Big Picture Talk
Posted October 5th, 2015 | 480 Comments »The Eagles are 1-3. They are dead last in the NFC East, which looks like a weak division. Things are not….good. What does this mean in terms of the big picture?
The first question is whether Chip Kelly is on the hot seat. No. Modern society tends to live in the moment. Sometimes perspective can be valuable. Kelly went 10-6 each of his first two years. He’s off to a slow start this year, but that doesn’t dismiss what he’s done up to this point.
Kelly has a lot of critics right now. Some are people that have hated him since day one, while others are just jumping on the bandwagon. They will put him on hot seat lists, but that is media talk and not reality. Jeff Lurie isn’t the type of owner to make rash decisions. He will let the season play out.
Lurie believes in Chip. He hired him back in 2013 and this past offseason gave Chip total control of football operations. Lurie would have to believe that Chip isn’t the man to run the Eagles and that there is another coach out there who needs to be brought in. I just don’t think that is likely when you’re in Year 3 under a coach and most of the tenure has been successful.
Could Lurie strip him of his GM powers? That’s possible. Not to be boring, but we need to see how things play out. Lurie is a patient man who tends to trust the people working for him. I think things would have to be disastrously bad for a change to be made. We’re all very frustrated right now, but some of Kelly’s moves have worked.
Walter Thurmond has been very good at FS. Heck, you can argue the Eagles have one of the best Safety tandems in the league right now. Jordan Hicks has been terrific at ILB, rookie or otherwise. Ryan Mathews has played well. Nelson Agholor just had his best game of the year.
Obviously the Sam Bradford, DeMarco Murray and Byron Maxwell moves have not panned out as hoped yet. Bradford just had his best game of the year, but he has been disappointing overall. Murray is still waiting for his breakout game. Maxwell was bad in the opener, but has been better since. He’s still way too up and down, though. He’s getting paid to be a good corner and that just hasn’t happened so far.
Kelly might have made mistakes in acquiring these players. We need to let more of the season play out before we know anything for sure. We have not seen these guys at their best. The question is if we will, and if so…will that be a game or an extended period.
I honestly don’t know what to make of Bradford. He was awfully passive for 3 weeks, but came out and played aggressively today. He showed some real signs of life. If not for a couple of drops, he might have ended up having a great game and leading the team to a win.
Murray needs to get healthy. He got 8 carries today, which isn’t nearly enough. Kelly would love to feed him the ball, but the circumstances have to be right. The Eagles can’t be down big. The O-line has to be winning some battles. And Murray has to be healthy. That just hasn’t happened so far this year.
Maxwell got overpaid. There is no question about that. The Eagles were desperate for corner help and he was the best available that didn’t cost an outrageous amount. I do expect him to play better than he has. Maxwell is dealing with different circumstances than ever before. Suddenly, he’s the best corner on the team. That was never the case in Seattle. He used to play for a ball-control offense. That’s changed, to put it mildly. He also used to play on a great defense. That’s not the case in Philly.
One of the reasons I keep talking about the need to wait is that we need to see what the long term problems are with this team. We can all talk about what we think the problems are now, but we don’t know for a fact.
This time last year all the questions were about what was wrong with LeSean McCoy. Through 4 games last year he had 69 carries for 192 yards, less than 3 yards per carry. The OL got healthy and then McCoy started to play like his old self. Remember that Trent Cole got off to a very slow start in 2013, but then got hot red hot down the stretch and made plenty of big plays. Conversely, Malcolm Jenkins had an INT in games 2-4 last year and looked like an elite playmaker, but hasn’t picked off a pass since.
You need more than a few games before you can make certain judgments on players.
I still believe Chip Kelly is a good coach and will get this situation fixed. I hope that happens this year, but after a 1-3 start there are no guarantees. This team has to get right in a hurry and that just might not happen. The team has shown flashes to this point, but has yet to play a good game. That shouldn’t be the case after a month.
Kelly is eating up some of the goodwill he built up in 2013 and 2014 and there isn’t an infinite supply of that. He needs the Eagles to start winning and some of his key decisions to start looking better. If not, he could find himself legitimately on the hot seat in 2016.
*****
A quick note about Kelly and the future. A lot of people love to talk about him going back to college to save Texas or some other big program like that. Not likely.
Kelly hated dealing with boosters at Oregon. They tolerated the cold shoulder he gave them because he kept winning big. Oregon has one huge booster in Phil Knight. Beyond that, the group is nothing like most football factories. Texas has the most demanding boosters in the nation. Kelly would never go there.
He wants to stay in the NFL. You deal with one owner, not a group of boosters.
_
Biggest hurdle to getting this year turned around is going to be injuries. They’re piling up at this point.
I think unless Chip manages to 1-15 the rest of the season Lurie will give him at least another year. The GM powers though, I didn’t like it when he got them and I still don’t like it, mostly because I think he power grabbed for them for the wrong reason.
Also Tommy please tell us you hear something about MS2 on the inside. A healthy scratch today makes it seem like he’s basically toast.
Well his first draft doesn’t appear bad. O-line is the biggest problem for both our running and passing game other than drops, that’s Kelly’s biggest mistake IMO. Murray can’t get going when guys are in the backfield with his style. Still don’t know if Bradford will be more consistent or if he’ll even have the ability to with our pass and run blocking. But Jeff Lurie appears to be confident in Chip leading this team. Redskins run a 1 gap attacking 3-4 now which is known to stifle our offense. I think the giants do now too or they 2 gap. Kelly basically told everyone he thinks 3-4 is best at stopping his offense, and they’re all running stunts and loops all over our o-line in similar ways with success. They’re just trying to stifle us.
Yea but so what look at all the injuries the cowboys have.
One could argue that they have had worse injuries than us by far.
We are 1 game back and playing about as poorly as we can (Easy Drops, Missed Blocks, Missed FGs)
The most frustrating thing is the feeling like the team is cursed. Already questionable offensive line decimated by injuries, along with the DL, both starting ILBs, kicker, and starting CB. Poor blocking by previously good linemen. Bradford drifting into pressure like he wants to be sacked. Constant 3rd and long conversions by the opposing offense. Missed field goals and extra points. Drops. Holy crap, the drops.
This is obviously a bad team right now, but it’s hard to get a handle on them with the constant screwups. Forget a win, I’d just like to root for a team that isn’t an embarrassment for just one day.
I don’t think this is bad luck, though. When you have questionable OL depth, a few nagging injuries there suddenly become devastating rather than merely problematic. When you sign a guy like Maxwell who was the fourth (sometimes fifth) wheel in a unit in which he was surrounded by Pro Bowl players at his previous stop, you’re taking a very real risk that it’ll turn out he’s actually not that good when he’s asked to be the centerpiece of the unit with his new team. Bradford drifting into pressure is a result of poor pocket presence, which has been an issue for him throughout his NFL career. Drops happen when you are counting on bad and/or inexperienced receivers. Etc. Luck is the residue of design, and that goes for bad luck as well as good.
The Eagles are just a bad team in a bad division. This makes for a miserable football season for some of the most passionate fans in the world. This team does one thing consistently…They find ways to beat themselves. it’s a real shame. I hate having that sick feeling in my stomach watching the team that I love find new ways to disappoint me game after game. That is all I wanted to say.
As bad as they are the only one game behind in the division. Obviously they’re behind in a couple of tiebreakers too. But if they pull their heads out of their asses there really is still a chance to win this division.
Just in time to get crushed by someone competent in the playoffs. Sweet!
That’s really the key here. If Chip kept the 2014 team together, we may very well be 3-1 or even 4-0, but we would still get killed by GB, AZ and SEA.
I admire Chip for trying to get this roster to that level. Maybe it doesn’t work and we have a new coach in 2017. The GB and SEA games last year showed our true colors.
That’s definitely one way to look at it and Chip Kelly’s own “narrative.” The other way to look at it was that we were a play maker or two away from breaking through to the other side. Either way, we are where we are now. Hopefully Bradford can stay aggressive – but with the O-line in tatters, and no kicker, we have serious problems.
Sorry, but I think this argument is pretty silly. This isn’t the NBA. History suggests that in the NFL, the best way to go from good to great is to stay good and keep trying to fill in the missing pieces and hope you get lucky with injuries/matchups one year, not to tear it down and start from scratch. If Chip’s massive gambles don’t work out, he’ll deserve to be ridiculed, not admired.
Your theory works well when you have a QB capable of beating good defenses. Obviously, Chip did not think Nick was that guy. If Sam is not that guy, Chip will have set the franchise back. If Sam improves and turns out to be one of those guys, the genius talk will return.
Foles may not have been that guy. But Bradford doesn’t appear to be that guy either, and has never appeared to be capable of being that guy over 5+ NFL seasons. Chip gambled a lot on him being that guy. If he improves and turns out to be that guy, then he will be pulling off a career turnaround nearly unprecedented in the history of the NFL. I’m not betting the farm on that one.
“Chip gambled a lot on him being that guy”
I still think that Chip gambled that he could somehow flip Bradford for Mariota – and he lost, with Sam now being his “reward” for stupidity.
The one thing that I really do not want though is for us to not really turn things around and then win the division because one of these disfunctional teams has to. If we go off on a streak and win 10 games this season or even 9, that’s one thing and in that scenario, getting the playoff experience is worth it. On the other hand, if this team stumbles to 8-8 but because the division is pathetic we get in the playoffs by default, I dont see the value. I just don’t think the benefit of getting destroyed by a playoff caliber team in the first round outweighs the difference in draft spots.
I don’t think we’ll have to worry about that – I get the sense that Coughlin and Eli are going to pull one more rabbit out of the hat and have a decent (10-6) season. Don’t forget that Spags is back as their DC this year – that’s going to make a difference as well.
I found a silver lining guys: At least we aren’t saddled with the Famous Jameis experiment happening in Tampa. I’ll bet they’re thrilled they passed on Mariota.
Let’s trade DeMarco to Indy for a 1st rounder.
Nope. Has to be an ILB with an injury history, preferably a former Duck.
And the Eagles have to throw in a draft pick.
Can you post an article on how Sam Bradford’s time in St. Louis may have affected his growth as a quarterback?
Interesting point. I wonder that myself. Stunted growth aside, one thing I notice about him is that he has no ability to pump fake – or to trail a receiver with his peripheral vision and then turn suddenly and find him. He’s a guy who trusts his arm to get the job done and doesn’t use guile to help his game.
Very good observation.
I don’t understand what it is that’s so hard for people to accept about the possibility that maybe Sam Bradford just isn’t very good.
He looked much better in the 2nd half. He was aggressive, made some good throws, and went downfield. I’ll take that improvement every week.
His Oline is not helping. He is doing this without a running game. I actually started to like Bradford much better in the 2nd half. I think he’s a keeper.
If the line can not get beat so often, this offense can be much better. But I guess the same could be said about a lot of different team’s OL.
Every quarterback looks good in stretches. Especially when they get to throw to receivers who are wide open because the opposing team’s cornerbacks are gimpy/bad, which was the case yesterday. Aside from his occasional inability to sense pressure, Bradford had a decent game yesterday (though it must be pointed out that Foles, who most of us think isn’t good enough to win a Super Bowl with, played even better, against a superior defense, delivered in the clutch, and won the game). But this season he’s been mediocre at best. Over the course of a now fairly extensive NFL career, he’s been mediocre at best. I just don’t see it with him. Physical talent, yes. But he lacks guile and command of the game, doesn’t know how to manipulate a defense, doesn’t deliver when the chips are down, and makes too many dumb mistakes.
Doesn’t appear to be stunting Nick Foles’ growth, and it’s not like they’ve added real receiving weapons that Bradford didn’t have.
The o-line will not come around this year because there is just not enough talent. It is quite simple, if you cannot block, you cannot win. This o-line, mediocre at best and now decimated by injury, cannot block. Plus the bonus that there is no young talent to develop because adding to the position, which is the foundation of any successful offense, has been ignored for two years. This will be a problem next year as well (when Jason Peters is even older).
its kinda hilarious chip inherited an elite offense and he proceeded to gut it in part to build up the defense and now that the D is half way decent the offense is trash. I mean i have more faith in chip fixing the offense then i would billy davis the defense but chip’s made some pretty glaring mistakes the last couple years and is paying for it now.
Elite offense? 8-8 then 4-12 in Andy’s last two years. Yeah, “elite”!
I feel hopeless.
Do you ever just sit at the computer at 3:27 in the morning & keep hitting refresh in the hopes that the print will say something different & the result of the game won’t be what it was? That’s what I’m doing right now.
i do that with bids i didn’t win on ebay all the time!
Join ebids. I just got a 25,000 inch TV for 2.99!!!
25k! how’d you get in the house!
This team makes me sad.
it makes me mad
“Obviously the Sam Bradford, DeMarco Murray and Byron Maxwell moves have not panned out as hoped yet.”
Tommy, this may be true with regards to Byron “Bad Max” Maxwell but I’m going to have to disagree with you on bradford/murray.
To rant for a sec:
Biggest problem with this team so far; WE HAVE NO OFFENSIVE LINE. This has been 2 years in the making and it should be no surprise to anybody right now. Drafting no OLmen, picking up no one in free agency that could be a competent starter, relying on an aging jason peters who surprise, got injured today, playing some bullshit power trip/game with mathis and releasing him for absolutely no reason (eagles had all the leverage).
Compounded by blowing your cap space on expensive STeamers and RBs when you should be allocating your resources to a unit that is thin and aging.
Murray can’t do anything when his line is shit. Bradford can’t be a competent QB when he has no time to throw (and on top of that a young receiving corps that has a bad case of the drops).
it is unfair to blame bradford/murray when the problem is the composition of the team, more specifically an Oline that doesn’t have the talent or the health to push a struggling eagles team over the top.
the moves that haven’t panned out are the ones that were made before the season started. having made no meaningful upgrades to depth and/or talent on the line for 2 fucking years we are now reaping what we have sewn. the end product is a team mediocre team full of very talented pieces that cannot work in a way that is conducive to being a contender.
you can overcome dropped passes, you can overcome ints, you can even over come a bunch of really bad misses by your kickers. what you can’t overcome is a shit offensive line and shit allocation of resources by management.
i’m usually pretty optimistic about the eagles, but recent events have led me to be very skeptical about the success of this season.
And we’ve all seen a few seasons around here when an implosion on the o-line has wrecked the entire season.
dear god don’t remind me
We traded a QB who was young and cheap but inconsistent and in return got a QB who is older and more expensive but just as inconsistent, and has been outperformed this year by the guy we traded to get him (who it should be noted is also working behind a bad OL and with inconsistent/undertalented receivers in St. Louis). And we gave up what may end up being a high second round pick to do it. There is no way you can argue that move has panned out.
We got rid of a guy who won the rushing title in this offense two years ago and after a slow start last year still ended up having a decent year. We replaced him with a guy who has an injury history and is coming off record setting overusage, and who makes just as much money. While it’s mostly not his fault, that guy is averaging 1.6 YPC. There is no way you can argue that move has panned out either.
These moves may not be as egregiously bad as cutting Mathis and getting nothing in return, drafting Marcus Smith, failing to draft or sign a single pedigreed OL over the past two years, etc. but they can hardly be defended as smart decisions right now either.
Agreed, for the most part. Things are not looking good. But, I think the biggest issue was getting rid of Mathis (and Herremans, even though he was absolutely done as a productive player) and, most importantly replacing them with nothing.
Terrible offensive line has caused all of the problems with Murray, who in fairness does not make as much as we were slated to pay McCoy. Him and Mathews together make up what McCoy was scheduled to get. They just have guaranteed money going forward whereas McCoy did not.
As I’ve said before, I think Bradford is much better than Foles and we need to see this year play out more before we say that was a bust of a move. But, regardless, that second rounder stings. It stung the day of the trade and stings even more now.
I think it’s safe to say that MS2 is definitely a bust. He’s in year two and can’t even suit up to play special teams. The only good news about that pick is there was some serious garbage that came out in the draft that year. If you look at who was drafted from our original pick on, it’s a whose who of nobodies. Check out that draft: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_NFL_Draft
Is there anyone in rounds 1, 2 or 3 that you’re besides yourself with disbelief we let slip through our hands? And, think about it in terms of what the situation was at the time. Foles was just coming off his 27-2 season. There was no way we were taking Teddy Bridgewater or Derek Carr in the first round.
