Tough Loss
Posted: September 14th, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 202 Comments »The Falcons beat the Eagles 26-24. Or you could say that the Eagles beat the Eagles. There were a lot of self-inflicted wounds that played a major part in the loss.
Let’s talk about a few.
* Missed FG
* Drop by Jordan Matthews that led to game-sealing INT
* Drop by Ryan Mathews that could have gotten 15 or more yards
* Failure to stop RB on draw on 3rd/long
* Failure to get yard on 3rd/1
* 2 dropped INTs by Malcolm Jenkins
Blocking and tackling was erratic throughout the game. That must improve.
It would be easy to get all “The sky is falling!!!” after this loss, but that’s not the way I feel right now. The 1st half was a complete disaster and the team trailed 20-3. They looked out of sync on offense and played on their heels on defense.
The Eagles were borderline dominant in the 2nd half, outscoring Atlanta 21-6 and missing a FG. The defense was much more aggressive and the offense got into a great rhythm. This was the Eagles team I expected to see all night long.
There are plenty of things to fix, but you can at least build off the play of the 2nd half. That wasn’t fluky or lucky. The Eagles were outstanding. That can carry over to other games.
Sam Bradford was 21-25-219 in the 2nd half. He spread the ball around and let his weapons make plays for him. This was the guy Chip Kelly wanted to see. The 1st half was a very different story. Bradford looked rusty and somewhat tentative at times. Inconsistent blocking played a large part in that.
I’ll have more in the morning. For now, this isn’t the start I wanted, but I saw enough good things in the 2nd half that I’m as encouraged as I am frustrated. That 1st half had me really ticked off. The Eagles weren’t going to be a finished product after adding so many new pieces in the offseason. I expected some growing pains, but certainly not what I saw in the opening 30 minutes.
That final 30 minutes still had too many mistakes. But there were good signs as well…enough that I still have confidence in this team. Let’s hurry up and get to Sunday.
_
Anyone else still walking round the house yelling fuck every 5 minutes?
I’ve backed it off to 10 minutes now.
I took an ambien and its not taking the edge off, let alone sleep. I want the Dallas game tomorrow.
Yes, but that’s every night for me. The new addition is throwing my arm out by spiking the remote on the couch.
Yes
They were borderline dominant, at times, against a team we expected them to dominate. Looking good after going down by 3 scores at halftime against a 6-10 team is sub-optimal, even if it’s week 1.
No doubt.
Then again, the Falcons look like they could be much better this year.
That Ryan to Jones connection is silly.
Dna Quinn making something out of nothing with the defense, makes you wonder if we could do better w/ a better DC. There’s a TON of talent on defense.
I’m thinking the Falcons are the kind of team that looks dominant against us, but gets dominated by all its other opponents.
Seems like we have a few of these every year. Like the Vikings in 2010 and 2013…
Oohhh. . . . bad memories.
You could be right. If you are, lets hope Chip sees it sooner rather than later… And that a change doesn’t require all new personnel!!
I think the Falcons are better than 6-10, but otherwise I agree with you.
Me too, they’re clearly 1-0.
Dat pass D DOE!!!!!! I think Billy D should literally blitz on every play.
I want to see the numbers on blitzes and breakout of Ryan’s success. Seemed like the Eagles did that alot with 5 and even 6 tonight at times, went man, and the Falcons went max protect and had a lot of success.
Only 1 sack and I would bet only a handful of hurries, etc.
Yea. The notion that Billy didn’t adjust at all is crazy. 20 points in the first half, 6 in the second half. They changed their approach and it worked for the most part. This game is on the players for playing like shit in many different situations when the schemes worked just fine. Chip the GM for not addressing the guard situation. And, Maxwell for stealing a game check this week.
Are we allowed to question his initial game plan then? After all, 20pts in the 1st half when he had six months to prepare for the Falcons!!!
You mean a team with a ton of offensive turnover and a new coaching staff?
That returned one of the best WR cores in the NFL and a quality QB. Yes, let’s concentrate on stuffing the run.
Yes, absolutely. It was clear that the initial game plan was, their oline sucks, let’s get pressure with our front 4 and play coverage, even if we don’t get home with pressure, 7 guys should be able to cover the three people they send out in routes.
It wasn’t an absurd plan, but it clearly didn’t work and he promptly changed to something that did and if the players did what they are paid to do, we would have won.
If by promptly you mean 1/2 time?? Sure, that was prompt.
that’s fair
Same shit, every year.
Bad game by the OL, no run game and 50x passes, and still Bradford was decent after one year without playing. He will be fine.
My concern is with Parkey and other cases similars. He is a young kicker, he will make mistakes sometimes. The Eagles have some other areas in the same situation. Patience and learning is essential if they want win big this year.
Like the Foles piece, I agree with much of this but there is a little too much slant. You failed to mention the int at the end of the 1st half and that one led to a score which really deepened the hole.
Truly horrible pick too. Bradford was blind on that play.
Or the turnover that got negated by a penalty right after…
Refs were being paid by the # of flags thrown.
Things to add:
1) Way too many penalties, in particular holding calls. 2nd half we were moving the ball in spite ourselves
2) Not to remove blame from Parkey, but they lined up for the kick with about 10 seconds on the play clock. No one was set because there was too much pre-snap confusion of going for it vs field goal. They needed a time out to get set if they wanted to kick the field goal, way too out of sync.
I knew Parkey would miss. He’s no “ice in his veins” Adam Vinatieri. He had troubles in the preseason which we hope were related to his groin pull (or whatever it was) and not to just a plain slump, but I think it’s the latter.
gotta agree…I had a pit in my stomach the moment Chip decided to send him out on the field. I, too, knew in my heart of hearts that he was going to miss it.
I thought we were going to lose even if he had made it. Heartbreaking miss, but actually wasn’t the game.
Exactly
That 95 yard drive ended up being 140 or so in luding all the holding penalties. That drive is one of the few things I am trying to focus on but having trouble because of how angry I am about the first half.
Aghelor seemed like he was getting jammed at the line and having a trouble getting consistent release and into his route.
Any place to look to see how many snaps he played tonight?
24/7 should have that later in the week.
you’d think we’d jam JJ once in a while…
I’m very meh on the team right now. I think we can pull it together and make a nice season out of it, but we’re starting a lot further back than where I felt we were coming into the season.
