Keep Grinding
Posted: November 16th, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 218 Comments »Sunday was not much fun, to put it mildly. Losing to a mediocre Dolphins team really hurt. The Eagles were up 16-3 and were in position to add more. Caleb Sturgis missed a chip shot FG and the whole team fell apart after that.
Needless to say, the frustration level with this team is pretty high right now.
The two most common complaints are that the team is either poorly coached or doesn’t have enough talent. The problem with those complaints is that they are generic and fit plenty of NFL teams. Heck, all kinds of sports teams. Generic complaints are good for venting, but don’t always mean anything.
The Eagles STs were a mess yesterday. There was the missed FG. There was a blocked punt. There were multiple bad snaps. There was a penalty that negated a good return. And so on. So was this bad coaching or bad talent?
The Eagles had the best STs unit in the league last year. They were pretty good in 2013. There are plenty of talented STers, from cover guys to blockers to returners. Dave Fipp didn’t suddenly forget how to coach.
There are going to be bad days. A defense with Reggie, Clyde, Jerome, Seth, Byron, Wes, Andre and Eric once let Gerald Riggs run for 221 yards. An offense with Donovan, TO and Westy once won a game 12-7.
I understand the complaints about talent and coaching extend to the whole team. My point is just to show that playing the blame game doesn’t always solve anything. There are times when it is completely clear that change is needed. Rob Ryan did an awful job with the Saints defense last year. They are on pace to be one of the worst defenses in NFL history this season. That is an extreme and obvious example where the coaching wasn’t anywhere close to being good enough. And that has cost Rob Ryan his job.
There are plenty of people who don’t like Chip Kelly as coach. Some hate him as the GM. Some dislike him in both roles. That’s fine. I’m still a believer in Chip and his ideas. Does that mean I agree with everything he does? Heck no. Does that mean he can’t have bad days? Of course not.
Would you rather have John Harbaugh or Pete Carroll as the coach right now? Both have Super Bowl wins on their resume. Harbaugh’s team is 2-7 right now and lost yesterday in incredibly embarrassing fashion. They are having a nightmare season. Injuries are a big reason, but that team is also making a lot of dumb mistakes. The Seahawks have the same record as the Eagles, 4-5. They have blown leads in all 5 losses. You can’t say that team lacks emotion or intensity. They’re making critical mistakes and it is killing them.
What about talent? Imagine having Aaron Rodgers and Randall Cobb on this team. Those two guys have lost 3 games in a row and yesterday scored 16 points against the #31 scoring defense in the league. Drew Brees only put up 14 points on the Skins and their questionable secondary. Dallas has a trio of talented WRs, a Hall of Fame TE, a solid RB and a strong OL. They put up 6 points on Tampa. 6!!!
The NFL is the ultimate grind, from year to year, from week to week and sometimes from quarter to quarter. You are only as good as your last play or your last game. The challenge is to play well on a regular basis and fight through those tough times that come around.
Look at the Dolphins. They had lost 2 games in a row and were down 16-3. That team didn’t mail it in. They kept grinding and suddenly things started to go their way. Next thing you know they’ve got a hard-fought win and there is life in their playoff hopes.
That’s life in the NFL.
This Eagles team has shown that it can battler. They were down big to the Falcons and Skins and then took late leads in those games, only to give them up and lose. The Eagles make a lot of mistakes during the course of a game. That puts them in a situation where they are playing from behind or have a smaller lead than they should.
And then when it comes to winning time, something goes wrong. The only close win was the one in Dallas. The Eagles might have won that game simply due to winning the coin toss.
Think about the tight losses. There are missed FGs in all 3 of them. There are crucial penalties, on offense and defense. There were dropped passes. Missed blocks. Missed tackles. Poor coverage. You name it, it was seemingly a problem.
The Eagles are talented enough to be in position to win these games.
But they don’t.
The mistakes happen and the team loses.
Is there something the coaching staff could do differently? That’s a tougher question. Look at Jason Kelce for example. He’s having a wildly inconsistent year. Some people talk about him being awful. No, not even close. Kelce is making mistakes, and crucial ones at that, but he is still above average most of the time. I’ve been an Eagles fan for more than 20 years. Awful OL get benched because they aren’t functional.
We’ve never seen Kelce have these kind of issues beyond the odd game here or there. Jeff Stoutland has coached him for 3 years now. He’s gotten Kelce to play at a very high level. Some have the theory that the new OGs have hurt Kelce since he’s trying to do too much. I don’t think that is the case because Kelce has some games where he looks just fine. His issues seem to come and go. This is some kind of a mental thing.
What should Stoutland and Chip do with Kelce? You don’t want to tell him not to have bad snaps. Then you’re just planting the idea in his head. The logical thing to do is stress fundamentals and hope the issues go away. I’m sure Stout and Chip have done that. Kelce was coming off a pair of good games before yesterday’s sloppiness.
This team has shown it can play well here and there. The next step is to play well consistently. That hasn’t happened yet. It can, but there are no guarantees.
The 2008 Eagles were 5-5-1. They went 4-1 down the stretch and then almost made the Super Bowl. The 1999 Eagles started 3-11 before winning their final 2 games, which helped set the tone for the next season. There are also teams that never put it together.
Obviously you would love a repeat of 2008. At the least, you’d like something like 1999 where a bad season had a silver lining to it. This team is impossible for me to figure out right now so I have no idea what to expect. The only thing that would shock me is for the team to fall apart and finish 5-11 or 6-10. Beyond that, just about everything else is on the table.
I know some people would rather the team fall apart to help them get a better draft pick. If you can’t win big this year, then lose, benefit and be better next year. I understand the thinking, but disagree. There are no guarantees in the draft. I’d rather have the team win games, even if they end up with a mediocre record. I’m a believer that young players can learn from those wins.
Carolina won their division last year with a record of 7-8-1. This year that team is 9-0.
