Minor Personnel Moves
Posted: September 21st, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 501 Comments »The Eagles made some changes on Monday. This has nothing to do with the 0-2 start. This is the typical bottom of the roster shuffling that goes on all year for all 32 teams.
QB Stephen Morris was cut. The Eagles added veteran QB Thad Lewis to take his place. Lewis played for Pat Shurmur in Cleveland so there is familiarity there.
#Eagles plan on bringing QB Stephen Morris, just released from the 53-man roster, back to their practice squad.
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) September 21, 2015
It sounds like the Eagles have some long term interest in Morris, but just don’t think he would be ready to get on the field if needed this year. Lewis is meant to be a #3 QB. He doesn’t have upside and isn’t good enough to be a starter or primary backup. Good practice player with enough skill that he could be functional if needed in a game situation.
The Eagles have worked Lewis out a couple of times so they have had an eye on him.
Maybe Lewis can help in practice.
*****
The Eagles cut TE Connor Hamlett from the practice squad and added TE Chris Pantale. There were reports that Pantale had been signed a couple of weeks ago, but he wasn’t healthy at that point. I guess he is now.
Pantale played for Ryan Day at Boston College. He has good size and potential as a blocker. Could challenge for a roster spot in the future, but might be another player that is here to help with practice.
*****
Seeing old friends Todd Herremans and Trent Cole playing for the Colts is not fun. Herremans looks to be struggling. Cole isn’t getting a lot of pressure.
Herremans has at least one holding call in this game.
Evan Mathis had one vs KC.
Allen Barbre had one vs Dallas.
I don’t recall if Andrew Gardner had one.
No conclusions intended. Just happened to watch the games and see them get flagged.
*****
There are a couple of differing reports out there on Kiko Alsono’s knee injury. Not sure what is true. Keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best.
*****
Per Brandon Lee Gowton, DE Cedric Thornton broke a finger and could be out a couple of weeks.
Ugh. Taylor Hart would likely take his spot as a starter, with Brandon Bair getting a chance to play as a reserve. Hart looks to be a player on the rise, but he’s not as good as Thornton right now.
_
Think the plan is to have Thad Lewis start and let opposing defenses wear themselves down blowing by the O-line to hit him. Then they’ll put in Bradford.
Chip is an unconventional thinker, you know, and the offense doesn’t work in the 1st half anyway.
Why not put Peters,Lane Kelce on oneside and see what happens lol
seriously, just split gardner out wide and maybe he can block for a WR or something.
I feel like Barbre has been much worse tho
Picking between Gardner and Barbre right now is like choosing to eat horse shit or donkey shit for dinner. The worst part is that their play is so bad that Kelce was hesitant all day Sunday and was gettin thrown 5 yards into the backfield fairly regularly. The whole interior of the oline is a dumpster fire in the truest sense of the word.
Put Celek in at Guard. It’s over. They can’t replace either of those guards. There is nothing they can do.
They also have only 4 running plays. The defense knows exactly what the Eagles are doing.
Trollollolloll
I’m still trying to get over yesterday. I’ve never so decisively flip-flopped before. I went from staunch optimist to “the sky is falling, we’re going 0-16, Chip Kelly is Steve Spurrier and Matt Millen’s love child.” That was the most inept football I have ever seen by any NFL team. If the Eagles keep playing like that, I think Chip would actually have to be fired. I never thought I’d be saying this.
This describes my mentality exactly. I’m trying to stay positive but that was some ugly stuff yesterday.
I feel exactly the same. Some things are just so horrific you can’t get past them. Makes me feel like everything that happened in the offseason was one big fraud.
I felt the same way. But, I think we have to realise that what happened sunday was an anomaly. Not just for this team, players and coach who have all had a lot of succes these last two years, but for NFL-teams, generally, historically. I mean, 7 yards rushing. No NFL-team in the modern era have ever been consistently that bad. And neither will this one. That doesnt mean that the eagles will suddenly be good again, this might be a bottom-of-the-league team. But we should comfortably expect som (a lot) of regression to the mean in the upcoming games. I at least am staying interested for the upcoming games. It will be very interesting to see what kind of a team that shows up these next couple of weeks. If its much improved we can allow ourselves to believe that Chip is still in control of the proces. If not though we have to conclude that he is over matched or that the team has quit on him.
Ah, remember the good ol’ days, when we feared regressing to the mean was going to drag us down? Now, we yearn for it.
It’s easy to imagine that replacing our two current guards with just average level starters could have a domino effect that would make us look ten times better. There’s a lot of talent there. Chips scheme has proven to be a good one even if defensive coordinators have caught up a bit. It just seems to compound things when stuff goes bad. Kelly’s scheme actually depends on being predictable. He wants the other team to think it knows where the plays going, so when we throw in a trend breaker it goes for a huge gain against an over pursuing defense. But, that requires that the predictable plays where the defense guesses right still move forward even if it’s just 3-4 yards. When those plays go for negative yardage, Chip never gets an opportunity to play games with the defenses mind by suddenly breaking tendency and switching back and forth so they don’t know what’s coming. We get in obvious passing situations. Everything compounds and the offense gets super predictable. The oline play is killing us. If our defense held the Cowboys to 13 points while our offense moved the ball consistently that game would have looked much better.
THe Jets are going to be REALLY tough. I don’t see them turning it around next week.
They can play much better and still lose to the Jets. My point is; there is no way they are going to be this bad for 16 games. I think its statistically impossible. Even the 0-16 Lions played much better and put up better stats.
Chip gets one more year regardless of outcome in my humble opinion. If they miss the playoffs this year and next he’s back in college in 2017.
“miss the playoffs” — Is that 3-12 or 9-7? You saying we’ll have sit through two 3-12 seasons before he’s fired?
Lurie is very patient so probably. Unless the team completely mutinies against him this season he isn’t going anywhere
regardless of record this year, I think Lurie is patient and gives him one more year to work this out. If results don’t improve this year and they look just as bad next year he’s gone. But, I also think that if he goes 8-8 this year and 8-8 next year, he’s probably gone. Needs to make playoffs one of the next two years or else.
Are you on drugs? You would take 14 more games of the dog crap they put up on Sunday? Noway. There is no hope if they continue to play that poorly. He will be fired mid season if they keep it up.
Yep. If it is THAT bad EVERY game, then Chip should be fired. He still has a lot of good will to burn through, so it would be incredible if he got fired.
Don’t feed the trolls
No I don’t want 14 more games of this crap. But, I don’t think Lurie is a reactionary owner that will hand Chip full control, watch his team make a ton of changes and then can him mid year when they aren’t working immediately. If the Eagles go 8-8 this year or hell even if they only win 4 or 5 games, I still think Chip gets one more off season from Lurie to straighten things out. If the results are more of the same next year he get’s canned no doubt and we start over. But, there’s no chance whatsoever that Lurie fires Chip mid season after a crappy start after all the power he gave him and all the changes that were made this year.
If the Eagles start 0-7 Chip Kelly is fired at the bye week
Here’s the group I belong in. There’s the group that’s blindly believing everything that’s happening is always roses. There’s the other group that hates everybody including CK. Then there’s this group. Believers that feel betrayed. The overly optimists say “this can be fixed” (ah, no shit) to the CK is being fired. Where I’m at is – I have no idea(really no one does) what’s going to happen this week. They can rally. They can regress. Peters can blow a hammy to really put the icing on……
…..
One change I’d like to see is at RB. Mathews impresses me more right now.
I would say the bright spot is that the Cowboys also play almost as poorly – even before Romo went down. The NFC East is a hot steaming mess, a .500 team will likely make the playoffs!
Sad day to be an Eagles fan (what am I saying that’s every day) smh
Ex-Eagle Frank Gore had a costly fumble today. It is still tuff to see him in a Colts uniform after being such a popular eagle for so long.
He was never an Eagle
ah…
You played a joke on a complete joke, some people aren’t as smart as they think they are. That, along with the retarded, incoherent ramblings of another know it all, make this quite the site. Im bipolar, manic, crazy, thats my out.
You always seemed quite normal to me. 🙂
It really hurt when Bowles took that photo with Gore, Cole, Herremans, and Jarrett.
That Jets defense though…
Maybe we should have just paid for Revis.
yup
culture beats talent, so no.
Because it’s madden and you can make players come.
If you have the money, you bet you can. Although Chips sleeping/eating regimen probably turns people off.
He got 5 years $70mil with 41 guaranteed from a team he’s comfortable with.
He’s 30.
You were going to have to pay QB money to a 30 year old CB to outbid that. I don’t care how good he is that is just dumb.
He probably would’ve gotten exposed here anyway.
i don’t think revis is all about the $$.
PFF ranks maxwell 97 of 99 of CBs ouch
Some of this has to be because of scheme. I refuse to believe he is that bad in general.
Yeah, all CBs don’t look good in this system. Though I never liked Sconces.
Alot of it has been stuff that isn’t his fault. Alot has been in breaking routes when he’s in cover 3 or deep crossing routes in man where the QB has 5 seconds to wait for the CB to outrun him.
He hasn’t been good, but that 14-15 for a billion yards and a thousand TDs and a perfect QB rating is misleading as well.
i mean it’s clear he has limitations — speed, not sure if he’s doing a good job of jamming, think scheme needs to help him
As long as Cary Williams and Bradley Fletcher are 98 and 99 it’s an improvement…
2015 Jets defense:
10 points allowed.
9 turnovers (6 fumbles, 3 INTs)
That is…. well…… maybe Bowles should have stuck around. lol!
None of what happened in 2012 was his fault.
I know, in a way, its a shame he could have been a replacement for Andy or at least Chip could have hired him as DC instead of Bill Davis.
With the lack of pass rush we’ve seen this year, I’d sure like to see more Vinny Curry. I really thought cross training him at OLB was a means to get him on the field more. Unfortunately it seems to have had the opposite effect, he’s seeing less time overall, rarely has his hand in the dirt attacking, and when he gets in at OLB it seems to be in more obvious running situations and he’s taken off on passing downs. Ugh, what a waste of a really good pass rushing specialist. Makes me hate MS2 even more. I really had high hopes for him and thought he looked the part. Still haven’t seem much from him. Let’s hope the light goes on. The physical tools are there though.
Billy seems content to rush 4 on most plays. He also seems content to split an ILB out wide to cover a RB. Then teams attack the middle of the field on us or exploit the mismatch on the outside.
I think the defense played well in spite of the scheme. We have a ton of talent and there were IMO lots of ways Dallas could have exploited us and didn’t. If they had Dez, we would have been blown out.
I’m not of fan of Billy D, and his defenses have never been above 20th in the league.
The options right now when they line a back up out wide are to move a LB out or move a safety out and play cover 0. I’ll take the LB mistmatch over 5 verts v man w/ no safety.
Curious about what happened to the Dime. Seems like that’s the defense which would be good for that. Are the rest of our DBs that bad?
Can’t play dime against 11.
Got it.
This one thing still doesn’t get me excited about Billy D. 🙂
I mean we do the same thing when we run 11 with Sproles and Ertz. If they stay in base you split them out. If they run nickel it’s an even matchup If they go dime you run on their asses.
Our starting ILBs can carry the back for 30 yards and force him to the sideline so the QB has to make a hell of throw to make it work (ie when they tried it against Kendricks earlier).
The front four aren’t getting pressure so Davis either has to play base coverage and hope they get there or has to play cover 1 and send help.
The only real criticism of Davis this year that I find valid is he was probably a drive or two slow to turn the heat up against Atlanta. Considering the offensive struggles the D has played more than well enough.
Is there no way in this scheme to double-cover someone like Julius Jones who was abusing us? Sounded like Atlanta was in max-protect most of the time, and if we rushed four, that left 7 defenders to cover what, 2-3 receivers? Yet it seemed like Maxwell was just left hung out to try one on one with Jones. Maxwell isn’t *that* good. Genuinely curious, as I don’t know defensive schemes to the point of knowing what Davis’ realistic options are. But the Giants seemed to shut them down a lot better and they don’t exactly have a sterling secondary. But yes, there was little to complain about the defense in the Dallas game.
They played zone initially and we got no pressure so they had all day to throw.
So we loaded the box and brought pressure. You can’t realistically blitz and double a WR. You still have to account for all receivers/zones. You can’t say “well they have kept the RB and TE in so fuck it” and not account for them. Because that gets you a back or TE leaking out into the flat or a 5 yard hitch with the nearest defender 20 yards away.
We played Dime against the Cowboys. Billy Davis said we hadn’t practices dime in a few weeks, but that we had to activate our dime package on the sideline after we lost our ILB depth with Kendricks and Kiko going down.. On the fly we had to activate our dIme package and had to ask rookie Hicks to handle the lone LB responsibility in our dime package.. All things considered, was proud of how Jordan Hicks handled it…
…
If Kendricks and Goode are available against the Jets, I assume we go back to our Nickel Package, but the fact that Jets like to take shots down field with 4 WRs, we may need our dime package this week even if we have two LBs we trust in coverage allowing us to play nIckel
Vinnys contributions thus far:
Offsides giving Dallas a first down on 3rd down.
