Detailed Game Review – WAS 23, PHI 20
Posted: October 10th, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 74 Comments »The Eagles fell behind 13-0. And then Sam Bradford and the offense came alive, taking a 20-16 lead. The Eagles had control of the game. They were a play or two away from maybe breaking the game wide open. But they didn’t.
The Skins got the ball at their own 10-yard line with 6:05 left. They went on a 15-play, 90-yard drive for the winning score. All the good feelings went away as harsh reality set in. A promising game turned into an ugly loss.
And losses like this can flat out torture you. What if…
What if Caleb Sturgis makes his FG and XP?
What if Sproles catches the 3rd down pass when the Eagles were almost in FG range in the early 4th Qtr?
What if Graham sacks Cousins in the end zone?
What if the officials don’t call PI on Eric Rowe in the end zone?
There are a ton of moments that could have changed this game completely. But things happened the way they did and the Eagles lost a close game that could be costly down the road. It sure hurt like heck last Sunday.
The Eagles weren’t very healthy when the game began, and things went downhill from there. Jason Peters, Mychal Kendricks, Brandon Bair and Byron Maxwell all left the game. Even worse, they all got hurt early on. Bair’s absence really hurt the DL since Taylor Hart and Ced Thornton were already hurt and inactive. That left Fletcher Cox, Bennie Logan and Beau Allen as the primary DL, with Vinny Curry as the only backup. Not good, to say the least. You really need to rotate D-linemen to keep them fresh.
Go back to the What If questions. Washington faced 3rd/19 early in the game. They ran a draw play. Chris Thompson got loose up the midde. Walter Thurmond missed a tackle and Maxwell had to give chase on the play. Maxwell got hurt on that play and missed the rest of the game. What if Thurmond makes that tackle? The Skins don’t go get points on that drive. And Maxwell is healthy. That one moment had a huge impact on the rest of the game.
Both teams were very sloppy. The Skins just made a couple of more plays.
COACHING
The only thing to really question Chip Kelly on is whether he should have used timeouts on the Skins drive to try and save time for the Eagles offense. I think he made the smart move in saving the timeouts. If you call them, you give Washington the benefit of talking things over on the sideline and being able to figure out exactly what they want to do. You also give them the option of running the ball, which had caused problems earlier in the drive. By letting the clock run, you put them in a known passing situation, which should help the defense. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case on Sunday.
The coaches finally opened up the offense and mixed in vertical passes. The Skins D was vulnerable deep and the Eagles attacked them with downfield passes. It was great to see that. Kelly and Pat Shurmur also got creative on offense. They ran two Jet Sweeps with Darren Sproles. Neither worked very well, but it gave the defense something else to deal with. The Eagles tried a reverse to Nelson Agholor. Unfortunately he could not make a clean catch of the toss and WAS recovered it, killing a promising drive. I had no problem with the call. I want Agholor to get more touches and mixing in a trick play can boost a struggling offense. Jeff McLane pointed out that the play called for Sam Bradford to block the backside DE. That’s sorta true. Bradford really just had to shield the guy, staying between him and Agholor. The play was set up well down the field. If Agholor turns the corner, he’s got a big gain. It is absolutely fair to question the call, but I was fine with it. One other key point to those who question the play, Kelly isn’t likely to do something on gameday unless it was practiced multiple times during the week. I have to believe they practiced this play and it looked good enough to be included in the gameplan. Just didn’t work on gameday.
Bill Davis saw another team where the QB likes to get the ball out quickly so he focused more on coverage than blitzing. Losing Kendricks, Bair and Maxwell early limited what he could do and forced young guys on the field. I didn’t have any real problems with his plan or the calls he made. Davis did some blitzing on the final drive. He could have gone all out, but with some of the cover guys on the field, I think he hesitated from putting them in tough situations.
OFFENSE
MISC
* 4 for 12 on 3rd downs
* 1 for 2 in the Red Zone
* Only ran 51 plays, although part of that was due to big plays. Averaged 6.3 yards per play.
* Slants by the Skins DL were very disruptive.
Players
QB
BRADFORD – Slow start turned into a good game. 15-28-270, with 3 TDs and no INTs. Had a 14-yard scramble. Looked the best he has all year. Once he got going, played with energy and emotion. Used his feet. Threw to receiver who were somewhat covered, trying to give his guys a chance to make a play. Threw the ball vertically a lot. Did that to multiple receivers and did it right, left and center. Wasn’t just feeding the ball to one guy or picking on one DB. Played aggressively and looked good. That is the Sam Bradford we’ve been waiting to see.
* Kerrigan flew up the middle untouched to start the 2nd Qtr. Bradford avoided the sack and got loose to his left. Saw Cooper wide open and tried to get him the ball, but was off target.
* Had a clean pocket and made good throw to Agholor for the big gain.
* Best throw of the game was TD to Ertz late in the half…that was nullified by penalty. Threw between 2 defenders. Good velocity, but still catchable.
* Failed to see Ertz wide open on play late in the half. Was looking to other side. May have been 4th or 5th option. Just frustrating.
* Excellent scramble to keep 3rd Qtr drive alive.
* Threw deep for Matthews in early 3rd but ball was a yard or so too far out front.
* Right on the money with deep ball to Coop. Hit him in stride.
* Great throw to Matthews down seam in 3rd. Over the LB, but still on a line. Gave Jordan chance to make a play and he did.