I’m curious how many predictions I made over the summer end up coming true.
agree. ATL was supposed to be a team devoid of talent w/ really only 2-3 offensive weapons. I uess you can see usefullness of #1 wr
X-rays negative for Bradford, for those concerned.
x-rays of what
Not released what x-rays were taken of. Likely precautionary. Nothing to see…
Ankle.
Ego.
X ray does mean there is persistent pain and possible swelling though. Ice up! Short week, next week is our superbowl as fans
ertz caught 3-8
Tommy, I’d love for you to weigh in on that bizarre 3 person ILB rotation we had going for a while there. Why the hell weren’t we just using Kiko and Kendricks?
I agree…shoe-horning DeMeco onto the field was pointless. He’s shot at this point and shouldn’t be expected to contribute much at all until he’s at least a year removed from the injury, and really he might never come back at all.
Stick a fork in him, he’s done. Sad, cause he’s a great person, but he needs to be benched.
Sports science is great and all, but thinking he’d just snap back into form at 31 years old only 9 months removed from an injury that typically takes over a year to come back fully from, and routinely ends careers completely and saps players of all their explosiveness, was just foolish on Chips part.
We finally agree!!! 😛
yay!
So DeMeco could miss tackles.
Ryan Mathews rushed for four yards and one touchdown on three carries in the Eagles’ Week 1 loss to the Falcons. – roto
I’d like to add Andy Reidesque run/pass ratio and critical holding penalty on Jason Kelce to the list of self inflicted wounds.
I guess after we were down by 17 we should have just continued to hand it to our RBs that were averaging negative 1 yards per attempt rather than going pass heavy and scoring 3 straight quick TDs to give us the lead.
Yes, because we attempted so many runs in the first half the average means a lot.
Isn’t that what we got on Andy for in the past? Giving up on the run if it didn’t work right away?
We didn’t need to in 2nd half. Bradford was 21-25 in 2nd half. What was run/pass in 1st half and TOP
Andy gave up on the run even when it did work.
even worse, he’d stick with the pass game that wasn’t working, when the run game was. That was infuriating. If you’re moving up and down the field with ease with the passing game and he running game isn’t doing a damn thing, how is it stupid to stick with the pass, like Chip did tonight?
No. What we got on Andy for was abandoning the run when it was working great and sticking with the pass when it clearly wasn’t working. McCoy or Westbrook would be averaging 6 yards a carry and McNabb would clearly be off and he’d frustratingly continue to dial up ineffectual passes instead of running and the offense wouldn’t do dick.
Moving away from what was clearly not working, and going to something that made our offense look unstoppable, scored us 3 straight quick TDs, turned the game around and gave us every chance to win a game that we were getting blown out of in the first half, is not a strategic blunder. It’s exactly what he should have done.
I was actually angry that he handed off on 3rd and 4 when Bradford was so perfect. I’d prefer that we went with the pass again and actually picked up the first down. Bradford was 18 of his last 19 at that point with the one incompletion being a dropped pass. The defense was exhausted and we were moving the ball with ease. How is the decision that lead to that, over the ineffectiveness we saw in the first half, somehow a strategic blunder?
Murray and Matthews avg. 1.3 yds rushing today
That wasn’t a hold by Kelce, but I agree otherwise.
Falcons were daring them to pass with 8 in the box. You have to throw when the D lines up that way.
in last 2 MNF games Julio has 400yds and 3tds
So what you’re saying is that we held him to less than his average yardage for a MNF game, and we should be congratulating Maxwell on slowing him down!
I guess I got too excited by the preseason and ignored that we had “solved” our secondary problem by throwing a bunch of stuff at the wall and hoping it sticked; had obvious issues at OL; let our best WR go; couldn’t run the ball last year despite having a great RB and a coach who was supposedly an expert at the run game; swapped out a decent QB for Captain Checkdown.
They did look pretty good in the second half; and maybe ATL will end up being a decent team in the end.
hopefully their play didn’t ruin your gig
I have loosened up a lot about my Eagles consumption. I used to be pretty negative when they lost, back in the Donny days.
There was actually a bunch of Saints fans in there also rooting for the Eagles, it was pretty fun there for awhile.
yeah i’m typically in a bad mood if eagles lose.
Here’s what I have to say about that.
http://giphy.com/gifs/stare-donovan-mcnabb-ToMjGpwNWT3C9VMORLW
I saw a lot to be encouraged about. Like the adjustments made at half time. Like that the team fought back to take the lead. Like that Bradford got back up from all the hits and kept balling.
Could not handle the inconsistent calls by the officiating crew, especially all the missed holding calls on the Falcons with an official looking directly at the infraction. Don’t think that crew will grade out very well.
Jenkins needs to have a jugs machine in every room in his house, in his front, back, and side yards, in his garage, in the grocery store he shops at, in the parking lot where he parks his car for Eagles practice.
Chip and staff were really rusty and at times predictable in their play calling, especially in the first half. Did not understand timing patterns to Huff and Ertz early on when they’ve missed so much time working with Bradford. Julio Jones is a beast.
Film will get scrutinized, adjustments made, Cowboys will reap the whirlwind.
[Malcolm Jenkins climbing into bed]
Jenkins: Goodnight honey
Mrs. Jenkins: Goodnight
JUGS machine: *PHWAUGH*
Jenkins: *gets hit in the head with a football*
I loled
Hahahaha!!! Someone please animate this!
I agree with all of this, but it still can’t me stomach a loss to a 6-10 football team that was last seen losing a division title in their own building to a garbage Panthers team.
There is no way the Falcons go 6-10 if they keep playing like that and Jones and Ryan stay healthy. They do play in the NFC South.
Week 1 is always rough for us. We always do what we do, it’s not a big playbook. Opposing teams have a whole summer to figure it out. They came out playing with their heads on fire, not surprised they burned out by the 3rd quarter, that’s the part they can’t prepare for. Meanwhile we have to go in blind and guess how they will attack us.
Defensively the front fluctuated from amazing to solid. Experiment 1 against elite receiver did not go well. Back to the drawing board. I thought the Julio/Dez type we’d fair ok against and worried about the Beckham type elite WR.
O line looked out of sync early. Stunts killed us. Saw some ugly blocking, mental stuff like Barbre helping Peters with a block he has handled while a lb runs right by him clean to blow up the play. Penalties were and issue. All the early season stuff we didn’t really see in preseason. Which ironicly you wonder if having such a smooth preseason can mask some things you can be working on.
O line communication was an issue, especially early. Ticky tack calls by the refs hurt too.