Unneccesary roughness on the very next play.
I havent seen much pass rush from ANY of our OLBs.
Barwins done a solid job.
Graham has done pretty much what I expected, which is to say he lacks the repertoire to be the exclusive rusher off the right edge.
Currys agility against interior linemen is neutralized to an extent coming off the edge.
My biggest concerns so far about the OLBs is they aren’t setting the edge in the run game as well as they are capable of. In the past, our OLBs have been excellent at setting the edge in the run game, partly because it was a strength of Trent Cole, but Barwin and BG have also been extremely good at it in the past… So far it hasn’t been horrible, not it hasn’t been anywhere near as stout as we were last year when our OLBs set the edge as well as anyone in the league…. Barwin and BG need to turn it up a notch, both against the run AND generating a pass rush…
It’s funny to read all the Luck haters now. Evaluating QB talent is not your strong point…
….
Sounds like the Colts organization is a mess right now. Pagano seems to be ‘dead man walking’ right now. (I think they talked last night about) Pagano turned down an extension and this is his last year. He and the GM do not get along at all. Maybe the players are feeling those management struggles as well? I didn’t know the Colts had that much of roster turnover either.
….
Did they say last night that 8(or 9?) of the defensive starters for the Jets were 1st round picks?
I am looking for all those Luck haters you speak of. Did they all run away?
read yesterdays article…
Luck is a very good QB, but he does throw too many I’s.
he sure does. He’s still a young pup though. I don’t like the Colts situation right now. As much as a mess as the Eagles…
they look as bad as us
Depends on if you want to count Richardson as a starter, since he Wilkerson and Williams are all more DEs and he’s suspended right now but if you do:
1st round:
Wilkerson
Richardson
Williams
Coples
Pace
Cromartie
Revis
Pryor
2nd round:
Harris
Gilchrist
3rd:
Demario Davis
wow. somebody did some homework to get that team together and I refuse to give Rex any credit.
Coples is pretty blah.
Pace is like a billion years old.
Revis and Cromartie were both expensive FA.
The DL are all great but took a lot of investment.
Pryor was trash last year.
Harris is just an old school thumper.
Gilchrist was a smart FA signing
Davis is a slightly taller slightly less playmaking Kendricks.
Davis and Wilkerson were really the only great picks.
All that investment has hurt them from building an O though.
Grigson is a godawful GM
Andy Reid went to Kansas City and built a team. Chip Kelly in the same year came to Philadelphia and destroyed a team.
LOL. Andy Reid inherited a great defense, just like he did in Philadelphia.
Look at his posts. He’s a troll. Prolly a cowboys fan
Chip Kelly inherited a great offense. What’s your point? The Chiefs are good now. The Eagles suck now. Who’s the better coach?
Hey dummy troll – Chip Kelly inherited a 4-12 team. Stellar offense there!
Shady McCoy Desean Jackson Brent Celek A stellar offensive line in its prime….are you kidding me. Do you know what a good offense even is? You are stupid.
Do you know what 4-12 is? I know a good offense wins more than 4 games! And Celek is still here. Jackson hasn’t done crap since he left Philly. And so far this year McCoy has been horrible.
You trolls sure are moronic!
Yeah, the Eagles were terrible in 2013 and missed the playoffs. Oh that’s right, they were good and won the division. Chip deserves a lot of criticism for 2015 and I’m outraged by him now, but you can’t act like he’s never had success here before. That’s just whitewashing history.
What if you’re mentally ill? Doesnt that give him an out? Andy’s last year 4-12. Chip’s next two years, same guys, 20-6. GM though, not looking so hot.
Just go away. You have nothing positive, productive, or insightful to offer. We all recognize the trolling. Yay. You win. You annoyed a bunch of people on the internet. Now you can go back to downloading DDOS kits from Finnish websites to launch “hacks” on random news websites, and continue to virtually assault women on videogame comment boards. At least until Mom and Dad forget to pay the internet bill.
You go away. I am smart. You are dumb.
LOL Andy Reid has made the playoffs as many times as Chip Kelly since he left. Chip took Andy’s 4-12 team and made it 10-6. 10-6 didn’t get them in last year though 7-9 got Carolina in. They have the same exact record the first two seasons, Andy is 1 up on him this year and personally lost one of the games already, should be 2-0. . He ran the ball with 27 seconds left and one timeout. Not going for FG range, just running out the clock. Andy Reid is a living joke, if he had the 70’s Steelers’ team they would have 0 Super Bowls. I hope his parents keep paying the bill, it’s funny to watch Pat Robertson crazy mad over the Tebow cut.
We need to just stop responding to this troll, and really get on Tommy to ban idiots like this that infect the boards with this kind of nonsense. I’m all for allowing open discussion and letting every view point free range to be expressed. But, it’s clear that this is just an antagonistic fool that’s having fun ruining our nice little community here.
Any orthopods out there? How concerning is it that a player who’s tore the same ACL twice now has a partial tear? Is that something that should return to full strength after 2-4 weeks like the most recent report states, or is his graft now permanently weakened and it’s only a matter of time before it snaps again?
Is a partial tear just a sprain, what is a sprain anyway?
A sprain is a partial tear.
What I don’t know is if the ACL regenerates at all. I know the MCL does, and I know if fully torn the ACL must be surgically reattched, but I don’t know if it can heal if it’s partially torn (especially since it’s not the original). ACL sprains aren’t terribly common.
Might be surgery either way. But, in this article the doctor says they repair the torn part, not the part that is normal.
http://www.howardluksmd.com/sports-medicine/partial-anterior-cruciate-ligament-acl-tears/
interesting, yeah the original can heal, if it tears basically there is no way for the frayed ends to span the gap and fuse back together so it requires surgery. The surgery is basically stitches, holds it back together until it fuses, which is why it takes so long to recover. Transplanted ACL, I’m not sure.
Something else I found, that relates to the article. If it’s not too bad of a tear, he may be able to return.
https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/646312490893225984
Doesn’t sound like it from this
David J. Chao, MD @ProFootballDoc 11h11 hours ago
Once an ACL is stretched/loose, does not tighten up even if it “heals”. Partial ACLs don’t do well in NFL long term. Hope #Kiko bucks odds.
ah, maybe that’s why they end up doing surgery bring the partially torn portion of the ligament back together rather than letting the gap fill in and become prone to a tear.
We dont really have to worry about long term. We need it to last through the season and then get fixed.
But a 9-12 month rehab I would rather do now than in January an take him out all of next season.
Think that may be why there is some uncertainty.
Do you shut him down now, be cautious with him next year PUP him to start and hope he’s all the way back, or do you brace it and essentially have a ticking time bomb that may limit his effectiveness.
almost the worst outcome.
Essentially. A sprain is when the ligament gets stretched out. There’s obviously some tearing of the fibers as they stretch passed the point that they can handle, but it’s not a compelet tear. It’s being called a grade II sprain. That means that there is a sprain (or some light microscopic tearing, injury to the ligament fibers) but that there is no instability in the knee joint due to the injury.
My question is mainly for actual orthopods who deal with this injury a lot. My fear is that with ligaments (of all types) having poor blood flow and slow recoveries, is that the microscopic tearing/injury from the sprain/stretching of the ligament will weaken this graft and make it a lot more likely that it tears if he comes back. Most knee sprains take a few weeks to heal and for athletes to return to full action, and I’m not certain if sprains in general increase the risk of complete tear in healthy individuals. But, in a graft ligament that has some minor partial tearing, what’s the overall prognosis and chance of causing a bigger injury? That’s what I don’t know.
The big problem with ligaments is they have an extremely limited blood supply which limit their ability to heal on their own. Ligaments are made of collagen produced by fibroblasts and while the blasts have a good supply when creating the collagen, once the job is done the blasts numbers recede and so does the blood supply. Because the ACL is a support structure with limited blood supply I would assume a partial tear can be played on. The question is, what critical percentage of tear can you not support NFL caliber movements? 50% 75%? Im not sure.
Nobody can answer as the actual diagnosis hasn’t been released.
I want celek at guard.
No you don’t. He did not block well at all on Sunday.
riley Cooper gets my Vote….if he is going to make millions of dollars to block, stick him on the OL
He didn’t? I didn’t really watch him so I just made an assumption. Never mind then.
This week sucks. Still struggling with the question, what the hell happened? OK, poor execution across the board, but why? It almost always starts somewhere, as everything is linked. If everyone is really to blame the season is done. Can’t fix the whole team. This pretty much sums it all up (refresh).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ghnz-tyS9E
You are a stronger Man then I am… I’ll watch all the defensive snaps against the Cowboys, but I don’t have the stomach to watch that offensive performance on Film..
Interesting tweet from Lombardo.
https://twitter.com/MattLombardo975/status/646312849845817344
Kelce has been bad… Very concerning
https://twitter.com/Eagles/status/646307109039161344
He’ll be back.
Tweet from 2034:
“Player ABC was placed on IR. The Eagles have signed 47 year old Julian Vandervelde to the roster. Vandervelde was performing at the Des Moines opera house last Sunday”
hillarious. That boy can sing though. Saw him at flight night when Andy’s son passed away. That was sad.
Fran Duffy got his All-22 up.
https://twitter.com/Eagles/status/646318774967246848
all-22 is awesome … but a few questions. 1 – is the Dallas DC smarter than CK? Eagles never accounted for/adjusted to the blasting of the ‘b’ gaps. 2 – Eagles ‘hope’ dallas was in man … WTF is that? That statement can’t be true. ‘Hope’? I thought this offense was ran against what the defense is giving. Now the offense is hoping?
…..
People keep saying it was a team wide problem. Doesn’t that blame then move to the coaches? This offense wasn’t prepared for that Dallas D line.
Yeah, the offenses struggles is all about the coaches too.
Rod Marinelli is a very good DC (bad HC). He was the guy I was hoping we’d hire in 2012, as he was a 4-3 guy of high regard, but Chip was adamant about the 3-4. Rod specifically is a D-line guru. Gets great play out of no-name guys. Consistently gets bad talent to over-achieve.
“People keep saying it was a team wide problem. Doesn’t that blame then move to the coaches? This offense wasn’t prepared for that Dallas D line.”
This is exactly right. If the defense is doing something that is causing at least one person on the line to miss a block on every running play, then it seems like we need a better solution than “the players just need to execute better.”
Play 1: Thats on Barbre. It should be hand check the DT with his right hand, when he doesn’t feel pressure he needs to check for a pinching DE before working to the second level. The running scheme can handle this. It’s not going to be a big gainer but either he blows up the DE and his momentum and the back can get outside or he washes him wide and the back cuts up.
Play 2: Bit of bad luck. Good play call by the D. It happens. Kelce still has to avoid that DL.
As far as hoping they are in man that’s part of the chess match of football. The crossing concepts are a man beater. The cowboys called zone. It happens. You just take Ertz get 4 yards and live to fight another play.
I would think Peters n guards would go back to the sidelines and say the are crashing the B gaps and “this is what we need to do”. I can only assume they did that but never answered for it. If I’m the Jets, I take note. Took the Eagles out of their game plan for sure. How to fix that will be interesting…
That’s why I’m so confused. It’s like they didn’t work stunts/fronts at all. The scheme is fine they just aren’t doing their jobs.
OD talked about Seattle and Miami having issues with the same plays. Have defensive coordinators figured this out?
The biggest issue all three teams have is poor OL play.
Every film breakdown I’ve seen has jived with what I’ve felt: It’s like 85% execution, 15% scheme struggles.
exactly what I was thinking in both your posts. Why did they not seem to be able to adjust at all throughout the game, its nuts. Same things kept happening. Coaches are to blame but also players have to improve, where they seem to digress and get more frustrated.
Bad week to not have Kendricks or Kiko.. hopefully Kendricks can play Sunday, because those Jets like to lineup with 4WRs and take shots downfield, so if Kendricks doesn’t play, we will have to trust hIcks being the Lone LB in our Dime package..
..
losing Thornton for a few weeks is rough, thankfully sounds like Kiko isn’t lost for the season
..
Eagles get a break with Dekker missing the eagle game on a short week.
..
Our offensive struggles against the Jets D is a scary thought.. At least they don’t have Sheldon
Per Howard Eskin, Kendricks tells him the hamstring injury isn’t bad, Kendricks thinks there is a chance he can play this week. Honestly though, these things can really linger, so the coaches might hold him back anyway just to let it get right. Can’t really push a hamstring injury.
I heard both that he can play this week, and I heard that he will have to miss 2-3 games.,,, no idea which is true…. Hopefully he wakes up tomorrow feeling well enough to give it a go in practice….. It may come down to the Rookie having to step up, and fortunately the game didn’t seem TOO BIG for Hicls against dAllas. And if it has to play this week I assume he will be better prepared them this past game.. Fingers crossed of course
Would Barwin be a better option over Hicks in the Dime LB role?