The terrible offensive line play is the biggest problem, but it is for the most part a self-inflicted wound. There was no reason for Chip to cut Mathis other than ego and the age-related decline of Peters and Herremans could’ve been predicted and planned for two years ago. The failure to do so looks like a disaster right now.
As for the QB, it’s fine for you and everyone else who likes Bradford to keep saying you think he’s much better than Foles. The problem is there is no evidence to back that claim up. Foles has gone to St. Louis and played better there than Bradford did. Bradford has come here and looked like a lateral move at best – not from good 2013 Foles, from shaky 2014 Foles. You don’t give up a high draft pick and $12 million in cap room (money that might’ve helped us keep Maclin or sign somebody like Orlando Franklin) to make a lateral move. This move looks like a disaster right now.
Murray and Mathews are getting a lot of guaranteed money to have their talents wasted in a platoon running behind a shitty offensive line. Not a total disaster, but pretty bad. Meanwhile, the guy we got in return for Shady has gotten hurt, which wasn’t totally unexpected given his history of knee trouble.
As for Smith, the fact that many other players picked in his draft class look like busts does not make the fact that he looks like a bust any less painful.
Then there are moves like the Maxwell signing we haven’t even addressed.
As I see it, so far GM Chip has made a lot of moves that have made the team markedly worse and used a large amount of resources (draft picks, cap space, and players with trade value) to do so. That is the essence of terrible personnel management..
Couldn’t have said it better myself!
Tommy:
I had to read this twice, but I’m a little shocked to see such so few words directed at the O-line.
Will excoriating that group of inept clowns be a full post of its own later in the week?
You will not be able to evaluate offensive talent until the OL is fixed. For a guy that said this game is won & lost in the trenches, he has invested little in this area. I think Chip realizes his foolishness in this regard, but doesn’t have any solutions at this point until the season is over.
Sadly, this is the area that was missed in the offseason power shuffle, as it is clear we do not have he players to execute the desired blocking scheme. In order to survive the season, Chip has to change the blocking scheme to one his players can handle/execute.
I agree that you have to let the season play out. As much as I’d like another coach brought in, a mid season firing doesn’t do any good.
The biggest problem, as I see it, is that Chip put his faith in 2 guards that probably should only be backups and Jason Peters got old over night. That whole unit has underperformed, and I have no idea why. I’m not sure if they’re pressing to make up for perceived deficiencies or if it really is a chemistry issue with the 2 new guys. Sadly, I think the only thing we can hope for is Peters, Kelce, and Johnson playing well enough to pick up the play of Barbre and whoever is the right guard.
One name that interests me in the free agent pool is Barret Jones. He played under Stoutland at Alabama and was the center of a pretty good line. He hasn’t panned out in the NFL, and I’m not sure why. I wonder if D3FB has any insight on him?
No to Jones. Bad athlete. Not a mauler either. Classic example of a great college player who just isn’t cut out for the league.
Guys I’d make calls to inquire about. Probably wouldn’t offer more than the Boykin pick and a conditional. All are young have some experience, and are under contract. Worst case you have better depth. Best case you get a guy in a better situation and it clicks and you’ve filled a hole going forward for a late rounder:
John Urschel (BAL)
James Hurst (BAL)
Gabe Ikard (BUF)
Amini SIlatolu (CAR) expiring contract
Michael Schofield (DEN)
JC Tretter (GB)
Billy Turner (MIA)
Brian Winters (NYJ)
PS poach:
Sean Hickey (NE)
Wesley Johnson (NYJ)
Tanner Hawkinson (SF)
Thank you for the input. I am terrible at judging offensive line play other than to say our oline play is awful.
Also, I’m not sure Winters would be available with the playing time he’s getting in place of Colon.
Winters is the best player on the list. He would also be the most expensive to pry free.
Tommy – did you see Mark Schlerith’s comments on the OL? Talked about cadence and blocking schemes and basically said the OL is losing before the play even starts because of Chip Kelly amd his scheme/philosophy. Any thoughts?
Murray is met 2-4 yards deep in the backfield on every run. This team could turn it around, but they are not passing the eye test at all. Close losses, but they just look terrible right now.
There is nothing wrong with the scheme. We use zone blocking that Gary Kubiak and Kyle Shanahan among others have used the last 2 decades.
Its simply just the OL not executing right
Except it’s not really about the zone scheme. Read Schlerith’s comments on Birds 24/7. He talked about the offense snapping on the exact same cadence with no variation in alignment or play call. There are ways to beat any scheme in the NFL. if you know what’s coming and when, you can flat out beat a zone reach block or the center to a spot. The Washington DL was getting in the backfield before our guys got out of their stances!
First off, you said scheme and he is also wrong about alignment. The Eagles have been among the heavy users in unbalanced lines, motion etc.
The offensive line is so bad.they need three new starters and four backrps.that’s an entire draft and we have no second round pick. I do not trust Chip Kelly with the draft
The Eagles are now 2-6 since beating the Cowboys last Thanksgiving. I wonder if that game will be to the Chip Kelly era what the 2010 Michael Vick and DeSean Jackson fueled victory over the Giants at the Meadowlands was to the Andy Reid era. At the time, I and many other Eagles fans thought it was an indicator of greatness to come, but it turned out to be the football version of the last gleam of light from a setting sun. The Eagles success in Kelly’s first season was due largely to having a great and healthy offensive line, but three members of that line (Jason Peters, Evan Mathis and Todd Herremans) were old enough that the Eagles needed to think about replacing them. Now, two are gone, age appears to have caught up to the third and their replacements don’t look to be capable, let alone good, offensive linemen.
Chip will not go to Texas.
The possibility does exist with Maryland. Like Oregon, they have one huge booster, Under Armour’s Kevin Plank. They want to be a top flight program and are willing to throw tons of money at it.
I do think Chip likes the NFL more than college, but we do have to acknowledge that there are other good spots besides Texas.
Kelly hates recruiting as well
There are a lot of schools out there that would throw money at Chip to coach. I’m just not sure Chip will want to go back.
Tommy: side issue and of course not nearly as important as how you spend your other time, family etc., but have you considered perhaps giving moderator power to 1-2 regulars?
I’ve been here a few years now and there are some arguments and some bad personal attacks once in awhile, but more recently there is one total troll who brings down the enjoyment of the IB community for everyone.
We aren’t looking for you to spend even more time on IB and we all love that you host this community for us. But would you consider deputizing a couple of other people?
I don’t know how moderators work but I bet there are folks here that could propose guidelines pretty easily. But I’d be fine with just deputizing a couple of long time posters who have a good feel for IB and let them work it out. I don’t think anyone’s suggesting that a moderator be able to bully folks and throw 10 people off a month.
Not sure if Tommy’s point was to cheer us up or make us feel like dog shit on the last section of the post.
funny. It’s 4 games. I just think it’s way too early to “decide” (not that we have any authority) whether Chip should go or not. I think no.
Chip’s O and D seem to have a much higher level of symbiotic relationship with each other than other teams. Chip seems unwilling to temporarily break from his ultimate plan for each to help the other.
My 6 year old put on his Tom Brady jersey to go outside this weekend. We wore it out and around for errands, lunch etc. and everyone was his (and kind of my) best friend, talking up Brady etc. My god life would be so much easier….
not a choice I can make for myself, but I won’t deny letting my son root for two teams.
The “it’s ok” and the “let’s let it play out” weekly article is a bit early this week.
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Why we’re giving experienced NFL players “time”. Does Bradford really need time in this system to see a blitz, miss a wide open JMatt(who took the position of the blitzing defenseman) and take a sack?
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Last year, we had a probowl guard coming back form injury. We don’t have a pro-bowler coming back to the line. How is that similar to last year? I think we can stop comparing this team to any team in the past or to the AR era.
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This team needs to jell(joke), it’s O-line, blah blah blah blah….why are we ignoring the fact that CK put the team in this position?
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Aggie had his best game? Having a brutal fumble in any game should never be considered a best game and I’m willing to bet — he’d agree with me.
you can’t give full control (GM/Coach) duties to someone, then strip it 1 year later, that won’t happen either.
What pisses me off the most is how we should be dominating our division. Washington is dysfunctional, Giants are average, Cowboys are ravaged by injuries and suspensions. And now, McClain and Hardy’s suspensions are over, and eventually they’ll get back Romo and Dez. Aaaaargh. Meanwhile, we keep losing players left and right.
I’m not giving up yet. I really think we can turn this thing around!
I don’t know Tommy. I think it’s clear if we got better/consistent OLine play, we’d might have at least one extra win. I thought yesterday was about coaching. They came out flat and unprepared in the 1st half. It seems every game we have to wait for halftime adjustments to actually get the offense going. The defense looked like they prepared for the wrong team. They were on the field, but it seemed the Skins generally moved the ball with ease. The offense looked forced in the 1st half. No one seemed comfortable out there, generally because there were Skins defenders getting penetration.
I feel comfortable with Ags and Matthews going forward. Bradford proved he had the arm to go downfield. Some positives, but not many. If the Oline can’t figure out how to hold blocks, we are in for a long season.
First half offensive ineptitude was all about two things: Bradford was sacked 4 times (1 was nullified by a Skins penalty) and pressured on 47% of his drop backs, and besides Murrays one 30 yard run, we had 5 carries for 14 yards.
I’m not that upset with how this season has started, because in Hindsight, with all these new players we probably should have anticipated a rocky first quarter of the season especially in this day and age where the first quarter of the season has now taken the place of the preseason since everyone is too afraid to get guys hurt in the preseason….
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A 1-3 start isn’t infuriating me as much as I thought it would, but the first quarter grace period is officially over, come october we should start seeing each teams true colors,,so while I wont overreact like some 16 year old girl. The first quarter grace period has officially passed, and it’s time to start clicking as a team…
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My ONLY REAL concern are the OL injuries, a Main component of the slow start has been poor OL play, but you can have 5 of the best OL in the league, but if they aren’t playng as a cohesive unit it doesn’t mean squat, and what scares me is all the OL injuries are making it hard to build the chemistry we need in order to start seeing the quality Eagles team I have no doubt this group of players can be… At this point I don’t give a shit who the 5 OL are, but I do care that they stop getting ing fuckin hurt so those 5’guys can start playing together….I’d rather start our 5 worst lineman for the rest of the year and see them stay healthy, then to have our real OL starters continuing their in and out of the lineup due to injuries…
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At No point has bradford been a concern of mine. Once the OL gets where it needs to be SAM will be fine, because it is true that when he gets to set his feet he is pretty surgical with it…..More important than ANYTHING that can haooen this season, Bradford needs to get thru this season healthy, so he can build on this year and go into next year with continuity..
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I am concerned about how the team evaluates its injured players. If Peters and Kendricks were not good enough stay healthy, they should have sat out. The trainers have to be better than that. Playing one series and then sitting out really hurts the team since some guys are inactive.
I hear you, but everyone plays hurt, I can’t kill these hurt playërs for trying to play thru it even if they end up having to leave the game…
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Philly rips wolff because he won’t play hurt, and now we rip playërs who tried to warrior thru injuries and play? Can’t have it both ways, and maybe you are sore in warm ups, but the adrenaline of the game can be great for pain management so I can’t rip guys for trying to take the field injured in hopes that they could warrior thru it
Not killing the players. I believe these decisions have to be taken out of their hands sometimes. I can live with Kendricks giving it a go. If Peters is not healthy, the entire offense suffers and that takes one OL from the active roster.
Completely agree! I think a lot of the critiques of Bradford’s play is misplaced and should be directed at the line (also: no running game which is also a line issue, and dropped passes, which have become absolutely infuriating and I don’t know how you even begin to fix that).
We got to see Sam throw deep. If we could see some hard count next week maybe we at least keep defenses somewhat honest. I am starting to wonder if Kelly watched Remember the Titans a few too many times and forgot this is the NFL not high school. I am not off the band wagon yet but I find Kelly’s refusal to make changes quite frustrating.
There is plenty to nitpick that needs correcting, but no need to concern ourselves with any of that because the Main concern is the OL.. We can fix all the other issues but unless the OL gels, no other improvements to the team will matter…. Fortunately for me, the OL personnel dosnt bother me as much as most people, but unless we stop suffering OL injuries every week. The personnel won’t be able to fix this… We need 5 friggin lineman that can stay on the field long enough to build chemistry with each other…If the OL injuries DONT stop, it’s going to be a long year… For example, Lane was pretty bad yesterday, but a lot of his mistakes to me looked like a Takle who doesn’t trust the Guard Linning up next to him, and while that sucks, you can’t dismiss the fact that we just played our 4th game and Lane has already played next to 3 different Guards….this needs to stop. I don’t care what 5 OL they put on the field, but I do care that they stop getting injured forcing us to start over in the chemistry building…
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There are plenty of other things that need to improve, but until we get this OL fixed, there really is no point in talking about all the other issues..
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As bad as the start of this season has been, IMO it’s far from the end of the world.. How can I feel hopeless when just two years ago we started on an ugly 1-3’first quarter with the blowout to the Broncos as the cherry on top. After dropping to 1-3 in September, we stepped up and snapped a 3 game losing streak and went on a Big 7 or 8 game winning streak and ended up making the playoffs .. This division is much worse then it was in 2013 when we overcame a 1-3 start to make the playoffs,,. And currently this division is much worse then it was in 2013, so foolish to waive the white flag and feel like the season is over..
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NFL seasons are a Marathon with a big time importance of growing over the course of the season as well as overcoming injuries..
why do you feel more optimistic about the OL esp when the newer injuries (Lane could be out, Peters left the game etc.). We seem to be taking steps back not forward. I hope you are right.
if peters is done, which this could be his last year we have to straight rebuild the OL top to bottom.
Dude…do you really think the OL is going to go from awful to good during the year with journeymen like Barbre and whoever they put at RG…there has been film review of Barbre and for someone that has been here for a while…the results of that film are just unacceptable…it is an issue of playing ability not continuity…the OL as constructed is very flawed and the answers are not going to be found by playing more or in different combinations….
I think Howie Roseman learned a lot from the mistakes of 2011’s Dream Team. He stated it himself. I hope that Chip’s first foray into GM-ship and FA in general was a learning experience. From what we know about the guy, I’m willing to bet it will be.
That being said, Howie Roseman is still on this staff. I’d hope that he becomes a bigger part of the equation now that Chip has gotten burned. Great leaders don’t dismiss the advice of those that have been there before them.
we’re 6-18 months away from chip going back to college
moreover, knock Andy Reid all you want, but he understood you needed an offensive line. Chip has tried to get cute and build a line with sub-par players and it is causing his system to implode.
Andy understood the need for a good O line but paid too little attention to having quality receivers. Chip is the reverse.
do we have quality receivers? It is highly debatable.
I think Mathews is proving his stuff. My point was that Chip has put resources into the wrs, such as Agholar, and Austin. You’re right, though, debatable if those guys will produce.
he poorly allocated resources, imho.
Especially doing nothing about the O line.
I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want Kelly fired (he’s no longer Chip, that indicates affection which I no longer have for him.) I do want him taken outside at NovaCare and horse whipped so he feels as badly as I do when the team is an embarrassment to both the city and me personally.
yeah, that’s a little violent. you need a time out
You can get in line with him to be tied to the whipping post
I was psyched to see the 3-headed monster of our running attack. More like a 3-headed monstrosity.
no o-line so we’re only running it 10-15 times a game. just wasting $.
What is it with Eagles Head Coaches refusing to run the ball?
Oddly, we’re only one game out of first place.
with division losses we’d still be last.
Obviously Chip should convert Taylor Hart and Ced Thornton to Guard.
There, I just fixed our OL problem. Bair and Curry can hold down DE for rest of season.
Didn’t TLaw say something about converting one of the DL on the practice squad to OL?
Raciti’s athletic profile/demeanor had some considering a move predraft. You would be looking at if they decided to switch him over today, he would at best be competing for a backup spot next year.
Seattle has done this. It worked with Sweezy. Other wise not really.
Plus right now Raciti is one long term injury on the DL from the 53.
Mikhalik and Raciti will get futures contracts after the season. Ceddy won”t be resigned (and Curry may not either). Unless there is a situation where its a massive BPA value I don’t see us drafting a 2 gapper until late. We may pick up more of an interior rusher type, but I highly doubt we take a 2 gapper. So Mikhalik/Raciti/UDFA will compete for one or two spots.
