Inconclusive
Posted: December 21st, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 473 Comments »The Eagles wanted to win on Sunday night. They wanted to get back to .500 and help their push for the playoffs. They wanted to continue their winning streak. They also wanted to show they could play with the Cardinals, arguably the best team in the NFC.
The Eagles were good enough to tie the game at 10-10. They were good enough to be in position to tie it at 17. Unfortunately, they didn’t pull that off. And unfortunately, football games are 60 minutes.
Arizona played at a high level all night long. The Eagles got sloppy in the 3rd quarter and the Cardinals took advantage. A 17-10 lead turned into 37-10 in a short amount of time. Good teams don’t make mistakes and they do make you pay when you make them. That’s exactly what happened. Eagles turnovers led to Cardinals points.
The Eagles are now 6-8. They host the Skins on Saturday night. In the finale, they travel to play the Giants. Win both games…and the Eagles are NFC East champs. They would host a playoff game.
In some ways, Sunday night was meaningless. Had the Eagles won 40-17, it wouldn’t have changed the importance of the Skins game. That one really will make or break the season. I wonder if losing was actually a good thing. I want the Eagles playing with a sense of desperation on Saturday night. A win over Arizona might have falsely inflated some egos.
What does this game mean going forward? If the Eagles do make the playoffs, are they just going to get bounced early? Back in 2008, the Eagles hosted Arizona on Thanksgiving night. That game was a blowout, but the fun kind. The Eagles won 48-20 (and the game wasn’t even that close!). A few weeks later the same teams met in the NFC title game. I don’t think I have to remind you how that game turned out.
Last night’s game tells us that right now the Cardinals are clearly better than the Eagles. It doesn’t tell us what will happen in 3 weeks. That’s the beauty of the NFL. All you have to do is get hot at the right time or have the right matchup.
The Eagles can learn a lot from last night’s game. Tackling must improve. As it gets colder outside, teams become more physical. That means more running. Teams are going to watch that tape and very quickly decide to run right at the Eagles. I would.
Bill Davis and his staff have generally done a very good job of getting the team to tackle. That has been an up and down issue in the last month or so. The lack of stability at ILB hasn’t helped. The Eagles have also chosen DBs that are better at covering than being physical. That can make for a bad combination.
Davis and the coaches love to teach stripping the ball. The Eagles have done a good job of that in recent years. The coaches emphasize that the initial defender has to tackle the runner/receiver and the second defender then goes for the strip. Apparently all Byron Maxwell and Jaylen Watkins have heard is “Strip. Strip. Strip. Strip. Strip. Strip.” Those two are infuriating.
No one expects CBs to be great tacklers. Sheldon Brown was an anomaly. We’ve seen guys like Asante Samuel and Bobby Taylor struggle to tackle. Maxwell is similar to them. Watkins is the Joe Montana of bad tackling. He takes things to a whole new level. He would be considered a finesse player in flag football. I would think long and hard about keeping him around. When Byron Maxwell can say to you, “You’ve got to be more physical and tackle better”, that’s not good.
I’m frustrated with Sunday night’s performance, but I’m not angry like I was after the Tamp and Detroit games. Those were bad teams that ripped the Eagles apart. Arizona has an outstanding team. And I thought the Eagles battled up to the end. I hope there won’t be questions about effort and if the players have quit on Chip Kelly.
It feels funny to me that the team is 6-8 and coming off a 23-point loss and I’m somewhat calm about things. I guess you can look at it as though last night was a meaningless regular season finale. The playoffs start this week. There are 2 games left for the Eagles and it is do or die time.
I think part of what has me relaxed is that Sam Bradford played well last night. That’s the best I’ve seen him this year. He didn’t have the benefit of a good run game. And the Cards had a couple of lockdown DBs. But Bradford still found open receivers and threw for 361 yards. His passes had good velocity and he played with toughness and confidence.
The Eagles have issues to work on this week. But if the QB starts to play well (and Bradford has), that gives you a fighting shot in every game. That’s what the Eagles need as they head into a 2-game mini-playoff and then possibly the real postseason.
Now about that defense…
_
I agree. The Eagles moved the ball really well.
