Deja Vu All Over Again
Posted: September 28th, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 209 Comments »This is 2015, right?
Are you sure it isn’t 2003?
The Eagles started 2003 0-2. Those were ugly losses with the offense looking anemic. Then the team went on the road against an AFC East opponent and won ugly, 23-13. The next week they played the Skins.
This team started 0-2, with ugly losses and bad offense. They just went on the road and beat an AFC East team in an ugly game. Now the Eagles prepare to play the Skins. There’s just something funny about the way history sometimes repeats itself.
Those Eagles went 12-2 after the opening losses. There was a 9-game winning streak. Donovan McNabb looked awful early on, but by the end of the season was in a real groove and executed the West Coast Offense about as well as you could hope.
We have no idea how this team will pan out. They’re 1-2 and just a game out of 1st place. The only team ahead of them is missing a lot of firepower right now so things are basically wide open.
The 2003 team was built around the 3-headed monster at RB. Duce Staley was the established veteran. Correll Buckhalter was the young runner with size and power. Brian Westbrook was the electric player, just emerging onto the NFL scene after a quiet rookie year. Jim Johnson’s defense was very banged up and didn’t play to their normal level. Still, they were opportunistic and played just well enough for the team to keep winning.
Does any of that sound familiar?
The 2015 Eagles have more talent than that team did. Whether they have as much “it” remains to be seen. The 2003 team had been together for a few years. Andy Reid knew that team well. They knew each other. Those players had won big games together. That helped them to get through the rough start.
The current team is still very much figuring things out. There are a lot of key pieces learning to play together. At least I hope that is a lot of what’s wrong with the passing game. Sam Bradford had another sloppy performance. This offense is not going to move the ball consistently until Bradford and the receivers help each other out. He makes a bad throw. They drop a pass. Repeat.
I need to re-watch the game carefully to fully comment on Bradford. His play deserves its own post. Still, it doesn’t take film study to see he was sloppy on Sunday.
It was encouraging to see the O-line come alive and handle their business against a stout Jets front. There were plays when Eagles blockers were pushed around. That will happen when you go against a big, strong D-line like the Jets have. The Eagles OL did a good job in pass protection and were effective as run blockers. That helped the offense open up and have some success.
Sunday was the first time when this team was really dealing with adversity. Dropping to 0-3 would have really hurt the season. Going on the road to face a rejuvenated Jets team made for a tough challenge. It sure felt like that challenge brought out the best in the Eagles.
You saw stars making big plays. You saw role players making big plays. Everyone contributed. This really was a team effort. Sometimes you need to hit rock bottom for a team to finally come together. That happened for the 2003 Eagles. We’ll have to wait and see how things play out for the current team.
For now, there is hope. And that’s a good start.
*****
Cody Parkey aggravated a groin injury so now the team is looking to sign a potential replacement for him. The Eagles worked out several.
#Eagles kicker tryouts today will include Caleb Sturgis, Nick Novak and Billy Cundiff. An ailing Cody Parkey makes this necessary.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 28, 2015
Fantastic, right? Just what the team needs.
_
The Eagles have come to a fork in the road, so they should take it.
RIP Yogi
The 2003 season ended with one of the most painful losses in Eagles history– 14-3 in the NFC Championship, at home, to the Panthers, who they had pummeled just a few weeks before. I can’t comment any further as the ptsd will kick in…
bucs game hurt the most.
Referencing both the Panthers & Bucs losses?! Better hope Santa doesn’t hear about this or you’re in for a load of coal.
Why Detmer had to throw inside the 20 when Duce got you there is beyond me.
Andy.
Greatest Eagles coach ever.
I was actually thinking more about the 2007 season. McNabb was coming off the ACL injury and it took a few weeks to get back in a groove. We did end up 8-8, but looked better towards the end of the season.
The 2015 Eagles have more talent than that team did.
Easy there Tommy. That team went 14-2 just on grit?
Did you mean 12-4?
yes sorry saw 12-2 up top and the 2 stuck.
Wasn’t part of the reason that the offense was so bad early in the 2003 season because McNabb was playing through a thumb injury that was still healing?
Unfortunately, we can’t blame Bradford’s struggles passing the ball on a nagging thumb injury that will soon be healed.
Wouldn’t it be great if we look back at the end of this 12-4 season and say Sam was just rusty at the beginning?
That would be great!
It’s entirely possible.
Brian Westbrook and McNabb have shittons more talents than this group
you are missing the point of the article
Context, reading comprehension, thoughtfulness, these aren’t the things you’ll find with this one.
You’re really going to say that the 2015 Eagles are more talented than the 2003 Eagles? Really? About the only places you can definitively say that 2015 is better is at receiver and defensive line. Even then–none of the receivers on this team have done squat outside of Jordan Matthews. The most important position–QB–is about ten times better in 2003.
Deeper on the defensive side of the ball. Deeper at the RB position. Pinkston and Thrash are that much better than Matthews/Huff/Ags?
