Are the Eagles Good on Defense?
Posted: October 13th, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 187 Comments »The Falcons shredded the Eagles defense in the opener. Julio Jones caught 37 passes for 2000 yards and 10 TDs, or at least it felt like that. I think all of us that hoped the defense would take a step forward were highly frustrated with what we saw.
Atlanta scored 26 points in the opener. No team has scored more than 23 points since then. The Eagles allowed 20, 17, 23 and 17 points since then. However, one of those TDs was a blocked punt and one came in the closing minutes of the Saints blowout with plenty of backups on the field. Take away those two scores and the Eagles defense has allowed 16 points a game from Week 2 on.
That’s good defense.
A big part of the success comes from stopping the run. Only a handful of teams have faced more run plays than the Eagles, but the team is 10th in rushing yards allowed. Jimmy Bama has a nice article up on some other stats that show the run defense has been outstanding. Beyond those numbers, the best a RB has done against the Eagles this year is when Tevin Coleman ran 20 times for 80 yards in the opener.
The Eagles are 8th in the league in Red Zone defense. Teams can get deep, but they are settling for FGs on a regular basis. The Eagles even have some RZ takeaways. Kiko Alonso had the incredible INT in the opener. DeMeco Ryans had an impressive FF on Sunday. Eric Rowe picked off a pass in the end zone,
Speaking of takeaways, the Eagles are 2nd in the NFL with 13. Jordan Hicks alone has a hand in 5 takeaways. That’s crazy for a rookie. Walter Thurmond has been terrific at FS and leads the team with 3 INTs.
The Eagles are 8th best in the league in yards per play, allowing 5.2 yards. That’s the same figure as Seattle. Dallas and the Giants are both down at 5.7. The Saints are now dead last, at 6.5 yards per play.
If you go by the old numbers of yards allowed and points allowed, the Eagles look okay. They are 11th in scoring defense, which is good. The defense is down at 23rd in yards. As always, that is skewed by the fact the Eagles face so many plays. The defense has been on the field for 363 plays, most in the league. The Bears have faced the fewest of any non-bye week team. They have 283 plays. That difference of 60 plays is almost like an extra game.
The Eagles are 23rd in opposing QB rating. That’s solid. They have given up 5 plays of 40 or more yards. There are 4 other teams who have given up that many and 3 others who have allowed more. The Eagles are better here than last year, but still need to improve.
One area the team must improve on is 3rd down defense. The Eagles are down at 26th. That needs to change. You think about the long run by Chris Thompson on 3rd/19 last week. There were some long conversions by the Saints. The defense must get off the field. That is one way the defense can help itself to quit facing so many plays. And the offense needs every snap it can get right now.
The Giants will be a good test. Their offense is Top 10 in points and yards. Obviously that won’t be the same if Ruben Randle and Odell Beckham Jr. aren’t playing, but for now you have to anticipate the Giants having all their weapons.
We need to find out if the Eagles can sustain this level of play, or if they can get even better. I think the pass coverage can improve the more that the back seven players play together. Zone coverage and double-teaming receivers takes good chemistry. I also think the return of Mychal Kendricks can be a big help. He has good cover skills and is a terrific athlete. Guys like that can make a difference on 3rd down.
I am impressed by the defense and the progress they’ve made. It will be interesting to see where this group is at the end of the year. They are playing well right now, but still have the potential to get a lot better.
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If this very good defense can turn into a juggernaut defense, will be very disappointing if they don’t go deep into the playoffs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2R2sH2ScBM
They look good at times, but their 3rd down efficiency is appalling. They’re allowing a 3rd down conversion 42.1% (!) of the time. That’s good for 26th overall and only the Dolphins, Bears, 9ers, Giants, Ravens, and Jaguars are worse. That’s not good company. That needs to improve.
Also, I’m beginning to understand why Kelly doesn’t concern himself with TOP. Time of possession is a result, not a cause. The cause is the above stat and the offense’s inability to convert on 3rd down. The offense converts 3rd down only 28.3% of the time, good for 30th. Only the Chiefs and Dolphins are worse. Those numbers need to be reversed. We convert more and stop the other team more, TOP will fix itself.
Good observation. TOP is a descriptive stat, not a prescriptive one.
You don’t address homelessness by building more houses, you address it by correcting the causes. You don’t solve TOP by holding the ball longer, you address it by correcting the issues that allow them to possess the ball.
So when Kelly says he doesn’t worry about TOP, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t know what our TOP is, rather he is looking beyond it. I commented before, there is no statistic about the team that we know and he does not.
Well put. This is the prime reason I think all the people in the media whining about TOP are idiots.
Eh, off topic, most of the research in homelessness right now indicates that you do solve homelessness by simply putting people into houses. I think the problem with building “more houses” is that every building I see going up is luxury apartments instead of affordable ones.
“Simply”
Because houses are cheap to buy and maintain.
Homeless shelters are quite a bit more expensive to maintain and don’t do much beyond addressing the symptoms. In all conversations about expensive social programs, you should keep in mind that there is almost always a really expensive program in place that your tax dollars are already paying for.
Many of the areas that are plagued by homelessness are also littered with vacant properties. I have to think that if the solution was as easy as matching up the two, we would not still have this problem.
Yes, also the correlation is reversed even assuming both teams generally play at the same pace, huddle up, use most of the play clock etc (and we don’t). Generally you lose the TOP battle because you’re losing, not losing because you’re losing the TOP battle. You’re losing so you preserve the clock by taking as little of it as possible for yourself while your opponent is trying to burn as much time off the clock as possible. Why are you losing? Probably because your offense is having trouble staying on the field/ defense is struggling to get off the field…which also leads to the TOP discrepancy. Therefore losing the TOP battle is a product of losing the game, not the other way around.
Now the concept of clock management IS a critical aspect of the game. Football essentially boils down to the fact that you get equal or + or – 1 possessions (opportunities to score as your opponent). However, not all scoring opportunities are created equal. At the end of the half/game, you must be able to control that clock, whether that means denying as much time as possible to your opponent, or desperately preserving the few seconds you have left to convert those seconds into points. Goes both ways. It doesn’t boil down to gobbling up as much clock as possible all the time to win the TOP.
Remember that TOP is actually very weakly correlated with winning from numbers my friend (pro better) when he ran the numbers for the NFL the last 30 years a year ago.
3rd down % is low b/c of lack of pass rush
I think this is probably accurate. Not only is the D poor on 3rd downs, it especially seems to be long 3rd downs. I was joking during the Saints game that as long as we keep NO out of long 3rd down situations, we’d be okay.
I was wondering if David simply got out-coached on 3rd downs.
If feel like this has been an issue the past 2 years as well. We seem to consistently get teams in 3rd and long situations, only to give up a pass over the middle. Def something to watch for.
A good defense does not allow Kirk Cousins lead the Washington Redskins offense 90 yards down the field for a game winning touchdown, simple as that.
That was a very injured D
And very tired.
And in a very preferable situation with the opposition needing a touchdown, having to go 90 yards. And lets not pretend the Redskins didn’t have injuries and that the WAS offense played right around the same number of snaps as, lets say the Eagles defense. All while being led by Kirk Cousins, behind that OL with those weapons.