I don’t know if that makes you feel better, but let me tell you the following:
Since I am currently in Germany I had to watch the Eagles game via the gamepass. Normally when I watch their games LIVE they win. Not so much yesterday, so that steak went out the Xmas window.
On the other hand all the games I couldn’t watch LIVE they have lost. In fact the Eagles are 0-4.
As we will be flying back to NY next Saturday I won’t see the Eagles vs Redskins game at all. I’ll leave it up to you to draw any conclusions.
Merry Xmas!
Please don’t watch the next two games then.
i was in the same boat as you – don’t watch the game and they do good, watch the game and they suck. (Patriots game, i missed enough of it that we could still hang on to win!)
didn’t watch a minute of this last game and we lost….
don’t know if i should miss or watch the next game?
Interceptions aside, Bradford was really encouraging. Was pressured and hit all night against a really good D, and he still showed up. He’s not at the “carry the team” level, but he’s not in the top 10 things this team needs to fix.
I don’t understand why some are ignoring the INTs. Those INTS were bad throws and were on Bradford. It wasn’t a throw that bounced off a WR’S hands, they were misplaced throws. If you are going to chalk them up to garbage time INTs, don’t you have to take away the Jmatt TD as well then? The amount of spin being used to convince ourselves that Bradford is good astonishes me.
I’m not ignoring them- they were bad. I just think he’s shown enough that they re-sign him. I don’t want to start over with another QB. Let Bradford have another year or two, and draft a few to groom. Hopefully Bradford keeps improving in this offense and is they guy. If not, let a groomed draft pick take over. Obviously there’s no sure bet, I just think this is by far the most likely path to succeed.
Why? How do you see the team reaching a higher level with the situation at qb being poor to below average?
Unless you get a lot of OL talent and elsewhere to make up for it. Bradford looks like a marginal qb.
Bradford in the second half of this season has been above average to good. And he’s done it with a below average line, struggling receivers, and an inconsistent running game. He is definitely in the top half of QBs in the league.
I am not seeing him that favorably. As long as the team doesnt break the bank, fine. Otherwise he says journyman or worse to me.
Yeah, blah blah blah system. Never seen it make that much difference. His performance is worse than foles.
Worse than Foles? Not even close in my mind. Foles would miss open receivers all game. Bradford has been putting the ball where it needs to be.
Blah, i saw so many all 22 with receivers wide the hell open and bradford misread it over and over. You get some stats on blow out but turn overs and sacks tell the rest of the story. Welcome to garbage time padding.
Lets just disagree and let it play out. Maybe the team finds other talent and makes up for sams mediocrity.
In the past 5 games, do you consider Sam a bad qb? Or is this your whole season assessment?
We must have watched a different game. All night long I saw a poised qb who got hit numerous times and threw with great accuracy and very little help from his receivers. Yup, he had a couple picks that were bad throws/reads.
He can’t do it alone; unless you are one of the people that believes a special qb can elevate the play of their teammates by sheer willpower. Much like Eli chucking the ball up for grabs and his receivers making miraculous catches.
No help from the running game to make play action work. Plenty of pressure coming through the interior of the O line, the center getting walked back into his lap. The fumble sack was a guy going right around JP, and would have never happened two years ago. I kind of agree with your sentiment here. I don’t see where Bradford is getting much help at all. He is taking big hits and mostly getting back up. I’ve been pleasantly surprised at his progress throughout the season.
“Yup, he had a couple picks that were bad throws/reads.”
Sounds like Mark Sanchez.
That’s some real in-depth analysis.
I’ve been an enthusiastic Kelly supporter since he was hired. I’m now officially off the bandwagon. He just makes too many mistakes at the NFL level and he doesn’t seem to learn from them.
1. Bill Davis. Seriously?
2. A blind guy could watch Jaylen Watkins play and tell you he’s not an NFL caliber player.
3. Pace. The defense continually tires out. For 3 years now. They are not going to win playoff games (or games against healthy, good teams) playing at the pace he plays on offense.
4. Going for 4th and 1 on the 8 yard line and saying, “We have a 200 lb running back and we thought we could pound out a yard.” The NFL doesn’t work that way; defenses (except the Eagles) are too tough when they know you’re running the ball, and Chip somehow tips those plays, or his tendencies give him away. And he didn’t have Murray in the game, who is 12/12 on short yardage.
