Building A Secondary

Posted: December 10th, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 229 Comments »

Most teams that have been really good in recent years have had a strong secondary. Seattle is the best example. They have 3 dynamic DBs and can be stifling on defense. Denver has quietly built a very good secondary and it’s one of the reasons they could shift from Peyton Manning to Brock Osweiler and keep on winning.

Arizona has developed a very good secondary. Patrick Peterson, who was mediocre last year, figured out he had diabetes and was overweight. He’s in top shape now and is playing like a shutdown corner. Tyrann Mathieu is playing like the Honey Badger that we all remember from LSU. Opposing QBs have a rating of 75.7. That’s good pass defense.

One of the reasons Carolina is undefeated is their secondary. Josh Norman is having a Pro Bowl year. He is playing lights out. The rest of the secondary isn’t on his level, but they have a lot of experience. Peanut Tillman started the first 9 games as the other CB. He’s ancient, but knows every trick in the book. Roman Harper is the SS. He’s not as old as Peanut, but Harper has more gray hair than any other NFL DB. He’s slow and only adequate in coverage, but is also a smart veteran who knows how to get the job done. Kurt Coleman is starting at FS. He’s not the biggest or the fastest, but this is his 6th NFL season. He’s got 86 games under his belt and uses that knowledge to overcome his lack of ideal measurables. Coleman has 6 INTs this year. Opposing QBs have a rating of 70.7. That’s outstanding pass defense.

The Eagles secondary is highly erratic as we’ve seen this year. There are times when they look very good (Giants game) and other times (Bucs, Lions) when they were awful.

I do think there is reason for optimism.

You usually build a secondary over time. The guys need to play together to get comfortable in the scheme. The Eagles are showing some positive signs this year. The first thing is that the team made wholesale changes and brought in a lot of bodies to compete for jobs. Nobody was handed anything.

Byron Maxwell got off to a bad start, but in retrospect it wasn’t as bad as we thought. Julio Jones ate him alive in the opener. We were shocked. Jones then proceeded to light up every DB for the first half of the year. He was on pace to set records before the Falcons started slumping. Maxwell was shaken by that game and it has taken time for him to improve, but he has gotten better.

Nolan Carroll is the ultimate try-hard guy, but teams started to really target him in recent weeks. His injury may have been a blessing in disguise for the Eagles. It forced Eric Rowe onto the field. He did well in his first start.

To be fair, there were some drops in there. It wasn’t like Rowe was Troy Vincent/Eric Allen. But he battled all game and never looked overwhelmed. The more he plays, the more comfortable he should get. And confidence is huge for DBs. They all get beat. The best DBs are so delusional they won’t acknowledge getting beat and think they are perfect.

Rowe has big time potential because of his size, speed and athleticism. He could develop into a very good CB. Or time may show that he’s only so-so there and his future is really at FS. We’ll see how that goes. The key is to get him on the field and find out.

Denzel Rice hasn’t played this year, but had a very good summer. The Eagles like him quite a bit.

Remember JaCorey Shepard? He looked so good the team decided Brandon Boykin was expendable. Then Shepard got hurt. The Eagles are very high on Shepard and thought he could be the slot corner this year. My guess is they’ll have him in that role next year.

Jaylen Watkins is back on the roster. I thought he played well this summer, but got caught in a numbers crunch. The Eagles liked other DBs better.

Randall Evans, a 6th round pick, is on the practice squad. He will compete for a roster spot in 2016.

The Eagles had high hopes for Jerome Couplin. They thought he could be a starting Safety this year. Injuries hurt him starting in the summer and he’s on IR now.

Ed Reynolds took Couplin’s place and is now playing in the Nickel/Dime packages. He’s not going to make anyone forget Wes Hopkins any time soon, but Reynolds is functional in a limited role. And there is great value in seeing him play. The Eagles need to know if he’s worth bringing back or doesn’t belong in the league.

Walter Thurmond and Malcolm Jenkins aren’t spring chickens, but Safeties can play with some tread on the tire. That’s a position where knowledge and experience can be every bit as valuable as speed. Thurmond is 28. Jenkins will turn 28 soon. They could stay together for a couple of years, depending on money and contract situations.

Last year on Dec 1st the secondary looked a bit different.

CB Cary Williams ———— unemployed
CB Bradley Fletcher ——— unemployed
CB Brandon Boykin ——— benched
CB Nolan Carroll
CB Jaylen Watkins
CB Roc Carmichael ——— unemployed
FS Nate Allen ————— injured
SS Malcolm Jenkins
FS Chris Maragos
SS Chris Prosinski ——— backup for Bears

You can see that the guys who left the Eagles did not exactly thrive on their new teams. The Eagles brought in a lot of young guys to battle. Things have not been perfect to be sure, but this group has played well this year and should be better as they play together. Some guys will rise and show they deserve to start. Others will struggle and fall by the wayside.

There is talent, youth and competition. That’s what you need to build a strong secondary.

And the Eagles could easily spend a high pick to add to the mix. If the Eagles end up with a Top 15 pick, maybe they’d have a shot at someone like Jalen Ramsey. There is always room for another talented DB.

*****

The Eagles covered well in the upset of the Patriots. Per this Patriots blog, Tom Brady had to hold the ball longer than any other game this year.

By our count, Brady took an average of 2.63 seconds from snap-to-throw, his highest average of the season. Furthermore, Brady had 16 plays which took more than three seconds, something very uncharacteristic for the Patriots offense. Brady has averaged over 2.2 seconds from snap-to-throw in four straight games, which comes following the first eight games where he only had one game averaging over 2.2 seconds.

Brady knows he needs to get rid of the ball fast to be successful.

“Part of it I think was their scheme, and you’re right. I’ve got to find a guy to throw the ball to,” Brady said after the game. “It’s just scanning the open field and finding a guy and letting him have it. I always like to try to do that. Sometimes they had a few extra guys in coverage, but you’re right. I can definitely get rid of the ball quicker.”

And

Against the Eagles, Brady was 14-for-19 when taking less than two seconds from snap-to-throw, but 7-for-16 when taking more than three seconds.

Part of the issue was Brady not having Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski. No one wants to ignore that. But this is Tom Brady we’re talking about. If he drops back and has more than 3 seconds to find someone, you’d expect him to be better than 7 for 16.

That stat shows the Eagles were doing some good things in coverage.

_


229 Comments on “Building A Secondary”

  1. 1 Anders said at 8:26 AM on December 10th, 2015:

    Get me Jalen Ramsey and we are good to go next year

  2. 2 GermanEagle said at 9:02 AM on December 10th, 2015:

    Since you aren’t the only poster on here with a man crush on Ramsey, forgive my ignorance for not having seen him play this year. However his stats are not mind blowing?? No picks and only 10 batted passes this season?

  3. 3 Anders said at 10:33 AM on December 10th, 2015:

    He is been forced to play cb instead of his natural safety position

  4. 4 GermanEagle said at 11:36 AM on December 10th, 2015:

    So do we need another S?

  5. 5 A_T_G said at 1:41 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    We are going to flip him for Mariota and Dion Jordan.

  6. 6 Anders said at 1:53 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    I do not trust Thurmond long term and I think Ramsey is an upgrade

  7. 7 anon said at 2:15 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    You’d rather do that can go QB / Tackle?

  8. 8 TypicalDouche said at 2:17 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    As good as Ramsey is, I do not see him as an upgrade over a proven commodity like Thurmond. What don’t you trust about Thurmond long term? Health? Salary?

  9. 9 Anders said at 3:16 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Health and Im not sure if he can keep it up log term

  10. 10 TypicalDouche said at 3:21 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    That is understandable but also overblown. Thurmond has shown no signs that he cant keep up his play long term and in fact being that he is so new to the position I tend to think he will get better. As for health concerns, you can say that about any player. Thurmond has been healthy so far this year so that isn’t something you can really worry too much about.

  11. 11 Anders said at 5:47 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Thurmond has already fallen off a bit since the first few games and regarding health, just look at kendricks or hicks for often injured player that can keep healthy

  12. 12 Gian GEAGLE said at 5:20 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Id gladly start Thurmond and his freakish long arms at outside corner or as our Nickel Where he has years more experience than he does at safety.
    ..

    Give me
    Jalen Ramsey and Jenkins at Safety
    ROWE and Maxwell at outside corner
    Thurmond at Nickel
    JaCorey or Nolan at Dime
    ..
    Boom! Top 10 NFL secondary lol
    .
    .
    And add a badass 3 safety subpackage…

  13. 13 Media Mike said at 5:26 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    You could be correct talent for talent, but Thurmond (prior to this year) has spend a lot of time in his career laying down on the job. I think we’ve been very fortunate to have him healthy all year.

  14. 14 b3nz0z said at 2:56 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    kind of, unless rowe switches in nickel or the light goes on for Reynolds

  15. 15 Media Mike said at 5:24 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Yes.

  16. 16 b3nz0z said at 2:55 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    we already have a guy like that

  17. 17 Anders said at 5:48 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Rowe was never as good as Ramsey at safety

  18. 18 b3nz0z said at 5:54 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    did not know that.

  19. 19 D3FB said at 10:31 AM on December 10th, 2015:

    Nah give me Cody Whitehair

  20. 20 Anders said at 10:36 AM on December 10th, 2015:

    I know Kelly likes size but isn’t 309 lbs a bit too heavy for a safety?

    Kidding a side, I wouldn’t mind him at all

  21. 21 anon said at 11:32 AM on December 10th, 2015:

    Saw on Twitter you graduated. Congrats on making it to the next step. It’s all downhill from here.

  22. 22 D3FB said at 12:02 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Sally Mae gonna send the goons to the house anyday now…

    Hold me

  23. 23 ChoTime said at 12:05 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Congratulations! Hope the workaday world doesn’t impinge too much on your IB contributions.

  24. 24 b3nz0z said at 2:56 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    welcome to hell, friend

  25. 25 Mac said at 3:26 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    *Navient… or whatever else the sharks call themselves these days.

  26. 26 bdbd20 said at 9:01 AM on December 10th, 2015:

    I do remember someone on the radio saying that this was actually a rebuilding year and Chip’s goal was to be a contender in 2016. Not sure how true that is, but the secondary sure has gone through a big change. I’m excited to see how Shepherd and Couplin fit in.