I don’t think so… Najee is good (no pun) enough I’m coverage to play dime, but I doubt we can throw him on the field 6 days after we sign him…… Hicks is faster, and we aren’t generating enough of a pass rush to be able to remove Barwin from hunting QBs… was Brad Jones activated last week? Not sure what he can do in coverage
If we can’t run the ball against the jets tough defense, it will be a long day… You do NOT want Bradford attempting 50 passes against Revis and the Jets D..
..
If we don’t get the run game going Sunday, god help us
The only hope is that a non-division rival won’t be as prepared/won’t have their players as prepared as a divisional rival. They will likely copy the game plans for week 1 and week 2, but they might not understand the nuances as well as Atlanta that spent the summer preparing for us, and a division rival who is very familiar with us.
Otherwise the Jets have way more talent than either of the previous 2 teams we face. It could be ugly.
it’s todd bowles he saw us twice in az
Yep, gave us fits with the double A gap blitz I believe. We seem more vulnerable than ever to that plan. Just trying to have, some positive outlook.
The only other thing: statistically speaking, it’s almost impossible for us to continue the offense’s abysmal pace. Simple regression (progression in this case?) to even a terrible mean should mean improved performance.
If we can’t run against 8 in the box Sunday, our season is over…, they are going to put 8 in the box and dare us to throw and our young WR won’t consistently beat Revis, Cromartie and Skrine, so if chip says we can’t run because they have 8 in the box, our season is over, falling to 0-3 and probably getting Bradford hurt
..
We are done unless chip drops his ego, and puts enough Blockera in the game to be able to not abandon the run against am 8 man front… We won’t be able to become one dimensional, pass all game and win against this defense, establish the run early when they dare us to throw against am 8 man front or the season is over l..
…
We have to go with a Heavy formation early, but 3 TE in the game (line up Tobin and Andrews) as the extra TEa along with Celek if you have to.. You Can NOT afford to sit in your 3 WR sets and not attempt to run because they have 8 in the box.
..
But, if we can go heavy and run the ball early, score on the first two
Drives, not only will our tempo start to kick in and losses up the Jets defense, but it also opens up our play action…
…
If Chip says after the game, that we had to pass because they kept 8’ij the Box, it means out season is over..,, Gut check time for Chip and the OL
Yeah, we have to make adjustments. We are way too stubborn. And that has been a feature in this era, absolute faith in our system. We need to be willing to do other things, keep them honest.
Absolutely… These are scary times for eagle fans.. Will this coach prove that he will make whatever necessary adjustment to win? Or is he too stubborn and is only concerned with winning HIS way? If it’s you that he doesn’t care how we score as long as we score, then we better be practicing a HEAVY 3TE Power run formation for when the Jets put 8 in the box daring us to throw..
.,
If they put 8 guys in the box, we have to keep 8 big boys in to block and still pound the ball down their throats.
..
And since everyone is calling out our plaus, how about a reverse to Agholor? Or a Flea Flicker? Double pass? Do something unexpected to keep the defense on their towed… Hopefully he adjusts to whatever it takes, instead of being stubborn and pissing away the season
Whoa I see a Captain Obvious commercial coming up here.
out of all the surprise 0-2 teams, Eagles, Seahawks, Colts, Ravens, I think we easily have the most manageable road to climbing out of this mess and winning the division, but it’s far from a given..
..
Right now, we aren’t playing Physical enough to beat the redskins. Skins aren’t good, but they are playing a physical brand of ball and if we don’t grow a pair and match their physicality, we won’t beat the skins… But if we can get it together, jumping the skins in the standing is very manageable..
..
THe Giants are a mess and they are the weakest team in the division in terms of the trenches..
..
Cowboys are in trouble, Weeden was completely shut down last year against teams like the Cardibals and he had Demarco and Dez at the time, how Weeden is supposed to hold up with this average group of weapons is not an easy proposition.., Cowboys are going to have to win games on the defensive end and I don’t see that defense being capable of carrying them..
..
The division is still there for the taking. This is about as week of division competition as we could ever hope for, but until we get our heads out of our asses and handle OUR business, what are rivals are up to means nothing..
…
As terrible as this 0-2 start has been, we are 1 game behind what is now the toughest team in the division, the redskins… Even if we were to lose against the Jets and skins win Saturday, being 2 games down to such an average team is manageable, but with as bad as we are playing, is not about what the other teams can do until we handle our own business and start playing at a level we think we were capable of..,
…
If you have to start 0-2, you will never have a more manageable road to getting back to the top of the division, then what awaits us this year in this mess of a division.,, but until we get it together, the opposition doesn’t even matter. Sunday we didn’t play well enough to beat any of the crappiest teams in the league., hopefully we can start playing up to our potential..
..
iTs all about winning that first game, the longer it takes to get the first win, the heavier the monkey on our back gets.. We just need 1 win to get this started, one win for us to loosen up, not play so tight and start having fun on the field again.,, you really don’t win football games unless you are having fun, and there has been nothing “fun” about the Eagles so far this season
“we easily have the most manageable road to climbing out of this mes” BWHAHAHAHAH
That’s troll on troll crime.
Aren’t you a little too old to be on my dick like some daily groupie? It’s bad enough dealing with the state of the Eagles without grown men acting like petty trashy cunts. Lol poor excuse for a man
Get you upset pussy boy?
LOL pop another pill you crumb hahahahaja thanks for the laugh, find a better way to get attention then being fixated on me.. I gave you more
Attention then usual, be thankful, pop another pill and go back to being irrelevant and invisible. MUah kiss you bitches in the Mouth LOL
..
I feel so dirty having interacted with crumb like you… I should know better. My mistake, apologies to the board
What a useless, mindless illiterate troll you are. Learn the difference between then and than asshole. Learn how to spell, stop stating the obvious and get your own opinion. Last but no least, stop acting like a little bitch, if you attack expect to get attacked back. You’re not very bright. Apparently the troll comment stuck right up your ass, thanks for responding. Now I know you will pretend not to read this, so you can move on with your idiocy. EaglesFANqq is smarter than you, face it.
You attacked me like a crumb when I made a comment game day, so your fake apology to the board not only shows you’re stupid, it shows you’re a liar. Shall I point it out to you crumb?
Our best chance to win is to take a knee every offensive play and try to score on defense.
List of good things from Sunday’s game:
1. Cody Parkey made a field goal
🙂 There were a bunch of good defensive things. But that is about the limit of the good offensive things, and that is more STs. I thought STs were actually pretty good, other than the devastating game-deciding blocked punt and all.
We mad a stand at the half yard line, that was cool (though imo the play that put them there was a TD).
Honestly, the Defense played well aside from Byron “Ricky Watters” Maxwell.
OLB across from Barwin has been a problem, but aside from that, we got good production from Cox / Logan / Jenkins / Thurmond.
Jordan Hicks played well aside from giving up that pass along the sideline, but he’s a rookie and that was a perfect ball. It happens.
but that wasnt even the first time they had a lb lined up against a fast back on the outside. Is that common because that looks like a losing battle every time. The one prior was a bomb to about the 2 yd line, just a hair off but the lb was trailing. I cant expect a lb to cover a rb that long, seems like poor scheme
The Eagles have had this run against them at least 5 times. AT LEAST. Kendricks got hurt . Hicks got called on it. Barwin did. Teams are running this like crazy on them right now.
Bonus points to Hicks for sitting down Romo for half the season.
yeah he’s done his job for the season
Jenkins played extremely well.
The run D was good, a few missed tackles from very good.
Hicks acquitted himself well.
Thurmond looks solid.
Huff was a shoestring tackle away from a pretty slick TD on a screen. Agoholor showed some speed.
Hart did a nice job
Contrast how efficient and excellent the team was in the preseason with how utterly befuddled they have been in the real season. These are the same guys. Could the difference just be that Atlanta/Dallas are using a defensive wrinkle that Chip has not yet solved?
teams play vanilla, remember that terrible skins line
So CK’s offense murders vanilla, but other teams’ offense plays average against it? And other teams’ offense plays average against exotic schemes, but CK’s offense gets murdered against it?
There aren’t many offenses which do well when the OL is swiss cheese. That will kill just about any scheme you have. Kelly may have made all the right moves outside the OL and if that doesn’t get fixed, all those other moves won’t have anything to show for it. The backup OL guys looked great in last year’s preseason as well — we thought we had great depth — but once they were forced to play in real games last year (and deal with stunts and other defensive strategies) they were horrendous. So far they have been this year, as well. If Kelce doesn’t trust the guys on either side of him, that can make him a lot worse as well.
I trust that Kelly will get this figured out. He’s going to earn his money this season or he’s not. I think this will be the first time he’s been in a situation like this across his whole coaching career. I don’t think he’s ever lost more than 2 straight as a coach.
The main problem is the blocking on the OL. Once they figure out how defenses are attacking them and comfortable with getting the blocking assignments down, the offense should be fine.
I think the question is, with 2 new starters on the OL, how much is continuity a factor here?
DCs now have an answer to inside and outside zone-read plays. Dolphins and Seahawks have also suffered.
Chip will have to address or we are in trouble.
The Jets are now favored 1.5, the home team automatically gets 3 points. Football doesn’t make any sense.
One thing I get from listening to national/local Arizona news is that outsiders have a different perspective on our problems. Everyone has noticed how bad we have played, but mostly don’t seem ready to write us off. There is no “sky is falling”, probably because they don’t really care. One thing is there is this meme that Chip Kelly’s offense doesn’t fit Murray’s abilities as a RB. They seem to be a little obsessed with him, his fit, and his opinions, although we as fans just think of him as one, fairly minor piece of the puzzle. Also, they are not as high on our WRs as the fanbase and think of them as a bunch of nobodies. I do not get a sense that the outsiders really like SB that much, either.
we have good recievers? we got rid of our good ones and kept cooper. so yeah theres that
I saw this. That makes me a little worried.
https://twitter.com/SportsRadioWIP/status/646342728498855937
Yeah but after that dominant defensive performance on the road by the Jets against Luck I more than expected that line to change. Do they expect the Eagles to be within 1.5 of that game? They want a shit load of people to place their houses on the Jets, that bodes well for the Eagles. Even better than last week’s line, this is very odd, hopefully meaningful.
they could have gotten 2.5 the other way last night. Eagles get blown out.
Whatever you say Pat.
It’s been a while since my last comment, I’m still following daily what’s up on this blog (best eagles fan source imo), I don’t have the nfl knowledge some of you guys have and I am like you guys completely mind blown by sunday’s performance but let’s be rational here. This is the NFL and no team looks unstoppable during a full year (of course there are some exceptions in the past but right now there aren’t). Look at seattle, look at the colts, the ravens,… Remember last year that everybody was telling brady is done at the beginning of the season?
So what we did last two weeks has no excuse, we were a disgrace. But let’s keep faith in chip and our team. I can see these guys have some heart, I mean, have you seen how pumped up demarco was during that game, he’s such a great leader and he was the only one ready to make a play (that jump and run was crazy legendary). Sam is the first to criticize his game, he knows what he did is a poor performance but seriously did any of his receivers put him in a situation to succeed? He shouldn’t be the scapegoat of our failure. The OL was supposed to be our greatest strenght but these guys will have the opportunity to make the best statement next sunday against arguably the best dl of the league. What I’m trying to say is that it is tough to be an eagles fan right now but it must be tougher to be an eagles player and I trust those guys to have what it takes to answer in the best way, and it’s not like everything must be thrown to the trashcan.
Strenghts:
– our DL is still a force
– our run D as well
– our safety are ballin’ (probably best tandem in the NFC right now)
– Sam is pretty damned accurate most of the time, what game do we have if matthews, austin, ertz and cooper catch the ball that they are supposed to catch
– Cody quietly gained confidence back by performing well
Weaknesses:
– What is wrong with our ST?
– I seriously doubt bill davis more than anyone else at this moment, how long is he gonna keep putting our cb so far from the wrs were they can just convert about any first down they want with a slant.
– Pass rush needs to be far more consistent
– Penalties are killing us
– Jordan Matthews is looking like he doesn’t manage to forget the previous play, he looks really affected by his bad drops, vicious circle there.
– Losing both kiko and mychal is really tough.
– NO CHALLENGES, seriously it has been two blatant plays over the past two weeks that we should have challenged and we don’t.
– No variety in the playbook, this one is the most obscure thing of all the weaknesses, it may even be wrong but I can’t help thinking that we are calling basically the same run plays, screen plays every time just like I play in madden and that it is the best gift we have to offer to the opposite DCs.
Conclusion:
Those guys are more pissed than us, if you thought the demarco hit on square was scary watch out for sunday’s game, I still bleed green.
In chip we trust.
One more thing, do we have the best red zone D in the NFL or what? I’m sure OCs will prefer to be in a 3rd&long situation than 1st and goal against our D :).
Good post, but if the Eagles lose to the Jets we’ll be able to buy “In Chip We Trust” merchandise dirt cheap.
It will be hard to bounce back from this loss yes but I will keep faith until we are mathematically out of the playoffs.
Thanks for the positive post!
Still, I have a doubt.
This.
Good thing our struggling offense gets such a patty-cake defense to rebound against next week.
the OL pulling so much is our downfall. too bad chip couldnt keep his dikc in his pants during preseason.