Stop bullshitting, that was unaceptable. It happens, but that doesn’t mean we have to like it, accept it or excuse it. If you won’t to win the big one, dont get fucking game winning drived on by Kirk Cousins. Hell, dont get owned by Brady or Rodgers.
Getting beat by Brady or Rogers (I know you wrote “owned” but I want to make a point) is nothing to hang your head about. Getting beat on a 90 yard drive by Cousins is bad. There shouldn’t be any excuses made.
If it were as simple as that, football would be so much less fun to watch.
Of course, its more provokation than anything else. Extremely simplified a defense good enough to go far in the playoffs does not get beaten that way by Kirk Cousins. Brady, Rodgers, hell even Luck, Ryan and Wilson, but not Kirk Cousins. It’ll happen once in a while, i get that, but this defense does not have a track record of me forgiving such a thing. I’ll give Seattle a pass for the Bengals loss, their track record is proven, it was against a much better team, the whole Kam situation etc.
Obviously we have a good defense, and a lot of talented players. If we put it together maybe, but were a not there yet, and frankly I highly doubt we ever will under Billy Davis.
yeah but that was no fun to watch
Rewatched the game on NFL Network replay. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. Thurmond makes a huge difference. Last year, Jenkins got some picks early in the year, and it seemed they changed and went after the CBs or Allen. The way these two are around the ball, they have to go after the CBs. I think the Ss continue to get more INTs as the year goes on.
I hope the defense gets healthy, because I think this group has only scratched the surface of what they are capable of. They seem susceptible to speedy receivers, but seem to be stout in the redzone. As the offense improves, I would think the defense does too.
Jenkins had opportunities for picks later in the year, he just couldn’t hold on.
I think he needs to hit the JUGS machine with Matthews and Agholor.
It’s certainly been working for Matthews! Why, he hasn’t had a drop since…um…
If it’s any consolation, he has less drops vs the Saints than he did in previous games. We got that going for us.
Can we use this approach to avoiding drops?
http://rustyhilger.com/wp-content/uploads/lester-hayes-stupendous-baby.jpg
LESTER!
People will look at this win and say the Saints are a terrible team. They may be, but the Eagles are the ones that scored the most points on that defense. Also, they held the Saints to their lowest score of the season, even with the last second TD.
That actually related to my biggest concern with the Kelly Experiment®. Our system is so momentum-based that once it gets going it just snowballs into blowouts. I am not totally convinced we can create traction to get the ball rolling in tough situations yet, though.
I am optimistic, and every team will have games where they can’t get in sync, but if I imagine us having a conversation five years from now about why Kelly came up short, that is the reason I would give the shortest odds.
Is the Panthers game going to be a measuring stick that we get in a tough situation?
For me, I want to see us overcome a start like we had in the ATL game without needing halftime to regroup. Faced with a couple three and outs, that we can get methodical and start that snowball down the hill.
Carolina would certainly be prime contenders for the setup.
They have a good defense, so it’ll be a good matchup for our offense.
Right now I just want to beat the Giants. Win that game and then focus on the Panthers. I think our offense will be fine Monday, but I want to see our defense against the Giants offense.
I need to see our front 7 dominate the Giants OL
Arent you kind of describing the Saints game? Overcome a bad start with two INTs and going down 7 without having to wait Til halftime to regroup?
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Good news is we aren’t some veteran defense that has been in place together for years so we can realistically expect the defense to continue to improve as we get more and more experience together. We count on a lot of young players who are either young in age or young in NFL experience or young in experiemce at the position or role we have them in, and When you are YOUNG. It comes with opportunities for GROWTH..
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Of course it’s not automatic, it’s not a given. Guys have to first and foremost remain healthy, they have to continue putting in the work. Whether it’s Recovery, film room preperation for an opponent, continue to drill fundamentals on the field whether it’s Jug Machines, route running. HItting the sled… And they need to be guided by proper coaches… Fortunately I get the impression that we have the coaching, leadership and Hunger that we can count on putting in the work so that they can continue to improve, but it’s certainkt not a given, and I don’t like to take health for granted
No, not the Saints game. The offense never had trouble getting started in that game. We were moving the ball from the start.
Now, overcoming those turnovers and keeping their heads up was an entirely different, yet important, trait that many teams would have trouble matching. That was not a trait that I was concerned about with Kelly players, though.
Fair enough.. I’ll admit that overcoming those two redone turnovers was probably more important for Bradford than it Was for the offense because Sam was who was responsible for the Endzone turnovers that were holding this offense back,,, great to see Sam fight back from it, get it together and light the saints up, where as the offense around him just needed to keep its head up and continue doing what it was doing… Although they also had to somewhat overcome Murray holding this offense back because not trusting that the OL would execute the play calling caused Marco “to leave so much meat on the bone in the first half…
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Guess it’s nice to see the offense hold up and do their job while waiting for out best players Bradford and Murray to get it together and get comfortable in this offense and start executing…
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It was a good performance but still the offense has so much growing and improving that it needs to do if we are to try and win a playoff game..hopefully OL injuries are all behind us so Tobin can get comfortable and he can gel with Lane and Kelce, and our entire WR firepower is basically kids who still have so much growing and developing to do… and a QB who is still working his way into being a top QB in this new offense
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Hopefully they turn a corner soon and don’t need the defense to carry them anymore
I dunno, I THNK we are a bad matchuo for the Giants and Panthers. Although Cam is playing out of his MIND at a level we haven’t seen when we faced him in past games…..
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patriots will tell us how much we have Grown and how far we still have to go….
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I have to admit, one of my favorite things about this season so far has been watching how Gronk treated the Dallas Secondary, tears of joy were pouring down my face watching GRONK stiff arm Dallas DBs in the dirt, tossing Defemders off him looking like “how dare your bitch ass try to tackle me”… It was,great seeing a player single handedly treat the dallas Defense like a group of Boys….. As great as it was, I sure hope he doesn’t do that to eagle defenders, that would be heartbreaking to see my defense get treated like boys among a man
I can’t stand the down playing of our opponents. Saints are NOT a good team, not a good team, bit going into the game, I was more worried about
Facing a desperate 1-3 team than I would have been against a 3-1 saints team. They may be bad team but no one can say they overlooked us or didn’t play hard Enough when falling to 1-4 was on the line
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Down playing our opposition is foolish because you can’t control who you play, everyone has talent, the difference between winning and losing is so damn small.. And the dumbest reason to downplay wins is that in this 16 game league when ever game is so important, you BECOME a Good Team by beating the teams you are supposed to beat… That’s the difference between good teams or talented teams that are capable of getting. Win against a playoff team one week, and than lose to the Browns the next week.
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Andy Reid built himself a pretty damn good career that gave us one of our best eras of eagle football going deep into the playoffs like 5 times and he achieved all that without hardly ever beating any Great teams.. You can scoff at 95% of the teams Andy Reid ever beat…. Blowing out teams isn’t what makes you a great team… The Patriots have so many ugly wins under
Their belt, but what makes you a great team is that over the
Corse of adversity filled roller coaster season, you consistently find a way to beat all the teams you are supposed to beat, even if you have to barely scrape by tk and win by 1 point… That’s practically the NFL definition of great teams…. and then once In a blue moon you see some special seasons like the Patriots scoring 50 against everyone and going undefeated. But when you look at the Pats era, you will find more 20-17 ugly wins than you will find 50-6 college game type blowouts that have inexplicably become the standard of so many eagle fans
Can someone tell me anything about the OL we just signed, Tanner Hawkinson? 6’5 300 lbs. Big guy, and seems to be athletic. Are they considering him for G or his listed position at T?