Get a grip dude. At the very least the receivers are a wash. McNabb lived off the TE/RB passing game.
if you think bradford is better than mcnabb can i have some?
Never said that. But reading comprehension isn’t one of your strong suits I presume.
I was going to say the same thing. As good as a prospect that Bradford was/is, McNabb was an established franchise QB in 2003 and among the top 3 or 4 qbs in the league that year.
Also, our secondary had Vincent, Taylor, and Dawkins and Michael Lewis, with Lito, Brown, and undrafted rookie Q.. Mikell all on the roster.
The 2003 Eagles were also much better at middle linebacker with MarK Simoneau – Oops, forget about this last one.
Great closing line.
The 2015 squad has better LB’s. Trot was down and out in washington.
jon runyan and the oline in itsa prime. am i crazy? how is this group more talented? thats obscene
ok let’s all take one sentence out of the article and pile on!!!! what a thankless job Tommy has.
Ha ha. I think this is great article, but it does make for a fun discussion.
His readership is a bunch of undomesticated Eagles fans. We’re too far gone to change. Poor guy.
he didnt mean talent. he meant “potential talent” based on preseason games.
Again your reading comprehension sucks. They won this week, doesn’t that mean you melt away or something?
she’s a CK hater and Djax and McCoy lover.. so until CK is gone this chick will be rolling around these parts it seems..
Ey yo guy, we are heading into the 4th actual game of the season ya know? Preseason is done, its gone, its bupkiss. So a how about you, ya know join us.
Tommy, you forgot another similarity between this years team and the 2003 team. A dynamic young group of highly drafted wide receivers!
2015 – Algholar (1st round pick), Matthews (2nd round pick), and Huff (3rd round pick)
2003 – Mitchell (1st round pick), (Pinkston (2nd round pick), and McMullen (3rd round pick)
please compare the OL from 2003 versus 2015….specifically age…
BGN writer is trying to make the case that RM is better for this team than DM.
I wonder if his analysis will skip over the OL woes the 1st two weeks to make that argument.
I don’t know why everyone can’t just be happy about getting the ground game back up and running. With the oline being better imagine what we can do with both those guys.
This is how I feel. DM can be a beast, and I think if he plays Sunday he’ll show everyone what an angry runner looks like.
It really does not need to turn into a one vs. the other. We want a team and we will be a better team with both of them running. Just as we were all dreaming about during the offseason.
Rewind two years. My thinking back then if you asked me was that RM and DM were basically the same guy.
Think we are good at that spot.
Ha Ha. Earlier today, I said that this would be the manufactured controversy of the week.
You did, I remember that comment now.
Easiest prophecy in the history of the world.
True
it is hack city over there
Andy Benoit kind of supported that argument at MMQB:
http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/09/28/sam-bradford-struggles-philadelphia-eagles-chip-kelly-nfl-week-3
Strike one, two, and three.
Benoit is a dope.
I read him, if that’s alright w/you. I don’t always agree with him, but I’ve digested a lot worse.
His “anybody can run for 1500 yards behind the line of Dallas” nonsense has him on the Heath Evans list in my book.
The key elements are trust and cohesion…that 2003 team was a more veteran group and had been together through regular season and playoff fires before 2003. Reese, Westbrook, Dawk and others have stated the trust between the team and Reid was very important and the cohesion they were able to maintain crucial. Reid took the bullets for the team publicly and never wavered in demanding the team keep fighting. The players stated that made them respect Reid even more and the cohesion helped them not only weather the early season storm, but keep the momentum rolling. Unfortunately, similar issues reared their ugly head in the NFCCG.
I was very glad to see the Eagles respond for Kelly and pull this game out. I have no idea if the trust and cohesion are enough to do what needs to be done this season, but the team did respond and have several games in front of them that should be easier wins IF they stay and play together.
I wonder if the FO ever shouted out to Dawk about playing some role with the team? I mean, after his retirement.
He values his time with his family in retirement so he definitely does NOT want to get sucked into any kind of coaching role with the Eagles but I think there’s been some kind of role for him here-and-there behind the scenes. Was nice to hear him in the voice-over for the big hype video to kick off the season!
The trust and cohesion need to built. you can Practice all you want, but the ONLY way to build that trust and Coehesion is to face adversity and stay together instead of pointing fingers, and overcome the adversity as a team…
..
So far, so good… We had a rough 2 games, this city and the national media thru as much negativity imaginable at this team already this year. it was extremely Ugly, yet it didn’t break this team, specifically it didn’t break the OL that was under heavy fire these past two weeks,, we stayed together, and guys improved enough to not let an Elite Front 7’Dominate us… It’s a good sign how the Team responded…hopefully we can build on it and improve with each game that passes.
..
there is plenty that NEEDS improving, but every team can say that.. Growth is what matters, not how we looked in a September game..
.
..