The Eagles shouldn’t give up on this season. The NFC East is a mess and the Eagles are only a half-game out of first place. Keep grinding. Keep working on eliminating mistakes. Maybe the issues go away. Maybe they don’t. The future is unwritten. I’m still hoping for a happy ending. With this team, we could be looking at Requiem for a Dream or The Deer Hunter.
Remember the trees?
_
The only thing I’m trying to remember is the last time I enjoyed watching an Eagles game.
I was thrilled after the Dallas win (and probably other games this season), but this has just not been a fun team to root for.
The second half of the Atlanta game was fun until that last interception. But the Dallas game was the first game that I enjoyed. That’s what made Sunday so frustrating. Good teams build momentum off of wins.
No it has not. Choke loss after choke loss after choke loss.
snow bowl
Thanksgiving last year.
To me it has been tough because this year because they have been in position to win every game and never appear outclassed, but then they do something stupid. Losses are easier to handle when you have been pummeled or it was a good hard fought game and it just didn’t work out. The ‘good’ is missing from this years play b
Its hard to get excited, esp when it looks like this team keeps making the same mistakes each week.
How many TDs have we had called back for illegal motion/formation? seems like at least 3. If have to watch Demarco Murray escape out of bounds again I’m going to break something. Its getting harder and harder to ride with Chip.
Austin is a waste of a roster spot
Cooper is a waste of space. Austin is a crap shoot every week.
For whatever reason, I had no idea there was a Murray escaping out of bounds issue up until the Miami game. I sure was aware of it after that though. That was a real WTF moment for me. Not cool.
But but all the reps run in practice should prevent the mental miscues.
LMao, Bengals fans were just booing their 8-0 team…
They wouldn’t make it as Eagles’ fans
How in the hell did the Bengals only score 6 points against the Texans?
It is a lack of talent this team though at several spots including at QB. It is why this team is inconsistent and continues to have several issues that pop up from week to week while playing only portions of a game well.
If things break their way and they can beat the Skins/Giants to go 8-8, they still have a shot to win the NFC East. This team doesn’t have the coordinator or the personnel on defense though to rip off a run like the ’08 team that was carried by their defense until the NFC Championship Game.
I wonder what the Texans want for Hopkins? I think I cursed the Bengals after picking up Dalton in fantasy football 2 weeks ago. Oh well lol.
I would LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE Hopkins on this team, but doubt they would ever realistically trade him.
57 first downs on 71 receptions. Ridiculous chain moving WR. Julio and Antonio Brown are behind him by quite a margin too.
might as well as wonder what they want for JJ Watt and what Atlanta wants for J Jones and what Pitt wants for Bell and Pats want for Brady…
Bradford and a 2nd round pick.
My guess is it’ll end up more like Deerhunter.
Here is me, a few years ago, playing the theme from Deerhunter on guitar:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wZ8yjFUMDM
Fantastic. Love that piece.
Thanks Tommy. I feel so much better.
I sense sarcasm.
“Think about the tight losses. There are missed FGs in all 3 of them.
There are crucial penalties, on offense and defense. There were dropped
passes. Missed blocks. Missed tackles. Poor coverage. You name it, it
was seemingly a problem.”
All hallmark signs of mediocre/losing teams, coming up short in both talent (mainly on the offensive side) and coaching.
And in terms of final record, the absolute best that I can see is 9-7, with 7-9 being most likely – and I personally wouldn’t rule out 6-10 at this point, especially if Sanchez is forced into extended action.
In the NFL difference between 6-10 and 10-6 is about 10 plays over the course of a season.
you feel like we’re a victim of bad breaks, or just a bad team and what separates the two?
I think we are a decent but flawed team.
We’ve been snakebitten a bit. The batted ball TD probably serves as the best possible metaphor for this year. We’ve had some bad luck with untimely mental lapses/penalties and dropsies from hell.
The D is good. Moving forward we need supplemental depth at DB, DL, and OLB. But no major glaring holes.
The O is a trickier subject. We had the OL play below even worst likely outcome variance the first few weeks. They’ve improved but have been hit hard by injuries. The backs have been solid to good. TEs have been good. The WRs are all over the map. Matthews isn’t a takeover WR, but can be your leading WR in a good corps. Huff and Agholor have struggled with being young and staying healthy, with those issues compounding each other. Sams been inconsistent and looked to be turning a corner.
Overall I think the biggest problem with the O is Kelly is stretched too thin right now. Playcalling has been up and down. And when we are doing a good job with playcalling suddenly we have blown assignments.
If you go back to last year an instead of coming back against the Jags we have a ball tipped and pick 6ed killing all momentum, and against Indy Jenkins gets called for PI on that controversial INT late in the game, it would feel alot like this year. Couple plays, big difference in opinion.
I’m rambling because I really don’t want to write this paper on gini index vs gdp growth.
Summary: Talented but flawed. Some bad luck. Some instances of strengths not papering over the cracks.
The rising tide doesn’t lift all boats. GDP growth is meaningless if that growth doesn’t shrink the GINI number.
The favorite paper I found concluded that inquality does indeed spur economic growth, due to large capital investment, however it takes 10-15 years for the rising tide to replace income losses for the first 9 deciles. Yea I’m totally down with being poorer for a decade plus…
then a paper says wait wait, it can be 20-25 years, and there can totally be a recession along the way, as long as the elite keep doing well, the pay day is coming!
I believe Romney when it come to discerning the actual economic philosophy the elite run with:
It’s fine that more people are poor than ever because poor people have it better than ever, they all have cell phones and refrigerators, and food!
The downside is that as more and more Americans tumble down the tax bracket and social safety nets catch more and more people…there’s a problem. And then the narrative becomes that the bloated social safety net is at fault for the struggles, not that the money pooling at the top.
Hey the Walton children need have a combined worth more than small nation states. They earned it by being born. Being born is really hard. The rest of us should foot the bill for EITC so they can buy more private islands and shit man.
