the WRs running bad routes. Tebow showed he was improved, and I dont think it was that bad. Wasnt anything he couldn’t work on. But He doesnt have the speed or wiggle to extend broken plays. He needs to roll out and hit the safety valve or take the ball up field. They need to get him to think up field. His strongest attribute as a runner is his ability to take hits and truck defenders. He looked like he was trying to be Mike Vick. It wasn’t so much as he is at fault for the play breaking down. But you wanna see the QB throw it away, hit the check down or TE or a WR coming back or just getting out and up field in a hurry. He went backwards and looked like the slow and lumbering version of mIke VIck. One of my biggest gripes with Mike Vick, over his entire career was his unwillingness to settle for the safety valve when plays broke down. Some of those plays ended up spectacular, but the risk is that the balance of those plays ends up being int he favor of the defense. More bust than boom.
Sanchez is alright. I am one that sees he has improved his game. The thing for him is wether it will be enough, ever. The most frustrating plays were the bullet he threw to sproles and the two over throws. Those are throws he needs to make. He is a guy that struggles with certain throws. But he can read defenses, he has a good arm, he has some elusiveness. I think the balance of his skills is positive. The basic thing, is that if he doesnt turn the ball over he is a more than serviceable QB. He just is. He wont set the world on fire, but he can make some big plays and manage. I wanna see him next game go out and hit the RB on a check down and hit those RB wheel routes and driving routes. I wanna see him hit those long post routes. He struggles with those throws. I wanna see him not turn the ball over. I wanna see him show good body language. He has been known to let the game brother him and affect his play.
Eric Rowe. OK this is gonna bother me. ERIC ROWE HAD TWO FORCE FUMBLES. Not one. Look at the tape guys. He had two. I have not heard the major media outlets recognize this. Yes it bothers me. He had two.
I just wanna say I have always believed in Ed Reynolds and Marcus Smith. I was surprised when Ed was put on the practice squad last year, because I liked his potential based on his attributes and tape. But I understand that really helped him. He could be ready to help this team grow.
I like Rowe’s aggressive play on the ball, but hope to see him improve some blown coverages as the preseason progresses.
Tebow is who Tebow is with foolishly taking his eyes away from passing targets as he scrambles around. He’s not a young player anymore, you’re Vick comp was spot on………..and Tebow doesn’t have Vick’s arm or speed.
Happy for Reynolds and Smith as well. I like seeing the improvement. I hope Smith can add some pass rush as well. The pass coverage was great, but I need to see some dead QBs.
Agree. Regarding the fumble the media did say he stood the guy up and that he was working on the ball, however I’ll have to check it out again because it seemed the ball was starting to come loose but wasn’t really loose untill the hit by the S.
Either way good job by Rowe.
The ball was loose, but it didn’t go flying until Maragos hit him. The way it looked to me, it was going to come out no matter what.
Thanks! Appreciate the response. Yea regardless it was a good job by Rowe. I happen to think he has a Charles Tillman like knack for forcing fumbles. I saw his left hand jar the ball loose on the replay. But it just irked me that the announcer and now two articles I have read didn’t even begin to mention that his left hand projected up and jarred the ball loose. but I could be wrong.
I hope someone else wins back up C and Molk doesn’t make the team.
Molk is a joke…. Thankfully Moffit has G and Center experience.. Moffit hasn’t learned the center position yet because he is trying to catchup at Guard so he can’t backüp KElce in September, but I’m hoping after he uses this season to get back to form, he can be a backup for KElce and the RG past this season…. When Moffit gets back to what he was, he is easily a superior talent to Molk and Vandervelde..
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keep Vandervelde for backing up KElce early in the season, and please get Molk out of here
i thought i saw Vandervelde taking some of the snaps in the 2nd/3rd quarter. they were a little rough, but not nearly as bad as the snaps in the 4th. don’t know who was taking each one
What is the hesitation with Gardner and the RG spot? Are they giving Moffitt more of a chance to win the job and hoping it comes off in preseason?
Also, interesting stuff from Mark Saltveit (not sure if this has been discussed), but he wrote an article about Cooper getting cut this year. Is that why we saw him fielding a punt?
Get Cooper out of here. If he’s not going to start over Mathews, Huff, and Ag; he’s not worth his salary by even half.