You know I didn’t get to see a bunch of our games back in 03. Was a freshman in college in a small town and didn’t know where I could see them. I thought about the similarities, but having not seen those games I couldn’t be sure.
I waited on pins and needles for the DGR so much back then.
Just going from memory it was Tampa Bay and New England and that’s when Rush Limbaugh decided to run his mouth about black quarterbacks
Not a bad pickup for Carolina.
https://twitter.com/JayGlazer/status/648601460070977536
Jared allen?
Yeah.
Ha! yes that’s the reason why the defense stinks in Chicago…lmao!
Allen is cooked
Ho hoo Barbre gets blown up but the rest of the blocking was excellent.
Babre nearly stuffed that one up
Also that’s Tobin #64 at RG not Gardner #66, and he does a decent job. Not sure what Lane is doing exactly though.. are OL often taught to block using their backside?
boxing him out, trying to get the rebound
Yeah Fran missed that one.
Whatever works? At least he shouldn’t be called for holding. ;~)
Yes it’s called a box out technique.
In this clip, Peters looks like the scene in the movie “The Blind Side” where Michael Oher blocks the guy right off the field.
Ah crap
Excuse me Chip? I thought Parkey was 100% healthy going into the regular season.
Thanks for the Atlanta loss.
If you’re relying on a 40+ yard field goal to win you a game then you are not in a position to blame the kicker, that simple.
What I find simple is that we were told Parkey was fine going into the season. Now that’s proving to be less than the truth. I’m out for blood on this.
Chip Kelly hasn’t been straightforward with injuries…. ever. Last year we put Earl Wolff on IR after he had weeks of not showing up on the injury report. Last week CK said that Alonso might play he wasn’t ruling him out, which was patently, obviously false.
Can’t believe a word out of his mouth on the injury front.
And I’ll pillory him for that every time. I expect an Adam Scheffter / JPP medical chart stolen from the hospital level of info on injuries.
But I 100% agree that Chip is complete liar on injuries.
Something I have learned that might help you in the future:
Coaches don’t always tell reporters the truth.
Kiko’s knee might not be a sprain, Murray might not be fine this week, our guards might not have won the job with their hard work, it might not have always been Andy’s fault…
I demand truth……….or expect consequences on those who lie.
If you don’t want to be lied to about injuries, don’t read about injuries. Coaches are going to say whatever they believe helps the team, being honest to the fans doesn’t offer a competitive advantage.
Did it give the team a competitive advantage to have a guy who was pronounced well enough to be out there kicking when he clearly wasn’t well enough?
And the injury report is a mandated portion of a team’s information that needs to be released to the public each week. The league needs to tighten up that ship immediately.
That isn’t the right question. The question is whether it would have given the team an advantage to tell reporters, and by extension you and the opponent, that we were concerned about the health of our kicker. Clearly it would not.
As for the injury reports, if our coach was the 100% honest and forthright I suspect you would be critical of him giving out secrets while other coaches know how to play the game.
The other team will know though, when you dress up the guys. There is no tactical advantage(or disadvantage) to pointing out the extent of injuries. This problem doesn’t exist in the NBA. If it’s a torn ACL, it’s a torn ACL. If it’s an ankle sprain, it’s an ankle sprain.
I think the NFL and its boys(and sometimes the fans) overbloats their importance and that leads to this mind numbing thought process.
WTF? How can he be out for the season for an injury he was able to play on? WTF
I think with the other injuries we have, they need the roster spot and can’t afford to carry two K’s right now. Also can only put one player on IR-designated to return per season, so probly not best to use that on a K.
There is usually only going to be one kicker on the roster. So if injured for multiple games you either cut them or put them on IR (if they are OK with that). Sucks. We could end up with a kicker carousel this year if Sturgis doesn’t play well.
Could have cut Barner and added a temp kicker until Parkey was 100% healthy rather than playing Parkey hurt for the last 3 weeks.
now the spotlight will be and should be on the passing game. O-line themselves stepped up and said they needed to play better last week, took the blame. Coaches pointed to the o-line as well, and of course the fans and media were hyper focused on the o-line. Seems now attention should be on Bradford and wide receivers. Given the young age of Huff, Matthews and Aglohar, it would be good to see Bradford come out and try to take some of the attention away from the wide receivers, show some leadership as QB and a veteran, and say the passing game faults are on him.
Wide receivers and Bradford need some cohesion and chemistry built up now.
People keep saying Bradford now has better talent than he did when he was at the Rams. You have Jmatt and … and … and … and that’s about it…
Ertz is good, but i see what you’re saying.
