Curry the LB
Posted: September 10th, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 326 Comments »Chip Kelly mentioned at a recent press conference that Vinny Curry is now a full-time OLB. Curry goes to LB meetings. That is where he’s practicing. Kelly explained that Curry will still play some DL, just as Trent Cole did, but will focus on LB.
This could be a really good move for Curry. I think he is best when attacking. Eagles DL have to 2-gap in the base defense. That limits their ability to be aggressive. LBs can do more attacking.
When the Eagles go to Nickel and Dime looks (4-2-5, 3-3-5, 4-1-6), Curry will shift to the DL. Those are 1-gap attacking units. Curry can play DE and DT.
This move happened for a couple of reasons. First, Marcus Smith didn’t have the kind of summer the team hoped for. After Travis Long went down, the Eagles needed Smith to show that he deserved to be on the field, as a LB and STer. Smith got hurt before he could show anything.
I think the move also reflects the fact the coaches are happy with the backup DL. Taylor Hart had a terrific summer and showed that he needs to be on the field. Beau Allen had some great moments in the preseason finale. The team likes him. Brandon Bair isn’t everyone’s favorite since he’s a marginal player and an older guy, but the coaches like him.
The Eagles have a very good starting D-line. They like their backup D-line quite a bit. That allows Curry to spend more time at LB, where the team lacks ideal depth.
* * * * *
The Eagles have signed reserve OL Dennis Kelly to a 1-year extension through 2016, per league source. $760k base, $30k workout bonus.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) September 9, 2015
Huh.
Kelly said extending contracts of Gardner, OL Dennis Kelly was product of not wanting too many OL to be free agents in near future.
— Bob Grotz (@BobGrotz) September 9, 2015
Okay, that makes sense. The Eagles can say they have a good amount of players coming back next year. If they want them. They can let Kelly go if they find someone better. The team gave him a bit of money, but they control his future. That’s only mild risk and a smart use of resources.
* * * * *
Chip Kelly mentioned in today’s PC that the team will dress all 6 WRs. He made it sound like that is the plan for the season.
This makes sense if Kelly does want to use his skill players in waves. That means rotating RBs and using all the WRs. Seyi Ajirotutu is more of a STs specialist (like Brad Smith), but can help on offense in a limited role.
* * * * *
Let’s talk about Chip and players.
Brandon Boykin wrote an excellent piece on his time in Philly and subsequent departure. I thought he was very fair with everything he said.
I went upstairs and saw Chip. We went into his office and he closed the door.
“What did you trade me for?” I said. It was less of a “why” question and more about what they got in return, but I guess I wanted to know both.
He said the Steelers had been trying to get me for a while, but he kept turning down their trade offers. That day, as I was taking the field for conditioning tests, the Steelers called again, this time, offering a conditional fifth-round pick for me, and he couldn’t pass it up. He told me he thought it was a great opportunity for me. I wanted a bigger role, and I’d have that chance in Pittsburgh.
There was a lot I wanted to say, but I didn’t say it. It’s nothing personal against Chip, it’s just that it hurts when anybody tells you they don’t want you.
“Alright,” I said before a long pause. “… Cool.”
He thanked me for everything I’d done for the team and we shook hands — a masculine, business-like handshake. We did not hug.
And that was it. I left his office, stopped to say goodbye to Dave Fipp — probably one of my favorite coaches in the league — and I was out, just like that.
And
You may have heard about the comments I made on my way out of Philly — comments that got taken a bit out of context. I have no ill will towards Chip, and definitely none towards the Eagles. Chip’s job is to build the best football team he can build — a team with players that fit his system and his vision to be competitive on the field — and I wasn’t a part of that vision. There’s not much more to it than that. That’s the NFL.
And the Eagles? I could never hold any ill will towards that organization. They will always be that team that took a chance on me and gave me an opportunity to prove myself. For that, I’m forever grateful.
That’s fair from Boykin. And Chip, while not warm and embracing, was at least cordial.
There were some interesting comments about Kelly in a KC article on Jeremy Maclin going to the Chiefs.
So when free-agency Saturday arrived in March, Maclin was intrigued by the prospect of an offer from the Chiefs and Reid but was inclined to stay with the Eagles as he went on a golf trip with Parres and family in Palm Springs.
Even when the Chiefs came at Maclin with a five-year offer worth an average of $11 million a year, Parres said, Maclin primarily wanted to know what the Eagles were thinking.
As Reid, quarterbacks Alex Smith and Chase Daniel and receivers coach David Culley were calling Maclin that day, “making him feel like he’s the greatest thing on Earth,” Parres said, Maclin could “barely get (Eagles coach and de facto general manager) Chip Kelly to answer the phone.”
“He called Chip Kelly five times Saturday: ‘Chip, can you just show me anything?’ ” Parres recalled.
(At a news conference after Maclin left, Kelly said he had had a number of discussions with Maclin and said that “we couldn’t go as high as Kansas City.”).
That Sunday, while Maclin was on the golf course, the Eagles called and countered by shifting money from year three of their offer to year two — which contrary to Kelly and published reports made it close enough to the same deal Maclin was offered with the Chiefs that Maclin was ready to stay.
As they stood on the 16th tee, Maclin’s initial thought was just that.
Then Reid called again.
And 10 minutes later Maclin was Kansas City-bound.
“It wasn’t the money; it was that 10 minutes,” Parres said. “Jeremy said, ‘(The Chiefs) just wanted me more, and I think that’s where I should be.’ ”
As Parres recounted the story, he remembered his own intense level of frustration both with the Eagles and how Maclin was widely portrayed as “leaving for the big money in Kansas City.”
If he’d had the microphone at the time, Parres said, laughing, he likely would have spouted about Kelly in defense of Maclin.
“I don’t know if I could have kept my mouth shut,” Parres said, smiling. “I tell you what, you talk about Jeremy’s maturity …”
Maclin, in fact, showed Parres the way by keeping it friendly with the Eagles, to whom he remains grateful overall, and tactful in how he spoke of the situation publicly.
I have a few issues with this story.
First, who exactly has been critical of Maclin leaving for big money? The guy got a terrific offer from KC and he took it. Good for him.
I do not buy the fact that the offers were essentially the same. Maclin would really leave a system that just helped him have his best season to go to a team where a WR hasn’t caught a TD since Dec. 8 2013? I find it hard to believe Maclin would want to move from the city where he has lived for 6 years and thrived professionally to make the same money.
There is the Reid factor. By going to KC, Maclin would be reunited with his former coach, Andy Reid. And one big difference between Reid and Kelly is that Reid creates great relationships with his players. He forms a bond that lasts for years.
I’m sure having Reid beg him to come to KC had an effect on Maclin. I just happen to think he also went there for better money.
Could Chip have helped matters by trying to sell Maclin on staying? Sure. Kelly hasn’t shown himself to be that type of guy so far. Not all coaches do that. Kelly showed his desire for Maclin to stay by making the offer as good as he could. At that point, it was up to Maclin to decide between taking the better offer or staying put.
That article tries to make Kelly look bad. I just don’t see it that way. One of the problems late in the Reid Era is that he was too soft on players. Things were too comfortable. That hasn’t been an issue under Kelly. Kelly gets long with his players, but he is not their buddy. He is not their father figure. Kelly is their coach. He keeps that simple and it has worked well so far.
Reid does things his way. It was great for him for a decade in Philly. Things didn’t get ugly until the end. Reid has had good success in KC so far. Each coach has to do things his way.
I like Maclin and wish him well. I do wonder if he’ll regret leaving. And I also wonder if that turned out to be a good thing for the Eagles, allowing them to spend free agent money on other guys. It will be interesting to track this situation during the year.
_
I really hate the Patriots. First.
I second that. They make it look so easy.
I don’t know. If for some god awful reason one of our divisional foes got to the big dance, I can’t root for them. So Patriots for me are #4.
Oh sheer loathing and vitriol are reserved for that Dallas team. But I still hate these New England asterisk-hogging bastahds.
https://twitter.com/JoeGiglioSports/status/642156332687204352
That was ridiculous. Then they missed the field goal.
My favorite Steelers drive of the night was the first one. They were cutting through NE like a knife through butter, and then for reasons lost to historians they decided to try a wide receiver pass, lost 8 yards, then got a penalty, chickenshitted the next couple of calls and missed the field goal.
Also when they got the false start on the 1, went back to the 6, then tried a draw on 3rd and 6.
Just an awful performance all around for us Patriot haters.
Toss in the fact that they had multiple plays where they just forgot to put someone on Gronk and it was just awful.
My thoughts exactly. Who, why that receiver option?
It was a decent play call, but the timing of it was suspect. They had set it up by calling a screen that direction with the same formation and line movement, setting this one up for a tendency breaker. If it had worked, people would be saying how genius is was.
I thought Pittsburgh really screwed the pooch with that call. Pats were not stopping the Steelers’ basic stuff, so why go to the gadget play? Probably a red zone twist they had in the game plan, but still. One other point: I was shocked by the lack of organization Steelers showed on defense. Leaving Gronk(!) uncovered is unforgivable. Ten men on the field is inexplicable. Very un-Steelers-like.
Like I said, the strategy behind the design of the play was solid. The timing of it was suspect.
Defensively, you’re absolutely correct. They left Gronk uncovered at least 5 times that I saw, and I’m a total amateur.
steelers coaching staff is just stupid. Boykin is the best possible CB to cover edelman
You’d think. The situation with BB’s career is getting a little complicated and hard to explain / understand.
I don’t really disagree that the Maclin story was questionable, but there are two factors:
* He left the city he lived in for 6 years but went back to the region he came from.
* He also had that great season in a contract year. Can’t rule out the part that played in his effort.