6’5 300 lbs. Big guy, and seems to be athletic.
T. He’s played TE back in the day. Has good feet, solid technique. Question has always been functional strength. Probably not a long term starter but should be in the conversation for swing tackle going forward.
Here’s a video
http://www.patriots.com/video/2013/03/22/2013-draft-prospects-tanner-hawkinson-ot
Gotta admit, at least he’s got a good attitude about it.
https://twitter.com/BatMandervelde/status/654018040330350592
I’m much more impressed with the defense than the offense. Billy Davis takes a lot of unwarranted crap, in my opinion, especially given what he had to work with after AR left. They seem to be operating on a bend-but-don’t break philosophy which harkens back to the JJ glory years.
The main problem is that the offense is doing them no favors this year. No matter what they say, the TOP and plays run differences wear them down in individual games – and will wear them out at the end of the season if it continues on that way.
Bold move mentioning Billy Davis in combination with Jim Johnson. Whats next, Marcus Smith is the second coming of Reggie? Please.
He’s right, it’s a similar philosophy. Only with a lot less blitzing.
Really?
I posted below that the defense is allowing 3rd down conversions over 40% of the time and the offense is only converting about 28%. Even against the Saints, arguably the best game of the year for both sides, the defense allowed a 50% conversion rate and the offense went 4/11. Both sides need to be better on 3rd down.
The offense’s problem is well documented with the poor execution, but the defense needs to get better at rushing the passer and of course, watching for the draw.
This is misleading. The Eagles offense went 4/11 but gained what, like 350 yards on first down. Should we save the first down plays for 3rd downs?
I get the overall point we do still have problems on 3rd down and I get really, really nervous.
We were awesome on 1st down and that covered the problems on 3rd down. My point, that I poorly expressed, is that 3rd down is a major problem for the team even when we’re doing well.
Sadly the 36% conversion rate is still better than our season average.
We had 32 first diwns vs Saints. Tied 1981 record. I”ll take the bad along with the good.
So will I, and I think it was 34. The larger point I’m getting at is that 3rd down is an issue and it needs to be fixed for both sides of the ball.
Ridiculous how billy is treated in this city… Fanbase shows its ignorance
Count me among the ignorant, at least initially. I didn’t like the hire and then I moaned about his D for the past two seasons. Now that he has his own guys on the field, it’s hard not to like what he’s doing. I’m glad to be wrong.
I don’t really blame people like you who wanted to see results before they bought in, THATS fine….. But there are people who there is basically nothing Billy and the defense can do to get their approval that I find pretty ignoramt…..I think those,who were down on Billy was mostly because their expectations were a little off..
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When Billy’s was hired, I expected to see him continuosly grow and improve this team and by the end of year 3 we would be recognized as a top defense, and go into year 4 universally accepted as a top NFL defense… Seems like we are on schedule to me…
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You hear everyone say things like, “it’s going to take time to transition this 4-3 defense to a 3-4 defense”.. Everypne said that, but few actually held their oppinions to those standards… The first two years I think went well in terms of growing the players who would be hear long term, but ultimately the defensive roster wasn’t even close to where it needed to be… This was confirmed by chip who has soon as he came to Power this pffseason he talked about reconfiguring the roster because we had too much invested in the offense, and not enough invested in the defense.. We had some key roster weaknesses the first Two years that Billy Davis or whatever geat DC wouldn’t have a Magic wand to fix… But the young talent chip placed in the care of Billy for the most part, Billy has done a fantastic job growing our young talent and he had a ton of youth under his care: Cox, Logan, Thornton, Hart. Beau, VINNY, Hicks, KEndricks, ROWE, Nolan
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Billy Davis had experience successfully taking corners and moving them to safety dating back to his Cardinal days…coincidence that we signed Thurmond as a corner and he is lighting the league on fire as a safety? Maybe, probably not… Took a safety the saints discarded that wasn’t viewed as anything Special and he has put Jenkins in position to play safety at an elite level, Jenkins has become one of the best in the game..Growth of Nolan Carroll has been solid, and after he gets this entire year of experiemce on the outside, watch how much he improves as an outside comer next year..
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With the rosters limitatipns Billy had to deal with, people’s expectations were Probabky a little out of whack, but realistically his job was to continue and grow our defense TIL we arrive as,a,top Unit in year 3, seems like we have stuck to the script and we are right on time, with this defense reaching a top 10 level at the end of the year.
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We seem to really harp on the few bad play calls billy makes each games, but every coach has a few plays in each game that he blames himself for and woukd like to have back
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So many people in one breath praise the defense for so many things, yet in the next breath want Bily fired and it’s pretty ridiculuos..
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So much positive signs, so much growth yet Billy gets no credit for it:
..built an Elite run defense on the backs of developmemt of a young DL who has been shutting down like 98% of the RBs we faced for the past two years.
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.. #2’ih sacks last year behind only the Bills, and by the end of this season im sure we will be towards the top of the sack rankings again..
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1″for the second year we are near the top of forcing Turnovers category
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-Safety posituon has been a weakness of this franchise consistently since 2008, and now he took Jenkns and Thurmond who No ONE viewed as elite DBs and has them performing as the best safety tandem in the first 5 weeks of the NFL season.
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– took Bennie logan who after 2013 fans wanted to draft a NT high in the draft to move Logan to the bench and in year 2 he had Benie leading the NFL in tavkles for most of the season, and now in year 3 Logan is easily one of the best NT FORCES IN THE GAME..
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So much to like about the defense we built these past 2 years, and by the end of this 3rd season, I wouldn’t bet against this defense growing into one of the top’defenses in the NFL, and next August everyone will recognize the Eagles defense as a top unit going into the 2016…. And this is the EXACT timeline/schedule expected from a DC who inherited a 4-12 team that exhibited one of the worst most gutless defenses in the history of this proud defensive franchise,,
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Billy better start getting the Respect he has earned!!!
Eagles fans, as everyone knows, can be, um, stubborn once they form opinions. You’re absolutely right the success he has had with Jenkins and Thurmond is exceptional coaching.
I don’t really care what is said about players among fans… But defenders and Billy warrant more support than this city has given them for the most part.. For example: Marcus smith doesn’t deserve to get Crucified and take shit from every direction because he isn’t producing as a rookie.. The challenge of his rookie year was hard enough without hearing the entire media and fanbase attack him all year
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When it comes to Billy, it’s perfectly fair to point out his mistakes, but not if you aren’t ever going to give the man credit when it’s due., it’s like no matter what happens during a loss, Billy is getting blamed,. He could call perfect play yet a corner slips and falls gives up a big catch and it’s Billy’s fault, Chip Kelly’s devense plays horrendous all game and the defense tries to keep us in it as long as they can, and it’s Billy’s fault,. The man has done a better job than he has gotten credit for..,, when he makes a mistake that costs us, he should be called out for it, but he should also get credit when it’s due and I don’t think he has gotten half the credit he deserves since he got here.,. The guy can’t get all the blame and none of the credit..,
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Julio jones torches everyone, everyone,,, they double him, bracket coverage, press him, play off, zone him it doesn’t work, the Dude is going to produce. He is that good.. It’s like TO in 2004, everyone knows he is coming, and no one can stop it when his QB is on point… Just like no one can block Fletcher Cox.
