Graham is Good

Posted: November 20th, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 91 Comments »

Brandon Graham has had a wild journey since coming to the NFL in 2010. He’s had to deal with injuries, coaching changes, scheme changes, position changes and the weight of huge expectations. There were times when Graham looked like another 1st round bust.

But he never gave up.

Graham kept grinding.

He is now the starting LB on the right side of the Eagles defense. Two years ago, he looked so lost playing LB that I thought he would never make it in the 3-4. I thought I would have a better chance of dating Megan Fox, fresh off winning her first Nobel Prize. Sadly, Megan and I are left with nothing while BG is a player on the rise.

Evaluating Graham is tough. The first thing you look for with 3-4 OLBs is sacks. Those guys are paid to get to the
QB. Graham didn’t help matters by bragging that his goal was 2 sacks per game (32 for the year). Graham has not posted great numbers. He has 4.5 sacks and 3 FFs. Both are solid numbers after 9 games.

Bill Davis doesn’t sell out to attack the QB. He rushes 5 at times and does some blitzing, but the Eagles also rush 3 or 4 a decent amount of the time. That allows Davis to keep plenty of people in coverage. Davis is more interested in a combination of pressure and coverage than just pounding the QB (anti-Buddy Ryan theory).

Graham is a good pass rusher. He’s developed into an effective coverage LB, which really shocks me. Part of Graham’s development is due to working at the craft of football. Paul Domowitch wrote a good piece on that.

Graham said he goes into every game now with a strategy. He tries to be one or two moves ahead of his opponent, tries to know what to expect from him and how to beat it.

“We talk it out a lot more,” he said. “What I used to do, especially as a young guy, it was playing the game, but not really talking it out. Like, man, what’s my next move?

“What our coach (outside linebackers coach Bill McGovern) does a great job of is, he keeps reminding me, ‘What are you thinking for the next pass-rush move or the next set or the next drive?’

“You have to switch it up as a pass-rusher. You can’t be predictable. I know I’ve been bull-rushing everybody this year. So now it’s time to really start developing and do something different.”

Graham never was big on taking notes in meetings or while watching film. But the more time he spent around rookie linebacker Jordan Hicks, the more he saw the benefit in it.

That’s right. A sixth-year player learned something from a rookie.

“Before he got hurt, Jordan always had notes,” Graham said. “He’s a student of the game. Obviously, you can tell from the way he played that he knows what’s going on out there. He was ahead of the game as a rookie.

“He motivated me to take my game to another level. I took some notes before. But now, I take them all the time and I study them as much as I can.”

There is no shame in learning from a rookie. Take inspiration wherever you can get it. You never know when someone is going to have a great idea that can benefit you.

Graham is not a dominant pass rusher, but he has become a good LB. His development has helped the Eagles defense become a good unit. And Graham can still get better. It will be interesting to see what kind of player he is in a couple of years.

*****

Interesting numbers from Domo’s column:

* The Bucs have a league-high 10 missed kicks this season – 2 PATs and 8 FG attempts. No other team has more than seven. The Eagles have six misses – 2 PATs and 4 FG attempts.

* Bucs rookie Jameis Winston, has the third lowest third-down passer rating in the league (64.1). The only two quarterbacks with at least 50 third-down attempts whose passer rating on third down is lower than Winston’s are the Eagles’ Sam Bradford (57.6) and the Lions’ Matthew Stafford. Six of Winston’s nine interceptions have come on third down.

* Five of Winston’s nine interceptions have come on 10- to 19-yard passes between the numbers, according to Pro Football Focus.

Winston threw 2 picks last week. Before that, he’d gone a while without any. He is very talented, but is still a rookie. 3rd down defense will be key in this game. The Eagles need to limit his effectiveness and make plays when they can.

_


91 Comments on “Graham is Good”

  1. 1 Patrick said at 3:07 AM on November 21st, 2015:

    I will say that i want more sacks, but Graham plays a pretty huge part in our good run defense. Very stout against the run and pretty much always sets his edge.

  2. 2 anon said at 5:29 AM on November 21st, 2015:

    The sad thing is MECO is really the key to the run defense. We go from near the tops in the league at stopping RBs to bottom half.

    I liked this stat: The only two quarterbacks with at least 50 third-down attempts whose passer rating on third down is lower than Winston’s are the Eagles’ Sam Bradford (57.6) and the Lions’ Matthew Stafford.

