Skins Talk

103 Comments on “Skins Talk”

1. 
   1 mtn_green said at 9:55 AM on October 3rd, 2015:

   Just Eagles don’t make Kirk cousins look like joe Montana.

2. 
   2 sprawl said at 10:36 AM on October 3rd, 2015:

   Really excited to see what it looks like when we play Washington with competent safety play and DBs not biting the cheese. How many of the big plays they made against us last year were due to somebody getting lost in coverage over the top? I know that’s more of an issue if DJax were playing but we were getting burned by any and all comers…

3. 
   3 ICDogg said at 10:49 AM on October 3rd, 2015:

   While that did happen way too often, part of the problem was always that the offense wasn’t sustaining drives.

4. 
   4 P_P_K said at 11:02 AM on October 3rd, 2015:

   I was hoping DeSean wouid play so we could watch our secondary against him.

5. 
   5 BlindChow said at 11:04 AM on October 3rd, 2015:

   The last thing I need to see at this point in the season is DeSean burning our expensive, big-name free agent corner over and over…

6. 
   6 Mitchell said at 11:37 AM on October 3rd, 2015:

   Were at the point where we just need wins now. We don’t need to be tested. We have to face top tier WR’s all year anyway.

7. 
   7 Jernst said at 11:22 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

   This offense needs confidence. It needs to believe in itself and know what it’s good at, what it can hang it’s hat on, and they need to see not only THAT they’re capable of dominating an opposing defense, but how to do so.

   Almost no one on this offense has ever done it before either in THIS offense (DeMarco, Mathews, Bradford, Barbre, Agholar) or as a key clutch go-to player in the NFL (Matthews, Ertz, Agholar, Huff, Barbre, Tobin). Just realizing, alone, for themselves, what they can do and how they can do it can by itself have a profound impact on the way this offense performs.

8. 
   8 P_P_K said at 12:05 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

   You’re probably right. It’s just that DeSean is on my hate list these days.

9. 
   9 anon said at 4:58 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

   Djax vs Maxwell would be ugly .

10. 
    10 ICDogg said at 10:42 AM on October 3rd, 2015:

    All signs point to a game where the offenses are dominated by the defenses, especially with bad weather. But who knows.

11. 
    11 mtn_green said at 12:04 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    Snow bowl. I always thought chip jelly offense would do well with the RB flop into A gap. Never seems to work.

    Worried last two years success might have been McCoy making one defender miss in the hole, doesn’t seem like Murray can do it.

12. 
    12 Jernst said at 11:14 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    I don’t know. In 2013 McCoy was phenomenal with his insane ankle breaking cuts. But, even then, his best runs came when he was making those cuts 10-20 yards downfield after blowing past the front 7 through huge wide open holes.

    2014 McCoy…eh not so much. He still tried to make defenders miss in the hole but more often than not he ended up getting bottled up and lost yards because he just wasn’t as explosive last year. Hell, he looks even less explosive this year (maybe due to his hamstring, maybe because he’s starting to lose the one trait that made him special – insanely explosive change of direction. Sure he ended up with nice rushing totals at the end of the year, but again, he only started to churn out yards once the Oline started busting open huge holes and he was making his first cut 10 yards past the LOS. When the Oline was struggling last year he wasn’t getting anything going.

    I think it’s the same problem this year. Offensive line! When/if they gel and start opening holes we’ll start racking up rushing yards. Until then, it’ll continue to be ugly. But, make no mistake, Shady in his prime wouldn’t have been able to overcome the amount of penetration we’ve been seeing this year. When one guy is tackling you as you’re getting the handoff and two others are beating their blocks at the same time to clean up even if he misses the tackle, Barry Sanders is gonna have trouble being productive.

13. 
    13 Jernst said at 11:14 AM on October 3rd, 2015:

    On a decent field with nice weather, I don’t think this game is even close. Throw in a normally crappy field that’s sopping wet with the possibility for rain and even 25 mph wind gusts and weird things can/will happen. Any things possible.

    Assuming less than ideal conditions I still like our chances. The Redskins ground game is their only saving grace and makes their whole operation go. Alfred Morris can still hurt you but he’s not much of a big play threat. Jones on the other hand really possesses the speed to hurt a defense though. The good news is that this plays directly into the Eagles biggest strength, stopping the run. Secondly, a wet, plodding field neutralizes some of Jones’ speed. Thirdly, the Skins are hurting in the interior of their line. Their center is the worst ranked C in the league according to PFF (despite their questionable grading methods for Oline that’s a pretty good sign that he’s not lighting up and is losing his share of one on ones). He now goes up against Bennie Logan who is quickly becoming one of the best NTs in the league. Their LG is now on IR as well, so I’m not fearful that they’ll be able to get much push up the middle. That means lots of sweeps and outside running plays. This is something that the Eagles defend/matchup well with and something a wet/slow field will also help to keep in check.

    With DeSean out, they have no WR that truly scares you with regards to blowing the top off the defense. That means lots of 8 man boxes against a perimeter running team on a wet/slow field against the best rush defense in the NFL. I like that match up quite a bit for the Eagles.