Dude, are you anti-freedom?! They should be free to hoard as much as they can! They should also be free to write the laws anyway they want. Damn socialists…
Don’t forget using the military to gain advantages to increase their hoard. And getting rich off of gladiatorial games intended to keep the masses oblivious and entertained. Hey, wait a minute…
Or as a friend said to me, “trickle down…I ain’t nobody’s pisspot!”
Mmmm … Golden Shower Economics (has nice ring to it)
I think they’ve just had bad luck this year. That tipped pass reminded me of the Dez TD last week where Cassel just threw it up there for grabs. Or the INT at the beginning of the Carolina game where it bounced of JMatt’s hands.
And you’re right to point out last year. We had some lucky breaks to win some games, and everything seemed to be going our way early in the season.
So I’ll be headed to Novacare and make sure I put a rabbit’s foot in everyone’s locker pre-game this week.
Last year, offensive DVOA #13, this year #22. So, according to that stat, we went from the good side to the bad side of average. Our Special teams DVOA went from #1 to #15.
I think a lot of that is drops. I would think our defensive DVOA went up though. So we got that going for us.
Let’s all pour out a little rum for Jobu this week. Maybe sacrifice a chicken…we gotta do something
I have a feeling Sanchez is going to play better than Bradford the next couple weeks and that’s going to really throw us off. But then, I felt certain Foles had proved he was at least an average QB in the league. My crystal ball is as cracked as everyone else’s :).
why can’t we be both of these ? because we are
Which we need to make, or there is a problem.
Need JP back so Lane can go back to LT
I think the team is really talented. I don’t think the issue has to do with a lack of talent. This is the best defense I can remember since our Super Bowl team. On offense, other than at quarterback, we have above average talent.
The execution is what frustrates me: the drops and the penalties are killing me.
Which stadium? What channel? You must be watching a different team. Before the season Chip made a number of changes. For that I applaud him: the enemy of great is good. But we have gone from last year’s good to inferior. For one thing it doesn’t help that the last two drafts have yielded very little.
I’m going to steal that, “the enemy of great is good”. But I was worried before the season and didn’t think the Super Bowl hype was warranted.
I disagree with you about the talent level on offense. Our quarterback is average at best. Our receiving corps is below average. And our OL is far below average. Running back is the only position at which I feel you can say this team has above average talent.
I think the issue is execution, other than QB I’d put us above average. But we can agree to disagree.
I’m a Michigan fan, and Harbaugh has this year’s team playing WAY above their heads. Michigan and Philadelphia played teams they were better than this weekend. Michigan won, Philadelphia didn’t. The big difference for me is that at no point did I think Michigan would lose to Indiana. Michigan could not stop the run to save their life, but I figured they would pull it out. Watching the last drive by the Eagles I figured Sanchez would either throw an interception or it would be a frustrating four and out. That’s not good.
So we should play Indiana.
Either that or hire Harbaugh.
Of the 98 teams to play in the first 49 Super Bowls, only one started the season 4-5.
The 1979 Los Angeles Rams — a team finishing a 7-year run of NFC West championships, including four losses in the NFC title game.
49 years. 98 teams.
Can we just lead the division or have a wild card spot before we talk Super Bowl?
I think he is painting a dim picture in regards to super bowel chances. I dont thunk its overly optimisitc.
Pretty sure a wild card is off the table.
https://theofficesportsguy.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/7c687debe61f4b5aca1f1465811bbd05.jpg
This is the meme that popped in my head, too. 🙂
https://youtu.be/uYX-NSZMqt0
You know the season is bad when u don’t get excited over wins because you know it’s going to lead to a let down sooner or later.
even chip was like don’t take anything from the Dallas win.
“The NFL is the ultimate grind, from year to year, from week to week and sometimes from quarter to quarter. You are only as good as your last play or your last game. The challenge is to play well on a regular basis and fight through those tough times that come around.”
Not a single thing from this statement is wrong, but we’ve been stuck on the wrong end of the grind from 1961 though 2015. This team is 4-5 and the only thing it does on a regular basis is choke away winnable games. This team hasn’t made an acceptable run through an entire full season since 2004. They’ve only been enjoyable to watch in stretches of 06, 08, 10, and 13.
You’re going to be labeled as a complainer….lol!
I wish we had Cam Newton. He is fun to watch!
Poor wish. He’s the 21st rated passer in the NFL, is 29th in completion %, 21st in yards, and possesses a paltry 15:9 TD:INT ratio………………..can you say over-hyped?
Ha ha. While I actually think Newton would be good in Kelly’s offense, I mainly just said this to bother you because I know you don’t like him.
Ire at this team’s lack of focus / desire / effort to get the little things done to win close games aside……………..
beat Tampa beat Detroit lose to New England.
Go into the home stretch 6-6 and hope to go 3-1 to win the division.
A 9-7 season would suck after we all agreed that 10-6 wasn’t good enough, but Tommy’s focus on momentum / building makes sense. They just need to get it done.
The 2009 Saints lost their last 3 regular season games, and still won the Superbowl. Not ideal, but just getting there is the important thing.
Trees, nice. The penalty on the punt return was bs. Bad penalties are definitely included in the long list of thinggs gone wrong this year. Fix the stuff you can, and there’s plenty of room for things to start going right.
I’m still hoping for a happy ending
There are quite a few massage places here in Queens, mate.
What Queens? ? Near Ditmars ?
Haha, not sure about Ditmars, mate. But I heard there’s definitely some places in Flushing!
Oh right..better chance over there yes .. but are you in th nyc area also?
Yes, my office is Midtown East. But no time for HE massages during lunch time, as I am going to the gym. haha
53rd & 3rd here.. union sq and in astoria & liberty often
We shall meet up for a beer then?!
Hhhheeelllll yeah ..