I thought we couldn’t save anything this year if we cut him. Or not much.
Minor savings. Might as well keep him for depth or ST as long as he doesn’t keep another young talented WR off the roster. The only way I see him getting cut is if another one of the young guys makes a very hard push and may be plucked from our practice squad.
If we’re talking a spec team only role, I’d rather have Maehl back for that at league minimum.
True, but I think Coopers blocking could be good on kick return and punt return. Keep in mind you might as well keep him at that since if you cut him you are still paying him.
He is a good 4th receiver and he could come in handy if there is an injury.
http://overthecap.com/player/riley-cooper/777/
You actually lose $1.4 mil vs. the cap this year, but pick up a full $5.3 mil for next year as opposed to only $2.9 if you wait until Feb/March 2016 to cut him.
We have enough WR for spec teams play.
I think there’s another mill SB that gets moved forward as well, making it a wash. Still seems worth it to me to keep someone like Bailey, Pratt or even Maehl. But Cooper will be on the team, we waste our time plotting otherwise.
The cut numbers on there are very accurate. I’d stand by the $1.4, $5.3, $2.9, etc.
If so, that would work against Cooper. But one of us is misreading the chart. The 1.4 for this year has passed. That came from deducting the 1 mill in unguaranteed salary from the 2.4 in forwarded bonuses. For next year, nothing is guaranteed. So cutting him saves 2.9 mill whenever it’s done: 5.3 minus 2.4 in bonuses. Doesn’t matter when he gets cut from now until next June 1, those bonuses get forwarded. After next June 1 it would be a 800k cap hit plus 1.6 mill deferred.
Unless they elect to take the full hit this year.
I have to agree with this. If he can’t make the offense or special teams exponentially better – he’s not worth it. Take the monetary hit.
That Agholor touchdown was a prime example of why football is just such a crazy sport. Had Sanchez thrown that ball on target, maybe he gets 5-10 yard, maybe he gets the touch down with a crazy move anyway, who knows. But the wild throw had the CB chasing after a pick out of position combining the the circus catch and run for an easy TD. The errant throw actually triggered a TD. See, who even needs a good QB?
I know what you mean, but the DB played it horribly. Agholor should have been lit up on that play. You are right in that if it was thrown correctly the play would have probably gone for 10 or less.
In Sanchez’s defense I think he meant to throw it just a little behind that way the DB would have had a tougher time getting to it. He clearly still put it to far behind and lofted it to much. That is not a pass you loft.
It’s exciting having a WR that can make a DB look silly if the DB makes the smallest misstep while closing on him. Agholor did it twice to a DB.
My theory as of why he snatches circus catches but drops ordinary balls:
From experience when you attack a ball for the difficult catch you are automatically 100% focused on it. With his ability combined with his focus he is able to make the difficult catch.
On an ordinary catch his focus is somewhat split between the catch and what he is going to do once he makes the catch, therefore the occasional drop on an ordinary throw. Throughout his life he has been a great YAC guy so it is understandable as to why he is dealing with this.
I’m not worried about it because clearly it isn’t a hands problem, it’s a focus problem. He is a player that will work hard to minimize his errors so I don’t see this being an ongoing problem for long.
I was initially disappointed when the Birds drafted him, but that was because of a lack of knowledge about him. The more I looked into him the more excited I became. After seeing him in action I am ecstatic. He really has the ability to be better then Maclin.
Extremely excited regarding him and Mathews playing and growing together. I hope Huffs good TC translates to the field because I really like his skill set. Huff and Agholor have the ability to really eat up YAC but just in different styles.
Didn’t Matthews have similar problems last year at camp? Doesn’t worry me much.
He did. Ertz did as well during his rookie TC. It’s a very common and usually quickly fixed issue that many rookies endure.
not like he doesn’t seem like a hard worker
Yeah, I heard Mathews and Agholor have no work ethic. Chip needs to stop collecting bums.
On that play you saw very clearly how decisive he is about getting up field at full speed. So many people would come down with that ball after being turned around and look around for the guy they’re going to juke. Agholor just goes with no hesitation, So I think on easy passes he’s thinking about what he’s going to do after the catch. He’ll get past it I think.
He reminds of a PG in a way.
Yes, the randomness in football is extreme. That’s why a 7-point game is about a tie.