Ertz caught a ball, you guys see that
…Sproles. that dude has been the best player on the team this year and was arguably the most reliable weapon last year
there is really no need to waste time over analyzing Bradfords performance, let me save you the trouble: simply not good enough… But far from the end of the world. for starters it could have looked more respectable if WR catch accurate balls that were dropped….people always make the mistake of overreacting to the most recent performance (good or bad), but this early in the season, ESPECALLY with so many new first time Eagles, what you see in September most likely won’t be what you see in November.. I see bradford get ripped and people making definitive statements about what he is, but he is clearly still getting back in the swing of things… the Great AP didn’t even miss an entire season and he was weak the first two games of the season and just now after game 3 he is saying that he is finally back to his old self… Is it that hard to believe that a QB who hasn’t played in 2 years, who is on a new team needs a few more weeks then AP needed to knock the rust off? You just watched what was the most pathetic OL performance in Eagle history 7 days ago, and in 6 days the OL significantly improved enough to run for 100 on the Jets Defense,, the way the OL played against Dallas, you would think the Jets front 7 was going to murder us, yet we saw a unit improve enough to have a respectable outing against such scary interior Lineman in Wilkerson and Leonard.
..
The bad we are seeing from Bradford is going to get better as he gets more comfortable, improves his timing with new teammates, gets to play behind an improved run game.. We aren’t seeing the best we will see fron Bradford, just like you didn’t see the best tbis OL was capable of against Dallas.
..
it’s bad enough he hasn’t played so long, but with coaches not playing important players in the preseason, it takes a few weeks in September for guys to get going (see AP)..
..
The biggest mistake people make is see a september game, and think thats a true Accurate representation of what the team will be all season.. even veteran teams that have been together for years will improve over the course of a season, so when you see a team with so many changes, you really can’t expect to see the same team in September that you will see in November..
..
it’s not the best team that enters the season that wins superbowls. It’s the teams that overcome injuries and improve the most over the course of the season that win… the Super Bowl Patriots team wasnt going to win anything if they didn’t improve on the Pats team we saw in September last year..
..
Even if going into this year you thought you would see a great Eagle team, you have to understand that they were going to need game experience, overcoming adversity together in order to become the team you expected to see this year… I don’t think any less of what the 2015 Eagles team will be then I did back in August, the ONLY difference for me is our STARTING POINT ISNT as good as what I expected it to be, but that doesn’t mean that I should lower my expectation for this team..
..
I see doom n gloom about the WRs, and im not happy with Huff or Agholar either so far, but unless you think Agholar is dumb and Lazy. He is going to Improve over the course of the season…
.,
There is no need to get in depth about Bradfords performance because it’s not good enough, but that’s not really important. What’s important is that SAM improves from one week to the next and that the rest of the team can step up and carry him early on while he is still getting back in the swing of thing…
…
Sure it be great for him to blow the doors off the first 3 teams and get off to a hot start, but that’s not our reality, and not for nothing but his supporting cast HASNT even been good enough to help get our QB comfortable.. I don’t know if SAM will be so good this year that we can make some playoff noise, but I am pretty certain that the QB we see in the second half of the season will be night and day different compared to the QB we see in September…
..
3 games under his belt, we should start seeing growth from one week to the next, but by the 6th, 7th game we,should start to see who he really is as a QB.. Continuity really does matter tho… No matter how much he improved, he can be really great by November, but if he stays healthy, I would expect to see an Even GREATER Bradford next year as his command of the offense becomes second nature to him, and his supporting cast improves
…
Bradford NEEDS to IMPROVE, yesterday is NOT good enough, but he,can’t do it alone, the entire offense to a man also needs,to improve… But we shouldn’t get too caught up with what we see in a september game, we NEED to be concerned with how Much this team.. Quarterly is how coaches look it. We NEED to see REAL growth every 4 games to become the team many thought we could be… It’s way too soon to think we can’t be as good as we thought, the ONLY thing that has changed is what our starting point was. growth over the course of the season is WHATS important.,, Hopefully these players can play looser now that we got the monkey off our back, BUILD on this solid team win, and finish the First Quarter Strong showing growth in a win against the skins…
.,
If after the bye week. I’m not seeing significant growth from the september starting point, THATS when I get concerned.. But If SAM stays healthy all year, there is probably nothing he can do to make me want to quit on his talent after one season.. Injury is the only thing that can make me want to quit on Bradford after this season…. Every time you get a new QB you have to start over, and we won’t ever be good enough until we have a QB who we believe in that we can keep in this system with a core group of players who will grow together over these next 3 years….
I’m down on a few players, but I’m not down on Bradford.
I’m down on Miles Austin, think he is shot!
..
I’m down on Huff since the Cowboys knew our offense better then him..
..
I’m down on Celek, tho I didn’t see if he improved any this past week.
..
I’m fine with the OL, think they will be just fine as they gain chemistry, we are also have a better understanding of how to block against a 3-4 since we practice against it, so I’m expecting to see us improve our run game a little more this week against the skins solid 3-4 front 7
..
Bradford I still have as much confidence in as I did after the GB preseason performance. I’m not down on him at All… Think he will be fine and we will see it click for him in the next 3 weeks..
..
I expect Agholar to show tremendous growth as the season goes on.. I feel like Jordan started slow last week until he broke out for those two TDs in the skins game where JP went after The scumbag Baker who cheap shotted Foles..