  27. 27 laeagle said at 11:21 AM on December 10th, 2015:

    We were all saying that before they started doing well in the preseason games. We should have stuck to our guns.

  28. 28 Gian GEAGLE said at 11:32 AM on December 10th, 2015:

    Doesn’t really matter, no matter how good or bad we were this year, think it’s reasonable to expect that we would be BETTER Next year because chip decided t Retool instead of continuining to build on the 2013, and 2014 Eagles.. Good or bad, this year was always just going to be the starting point for the Chip/Marynowitz/Bradford Eagle era
    ..
    But the preseason success certainly didn’t do us many favors

  29. 29 laeagle said at 11:46 AM on December 10th, 2015:

    I agree that we’ll be better next year, as well as that we’ll be better in 2016 specifically because we broke it down to build it back up. 2013 was promising, but a lot of 2014 was fools gold.

    We’ll be stronger at DB with the return of Shepard. Hopefully we can retain Thurmond long term. We’ll be stronger at LB with a healthier Kiko plus the return of Hicks. If we can fix the O-line, with youngsters and mid-tier free agents, and maybe pick up someone fun like Alshon Jeffrey, this team could be in really good shape.

    The key is QB, but I feel that Bradford is enough for the time being. He’s at least as good as other QBs like Andy Dalton, in the long run, and while I think we can look to upgrade, and should, he’ll hold the fort down nicely.

  30. 30 Gian GEAGLE said at 11:29 AM on December 10th, 2015:

    Whether we make it to the NFC title game this year or miss the playoffs, it’s probably more realistic to expect that NEXT year was going to be a bigger year for us.
    ..
    Look at the Giants last year, many people thought the Giamts had to take a step back last year, before they could take a step forward this year because it would take a year to get 27 new Players comfortable in their role as Giants… And That’s exactly how it played out. This years Giant team is much better than last years team, even if the years Giamts team isn’t very good…. It’s much better than it was last year for the Giants, but poor time management and poor situational football has killed the GIamts late In games this year.
    ..

    No matter how great or bad the Eagles are this year, Next year was always supposed to be the better year which is why I wasn’t thrilled with Chip wanting to rebuild in year 3 instead of continuing to build on 2013, and 2014 Eagles.
    ,
    I assume we are going to BUILD on this season, instead of retooling like we did last year.. Even if the Eagles DONT add any players I would assume we would be better next year, but Hopefully chip can make some KEY additions this offseasons while returning players continue to grow.
    ..
    Heck look at two KEY EAGLES we are having to count on this year, SAM Bradford and Walt Thurmond.. bradford didn’t start practicing for us until August 1st, and Thurmond Wasnt moved to safety until the beginning of August. I don’t care how great or bad they look this year, it’s reasonable to expect Both to be much better after a year in this scheme and an entire pffseason to practice as the starting QB and starting Safety of the Eagles.
    ..
    I still have REALLY Hgh Hopes for KIKO, but the ONLY way that can pay off for us is if he is done suffering serious Leg injuries. If KIKO gets thru this year Helathy, than gets thru the entire offseasn, preseason healthy, I fully expect to see the player that won rookie Of the year in Buffalo
    ..
    It’s also reasonable to expect that talented young players continue to improve like ROWE, The Great Baby Simba, Nelly, Huff
    ..
    I have No doubt that we have yet to see the best of SAM Bradford
    .
    Scary to think what our safety tandem can be After a year of playing together
    ..
    Hopefully our personnel department has learned some hard lessons and we see a much better 2016 draft and offseason
    ..
    Even tho it’s reasonable to expect that we would be better Next year after retooling going into the offseason, it’s not an excuse to not play some good football to end this season… But no matter how good or bad we were this year, I don’t look at this as YEAR 3 of the Chip Era, it’s YEAR 1 of the Chip/Marynowitz erA BECAUSE WE decided to change course and retool instead of continuing to build on 2013, and 2014

  31. 31 anon said at 9:30 AM on December 10th, 2015:

    Game CMP% YDS TD INT Rating
    vs
    Eagles 51.8 312 3 2 71.4
    @
    Broncos 54.8 280 3 0 99.3
    vs
    Bills 51.3 277 1 1 72.3

    Looking at the last 3 games we matched up pretty well against good defenses though bills faced amendola and gronk as well. it seemed like he dumped a lot of balls in that game. they’re o-line is a mess and you can see trouble it’s causning

  32. 32 ChoTime said at 10:03 AM on December 10th, 2015:

    Sproles:

    Asked if he complained to Chip Kelly or Jeffrey Lurie about his lack of touches, Sproles replied, “Nope.”

    When asked if he ever thought of going to Kelly or Lurie to complain about playing time, Sproles replied, “Nope.”

    When asked why not, Sproles replied, “Nope.”

    When another reporter entered the conversation late, Sproles was asked again (but more specifically) if he ever complained to the owner of the team on an airplane about his lack of carries, Sproles said, “No I haven’t.”

    Not quite as classic as Marshawn Lynch’s “yep”, but it has potential.

    Read more at http://www.phillymag.com/birds247/2015/12/10/eagles-wake-up-call-tyrod-taylor-and-alternate-reality/#KPkVzSlyTAKwXDtp.99

  33. 33 Gian GEAGLE said at 10:51 AM on December 10th, 2015:

    Unfortunately I keep hearing Demarco doesn’t have many friends in the eagke locker room besides Bradford…. Considering our media is a gossipy joke, I really hope that it’s not true… But I’m sure a bunch of players noticed he was piased off after a big win,and im sure it got playërs attention to see murray on the plane with Lurie…
    .
    This can’t be a good thing especually when a few weeks ago unnamed playërs were quoted do talking about how Murray quit and slid in the Miami game
    ..
    There is also the fact that someone on the plane went to the media and told them about Murray going to LURIE. If this came from a player, it probably means the player doesn’t like Murray and his actions very much… But The fact that Ed Werder had this report makes me wonder if maybe this leak didn’t come from a player because Werder is based out of Dallas and has built up a relationship with Murray and his people, so I can’t help to wonder if this leak came from someome in Murrays camp, but if that’s the case, I struggle to see what the motive would be?

    This should NOT be happening After the biggest win of the season. Hopefully Murray plays well these next 4 games so we can Give him his touches, lead us to the playoff, and that type of success is the best Type of Deoderant and hopefully success can fix all the drama with Murray since good chance he is back next year

  34. 34 botto said at 3:04 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    we don’t need murray at all.
    he ain’t no good no more.
    that star stains deep

  35. 35 Mac said at 3:25 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Part of what makes Sproles even more heroic in my book is that he has allowed people to know that he struggles with stuttering. He’s not trying to be the best, just the best version of himself. Very proud to be a Sproles fan.

  36. 36 Gian GEAGLE said at 10:39 AM on December 10th, 2015:

    Jalen Ramsey has been my wet dream since last year… But we probably have to go 1-3 down the stretch to have any chance at drafting him..
    ..
    I’m a believer in most of the DBs we have on this roster. Sometimes even a free agent addition needs to wait Til year 2 to become really comfortable on his team. We saw Nolan improve from last year. QBs have started to pick on nolan, but more times than not, I thought Nolan stepped up to the challenge and held his own when they were trying to pick on him, with a few horrible exceptions.
    ..
    Clearly the tampa and Detroit games weren’t an accurate reflection of this years defense… 10 solid games, 2 meltdowns… I think we could do nothing and this sexondary would improve just by keeping them together, but our DBs have versatility, so if we end up with bettet outside corner than Nolan, Carroll can always move back to a slot corner role
    ..
    We have the best safety tandem in the league, and they have no experience prior to this yeR playng togethet, and top ranked safety thurmond has only been a safety since August, scary to think what thurmond and Jenkins can be after a year of experience playing togethet and a summer of walt trading at safety..
    ..
    Would be a tremendous boost for our secondary if Reynolds, JaCorey and Rice turn out to be playërs, hopefully we add another baller or two to the secondary while keeping this years starters in philly

  37. 37 unhinged said at 12:54 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Share your view of the Tampa and Detroit disasters. The whole D was atrocious those games, and pinning ANY position with major fault is wrong in my opinion. Ramsey may be all that, but so was Morris Claiborne, and I don’t want Kelly trading up, up, up in the first for ANY DB!

  38. 38 Gian GEAGLE said at 2:49 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Ramsey is No Claiborne and he is no Mark Barron,
    ..
    For starters, he is probBly a much better safety than corner which they have him playing this year. IMO he is the first safety since Berry and Earl Thomas worthy of a top 10 pick (Barron was a fraud).
    ..
    I think he can succeed at corner, but I feel like it’s a shame to not play him at Safety where he is that rare special safety that comes around every few years that warrants being drafted in the top 10…. The fact that he also plays corner makes him the prototypical safety that the Eagles look for.
    .
    We would have to go 1-3 the rest of the way to have a shot at drafting him but we are fortunate that most of our DBs are versatile so even if we wanted to play Ramsey at Safety, we could still get great value out of Thurmond at outside corner or in the slot… And having Jenkins, Thurmond, Ramsey, and ROWE who can all play Safety gives us great depth/versatility to overcome injuries.
    ..
    As much as I would love to see us draft Jalen, after a stressful season, Id rather see Bradford and the Eagles get hot and claw their way into the playoffs… Even if we aren’t winning a Super Bowl this year, be great to get some playoff experience to build on… If we miss the playoffs, they better find a way to get me this kid to make up for robbing me of Eal Thomas

  39. 39 Dominik said at 10:52 AM on December 10th, 2015:

    Chip the GM screwed up the Nickel subpackage. Can’t say it any other way than that. Of course there was some bad luck involved with Shepard, but do we really want to claim a 6th round rookie would have been the sure fire solution? It’s possible, don’t get me wrong. But Miles Austin looked good in camp, too…

    It started with Maragos, who can’t play Defense. Then we moved to Biggers and he just isn’t any good. Now Reynolds seems to be the Nickel DB. Let’s hope he can be at least capable down the stretch. But we NEED a good slot corner or a good FS (that’s the benefit of having two former CB as your Safeties) next year. Nickel is about 50 percent of the snaps. Can’t have a clear liability for 50 percent of your snaps on your Defense if you want to play good Defense.

    There are a lot of reasons this team is so extremely inconsistent, I don’t want to be simplistic. But I think Nickel DB and WR are the two biggest GM mistakes by Chip. He didn’t find good solutions for these position groups.