..
McCoy forgot to take a picture with Chip reject Bradley Fletcher but he makes two guys who he just beat take a picture with him? That’s the shit that rolled that bitch right out of town. Rushing for 2000 yards last year was his key. Kelly had to remind him it was about winning the Super Bowl, something I don’t think he got or even cared about. The belt, that was his thing. Didn’t say one thing about the Super Bowl. So far the rejects and pick-ups are even, everyone is shit.
you’re a little too salty.
If I was salty I wouldn’t be angry that I wasted money on tickets that I spent on the Jets’ game. That’s the clear definition of being salty.
we’re in the same boat. sadly i’m going w a jets fan, i might just give him the other ticket.
No, they’re going to win dude. I have trust in your Eagles’ juju, go to the game. If they lose then we’ll get barrels of salt.
I went to Eagles-Jets game at the Linc, probably last time the two teams played a few years back. One guy was sitting by himself with a Jets’ jersey on, some young guy walking down the steps stops and puts his middle finger in the guy’s face for about a good 10 seconds. I was so pissed that I wanted to kick that guy down the steps. That’s so fucking annoying that these younger guys feel like they have to keep up some kind of scumbag tradition of being assholes. Then I was talking to a few guys from NY that were Jets’ fans. Nice guys, nice talk. I also get salty when Eagles’ fans pick on some guy sitting alone minding his own business. Imagine ten seconds sitting there? That’s a fucking lifetime, and an embarrassing situation. Ugh, annoyed me. Hope you fare better over there.
I went to a Pats’ game their undefeated year, the AJ Feeley almost pulled it out game. Nice people, maybe one or two said something from afar and it wasn’t even bad. Just sad sometimes being at the Linc watching some people’s behavior.
it’s extra bad when they aren’t even in the division.
And they’re not flaunting, being assholes, annoying. If they do, then if you’re yelling and saying go fuck yourself, ok that’s fine, as long as there is no physical shit. Someone goes back to their home state, and bam, we are ALL scumbags.
yup
You should stop going to games if you are going to be such a wussy old fart. I commend that young Eagles fan for picking up your slack. Maybe look into a testosterone supplement to unshrivel your old man testicles.
Hey pussy, things going well in Trumpland?
I don’t appreciate that kind of language. Let’s keep it clean.
Sorry for the language you gutless pussy.
So, be nice to fans of opposing teams who wear their jerseys to the Linc, but use foul language and insults when replying to Eagles fans on a message board?
Gotcha.
You’re not a fan, you’re a pussy who thinks you’re a tough guy around a bunch of drunken idiots. If you went to NY this weekend you would act like a cunt and wouldn’t make a peep. Just calling you out for who or what you are. Got it?
If I were to go to NY this weekend I would not wear an Eagles jersey. Its disrespectful. And fans that do it deserved to be harassed.
You’re a coward, disgrace, pussy, embarrassment and probably scared of your own shadow.
Really? I’ll be traveling to dallas from Oahu in NOV for the second dallas game. I think I have 51% controlling interest in Morton’s salt about now…
The avatar, awesome.
what does this zshit even mean?
zshit Pat? Really?
Who would we say was/is more overrated? Evan Mathis or Jason Kelce?
Yes.
glad najee goode is back, looked like ass in preseason but i really like him. ironic that 2ilbs only lasted 2 games.
Sean Lee was unstoppable sunday, he was mostly untouched as well
how is this offense going to get anywhere down the field against that Jets D. If Im forced to watch that I just really hope the flags are limited. I cant take another game with a flag every other play. D and ST will have to do something. My buddy and I were screaming for that fumble return to go the distance, knew we were in trouble when offense had great field position and the ball.
Here’s a summary of the Pat Shurmur press conference: The OL was fine, the receivers were fine. Everyone was fine. Everything’s fine.
maybe hiring coordinators isnt a CK strength
At this point it is hard to identify a CK strength.
Everyone did what the were supposed to and met the coaches’ expectations, so who’s the next coach going to be?
Sounds like a don’t-throw-players-under-the-bus PC. There is no way that is what is being said behind closed doors.
That’s what I was thinking. It’s a complete waste of time.
It’s a PC being PC, useless info.
Shurmur’s a fool.
So this.
I don’t think it is coach speak.
That is the real shurmur
Wow thanks. I was worried. I feel much better.
billy d saying kendricks probably not playing
Yikes… jets use 4 WRs to take shots down field.
..
Either Najee Goode needs to be ready to play in Mickel next to hicks on Sunday, or the rookie is going to have to make his 1st start, and he the LONE LB quarterbacking our Dime defense,,.
…
Hopefully Najee Goode is in fantastic game shape, but playing for us In 6 days during such a crucial point of this season is probably a little too ambitious.., either Kendricks plays next to Hicks in Nickel or Hicks will have to step up and QB the Dime defense in passing situations…
..
Who the Hell ever imagined We would have been counting on Hicks to play on our Defense in week 2? It’s a testament to the young man who prepared enough during the week to handle playing Defense for us when he was only expecting to play Special Teams..
…
No one would have ever guessed that we would be going into week 3 counting on Jordan Hicks to play a big role in our defense.. A draft pick that people questioned because we were so deep at ILB is Now more important then Agholor and Rowe(our top 2 picks) going into week 3.. Who the hell would have ever predicted that we would need Hicks in week 3 more then we would need Nelson or Rowe??? The NFL is just an insanely unpredictable world that rarely follows the SCRIPT
..
Fortunately I think hIcks is mature and seasoned enough to have a shot at handling it… Seth Joyner is so tough and critical of the Eagles at all times, and he absolutely LOVES what he sees out of Hicks,., Joyner Thinks everyone is a pussy lol, exciting to see how much he likes Jordan Hicks,
..
Stylistically he reminds me of Bobby Wagner, Tough Stocky Physical kid who can move and Cover better then you would think when you look at him
Guess it’s a good thing we kept Mufassa after all.
Maybe Chip knew something about depth. Last year injuries killed us there. This year, it seems we might be able to weather the storm.
Obviously he did… And looking at Kendricks history, probably should account for the 2-4 games he will miss each year.. But even if we stayed healthy, we could continue to ask Meco and Kendricks to play am insane amount of snaps. Chip obviously knew what he was doing because we Are putting that ILB depth to work already.., injuries at ILB need to stop, I don’t know how many more injuries we can overcome
not that MSII is back i think brad jones will play with hicks as well, he’s a good vet and was all over the field playing ilb in pre-season
Here’s my question — is there a connection between talent and ability to execute?
yeah I think that is what talent is …
Not at all, talent means you can run really fast or have a pretty throwing motion and you pass the eye test. Has nothing to do with what you can actually do. Off bitter sarcasm font
OD:
What are you hearing out there?
I don’t ever remember your comments — starting late last week and then though the Dallas game — reflecting such a discouraged text and tone.
Also, you’re in the thoughts of lots of folks here.
Thanks AC. The bits and pieces I am hearing I’ve mentioned here.
First, DCs now have answers to inside and outside zone-read plays. DL stunts and LB gap-shooting are breaking these plays down. Eagles are not alone here, Seattle and Miami are also having trouble with these plays.
While we have seen breakdowns, D is considered a strength. Maxwell is probably going to get help over the top. Concern about ILB but Hicks and Goode, plus some new stunts, should help.
Offense is pissed and embarrassed. Coaches are concerned that they may press too hard with Jets, resulting in miscues. My take is that this O could annihilate the Jets or roll over and die. For me, I see this game as 50/50 on O performance.
im not worried about them trying too hard at all.
go ahead and try even harder….
OD:
Follow up question.
If the offense “roll[s] over and die[s]” — as you neatly put it — what do you foresee happening, going into Games 4+, inside (i) the locker room and (ii) the coaches’ room?
[I’m not asking about the “annihilat[ion]” option, as the answer seems self evident.]
Starters will be replaced AC. And the playbook will be thrown out the window and burned.
W-O-W . . .
I think Lurie explained when he hired Chip he was hiring his mind, intelligence etc. Lurie was not hiring Chip’s “system”. Chip was hired because he was likely to be able to keep one step ahead of changing defenses. So maybe Chip, as well as the players, digs down and remembers what got him to the NFL.
your comments are far from ‘they have to do their job’ — sounds like your saying CK doesn’t have answers. #1 pick, here we come….
OD:
Had this not happened in Kelly’s quite a few years in college? It seems odd to me there is a brand new way to attack this offense. Are NFL coordinators that much better?
was wondering the same thing.
Yes NFL DCs are that much better.
I never saw this against the Ducks. Maybe the QB run option penalized the D. Certainly, there is no time for the QB to pass as an option. As I said here recently, this Offense performance was an abomination – the worse performance by a Chip Offense, by large measure, that I have witnessed.
I hate to say it, but is that because…..Chip’s offense really needs a QB that can run a little.
edit: I see you mentioned this. Sorry read too fast.
I’m not so sure, Russell Wilson could not save the zone read either. No, I think Chip needs another wrinkle to the zone read.
I’d be happy with an END zone read
Still they tried to protect their franchise QB by not letting him run and they were nearly shut out. The O only started moving when they let him run a few naked Bootlegs (not even options). GB had to spy him and they started scoring points. Panthers did the same thing in 2013. D would keep the game close and the offense would be putrid. Then with the game was on the line, Cam would start running by design and they would start scoring points at the end of the game. Opened up the whole offense. You just can’t afford to put your franchise in danger like that consistently.
If Bradford doesn’t get his shit together then I wonder if we can get Hundley somehow next year? QB class of 2016 doesn’t look all that good.
after that preseason probably take a first
give them a 4th and watch them laugh all the way to the bank.
if Hundley acquits himself well in a couple of games in Y-2 and Y-3 of his career . . . the Packers will ship him off for very nice draft pick.
If Hundley doesn’t perform, so what. The Pack spent only a 5th on him.
It’s just that the Packers have a history, through 3 different coaches and 2 different GMs, of buying very cheap and selling very high on QBs.
We ran the other fat guy that did that out of town a few years ago.
Reid, for his many faults as a GM, seemed to very good at the QB buy-and-sell game.
tears and years lol.
I wasn’t enthusiastic about anything involving the Bradford trade when it happened. Got on board as things went along. To be fair to Bradford, the qualifier for Bradford not looking like the guy on the Rams was that you could see the potential and here he’s on a good offense and we protect him and give him weapons. That hasn’t happened, even Andrew Luck crumbles under extreme duress.
So yeah, this is the guy we saw on the Rams, and it shouldn’t surprise us, because we’re playing like the Rams.
Including the offensive line. And just like the Rams, his receivers forgot how to catch the ball.
Agreed,,, think it’s way too Soon to be down on Bradford. Dude hasn’t played against live bullets for almost two years. Always thought it would take like half a season to really get comfortable, Obviously we thought we were talented enough and looked sharp enough in August to where we could still win and compete the first half of the season while letting Sam get comfortable which so far has been flawed thinking, but as bad as it was, No way do I think that the Dallas game will be a true representative of the talent of the 2015 Eagles. It’s never as good or bad as it seems and things can change quickily in the NFL.. As long as we don’t get decimated by injuries our offense was a work impress that would have to grow significantly over the course of the season to reach the level we need to be at to make news in the playoffs.. Obviously we never imagined our start point would be as bad as week saw against the Cowboys..,, but we invested so much in Charechter, and the true measure
Of charechter is how you hamdlr adversity…hopefully we see the charechter pays off and these players stay together and fight their way out of this mess that they created
Im turning on Bradford as fast as I bought in. Only caveat being he really is early in his career based on total games played. 51 to be exact so what, about 3 full seasons (split up of course) and 2 games as an Eagle.I was willing to see Foles improve but this guys leash is shorter for me. Hes not getting much help but its other things Im not liking already. I had to sit through the Vick experiment which I knew from the start was never going to amount to anything. I will have a real hard time if he doesnt show much and they go with the guy another year beyond this one.
That’s the thing, we knew he couldn’t put a bad team on his back and carry it. He’s not that guy. We can resent Chip for compensating the Rams as if he was, but we knew he wasn’t. The idea is he would be hyper efficient on a great offense and take it to new heights. Maybe people talked themselves into thinking he was that guy? A savior? So the team, O-line, running game, receivers not catching the ball (2 well placed balls bouncing off hands and into the hands of a DB included), who was delusional enough to think he could Peyton Manning through it all? There was empirical evidence that he can’t.
So i don’t get why people are outraged all of a sudden. Shouldn’t we expect a bad performance if the rest of our O doesn’t show up?
its the other things. If hes not getting rid of the ball in the first 2 seconds he looks awful. Holding it too long and not seeing the field well or making reads. Im not gonna say his WRs are helping, they arent at all but those other things are similar to Rams. Always checking down and never forcing the D to respect anything deep. He doesnt ever look comfortable. Plenty of blame to go around but I have to see a QB make some plays at some point and get a first down. Those 2 first halves were more than dreadful.
i don’t like sammy b, but that ball comes out fast, just literally no one is open. he looks like he runs his progressions shallow to deep and doesn’t wait for longer routes to develop, but he’s not holding the ball while a bunch of people are running free like foles, nobody is open. he does stare down receivers though.
ya, cant argue there, the receivers arent getting open but thats also what chip wanted. Bigger guys with hands making tough possession catches. That leaves less separation and required more trust.