Like most Eagle fans, we all see problems with the offensive line and this has been a major problem for years! As good as our center has been, he is undersized, given our two new guards, we are having problems with defensive tackles getting to much pressure up the middle. As far I am concerned since Shawn Andrews we have not had any dominate guard play, and this includes Mathis. My suggestion to Chip, Tobin looked ok at tackle compared to when he played guard, move Peters to right guard, and yes I know he is our best offensive lineman, but if we keep giving up pressure from the defensive tackles it is going to be a very long season.
All our problems started when we offended the baby Jesus by releasing Tim Tebow
Even as someone who has been a big skeptic of his moves over the past year, I don’t think Kelly is or should be on the hot seat. But if this team continues to be inconsistent, and finishes, say, 8-8? Yes, he should absolutely be on the hot seat going into 2016. Not to be that guy, but at that point he would’ve accomplished less in his first three seasons than either Rich Kotite or Ray Rhodes, with his tenure appearing to be on a similar trajectory.
The single most important thing I saw yesterday was how much this entire organization has Sam’s back… As ugly as its been, everytime Bradford goes back to the sideline after a score, every single defender, offensive player, coach, assistants, trainers, equipment managers all made sure they went over to show Sam love….
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For a team that has so many new players in the process of gelling that has gotten off to a bad start, I thought this was a great sign… You probably can’t find a single defender who didn’t go over to show Sam support, and this is extremely important while trying to navigate thru these tough times..
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2013 we started off 1-3, winning the first game, then losing the next 3 with a big time blow out at the hands of the Broncos, yet after that game it all started to click and we went on an insane two month winning streak.. Today our defense is way ahead of where it was in 2013, and today’s division is as bad as we could ever imagine, much worse then 2013.., we were able to overcome this putrid start in 2013, no reason we should feel today like we can’t win the division.
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Seasons are marathons with a major importance on continued growth and overcoming injuries.. In today’s nfl everyone will tell you that September football has basically become the new preseason with coaches so afraid to risk injuries in the preseason… What you see in September won’t be what you see come the 2nd and 3rd quarters of the season, but the 2nd quarter starts TODAY! The grace period is over, you HAVE to start clicking I’m October..
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What happened the first quarter of the season sucks, but far from the end of the world. You can see some major improvements over the course of a week, but for us to overcome this, we can’t keep suffering all these injuries, NEED to stay healthy so we can Gel, EDPECIALLY on the OL
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I know it has been a rough start, but September can be misleading…. However it has to start NOW!!…these next two games are so crucial.. Can’t afford to lose thes next two..
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As bad as September has been, I don’t get carried away by it.. I’m more annoyed with Losimg division games… I feel like I will never get to see my dream of sweeping this division, but I thought 5-1 in the
Division would still be great, 4-2 being acceptable, 3-3 in this division makes us a Failure, which basically means we need to win these next 4 division games (far from a given)
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I have little doubt that we will turn it around and show what a great team this is capable of being, I just hope it happens NOW before it’s too late. I have stayed calm thru this rocky start, but you can’t dick around once you get to October, the turnaround has toe START NOW!! These Next two games are everything, we really need to win both. We have to win atleast 3 of the next 4 and we can’t afford for that loss to come against the Giants, must beat them!!
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No reason to panic, but if we want to salvage this season it has to start NOw during the 2nd quarter….. Sucks to be in a must win situation in early Ovtober, but we have been here before and just two years ago we overcame it and went on to win the division.. Saint ended our playoffs in 2013, can’t allow them to put their foot on our throat on Sunday..
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I just hope that whatever 5 lineman start the week as starters, the stay healthy all week and thru the entire saints game.. Without OL continuity we can’t get this turned around, and with all the injuries/musical chairs at OL,it’s making it impossible to Gel… No reason to be too down on September, but the grace period is over, it has to start NOW!!
Normally I’d agree especially given the current state of this division but this team just has too many injuries right now to many key players.
Need to win 2 of the next 3 before heading into the bye including beating the Giants at home
Heard some rumor that Josh Huff was punished but I don’t know why or what his punishment was, anyone hear the entire story?
Interesting. I’d like to hear more about this.
And I’d like to hear more about Frodo’s friend, Sam.
Its sad that Bradford has been the best among the three. Maxwell has been poor and hasn’t even played at the level of a starting caliber CB. Now he is hurt. Murray doesn’t have the speed/acceleration to make that outside zone stretch play work. Plus, now he is publicly complaining about his lack of carries.
It does have shades of the Dream Team where Reid bought in players who on paper seemed like a good fit but were a poor fit for numerous reasons.
Murray though strikes me the worst move though for several reasons. I have to think other NFL GMs are laughing at Kelly for having invested so much in a RB who possibly has already peaked, has had a lengthy injury history dating back to OU, and when he already had Sproles/Matthews.
We haven’t had a good month of football, so it’s perfectly fair to see analysts point out how bad we have been on TV, but as an eagle fan, why can’t I listen to honest assessments without all these media blowhards ripping, ridiculing and insulting our coach? Can we get some professionals analysts who don’t feel the need to openly ridicule the Eagles and insult our coach? All these media blowhards are so happy that we are struggling, it’s fine to point out our short comings and mistakes, but why do I have to see so many media blowhards with a clear hate agenda ready to ridicule and rip chip every single time we stumble? So unprofessional
Kelly comes off as very brash and cocky to the media. If the offense looks this poor which was largely based upon moves that Kelly made, then yeah he is going to take his share of flak.
Analysts ripping or even ridiculing coaches openly is nothing new. Been common place for quite a while now with the media culture we have. It is done to grab attention among a see of voices which has made it even harder to stand out nationally.
Chip has never said a word about himself being a genius or a word about how he would revolutionize the NFL. Chip has never said a word to guys like Micheal Irvin, Terrell Davis and Heath Evans, so I shouldnt have to see professionals openly gloating and overjoyed every single time we stumble.
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I can understand if someone like Les Bowan wants to take shots since he has actually been on the other end of a snarky Chip Kelly answer, but for guys who chip has never had any interaction with to be so openly gloating, happy about our rough start is ridiculous and extremely unprofessional
The thing I appreciate about Les is that he’s a guy that can handle it, matter of fact in a weird way I think he enjoys that part of Chip.
With as much as everyone is openly ridiculing the Eagles on TV, if Bellicjick was our coach he would have his video guy put together a highlight video of everyone who is on TV ridiculing the Eagles and Bellichick would be showing it to his players ever day this week til they come out Sunday ready to rip someone’s jugular out.
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Bellicheat is a big believer in using bulletin board material to get his players jacked up..the worst thing you can do is to talk shit about a Bellichick team because he will use it to really fire up his team and have their blood boiling coming out for the next game…
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Love to hear if Chip uses the “us against the world”, “we’ll show them how soft we are” as motivational tools? If Bellichick was our coach, he would have the team sit down everyday and listen to how Heath Evans, Terrell Davis, mIcheal Irvin ate openly ridiculing us on TV and we would see our team show up ready to murder someone in THe next game…. Wonder if chip is a believer in using everyone’s hate as a motivational tool for the Eagles?… Players are told to not even watch the media, but Inthink this week it’s important that every single player sit down and listen to what is being said about their team and how they are the laughing stock of the league right now… You can bet a Bellichick team would not come out flat next Sunday if blowhards like Heath and Irvin talking so much shit about us all week…
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Curious if chip believes in this as a motivational tool? Every single eagle should know exactly what is being said about them this week. They are laughing at us, the players need to be made aware of it.
doesn’t matter. Injuries are piling up OL / DL / ILB ravaged. If lane’s out for any period of time we can just call the season.
Lane is fine
No Kelly didn’t come out and directly say that but he doesn’t have either. There has been more than enough written that it is implied rightfully or wrongfully now.
I completely agree about it being unprofessional but that isn’t what drives social media. Analysts like Didinger or even Jaworski who don’t use hyperbole or severe criticism are the relics.
we’re 2-6 in our last 8 games w/ most of those losses against divisional opponents who are bad – or aren’t as good as we think we are..
Most alarming thing is this insane stat that says teams who defense is on the field for 41 minutes have a record of 5 wins and 136 losses in non overtime games….
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The defense has shown some nice improvement, but there is still some work to do and things to clean up, but I have no doubt that we will see this defense reach new heights when they can stop carrying the offense and actually get some help from our offense..
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Of course you can’t excuse the defense completely. Can’t let them start the game with that long drive and even if we are exhausted we had to step up and get the game saving stop and they came up short, but can’t complain about the defense when they been covering for the Offense all year.. Offense needs to start playing an entire game and stop putting so much on the backs of this defense..
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Im
The 1st two drives IMO were killer. We seem to be susceptible to that 3rd and long draw play. I don’t understand after Atlanta, you can let that happen. I think that was the 1st drive of the game.
Yep, the 33 or 43 rd draw play was for the first third down of the game. I was so amped for our defense to start out stomping them into the ground, and then that happened.
yeah ATL ran the same play.
It has been an issue including yesterday when the Eagles were playing on their heels on that last drive. They got no push up front & no pass rush on that drive despite blitzing constantly.
Might be because we lost another DLineman. Bair might miss some games now.
all our blitzes were really poorly timed as well. Either we showed to early and Cousins was able to hit the hot WR for a quick easy gain, or we were way late and he was already winding up to the throw when our blitzers were crossing the LOS.
We were horrible defensively in terms of tipping our hand pre snap yesterday… We too often showed Cousins exactly where we were sending the heat from and their OL was able to pick if up with ease… We certainly weren’t confusing anyone with our blitzes yesterday, but there is a lot that needs fixing on offense before we can harp on the defense, because without the defense playing decent ball, this start would have really been a disaster… Defense is improving an heading in the right direction, they show growth so I m fine with where the defense is and my confidence in where the defense is going. It has been a solid starting point for a defense with so many new faces that’s dealing with injuries..
..Offense is much more worrisome because we aren’t seeing consistent growth, it’s been too up and down and we have yet to play a complete game on offense..
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Offense is asking too much of the defense, but the defense needs to do better in helping themselves….
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Not a surprise that after 4 weeks we still need a lot of improvement to get to where we think we could be this year, the only surprise is how bad the starting point has been
Agreed. Unfortunately, I think the reason we’re not seeing growth from the offense is because the main problem is a talentless offensive line. There just isn’t a cure for that, and with injuries to both Peters and Lane, the talent level is going down, not up. This isn’t like last year where we had to weather the storm until the starters came back from injury.
There’s no one coming to save us this time. The reserves are already playing. And, no the backups to the backups are starting. There’s no rescue on the way for the offensive line.
it’s on both. The offense needs to be better for sure, but the D needs to get off the field too. Washington was over 50% on 3rd down conversions, including that 3rd and forever on the first drive that knocked Maxwell out of the game.
No no, that first drive was the offense’s fault too.
Concerning Maxwell: I think many of us were fully aware we were over paying, and we’re fine with it. He is not Revis. He is doing fine.
Defense is above reproach for me. When an offense takes 3 and out after 3 and out at break neck pace, it’s extremely tough on the defenses. To their credit they seem to have embraced that.
There are some things they could get cleaned up. Washington never should have scored on the 1st drive, and the 1st two drives of the game they let Washington walk down the field on them – even allowing a very long 3rd down draw play deep in Washington’s territory. That’s killer and long before they were on the field a long time.
Generally yes, I agree. But there are some things they have to get better at.
I agree completely. I’m taking the SAT approach. If you get a 750 English and 500 math, when you study for retest what are you going to focus on? Unlike the SAT if our math was a 650 I think our English would automatically go to an 800!
I’m old and that is my SAT score knowledge. You young bucks will have to research the old scores.
LOL – I’m under the old SAT scores myself.
everything has been made easier for these young punks.
hahahaha, my great aunt used to tell me all the time that youth is wasted on the young.
you gotta make a stop on that last drive. it’s the redskins. You also gotta sack kurt cousins. It’s crazy how bad that line looked in pre-season vs. now.
No Bair No Hart No Thorton. We had 0 depth by the end of the game. Tough position for the D
[…] Lawlor of IgglesBlitz.com covers the big picture for this Eagles team […]
lol what’s funny is like a week ago we were all talking about the Bears fire sale, throwing around suggestions like trading for Alshon Jeffries or Kyle Long.,.. A week later, it the Bears are still having a Fire sale, the One player I would want is friggin Robbie Gould… Lol wonder what it would cost to get the Bears to trade us their kicker?
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Sam looked good throwing on the move, so if the OL is going to continue to struggle getting any continuity with injuries, chip needs to start calling Some plays where Sam can roll out, and throw on the move away from the collapsing pocket
Agreed, I was impressed with his athleticism and speed. He picked up good yards on that one scramble. And, he was able to slide properly!! Hallelujah!! We haven’t seen a QB that could slide since Rodney Peete and Ty Detmer were here.
That one TD that was called back because Agholar lined up wrong, was really a tremendous play by Bradford. That’s the type of play an elite QB can make. Nick Foles cannot do that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDOv47S876E
Hadn’t seen that. That’s an elite throw for sure. Probably one of the best I’ve ever seen from Foles. He definitely didn’t look like that last year. I’ll puke if Foles turns out to be a stud and Bradford ends up being a mediocre QB. Hell, I’ll go to 1 Novacare Way and personally drag Chip out of the building and kick him to the curb. I wish all the best for Nick Foles, but, man what an epic failure it would be if we had an elite QB that we could have easily resigned long term for cheap and not only traded him for a worse QB but also gave up a high second round pick. I hope, regardless of how Foles career ends up, that Bradford rewards us with a decade of good QB play, because if not it’ll be a Philadelphia football tragedy.
Warning: this is long post! But, I think it needs to be said…
With regards to Bradford, I think it’s important to have some perspective. In no way should we have deluded ourselves into thinking that he’d come into a new system, while rehabbing his 2nd ACL tear to the same knee, not start taking 11-on-11 snaps until August, and then hit the ground playing like an amalgamation of Aaron Rogers and Tom Brady. There is no reason at all that he should not be rusty and have some inconsistent moments.
Think of anything you’ve ever done in your life, play pool/darts/bowling/beer pong, play the Madden video game, Tennis, any other sport…In my experience, if I stop doing any of those things for just a couple months, I’m rusty. Now imagine doing something a lot more complex and technically difficult that you haven’t done in TWO YEARS! So, it’s unfair to say he
doesn’t look like an elite QB right here and now, so he’s a bust. (not implying that you’re saying that, Tommy, but some fans are).
In addition to that, Bradford is getting absolutely no help from his offensive teammates. The line isn’t consistently protecting well (don’t tell me he had good protection yesterday, he was sacked 5 times, avoided at least 4 other sacks and was rushed or had bodies at his feet on a handful of other passes). WRs are dropping passes that hit them right in the hands. And, he has absolutely no running game to lean on. So regardless of how Sam is playing the offense is going to look dysfunctional and isn’t going to sustain drives and score points. The outcome/overall production is going to be bad regardless. We can’t just look at a dysfunctional offense that’s not moving the ball and reflexively say, “Sam Bradford sucks!”
That being said, when evaluating Bradford, we have to look not at the outcome, but at just his play in a vacuum. There’s certainly been some missed throws, some miscommunication, instances of lack of timing with his receivers, but as I stated above; those things should absolutely be expected at this early stage and are not what Bradfords evaluation should hinge on.
The dude is a veteran NFL quarterback getting paid $13 million a year. I don’t want to hear excuses. Other players have been in his position (coming off long injury layoffs, going to new teams/systems, etc.) and come out of the gate producing at a high level (just look at Manning with the Broncos and Brees with the Saints for recent examples). I think the far more likely explanation for his mediocre play – which nobody seems willing to contemplate – is that he just isn’t very good at playing NFL quarterback.
Bradford has been terrible, but he’s been no worse than anyone else on the team honestly.
Peyton Manning is one of the greatest QBs of all time. He took one year off, not two. He was able to practice fully the entire offseason, as his rehab was completed during the year he took off and not continuing into the preseason. He took his offense that he had been running for 13 years in Indianapolis with him to Denver, so he didn’t have to learn a new system. He had an excellent offensive line (LT was 1st team all pro Ryan Clady, LG was probowler Zane Beadles, Center was probowler Dan Coppen and RT was probowler Orlando Franklin). He had the following weapons to throw to: Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker, Brandon Stokley, Julius Thomas.
And, through the first 3 weeks of the season he completed exactly 60% of his passes, he had 5 TD and 4 INT and the team was 1-2. By week 5, that team had managed to scrape itself to 2-3 before Manning finally looked completely comfortable and they won their next 11 games.