* Great job on TD pass to Celek. Skins blitzed heavy and Kerrigan came free off the edge. Bradford fought him off and got wide. Found Celek wide open for easy TD.
* Just missed Austin streaking down the sideline in the late 3rd.
* Made good throw to Austin for long TD to open the 4th Qtr. Clean pocket.
* Saw blitz and rushed throw to Sproles in early 4th. Pass was off-target, but still catchable.
RB
MURRAY – 8-36 on the ground. That’s encouraging, but 30 yards came on one play. Ugh. Great job on the long run. Didn’t have much front side, so he cut back and found a hole. Got upfield and gained 30 yards. As for the other runs, just didn’t have room. Ran hard and was tough to tackle, but needed some space. Did add 2 catches for 12 yds.
MATHEWS – 5 carries for 20 yards. Got tripped up on 4th Qtr run or had chance for huge play. Still got 9 yds.
SPROLES – 4-17 on the ground. Had 3 passes come his way, but no catches. Dropped pass on first play of the game, but the ball was tailing away from him. Not an easy catch. Great cutback run on 3rd/2 late in the half put the Eagles down in the RZ. Gain of 11. Used twice on Jet Sweep. Got a few yards, but didn’t have much room. Dropped pass in 4th Qtr that really hurt. Bradford put the ball behind him, but Sproles got his hands on it. Has to catch that. Didn’t.
TE
CELEK – Blocked well most of the game. Came to the backside and blocked DE on long pass play to Agholor. Bad holding penalty in early 4th. Murphy shot inside and Celek hooked him. Wide open for TD pass in the 3rd. Ran crossing route and waited for Sam to find him, then made sure he got in the end zone. 1-10-1 as a receiver.
ERTZ – Terrific TD catch late in the half wiped out by questionable penalty. Really had to pluck that ball and was between 2 defenders. What a waste. Nice moment in the early 3rd. Kerrigan lined up over him. Ertz was supposed to hit him, then release. Actually put Kerrigan on the ground. Figured that had to be Celek, but it was Ertz. Ended up with 2 catches for 11 yds.
WR
MATTHEWS- 3 catches for 50 yards. Big play was 30-yd gain in the 3rd Qtr. Was somewhat covered, but Bradford put the ball up high and Matthews went up and grabbed it. Took a big shot, but held on. Really impressive catch. Couldn’t hold on to pass in mid-4th. There was early contact, but no call. The whole point in having a big slot receiver is to have a guy who can handle contact and make those tough grabs. Gotta make that play.
COOPER – 2-72-1. Highlight was a 62-yard TD. Got open on post and Sam hit him in stride. Easy TD. Also caught a 10-yard pass over the middle. Was actually open deep a couple of more times. Bradford just didn’t happen to see him.
AGHOLOR – Best game so far. 3 catches for 64 yards. Great job on big play in the 2nd Qtr. Ran good route, pushing CB wide, then bending back to the middle. Throw was out in front and he then just reached his hand up and got the ball and brought it back to his body. Got 9 yds on 3rd/8 just after halftime. Ran out route and was covered, but plucked the ball and handled the contact. Eagles ran reverse to him and Agholor didn’t secure the toss from Ryan Mathews. Fumbled the ball to WAS. Bounced back from that, which is encouraging, but can’t make that kind of mistake.
HUFF – Didn’t play much. Kelly said that was mostly due to the fact Huff didn’t practice much and wasn’t 100 percent healthy.
AUSTIN – Best game as an Eagle…for whatever that’s worth. 2-51-1. Got open down left sideline for deep ball, but pass was off target. Got open deep down the seam after that and Bradford threw a good pass. 40-yard TD. Caught pass over the middle for 12 yds in early 4th.
AJIROTUTU – Didn’t see him on offense.
OL
This is a tricky subject. Sam Bradford was sacked 5 times. He was under heave pressure at times. But Bradford also had great protection on plenty of plays. He had a clean pocket on those long throws. And when you consider that the #2 LT and #3 RG played most of the game, this was maybe even better than what you would expect.
PETERS – Got hurt early and left the game. Didn’t exactly stand out when he was in the game.
BARBRE – Solid game. Better in pass pro than on run blocks. DT slanted hard inside on Murray’s long run. Barbre used the guy’s momentum to drive him away from the LOS. Wasn’t designed that way, but took him out of the play, opened a hole. Generally controlled his rusher on pass plays.
KELCE – Up and down game. Holding call in early 3rd. Didn’t hurt team, though. Struggled with Knighton at times. Had some good blocks when the run game got into a bit of a rhythm late.
TOBIN – Started at RG and then shifted to LT. Gave up sack on initial 3rd down while at RG. Got pushed back, then lost control of the DT. Mostly did a good job at LT. Kept the edge rushers under control til late. Up and down as a run blocker. Had some good moments, but doesn’t get much movement on his own.
JOHNSON – Disappointing. Good block on Sproles run late in the half. DT wanted to go inside and Lane pushed him that way. Terrible play late in the half. His DE tried to loop inside. For some reason, Johnson spun around…literally turned in a circle. The DE had hit the DT beside him and went back wide. While Lane was spinning, the guy came free off the edge and got a sack. Great block on Celek TD play. S blitzed and Lane just crushed the guy, throwing him to the ground. Clean and legal, but nasty. Gave up sack on final drive. Murphy was way wide and Lane never got his hands cleanly on him. Beaten again on the next play. Injuries might have been a factor at that point. Wasn’t 100 percent.
