Technical Breakdowns
Posted: September 15th, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 106 Comments »Chip Kelly made me feel better about the Eagles performance on Monday night. In his PC, Kelly explained that penalties were his primary issue. He gave the example of seven calls against the offense that set the team back 60 yards. More importantly, they negated 98 gained yards, including a couple of big plays. One of those big gains would have put the Eagles at the Atlanta-10 with about four minutes left. Think that hurt?
Kelly explained the penalties were due to technical breakdowns. He gave the example that on some holding calls the blocker quit moving his feet and then had to reach/grab. This is the kind of basic stuff the coaches have talked about since May. But sometimes players get caught in the moment and lose their technique. It seems like that happened to the Eagles on Monday night.
The reason this makes me feel better is that these are correctable mistakes. You can’t make players bigger, faster or more talented. You can improve their technique. It is incredibly boring to talk about fundamentals, but they really are the key to football.
Kelly and the coaches will focus on cleaning up the penalties. They weren’t just costly on offense. There was one on Kiko Alonso that negated a strip sack. That led to points and played a huge part in the outcome of the game. The whole team was sloppy. Kelly said this had to change before this week’s game against Dallas.
If you get rid of some of the penalties, the Eagles performance on Monday looks a lot better. Heck, maybe they win. Unfortunately, the Eagles committed the mistakes and it cost them big time.
Time to fix it and get going.
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Kelly expressed total and complete confidence in Cody Parkey. But what is Chip going to say? He is very loyal to his players and won’t hang the guy out to dry.
I agree with Kelly that it isn’t time to panic in regard to Parkey, but you do have to pay attention the situation. Parkey was a Pro Bowl kicker last year. This is 2015 and Parkey isn’t automatic right now. He needs to get on a hot streak, ASAP.
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Football season means roster shuffling. And it has begun.
David Molk got hurt in the opener and is headed to IR. The Eagles could consider Josh Andrews the backup C and go find an interior guy or they could try to find someone who has played C in the NFL and could be a more proven backup.
The Eagles lost Raheem Mostert off the practice squad on Monday. Now they have released TE Andrew Gleichert. To fill the two spots, the team re-signed RB Kevin Monangai and DL Travis Raciti. As of now, the PS looks like this:
OL Brett Boyko
OL Malcom Bunche
WR Quron Pratt
WR Freddie Martino
RB Kevin Monangai
DL Travis Raciti
DL Brian Mihalik
DB Ed Reynolds
ILB Deontae Skinner
DB Randall Evans
I’m glad they got Raciti back. I think he has NFL potential. Monangai is a limited player, but could be good in practice. You know he’ll work his butt off.
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Any word on the Cody Parkey’s groin?
Insert adolescent humor here….
I guess you’d have to ask his tattoo guy.
I guess releasing Gleichert means they have full confidence that Ertz is 100%?
His 8 targets last night probably confirmed that.
And the fact he doubled Celek’s snaps.
“Parkey was a Pro Bowl kicker last year” makes him sound better than he was. He was good. He wasn’t great. I don’t think anybody was very confident in his ability to kick from distance.
He was 4 of 4 in 50+ field goals. You might be thinking of Henery?
Parkey missed 2 against Washington, though, in a game we lost by 3 points. I think if people had doubts, that’s when they started.
Every kicker misses kicks though, so on the whole Parkey’s performance last year was fantastic, especially for someone picked up off the scrap heap.
But he’s been missing the clutch kicks. Maybe it’s just coincidence.
See my new post above. Kicking is a probability game. If you flip five coins, you’re eventually going to get all heads or all tails. Doesn’t change the odds of each toss.
Parkey’s corporal language is the major concern to me. He looks like without confidence even before the kick. And Chip trying to cheer him up in the PC was a good thing. Now it’s time to show in a real game situation the same confidence in him.
Ravens sign Babin to replace Suggs. Desperation is an ugly thing.
I am not sure Babin can take over for Suggs. I doubt Babin is still flexible enough to dive for people’s knees.
He’s a big enough dbag but lacks the pure evil intent of Suggs.
Please tell me Molk tore his bicep slapping some sense into Billy Davis
What happened to Mostert? Injury, or was he picked up?
Nevermind. I see that the Dolphins got him.