Good point. Sometimes one play is the difference between winning and losing.
The DB picks that, it’s a 14 point swing because there’s nobody between him and the goal line.
So statistically speaking, we actually won that Superbowl against that Patriots?
Not exactly. 🙂 It means any game within about 7 points is essentially even.
Did anyone notice the 50 yard line numbers painted gold to commemorate the 50 year anniversary of the Super Bowl?
We should commemorate it by representing ourselves in the superbowl.
I did notice that, but didn’t know why. Thought maybe it was a pre-season thing or they had some other special event going on.
Will it be like that through the year?
Can’t say I really care what color it’s painted, but if I had a vote I stick with white chalk.
You know Chip Kelly prefers white too.
I think the announcers said they would be gold all year.
Lmfao.
Yes. It will be there all year.
Wow, would not have guessed that the Eagles only had the ball for less than 24 minutes. Wonder what the first half breakdown was.
19min for Folts, 10min for Eagles…
Thanks, didn’t feel that way. Kelly really does make it a meaningless stat. All about number of plays, everything else is just letting the other team rest.
Lol we had 280 yards in 10minutes of ball possession at half time….LOL
How many more with SB?
First quarter belonged to the Eagles in time of possession. Second half included a punt return and 2 drives that started in the red zone ( or close to it). Throw in a handful of Tebow n out’s and I guess I can believe it.
Punt return was in the first half, no? But yeah, Tebow and Robinson running the ball explains the 2nd half. Would have thought the 1st half was more even, but both QB’s did a good job leading the blitzkrieg.
you might be right
Chip is vague about guard — but keeps saying Sanchez is in the running to be the starter. Please stop. Just stop with that. Sanchez is/played as I expected him to play.
Watched ESPN last night, the Eagles highlights were 10 seconds of starters then maybe what seemed like 2 full minutes on Tebow.
Yeah, just stupid. Half the reports only want to talk about the adoration and the rushing TD.
Agholor does look like he is all legs and will lose a kneecap every time he gets hit. I held my breath every time he was tackled.
did Huff play last night, I don’t remember seeing him do anything.
Think he played a couple of snaps with sanchez and then i don’t think he was on the field again. Don’t know if he picked up a knock or something. To be fair we did not see much Cooper either.
Did Tutu play? Didn’t see him..
I did, because I kept seeing his number and thinking Brad Smith, had a deep ball thrown to him and broken up I believe.
He had a play in the end zone but was over thrown (cant remember if it was Tebow or Barkley). Did not see much otherwise.
i think Huff was credited as the intended target for Barkley’s pass that never made it past the DL on the INT… thats the only thing i heard
Thought Tolbin looked decent enough at LT, which is a bonus because while we have 2 probowl tier guys at Tackle the depth after that is no where to be seen (moving Gardner or Barbre out to T is not ideal since you make 2 positions worse and mess up chemistry).
Think the RG position will go on most of the off season – would not surprise me if Moffit got the bulk of the 1st team reps this week and then started next week just as part of the rotation battle.
Moffitt, if he continues to believe that crack is whack, should have the most talent of any guy there. I’d love see him go win the job.
Replay of the Eagles game is on NFLN at 4pm…
I need the coaches 22 to come available – is normally 24 hours or so to wait, as it is so much more informative for secondary and OLine play and those are the things i feel i want to focus in on.
It used to come out on Wednesdays didn’t it?
Not sure does not say on the NFL site. I kinda remember last year it could be a little random at times.
I thought it was Wednesday’s,,, do they even make the preseason all 22 available?
are there cuts this week or not yet? I’m so glad football is back.
Think cut down to 75 man is 01/09 – couple of days after the 3rd game (make no sense since time those guys could actually play is the 4th game..
what’s 01/09?
Think it has to do with soccer or some other European bullshit.
sept 1st?
yeah been working in the UK and am in british date mode – 09/01 is the cut down to 75 day.
If I’m on British date mode it would be for Kate Upton, Karen Gillan, and/or Rosie Huntington.
You know Kate Upton is from Michigan right?
I do now. I don’t know why I thought she was English.
She’s british in the same way Madona is.
Kate Middleton?