Name a spot.. i travel … ill suggest thr 2nd floor Hoffbrau Haus on 45th & 3rd .fit for a german..or Draught 55 on 2nd & 55
Mate, just drop me an email:
tobi.rebele@gmx.de
[…] Keep Grinding – Iggles BlitzI understand the complaints about talent and coaching extend to the whole team. My point is just to show that playing the blame game doesn’t always solve anything. There are times when it is completely clear that change is needed. Rob Ryan did an awful job with the Saints defense last year. They are on pace to be one of the worst defenses in NFL history this season. That is an extreme and obvious example where the coaching wasn’t anywhere close to being good enough. And that has cost Rob Ryan his job. There are plenty of people who don’t like Chip Kelly as coach. Some hate him as the GM. Some dislike him in both roles. That’s fine. I’m still a believer in Chip and his ideas. Does that mean I agree with everything he does? Heck no. Does that mean he can’t have bad days? Of course not. […]
In the NFL, a team has to make plays. Most games come down to 2-3 plays. Ironic that the playmaker with the biggest impact was Hicks who seemed to bring that bit of magic called fearlessness.
Chip has it right that you need guys who fit a culture of hard work, constantly seeking to be better, and team-oriented. But a team has to be more than a collection of the right people. The intangible is missing and I sense there’s too little fearlessness.
Agree that losing for tbe draft is nonissue. ..considering our drafts
This team keeps making the same mistakes over and over and over again. Just stupid play on the field. It’s exhausting to watch and frankly I don’t think I’m wasting my time this weekend. This team can lose to anyone it seems. Of course on the flip side, they can beat anyone too if they would stop falling all over themselves.
its a long 3 hours
“Drew Brees only put up 14 points on the Skins and their questionable secondary.” — Questionable? The Redskins have yet to give up 300 yards in the air in any game this year, including facing Brady and Brees. I know stats are a product of a given game — but that’s pretty impressive — and certainly not questionable…
Eh, this team is done. Not enough wins in left in the schedule to get where they need to be, especially when they can’t beat a team like the Dolphins. What makes it worse is this team is no fun to watch. Boring, mistake ridden football is our calling card.
If it makes you feel any better, there’s about another 23 other teams who are 5-5/5-4 or worse in the league.
There are 3 teams that are 6-3.
All is not lost yet. Still time to get it together.
Overal ther is dome lousy football in the nfl all around this season
Totally agreed. I can’t remember such sloppy football around the NFL in a long long time…
Crazy season, but if we win against TB and the Redskins lose against CAR, we are in first place.
Sanchez isn’t beating TB.
https://i.imgflip.com/u9usm.jpg
what’s Reid’s record?
http://www.totalprosports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/andy-reid-dance-595×385.jpg
It’s the same as Chip Kelly. But Reid’s Cheif’s talent level has increased. And they REALLY do have one of the best defenses in the league.
“…Reid’s Cheif’s (sic) talent level has increased.”
2013: 11-5
2014: 9-7
2015: 4-5
I struggle to understand how chup keeps getting bashed for a lack of talent? This team is as talemted as any we have the last two years, the only difference is we took talemt at certain positions, got rid of it, and put that talent into other positions… This is the most talemted defense we had since Jim Johnson, Chips the GM, so he deserves credit for the defense he built. as soon as chip became GM he talked about needing to reallocate resources because we had too much invested in the offense and needed to spread more of that talent out to the defense..
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lack of Talent IMO isn’t the reason we are going thru this frustrating season… And let’s examine this lack of talent myth..
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1) WR clearly hasn’t been good enough, this is probably our weakest position, but I’m not sure LACK OF WR TALENT is correct. We have plenty of WR TALENT having spent a 1st, 2nd and 3rd on WRS the past two years. The Talent is there, we just haven’t brought it out of the WRs yet. These are young inexperienced WRs who have to grow into NFL players that will play up to their full potential… The good thing about struggling with such young WR’s is that with hard work, game experience and coaching, you can reasonably assume that they will improve, where as Veterans like Coop and Austin, are what they are at this point… While the WR play is infuriating, the best of Jordan, Nelson and AGHOLAR is yet to come….. People saw How much talent and ability AGHOLAR possesses. It’s not a lack of talent, it’s us needing to Develope him into a pro WR who can use his talent to the fullest on an NFL field. huff drives me crazy, but he has plenty of talent to Develope into a decent weapon for this next era of Eagle football. And Jordan Mathews is a STUD. I am not concerned about Jordan, he will get It together for us, and once Defenses have to respect our other WRs it should open things up for Jordan to really Explode… The WR TALENT is fine, we are just getting killed by youth and inexperience at WR, a positipn that historically has needed time to transition to the NFL….we have 3 promising WRs, and fortunately, Austin and Coops contracts are so absurd that they can’t possibly be brough back next year, so hopefully we add some more talent at those two spots, while growing our young WR’s to be able to put more of their talent to use..
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Our Guards got old, and we felt like we had young guys in house who given an opportunity could prove to be quality starting replacements. While our Guards lack NAME Recognition, for the most part the OL has played well, so I don’t agree with overreacting to one of the few games our OL didn’t play well…after this season, we will judge the development of the young players forced into bigger roles, and decude if more OLB continuity and experience is the Answer, or if changing starting personnell is the way to go. Either way I assume we draft at least 1 or two Lineman, most important is we need a quality backüp center to KELCE so we can hold KELCE accountable and bench him next year if he doesn’t get his act together.. We will add to Our OL talent, but today I still think there is a choice that the opening day starters next year, are already on this years OL.. Instead of adding free agent OL, more likely we draft and Develope one on our bench Til we feel he has grown into a better option than our starters..
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Outside of OL and WR, i struggle to see how anyone can even complain about our talent level of lack there of..