KELLY – Took over at RG in the 2nd Qtr. Looked like he screwed up on initial play, letting Kerrigan come up the middle untouched. You almost always block inside-out. Kelly took outside guy. Kelce was taking other blitzer and couldn’t get Kerrigan. Whiffed on DT on 4th Qtr pass play and let Sam get hit. Up and down performance.
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DEFENSE
MISC
* Chris Thompson had 14 touches coming into the game. Had 8 vs the Eagles. Used him creatively and effectively. Speed guy.
* Great gameplan by Skins staff. PA play with guy coming free to backside worked over and over. Switched up guy just about every time.
* Some Bear fronts on passing downs. Try to push pocket.
* Cousins fumble TD. Looked like he was down, but replay couldn’t confirm that.
* Skins were 9 for 17 on 3rd down. Huge factor in game.
* 2 for 4 in the RZ.
PLAYERS
DL
COX – Played 73 snaps, amazing amount for a big guy. Disruptive all game, but didn’t make any big plays. Jumped offside, turning 3rd/long to 3rd/3. Tackled Jones on run to his side by grabbing his hair. Legal play. Blew up toss play in late 2nd Qtr by driving TE into the backfield and forcing runner wide, deep. Created TFL. Disrupted 3rd/1 in the early 3rd with penetration. Created gaps for other defenders to get to ball. Stuffed run in the late 3rd after tossing the blocker out of the way. Great play in the early 4th. Threw LT to the ground and then helped Allen stuff the runner for short loss.
LOGAN – Outstanding game. Played a lot of snaps (58). DE and NT. Led the team with 9 total tackles. Terrific play in RZ. Fought through block of C and got RB down for no gain. Outstanding at times. Able to shed blocks and make plays vs run. Had back-to-back tackles on run plays in late 1st Qtr. Beat the RT and got pressure in the end zone on 2nd Qtr pass play. Also made pursuit plays from the backside. Shed block of C and stuffed cutback run in the mid-3rd. Looked good at DE and NT. Got some pressure when rushing off the edge.
THORNTON – DNP.
CURRY – Disruptive at times, but I thought he would give the Skins more problems than he did. Used hard inside move to beat the RT late in the half. Got held or likely would have had a sack. Disrupted run in the late 3rd with penetration. Got penetration on final drive and had chance for sack, but got held.
BAIR – Got clipped by RT on opening drive. Dirty play. Just dove at legs from behind. Blew up run that came right at him. Shed RT, tackled RB.
ALLEN – Best game of young career. Got penetration on early pass play and batted the ball. Drove RG back on 2nd Qtr run and blew that up. Got off block to help stuff 3rd/1 run in early 3rd. Great effort. Got in on TFL in the early 4th. Cox blew up the play and Allen helped make the stop. Ate up blocks all game and helped keep LBs clean. Finished with 5 total tackles. One thing that hurt is Allen is a limited pass rusher. Didn’t get much pressure.
OLB
BARWIN – Quiet game. Was only in on a couple of tackles. Didn’t make any plays. Davis moved him around again and had him do different things. Tried to knock down passes several times, but never could get his hands on the ball. Did get pressure on some rushes.
GRAHAM – Had 6 solo tackles and a FF. Great job of setting edge on early run in the RZ. Gave RB nowhere to go. Looped to inside in late 1st Qtr and got right in Cousins’ face, but still got pass off. Graham may have affected the throw enough to keep it from being complete (would have been TD). Helped cover TE on downfield throw. Carroll was behind the guy, Graham underneath. Pass was out of bounds. Beat TE and LT to get pressure on pass in mid-3rd, but ball got out cleanly. Made huge play at the end of the 3rd Qtr, stripping the ball away from the TE after a short catch over the middle. Started the lawnmower, so to speak. Great hustle on that play. Came free on loop to the inside in the mid-4th. Could have sacked Cousins in the end zone, but was going full speed and couldn’t get his hands cleanly on him. Ugh.
SMITH- DNP
BRAMAN – Didn’t see him on defense.
JONES – Didn’t see him on defense.
ILB
KENDRICKS – Played a little early and then re-injured his hamstring.
RYANS – Played a lot of snaps and held up well. Was in on 6 total tackles. Didn’t make any plays. Overran late run play and left big cutback area. Failed to contain late run and let Morris get wide for 6 yds.
ALONSO – DNP.
HICKS – Good game. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I trust Hicks more than DeMeco at this point. Was in on 6 total tackles and recovered a fumble. Beyond the numbers, covered well and was constantly around the ball. Good blitzer. Made impressive tackle of Thompson after short catch in RZ. Had to fly out wide and get the speedy runner down quickly. Kept him out of the end zone. Blitzed off the edge on the Rowe penalty play and actually got good pressure. Had good coverage of Thompson on 3rd down pass in the early 4th. Thompson dropped it, but Hicks was there to tackle him short of the sticks if he did catch the ball. Came on blitz in the mid-4th and forced incompletion. Failed to set the edge on 4th Qtr run where Morris got loose for 16 yds. Jump-started the final drive. Bad time to make a rookie mistake.