I honestly don’t know if he will bounce back. At this rate there won’t be any trust between him and the O-line, ditto for the RB’s. If you can’t trust that protection will be there, or a hole will be there, you can’t succeed. Hell the whole O line looks like garbage, and partly because I don’t think they trust eachother. I think they need the do your damn job speech. The guy next to you is going to sink or swim and the coaches will sort it out one way or another. You just do your job, don’t worry about that.
hard on the line b/c they’re all connected. need communication
Well they don’t communicate in our system. They point out the mike, and it all keys from there, the rest is knowing your role in the scheme, and they all have to be on the same page.
that and the defenses are much better prepared for that attack and are hitting those creases with ease. Thats on top of just beating them straight up.
Yeah most of what I see is poor assignment football. IE last week while watching film, I see Peters in pass pro, his guy hits Barbre, and typically Peters just uses that gigantic wing span to put a hand on him to make sure he doesn’t get around the outside of Barbre and make sure he stays in position to protect the edge, Instead he fully engaged and a guy stunted right around him, wide. Peters saw it and tried to recover, but it was too late, he was out of position. Live it looks like uh oh Peters is old, someone just raced around Peters, he’s lost a step! He’s not putting himself in good position to do his job, he’s getting ready to catch a block in case Barbre doesn’t do his job. As it turns out the Guards performed to expectations, they did their jobs (they did at times get beat physically, that’s a talent thing, but mentally they did ok), it’s Kelce and Peters underperformed.
“This quarterback Weeden can drive the ball down field,” Jones said, via the Dallas Morning News. “He’s a thing of beauty on throwing a football. His passing motion and his arm, frankly, you won’t see a more gifted passer, power, accuracy, the entire aspect of it. If he can basically prepare, be the starting quarterback, come in and execute and keep his head right, then I feel good about Weeden.”
hey you want Bradford?
That makes me feel so much better about the Cowboys’ chances.
Because JJ is such the brilliant GM/talent evaluator that he is…
Weeden is worse than Orton by a longshot. I hope they lose every game they play.
Last year Game 2 the Chiefs destroyed the Pats. The sports radio guys were all talking about whether Brady was done. I am not comparing us to the Pats, believe me I see the dark lord’s magic, but miscommunications among the OL are the type of weakness that can actually improve.
Now back to our regular programming of saltiness.
There’s a lot more wrong than just miscommunications along the OL. And that was even before the injuries started up.
we need more then a win against the jets.. we need to look good doing it….
the eye test has been failed
Hate to say it, even if we do lose at least put up a real fight
this is when you need play action w/ djax running a go route, beating his man and flipping the field. that’s what he does best.
Well, let’s try it with Nelson – can’t hurt at this point.
This. I mean why not? Get some stretch in the opposing teams defense. Even if it doesn’t work and he’s covered overthrow it so it doesn’t get intercepted. Just do it to show that you will do it.
never heard of him
Might have to gain more then 9 yards per game before you start running play action..
*than
I brought that up recently, actually. You don’t even need to throw at him much. The threat of him kept teams deep and allowed explosive plays to come from screens, and underneath stuff when teams crowded the LOS to stop the run. They had to respect that speed.
At this point I will just take a win. If the lights go out and Murray sneaks 80 yards past everyone for a touchdown, on two separate drives, and we win by 3, I will take it.
We can worry about the eye test once we get back to .500.
At this point, I’ll take 2-0 and worry about looking better the next game.
do you know anyone working the lights in jersey by chance?
that might be our best play
I dunno man..the jets are a tough defense and a solid OL.. I doubt we walk into their house and blow them out., we will have to grind and gut out a tough win, I don’t see our offense scoring a enough on their defense to be able to blow the game early. We can win, but i don’t think we can win big and IMO that’s fine,,
..
dawks seems to think we look much too tight and we can’t have fun playing tight like this,, his exact quote was something crazy like “Tight Sphincters don’t win”
..
More then the style points, think it’s just important to get that first win before the cliche “monkey on our back” gets any heavier..
..
Getting that first win can make all the difference in the world especially after the adversity we are encountering, once we get that first win out of the way, then I think we will see the team grow by Taking big leaps with each game that passes.
..
I expect the jEts game to be a war that we can easily lose if we don’t turn up the physicality and intensity, pay attention to the details, and put a friggin end to the inconsistent technique and break downs in communication,
,,
if we aren’t the more physical team on Sunday, the more disciplined team that plays with consistent technique we can easily come back to philly down 0-3 which would be a full blown disaster.., there will be a ton of pressure on these players Sunday, hope they can harness it and play loose enough to not be crippled by the pressure,,,who the hell ever imagined finding ourselves in a must win game in week 3? Think we are lucky that the game is on the road, the fanbase will be too nervous going into this game.
disagree, we need a W now. Maybe the team gets it together eventually, but it won’t matter if we don’t start accumulating W’s, ugly, assisted by refs, flukey, or otherwise. Need to stash away the wins in the event we do pull it together late (Giants style). If it doesn’t come together, oh well. But we need to be in a position to do something in the event it does.
Last 2 coaches thought and still think their system is more important than the players. The great moment Andy had Westbrook on the sidelines against the Skins back in 06 or whatever year. Near the end of the game, 1st and goal at the five, Westbrook is on the sidelines because that was part of Andy’s great system. He didn’t need his best offensive weapon in there to try and win the game. (They didn’t win)
During that series of failed plays, one play McNabb was in the shotgun, at least 2 or 3 Skins’ players yelled, Watch the shovel pass! So loud we could hear it through the TV. McNabb got the ball and threw the shovel pass to the RB, who wasn’t Westbrook, for zero yards. Pretty easy to cover a play when the team knows exactly what it is. It wasn’t even the Patriots trying to cheat, just an easy read.
thing about Andy I liked was he was willing to try things and mix it up. Reverse or a gadget play, even onsides at strange times. I loved that stuff as a fan. I feel like Chip needs to try something this week, something to get this team going but I feel like hes too rigid now. Even though we were sold he was the gambler, we dont see it much it seems.
Excellent point. Chip has been pretty straightforward with his plays. Very predictable, he needs to throw in some curve balls to throw the defensive off balance, make them fucking think.
Seattle laughed this offensive off last year if you remember. Sherman said there was nothing to be afraid of, they didn’t do anything special just played straight forward defense. No threat of a deep ball, not worried about crowded the box. That game was the beginning of our downfall also. We just had whipped the Cowboys on Thanksgiving, and ever since then it’s been total shit. Part of it has to be the predictability and lameness of how this offense has been run the last 5-6 games going back to last year. Giants’ game is a throwaway shit game, that win was meaningless.
Sadly the Eagles offense has run out of time, we username up about half of the margin for error we could get away with
.
The Offense really has no choice, either they get their shit together and find ways to establish the run early on while the jets have 8! In the box against us or our season is over. Of we can’t run the ball against an awesome Jets defense that will stack the box against us forcing us to become one dimensional having to drop back and pass all game, No doubt we will lose the game, and probably lose Bradford for the season.
.
You simply can not afford to not get the run game going this week. You don’t have any more time to say that they are keeping 8! In the box so we have to abandon the run. You can’t afford that this week.. If they Jets have 8 in the box, you better be comfortable enough to get 9 blockers in the game…when they stack the box, our young WR won’t be able to consistently seperate enough from Revis cornertie and shrine so chip can’t afford to be discouraged and stop running just because we can’t block their 8! Guys with our 5 or 6… Better drop your ego and put enough blockers in the game to still run the ball, because you need the run game to loosen up this secondary to be able to throw against it ..
..
We clearly won’t be able to block 8 jets in the box with 5 OL and Celek. That’s not enough.. And without getting to implement our tempo, we won’t score enough on this Jets defense,,, this entire fuckin matchups comes down to finding away to run on 8 jets defenders when they are dating us to pass.
..
I don’t know what the answer is, but I do know that in THIs matchup if you give up trying to run because of how many defenders they keep in the box, you give us Zero chance to win and flush out season in the toilet… So stoutland better have his boys ready to get their technique where it needs to be and chip has to drop his ego, understand that he can’t be discouraged from running because what chip wants to run doesn’t keep enough blockers in to be able to run on 8 defenders..
..
Unless we are the more physical team and our OL wins the Line of scrimmage even when they keep 8 guys in the box, our season is over. Our season really comes down to can out OL win the line of scrimmage Sunday allowing us to run the ball against a top defense.. Anyone who says they are confident we can get the run going this week against 8 in the box is a liar
I really can’t stomach the difference in reactions to the Colts loss when compared with the reactions to the Eagles loss.
Colts lose, get manhandled, “Jets have the best defense ever”.
Eagles lose, get manhandled, “Sam Bradford is terrible and so is Chip Kelly and his stupid offense”
People are ready to label Chip’s offense as a failed college gimmick. That’s a Hindenburg people are dying to see burn.
Andrew Luck is the Golden boy. They’ve already crowned him (way early, he still isn’t at the level as the elites everyone says he is, just shows brilliant flashes and it seems inevitable as he gets more experience he will be more consistently brilliant).
Well Buffalo look like they could be really good… until the Pats ripped holes in them on sunday. No one no where felt that Cowboys have a great defence – especially with their pass rushers out.
I seriously doubt thats a consensus opinion from Colts fans. Im sure theres plenty to gripe about there but ya, at least they have a franchise QB. Oh and look at that division, my god, no chance Colts dont win it.
It’s the NFL hivemind. Not sure if you’ve noticed but people really don’t like Chip Kelly and are actively rooting for him to fail.
Philly deserves the vitriol dude. Honestly.
Why? Especially with all the suffering we’ve endured.
Well, the Jets DO have a defense and Dallas was missing at least 4 quality defensive starters.
Chip is going to need to make some changes.
https://twitter.com/Tim_McManus/status/646380606427910144
so how could the Cowboys be cheating at the Linc?
(heavily larded with irony)
LOL. Bill Belichik did a mind meld with Garrett and Jones.
that’s very, very good
Did you ever watch House? Everybody lies. Everybody cheats too.
That would make sense.. their run defence hit the exact gaps every run. There is no way to be that consistently successful every single down without keying in on our calls. Time to have a full change of signs i would think…
And formations
And Offense….
Well we run a range of different plays out of our formations – if you gamble on one play out of a formation we will burn you with the counter play… But the Cowgirls had the right attack every single run down it felt like.
Early on we used to see how they were playing it, if they played too hard on one possibility, we had a counter packaged in to counter it. Seems like we’ve streamlined our offense to get rid of a lot of those features. Maybe to protect the QB or keep everyone on the same page at all times? I don’t know, it just seemed like in 2013 we were willing to try anything. In 2014 it seems like we “streamlined” the system. I don’t think it was “addition by subtraction” though. It just looks more and more like a standard nfl offense with only 15 or so plays in the playbook.
just so strange to think back to first month of 2013 season, or first half of first game. Seemed like anything was possible, out of any formation, (cant wait for the three tightend….”) watching Eagles was like, “Lets see what Kelly will dream up next to mess with the other team.” and felt that every year the formations and plays would just grow, especially after Kelly gets “his players”.
So there was reason to hope that after this offseason with “his players” we would see the full Kelly playbook, formations etc…
So just incredibly bizarre to see in his third year, to have the opposite, to have timid play calling and shallow playbook.
exactly this
I thought, with read option, it didn’t matter. I don’t know the number of plays, but is the read-option being used? If not, why not?
Its the run blocking from the OL. So if they run a play with a pulling guard for example that leaves a gap at a point. They hit that gap every single run, leaving guys unblocked almost every time.
just wondering.. In Chip’s first year, maybe a d-lineman would see a guard in front of him moving somewhere else, but right after the snap there is still a guard in the way (even if he is moving away), so d-lineman pauses for a fraction, reads and reacts going to where the running back is likely to be when hitting the line of scrimmage.
I think i read where Chip’s o-lineman like to use the direction the d-line is going against them, the o-lineman expect the d-lineman to flow towards the direction of the play, intersecting with the runner at the line of scrimmage. Seems now the d-lineman are trusting they can blow the play up before it gets to the line of scrimmage.
In chip’s third year, a d-lineman knows that the guard is pulling, so if he commits to blasting straight ahead, the guard that is there in front of him at the snap, will not be there 1/2 second after the snap. Where there is no gap right after the snap, the d-lineman are trusting with lots of confidence there will be a gap 1/2 second after the snap, thus getting into the backfield and blowing up the play.
there must be ways to take advantage of d-lineman who are blasting away through gaps based on what they are seeing pre-snap, instead of reading and reacting after the running back gets the ball. (reading and reacting in the way the Eagles’ d-lineman have been drilled to do)
hope players saying stuff like that isnt a sign of a turning locker room. Im not really concerned with that though until its an absolute
Unprovoked attacks on me will not be tolerated. If I’m not allowed to speak on game day or on this board because someone is going to insult me that’s sad. Also, when he apologizes down below for sinking to my level, well I believe I should apologize for sinking to his level. I do apologize, I will not engage with someone who wants to be shitty to me anymore(probably)
huff needs the ball in his hands.