  3. 3 A_T_G said at 7:29 AM on November 21st, 2015:

    That is three, number one overall picks, isn’t it?

  4. 4 D3FB said at 8:55 AM on November 21st, 2015:

    CAUSATION! WE HAVE FOUND CAUSATION!!!!

  5. 5 Insomniac said at 4:38 AM on November 21st, 2015:

    I didn’t think Graham would want to stay with us and he would have gone to the highest bidding 4-3 team. I was wrong. For his deal, we could do worse but as of now, Graham isn’t exactly outplaying his contract. He could still get better but I don’t expect him to ever be what we wanted Marcus Smith to be.

  6. 6 ChoTime said at 9:51 AM on November 21st, 2015:

    I had to read that last sentence several times.

  7. 7 JimK said at 5:31 AM on November 21st, 2015:

    I don’t remember the last time an opposing kicker missed a FG against us.

  8. 8 Jamie Parker said at 7:30 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    Because they don’t. Our opponents are 17-17 on FGs, and 19-19 on XPs.

  9. 9 anon said at 7:35 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    wow know what range is on those kicks?

  10. 10 Media Mike said at 6:43 AM on November 21st, 2015:

    “Graham is not a dominant pass rusher, but he has become a good LB.”

    I like how Graham is playing, but I’d prefer one of our two OLBs be a perinnial 12 to 16 sack QB killer.

  11. 11 Iskar36 said at 8:43 AM on November 21st, 2015:

    Agreed. Graham is by no means a bad player, but at one of the most important positions in a 3-4 defense, I want a guy who can be a little more dominant. Graham has done a great job at adjusting but I still want to see more.

  12. 12 Media Mike said at 9:46 AM on November 21st, 2015:

    Yeah, and I’m not sure if that is really a knock on Graham or that I wish we’d get to the QB more often overall.

  13. 13 daveH said at 1:28 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    It graham or jpp at our pick ..or earl thomas ..

  14. 14 Mitchell said at 9:05 AM on November 21st, 2015:

    To be fair, every team would love one of those but I feel you.

  15. 15 Media Mike said at 9:45 AM on November 21st, 2015:

    Yeah. If you look at the last 10 years or so, 12 sacks + is in the top 8 pass rushers each year. The goal is lofty, but that is a position where I think a top 25% of the league guy is important.

  16. 16 D3FB said at 3:08 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    2 edge players per team plus a handful of non edge players is more like 8 out of 70 not 8 out of 32.

    Everyone wants one of those guys but they are pretty much like QBs in terms of scarcity. Next time we are drafting that high, I want the QB.

  17. 17 Media Mike said at 5:50 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    I’m calling “top pass rusher” a “position” for each team. So I’ll stick with top 8 out of 32.

    But you’re correct there is a scarcity of talent at that position.

    And I agree with the QB as the pick if we’re that high.

  18. 18 Mitchell said at 9:07 AM on November 21st, 2015:

    Another game where thw Eagles”should” win but it doesnt mean they will. I would love a good old fasioned stomping but we’ll see. Are our playoff hopes still strong or have we come to tje impass?

  19. 19 SnatchMaster said at 12:41 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    shut up and admit defeat you loser.

  20. 20 levdog said at 9:29 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    We are winning big tomorrow!

  21. 21 BlindChow said at 9:15 AM on November 21st, 2015:

    Nothing improves an opposing QB’s 3rd-down conversion percentage more than playing the Eagles.

  22. 22 D3FB said at 9:32 AM on November 21st, 2015:

    Actually not true.

    Eagles D is 19th in the league with 39.5% allowed conversions on 3rd down.
    Texans are 1st with 27% (next closest is 32%)
    Giants are worst with 47.8%.

    So the Eagles D is average on third down.

    Unless the argument is the Eagles have the greatest 3rd down run D in the history of the known universe then the overall thesis doesn’t hold up.

  23. 23 BlindChow said at 9:41 AM on November 21st, 2015:

    Um, I was being hyperbolic. That’s new to Philly, I know…

    So the Eagles are statistically below average but just feel like they’re worse…

    Opposing QB’s always seem to make the 3rd down conversions they need to make, particularly late when the game is on the line (and the Eagles QB & OL choke in such situations).

    And you can’t tell me you don’t hold your breath in every 3rd and long, considering how often teams seem to convert them!