* He’s leaving a system that made him a top WR by the numbers, but the idea of being the sole star receiver for a pro team in his old stamping grounds could be appealing. The star for the Eagles offense *is* the system.
Good points. Math teacher?
No, I’m just a natural genus.
So biology teacher then…
Maclin is turning into a me guy. JereME MEclin. Reid caters to those types of players Examples being MEsean Jackson and MEsean MEcoy.
After a few games Eagles fans will forget about those guys and we can get back to the playoffs and maybe win one or 2 and get a superbowl run going.
I don’t think they are factors at all. Region? I can maybe buy home town, but region? No.
….
Great season in a contract year. The same offense that gave DJ his great season as the Eagles number 1? I’m not ruling out his effort or ability, but it’s more the system — as proven by DJ the year before.
….
I’m not sure I even understand the last point. Are you calling him a diva? So a system made him a top wr, but the system made him that so he wants to leave? wow.
….
I think it’s plain and simple and it’s stated above — Maclin felt like the Eagles didn’t cuddle him enough. His feelings were hurt. Same reason why Johnny Damon left the Red Sox and Petite left the Yankees. Neither of their teams would call them back so they left. I only question the maturity factor. Such a huge decision for a person, to be decided within 2 days, and based it on that Reid called him more. Doesn’t matter though, he’s a professional and will be fine.
Agree. Reid set the precedent for more of a cuddled father type coaching method. I think it’s clear that some of the players were unable to fully accept more of a “business” minded coach which is Kelly. They were simply unable to fully make that transition of accepting different coaching styles.
I have a great idea.
Eagles meet the Patriots in what people may think is a superbowl matchup. The Eagles are 11-0 and the Patriots are 11-0. The game gets flexed to SNF and we all meet here to see our Eagles be one of a handful of teams to beat NE in NE.
Finish that script and then we’ll talk.
We finish 19-0 and own the greatest season in NFL history by beating the Colts in the Superbowl. Lots of intrigue with Cole and Herremann’s as ex-Eagles on the other side. Cole is still starting, but Herremann’s comes in off the bench when the starting G gets hurt.
It seems like a shootout in the 1st quarter, but when the Eagles superior conditioning takes over they go on to win SB50 by a score of 56-23.
Trying to avoid giving up a 4th, they are going to lose a lot of games.
The only thing i can think of is he hasn’t quite got their system down yet.
It seems the other corners haven’t either.
Possibly. But trading for him, and then not using him at all when they’re getting tourched right and left is just odd. Reminds me of Billy Davis and his stubbornness in 2014.
Do you think Belichek’s preference for left footed punters is because the guy going for the block is used to aiming for the other leg?
Ball has a different spin on it. Tougher to catch.
Faurie-Raymond hypothesis. It suggests that because most people are used to interacting with right-handers, a leftie has an advantage simply because the opponent is unfamiliar with them. The science behind it isn’t exactly conclusive, though.
http://www.scq.ubc.ca/the-fighting-hypothesis-stability-of-polymorphism-in-human-handedness/
as a left handed baseball player, it would mess with me seeing a left handed pitcher because I could never get the hang of pitching to myself lol.
That Patriot D just doesnt look the same. I think they are missing Wilfork. Fletcher doesnt help either.
True, but at the same time the Steelers offense is good.
They are missing Bryant, Pouncey and Bell but yeh.
Their OL is pretty meh
No push for Pats DL/rushers.
That looked familiar.
Lol was that Jarvis Jones trying to cover Gronk? God that guy is pretty much a bust.
I’m starting to see why Boykin isn’t playing, he might ruin Steelers’ game-plan of leaving receivers uncovered
For who? For what?
Big Ben has made some bad throws tonight
Not even giving his WRs a chance with some of these throws
Play calling has been horrendous too
This too. That OC is disappointing.
Brady in full FU mode tonight. No other athlete has had this kind of competitive streak against maybe Jordan or Woods both of who had serious issues off of it.
Steelers OL messing with my fantasy points
Antonio Brown made up for Scobee missing 2 FGs for me lol
sadly i played gronk in like every league this week.
yeah i was laughing cause I wasn’t playing him in any league lol, dodged that bullet!
Damn, we don’t even get one week of “Brady can’t throw with a fully inflated ball”
They already were accused of screwing up the Steelers headsets.
Lots of people on the Steelers blogs asking where Boykin was… I think we’re going to get that 4th. No way he sits for much longer after tonight.
That sounds familiar…
They were brutal from 1st to last snap. You’d think he would have gotten in some work in the 4th quarter at least.
I myself was waiting for him to come in.
The last time the Eagles had a rookie of the year was Keith Jackson in1988, yet there are three on the roster now (Bradford, Alonso, Ryans)
I was saying they should move Curry to OLB when they made the switch to the 3-4. I am happy that Bill Davis has caught up to me.
Everything else looks in order Bill. Stay the course.
And here’s why he wasn’t:
http://www.mockdraftable.com/player/66/
Wow. Had no idea that the majority of his measurable and combine work was so bad. I figured with the explosion off the line and pass rushing ability the numbers would be higher. Interesting. Could it be said that in a measurable sense he is the most non Chip Kelly type of player on this roster?
He has elite 3 cone and I would say graham is the least Kelly type player on the roster
He’s got good height and length. He’s just a subpar athlete in non agility categories.
I would say Graham is still probably the least measurable player on this roster. He’s a inch shorter and has an inch shorter arms than Curry. Graham clocked a 4.72 40 but that was a microfracture ago. I don’t think he’s still got the same level of athleticism but is able to perform everything adequately.
Agree. If I remember correctly before BG got hurt his rookie year he utilized a little bit more speed with his power moves. After he got hurt he turned into more of a pure power move player. He is very effective with the bull rush. I think it has taken him a few years to fully recover from the injury. He is now looking more agile and fluid in space then I can ever remember. That being said I’m sure not all of it is due to recovery but also practicing playing in space which equates to being more comfortable and decisive in doing so.
I’m not seeing your logic here. Those are values vs. DEs. It shows he is much more agile on the move than most DEs (shuttle, cone drill) while lacking the physical measurables of other DEs.
Seem like a candidate for OLB in in a 3-4.
Some of that is noise because it’s hard to categorize every player cleanly. OLB category consist of mainly 43 OLBs because he’s like the worlds biggest OLB according to them.
The point is other than his agility he’s a average or below athlete even in comparison to other larger players.
gronk looked 6 inches taller than their DBs / LBs, made the game too easy. At least A. Brown got that garbage time TD for fantasy.
Looked like the DC had zero idea on how to guard Gronk. There was times where he wasnt even covered by anybody
which is funny b/c the Steelers players were in the papers saying how they had plans for Gronk, and there are things you can do.
Looked like the first preseason game for the Steelers.
Steelers beat themselves just as much as the Patriots beat them.
24/7 did their players poll about who’s going to have a breakout season. The names that routinely came up?
Sam Bradford, Jordan Matthews, Bennie Logan, Zach Ertz, and Lane Johnson.
While the defense will be good, I think the makings of this offense is going to be great.
Loved the Bradford move – but it’s the same thing – “stay healthy my friends”. O is going to be very exciting. I like Ertz, I’m not as high on him as most.
I didn’t at first, but I love it now. As with any team, if the starting QB goes down, they probably aren’t going to do as well.
I’m really high on Ertz. I know the work he put in the offseason and I’m waiting to see it pay off.
What are your reservations in regard to Ertz?
Blocking I guess. I expected him to have a better season last year.I like Celek but also expected Ertz to over take him by now.
I’m not sure I’ve seen a game that was so close in score but having one team never really being in the game. Steelers were terrible on defense. Was their kicker let go yet? What a great game for DW. Good for him. We won’t hear his name again when the starter returns. DHB – ouch. Wheaton – that ball went right through his hands. Seemed like preseason game for the Steelers.
I read the Steelers scored on the last play of the game, so I don’t think the score was close for most of it. The score wasn’t close when I was watching.
Woof, the Steelers really shit the bed last night. They couldn’t even get lined up on defense. Amazing how far that D has fallen over the last few years.
On the plus side Antonio Brown with the garbage TD so, go go fantasy.
Lol, yup i started cheering when he scored that TD..i have antonio on one team and big ben on the other
I needed that garbage time TD. The guy I’m playing against has Brady and Demarco..yeaa not going to be fun.
Chris Brown once again with a masters class on X’s and O’s.
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/2015-nfl-college-football-power-running-counter-running/
I’m tired of these players bitching and crying over the most ridiculuos things.. KC wanted you more? grow up! Tell me you took more money, but I don’t want to hear about how chip didn’t kiss your ass and beg you to stay, and this is from someome who did not want to lose Maclin…… Mac has been here For years, he knows we are building something special, if you want to leave for more money, THATS perfectly fine, but spare me this’s Bitch behavior..
..
Lol of course KC had To beg you to come, you left chip kelly and the Eagles to go play withn
“They just don’t make men like they used to”
Says the guy commenting on a football message board about a professional football player’s emotions.
Jesus monday night still seems so far away… can’t wait to get this season rolling!
Did we ever persuade the pope to bless Bradford’s legs?
Really tired of reading these stories from ex players.. Wish we stopped giving them a platform to cry.
..
Regardless what we think of a player, Chip has every right to build this team how he see’s fit..
..
Actually I view it as a positive that as a new GM chip doesn’t run around chasing these players and offering them more then he should out of fear of losing them.. A good GM has to set a “walk away value” for each player. maclin was offered 10mil to stay with the team that drafted him and be a part of this special era of eagle football we are building.. If Maclin valued a few extra dollars over remaining an eagle, then so be it, but I don’t want to hear this crying months later about how chip didn’t get on the phone and kiss your ass after offering him 10mil…. Leave the begging and chasing players for Andy Reid.. You need to beg a WR to go play with Alex smith lol..