Last year it went he had it in his hands, it went to the ground then to the other team’s hands.
last year was years ago
Either they can’t get him the ball or they don’t want him to have the ball. He can’t even run kickoffs back because the ball goes to the back of the end zone every freaking time.
Yeah, this is disappointing. I think he’s good there. Maybe the Jets kicker will give him a chance (since they are only kicking off once in the game).
LOL
why?
he’s tough
Huff’s wife?
Not gonna lie.
Seeing your team, that you honestly believed had a chance to win the Super Bowl this year, become a national laughingstock is not easy.
This is groundhog day dude, happened with the Dream Team, now with the Super Bowl team. We are cursed by players who say stupid things. Free agents off all players!
Media started all this SB stuff…
also.. shouldnt it always be the players goal to get to the SB?
It was also Byron Maxwell who said it first, then the preseason happened and everyone got on board. It is the goal though, so I guess that’s his way of motivating the team.
Someone (I think SteveH-sorry if wrong) said after preseason week 3
“I haven’t been this high on a team since 2011…”
Tommy responded:
“you’re a bad man”
Prophetic
Never going to trust preseason again. Vegas odds even moved the Eagles up based on preseason. Didn’t the Lions go 4-0 the year they went 0-16? Oh well, it’s not over quite yet, I still hold a little hope.
That was also brought up a few times throughout the process, lol
That’s a good point, our resident troll(god I hope it isn’t me now) did make a funny comment about the Eagles winning the preseason Lombardi trophy. There were many preseason comments that I ignored myself, basically thinking f those people, we’re going somewhere this year.
I went and looked up some of my old stuff after the draft. Just based on convention, the amount of turn over on our roster, I thought 2016 was our year. Needed 1 more year to get the O-line talent to where it needs to be (1 more FA period/draft), and get all the secondary pieces we just drafted a year of experience to be useful. Thought we would be over/under 10 wins. But we were all in for 2016. But over time I bought in hard, and here we are now, painful.
How about this? The Eagles get it together and start to gel this year but not quite enough to make it to the playoffs. These guys we signed are still here, they’re not going anywhere, ,maybe Bradford, we’re still holding out hope for 16 right? I guess there’s the QB thing, who is going to be here and whatnot.
Actually rereading your post, that was your point, what do you think needs to happen for next year to be the year?
also just like 2011 right? Finished strong which kept Reid around for 2012 for the bottom to fall out. I’ll shut up now.
Oh shit, this is Groundhog Day, only with a different coach. Holy shit, takes over GM, puts together supposed Dream Team, finishes strong at 8-8, starts next season well at 3-1…Holy freaking eerie Batman!
I mean a lot still has to happen, but you have to figure, this is the Eagles, it’s going to happen. lol
At first I thought you wrote “our resident troll god”.
Actually this guy sees himself more as a god than a troll. The only problem I have with him is that there is no history to back up his hatred and predictions for Chip’s team. Maybe I missed it, I don’t come here a whole lot during the off season and barely the preseason. Usually I wait until the season starts. I did check through his comment history and didn’t see anything that has “I told you so” moments. Now I’m going back to check to see if he really is some kind of god LOL
Hey man, I don’t remember that… I feel slandered here. Tommy doesn’t usually respond to me either so I think that’s probably false.
I was super high on the team going into the opener though, that’s true.
my bad, someone was keen to that eerie 2011 deja vu after week 3. Not trying to be a downer or anything, I’ll have to look it up for proper crediting.
not a problem. Crediting the wrong person in a forum post is like worry number 9999999999 relating to the team right now.
Looked it up and edited, left that I got it wrong on there so you don’t look like a Schizophrenic.
It’s ok, watching this Eagles team will probably make me schizophrenic.
the colts?
Heh. I never thought they had a chance.
I’m 1 for 2!
Line jumps to 2.5, people going heavy on the Jets, looking good.
as a gambler for many years this stuff doesnt always hold. I like that thinking but sometimes, heck often enough, the team you think will win does. I won big on jets last night and I bet a lot of the thinking was Colts are at home, lost week 1 while Jets won. Superbowl favorites, they got this. Nope and 7 pt favorites
I totally contradicted my point there, nice
Dude the whole process is a contradiction so I don’t blame you. I thought we had the Dallas game giving away 5.5 because they were right on with Atlanta getting only 2.5. The betting went heavy towards the Eagles the first week, but surprisingly it apparently went towards the Eagles again against Dallas. Even Dallas sports’ guys were picking the Eagles. Always a bad sign when everyone is saying your team will win. Forget it, Vegas wins,we lose.
“vegas wins,we lose” Thankfully that is something i learned very early in my life
That’s why they have all those pretty lights in casinos, there’s a lot more coming than going out. lol Glad you learned, I did too after some big losses. Not all sports related, but gambling is no way to make a living that’s for sure.
ya I love it but I set aside an amount Im willing to lose every season and just play that. If I have money by the end of the season I just save it for the following year. I know better than to think I can win consistently enough. Even if you see the supposed experts, the margins are very small. They hope to hit in the 60% range if that, high 50s is a good year.
Exactly, moderation is the key to not only gambling, but life. Anything over that is called addiction. lol
…says the guy with 5657 comments to the guy with 5780 (and noted by the guy with 6383). Not all addictions are bad, right?
haha good point. Wow, I take the off season off too. Sometimes I comment other places, but this place here is an addiction. I think losing brings out more comments than winning, people come here to release, vent. And you’re right, this isn’t a bad addiction.
are those real numbers, uh oh, oh boy haha
How are the Eagles Super Bowl odds looking these days? It may be time to throw $100 on it.
Two pretty inept offenses, ours a bit more, yet we have one of the highest over/unders at 47. Talk about a sucker bet.
I know some of you don’t like Jimmy but this was pretty awesome.
Who doesn’t like Jimmy? He and Tommy are the dynamic duo.
Some people don’t like/get his sense of humor. A lot of people only know him from H2H, have a vast preference for Tommy, who’s more knowledgeable but Jimmy is a full time beat writer (right?) while Tommy has to work a 9-5 and write on the side. So they resent Jimmy for the injustice of it all.
I think he’s great, he rarely takes himself or the game too seriously, there is an irreverence that I think strikes the perfect tone for the area and team.
Great recap and summary.
Agreed. I’ve seen attacks on him here before and I don’t get it.
Yeah I’ve never got the hate before. They have two separate ways of writing about football. I like them both.
Weeks like this make me glad I live in New York, and unable to subject myself to 97.5.
I would think you have it worse in New York this week with Jets fans. At least you don’t have to worry about the Giants fans. If you like suffering you can easily get Philly sports talk radio on the internet.
Josh Huff was quoted by a reporter that the Dallas D were calling out the Eagles offensive plays before the snap. That is now the 3rd time during Chip’s tenure that has been reported to have happened during a game and we’ve lost each one with the offense struggling. Maybe it is time to adapt, Chip?
that’s what happens when your play card is 3×5
Sounds like the playbook of my families Thanksgiving game, button hook, flat route, post or fly pattern
sweep right, sweep left, inside zone
If only the eags could play the classic three receptions = first down.
We run like 15 plays.. Seth Joyner was talking about how basic we are and that we always run to the opposite side that the RB lines up in and that we tried to switch it in the second half and run to the same side but the Cowboys fugues it out pretty quickily
Reminds me of a quote from a guy from stanford, I forget who, when Oregon lost to them in the championship game.
He was talking about how Oregon counts the number of players in the box, and that determines whether they run or pass based on the package play.
The Stanford guy said “we can count too”. So they knew ahead of time whether it was going to be a run or pass based on counting the number of players in the box.
This seems so absurdly simple and stupid, but evidently it’s what happened.
I always thought Chip was a smart guy, but holy shit that is an absurdly stupid way to run an offense.
was pretty successful
Until they ran into a team smart enough to count,
Need to do a better job of finding the proper balance between taking what the defense gives you, while also dictating to the defense and imposing your will…
..
For example: Jets will put 8 in the box because they know our young WR can’t consistently beat Revis, Cro and Skrine. so chip can not allow them to discourage us from running because they have 8 in the box. iTs up to chip to get creative and keep 8-9 guys in to block their 8 defenders.
..
No matter what the defense does this week, chip has to get creative and put us in position to me able to have success running the ball against ANYTHING that the defense presents because if chip allows the defense to Discourage us from running, our season is over. You can’t just take what the defense gives you this week, aka throw to Wr defended by man coverage with no help, because that’s the trap Bowles is trying to set. He wants us to abandon the run and take what they give us aka throw to our WR providing their stud veteran corners to turn us over..
..
So we can’t win this game if we can’t run the ball. I don’t care about chips stubborn desire to play a certain way, NO MATTER WHAT the defense presents, CHIP better have the ANSWER to successfully run against it, or we are done..
.,
Jets have a great defense and a great defensive coach and our season hangs in the balance of whether we can run the ball on them or not… Never been so been so nervous for week 3 in my life
Wait, wait. Are you saying that the scheme of Chip “The Genius” is the vaunted Run & Shoot?!…
chip tried a bunch of stuff to try and get the run game going but it doesn’t matter when the line 1)can’t block when they get their assignments correct 2)screw up blocking assignments and someone comes unblocked to blow up the play before it even starts
..
nooooo come back to the Eagles
Get D Mac out of retirement for the 10 year reunion, will be a blast!
We certainly wouldn’t have to worry about too fast of a tempo.
Some happy from the csn philly site, cheer up everybody
……………………………………………………………………………
Playoffs?! The Eagles are just trying to win a game.
Except the standings and playoff race are still worth mentioning,
because this is the NFL, and teams can – and often do – turn things
around suddenly. For example, the last time the Eagles were embarrassed
this thoroughly by the Cowboys, losing 17-3 then 15-7 to the Giants a
week later to fall to 3-5 in 2013, they went on to win seven of their
next eight games and stormed into the postseason.
So while it’s possible head coach Chip Kelly severely overestimated
himself and the Eagles are simply awful, the silver lining is there are
14 more games. That, and the NFC East is in rough shape right now.
Quron Pratt waived, Stephen Morris likely to return
The real question is, when does GJ Kinne return? Ever since he’s left the organization it’s been a mess.
How could you not like Kempski? Great stuff.
John McKay would have a field day with this team: “Well, we didn’t block, but we made up for it by not tackling.”
Great stuff.
The complete opposite of the shit coaches give you nowadays. Another good one to listen to who was brutally honest, Bill Parcells. Hated his teams of course, but still, the guy laid it out there during his press conferences.
Curious as to how chip handles this 0-2 start behind closed doors? I’m not sure he hasn’t in him to lay into them and chew their asses out?
..
Then again, Andy was a players coach, Papa Bear type yet when we started the 2003 season down 0-2, he chewed his team out hard according to players turned media members from that 2003 team. the bye came real early that yeah after game 2, so before the bye week break, he chewed his team up hard “I don’t know what you guys gotta do to get right but when you get back from the bye you guys better have it together and be ready to play” and our guys seemed to respond to it…. Not sure chip has that in him to spazz out on the team. Be curious to see how he goes about navigating these tough times and lead us out of this hole we created
..
Apparently the players are having a come to Jesus team meeting this week, but Dawk says it will only work, and we can only get out of this if this week everyone is honest with themselves and honest with each other… This collection of new players can not tiptoe around each other because they are afraid to step on each other’s toes.. No time for Butthurt feelings, everyone has to be brutally honest about what needs to be fixed, and guys have to be able to accept the Criticism… Sometime a bunch of new players don’t have the experience with each other to feel comfortable being brutally honest or calling guys out when it’s needed.. Everyine needs to be on a heightened sense of security knowing that we are running out of room for error, can’t afford mistakes and an entire franchise is counting on you to be able to be trusted enough to do your job. Each player and coach needs to be responsible for their job, understanding that if you don’t do your job, if you make a dumb mistake, if we get an undisciplined penalty you could blow it for all your teammates, the franchise and the fanbase.. We used up a lot of our margin for error. What’s scary Is it hasn’t been one or two things to clean up. Guys need to step up and do much better across the board.
you should listen to nelson’s presser. can’t help but like that kid
His locker room interview after the game was great.. So self aware for a young kid…
Taylor Hart injured his shoulder against. Says he is day to day. Doesn’t know if he’ll play
Excuse me? How the heck is he supposed to fill in for Thorton if he’s also hurt?
Looks like Curry back to DE? Got Bair there too
Yup. Curry and Bair as the backup DEs with MS2 active as the #3 OLB
Yikes… Fortunately Bair can play
..
Marcus smith will have to dress as #3 OLB, so Vinny and Bair can be The backup DE..
..
If things weren’t scary enough, we will have to count on MS3 playing in his first actio of the year
I welcome it. He needs to start proving his draft position. Rookie year has concluded.