    (This last sentence is a figure of speech. I don’t literally think you hold your breath in such situations. You may even feel nothing, and simply analyze the numbers while watching. That’s fine, too.)

  24. 24 D3FB said at 10:18 AM on November 21st, 2015:

    Oh I know you were being cheeky. And I’m aware of the way it feels which is why I looked at the stats and they show that it’s more Baader Meinhof effect than an actual occurence.

    I say we’re average because we’re 19th but the difference between 19th and 10th is like 6 plays.

    These numbers don’t specificially speak to QB numbers but as I said short of us having a historically good run D in those situations it’s reasonable to assume that number is a fairly decent indicator.

    And if we’re middle of the pack in 3rd down conversion the only way QBs are leaving games with better 3rd down effiency than they entered would be due to massive statistical outlier in sequencing. Like impossibly so.

  25. 25 BlindChow said at 10:48 AM on November 21st, 2015:

    Do you know if those 3rd down numbers include conversions because of defensive penalties?

    Every time we do get a stop, I cringe waiting for the little yellow box saying “FLAG” to pop up in the corner of the screen…

  26. 26 Media Mike said at 11:29 AM on November 21st, 2015:

    And that’s the truth of the whole issue. The 3rd down D is far from the biggest issue taking place, but we’ve given up far too many of them at critical times. Flags included.

  27. 27 daveH said at 1:27 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    Knockout

  28. 28 D3FB said at 3:04 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    Not sure. I would assume so.

  29. 29 BlindChow said at 9:49 AM on November 21st, 2015:

    Also, none of your numbers speak to whether or not opposing QB’s 3rd down percentage improves or not after playing the Eagles.

    Until you prove otherwise, I’m going to hold my statement as factually accurate in every way.

  30. 30 Tumtum said at 9:55 AM on November 21st, 2015:

    Couple rougher games but the D is still very good. Funny that crab legs is better than Sammy playing for Lovie Smith

  31. 31 Mr. Magee said at 10:28 AM on November 21st, 2015:

    Besides their involvement with the Eagles, what do Gus Bradley and Chip Kelly have in common? They’re both gonna be fired from their head coaching jobs.

    Sanchez is a key, not the key. There are too many other question marks on this football team to assume everything else will be ok if one guy or one position does its job.

  32. 32 botto said at 2:23 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    no chance

  33. 33 Mr. Magee said at 2:36 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    Actually the odds are close to 100%; almost all NFL coaches are eventually fired. But just to be clear, I predict that both will be relieved of their duties before their current contracts expire.

  34. 34 Baloophi said at 1:02 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    Watching Memphis @ Temple and just saw Memphis QB Paxton Lynch throw a 4 yard pass on 3rd and 10. Chip must be drooling…

  35. 35 PlanetX said at 4:51 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    Oh man. That is so damn funny & nauseating all at once. lol

  36. 36 HawaiianEagle said at 1:14 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    I forgot BG was a first round pick.

  37. 37 Mac said at 2:02 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    He was the pick that solidified NYG pick of JPP.

  38. 38 A_T_G said at 9:32 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    Really? Then you are probably better off if I don’t remind you that we took him with the pick that should have been Earl Thomas. Whew, close call there.

  39. 39 Crus57 said at 1:26 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    I’m usually one of the more optimistic people, but I can’t stand it when players squander their talents and time by not putting the effort in. I’m glad Graham is finally taking proper notes and working on counter-moves but it shouldn’t take you six damn years to grow up and be a professional. You’re getting paid millions and your attitude is “it’ll be ok, I’ll just go out there and beat ’em”??

    That’s also on our coaching staff(s) for not sitting him down and making him do his job properly.

  40. 40 Media Mike said at 2:02 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    Part of the problem with Graham was that his potential was squandered by McDermott’s horrible “coordinating” in 2010. Graham’s knee getting severely weakened by the cheap shot put on him by Tyson Clabo was also a major problem.

  41. 41 Mac said at 2:09 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    You did’t like dropping our best pass rushers into coverage over and over? But… the other team could never have predicted that!

  42. 42 Media Mike said at 2:11 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    Nope! And Trent Cole didn’t like it either. I laugh out loud when people mention that twerp for head coaching jobs.

  43. 43 Mac said at 2:16 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    I can remember times over and over where I’m thinking ok it’s 3rd and 15, go get ’em boys… WHAT?! Ok this time it’s 3rd and 25, time to murder that QB… HOLY SH*T?!