  40. 40 laeagle said at 11:20 AM on December 10th, 2015:

    Well, it’s not like Chip said, “here, let’s just plug in a 6th round rookie!” He saw him play, while Boykin was still on the roster. He played well enough to determine that going with him wasn’t just a shot in the dark. The injury, of course, changed everything, but there was no way to predict that.

    And before you get too down on Biggers, he has played well at times. The last Dallas game is an excellent example.

    Nickel DB is very far down the list of things that Chip the GM screwed up this year. He poured TONS of resources into that position compared to others. I hear you on WR, though.

  41. 41 Dominik said at 8:03 AM on December 11th, 2015:

    He poured TONS of resources into that position compared to others.

    Hey, I’m not saying Chip didn’t try. But if your Nickel DB turns out to be Maragos and Biggers and both play (generally, with a few expections) as bad as one would anticipate, it’s still his fault as the GM.

    Maragos was picked apart in the Dolphins game. Biggers was picked apart in the Buccs game. Both can have a a few good snaps, but they aren’t good enough for ~ 50 percent of the snaps. And the more film Offensive Coordinators watch, the more obvious it gets.

    Now, if we’d have a bad Dime Package, I wouldn’t blame Chip for that. You’re talking about the 6th DB here. Can’t have All Pro 6th DBs, obviously. But Nickel is important, just as important as Base.

  42. 42 anon said at 11:30 AM on December 10th, 2015:

    Gotta get over Boykin. Plan was to stay in most I base anyway, got linebackers that are better in coverage. Boykin not coming back next year it was smart to let him go and give the roster spot to a rookie.

  43. 43 Gian GEAGLE said at 11:34 AM on December 10th, 2015:

    And if getting rid of boykin was that BIG of a mistake, we can always try to sign him in free agency now that he has learned that the grass ismt always greener…
    ..
    Doubt we try signing him even tho it’s probably cheaper than it would have been to extend him had he never been traded

  44. 44 Dominik said at 8:06 AM on December 11th, 2015:

    I agreed with the Boykin trade at the time. Therefore, I’m not saying the trade was wrong, because I hate hindsight. But Chip couldn’t just say Shepard is good, let’s trade Boykin. He thought Evans, Biggers, Maragos, Prosinski, Watkins etc was good enough depth to trade Boykin. That’s were the mistake lies.

  45. 45 A_T_G said at 1:09 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    “But Miles Austin looked good in camp, too…”

    You take that back. Take that back right now!

  46. 46 HawaiianEagle said at 3:26 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Heck, even my X looked good for a little while…

  47. 47 Dominik said at 8:07 AM on December 11th, 2015:

    I miss camp. It feels so good to have that 0 in the loss column.

  48. 48 Gian GEAGLE said at 11:07 AM on December 10th, 2015:

    There is a lot to rip chip about this year but gotta give credit where it’s due.
    ..
    Much respect for being willing to demote Demarco and go thru all this drama with Murray because it’s what’s best for the team. A lot of people in Chips position would keep riding with Murray in hopes that it will justfy bringing him to philly and justify the contract he gave him… Chip benching murray is Chip doing what’s best for the team, even tho it makes his decision to bring in Murray reflect poorly on Chip. Chip IS doing what’s best for the team, where as a lot of people would be trying to stay with Murray in hopes that he will validate the decision to bring Murray to Philly…. Contracts dictating playing time is happens more than it should, and I appreciate chip ISNT trying to justify his GM moves… Benching Murray is chip doing what’s best for the Eagles, even tho It’s not WHATS best for chips reputation, and considering how Chip has been Under fire from local and National media, I gotta respect him for it
    .,
    Even tho Ryan Mathews looked better, chip couldn’t give up on demarco in week 4, you do have to give a new player time to get comfortable in a new scheme, but now that we are in crunch time with our season on the line, the players who produce have to play, and I appreciate chip do what’s best for our team even if it is an indictment against the job he did as GM.
    ..
    Murray hasn’t been a total disaster, there have been plenty of runs and catches where he looked really good. Hopefully Murray makes it easy on everyone and gets it going, has a strong finish to the season and hopefully adding power to our interior OL and a summer in this scheme is enough to get Murray to be the RB a we thought he could be for us next season… If opportunity to get out of the contract via trade comes up, Id dump Murray and not look back, but I do still have some hope that he can get it going in this scheme

  49. 49 Tumtum said at 11:12 AM on December 10th, 2015:

    Great stuff Tommy!

  50. 50 xmbk said at 11:49 AM on December 10th, 2015:

    Great rant from Herm Edwards. I also like the way that Buffalo writer refused to give a random score prediction for the game on BGN, instead choosing to talk about facts. We need more of that.

  51. 51 P_P_K said at 11:50 AM on December 10th, 2015:

    I’m impressed with Eric Rowe. The kid plays tough. I say his future is bright.

  52. 52 D3FB said at 11:51 AM on December 10th, 2015:

    Silly goose Rowe is a bust. He’s trash. Can’t play. Didn’t start day 1. Had ups and downs. Worst pick ever. /s

  53. 53 Patrick said at 1:58 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    I know you’re joking, but i think that what you’re describing is the main problem, we do not draft well. Simple as that. This year at CB Peters, Byron Jones and Ronald Darby all got on the field and did very well. Kevin Johnson has played, but I dont know how good he was. Trae Waynes looks a little disappointing, but he is stuck behind two CBs who are playing incredibly well, Rowe is stuck behind mediocre at best.

    Agholor hasn’t played well. Hicks did, but injury prone guy got injured. No other 2015 draft pick looks to have panned out.

    Matthews regressed, but looks like a good no. 2. Marcus Smith is garbage. Huff is what, promising? Then what, Beau Allen who is a good role player? 2014 isn’t looking good.

    2013 was good. Lane starts and has done so. We did have a top 4 pick though. Important to hit, and we did. Still, does LJ look like a dominant future LT for us. Not really. Alas, LJ, Ertz and Logan, it was a good draft.

    Its is not a unreasonable request that your 1st and 2nd round picks doesn’t need years and years in order to play, if they ever get to a point where they actually can play. Rookies are entering the NFL, starting from the beginning and playing incredibly well. Not all of them, but a more than ever and increasing in numbers. If you’re not on that trend, its your own god damn fault. Either you’re doing it wrong or stop drafting fucking raw prospects with a low chance of panning out.

  54. 54 Gary Barnes said at 10:42 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Part of success is drafting well, but the other half that gets overlooked is the coaching/development skills of your staff in helping that player translate the talent that got them drafted onto the NFL field. Eagles have struggled with that part too under Chip.

  55. 55 D3FB said at 5:24 AM on December 11th, 2015:

    Your take, it is bad. We’re fine at drafting. Smith is the only egregiously bad pick.

    DBs specifically tend to have a longer lead time to adjust. Maxwell has been good and Carrol had done more than enough to keep his starting job.

    Goal for a draft is 2 starters and 1 contributor.

    2013: 3 starters. Wolff was contributing before his knee exploded.

    2014: Matthews starts, Huff, Hart, Taylor, Beau all contribute. Hart likely becomes starter next year. So it’s slightly underwhelming but not some calamitous mess.

    2015: Agholor has struggled, but lets use some context, he’s been dinged up, QB play and offense overall has been inconsistent at best. Rowe looks like he’s going to be a solid CB2. Hicks is a good starting ILB in this league.Sheppard should probably be a contributor moving forward.

    Everyone would love to have our 2012 draft or the Raiders 2014 draft every year. That’s unrealistic.

  56. 56 P_P_K said at 2:26 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Hey, I think I heard your call this morning on WIP.

  57. 57 The Read-Option: Alonso's Progress – We Only Live Once said at 12:22 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    […] Tommy Lawlor breaks down the Eagles’ secondary … […]

  58. 58 unhinged said at 12:44 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Not to argue for the sake of it, but you take those LB’s away from Panthers D, and the secondary is much more ordinary. You take the Seattle D-line rush out of the picture, and that great secondary is overworked and not as successful. I know this is broken-record sounding, but get a more consistent, more physical edge rush, and the faults of the secondary are not game-hinging weaknesses. And of course, this being the Eagles, offensive competency is also a key variable.

  59. 59 SteveH said at 12:52 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    “Part of the issue was Brady not having Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski. No one wants to ignore that. But this is Tom Brady we’re talking about. If he drops back and has more than 3 seconds to find someone, you’d expect him to be better than 7 for 16.”

    Not to belabor the point but he was also missing Dion Lewis and Aaron Dobson, and Danny Amendola was just coming off of injury.

    The Patriots offense is a mash squad across the board right now, so it’s not terribly surprising that Brady’s receivers couldn’t get open, and when they did they managed a few drops in there as well.

    As Gisele once said: He can’t throw the ball and catch it too.

  60. 60 A_T_G said at 1:06 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Just like a woman: always focusing on what you can’t do.

  61. 61 Donald Kalinowski said at 2:06 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    It was such a bad ass quote. If Wes Walker catches that wide open pass in the Super Bowl 4 years ago the Pats beat the Giants.

  62. 62 Crus57 said at 5:44 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    or if Asante Samuel catches the INT thrown right to him.

  63. 63 Ark87 said at 1:13 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    shows what she knows, he totally caught the ball in this game

  64. 64 SteveH said at 1:25 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    This. This is very good.

  65. 65 A Roy said at 2:09 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Brady’s current roster of receivers looks like what McNabb had to throw to for years.

  66. 66 A_T_G said at 2:37 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    It is not nice to call a bunch of backups worms.

  67. 67 A Roy said at 2:39 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    He did kill quite a few on those attempts at swing passes, didn’t he?

  68. 68 anon said at 2:42 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Surprised he didnt’ catch on w/ eagles ground crew after retirement.

  69. 69 botto said at 2:58 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    heyooo

  70. 70 Stephen E. said at 2:58 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    I would agree if Dobson could actually play, but he can’t. And we already know Lewis is an average player who excelled when paired with an excellent QB. He wouldn’t be the first average player Brady made look great.

  71. 71 botto said at 2:58 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    I think the eagles were missing some guys too

  72. 72 Will:↑↑↓↓←→←→BA said at 3:05 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Eagles were missing Mathews, Hicks and Carroll. Our best RB, LB and CB. Not to mention is was Bradford’s first game back in 3 weeks.