S
THURMOND – Mostly played very well. Good tackle of Morris in the alley on opening drive. Came down hard. Missed tackle on draw play. Great call by WAS, but should have been stopped. Excellent effort to get Reed down on 3rd/4 short of the sticks. Hustled out wide and did everything he could, but Reed made even better play and extended for the 1st. Made effective tackle of Garcon on 3rd down on crossing pattern. Kept him short of the sticks. Got hold of Matt Jones on 1st/GL run and kept him out of the end zone. Great effort. Got TFL in late 2nd when Thompson ran toss play and Thurmond was fast enough to get up the field and hit him. Cox destroyed the blocking and gave Thurmond great angle to the ball. Helped stuff 3rd/1 run in early 3rd. No hesitance about doing the dirty work. Got burned in coverage in mid-3rd. Got caught looking back at QB while his guy kept going deep. Led to only big pass play of the day for them. Got solid hit on Garcon on crossing route on final drive, but couldn’t knock the ball loose. Had tight coverage on winning TD pass, but the throw was perfect and inches away from his hand. Was in on 8 tackles and credited with 1 TFL.
JENKINS – Had 7 solo stops and tackled very well, in space or in traffic. Stuffed RB for TFL on 4th/GL. Other guys ate up blocks. Jenkins just had to make the tackle. Made good open field tackle of receiver that got behind Thurmond for big gain. Came off the edge and got Morris down for no gain in the late 3rd. Got TFL on outside run in the late 3rd. Covered Reed on late 3rd/1 play. Broke on the ball immediately and got him down quickly, but gave up 1.5 yds.
MARAGOS – DNP
COUPLIN – Played 7 snaps on defense.
CB
MAXWELL – Left game early.
CARROLL – Generally solid in coverage. Had 6 solo tackles. Crowder got behind him in the late 1st Qtr. Was open in end zone, but throw was a bit too wide. Nolan had good coverage until the last second when he looked back. Even then, he had pinned WR up against sideline. Had a costly holding penalty late in the game. Negated a holding call against WAS.
ROWE – Up and down game. Didn’t give up and big plays, but did give up underneath stuff. Played a lot after Max went down. Hit with costly PI flag in mid-2nd. Had very tight coverage in the end zone. Ref thought Rowe used his arm to keep receiver’s arm from coming up. There was contact, but this wasn’t blatant like most PI is. Came on 3rd/8 and moved ball to 1-yard line. No call and Skins are up 9-0. Instead they go up 13-0. Ugh. Skins tried to go deep on him in the early 4th. Got FS help, but did a solid job on the play. Gave up completion after that. Stumbled out of his break, couldn’t get anywhere close to the ball. Skins went after him with short throws. Rowe was playing off and gave up a few completions. Drew penalty for hitting player out of bounds. Dumb. Finished with 6 total tackles and 1 PD.
BIGGERS – Played in the slot. Made terrific tackle of Morris in the flat after short pass. No RAC yds. Was in on 8 tackles.
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ST’s
JONES – Averaged 41.8 yds on 6 punts. 2 were downed inside the 20.
STURGIS – Pulled FG that he missed. Then pushed extra point that he missed. Kicks after that were right down the middle. 3 of 4 KOs were touchbacks.
– MISC –
KOR – All KOs were touchbacks.
PR – Sproles had chance to catch punt near midfield in early 2nd, but windy conditions made him nervous and he let the ball hit. Lost 20 yards on that play. Long PR late in the half. Great vision, quick cut got Sproles free and up the field. Got 45 yards on that.
* Jerome Couplin chased down PR on opening punt after the guy had gotten loose to the outside. Good open-field tackle.
* Malcolm Jenkins got very lucky he didn’t give up a blocked punt in the early 2nd Qtr. Slow to read looping player and then to try and block him.
Nice work Tommy, thanks for the #analysis. Now lets go put a better game together against the ‘aints. Birds 27-21.
gotta be hard to watch considering the way we lost that game. We’ve been able to score in bunches and then get shut down.
I dunno. I felt Curry was awful all game. Totally not playing two gaps, creating lanes for Washington and not even making a pass rush presence. I also thought Johnson, save a couple of plays was very strong vs. Kerrigan all game.
Not sure what you saw in Hicks this week, I thought he was much later in reacting to play action. Constantly late with drops or moving to his zones.
Agree on curry, unfortunately, not all game but some big plays resulted from him not maintaining gap responsibilities
Thanks Tommy. For your insight. And support for a coach that is not doing well right now – THE worst I have seen from him. The NFL is a different gig, I hope he adjusts.
I don’t know that “adjustment” does it. The o line is killing us, and the solution almost certainly lies in the offseason. I just hope he can turn it around enough to still be here to do it, because I still believe in his scheme and style if the o line is above average.
Got to find a way to make the o-line look good. Need better adjustments outside of IZR, Sweep there has to be a solution for people shooting gaps the way they are maybe have a lineman eligible who sneaks out. Move lineman to the wings to block on a screen play. Feels like we saw a lot of that first year but not so much now.
I mean, adjustments and play calls just can’t make people block. People found ways to defend us in the past, and we adjusted like you said. But when people regularly run free through the interior line, hitting the runner at the hand-off, there’s not much Kelly can do.
yeah it’s been really sad this year. Sad that all the offseason-preseason preparation and game planning are sort of gone b/c you don’t have any blockers
Chip is in doubt. He must find his mojo again. The game is the same.