Drew Brees injured his shoulder in the playoff game in 2005, had surgery and was ready to play a few months later. He missed precisely zero games because of that injury and was the day one starter for the Saints the following year. Through his first 4 games back he had 4 TDs and 2 INT.
Not sure those are really examples of players who have been in his exact position before.
I hope my boss doesn’t compare me to the best guy at my job ever… Not alot of Paytons running around.
Looking at the team under Kelly we’ve gone from having the best of everything in 13 to the worst of everything 15. A lot of it because of self inflicted wounds. Our o-line play was spotty last year but instead of bolstering we tore it down even more.
Spent a ton on RBs, but no money on the line. Spent a ton on a corner, but no resources on pass rush. I think if you reverse those two things the team is a lot better.
No doubt about that. Kelly’s personnel decisions have definitely been questionable at best, and have really hurt this team. I don’t care what anyone says, and I understand his rationale, but cutting DeSean Jackson, was stupid. It’s clear as day that he presented a huge problem for defenses, drew tons of attention when used as a decoy, and stretched the field vertically like no one else. Getting rid of him has made this offense worse on the field and cutting him while getting nothing in return after the year he had was a pathetic waste of resources.
Cutting Mathis was completely unnecessary and pure ego move. Nothing else you can even say about that move. Having no contingency for his departure along with Herremans’ as well is inexcusable. I pounded the table all off season that the offensive line was a major concern and no one wanted to hear it. We now have the worst offensive line Ive ever seen play in an NFL game. That’s all on Chip.
But, I don’t hate the Bradford move…at least not yet.
What I’ve seen in Bradford is the following:
First, he’s a much better technician from the pocket than Foles ever was. Foles had an infuriating tendency to drift backwards and bail out the back of the pocket constantly and often got into trouble throwing off his back foot. Bradford is the exact polar opposite in this regard and exactly what you want to see out of a QB in the pocket. Watch his drop backs, he’s always moving forward and climbing the pocket to avoid the edge rushers. I haven’t seen him drift backwards and bail
out the back of the pocket once this year. He hits the top of his drop and immediately starts shuffling forward while still looking downfield. That’s what elite QBs do and what derails many young QBs before they even decide to throw the ball.
Second, he makes very quick decisions (which has helped the
line look like they’re pass blocking better than they really are). There haven’t been a ton of free pass rushers, but there also hasn’t been a lot of time for him to sit in the pocket and scan the field and the pocket, even when clean has been small and starting to collapse faster than you’d like. But, that hasn’t been an issue because Sam climbs the pocket well, has not been rattled by large bodies coming in around his surgically repaired knee, and makes quick decisions.
Third, the decisions he’s made have routinely been the right decision. This is probably the most important part of playing QB and the hardest to evaluate. Go order the all-22 package from nfl.com and rewatch the last 4 games, if you don’t have a history of depression or suicidal
ideation, and count how many times Bradford quickly finds the open receiver and pulls the trigger (ignore the outcome, just focus on the decision).
What I’ve found, doing just that, is that he is making the correct read, and correct decision on 90% of his passes. Also, the outside receivers, besides yesterday, have not been getting any separation. There’s been a couple instances where he’s been hesitant to make a tough throw to a guy who is open momentarily down the seam and choose instead to dump it off. However, most of those plays involved play action, and while the receiver is open initially, it’s often while he’s completing his play action and by the time he does that and sets his feet, the over the top safety is moving in and the window is shrinking.
Elite QBs still make these throws regularly and he has instead chosen
the safer option of dumping the ball off short more than you’d like, but
overall his ability to read the defense, quickly process the information, make the correct decision, and pull the trigger has, in all honesty, been outstanding (again despite the actual outcomes of the play and the overall ineptitude of the offense in general).
Overall, the only real terrible decisions I’ve seen him make we’re the INT in the Falcons game, when the ref obstructed his view of the LB
dropping into coverage, which he should have accounted for even if he couldn’t see him in that moment, the interception to Lee in the endzone in the Dallas game, which you could argue wasn’t necessarily a bad decision as much as it was a bad throw, but he had Riley WIDE OPEN right in front of the goalpost and tried to make a much harder throw to a well covered Ertz because the LB had his
back turned, so that’s a bad decision. And, finally, the first play of the Jets game when he had someone open on the seam route and instead threw the ball short to someone covered and almost was picked off by their LB Harris.
Fourth, his throws have, for the most part, been quite accurate once he decides to pull the trigger. Go back and watch the second half of the Falcons game. At one point, the guy was 22 of 24 with his
only incompletions being a dropped pass that was right on the money and a broken play where he threw the ball away to avoid the sack. And, every single one of those 22 completions hit the receiver in stride right in the hands/chest. He throws a beautiful tight spiral with well
above average velocity and is very accurate when he can set his feet and step into his throws. He’s had some misses and throws that were off the mark, but again, we’re seeing him work through rust. If those missed throws don’t decrease in frequency then we can judge Bradford for having inconsistent accuracy, but until then, I’m less concerned about the few off target passes, since I completely expected that in any sane world, a guy that hasn’t played QB
in 2 years and has a completely new supporting cast of receivers would have some missed throws.
On the back end of his throws, guys are simply not making plays for him at all. Not a single receiver has made a tough catch or anything close to a spectacular catch to help him out. All elite QBs make throws that aren’t right on the WRs hands, in stride 100% of the time, but this often goes unnoticed because they have some decent receivers that still make the catch and no one questions that the throw was on the back shoulder or a bit low/high. Also, he’s dealt with the most dropped passes of any QB in the league. We have 14 official dropped passes this year along with a handful of other passes that hit the receiver in the hands, but have not been counted as drops, but rather pass break ups, because the defender hit the receiver right after the ball bounced off his hands. On rewatching these plays, many of them, in my eyes, should have been caught and make our dropped passes stats look even worse. Just look at the catch Garcon made to win the game yesterday. He got hit by two defenders almost immediately on a pass that was way out in front of his body and he made a play. If he dropped it after contact, that would not be charted as a dropped pass by the sites that track such things. But, those are the types of
plays that you want/expect your best pass catches to make. And, right now we’re just not making them. These have been drive killers,
they’ve been plays that would have otherwise gone for long TDs at times or first down conversions on critical 3rd downs at others, he’s had 2 of his 4 interceptions bounce off his WRs hands before being picked, and these have really kept our offense from getting into any type of rhythm.
So, in review, I don’t see a scared tentative QB that is a total outright bust who must be replaced either now, by Sanchez or in the offseason by a draft pick/FA. I see a QB that is currently operating in the most astoundingly un-ideal circumstances (hasn’t played in 2 years, had to learn a new system while rehabbing a twice torn ACL, has all new players around him that he’s never played with, on an offense featuring 5 new starters and two completely overmatched guards, with an atrocious offensive line, no run game and receivers that are on pace for an historic amount of dropped passes), who despite the overall ineptitude of the offense is still displaying why he is a
significant upgrade at the QB position over Foles. He’s alleviated any fears I had coming in that he’d be jumpy in the pocket and affected by bodies coming in at his legs. He’s shown some good straight line speed and ability to avoid the rush like he did yesterday. He’s picked up the offense well, and 90% of the time makes the correct read/decision and is getting rid of the ball fast. Accuracy has been up and down (he had some poor throws in the first half of the jets game, he’s had some over throws against the Skins), but he’s also displayed laser like precision on others. My hope here is that as his body
gets back in tune with playing after so much time out, muscle memory will take over and the mechanics that led to those good throws will start to become more consistent. And, he’s shown everything
you’d want physically, from his arm strength, to his ability to run, to his
ability to take a hit that you’d want to see in a starting QB.
In my eyes, he’s the least of our problems right now. He can (and hopefully will) be much better than he has been. But, there’s a lot to
be encouraged with in regards to how he’s playing despite the overall putrid outcome. I mean, just take away a couple dropped passes that were perfect throws and he’s got 2 or 3 more TDs and 2 fewer INTs, and possibly another 2 wins for this team. Given the circumstances that would be a pretty impressive feat and he wouldn’t have had to change anything about his play.
It was like reading a book, but I agree. 🙂
I’m really starting to be a Bradford fan. I agree totally that bad throw =/= bad decision. If he’s going to the right route 95% of the time, when catches are made or the line is blocking well this offense will take off.
I think the line is a big if though. Especially is LJ is going to be out and now Peters too, we’ve got a line full of backups.
Thanks! Glad someone out there is at least seeing the same thing as me. I feel like everyone came into this situation, initially shocked, skeptical or down right opposed to the Bradford trade. I know I fell into at least two of those categories.
Then they watch the game on TV where you can’t see the routes develop and really analyze what options the QB has, and they see the offense go 3 and out over and over, and just reflexively go, “I knew it! Bradford sucks, he always sucked and he’s sucking now. This offense stinks! Thanks, Sam Bradford!”
But, while the offense does stink, I don’t think it’s because Sam is holding it back. It’s not like there’s wide open receivers running around and he’s not seeing them or throwing wildly inaccurate passes to them or throwing bad interceptions all over the place. He’s getting no help, behind a bad Oline, and receivers dropping the ball left and right.
Then when the players around him stop messing up every play, the line starts blocking well, and the receivers hold on to the ball, the flip switches and the offense starts to drive up and down the field scoring points solely behind Sam Bradfords passing, and everyone ignored this.
Unfortunately, I think the line is not even an “if”…it’s atrocious, and there is no help coming.
Are we watching different quarterbacks?
Bradford’s stats: 6 TDs, 4 INTs, 60.7% completion percentage, 82.2 QB rating. Several bad turnovers and bad sacks taken (just look at that one at the end of the first half yesterday). Not getting a ton of help from his receivers, but also continually missing guys who are open, due to both physical and mental errors. Go look at what Foles (who to be clear I think is average and I was fine with moving on from) has done with the Rams this year. It’s better than what Bradford has done here, or what Bradford did in St. Louis.
This guy does not look like the answer to anything, other than possibly the question “who did the Eagles get back in the most lopsidedly bad trade they’ve made in recent memory”.
Bradford has not turned the ball over in the last couple of games. He’s looking more and more comfortable in his decision-making – even with the bad line play. I agree with Jernst that he’s making the right decisions, but he’s not getting any help from his line.
I think I’ve seen him improve each week since Dallas, and I continue to expect him to do so. He hasn’t played in two years and looks the same as Foles did with two years in this offense. Matter of fact, Foles was a turnover machine last year, and Bradford is already an improvement in that area.
He looks much better than Foles did last year. All last year, Foles was skittish in the pocket, he constantly drifted backwards or outright bailed out the back of the pocket, he was throwing off his back foot on almost every play, his accuracy was all over the place, people were WIDE open quite a bit last year, and Foles wasn’t putting the ball anywhere near them, and he was leading the league in INTs AND fumbles by a QB when he went down in week 8.
Bradford looks composed in the pocket, is climbing forward on every play, he’s not looking at the rush and throwing the ball with his head up and pointed down field while rushers are closing in or downright knocking the crap out of him (as opposed to Foles who routinely fell back, ducked his head and heaved when he was throwing in the face of a collapsing pocket.
Boggles my mind how many people have said, we should have kept Foles (difference in salary not withstanding, which is significant…but on a pure talent level…no way…Bradford is way better)
Bradford’s stats this year, projected out over 16 games, are almost identical to what Foles did last year projected over the same span. Your post comes off as delusional to me.
Because we’re talking about two different things. You’re talking about results, stats. Which clearly have sucked. The offense is not producing jack right now. So we agree. The results have sucked.
But, I’ve stated multiple times that I’m conceding that point and am not talking about stats. Because, I think his stats have been negatively affected by the offenses total ineptitude. I’m talking about how he moves in the pocket, how quickly he makes decisions, whether or not his decisions are good ones based on re-watching the all-22 and seeing who was open and who he decided to throw to, and then what the passes looked like after he threw them (how accurate, how much velocity, touch, ect).
That type of analysis can tell us more about what we could expect out of Bradford as he continues to knock off the rust and what he might look like if we gave him a functional offensive line, a running game that moved forward and didn’t lose yards on 35% of its carries and a better outside WR tandem than Riley Cooper and a Rookie.
Or we can just look at stats and agree that they suck and move on.
Stating his stats is meaningless to trying to analyze whether or not he has the skills, talent and ability to be a good QB in the future.
That’s why I acknowledged multiple times that the outcome and overall performance (the stats essentially) have been “putrid”, but I also started by saying that I was ignoring outcome and looking at his actual play in a vaccuum, based on his skill of moving in the pocket, decision making, accuracy, arm strength, ECT.
The stats you put up for his first 4 games are actually better than Peyton Manning’s when he first returned to Denver after a year off. 5 TDs, 3 INT, 60.0% completion percentage, 1-2 record.
I’m not looking at outcome, I’m looking at the tape and trying to project that forward, imagining a glorious place where he gets to play in a system where the line blocks, the running backs move the ball forward and the WRs get open and catch the ball when it hits their hands.
He has two bad turnovers in 4 games. All QBs even Brady, Rogers and Manning throw interceptions. He’s taken very few sacks this year (2 sacks in the first 3 games), until yesterday when half our line was injured and free rushers were coming through and taking him down with no escape route.
If you watch the all-22 tapes, guys are not getting consistently open. He’s only missed a handful of open guys, he’s been accurate much more frequently than inaccurate. If the receivers just catch uncontested balls that hit their hands, he’d be completing 70.3% of his passes with 9 TDs (10 if Agholar lines up correctly presnap) and 2 INT. Context is important.
What happened to the ” Kelly can put anybody in as QB” mantra? It seems to me that Bradford’s problems follow him around.
If by problems you mean terrible offensive line play and receivers that can’t catch, yes, I agree those problems have unfortunately followed him throughout his career.
Like a bad penny.
With a better kicker, the score would have been 24-23 and an Eagles win – remember, he missed an extra-point and a FG. Without the stupid holding penalty at the end of the half, the Ertz TD would have been good and we’re looking at 31-23. Things aren’t as bad as they seem right now. Minor mistakes that can be cleared up. Remember, our #1 receiver has only played in 4 NFL games! Our #2 is only in his second year. Not every young receiver can be Beckham!
If the receivers would have held onto a pass or two, or if Bradford makes a throw or two more accurately, it’s very possible the Eagles are 3-1 if not 4-0 at this point (although, noting would have helped in that Cowpukes game).
But then again, if the queen had balls, she’d be the king. I’m just trying to get across how it’s not over yet.
I’m pretty sure that Washington would have gone for two at the end of the game so the score would have been either 24-22 or 24-24, but other than that your points stand.
True.
I guess we’ll never know…
I agree with you with one major caveat, which you sort of allude to with the last paragraph. We have certainly been in every game this season and with one or two bounces going our way in each of these games, we could very possibly be 4-0. With that said, those bounces DIDN’T go our way. We HAVEN’T been able to make the necessary plays to win, and in the NFL, that is exactly what separates good teams from bad ones. On top of that, had some of those bounces gone our way, while the headlines would have been completely different, I’m not sure the the analysis would be drastically changed. Win or lose those games, we still have played incredibly poorly on offense except for one half against Atlanta and one half against Washington. Win or lose those games, our rushing attack has been largely useless, particularly due to the offensive line. Win or lose those games, I don’t think the story line with Bradford is all that different. So while we have been close, this team is clearly significantly flawed and considering the injuries, may not be positioned well to turn it around.
Of course, time will tell. I’d love to be surprised about this team turning things around, but I’m really not all that convinced that it is likely.
Regarding the dropped passes, A LOT of the dropped passes have been very catchable balls that would have gone for first downs or in some cases touchdowns. The drops have been total drive killers and in my opinion have been the biggest problem so far. How many more minutes of rest do the defensive players get if even 50% of those balls are caught?
you cant expect to put up goose eggs in every first half and come back to take a lead and then hold it. The ebb and flow and odds make it likely the opposing team will get the lead back and score some points. Add that to a defense that is out there way too long and no, its not that good. Just watching it and we can all see that. Cant expect to win games when the offense only shows up for a quarter a game. I could say without Sproles theyd be 0-4 and not even in some of these games.
I guess you missed the part where I talked about the miss FG and TD both in the first half
THIS is Chip Kelly’s biggest mistake of the offseason. Bar none.
“One place he wanted to go, which featured an offense deemed perfect for him, was the Eagles. He asked the Eagles to consider him. However, they did not, eventually signing Tim Tebow instead.”