    Eagles played the team that was put in front of them

  73. 73 ChoTime said at 3:20 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    The point is, how much does the win tell us about the Eagles?

  74. 74 bill said at 3:38 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    No more and no less than any single week’s outcome in isolation? To wit – they were the better team on Sunday in Foxboro.

  75. 75 ChoTime said at 3:41 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    You’re probably, right, but that only leaves As the Eagle Turns to talk about 🙂

  76. 76 bill said at 3:47 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Well, it says that THIS team, as it exists now, has the ability to beat a playoff team on the road. Which means less than most people who talk about such things think it means, but if they’re going to make a point about Chip’s record against quality opponents with high stakes, this game is a valid counterpoint. No matter how much someone wants to twist it, this game was a positive development. Inconvenient for those with a preconceived position, but there you have it.

  77. 77 Will:↑↑↓↓←→←→BA said at 3:48 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    As least the team didn’t quit, nor did Chip lose the locker room like so many pundits and agents have been saying

  78. 78 Gian GEAGLE said at 5:10 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Not only did they not quit which would be a nightmare that I don’t even know how to come back from, but better than quitting, these coaches manages to convince these players who had lost all confidemce. Convincing them that they can go to Foxborough and win,,
    ..
    Amazing to me that there were playërs Sunday morning talking about how it would be a good day..
    ..
    As Much as we ripped Chip and the coaches, they deserve to be praised for making these players beliege they could go to Foxborough and win after the two biggest losses imaginable.
    .
    also great to hear that bRadford addressed the team right before the start of the game… And whatever the coaches and SAM said, the players sure responded to it, to go down 14-0 and roar back with 35 straight points

  79. 79 Gian GEAGLE said at 3:25 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Doubt Gronk, Dion or Edelman were going to block Cox, or shall I say “Cock-block” and stop Feltcher from dominating the way it did which opened up the gates of hell on BRady and allowed guys like Curry, BG and Barwin to put a beating on BRady and if we can hit QBs like that, good things will happen against Tyrod, Carson, cousins and Eli..
    ..
    That Patriots team still had Plenty of Talent… BRady produced more than our Offense did… The difference was the great Patriots defenders like Ninkovich, Chandler Jones, collins, McCourty, Logan. malcolm Butler didn’t make the plays that Cox, BARWIN, BG, Curry, ROWE, thurmond, jenkins,Maxwell made, and our Special Team kicked tbeir ass. Our Defense and our Special team played better than their Patriots counterparts

  80. 80 Buge Halls said at 4:13 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Shouldn’t that be “Cox-blox”?

  81. 81 A Roy said at 2:20 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    I’m getting tired of reading about the Eagles winning on the “strength of three returns” last week. Two of those returns…Pick 6 and PR…were two possessions where the offense never got the change to score. Not only that, those two possessions would’ve taken time off the clock…perhaps to the point where NE wouldn’t have had enough time to score either of their final two TDs.

    The bottom line is that the game vs NE was a decent (not great) win against a decent (not great) team. If the Eagles play with the same level of intensity this week, they should be competitive with the (decent but not great) Bills.

  82. 82 BlindChow said at 6:46 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Fair take, but I can’t say I have enough faith in this offense to think they would have made up for those return scores…

  83. 83 A Roy said at 9:03 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Yeah, I thought about that, too. But they had scored twice and were somewhat hitting atrde at the time of the pick 6, so I was starting to be a believer again.

  84. 84 anon said at 2:42 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    “I think we did the right thing at the time,” Kelly said. “We traded an
    outstanding running back for a linebacker, but we also traded $700,000
    for $11.9 million. With all those situations, there’s money involved.
    one of the things we had was a lot of players who were older, at the end
    of their contracts, who were getting paid big money. In this league,
    sometimes a guy signs a four-year, $45 million contract, but it’s two
    years at $16 million guaranteed, the rest of it isn’t, and the back end
    is really high. So you have to make decisions when guys aren’t in
    guaranteed years about what you’re going to do. So however you look at
    it, whether it gave us an opportunity to get somebody defensively with
    that extra money, or it gave us an opportunity because we had to free up
    money to get Sam. It was a tough decision, but with all those guys we
    let go this year who were integral to my first two years here, those
    decisions were made by money. Those decisions weren’t made because we
    don’t think they’re good football players or we don’t think they’re good
    people. I think people kind of forget that. When you look at it, that’s
    a lot of money. We have three running backs this year who their salary
    cap hit this year is $11.1 million. We had one guy making $11.9
    million.”

  85. 85 Gian GEAGLE said at 3:08 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    ESPN broke out the McCoy trade and backed up chips claim that it was about the money. Shady was scheduled to be an 11.5m cap hit, and now we are getting Ryan Mathews, Murray and KIKO for a combined 11.2mil..
    ..
    Adam Shefter added that Shady wouldn’t accept a phone call from anyone with Bills for 5 days after the trade, and it was only when they offered him a new deal that Shady too their calls and became fine with joining the Bills
    .
    With Murray struggling and KIKO still not working his way back from injury, it doesn’t look like a great Trade today, but im very confident that if KIKO is done with the knee injuries, next year he should be back to his rookie of the year form and when we look back on trading for KIKO it will be a case like Many players that weren’t totally back from the injury until they were two years removed from it
    ..
    the Murray situation is worrisome for sure, but it hasn’t been ALL BAD… There have been plenty of runs and catches where he looked like a player I was excited to see us add, and can’t help wonder if OL personnel is forcing us to run outside instead of running murray up the middle which is how he typically excels.. HOPEFULLY our OL bets the friggin injuries on hold for the rest of the year, get some continuity playing together which end up leading to Murray emding The season strong but that’s far from a lock…
    ..
    If Kiko is done with leg injuries, I have full confidence that he can get back to the beast he was, and I won’t be the least bit surprised if KIKO gives us more years of service at a high level, than what shady gives the Bills
    .
    And since its not easy to get out of the Murray contract, we have to hope that with another summer to get comfortable running out of shotgun, and upgrading the OL so we can get some push up the middle and not have to bounce everything to the perimeter can get Murray back on track to brng the RB we thought we were getting
    ..
    Funny, ryan Mathews, the player I hated and spent years calling soft, ends up being the best of the 3 players we got for Shadys money. Be nice if we can ever keep Ryan on the field for 16 games.

  86. 86 b3nz0z said at 3:13 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    the only moves chip made that i really have a hard time accepting are both things he didn’t do:
    1. Tyrod Taylor (non-move)
    2. not spending more effort on the o-line (non-move)
    the rest have worked or not worked but were at least genuine attempts to improve things

  87. 87 TypicalDouche said at 3:28 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    The Taylor argument is a moot point. Yes in hindsight now it looks like a mistake not signing him but if he flopped as a starter or didn’t win the job would anyone still be clamoring for Taylor? I don’t think so. The only real good point is ignoring the offensive line, which I am sure will be a top priority this off season.

  88. 88 b3nz0z said at 3:38 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    everything from the offseason is a moot point. and there are lots of people who were talking about taylor to the eagles. it’s not the end of the world, but facts are facts and another coach signed him and is benefitting from taking a shot. i mean, rex deserves credit for projecting and signing him, right? so if signing him was a good move, not signing him would be a _____ move?

  89. 89 Will:↑↑↓↓←→←→BA said at 3:46 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Agreed. No one, including BUF, expected TT to play this well.

  90. 90 b3nz0z said at 3:48 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    right here. this guy.

  91. 91 Gian GEAGLE said at 4:21 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Think Andrew Gardners injury really hurt our OL, but if you can’t overcome the loss of 1 lineman, you probably weren’t good enough to begin with. it also hurts when Jason Peters is in and out of the lineup.. JP isn’t getting any younger, but he can still play at a high level, but in order to proceed with JP whether it’s at Tackle or Guard, we have to account for the possibility of him continuing to get injured and make sure we have a suitable back up to come in for Jason if he can’t go.
    ..
    Id still make JP an opening day starter, im just not sure if it should be at tackle or Guard… I do know that his Power can be a heckuva addition to our interior OL to protect the smaller Jason Kelce, and JPs Power at Guard helps improve our push up the middle so we can run Murray to his strengths, north south, down the Middle…. Playimg Lane at LT, with Peters next to him at Guard would be badass..
    ..
    I want to see:

    Lane at LT, Peters at LG, KELCE, Gardner at RG, ??? RT
    Bench:
    Barbre
    Tobin
    Tackle
    Josh Andrews if he progresses well enough to trust at center, if inot we need a backup for KElce

  92. 92 MAR2691 said at 6:37 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Can you slide Lane Johnson over and move Jason Peters before you’ve identified a RTOTF?

  93. 93 ChoTime said at 3:26 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    OT: The Raptors thank you, Philadelphia. Was it the Cheez Whiz? Kawhi “Leonard was visibly not himself for a vast majority of the game. He missed last Monday’s game versus thePhiladelphia 76ers with a stomach virus (reportedly due to a bad Philly cheesesteak sandwich), so it’s pretty safe to assume that was still bothering him.”

    http://www.poundingtherock.com/2015/12/10/9884566/danny-green-is-still-important

  94. 94 Media Mike said at 5:30 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Must have been from those flaming xenophobes at Geno’s.

  95. 95 HawaiianEagle said at 3:37 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    According to BLG:

    The Philadelphia Eagles released their second official injury report in advance of their Week 14 game against the Buffalo Bills.
    Eagles fans will be glad to hear that every player on the 53-man roster (and the practice squad) were full participants in Thursday’s training session.
    Ryan Mathews returned to practice after being limited on Wednesday. Starting nose tackle Bennie Logan was out on Tuesday and Wednesday but returned in full on Thursday.
    The Eagles are coming off a big win and they’re completely healthy. DeMarco Murray drama aside, it’s been a good week for the team.
    #SportsScience ??

  96. 96 b3nz0z said at 3:41 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    i’m hoping this is the week demarco decides to show us he deserves some snaps. somebody better run angry

  97. 97 botto said at 4:10 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    im hoping he doesn’t get the chance to show anything.

  98. 98 b3nz0z said at 4:14 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    dont get me wrong – i’m not happy with how he’s handled himself, but if there’s any possibility of turning this whole thing into a positive, it would be welcome.