The game doesn’t change, only the players do… We hope.
he needs to go find his animal spirit or something, remember who he is. I’m sure there was a Kung Fu on point.
Your posts are increasingly desperate.
Doesn’t bode well…
Keep more guys in to block, heavy sets/Max protect…
.,
IF defenses ARENT respecting the threat of our 3 WRs, no reason to keep putting 3 WRs on the field.. Take 2’WRs out and put two extra OL in the game….
..
There are so many adjustments that can be made before we can waive the white flag and just conclude that nothing works and we can’t run the ball
Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that… If our main problem is slants and stunts, then maybe two back sets with the o line attacking the man in front of them, with the second back responsible for any stunt that gets through…
But then I might sound like I agree with Heath Evans, and that makes me feel dirty. And stupid.
Also that balances the look and we won’t have to hear the crap about direction being predictable.
You realize of course this is the exact opposite of how Chip prefers to scheme his offense?
That he wants to spread it out and force the defense to defend the field vertically AND horizontally?
And keeping more guys in would do exactly the opposite?
You realize of course……nah, who am I kidding, of course you don’t. Go write another rah rah rah speech, you fraud.
Give them pass-protect assignments then let them KICK ASS on the D when the run program starts. This is the OLD Chip strategy. He has to adopt this.
Still think Chip’s been doing a poor job of forcing teams to keep backside constraint. DE’s have completely ignored Bradford on IZR and OZR looks. I don’t expect Sam to morph into Cam or Kaep, but he has to do his part keeping the defense honest.
You arent wrong but it’s probably not very realistic to expect SAM to run around in his first 4 games after two years worth of injuries,, Im hoping the running will eventually come after he gets comfortable and no longer thinks about injuries, but we have to understand why SAM was never going to run around in September…the more he plays, the more comfortable he will get and stop thinking about the Knee and start showing a willingness To roll out or even run with the ball…. But we have to understand why we probably wouldn’t see him run with the ball during his first 4 games back,.,, hopefully he gets comfortable and we start to see him keep it when then efense,parts liken he Red Sea
..
After what SAM has been thru, absurd to blame him for our lack of run game… We spend more money than any team on RBs, absurd to act like we can’t run the ball unless bradford helps… Guys have raćked up tens and thousands of yards as RB without the threat of their QB to run…l Zone read with a QB running is not the end all be all of running the ball… If chip cant run the ball with out the threat of his QB running, then he clearly isn’t the offensive mastermind he is made out to be… Fortunately I don’t believe that to be the case at all..
The “Duck Blur Offense” is predicated on bubble screens and short passes – despite the D alignment. The D focus is on containing these plays. Then, at the right moment, you RUN like hell. Basic point: You MUST stop the short passing game, no matter what.
The NFL changed Chip. He must revert to OLD Chip!!!!!!!!!
think that’s why he got sammy b, hopefully we can unlease some of that sooner rather than later. Also would like to see sammy b keep running the ball when it’s wide open. Make D defense ALL the whole field.
Yes, but Chip must trust his instincts. He has to re-gain faith in his system. He’s not wrong but must believe. We’ll see.
Spice it up…Chip and salsa!!
I totally agree. Lurie didn’t hire Chip so he could water down his vision with the conventional wisdom and become an average NFL coach. It was a swing-for-the-fences hire. I hope Chip can find his bearings and start to dictate to the NFL once again.
And ultimately if this fails, I won’t be mad because you went to do something different.
For anyone watching CFB today, if you have trouble looking at gruesome leg injuries I advise you not to look at what just happened to Nick Chubb. Just wow. That poor kid.
Thanks Tommy. I felt that Bradford had his best game as well. I felt he settled down in the 2nd quarter, and is close to putting together a full game.
As bad as we’ve been, the fact that we’ve been in the game with 2 quarters of play from our offense means there’s still hope, right?
I’m glad Bradford aired it out and had success doing so. The D has been keeping us in it and the O has been pulling us down. If Bradford can just get to competent, we should win some games.
I think over the last couple of games he’s been more competent than not. I think his mistakes are more emphasized because everyone on the OL has been so bad.
I know we disagree on the Sixers, but you gotta love the mixture of Jah/Noel. I think we are a PG short of a killer team.
Don’t know what happened to the Flyers, but it was ugly.
Bradley Fletcher released by the Patriots.
Never looked for the ball. Instead, he looked at his BFF in the stands.
But that’s what he was trained to do!!!
Didn’t take Belicheck long to sort him out. Benched after 2 weeks, gone after 4.
So our starter all year last year was just cut by another team. Why was he starting for us?
Ouch, if BB can’t do anything with him, he must be shot.
LOL
Leonard Fournette is not from this planet.
Is he a #culture fit? If so he might be our pick next year.
I still thought Bradford was so so. He was pretty bad in the first half, gun shy. Hit some deep balls finally but also missed some open shots too. The pass to Darren Sproles was catchable only in the sense that Sproles would have had to make a great catch to catch it. It was a bullet that was well behind him.
If Bradford could start the game as he has been finishing that would be good enough, even if he isn’t going to a pro bowl this year. Dude just has to be good enough over 4 quarters and I think the offense will thrive enough to get us wins.