5. No audibles.
6. No OLine depth because he didn’t draft enough of them. What does he do when Peters retires and Kelce gets old?
Honestly, his system was fun for a while, but watching good units like the Cardinals (and even the Giants’ offense yesterday afternoon) makes me think the gap between us and the better teams is widening. And I’m sorry to be writing this, because I was rooting for Chip and a lot of the things he believed (sports science, exploiting market inefficiencies, etc.).
I’m out.
Davis needs to go. This defense has too much talent to be playing like hot garbage. The play calling there is so bland and boring. There are too many dumb mistakes and missed tackles. When one player underperforms, I put it on the player. When almost all players underperform, I put it on the coach.
Say what you want about Chip but he did bring in a lot of talent on the defense. The DL had a track record as a run stuffing DL. That’s not the case anymore. Kiko Alonso had been the second best LB in the NFL as a rookie. Not anymore. Maxwell had only given up one TD last year in Seattle where he had to be thrown at all game long because no one is throwing at Sherman. Instead, mediocrity. My point is that Chip the GM did his job, but the coaches Chip the coach delegated defensive oversight to have failed to do theirs. With someone like Mike Pettine, this defense would be top 5 like it was for the first half of the season.
AGREED. And to add to what you’re saying, when the defense does play well, I get the sense that it’s in spite of Davis. The sacks and turnovers prove that there is talent on that side of the ball. When you have talent but still give up shit tons of yards and points, that’s on coaching / scheme.
I could care less about yards. Ita the points and RZ defense. Its terrible. If the D was middle of the pack in points and RZ and top 5 in takeaways, thatd be a good unit.
Yards are what lead to the points and RZ opportunities though. But more so than the yards, it’s how they give up those yards. It’s maddening how often the defense gives up 8-12 yard chunks on uncontested throws.
What makes you think Pettine can do better than Davis? Don’t get me wrong i want Davis gone too. I would love to give Mike Vrabel a shot at DC here.
It was only Jaylen Watkin’s third game and he was up against some of the best wide receivers in the NFL. I’m certainly not ready to call him a bust. Even if he doesn’t turn out to be a starting CB, he could turn into a decent nickel or safety.
He has to tackle to be a safety.
The defense wouldn’t be so tired if they actually made stops. Was the offensive pace to blame on the Cardinals’ very first drive of the game, where they scored 7?
lol i hate the arguments that the pace is such a bad thing. sure, if you go 3-and-out, your defense is right back out there. but you just went 3-and-out…who cares if you did 3 plays in 23 seconds or 40? you could throw 3 incomplete passes and take 10 seconds off the game clock. but if you aren’t running a “fast pace offense” thats OK because your defense is now well rested.
why is the defense not to blame for “being tired”? they force a 3-and-out of their own and they get to rest. even if you assume your offense follows it up with a fast pace 3-and-out of their own, they should still get to rest for at least a few minutes if you count the time it takes for both teams to punt, tv commercial break timeouts and all that.
1. Can’t disagree on Davis. Seems to know the game but doesn’t have much imagination. Could do worse, but hopefully could do much better too.
2. I was listening on the radio, and it sounded like he covered pretty well on a number of plays (he was tested immediately when he entered the game). That is a major part of being an NFL CB. The tackling… eugh. There was a reason we dropped him, and injuries have him playing — not much we can do about it. I’m sure he’ll be back over the summer but if he wants an NFL job he’ll probably need to do better.
3. The pace makes sense if the offense is racking up tons of points. This year, not so much. We are scoring an average number of points — meaning the number of plays we expose the defense to becomes a bigger issue.
4. Yeah… not a good call. The offense has gotten too simple, it seems to me.
I hope Kelly can learn, but his offense is kinda grounded this year. He probably needs a chance to fix that in the offseason, but we hired him because of offense — we can’t be this bad and play his system.
The 4th and inches was really the turning point. We score there and it’s a different game.
It was a poor call and execution. This team does not function well with tight formations. If you’re good at spread, then you have to run spread there.
The key here is really the QB. No matter the result this season, it will be a success if Chip is convinced that Sam can excel in this offense.