    Their one true threat in the passing game is their TE, Jordan Reed. Again, I like our bevy of fast LBs and safeties that excel in pass coverage to be able to handle that threat relatively well. I think Garçon can easily be mitigated by our bigger, press corners. And, I think our pass rush will force Cousins into a few pressured throws as well.

    Defensively, the skins present a tough match up with their front 7 for us to run against. A lot of this hinges on Tobin, but I still don’t like our chances to put up good numbers rushing. However, their secondary is down to the bare bones. This is a situation where, with decent weather, I’d expect a huge break out performance by Sam Bradford and Nelson Agholar and for us to put up big passing numbers. Unfortunately, the minor benefit we get in bad weather against a stretch run team like the Skins also may take away our biggest advantage we have personnel-wise with our passing offense against their pass D.

    If the weather holds off reasonably well and Bradford plays even half decently, I think we’ll see our passing game hurt them enough, that they won’t be able to keep up. I just don’t see them being able to score on is consistently and I see no one on the defensive side of the ball that can cover Matthews, Ertz, Agholar, Sproles for an entire game without giving up some points.

    Last week, I said a Sproles punt return TD could likely be the difference and that turned out to be pretty true. This week on a slow field I doubt we see a big return like that again in the punt return game. We’ll have some opportunities to pick up some yards, but shorter punts and a slow field will keep us from busting one for a long TD. Instead, I think we see a decent kickoff return. Rain, plus bad field conditions might lead to shorter, more returnable kickoffs and the slow field won’t effect the straight line nature of kickoff returns as much as it will the quick cuts needed to make people miss in the punt return game. Bad weather = shorter kicks typically. Shorter kicks benefit kick returns, and often times hurt punt returns. A soggy field will mitigate the player with the ball’s ability to make quick drastic cuts like you see on punt returns but not as much straight line returns you see on kickoffs. And, finally, blocking on a soggy field will be easier for the kick return team than the punt return team. Punt blockers need to first move forward, then run back, then turn around and pick up guys moving straight down the field. All of that is harder on a sloppy field. Kickoff return blockers form a wedge and move forward in a relatively straight line while the coverage team either tries to blow up the wedge head to head (difficult to maintain footing on wet field makes this harder to beat the block w strength) or try to quickly juke and move around the blockers and jump back into their lanes (also harder on a sloppy field).

    I don’t anticipate many kickoff return opportunities since I don’t think the Redskins will score much, but if we see a big return look for it to happen in the kickoff game.

    Overall, if the weather allows us to get some rhythm passing I see the score being around 24-31 Eagles to 7-13 Redskins. If the Hurricane veers west and we get soaked it’ll be more to the tune of 14-17 Eagles to 7-10 Redskins. As you can see I think the weather will have a much more negative effect on the Eagles should it become an issue since our major advantage is the passing game and the Redskins’ major offensive weapon is the running game.

    Let’s hope for clear skies and our first regular season game where Bradford shows us all why his preseason wasn’t just fool’s gold.

14. 
    14 ChoTime said at 6:08 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    I think you’re mistaking the 2015 Eagles for the 2013 version.

15. 
    15 Jernst said at 7:15 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    Well… If this was 2013, I’d say Eagles would blow the doors off them running or passing, regardless of weather, and a young healthy RG3 would be a big concern against a defense that was struggling a bit with a bunch of misplaced pieces for a 3-4.

    Above though I’m definitely talking about the 2015 Eagles. Not much hope for a dominant run game, a passing game that needs to face a bunch of 3rd string DBs on a clear sunny day to have any type of high hopes for a breakout performance, but that given the fact that we have some weapons and they have no one that can cover should be able to put up just enough points to beat a crappy team whose offense features the intimidating connection of Cousins to Jordan Reed as its main threat to score points going up against a formidable front 7 that should neutralize their ground attack.

    See…totally different. (Even if my predicted score is possibly a bit homerish. Although I don’t think 24-31 points is completely unreasonable considering we just scored 24 against a much better Jets defense last week despite Bradford looking terrible against their array of pro bowl DBs)

16. 
    16 ChoTime said at 12:34 AM on October 4th, 2015:

    I think we should win too, but I’m not sure if I’m just being homer or not. Our D is playing well and simple regression to the mean should still be in our favor on O. By the way, I do appreciate your knowledgeable and detailed posts and wish I could reciprocate 🙂

17. 
    17 Corry said at 11:26 AM on October 3rd, 2015:

    I have confidence in our run defense, and, without DeSean stretching the field, I’m fairly sure the secondary can stop the passing game as well….I just have no idea what to expect from the offense.

    One caveat about the secondary though: Cousins always seems to save his best games for us.

18. 
    18 Mitchell said at 11:35 AM on October 3rd, 2015:

    With Jackson out I would think we would follow the model of last week and make sure to double Garcon with perhaps an OLB dropping underneath in coverage.

19. 
    19 eagleyankfan said at 9:59 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    and Reed. He’s a different breed of TE.

20. 
    20 Jernst said at 11:35 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    Reeds definitely a really good TE. Not trying to take anything away from him, however, when he’s the main focus/threat in a passing game, that really shouldn’t be so hard to neutralize.