Now with the makeshift OL who knows what happens.
i strongly disagree on the Sproles pass in the 4th quarter….that’s an easy catch that any back or receiver should make
It was too hot. Normal, with a fast ball, Sproles catches it. But this was a fast ball, because of the scramble because his OL is a joke.
I hope the OL starters from last year come out swinging (Peters, Johnson, & Kelce) and it rubs off on Barbre & Tobin.
Man I’m praying that these 5 can gut it out for 3 games til can get some rest in the bye week. Can’t overcome much more ol instability
You and me both.
I feel like hey are ones making the most glaring mistakes. Just do your fucking job as our spotted cat friend likes to say.
Keep the faith. Who knows what the future holds. I think Chip will motivate these guys, because it’s in their DNA. He picked them for this moment. Are they the right guys?
I think so-so is a generous assessment. When the offense is perpetually 3 and out you can’t afford he minor missteps in the first half. Maybe I’m just a harsh judge.
i can’t even think when the last time this division was THIS BAD!! It’s been a while since this was considered a GOOD division, but even when it’s weak, it’s probably not often This weak!
..
Today, many seem to think that the Giants are the best in the east, but they are a year ahead of us in the rebuilding process. Going into the 2014 season they added 27 new players during that offseason. Since this is the ultimate team game for a reason, to no surprise they struggled and had a down year. They were a mess the first quarter of last season, they looked like a team with 27 new players.. In the second half of the season they showed some flashes of growth coming together as a team, and a year later people seem to think they are now the beat of our screwed up division.
…
During this ugly 1st quarter, there are times when we have 7 or 8 new first time Eagles on the field together. Even if they played an entire preseason together instead of 6 Quarters it’s not possible for them to have been playing as a cohesive unit firing on all cylinders. As an offense, there was so much defenses could throw at them, that this offense hasn’t faced as a team.. Even if the offense looked pretty good, there is no way they would be showing more than a fraction of its potential so soon in this new offenses infancy stages..,
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No matter how hope or terrible this offense was going to look in September, it was always just going to be a starting point and we were going to have to play together to become the team we thought we could be… We take this sort of shit for granted as fans and expect that we should have to deal with this, but for example Bradford vs Brees tomorrow..even if Sam is 100%
Mentally and physically recovered from this injury, even if it hasn’t crossed his mind since 3 weeks ago, it is NOT Humanly possible for Bradford to command our Offemse at the level Brees is going to
Command his offense.. Bradford can be one of the smartest QBs in the game, but when he has only been running this offense since August 1st, it’s just not possible for him to have the full Command of every nuance of our offense at the leve of Brees who has been running his
Offense for over 5 years…,,,
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So as bad as its been, the good news is we have so much growth and improvements to make ahead of us.., Like Billy Davis said back in September 2013 when we were just starting our transition to the two gap 3-4, “we will see what our starting point is (first quarter) and we will work to grow from there”.., there is no set timeline that applies to all growth but in the Case of that 2013 defense, their timeline was they got their asses kicked the 1st 4
Games, ending with the shalacking at the hands of Peyton manning, but after that tough loss we turned the corner as a defense and it began to
Click for us and we went on the see conga the growth eventually becoming a pretty tough run defense that helped us go on a crazy two month winning streak that we were able to parlay into a 2013 playoff birth where we lost to these Saint prIcks who will try to come to our house and slice the throats of
Our season….
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Unfortunately growth doesn’t follow a set timeline but THIS happens to be the EXACT time that the 2013 Eagles started to come Together and begin to really show what that talented roster was capable of. That team was even in worse shape because they had to stay together and fight thru a 3 game losing steak back at a time when chip had NO pedigree, players had to trust him on blind faith because he had no NFL cache built up where guys could see that he was able to steer a team out of a similar drastic 1-3 start at tne pro level.. Guys barely even knew chip at that time, yet not only did we come together but we went on an epic 9-3 run turning a 1-3 start into a 10-6 division championship… So on one hand, this heats team is in much better shape because not only has chip built up some NFL cache but we have plenty of players who have been with chip and experienced that 2013 turnaround. Another positive is this division is even weaker than the 2013 division we went on to win. This team also has a better defense and ST than the 2013 team
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..but a negative is that 2013 didn’t have to Deal with this type of OL problems/Injuries that we currently have to find a way to overcome
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All I really hope for is that the new injuries STOP so this group of players can get some damn MUCH NEEDED experience playing next to the same players.
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The starting point was far From what we hoped for, but when you have such a New team, the good news is that it’s practically not possible for the
Roster to show its best in the first quarter so I have no doubt we will grow and improve from hear on out and I still 100% believe in the roster chip put together. I would honest be fine with having Gardner for 16 games…
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The scary part is that while I know we will see improvement as the year plays out, with all these costly injuries, this teams ceiling probably isn’t what it was coming into this season… It’s worrisome when you still have to grow into your ceiling, but that ceiling has already been Lowered and there is so much season left to play,,,, we lost Gardner, I have faith that Barbre and Kelce will settle down and be fine, but our tackles are a concern with how banged up they are..