That doesn’t mean all the lineman suck or the coach is an idiot, it means that Cox is a beast of a force.. As bad as Atlanta was. We shutdown their run game better than anyone else has, and we were tipped ball by a young player away from being in a good position to complete the comeback against a team that had proved to be better than anyone expected…. But I do think Maxwell is capable of much better than we saw against Julio.. Clearly Maxwell wasn’t settled into his roll on his new team and I also think it didn’t help that Maxwrll had never played against Julio before… A guy like that is scary talented as it is, probably do better after you had a chance to experience his speed, size, strength package for yourself:,, I’ll start to worry about Maxwell if we don’t see him progress and start seeing weekly improvement after the bye week which is almost the midway point, he will get a bye week to get his body right, and by then he will have played like 5 or 6 Games in this defense so I will worry if we don’t start seeing improvement and weekly growth in the second half of the season
I willing to admit I’ve been wrong about him. So I won’t be saying bad stuff about him the rest of the year. He gets one year tho. Just kidding, I really like the way they’ve looked so far.
80 plays more than the Bears.
The biggest reason we’re bad at third downs is because Brandon Graham has been a disappointing pass rusher. He has 1 sack in 5 games.
I’m sure the pressure he has gotten on QBs tells a different story… Sack numbers are so incomplete, they don’t tell the story, and making OPPINIONS based on sack numbers can be extremely misleading…
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For example, Vinny Currys oass Rush was pretty dominant against the skins, often bullrush ing lineman into Cousins lap, but if you just read the sack line, he had a bad game… So much more to pass rush than sack numbers.
,l
Take the Giants game, Id rather not see BG have a breakout games in sacks, because I think pressuring Eli and forcing him to rush his throws is way more effective since he is very susceptible to throw up some horribke balls that are easily intercepted.
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If you judge Cox off just his sack totals last year, you would think he was average. If you watch All his snaps, and see how much his pressuring of QBs led to big plays, you would conclude that he is a 20mil per year player.
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Sunday Cox proved the old cliche “sacks come in bunches”… BG will get his sacks, as will Vinny curry, but judging their performances based soley on sack numbers won’t do them justice.. BGs lack of sacks right now DONT concern me, I’m more critical of plays like not setting the edges on the final drive against the skins, allowing the RB to get Outside him which led to a very costly olay in crunch time…
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Like last year, by the end of the year Id bet we are in the top 10 in sack humbers.
Did we really expect greatness? He is what he is. Extrapolating from his limited stats wasn’t going to come true.
I really think he got signed b/c we didn’t have real options. Not to say he is bad, he is good but he wasn’t going to be the monster rushing OLB we need.
“The Eagles are 23rd in opposing QB rating. That’s solid.” — Wait – what? 23rd is solid? Let me do some math here. 32 teams. 16 would be the “mediocre at best number”…yet we’re 7 teams away from the mason Dixon line and we’re solid? Your definition of solid is different than mine.
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People have brought up the Redskins game. I think we can point to the first drive of that game. Brutal. But the bend and don’t break defense is pretty darn good. Gotta love the play of Cox.
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what’s the eta on Kiko?
Last I heard about Kiko he was Targetting a return for the second dallas game after the bye week
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Heard rumors that Agholar should play sunday..
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Waiting to hear something about when Kendricks will be healthy enough to go.. With how much Eli throws to Vereen out of the backfield, it would be great to have a healthy Kendricks this week but I’m not counting on it…. Mufasa and Baby Simba are playing better each week, so hopefully Kendricks and Kiko stay out long enough to get healthy. Giving them a chance to STAY on the field once they decide to come back
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I miss Brandon Bair…. I hope to see his giant wing span, throwing his hands up effecting Eli’s passing lanes,..
Where does the 23rd ranking come from? This site says 10th.
https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/opponent-average-team-passer-rating
23rd could be bad, if it’s close to 32nd, or average, if it’s close to 16, or decent, if it’s close to 10. The absolute ranking doesn’t matter that much. If the team is really good at stopping the rush and is also forcing turnovers, it could be solid–enough.
Don’t ask me. Tommy reported it…I was quoting him…
What’s amazing about Thurmond is in his first 5 years at Corner he only has 1 INT total… We move him to safety and it’s like he has been unleashed, already picking off 3 passes on his new team, at a new positipn in his first 5’games… Scary to Imagine the level Thurmond will play at after he gains some experiemce at safety..
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I’d like to see the defense use this last game to really come togethet and put on a show against the Giamts forcing Eli into at least 2 INTs
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Impressive to see our corners force Drew Breez to hold the ball too long, allowing cox that extra second to comletely dominate the game… Brees gets that ball out as fast as any QB, and our corners took that away from him allowing our front 7 to dominate… The Corners have to be sharp Monday because Eli has some games this year when we was gettng the ball out faster than Anyone. our cornes can’t allow him to get the ball out in 1.8 seconds like he was able to do about two games ago…
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When the sexondary and the front 7 are both on their games playimg together, this defense can be BIGTIME.. We,got some legit rough Ryder’s on that side of the ball
it will be a real shame if we convert Thurmond and then he walks and we have the same issues next year looking for a new safety. I guess we can always franchise him.
thats not even a plausible concern in my mind… You are talking about a team that offered Devin McCourty 10mil this summer.. a Team that wanted to Improve Safety THAT BAD, is probably going to be willing to lock Thurmond up.. He is still going to be cheaper than what we offered McCourty… On top of his great play, walt is a high Charechter Oregon guy, who has been an NFL Nomad these past few years, I assume he is interested in finding some stability and a NFL home for the next few years.. I’m sure chip and Billy remember well what life without adequate safeties was like, their contract offer to McCourty showed what a big NEED they thought safety was, and after hitting the lottery with Thurmond, I doubt Chip and Billy wants to have to go looking for quality safeties again, since it proved to not be the easiest position to fill, plus Thurmond has so much value to our secondary… Even if a miracle happens like FSU top 10 pick Jaylen Ramsey’s falls in our Lap, or Couplin shows up one day having grown into the second coming of DAWKINS, Thurmond can always be moved to outside corner, Nickel, Dime, ST…. This is a playmaker who fits our culture, and Versatility requirments who we have a familiarity with because of his Oregon past…. I just don’t see a world where they allow Thurmond to walk away, nor do I see him wanting to…
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My hope is they get the extension done as soon as possible before he racks up 10 INTs and costs 3 times what he will cost to day
Isn’t he on a one year deal? I thought that limited our options.
Yes, exactly why I’m talking about getting an extension done before Halloween,, as well as he is playing, he is still probably going to cost less than WHAT we offered McCourty
I think he means with one year deals can you extend during the year? I think there are some rules about that but I don’t know them.
Ohhhh You may be right… I forget what the exact rule is
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Thurmonds biggest issue has been durability the last few years, we still need to see if he can put that behind him and stay healthy for us… But if things keep going like this, I wouuld assume both the Eagles and Thurmond will want to get an extension done whenever they are allowed to,… But if we are allowed to extend him RIGHT NOW, as great as he has played, I think it would be too soon to commit to him… Need To see him stay healthy for more than 5 games to be comfortable paying him..