We all know the OL needs to be fixed. Tackling will improve with Hicks coming back and Alonso getting healthy.
Cardinals called a TO on that 4th and inches play, an adjusted their defensive formation based on how the Eagles lined up. Chipped did not adjust at all.
Chip got out-coached there on the key play of the game.
Ground hog day(well, week). Going into the game — Eagles can really make a statement with a win. Eagles lose. It’s ok the Eagles lost because blah blah blah(that is NOT a reference to this article). Followed by ok, going into THIS game, the Eagles can really make a statement BUT they have to fix what was wrong with the last game. The team is a broken record.
….
Win or lose, it’s nothing new. I’m hanging my hat on Bradford and continued growth as an Eagle QB. I’m not hanging my hat on football decisions — like DM or the WR’s.
….
How many times did the run the “flip” play where Bradford gives a little flip to the rb? That’s the mastermind play of this offense? I expect better…..
Its really true, the supposedly innovative and dynamic offensive guru Chip Kelly has been nowhere to be found for a long time
The worst part about that flip play is how long it takes. It’s like the Eagles are in slow motion and the defense is at normal speed.
But hey, it’s a free one to two yards!
Agreed. Speaking of slow, I thought that 4th and 1 play took forever too. How in the world did that defender have time to crash down and hit the rb in the backfield? If that play is a full speed play, the defender should have been too late…
there seemed to be like 5 or more wrong things about that. Like Cards calling timeout and us running the same play. We move Bradford behind center but STILL have a slow developing play. What’s the point then?
that was actually a decent play. used a lot in pre-season. i’m surprised we haven’t been doing it more.
How much more do you want to run it? The run it almost every series now. Also, I’m not really questioning the effectiveness of it, I’m questioning — where’s the innovation of other plays…it’s almost they are one dimensional…
offense is vanilla maybe thats shurmer
I guess I would have more tolerance if these were new issues, but they are not. As we’ve talked about many times, these issues are ones that have been hurting the team for years and they never seem to get fixed. In some cases, they’ve even gotten worse as Chip’s tenure has unfolded.
Dropped balls, turnovers, penalties, blown assignments, poor technique, poor red zone efficiency, bad 3rd down efficiency, missed tackles, strange play calling, poor personnel usage etc. have all been ongoing issues.
Bradford played ok, I do like how he is standing in the pocket better, delivering the ball better and trying to keep things moving, but he is an immobile statue, injury prone, does not operate the offense very fast and turns the ball over a lot.
What is this team’s identity? What are we really good at? What areas are we among the elite in? What are our core competencies?
I see a really below average to average team that has very few real strengths and a chock full of weaknesses. We have zero difference makers on offense, defense or ST. It is a hodge podge of mediocre to good players that need everything to click exactly right to win consistently. That is a razor’s edge to walk in the NFL and, in most cases, those teams do not succeed.
17 offensive points. In the NFL v. 2015.
How exactly did Bradford play “well”?
(Please don’t mention the O-line and all the hits he took. Palmer took just as many. And had just as drops by WRs.)
THANK YOU! The bar seems to get lowered every week for what we expect from good QB play. I have yet to see enough from Bradford to be convinced he should be back on an expensive contract next year.
I’m honestly on the fence about whether I bring Bradford back on any kind of multi-year deal at all. A one year “prove it” deal is about all I’d definitely commit to. An expensive multiyear deal? HELL no.
That’s the way I feel. I see a 4-yr deal to him at big dollars sinking this franchise for the remainder of the decade.
Gonna have to disagree with you. Palmer had lots of time all night. Had a great run game going. Bradford was getting hit – hard- even after throwing quick hitters. All night. Biggest problem was that it wasn’t just a “Winston Justice” game where only one guy had a bad game. Everyone on the line took turns letting guys blow by them. Anytime AZ dialed up a stunt you could guarantee a guy running untouched at Bradford. That was one of the worst games I’ve ever seen an Eagles OL play. Have to go back to Buddy Ryan/Rich Kotite era to remember such an incompetent line. Not even comparable to the dominance AZ line displayed against the vaunted Eagles front 7.