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000548529/article/tyrod-taylor-set-to-earn-big-incentives-if-bills-make-playoffs
I’ve supported nearly everything Chip has done. I think Chip Kelly is one of the best things to happen to Philadelphia in years.
But this is inexcusable.
He wasted an entire Summer on FREAKING TIM TEBOW, when a guy perfect for his system was there for the taking, and wanted to come here.
Instead we waste a 2nd and whatever Nick Foles is worth on Sam Bradford, waste time with Tim Tebow, and Tyrod Taylor is playing great for Buffalo, yesterday’s loss notwithstanding.
Damn Chip.
The biggest mistake was cutting Tebow because now the Eagles are incurring the wrath of God.
Well if God hates us, maybe I should make a shrine that includes the pictures of Concrete Charlie, Vince Lombardi, and William Penn. I’ll sacrifice some tastycakes and cheesesteaks to appease their spirits.
whatever, thats easy to say now but thats some serious hindsight talking. Would have been nice sure but not probable and wouldnt have prevented the SB trade in all likelihood. He would still be sitting there as 3rd stringer.
Tyrod looked great for a few games. Let’s see how the rest of the season plays out before going too crazy. Buffalo is still paying for the last QB that started their season 4-0, and he now plays for the Jets.
Inexcusable? I don’t know that’s a pretty big reach. No one saw Tyrod Taylor as a potential starting QB coming into this season. Not fans, not the media, not the professional talent evaluators and coaches paid millions of dollars by NFL teams.
He wasn’t even that good in college. No one, not even the Bills, thought he’d be their starting QB by choice. They took a flyer on a kid with athletic skill and a big arm and so far they’ve struck gold. It might be an outlier, it might not, he might end up being the next great thing. But, it’s far from inexcusable that Chip missed something that literally every person on earth missed as well (and yes, that includes the Bills and Rex Ryan. They signed him to be a developmental, roster bubble competition for the third string job. They were just as surprised as everyone else when he played so good in the offseason to win the starting job).
“They took a flyer on a kid with athletic skill and a big arm and so far they’ve struck gold. It might be an outlier, it might not, he might end up being the next great thing. But, it’s far from inexcusable that Chip missed something that literally every person on earth missed as well (and yes, that includes the Bills and Rex Ryan. They signed him to be a developmental, roster bubble competition for the third string job. They were just as surprised as everyone else when he played so good in the offseason to win the starting job).”
In my opinion, instead of wasting time with Tebow, we could have taken a flyer on a kid with athletic skill and a big arm, Be it Tyrod Taylor or someone else. Tebow had shown time and time again that he cannot play in the NFL. Why waste your time with him instead of looking for a kid to develop and give yourself the chance to get lucky.
Right. It’s the fact pattern:
1) Taylor wanted to come to PHI
2) Chip wasted time with Tebow instead.
TT has shown more as an NFL QB than Tebow ever did even before this season. You know he would have come here on a make-it deal. He went into TC in Buffalo as 3rd QB behind Manuel and Cassel as well.
I don’t buy it was either or. Taylor signed April 12th with Buffalo and Tim signed March 20th.
they signed the wrong TT.
character
I’ve heard nothing but good things about Taylor’s character. There are plenty of hard workers with good character out there.
Oh, I completely agree. I think it would have been a much better idea to go with Taylor. Tebow is garbage. I was just saying, I think it’s a little crazy to get all bent out of shape and call it inexcusable that a coach overlooked some unknown 3rd string QB that came out of nowhere, surprised everyone and has had a few really good games to start this season.
he was pretty good in maddnen.
So taking a flier on an oft-injured, mostly ineffective semi-bust former #1 pick instead was the better move?
Taylor would’ve been a low risk move. Bradford was an expensive, high risk move, and I at least didn’t see the upside. Screw up to many of those and you cripple your franchise, not to mention get fired.
Better, no. But, I never said it was better. I said it wasn’t “inexcusable” for us to overlook Tyrod Taylor.
Bradford:
People are upset and think he’s not very good. I think one thing we are overlooking is that he hasn’t turned the ball over in the last two games. I don’t believe we had that at all last year. Outside of that terrible trick play, they have been much better in this area this year.
I think we have some really positive things to work with in Bradford. The first 3 weeks people were saying he couldn’t throw the long ball. Yesterday he did that a few times. That’s huge.
Bradford is not taking coverage sacks. The rest of the year is going to depend on the OL. If the OL gets fixed, we can make things happen. If not, the offense is going to continue to struggle, just like any other team who has a crappy oline.
Right on! Let’s pretend for a second that Sproles and Mathews had caught those wheel routes against the Jets and Agholar lined up correctly on the one yesterday where Sam made a tremendous play to avoid two would be tacklers, rolled out and threw a perfectly placed ball on a frozen rope for a TD. He’d have 7 TD and 0 INT.
Of course he doesn’t have 7 TD, the results aren’t there, but all 3 of those plays were well schemed, players either were or got open, Sam made two unbelievable throws and a third hit his target in the chest, and they resulted in a grand total of negative 5 yards, when in reality, if 3 other guys, not named Sam Bradford or Chip Kelly had been able to do the simple task assigned to them, the result would have been 21 points.
That just shows you the fine line between an offense that looks completely inept and one that everyone is praising.
21 points vs negative 5 yards.
Let’s pretend Bradford is Tom Brady. All of a sudden we’re in the Super Bowl!
You are ignoring the significant number of minus plays Bradford has had this season. The awful interceptions he threw right to defenders in the Atlanta and Dallas games. The bad sack he took before halftime yesterday. The bad reads and misfire. All the checkdowns and dumpoffs when he had receivers open down the field. He has nothing looked like nothing better than a thoroughly mediocre quarterback this season and his stats and the production of the offense support that observation.
Oh come on…stop being ridiculous. Imagining Sproles and Mathews catching passes that hit them right in the hands while they were wide open is not even in the same universe as pretending that Sam Bradford woke up one day and just became Tom Brady.
Minus plays? Now you’re just reaching. Going into yesterday he had taken 2 sacks in 3 games. The sack before halftime sucked, but let’s not act like he did anything egregious. He had a pass rusher on him almost instantly, tried to get away and couldn’t. Wow. I’ve never seen that happen to a good QB before.
The guys thrown 2 actual picks this year (the ones that bounced off open receivers hands are not his fault). News flash, every QB, even Tom Brady, throws an INT every now and again. In fact, he’s thrown 143 of them in his career.
Also, I’d love to see some video of all these wide open receivers he’s missing. When I re-watch the games I see very little if any separation from the outside WRs.
Bradford, to my eyes and those of many others, does not look like anything better than a mediocre starting quarterback. His statistics and the performance of the team suggest that he is nothing better than a mediocre starting quarterback. His track record as an NFL player suggests that he is nothing better than a mediocre starting quarterback.
About the only thing that does suggest he’s better than that is the opinions of a few fans he has in his corner for whatever reason. Which might as well be fairy dust as far as I’m concerned. If you want to convince me he’s actually good you have to something other than “what ifs” that could be applied to literally every other QB in the NFL as well.
Fair enough. I guess we just disagree. And, honestly, you might end up being completely right. I think I’m seeing some very promising things from Bradford. If you don’t, I don’t know how to convince you otherwise. I guess we’ll just have to watch it play out.
He has definitely shown flashes and in stretches has looked like a real top-tier QB. But so did Foles and Sanchez. So did Kevin Kolb. So do most NFL quarterbacks who don’t completely suck. The issue with those guys is that they were incapable of maintaining that level of play with consistency or against good defenses. I see the exact same problem with Bradford.
Fire Kelly
It’s obvious the team is going in the wrong direction.
Watching Eagles games now is like slow Chinese water torchure drip drip drip
We keep closing our eyes and wishing things are going to go right but in our gut we know the reality of the team ” chip built ”
We all cringed when Jackson Maclin McCoy Trent Cole Etc etc etc were kicked off the team and then out of no where Mathis but you know … We thought Chip actually knew what he was doing.
And Bradford ? Bradford ? Seriously.
This nightmare is not going to go away.
This is very disappointing.
The only player you mentioned that may have made a difference is Mathis. The RBs aren’t the problem. WRs aren’t a problem outside of the drops. They are getting open.
If they were still here, we’d be down a WR, RB, and possibly LB. Cole is struggling in Indy. Herremanns got benched.
I think people forgot that we didn’t win anything with those players. We weren’t good enough to compete with the GB and Seattle. The defense is better. The offense has weapons.
The problem is that the Oline can’t block consistently. They almost won the game yesterday without putting any points on the board in the 1st half. The offense has the ability to score, but none of the people you mentioned are blocking.
When you are trying to win ” experience ” does matter. ( Maclin? )
Now that Chip is unraveling yes DJax does make a difference in a game.
And that’s just the tip of this sinking ice berg.
We all know out of the 2 we all want foles and the number 2 draft pick back
And the list goes on and on …
Foles isn’t doing any better than Bradford here, especially with his penchant for turning the ball over.
Please explain how DJax makes a difference in that game. Did we have a problem throwing down field? No, because both Cooper and Ertz had TDs that covered deep throws. So what else is Djax giving you? Red zone threat? Nope. Crossing route? Nope. Blocking? Double nope.
He’s a playmaker. He can turn a game around with one catch and run.
Sproles has the same ability and he’s done it this year. I asked for specifics though. What is he giving you that you don’t have now? If the blocking isn’t there, how does he make a difference on this offense?
We had sproles and djack before chip released him.
Now with all the changes Chip the GM made Chip the coach’s offense looks very UnChip like and very bland slow and less than ordinary.
And by every day I am becoming less and less impressed with the ” Chip way ” sports science ? Team culture ? How about a team interesting to watch and that wins.
Even I read the kicker they were looking at was missing field goals but GM Chipsigned him anyways and we know what happened on gameday
You still haven’t given an answer, which means you don’t have any concrete examples. That’s fine, but then just say this is how you feel because you lack the evidence to support your claim.
I could care less about a boring offense as long as it scores points, which is what they do in spurts. It has nothing to do with Djax not being here, because the issue is the line play. Bradford gets rid of the ball much quicker and I agree with Jernst that he’s making the Oline look better in pass pro than they really are. The RBs have no holes to run through most times. Bradford has to get the ball out in just about 3 seconds, which is hard because some QBs get time in the pocket.
There is nothing Djax brings to the table that’s going to give Bradford more time. If your complaint is that the offense is boring, that’s one thing. But if your complaint is that Djax makes a difference on this team, I need to see some real-life examples of how he makes a difference in any of the games this season.
Chip is the GM If there are line issues he dropped the ball —
which is my basic point.
You don’t just want to get rid of good players for no other reason than you don’t like them.
Now we have a bad uninteresting team.
Not really. When you mentioned all the players, you only mentioned one lineman – Mathis. I don’t disagree that he dropped the ball on OL this year, but the other players aren’t making a difference.
Jmatt is now getting more attention and drawing more double teams. That opens up a lot for the other receivers (partly why Cooper was open, he beat his man one-on-one).
Lets focus on the issue, the Oline, and stop using the other guys that aren’t here anymore as excuses why they aren’t winning games. They aren’t doing much with their respective teams because either they have lost it (Cole, Herremanns), injured more (Djax, McCoy), made better by the players around them (Mathis), or outbid (Maclin).
you don’t drop djax / maclin, you don’t have to spend a 1st and a second on WRs, you spend a first and a second on OL or maybe another pass rusher. For all the extra work and doing things differently and doing tons of diligence on people we still end up with Caleb Sturgis instead of Kickilicious;
yeah he is like a spoiled little brat
he can catch the ball consistently
The Chiefs are 1-3, the WaSkins are 2-2, the Bills are 2-2, the Colts are 2-2. Maclin, DJax, Shady, Cole, Herremans are not the difference makers you make them out to be.
I’m truly stunned that Maxwell is so bad. I never saw him get beat like this in Seattle. Yeah, he had Earl Thomas behind him, but it still should have been obvious when he got beat. Granted, he’s better than Bradley Fletcher or Cary Williams, but just by a notch. That’s underwhelming.
Yea, I thought he’d play a lot better than he has. After, Roddy White tore him apart in man coverage in the first game, Roddy has had exactly zero catches in the ensuing 3 games. Not a good look for a $11million a year CB.
Like you said, he’s better than Cary Williams and Fletcher, but, I’d feel a lot better if he was making Cary Williams type money. He’s a $6million a year player not 11. That’s for sure.
Atlanta sure is looking good though, top team in NFC if they can keep it up of course
.Before the crazy preseason hype that put us in the Super Bowl any reasonable person thought 2-2 would be a great start considering 3 of 4 on the road. We’ve been putrid and still are a few kicks away from 3-1, We’ve had the lead late in every game except Dallas. Also, division sucks balls, we’re 1 game out with two home games coming up. We started 3 of 4 on the road, we end 3 of 4 at home. Also, Foles wouldn’t have made one iota of a difference with this line, never would’ve kept his eyes downfield and threw that touchdown pass to Celek. When a defensive line is pounding on your QB it doesn’t matter who’s standing back there. Tom Brady led his undefeated Pats to 17 points in the Super Bowl and lost to the Giants because he and his offensive line were getting their asses handed to them. Figure out some protection packages, guys are getting open, pound the football and put the game away when you have the lead and figure out how to get guys to the QB. Why? Because we have freaking guys who can get to the QB. Glass half full.
I have a glass half empty speech ready should the Eagles lose next week .Get this though, the Eagles are FIVE point favorites against the Saints. Go bet your house on the Saints, I dare you to.
the eagles look like shit. that is not a super bowl team. I dont care how many games they are out of first place. They fukcng suck
Thank you for this! I needed that. It’s been real tough trying to stay positive after yesterday. I haven’t been that depressed after a game in a long time.
except were worse at home, cant beat mediocre to bad teams and the O line is in shambles. I sure wish BD would scheme some better blitz packages and get some pressure.
If they knock around Cousins, get a sack or two, they win that game. He had all day to sit back there. You give any receiver that much time and they are going to break open. Most of them were 5 yards dink and dunk plays. The defensive backs were doing an excellent job of tackling. Think about how fast these guys are, you can stay with a guy for only so long. The receivers know which way they are going, they are eventually going to get to a place the defender is not going to be. If it’s longer than 4-5 seconds it doesn’t matter how good your secondary is. The best pass defense is a pass rush without a doubt. I just don’t understand how you can dominate the line against the run and yet be dominated when you are trying to get to the passer.
yup, again getting crossers left and right, same thing Atl was doing. Even the quick outs were working for 5 plus yards at times.
Everyone needs to calm down in my opinion. This team can still win, and look
http://i.imgur.com/VRslBua.png
Dallas plays NE bye and @Giants, Washington plays @Atlanta @ Jets and
the Giants play San Fran and @Eagles We play the Saints and Giants at
home. Why not think there’s hope in this shit division?
because the team sucks. Sam Bradford sucks. THe offensive line sucks. Demarco Murray sucks. Agholor Matthews suck. This offense sucks.
All I see is the Eagles are 1-3. Until we actually look like a competent team I couldn’t care less how the rest of the division is playing. We have to take care of our own team before worrying about them.
This. If we lose and look competent doing it, I can live with that because I have something to hold onto. When we lose and can’t seem to get any consistency, it leaves me uneasy.
That’s true, but even their one win they have they looked incompetent. In the two losses they sucked up one half, lights out the other, we need to get the sucks out of there.
Maybe baby steps. Next game, let’s try for 3 good quarters instead of two from both sides of the ball.
Exactly, I hate reading into lines but I will anyway lol, The Saints, like the Jets when we beat them, are coming off a tough Monday night win and they are coming in here 5 point underdogs. Then we have the Giants at home. It’s not that we’re going to win the Super Bowl or even go to the playoffs, but a win this week with the Giants coming here the following week for a Prime Time game would be great What I want as a fan is to be excited for that single night. That one Monday night game against the Giants, I want to wake up Monday morning and think about how great it would be to beat the Giants. Losing this week takes away all that steam.
how the Eagles are favorites all the time is anyones guess at this point
It’s insane. They were favored against every team except the team they beat. LOL
Ask the giants about limping into the postseason with a weak division and getting hot at the right time. Ask em.