I don’t think Thurmond will be prohibitively expensive to get to resign to a longer deal this offseason. He won’t be everyones cup of tea, and he has a history of injuries.
Safeties also dont command premium dollars. I think you can get him locked up at 4 years and 6.5-8 a year
http://overthecap.com/position/safety
I agree about Thurmond. I actually was concerned at first if he could be physical enough to play safety, but he has surprised me. He is no Dawkins, but he certainly makes the effort to tackle.
I am still not sold that Maxwell is THAT much better than Cary Williams. Is he a minor upgrade? Probably. But Cary was wayyyyy cheaper, he just happened to be a douche bag that said some stupid things. Much of the maligned secondary woes last year were the result of nate allen and bradley fletcher. Cary was not good, but he was not as historically bad as fletcher. Maxwell has looked like a major disappointment to me. I didn’t expect a lock down cb, but I wanted a good cb that other teams at least didn’t bully. It seems that opponents find maxwell a better target than Nolan carroll
Caroll has been playing well
I think Maxwell has been getting better and better. Maybe Davis is using him better or he is adjusting to the scheme better. But he should have never been left alone on Julio Jones.
I agree on Julio. That guy is killing everyone. But Maxwell gets beaten routinely by scrubs, which is a little disconcerting. Willie Snead from the Saints?? Roddy White had a monster day against us, got 84 yards with maxwell alone in coverage. Since that day, I am not sure Roddy White has 5 catches. Max is definitely an upgrade over fletcher, but it is kind of frustrating watching carroll play well and knowing that guy was on the team last year while fletcher gave up td after td
sadly RWHIte got replaced and is now 3rd WR for them.. take that as youd like..
willie snead was being covered by Carroll most of the game…thought i saw that Maxwell’s receivers caught 2 passes for 32 yards against him. Not gonna act like Maxwell has been impressive but he hasn’t exactly been Bradley Fletcher either. His weakness is his speed and when he doesn’t get a hand on his guy at the line, he has trouble staying with them, happened to him a lot in the opening game….another thing that doesn’t help is this teams inability to generate a pass rush, especially when they blitz, because he struggles on deep crossers
Nolan is looking better each week, but when it comes to Nolan, I expect good play from him this season, but NEXT year is when I expect Carroll to reach new heights as a corner.. After this season of experience each week starting on the outside against Starting WRs, next year is when I expect Nolan to really come into his own as a starting corner.
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Maxwell doesn’t concern me in the least bit… I don’t overeact to how a guy plays his first month on a new team, in a new scheme… When we look back on this season, My expectation is that we will see the first half of his season, and the second half of his season look like night and day Difference.. Maxwell is essentially on a 2 yr 25mil deal. Two years from now when we have the option to get out of his deal if we want, My expectation is that bêtween Maxwell, ROWE, and Nolan, at least two of those players willl have developed in quality starting corners that we want to proceed with…. Maxwell will get comfortable as this season progresses and we will start to see his Talent and ability. I’m really not worried about Max At this point.. He is getting more comfortable with each game… I’ll be surprised if Fans don’t start warming up to him during the second half of the season
Maxwell doesn’t shy away from contact and has way less penalties (knock on wood), so IMO he’s a much better upgrade.
Maxwell isn’t a shutdown corner, but he is significantly better than CW.
Run support was certainly this big question when it came to seeing if Thurmond could make the transition to safety.. The fact that our front 7 DOESNT really need safety support to shut down teams run games was certainly going to help with Thurmonds transition, but I have been surprised, he hasn’t been afraid to stick his nose in and get dirty in run support… You see both him and Jenkins come up and torpedo RBs when they try to run outside, or we have seen Thurmond blow up a few screens,. He only missed a couple tackles that I can recall in the first 5 games and it’s for the most been much better than I expected to see from him….. But that kid is a pleasure to watch play centerfield.. The way he jumps routes is incredible… It’s a shame, because he was inches away from jumping routes and making Bigtime game winning plays on that final redskin drive. if he makes that game saving INT against the skins, it would be 3’games in a row that he picked off a pass (DONT remember if he has an INT against dallas)
Truthfully, the first 4 weeks were so depressing that him and Jordan Hicks were the few bright spots.
I agree, Thurmond has been a willing hitter and a very good ball hawk. In a league dying for quality safety play, we may have stolen a guy from the scrap heap and discovered a stud safety. Is he on a 1 year contract? If so, he is going to get PAID next year by someone.
My biggest issue with CW was that he didn’t like to stick his nose in and mix it up. Nothing to me is more frustrating than to watch a defender be afraid of contact.
I just want to say this: I don’t care where we throw money, that’s up to the GM. But when it comes time to resign Fletcher Cox, they need to back up the Brinks truck to keep him. That guy should not be allowed to leave. I think we will, but I do not have a strong idea of how chip values D Line.
Fletcher Cox is the best player on our team and it’s not even close.
I think the tandem of him and Logan are what makes our D flow. They need both for this DLine to stay dominant.
The smart play is to lock up Bennie and Cox long term this offseason. Hopefully by buying out the last year of their contracts you get them to take a small discount. Dareus just got 15.8 a year with 42 guaranteed. I would offer Cox that kind of guaranteed money and pray like hell he takes something like 6 years at 13ish annual. Then try to get Logan for 8-10 a year.
That’s going to mean you are investing $20+ in your two interior linemen but you can make it work. 2 gappers and interior rushers are devalued. As long as you are persistent with drafting late and developing you can fill out the rest of the DL with minimal investment.
8-10 is a lot for a NT, no? I guess with increasing cap and no need to pay skill position players for a few years you can get away with it.
what does ertz get paid?
It’s a bit high but looking at him as a pure NT isn’t the right lens. He’s a run stuffer who can provide interior pass rush. Those guys are rare. If he hits FA both 43 and 34 teams will be interested. Factor in the rising cap, the fact that Graham, Barwin, Kendricks are all on smart deals, and Kiko and Hicks are both cost controlled for the foreseable future and even with paying those two you’re only paying the entire front 7 like 50 mil total. On a cap that will be between 155-170 over the next two years. That’s doable.
No clue what Ertz gets paid. I think he plays out the contract and then both sides reevaluate. If his blocking doesn’t develop I don’t see a deal that makes sense for both sides.
With the cap apparently set to explode, that might work, but basing it on existing percentages, that would be an awful lot of money tied up in 2-gap DL. Could be a recipe for losing a high-end OLB (if they ever manage to develop one) when he reaches the end of his rookie deal. I’m also worried that Cox will want a premium to stay in a 2-gap scheme, when he could be a real flashy superstar in a 1-gap scheme. Too many variables right now to really assess or predict, but I certainly won’t be unhappy to hear that they’ve re-signed him, absent some truly stupid guaranteed money. He is the best player on the team.
Cox turns 25 in December so I’m not too teribly worried about guaranteed money.
Wouldn’t worry about not retaining a dominant pass rushing OLB. That guy isn’t on the roster. So even if we draft him this year that’s 4 cost controlled years before you have to pay him. MSII ceiling is more in line with what Barwin is. Great coverage and 8-12 sacks a year, and by the time he’s due for an extension Barwins deal is all but up.