Cool, lets out technique the shit out of the Cowboys.
Agreed. Ive been pretty reasonable with this loss but if we fall to 0-2 against that filth at home……. Idk man, idk.
If that happens I’ll be ordering my pitchfork & torch from Amazon immediately after the game.
I don’t think fans understand anything about placekickers. Field goals are not automatic, especially when you move beyond 30+ yards. Every kicker will miss some FGs between 40 and 50. Every kicker. Even Gostkowski, even Vinatieri.
http://i.imgur.com/hFAHCzl.jpg
At 44 yards your league baseline is less than 75%. That means you need to expect to miss 1 out of every 4 FGs from that distance. It’s the same reason why sometimes kickers go on bad streaks.
If you stack together enough consecutive 75% tries, you’re bound to find some streaks of misses, but those are mostly human-perceived patterns that don’t really exist. But that’s when people start calling for the kickers’ heads. Which doesn’t help.
I love the random peaks on the graph, you’d think with a big enough sample size you’d see a fairly linear downward trend.
Football is a game of small sample sizes.
Yeah but I assume that data is accumulated over what, decades perhaps? I don’t know because I don’t know where the chart comes from, but, I would think there would be at least a couple hundred kicks recorded even from as far out as 53 or 54 yards.
Yeah, based on that graph, you’re better off kicking a 54 yard fg than a 53 yard fg.
Take the log and it will probably be more linear.
Sean, do you know where this data comes from? In particular, what years this covers? Thanks.
I Google image searched “field goal accuracy by distance” and a bunch of charts came up they all look pretty similar. Grantland, 538 etc. But the main point is 44 yards is not a gimme.
I thought I read somewhere (don’t remember where) that field goal accuracy for 40+ yard kicks has been increasing in recent years. That is why I was curious as to what years the data in that graph is from.
How about he misses that 44 yarder when we’re up 30 points instead of down 2?
If only it worked that way…
Now show Parkey’s graph.
I know that I am wildly biased – and all fans probably feel this way about their team – but. Sometimes I really feel like the eagles in particular have a penchant for losing games they could have easily won. Without bad call on key plays by the refs. Or easy drops on key plays for first downs. Or missed field goals inside the 50 by the end of games that would put us up on the scoreboard. Or tipped passes by our own players that gets intercepted within scoring distance.
Or those ridiculous 70-yard TD’s on the final play of the game where a defender trips over his laces and some nobody is wide open for the hail. But its probably just me being biased.. Right?
Using this specific game as an example, I’m sure the Falcons fans are saying something along the lines of:
“We trashed them in the first half and then just started playing soft, prevent-style defense and stopped being aggressive on offense. Also, Redzone offense was abysmal early on (3 trips there for one FG).
Anyway, I’m sure that even if they scored a FG late we would have won the game by giving Julio the ball and going up the field and score. Lessons earned for the future: we can’t rest after a good first half and a 17 points lead.
Hopefully moving forward we’ll play 2 halves like we played the first, will be more efficient in the Redzone, and won’t let an inferior team like Philly nearly win a game that should have been over by halftime”
I’m sure you are right. To me, the ‘real’ eagles were the ones playing in the second half. To a falcons fan both halves were the same eagles team, and it was the falcons who underperformed in the second.
and/or some bum kicker hits a 63 yard kick to beat us.
I guess all that means is that the team is good enough to be close in most of the games they lose. Which is of course a good thing. But it somehow makes me feel worse when a loss can be contributed to a few small incidents on key plays that are unlikely to occur often.
Im strongly disagree… For the most part chip has done a fantastic job of making sure we beat the teams we are supposed to beat.. What we need to see is taking that next step as a team and starting to win games against teams who are better then us…. The Washington loss at the end of the year, and losing to the Giants the year before when Barkley was our QB were two of the few times we didn’t beat a team we were supposed to beat..and for the most part, those letdown games happened without our starting QB in the game..
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Besides the colts win, we need to start getting some more wins against Quality teams then these past two seasons, while continuing to take care of business beating teams we are supposed to beat
Oh, I must not have expressed myself thoroughly then. I think Chip has done an excellent job so far beating inferior teams. Its the loses that we do have, that sometimes makes me feel that way – better opponent or not. I sit squarely in the chip wagon for now, and that hasn’t changed with what happened monday night where a missed field goal, a dropped interception, a bogus holding call and a tipped pass all could have changed the outcome of the game. But it made my tummy hurt. Thats all.