Great opportunity for him… He finds some success in the game and it can do wonders for his growth, boosting his confidence… And he is an added athlete in coverage…. Huge opportunity for him, hope he makes the most out of it…. Sometime opportunity is the only thing standing in a kids way
Yup. I’m hoping he rises to the occasion.
Works really be awesome if he did,,, I assume he will be pretty jacked up and ready to go. Hopefully he has a good week of practice, has his assignments down so he can play fast and ferocious, unleash a lot of frustration on Harvard boys back
Re: The Guy — the “Bad Man” — Who Invoked 2011
Some confusion about whose comment is responsible for the first two Eagles’ losses.
_____________
Back on 8/31/15, T-Law wrote a post called “Title Contender.”
Early in the thread, “the guy” — that’s his go-by — commented:
Haven’t felt this optimistic going into an Eagles season since 2011, so I’m feeling pretty good right now.
T-Law responded with:
You are a bad man.
And the Eagles are 0-2.
_________________
Commenter Tumtum wrote with great foresight that day:
. . . The one thing that scares me besides the health of the sickly group is the simplicity of the playbook. Defenses said they figured us out at the end of last season. Were they giving themselves too much credit or was it the execution?
A commenter — whose go-by I won’t mention to spare all of us a string of juvenile expletives involving bitches, oral sex, and the like — responded:
I don’t buy that…. I call BS! The genius of Chips offense is he wants to make everything look the same … The more your plays look the same, the less opponents will be able to find tendencies that tip our hands,,…
_______________
To that, I say not so far.
that is some excellent forsight I would say. Rest of us were too busy thinking of future glory from 10/10
I am sure both Tumtum and the guy wish they were more wrong and that other guy was more right. If only typing about something often and at length made it true…
That last commenter sounds like a rapper – or s/he should be.
Context: it’s September 4th, the day after the final preseason game with the Jets that we lost. Thoughts drift to week 3
“well so much for the ‘Our depth is so superior to everyone else’s because they get so many snaps in the off-season’-theory. Wait till week 3, the Jets are going to get steamrolled.”
Context: It’s September 22nd, the Jets are 2-0, the Eagles are 0-2. The Jets are now scary, and Vegas says they will end our season.
“crap”
Football is stupid.
If the Eagles are getting 2.5 and the home team automatically gets 3, all is not lost.
that’s ony b/c jets offense sucks
Until Brandon Marshall is torching Maxwell.
they have to double, although he did drag 2 guys into the end zone yesterday
Hoping we play more Sone where Maxwell is really comfortable so we can get our money’s worth
double? billy d? come on that would be too easy
The same Billy D that refused to bench BADley Fletcher. Yep, that one.
That’s true, but that’s part of the equation.
but that means less then zero
just need giants win cowboys loss and we’re still in the race.
Personally, I’d like to see the Giants go 0-16.
tHis is such a rip off,when the schedule was released I was so looking forward to playing against Grno Smith, really sucks that he isn’t playing
..
Chip says we couldn’t run because they had 8 in the box, our season is over. Can’t win this game without getting our run game going against a very tough well coached defense, so WHEN they decide to keep 8 in The box, chip has to adjust and counter with keeping 8 or 9, No matter what the defense does, chip needs to have an answer for how to successfully run against them or we are in so much trouble…
..
It’s a shame we are in such a nervous must win situation because of how bad we looked when in reality this division is such a mess that we can easily get back in the hunt if we clean up our slop and play to our potential.. When you look at the Cowboys schedule and how banged up they ate with Weeden, they can easily go on bad 3 game slumps, maybe win 2 or 3 of the next 8 games
…
The Giants are a mess.
,,
Skins are playing physical football, they will battle in division games but we match up well against them with our run defense especially if we turn the physicality up a notch or two ..
…
This division is such a mess, that we shouldn’t view it as the sky is falling yet, but we have to find a way to beat the jets.. Our Defense is going to have to be fantastic and st will need to score and give us an advantage in case the offense struggle against a very tough defense…. Need a big game from Hicks and our Corners
A lot of times you guys remind me of an Andy Reid ism. First it is never as good or as bad as it seemed on game day.
Panicking is not going to help.
We all know that todd, trent, shady were all getting old on us. Have to move on.
How does this work? Going by Vegas the Eagles are getting 2.5 points on the road, the home team automatically gets 3 points for being the home team. Are they saying the Eagles are half a point better on a neutral field?
“I was told there would be no math.”
http://media.philly.com/images/600*450/20130321_inq_eagl21z-a.JPG
time to get past the shock of all of this.
Bradford will be fine
Jordan Mathews will be fine
Murray will be fine
Lane Johnson, Kelce, Peters will be fine
tight-ends are all fine
d-line= fine
every other player on d is fine.
kickers are fine
these above players are as good as Kelly thinks they are and most of us thought they were two weeks ago. They did not lose their talent at the end of the summer.
These players are not fine, like broken – bryon maxwell, the guards
so i guess i am not blaming the players, nor Kelly the GM. i guess i am going back to the run scheme, and x plays scheming.
lack of talent cant be fixed during a season
i have hope that the scheming can be turned around, must have some hope
hard to change schemes in season, been practicing the same couple plays for 3 months
I agree with all of this except one caveat: nothing is fine.
Guards weren’t the problem last game as much as Kelce and Celek.
Nope. Maxwell is fine, Bradford is not, book it
The scheme may not be the problem exactly. Play calling, coaching adjustment in game, QB audible, tipping off your play call may be more the problem, game planning (being prepared to CHANGE UP). Along with OL personnel and new guys.
When a team keeps 8 in the box, so you abandon the run, instead.of keeping 8 or 9 in to block and impose our run game on a team anyway, is certainly a problem with scheme,,
,,
Normally chip will view,8 in the box, as an opportunity to throw, but this week THATS the Trap. Bowles will want us to try and,throw,knowing we have 3’young WRs who would be up against REVIS, Cromartie and Skrine.. So you can’t just abandon the run THS week and take what the defense gives us.
..
no mAtter how the defense lines up against us. Chip NEEDS to have a way,for us to run on the defense anyway…., camt just sit in 3 WR set all day and abandon the run because they have 8 in the box..
..
Need to do a better job of finding a balance between iosing our will and taking what the defense gives us, instead of always letting the defense decide what we do over the “Counting game”..
I have no doubts we can play better across the board, but I worry about the Tôugh opposition we face Sunday… Facing The Jets is a nightmare for a team that is having OL problems and is young and weak at WR… Even if we play much better then we played Sunday, it’s still a tough matchuo for us..
..
Silver Linning? Cowboys offense is so messed up they could easily end up on a 2-6 slump..
..
Cowboys will give us plenty of opportunity to get back into it, but can’t worry about other reams while we are playing so bad
We don’t deserve optimism if we’re 0-3 but schedules favor us if anything can dig you out from 0-3 with home loss to Dallas . Absolutely would have to take care of business in division and I’m not insinuating we will.
The division could still be up for grabs by 2nd Dallas game. We have to win at Wash, vs Giants, at Cowboys. Then we don’t have division games until last two weeks of season
Dallas has Patriots , Seattle, Green Bay and the first halfish injury woes plus 5 of 8 on road after our second meeting. We have Patriots.
We ‘d probably have to sweep division games and go 10-3
Gotchya some highlights from Title Contender:
That was good, here’s the bad
and the ugly:
How about you stop throwing salt on the wounds with all these posts.
What’s with all this salt talk? Geez, No worries, we’ll be laughing at this later. Anyways, I was looking for the conversation AC was discussing.
I am just kidding friend, well to an extent lol. Your post are pushing me closer to the edge of this bridge I’m about to jump off of if the Eagles lose this weekend.
No worries man, I was joking about the salt, it’s the second or third time I’ve heard it today. Kind of true for us Eagles fans though. We either get it together or let’s meet at a bridge of your choice with a case of whatever you like to drink and let’s splash! LOL
I am with you BC, if they do lose I will hit you up and we’ll grab one last philly cheesesteak, a case of beer, and a bottle of my friend Jack then jump lol. In all seriousness though I still have faith this can be turned around. Yes I know I am too optimistic but I’d rather be that then to just crush the Eagles everyday. One good thing came out of that ‘Allas loss, Tony Romo hurt yeaaaa lol
I know it’s taboo to cheer injuries but what’s done is done right? Like other people aren’t enjoying our misery. Screw it I’m with you, I’m optimistic and this can be turned around. Although your suicide party sounds awesome. LOL
I’m in on the optimism train too. CK has a lot of leeway with me this season.
here’s the link to T-Law 8/31/15 post called “Title Contender”
http://igglesblitz.com/2015/08/title-contender/
Yeah I’m looking through I can’t find the conversation with Tommy the guy had. There are a lot of comments, I’ll go through again.
It’s very early in the thread.
I should’ve figured, Tommy usually answers early if he comments.
Crap I think I was looking through the wrong thread too lol
Haha When he said, At least I didn’t used the cursed words. Good stuff.
Gotta love this:
Don’t shoot the messenger.
What brought on this trip down memory lane?
LOL I was looking up a comment that was discussing preseason optimism and making a point about unprovoked attacks. I can take it down if you want. I actually just happened upon it, wasn’t looking for it.
Fun fact or sad now, depending on how you’re feeling. No coach in NFL history has beat the Cowboys more than Andy Reid, 17 as Eagles coach, 1 as KC. Also beat them the first 6 games he played them at home. Maybe we should love him more than we do. Someday we’ll look back fondly? He did do some great things, let’s face it.
But then last Thursday night, we remembered how frustrating he was at the same time. I was (and still am) a huge Andy fan. He brought our franchise during those years to respectability and almost got us the chip.
The problem on the other end was clock management and inability to make in-game adjustments.
Unless you’re Bill Belichik, everyone has flaws that end up making them lose their job.
I agree, but beating Dallas is the ultimate treasure and he did it well. Although Vermeil is the God of Philadelphia coaches, he beat them in a Championship game. No Super Bowls, but Dallas has never beaten us in a Championship game so there’s that. Billy Cunningham up there with God for beating the Lakers. RIP Moses, big time player.
Lost a lot of good people over the last couple years. Concrete Charlie, Moses, Dawkins, and past Philly sports one of my favs, Robin Williams.
Terrible, and agree about Williams. That was avoidable and a friggin tragedy. Well you can say they were all avoidable, those big guys need to get their hearts checked, even at younger ages, they are more vulnerable. Well Concrete Charlie was probably the unavoidable, but he had a great, productive life and is a legend.
It really makes me stop and think about my health a lot more as I get older.
At least keep up with your blood, know your cholesterol levels, I was full of gunk when I went in lol…I got on lovastatin and take fish oil now and it’s come down. Heart problems are hard to detect, I believe Letterman actually would be dead now, his was detected by a dr somehow. I don’t know if they went inside and found the problem. Ultrasounds don’t always tell the whole story which sucks and is scary. My ex’s brother, good health, young guy in his early 30’s, died on his couch one day. Stayed home from work to have guys work on his house, windows or roof. Told them he was really tired, laid on his couch and just died. Undetected heart problem. Unreal.
OMG, that’s so sad. I get regular checkups. The main thing for me is that I have super ADD, so I work out for a few weeks, stop for a few weeks, rinse and repeat.
If I could stay consistent with that I’ll be good. One thing some buddies of mine do is the Tough Mudder every year. I’m hoping to do two for the next two summers to catch up to my one friend so we can have 10 at the same time (though that’s not for another 4-5 years).
Staying active is the best thing you could do for your body. I turn 40 next October, and I want to have at least another 40 years.
Ugh I hate to tell you this story. Me, younger days, drinker, smoker, occasional coke. (oops, I’ll never be President) This isn’t recent, but just talking about a partying past. So I have a friend, we grew up and were close at a young age. Early 12, 13, into teens. I was more of a partier, he wasn’t a drinker, smoker, kept in shape. We kind of went our ways, stayed in touch a little. This sucks dude, but i’ll keep going.
So before he’s around 38, I hadn’t seen him for a few years, we decide to hang out, play basketball and it was obvious the dude was in great shape. I just had two bone marrow transplants, out of breath, he was beating kids that were 10-15 years younger than him. He was good.
He decides on his 40th b-day he never wants to get old, or be out of shape. He hit that scary point, oh shit, I’m 40. He decides to be a triathlete. Birthday in Feb of ’10. The tri includes swimming, biking and running. It’s at the end of June of ’10. So he works out the rest of the winter, spring and into the summer. On top of the fact he always had already worked out, he was specifically doing workouts for this event. The end of June was the triathlon. First event was jumping in the Schuylkill river and I guess doing some laps. Never made it out of the water. Never found him until the next day. He was in his age group, jumped in with a lot of guys, not sure how many, but they do a lot at a time.
Apparently it was a heart condition that wasn’t diagnosed.. I felt so shitty. The life I led, even got cancer, transplants. That didn’t happen because of my early years crazy life style but just saying. How does it work that way? This guy never broke a law in his life. If he got drunk it was an event. I mean maybe once or twice in his life he probably got drunk. Other than that, it was just a beer or two. He never had a single cigarette, no weed, nothing.