Logan and Cox are going to get paid because both are top level run defenders and both can rush the passer from the inside.
I don’t worry about Cox leaving for a one gap if the money is fairly equal. He’s going to make the all-pro team this year. It’s not like his national profile being larger is going to mean a massive financial windfall in endorsements. McCoy, Suh, Dareus, don’t. Ngata and Wilfork in their primes didn’t.
So, you actually are including Marcus Smith in your planning? Because a 2 year player who has basically 2 entries in the stat book doesn’t project to a starter or even to make the team going forward.
What I said is that if he turns the corner.
He hasn’t earned a spot on the roster next year, but he’s still more likely to make it than not. Coaches even said this week he’s earned more snaps.
I’d like to keep him, but I hope they don’t go too crazy with the money….
I’ve seen people say J.J. Watt is the best player in football, but he doesn’t win you games by himself. That team is 1-4 this year. Last year they had a decent record, but only because they played JAX and TEN twice, plus other bottom-feeders like WAS, CLE, and OAK.
The big plays were great against New Orleans, but I’m not sure a 2-gapping 3-4 defensive end is worth an entire Brinks truck in the grand scheme of things.
I think Watt is of the best players in the NFL and a game changer. He has won numerous games for his team through the years. The fact that his team is terrible has nothing to do his lack of impact on a game. I feel that Fletcher cox is a similar player that makes our defense work. There is a reason Barwin and others had so many sacks, and cox is a major part of that. He is a game changer. I guess I prescribe to the old Andy Reid philosophy of building your teams from the o line and d line out. It seems chip has kind of neglected the o line and our offense is broken because of it. Our defense is good because our d line is so dominant and cox is vital
50Million maybe 60 but please dont give him 100milli like Watt..
I guess what we have to factor in is that some team will pay him too much. Just like we over paid for maxwell. The question becomes, should we be the team to over pay cox? It’s almost one of those situations where you realize that the devil that you know is better than you don’t know. So, we know cox is an absolute rare talent that fits our scheme and ##culture. If we overpaid for a player like maxwell, that was largely unproven – even in his own scheme – shouldn’t we be willing to pay to keep our homegrown superstar?
Dount they wait Til he gets to the open Market to sign an extension,,.
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Think too often we look at chip as if he is some finished product, but whether we like it or not, this is his first year functioning as an NFL GM, Probably safe to assume he won’t be betting 1000%, mistakes will be made, but I think chip is smart enough to understand that he has a lot to learn and he will have to grow into his NFL GM role, just like he is growing as an NFL coach…. Fortunately as much as Chip believes in himself, I think he is smart enough to know what he doesn’t know, and is smart enough to learn from mistakes he makes..
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And I’d like to think that losing Maclin, a player he obviously wanted because he offered big money to, is a lesson chip and Marynowiz will learn from, and we probably already have seen him learn from the mistake of allowing a player he wanted to keep to hit the open market when chip made the decision to sign KEndricks before the start of the season… When dealing with improtant, franchise Cornerstones like Cox, Lane, Bennie who we know will command BOATLOADS of Money, I expect that chip will have learned from losing Maclin and we will see extensions signed at least a year before they are scheduled to reach the open market.. Lane, Cox, Logan have NO BUSINESS EVER being allowed to reach the open market, because they will cost a ton without needing other teams to bid on them.. Hand Fletch 60mil a year before he is scheduled to hit free agency if his good health and durability continues.. Fletch becomes rich and doesn’t have to worry about playing a contract year while avoiding injury
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Desean, LeSean, Even Maclin, These guys are replaceable, FLETCHER COX IS NOT REPLACEABLE! He is one of the great ones who make EVERYONE around them better, he commands the attentipn of every team that has to game plan against us, and even tho all these offenses focus on slowing Cox down, he dominates anyway…and even if he isn’t dominating the stat sheet, you can bet he had a big hand in the majority of the stats from everyone around him…. teams Don’t łet a Fletcher Cox type get away.
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The ONLY teams that allowed 100millipn dollar tackles to get away, were Tackles who were Charecter concerns.. If you give a guy 100mil,you should he paying for not only a dominate player, but also a LEADER…for 100mil you better be showing up skipping to work every day with a giant smile on your face, ready to work, bust your ass in hopes you get to keep every cent of that contract.. Teams will pony up for the money if they don’t have to worry about your CHarechter for example JU Watt, GERALD McCoy, Marcel Dareus, Geno Atkins.. Typically the only Dominant 100mil Defensive Tackles that teams allowed to leave are the Jakasses you can’t trust like ALbert Haynsworth and Ndomenkung Suh, guys who you Quickily regret allowing into your locker room and giving 100mil to
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Cox is a class act… For a guy who gets overlooked because the stats haven’t done his production Justice, he gets his first 3 sack game of his entire life, and WHATS the first thing he does? He tells the reporters that they were just coverage sacks, a result of our Secindarys great coverage.,, this kid doesn’t get a fraction of the credit and attention his play deserves.. And Finallt it was HIS DAY, that even a blind hater can see that he had a great game, and the kid I,mediately gives all the credit to his secondary who he has been trying to carry for years…. Chip is NO FOOL, you don’t let these rare type stars get aware, and I assume Maclin has taught Chip to work a deal out with cox way before he hits the open market.
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You kind of understand it with Maclin to some degree because his injury situation made it so you couldn’t pay him what he wanted a year before he became free agent becayse you needed to see if his knee holds up… Cox has been as durable as you could hope, he missed a game, maybe two in his first 4 seasons…if he stays healthy all year, I assume thete is a good chance we see Cox become a very rich man before NEXT SEASON.. My question is WHEN will he get paid? Immediately after this season like we did when we extended Kelce and JP? Or will the Cox extension be announced next August, right before the season like we saw with KEndricks?.. I’d be pretty shocked if we see it turn out like Maclin where he reaches the open Market without an extension and Cqhip has to bid against other teams which would be insanity
yea i hear ya but look at what 100 milli is getting Houston and Miami granted they stink offensively or as a organization but im just worried the ROI wont be worth the Price Tag but they need to keep him. just hope it doesnt cost 100 mil… maybe itll be 75 or so..
I strongly doubt they will let Cox out of this city….
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By the time we have to pay cox we could be ready to let some high proved veterans out of their deals like possibly demarco, Maxwell, BG, MEco, Jason Peters, Coop will be long gone, Celek, Sproles, Sanchez…… Money will come off the books and moved into Cox’s account… Even if you have to franchise him for a year (which would cost a ton) until you can free up some money
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I wouldn’t wordy about this, a lot of Veterans would get cut before we ever let Cox get away..
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Seth Joyner was on the radio yesterday talking about sometime Fletch reminds him of Jerome, but other times he will flash some Reggie ability… Whether chip stays for another decade or some other coach takes over, Cox is going to be a cornerstone of this franchise for a long time…
I hope. I do have to say, the way cox uses his hands and clubs the O lineman in front of him does remind me a bit of Reggie
Lol did you ever hear Bennie Logan talk about it? Every time bennie talks about Fletchers Clubbing right hand, he starts cracking up laughing and talking about how funny it is to watch Cx slap guys across the head on film and watch them go flying.. He really gets a kick of the rare times a TE finds himself responsible for blocking Cox… Hearing Logan tell it is so funny
6 years $65 M let’s get it done
Peters’s slow decline has finally intersected Cox’s ascent. They’re both amazing, but I agree, right now Cox is the best player on this team.