  99. 99 HawaiianEagle said at 6:08 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    I disagree. I hope both he and Ryan rush for over 100 each. F the Bills and let’s keep trending up.

  100. 100 anon said at 6:26 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    I’d be fine if we went 400 yds rushing.

  101. 101 Gian GEAGLE said at 4:09 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    THANK YOU SO MUCH! I been worryng all day about Logan missing the last two games… We Need Bennie to step up. and have a better game than the Elite Marcel Dareus…

    I am critical of Chip ALWAYS using Tempo. I think there are times when it hurts more than it helps and wish he would tone it down when that happens but we will NEED chips breakneck type THIS WEEK because you have to wear down and force Bills defenders into Mistake.. We better take some wind out of the sails of guys like Kyle Williams, Mario williams, Hughes, Dareus. They got some Momsters on Defense.. Pat Shurmur said Lane had one of his best games as an Eagle against the Patriots, and I assume Peters also had a good game because our Takles kept Chandler Jones and Ninkovich from being,the disruptive force that Cox, BG and BARWIN were
    ..
    Kellce’s speed and Agility may come in handy against a pass rushing NT like Marcel Dareus.. At least I hope. Lane and Peters need to have a big game, and our Tempo has to help us this week… And if Murray, Ryan, Sproles. Barner have a bigger game than Shady and Karlos, probably going to be hard for the Bills to win.
    ..

  102. 102 Will:↑↑↓↓←→←→BA said at 3:45 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    I really hope we keep developing the secondary. I think we need to spend a draft pick on a CB or S this draft to keep Maragos or Reynolds off the field.

    Carroll might be gone after this season and we are going to need a CB to backup Rowe/Maxwell

  103. 103 JoeBlow said at 3:58 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    aside from the very top of the draft, i don’t see this being a very good draft for CB/S……i’m hoping Sheppard gets healthy and moves into a nickle role and i could see the Eagles bumping up Denzel Rice from the practice squad, he was impressive in training camp for a UDFA….not necessarily opposed to drafting a secondary player but there are other areas of the draft that i think are more loaded

  104. 104 Will:↑↑↓↓←→←→BA said at 4:04 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    I absolutely agree. I don’t think we are in position to spend our first 2 pics on a DB unless someone slides.

    OL/ QB should be priority as this team cant do jack without good OL play.

  105. 105 Gian GEAGLE said at 4:24 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    If Thornton and Curry Leave us, I wouldn’t be surprised to see us draft Deforrest Buckner, although I woule rather see us find a way to keep Thornton and Curry so we can worry about the OL and continuing to add to the secondary

  106. 106 Will:↑↑↓↓←→←→BA said at 4:30 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    There is a lot DL talent this draft…. but I think we should be able to keep at least one between Curry and Thornton

  107. 107 JoeBlow said at 4:40 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    this is what i actually see happening, exactly this. Curry and Thornton won’t be resigned and Chip takes an Oregon guy to replace them….i wouldn’t be opposed to it because i like Buckner

  108. 108 Gian GEAGLE said at 5:01 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Hoping we can work out a 2 or 3yr extension with Curry
    ..
    I’m a big fan of Thornton but the reality of our situation is that Cox and Bennie are going to get BIG MONEY, so They will need to be sorrounded by a couple DLineman on cheap rookie deals for the next 4 or 5 years..
    ..
    I dont view Buckner as part of the Oregon Bias, that kid is a friggin Baller we would want no matter what school he plays for… big, Tall, long, explosive, high Motor, as a 3-4 DE, he reminds me of replacing Thornton with a young Chandler Jones…. I think THAT highly of the kid.. I Imagine a DL of Chandler, Bennie, and Cox. THats what Buckner would mean to me. Draftimg That kid would be HUGE and one Of the few additions that can make the loss of Thornton OK…
    ..
    Hopefully the kid doesn’t climb into the top 12 of the draft..if he is available when we pick, I doubt there will be an OL, DB, WR that I would want more. Beau. hart, Buckner would give us 3 cheap rookie DL, which hopefully allows us to afford to keep Curry in addition to Cox and Bennie who aren’t going anywhere

  109. 109 JoeBlow said at 5:06 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    yea i dont view him as “just another oregon guy” especially since he’s a sure-fire first rounder, but you know how it will be spun if chip does draft him

  110. 110 Gian GEAGLE said at 5:14 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Of course… typical philly Blah blah blah

  111. 111 Will:↑↑↓↓←→←→BA said at 5:15 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Wait till Chip drafts McCafferey next year

  112. 112 Crus57 said at 5:41 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    If Sheppard takes the nickel role then that means Jenkins gets to play more S in nickel (if we keep him), which would be a win/win I think.

  113. 113 FairOaks said at 5:45 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Jenkins is under contract for next year. It’s Thurmond which is the question.

  114. 114 MaggiesHope said at 7:40 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Nah. Every draft this year must be an offensive lineman. Right? Every round, whether or not there are any quality linemen standing around. Same with Free Agency. Chip only brought in 6 O linemen FAs last year. Must bring 357 to please everybody. Same with DBs, QBs, LBs, Also Chip must see into the future and KNOW which 3rd string players on other teams’ PS are guaranteed to be immediate stars. Like he should have KNOWN all about Taylor, for example, like somebody actually commented yesterday.

  115. 115 Gian GEAGLE said at 4:00 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Billy Davis said that if Cox had the sack numbers to accurately reflect the disruptive force he has been, that Cox would be in the convo for Defensive MVP, and Id bet Super Bowl Champions Bellichick, BRady, Drew Brees. Sean Peyton, Eli and COUGHLIN would ALL AGREE!
    ..
    last year Cox was amazing, but this year the kid has straight up Taken over games and forcing every opponent to have to gameplan for him. If we are,going to fight our way in the playoffs it will have to start with Fletcher, and his play is crucial for us this week. The Patriots had some elite defenders like Chandler Jones, but Cox was by far the best defender in Foxborough this past Sunday. Against a Bills Defense with some amazing playërs,we will need Cox to shine again this week if we are to beat a tough Bills Team..
    .
    Good News:
    bills have one of the worst pass blocking OL in the NFL and most rank them in the bottom 5 in pass blocking. Perfect example is that only 6 teams have given up more sacks than the Bills who have given up 31 sacks, compared to the Cardinals OL who we play the following week that gave up 12 less Sacks than the Bills gave up which is HORRIBLE when you consider that the Bills typically like to keep TYrod on a Pitch count only throwing 25-30 times a game, compared to Bruce Arians Cardinals that allow Carson Palmer to let it Fly so it’s really no big deal to see Carson Chuck it 50 times in a game… For a running team that keeps its QB on a pitch count to be towards the bottom in sacks should be a great opportunity for Cox and the front 7 to put a beating on Tyrod..
    ..
    The old defenskve saying goes “Stop The run, and then we can have some fun”… With shady coming to town, it’s crucial that we see the run defense we enjoyed the first half of the season that was a stingy top ranked run defense. Cox is a prideful kid, hopefully he makes sure we don’t let shady come back and Embarress us.. We saw last,week that if we can get out to a lead, we can pin our ears back and cause problems pass rushing without having to blitz, but that can’t happen if we don’t stop the run, and if the offense doesmt score and get us a lead putting pressure on Bills to score. The more we can force them to pass, the more we can expose the weak pass blocking, and most of our turnovers come in the passing game, a strip sack or rushing a QB into an INT..
    .
    Of course This week we have to deal with the added element of a running QB, but it’s a strength of ours that we don’t have selfish pass rushers. Instead we rush as a cohesive unit, Discaplined in our gap responsiblity which should allow us to cut off Tyrod escape routes and keep him in the pocket where we can batter him. We probably will have to keep him off balance and MUSH RUSH him at time, and force him to make a play from the pocket. When we mush rush, BARWIN and Bairs ability to get into passing lanes and bat down balls comes in handy…. A bad pass blocking OL and a young QB should struggle with all our stunts and twists which our guys have perfected having been together for 3 years
    ..
    We will also need Billy to have a nice scheme in place to give Sammy Watkins extra attention forcing the QB to hold it an extra second helping our pass rushers get home
    ..
    Unfortunately, the Bills front 7 is just as scary as ours, if our OLineman start coming out of the game forcing our OL to shuffle different guys in, their front 7 will eat us alive. We need a complete game from our 5 starting OL, and Cox and our Front 7 stopping shady so we can take advantage of their weak pass blocking.
    ..
    No one should feel like this is an easy game, we sure could use a boost from our ST again this week..

  116. 116 botto said at 4:09 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    easy game?
    easy game?
    never heard of it

  117. 117 laeagle said at 4:04 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Monday: report about how Demarco Murray is disgruntled
    Tuesday: report about what reporters think about whether or not Demarco Murray is disgruntled
    Wednesday: report about what other reporters report about what reporters think about whether or not Demarco Murray is disgruntled
    Thursday: report about Demarco Murray saying he’s not disgruntled
    Friday: report about how Demarco Murray saying Demarco Murray isn’t disgruntled is wrong and how reporters reporting that Demarco Murray is disgruntled are right

    That’s how you win at journalizin’!!

  118. 118 Gian GEAGLE said at 4:25 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    murray spoke today… Sounded much better

  119. 119 Media Mike said at 5:28 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    At what point will he return to a full gruntled status?

  120. 120 laeagle said at 5:31 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Only Florio, Missanelli, Sal Pal, and ESB can know for sure.

  121. 121 Media Mike said at 5:32 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    That is a complete train wreck of “reporting.”

  122. 122 laeagle said at 5:34 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Their train hit another train with Eckel, Ashley Fox, Jamie Dukes, and Skip Bayless on it.

    The answer to the math problem posed by the two trains colliding is: “Everyone wins”.

  123. 123 Media Mike said at 5:37 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Could it explode while crashing into Met Life stadium while the Giants are hosting the Steelers?

  124. 124 laeagle said at 5:37 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Only if Chris Christie is in the owner’s box

  125. 125 Media Mike said at 5:38 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    SOLD

  126. 126 MaggiesHope said at 7:33 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    All week: How do all the brilliant? conscientious?? reporters believe they know all about every word which allegedly dripped off Murray’s and Lurie’s lips?