I doubt we come out that flat again …. Tough loss, but still plenty of games to be played
I agree, but I can’t fathom why we came out flat on Monday night, with an undivided national audience, vs. an opponent who you should take joy in stomping…………………………………but then again the Vikings did that as well at 10.
Bradford adjusted perfectly and was nearly perfect in the second half. “Captain Checkdown” led the team to 21 second half points and led them to a missed fg and another drive that bounced off the receiver’s hand that gave him an undeserved int. When the Giants hammered 18-0 Brady they made him look silly and he only led his world beater offense to score 17 points in the Super Bowl.Bradford is the last player i’m worried about. They have three rb’s, use them. They’ll be fine. Also 11 preseason passes when you haven’t played in two years doesnt cut it, Chip babied him. That 1st half was the reason they lost the game. Tommy will you look at tape to let us know how often the deep ball was open please? It’s a run team and also a catch and run team. Done defending Bradford, we’ll move forward and see if he is that second half 21 point guy. Or he’s not. Its a QB hating city, been around since the mid-70s to understand that.
I just had great doubts about Bradford due to his performance in Saint Louis where he preferred to throw to targets near the line of scrimmage. Hopefully he can continue to lead the team to scores, however he does it.
I have to think the Falcons was somewhat fine with us dinking and dunking our way down the field, considering their lead. In no way anything but an encouraging performance in the 2nd half, but lets not get carried away and pretend he couldn’t have done better. Not alone, because its hard being great when you’re teammates let you down, and OL/RB let Sam down.
Still, Brady or Rodgers would have handled that differently, and thats the standard. Lets not lower that standard to make ourselves feel better. The goal is to win a Super Bowl, you dont with a Super Bowl without an elite QB, barring a historical performance on D and ST, even then i’d say you need a dominant running game.
Not saying cut Bradford and be done with him, tank he season because we lost 1 game. I’m saying, we need Sam to become the QB we need, so lets not be satisfied with good. The Eagles are not good or OK or average, we’re the Iggles and we’re the best.
Chip made some poor play selections that hindered Bradford’s ability to meet that standard – they both need to sync in their play communications to fully realize this offense’s potential. Should have passed on 3rd and 1, should have gone for it on 4th down. Receiver chemistry off in 1st half with passes to Huff and Ertz reflecting the missed practices did have an effect.
Who else besides me is concerned about the O Line? I did not think they played well when “healthy” down the stretch last year, and they certainly did not play well tonight. Further, I’m concerned they’re built more around Chip’s finesse game than a power running attack, and that is critical to have in the playoffs, IMO.
I’ll admit to some concern that Chip’s philosophy of ‘take whatever the defense gives you’ lets other teams dictate how we’re going to play. Those criticizing the run/pass ratio, it was reactionary both to how the Falcons were playing us combined with our lack of success in the running game early. Chip looks to run when teams try to play the pass and pass when the other team looks to take away the run. Most of the time this isn’t an issue, but it does lead to some extremely lopsided r/p games. Also, there’s something to be said for being able to impose your will on the other team that the Eagles lack right now.
hard to run inside without OGs
Also, expecting great line play when you’re the only team that hasn’t taken an OL in the last two years in the draft does seem silly in retrospect.
Hey! We agree again!
I’ve been banging the our offensive line is a potentially huge issue that wasn’t addressed at all drum all offseason! I’ve been told repeatedly that I’m a moron for holding that view since Peters (now a human at 33 years old ) is a future HOFer, Kelce is a pro bowler and Johnson is going to be great.
My response has always been the same. Yes…but our LG is a shitty 30 year old journeyman with 8 career starts and our RG is whoever ends up being the least shitty of a collection of nobodies/borderline NFL players, and we have whatever less than zero depth is called. And, ultimately, that’s enough to derail this entire offense.
Most people told me I’m stupid for having that view and there’s no reason why we can’t restock the line next year in the surefire, no luck involved at all draft.
Mostly showed up in our inability to run the ball, especially inside and communication breakdowns leading to some pressure in blitz and twist situations. Bradford still had time to pick his teeth on most of his dropbacks. The overabundance of holds had more to do with refs being paid by the flag than poor play.
Tale of two halves with regards to pass protection. In first half he got drilled every single time he dropped back. A lot of QBs would have wilted. He stood tough and when we finally gave him time in the pocket in the second half he shredded the D with laser accuracy up and down the field.
I know you don’t like Bradford and weren’t very impressed with his game due to the reliance on short passes, but he was remarkably successful in the 2nd half. I mean come on. The guy hasn’t taken a regular season snap in almost 2 years, he’s recovering from 2 straight ACL tears, he’s in a brand new offensive system and wasn’t allowed to fully participate in practice until 5 weeks ago, he had some seriously shaky Oline play early in the game, no running game to speak of, he was surrounded by two backs who are also brand new to the system, a rookie WR, a second year WR, a Riley Cooper WR and a TE that just had hernia surgery 3 weeks ago, and he threw for 334 yards, with a 70% completion percentage with what should have been 2 TD (matthews scored on that play) and 1 INT (Matthews let ball go right through his hands on last INT). What more do you want from the man? Are you really ready to give up on him after that?
I am rooting for the guy and I was impressed with his moxie. Just am concerned about a guy who is so clearly reliant on the short pass. That kind of tendency can lead to trouble.
It isn’t even that I dislike Bradford. I’m not a huge fan, but I don’t hate him. I just don’t see him as a huge upgrade on Foles. Combine his tendency to check everything down with his injury history and he profiles as a mediocre QB at best. We traded a starting caliber QB and a 2nd round pick for him. Given that, I expect more. I’ll rewatch the 1st half later this week since I remember him having time on the majority of those plays too. Also, the one thing that people undersell on Foles was his toughness. The Seattle game this weekend just underlined how willing he is to take a hit to make a play. He absolutely has his faults and I found them frustrating as well. The back foot throws, in particular, drove me batty. Doesn’t change the fact that he has managed to get results despite those flaws. Combine that with a great attitude and I wish him well in his career and will probably cheer for the Rams when I’m not cheering for the Eagles this season.
I like Foles a lot too. But rewatch the first half and count how many times Bradford stares down the barrel takes a vicious hit right after he releases the ball and pops right back up and get back to me and let me know if it changes your perception of his toughness. There was no drifting backwards, bailing the pocket or throwing off the back foot like we saw with Foles all last year and then a bunch still in his game against Seattle yesterday
I agree with this. I know a lot of people are singing Foles’s praises today after a solid win. But I saw those same tendencies yesterday that haunted us last year. Throwing off the back foot, not planting on the bombs, the back pedaling, etc. Those things will catch up with him eventually, just like they did here.