…
I really hope we aren’t going to lose Gardner for the season and it be great if Kiko came back at some point this year.. With Jordam Hicks playing so well, you can bet your ass Kendricks is going to heal up real quick.. Nothing rushes players back from injury faster then a young player filling in for them and having big performances..
..
I love the defense, and I think soon we will turn the sack faucet on and see a bunch of sacks in bunches that should elevate the play of the defense..
..
I’m down on our kicking situation..
..
I’m confident everywhere else, and I expect to see this team to be playing on a completely higher level by the time we come back from our bye week
I always love your optimism but I feared this when they traded for Bradford so part of me is clinging to not believing. I guess I can buy that he can ramp up, just not sure I believe its still rust after 3 games when its the same problems this season and going back to Rams days. Im down on the WRs but think they can be serviceable to a degree still. Austin may still have something. He was open a few times, in the end zone and if he leads him on that slant he might make that catch. D is starting to gel which really helps at this point, hope they can keep it up vs better teams and WRs.
Yea yeah, I talk good about a player and I’m an optimist, I rip Molk and Nate Allen and I’m a pessimist.,,
..
Bradford’s ability doesn’t worry me at all.. If he can stay healthy over the course of 3-4 seasons, I expect him to do some big things with chip… My only concern with him is injuries, if he can stay healthy, we found our QB..
Doubt he lasts that long unless he improves significantly, i dont think he gets a deal.
the Giants fans believe history will repeat itself
So happy we ran Parkey out there at less than 100%, lost the game to Atlanta due to it, and now lost him for the year.
Maybe cutting Barner, adding a 2nd kicker, and letting Parkey get back to 100% while inactive would have been a better move.
UNREAL>
Speaking of unreal, your ability to shoehorn the cutting of Barner into a scenario about kickers is top notch, sir. Kip Smith might have been a better option…
And my backup “should’ve cut” scenario was going to be Riley Cooper.
Tell me again why we’re paying $5 mil year for a 16 catch / 133 yard SEASON?
Because it isn’t financially feasible to cut him until after this year.. Not sure why anyone would want to cut coop at this point when you aren’t getting a damn thing out of Miles Austin or huff and Tutu is only hear to play St…
..
at least we got a key gritty block out of coop on the goal line that led to the Sproles TD… That single block was a bigger contribution to yesterday’s win then what we got from any WR Not named Jordan Mathews…
..
rIley will be cut when it makes financial sense to do so, March 2016..
..
And until we get something from our WRs, I’m fine with Coop.. Although I do wish we would at least throw an occasional jump ball or two his way.
..
You have to have some really crappy WRS for me to have bigger fish to fry then Coop… miles Austin has been a worthless turd and I’m still waiting to see a year 2 leap out of Huff… Agholar is the only one who’s play I will excuse…
Huff needs to go this week. Pulling himself out for games isn’t helping.
I hope so… But I’m looking for Ertz to have a big week after how he terrorized the skins for 15 catches in December..
..
I think Maxwel is ready to put on a show against Garcon…
…
Shut down the skins rushing attack, and hicks and Jenkins take Jordan Reed out of the equation and this should be the week we get our Swagger back, just in time to get it rolling so we can dominate the Giants in the trenches
My feeling about Ertz as well. I wonder if he’s still less than 100%.
The Redskins are as good a game to start to impose your will. They did well against the Jets, and the Skins don’t have a line like theirs. I’m hoping Murray plays too, because we could see a lot of runs in this game.
You’re missing the entire point that everybody is a possible target in my rage over losing to Atlanta over mismanaging the kicking situation.
Wrong year Tommy!
It is now really 2005 because we just lost a pro bowl kicker.
in 2003 — did the eagles have a CB that couldn’t cover a tortoise too?
Why would Correll Buckhalter be covering a tortoise? Was he a magician?
If rolling joints counts as magic, Buck was a pro.
then so am I!
get me in the game
Nigel Gruff is available. Ole ole ole ole!!!!
Not sure how Sturgis was a better option than Novak.
Fipp connection per chance?
He was signed right after Fipp came here.
Poor guess on my part then.
Just read he’s something like 62% from 40-49 & 46% from 50 plus. Ugh.
Yeah, this is exactly what our struggling offense needed.
TD or bust
time to go for 2!
Already posted this but hey:
Caleb ‘Low Rider’ Sturgis.
https://twitter.com/MikeSielski/status/648629651687014400
FG percentage past 40 yards is less than 70%. Don’t kick the ball there if you aren’t OK with missing 3 times out of 10!
edit: there are tons of charts that flesh this out
https://www.google.com/search?q=field+goal+percentage+by+distance&safe=off&espv=2&biw=1431&bih=806&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMIjfLQpeiayAIVkS2ICh0fIwxi#
I’m not ok with putting a less than healthy guy out there to do it. Have any percentages on that?