Wrong, we r the only language to do it wrong, our september1st would be 09/01/2015 month then day then year which is wrong. Every other language in the world does it the right way in time what’s first seconds then minutes, hours,days,months,years; u see the last three day,month then years cause what comes first the day or the month, exactly so 01/09/2015 is the first day of September in the year 2015 but Americans gotta change shit n fuck it up n make no sense while we are at it because 09/01/2015 month don’t come before the day ,just like on a digital clock its seconds then minutes then hours n u r supposed to continue with the date after hours is the day
Today is the what 18th/08/2015. 18th day of the 8th month of the 2015th year
He put the day first n month second he is probably Latino because they actually do it the right way,Americans don’t think about it. What comes first in time seconds n then minutes then hours n then days ,months n years so they put 01/09/2015 for 1st day ,9th month n 2015 yr but u know Americans have to change everything so we go month/day/year which we r the only language to do it that way so September 1dt is your answer
Here’s some questions.
You want the best 11 players on the field, so does this mean Rowe sees time at nickel or they move Carroll inside and Rowe goes outside?
Is Reynolds for real? Does he get more time with the 2nd team on Saturday?
I don’t know if I want Rowe’s development outside slowed down by practicing and playing nickel. I don’t think that is his natural spot. I’d leave him outside, even if that means some amount of short term pain in the slot CB position.
I thought both picks were throws that a starting QB doesn’t make. Now good for him right, and I’d say sure move to the 2’s and see how he does.
Our starting QB’s made a lot of throws last year that starting Qb’s don’t make. 😉
Rowe in the first month of his rookie year probably won’t be one of our 11 best defenders… I prefer avoiding playing rookie CBs if we can, at least the first month of the season .. Hopefully Jaylen performs well enough at nickel to not have to start a rookie
It’s also one preseason game. I know I have to see how he does against the other 3 teams. But you have to forgive me for being excited about the potential of this kid. I think he’s going to be a stud.
Oh so do I… I think the WORLD of that kids future, but when it comes to cornerback, most of the time that position requires patience.. If Rowe sat all year, I wouldn’t at all view that as a negative.. CB and Outside Linebacker are two of the toughest positions for rookies to play..and we are talking about a rookie who only played CB for 1 year…
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Nolan Carroll CAN PLAY.. This city will quickly realize Nolan Carroll is no scrub.. He is going to start all year as long as he stays healthy..
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That means Rowe has to win the nickel to play… A kid who only played CB 1 year in college, who never played nickel before is going to learn to play the slot at an NFL level in 1 months time? Color me skeptical.,
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Whether Rowe wins rookie of the year or only plays ST this year, doesn’t change the fact that we got a serious young Baller on our hands… The Future tandem of Rowe/Maxwell with Nolan moving back to the slot is going to be Bad Ass!!!
Still need to see Reynolds covering the slot.
I don’t see Reynolds being able to do that – he is a deep safety pretty much exclusively. He does not have the hips or speed to cover any decent slots.
However (as Jenkins said) you have other options in Nickle than bringing on a slot CB with the Eagles roster. If you bring Reynolds on as the 5th DB he can play the deep centre field and depending on formation either Jenkins or Thurmond can drop in to cover the slot.
Think Reynolds needs to play well on special teams and if he does he could make the team as no one else on the roster is a true deep field free safety type.
Right, he would limit what they would like to do with mirror safeties. Fine for a reserve who stands out in ST, but aren’t what they are looking for in a developmental guy.
Unless he takes up salsa dancing. 😉
They would use him in a role similar to how they used Allen. Let the other S be the guy who rolls down on the slot 85% of the time and let him play centerfield.
Agreed. But I don’t think that’s what the team wants ideally, so if he doesn’t show slot potential he caps his ceiling to backup. Be nice if we could develop a 3rd safety who could come in and not require a change in alignment or playcalling. Maybe Couplin could do that, maybe it doesn’t get taken care of until next year.
Couplins 6’2, 215lbs. I don’t see that size or skill set playing well in the slot.
The skill set we want from our S isn’t easy to find. It’s likely going to be a converted corner.
Right now we just need playable depth. Prosinski and Maragos are great ST guys, but you really don’t want them making extended appearances for the D. As long as one of Jenkins or Thurmond stay healthy you can tweak things and revert to the centerfielder and the cover guy combo.