..
Great players are cut or traded all the time because they aren’t ideal fits for the new regime, yet when it comes to Chip, gotta hear all this crying. Our
Coach has every right to build his team how he sees fit, with players that best fit his scheme and Culture, and he has the right to allocate cap money how he sees fit… Maclin prioritized more money over being part of this era of eagle football.. I would love to have Maclin on this team, but we shouldn’t have to kiss his ass, beg him, or offer him more money then inferior franchises offer him..
…
I just want to see chip cut or trade 1 player without hearing all this bitching and crying months later.. If you are so insecure that you value Andy Reid begging you to leave what we are building to go play with Alex smith and a head coach who’s time has passed, so be it… But please don’t cry about it later. You chose to sign with KC, you chose to leave Philly, you chose to turn down 10mil from the Eagles…so now, live with your decision, move on, don’t act like an obsessed 16yr old girl, have some dignity, keep the Eagles out of your mouth and live with your decision to leave us, while you watch this eagle team soar to the top!!!
…
Boykin was probably going to leave us after this year, so it’s ridiculous to be hearing him complain that we ditched him before he could leave us, while we could still get value..
..
I didn’t want to lose Boykin, I would have rather kept him on the bench for insurance and lose him to free agency in March… But I’m not going to cry about losing a kid too stupid to accept being an elite Nickel CB.. Boykin should have been proud to be te top nickel
Corner in the game…. I will NEVER complain about chip not wanting a 5’9-5’10 corner on the outside especially in our press scheme.. He wasn’t happy being our nickel, so we sent him somewhere he had a better shot of getting what he wanted..
..
Really tired of hearing ex Eagles acting like scorned 16yr old girls… It’s the start of the season, why the hell are these “men” even talking about the Eagles?
This leads to having to overpay for FAs
Not really,,. This led to not paying Maclin 10mi, and have 3 young Wrs on cheap rookie contracts who combined make less then what we would have given to Maclin, and when we cut Coop and Miles next year. We really won’t have any money invested in the WR position
i mean generally, players coaches, i think, get better deals from FAs though i don’t know if there’s any emperical evidence to prove this.
I prefer we avoid bidding on our players on the open market.. If you don’t want to lose a guy, you extend him a year before he becomes a free agent, hopefully enticing him to give us a discount in exchange for contract/financial security a year earlier, like we did with Kendricks..
..
I’d like to try to avoid situations like BG, letting the Giants bid on him, and have to increase our offer to get him to stay…
..
for Example, we Know Curry becomes a free agent at the end of the year, so you gotta get his extension done by the beginning of October.. If not, then get the deal done that month before free agency opens..I don’t want to make it a habbit of outbidding teams for our own players like we tried to do with MACLIN and BG… With the signing off Kendricks, Gardner, Dennis, im hoping we get back to the Banner days of extending our own young players keeping them from becoming free agents..
..
Young players worry that they get hurt before they earn that 2nd contract, so hopefully we can get guys like Cox and Curry cheaper then what they would cost on the open market, we get a discount, they get to stop worrying about getting hurt and give them security a year before they reach free agency
..
If we can’t work it out with one of our players before they reach the open market, just withdraw your offers and łet the player leave. Can’t be bidding against other teams for our own talent..
Dude, you’re the biggest whiner on this board, really don’t see how you can complain.
One could point to Curry’s at DL as Chip evaluating players and developing a plan that allowed him to use those strengths despite imperfect scheme fit. One could furthermore point to the switch to LB as Chip helping a player to grow and develop new skills to maximize his potential. One could then ask if Chip is willing and capable of such things, might there be other factors in the handling of Boykin?
It is probably more cathartic, though, to say Chip is casting off talent because of his inflexible vision and love of measurables and that he was wrong about Curry all along.
What a joke of a game! All week steelers defenders talked shit about how they knew how to defend Gronk, how they would touch
Gronk up, how they would do this, how they would do that… Then the game started and all they did was let Gronk make that secondary his bitch… This is why I don’t like hearing players talk shit during the week…maybe if they did less talking about Gronk to the media, and talked more about playing as a cohesive secondary they wouldn’t have looked so pathetic..
..
As for Boykin not playing….. RELAX!!!!
..
If you know just how terrible Cortez Allen is, you probably don’t worry about Boykin not playing. not exaggerating, Cortez is TERRIBLE!! The steelers also played their ST captain at DB last night which was a disaster. You won’t be seeing him play over Boykin much longer.
..
The steelers defense is pathetic, but the secondary is one of the worst in the NFL.. That secondary is up there with the Gianta and skins as one of the worst
Secondaries in the league… Secondary is going to play so bad, that at some point every Steeler DB will get a chance to show what he can do in games this season,. Boykin will get on the field and when he does, hopefully he plays well enough to keep the job
,.
But this really isn’t something eagle fans need to be concerned with all year, re difference between a 4th round pick and a 5th round pick is insignificant. You will get similarly graded prospects in rounds 4 and 5…. Getting a 4th instead of a 5th really isn’t a big deal we need to be concerned with all year…. I really don’t at all care whether we get a 4th or a 5th, but with how terrible the steelers defense is, I will be shocked if Boykin is healthy and doesn’t end up playing ahead of these garbage Pittsburg DBs
They made a huge mistake not letting him see the field. Is a 4th rounder worth losses?
https://twitter.com/BrandonGowton/status/642339125924921344
They used one of their key ST players instead of Boykin, which is like playing Maragos at corner over Boykin lol…
..
Really not a concern because it’s not like only 1 Steelers DB sucks and boykin has to compete with 3 DBs for that 1 spot.. They have Multiple Pigeons in that secondary… they paid Cortez allen good money last year, and as soon as he signed the contract his play completely nose dived becoming one of the worst starting Corners in the Game.. Embarressing having to bench a kid you just gave 25 mil too… And last night shows that Cortez still sucks….. I saw at least 3 Corners Boykin should play ahead of Linning up for the Steelers last night… Pitt is trying to contend for a Super Bowl, it’s Laugable To think they would Sabatoge their defense so that they can give us a 5th instead of a 4th… 4th or 5th, difference in prospect grades that will be available is marginal. No way they care so much about giving up a 5th instead of a 4th
..
If be completely shocked if he didn’t end up one of the top 3’corners in terms of playing time by the end of the year, and if not, who the hell cares. Talking about the difference between Barkley and Wolff, or Wakins and Reynolds..
..
Since I don’t believe paying a 5th instead of a 4th even crosses Tomlins mind when deciding playing time, I can’t help wonder the real reason Boykin didn’t play?
1) is Tomlin not happy with Boykins command of the playbook?
.
2) has boykin been sulking since traded to Pitt? Maybe have a bad attitude when he found himself getting snaps at Nickel instead of on the outsde?
.
Unless Boykin hasn’t learned the plays at all, I assume last night was a message to Boykin that is supposed to motivate him.. But whatever the reason was, their DBs are really putrid. There is no way Tomlin is going to watch the same Corners play like crap all year, without exhausting all his options.. Boykin is going to get his shot, when he does, hopefully he takes advantage of it more then a bum like Cortez who is stealing money
Are we sure Boykin was even active last night? ..
.
Anyone even see him on Special teams?
he was active I went last night and looked at a steelers blog to see who was inactive.
Belichick was just thumbing his nose at all the cheating talk with some of those play calls. The defensive line adjustment on the goal line that drew the false start was just brutally evil. And the two men in motion thing they pulled at least twice was some garbage, too. On the few plays they decided to cover Gronk, they used that trick to get him on a linebacker out wide instead. Following the rules to the letter, but not in spirit.
Its a copycat league, and Id like to see Chip steal a few things from Bellicheat to add to our playbook.
..
for Starters, Time to weaponize Jason Peters and Lane Johnson and start using them as red zone targets to throw to… JP is the freakiest athlete playing OL, a converted TE.. Time to dust his TE skills off and start throwing to him in the redzone. JP hasn’t been used in that way, so no one will be prepared for it, wouldmt mind including that package in our playbook, in case we need to a play in a close game that we know the defense hasn’t prepared for..
..
In addition to weaponizing our Offensive Tackles, we need to steal those formations the Pats used to completely confuse defenses in the playoffs.. Add those “4 man Lines” to our playbook, and start screwing with who we make an eligible WR…. For example: The Pats split Shane Vereen out wide in the slot, and made him ineligible WR, which allowed them to make the OT an eligible reciever, even tho he was lined up at Tackle how he normally would line up.. Bellicheats thought process is, that when you split a guy like Vereen or our case Sproles out wide, and make him inelgible Reciever, even if the defense hears him declared inelgible, instinctually they just aren’t used to leaving a guy like Sproles side open when you see him line up in the slot.. So the Pats actually had defenders guarding ineligible WRs, while defenders left the eligible Recieving Offensie tackle wide open. Instinctually when a defender sees Jason Peters line up in his normal spot, and Sproles line up in the slot where he terrorized defenses for years, their instincts say, make sure someone covers Sproles, amd defenders just aren’t used to seeing the LT go out and catch passes….. Chip already has shown willingness to split Lame or JP out wide, and lineup in unorthodox ways.. I’d like to see us take that Next step and start screwing around with who we make eligible and ineligible during pass plays… We have the Most Athletic pair of Tackles in the Game, might as well weaponize them, and take it a step further and start confusing defenses in terms of who is an eligible Reciever…. And with our Tempo, it becomes even more difficult for defenses to stop… Say we run 5 quick plays in a row, don’t let the defense sub, now fatigue starts to set in, and we then can screw with them memtally by changing who is an eligible receiver…. After 5 plays not letting defenders sub, and forcing the defense to hurry up and get lined up as quickily as possible, scrambling to make sure someone covers Sproles,. When we split Sproles out into the slot, and make him an inelgible WR, defenses just aren’t used to seeing dangerous Sproles line up in the slot, and not pay attention to him leaving him uncovered…..