Bradford threw the ball to some precise locations and allowed his guys to make plays (see the Brent Celek throw as an example). And he was finding open receivers and delivering nice passes. He made a nice throw to get out of the endzone, and even made two big plays with his legs running out of pressure and muscling his way out of the endzone to avoid the safety. He’s also doing a better job of running the read option part of the offense. Job one for Chip’s scheme will always be find the guy who is open, job two is to get the ball there reliably. I think Sam has improved in both those areas this season.
It’s not a low bar issue, it’s real growth. Bradford needs time: to get stronger, to get comfortable in the scheme, and to get used to the pace of NFL football because he hasn’t played in two years.
The dude is going to be 29 years old next season and has 70+ NFL starts. He’s not some babe in the woods. How much time does he need?
In a new offense, he needs time. Carson Palmer looked terrible in Oakland without weapons, maybe better his second year. Looked OK in Arizona his first year, but they were not world beaters in 2013 — inconsistent team. He looked much better his second season there before being injured, and just as good this year.
Carson Palmer in his second season had a rating of 101, and 94 the next year. After that, he went seven consecutive seasons of a rating less than 90. His first season in Arizona, he had a 83.9, at age 34 and waaaaay more NFL starts. How much time did he need? He had a 95 rating in a few games last year, and is over 100 this year. Bradford is 83.8 this year, and that is with some horrible play early in the year dragging that down. And he’s never had a Larry Fitzgerald to throw to.
I can see both sides of this argument. On one hand as Mac points out there were several anticipation throws which shows increased comfortability with the offense and the WR. On the other there were 2 terrible ints when the Eagles needed tds which crippled them even more. In conclusion they scored 17 freaking points………… What happened to the high powered offense?
We don’t have a “high-powered offense” anymore. Let it go
Why would I let it go? It’s Chip’s calling card and the card isn’t calling. There’s no right to be upset?
If you don’t think the Cardinals pocket wasn’t cleaner or that the Cardinals’ WR’s are significantly better than ours I don’t know what to say. Palmer got hit yes, but not moved off his spot nearly as many times as Bradford.
also play action pass works lots better when your RB is rushing for 200 yards. Palmer was in a much better situation than Bradford last night.
Respectfully . . .
These are exactly the kind of excuses that prove Bradford — in Kelly’s system — is nothing but a game manager.
In another system — with a different OC (Bruce Arians, maybe) — Bradford might be more productive.
But the Eagles’ offense is not productive. Bradford’s part of that problem.
Passer rating over 90 despite the picks?
Passing the eye test against a super bowl quality team?
Palmer also has players like Floyd who can make that contested long catch at the goal line. And an extremely effective running game which sets up all kinds of play action passes.
The offense overall is definitely not good enough — we need a running game, or better WRs if we are going to rely on the pass. Bradford is not enough to win games and put up points by himself with pedestrian weapons — Rodgers and Brady and (in the past) Peyton Manning are at another level in that regard. Perhaps Brees. Most good QBs still need good weapons to be a really good offense, or have an incredible defense.
Bradford’s rating was quite high most of the game though — better than he had been doing. It is continued slow progress for him. He no longer looks skittish in the pocket, etc. — he looks like a good QB. It’s the progress that I like most — he did some things last night that we had not seen (deeper passes). Generally accurate on throws. His rating was in the 120s for a good part of the game, and just the last desperation drive (with the INT and other incompletions) it took a nosedive — but was still 91. The first INT was bad, but hard to tell if that was the receiver or QB which misread things. That was a timing pass where the receiver went another direction. I still don’t see him making risky throws (i.e. bad decisions) — we see that often with Sanchez.
I don’t think he’s earned himself tons of guaranteed money. Past that, it doesn’t matter much how long the contract is — if it’s not guaranteed, you can cut him. I would assume that any extension would only guarantee he is here in 2016, and possibly 2017 at most.
Can someone please explain to me how literally NO ONE is talking about the fact that we are paying a guy $42mil/5 years to stand on the sideline? Seriously, I understand DeMarco ‘doesn’t fit our system so great’…but I am utterly dumbfounded that he was essentially benched last night and no-one, not Tommy, not fans, not media, is even acknowledging it. I don’t get why he doesn’t play. All Chip Kelly does is clash with elite players because he doesn’t like the ego’s that come with them? Hey, newsflash Chip, if you don’t like ego’s don’t coach int he NFL you piece of shit.