  44. 44 ChoTime said at 5:41 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    This is a fantasy. Very few people in the world can do the job Graham does. He is already doing it properly. That’s why he’s getting paid millions of dollars. He is more valuable than the staff that is supposed to be “sitting him down”. If he has realized that he can be an even better player by developing untapped potential, that is a wholly positive thing.

  45. 45 Gian GEAGLE said at 2:21 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    Insane stat: last season Sanchez had The 7th best QBR when it came to throwing the ball downfield (passes over 16 yards)
    ..
    That stat sure didn’t pass the eye test last year…

  46. 46 Media Mike said at 2:23 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    It certainly did not; but it passed the choke test vs. Dallas and Washington.

  47. 47 anon said at 2:36 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    sanchez can’t win by himself, he needs a defense to make up for a TO or 2. Defense is miles better this year than last.

  48. 48 Mr. Magee said at 2:37 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    We’ll see…

  49. 49 Media Mike said at 2:40 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    That can certainly be true this year, but the fact that a division title was choked away last year is also true.

  50. 50 anon said at 2:41 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    tallk to billy d and those 3 TDs he gave up to dez bryant.

  51. 51 Media Mike said at 2:44 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    I spoke plenty on that topic, don’t you worry!

  52. 52 Gian GEAGLE said at 3:05 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    Defense is absolutely the strength of the 2015 Eagles… The problem is that Chip REFUSES to play to our defensive strengths. chip continues to coach us to try and score 40 points a game.,
    ..
    Teams that play to their defensive strengths aren’t trying to run 90 plays on offense, and you can bet they care a lot about time of possession. When Defense is your strength, offense needs to play conservative with their main priority is punting instead of turning the ball over and making it harder for the defense they are asking to carry them…so when defense is your strength, you don’t want to run 90 plays and give your offense 90 chances to make a costly turnover… it’s hard enough to ask a defense to carry you in TODAYS NFl. They can’t Beat the opponent, if they also have to overcome tons of costly mistakes our offense makes.. Running 90 plays means your backüp QB, Sanchez is going to have to throw 40 to 50 times. Why in the world you would ask a guy with 81 TDs and 80 INts to throw 50 times, I have no idea, giving the guy 50 chances to make a costly mistake and make it even harder on our defense…
    ..
    To play to our Defensive strength, you want the opposite of getting 90 plays off, you want to control the clock, hold on to the ball as long as possible while running the least amount of Plays. run the ball at least 60% of the time, even if it’s not working. If you run the ball 3 times in a row and only gain two yards per play and have to punt the first 5 possessions, playing the field position game and putting your defense in the best position possible, is much better than having to ask your defense to overcomes bad positions we put them in because of a turnover.
    ..
    personally, I don’t care who the backüp QB is, a backüp QB should only be asked to throw 25-38 times, with at least 10 of those throws coming off the protection of a play action pass.
    ..
    This defense is legit, and it’s just going to get better and better.. instead of chip trying to win games 35-24 like 2013, if we were playing to our defensive strengths, we would be playing more Of a seahawks style winning games scoring somewhere between 17 and 24 PTs. If the offense takes a conservative, ball control approach, where we punt instead of turning it over, worry more about NOT MAKING COSTLY MISTAKES THAT MAKE IT HARDER ON THE DEFENSE should be a bigger priority right now that trying to run 90 plays and score 35 points.. But it doesn’t look like chip is interested in switching up his approach and playng to the strength of our defense

  53. 53 anon said at 3:14 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    we don’t have the line, the qb or the receivers to be a ball control team. the offense is built for tempo.