..
really hope to see these Patriot 4 man lines, and screwing with who is eligible and who isn’t, while also weaponizing our pair of the most athletic Tackles in the game…actually, maybe it’s a good idea To add this to our playbook now, work on it all year, but don’t u leash it until we play the Patriots. Use their own Gimick against them, before we ever show those packages on film…
I’d rather have the best blocker in the league blocking, thanks.
Ask any DC -would you rather have Jason Peters running a route or bashing your edge rusher to the ground?
Or we can just start using Ertz in the RZ instead.
It doesn’t have to be either, or…. You are allowed to send ERTZ and a Tackle out as pass catchers… the Great Patriots don’t win a Super Bowl without the balls to run these plays last year… Fortunately our Head coach isn’t as closed minded LOL
The Eagles are more talented offensively than the Patriots. They don’t need to use trick plays, they need their players to execute their jobs.
Jason Peters road grading with Murray behind him to the best way to score points.
Only if the Tackle is replacing a skill player. 7 guys on the los, only the wide 2 are eligible. If the Tackle is one of the ends, then someone else in on the bench.
No credit for that crap, none at all.
Pretty sure the league outlawed those “receiver ineligible” lineups this year.
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/03/25/nfl-bans-patriots-ineligible-receiver-ploy/
Why? Did you see the “Do Your Job” Bellichek/Pats documentary that aired this week? They showed all the plays and explained everything in detail. Really interesting stuff, just a shame that it was about a Pats team winning that I hate so much …
..
They showed where Bellicheat stole that Idea from. Originally, the Titans lined up with their center, and 4 skill players lined up as the other 4 “offensive lineman” and the Titans ran some Rugby style play out of it where the pitched the ball back a bunch of times..
..
As long as you have the right amount of players on the line of scrimmage, and go thru the proper process of declaring eligibility to the Refs, I don’t see why they would ban that… But even if that’s no longer allowed, I still highly suggest checking out that DO YOUR JOB documentary, some really interesting stuff… But I’m gonna take a look at that Link
..
And if those plays are now illegal, we can still throw to our Tackles in the Redzone. it would be a nice added wrinkle to the Unbalanced Lines we already put on Film..JJ Watt was an excellent Redzone weapon last year. the Pats throw to nate Solder who they paid 20mil for two years to block, and Jason Peters dwarfs Solder in terms of athleticsm.. I don’t think we should use it as much as the Texans throw to JJ, but i would like to see us add,it to our Redzone package, work on it all year and keep it tucked up our sleeve for close, must win games in December/January…we could send Sproles in Motion who will attract attention running away from Peters side, and get Big JP isolated on a Linebacker that hasn’t seen us throw at JP on Film…. We can do things like that now that we have such an accurate QB, who should finally bring efficient Fades and back shoulder throws to our offenses,
After reading the Link, my understanding is we can still use those plays, but you can’t use Sproles and our WRs to lineup in the slot as inelgible recievers/decoys…. The Player you would have to use as an inelgible decoy has to now where a Jersey number in between #50-79… Which is a problem for most teams, but it’s something I think Chip can work around because:
For years we have put plays on Film where we split Lane out Wide and have him block for WR screens. WE would have to do something like building on those plays where Lane is split out wide, make him eligible and Throw to Lane a few times the first half of the year when we catch the defense in zone or When there is No defender respecting Lane a pass catching threat… If we split Lane out to the slot, continue to use him blocking for screens, but also start throwing to him and put that on Film… later in the season when teams see Lane split out wide, they will have prepared to defend him, so when he starts commanding some minimal respect from the defense as a pass catching threat, we can make him inelgible, make JP who is lined up at his normal spot Eligible and hope that instinctually defenders just aren’t used to accounting for the OT as a pass catcher, especially when we move so fast, and the defenders will have prepared for what happens if we start throwing to Lane…. So wjile we can’t split Sproles out and use him as a decoy, you have to start throwing a few passes to somewhere who wears a number in between 50 and 79 Til defenses start preparing for him as a pass catching threat, and when that haooens we can catch the defense off guard, Make Lane Inelgible, and JP eligible and we should get an easy 10 yard pass to JP because defenses won’t have prepared for our OT going out to catch passes… Which is different then when teams line up a OT at TE and then throw to him..
The whole key to that bs was confusing the D about who to cover, and then not giving them time to sort it out. Having an ineligible number wide would defeat the purpose. So would the refs doing their job and making certain the D knew who was ineligible before the play, instead of just announcing it to the crowd with the Pats ready to snap.
No, not of you weaponize the ineligible number earlier in the season… If you put on film plays where you split Lane out into the slot and throw to him a few times in the first half of the year, making Lane a credible threat when he lines up out there, defenses will talk about it when they prepare for us, and instinctually honor Lane as a pass catching threat when they see him line up out wide, in which case we then make him ineligible, and make JP eligible and hope the Defense doesn’t leave Lane to go cover JP, because teams won’t have prepared for that threat. Up to that point all they would have on film to prepare for is lane lined up out wide and blocking for WR screens which we been doing since 2013, and we have to add the threat of throwing to Lane so defenders prepare to cover him when he lines up out wide thinking we will throw to him.. Instead we line up quickily, announce the elible/non eligible and see if the Defender leaves Lane to go cover Peters lined up at LT, and if the defender does leave Lane when we announce he is inelgible, we can throw the screen to the WR on Lanes side and have Lane blocking for him… But hopefully we can sneak JP out uncovered for a 10yard pass as the defender Quickily scrambles to instinctually line up and cover Lane even tho he was made inelgible, which is how the Pats beat defenses. They made Vereen ineligible and instinctually defenders aremt used to ignoring a guy like Vereen when he lines up as a Recieving threat in the slot
Hard to see that working, if you don’t have an eligible number who is ineligible to confuse the D about who to cover. Gimmicks don’t seem to be Kelly’s style, either. It’s bs, relies on the refs not notifying the D properly. We can blow teams out playing football, not rules games.
Lol yeah we can just easily win SUPERBOWLS, and we are too good to run something that the Patriots dynasty wouldmt have won a Super Bowl without last year… pats don’t win the Super Bowl without playing those eligibility games and the trickery of that WR Edelmen pass for a TD… Lol not suggesting this becone the new trickery offense, but the more weapons in our arsenal, the more teams have to prepare for, the better
..
And even if you aren’t going to use your trickery, the more you can make a team prepare for that week, the better… Coaches leave no stone unturned, you show something on film one week, and you can bet teams will spemd time talking to their players about what to do if we decide to use it..
No. Never want to have to be put in the position of Cowboys or Asterisk fans, defending criminals and cheats.
1) We have a QB that can actually make those throws now, Gronk is good, but Brady puts it in his hands every time.
That eligible/ineligible is complete bs. The Asterisk team completely took advantage of the NFL being too cheap to hire full time officials who could properly enforce the rulebook.
One of the things that fascinate me the most about this upcoming season is
barwin/Kiko vs GRONK…. That’s going to be a Bigtime matchup that will have a major impact on what should be a close game between Eagles and Pats..
…
BARWIN completely dominated JimmyGraham making him irrelevant in a playoff game… if BARWIN can make it more difficult on GRONK then it usually is, I’ll be in awe of BARWIN..” Im sure Kiko will also matchup with GRONK a few times.
..
if BARWIN can keep GRONK in Check, that would be HUGE for us and it could be the difference in the game…
..
Unfortunately, they added another Big Giant Mofo in Scott Chandler who is NO Slouch… Kiko/BARWIN vs GRONK/Chandler could define how this matchup unfolds… That has to be one of the most intruiging MATCHUPS of the year.
..
Of course I’m sure Chip will try to get ERTZ or Sproles isolated on Chung, or one of our young explosive WRs on Brad Fietch..
.
Hopefully we finally get a win against Brady…
big difference between gronk and grahan in terms of toughness.
Yup… Completely different style TEs… I still like Barwins chances more then most people who have tried to stop GRONK… BARWIN has been here 2 years, and i have never seen him get outclassed yet.. GRONK is a scary Challenge, but Barwn is an athletic BRUTE in his own right… I can’t wait to watch every snap of that battle
Don’t forget Kiko and Kendricks.
Edit: Billy Davis will be throwing them a lot of different looks and I’m sure he has confidence in all 3 to stick with him. MS2 has the speed as well.
I said Kiko/BARWIN…. Kendricks will spemd most of his time in coverage matched up aganst pass catching Rbs like Vereen in NY, Dion Lewis in NE.. I’m sure every now and then we see Mychal on a TE, but it probably won’t be as frequent as Kiko and BARWIN Linning up on a TE…
..
Think it’s too soon to ask MS2 to be responsible for keeping someone like GRONK in Check, but Longterm, he should grow into a nice coverage weapon against TEs..
But MS2 will not see the field
as long as Gronk only scores 1TD then it is a success lol
One of the few times I don’t really sync up with your thinking Tommy. If you take the quotes of the article at face value it sounds like the Eagles basically matched. You seem to immediately dismiss it as the contract, despite mentioning Reid’s relationships.
Sure, KC was desperate for him and really let him know it. I thought Chip was known for doing a pretty good job of recruiting in College though. Did he just quote Pheidippides to them and walk away. Leaving them with thoughts of sick cloths dancing through their head?
I don’t expect Chip to beg. I do expect someone on the Eagles staff to at least tell a guy like Maclin that they are excited about what year 2 in Chip’s offense could mean for him.