The issue I have with this is that the breakdowns and sloppiness we saw yesterday are not just something that happens randomly – they tend to increase when you have massive roster turnover, and/or substandard players thrust into key roles. Andrew Gardner and Allen Barbre are always going to be more prone to commit penalties than more talented linemen, because they’re more likely to find themselves in positions where they have to reach to make up for getting beaten.
It’s unlikely the penalties will be as bad in remaining games, because they were enormous in both volume and impact in this one, but there’s no guarantee they won’t be an issue all year long.
“Andrew Gardner and Allen Barbre are always going to be more prone to commit penalties than more talented linemen, because they’re more likely to find themselves in positions where they have to reach to make up for getting beaten.”
Whereas Evan Mathis and Orlando Franklin would not.
I don’t know. Evan seemed to be reaching and trying to make up for getting beaten all off season.
Weren’t 2 of the holds on Kelce?
Yes, and those are uncharacteristic of him. But Gardner and Barbre also committee penalties and that should be expected.
If you say so. I imagine we’ll see other guys in there if they are so bad they have to constantly commit penalties. Not my expectation, though.
The other guys they have to put in there aren’t any better. That’s the issue with having lousy depth at a position.
I certainly expected better. We’ll see.
Yep. And one on Celek. And JP had a false start.
One was pretty weak. The second, Kelce had picked up the guy and flipped him. He earned the hell out of that one.
“There was one on Kiko Alonso that negated a strip sack.”
Except that wasn’t a penalty. Alonso posted his hand on a guy who was in a normal turn on his route.
bad call.
well it was a penalty because they threw a flag and called a penalty. So yeah, it was a penalty.
It is what it is, but that doesn’t mean it should have been that.
Dnt reply to this guy. He has been trolling for a while. He isnt worth your time, seriously.
Wish I saw your comment before I replied.
you should be an official. oh wait, you arent qualified. my bad
Lol what? Neither are you. The simple fact is that the large majority of the time that is not called. That is something you can just deduce from watching games.
So you agree with everything that everyone does that you are not exactly qualified for? Are you qualified to be president? No, but I’m sure that you don’t agree with everything Obama does.
Ridiculous comment.
You aren’t qualified to be an NFL head coach so therefore from now on you can’t complain about a single thing Chip does. How about that? That’s using your logic. Now if you are seen saying that Chip should have done something different you are simply a hypocrite.
You are an idiot. Don’t question the referees because not even NFL coaches do that. Shut your mouth!
I hated that call.
Tommy, if and when you do your DGR, keep an eye on JP in the second half. There must have been 5 or 6 plays where I was certain he was going to get called for a false start, but didn’t. He was fully planted and ready to move forward to engage the defender before anyone else stood up.
He’s been doing that for years. He is almost always the first one out of his stance and It always looks really close to a false start.
yes i noticed that too, he starts moving before we ever see the ball appear behind kelce’s ass
him and vinny curry
I had to share this:
https://twitter.com/OLineScout/status/643959083868008448
I watched Peters, is that what you watching? Insane!
Put two defenders on their ass.
There was a point in yesterday’s game where it felt like it didn’t matter what Atlanta threw at Sam Bradford. He was quicker, more decisive, and got whatever he wanted when he stepped back. It’s what I always wanted but never got to see with Foles, Kolb, or McNabb. Those guys needed a lot more time to process what was on the field before they made their throws.
Very Impressve performance by Bradford on a few levels..
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to add to your point about how impressive he was in the second half, he did that against a defense that could pin its ears back and unleash the pass rush knowing that we had abandoned the run being forced to play from Behind… At one point SAM completed 12 passes in a row against a defense that didn’t even have to worry about the run in the second half. How much more dangerous can SAM be when he gets to play off our run game and defenses not knowing whether he is passing or handing it off..
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Also took a bunch of Monster hits and was Never rattled… Great Sigń for a kid who hasn’t played in 2 years due to injuries..