  54. 54 Gian GEAGLE said at 4:16 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    We don’t have the personnel to play a Ball control style running the offense chip wants to run.. But we could do a better job in a ball control style if chip made drastic changes to the offense he wants to run…. And actually I think this speaks to the Big Conundrum of chips season.
    ..
    I feel like chip has been in a bad position to start this season when it comes to his offense because he made so many changes at key positions on offense that Clearly NEEDED TIME and EXPERIENCE before they could have success early on in the season, but this was the big problem for Chip.. Take Demarco Murray for example:
    .
    signed to be one of our keep players on offense, the season starts and he looks TERRIBLE in this offense and we struggle as a team. you heard Demarco talk about how precious reps were to him and that speaks to a guy that was still trying to get comfortable in this new offensive style that was very different to what he did in Dallas to become the rushiñg leader.. And this was an Example of the great conundrum Chip found himself early in the year. murray looked Horrible early on, but he wasn’t even close to comfortabke yet, so chip new it wasn’t the best Murray would be capable of, so what does chip do? He can change the Offense, and play more of a style that Murray was already comfortable playing and I’m sure Murray could have looked much better at the start of the season and we would be more successful… the PROBLEM is, that if Chip changed his offense and run plays Murray was already comfortable running, we would probably have more offensive success early in the season, but Murray would NEVER Develope to be able to run the offense chip wants to run… The ONLY way for an offense with so many changes to get where we needed it to be, was keep running chips offense, over and over, endure the struggles and keep working at itm until new players like Murray got comfortable enough running chips Offense and was able to start having success running chips offense…. so I kind of feel like chip had to Sacrafice early season offensive success, in order for all the new players on offense to grow to the point where they can succeed in this offense… Evidence in this is the fact that early on chip gave in and ran some plays from under center that have nothing to do with chips offense because our new players bradford and Murray were still too new to chips offense. we were struggling so much, that chip sprinkled in some plays under center that SAM and Murray a,ready knew how to run, because we needed to get SOMETHING GOING.. But NOTICE that we had success under center, and instead of playing under center MORE, so we could be MORE successful, chip had to keep these guys plugging away in the new offense he was trying to teach them, because that was the ONLY way to get to the point where this offense can succeed with these new players,,
    ..
    So I feel like chip was forced to keep plugging away at this offense even tho we were struggling, instead of scrapping his offense and run plays that gave Murray and Bradford the best chance to succeed, so essentially chip sacraficed early season Offensive success, because if he didn’t continue to run the offense we were struggling to run, Murray and our New players would have never grown to succeed in chips offense…
    ..
    This is what makes me wonder if even tho he will never admit it, I can’t help to wonder if Chip and Marynowitz prepped jeffries LURIE for the possibility that this year would be a step back, in order to then take 5 steps forward… Chip isn’t a stupid man, and he is well versed in all types of different offenses. You don’t need to be a football genius early in the season to see that Murray and Bradford were doing better on plays under center, so logically, If Winning was the ONLY thing that Mattered, we would run more under center, and run less of the plays in chips offense that Murray was struggling to run… But we couldn’t do that, we had to accept the early season struggles of Murray, let him keep pounding Way at it, so that he could learn how to run successfully in this offense… So I feel like Chip had to intentionally Sacrafice early season offensive success so that new players could get comfortable running a different offense than they ran before coming to philly… The fact that chip had to Sacrafice early season success, instead of calling 30 plays a game under center that Murray knew how to run… Makes me think that chip, Marynowitz, LURIE all went into this season understanding that at least on offensive side of the ball, we may have to embrace early season struggles, take a step back to be able To move this team forward past the maxed out ceiling of last years team that chip felt he had to blow up.
    ..
    Chip is NEVER going to admit this if its true, he will insist its a one game season and all he cares about is doing what it takes to win each game, but we Know that’s not true because if it was, we would have seen Bradford under center like 30 times a game early in the season.. But I’m Curious to see if Lurie admits this at his annual post season Press Confrence?? I assume it would be easier to reveal to the public after the season if we have a strong 2nd half and end up making the playoffs… Then Lurie can reveal that they expected an itial step backwards, so while our record isn’t better than 10-6, making the playoffs is very exciting when it comes during a year where we expected to take a step back..
    ..
    So to your point about not having the personnel to run a ball control offense, im not sure that’s true. For example, say we can’t get more than 2 yards a carry against the Bucs, their base defense or nickel defense keeps shutting down our run, if chip wanted to abandon his offense, we could try plays from Under center, or with lead blockers, or 3 TE in the game(2 of which are OLineman) that chips offense doesn’t believe in, but that we may be able to be more successful with, especially since Tampa Bay won’t have practiced defending those plays you won’t find in our offense,
    ..
    Look at last week, Lane and Dennis were getting abused and dolphin pass rushers were Teeing off on Bradford. there was PLENTY chip could have tried but it’s not part of of his offense.. For example instead of dropping back to pass with 5 weapons running routes, chip could dedicate 8 players to protect SAM and only send two weapons out to catch passes