Not saying people die at 40 because they do kind of stuff, but just saying wtf. It’s not a story I’m telling to say you should change your lifestyle. You’re doing the right things, working out, keeping in shape. It’s what we should all do, at least look after ourselves. This was just a case of bad shit happening to good people. Keep doing your thing, just make sure you keep up with your Dr and your check-ups.
I don’t know how we got here, but makes this Eagles stuff kind of trivial huh?
Uggh. Man that is sad. It reminds me of my cousin, but he’s still living. He just turned 50 this past year and had a serious heart attack last year. He got lucky, but has the same rare defect his dad has. He eats right, bikes all the time, walks a bit for his job – and he’s the one that’s in danger of it happening again.
Some people are lucky, others aren’t. It’s a damn shame, because there should be some type of reward for trying to do the right thing.
Someone out there there’s an 80 year old man drinking and smoking away. We’re talking exceptions though, for the most part you take care of yourself and you’ll be fine. I’m in pretty good shape now, if I’m going down it’s not because I’m doing dumb things, I got that out of my system. I actually feel fortunate that I did make it through some dumb shit. Then there’s the guy who makes fitness his life who doesn’t make it. Sad, but rare exceptions. Shit, I know two people that died early and then your cousin with his problem. Too bad it’s not more rare.
im 72 and just polished off a Tuesday night six pack and steppin out for a winston
On side kick to start the game…good memory.
“I don’t think I have ever been around a rookie so advanced”-Malcom Jenkins talks Jordan Hicks…
..
“it’s like having another veteran out there”-Meco on Hicks..
…
Normally I would prefer at least waiting to after the bye week to call on a rookie, but,we don’t have that Luxury. One game cost us all our ILB depth, The NFL is a crazy place..
..
if Taylor Hart can’t play, that spreads us out Thin… Ideally hart is ready to fill in for Thornton, but if he can’t play on Sunday we will need Bair and VINNY Curry with Beau Allen as the 2nd team DL, with MS2 being called upon to fill that #3’OLB spot….obviously Curry would still help rush the,passer on 3rd down, but MS2 is going to have to get thrown into the fire, hopefully he is ready to make the most of the opportunity and step up, make plays for us against a Solid Jets OL.
“I don’t think I have ever been around a rookie so advanced”-Malcom Jenkins talks Marcus Smith…
..
“it’s like having another veteran out there”-Meco on Smith..
To be fair the D did keep them in the game for most of it.
2 days ago… do we need to just keep replaying or are you a bored troll?
anon is hardly a troll, you could tell if you looked at his comment history. First time I have seen it, probably an accidental double post.
thanks! Post was a little trolly, and honestly i think you gotta leave the game on the field. At the same time, optics are everything.
No problem, you’re definitely not a troll. Every once in a while we all do something that is troll-like, it’s unavoidable. LOL Shit, look at me of all people, my troll to comment ratio is good though I think. I know I go off the rails sometimes.
Let’s not forget the king of smiles, Donovan McNabb.
Gonzalez, geez. The guy is tired, which he was criticized for, but he’s coming off the field, probably a little beat up, his teeth are showing. No one knows what’s going through his mind, doubt he’s laughing. Or is he? All the way to the bank!
Is the pic supposed to show he’s joking around and doesn’t care? That would be pretty far down my list of interpretations.
I feel strangely confident in the team, despite the horrendous offensive showing so far this year. I think we are going to lose to the Jets this week, because they look unbeatable right now. I think we will be 0-3 and I know history says that means the season is over.
I think playoffs are still in the picture though. I think if this team is able to fix what is ailing it, they can beat anyone. I think Chip does not overlook opponents. I think from 0-3 to 9-6 is possible. Mostly, though, I think this team has the parts to be good and that it will show, hopefully soon enough.
Okay, I will be quiet and allow you to get back to your regularly scheduled falling sky watch.
I actually think they are winning this week so my sky is a little higher than yours.
I’d like to say, I have an even stranger optimism than yours. See, the igglesblitz comment section and H2H most fun year? 2012. The give a damn tank was all empty. No anxiety waiting for the football gods to come down and crush our hopes and dreams making us all nasty to everyone. And everyone figured out the only thing you could do was have fun with it. Mile marker 23 and 24. I didn’t stick around to watch too many whole games that year. Football was terrible. But in a sick way the Fans around here are at their best when the team is at its worst.
Win-Win, strange right?
There’s not much to talk about when things are going good, I mean we’re not too experienced with that stuff like New England Seattle, Green Bay…Losing riles up the fan base, anger brings out cursing, cursing brings out arguments. Some kind of Yoda shit or something.
We are angry when there’s hope. When Philly blows a golden opportunity. Once that’s done, its just one big cathartic party.
The first time I ever went to an Eagles’ site was in, I think 2003 when the cheating Carolina Panthers piledrived Donny’s ribs and their cornerback, Manning, took away Pinkston’s candy. It was strangely comforting reading Spadaro’s posts. I have not been to TATE for years, though.
that is strange.
I still feel very confident about The playoffs, because this division is a joke… But the Jets really scare me..
Also, Tommy, the video ad that causes my browser to jump to it and lose my spot in the thread where I am reading is kinda annoying.
I have relentless BP ad, I try to respect the ad revenue but I think I’m going to grab an ad blocker. It’s really a pain.
Is this on mobile? I don’t get anything like this. I whitelisted Tommy’s site on my Adblock.
No, I’m on the laptop tonight and am getting it. On my iPad I don’t have a problem.
on my PC most of the time the ad above the “donate” button is a video. And many of the videos play, tear my screen to the video and won’t let go until it’s done, then replay and do the same thing every minute or so. One didn’t do it while I was writing this post. As I finished the post up, a Lowes ad starting doing it. It really inspires Theon Greyjoy vs Hornblower type rage when it keeps happening.
**TRAP GAME**
For the Eagles?! 😉
I thought you were suggesting a new run-game philosophy.
Like the Steelers of the ’70s.
Sadly one of the few times where our lack of FB does actually matter.
we haven’t gotten out of the first trap yet.
This wet paper bag is really strong paper though!
oh wait we are the trap now! I get it.
Dallas acquired Cassel and Buffalo’s 2017 seventh-round draft pick for Dallas’ fifth in 2017, sources said.
“That’s like if your car gets totaled and the insurance company gives you another totaled car”
more like a unicycle but ya
Cassel owned us two years ago. Weeden owned us on Sunday. We’re screwed!
So who is going to start?
Weeden’s leash is long at least until Cassle knows the book.
Weeden only good enough to beat Eagles
Decker who had a solid game last night is day to day and obviously it’s a short week. Devin Smith hasn’t played yet. They have to keep Marshall in check anyway.
The Jets could be without their No. 2 and No. 3 wide receivers when they play the Eagles on Sunday. We already know Eric Decker (knee) is iffy. Also: Chris Owusu (leg) could miss two weeks, Todd Bowles told ESPN NY radio. They might have to dust off former stalwart Jeremy Kerley. Rookie Devin Smith also could make his debut.
is that enough help?
hard to tell
So, two weeks in, how is everyone feeling about the outcome of the Barkley/Tebow battle?
In a surprise move the pope will anoint Kinne the starter, leaving Tebow wondering why he has been forsaken (it’s all the self aggrandizing shirtless muscle pics that he totally pretends he’s not doing on purpose.)
J-Matt has 16 catches for 182 yards and a td. Thats actually kind of impressive since our offense has been so lackluster. He could have had quite a bit more as well but he’s had at least 3 drops.
For me, the lack of oline continuity, the poor play from the guards, the rusty QB play from the guy who hasn’t taken meaningful snaps in 2 years, the miscommunication with new starters at 10 of 22 spots, is all to be expected. It was foolish of us to think that having an oline where no one has ever really started next to each other before would look like a well oiled machine and have no issues with trust, communication, and continuity. It was foolish for us to think that a 31 year old journeyman with 8 career starts and whoever ended up sucking the least of last years 3rd string guards would provide top notch guard play. It was downright silly to think you could change out 10 of 22 starters and just hit the ground running. It was way overly optimistic to think Bradford could miss 2 years of action, learn a new system, recover from a second straight ACL tear, only start taking 11 on 11 snaps in late July early August, throw 15 preseason passes, and immediately look like a top QB. That a rookie, a 3rd round overdrafted WR and a Riley Cooper would immediately present problems to opposing CBs. That Zach Ertz could have hernia surgery and 3 weeks later, with no preseason with his new QB immediately be a matchup nightmare with great chemistry with his new starting QB. Literally, all the execution problems look painfully obvious in hindsight. Shame on us for being such homers that we didn’t see most of this coming.
However, the most disappointing thing is the utter simplicity of our schemes. We have two run plays. We run inside zone, with no read option component and we run a sweep play. If the guards and/or center pull, it’s a sweep in the direction they’re pulling. Making it even easier to diagnose the RB action is distinct. He lines up next to the QB and at the snap turns sideways to the LOS heading in the direction of the play. Should be piece of cake to diagnose for a LB. For the Dline, just flow in direction of the pulls, shoot the gaps vacated by the pulls and chase down the running back that has no chance to cut back or do anything but run outside the TE. And, with the lack of communication, continuity and skill at the guard position, shooting the gaps when they pull means you’ll basically be free in the backfield to wreak havoc.
If guards don’t pull just fire through the line and ignore any threat of the QB keeping. Running stunts and slants on obvious running plays easily confuse an offensive line where Peters has barely played next to Barbre, Barbre has barely if ever played next to Kelce, Kelce has barely played next to Gardner, and Gardner has hardly if ever played next to Johnson.
When it comes to passing…we run 4 plays repeatedly. If the WRs line up with close splits or bunches or are near the line at all, it’s going to be a mesh underneath with three receivers running crossing routes within 10 yards of the LOS hoping to exploit man coverage and a wheel route run down one sideline. Great play to beat man coverage. However, when it’s so obvious that every time the receivers take close splits you’re running the mesh with a wheel, just audible to zone coverage. Drop all the underneath defenders straight across the field within ten yards of the LOS and every receiver runs right into the coverage and the mesh provides no natural picks. Then just have one guy play zone overtop of the wheel route. Presto, no one’s open.
If we don’t do that we run a play with 3 potential receiving threats to one side and one WR out wide to the other side. All the WRs take normal splits. We run a snag concept to the side with 3 receivers. The TE (sometimes a RB) runs a flat patten, the outside receiver runs a short inside breaking curl and the inside receiver runs a corner route.
If we line up with two potential receivers to either side with normal splits, we run 4 verticles, with the only variation being a switch 4 verticals where the inside receiving crosses to the outside like a wheel route and the outside receiver crosses inside to run a seem.
Finally, we occasionally run a 3 WR set with Matthews in the slot. The two outside WRs run fly patterns and Matthews runs a deep post/crossing route from one side of the feild to the other.
That’s it! That’s the entire offense. We run those same plays over and over and over, with no tendency breakers off of it. We dress it up with different motions and formations, but it’s the same 6 plays over and over again. And, all that you need to do is note the WR splits and count how many receiving options are on each side of the ball and you immediately know what’s coming. Also note that we almost never motion or dress up our runs. If we come out in a standard set, with no motion, and there’s the right number of defensive players in the box we run, either straight up the middle on inside zone (easily killed at this point with stunts, twists, slants) or outside zone, just follow the pulling lineman. Tight splits = mesh + wheel route. Regular splits with 1 receiving option to one side and 3 to the other = snag. Regular splits with 2 receiving threats to each side = 4 verticals, or if its WR – TE – LINE – Matthews in the slot – WR it’s two verticals and Matthews running the deep crosser. That’s all you have to know to defend the eagles at this point.
In football, every offensive player has a natural advantage in that he knows what he’s going to do and the defensive guy doesn’t. Due to our play calling, we’ve given up the most natural and fundemental advantage that exists in football.
What happened to Chip? In 2013 we saw so many interesting packaged plays, that could be runs, QB keepers, passes, playaction fake runs followed by fake QB keepers where the QB eventually threw the ball out to the perimeter when the defense closed in. The inside zone, pop pass package play. The formations with two stacked WRs sitting way out by the sidelines to stretch the defense out, where we’d run inside zone/WR screen packaged plays. When teams stacked the box we picked up easy yards with the WR screens, when they put people out to cover the screen we had a number advantage to run. When they countered by stacking the box and then crashed hard on the screen, we’d release the blocking WR on a fly pattern and hit them deep.
The defense was always wrong. We’d mess with their heads by putting our tackles out wide as blockers for our stacked WRs, we ran a play with 3 offensive lineman for a first down. We constantly toyed with defenses and made sure that no matter what they did they were always wrong, we had an answer for everything they did and counters off our counters and tendency breakers and constraint plays to force their hand so they never knew what was coming. Now the defense is always right. They always know whats coming and they knew exactly how to defend it. There are no answers, no counters, nothing. It’s all dependent on just out executing which is impossible because nearly 50% of our starters are new to the team and execution is just not going to be perfect. Where’d you go Chip Kelly?