It’s funny that you mention Peters. He was the only player that gave me pause when I said Cox was the best player on the team. But Peters is clearly declining and not nearly dominant. Cox is dominant. But boy, when Peters was healthy and young, he may have been one of the best -if not the best- eagles O lineman in the last 30 years. It’s a shame that we haven’t given him the lineman to carry him as he descends. God knows he carried the whole damn line for years
That Cox is the best player on this team is problematic in and of itself. I still think Cox is in the ‘very good’ category. Interested to see if he maintain what he did last week for most of the rest of the season.
If he does, he’ll get enough counting stats along with recognition around the league that will set him up nicely to get a nice payday.
FPI: Eagles have a 71% chance of beating the Giants.
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I hate how everyone laughs at us and makes jokes about us, yet they don’t allow us to fly under the radar as an underdog…. it makes no sense. Everyone likes to ridicule us, yet we continue to be favorites… We were 1-3 a week ago. Yet ESPN still favored us to win the division.. Really odd dynamic..
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We have come a LONG WAY from one of the most shameful defenses to ever represent this city in 2012: Remember these days?..
……………Babin……Cullen Jenkins…M Patterson/rookie Cox…Cole..
…..rookie KEndricks,…………….Meco………….can’t even remember our other LB
DRC…………….Kurt Coleman………….Nate Allen,,……….NNamdi
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Come a long way in 3 years from this gutless 2012 defense.. They can’t even compare to TODAYS Startes, and our Depth today is better than half those starters
According to Jason LaConfora the boys but will move rookie left guard La’el Collins into the starting lineup ahead of Ronald Leary after the bye.
Sounds like they’re getting desperate down in Allas. Cassel to start, Christine Michael to have expanded role and could see as many touches a Randle, and now starting the rookie guard.
I’ll be at the NOV 8 game in Dallas, I look forward to it with much glee. My cop friend offered me body armor, I refused. I’ll be wrapped in my 5’by5′ EAGLES flag – superhero SWOOP will be there righting football wrongs!!
thats you in Swoop! very cool!! HawaiianEagle what a ploy your the REALEAGLE!!
No, just a concerned citizen.
That’s awesome… I tried to coordinate my work travels to be able to make that game, but I’ll be in California that weekend.
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traveling to see the Eagles is risky because the possibility of losing can take some fun away from the trip… But if you are going to catch an eagle away game, Dallas is probably your best choice because we seem to perform well These last few years in Jerry world and of course seeing that stadium is a great experiemce. the Eagles have been a pretty good road team the last few years but we seem to always show up @ Dallas… Hopefully that continues and you get to catch a big entertaining Eagle win
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Lol I can see you now gettng suited up to get ready to enter ankther teams stadium, in your hotel, covering your body with Phone books under your eagle jersey, Body Armor Prison style..
It was only a matter of time, Leary has been the weak link consistently…but that won’t solve all their problems, Doug Free is a liability in pass protection, which is why we usually see Witten having to line up next to him… I always maintained that I don’t really understand how an OL that still needs to upgrade 2 of 5 lineman can possibly be considered the best in the NFL, but whatever… When we are healthy and playing to our full potential we can also say we have 3’great lineman and may need to replace two of them…. Obviously Dallas has one of the best lines in the game, but man has it been over rated as if it’s some unpenatrable force,,.apparently the fans of that OL forget how the young Front 7 of the Eagles kicked their ass, completely dominated the thanksgiving game and had Romo waiving the white Flag and diving on the ground for cover even when pressure Wasnt near him..
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It’s a good line that needs,to be respected as a formidable challenge but man is it over rated
Someone needs to step up and do SOMETHING or this story is going to have a tragic ending…. Lamar Odom was found unresponsive at a LA brothel and rushed to the hospital… His struggles with crack have been public for years but someone has to do something and do it soon, because Odom isn’t going to survive his behavior much longer, and to see a guy die who we have known has been fighting these Deamons for years is tragic,, everyone sees it coming, and some people make it impossible to help them, but someone has to save Lamar Odom, and they have to do IT NOW. Because the next time we see him in the news, he very we.l could be deadl…. Very sad story
and the Kardashian clan in tow with camera crews, effn disgusting. And this if its true:
“In the meantime TMZ is reporting the show may have triggered something for Lamar, who was reportedly “chill” until a new episode featuring a phone conversation between him and Khloe aired Sunday night.”
So sad… Such a shame, dirty disgusting ways to make a dollar whoring out your freakshow family to the world… The most disgraceful Part is that they come from Money. It’s not like they grew up Poor….their dad was a famous Lawyer who left them all types of money only to see them turn into this TV mess? Poor guy, worked as a Lawyer all those years, yet his Daughter Kim gets more black guys off than he ever did…lol sorry can’t help it, love that lawyer joke-meant no harm
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They said Kobe went to visit Lamar in the Nevada hospital last nigh… Hopefully more of his friends and family reach out to him and try to save his life, since it’s really so serious that it’s a matter of life and death.. This man needs someone to help save his life… Hopefully this story ends up having a happy ending, but it’s extremely concerning…. Too much it reminds me of watching Amy Winehouse practically kill herself playimg out on the media.. Everyone knew how that story would emd and no one was able to stop it. Hopefully Lamar story has a better ending, and props to Kobe for being there for a guy who jasmt been a laker in years
Everything you said is true. On the other hand, the only thing unique in this situation is that we recognize his name. Every day there are thousands of people headed down that same path.
It’s like Amy Winehouse (minus the brothels). You’re right, but he also has to be willing to get the help and go to counseling, etc.
it’s not like someone can make him go, i think lots of people have tried to intervene, he’s gotta want to fix whatever his issues were.
Pretty sure she was a heroin user.
People generally don’t die from cocaine use directly. The violence and poverty surrounding it, yeah.
He was found with cocaine, opiates, needle track marks on his arms, and Viagra in his system. Its a miracle he is even still alive fighting for his life. I would think that kind of combination of drugs would make a persons heart explode.
Yeah. I don’t even know who the guy is (don’t follow BBall), so my only info was “crackhead”.
He was a good basketball player on the last Lakers teams to win championships, but after his playing days he absolutely became a crackhead.
Are we talking about Cocaine(Yayo) or crack Cocaine? There is a difference.
No there isn’t.
The only difference is economic. Poor people smoke crack, rich people do blow.
Powder cocaine is generally WORSE for a person because of the things its cut with.
The level of refinement is different in each version.
Crack is further refined and is even more addictive than Cocaine in powder form. The high is also faster with crack because the drug is purer
This is simply untrue.
The high from crack is faster because it’s inhaled. There is no greater chance of chemical addiction or health risk.
We should smoke up right now!
“We should smoke up right now!”
Only way to be sure
So… how do you guys even know this stuff?
good point about what its cut with. I would only add people with heart conditions they dont know about die from it. Or combining it with other stuff as is often the case with death from these abuses.
Right. I’m not bothering to look it up, but I’d bet the majority of coke-deaths are from pre-existing heart conditions.
From the sound of it he could be dead after this. Drug addiction is a real son of a bitch.