    This is why I get jeleous of Patriots chameleon offense. they don’t care about running specific offense. They will run whatever it takes to have the best chance of beating the team they face that week. Tomorrow we could see the Patriots with a game plan running plays they hAvent run all year, where as we Chose to Limit ourselves to specific offense with a small playbook..
    ..
    You say we can’t run a ball control offense, which is only true if you are talking about sticking to the confines of chips offense. If we were willing to run whatever it takes to succeed against whoever you are facing, we could do a much better job controlling time of possession… heck, just the difference between snapping the ball as fast as possible no matter what the defense is doing, and switching it up to get lined up fast, but instead of snapping the ball, kill the clock at the line of scrimmage, play with your cadence until the defense shows you WHATS coming, and then let Braford audible into a better play that takes advantage of WHATS coming should help us be more successful controlling the clock.. instead of running 90 plays, we take our time, kill clock, run 35 plays, but take the time to audible into the 35 best plays that take advantage of what the defense is about to throw at you…
    ..
    Chip was always going to have to evolve and grow if he was going to be successful in the NFL.. I like a Lot of his offense, but i don’t like to be confined to his offense, I think there is a ton of other aspects of football that chips offense ignores that we could be using to succeed… People think if he doesn’t succeed he will run back to college, im not so sure. I think he loves being in the pros, and plans on being here at least a decade (maybe not in Philly).. Before he fails and runs back to college, I think he would fail and evolve as a football coach, instead of wanting to win using a very specific offense… I think eventually he gets to the point where he doesn’t care About showing his offense can succeed at this level, and expands and becomes more Of a chameleon Bellichick approach where he is more open to running all types of dofferent plays out of different formations and care more about winning, instead of winning using HIS Methods.. At least I hope

  55. 55 Patrick Pauling said at 2:52 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    ugh, tommy, what’s wrong with hackenberg? is it time for a coaching change? i never had much faith in franklin to begin with so i’m leaning toward it. under his tutelage hack has regressed big time. but who would we get? another nfl guy? maybe philbin? he did some great things in greenbay, but he might stay in the nfl as an OC somewhere. am i being to hasty?

  56. 56 Media Mike said at 2:54 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    Penn State’s OC is brutal. And there is a rumor they’re going to start running some dual threat crap next year once Hack is gone.

  57. 57 D3FB said at 3:21 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    Yes you’re being hasty.

    Hack has regressed due to a number of reasons. Some of it is playcalling. Some of it is coaching. Some of it’s lack of talent around him. And some of its on Hack (coaches aren’t the reason he’s bouncing bubble screens 5 yards short)

    But things not working out with Hack isn’t a fireable offense.

    The talent level is still pretty bad due from the sanctions. Franklin is doing a great job recruiting, so worst case you give him another season and leave the next coach with alot more talent to work with.

    The OC and Herb Hand probably both need to go, but Franklin gets another year.