    We’ve seen Barwin and company shut down Jimmy Graham, Jason Witten, Greg Olson, Delanie Walker, Martellus Bennett, Vernon Davis, and even Jordan Reed in recent years.

    It’s been a long time since an opposing TE as really hurt us. As long as the other team doesn’t have an elite (big and fast) WR like Julio Jones or Dez Bryant our scheme and personnel have been up for the task.

    If Jordan Reed is our biggest concern Sunday, I like that matchup for this defense!

21. 
    21 Jernst said at 11:22 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    Agreed! Our secondary has massive problems with elite WRs with size and speed. The Julio Jones’ and Dez Bryant’s of the world murder us unmercifully. But, the Pierre Garçons and Jordan Reeds of the world won’t be any issue for our guys. Does anyone in their passing game scare you? A bigger possession receiver and a small TE with OK speed? That’s it! There’s nothing else there. Without DeSean to steal the safeties attention and stretch the field vertically they’re gonna have to rely on Cousins hitting some seriously small windows consistently and march down the field 10 yards at a time while their biggest weapon, their run game, has to face the best run defense in the NFL.

22. 
    22 SteveH said at 11:39 AM on October 3rd, 2015:

    I think we can force Cousins into some interceptions. The Skins OL are not good pass protectors, Fletch will do some work. I predict Thurmond gets an INT.

23. 
    23 Jernst said at 10:55 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    Cousins loves to toss the ball up haphazardly when he’s under pressure. Should definitely see some INTs if he has to pass a bunch and we can get some pressure in his face. With their LG recently going to IR and their center being the worst ranked center in the NFL this year, Cox and Bennie should get some work in Sunday!

24. 
    24 SteveH said at 11:44 AM on October 3rd, 2015:

    Off-topic, but how insane is that rainfall forecast for South Carolina? Record breaking potential. Hope it doesn’t happen.

25. 
    25 Corry said at 12:31 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    Yeah. Heavy rain prior to a hurricane…no place for that water to go.

26. 
    26 Nailed it! said at 12:58 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    Hahah TCU running extreme hurry up and double passes to go up 30 in the first! This game is amazing.

27. 
    27 JoeBlow said at 1:12 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    haven’t tuned in yet, but Josh Doctson is a beast…gets a lot of comps to Jordan Matthews

28. 
    28 mksp said at 2:39 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    He’ll be better than JMatt I think. Better hands / body control.

29. 
    29 JoeBlow said at 2:41 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    i agree….he really impresses me with his acceleration off the line

30. 
    30 Insomniac said at 3:34 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    Doctson reminds me of AJ Green.

31. 
    31 holeplug said at 2:43 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    If Georgia beats Bama today the Saban to Texas rumor mill will be full speed ahead again

32. 
    32 JoeBlow said at 2:44 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    Hey that’s Chips job!!!

33. 
    33 Anders said at 6:58 AM on October 4th, 2015:

    I would love Boykin next draft

34. 
    34 Nailed it! said at 1:32 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    Tomorrow it looks like no rain, cloudy and low 60’s. Perfect football weather! Let’s go!

35. 
    35 Jernst said at 10:53 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    Best news of the day. This secondary for Washington is just what this offense needs to have a break out performance and generate some much needed confidence.

    With all the new pieces it’s clear that execution has been just off all year, and that this offense lacks an identity and belief in itself. It still doesn’t know what it’s good at and what it can hang it’s hat on. A big day and a big confidence boost could do wonders for our passing game.

    The run blocking issues might just be a lack of talent at guard and there’s not much confidence can do about that. But there’s tons of talent in our passing game. And, passing is almost all mental. Catching is all mental. And, a lack of confidence can have a profound effect on how QBs and WRs perform. These guys need to prove to themselves, even more than they need to prove to us or the NFL, that they’re capable of dominating.

36. 
    36 Avery Greene said at 12:42 AM on October 4th, 2015:

    I’m glad. This means I can hang out with the 930 game while tailgating. I hope the result is better this year than last year. I felt embarrassed after leaving the game last year.

37. 
    37 Corry said at 2:05 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    Off topic to the post, but I don’t see how anyone can watch Hackenberg and see a 1st round pick. He has some potential, and you saw that under O’Brien, but he’s just not the same QB under Franklin.

38. 
    38 JoeBlow said at 2:14 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    i think he is a pretty talented kid who just doesn’t fit Franklin’s offense

39. 
    39 Corry said at 2:19 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    Physically, the talent is there, but he keeps going backwards. As a PSU homer, it kills me to see that.

40. 
    40 JoeBlow said at 2:26 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    I’m a PSU homer as well, i agree he does have his fair share of WTF moments and accuracy issues, but he is a get the ball downfield kind of quarterback. This excuse has been beat to death but the talent around him isn’t very good….i still think O’Brien takes him in the draft wherever they pick

41. 
    41 Corry said at 2:33 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    I agree that he doesn’t have a lot of talent around him, but I guess I expect him to be able to lift his team. Of course the other thing that’s not helping Hackenberg is that John Donovan is an awful OC. His play calling was terrible against Temple.