Two sides to every story. So far, we’ve just heard the “naw, man, I’m NOT just all about the Benjamins” story from the athlete. I don’t think we’ll ever officially hear Chip’s side. I was a huge Lindros fan who thought he got the raw end of the deal from everybody, until I ran into a front office insider during the ’96-’97 season. The stories I heard still have never been aired officially, though they have been hinted at. Two sides to every story, even if you know you will only ever hear one.
we’re listening. Lindros?
What quote? We win?
Right it was we win, but “Nike” is what he said.
They had presumably been negotiating all through free agency period so Maclin should have had a pretty good idea of where he stood. Chip wouldn’t offer money like that unless he really liked him. If someone is truly going to make an emotionally-based decision in 10 minutes’ time, there’s no real way to predict which way they will go. The money was close; it was stay with the current team or play close to your childhood home for your first coach. I can understand it either way he chose, and there was no way to guarantee it either for either coach. One was going to get lucky, one was not.
Speaking of former players: I think i like DJax more than Shady these days…. I think i will puke now.
When I was a kid out on Halloween, someone in the neighborhood would give out apples and someone else would give toothbrushes. This would lead to a great debate about which was worse. Every kid agreed agreed, though, they both sucked.
you’re thinking of Sconces/B-Fletch lol…. off the field stuff is what i am referring to.
Gottcha’. Sean Scott’s post explains it better than my analogy: jackass or bitter, scornful guy
Unfortunately I agree… But DEsean isn’t any less of a jackass, he is just clearly completely demoralized and depressed at the TRAINWRECK he finds himself in… Did you hear how he answered the question about if he thinks the skins are contenders? Lol he didn’t even know what to say, he was so down about the skins..
..
Clearly we have a good thing going here in Philly, because we wouldn’t hear all these players continuing to talk about us once they leave, Clearly these players wanted to remain with the Eagles, or they would be happy to be gone and we woudnt hear them talking about the Eagles months after joining a new team… If you are happy to no longer be here, and happy to be traded elsewhere, you wouldnt care enough to even answer questions about us months after joining a new team
Desean is a jackass but at least he’s not a bitter scornful guy like McCoy has proven to be.
Anyone see Fletcher show up? Didn’t really pay attention.
I saw Chung with some good coverage -or maybe just Rothlesberger making some dumb throws.
The Steelers just looked awful
Chung was called for a pass interference in the end zone on 3rd down. Led to a touchdown I believe?
Yeah, classic face guarding, refusing to turn around when the ball is in Tbe air, easy pass interference call on chung … Fletcher got beat a handful of times, made a play later in the game, I know because the announcers know how often he was beat in philly so when he makes an actual play, they make sure the audience knows how rare of an occasion it is for that pigeon to make a play
Being close enough for PI is a big step up for Chung
fletch got beat on a couple of balls, would be worse if wheaton / dhb could actually catch
Gave up a 50-yard bomb. Also left a guy wide open in the end zone, but the WR caught it with his toe out-of-bounds. Classic Fletcher.
I find the cited contrast between the coaching styles of Kelly and Reid provocative. Two SB winning coaches, Belichick and Carroll also have contrasting styles. I couldn’t imagine Belichick ever being driven to pump a player’s ego in order to sign him or using flattery as a basis for motivation. He seems to be all about setting the low bar below which performances will not be tolerated. Carroll plays hoops with his guys and is a lead cheerleader. To me, the Patriots and Seahawks are both very high on the mental toughness index.
I believe that Kelly is very conscious of the need to have a mentally tough team, his focus on leadership being one example. Becoming habituated to success takes a degree of mental toughness. Reid could get his troops fired up and ready to play, almost routinely after a loss or a bye, but the longer his guys would go without losing, the more his guys played as if they believed in fate.
I noticed the same dynamic with the Maclin situation, although not the Carroll comparison, that is a good one.
My take was this:
I am sure we can all think of situations from our past social, school, dating, or professional experiences where we felt we were wanted more than we wanted the relationship, and other times where we wanted a relationship more than we were wanted.
From my experience, the second situation created a slight insecurity that was motivating and sustaining. Whereas the first situation created a comfort that was uplifting, but opened the door to complacency and boredom.
Good post,,,well said
Interesting. Kelly has repeatedly praised the “never satisfied” “doesn’t believe he’s arrived” guys. There is genuine respect there, I think. And I believe he holds that view of Maclin. But as a GM/team builder, CK will bite the bullet when $$ make him feel like he’s being painted into a corner. I think Kelly does Jeff Lurie proud. Not too many fans can believe that this franchise or this coach is complacent. A lot of teams would love to get to 10-6, and I know that more than a few Eagles fans had that very complaint when Reid was here. With the degree of ambition that Kelly is exhibiting, there may be an inevitable lack of overt affection. Carroll is sharing his load with a recognized evaluator in Schneider, and he hangs with his guys, but there is no sign of softness there. Whereas CK seems to be the sherif, but unlike Belichick, he actually seems to be enjoying the trip, which would appeal to me if I was a player.
There must be an old adage like the following somewhere – Confucius says “he who believes an agent is fooled a good PERCENTAGE of the time”.
About the Boykin article. I really enjoyed it, the most interesting part is that his favorite coach was Dave Fipp. No one why he played so hard on special teams. Wonder how many players feel the same way. Wonder what his coaching style is. If he keeps putting out good units and making positive waves he may have a shot at being the next John Harbaugh.
who else would he say? Can’t say chip or billy d. Crazy how unceremoniously players leave when traded. Driving though the night to pitt and practicing in the morning? figured pitt would have flown him and hooked him up w/ a ride.
What’s funny is all these players who have been traded or gotten rid of, are landing on their feet and getting what they want, so there really no reason for them to look back..
..
Our whipping boy, nate Allen, GOT PAID!!! OAKLAND had a bidding war against itself and gave Nate more then his agent even thought he could get.
..
Cut Chung and Bradley Fletch, and they end up with the Pats.
..
shady gets traded, the bills gave him more money, and he can be happy like a kid who’s parents allow to stay past his bedtime,,
..
DEsean, Got PAID, and DEsean has always talked about Money, he got it in Washington
,.
MACLIN got PAID!!!
..
cary lands in the Legion of Boom playing for a contender
..
Boykin decided he wasn’t happy being the best slot corner in the game, he got traded to a team, a few hours away from Philly, that values him and will give him more of an opportunity to win an outside corner job which is what he wants
…
trent Cole and Herremans were unemployed for like a day, now they play for legit contenders.
..
mathis is the only one who got screwed by leaving, but he can play for a team considered a contender,,, and Nick FOles also got kind of screwed. He went from chips offense, with weapons all around him and a quality OL in a City crazy about its football to the QB of the Rams and Jeff Fishers tired coaching/schemes. But at least Nick got also Paid for it…. Players who have played for Chip for the most part went on to great situations. guys had career numbers under chip, and we’re able to cash in on those numbers. Players should be happy in their new situations instead of dwelling on Eagles
almost like real people, except we live out of the jeep for a few weeks in between jobs 😛
Maclin’s situation seemed much nicer. Golfing, getting KC treating him like royalty (what I did there was not intentional). Calling calling calling. Mac checked on what the Eagles were up to. Couldn’t match, decided on a reunion tour with Andy.
Poor Falcons are going to get hammered. 38-24 Eagles win. We give them 2 garbage time TDs after we’re up 28-10 in the first half.
34-16.
42-10..
Why are we all predicting the halftime score?
I’d love to see the Falcons held under 20 points, but I am going to believe it only when I see it. That is not a very good team, but Ryan to Julio will be hard to shut down completely.
Lol a Pigeon RT who struggles with speed rushers trying to block BARWIN, a center making his NFL debut having to deal with Bennie the Beast and our ILB blitzes..a,guard Levitre that couldn’t cut it for the Titans who you added a week ago…. This OL hasn’t had enough time to Gel, so when they are presented with a front or a certain look, there will be times where all 5 lineman don’t see it the same way.. We will see half the line block one way, and the other half block a different way. These bad OLines who haven’t had time to Gel, you throw a few different fronts at them,,disguise your fronts confusing the OL, and that’s when we see big Breakdowns with Eagles gettng a free rush to rock Matt Ryan’s world… Oh, and half the time they will also have a rookie RB in the game, who will have to correctly read our disguise and help pick up the blitz at times
..
I don’t care if your QB is Montana in his Prime and the WR is Jerry Rice, if the.OL cant stop the front 7, going to be very hard for the WR to do some serious damage…we should see a lot of 3 step drops, TEs and RBs staying in to block.. This is an eagle front 7 that has been together for 3 years, meaning our disguise will be on point, and our multi front defense, combined with all the twisting, stunting we do, and blitzing ILBs, it’s going to be very hard for the Falcons OL to not have breakdowns that will kill their drives.
.
I don’t see Julio doing much until we are up 3 TDs in the second half and we go to Prevent, allowing him to catch everything underneath and get a bunch of meaningless yards… But who knows, week 1 can be whacky. I doubt many of us expected to struggle with the jags last year going into the openor..get thru game 1 Healhy and I doubt they will be able to stop our offense as much as our Defense can stop theirs..
…
Hopefully our Special teams gets off to a proper start, with Parkey getting back to his normal sniper self, and hope our ST who lost some key players like Prosinski, Brad Smith, James Casey, makes a statement shutting down Devin Hester… We will need Tutu, Jordan Hicks (chip called 4 core ST player) and Couplin to step up and replace key players on our coverage units,…. Give up no return yards, return a kick for a TD, hit all your FGs, maybe force a fumble, and set the tone for what type of year it’s going to be on ST’s..
Sounds good to me.
I don’t think anyone on here has made the connection between the extensions for Dennis Kelly and Gardner to the one given to Demeco Ryans earlier this year. It seems to me that regardless of Chip’s plan for ILB, that extension fits in with the current trend of giving extensions so as not to have to have all the FAs leaving at one time. Looks like we made too big of a deal out of it the whole time.
the guards got extended just in case they play well this year, don’t want them ransoming the team for money.