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Can Lane and JP even get thu this game? Even if they can, that’s not enough… we DEEPERATELY NEED tomorrows 5 starters to find some way to be able to play these next 3 game.. I think that would be absolutely Huge for this team.. If we can keep these 5 OL on the field and ride them to win 2 of the next 3 going into the bye week that is sooooo needed right about now, That for me would be Bigtime and put us back on top of the division with an opportunity to once again control our fate going into the 2nd half of the season.,
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All our Goals are still right there for the taking, but the OL injuries HAVE TO STOP.. We won’t be able to overcome
Too much more OL less than what we currently have to persevere thru
worst part is that this should be an easy playoff year, but it’s never easy for any nfl team, unless you’re the patriots, must be the easiest team to root for.
Colts have had it even easier than the pats winning like the last 20 something Division games in a row
I’m hearing there is a good chance Rookie Andrus Peat gets the start at LT for the Saints…Terron Armstead not likely to play
That dude is soft. Graham had better bull rush him him.
That’s all Graham ever does isn’t it?
I wonder if that’s the result of the microfracture surgery. Possible he lost some agility from that, so bull and counter off of bull is all he has left to do.
NO offense ranked 8th in the league in DVOA, with a balanced attack: 15th pass, 15th rush. (jumped from 8th to 18th on the strength of last week’s game)
NO defense ranked 32nd (!): 32nd against the pass, 12th against the run.
Our D is holding steady for the 2nd straight week at 5th in the league.
Sounds like there will be lots of opportunities for Bradford to win this game.
First Mags, then you. I’ve been convinced to change the screen name.
I might have a dispute with your new screen name.
If he had a Dr. Suess avatar, it would be much more confusing.
Wow, someone recognizes a perilous poozer?!
It was getting a little ghetto around here, I decided to follow suit.
Are you guys finding your enthusiasm waning with each loss? I will be at work again, but I think if I was going to watch the game I would be more bracing myself than getting all hyped up and warming up and whatnot.
My thinking on that last washington drive with all the eagle backups playing was that it was the perfect time to go all out and blitz to limit the time they are exposed to the play. Worse case we get the ball back with a chance to win or tie. For the 3rd straight time Jay Gruden has Billy Davis’ number. Gruden has his defensive scheme figured out.
billy d is conservative that’s for sure. but we had all backups in i think they prefer to get dinked and dunked than ot give up an x play.
They had to have been gassed too, not sure that factored in.
You should go back and listen to what BARWIN said on Monday…. Our film study led us to reach the conclusion that Kurt Cousins is much better against the Blitz then he is at scanning the Field and figuring out where to go wjth the ball when a bunch of defenders dropped into coverage because blitzing him gives him a predetermined pre snap read… We learned this the hard way last year when Cousins tore up our blitz..
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“After the Hurtful loss sunday, I don’t think there is ANYONE walking around Novacare thinking that Blitzing Cousins would have been the answer to winning the game”-BARWIN
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Even if the Offense played a good game and didn’t keep our defense on the field for 40 minutes, we played an entire game with ONLY two nose tackles and two DTs healthy and active, and Meco and Hicks having to play the entire game, where as we normally rotate,at least 6’Defensive lineman… No one will make excuses for the loss,. No Matter what adversity we face, we have to overcome it and win,,.. But fans continuing to think our defensive coaches are some morons and fans thinking they have the answers is just bullshit..
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“We put a Ton of time in film study to try and understand our opponents and how they will Attack us”-‘Connar BARWIN…
Thanks Tommy!
This is starting to get on my last nerve. We are far from the only team THATS struggling and has gotten off to a rough start, yet I can’t even watch any game day shows without every analyst straight up laughing at us and taking shots at us…. Our 1-3 start is apparently the end of the world, yet the saints who are 1-3 with a hall of fame QB and Coach DONT get crushed by every pregame show the way we are… While players are stretching and getting dressed for this game, I hope guys have their TVs on in the locker room and hear how they are being treated as the laughing stock of the nation by just about any analyst with a Mic in his face,., couldnt even hear Marshall Faulks analysis because he was busy cracking up laughing the entire time.. Kurt Warner is now questioning if chips offense can work in the NFL ….our 1st 4 games have sucked, but the way we are being treated by the natipnal media is a joke, and These players NEED to be made aware of the Fact that they are the laughing stock of the NFL right now… WTF you gonna do about it boys? Tuck your tails like a bitch and let them continue to laugh at our expense, or you gonna grab your nuts and go do something about it? We going to find out a lot about all these new Eagles we brought in,,. Going to find out who are the “rough Ryder’s” and who tuck their tails and “tap out”,.
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it’s so bad that this isn’t even all about wins and losses anymore.. Our Heart and toughness Is being questioned… WTF you gonna do about it? Go out there and take on whoever is linned up across,from you and Knock his fuckin teeth in today! Enough of our OL a being treated like some helpless victim, go kick someones ass today…
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Sheldon Brown is the Honarary alumni Captain for this saints game.. Make sure every player sees the Hit Sheldon put on Reggie Bush as a saint, and that’s how our players need to play TODAY,,, we may lack talemt due to injuries, but there is No EXCUSE for us not being the more physical team today.. take whoever lines up across from you today and go kick his ass…your opponent might show that he is more talemted, but shame on you if you are wearing Midnight green and you DONT make sure that no one plays more physicak than you today… .. You are the laughing stock Of the NFL…. Go do something about it! The #1’thing I care about today is playing with some damn pride, and making sure we look like the more physical team
I read a comment by OD on BGN last week – OD, you said the NFL wants us to fail because CK is “bad for the brand” – expand?