Answer to question 1: Billy Davis isn’t good at putting the best 11 on the field, so I’m not sure if he’ll know how to deploy Rowe and Carroll in a way that maximizes the talents of both guys. I’d be willing to be we see way more of Biggers than anybody things.
Answer to question 2: Reynolds is “for real” as depth player and spec teamer. I just don’t know if that is “for real” enough to supplant Couplin and/or Pros for a possible 5th roster spot. But I’d be willing to bet if they try to P-squad him a team with shitty safety play (and shitty fans, shitty players, a shitty coach, a shitty quarterback) like the Giants add Reynolds to their 53.
someone on the Colts blog said so what we couldn’t run when the Eagles stacked the box. I don’t think we were, and we had no starting ILB’s playing. Teams that aren’t really good at running are going to have a really hard time running. Which ideally then helps our DL get pressure and our DB’s etc.
I feel like the plan, from the defense to the physical WR’s to the downhill RB’s to Kiko (his own category) is starting to come together.
Thing is when they play 3 WR’s we stay in base and drop a Safety to play slot corner. So it looks like 8 men in the box but it really isn’t. We just keep our base defence in on 1st/2nd down.
Colts fans believe we have a gimmicky offense and thought they ran the ball well yesterday.
Well considering last year 2.2 yards per carry is probably a bit better! I mean they had Trent Richardson going 0, -1, 0, 1, 0 yards most carries last season.
you made me think of Bruce Arians. Hate that guy.
I think everyone not in AZ hates that guy.
I’m in AZ and I despise him. But I am a huge Eagles fan, so there’s that.
He is a good coach though, he is that grizzled old guard guy who can still get the job done via experience and tried and tested methods.
I don’t dispute he’s a good coach, but I hate adults that whine.
keep your facts out of here. Brady is great and I hate him too.
I’m a fan due to his work at Temple.
Lol stacked box? Our DL, mainly Logan and BG were dominating their run game.. Had nothing to do with our linebackers lol we been shutting down run games since the beginning of October of the 2013 season… Soon our :DL will be recognized as one of the best in the game..
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Bennie Logan soon will be considered one of the best NTs in the game
Yeah, we stacked it with 4 guys. But hey, I guess having 2 backers up there can look like stacking… to a Colts fan. 😉
They just need to learn that what they saw was what one of the best run defenses in the league going against one of the worst run games in the league. They got dominated on the ground by the players that mattered.
The front 3 were dominating in the run game. Don’t think 5/6 in the box had anything to do with it.
The Colts O-line blows. Badly. They can’t run because they can’t block.
The impression I get is that roster spots will be won and lost in the preseason games,., I don’t think you can be a great practice player, stink it up in the preseason games and make this roster..
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One of the negatives about our style of practice is we don’t let guys go full force at each other so it’s hard to award roster spots based off of practices at Novacare.. For the most part, seems to me that practice is simply for getting ayers ready for the “Final exam” aka the preseason games… For the most part I assume the players who play the best in the preseason will make the roster… If true that’s awesome for fans.. We aren’t privy to every practice but we do get to see every preseason game.. If we are basing our decisions off preseason games that we get to watch, we should have an idea what this roster will look like after the 3rd game… And if that’s the case, Ed Reynolds and Kenjon Barner are off to a good start
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As for the RG spot, we will get an idea of what’s going on come Saturday night.. Chip claims that Garnder started at RG yesterday only because the last few practices before the game Gardner practices with
The ones… I always preach that Tobin was going to be no match for Gardner at RG.. To me Tobin seems like one of the lineman that can’t play both sides.. He looks much better at LG then RG… So I think the RG spot comes down to Moffit or Gardner.. According to chip, they will all rotate and get a chance so we should see Moffitt or Tobin start at RG against the Ravens… If we end up starting Gardner against the Ravens, it means they are done with the competition and more concerned with Gardner building chemistry with Lane…
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Doubt Moffit can shake off enough rust this month to overthrow Gardner, but by October, Moffit should be in shape and ready to play if called upon.