    I also agree that O’Brien will take him ASAP unless someone else takes a flyer on him early.

42. 
    42 JoeBlow said at 2:58 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    Purdue with a shot to knock off overrated #2 Michigan State

43. 
    43 Dragon_Eagle said at 3:22 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    U Texas badly needs a new coach. Its a prime landing spot, too. Just saying 😉

44. 
    44 Nailed it! said at 3:32 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    Booooooooo

45. 
    45 Julescat said at 3:36 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    maybe Gruden will go there

46. 
    46 Dragon_Eagle said at 3:39 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    Not sure if Chip would hire him as an assistant after Washington fires him.

47. 
    47 MagsHarvestMoon said at 3:43 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/4f/ed/39/4fed391854342f23c1a2a667cc560d65.jpg

48. 
    48 Crus57 said at 8:07 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    As an Englishman I endorse this message.

49. 
    49 JoeBlow said at 4:04 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    “A perfect throw, and a better catch” -Gary Danielson

    I had no idea you could do better than perfect

50. 
    50 Corry said at 4:39 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    I believe that would be the fabled “110%” effort.

51. 
    51 JoeBlow said at 5:57 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    May see some 4 verticals plays tomorrow from Chip against Wash. Cover 3 defense. Giants had some success with it last week

52. 
    52 Jernst said at 9:54 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    I certainly hope so. We saw it at least 4 or 5 times against the Falcons who also play predominantly cover 3, Bradford always seemed to find the open guy quickly and immediately pull the trigger, but we had a couple drops, Ertz running his route incorrectly and Austin failing to fully extend for a ball that grazed his fingertips, before we completed one. But, by that time the safety got there quickly since he had seen it a couple times already and Matthews only gained about 15-18 yards before immediately being pushed out of bounds.

    Let’s hope we’ve knocked some of that rust off in the past 3 weeks and actually connect this time. Because, those plays will certainly be there. Especially, considering that their top CB and potentially their #2 CB will be out, along with the safety that was supposed to start at the beginning of the season.
    If there was ever a team that Bradford could suddenly have a break out performance against, it’s this depleted Redskins secondary. Let’s hope the hurricane holds off and a biblical amount of rain doesn’t keep it from coming to fruition.

53. 
    53 JoeBlow said at 10:05 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    i’m thinking there are plays to be made underneath as well, the only athletic LB they have is Keenan Robinson, everyone else is pretty piss poor in coverage. That wheel play may have another week to shine

54. 
    54 Jernst said at 10:44 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    Yes! Their LBs are very good run defenders, but they lack an elite pass rusher and they lack speed at the position as well. They have no one at LB that can cover Sproles, Mathews, and Ertz, and no one that they trot out at nickel CB can stop JMatt. I can’t wait to see Ryan Kerrigan trying to stick with Sproles on a wheel route down the field. He’s gonna get smoked.

    My only worry with the wheel route is that we’re starting to go back to that well too many times. I’m shocked that defensive coordinators haven’t figured out a way to bait us into a pick on that play yet. You’d think teams would be ready for it since we run it a dozen times a game. But, so far teams seem to have no answer for it. If they move their safety over the top of the wheel the intermediate stuff over the middle is open. So far it’s been like taking candy from a baby. If Mathews and Sproles could catch the ball better that play would have generated 150 yards and 3 TDs by itself last week.

55. 
    55 Avery Greene said at 12:38 AM on October 4th, 2015:

    I think the point of the packaged plays is to see if there’s an extra player in that area. If so, then SB can hit another person that should be open somewhere else.

56. 
    56 Insomniac said at 5:58 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    This is one quiet day before the game thread.

57. 
    57 BlindChow said at 11:18 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    Not a lot to look forward to. We’re all holding our breath.

58. 
    58 JoeBlow said at 6:07 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    Lot of o-linemen watching for me today, especially later on during the Notre Dame-Clemson matchup. LT Ronnie Stanley will most likely be gone early, but maybe Nick Martin (Zach Martin little bro) will be a target come April, he is considered the top G/C senior in college football

59. 
    59 D3FB said at 6:39 AM on October 4th, 2015:

    Check out Max Turek

60. 
    60 ChoTime said at 6:17 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    I can’t get hyped for this game, if they win, I’ll be more interested. My wishlist is:
    1. don’t allow this backup QB dude (Cousins) look like a HOFer.
    2. let’s see a semblance of competence from the O.
    If those two things happen, I’ll be happy.

    Time to put on my flamesuit: I have done my research and I do think the name “Redskins” is crap and a racial slur. A short review of history, 1442 on, reveals the incomprehensible tragedy that occurred to the Natives and the nasty policies we used to expel them. Continuing to use that name is a slap in the face to the memories of those events. I work on a reservation once a week and it’s clear as day to me that the name has to go.

    I am not going to discuss it and I hope no one else does, but I would urge all ya’lls to look into the matter. Googling whether the name is racist or offensive will lead you to enough evidence.