And Demeco got one just in case Hicks didn’t work out and they couldn’t resign Kendricks.
yup
Brady made a point last night but I have to wonder if he can sustain that or if this Pats’ offense can continue to function so well with so few weapons.
If Gronk was in Philly, he would be the most popular athlete by a wide margin and it wouldn’t even be close. I have noticed that besides Murray jerseys and a handful of others (Barwin, Celek, Cox) that most sporting goods stores are carrying very few Eagles’ player jerseys this year. Surprised a bit I haven’t seen Bradford or Maxwell jerseys at a single store.
Barwin i think has taken the lead due to his community involvement.
Also been here for 2+ years now and has had stories done on him beyond the football playing field.
Still think you still an overwhelming majority of older jerseys (including McCoy and Jackson) at games this year with very few number players including Bradford. I didn’t see a single Bradford jersey at the Colts preseason game and only a small handful of Murray jerseys.
those guys were stars for years sammy b hasn’t played a game yet. even more they had the anti-rival pro eagles swag. i think huff has that but unclear if he’ll see the field
ONly if stores offer jersey insurance again lol…. i went and got a JMatt jersey last season, at least he will be here through his rookie contract.
Gronk rules
And this would be sold out in 8 seconds if he was an Eagle
http://cdn.na16.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/gronk-party-ship.jpg
That is a real thing?
Yes. Not a joke. Not a meme. A real honest to God thing.
not even females only, amateur.
Gronk doesn’t need non-disclosure agreements or c-blocking other dudes out his parties to get some.
Shady is the amateur. Gronk is getting his no matter what.
Aldon Smith signed one year deal with the raiders
that’ll happen
might actually have to get tickets to raiders. they could be good.
https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/642397708221829120
WOW!
Wow what a disgrace… raiders signed Aldon smith smh
Liked hearing how furious Tomlin was at the headset shannanigans.. Bellichek couldn’t help but take a shot at the steelers about how the Pats built a culture of not making excuses lol..
..
On one hand, it would be really brazen and ballsy of the Pats to cheat last night after the article that came out earlier this week, purposely screwing with the steelers headsets. But on the other hand, last night was the perfect time to cheat. What better time do you have to be able to deny this when you are a week removed of a favorable court ruling and the article accusing them of cheating this way,, it’s the perfect time to cheat and deny it because you would have to be crazy to cheat with the eiyes of the nation on you during the opener after all the talk of you cheating this week..
..
It’s pretty annoying to see former Patriots every time I turn the tv. Announcers, analyst, on almost every broadcast there is a former Patriot, so whenever another host brings up the cheating crap, they take it easy, And there is always a former patriot to laugh off the accusations or run his mouth about how they never even Jay walked.. Smh
I doubt it was on purpose. Way too obvious, and really they were never losing last night. The Steelers looked like their first preseason game, why would you need to also cheat?
While I agree it almost certainly wasn’t on purpose… I’m pretty sure the Patriots don’t really ask that question. Deflating footballs certainly matters less than the headsets yet the answer there was “because we can”. (The headset problems were early in the game, so it’s not like they could take game situation into account.) Belichick seems like he tries to find the line everywhere, and go right up to it and cross over sometimes. (Way over, with Spygate.) I’m sure Al Davis was worse though.
I tend to agree that KC made him feel more wanted but it wasn’t just because of the money, did any of the Eagles players call Maclin and ask him to stay? Did Kelly just lay down the deal and essentially say take it or leave it and drop the subject? My thoughts on this are simple Maclin left because he saw an opportunity to go to a team that viewed him as irreplaceable where as the thoughts Kelly has on players are clear, everyone is interchangeable. He essentially drafted a Maclin like player in Nelson Agholor in the first round who comes much cheaper than Maclin as well
KC actually needed him more too I think
Chip should be talking to Maclins agent. Why does he need to talk to MACLIN? MACLIN knows what he can expect here, he knows he would be the #1 WR who we were going to give 10nil to, and that’s not enough to feel wanted? Are we,kidding?
He probably was hammering out an offer with Maclin’s agent that day. Fire Chip’s secretary (Howie).
That that situation I think “feeling wanted” is relative. Supply and demand determined where Maclin would play. KC went through a whole year without a WR catching a TD pass. Their desperation for talent at the position was unmatched. We simply could not match their need for Maclin’s services.
Interesting take. Maxwell probably wouldn’t admit it, but maybe he felt the Eagles wanted him “more.”
Edit: Not saying this is the case, but if it was.
Id like to hear Maxwell, the prettiest girl at the dance talk about the process of how we got him to sign with us? Did he even ever talk to chip before he signed with us? Or did he just let his agent do his job and agree to the deal his agent got him?
Probably spoke with Chris Maragos.
Probably,
It all translates to money in the end. I’m sure we talked it as much as we walked it ($). He might have gotten a bigger offer from somewhere…but not a whole lot more.
It’s interesting in free agency, in general, what our sales pitch is. I imagine we have to get to the bottom line pretty quickly ($). Because we don’t treat players like stars, we simply don’t cater to that, you are 1/53 of the team and everyone is expendable. You will bust your ass every day. You will change every facet of your life. Things are going to be a little different. We are a contender and here is our offer. One funny habit the reporters have is they like to tell the new signings some of the stuff we do here and they’re like “lol, wut?” Maxwell was like “Is it too late to give the money back?”
So we probably just skip to that bottom line in our sales pitch.
My issue with the whole thing is that everyone had to know KC would throw everything they could at Maclin to bring him in Reid desperately wanted his guy back and it matched up with his team’s greatest need, I honestly think DeSean Jackson would be there too if they didn’t have a similar player on their roster already.
Bengals signed WR A.J. Green to a four-year, $60 million extension through 2019.
Now if he could only get a QB to throw to him.
he makes almost as much as dalton does, that’s a little crazy
He’s the reason Dalton actually looks like a QB sometimes.
That is a very talented Roster, but the team is completely worthless until they grow a pair of balls. Fire Marvin Lewis, cut or trade Dalton and stop accepting mediocrity
In what world is Kaepernick an upgrade to Dalton?
Bizzaro World I think. Kaep is terrible.
Not an upgrade, THATS why I suggested two stupid franchise make a trade for the sake of making a trade… Never said I thought they would make a GOOD trade lol
Dez/DT/Julio deal seems like a steal now.
Not a usual fan of Jeff McLane, but he wrote a really good piece about Chip Kelly and I say it’s worth the read.
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/eagles/Chip_Kelly_Evolution_of_a_play-caller.html
Very good read. Thanks for sharing.
Great Read, thanks
This article makes it so I can’t wait until Chip retires after he wins us 7 super bowls so we can watch all of this go down on NFL films and get all the insider stories.
A must read – best I’ve read from JM, thanks for sharing!
Jon Beason is out for the Cowboys game… When are the Giants going to get LBs? Beason is the only decent one they have had and its like he is holding his body together with super glue…. Hoping Giants upset the Cowboys, but i feel like this Giant team is lucky if it can win 7 games..
..
cruz will miss at least the first 3 games..
Giants might get embarrassed Sunday night.
Yeah, I worry that they are going to make the Cowboys look much better then they are
That’s fine. They’ll come to Jesus week 2! Let em plan their parade and head into week 2 feeling good. I also like we play a much better team than the Giants as our 1st game.
True that.., week 2 NO Vaseline Bowl!!
LB?
I’d imagine the Giants would get pounded about 12 times this year.
Amazing how there are stats for everything these days..
..
According to the Average of the 40 yard dash times from the combine of all the players on a teams roster, Eagles have the fastest roster in the league at an average of 4.8 sppeed per player
I posted a link of this either early on this thread or yesterday.
It is interesting, and probably not by accident.
so we’re the raiders?
Raiders are last in that list
I was thinking Seahawks..surprising that we rank higher than them, It always seems like their defense is so much faster, bigger and athletic than teams they’re playing against.
Maybe their defensive players rank slightly higher than ours. And our offensive players rank higher than theirs overall
Wonder how accurate it is..do they really have 40 times for all 53 players? I bet they could get close to all the players using the regional combines.. Definitely not an accident..f
..
I assume we would also rank as one of the Tallest and,longest rosters, also Not an accident
Also, the best.
would love to see this link…I must’ve missed it earlier
Do you think they took the fastest time or average the times from multiple sun dials when clocking Bradford’s 40 time?
(BTW, I know this is referring to the combine times and Bradford was much faster before having his leg reattached multiple times)
Gotta appreciate the honesty. Some of you overly-emotional types may want to pay attention.
https://twitter.com/ZBerm/status/642425870804754432
mo’ money mo’ money mo’ money.
I would expect nothing less from a professional athlete.
why wouldn’t he?
I would.
Once you get that super bowl ring, I guess why not?
Do you really think players care that much about winning?
It’s not a homogeneous group, but in general, yes many do. I’m a cynical as the next guy, but these are hyper competitive individuals, they all hate losing. Which is why losing locker rooms tend to fall apart.
Let me rephrase that, do you think they make their career choices based on winning or on money?
Probably depends on how much of each they currently have. But if neither, money would come first.
Revis pulled the Lebron, signed up to play at a place with a real chance to win a super bowl for a year, then went right back to the garbage heap he started at. But he didn’t do it for pocket change. But the “get my ring” motive was clear as day.
I think both are important. Generally speaking, players avoid places where there’s a lot of one without the other. Antonio Brown and Dez Bryant won’t join the Seahawks for league minimum even if that would give them an amazing opportunity to win a Super Bowl. And generally the only way they play for a horrible franchise is if there is a ton of money and there are no other starting options for them. We know there are certain places players don’t want to go. Shady had no interest in going to Buffalo. That’s not where he wants to spend the rest of his prime. It matters. Both are very important to them. I think agents exist with as much influence as they have because it matters so much they might be proned to making some bad decisions.