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Even if Moffit doesn’t play at all today, hopefully he improves and gets back to his old self so that he can compete again for a starting role next year while also providing depth..Moffit should ape be able to backup Kelce for us next year.. So even if Moffit doesn’t beat Gardner now, he could come in handy in the future…
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Gardner actually played pretty well at RG last year compared to the mess we were seeing at other OL spots.. Yesterday he executed a solid combo block in the run game and the OL did great job picking up the Colts blitz… No reason we shouldn’t have one of the better OL’s again…
Some places in the NFL, good players feel that playing special teams is beneath them… What I love about what chip has done is he has completely weaponized our team in all phases of special teams.. When you have such a dominant special teams like this that scores every week like its automatic, not only do players not feel playing ST is beneath them, but we probably have like 30 players fighting because they want to play on a ST unit like this..
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Think about how much fun it must have been to play ST last year, they were scoring and dominating almost every week, I’m sure veterans are competing against each other because they want to play Teams.
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It must be a lot of fun to play on this special teams group… Probably not that fun for opposing ST coaches, you know they are telling their players that if they don’t be careful, they will get embarrassed against the Eagles ST unit..
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I never seen a ST like this before.. I have seen great return men, great kickers, but I don’t know that I ever seen a ST so damn good in every single Phase… What a HUGE advantage for us.. not Only do they practically score every week, but we consistently get big advantages in the field position game… Our Teams should help out Bradfoed in good positions, but If we can find a suitable replacement for Boykin downing punts, it would be HUGE to get opponents backed up against our ELITE Front 7
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What a massive advantage for us…
Well said.
Great point about Boykin. That part of his game will be missed.
Someone asked for the All-22 from the game. While I didn’t find one, Greg Cossell did an All-22 of a few plays.
http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/videos/videos/All-22-Review-Colts-Vs-Eagles/09fb65eb-7f5d-4597-8140-32da3a73817d
really liked the play he reviewed with BG dropping into coverage
It only came against the 3rd team player but I thought “The Hulk” Mihalik flashed and was more active them any of our Previous 6’9 DEs we took fliers on in the past like Villanueva and Gaethers
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Anyone notice anything positive out of Denzel Rice, Randall or Jordan Hicks
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We have too many ILBs, they won’t all make the roster and teams are probably waiting to poach a ILB that we cut… Hopefully we can trade one to a team for one of the young players they were going to eventually cut…
Kiko, Kendricks, Meco, Brad Jonss, Hicks…. Acho played a lot yesterday and was making plays.. Hopefully we can get anything for having to lose him..
Hicks didn’t make any plays, but I noticed him on the field, I like his athleticism. He moves well.
Yeah, he moved really well right off of some garbage 5th string RB on the bad whiff.
But I know that was only one play, it just sucked badly.
Hope to see him stand out on Special teams this year with all that athleticism
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The best thing Reynolds did was also make that nice ST tackle on kickoff coverage…it’s one thing to look good as a backup safety… But when you stand out at Safety, AND Special Teams, you definitely will get Chips attention.. Happy for the kid who didn’t even get an offseason with us last year becaus of that dumb graduation rule
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Chip also had Marcus Smith on the field with the Special team… They really gave that kid a work out playing him all day in 102 degree heat… He slowed down in the second half, but it was a good first step in the right direction from Marcus… You are seeing Him learn from Mistakes, for example he talked about the play he covered the TE yesterday and how he always thinks about the play where he lost Gore in coverage last year, and he learned to never leave your man when the QB starts struggling….mistakes last year are OK for a Rookie, especially when they serve as learning lessons that he uses to become a better player..
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Can we keep Couplin AND Reynolds or is it one or the other?
Depends how you view Pros and/or keeping 4 vs. 5 vs. 6 guys at safety.
If Couplin doesn’t get a ton of reps during preseason games you can probably get him to the PS, and then pay him rookie minimum to keep him from signing elsewhere (team did this for Ced a few years back)
Thanks. I don’t want to lose either at this point.
Probably 1 or the other… Prosinski and Maragos are both Locks to make this roster for being elite ST players..thurmond and Jenkins are also Locks, which means 4 safety spots are already spoken for, probably can only keep a 5th safety, Couplin vs. reynolds, Vs. wolff
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I expect 10 DBs total, Prob 5’aafeties and 5 corners… If a player looked much better then the rest, It’s possible to keep 4 safeties and 6 corners, or vice versa, but it will probably be 5 and 5..