It’s funny because I bet in other sports you could probably come up with stats for sub-optimal-health players, but Football is a game of small sample sizes. So I see your facetious question and raise you with a serious and unhelpful answer 🙂
Well played!
he had the leg just not the direction though…
Who can’t think of a time he would have nailed it if it wasn’t for a groin problem?
Wait…
No Defense can say they held all 3 opponents to under 3.5 yards rushing besides the Eagles and we are doing it with a 3rd strong DE and a revolving door of ILBs to start the season….the real test is the skins game, physical run game, decent OL.. The front 7 has an opportunity to hand this division game to us on a platter.. Physical run game is the identity of their offense, you shut THAT down, score some points and force them to become one dimensional and ask Cousins to beat us, and it sets us up beautifully to win this skins game.. If our run defense shuts the skins RBs down, it should be a fun game for the defense..
..
Maxwells best ball is still ahead of him, but I’m glad people are seeing how solid Nolan Carroll can be in coverage.. if Rowe steps up and continues to grow giving us a 3rd corner with size, we can move Nolan to Nickel on 3rd down, play Rowe outside opposite of Maxwell and take Malcolm Jenkins out of man coverage and let him be a safety ball hawk along with Thurmond.,
..
Nothing will get your players to get healthy and comeback from an injury faster then young players who are replacing them playing their ass off… after what hicks did, I’d bet my bank account you see Kendricks on the field this week…
..
Seth Joyner as an analyst is typically pretty hard on the Eagles. He doesn’t sugar coat anything and there is Never a hint of homerism in his opinion/analysis, so it’s pretty cool to see how much he Raves over Jordan Hicks… I don’t know that we have had a rookie who has been so good, so quickily as Hicks has been… Very exciting to see what it looks like after Hicks gets a few weeks to really get comfortable and is flying around on the field with Kendricks and hopefully Kiko at some point…
..
Nothing is more important for rookie corners then confidence. I hate rookie corners, so I’m petty in awe of what I saw from Rowe in his first taste of action so early in his rookie year especially since last week when he was preparing, he wasn’t expecting to play so much defense in NY.. Rowe was called into action because we lost Maragos..
…
I can’t express the Joy of finally seeing two safeties play so well. And they are perfect mirrored safeties who both can man up in the slot.. bIlly davis and the coaches deserve a lot of praise for seeing the latent safety ability in Thurmond and get him to play at this level so soon, of course Walter deserves his share of the praise… But as great as Thurmond has been, PFF is absurd ranking him as the #2 safety in the NFL… What I do find really exciting is if Thurmond is playing this new position so well, this quickily in his transition, we should see him reach new heights after he gets half a season of safety experience under his belt… Malcolm Jenkins continues to prove to be the steal of free agency last year, he is playing as well as any safety in the league and as well as any Eagle… I think we will see Jenkins and Thurmond grow together into a scary mirrored ball hawk tandem..
…
I love how the defense has looked without getting a bunch of sacks from guys like Bg and VInny, But sacks come in bunches, once we start getting to QBs and the secondary Gels, this defense will really take off.. Hopefully as the season progresses we start getting a pass rush spark out of Ms2
I think Hicks is MVP of the season so far. Knocking out Romo might possibly but what gets us into the playoffs. That coupled with his great play.
Bair really showed as to why it’s important to have height on the DL. Part of the reason I’m really high on Mihalik.
They waived/injury Mihalik. They can bring him back after the season probably, but he’s not a part of the practice squad anymore.
Lol… whoops, wasn’t aware of that.
Anyone hear anything about the seriousness of Gardners injury?
..
Vinny Curry will have to go back to OLB because Papa Bair has earned The right to dress on game day. So if we move Vinny back to OLB we can activate the 6 other DL once Thornton and hart are ready to return. Bair needs to be in the rotation..
..
Chip needs to get Agholar and Huff the ball on a reverse, line up in the backfield and run wheel routes and some easy routes out of the backfield..
..
ERtz has to break out soon, and I wouldn’t mind seeing Burton get some snaps on offense..
..
Hopefully the OL and the run game can improve a little bit each week.. Excited to get Demarco behind an OL actually opening some holes and I think our media is pretty friggin stupid already ripping Murray and saying Mathews is a better fit as if Murray is a RB that likes to dance in the backfield..Murray will prove to be the top dog once the OL does what it did for Mathews… The media is also dumb with their bullshit narrative about how splitting carries doesn’t let our RBs get into a rythem as if plenty of teams today aren’t doing RB by committee… Sounds dumb to me to say that Mathews ran well because we let him get into a rythem when his best carry came on the first time he touched the ball yesterday when he got to the sideline, put his head down and punished the DB who made the tackle.. Murray will break his share of tackles and punish defenders and once our OL clicks all 3 RBs are going to be a menace for opposing defenses… Wear down the defense by moving the ball in the first half, wearing them down with Tempo and defenses will shit their pants when they see a completely fresh Mathews come into the game in the second half with the way he runs, trying to punish db who try and tackle him…. Dumb media already making it about Marco vs Mathews when we will need both!!