  127. 127 Gian GEAGLE said at 4:47 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Teddy Bruschi thinks Sproles can have a big week because all the crazy blitzes Rex calls often leave LBs to cover RBs man to man…
    ..
    Be awesome to see,SAM stay a step ahead of the Bills Blitzes and make them pay for it. Hopefully he continues to be sharp on 3rd down like he was against the Patriots. People can say BRady didn’t have any of his weapons, but the Pats had their starting defense and we kept them in check and made plays against chandlet jones, Ninkovich, Malcolm Butler, McCourty, Ryan, Collins.
    ..
    We.need 3 players to have a strong finish to the season:
    Bradford has to comtinue to be Sharp on 3rd down and REDZONE
    And we need our two Tackles JP And Lane to have a strong finish to the season. If those 3 play well, good things will happen since it seems like the WRs have found their hands now that Miles Austin has been cut. Great REDZONE route/catches by ERTZ and Jordan
    ..
    AGholar still hasn’t had a big breakout game, but you can see his talent like when he ran a sharp route beating Malcom Butler and forcing him into a big blatant pass interference penalty because he was Clearly beat.
    ..
    The One player I need to step up is Josh Huff, when the Eagles seemed to have quit on Sanchez and all of our players playing their worst games imaginable, the one friggin player that started to make plays was the knucklhead enigma that is Josh Huff, yet Bradford comes back, Austin was cut, everyone plays well, and Huff Is back to being invisible? Bradfords ball placement is starting to be very IMPRESSVE so chip and SAM need to come up this week with one stinking play where Sam’s crisp ball placement can take advantage of Huffs run after catch talents,,, it shouldn’t be this complicated to get that knucklehead open and hit him in stride… I don’t trust the knucklhead to be a volume Reciever we can count on, but at least weaponize his run after catch ability once or twice a game… If we could just get 8 catches combined from huff and nelson our offense would do alot of damage.. ERTZ, Sproles, Jordan are all producing for us now, if we could just get a big play or two out of Huff and AGholar making defenses also respect them, it would open things up for the rest of the offense, which is supposed to be how this offense is designed, with a variety and waves of weapons doing damage to defenses making them cover everyone..
    ..
    Even Celek and Barner have stepped up… We are just waiting on Murray, huff and AGholar and we will be firing on all cylnders and we finally see the high potent offense that chip envisioned

  128. 128 Media Mike said at 5:28 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    I’m starting to emotionally reattach to Bradford. I really wouldn’t mind another “prove it” year out of him on a tag.

  129. 129 FairOaks said at 5:38 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    New England didn’t have Dont’a Hightower. Doesn’t change your point — outside of 1-2 drives, I thought our offense moved the ball pretty well against New England, if it wasn’t for all the penalties. Though Bradford continued to improve from where he left off — slowly, but it’s still progress.

  130. 130 laeagle said at 5:46 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    The penalties are such a big part of the stalling of our offense. We were moving the ball well outside of that on Sunday. Plus all the weeks previously. Not hard to guess how Ertz, for example, feels about all the penalties.

    I’m curious in this past game how much of the penalties were earned versus bullshit by the refs. I normally try to shy away from blaming the officials too much, but officiating in general is atrocious this year, and we were facing a demoted crew, so, the most atrocious of the atrocious.

  131. 131 JoeBlow said at 5:51 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    before the Pats game, the birds were only 8th in flags thrown and pretty much in the middle of the pack on penalties accepted and yards…..it feels like we should lead the nfl or at least be top 5 in penalties

  132. 132 anon said at 6:02 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Lots of calls early, way fewer calls late even though we were still committing penalties on the offensive line.

  133. 133 FairOaks said at 6:04 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    We’ve had a lot of BS penalties called against us this year, but I don’t remember many from that game — they seemed legit, from memory. As mentioned by anon, we actually committed a bunch of false starts later in the game which were not called.

  134. 134 MaggiesHope said at 7:29 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    There was that business with the game clock, which was just ignored by the officials, but otherwise not that bad.

  135. 135 b3nz0z said at 5:56 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    that’s what real progress looks like most of the time.

  136. 136 Gian GEAGLE said at 5:13 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    This is awesome, I think Spadaro is going to fist fight Rueben and Barkan on comcast lol
    ..
    “Rueban, why don’t you shut your mouth”-Dave Spadaro Bwahahahahahahah
    ..
    This is awesome..

  137. 137 Media Mike said at 5:27 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    If Roob and Spuds both murdered each other the “reporting” world would be better off.

  138. 138 Greg Richards said at 5:36 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    I don’t get the hate for either. Spadaro is clearly an internal PR guy who is just doing his job. You may not like his shilling but he’s never denied he’s a shill.

    As far as Frank goes, I got annoyed by his constant music critiques when I followed him but as far as football goes his opinion is as solid as any of the other beat writers.

  139. 139 Media Mike said at 5:38 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Anybody who sticks up Sean McDermott’s “work” as our D “coordinator” has zero journalistic integrity with me.

    And I don’t even see a reason for Spuds to exist.

  140. 140 Greg Richards said at 6:10 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    McDermott wasn’t quite ready to be a defensive coordinator when J.J. passed away and he was clearly experimenting when he was with us. His constant and seemingly purposeless rotations of players and schemes irritated me at the time. You could tell he had potential though. As with players sometimes you have to live with the rookie mistakes and let the coach develop. I understand why they let him leave but I think there’s a fair argument that we should have kept him especially considering it didn’t seem like Reid had any plan for what he wanted to do after firing him.

  141. 141 MAR2691 said at 6:31 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Also helps that Rivera is there as a sounding board/mentor to McD. I’m actually happy for the guy that he’s got good personnel and having success.

  142. 142 Sean Stott said at 5:32 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    “Nolan Carroll is the ultimate try-hard guy”

    I really have to disagree with that. He’s one of the fastest guys on the team, and in fact it’s been mentioned by other players that he might be THE fastest person on the team. He’s not a scrappy overachiever gym rat like you’re implying here.

  143. 143 Will:↑↑↓↓←→←→BA said at 5:43 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Nolan Carroll has chased down a lot of backs and WRs this season. I know he’s at least the fastest guy on the defense.

  144. 144 Ark87 said at 6:03 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    it always confused me too, he’s every bit as physically capable as Byron Maxwell: ooooh I get it, they’re basically the same so we have to differentiate them by identifying the one that actually tries.

  145. 145 The Read-Option: Alonso's Progress | The Fan Base/Philadelphia Eagles said at 6:00 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    […] Tommy Lawlor breaks down the Eagles’ secondary … […]

  146. 146 FairOaks said at 6:02 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Just need to mention though… looks like Boykin is no longer “benched”. He played a decent amount this past game (40 snaps), and it sounds like Tomlin will continue with the rotation going forward, so he should play some.

    But… he’ll be playing in the slot. Apparently Boykin impressed them in the slot, but not so much outside, and they thought William Gay was playing well enough in the slot so Boykin sat. But last game, they moved Gay outside and let Boykin play in the slot, and that worked better than what they had been doing.

    So, despite horrible outside CB play, they did not try Boykin there either. He has ended up in the exact same position in Pittsburgh that he had here. We probably would have been better with him (letting Jenkins stay at safety and avoiding having to play Couplin/Reynolds as much) but we’ve been OK, and a lot of that is hindsight after Shepherd got injured. Plus, I’m sure the coaches didn’t feel like answering another year’s worth of questions about it (Tomlin got that this year).

  147. 147 anon said at 6:04 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    I honestly think media stories hurt the team.

  148. 148 JoeBlow said at 6:11 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    i saw a few people mention it here during the week, but damn Jerry did kind of bury Jason Garrett the other day, and that is Jerry’s boy!

  149. 149 Media Mike said at 6:14 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Jason Garrett = low self esteem wife of abusive rich guy.

  150. 150 Insomniac said at 7:17 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    7 million dollars per year to have Jerruh’s hand stuck up his ass. I’d do it too.

  151. 151 MaggiesHope said at 7:26 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Made in Philly. Mama (or money) can’t buy….

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw1ulSbMBiw

  152. 152 anon said at 6:15 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    his comments about the team should have won more than one game in this stretch?

  153. 153 JoeBlow said at 6:20 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    yea, I’m just surprised by it because he usually takes up for Garrett

  154. 154 anon said at 6:24 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Jerry is that guy that gets abused but keeps hanging around. Not a coordinator, took play calling away from him, i’m surprised jerry lets him call time outs on the field.

  155. 155 anon said at 6:17 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Chip gave by far his best presser today. Talked a lot about the McCoy trade, why it was fucked up, etc. said a lot of stuff he should have during / after the trade. Someone must have got to him and told him players have feelings.

    Also talked about scheme / adjustments — def worth watching if you have 10 minutes.

  156. 156 ChoTime said at 6:21 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    maybe we should take up a collection and send this to Chip for Christmas:

    http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/0671027034

  157. 157 Greg Richards said at 7:23 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    The thing is that entire situation was the Bills’ fault for calling up the players before the trade was officially done.

  158. 158 FairOaks said at 8:33 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    I don’t think I’d heard Shady’s departure described anything like that way. That was very good, and Chip did apologize about how it was handled.

    If that was the Bills who basically did the wrong thing there by breaking the news before it should have been, you wonder if it was intentional to make it more likely that McCoy would accept the trade (i.e. make him as pissed as possible at the Eagles).

  159. 159 H_Manders said at 6:31 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Interesting to see that arguably the most villified member of the secondary that left – Nate Allen – has had the best performance, even if he is injured now.

    Also, on more than one occasion the Eagles lucked out massively, there were a few major busted coverages, especially when the secondary had to deal with bunched WR sets. Also – and this tells a lot about the quality of sportsjournalism, on that final 4th down pass it seemed Eric Rowe had as much if not more to do with the pass being an incompletion as the WR dropping that ball. IIRC one of the other ‘drops’ was also in part because of Rowe being in close coverage (which forced the ball to be overthrown). Funny how in this game many of the same balls are judged drops with the Patriots WR’s not catching them (and having to reach for balls), while earlier this season when it involved the Eagles WR’s and Bradford, as soon as the ball was 0.5 inches out of the perfect spot it was no longer considered a drop but a bad pass by Bradford.

    It will be interesting to see how the secondary works out. Seems many fans are also very quick to judge (especially Maxwell). That said – and I do not know whether that is playcalling or their personal technique, they need a whole lot of work in dealing with comeback routes and slants, because these are killing the team.