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Safety:
1) Jenkins
2) Thurmond
3) Maragos
4) Prosinski
5) ??? Couplin vs, Reynolds vs, Wolff
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CB I assume is something like:
1) Maxwell
2) Nolan
3) ROWE
4) Jaylen Watkins
5) ??? EJ Biggers vs, Denzel Rice..
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To keep BOTH Couplin and Reynolds, both would have to be significantly
better then EJ Biggers and Denzel Rice, which is probably unlikely..
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If they had to choose the roster today, I assume Reynolds would be the 5th safety(Couplin didmt play), and EJ Biggers (played well yesterday and you can probably get Denzel Rice on our Practoce squad)
Had a very nice block on the punt return TD.
I don’t really see any of our guys being trade worthy unless we’re talking a conditional 7th rounder if the guy makes that team’s roster.
And Mihalik should be destined for the practice squad while I’d like Hart to force us to cut Bair.
I’m most comfortable with a 53 man roster that only has 6 DL.
I’m pulling for Mihalik too.
Is he one of the guys who got manhandled by the Colts’ 3rd string offensive line?
I don’t remember that specifically
He is competing for a Practice squad role…. Chip keeps taking Fliers oh these 6’9 DEs, sooner or later one has to pan out
No… I mean those crappy trades where we trade a player we were going to cut for a young player that another team was going to cut… If you already know one of your players can’t make the roster, trade him if you can for another long shot player to get a closer look at…. Most of the time it will result in trading for a kid you will end up cutting….
Logan had 3 tackles on 9 plays. That will work.
His functional strength has improved so much from that playoff debacle vs. the Saints. I’m very impressed with Logan’s growth as a player. He’s really dedicated himself to becoming a solid NT.
Our front 3 is legit and probably one of the top 5 in the league. If Ced has improved too, that line will dominate most games.
Ced is very good against the run, he just needs to get more consistent at being disruptive on pass plays, he basically takes up a block, doesn’t give an inch, and tackles anything that tries to run by him. He’s essentially the opposite of Vinny Curry, who has gotten better against the run, but those 2 guys just need to spend a summer together tutoring each other. If either one of them completed their game, we’d probably be the top DL in the league
Curry will replace him in Obvius pass rush situations, but “Swamp” is a beast againsg the run… Dude is a Technician… Combine “Swamp’s” run defense, and “V-Dots” pass rush and they form like Voltron into 1 badass 3-4 DE….
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What’s so Dominant about our run DL is they will 2 gap and keep OL off our ILBs, but then they often shed the two gap and make the tackle themselves…
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B-Loge” is going to be recognized as a top 5 NT by the end of this season… Dude is a Monster..
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Then we can switch it up and throw out all white “snowflake” package at teams, Hart, Beau, Bair… This DL is Nasty, and they are all puppies that are still growing with the exception of old man “Papa Bair”
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I can’t believe we are going to have Kiko and Mykal behind this monster DL…. Our Defense should be scary this year!
Hah, the snowflake package, didn’t even notice that. I really like Beau, the dude can start in this league, Bennie is just a beast who will never be unseated.
Every once in a while, Logan will move to DE and Beau comes in at NT and we see them on the field together.. They did it every once in a while last year. Probably see it a little more this year against teams trying to run..
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For most of the year last year, Logan led NTs in tackles, which is scary considering it was only his 2nd season…. This year we should see a whole other level of Beastlyness out of Bennie..
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Anyone know what They call Thornton “Swamp”???
oof, His wikipedia page needs some work.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedric_Thornton
When we find out we’re updating that ish. Someone who’s started in the NFL for 3 years deserves better.
Hometown is in the Mississippi Delta. Looks rather swampy via google images.
Good catch, wikipedia offered Arkansas as a birthplace and where he went to school. Didn’t know of his association with Mississippi.
Star City Arkansas is his hometown. Looks like it’s right near the eastern border of the state (Mississippi).
Ced’s one year deal and Vinny’s rookie deal are both up at the end of the year. If Vinny can show more flashes of skill vs. the run this year, his next contract may have to justify starting him at DE and letting Ced walk.
Colts blogs really seem to like that McAfee keep out punting his coverage. Watching a dude boot a ball as far as he can is impressive to watch, but why would you ever want to give a team a chance to return the ball?