And as you said, Sam didn’t do that stuff. Whatever else you say about his game, he didn’t back away from the rush. And he overcame an awkward first half with a pretty solid second half, which says a lot to me about mental toughness. Not saying he’s Brady just yet, but those are 2 promising signs. Just like the bad stuff we saw with Foles early last year were cautionary signs, regardless of what the scoreboard said.
I like Foles a lot too. But rewatch the first half and count how many times Bradford stares down the barrel takes a vicious hit right after he releases the ball and pops right back up and get back to me and let me know if it changes your perception of his toughness. There was no drifting backwards, bailing the pocket or throwing off the back foot like we saw with Foles all last year and then a bunch still in his game against Seattle yesterday.
You and me both… I don’t know how we missed each other. And I’ve had the exact same experience, btw – had one poster ask me if I even watch the games, lol.
Here’s to hoping they can pull it together, and also squeeze next year out of JP before he has to hang ’em up (we’ll need at least that long to get his replacement lined up).
Good news…his replacement is already on the roster. Lane will slide to LT when peters retires. Just need to find a RT which is infinitely easier than left.
The commentariat of this blog acquired a thick coating of homerism this offseason. If anything good could be said about this loss, it’s the cleansing of it.
It’s definitely a potential trouble area. The one thing which gives hope is they were better in the second half, and lines tend to play better once they’ve had some time together. Last year was constant turnover and it’s a different line, so you could expect there to be some initial bad play. The question is if it’s due to talent or unfamiliarity… that will take several games to find out.
Me, and I have been.
I referred to our two “starting” guards as sub parts of a female anatomical part a few weeks ago.
I’ll tell ya guys…the one thing I’ve been waiting nearly 20 years to finally revert to the mean for us: the last time I remember I kicker missing a game winning kick against us at the end of a game is week 2 of the 1997 season when we beat GB 10-9. It hasn’t happemed since as far as I can remember (the blocked FG against SD in 2005 doesn’t count by the way, they were already winning, trying to extend their lead and we blocked the kick and returned it for a TD…I’m talking about a team down by 1 or two that drives to within reasonable FG range at the end of the game and shanks it and we pick up a win that the other team feels they had if it wasn’t for their kicker just missing a regular kick.). Happens to us all the time. Tommy Huttons botched snap hold, Akers last game, Parkey tonight, ect. One of these days I want to feel what it feels like to win a game based on the random luck of your opponent messing up something they should have every reason to expect is nearly automatic. But every year for the past 2 decades we seem to lose one close game on a missed FG or have the opposing teams kicker drill a personal best 55 yard plus FG to steal a win. One of these days. One of these days God dawgit.
I’m having flashes of us losing on the 60+yarder against Tampa years ago reading this. Despite last season’s overall great ST, the Eagles have had some of the shittiest luck in regards to game winning kicks.
That was vile.
Agree, but even if Parkey makes that FG, Eagles still lose the game
Wasn’t there a Giants game on a Sunday night when their kicker missed twice?
I guess we used up all our karma on that game. You’re right though. I was actually at that game too. I left right after he missed the first one to try and beat the traffic, heard all these growns and boos as I was walking down the steps and then an eruption of cheers as I got to me car. Had no idea what had happened till I turned the radio on and heard Reid almost blew it by trying to ice the kicker. Can’t believe I forgot that one.
How about the Giants game where we called TO and the kicker missed and on the second try it was short….I think that was Reid’s last year…
Absolutely amazing that we couldn’t pound the rock down Atlantas throat, because thats not an impressive defense up front. Guess that what happens when you cut a (overpaid) All-pro LG and a (declining) veteran RG, and replace them with absolute nobodies.
Bradford a very Meh first half, better in the second, although I expect more, even without a running game and iffy play OL. A franchise QB wins you this game. Irrelevant whether Nick Foles or Mariota wins us this game, a true Super Bowl QB has to win games like these.
Horrible game by the refs, seems like they particularly fucked us over a couple of critical plays. At least 2 of the called holdings that took back a first down and put us into a tough 3rd and long, was iffy at best.
Something is definitely up with Parkey, whether he is still not 100% healthy or just came down from last year. Fucking shit if we’re back to having problems at K. A bit harsh, but his miss lost that game.
Not impressed by Maxwell at all, Malcolm still has no fingers on his hands since he can’t catch shit and Billy Davis is still not proving he can step up from being a mediocre DC. I get that Julio Jones is great and Ryan knows how to find him, but come on, lets start by covering him. Better 2nd half sure, but still. The players we have on defense, I expect much, much more.
Embarrassing loss on national TV and no excuses. We have no place calling us a Super Bowl contender after such a showing, that was piss poor. Now lets spank the texas team and forget we played MNF.
A Super Bowl QB would never lose a close game like this. I mean just look at Russell Wilson, Eli Manning, Joe Flacco, Drew Brees, and Ben Roethlisberger this week. Super Bowl Qbs like that would never lose a game like this.
Giving away games like that doesn’t get you into the playoffs. About as close to a must win game in week 2 as you can get. Cannot fall 2.5 games off the pace so early. Looked a lot like the same team that pissed away a playoff spot last year, despite the personnel changes, which puts some doubt on the coaching staff.
Toast Maxwell was brutal. What year can we cut him with minimal cap penalty?
Foles was better than Bradford with worse weapons and playing a tougher defense, plus he got the win.
We can cut him after next year if we want to. This year obviously we can’t. Next year, there’s $13.3 million in dead cap space and an additional $3.6 million cap hit above what it would cost to just keep him (so it’d cost us $3.6mil more to cut him rather than keep him). Year three we could cut him with $3.6mil in dead space, but an $8.1mil overall cap savings.
I disagree vehemently with you in regards to Bradford. He was exceptional tonight and displayed convincingly that he’s a much better QB than Foles would ever be. And, he played much better than Foles as well. Foles was throwing floaters off his back foot and was lucky Seattle DBs were falling all over the place and leaving WRs wide open. Bradford was a deadly accurate machine in the second half, throwing into tight windows, hitting almost every WR right in the hands, driving down the field with ease without a running game, with shaky Oline play when the defense knew we were going to pass, pass, pass to catch back up. And this was his first live action in the regular season in almost two years, in a brand new offense for him, surrounded by RBs that were new to the system as well, a rookie WR, a second year WR, a Riley Cooper WR, and a TE that had a hernia surgery 3 weeks ago.