The only problem with this team, instead of R-E-L-A-X, it’s R-O-L-A-I-D-S.
ya man, its how they look when playing. Its not good so you can hope all you want. I dont feel good about anything and now add injuries to the mounting problems and there are no easy wins. Then when they have to match up against a good team, ugh
We were 1-3 in 2013 and we ended up in the playoffs with a 10-6 record.
I’m not banking on that type of turn around, since I think the issues with the offense revolve around the Oline and I think the Oline issues are due to talent, with no help coming in that department.
But, you’re right, we’re still technically right in this thing.
Enough games have simply not passed to mathematically eliminate us from play off contention. Give it time friends. Give it time.
8-8 or 9-7 may win the division. I think we all hope that Chip magically rights the ship and we win the division while playing our best ball in December.
It’s really the only hope we have right now.
I remember feeling that way with Andy and kept being surprised when it kept not happening.
Shady, Foles, Mathis, Herramens, Cole are all gone because winning the division isn’t good enough.
people were calling for shady’s and herreman’s head last year. Cole is old and hit the $10m mark and we took a 1st rounder there’s logic to cutting him.
It’s not about winning the division. Dallas is missing their two best offensive players and are still better than the Eagles. This is just a bad team.
and all their best defensive players
Horrible, horrendous, monumentally awful, shit show, punching bag, soft, timid, toxic waste, JV, waste of cap space, worst Eagles team ever: all acceptable adjectives of this teams.
Everyone’s saying we’re one kick away from being 3-1. This team is not one kick away from being a good team. this is a BAD team. THis is a BAD team that Chip Kelly put together. The team is BAD. It doesn’t matter if they play in a shit division. If the Eagles make the playoffs at 8-8 who the fukc cares because THEY ARE BAD
You are a giant troll but I could not agree more… sad times.
You should have started agreeing with me the moment I said the Eagles won the Preseason Super Bowl Championship.
Philbin getting fired.
GEAGLE you may be right. Huff had 4 offensive snaps.
https://twitter.com/RoobCSN/status/651063368267235328
Thanks… I been meaning to check the snap count to see if it matched the rumor I heard..unfortunately the person was in too bad of a mood yesterday so I didn’t push for clarification but if he only played 4 snaps, then there might be something to it
What was the rumor? Missed your post and don’t feel like looking for it.
that huff was in the dog house
I figured that, but why and to what extent?
Dc Billy Davis was horrible with the Browns and just as inept with the Eagles
Defense has been good this year minus Byron Maxwell.
With regards to all the drops by our WRs I was wondering if we could lure Na Brown out retirement?!
Drop data by year. Note that we are near the top (worst) in drops, although Folesy has it even worse. Drops are not helpful, but let’s not act like Sam is dealing with some kind of unprecedented butterfingers WR corps.
http://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/stats/team-receiver-drops-percentage/2015/
One drop by the Packers. I kind of think that can be attributed to a pinpoint quarterback also. Some balls are “should have beens” maybe a little behind, ahead, alligator armed, but Rodgers accuracy leaves no doubt about ball placement, that ball is going to be exactly where you need it to be. Then again that’s just a theory i pulled out of my ass because I’m bored.
james jones was dropped in NY b/c he had drop issues, now he’s just catching TDs.
it would be interesting to see tapes of how he has had to deal with the different QBs. I’m sure this point already has been made then and I didn’t pull it out of my ass, I must’ve heard it somewhere subconsciously. That’s how I live my life you know.
There is a narrative, going back to Rams days, that Bradford is part of the drops problem. Some, of course, aren’t willing to entertain the possibility.
I think that chart is from after week 3. I’ve seen it charted elsewhere that we have 14 now after yesterday.
That means that 10% of Bradford’s passes are being dropped. The league average this year according to that site you posted is 3%. I’d say, while perhaps it’s not unprecedented, that’s pretty darn bad.
so if we don’t turn it around, in the draft, do we take OL or QB up there in the top 5? and who can we trade for a 2nd rounder??
I imagine OL, because Sam can be better with a better OLine helping the run etc..
sam looked like old foles yesterday going deep. that was good
OL, OL, OL, OL, OL, OL
are there some really good guys ready to go?
In college, i hope so, in the pros, we probably need to call john moffit.
how were those last couple blocks by Lane?
what happened to him?
they think MCL sprain, he’s getting an MRI
i think it is a pretty good year for o-line prospects
I’m very excited by this class. You’re going to find starters in the third, maybe in the fourth depending if there is a run on them.
yup totally agree, should be pretty deep
I think Bradford has shown enough that I’m not dying to get rid of him even if I’m not convinced yet that he can be a good to great QB. It seems like everyone from the line to the RBs to the WRs keeps jacking up every play at the beginning of the game with missed blocks and dropped passes, and the offense does nothing. Then once everyone else starts doing their job, the offense moves up and down the field on just it’s passing game since the running game is non existent always.
So I think with a less dysfunctional offense around him, Sam would do just fine. I’d take no less than 3 offensive lineman in the draft, including our first round pick, and I’d sign one big ticket FA in the offseason at either guard or tackle.
With the development of Hicks, maybe we can flip Alonso for a high pick. Or trade Graham to a 4-3 team for a mid rounder.
he needs to come in at a way more manageable salary
he’s trying
That’s for sure! If we end up deciding to resign him, he ended up doing us a huge favor by not signing an extension this offseason. 4 years $8-10million per seems about right.
or heavily incentive laden. However, i couldn’t sign here if the OL isn’t drastically improved. He’s get enough $ he can retire or start a QB controversy somewhere else.
QB but depends who and where of course. Well who will always be up for debate and by all accounts, fans are saying its not a great draft for QB. Doesnt mean some guys wont fly up boards over the summer as they always do.
division games often come down to 1 play or so at the end. if I recall when we beat the skins in DC it ended with a boykin INT in the endzone from a bad RG3 throw, but it did come down to that.
if we win the next one against them at home, its a split. which is how its suppose to be really…
Sam Bradford and DeMarco Murray aren’t going to get better unless the offensive line improves. Jason Peters, after being a beast for 6 years, looks like he is declining. Matt Tobin is terrible. Andrew Gardner who wasn’t that good in the first place is done for the season.
I don’t get why the Eagles chose to draft only 1 offensive lineman in the last 3 drafts or why they didn’t bother signing anyone significant, or why they released Evan Mathis. I guess Chip Kelly got a little cocky.
It’s a shame. If the Eagles had an average offense, this team would be 4-0.
Well said!
not trying to be confrontational, but would you have taken an o-linemen in place of Agholor? if so, who?
anyone
But they HAD to draft a WR because Chip Kelly released DJax and let Maclin go. Imagine if we didnt have to waste picks on a WR then we could have drafted an OL. Amazing.
I would have drafted Ali Marpet or Jake Fisher in the 2nd round. Or maybe even La’el Collins later in the draft
ok, but what about in the 1st…..my plan when the eagles selection came would have been Byron Jones at 20 and then i would have aimed for Jake Fisher in the second….try to find a wideout in round 3……but i was happy with the Agholor pick
If we really want to replay the draft, we could have taken Kelvin Benjamin, Jordan Matthews and Jarvis Landry at each of our picks in 2014 and wouldn’t have had any need for Agholar or really any WR for the next 10 years.
Then I would have taken DJ Humphries or Cedric Ogbuehi in the first round in 2015 and Jake Fisher in the second.
After Peters went out and Tobin moved to LT and Kelly to RG the line actually started holding up. Until the end of the game that is. I actually wouldn’t mind seeing that line next week.
Peters is a monster but whatever he is trying to play through is just too much.
that unit might be more cohesive since they’ve played together all pre-season
Thats really a big part of it isnt it, cohesion. Especially for zone blocking.
i’m just worried that one day we’ll play a real d-line.
like the jets?
I saw the same thing. I wouldn’t call them good by any stretch, but they were consistently mediocre in the second half. Which is sadly the best we’ve seen this year.
Chip is staying with Sturgis. #Loyaltytokickers
#bestoftheshitheap
David Akers is bored some where.
maybe henery can make a comeback
Lane is tough #analysis
If he’s going to play like he did on the final drive Sunday I’d rather he sat.
Those two sacks he gave up looked terrible. I don’t ever want to see that version of Lane again!
To be real honest the 4-12 team looked far better than this one.
sounded better, didn’t really look better
Yeah actually didn’t look to bad at the beginning
Ridiculous revisionist history right there.
the first 3 games looked ok, then the cardinals game happened and the wheels fell off.
Yup
OK? 3 games now equals a season? But we are already calling this one off?
nah i think mentally this team is better, but yeah i don’t have high hopes for this season. We have not played a single “Good” team – falcons are good – what a turn around they’ve had. Could you imagine if we’d played green bay, SEA, arizona?
Eh, Arizona has not had a murderers row of teams either and when they played the Rams they looked average at best. I just hope we can see some solid football at some point.
sucks to wait a year for them to play and then they play terribly every week.
The Eagles may have lost to the Cowboys, but the Cowboys have lost their last 2 because of the Eagles.
the eagles lost their last two because of the eagles too…
What sucks is we can’t even make fun of the cowboys run game since ours is worse!
If the Cowboys were 4-0 we’d only be out of first place by 3 games. #there’shope
If Dallas was 4-0 we’d be finished right now
Let me ask anyone this. I know we sucked yesterday and the sky is falling but really would anyone have expected a W when we did not have Thorton, Hart, Bair went down in the first so did Kendricks and Maxwell. Peters went down in the Second shuffling our already shuffled O line, I mean that is brutal for anyone to overcome. Sucks we lost but that is allot of talent off the field to overcome.
Washington Redskins.
Injuries happen, besides which almost all of the injuries in the first half were on the D, yet the O was still completely inept.
There’s really no excuse for the standard of the O so far this year. They’ve sucked goats.
Yea I can’t really get on the injuries are why we lost train. The skins we starting Kirk Cousins, DeSean Jackson was out, their starting LG just got injured last week, and their entire secondary was injured with only a hobbled Culliver still playing out of their 5 expected day one starters (if you count NB), and their middle LB was out too. And, they lost their best pass rusher before the season started.
If anything we had it easy on the injury front compared to them.
Maybe Chip Kelly is a defensive coach?
he’s pretty offensive right now
Prediction : Chip Kelly who at the Bye week is 1-6 is fired.
Lol
Of all the decisions that will go do in the inglorious demise of chipster, I’m betting Nick Foles will be number one.
I’m going to have to laugh a lot at that at some point.
nah, nick wasn’t the answer. They win games where he doesn’t have to do much.
really?
way off.
I just have this stupid thought that Foles has a really good career with st Louis, mostly due to that stupid RG3 trade. If the team has success than it will be perceived that Foles is a success. Then you get the golden boy treatment by the NFL.
I wouldn’t bet to much on that
I was and still am a Nick Foles fan, but even i’m laughing at this…..I enjoyed Foles’ time here because i just liked the guy as a person, but he is way too inconsistent as a QB
Exactly. Now we have consistently bad Sam Bradford and are down a 2nd rounder. Do you think Roseman would slide back in as GM?
I don’t think Sam has been consistently bad, and no to roseman coming back, i don’t think Lurie gave Chip control just to take it back in one year
Nick probably wasn’t the right man. I liked him if he could progress some but he got careless and held onto ball too long last year. I would have been willing to give him this year. BUT that meant being willing to let him walk for nothing if I didn’t end up satisfied.
“BUT that meant being willing to let him walk for nothing if I didn’t end up satisfied.”
Yea… you know, a situation that is much worse than giving up a second round pick, paying a lot more and STILL being left with nothing.
I’m not arguing that Nick was the answer, but we got very little to no value in trading Foles.
foles is good when his RB gets 160 yards like gurley. as all qb’s are.
So many hot takes
not enough hot cakes
I think you’ve hit on our biggest problem.
a lot of teams have this same problem to be fair.
If you read between the lines in Kelly’s press conferences i am picking up a common thread, “We need to execute.” The frustrating thing it seems Kelly’s practices, (getting so many reps in practice), is fundamentally structured so players get more reps than any other team, because the more reps they get the more they can execute. So other teams, at least the three teams we lost to, have all executed better than our players, with probably way less reps in practice (if counting the whole off season).
Also, part of the reason the playbook is small by design is so the players can focus in practice on a few plays over and over. So they practice fewer plays a lot more times, than any other team, but still appear in a game to still be trying to figure out their assignments, communication, etc.. “Execution” is the last reason a Kelly team should be losing.
So the answer Kelly has for us, is “we just need more practice.”
Also, the mistakes the players are making are the ones you’d expect players to make that are out all of the time partying, not getting enough sleep, not doing the film work etc.. I can almost accept being beat because the Eagles are not as talented as another team – Kelly is by design acquiring his type of smart, hard working players, rather than just talented players (because likely to Kelly, a less talented player that executes consistently is more valuable than a talented player that executes inconsistently).
But to lose (because of talent partlyl) but mostly because they play like they have a collective hangover, is really frustrating.
Nahh the practices are structured to get the back ups more reps
exactly, so when our backups on the oline show up to play, they will fit in smoothly. Likely my negative eagle fan perspective, but seems other teams get a backup guard or tackle or whatever and they play well enough to give team a shot. Eagles starter on oline gets hurt and we should just say, oh well, there goes the offense, – no one can deal with losing starter on their oline.
he’s saying it’s execution b/c what else he going to say? still 12 games left can’t throw the team under the bus.
He could say that he just needs to put guys in a better position to succeed!
you are probably correct, as a head coach it is better to have your players back publicly so say “execute” over and over. but i do hope privately he has some fire and nastiness to him. “Schemes” and “execution”, x and o’s, is one side of football. You “have your players back” publicly partly so they remain loyal to you and follow you through a brick wall. Sometimes players follow coaches because they fear the coach, have respect for the coach and are reminded of their high school coach’s intensity at half-time.
something is missing, mentally and emotionally. maybe the coach needs to add some passion to the mix.
And back up a few years ago, this year is beginning to feel like Reids last year. A lot of us liked Gus as the new coach because defense of course, but also because of one short youtube clip of Gus screaming at his players. I would not mind seeing Kelly do some screaming, even if out of character, etc.
he’s been quick to cut non-performers after the season.
The problem is our current backups are actually our 3rd stringers because we decided to cut both starters and just move the 2nd stringers up to 1st string and not add anybody.
The shocking thing to me is the miscommunication and confusion that we saw with Barbre and Gardner. They might be new to starting, but they were both on this team last year, Barbre’s been here since 2013. We have 4 total run plays in the playbook. How on Earth do these guys not know their assignments??
that’s my concern as well, i can understand and take a guy just not being good enough, but how do you just come off the ball and not lay a hand on anybody
It’d be mildly understandable if these were rookies or guys we just signed of the street. And, even then it’d only be kind of understandable for a game or two. 4 games into the season and a group of guys that have been in this system for 3 years now. A simple system with 4 run plays based on standard techniques that they’ve probably been running since college. There’s just no reason for it. It’s insane!
we need to execute is just a way of saying these guys aren’t playing well at all, and maybe the guys on the line actually stink.
We’re losing because:
1. Our guards suck.
2. The better players on OL who should be picking up the slack are not playing as well as they have in the past.
3. Our coach seems unwilling or unable to minimise the negative impact of our shitty guards.
4. Our QB has spent three and a half games being terrified to throw more than five yards beyond the LOS.
Practise habits don’t really come into it. Two years of neglecting the OL is the problem.
kelce needs help of his guards but instead he’s helping guards.
Watching Tobin, Kelly et al makes me wonder just how bad Moffitt was.
The mind boggles.
People have always talked about Tobin showing promise…..I must have missed that game. Every time he plays he looks terrible. At G or T
If you catch D3 on here, ask him. Tobin is his boy.
I recall a GIF of one block that D3 looped on here. I remember Jerome McDougal making a ridiculous pass rushing move once also.
Listen, I think Tobin isn’t very good………but I wouldn’t think that D3 has a singular GIF of a block as to why he’s high on Tobin.
I think Tobin has multiple cuts of tape where he pancakes a defender. Those defenders are usually LBs when he is zone blocking. I just happen to watch the guy get pancaked by D lineman too much. He is weak at the point of attack and a stunt by a big DT seems to put him on his ass way more than it should.
That seems to be the norm as to how he’s played to date.