61. 
    61 suthrneagle said at 7:07 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    Since you have done your research and think the name “Redskins” is crap and a racial slur, let`s change the name of a state while we`re at it.

    The name Oklahoma comes from the Choctaw phrase okla humma, literally meaning red people.

62. 
    62 EagleNebula said at 8:54 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    Not the same thing. From Wikipedia “Equivalent to the English word Indian, okla humma was a phrase in the Choctaw language used to describe Native American people as a whole”. Comepletely different conotation and origin.

63. 
    63 suthrneagle said at 9:04 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    It is the land of the red-skinned people
    (their own words).
    The difference is today people are influenced by whatever is politically `correct` for them…in time(tomorrow,next week, next year) it`ll be something else for anyone with an agenda,generally for personal reasons.

64. 
    64 EagleNebula said at 9:14 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    No, one is a term by a people to describe themselves in their own language. The other is a term used by others to degrade and dehumanized the people on whom they were attempting genocide. It is a huge difference and very obvious. Putting the spin that “oh it translates the same” is about the laziest argument I have seen. No need to further discuss

65. 
    65 suthrneagle said at 11:05 PM on October 6th, 2015:

    I personally do not know the owners of the Washington Redskins.
    However, I think the degrading and the dehumanizing of the native peoples of this continent was never considered when attempting to decide on the name for their team.
    The objective is to create an appealing product to attract the public and make money.
    I also think that they have never attempted to commit genocide on any of the various nations native to this land-though each of these nations did attempt eliminate their enemies(you know…like,kill them. Only they would not have considered it genocide,just winning the war.)

    No spin involved here.

66. 
    66 EagleNebula said at 11:13 PM on October 6th, 2015:

    The original owner of the Washington team was a known racist. This has been stated several places. Regardless of the consideration several decades ago, we now know better and should hold ourselves to the standards of today.

    And the treatment of the native Americans was In fact genocide. The killing of women and children is never justified in war. The systematic segregation and murder of a people is never justified in nation building.

67. 
    67 eagleyankfan said at 9:58 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    Agree but disagree with “politically” correct. Well, that part is true – – but most of this is because most people are sheep. People like ChoTime didn’t give a rats ass 5 ears ago about the word Redskins. But now that they read that someone else is offended, ChoTime feels the urge to be offended too. Sheep.

68. 
    68 eagleyankfan said at 9:42 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    blah blah blah

69. 
    69 HawaiianEagle said at 11:58 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    Zźzzzz. Oh, sorry.

70. 
    70 HawaiianEagle said at 12:01 AM on October 4th, 2015:

    Sammy B is of Cherokee descent. Maybe he should “throw” the game in support of all those oppressed.

71. 
    71 eagleyankfan said at 9:53 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    I think the Eagles need this game on many levels. We need to know who this team really is. I know, the season isn’t a sprint but this will be game 4. We should know more at a 1/4 point of the season.
    ..
    Will the real Bradford please stand up.
    ..
    Reports say Aggie should have an easier time this week as the talent at defense isn’t as good as what he’s faced.
    ..
    So much for the coming out party for Ertz. I’ve expected better the last 2 years from him. He just can’t take control of that position.
    ..
    Eagles don’t have to dominate the Redskins. Just win a little prettier than last week. Improve.

72. 
    72 Jernst said at 10:32 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    Well said! This is a game, weather permitting, that any half decent offense should be licking its chops over. I’m confident in our defense to hold their offense to few points. I think we have a good idea about our defense. Stifling against the run, an exceptional and deep dline, a front 7 that can generate pressure from anywhere and from any player with scheme and talent even if we lack a true dominant edge rusher, and a set of DBs that can be very opportunistic with generating INTs (as long as we don’t go up against an elite WR with size and speed, who always seem to murder us, because we lack the top end talent to keep up with them and the schematic chops at defensive coordinator to compensate for that short coming).

    But, the offense is a total mystery. We have the best 3some of RBs in the league by far, that can’t seem to get anything going in the run game, we have a seemingly elite pass catching TE that can never seem to take the next step, the best pass threat weapon at RB in Sproles, who despite consistently being the best player on our offense is good for at least one drop per game on a would be huge play, a set of really nice young WRs, one of which is solidly unspectacular and two others that are completely invisible thus far, a blocking TE that’s getting abused in the run game, an Oline with 1 future hall of famer and two other probowl caliber starters who can’t seem to get things going, and a former #1 overall pick with all the potential in the world playing QB, all being lead by a renowned offensive guru. And, we look absolutely atrocious.

    The whole world is upside down it seems when thinking about this offense. We’ve all come to grips with how bad we’ve looked and tried to rationalize it by saying, of course! Of course, Bradford sucks, he always has. Of course, Chips schemes have been figured out, it’s always been a college offense. Of course, the Oline sucks after getting rid of Mathis and Herremans. Of course, rookie WRs can’t be counted on and Huff was always a reach pick. But, if we’re all being honest, did any of us actually expect that we’d look this lost offensively through 3 games? I sure didn’t! After the show they put on this preseason I honestly thought we looked like the best team in the league. We looked like a rock solid, well oiled machine that was damn near unstoppable. Sure there’s be some growing pains with all the new pieces, but complete ineptitude…no freaking way…unfathomable! Even accepting that there’d be some growing pains, it was clear as day that the talent was there and we’d be a force to be reckoned with.