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Let’s see:
bradford is without a doubt more talented QB than Foles… Talent upgrade
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Murray/Mathews/Sproles is the most talented stable of RB in the NFL, and I’ll take Murray AND mathews over SHady any day… Talent upgrade
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ILB drastic talent upgrade
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BG and BARWIN is an upgrade to COle/BARWIN
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Nolan and Max is a talent upgrade to cary and Brad
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Thurmond is a talent upgrade to Nate
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TALENT is NOT why we are failing. growing into these new schemes, and gelling as a new team is what we NEED… Of course there are plenty positions that need to improve, but we don’t automatically have to change personnel to see that improvement… Some just need more time, more experienve to play to their full Talemt
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Of course you can’t build a juggernaut in one offseason. I’m sure there are areas we will fortify this offseason…but this narrative that chip pissed away our Talent is just NOT TRUE.. Takes more than one offseason to build a contender, but once you have the right personnel, it still takes time to Develope and Gel that talemt into a top Team..
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As a whole, we are more Talemted than we were last year. this 53 man roster was much harder to make than past years. So I find this lack of talent crap to be absurd. No Team has probowlers at every position.. Takes teams multiple years of building and continuity to become a top NFL team… We decided to rebuild this past summer, what we see today is just the foundation of the Chip/Marynowitz team that we started to rebuild last offseason… Hopefully we see a lot of improvements and finish the second half of the season strong so this can become clear to blind, over reacting fans and Media…so we can put an end to the stupid false narratives, and have real discussions on the true issues
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Just because a few positions aremt as talented as last yea, doesn’t mean this roster isn’t more Talemted than any we have seen under Chip… lack of talent is a load of uneducated crap.
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Next time we have the joy of rooting for an eagle playoff team, Id bet it will be made up of most of the players that are already Eagles today.
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You can’t remake an entire secondary, WR’s corp, RB, QB, and OL in one offseason… Not going to be able to fix everything in one summer.. And some of the positions you address via the draft, will REQUIRE more Patiemce than half a rookie season..
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Lacking Talent is NOT why we are having this rough season…
People rip CK because right now it’s easy to do that, than give actual analysis of what’s happening.
What IS actually happening? If it’s not a talent issue, what is the issue?
It’s talent. When you’re not good enough, everything has to go right. Little mistakes go under the magnifying glass. Those little problems happen to good teams, but no one remembers them because their overall ability erases them.
At WR, the issue is that you can’t depend on rookie/2nd year WRs to carry your offense. I know that the trend lately has been that WRs are ready earlier than in past years, but for a long time WRs weren’t expected to break out until year 3. For fantasy purposes there were lists of players in their third year to keep an eye on that could break out.
I think the talent is there, but hasn’t been developed enough yet. You could say that the talent level this year is bad, and you’d be right. However, I don’t think you can treat them like busts.
I normally agree with most things you say..but, where a player is drafted does not equal talent. These WR’s, so far, and until proven other wise — are “ok”. They aren’t elite. There are a bunch of other WR’s in this league, drafted in later rounds and performing at a higher level.
…..
Same question as posed to AG below, if talent isn’t the issue, then what is? Next general answer will be execution. The response to that will be, why is execution poor? Lack of talent. Huff/Aggie(granted young)/Miles is not a talented group. They aren’t even avg. talent. Not this year…
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Agreed that you can’t rebuild an entire offense in 1 season. I don’t think anybody is questioning the rebuilding process. I’m questioning the talent that’s in place, as of today. People are waiting for this “magic” switch to be turned on and this team will run the table. That’s not going to happen. People also aren’t saying the Eagles will stink next year. Goes without saying CK will make improvements. That still doesn’t fix what’s wrong today…
Im not blaming Chip because of talent but because his Coaching/Play calling has been highly questionable this year. Like in Dallas how he didn’t try to score before halftime with a little over a minute left, at least a field goal.
exhausted.. So tired of being in position of needing to win a game just to get back to 500… How annoying,, and after we keep choking whenever we try to get above 500, how can I even enjoy beating Tampa? According to the pattern of this season, we beat Tampa, and choke in Detroit and have to go to Foxborough needing a win just to get back to 500… Exhausting
..
What is clear is that, unless we start putting together a few winning streaks, this season will slip away…. right now we are an 8-8 team, definition of mediocre. Good news is we do have a higher ceiling that we can still grow into… Just not sure if the growth will come this year, or if we need another offseason to see significant growth.
..
Tampa is coming to town, and what should be a gimme win, scares me to death because we are so inconsistent, there isn’t much we can hang our hat on and count on offensively… Losing to the Bucs Would be a disaster, beating the Bucs isn’t worthy of celebration. This season is wearing me down.
It wouldn’t be as bad if there weren’t trolls here and we could just discuss what’s bugging us, but also having camaraderie as we wait for things to turn around.
I think the light will come on eventually this year, I just hope Sanchez can give us a couple games until SB gets back. After last year’s meltdown, Sanchez owes us.
And if Mark lights it up? Sammy comes back?
IMO, yes. We know what Mark looks like long-term. Gotta at least give Bradford the benefit of the doubt for the rest of the year. Before moving forward with him, they gotta be absolutely sure.
Plus, I still think he’s getting better every week. I think Sanchez has hit close to his peak.
Well, we are going to find out.
For sure. I think Sanchez might move the offense well, but sometimes he coughs it up. I’d prefer to go back to SB who the last few games has been taking better care of the ball. Sanchez has coughed it up his entire career.
??SB had a pick called back because of penalties and two fumbles that luckily DK recovered. He’s still got mark sanchez like numbers (1 more TD pass than INT) since being here. I don’t hink there’s going to be any change in performance in the QB position honestly.
I think most QBs under pressure will throw picks, especially if the defense is hitting them quite a bit. DK was in position to recover the fumble because he was running behind the guy that got by him.
He also had a TD called back as well as some key drops that stalled the offense. That kind of stuff cuts both ways.
I think Sanchez looks better in his second year. He came in and gave the offense a big boost. He almost won us the game.
Austin forgot where the sideline was, Austin let a ball sail past his face in the end zone and Riley Cooper forgot how to line up.
I’m trying to like Cooper, I really am. Same with Austin. They just don’t make it easy though.