    If a stud CB prospect is available, he is probably too good to pass up, especially since we have no idea what will be happening with Nolan Carroll and Shephard. That said, the team clearly has too many holes to fix – and frankly I would prefer to draft offense (QB, O-line, WR) unless a stud falls into our lap.

    That 2nd rounder being traded away hurts A LOT.

  160. 160 ChoTime said at 6:43 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    What you said about drops for the Patriots vs drops for Bradford is a straw man. Some people said some things about the Patriots, some (different) people said some things about Bradford. If I put them together, I can make it sound like “people” were applying a double standard or being unfair or dumb. It’s the same kind of trick that politicians or Fox/CNN etc use to pillory their opponents, taking things out of context and manufacturing apparent contradictions. I have noticed the same logical fault showing up on comment sections over and over. The writer will take one thing one person said, then juxtapose it to something someone else said, and claim it shows a logical inconsistency. The only mistake made was in trying to make some imagined adversary look bad by putting other people’s words in his mouth.

    By the way, you may not have been doing this on purpose and I know it’s a very small part of your post. It’s just very common way for people to throw stones on these blogs.

  161. 161 H_Manders said at 7:20 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Where are you coming from, in this case?

    I might not have been clear in post here, but generally agree with Tommy’s assessment that Rowe and the secondary played a decent game.

    However, the one thing I wanted to point out is that there were a number of major breakdowns where the Eagles’ secondary lucked out big time (mostly because Brady was harrassed by the front-seven).

    My comment about the double standard had little to do with Tommy’s opinion, and was more something that I observed in the general media reports about the game, as well as many of the fan comments (not necessarily here). I guess it has a lot to do with the Brady effect (somewhat overstated, it basically goes that since Brady is passing the ball, whenever things go wrong it is the fault of anybody but Brady). Hell, both of Brady’s INT’s were as bad as anything Sam Bradford has thrown this season. I know I do it as well on occasion, but generally I get the feeling that the opinion comes first for many in the media, and then observations are made to fit.

    And FTR, I think that there are quite a few people out there in the sportsmedia (as well as fans) applying a double standard, mostly based on easy narratives or personal (dis)likes. Basically what is considered a bad pass (or who is to blame for things going wrong or gets the credit) seems to be wholly dependent on the individuals involved, and not what actually happened.

    The current narrative is that the Eagles secondary stinks, therefore if something good happens for them (Maxwell in particular), then they only deserve credit when all other explanations have failed, Similarly, it seems, is the treatment of Bradford. It has been determined that he stinks, therefore he does not deserve any credit at all, and it is forbidden to say anything positive about him.

    I haven’t commented much on here, but if I disagree with Tommy’s assessment, I generally tend to be quite clear about that.

  162. 162 ChoTime said at 8:41 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    I probably shouldn’t have used your post as an excuse for my spiel, but it was kind of building up. Certainly in some cases people will be inconsistent in their statements/predictions/complaints over time.

    As to your points, Brady did throw some bad passes, but he was under great pressure. Also, at some points he was moving that offense at will even given his OL struggles and the fact that his best weapons were gone. I don’t know about you, but I certainly felt that the Patriots didn’t so much as lose but run out of time (but that’s debatable of course). It’s somewhat understandable that given Brady’s spectacular performance over his long career, that people will tend to give him the benefit of the doubt. On the other hand, Bradford hasn’t done anything in this league and he’ll need to put up some consistent good work to get recognition. This is in the context of the incredibly random and unpredictable nature of a game where the ball doesn’t even bounce right, so it’s hard to draw too many conclusions from one or two plays here or there.

    As far as the secondary, I don’t know–they seem to have some moments (like in the Patriots game, they closed it down a few times), but then they will absolutely get abused by backup QBs moving down the field on them on other occasions. I think everyone agrees they’ve improved, but how much better they are than the Fletcher/Williams/Allen incompetence is, IMO, not yet resolved.

  163. 163 MaggiesHope said at 7:22 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    1. If the Eagles won every game, including the Super Bowl, some folks would complain about how Chip used the running backs or about the parade route.
    2. I’ve asked some who complain about Chip not drafting or signing some magical group of offensive linemen which of the better defensive backs they would leave off the list. Strangely, they seldom answer.

  164. 164 ChoTime said at 8:47 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Yes, it’s never hard to find people complaining. So why join them? In every post?

  165. 165 anon said at 7:22 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    I think we have enough talent to have a good secondary. At some point it’s coaching / scheme not players. Clearly the guys we had last year weren’t guy, but the guys we have this year are way better, i just don’t think they’re always being put in a position to succeed. Especially dealing w/ comebacks and slants.

    All that said pass rush also needs to improve. Qbs with all day to scan the field are going to eat up any secondary.

  166. 166 Insomniac said at 6:54 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Rowe covered what? 4-6th stringers? Didn’t he do that in camp and he got praised and hyped to no end?

  167. 167 HawaiianEagle said at 6:58 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Gotta start somewhere…

  168. 168 Insomniac said at 7:16 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Expectations are kept low for now for Rowe. Our 2nd round picks have been so underwhelming recently.

  169. 169 Sean Stott said at 7:58 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Rowe had his moments in coverage against CJ, almost had a pick (it could be argued he had it) against the Pats, and was covering Brandon Lafell the majority of the game, who ended up with only 4 catches for 27 yards, and that includes a long of 12. That’s solid coverage.

  170. 170 Insomniac said at 9:07 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    LaFell has been struggling all year though.

  171. 171 A_T_G said at 9:52 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    What did you need him to do?

    He covered the guy that was supposed to be the top WR, and Tom Freakin Brady wasn’t able to find a way to take advantage of him.

    He can only cover the guys the other team lines up.

  172. 172 Insomniac said at 10:25 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Let Rowe have a string of success against good WRs before buying into his upside again. Consistency is what everyone looks for in CBs and not just moments.

  173. 173 Sean Stott said at 8:09 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    [philly voice] “Brady targeted Rowe 13 times. He was 4 of 13 for 37 yards, 0 TDs, and an almost interception. That would be a passer rating of 40.2. “

  174. 174 anon said at 8:48 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Interesting the way Vikings attacking Arizona, i think we can be successful.

  175. 175 anon said at 8:49 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Peterson is an amazing running back.

  176. 176 scratcherk said at 8:50 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    That Adrian Peterson guy tho…

  177. 177 Nu_B said at 8:51 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Now that was a boss run by AP

  178. 178 JoeBlow said at 8:55 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    I really liked this David Johnson guy before the draft….looks like he needs to be drug tested though…wasn’t nearly that ripped in college

  179. 179 ChoTime said at 9:14 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    too many keggers?

  180. 180 JoeBlow said at 9:22 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    not sure, he was a tall lean back at Northern Iowa, ran too straight up and did have some fumble-itis. He also had a little bit of “shady” to his running style with ankle breaking cuts and was really effective as a receiver….which is kinda why i hoped the Eagles would take a shine to him earlier on in the draft process. Now he looks bulked up like he’s a professional wrestler or something and i wonder if that has had an effect on his lateral quickness and shiftiness

  181. 181 ChoTime said at 9:30 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Looked pretty rocked up at the combine. Damn, would you like to try to tackle that?

    http://cache4.asset-cache.net/gc/464707612-running-back-david-johnson-of-northern-iowa-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=GkZZ8bf5zL1ZiijUmxa7QZQ2c4gvm5L0%2F7IygmgxbFuUvbcwg5%2BP8egGSALWuwrlrBVyXmH6B4hKRu94HKGGNg%3D%3D

  182. 182 JoeBlow said at 9:33 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    HELL NO, IM GOING LOW ON HIM, lol…..I am looking at pictures of him in college and it does seem like he starting putting on weight his senior year. I just have not noticed until now i guess

  183. 183 anon said at 9:33 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    i’m assuming he’s anti-gun control

  184. 184 Insomniac said at 9:03 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Something something Cardinal’s OL is suppose to suck too but they’re still winning despite of it.

  185. 185 Will:↑↑↓↓←→←→BA said at 9:16 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Palmer has full command of that offense. He knows where every one is going to be. It helps erase some mistakes

  186. 186 anon said at 9:17 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Didn’t believe in the vikings, but they’re moving t he ball at will on arizona.

  187. 187 Will:↑↑↓↓←→←→BA said at 9:18 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    SMH… Teddy was rolling

  188. 188 anon said at 9:23 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    something makes me thing Chip would LOVE Teddy as a QB, great accuracy on short balls, good mobility could run RO *sigh* what could have been

  189. 189 Will:↑↑↓↓←→←→BA said at 9:25 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Foles Gold baby

    I think we would be nasty with Teddy as QB.

  190. 190 Will:↑↑↓↓←→←→BA said at 9:21 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    If Xavier Rhodes cant go…. Palmer is about to air it out

  191. 191 Will:↑↑↓↓←→←→BA said at 9:31 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Every carry I think AP has a chance to bust it big

  192. 192 JoeBlow said at 9:48 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Just a stat on the Nfl Network scroll: Washington is 1-12 on the road under Jay Gruden….that is pathetic!

  193. 193 Will:↑↑↓↓←→←→BA said at 9:51 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Its night and day with that team on the road vs home

  194. 194 anon said at 10:03 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Think they have all road games left.

  195. 195 Will:↑↑↓↓←→←→BA said at 10:03 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Better for us

  196. 196 FairOaks said at 11:06 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    3 out of 4.

  197. 197 anon said at 10:03 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Vikings look almost exactly like eagles today. Moving the ball – turnover. Moving the ball, turnover.

  198. 198 Will:↑↑↓↓←→←→BA said at 10:05 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    SMH cant keep giving Palmer extra chances

  199. 199 JoeBlow said at 10:08 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Anthony Harris! had no idea he was playing for an Nfl team

  200. 200 JoeBlow said at 10:08 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    and he just got pancacked by Fitzgerald

  201. 201 Will:↑↑↓↓←→←→BA said at 10:12 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Does Cordarelle Patterson even do WR “stuff” any more?

  202. 202 anon said at 10:15 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Could say the same about Mike Wallace, wonder if he’s ever sad he left Pitt.

  203. 203 Will:↑↑↓↓←→←→BA said at 10:16 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Why dont they send him deep? Its what they have him for right?