    So, I’ll ask now, would anyone be totally shocked if a few things started to click and this offense finally exploded? I sure wouldn’t. In fact, I’d be a lot more shocked if the offense continued to look like it did against Dallas for the rest of the year. It might not end up being on par with the 2007 Patriots, but there’s just way too much talent on that side of the ball to continue to look so putrid. And, despite the overall yuck that we’ve seen through the first few weeks, there’s been short glimpses of that potential (specifically in the second half of the Falcons game and the first half of the Jets game). For me there’s been this overwhelming feeling watching and then rewatching these first three games that the execution is just a hair off, that were so close. One guy holds his block better or doesn’t miss his assignment and it’d be a big run. If balls that should have been caught were or passes were just an inch or two in the other direction the results would be vastly different. It seems like a small change in execution on most plays could change the outcome drastically, a 4 yard loss could have just as easily been a 20 yard run, an incomplete pass could have just as easily been an 80 yard TD, an INT that bounces off a receivers hand could have just as easily been a first down on the way to a game winning drive. Despite the dismal performance as far as outcome is concerned, it seems like the plays are there to be made and the only shocking thing about our performance is the consistency with which someone new messes it up on nearly every single play.

    A defense like the Redskins is just what the doctor ordered. They don’t have a single good, healthy DB to trot out on Sunday. Tomorrow is truly when we find out for sure if my optimism is misplaced or not, whether this is a team with the potential for greatness that just needs to iron out its execution or a team who is devoid of talent and is just as bad as they’ve looked.

    The Skins are a team that a decent offense, with an adequate QB and a few decent weapons should dismantle. If we can’t throw the ball on them, we will have learned a very sad lesson about what the expectations should be for this team.

73. 
    73 mtn_green said at 10:14 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    Hopefully after a 0-2 start Eagles won’t take any game for granted.

74. 
    74 Jernst said at 11:24 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    Yea that’d be inexcusable at this point. This team (nor really any team, but especially THIS team) has not earned the right to look past anyone at this point.

75. 
    75 HawaiianEagle said at 11:55 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    Look past skins to the aints? I hope not.

76. 
    76 JoeBlow said at 10:43 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    I still think this is another close game regardless of weather….games against the skins seem to be dog fights most of the time…hopefully our qb makes less mistakes than theirs and our D-line will continue to dominate

    wild prediction – win 26-18…..Barwin strip sack to seal it

77. 
    77 JoeBlow said at 11:27 PM on October 3rd, 2015:

    This Notre Dame/ Clemson game is getting very exciting…Clemson has dominated entire game

78. 
    78 ChoTime said at 12:45 AM on October 4th, 2015:

    Come on, Sammy, get it together this game.

79. 
    79 Avery Greene said at 12:46 AM on October 4th, 2015:

    This is my hope as well. I just want to see more consistency in both the running and passing game.

80. 
    80 Will:↑↑↓↓←→←→BA said at 12:57 AM on October 4th, 2015:

    Im itchin’ to see Ags running free tomorrow

81. 
    81 Insomniac said at 1:06 AM on October 4th, 2015:

    I can see this happening but Checkdown Sammy might just dump it off to our RBs instead.

82. 
    82 Will:↑↑↓↓←→←→BA said at 1:08 AM on October 4th, 2015:

    Better than throwing it to double covered Cooper like he did in the Jets game

83. 
    83 Jernst said at 1:31 AM on October 4th, 2015:

    Can someone on here that has a better understanding of Oline blocking schemes (perhaps D3FB) please explain to me what Mark Schlereth is blabbering about?

    http://www.phillymag.com/birds247/2015/10/03/mark-schlereth-rips-chip-kellys-offense/

    Specifically, what does he mean when he says the Eagles are the only team that man-blocks to the front side every play? I’m well versed in the differences between man and zone blocking run schemes so I don’t need anyone to explain that to me. But, my understanding was that Chip Kelly and the Eagles ran a zone blocking scheme, with our staple plays being inside and outside ZONE. Has this changed this year without me noticing? Even our sweep play has very zone centric blocking principles: i.e. Down blocking into a zone with the uncovered guys pulling to a zone. Correct?

    Furthermore, what is he talking about by clarifying his statement by saying “to the front side”? Obviously, I know this means to the play side of the run, but why make that distinction? Are there schemes where a single play involves one side of the line zone blocking and the other half man-blocking? Is that even possible? Is that at all what we’re doing offensively? Is the back side zone blocking and the play side man blocking this year?

    And, finally, don’t many teams run a man-blocking scheme? Even if we were man-blocking on our runs, how is it possible that were the only team in the league doing so? Did the entire league adopt zone blocking this offseason while Chip abandoned the foundation of his offense to run a man-blocking scheme?