Which is more important? Depends on which feather you got in your cap, or which one you’re missing. If you haven’t gotten your payday yet, money first. You absolutely cannot take an offer that isn’t competitive just to have a shot at winning big. If you’re Steve Smith Sr. Maybe the Jags would pay you a bunch to sell some tickets. But I think he was hunting for a premium franchise.
Would it matter to Maxwell if he had been to the Superbowl twice with Seattle and come up short twice instead? Would he still go to the place with the most money? I don’t know. It’ would matter to me though, as in my opinion of him as a competitor. In this case he happened to land on a good team so it worked out anyway.
Money comes first. It has to, since there is such a short earnings window. But second — and quite important — is work environment. Do I like the coaches? Is the workplace nice? But positive work environment also correlates or at least coincides with being part of a contending organization. Ego gratification (much enhanced by winning) is also important. These things can be tiebreakers. If the money is reasonably close, why would you choose Washington over, say, Seattle?
Having said that, the super-competitive types, the Dawks and Bradys and JJ Watts, are outliers.
I still don’t think you’re giving winning enough credit. Look at Rex Ryan. Players coach. Generally the players who played for him were die-hard loyal. Organization was meh, sure. But there was a definite difference in how attractive that team was for free agents when they were going to the championship game every year vs when they were a train wreck.
But we generally agree, if the offers are competitive, they go to the better club. I think if you are a better organization, your play isn’t to try to match or beat the other guy’s offer, just offer something different enough to be hard to compare (I think that has to be a reason these contracts are so damn weird). hope it looks close enough and let your organizational appeal be the tie-breaker.
what rd was he drafted? guessing this was his 1st shot at major money, and dont/cant blame him. might help that he was getting courted by everyone, unlike Murray. Max was choosing between good situations. while Murray, if i was him, you’d have to pay me extra the play in OAK or JAX.
Well, that and who called him on the phone the most and who texted him with the cutest animated emoticons.
Much like with Jason Werth with the Phillies; when you’re offered life changing money you have to take it.
With all these stories about the Pats’ cheating, I wondered if any of you old-timers remembered this controversy:
http://articles.courant.com/2001-01-18/sports/0101183032_1_giants-guard-glenn-parker-giants-center-dusty-zeigler-pro-bowl-starters
Al Davis used to hire out a helicopter to fly him over the Jets practices during the Ewbank-Namath era in the late ’60s.
And George Allen (Rams, Washington) had his spies rent rooms in buildings overlooking his opponents’ practice fields — or just sneak into stadiums to see what they were doing — back in the ’67-’75 time frame.
Plus Allen had his own chopper fly counter-surveillance over the Washington practices.
I’m not that old but reading that article seems hard to stop an offense of 9 pro bowlers to 0 points.
Regarding the headset issues at Foxboro it should also come as an example the SI and ESPN articles to mind. I dislike the Patriots as much as any other team (can’t believe I rooted for the Giants on this superbowls… Makes me feel as an unworthy Eagles fan) and can’t understand all the need for going over the rules or to its limit.
Did anyone read about how when some official got close to check the headset the Steelers’ headset worked perfectly and as soon as the official went back the games broadcast was on the headset again?
Boykin sounds like he was a bit upset, but, why? He really wanted a shot at starting and that wasn’t in the cards with Philly, so, they moved him to Pitt and he gets a chance to earn starting time/money. Should have been thanks for sending me to a place where I could get a shot, times been good and thanks.
I didn’t get a salty vibe out of Boykin at all in that article.
Me neither. Basically, “it sucks to be traded, but I get it” vibe.
My point was he was perhaps looking at it the wrong way.
I hear you, but I still didn’t read it that way.
I’m guessing he liked it here, and wanted a shot on the outside *here*. Mainly though, whenever anyone is traded, that amounts to something of a rejection from your current team and it’s never easy to deal with that. He obviously felt he could play as well or better than some of the outside corners on the team, and was probably a bit frustrated at not playing there. I mean, if you were playing behind Fletcher last year and saw that guy getting start after start, wouldn’t *you* be a bit frustrated?
aldon smith playing sunday — Oakland doesn’t give a f—. Might have to get tickets, maybe i’ll wear a nate allen jersey just for kicks
you live in oaktown anon?
yup moved here in november. You live in the bay area?
no, I used to live down in orange county, I love the bay area though its really cool.
I live on Maui now.
games start at 8 am in the winter!
breakfast with the eagles.
yeah i like the 10am start time. Maui must be nice you should link up with hawaiian eagle.
Yeah, just swim over, it can’t be that far!
Greetings from Irvine!
Maybe I am to thin skinned but why MUST all these experts and analysts always qualify their “Bradford will go off this year” with a “…if he stays healthy.” I understand he has recent injury history but we could easily say “xxx QB will go off this year if he stays healthy.” Just pisses me off.
the packers are great, as long as rogers stays healthy.
the giants suck even if eli stays healthy.
Though without Eli, they are first pick eligible sucky.
They have to. The double knee blowout doesn’t have an exemplar at QB.
I guess its easier than saying “now that Sam is finally healthy…”
Bradford was “finally healthy” last August 26th — right before he blew out his knee again.
______________
Your point’s well taken, though.
In the NFL, every play is a potential season-ender for every player.
scariest part of the season no doubt.
just let chip show us what its like with a good QB please!
come on.
Last Aug 26th was also 2-3 months earlier of a return than this year. One year is generally considered the non-Adrian Peterson time required.
Even a potential career-ender.
If they all happened at once, that would be one hell of a play.
I was watching some old Beastmode runs today. If a mass ACL tear or broken leg or punctured lung was going to happen, I could see it in Seattle.
Seems a fair qualifier when discussing a player who’s missed substantial parts of 4 of his last 6 seasons of football — a meaningful distinction between Bradford and Brady/Mannings/Brees/Rodgers/Roethlisberger
True, but it’s also typical of the press to echo memes. Roethlisberger used to be injury prone until his offense let him get rid of the ball quicker. Bradford has more 16 game seasons in the last 5 years than any Eagle QB (2 vs 0).
A lot of reporters repeat what they hear as it’s an easy way to fill column inches when news is slow.
Even when news is not slow. It takes work to actually dig for info or come up with creative new ideas. Echoing is easy, still get paid.
Not sure about the Big Ben as “injury prone – missing games” argument.
He’s missed only 11 starts in 11 years (before 2015).
The most being 4 games in 2005 — his second season in the NFL.
And he’s missed none in 2013-2014.
He’s definitely been beaten up year after year. But he seems to find his way onto the field.
Not ACL type injuries. But he only started 16 once in his career prior to 2013. Just pointing out that Bradford doing that twice in his 5 year career is somewhat impressive, and a flipside to the prevalent commentary.
Ok… soooo what is Sproles gonna do this week? I need to figure out my 2nd flex in a 12 team league. Team is kinda poop. I have Sproles, Tevin Coleman, Eddie Royal, Joseph Randel, and Stevie Johnson to choose from.
All of those are sort of high upside types, but I feel like Sprole may be the safest week one option until usage pans out. What do you guys think he is gonna do this week? Normal PPR rules, only special teams points would come if he scored a TD.
I’ve never played ppr but how many touches could Sproles have compared to your other Rbs? I’d probably go with Randle seems like an ease choice, specially in ppr
The r is receptions, though. Runs don’t count…do they?
no
Yes ATG… My bad on that one. Although tbh, I still don’t think Sproles is a good player fantasy wise for the moment. In the ppr he might be if Chip Kelly starts using him more in the passing game. I would then go with S. Johnson or Randle as I think they have more chances of scoring a TD.
i think he’s the best option out of those, maybe stevie j bc ppr.
I see Sproles getting some good work with a high probability to score. I’m rolling him as my flex too! #leggo!
No good answer on Atlanta, looks like he will be used more this year. Bradford gives him a Brees type qb – will catch more balls in stride, which makes him lethal.
that TD pass was literally perfect. none of the other qbs could have thrown that.
saints paid byrd so much $$ and he’s not even close to playing.
Devin Hester (toe) isn’t expected to play in Monday night’s game.
Hester expects to miss 1-2 weeks with turf toe. It’s a downgrade on special teams, but Hester isn’t more than Atlanta’s No. 4 receiver. Justin Hardy will replace Hester in sub packages.
hester still can do damage, this is good he’s not there to worry about
Yes sir!
Fox and CBS are airing crappy Games in the Philly area on Sunday..
.
1pm CBS Dolphins at Foreskins
..
1pm FOX Packers vs Bears
..
4pm CBS scumbag Ravens vs Broncos.
..
I really wanted to watch Colts at Bills, hate having to watch it on Computer
..
Have to admit I can’t wait to watch Adrian Peterson run. Such a special RB, it’s been a while since I got to see him perform his craft, and he isn’t going to last forever, so I’m hype to have Vikings vs Niners after a satisfying Eagles win..when they talk about the best RB, Marshawn, shady, Demarco, Charles, get respect, but if we are being Honest AP is in his own League. When that dude is healthy, it’s a joke to say anyone is better then him.. As awesome as BEATMODE has been, you can’t say that Seattle WOULDNT have been as good with AP instead of Marshawn
..
Speaking of RBs…. I’m setting the OVER/UNDERS at 4 weeks…when Dallas gets tired of its struggling RBs and becomes desperate enough to sigń Ray Rice..over or under 4 weeks?
mcfadded will be injured after running into our front 7. so i’m going to say prior to week 3.
These stupid networks don’t know SQUAT about what games to air. I had a wonderfully “pleasant” email exchange with the local CBS programming guy over some garbage they were airing two year ago.