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But what was Most Impressive was the BIGTIME MOXY he showed in the second half. no matter how many horribly costly penalties put us in a bad position, SAM was able to overcome all those offensive penalties and still lead us down field and into the enzone. Not easy to see a QB overcome like 3-4 penalties on one scoring drive.. And no Matter what happened it seemed like it wasn’t going to stop SAM… Very encouraging sign.. Kid basically only need a half of football to overcome two years of rust, also impressive.
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SAM is such an accurate passer, that defenses are really crapping their pants more then ever when it comes to Sproles, because of Sams pin point ball placement getting Sproles the ball in stride. Like Atlanta most teams will be scared to death of the wheel route whenever Darren is in the game. We starting to see Linebackes on Sproles with double team safety help over top. We NEED guys like ERTZ, Huff, Agholar to step up and take advantage of the attention Sproles commands from opposing defenses,,
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Very encouraging to see that we feel so good about ERTZ health that he was able to play more snaps then we typically see on Monday. He wasn’t as effective as always, but very encouraging that the Eagles feel good about his health and didn’t feel the need to hold him back or ease him back into things at all…now that ERTZ has a game under his belt, we should see a much sharper TE weapon, who should be salivating to feast on average at best Dallas Safeties.. Sproles and Pope Jordan are going to start commanding so much attention, that we should see ERTZ and the WRs get some great opportunities.. They need to take advantage of it..
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if ERTZ produces more then Witten and Escobar this week. Probably going to be very hard for Dallas to win
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THANK GOD it’s Wednesday already
I don’t want to make excuses for Byron Maxwell like I did 4 years ago for Nnamdi.
Walter Thurmond missed a few tackles. One in particular was the Julio Jones TD screen. That should have been a tackle for a loss.
I think it’s time to bench DeMeco. On Monday it felt like he was a liability.
DeMarco might be too slow in his decision making for Kelly’s offense. The offense seemed to run smoother with Ryan Matthews.
I felt like the Eagles got a little lucky a few time when they have Barwin on coverage against the RB.
I’d love to see Thurmond just roam the field and watch the QB’s eyes. He’s not a great tackler but seems as if he has ball skills.
Yea, to bench Kiko for DeMeco just doesn’t seem like it helps the defense. I’d like to see DeMeco come in as no more than a breather for Kendricks and Kiko.
I don’t think the offense line blocked well enough for DeMarco. He was getting hit before he even reached the line of scrimmage. With that being said, I do feel Chip needs to rotate Sproles and Mathews in more often.
kiko wasn’t “benched” he hasn’t played in pre-season so think they were trying to spell him as they work him back into shape
Yup… I assume as long as he remains Helathy, we will look back and see that he will have played the fewest snaps of his season against Atlanta… Should see him play a much bigger role this week, TIL he gets to the point where we rarely take him off the field… But when Kiko or Mychal need a few plays off to catch their breath, it becomes valuable to have a quality vet like Meco who can come in and spell a LB on 1st and 2nd down, let Kiko catch his breath and put him back n the field on 3rd down..
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And if our Lbs ever have to miss a game or two to injury, we will be thrilled to have MUFASA..
Brandon bair just received a 1 year extension. 675k base salary
The numbers say that teams who start 0-2 only have a 12% chance of making the playoffs…. That’s all that needs to be said about the importance of this week..
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It’s Dallas. No matter the record/time a year, Dallas needs to go down.
I can live with going 2-14 as long as we beat Dallas twice.
In a weird way that would be oddly satisfying. Being that bad of a team, and still beating Dallas would drive them mad.
And I’d also be ok if Dallas goes 14-2 but misses the playoffs because we beat them twice.
P.S. Hey football gods, you know I’m kidding about Eagles going 2-14, right?
How did Molk get hurt? Did I miss him in place of Kelce for a few snaps or something?
He hurt it on special teams.
Ahh.. probably on FG right? Didn’t think about that.
Dorenbos is the long snapper.
Im aware Dorenbos is the long snapper, however there are backup offensive linemen put in during FGs besides the position of long snapper.
If he was hurt during ST i doubt it happened running down the feild covering a PR or KR.
The technical breakdowns/penalties were clearly a huge part of why we lost. Some of that’s from roster turnover/first game in an opposing dome/etc., but there’s definitely more. It’s the run/pass breakdown, but it’s about more than the percentage splits.