Ok then, Foles has been lucky his entire short career and the stats back it up. Bradford has been wonderful, except he lost and threw two picks and averaged under seven yards a thrown in an offense that has made other QB’s look like all-pros.
Bradford was average to slightly below average today. He did little that Sanchez couldn’t have done, and Sanchez is hot garbage.
It isn’t like he had a ton of time to let routes develop downfield. And the last pick was all Jmatt.
I agree on the last pick. I rewatched the last three scoring drives and Bradford was hit a grand total of one time. Gruden was railing about the Falcons not being able to muster a pass rush. Even when Bradford had time to let things develop, he preferred to check it down, which is my biggest gripe with him as a QB. Our OL was by and large terrible at opening holes for our RB’s but barring about three plays total, the protection was actually very good.
I meant in the first half….
if the D is giving us 10 yard cushions all game… take it. Brady Does it all the damn time. We were killing them with the underneath stuff
Exactly. The obsession with method over effectiveness is confusing to me. We drove up and down the field at will and scored 3 straight TDs and through no fault of his own was denied what probably would have been a fourth straight TD if we continued throwing the ball. And, people complain, “yea, yea, yea…he completed 95% of his passes, dominated the hell out of the opposing defense, drove the team relentlessly down the field on 4 straight drives that the Falcons had no answer for, scored 3 straight TDs, despite constantly having third down conversions overturned by ticky tacky penalties he was undeterred and continued to convert 3rd and 15s, 3rd and 20s, 3rd and 18s….but, he didn’t throw any 60 yard bombs during all that because the Falcons were taking that away and those opportunities weren’t even there. So you see he’s nothing more than an average QB.”
I don’t give a !@#$ about the lack of bombs, but on what throw did you jump out of your seat and go ‘wow!’ People complain about Foles not passing the eye test, well when exactly did Sam tonight? Also, it’s the AVG PER PASS that really disturbs me about tonight’s performance. Take what the defense gives you, yes, but I’ve watched this offense for the past two years now under Kelly and there are consistently people open in the mid-range, often WIDE open. Bradford played to what he has his entire NFL career, which is to take the check down even when there are better options down the field. Did it by and large work in the 2nd half? Sure, but don’t tell me that any other NFL QB couldn’t have made those throws.
AVG PER PASS in the second half was 9.6 yards per attempt. That’d be the highest total in league history in a season
What amazed me was that every single pass in the second half hit his WR right square in the numbers with perfect accuracy. That the offense looked undtoppable in the second half.
I’m giving a guy with two years worth of rust the benefit of the doubt with the first half when the entire offense was completely out of synch in the first half of the first game of a season where both backs were new to the team, both guards were new to the team, 2 of the 4 starting WRs were new to the team, and our TE just had hernia surgery 3 weeks ago, and instead seeing how they settled down and absolutely balled out in the second half. That shows me what the offense can be when they start to click and what a pin point accurate QB can do in this offense.
You’re using the shitty numbers from that first half to dilute the AMAZING second half numbers and acting like he was a 6.5 yards per pass QB the entire game. NO! He was a 3.5 yards per pass QB during a disasterous 1st half and a 9.6 yards per attempt with over 90% completion percentage in the second once they settled down and got their feet under them. That’s much different than just flatly saying he had 6.5 yards per attempt therefore he’s a shitty Alex Smith level check down Charlie.
And you just threw away the entire 1st half of the game in order to support your whole ‘Bradford is awesome’ rhetoric. Yeah, I’m looking at the whole game. Funny thing, you don’t win or lose based on how you played for just half the game.
Jesus dude. I’m not throwing it out. I’m saying there’s a big difference between someone who checks down all the time and is truly a 6.5 yards per pass QB and a QB who had shitty stats during a dysfunctional first half and then showed us what he’s truly capable of with an amazing second half. Using the average is NOT the more accurate way to discuss his play in that situation. Because at no point in the game was he actually a 6.4 yards per pass QB. He was a 3.5 yard per pass QB in the first half and a 9.6 yards per pass QB in the second. I think it’s completely reasonable given the situation (new QB, 2 new G, 2 new RB, a new WR, little preseason practice, hasn’t played in 2 years, TE coming back 3 weeks after hernia surgery with no meaningful practice time together, no running game to help him out) that maybe, just maybe, those first few series were not a statistically accurate representation of what we’ll see long term and that maybe, just maybe, a completely well oiled machine right out the gate wasn’t a realistic expectation. But, the fact that they settled down, got it together and started to play well means that what we saw in the second half, which was truly amazing QB play was what wed be more likely to see in the future as everyone settled in rather than the 3.5 yards per pass we saw in the first half. Learn how to analyze statistics properly before you spout off like a condescending moron. Mean only gives an accurate representation of normal distributions, preferably once with small standard deviations, it’s basically useless in a bimodal distribution with two peaks and a large standard deviation. So keep holding on to that average for the whole game like it tells you anything meaningful because you are quite literally scientifically wrong to use it to come to any conclusion whatsoever.
seriously his first regular season game in the system, ut also a system hat the league has seen for 3 years. Did you catch kelly;s play card? i bet he had 10 plays max to call. I doubt sammy b was perfect, even in the second half but he got rid of the ball quickly, got hit 8 times which is unacceptable.
Honestly, if we’re going to focus on the “whole game,” the most disturbing aspect was the run defense. That’s not a good OL or running back, and they got pushed around the first half, and gave up important plays in crunch time in the second half. This is supposed to be the heart of the defense.
Similarly, the run game was non-existent for most of the game. This is supposed to be the offense’s identity, and that Atlanta run D shouldn’t scare anyone.
But you know what? They also made some plays at important times. It’s the first game. There’s plenty of reason, just from watching last night, to believe that they can fix their problems, become more consistent, and be a good unit this year.
That’s pretty much where I am with Sam. Plenty to critique, but the second half was really impressive, given all the stupid penalties the team was taking during those drives. You don’t force the ball deep on Quinn’s cover 3. I probably agree with you that a lot of people with irrational Foles hate tend to underrate what he accomplished last year and on Sunday. But I’d say you’re doing the same thing to what Bradford was able to accomplish last night. A lot of things were dysfunctional early last year and early last night. Both QBs were able to overcome the dysfunction and score points with the load on their shoulders.