    Is Mark Schlereth just suffering from punch drunk boxer syndrome from too many hits to the head with an unhealthy hatred of Chip Kelly formed solely from the ether of his sick malfunctioning cerebral cortex that causes him to just blurt out nonsense like he’s afflicted with hateful football Tourette’s?

84. 
    84 JoeBlow said at 3:26 AM on October 4th, 2015:

    the guy has had an axe to grind since Chip was hired. When our favorite analyst Heath Evans said ” he will be the worst hire in NFL history” Mark Schlereth was right there with him, although he never came out and said exactly that, but he was extremely critical.

    I understand a guy having an opinion and philosophy on the game, but this guy seems to take it so personally and other former players do as well. I think a lot of it comes from the media driven ” he’s a genius” label that casts over Chip’s head, which is unfair because he has never acted or thought of himself that way. He takes it so personally that he just straight up lies about things and him and Evans have total revisionist history when it comes to his Oregon days. Both of them always bring up “whenever Chip played Stanford, they were just too physical for his offense and they couldn’t move the ball.” In Chip’s final year at Oregon he lost 17-14 to Stanford. The 3 years prior he scored 53,52 and 42 points against the physically vaunted Cardinal defense. He also cites the year they lost in the NC to Auburn was because Auburn was a “physical team” (he seems to just use that term “physical” to describe a team that beat Chip at Oregon) Auburn was anything but a Physical team in 2010 as they were pretty much the Ducks of the SEC relying on Cam Newton to win shootouts for them. Even in the article you linked too, he just straight up lies about what happened in last sunday’s game….Bradford changed up the count many times and they never have man-blocked one-on-one to the play side. I’m probably rambling here, but this is what ESPN in 2015 is….big mouths sitting at a table showing off their SB rings and making ridiculous statements so they can hawk some bullshit product (chili sauce) on the radio. Really thats most networks nowadays.

85. 
    85 Jernst said at 10:03 AM on October 4th, 2015:

    Here’s a great read on how Chip changed up the tempo to keep the jets offense off guard. It’s not exactly the snap count, but like you said, it makes it pretty obvious that Schlereth is just pulling things out of his arse.

    http://www.crossingbroad.com/2015/09/chip-kelly-mixes-up-the-tempo-bradford-sproles.html

86. 
    86 D3FB said at 6:36 AM on October 4th, 2015:

    I have literally no clue what the hell he’s on about.

    As far as OL on the front side ending up having to block a man all by themselves? That’s a product of zone blocking depending on what front the D plays and what the DL is doing. On a Zone right if you’ve got a 3 and 5tech to the run side (no TE) literally how in the fuck are you going to use two guys to block?

    He’s trolling. I went back and looked at Alex Gibbs (his OL coach in Den) and it looked like they were pretty adamant about the guard gettig his hands on the T’s man before working up to second level. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNa3gZfQfH0
    That worked when LB’s were 15lbs heavier and two tenths slower. Here’s what happens when you chip just for the sake of chipping before working up to the LB they shoot gaps. It looks like this

    http://fat.gfycat.com/DecimalAmbitiousAtlanticbluetang.webm

    Also he’s fucking full of shit:
    http://chipwagon.typepad.com/.a/6a019aff7e1054970d01b8d16014b7970c-800wi

    http://chipwagon.typepad.com/.a/6a019aff7e1054970d01b8d1601559970c-800wi

87. 
    87 RobNE said at 9:22 AM on October 4th, 2015:

    I’ve just stopped following national folks. If you think that their goal is to be talked about and not to be right or smart his comments make a lot more sense.

88. 
    88 Jernst said at 1:54 AM on October 4th, 2015:

    Interesting discussion on another football message board about why Chip Kelly’s offense might be struggling:

    http://www.footballsfuture.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=570207&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

    Nothing ground breaking but a really good collection of statements from pretty well respected football writers/analysts talking about the over simplification of our scheme. Plus one poster provides a ton of gifs with analysis on failed run plays on the 2nd or third page that’s worth a look.

    While I recognize that on each individual play there’s almost always a situation where someone (never seems to be the same guy two plays in a row) just simply fails to execute his assignment and leads to a blown play that otherwise could have been successful had he executed properly, it is still shocking to me how much the offense has changed (and truthfully, not changed so much as been wittled down to nothing.

    Check out this great collection of All-22’s from Sheil from 2013 discussing Chips playbook his first year. You don’t have to click on each one and read the whole article but just look at how many different plays we used to run that put pressure on every inch of a defense, that were all very successful and have basically been scrapped entirely from the playbook this year. It’s baffling to me.

    http://www.phillymag.com/birds247/2014/06/16/22-resources-chip-kellys-playbook/

89. 
    89 RobNE said at 8:40 AM on October 4th, 2015:

    This can be a good thing. For some reason such as new qb and two OL chip has dialed back. That can change at some point. Better narrative (for us) than eagles and chip just suck.

90. 
    90 Jernst said at 9:54 AM on October 4th, 2015:

    Yea, I truly don’t think this team lacks talent (minus guards), and I still think Chip is a fantastic coach. So I have faith that this team will start to click at some point and the difference will be drastic.