Matthews looked faster then Muray IMO.
I like the way that guy runs.
He is shifter and yes I do think he has better vision and patience.
and then pounds people!
Sprained foot. Will have to consider surgery. Les Bowen first reported. Season is in jeopardy
I haven’t watched tape and I could tell that Sammy hasn’t had a good game, but boy is he getting killed by all journalists and so called experts.
If our WRs AND RBs would have caught the ball, his stats and overall performance will be perceived more (fan) friendly.
Give that guy a break, please. Three games in after not playing for almost two years.
I will say this: he will start clicking against the Redskins. Just have faith!!!
I agree, the redskins game si where Sam has to get it going. it will be a battle and he better be ready for NFC east fights.
Bleeding green nation website is reporting that Gardner might be out for the rest of the year
yeah, Les Bowen is reporting it’s “the dreaded lis franc”
Bring Moffitt back?
That probably makes the most sense. I don’t think Bunche or Boyko are ready yet. Also looking at the names out there in the free agent pool, it isn’t pretty.
Though one name that does interest me is Barrett Jones. He was the swiss army lineman for all those championship Alabama teams when Stoutland was their line coach. Though, he hasn’t been able to stick to a roster yet and Stout hasn’t convinced Kelly to go get him soo…..
Today has not been a great day for the Eagles. Parkey on IR, Gardner likely headed there, and Alonso had an appointment with Dr. Andrews for a second opinion on his knee.
Comparing to 2003? Really grasping at straws. This team today is more talented than that team? – Highly, highly debatable. Doubtful, in fact.
Yeah I’m being a Negadelphian after a win, but they still look like garbage. I hope I’m wrong, but Kelly must go.
Why does Kelly have to go? Last time I checked his record is 21-14 so far.
0 playoff wins. 2-5 last 7 games including bad, bad losses. Team looked promising 2 years ago. Rapidly descending from mediocre to poor.
Hope I’m wrong, but if this continues it isn’t a question of whether Lurie fires him, he will be bolting back to the college game for 2016 or 2017 at the latest.
Let’s play this season out, shall we?!
Last time I checked we are one game behind the division leader with a frigging 3 games into the season.
Of course we’ll let the season play out, but its been 36 games with Kelly and the trend is downward.
20 other teams are within a game of 1st place. Means little right now. Look at how the team has played.
Again, I hope Chip figures it out and we really do resemble the 2003 squad and I’m completely wrong.
But hasn’t Kelly have to build his team first over the last two years?!
And none of the coaches of those 20 other teams should be fired at this point either.
Before we run a good coach out of town… who do you suggest we replace him with?
Castillo. Heard he’s a good DC.
Give this group some more time to gel. Next week again should show us allot. And if you think Kelly needs to go then it is going to be a long next couple of years for you because he will be here. I love Kelly so I think we are all set.
I blame Kelly for this mess, too, but i think you have to give him the season. And honestly, Lurie is going to give him time. He is a very patient owner.
You want Kelly to go after 3 games so we cant start all over again with a new coach, staff and system?
Bears having a fire sale. Call them up for Kyle Long.
Can we get Jeffries for Cooper?
Sold!
Gardener gone, fortunately we have a ton of depth along the OL.
Man watching Aaron Rodgers… #Envy
Perfect combo of athleticism, accuracy, arm strength, and football IQ.
Also his girlfriend is Olivia Munn, so I hate him.
I actually really like Aaron Rodgers, because he comes off as confident and assured without seeming like a total asshole like Peyton or Brady.
He might be a total tool in his private life but just based on public persona I like him a lot. I’ll never have a shot with Olivia Munn so I can’t hate him for that ;).
From what I’ve read/heard from people who have met him, they say he’s actually a really nice guy.
Also, I’m not sure that there’s been a QB who makes his receivers look so freakin’ good. James Jones leaves Green Bay and looks pedestrian. He comes back to GB and he looks awesome again.
Green Bay has lost like 3 receivers, including Jordy Nelson, and they don’t skip a beat. It doesn’t matter who they throw out there they’re gonna get their stats. Rodgers is the definition of the QB who elevates his receivers.
Yup. And you have to give Mike McCarthy some credit too. I’m not sure Rogers is the same QB going anywhere else.
Really? I was just going to say that Mccarthy has the easiest job in sports. What does he do all week for prep? Does anyone think he actually tells Rodgers what to do?
I do give him credit for developing him. McCarthy was hired in 2006, and Rodgers didn’t start until 2008. And that first year, he only went 6-10. McCarthy had a big hand in developing him into what he is now.
As for now…no McCarthy probably doesn’t have to do a whole lot. He just has to not over think things like he did in last year’s NFCCG.