I prefer to never see a 45 plus pass attempt game from the QB again, but it seems like a pattern is developing with early season Kelly. I think it’s a poor plan, but obviously Kelly has his reasons. We’ll see what happens as the season progresses.
In the second half…yes. Hence three straight scoring drives in about 8 min of actual game time.
First half protection was not good hence being down by 17. When given time Bradford was great he was 24 of 26 or something like that in the second half and the two incompletions were drops. And we drove up and down the field scoring almost at will. Who cares if he wasn’t throwing bombs to do it if we was that effective?
Did you watch the Rams Seahawks game? Foles got little to no protection that entire game and still averaged 11 YARDS A PASS. What separates average QB’s from great ones is their ability to make plays even when the protection isn’t there. Bradford, when he was protected in the 2nd half, looked good and still only averaged 6.5 yards a pass. Almost every QB in the NFL looks good when they get protection. Bradford has to show me he can do it when the protection isn’t there.
Do you realize that he averaged 9.6 yards per attempt in the second half? The whole offense was out of synch in the first half. They missed a few big plays by a couple inches, he was getting hammered. Once they settled down though he played amazingly. Yea the atrocious 3.6 yards per attempt he posted in the first half looks terrible and skews the overall data. But you’re acting like the second half wasn’t nearly as impressive as it was. He completed over 90% of his passes and averaged 9.6 yards per attempt and are acting like that didn’t show us any potential for something great.
Shame about that drop by JMatt too, ruined what had been a very good game for him.
Don’t know what to tell you, besides we clearly watched two different 2nd halves and we certainly didn’t see the same 8 games that Foles played last year or the 8 that Sanchez played either.
QB play is why we lost last year (that and Bradley Fletcher), QB play was why we nearly pulled off a win today. If you didn’t see that I don’t know what else to tell you.
Turnover plague was why we lost last season combined with a D that couldn’t get off the field, even in third and long.
QB play was partially responsible for the comeback, but so was our D waking up and finally making some plays in the 3rd quarter particularly. OL had a hand in that as they gave our QB a ton of time to find an open receiver. Not ready to give Bradford all the credit for the comeback anymore than I’m blaming him for the loss. I just feel he had his hand the loss as well. Really struggled to convert on 3rd down early in the game which helped dig the hole he almost pulled us out of. Needs to be better.
Bradford stats look just like files or Sanchez last year. Can’t win throwing 2 picks a game. Bradford can distribute but is super immobile and the ol is terrible. Unlike foles Bradford doesn’t have Aaron Donald
Foles also average 11 yards per pass . . . against Seattle.. . . with the same receivers and players that people insisted weren’t good enough for Bradford to win with. . . . in an offense that everyone says lacks creativity . . .
rams beat seattle w/ austin davis last year and thats a seattle w/ kam and maxwell.
Foles completed 59.8% of his passes and averaged 270 yards a game.
Sanchez completed 64.1% of his passes and averaged 268 yards per game
Bradford completed 70% of his passes and threw for 334 yards tonight
You’re absolutely right they’re exactly the same.
70% and 334 against what was the worst pass defense in the league last season. . . on 50+ attempts . . . quit lionizing Bradford, please.
you’d never seen falcons coached by quinn before.
all were avg two picks game. all throwing the ball WAY too much
Still early, but it seems there is a pattern forming for Kelly in that he puts way too much on his QB’s shoulders early in the season. Last year, it got better as the season went on, but 50 attempts per game is not what I thought we were going to see this year.
Hmm. Agree that this is bad loss for the playoff picture, and next week is important.
Maxwell got beat a bunch, but that is Julio Jones and a QB with lots of time. Bad combo. We really needed to double Jones — not sure what the strategy was but burn it. We’ll see how Maxwell does this season.
Foles was not better than Bradford. He did get the win. Whatever issues we had in the second half, it was not Bradford. We were rolling until we ran it on 2nd and 3rd and short, and of course the last interception was right on Matthews’ hands and it got popped up. He did not have the extreme accuracy we saw in the preseason game but he was plenty good after the half. The OL must improve though.
We didn’t bring in anyone to compete with Parkey. Kip Smith was the backup punter, who also did kickoffs in college but not FGs.
The guard thing I am wondering too. OLs tend to gel as the season goes on if they get continuity… sure hope that is the issue. For the first game, it was not worth it to cut Mathis, no.
Lots of things looked better in the second half though. Better than last year for sure.
One game and ur already talking about cutting Maxwell and concluding that Foles is better than Bradford and Chip is a lousy GM. Its amazing how quick some people jump to conclusions. Pretty rediculous; give it some time man, if ur a true fan u keep the faith even though the first half was a complete shit show. Hope they build off the second half and dominate the cowgirls start to finish next week.
I said Foles was better than Bradford in the circumstances he played in, which clearly indicated I was talking about week one. Maxwell was absolutely brutal. Most of Kelly’s moves have backfired so far. We’ll see if he sorts it out. None of it was as bad as your spelling though…
Which ones are bad? We were 75% in red zone. You dislike getting rid of secondary that was terrible? Getting sproles was bad?
Biggest issue I take with Kelly the GM is his undervaluing of his assets that don’t fit his vision. I have no issue with Kelly bringing in players who he feels are better fits. I applaud the Lesean/Kiko trade as it is the one time where we jettisoned a player and actually got value in return. I’ve been on the fire Billy wagon since about 2/3 of the way through last year. Unwillingness to bench Fletcher, insistence on putting our corners on the island when they were getting toasted every week, and devotion to ‘you have to be x tall and x weight’ to play drove me mad. We saw last season that Maxwell can be a quality corner in a different scheme. When do we admit that it’s not the players fault that our D is horrible?
Kiko and Thurmond seem like total misses too. And I hate that Barwin guy.
My spelling, are you fucking kidding me. I didn’t realize we came here to critique each others statements. What a joke. Forget i ever said anything, this conversation is pointless.
Part of the joy in coming to this site is people posting reasoned, well-thought out insights on the team and the games.
This post is not part of that joy.
Where is GEAGLE the perpetual optimist to spin this loss for us?!! Is he spinning up some yarns about how the eagles were actually really great tonight, but we (and esp the press) are all too dumb to see it?!!!
Doesn’t Parkey keep a notebook full of thoughts on every miss? Time to buy some stock in Mead…
Pretty sure it’s every kick. He likely already owns stock 🙂
For those who insist you don’t need to play in the pre-season, I submit this game as exhibit a that you really do need to play more than the two quarters total that the Eagles starters got this year.