    When there was no scheming or game planning going on in the preseason we looked like world beaters. So clearly there’s talent on this team. It seems like a few game plan wrinkles from the opposing defense and some stunts from the defensive line mixed with Bradfords expected rustiness really detailed the whole thing.

    But some minor scheme changes to help the Oline beat the stunts and some time for Bradford to get back up to speed is a lot easier to achieve than overhauling the entire team because it’s devoid of talent or firing the coach because he’s a fraud.

    My working theory right now isn’t that this was a conscious decision from the get go to dial things back due to all the new starters on offense. The entire offense, every last player, was new to the scheme in 2013 and they came out firing. I think Chip spent the summer installing a bunch of plays that used Bradford as a read option decoy. We saw it all during the preseason. Then Suggs dives at Sam’s knees after he’s clearly handed the ball off and was standing still watching DeMarco run with the ball and the league came out and said that such a hit by the defensive player is totally legal. If the QB hands the ball off, but there’s even a hint that he might pull it back and keep the ball the defense can treat him like a runner even when he clearly doesn’t have the ball. That means all normal QB protection (hits to the head, hits below the knees) are void. So the league basically gave defenders the green light to bust up QBs knees and give them a concussion every time the QB hands the ball off.

    This seemed to catch Chip off guard. Suddenly 90% of what he installed throughout the summer wasn’t feasible because it meant every single play Bradford was gonna get creamed even if he didn’t have the ball. Next time they hit the field all packaged plays, read options, ect where gone from the playbook. The blocking assignments had to change suddenly since the QB wasn’t able to “block” or account for the unblocked backside edge defender. Viola…we have a dysfunctional offense with no plays in the playbook and lineman trying to learn new blocking assignments on the fly.

91. 
    91 bill said at 9:01 AM on October 4th, 2015:

    Yes, it is somewhat baffling the degree of the “whittling,” but I’d make a point similar to Rob’s below (or above, depending on how it displays for you!); I think Chip is “rebuilding” this year, from the ground up. He wants to establish the identity of this offense through the “bread and butter” plays. The players (perhaps even the coaching staff) ARE going to learn how to execute these plays consistently at the NFL level. Once that is accomplished, the wrinkles can be added. Again, this sounds extremely familiar to what Bill Parcells was doing 20 years ago in New England. We’ll see what results follow.

    The one thing I’ve come away with from the first three week is – Barbre is bad. Really bad. Don’t know if there’s some sort of unreported health issue or something, but while he’s not solely responsible for their struggles (as you note, it tends to be a different person each play), he seems to be the most common culprit. I’m not currently holding out hope that he will get better. And that’s a problem.

92. 
    92 Jernst said at 9:39 AM on October 4th, 2015:

    Yea I definitely agree. And, it’s certainly very possible that Chip is trying to build from the ground up. However, the thing that still baffles me is that when he came in here in 2013, every single player on the roster was new to his system and yet he still had them ready to hit the ground running full speed that first half of the Redskins game. Now, sure, he’s got a lot of new guys coming in, but on offense were really only talking QB, RB and one WR is new to this offense. Everyone else has been here for over a year. The two guards might be new starters, but both of them have been playing in this system for awhile. He really shouldn’t have to dumb it down this much unless Bradford really truly can’t grasp the scheme at all.

    As for Barbre…yea he’s atrocious. I’m still trying to wrap my head around what all the players and coaches saw in practice that made them have so much faith in him.

93. 
    93 bill said at 10:03 AM on October 4th, 2015:

    A lot more vets in 2013, especially on O, and I do think Chip was trying to learn the NFL at that point. I’m thinking (hoping?) that what he’s doing now is in line with truly building the team according to his blueprint (which, unfortunately, may be a more than 1 season process).

94. 
    94 Corry said at 9:20 AM on October 4th, 2015:

    Not that it matters, but today will be green pants and white jerseys for the Birds.

95. 
    95 ChoTime said at 11:14 AM on October 4th, 2015:

    Why do you say it doesn’t matter?

96. 
    96 Corry said at 11:19 AM on October 4th, 2015:

    Because I don’t think it does?

97. 
    97 Mitchell said at 9:53 AM on October 4th, 2015:

    Dolphins getting it handed to thwm by the Jets.

98. 
    98 Avery Greene said at 10:12 AM on October 4th, 2015:

    Jets defense is legit.

99. 
    99 Patrick said at 11:23 AM on October 4th, 2015:

    Well, if we beat them, apparently not. Although the difference ended up being our ST.

100. 
     100 EagleNebula said at 11:52 AM on October 4th, 2015:

     Don’t shortchange put D, they played great last week.

101. 
     101 A_T_G said at 11:23 AM on October 4th, 2015:

     Jordan Mathews against a depleted secondary or Arian Foster in a “limited/specialty” role against the worst run defense in the league in his first action back from injury? Foster, right?

102. 
     102 Corry said at 11:24 AM on October 4th, 2015:

     Ha, I’d take Matthews. He’ll get his receptions and then get screwed out of TDs that Chip refuses to challenge on.

103. 
     103 Corry said at 11:24 AM on October 4th, 2015:

     Kendricks WILL play today.