I’m ok with cutting them today
I would like them more if they were on some other team.
don’t bother
biggest if ever
tough schedule he hit at the end there to be fair minus choking in most important Skins game. It sure is a tough season, tough to be a fan of. Weird NFL season, so many teams hovering around .500 as you pointed out. Part thats killing me is the QB position, just think they need to draft a guy at this point. Feels like the team is headed into the abyss of the quest for competence at the position. That can take a long time as we all know
giants took back hakeem nicks, maybe we can take back djax after the season
I’d be willing to bring back Maclin, but I want no parts of DJax.
and neither does CK. Never going to happen.
Fran Duffy’s Eagle Eye on missed opportunities is up.
http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/news/article-1/Eagle-Eye-Analyzing-The-Missed-Chances/246da08b-f016-4a7e-accf-e0e5240a47c8
Sure do love watching that defensive line play. Cox and Logan are quite the duo. Sometimes their play is getting lost in the loses.
You re-watched this lose just to watch Cox and Logan? nice. True fan right here.
Lost in the Loss.
Sounds like the title of some player’s biography.
Barry Sanders
My biggest complaint is how unmercifully and inexplicably sloppy we’ve been for large parts of the season. If you lose because the other team is better than you it’s easier for me to accept than if you lose because you can’t snap the ball or your RB keeps getting blown up 5 yards deep in the backfield over and over.
Who’s to blame? Hell if I know, I just know it’s nauseating to watch.
Howie? Andy? Jeffrey Laurie? Brent Celek? Kelce? Man none of these guys seem like they should be blamed. It’s really hard to figure out who to blame….
Blaming Obama seems to be the go to answer in my conservative pocket of the country.
can he run block?
I think the legislative branch might be a better source for blockers.
only if the pass rushers are Syrian Refugees
or veterans in need of care
and the “high character” players were supposed to negate that. Big roster turnover will do that though and mediocre QB play, O line and WR group. What bothers me also is the poor special teams play, punt protection has even been bad
Anyone else find it funny that Bradford got injured the very game after he triggered the required play time to lower the draft pick we get in return (or whatever it was)?
Like yeah, that pretty much sums up the season.
or the franchise
Also find it funny that Foles benched at literally the same time point in the season.
that is weird.
isn’t this the week foles got hurt last year too? I forget
yup
both make perfect sense haha, the universe is balanced
except their consolation prize is our second round pick 🙁
that’s fine. they’re gonna waste it and we would have wasted it
[…] Tommy Lawlor explains why the Eagles need to fix their mistakes and keep moving forward … […]
Speaking of dropped balls, who will have more wins when the ball drops on New Year’s Eve, the Eagles or the Sixers?
https://twitter.com/FieldYates/status/666618853758234624
Wow- so we’re raiders level. Best Seahawks would love to undo that Jimmy G trade. Probably could have paid Bmax jimmy g’s money and have a much better secondary.
Was it 2 TDs that Cary Williams gave up against the Cardinals?
yeah — though he really had no chance of guarding their 3rd best WR anyway
Of all the offseason moves, seeing him go was one of my favorites.
I didn’t hate Cary, fletcher was worse for me. But secondary is way better — when it wants to be. Though we consistently give up big yards to backup QBs.
cary was a better player and more annoying human
Homie, the Raiders are better than us due to one very simple reason. They’re closer to filling the holy trinity of football than we are. Derek Carr, Khalil Mack and they’re missing a LT. Passer, pass protecter and pass rusher. We have Lane Johnson for LT, but missing a QB and a dominant rusher.
man, you guys, as if I wasnt depressed enough about my football team you have to go and point out the always hapless raiders are better. Man cmon
Really underselling how good the Raiders are. They have a better QB, better #1 receiver, and their best defensive player is close to the level Cox is on… Basically all around they are a better team then the Eagles.
I’d trade our roster for Oaklands today.
You need a QB above everything else in this league, and they have a good one (who we could have drafted!).
A true #1 WR and an elite EDGE guy as well?
Yeah…..
something’s gotta give
such a strange season
cowboys waive weeden.
He probably wasn’t a culture fit.
Redskins coach Jay Gruden said he wants the team to re-sign impending free agent QB Kirk Cousins. Really hope he turns back into a pumpkin.
There were rumblings that Miles Austin may secretly be working for the Cowboys yet. I think those views are wrong. I have evidence that there is actually a conspiracy formed, perhaps during his time in the Cowboy receiving corp, to undermine his team. But the Cowboys are victims of this same nefarious plot.
Read this quote, with a name removed: “Then, in the waning moments, he didn’t make much of an effort to catch a
deep pass that was intercepted … in the end zone.”
That could very easily describe the ball that Austin allowed to sail in front of him to the waiting defender without even raising his arms.
But it doesn’t.
That quote describes the final nail in the Cowboy’s coffin. A nail that was allowed to be driven home by the inaction of Dez Bryant.
With the curtain pulled back, it seems exceedingly obvious now that DeSean Jackson is also involved in this plot. Fifty-nine receiving yards? For the season? Really, come on.
There is something foul at work here, and it doesn’t involve any former Ducks. The only real questions I see in all of this is how Miles was able to bring Cooper in on his scheme, and how we can get both of them onto the Giants without arousing suspicion.
slice off their thumbs
It that a suggested punishment, or a way to get them onto the Giants?
the latter. it was basically a terrible JPP joke
Because if it was a punishment, I’m not sure it would have any impact with Miles.
if he lost both feet would he notice?
Wrong cut for Miles Austin; he just needs to be cut from the team.
KC is on the up, didnt they start like 1-4? They also apparently have a
fairly easy schedule rest of way and are fighting Bills and Jets for
maybe 2nd wildcard spot. Crazy season. Like 4 good teams then a bunch of
.500 or hovering around that. My response to a deleted post, took me a second to realize why but understood, been away for a while
My apologies if this was already posted earlier……..