It would’ve been nice if they had played more than two quarters tonight, too…
Was there ANY down the field throws?
There were one or two in the 20 yardish range. No bombs at all. I’d have liked to see at least one or two attempts even if they had been incomplete. Checked down even when he had time to let things develop. Depending on your taste, that’s either a positive or negative. I think he overdid it, but others disagree.
I also wonder how many “down the field” routes we’re actually running. Lots of crossing and corner routes, but seems like we save our vertical routes for the red zone, oddly…
Ran four verticles on multiple occasions. Bradford missed on one that should have been a TD and checkdowned the others.
A better throw to Sproles would’ve been a TD on a wheel route. I guess I was too busy running my own vertical routes down the hall picking up pillows I had thrown…
He missed Ertz and Austin on what could have been long TDs. Missed Ertz in the endzone too
Bingo. Both were wide open.
Sneaky “nail in the coffin” play: 44 yard Julio completion immediately following the Ryan Mathews touchdown.
That play and the draw play on 3rd and 15 were killers
Soft tackling attempts that yield conversions on 3rd and long have been killing this team for a while.
GET OFF OF THE FIELD!
OFF TOPIC: When did Ron Jeremy become head coach of the 49ers?
**snort**
For everyone bishing about Bradford “only checking down”, why don’t we wait until the All-22 comes out to see just how many guys were streaking down the field wide open that he refused to throw to.
Ok, but if there weren’t plays where he could have driven the ball down the field, then the Eagles got badly outplayed by the 32nd ranked pass defense last season. Only averaging 6.5 yards a pass on 50+ attempts is horribly inefficient against any defense. Can we question Kelly’s game plan then?
I apologize for the vitriol, but this loss has left me very bitter. It also underlined all of my concerns this year going into the season. Sure, it’s only one game, but I made the mistake of letting the brief pre-season brilliance get my hopes up.
Bad defense, especially in the 1st half. Atlanta completely bottled up the Eagle’s running game, and the passing game never forced them out of that plan. We can go gaga over the 70% completion rate, but since the Falcons were by and large happy to let us do it, not sure how much of a success it was.
just as kelly transformed tihs team in the offseason i think dan quinn did an amazing job getting the team ready. remember we went from 4-12 to 10-6. they might be a much better team than we gave them credit for.
secondary still terrible, we need a new dc.
Wait and see on Dan Quinn and the Falcons. People argued the same about the Jags last year and they were horrible.
Absolutely agree on the DC.
#FIREBILLY
further on running you have to look at the terrible guard play we were getting. demarco and mathews were avg. 1 yd per carry, why keep doing that?
Not arguing that. Just that when Kelly’s offense has been clicking, whether it be at Oregon or in Philly, he has PUNISHED you for overplaying the run, just has he has PUNISHED you for overplaying the pass. Wasn’t quite there tonight.
yeah no downfield balls which would have been nice, but all-22 will show things. also think hawks d looked pretty good. main thing is i think we were feeling ourselves too much b/c of all the pre-season hype and hawks punched us in the face, good on them.
Since you’re so concerned with yards per pass, does it not offer you any solace or hope that he averaged 9.6 yards per pass in the second half. Yes as a whole the stats look very inefficient at 6.4 yards per pass on 52 attempts, but how does 22 of 25 for 9.6 yards per pass, with what should have been 24 points on 4 drives strike you, because that was his stat line in the second half.
Perhaps the whole offense had a shitty first half and then we saw them iron out the rust, jitters, timing, communication and saw what they’re really capable of. Or we can just look at the mean and blast away that Bradford sucks, is inefficient, has always been inefficient and will always be inefficient and that amazing second half performace was no indication of what he could be capable of in this offense.
Good points. Might also give Quinn credit for being a great D coach.
Worry after week 1 is just as dumb as crowning ourselves Super Bowl champs in August
You don’t have to wait for the all 22, see Brady in the SUPERBOWl? Textbook says you Attack the seattle/atlanta secondary schemes by throwing intermediate crossers, and going 4 verticals with a RB underneath… They attacked that secondary EXACTLY how you Attack it… A FG and a stop and I doubt people would be bitching about Bradfords first game in 2 friggin years
Tommy, I appreciate your perspective on a very frustrating experience, and I am wondering if you see a possible reason why two years running, Eagles look very unready right out of the gate. This has looked, for the most part under Kelly, like a team that can go 4 quarters, in terms of consistent energy and effort. But in Jacksonville, last year, and this season’s opener, they did not appear to be in the fight until some of their own blood was spilled. Don’t know if Ryan was touched in the first half, and he barely had to move.
Bruce Lee syndrome?
Let’s take a look at how the other supposed contenders in the NFC did. Seattle lost. Green Bay eeked by a bottom feeder. Dallas was handed a win but lost its best player to a Jones fracture. Detroit lost after running up an 18-point lead. Everybody’s favorite sleeper, the Vikings, got blown out. Just a reminder that one week is a tiny sample size. And opening week is probably less predictive than most weeks because of roster turnover, the installation of new schemes, etc.
game are what the are. Meaning, you can’t change the first 3.75 quarters. That next to last drive, you have to go for it. Even if he makes the kick, the Eagles aren’t going to stop Atlanta. CK blew that call.
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Maxwell — stink, stank stunk. Now I know people will say — that was Julio Jones. I’ll agree with that, but he was burned by 50 yr White too. Eagles paid an awful lot of money for a guy to trail the wr’s all over field.
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I expected that D to put more pressure on the QB. Where was the pressure?
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Remember when some of us had concerns about our kicker when he was missing those FG’s during the preseason and the other fans were saying to relax it’s just the preseason? Fun times. Fun times.
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I don’t want a team to gel/peak week 1. Maxwell bugs me. What happened to Huff? I expected more from him too. The rest well, it’ll come.
I was surprised by how rusty Bradford was. He looked accurate and in sync with his receivers week 3 of the preseason. He (or perhaps the wide receivers) took a fairly big step back in the first half. they got it corrected after half time, but oof.
As for Davis…well I still don’t think he’s the right coordinator for the team, but there’s nothing to be done there. He’s likely to have the job for the foreseeable future.
You were SURPRISED a QB who hasn’t played in 2 years was Rusty, completing like 21 of 25 passes in the second half after only playing 15 preseason plays? Really? You were That surprised?
Well like I said, in comparison to what we saw in the 3rd preseason game where he was 10/10 against the Packers to come out that rusty is a surprise. So yes.