Did he mention how far in advance they pick the games? (Not looking for an excuse, just curious.)
No, he spouted off some short sighted garbage about “regional” fan bases, but couldn’t seem to see the logic that football fans of all regions would be more likely to pump up the ratings on his network if they carried better games.
We have had that regional crap for uncounted years and no amount of letter-writing to the affiliates or even head offices will change it. The one small action which might cause any change is to write to the sponsors. Go where the money is.
Here is what I sent Fox in Sept of 2013
I’m writing in regard to your Philadelphia affiliate’s ill advised programming choices for the 1PM time slot of NFL games on Sunday, September 22nd. I’m flabbergasted and somewhat sickened by the choice to air the Panthers – Giants game as opposed to the Packers – Bengals game. Perhaps you employ some biased and unknowledgeable New Yorkers at that affiliate, but the premier football game on the Fox slate for Sunday @ 1PM is clearly the Green Bay @ Cincinnati game. The Fox Sports web site lists Green Bay @ Cincinnati as the “Fox Game of the Week”, so why are Philadelphia viewers are subjected to the trash football and fandom represented by the New York Giants? The person or people at that affiliate responsible for this broadcasting decision clearly don’t understand football or area codes. Please rest assured that your Philadelphia affiliate has done quite a nice job guaranteeing that I’ll be watching CBS’s airing of Baltimore @ Houston.
And here is one I sent to the local CBS
I’d like to once again reiterate why I don’t bother watching your station unless I am compelled to. On Sunday, January 1st you’re making a rather foolish broadcasting decision. Showing the Steelers-Browns game as opposed to the Ravens-Bengals game represents a poor programming decision on several fronts. Primarily, Baltimore is significantly closer to Philadelphia than Pittsburgh. On a secondary note, the Ravens/Bengals game represents a game with more playoff implications than that of the Steelers/Browns game. In closing, none of this should be surprising to any person with a basic level of familiarity with your station’s football history. You are still the geniuses who on New Year’s Day 1987 made the foolish mistake to air the Mummers as opposed to the first quarter of the Penn State-Miami national championship game. It is at least reassuring that almost 25 years later, nothing changes at your station.
I think you should write a letter every day, like Andy Dufresne from Shawshank Redemption. Then maybe they’ll hire you to make up the maps.
AG:
You need to repost this at the top!!!
Mt. Rushmore-like comment. Truly rib-breaking.
The map would be all Kelly Green, so I’m not sure how that much would help.
I just is abhorrent that the networks can’t get their act together on getting the best possible games aired.
These are fantastic.
This is why I would have sworn Media was at least 70 years old. My grandfather would cheerfully and daily write up contentious letters to the editor on a manual typewriter until he lost his eyesight.
They don’t call you media mike for nothing
Chiefs / Texans is a better CBS game at 1. Dolphins / Washington is a farce.
Packers / Bears makes sense at 1 PM on Fox, but I wouldn’t have minded Seattle / Rams either.
4PM games not being on both networks is quite possibly one of the most moronic NFL broadcasting rules.
Saints / Cardinals and Lions / Chargers are great games on Fox at 4……..but we only get a CBS 4 PM game? BRUTAL!
Ravens / Broncos on CBS makes sense.
Ravens vs Broncos should be a good game. Packers vs Bears will be a sad game. Hate seeing a good rivalry fall over because one team sucks. But watching Washington team QB1 get squashed will be delightful.
if detriot can destroy that line can’t wait to see what miami does
Exactly, that is one of those games that the score doesn’t matter so much as the carnage.
Over. They have 4 RBs to work through and while none inspire confidence that OL is good.
Such a special rb. Father of the year, what and visit one kid a month a year and abuse him, what great lasting lessons they learn. In complete denial with that bday party and yes people sucking up to his money. Cant stand to look at that ahole, nice knee injury would be fitting.
wow
I just wanna see him play football, I don’t need him to raise my kids
http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/178443/nfl-week-1-predictions-broncos-vikings-colts-packers-the-favorites
The ding dong Falcons writer has Atlanta picked to win this game.
I don’t know what a Vaughn McClure is, but it sounds like some type of mongrel dope.
So about the game last night. I simply cannot believe Malcolm Butler held up as well as he did against Antonio freakin Brown.
In the Super Bowl it was like, wow what a sensational story of a no-name kid buried deep in the Patriots’ depth chart and would never had seen a snap had Kyle Arrington not been absolutely obliterated. Too bad this is all his career will ever be. Just a scrub in the right place at the right time.
Now he’s their #1 CB holding his own against Antonio Brown. I’m totally shocked. It’s a great story that I would actually enjoy if he didn’t play for the damn Patriots.
maybe one day we’ll be so lucky
I hope it’s EJ Biggers just to piss off Washington fans. Emerges from the depths in our Super Bowl and becomes our stud #1 CB from then on.
What? Brown had 9 receptions for 133 yards. Butler didn’t hold up well at all.
Most of those yards was Brown going over the top of Fletcher. Butler didn’t follow Brown around. The rest in garbage time
No, Fletcher wasn’t covering Brown.
Was it Heyward Bey beating Fletcher then? Bleck anyway Brown must have gone off after I turned off the game. The First half Butler did a fine job. considering Brown doesn’t really care if you have good coverage or not. The ball is coming to him
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-cant-miss-plays/0ap3000000525557/Can-t-Miss-Play-No-rust-for-Antonio-Brown
he made some amazing catches end the end, got a garage time TD which was great for my fantasy, i was surprised he ended up with 133 and 9 catches, he’s way better than the rest of the WRs – -but when Bell and Bryant are back I can see how they’d be unstoppable.
Another interesting article, this time in Rolling Stone. Good stuff. Talks about the evolution of the game from college to the pros and how Chip might save the NFL.
http://www.rollingstone.com/sports/features/can-the-philadelphia-eagles-save-the-nfl-20150911
Interesting to read, but the author’s POV is the complete antithesis of the type of football I like to watch.
I preferred the POV in the Wall Street Journal Article.
I thoroughly enjoy the pace the Kelly brings to the game, but he doesn’t have dumbed-down run around QB garbage going on. If the NFL became a league of those types of QBs, they’d lose me as a passionate fan.
“If the NFL became a league of those types of QBs, they’d lose me as a passionate fan.”
NOOOOOOOOOOO.
How will the NFL survive then?
he’d initiate a letter writing campaign.
Hm. Even Rome was defeated eventually. I wonder sometimes when the NFL juggernaut will blow a tire? Or the blind devotion will fade with one too many dipstick players committing murder or even slow drug-assisted suicide?
“Juggernaut. (often lowercase) any large, overpowering, destructive force or object, as war, a giant battleship, or a powerful football team. (often lowercase) anything requiring blind devotion or cruel sacrifice.”
Most likely concussions will be the end of the league. As evidence leans more and more towards long term brain damage being the result of playing football, the public’s opinion of the game and the players willingness to put their long-term health on the line will decline.
I’m guessing we’re at least a decade out from that becoming a serious factor but I think it’s not too far on the horizon.
too much $$, especially w/ the salary cap expansion. but it is something the nfl should take seriously instead of not dealing w/.
Yeah. Once people realized boxing was bad for athletes, they stopped that and let them also kick and choke each other instead.
There won’t be a moment where people sit down and say, “Okay, it is time to stop playing football.” but parents will be afraid to let kids play and schools will be afraid of the legal dangers of having a team. Less talent means the quality drops, and the league starts to fade.
If they don’t find a way to fix this, it will kill them.
I posted a link to a Seattle Times piece on Pete Carroll recently (maybe a week ago) all about rugby style tackling, which he claims to have been teaching since his USC days. It isn’t a solution, but it is a step in the right direction. This doesn’t address the nature of trench warfare on LOS where every play entails head jarring hits, which is the core problem in my opinion. Maybe a return to leather helmets will be in order. Monster hits will go bye-bye, ESPN will file an injunction.
You might be right, but don’t forget they have roger goodell.
Which sport do you think is in more trouble long-term, baseball or football? Kids are not playing baseball, and haven’t been for years now..
This all strikes me as arguing over the color of the curtains. If the QB is running around and the chains are moving…that is football. Aesthetics aside, the bias in the NFL toward pocket QB’s is less a determination of GM’s and team owners than a simple reality that an NFL season is long, a running QB is, by definition, a RB who can throw, and history has shown that that is a tough way to consistently win. Russell Wilson is an exception that proves the rule. He isn’t changing the game because there is only one of him. Seattle still has to have WR’s, and they paid a lot for an elite TE. And RW would be rendered seriously less effective if Seattle didn’t have Marshawn. Owners want to win, and if coaches uncover a recipe for winning with running QB’s, the game will still be fundamentally about blocking and tackling. That is football.
http://www.csnphilly.com/football-philadelphia-eagles/chip-kelly-headsetgate-i%E2%80%99ve-heard-air-traffic-control
Hah, I love that Chip pretty much admits here that he has systems in place to circumvent any foul play with radio interference.
At this point I think Belichick will have to whip out a glock and kneecap an opposing player on the field before he actually gets suspended or suffers any real consequences.
should i play atl’s slot corner in fantasy? he could have a big day.
I think Hankerson is poised to have a good year overall.
Funny how players say they understand that the NFL is a business, then turn around and want to be babied.
players are just people at the end of the day, most in their early to mid 20s can’t fault them for having feelings.
Nothings sweeter than the feeling of a fat wallet in your back pocket.
once you have money you realize it;s not the only thing that’s important
Leads to sciatica and hangers-on though.
http://backinbalance.ca/main/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/chiropractic_sciatica.png
If we had sign Maclin, I really doudt Chip could had the cap to bring Bradford. He trust he could pick Agholor early. IMO was a riso but good decision.