As big of a mess as this is right now,,, I still don’t view this roster as needing too much work.. We have solid depth at a few spots and some of the positipns we are currently weak at, we have young talent that can still grow to be the answer..
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So next offseason I think we can look for QUALITY instead of adding Quantity..
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What hurt our OL is our best Backups had to become starters so not only is our OL weak, but we aren’t as deep as we were last year…. We NEED to add two STARTING CALIBER Guards, one of the Guards should he a Kyle Long type, a guy that can play BOTH Guard and Tackle..,The OTHER starting Guard needs to also have Center versatility and be the second best center on our roster behind Kelce..
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Adding two starting Caliber Guards would send Barbre, Garner, Tobin and Dennis all back to the bench, so adding two starters fixes our starting OL and our Depth….. There really aren’t other positions I feel desperate to add outside help. We still have young developing players I think can be Longterm asnwers we haven’t seen yet…
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Since we are fortunate that we can prioritize quality after adding the Quantity this last offseason, I wonder if we see Chip and the Eagles take a page out of the Falcons play book and see some aggressive TRADE UPS to try and add difference makers the way the falcolns did with adding Julio…
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If the O line was as good as they think they are his team would probably be undefeated. I agree this team has loads of talent. That is the most frustrating part.
As is we can’t really make a true judgement on Sammy. Might need to make a move there.
Definitely can’t be judging SAM or the RBs because of the state of this line… I’m sure we would LOVE to make a move, im just not sure there is a MOVE to be made in the middle of the season… And if there is a Quality OL to trade for, I assume there would be a TON of competition for his services because the current state of OL play Leavue wide is about as bad as ever., maybe you can entice a team like the Bears who have pretty much already quit on their season to trade a young Lineman, Kyle Long would be So Ideal, but if they are surprisingly willing to move him, I assume we would see a bidding war with the price tag shooting thru the roof..
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I don’t know if we can,realistically expect us to add starting caliber Lineman in the middle of the season, I think the growth is going to have to come from the guys who are already in the OL room… A positive note is our OL still has plenty of gelling and improving to do, but we will need the injuries to stop in order to get 5 Lineman to come together and improve…
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Hopefully the bye week is enough to get our Lineman healthy and we,can see a much better OL in the second half Of the season but we NEED the INJURIES to STOP… We NEED lineman to be able to lineup next to the same guy for these next 3 games, that stability alone should help us show some growth..but with Lane and JP banged up, not sure how realistic it is to expect them to be able to gut it out and play these next 3 crucial games and then get a break during the bye week..
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We DESPERATELY NEED to beat the Giants next week, and get a win against the Saints or Panthers, going 2-1 in these next 3 games which would take us to 3-4 at the bye week.,, ideally we win the next 3 games, which isn’t that far fetched because I love how we match up aganst the Giants and Panthers, but I REALLY hoping we see our young players step up and get revenge today for the Saints Knocking us out of the playoffs… This isn’t a Playoff game, but giving the saints a loss today, dropping them to 1-4 in a division with an undefeated Falcons and Panthers team while the Sains have to play Atlanta next week is almost as hurtful to that franchise as beating them in a playoff game…. NEED to exact REVENGE TODAY and find a way to beat this desperate Saints team..
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Thank GOD chip prioritized CULTURE because we will sure as Hell NEED our CULTURE to endure these rough times, stay together, and fight our way out of this…
JP is old. Move LJ over next year and we need another RT (in house already?)
I’m not ready to go there yet…. last year, JP still performed as one of the best, in the game (THE #1 LT according to some people).
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JP hasn’t been great this year, but he has been battling injuries since the start of the season, so im not ready to assume his skills have reached a rapid decline stage…. I still wouldn’t be the least bit surprise to see JP get back to his dominant self during the second half of the season if he can get healthy during the bye week…
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And whenever JP does start to decline, I wonder if he will transition to Guard? He certainly is still athletic enough to do all the pulling we expect for Guards.
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Lane and JP are not healthy so im sure that is having some type of effect on them not playing at their best…
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I can’t say this enough, THE FIRST QUARTER OF A season in TODAYS NFL can be extremely misleading… It’s way too soon for us to make definitive judgments on these players and this team… Teams don’t play at the same level throughout an entire season
Report: 3 teams kicking the tires on trading for Roddy white..but I highly doubt the eagles are one of the 3 teams
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For starters, Roddy probably won’t want to leave Atlanta, one of the hottest teams in the NFL to play for our mess of a season… if Roddy wants to leave the hottest team in the NFC because he wants More touches, doubt he would be happy playing for this Eagle team that spreads the ball around to so many different players…..
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Shame, because even at his age, I would LOVE to see Roddy take Riley and Austins snaps, but that ain’t happening considering their contracts and the fact That our current situation won’t appeal to Roddy for a few,different reasons.. While Rody is a good dude, when you want to leave one of the top teams in the NFL for your own selfish reasons, probabky doesn’t scream Culture
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Curious to see who does trade for Roddy. And if he can help shift some of the balance of Power even at his age…. For example, I hope the Falcons ARENT dumb enough to give Roddy to the Packers..I assume they wouldn’t help a struggling Rival like the Saints…. Don’t want to see Roddy end up in Dallas
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Anyone hear any rumors about who the 3 teams are interested in the Big veteran Wr?