BTW, he looked AWESOME against the Packers so forgive me for expecting that to carry over.
And did you not read the part where I said they “got it corrected after half time”?
I wasn’t that upset by the loss, wish we would have won obviously, but it’s how you finish
How they finished last season?
Normally losses hurt, I can live with this one, and in a loss I think we still looked like the best in our division… Fortunately I’ll be on a plane to Spain by tonigjt so I only Have to deal with a few ours of the moronic Sky is falling bullshit of this city
Listen, the Eagles really did drop a turd last night. Byron Maxwell was getting torched by everyone including Roddy White who I think is going to be 40 next month. The offensive line was so bad that Jason Peters looked exposed – he’s 33 and was getting beat by a rookie. Agholar had 1 catch. I have seen male cheerleaders who are bigger than Kiko Alonso.
All of that being said, they will never be able to take away the fact that the Eagles WON THE PRESEASON SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!!
WE ALREADY WON!!!!
Offensive line was the biggest negative in last night’s game to me, at least in the first half. They got pushed around and beaten and just out-hustled on occasions. Too many 3 n outs to start the game which didn’t help the D. Maxwell did get roasted, although by the best receiver in the league, i don’t think it’s safe to call him a bust yet. Nobody in the secondary was helped by the anemic pass rush. Some of those long completions were on deep crossers where the pass rush took forever. I thought Bradford played pretty well for his first game back in a new offense….the pick at the end of the first half was a killer, but overall i liked what i saw. The penalties were a disaster and i don’t like blaming the refs but they were ticky tack BS calls on some
oh well, this season wasn’t going to be all sunshine and rainbows
Maxwell also got toasted by Roddy White. He isn’t good.
If they keep using Sproles this much, I guarantee you this will be his last season in the league.
Chip, you can’t just throw away pro bowl Offensive Lineman because they dont want to wear sleep monitors then draft a single offensive lineman in 3 years and expect the unit to be good.
This is a legitimate gripe with Chip. The line struggles should have been obvious to anyone watching us ignore that position the last two offseasons.
This game reminded me of Jacksonville last year. They were lucky to get out of that game with a win – and that Jacksonville team was abysmal. The Falcons were just a tiny bit better – and the Eagles got exposed. THey aren’t good, I have been saying it for over two years now.
CHIP KELLY IS NOT THE ANSWER.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/COn5NkhUAAAk4uE.jpg
Annoyed, but I honestly feel just as good about this season then I did yesterday morning…
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1) seattle beats GB sunday and Eagles beat Dallas and all the Big Dogs in the NFC are tied at 1-1
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2) obviously we were hoping for a 40 to 3 win last night, but whether we had a big win or a big loss, yesterday was just the starting point for a bunch of new faces that are still gelling… With so many roster changes, your team is going to grow as the season unfolds, and training camp, preseason is pretty useless, you can’t Gel without being with your brothers on the field in a gritty battle. So no matter what yesterday’s starting point was for this season, this team should look drastically different in November then they do in September, hopefully we can win games while we are growing into the team we think we could be
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3) As for SAM Bradford, not at all had for a kid who hasn’t played an NFL game in almost 2 years, Very encouraging starting point. Kid was surgical in the second half, knew exactly where the easy throws would be on each play and delivered the ball..
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4) I see people blaming corners and Coaches but it’s all crap, we LOST that game in the Trenches… I don’t know who you think Maxwell is, but if the front 7 ISNT pressuring the QB, corners Probably won’t ever hold up. The pass rush didn’t do Maxwell any favors in the first half.. Front 7 woke up in the second half and Julio only caught 1 pass
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5) kind of silly to complain about the lack of run plays and run yards when we had like 10 runs for 150 yards called back by OL penalties. Guys like Kelce will clean that up, and when that happens the run game should be rolling… Without all those holding penalties this game would have looked much difference,
first and Foremost the OL and DL failed us in the first half, but I trust those units to grow into top units so im not concerned
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Playërs have to understand, that one mistake, and you can ruin It for everyone, sure I would have liked to see chip go for it, but if he can’t put his kicker out there in a dome from 40 yards, we have bigger problems then this loss.. In Crunch time, Cody and the Pope failed us, hopefully both learn from it,.. With that said, can’t blame the kicker, the corner, the WR…its all tied together in the ultimate team game,,.. In THIS LEAGUE, if you don’t get pressure on a guy like Matt Ryan, with a WR like Julio, it’s going to be a long day… front 7 turned it up in the second half, the OL was much better in the second half but the OL penalties really made this game harder then it needed to be.
Well said Tom..
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I’d like to see this team win 3 out of every 4 games… So win the next 3 and I’ll get over this
I can’t beilieve people are crying about the run pasw ratio, did anyone watch the game? We had like 10 runs for 150 yards called back because of holding. We RAN the ball plenty for a team down 20, but we held so much that half the rushiñg attempts DONT count in your silly run/pass ratio bitching… And whats disgusting is The Falcons OL got away with a lot, we got called for EVERYTHING…
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Cut down the holding penalties and the run pass ratio was fine especially for a team down 17 at Half
I could care less about run pass ratio in the second half. Who cares what plays are being called if it’s working. We called runs on each of our first three drives that went backwards and put us in 2nd and 3rd and long, we were constantly getting holding penalties setting up 1st and 20. Should we just keep handing it off to our backs who are averaging negative 1 yards per carry at that point? Hell no. If anyone wants to run the ball it’s Chip. So like you I’m not concerned, people are just having Andy Reid PTSD flashbacks and grasping for things to blame the loss on. If running was working and passing wasn’t what was getting us back in the game, fine, complain, but otherwise look at the situation and realize that Chip made the right calls.
We got thru last night healthy, compared to all the week 1 injuries, for me THATS for more important then the results of week 1
Typical kook-aid drinking drivel. The Falcons were the dominant team last night. And their fans and bloggers are smart enough to know their team isn’t all that good.
Eagles nation is non-stop self delusion. They’re an average team without any real threats to scare anybody except Sproles – who is 32 years old and can’t do it every week. Kelly gave away every player opponents were really concerned about.
Culture might beat system but it doesn’t beat talent. The Eagles talent is grossly overhyped by the locals. They have a handful of good players. But this is the NFL. Even the Bucs and Browns have a handful of good players. Everyone does. The best teams have a lot of good players and a few great ones. The Eagles don’t. Not nearly enough.
The missed field goals stink but this is the starters first game and they have hardly had any time. Give it a couple weeks.