Ideally, you want to run to set up the pass, especially in Kelly’s offense. But the run game wasn’t working in the first half. The whole point of having a QB supposedly as good as Bradford is that he can take the game on his shoulders. He missed some throws early (that one to Austin was a killer), but this is probably to be expected given the circumstances. If Bradford makes some of those throws and makes the Falcons pay for stacking the box, the run game will start to open up. And then we can get the run/pass percentages where we want.
I guess I think the whole point of having a QB like Bradford over Foles is that we don’t want our QB to be so dependent on having a good situation around him to succeed. Hopefully Bradford can settle down earlier as he gets more comfortable. And hopefully it starts with Dallas.
He threw 52 passes and had an accuracy rating of 69%. That’s even with a bad 1st half. I’m more confident in Bradford now than before. This is his first game in 2 years, and considering the circumstances I felt he rebounded very well in the 2nd half.
I think you have hit the knot. A more accurate Bradford in the first half probably would have led to an adjustment by the defense that would have opened up the running game, but I don’t care who your QB is, if the OL is missing assignments and getting pushed into the pocket, not Brady, not Rodgers, not Manning will take over a game. Conversely, if our DL was giving Matty Ice as little time as Bradford was getting, the outcome would almost certainly have been different.
The panic surrounding Parkey is bordering on insanity. Let’s review the actual facts instead of what everyone is saying.
Parky missed 2 field goals and an extra point in the preseason. Then he was shut down for the final two preseason games. He continued to practice and the coaches reported that he was kicking fine.
But the narrative is that a) he has a groin injury; b) he missed a lot of field goals; and c) he’s lost his confidence. There is not one shred of evidence for any of those claims.
Now am I worried about Parkey? Yes, I am, because kickers are weird. Henery was the most accurate kicker in Eagles history and then he completely forgot how to kick. We’ve all seen kickers make 50 yarders and than miss chip shots. Kicker are always a concern and Philadelphia didn’t realize how very lucky they were to have a consistently good kicker like David Akers for so very long.
So yes, Parkey may have trouble in the future and, of course, we should keep an eye on it. But all this panic comes from ONE MISSED KICK. Look around the league. LOTS of field goal kickers missed kicks. Do you cut them after missing one kick. Of course you don’t.
Oh wait! Of course you do if you’re the worst franchise in the league, like the Washington Redskins. Last week we were rightfully mocking the Redskins for cutting their kicker. It makes zero sense to go all through training camp with a kicker and them cut him after one miss. And now Eagles fans want to be just as stupid and just as short-sighted as the Redskins? Please. Stop with this nonsense.
Wait, who said they should cut Parkey?
Forgive me, BlindChow. You post here in the rarified air of the IgglesBlitz. (The best Eagles blog that I know.) Listen to WIP or TheFan for more than a minute and the panic surrounding the Eagles is palpable.
I’ve been reading tweets and comments ever since Monday’s game ended and believe you me, there are a ton of people who think the Eagles need to bring in another kicker.
It probably wouldn’t be as bad if we hadn’t just gone through the same thing with Henery. There were plenty of people saying not to panic then, too.
Parkey has missed 3 FG’s and 1 PAT in three games this year. And there were two more games he didn’t even play. I don’t think it’s cutting time, but the concern is definitely warranted.
i might have from my fantasy team but just bc mcmanus is kicking BOMBs… no need for panic…
JimmyK, ST nut, seems to be hinting at it.
What Im looking for Sunday..