Sproles told Barner to watch the punter on the other team rather than their own. Told him that he consistently out punts his coverage and he would get a shot at a return. It seems Sproles is taking Barner under his wing and its working.
Sure, but the fact that the gunners were 10-15 yards away when Barner made the catch is the only reason he even had a chance to do it. I don’t think he made any particularly impressive moves on the TD return. The one later in the game when he was going up the middle seemed far more impressive, and you could tell by his reaction after being tripped up that he thought he had a chance.
totally agree, it wasnt the prettiest of returns but nobody cares about that ever. They see a return TD and thats that. He kind of spun off and broke that first tackle and was off and running. That doesnt happen that way very often vs those pretty ones where they just burn through the coverage with speed going opposite direction.
it was an ugly return that he got lucky on, coverage was great
how bout those special teams though, think they are gonna be a beast again this year. I love it, dont punt to the eagles or be ready to give up yardage for a fair catch. I have to stand up and watch now for every punt
Anyone know if chip is having a press Confrence today or not?
Yeah, cause he loves those. 😉
No practice today, so doubt it.
This game was not even close. Both lines looked good. D-backs were OK. Receivers didn’t have much to work with but had some great opportunities and scored on a few.
Here’s a quote for you. For some strange reason, this quote reminds of the Navy Seals ethos. Strange huh. 🙂
We’ll see who calls themselves a 1, 2 or 3 once Mr. Matthews and his agent get into long term contract talks at the conclusion of 2016.
Everybody is all family and a corps until it becomes time to get paid.
Tom Brady disagrees..
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jordan Mathews, the kid crazy enough to say he was happy Marcus Smith went in round 1 because his family needed the money more then him?
I’d be happy to be a 2nd rounder as well; they can’t fuck with my money by using that bullshitty team option for year 5.
You mean that mutually agreed to in the CBA team option?
agreed by guys half of whom aren’t in the league anymore, the other half weren’t in the league when the deal was made, at least the revenue keeps shooting up players won’t complain as long as goodell keeps that cap moving the right way
Especially with the impending additions of LA and London to the TV deal market.s
CBA is between NFLPA and NFL owners. NFLPA is mostly concerned with protecting their veterans. Rookies got boned by the new CBA because no one represents them.
That being said I like what they did. Gets the rookies signed and doesn’t over-pay anyone before they play a snap.
No shit Sherlock. Doesn’t mean the players exposed to it have to like it.
loved that story about the kid from Detroit giving his family a 60k a yr budget. That was great
So true, only guy on the team I know of who is the exception to that rule is Jason Kelce. He could have made a stink for a big contract because of the recognition he was starting to get on the field aside from his vital role as a leader off the field. But he took a pretty small deal. I can see why he had so little sympathy for Mathis.
I agree Kelce didn’t make a stink, but his deal is rather large for a guy of his rank / stature in the league.
I mean a 7 year deal with only 13 million guaranteed. Now 2017 18 19 and 20 the money spikes, but him playing for under 3 million for each of his past 3 years is pretty team friendly.
I agree there.
I remember him talking about how it was more money then he would ever need, he only wears sweatpants, doesn’t have a bunch of cars
New thread up.
Wow.. Sad situatuon.. I been hard on Wolff for not staying on the field but it’s sounding like its not a laughing matter. kids career might be over. Talks about suffering a setback and how his knee is getting worse and worse and couldn’t even walk after Practice…. What a shame for the young man, and for the Eagle who got this high Charecter, highly athletic safety in round 5, clean bill of health, no leg injury history.,. And going into his 3rd season, it’s sounding like his career might be over, which i don’t wish on any young man..
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Couplin has been out with an Apendectomy but will resume PRactive tomorrow and should play in his first game Saturday…Ed Reynolds balled out yesterday so Couplin will need to bring it on Defense and ST On Saturday night… If Reynolds plays well again, and Couplin struggles, Reynolds will have a nice lead that won’t be easy for Couplin to catch… reynolds needs to keep the pressure on Couplin and have another quality performance on both defense and ST…. Hopefully, which ever of the two DOESNT make our roster ends up landing on our PRactive squad
It is sad. Talented kid whose career might be over before it started. At least people will lay off calling him soft when it comes out it’s a real medical condition.
Google
The information talked about inside the write-up are a few of the top out there.