  204. 204 anon said at 10:36 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Bad o-line and teddy actually isn’t great at the deep ball.

  205. 205 Insomniac said at 10:26 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Sanders, Brown, and Wallace. Those guys are/were 1000+ yard WRs, man those Steelers are churning out some good WRs.

  206. 206 Will:↑↑↓↓←→←→BA said at 10:32 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Still are. They draft WRs very well

  207. 207 TypicalDouche said at 10:42 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    I think the question you were really looking for was “Has Cordarelle Patterson ever learned to do any NFL WR stuff?”

  208. 208 Gary Barnes said at 10:26 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    QB, OL and DL/LB pass rusher are all much greater needs IMO than CB for this coming draft. Bradford may or may not be here, but there should be no delusions; we need to bring in another vet (Sanchez should be gone IMO) like Kap and also a young talent from the draft we can develop. OL is a huge priority and we need 3-4 of them IMO, vets and picks to push the starters hard, replace them or improve the depth. The current pass rush is not reliable/consistent and we need better talent; we need a true difference maker that can create havoc.

    If the CB are to improve, the defensive coverage schemes MUST change. We cannot allow huge cushions, we must jam at the line consistently and play press, we cannot allow easy access to the middle of the field for the slants and crosses that have killed us for two seasons now, we cannot play outside contain all the time and expect our CB to catch speed merchants from behind. It is like tying the CB hands and feet and expecting him to run faster – insane. At least they finally started teaching the CB to look back and play the ball, but it took a whole season of getting burned or called for penalties for the adjustment to happen. They have to roster a legit 3rd S and better depth at CB for nickel and dime. Davis had Maragos out there for many games this season and even a blind man could tell Maragos was not up to the challenge. It is just unacceptable.

  209. 209 TypicalDouche said at 10:38 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    I would bring in Peyton Manning and his dead noodle arm before bringing in a player like Kaepernick.

  210. 210 anon said at 10:44 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    If he wouldn’t cost $20m i’d consider it. Loves working from shotgun, obviously he’s great for a developmental guy, but he’s really down to one year.

  211. 211 Gary Barnes said at 10:45 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    To coach? Sure, would love Peyton. 😉

    In all seriousness, that is why I said “like Kap”. It does not have to be Kap, but it should be a vet who has the skill set to run Chip’s full scheme, has had some success at this level and can be had for a short term deal at reasonable cost. They may not be available; in that case draft a young talent to develop and work on convincing Bradford to sign a short term deal or franchise him.

  212. 212 Will:↑↑↓↓←→←→BA said at 10:47 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Kap is huge risk/reward player. I think he could work here but I wouldn’t put all my money on it

  213. 213 Gary Barnes said at 10:54 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Just like Bradford was and Bradford has gotten better as we’ve gone along, but he would only be the right fit if we had a dominant offense or dominant defense. We have neither and his flaws are exposed consistently. Someone like Kap could run Chip’s full scheme, be a threat from the QB position that forces defenses to back off our run game and, with the right coaching, could find that SF form again as a passer too.

    And we would not be “putting all our money on it”. A player like Kap is trying to save his career and thus a 1 or 2 yr show me deal is possible which could allow us to keep Bradford if we wanted to and also draft a young talent to develop in case neither of them pan out. Optionality as Sam Hinkie would say.

  214. 214 Gian GEAGLE said at 8:28 AM on December 11th, 2015:

    Lol a,player that crumbles in adversity, and acts like an asshole when things go bad in Negadelphia? Good luck with that… ZERO chance. Bradford is the QB of the Eagles

  215. 215 Will:↑↑↓↓←→←→BA said at 12:25 PM on December 11th, 2015:

    Hence huge risk/reward

  216. 216 Insomniac said at 10:53 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    As Media Mike would say, Kap sucks more than Sanchez. He hasn’t improved as a passer in years and we need an accurate QB since our WRs have the catch radius of a MLB strike zone.

    1. The top OLBs this year are more suitable for the JACK role (Barwin’s role) than Graham’s. Most of them also need to get stronger and needs to add about 15-20 pounds. Marcus Smith might be a lost cause at this point though.

    2. CB is still a need. You cannot bank on Shepard being a good CB next year, it’s just ridiculous to even make that assumption. If a top CB is there then you take him unless there’s a QB/OT at the same value there.

    3. There’s a bunch of good DLs this year..too bad we don’t have that 2nd round pick to get one of them if they slide. Thornton should be back on a team friendly contract though. Cox and Logan on the other hand..

    4. We still need WRs but I’m more confident in hitting on one later in the draft even with Chip’s preference for dime a dozen WRs.

  217. 217 anon said at 11:18 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Happy to let Thorton go in exchange for Papa Bair.

  218. 218 Insomniac said at 11:55 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    I would be okay with Ced going to a team that paid more for him. His run-stopping will be missed but we definitely could use the money saved on positions that we need.

  219. 219 Cafone said at 11:17 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Good to see Kurt Coleman doing well. I always liked him.

  220. 220 CrackSammich said at 9:33 AM on December 11th, 2015:

    Thought I was the only member of the Kurt Coleman fan club still left.

    No, I’m actually not being sarcastic.

  221. 221 JoeBlow said at 11:22 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Couple guys i think could be of interest to the Birds during the draft process are OLB Kamalei Correa and T Rees Odihambo, both from Boise St. . i have a feeling Correa will sorta move up draft boards if he hasn’t already. Pretty good pass rusher coming off the edge and we could use one badly. He is 6′ 3″ around 250 and a very good athlete, pretty explosive, can see him being taken around 2-3 round depending on how his combine testing goes. Tackle Odhiambo is more of a project and also a durability concern as he has had injuries to both legs so far in college, the latest a broken ankle suffered in October. He is a Guard in the NFL due to his lack of length, and goes 6′ 4″ 305. He’s been talked about going as high as the 2nd round, which i don’t think would have happened, but i do agree with the chatter of him dropping to day 3 of the draft given his injury history….still i like what i see from him and i think he would be worth the risk on a day 3 because although he has been injured every season there has never been anything really serious. I should also mention Darian Thompson the safety for the Broncos as well, he has great size (6’2″ 210) and is used in man coverage alot by the Boise St. defense, i just question how well he will be able to do in the NFL covering one-on-one. He is also a very exceptional run defender, kinda reminds me of Malcolm Jenkins sneaking off the edge and knocking a ball carrier off his feet. I think he is gone before the third round, but would be an interesting choice as a guy to replace Jenkins if the Eagles could find a way to land him.

  222. 222 Mitchell said at 12:15 AM on December 11th, 2015:

    I was reading your post and thought I might take a look at Correa…… Boy was I impressed. I watched his only game on draftbreakdown and I’d like to offer some thoughts: On the very first play it looks like he got shot out of a cannon and that continues to be a theme throughout his snaps. He is immediately doubled but doesn’t give up, eventually getting off the blocks as the QB scrambles trying to make himself relevant again. I think in general he allows himself to get in too close to the OL but still does a good job of shedding blocks, which is impressive. Around 40 secs he drops into his zone coverage and looks good jamming his receiver as he runs his route. Although the qb still completes to the outside receiver for 6 yards, if Correa doesn’t alter his WR’s route and makes a bee-line to the side line, I fear it would have been a much bigger gain. He looks very comfortable in coverage. As he a pass rusher, he likes to bring the bull and an excellent example is at 1:28 where he drives the LT to the ground (the LT may have gotten tripped but w/e) and runs by him. He makes a TE looks like a rag doll at 1:48. I think he could develop a deadly bull and rip down move a la Graham a few weeks ago. Really has a nice punch move across the OL’s face as well. Not sure if that is legal or not. I saw him try to use a spin move once but it didn’t work well and the play was over to soon to see the final result anyway. Wicked swim move at 2:48 that gets the strip sack. The last thing I’ll say is that once he gets by his guy he shows the ability to square his hips to the line and not get run out of the play. Gets double’d multiple times but his motor is full go 100% of the time. Overall a very quick twitch athlete with explosive speed off the ball. I think he has a very good power set already with a decent array of pass rush moves. He seems more than capable in coverage. I think he is decent in run support although sometimes he can get too far into the OL’s body. Also size may be a problem, he is listed at 6’3″ 250 but I’m not entirely sure I buy that and I’m not sure how much more weight he could put on. Another 15 lbs? Perhaps. In summation this guys looks interesting and I had a good time watching him. I would say round 2-4 depending on height and weight is a great estimate.

  223. 223 JoeBlow said at 12:37 AM on December 11th, 2015:

    yup, i really took a liking to him right away. For some reason i seem to have found myself watching a lot of Boise St. games this year, that damn blue field puts me in a trance i guess, but while watching them on D, Correa just forces you to notice him, he is all over the field and like you said his motor never stops and he’s having all kinds of fun out there pumping up teammates and the crowd and trash talking the other team, but in a sportsmanship type of way (smiling, patting them on helmet/ass, picking guys up off the ground) He is a leader for sure, watched a few interviews of him and he is always talking about trying to grow and get better everyday, all the stuff Chip eats up pretty much. I compared the playing style of Darian Thompson to Jenkins and i would say Correa reminds me a bit of Trent Cole with the way both guys used their speed but could also surprise you with their power.

  224. 224 D3FB said at 4:46 AM on December 11th, 2015:

    Reminds me of Kyle Van Noy a bit.

    I worry about his ability to hold up against the run. He may have to be an off the ball LB that is a subpackage rusher.

  225. 225 Mitchell said at 8:36 AM on December 11th, 2015:

    Exactly my fear. You can see him throw off OL in the video but these guys are from BYU not the NFL. I think it may come down to how big he actually is at the combine.

  226. 226 anon said at 11:23 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Unbelievable.

  227. 227 Will:↑↑↓↓←→←→BA said at 11:23 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    Jeez…

  228. 228 anon said at 11:24 PM on December 10th, 2015:

    There’s a ton of vets out here that can still play. Miles austin obviously not one of them. But if you can use them right they can make a real difference.

    Vikings looks like they need another year. I’m sure AP’s got like 5 years left but Teddy is pretty good for a second year QB.

  229. 229 Iggles Blitz » Blog Archive » Winning said at 9:00 PM on December 14th, 2015:

    […] I recently wrote about the young talent the Eagles have in the secondary. […]