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1) With how short on weapons Dallas is, I think it will be very difficult for Dallas to win without getting a Monster productive game out of Witten.. This means that Kiko has a chance to be crucial to not getting off to a 0-2’start against a hated Rival. Ask Eagle TE’s about Kiko Alonso, and they RAVE about his ability in Coverage…. This is a BIGTIME addition in a league where TE are more prominent weapons then they have ever been… Barwin already has been one of the best OLBs at covering TEs, and now we add an ILB who is just as good as Barwin covering TE, Kiko is probably even better then Barwin. With DEz gone, and their RBs being average at best, Dallas will need a Monster game out of Witten, and at his age, I think Kiko and Barwin have the ability to keep him in Check sunday and force dallas to lean on someone else. I assume they will have to try and get Gavin Escobar involved, so it’s good to go into this game, with Barwin and Kiko, two studs in terms of covering pass catching TE’s
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2) normally we could add Kendricks to the list of defenders we can stick on a TE, but I think Dallas RBs are going to run into a brick Wall on Sunday, so we will see Dallas try to get production from the RBs by throwing to them, and IMO Kendricks is one of the best LBs in the game at matching up with pass catching RBs.. Give him the Green light for some Green Dog Blitzes, Everytime the RB he is matched up against Stays in to block, Kendricks should have the green light to rush the passer..with Kiko Matching up with TEs, and Kendricks ability to cover RBs, I think we haven’t seen anything in terms of just how great of a tandem they can be in coverage… If Kiko takes Witten away from Romo, and Kendricks takes away Romos Checkdown RB Dunbar, it will force Terrence Williams or Beasly to beat us..,
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3) Great Opportunity for a big rebound game for Maxwell. Matching up against Terrence Williams is nothing Like facing Julio.. Something I think Hurt Maxwell last week was that it was the first time Byron has ever played against Julio Jones..when facing such an elite Talent, it’s nice to have some past experience playing in person against such a tremendous talent…. No need for excuse, just need to put Monday behind us and get ready to Make terrence Williams miserable on Sunday..
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4) COle Beasly is the cowboy I want to get hit the hardest after Romo of course, Be nice to still have Boykin on our bench tfor when we need someone to match up with the quicker, smaller, slot Corners,,
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5) The DL needs to make a statement dominating the line of scrimmage against such a highly celebrated Dallas OL who talks a lot of shit,
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6) Dallas OL gets all the praise, and Demarco Murray has been disrespected because of the quality of the Dallas OL… I’m sure the Eagles OL will be jacked up to show what they can do as a unit, but more importantly, rally for their new teammate and help Demarco have a big game in a matchup you know will mean so much to him. on the other side of the trenches, Cox, Bennie, Ced also have to play for Demarco, do their part shutting down the Dallas Run game to help show Just how important Demarco was to a team that has basically spit on him this offseason
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7) Romo can’t be allowed to leave Philly without Taking a significant beating, putting an end to all his “I feel so great” talk.. dallas will face us with about an as average group of weapons as we will see this year, You remove Murray and DEz Bryant, and we should be able to do a great job in coverage, forcing Romo to hold the ball Long enough for our Front 7 to get to him and then Unload on Romo..
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8) When you play at home, against average at best Brandon Carr, and that chump Morris Claiborne, Our Outside WRs can’t be irrelevant on Sunday. Need to see some production out of Agholar, Coop, Austn, and Hopefully Josh Huff wakes the hell up.. This is a good matchup to try and get a big play to get Agholar and Huff going.
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9) TEs Zack ERTZ,,Celek and even Burton should be able to make plays against Dallas Safeties and LBs… But Darren Sproles can be very difficult matchup for this Dallas defense., Im THRILLED that the Cowboys lost LB Justin Durrant to the Falcons, think he is a very under rated LB, Dallas should have cut Sean Lee before letting Durrant get away…
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10) Coach Fipp, get your shit together. Besides the Parkey miss, the ST Wasnt at all bad, but it didn’t play up to our ELITE ST Standards. ST didn’t cost us, but they are just too good to not make a bigger impact on the game then what we saw in Atlanta.. need to see Coach Fipp put the SPECIAL back into our ST unit…I was annoyed that Parkey missed that Kick in the dome, but like Chip, im not even close to worrying about our young “Sugarfoot” Parkey.. I have faith in the kid working thru this minor slump, if you can even call it a slump
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Anyne hear any news about Tutu? When we cut Prosinski from our coverage units, it becomes important to have Tutu on the field..
One of the Biggest things im looking for Sunday is To get our Run game Going early, that way we can use our tempo in the first half to DRAIN THIS FRONT 7 that is Seriusly lacking depth due to suspensions and Injuries,,
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We completely gassed the Atlanta defense, and accomplished that without even really tiring them out in the first half, and they came into the game with better DL depth then what Dallas will bring to the Linc on Sunday.