  58. 58 Gian GEAGLE said at 3:23 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    Really impressed at the job BG has done in his transition to OLB. While he isn’t a dominant pass rusher, he has surprisingly become a pretty well rounded OLB who last year seemed To have developed a gnack for forcing Fumbles and its continuing this year. Not just strip Sack fumbles, but also punches the ball out of RBs grasp.
    ..
    Coverage will always be his weakness, but it’s been better than expected, it’s just not as good as his pass rush and run defense.
    ..
    BG was pretty good last year, flirted with the Giants in Free agency, and Chip/Marynowitz made a great personnel decision not letting BG get away. he got off to a slow start this year, but has been picking up steam as the year unfolds. the CRUCIAL Match up with the Cowboys showed just how good BG has become. There were stretches in that game where BG was the best player on the field, and his domination came against Cowboys best player Tyrone Smith.. Not Only was BG beating Tyrone with his pass rush, and showing his gnack for forcing fumbles stripping Cassell twice, but BG was just as fantastic against the Run,, when Cowboys ran at him, the powerhouse fireplug BG was able to set the edge and anchor against the great Tyrone, and then BG would shed him and make the tackle.. When The Cowboys tried to run away from BG, he exploded in the backfield, chased the RB down and made the stop from behind allowing little to No gain..
    ..
    I really like how Billy Davis has developed the front 7 into a selfless group of Discaplined pass rushers who do a great job or rushing the passer as a cohesive unit. often the first pass rusher to have success will chase a QB into another defenders arms. I can’t help to wonder if our Discaplined Cohesive pass rush asks individuals to Sacrafice some of their sack numbers. There are selfish pass rushers in the league that don’t really like to play the run, and all they want to do is pin their ears back and Do Whatevet it takes To get their sack numbers up. THOSE selfish pass rushers don’t play in Philly. Our boys all want to sack the QB, but the do it confined to rushiñg the passer as a group, maintaining gap discapline, staying in their lanes so we can sorround the QB and then strangle him as a unit.. Feel like guys could have better sack numbers if they didn’t have to worry about discapline, and can just pin their ears back, run around like a chicken with their heads cut off only worrying about getting to the QB… The cohesive pass rush billy has cultivated really comes in handy when we face Mobile QBs and we do a solid job of keeping them in the pocket and cutting off all their escape routes..
    ..
    It Used to Be BARWIN and the other OLBs, while they differ stylistocally, I do think BG has elevated his game to be more or Barwins Equal, than Barwins sidekick, and Barwin/BG have become a heckuva OLB tandem
    .,.
    They might not be the truly elite VON Miller type pass rushers, but they don’t have to be when they get to team up with two very good interior pass rushers on 3rd down in Cox and Curry…… cox,Curry,BG,Barwin all are more than capable of Linning up as 4-3 DEs, so when all 4 are in the game hunting QB’s on 3rd down, that’s basically our own sort of “NASCAR Package”.
    ..
    Think Chip and Marynowitz have done an excellent job building this defense, not just the starters, but we are another offseason away from having better depth than we ever had under andy or Howie.. While our depth is almost where we need it to be, our personnel department has some amazing starting Tandems in place:

    Barwin/BG OLB

    Hicks/Kendricks ILB

    Maxwell/Nolan they keep getting better and better and next year they will be a very good starting tandem

    Thurmond/Jenkins,, best safety tandem in the NFL, and next year they will be even better
    .
    Cox/Curry 3rd down interior pass rush tandem in our 4 man lines
    ..
    Keep Cox on the field, and bring in the Gritty Run defense tandem of Logan/Ced
    ..
    Think we see this defense reach new heights these last two months of season, but Next Year is when we see a Terror of a defense, universally accepted as one of the top defenses in the NFL,, another half a season of experience/continuity, another offseason worth of training(Nolan Carroll just showed us how much a player can Improve in the offseason, even veterans), young defenders further developing, maybe another free agent addition or two to the defense, a few draft picks spent on the defense. And Not ONLY should we have a ferocious starting Defense next year, but our depth should be better than we have seen since the 90s…
    ..
    GM Kelly and the coaches have done a fantastic job with this defense. But Chip strength is still offensive football, if we could build such a good defense, there is no reason that chip can’t build an elite offense after 3 years of NFL experience and some Big lessons learned from trail and Error
    ..
    I actually think Chip the GM has done a better job than chip the coach this year. I dont AT ALL AGREE with how much chip is being Bashed for his personnel decisions, especially since it really takes more then 9 games to be able to reach that conclusion..

  59. 59 PlanetX said at 4:19 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    With regards to Brandon Graham, I’m unbelievably excited about Jordan Hicks’ future. :)-

  60. 60 Media Mike said at 5:53 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    Hope that “injury prone” label doesn’t stick.

  61. 61 PlanetX said at 6:10 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    Yes, this is very true. I sure as hell hope not.

  62. 62 Media Mike said at 6:14 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    The dude not being able to stay on the field was why he was rated as a 5th rounder. The talent is there for sure however.

  63. 63 PlanetX said at 6:19 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    Boy is it EVER. I guess I had kind of forgotten about his college injury history tbh. Now I have to go back & look it over to get a feel for just how nervous I have to be going forward. lol

  64. 64 Media Mike said at 6:27 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    There are a lot of guys on this team that make me nervous with injuries.

    Peters, Bradford, Kiko, Kendricks, Meco, Agholor, Mathews, and now Hicks.

  65. 65 PlanetX said at 6:32 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    To take a page straight outtaf T-Law’s playbook; UGH. That is one big list of big names & big worries. Too bad its also accurate. :-/

  66. 66 Media Mike said at 6:34 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    Yeah, stressful undertaking.