Before reading the article… They are the BEST defense I have watched play this year, and I have Sunday ticket.
better than Seattle? no and I know they didnt have a great game Sunday. Rams are also solid
Jets were better than they showed against our offense,, hopefully they make a statement and shut out the skins with the Jets playing at home after a bye week… I like a Todd Bowles coached team to shut down cousins and the skins and Culliver and Hall are both out, and Braushad Breeland has a shoulder injury and can’t lift his arm up over his head… Can’t be easy for that depleted secondary to stop Brandon Marshall and Decker
To be honest I haven’t watched Seattle. I really dislike them. The Rams are also flawed in the games I watched.
Eagles now ranked #12 in Dvoa–woo hoo! O 22, D 7.
Giants #8, WAS #15, DAL #24. Not really a weak division if you consider Dallas’ injury problems. Esp. if we continue to rise.
Oddities: ATL #13, SEA #9, CAR #11.
Falcons have 3 close wins – us, ginas and the skins…Not as if they are blowing everyone away. They are a Julio hamstring away from dicey…
3 close wins against three decent teams, kind of a coin flip situation for a decent team, no?
A Dvoa of 13 is a decent team, yes? Oddity?
I meant oddity only in the general sense that some people would put a 5-0 team higher (not me).
They lose tomorrow. Heard it here first.
damn you beat me to it! …….heard it from me second!
The defense has been very good… the offense was dragging them down.
Lets see how they do in a tighter game though.
Everyone is probably pretty high this week BUT… it is all about consistently winning match ups. Lets see how they do with a little success.
Probably not as high as the folks in Colorado on any given Sunday.
big loss!!!
Pats T Nate Solder torn bicep out for the season..
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Unfortunately the Pats had like 8 OLineman that they used in each game so while this is a big loss for them, it’s not something they shouldn’t be able to overcome. But that Line is young and losing this caliber of veteran surely weakens them..
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Probably doesn’t weaken them enough to save the Colts for the biblical ass whooping the Pats are about to hand them for snitching on them and bringing all that deflategate drama to Their franchise
oh that should be a fun one sunday night. I hope the colts at least come to play and make it interesting.
I’m guessing it will be about 53-6.
Agholar and ODB didn’t practice today
We have a Huff
That’s the spirit!
I’m glad to have some company on the Huff Train, even if it’s only a week or two before it’s back to being a place that others point and laugh at.
huff needs the ball more then ags. he can take it to the house
I have been Huff hopeful since last year. I thought the hate he received was overblown. And even this year people have been down on him. Every time his number has been called this year he has been there.
Chip needs to get him the ball and stop living and dying with Cooper
The Huff hate has boggled me. The guy looks amazing with the ball in his hands.
huff all day
Victor Cruz has not been cleared to practice on field yet, so it’s highly unlikely that he’ll play Monday night.
Eagles defense is quite solid, possibly really good. There are very few teams that won’t have trouble covering Julio Jones and there are no corners that can handles him one-on-one, even those named Revis. I am almost ready to take back half the things I said about Billy Davis, but not quite.
Was thinking about this last week while watching another parade of poor/missed/awful/inconsistent/WTF!!! calls from officiating crews in both NFL and college games..
What I’d like to see is PFF expand their independent review to NFL officiating crews to assess their performance on a weekly basis. Would love to see a detailed breakdown and grading. How consistent are holding rules being applied on both sides? How many out of position flags are being thrown by each crew? How accurately are officials spotting the ball? Pass interference, pick plays, hands to the face? There are so many things that could be measured, even if a lot of it is subjective (same with the player PFF grades).
The old adage is that the calls will even themselves out, but how often is that really the case? I’m not looking to demonize as much as measure and analyze the effectiveness of each crew through a lens independent of the League’s pc-speak. Anyway (anyways for those born after 1990), just a thought…and stay off my lawn!
And it’s way past time for the owners to step up and expand the rosters.
they get analyzed on a weekly basis in house — do think they should make that analysis public.
Actually like to see an independent measurement and critical analysis – like Tommy provides on IB vs. Dave Spadaro on pe.com.
Why not, as the appetite for anything related to football continues to increase, I could see it being a thing. There could be a video segment similar to “Jacked up!” called “*%#@.e up!” showing refs making bad calls.
You’ve given me a business idea. I’m looking to do something on my own that’s related to sports, and this sounds like a winner. Not just NFL officials, but every sport.
I gotta go muse on this a bit.
Not certain if the All-22 looks encompass all the officials on every play, but you would need access to tape that provides that perspective.
You could incorporate rules education as part of the business plan, not just grading, analysis, and critique. PFF, Over The Cap, Football Outsiders, there are models to glean from.
With the advent of social media, and the access to information we all possess via the internet, the time is right to move informed discussions on such a vital part of the sports we love from the inner sanctums of league offices to the consumers that drive the demand for the product.
Just think, TOAG, your weekly analysis would contribute to and impact decisions in fantasy leagues worldwide!
[…] Do the Eagles have a good defense? Read Tommy Lawlor’s take on it here … […]
ESPN ranked the best front 7’s. Top 10. Eagles didn’t make it.
1. Broncos 2. Jets 3. Titans 4. Seahawks 5. Packers
6. Bucs 7. Steelers 8. Lions 9. Bengals 10. Raiders.
lol
Some of those are legit (Broncos, Jets, Seahawks, Bengals). But wtf Steelers, Titans, Raiders? And where are the Rams?
Lions have some beasts up front but ya wtf. Titans? I dont even know
Arizona ran for 200 yards on the Lions last week.
good
I wonder if these writers have research on what level of incorrectness gets you the most clicks?
1. Establish actual top 10.
2. Move #1 to #4, shuffle the ones between.
3. Replace #3 and #6 with #14 and #15.
4. Publish as if completely factual and objective.
BINGO!
I guess they call themselves “the nobodies” for a reason
Lions?
don’t you have to actually stop an offense to be considered a good front 7?
i cant be mad at that list except for titans and lions, we should be there but we don’t have a marquee pass rusher
All about name recognition.
Prince Amukamara has a pectoral injury, hasn’t been ruled out for Monday night, but indications so far are that he could miss several weeks
also as some of you may have heard, ODB Jr. has swelling in his hammy, same one that kept him away for the start of last season
From what I understand, Tom Coughlin believes leeches and a good blood letting will get them ready to go.
Coughlin is so old…school
While flipping around the dial today I happened to catch Mike Missanelli ripping the Birds for not getting Mariota. This from the same guy that back in April said guys like Fletcher Cox are a dime a dozen & you can get a player like him in every draft.
When it comes to NFL writers, the same “dime a dozen” rule applies.
who would say that about fletcher?
that would mean there are plenty of guys just as good as him…
brilliant
you can, if you’re picking top 5
The other team has to be willing to make the trade. Usually radio hosts hate callers when they complain about trades. Silly.
Bennie Logan was on WIP on my way home. I rarely listen, but he was great to listen to. They asked him if he trash talks during games. He said he did for a while, but not much anymore. Then he laughed and said for a while every time he tackled a player he would yell, “Go Tigers!” To them and every time DeMeco tackled a player he would yell, “Roll Tide!” The thought of our front seven trash talking each other and just using the offense as pawns made me laugh.