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Cowboys DL is lacking bodies that they trust in an NFL game.. Inflict first half tempo fatigue and Dallas Defense will be in Big Big Trouble come the 3rd quarter when we start unleashing a fresh Ryan Mathews,,
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That DL depth is DEPLETED, which is what you risk by not caring about adding charachter players who won’t get suspended, since Injures are already enough costly,.. no Randy Gregory, No Greg Hardy, No Rolondo McClain.. dallas planned on using Mincy at DT this year, but they don’t really have a choice but to move him back to DE, opposite of Demarcus Lawrence, and who the hell do they have behind them left on the depth chart that can give those two DEs a breather when our Tempo starts draining them? Mincy having to go back to DE, also cuts into the DT depth, Crawford is probably one of the few cowboy defenders I respect, but that kid can’t play an Entire game against our Tempo, so not only do they come to philly with No DE depth, their DT depth isn’t anything special either..of course we know they are short on LB depth with McClain suspended,,
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You really put yourself in a terribke position coming to philly, Severly lacking front 7 depth, you better have a handful of Backups you can sub into the game when you play the Eagles, and the depleted Front 7 Depth may end up being even more costly this week then not having DEZ on the field
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Exposing their lack of Front 7 depth with our tempo is the Key to not making this game harder then it needs to be
So what would you say you’re looking for on Sunday?
It appeared that a number of the Eagles’ holding calls were due to poor hand placement – I remember the last Kelce holding penalty and he had his man dominated, yet his hands were grasping the outer/upper portion of the shoulderpads.
The officials had some rust to knock off as well, and were inconsistent in their holding calls – especially on Atlanta. There were at least 3 plays where the TV camera showed an Eagle, in position to make a play on the Atlanta ball carrier, being blatantly held, with an official in perfect position staring directly at the play and not throwing the flag! You have to call it both ways.
In the instance where Kelce was called for the hold in the big run play….he dominated Moore and hand placement had nothing to do with it…Moor got tossed to the ground…those calls are just a bunch of BS…it is apparent that moore had no chance against Kelce and his hand placement had nothing to do with it…I agree that if you are going to call it then do it both ways…
If you toss a player you’re getting called for holding.
If you’re in space and have you’re hands outside the frame and prevent the defender from lateral movement, you’re getting called for holding.
This is true at all levels.
I know this I just don’t agree with it…lets take a move where the OL clubs a defender to the ground while using that players foward momentum to do so…don’t think this draws a flag…I used to watch Eugene Monroe at UVA dominate guys with perfect technique and got a flag automatically becuase the defender went to the ground…I don’t agree with holding calls in these situations…but I am not the ref nor do I make the rules…
I mean I’ve seen guys get bulled over backwards and the DL falls on them and get called for it. It’s annoying but it’s something you get used to.
It seems that holding could be called on virtually every play in the NFL depending on the whim of the ref. Seems like at least one of the O lineman is always grabbing something.
“It seems that holding could be called on virtually every play in the NFL”
And it seemed like the refs were intent on doing just that. I heard that calling holding is supposed to be a point of emphasis this year. If so, that stinks, as it really screws up games. I say, let them play (“no harm, no foul”).
I agree with you. They are slowing the game down too much and it sucks to have to wait after every play and wonder if there will be a flag/ Call the really villainous penalties equally on both teams, and let it go with that.
I thought the call on Alonso is one that gets called 50% of the time or less. He did make negligible contact that didn’t appear to impede the receiver’s progress. Of course, I don’t have benefit of a recording, so maybe I’m suffering from selective amnesia.
I am rewatching the game, and I have to ask you guys. Now I am not a scout or high school player or anything, I only know football from tv and tossing it around the back yard, so I dont presume to know anything at all, but.. Does Murray look sluggish to you? I keep watching these runs, and I know its different with him running out of the shotgun and all, but he just doesnt seem to accelerate the way he did last year where he would hit the line of scrimmage at nearly top speed. Doesnt seem to be the case at all on these runs.
I think it’s a bit illusory. When he’s split his first burst is often to get the lineman to commit, and then he’ll pause and see where to cut, where the hole opens. From shotgun, he appears to be scoping out his options as soon as he takes the handoff. This is all in a matter of two or three seconds, and it is very difficult to gauge his overall commitment in a tiny window. And the fact that his line was not holding up, I think, just makes it that much harder to assess his effectiveness.