  67. 67 RC5000 said at 4:54 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    Receivers are wide open today but Oregon QB Vernon Adams is 9-12 for 212 yds. and has 3 TDs/1 int in first half vs USC. He’s been solid in 4+ games since injury come back and he can extend plays. Only 6-0 but we should have interest in him.

  68. 68 A_T_G said at 5:39 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    I can’t wait to hear the reaction if we draft an Oregon QB not named Mariota after trading for Bradford. There is just so many parts of that for people to complain about, without knowing anything about the player.

  69. 69 anon said at 5:45 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    injury? i thought he was benched.

  70. 70 RC5000 said at 6:40 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    I disagree. You can technically say that but it’s misleading.He broke his index finger on his throwing hand in the opener which obviously affected him.

  71. 71 Media Mike said at 5:52 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    No thanks. He’s short, not Wilson/Brees, and runs 1 time for every 3 he passes. No thanks.

  72. 72 RC5000 said at 7:04 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    You’ll be waiting forever for a Brees. He’s in top 5 in career yardage. Adams is a pass first QB, they don’t run Adams much and I’m fine with a QB who extends plays and can avoid hits.

  73. 73 D3FB said at 5:41 AM on November 22nd, 2015:

    He’s 6’0 in spikes with a helmet on.

    He’s a UDFA long shot at best.

  74. 74 Media Mike said at 6:03 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    If you think this

    https://twitter.com/JasonLaCanfora/status/668200605228208128

    = Eagles should sign Kaep;

    then

    #killyourself

  75. 75 anon said at 6:17 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    things can go south for a franchise really quickly

  76. 76 Media Mike said at 6:26 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    When you play a guy who should have been moved to end or WR years ago at QB; bad things always happen.

  77. 77 anon said at 6:36 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    like when he was plying in the superbowl?

  78. 78 Media Mike said at 6:40 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    Ask Suggs; the only reason he made that Superbowl close was because somebody pulled the plug on the lights. Anybody can go on one lucky run, but the league figured out his scrambling nonsense. Playing the position in that manner is a dead end. That whole style of QB can’t be gone from the NFL fast enough for my liking.

  79. 79 anon said at 6:46 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    Russel wilson two superbowls, scam newton is 9-0, keap’s gone to a superbowl.

  80. 80 Media Mike said at 6:49 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    Wilson isn’t a running QB. He’s a passer who can run when needed; as Steve Young.

    Scam has the 21st rating and played a soft schedule.

  81. 81 anon said at 7:09 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    dint they beat seattle and green bay? who else should they beat?

  82. 82 Media Mike said at 6:51 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    “But the reality about Wilson is he’s not a running quarterback. Wilson is a scrambler, almost always running so he can try to get the ball to his receivers.”

    http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2014/10/10/russell-wilson-smart-and-safe-as-a-running-qb/17020827/

  83. 83 anon said at 6:57 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    so wilson doesn’t run read option? he’s terrible if you keep him in the pocket. of course you want to call him a “scrambler” he runs more than scam newton.

  84. 84 A_T_G said at 9:23 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    I thought you usually follow the term “scramble” with the “bum” moniker in a derogatory way. Now scrambler is a good thing?

  85. 85 anon said at 7:05 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    dqwell jackson who is like 100 in football years already has almost 100 tackles that’s insane.

  86. 86 anon said at 7:08 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    eli manning 21tds 6ints

  87. 87 Gian GEAGLE said at 7:47 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    In honor of having to root for Sanchez tomorrow, how is Russell Wilson’s “butt fumble” flying under the Radar! Last game when they got their asses kicked by the cardinals, Wilson ran right into his Linemans ass, fumbling the ball, he recovered it in his own ENDZONE awarding a safety to the Cardinals.
    ..,
    I been hearing about Sanchez butt fumble for years, but not a peep when Wilson does it?

  88. 88 A_T_G said at 9:19 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    They are more tolerant of those choices on the west coast.

  89. 89 Media Mike said at 8:16 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    Cotto vs. Canelo tonight; who y’all got?

    I’m leading in Canelo’s direction, but not feeling strong. I just hope the winner mans up and fights GGG.

  90. 90 anon said at 8:45 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    i like canelo – what time is fight?

  91. 91 Media Mike said at 8:47 PM on November 21st, 2015:

    Won’t go off until 11ish at the earliest. I dropped the $70 for the HD PPV, so I hope it is a good fight.