I can’t get over the amount of praise the coaches and players lavished on Barbre either. He looks like garbage out there.
the Marcus Smith pick certainly didn’t help matters, i have been wait and see so far with him, but if he’s a healthy scratch at this point….it’s just a blow. I’m looking at o-linemen taken after Smith, Joel Bitonio would have been nice at guard right now but other than that there is not much to write home about
We don’t need people who warrant writing home about. The bar has been set very low. Simply not sucking out loud would suffice. Plenty of “better than Kelly and Tobin” level players have been drafted or available in FA the last two years.
i don’t think you were findind anyone better than those guys either
Should have definitely drafted a guard or two in the last 3 drafts, and this offseason we absolutely should have kept Mathis and signed James Carpenter after Orlando Franklin turned down our offer.
A line of Peters – Mathis – Kelce – Carpenter – Johnson with a developmental draft pick and Tobin/Barbre as the top back ups would have been a lot more palatable.
Carpenter signed a 4 year $19mil contract with a $3.5mil signing bonus. He basically makes as much as Riley Cooper and our old friend James Casey did last year to play special teams.
James Carpenter is trash and unathletic as all hell. He was never an FA target.
I think he’s plenty athletic enough to play G for us, and honestly there weren’t a lot of great FAs available after Franklin declined our offer. Given the choice between Carpenter and the trash we put out there on the field this year. I’d give that man the money myself if I could to replace Barbre right now.
Yea that draft was pretty weak overall. When you look at who was taken from our original pick on there isn’t much that you feel disgusted about missing.
Kelvin Benjamin – eh, I think he’s a bit over rated, but he wouldn’t have been a terrible pick.
Bradley Roby – could definitely use a starting caliber CB/NB
Trent Murphy – eh, we already have a run stuffing OLB that can’t generate much of a pass rush these days.
Carlos Hyde – Looks like a pretty good talent at RB, but no one that I’m sitting here hurting over us not getting
Jarvis Landry – Good receiver and return man
Justin Britt – Starting RT for Seattle
Gabe Jackson – Starting LG in Oakland, 340 pound mauler that ran slowest 40 yard dash and slowest 20 yard split at the combine. No way he’d fit in our scheme
And that takes us up to our 3rd round pick and is essentially all the decent players that we possibly could have had that were at positions we’d be looking at. Not much to choose from. Pretty crappy draft class after the first 20 selections were made.
Actually, taking Josh Huff over John Brown, Donte Moncrief and Martavius Bryant in the 3rd round irks me more than MS2 where there just wasn’t much to choose from.
If I could do the draft over again, I’d probably take Kelvin Benjamin in the first and Jordan Matthews in the second and John Brown in the 3rd and just forget about the WR position for the next ten years.
I hate “we have to execute”. Good players execute, bad players don’t execute.
Yea…it’s why it’s so frustrating when coaches say they just have to execute better. Because, it means they have no answer for the problems going on. They just have to sit back and hope the players start playing better. Sometimes they do. More often than not, they’re just not talented enough.
I wonder how often the defense changes during all those reps so the get multiple reps against different Ds…
“Could’ve, Would’ve, Should’ve is the difference in what i’m talking about. The good teams don’t come in and say Could’ve, they get it done…alright it’s that simple. I’m tired of saying Coulda, Woulda, shoulda….that’s why we ain’t good enough yet, Because were saying coulda and they ain’t” -Jim E. Mora
Mora said this after losing to Montana’s Niners in the Superdome after they had been labeled by fans and media as a team who was poised to overtake the Niners in the division. It’s one of my favorite quotes and IMO applies to this Eagles team right now, a lot of coulda woulda shoulda situations playing out during long stretches of games for these players
Yep. And here is another Mora quote which applies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3-eavMSBnk
always a classic…but this playoffs rant seemed to be an everyday occurrence when he coached the Saints…guy despised the media and if something was bothering him he made sure to let it known
At least the Flyers waived Andrew MacDonald. Anyone complaining about Maxwell’s salary should take a gander at that guys contract.
can he not cover either?
I’m sure he’ll shut down forwards in the AHL.
Ryan Howard should still treat if he takes Maxwell out for dinner.
Best news today.
I see a lot of fans saying that Bradford played terribly in the first half and then suddenly turned it on in the second. And, that statement is true if you replace
the word Bradford with “the offense”. The problem is that too many of us seem to think the two are synonymous. They’re not. The offense stunk in the first half, they got shut out. But, let’s look at how that happened.
Skins start the game with the ball. After two penalties a short run and an
incomplete pass, the defense has them pinned at their 11 yard line in 3rd
and 19. They allow a 42 yard gain on a draw play and the Redskins proceed to dink and dunk up the field using up the first 7+ minutes of the game driving 89 yards to our 2 yard line before kicking a FG.
We get the ball back at our 20, and here’s how it unfolds:
– Bradford throws a first down pass, on the money
to Sproles, it hits him in stride right in his hands and he simply drops it. Would have been a first down.
– Ryan Matthews runs for zero yards
– Bradford is sacked when the line allows more than one pass rusher free to take him down without him having a chance to do anything but eat it.
Redskins get the ball back and use up more than 5 min driving again into FG range. Eagles get the ball back with 1 min left in the first quarter. The first quarter is almost over and Bradford has attempted one throw, made the correct read, threw it to an open guy for a would be first down and it was dropped.
Here’s the next drive:
– Murray up the middle for 30 yards
– No one open, tries to thread the needle to Celek who is the openest of his options. Incomplete. Celek gets hit as the ball arrives and drops it.
– Murray for 3 yards
– Immediate pressure Sam, avoids first unblocked pass rusher, but can’t get away from the other 2 completely unblocked rushers and throws it away. We punt. End of the first quarter.
3rd drive:
– Murray loses 5 on first down
– Sam Bradford sacked on second down by another blown block on the oline, but a penalty on Washington gives us a first down
– Bradford throws a screen to Murray for 4 yards
– Bradford sacked again by someone who comes free right up the middle for -7 yards
– No one’s open on 3rd and 13 and he dumps off to Murray for an 8 yard gain, we punt.
Washington then marches down the field, gets a gift PI call on 3rd down, then after a stop at the goaline on 1st they fumble the snap and score a TD anyways, taking another 5 and a half minutes of the clock.
4th drive:
– Ryan Matthews runs for 5 yards
– Bradford throws a perfect deep pass to Agholar for 45 yards
– Agholar fumbles a reverse where the entire left side of the field was open. He probably would have scored a TD if he didn’t drop the exchange.
Washington goes three and out and we get the ball back with 2:17 left in the half.
5th drive:
– Bradford completes a pass to Matthews for 8 yards
– Overthrows a pass to Matthews in the endzone
– Sproles runs for 11 yards
– Sam sees immediate pressure again, does a tremendous job avoiding 2 pass rushers that nearly sack him, keeps his eyes downfield and fires a laser beam of a pass to Ertz for a TD. Play nullified by penalty on Agholar for lining up incorrectly. This was an elite QB play.
– We try a screen to Sproles, that’s completely blown up before it even gets set up and Bradford throws it into the ground at Sproles feet instead of taking the sack.
– Sam is sacked as the line completely gets over-run by the Redskins
– On 3rd and 24 he completes a 15 yard pass to Cooper, who was the only receiver open, with everything else being covered well.
We miss a 33 yard FG and go into half time down 13-0.
So, let’s review: Sam Bradford dropped back to pass 15 times in the first half. He was sacked relatively quickly after receiving the snap 4 times (1 was nullified by penalty on Skins) and threw the ball away twice when he was faced with immediate pressure with no way to escape, due to bad blocking by the line. Of the remaining 9 snaps in which he was called on to pass, 1 was the play he avoided 2 pass rushers and threw the TD to Ertz, of the 8 where he wasn’t immediately pressured, 7 of those passes he got off hit a receiver in the hands.
One was dropped by Sproles and one was a tough play for Celek. And, there was one overthrown ball to Matthews on the last drive. He threw a dime deep pass to Agholar for 45 yards and made an incredible play to avoid a sack and throw a TD pass showing off elite arm strength on the run during a broken play.
The stat sheet at the end of the first half reads, Bradford: 5/10 for 75 yards. Obviously that’s terrible. But, when you see how it actually unfolded, you realize how little of that shitty first half was really on Bradfords shoulders.
He was pressured on 7 of his 15 drop backs for 4 sacks (only 3 counted), 2 balls he threw away to avoid sacks, and one where he made an awesome play to score a TD at the end of the half that was called back.
Due to all that pressure and the non-existence of our run game, on 5 drives, he was faced with a 3rd and 10, a 3rd and 7, a 3rd and 13, and a 3rd and 24 that ended 4 of them and the 5th was ended by Agholar’s fumble. Aside from Murrays one 30 yard run, the eagles had 5 rushes for 14 yards. And, Bradford was pressured on 47% of his drop backs, getting sacked 3 times for negative 24 yards.
And, the narrative is that Sam Bradford had great protection and played terribly.
Thank you so much for doing this! only thing ill disagree with is the opening play, the pass to Sproles was really close to the sideline and i think he would have only picked up 5 yards, not a first down….but again it was a ball Sproles should have caught
he’s averaging at least a drop a game this year.
He dropped a fair amount of passes last year too. He’s got surprisingly shitty hands for a scat back receiving threat.
Agreed, lots of emotional analysis going around. But I can’t say I’ve seen much of the narrative that Bradford got great protection yesterday. Earlier in the year, definitely wasted some solid pass pro.
Haven’t seen it in other articles, but I’ve seen it a couple times in the comments with people arguing against my position that Sam is showing that he’s a skilled QB despite the bad overall production.
I would argue against that as well. He showed something yesterday, but still a lot to prove to justify 13 mill and a 2nd. Have no problem with taking a chance on him, he has the physical tools. But so far have not seen the mental or leadership needed in a championship qb. Doesn’t mean I’m writing him off, but he’s part of the problem at this point. A top qb needs to be part of the solution.
Yea, I actually agree with what you wrote. He’s not at all justifying a $13million salary and the cost of acquisition being Foles and a 2nd round pick. Not even close. He’s been very inconsistent.
My stance is that I’ve seen a lot of positive traits in the way he plays the position (even if the outcomes have been bad a lot of the times) that indicate to me that he’s not a terrible QB and that he has the tools and skills to excel. Namely, his good technique in consistently climbing the pocket and not bailing out of it, or drifting backwards, or being unwilling to deliver the ball with a defender coming in to blow him up, his quick decision making, he’s getting the ball out really fast, almost completely avoiding sacks (until yesterday, he only had been sacked twice in 3 games), making the correct decision on most of his passes, avoiding turnovers (no fumbles and only 2 INTs that were actually his fault, the other two hit open WRs directly in both of their hands before being picked off), and showing the arm strength and accuracy that anyone would want in a QB.
The one area that I think he’s struggled or been most inconsistent in is the accuracy. But, that’s also the one area that I think it should be expected that he’d be a bit off. He has no chemistry with all these new receivers he’s throwing to. He’s never played with any of them and wasn’t able to practice with them as much as you’d like this summer while he was still rehabbing. He’s gotta be a bit mechanically rusty after not taking a meaningful snap in 23 months. So the one area that he has definitely shown that he can excel at, but is still being inconsistent with, is also the one area I would expect to improve the most with more repetitions.
I just don’t get all the, “Bradford sucks!! He was a bad QB in St Louis and this is exactly what he was there. He’s a total bust and one of the biggest issues with our offense right now.”
I just don’t see that. I think the offensive line is the biggest issue, followed by dropped passes. And, you’ll notice, in the few stretches this year, when the offensive line has gotten it’s act together, and receivers have caught the ball, and we’ve gained some yards on 1st downs with a nice run or two, all of a sudden the offense snaps to life and Bradford is out there throwing dimes all over the field and driving us to scores. Then whenever the line breaks down, we lose yards on first down with our running game, we commit dumb penalties, someone drops a pass, and we start letting up pressure on the QB, the offense grinds to a halt. It seems to me that Bradford isn’t the problem there. Because, when everyone else does their job he drives the team up and down the field for TDs.
I’ll be rooting for you to be right.
well done. Bradford is getting no help from anybody on the line or elsewhere. nelson’s fumble was unreal. made us look like a high school team. but his catch was sick too.
what can you do?
Hey o. Thanks for the analysis. I want to see the plays again with chipwagon or Tommy seeing the whole field. It is certain that the old fell apart. One of the things andy did well with the OL ws to use a lot of tackle candidates at gaurd. In case of injury they could swing out. Kelly failed to do so.
I felt this way about the redskins rg3. The players noted a lot of the pressure and sacks was failure to recognize the blitzes and react. Don’t know how much was on Bradford in that regard.
I’m assuming chipper is spending more draft resources on defense and trying to rely on scheme on offense.
There is still plenty of time this season assuming the OL gets it together, but, feel like Bradford will always be meh, due to the poor feild recognition.
Thanks!
With regards to blitz recognition. Our offense is a bit different than what most teams run in terms of QB responsibilities. First, the QB does not call out or change the protections presnap in our system like they do in a lot of other systems. Kelce does that for us. Second, due to Chips desire for tempo, the QB does not have the ability to audible plays pre-snap. The entire team gets the play call from the sideline, they line up and snap as fast as possible (or not depending on if were varying the tempo for strategic reasons, but mostly, it’s supposed to be as fast as possible).
In our system, the QB has very little time to read the defense pre-snap. Most the reading is done post snap with our plays designed to have built in answers for whatever happens. The QB should try as much he can to read the defensive alignment pre-snap and recognize where a blitz might come from, and if he does get blitz he should know where to go with the football.
That hasn’t been much of a problem though this year with Bradford. He had only taken 2 sacks prior to yesterdays game, so he was getting the ball out quickly. And, if you watch the pressure from yesterday, it’s not completely free rushers that are unaccounted for, or missed reads by the QB where he doesn’t see a blitz coming and fails to hit his hot route. It was mostly situations where all the rushers were accounted for with blockers, none of the blockers completely let someone in untouched, they just touched them and then immediately got beat or over powered and the rusher beat their block attempt almost instantaneously.
I hope what I was saying came across as more 0f a question, I was at a softball game and only get to catch up on the games later. You get all highlights and it looks like Bradford should be a world beater.
Yea you were fine! I hope my response came across like a friendly discussion not like I was trying to correct you.
Some people might disagree with me, and I haven’t looked through the plays with a fine tooth comb, but all the sacks yesterday, to me, looked like Bradford had no chance. His eyes are on the snap since he’s in the shotgun. He catches the snap, all the rushers are accounted for with blockers and before he can even make his first read his guards are getting pushed back into his face and two or three pass rushers are breaking free of their blocks and surrounding him.
I was actually pretty impressed with the athleticism he showed, because he definitely made a few guys miss, ran around a few times and got out what I thought were certain sacks more than once, even if it was just to throw the ball away.
[…] Lawlor of IgglesBlitz.com covers the big picture for this Eagles team […]
Using only mental powers, I am knocking an eagles gaurd backwards as we speak. Poof. Just put him in his locker. Coulda been a slight gust of wind, might been the scary sound of a locker closing…
This is perfect for today.
http://media.philly.com/images/biden-carter-getty-600.jpg
Who DOES that?
longding does
Who responds to their own post with a question?
long ding does
Bush actually did it to the German Chancellor and creeped her out, she squirmed out of there and made a face like, WTF? He was also ignorant enough to wipe his glasses off of some lady on Letterman’s staff during a break. Stop watching Fox, you’re dumb enough.
yeah but Bush can dodge a shoe you dumb fukc
Here’s my favorite picture of good old “Lard-Butt”: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ff3ecc790f6c7046e3dec43171481c56ba63f51371a1aa6e35c3618b8568192a.jpg
She looks thirsty..
I’m surprised at the reaction to the game here. WAS is not a bad team at all, and we could have won it if not for a subpar kicker. If all else was equal and they made the missed FG and extra point, would you all have the exact same opinion?
If your opinion would have been different then you’re wrong, there’s not really two ways about it.
I agree. Had we won, I for one, would still think that the offensive line sucks and that we drop too many passes, but that Bradford really showed us in the second half why he’s an improvement over Foles, and that he has the potential to be even better in the future whenever we finally fix the offensive line, get any semblance of a running game going, and stop dropping so many passes.
I don’t understand all the Bradford hate, and aside from his total disregard of Oline as a GM, I don’t get all the Chip as a coach hate. I actually thought the game plan against Washington was pretty good.
Maybe Washington is better and Philadelphia worse than we previously thought they were? Who knows, only time will tell.
Big bounce back game against the Saints needed. And I am not saying that because I will be going to the game!