Jason Peters reportedly refused to be active as a backup for the Eagles-Dolphins game
http://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2015/11/17/9749036/chip-kelly-jason-peters-eagles-dolphins-game-left-tackle-backup-injury-lane-johnson-dennis-kelly
It was reported by Eskin, so who knows what the truth is……….
Culture!!!!
http://i.onionstatic.com/onion/5143/1/original/1200.jpg
you know the chiefs have blogs too right?
go get em kook
botto! Silence the critics. Right on botto! If it isn’t koolaid you aint drinking right botto!
DIdn’t Desean get cut for not doing what the coach told him to do?
Since you’re such an idiot why don’t you get your facts straight. Desean was cut for salary purposes and for basically being a jackass. Tell me again what MeSean is doing this year? Oh yea he isn’t doing anything and is about to get cut from the Skins after this year. What a great player he is if the Skins are planning on cutting you. How bad are you going to miss the taste of his genitalia when he is on another team?
So not suiting up for a game because you aren’t a “starter” isn’t being a jackass?
remember yesterday when you were screaming in all caps that foles was better because he’s starting this coming week and bradford isn’t? and then like 90 minutes later foles was benched?
Cant upvote enough!
Matt Lombardo and a couple others have reported this isn’t true.
Even if it is true, who cares? He’s injured with a back injury. These things can be career threatening, and frankly, will probably be a problem for the rest of his life.
If it were true, the only thing disturbing about it would be our staff insisting that he be active.
For who, for what?
True.
Not sure why Eskin would report this and several others come out afterwards to say it was BS. Not sure what he has to gain from this.
I think CK probably thought that the OL played pretty well against better pass rushers that we would face this week, so better to give him the week off.
I think Eskin literally makes stuff up to get his name out there more. There has been multiple times where he has reported something that ends up being completely false.
click bait
He’s such an agitator. I keep thinking about when Charlie Manuel was about to wreck shop on him during that one press conference.
If he’s not careful, he’s going to lose his access to the team. Especially if he’s trying to piss on one of CK’s favorite players.
i barely know anything about sports media but the one thing i know as a fact is eff eskin
How long will people still listen to him? Some do. strange really.
http://myfinecollectibles.com/Bobbleheads/kingofbling1.jpg
It’s just football news. I care. Glad it’s not true if those reports are correct.
you’d be disappointed in Peters?
Nope. There’s so much more to be taken from it (if it were true) than to be disappointed in Peters. I’d be pissed @ Chip even more than I already am and I’m a supporter.
I can get behind that
I agree. Who cares? His attitude was that if he’s healthy enough to play, he’s playing. What’s wrong with that?
Good!
I don’t mind the gist of it if we’re looking at things as Peters being dead set on starting and the medical staff deciding that he wasn’t up for a full game worth of snaps.
In other news, Jerry Jones is a fraud. Hardy outright misses a meeting and is a scumbag, but these guys are bad for the locker room?
https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/666712512860192769
Cowboys are a clear meritocracy. CM must be terrible considering Dallas has no WRs.
maybe they hit a woma – oh wait jerry’s ok with that
Maybe they refused to?
So, what happens if Hardy runs over a female official?
does he get the sack?
contract extension
Howard Eskin and I were making up stuff to report and we have the explanation here:
Michael saw Corey pulling himself up to the first row of seats to give his parents, whom are wealthy, a kiss before the last game.
This upset Michael. In the locker room, he was heard yelling, “I hate when guys kiss up to rich White’s folks!”
Corey, angered, yelled back, “I’d kick your ass, but Christine is a girl’s name and I don’t hit girls.”
Obviously, neither of these players are a fit for the locker room.
Do you realize how Batshit crazy you have to be To miss a meeting a week after those pics came out and days after all the negative publicity you got in the Sunday night game with Eagles? psychopaths and serial killers are at least smart enough to pretend to be sorry,and hide the fact that they are batshit crazy, don’t do anything to draw negative attention… Greg Hardy has to be batshit crazy. Even OJ Simpson tried to “fake it”… You have a franchise under fire because they are giving you a chance and pqying you millions, and you can’t even Fake it? Pretend you are sorry? He has to be officially insane, sociopath, oblivious, just out of control…. This maniac can’t go 3 days without doing something negative we hear about… How much more can Jerry really endure?
Well, at least we can mostly enjoy the dumpster fire that is the Cowboys season. I seem to remember a guy saying that any back could get 1500 yards by default behind that OL. LOL.
As slimy as JJ is, I’m enjoying watching him keep the lunatics on that team. Hardy is crazy, but even better is the circus surrounding him that is the Cowboys franchise.
At this point, since we don’t play them again, im praying that Jerry is so clueless that he keeps that manic on the roster..I’m waiting for the day he gets mad at Jason Garrett and Knocks Romos head off at practice even tho he has the red jersey on,.. Leave Hardy in that locker room long enough and he will burn that bitch to the ground… I want GREG Hardy to remain a cowboy, go into an offseason as a Cowbpy, get arrested as a cowboy, and then completely lose his mind in training camp Til he implodes that locker room completely..
.
HOPEFULLY jerry is insane enough to keep overlooking the bright red flags and pay Hardy a big money extension before he destroys the locker room
I’d enjoy the dumpster fire more if I could throw fans of both the Cowboys and Giants in there.
Jerry isn’t enduring him. Jerry is excusing him!
IDK how he has done in season, but in preseason Corey White played really well
I understand why Foles is being benched, he hasn’t played well. But why are they replacing him with a dead disc jockey?
They figured they would replace the guy that looks like Shaggy with the guy who voiced Shaggy.