The Packers were a mess when Rodgers took over, his offensive line was brutally bad, just brutally bad. I think in the long run though it was good for him, kind of made him battle hardened. There is not a pass rush he can’t handle after those first couple seasons, where he seemed to be getting crushed every other throw.
Oh absolutely, but it takes a good coach to not let your young QB crumble after that. Look at David Carr. The Texans were a mess and he got beat to hell. Lost all confidence. Rodgers took over a crappy team and developed into arguably the best QB in the game and more than likely a first ballot HOFer. That’s good coaching (as well as good work ethic from the player).
Could be. I just have a hard time imagining Mike Mccarthy having a hand in anything positive.
I can understand that. He has made some bone head decisions. i think he over-thinks things as most coaches are prone to do. If I’m him, I’m just relying on my all world QB to solve all my problems.
http://www.packers.com/team/coaches/tom-clements/bb67e02f-a2b1-4543-83af-00f437249c9f
i went to green bay last year when the eagles plaayed them. Outside of Lambeau there are a bunch of pre-game party tents and just outside one entrance there is a long building where they have a band and people are packed inside partying and stuff. Any way when i first got there and was taking pictures and stuff with my buddies the players were arriving in the parking lot. Rodgers rolled up in a Big black pickup truck and came right over to the fans to take pictures and chit chat, I noticed every player that showed up did this also….it was kinda cool that the players took the time to walk over and shake hands with fans when they could have easily just walked into the stadium….like they walked 100 yards out of their way to come over
I’ve heard the Packers have always had great interaction with the fans.
Probably a good thing considering the Packers are publicly owned organization.
He comes across as having a good sense of humor. I like him too.
He seems to act with class. His first couple of years must have been tough, first behind Farve and then replacing him. I never heard him utter a complaint or crass word.
Plus, he’s forgiven me for the little thing between Olivia and me.
Source?
Les Bown and Howard Eskin both reported it. Here’s Bowen’s tweet:
https://twitter.com/LesBowen/status/648647004638314496
Also Bleeding Green is reporting on it.
Damnit Rodgers, throw it to James Jones… Fantasy football is excruciating sometimes.
Watching packer home games are always so boring, always a blow out.
It’s kind of beautiful destruction though. When the Packers O saunters onto the field it’s kind of like ho hum time to go score another touchdown.
Another big similarity to that season? Westbrook’s punt return in NY that turned the season completely around. Not comparing talent, not saying things will turn around, just pointing out one huge similarity Tommy missed.
Ho hum 2nd and 18 pinpoint pass sideline first down.
I’m sure chip was having wet dreams of that after watching bradfords preseason.
I can understand a lot of Chip’s moves. A lot of us were on board with taking a risk to get over the hump. That’s the thing with risks — they dont always work out. Cant be on board with taking a risk then flame the guy when it doesnt work out.
The one thing that is just dumbfounding is the neglect of the O-line in the last two offseasons. That may be our undoing.
The good news and I hate to say this about anyone who gets hurt, but if we were going to lose an OL I would have hoped it would be Gardener. I shudder to think what it would mean for our season if we lost Kelce or Peters or Johnson for the year.
Travis Kelce getting wide open is remarkable. He’s the only one who is productive at all and they don’t have many threats otherwise.
Makes me wonder why we dont use Ertz more. It’s an embarrassment that Miles Austin gets more targets than Ertz
Blocking I guess. Seems a shame to waste someone with Ertz’s talent because of blocking but I guess it’s critical to what Chip wants to do.
I don’t think he’s 100% either. Looks slow to get up every time.
I think some of his production or lack of can be blamed on QB play
Still waiting for him to break out….
Just noticed Chiefs are loaded with safeties, Berry, Parker, Abdullah, Branch.
They can keep Branch. He’s getting massacred out there.
He was good with Raiders. But yeah not going to hold up vs. Cobb
So are we!
Yep having 2 does feel like loaded
James Jones touchdown wins me a bunch of money. Make it happen Rodgers.
GAHHHHHHHH so close to TD jones.
YESSSSSSSSS
congrats!
Rodgers is getting ridiculously good at catching people getting off the field slow-ish, and at drawing people offsides getting himself lots of free plays. Brady-esque use of the rules…
i swear it’s an art the way he does it, he gets it once a game where he can take a shot deep on a free play
I wonder how awesome it would be if we had a QB with a good hard count. Imagine the offense using the crazy fast tempo and then the QB starts using a hard count, boom free play.
Why do DL always pause when they are offsides…
Might as well hit the QB anyway
What was Alex Smith doing at the end of the half there? You have 8 seconds and on your side of the 50 and you…scramble?
Eagles open up as 3.5 point favorites at Washington
I was hoping we would be the underdogs
according to Mark Schlerth the Skins are the crown jewel of the NFC east….i mean didn’t they completely dominate the line of scrimmage against NYG????
Packers-Patriots Super Bowl?
i think AZ will play for the NFC
I don’t see them beating the Packers