I agree. I think we get fooled into thinking the Redskins sucks, because … well … they’re the Redskins and they’re a totally dysfunctional team that always sucks.
Kirk Cousins, for one, really impressed me. He was incredible yesterday, particularly on that last drive.
But, at the end of the day, while I do think the Skins are maybe a bit better than we give them credit for. They aren’t that great. Especially defensively. They don’t have any great pass rushers and their entire secondary was basically out with injuries. Being shut out in the first half was disgraceful. 5 sacks (and really 6 if you count the one that was wiped out by a penalty) is pathetic. We only dropped back to pass 29 times. And, we gave up 6 sacks!! Add in 2 or 3 times Bradford threw the ball away while almost being sacked and 2 or 3 other plays where he escaped the pressure and your looking at a line that was giving up pressure on 40% of their drop backs. They’re not that good.
Our defense really put up a good fight until that last drive too. We held them to two FGs until the refs basically gifted them a TD on that phantom pass interference call on Rowe. He’s running in stride with the WR, with his head turned to the ball and at the last second he dives out with his right hand, contorts his body so that his left hand doesn’t touch the WR, makes a play on the ball and swats it down. That would have brought up 4th down and a punt. Instead it’s first and goal on the 1, because the ref imagined that Rowe grabbed the WR with his left hand. Sickening.
In the second half they had held the skins to 3 points and forced a key turnover until that last drive. They were so gassed at that point that it seemed like any team could have marched down the field with ease. Cousins had all day to throw and they were picking up 6-8 yards on every carry.
winning cures all, there still would have been concern today and people are always going to nit pick things. I would understand pessimism if they were 3-1 say the kickers make their kicks against Atlanta and Wash. because they haven’t put together a whole game yet, and barely a half against the Jets. It’s really frustrating to watch and be 1-3 because the walls are sorta closing in rather than if they were 3-1, they would have a bit of breathing room
Brian Westbrook said something interesting last night and I’m paraphrasing but it was critical of Chip breaking the team down and rebuilding, yet at the same time trying to bring in Free Agents and trade for players. I think what he was getting was saying if your going to rebuild…then fully commit to rebuilding with young guys and if your trying to make a run at a SB then keep your best players and try to add small pieces through free agency.
Good points. I think Chip was a bit over zealous and perhaps over confident in his ability to make this many changes in one offseason. Coming from college there’s a lot more turnover and it’s pretty typical to go through almost complete rebuilding periods every 2 years. Chip had a different QB and different sets of RBs almost every year it seemed at Oregon and the offense just kept humming along.
I think Chip wanted to completely rebuild the team this off season. Actually, I don’t think that, I know that, it’s obvious. He insisted on full control and changed out 10 of the 21 starters. But, I think he also was fully confident (and mistakenly so) that this team would hit the ground running like a well oiled machine from day one and hence the moves that seem to be more in line with a team that thinks it can contend right now.
yea that’s how i feel pretty much. He made a lot of changes and the early return so far isn’t great, but i don’t think the team is lacking talent per se, just cohesion, consistency and not being a finished product. Not being a finished product could scare some fans right now based on how this team has played so far and the thinking is could Chip actually make this team worse?
I’m always looking towards the off-season because i like to play G.M.. I hope, along with everyone else, that he finally focuses on the Line. Not just because of need, but because i think there are a nice group of guys in the draft to be had, plus they are athletic players like he likes. I’m not sure he is going to find the guy to replace Peters but their are guys i think could start week 1 at either guard spot. just straightening out those two positions would do wonders going forward. If a can’t miss BPA type of reciever or Edge rusher is there then i think you go with that. It’s tough to dissect what a team should do as of this moment though, not having a second rounder isn’t helping either
Not having a second rounder is killer. Especially if it ends up being a high second rounder. Those players are routinely starting type players and often times impact players.
I think Peters replacement is already on the roster. Lane will probably move over to LT once Peters retires. That still leaves 3 spots on the line which we have no answer for. I’m all for throwing both draft picks and FA signings at the problem though. As we’ve seen many times, when the offensive line sucks, the entire offense sucks regardless of how much talent you have at other spots.
yea it would be great if Lane could make that transition. Hopefully we can find an edge rusher in FA…Wondering if Chip would be interested in Bruce Irvin, although there is a good chance he reunites with Dan Quinn in Atlanta.
Time will tell if that 2nd rounder was worth it for Bradford, right now it looks like no, but i don’t think he has had much of an opportunity so far to show much.
Bruce Irvin, if he was worth having as a rush player long term, would have already been signed by Seattle.
Seattle doesn’t have any cap room
Funny who they choose to have that room for and who they don’t. If they wanted him that bad, they would have picked up his option for next year as well.
I just don’t think he’s that good.
i think he’s solid, be interesting to see what kind of money he gets
If it winds up being paid less than he thinks he should get, does he blame Byron Maxwell?
ha, i think a lot of next years FA may have a bone to pick with Byron
Seattles left tackle Russell Okung is also in his last year and says he negotiating his own deal, no agent. He says he knows what he is worth and will find the team willing to give him what he wants
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkY7IiQPAE8
Trent Cole is unimpressed with Okung.
Not a great player.
My point exactly.
Highly doubtful the Eagles spend premium on edge rushers when they’re paying Graham and Barwin good money.
Yeah, that’ll need to come from the draft or a surprise fringe free agent guy.
yea im throwing shit at a wall, just not impressed with a whole lot of guys coming thru the draft at that position
I’m with that logic. You may also need to do some dumpster diving on a vet or two coming off of an injury.
Yea I think we’re stuck with Graham at ROLB for at least next year. He’s not getting huge money and his contract is easy to get out of. But, I just think there’s too many other pressing needs on this team for them to spend big money on a free agent edge rusher which would cost some serious coin.
If the offseason started today, we’d need an OT, 2 guards, another WR, we’d either have to resign Bradford or find another QB, we have to resign Thurmond, Thornton, Cox and possibly Curry if he doesn’t bolt for a starting role.
That’s a lot of contracts to be giving out in one offseason. We better hope the salary cap jumps by $50mil.
A couple of the things that worry me with seasons like this…
The defense sees the feild too much and they get a rash of injuries. We are already seeing that.
Next you get a lot of defensive players quitting because they see the offense isn’t working. Eric Allen mentioned if the defense sees the offense is bad, the defense quits because they know they don’t hab3 a chance. If the defense is bad, everyone is ok because you might get a couple lucky stops.
We’ll see how #culture comes into play
Because there isn’t a salary cap on coaches, Green Bay has always done a nice job on developing their own O-Line guys from within, and he’s suddenly in need of work……………………………………anybody else think it would be worthwhile adding Philbin as a special assistant O-line coach to help get Boyko and Bunche ready for some action?
Not a chance. He was a terrible head coach and to be honest I don’t understand why he got the job in the 1st place. He was the “offensive coordinator” for a Packers team that the head coach called the plays up until this year and they have Aaron Rodgers who can anybody look good. Yea I”ll pass on Philbin in a heartbeat.
His background is in coaching the o-line. If you look up his career, he did that job at a very high level in a few places. I’d agree that having him as HC or OC is a waste of time, but I think he’d be good doing some extra coaching with a few guys who we need to get ready to play guard here.
Kinda like Bill Callahan’s career….The o-line improves on every team he comes to, but his time as a HC for Oakland isn’t remembered fondly
That is apt.
Yea I heard you Mike, maybe I can probably open up to the idea of him as an assistant in some way. Maybe he can help Stout get these bums we’re throwing out there to play better.
I’m just trying to find some ways to develop some young players we already have into decent NFL starters. Barbre and Kelly don’t have it. I have major doubts on Tobin as well.
Every team is looking for OL. Unfortunate that once again we have serious OL injury concerns 3/5, DL injuries, ILB injuries, etc.
I agree, but we do have two guys on our practice squad who I’d like to see developed as best we can. If we can add another coach with some experience developing young o-line guys……….I’m all for it.
yeah whatever stout has been doing hasn’t been working clearly, been downhill since ’13. i guess the whole team has been downhill since ’13.
I don’t know if Stoutland can coach up guys who lack talent, or teams figuring out how to take advantage of Kelce’s lack of size.
But I figure a 2nd guy on the staff who is good with working with young guys can’t hurt. And if Stoutland is busy withing with the “starters”, maybe a 2nd guy can give some extra attention to Bunche and Boyko to help move them along.
Sometimes I wish we had a couple huge road graders next to Kelce.
Indeed.
Aaaaannnndd now we get all the different plays that could have been huge for us. Love it. Keeps me going.
David Diehl said it after the play that it was going for big yardage and possibly a TD
All 3 of the people downfield that could possibly make the tackle if he gets around that edge have a blocker assigned to them and in position to block them. I’d be shocked if that didn’t go for a TD.
yup he said something like “nothing but green grass if Agholor gets around that corner…..AND he had blockers!
Good call…. I hate to say it but execution was at fault here
One positive is that it’s 2 games w/ no picks from the QB.
I said this earlier. Considering what’s been happening around him, that’s really good.
Or WR assisted interceptions
Bradford is personally responsible for only 2 turnovers through 4 games. That certainly is an improvement over Foles/Sanchez who were averaging 2 a game last year.
Damnit
That’s is a big play, esp with his speed. He makes to the other side if the 50 at least
Same crap different day.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CQl2otNUcAA3Kzi.jpg
Check out this picture right after Murray gets the handoff and tell me this offensive line isn’t the worst unit you’ve ever seen. All five of them have missed their or almost immediately lost their blocks. ALL FIVE OF THEM ARE STANDING AROUND BLOCKING NO ONE. I’ve honestly never seen that happen in an NFL game in my lifetime.
I also feel like Chip and the coaches are missing something in their tendencies analysis…with the state of the OL and Bradford’s early struggles, the Eagles are going to need to pass to set up the run. While their execution has been poor, the defenses have seemed to anticipate the play and thwart the design.
I agree that the play calling was really limited and easy to pick up on tendencies-wise particularly in the first two games. But, jesus christ…look at that still shot. There’s no schematic problem imaginable that can account for all 5 of your lineman and your TE all missing their blocks at the same time. That’s just a completely dysfunctional unit that has no idea what’s going on.
Agreed. Runyan brought it tonight and said it just looks like a line of guys who just are playing in a malaise right now with no continuity.
Criticized Kelce a bit too & said that that this OL should be leaning on him. Basically said Kelce hasn’t looked like the same player since he came back last year early from his sports hernia injury too.
kelce was aided by an all pro guard on one side and a decent gaurd on another, both vets. kelce was all business when mathis left and herrimans left but wonder how he feels now.
kelce himself is undersized so it’s hard for him to carry that interior.
Was looking at the W/L record of different SB winning coaches in their first 3 seasons as HC. Chip’s results thus far are on a par with most of the range of records you’ll see below.
I agree with Tommy, I don’t see Lurie making a move before giving Chip time to build his roster and find his QB. I don’t think Chip has faced this type of adversity as a coach in quite some time. I expect Chip to learn a lot about his way of doing things as they apply to an NFL roster and season. There was always concern about roster size limiting his ability to maintain a tempo-based offense through a full season and the playoffs. Will Chip and his staff make the right adjustments and put this season back on track?
Bill Parcells 22-25, Bill Belichick 20-28, Pete Carroll 25-23, Tom Coughlin 24-24, Joe Gibbs 30-11 (2nd season ’82 strike-shortened 9 games, he won SB that year, his 2nd), John Gruden 28-20, John Harbaugh 32-16, Mike Holmgren 27-21, Jimmy Johnson 19-29, Mike McCarthy 27-21, Sean Payton 25-23, Mike Tomlin 31-17, Bill Walsh 21-27
“Will Chip and his staff make the right adjustments and put this season back on track?” cant change personnel at this point
No, but the Eagles first half impotency vs 2nd half after adjustments tells me they are missing things in their game planning and real-time adjusting to what they are encountering. This is on Chip and Shurmer, they have to get the offense moving with a better game plan and play selection.
maybe the dude in miami can come back, offense was way better when he was OC
Bill Lazor? is he the head coach now with Philbin out?
no, Dan Campbell, former tight end….someone sent me a tweet yesterday though saying Lazor rubs a lot of people the wrong way in Miami so he could be gone too
If we get Sam Bradford and the Eagles offense from the 3 quarter that sounds good to me.
not sure how we get shut out, start 3rd get 3 quick tds then can’t do anything else.
Its Chip’s bullshit 4 min offense. It almost burned us last week and got us this week. The foot gets taken off the gas pedal way to easy.
We started playing not to lose and stepped off the gas
At this point we might as well kick the tires on Terrell Pryor and other players roaming the streets
From now on, Monday shall be known as Sam Bradford Apologetics Day or A Salute to Mediocrity, QB Edition Day.
To properly celebrate this day you must find a wide open Miles Austin and throw the ball 5 yards over his head. Amen.
This was worrisome to hear today. It sounds like me Kelly still believes in his scheme wholeheartedly refusing to make any substantive changes. This is despite the litany of injuries they have up front on the OL and on defense now too.
Kelly’s right about they are only a few plays away each week & that the players have to execute better. Still I have to imagine that even his most diehard supporters in the locker room will begin to tune him shortly if that continues. A coach can only continue to sing this tune especially in a locker room with a lot of new faces.
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/eagles/20151006_Chip_Kelly_stubbornly_sticks_to_his_plan.html
what would you have him do? change the scheme in 6 days? get new players? tell media his players suck?
Of course not but it reminded me a lot last year on the insistence on keeping Fletcher at CB despite the failures.
There is a fine line between between resolute and being foolhardy. Just sounds like a little more of the later right now.
that was dumb, i’m just not sure you have other options on offense. the line is the source of a lot of issues and there’s no fixing that apparently
I’d agree on that. There is no easy fix here especially if Peters is on the last rope due to injuries/health and a hobbled Johnson.
I can’t imagine the Saints will make the same mistake either with not playing their safeties back either after a couple of big plays the Eagles had this Sunday.
Play the safeties 15+ yards off the line of scrimmage, take away the deep ball to Agholor (or Huff if he actually gets on the field), play 7 in the box to limit the run, and make the Eagles sustain drives with the short passing game to move the chains.
Eagles have basically abandoned the screen game because of the current state of the line and Bradford hasn’t been confident enough/accurate enough on the slants or crosses where the coverage is tight.
I’d make Bradford and this shaky receiving core beat me if I was the Saints. Just hope Sproles doesn’t bust a big play or two on me. The rest can be contained/dealt with.
If the Saints sit back and give Bradford 5- 7 yards every play; I’ll take it.
Provided Bradford has finally woken up
They won’t just sit back if he starts to sustain some drives short. Plenty of teams have shown how you give this team fits. Falcons did it with a lot of interior stunts up with their DL, Boys with a lot of run blitzes, and Skins last week pressure from the edge and even a few CB blitzes. Doesn’t take much right now to bring pressure if Peters/Johnson are so hobbled.
Everything needs to be quick. Sam cant Foles it and sit in the pocket all day. He needs to throw or find his check down. I hope to see a lot of bunch formations
I think Det should stop throwing screens and keeping throwing to Johnson
cary williams beasting on megatron, and tear drops
he’s been beaten badly twice over the top, Stafford missed both throws. He’s still played pretty well so far
I wouldn’t have minded him staying here. I had an issue with him getting dead ball penalties on 3rd downs more than I did his coverage
Don’t know why i was thinking FA and Draft prospect Edge defenders for next year….Dion Jordan will be here as soon as Chip can trade a sixth rounder for him
We need an edge rusher. We have edge defenders already. I wont mind Chip wasting a 6th for Jordan…. but I think he’s going to be the answer
i meant edge rushers
I know I was just teasing
Kam Chancellor saves the day
We need guys to make plays
preach it!
Chip has been a disaster at GM — not because of who he’s acquired, but because of who he’s ditched. The major flaw with this team is OL right now, specifically at Guard. Well, we had two Guards — one very good, one good. They were declining, but Chip just plain cut them. Let them go for nothing. And he did it without any viable plan for replacing them. You can see the results every game, 2 yards deep in our backfield.
Let’s take TE as an example of how this is supposed to work. Celek has been good for years but is declining. You draft Ertz, you pickup some late round or UDFA TE’s and you develop them. I’m sure Celek will be gone next year, but we have proven commodities to replace him. We have simply cut or traded strong performers at G (x2), WR, RB, and of course QB without any strong reason to believe their replacements would be as good. Just a hope. But a hope is not a plan…