I’m a believer in typically games are won during the week of practice. Often you can see a big win followed by praises for a great week of practice with the expectation that it would be good game day performance. hard to feel good about the preperation where Lane was quoted “it was pretty messed up” in regards to being in the locker room getting dressed for a game and Lane not being sure if he was playing left or right… Something also happened last week at practice that hasn’t been talked about, but I have been wondering about it since it happened. It was either Tues,wed or Thurs(can’t remember which day) but chip had his weekly press Confrence scheduled for 1pm and all the media was down at Novacare waiting for chip to talk but 1:15 still no chip, 1:30 still no chip, media outlets apologizing to viewers that they were still waiting for the press Confrence. around 1:45 someone from the Eagles finally told the media, it was being moved and chip would talk at 5:00pm..,, this struck me as odd. Chip is a very schedule oriented leader who maps out the entire day, wasting little time, obvipusly havimg to include his press Confrence obligatipns into his scheduling… What could have happened at Novacare for such a drastic change in scheduling at the Last moment? … Can’t help to wonder the state of the novacare complex this days…they are faced with a lot of adversity and this is a locker room filled with a bunch of new faces who are going thru adversity together for the first time…. How you handle adversity is a crucial part of player evaluation and one of the main reasons I think chip would never have any interest working with Kapernicks or RG3.,,
..
I don’t know what’s up with the team these days, but we are about to enter a crucial portion of the season and find out… I’m not sure we can keep treading 8-8 water the rest Of the way. I think we will either come together and finally make a run and play our best ball of the year, or the adversity will become too much and the end of the season can get Ugl.. After all, last years late season implosion came with Samchez in charge. FOles record as an eagle is still pretty damn good, Sanchez was in charge when we had the ugly implosion after the 9-3start… Now we are at a delicate time in our season, and our fate once again is in the hands Of sanchez at a crucial time.. You DO NOT want to go to New England on a 3 game losing streak or 1-2 since the dallas win.. Knowing there is a great chance of losing to New England, we have to beat the teams we are supposed to beat.. GOOD NEWS is that the strength of Sanchez is he has an advanced command of chips offense compared to SAM, which is expressed with Sanchez moving the Offense quicker…the probem is that Sanchez can look good and tease us for a game or two, and then you can count on him regressing to the veteran QB with the 1 to 1 TD to INT ratio…
..
Fortunately seems like SAM won’t be out long, so hopefully we can ride the initial spark Sanchez gives our offense to beat two bad teams before sanchez warts show too much..Ideally SAM getting healthy, and seeing Sanchez get two wins give SAM a kick in the ass and the fear of getting blown out by the Patriots focuses us to stop killing ourselves with the horrible self inflicted mistakes. do that, and maybe we can even make the Pats game interesting, since the Pats aren’t in a great position either right now, no dion lewis, no Edeleman, 3 OTs injured.. Defense is good but not great… Probably the best time possible to play them. An injury to Gronk wouldnt hurt…. I don’t expect to beat the pats, but I hope it brings out the best in us even if it’s not good enough to win in Foxborough
Yea I really didn’t like the fact that they didn’t inform Lane about what position he was going to play right until the game was essentially starting. I understand that maybe Chip was holding out hope Big Pete was going to be ready to go but still at least give Lane some sort of heads up.
Yeah, that whole story reeked of dysfunction…
[…] Tommy Lawlor explains why the Eagles need to fix their mistakes and keep moving forward … […]
It’s not a big deal, Hart hasn’t been bad at all, but Papa Bair was actually making plays for us where as Hart was solid, bur I think Bair deserves to play, and the defense is fine, but it could use a spark. I like Bairs wing span, getting his hands up trying to help rookie Jameis make a mistake…
..
I don’t know how true it is, but I hear Couplin will go on injured reserves soon.. If that’s the case did anyone sigń Prosinski, or is he still available? Our ST NEEDS a Boost, but what’s really disheartening is that the mistakes are coming from our ST aces… AjiraTutu replacing Brad Smith, commits the stupid ST player.. Friggin marcus Smith and Burton do their job, and our Ace Maragos is responsible for getting our punt blocked…smh… We are playing with a backüp kicker, and our long snapper with 20 years of experience is screwing up and making it harder for Our drunken idiot kicker.. not blocking for SPROLES when miami finally gave Sproles return opportunities… We aren’t getting anything from kickoffs. I know we rarely even return one, but why not see if Hungry Kenjon Barner can give us a spark?
..
We FLAT OUT ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH if we also have to try and overcome ST mistakes. Fipp needs to get his shit together
..
Can’t help wishing chip would cut Miles Austin TODAY. HEADS NEED TO ROLL! This motherfucker is collecting 2 million and he doesn’t even look like he wants to play. Two times Sanchez threw To him and he showed No interest in even trying to make the catch.. Then the lazy prick doesn’t drag his second foot pissing away about as good Of a throw as we can expect from a backüp? I can live with the Drops, but when our QB goes to you twice in crunch time and you aren’t the least bit interested in tryingto make a play for us, your head has to ROLL!!! I don’t give a shit if he is out most productive outside WR as sad as that is, he went thru the motions,and Couldnt care less.. We aren’t getting close to 2mil worth from him, so ATleast lets Sacrafice him and send a wake up call to the locker, at least we get to make an example out of him for two Mil… I can’t stand to see him in an eagle jersey this week
or if you don’t cut him, bench him.
if we cut him, would he be collecting from us and the dallas?
that would be some highway robbery right there. can I do it?
Bears
Google
Always a massive fan of linking to bloggers that I appreciate but do not get a lot of link appreciate from.
I agree the Eagles need to keep grinding and fighting until they are absolutely eliminated from contention this season, but if they are and do not make the playoffs, reality needs to be acknowledged and Chip needs to re-evaluate everything he is doing here.
Something stinks at the core – I’ve rarely seen a team as undisciplined in so many facets, so incapable of adjusting to how teams are playing them and so tied to a system the team does not have the talent to execute or is not tailored to their personnel well enough.
Accountability needs to mean something. Chip was given full authority and made a ton of moves including drafts, trades, FA signings and all the rest. This is a mediocre team and that should never be good enough. We need to see some real significant progress next season IMO; Chip should be on the clock.