Because he’s been garbage when he does play? I’m actually happy that salary is not determining playing time anymore.
this x 1,000
It’s a shame the way this has all played out, because we know Murray is a good football player. He has proven that over prior years before joining the Eagles. In my opinion one of three things has to happen this off-season related to DeMarco Murray.
1. Chip admits that DeMarco is purely a north/south runner and changes the offensive scheme to fit DeMarco’s skillset.
2. Chip admits that DeMarco is purely a north/south runner and doesn’t change his offensive scheme and Demarco continues to ride the bench.,
3. Chip admits that DeMarco is purely a north/south runner, doesn’t change his offensive scheme and figures out a way to get rid of DeMarco.
Any which way you cut it Chip needs to admit that this was a bad signing based on the offensive scheme and Murray’s skillset.
he’s not purely a n/s runner, i think ol needs to get better.
I’m still laughing at all the people who justified the Shady trade by saying he danced too much and that a N-S runner like Murray was a better fit for the offense. Turns out, not so much. When regularly leaving defenders unblocked is a part of your offensive scheme, it turns out having a running back who can make people miss is a valuable thing.
wait, what?!? why didn’t the announcers say anything about that?
same ol sorry eagles, whats changed since the first of the year, same ol sorry eagles, and gonna be another year of the chip coached crap next year
“I wonder if losing was actually a good thing.”
I wonder if Tommy is turning into Dave Spadaro.
“Bill Davis and his staff have generally done a very good job of getting the team to tackle.”
Bill Davis doesn’t do a good job of anything. The guy f’n stinks. I’m not re-hashing details that have been brought up a million times here already. He sucks. Period. Well, he’s not Juan Castillo, so I guess he has that going for him.
I don’t drink the Kool-Aid, but I’m generally a supporter of Chip. Every time I notice Kiko Alonso (and it’s never for a good reason), I want Chip to be fired. Big people beat up little people, huh? Yeah, no shit. My favorite moment of last night’s game was watching Kiko unable to get off a block on Johnson’s long TD run. This is after Taylor Hart just fell down in the backfield when he had a clean shot to stop Johnson for a loss. Or was that Brandon Bair? Who the f*ck knows, they’re the same person.
I concur. Kiko Alonzo stinks. I guess we’re hoping there is something there that we haven’t seen yet, but based on his performance this year he should be cut outright.
at least benched. i hope the ask him about that in the pcs this week.
I hope he just needs another year from surgery. He’s on a rookie deal. I get it, he stinks right now, but he isn’t a guy you just cut.
I hope you’re right. I was tremendously psyched when we got him.
No, they’re not the same person. Bair is actually much better. At least he knocks down passes every once in a while. The coach in his brilliance decided he shouldn’t play though.
Can someone name the good teams that Chip has beat during his time here?
Patriots
without Gronk
we didn’t have gronk either
The Pats and even though this game didn’t mean anything in terms of gettimg into the playoffs, it meant a lot in terms of being competitive. Who cares if the Eagles make the playoffs? Theyve shown time and time again they shrink against the big teams. Lots of changes are needed if the Eagles want to compete with good teams and you have to wonder if it starts with coaching philosophy. Im sick of people making excuses for why they lose. Need more talent, better execution, more time, etc. Point is its been 3 years with continued detieoration and let down.
good teams don’t get beat, that’s why cardinals are 12-2
It’s a game like this that reminds me that I do not want the Eagles to beat either the Redskins or the Giants. Winning the crappiest division in the NFL isn’t worth masking all the problems and making ourselves feel better about this team. This team in a million tries couldn’t win four playoff games in a row. They aren’t good enough to win two playoff games in a row. Begin with the humiliation, lose these last two games, admit that we are way far away from being a Patriots, Cardinals, Panthers championship caliber team and get to work on improving this crapfest of a team.
I know everybody posted all kinds of excuses about the win, but the Eagles already DID beat the Patriots. It doesn’t matter HOW they did it, a win is a win. Strange things can happen when you get to the dance, you just need to get in the door.
What I said is that they couldn’t win two playoff caliber games in a row. And they didn’t. They somehow got lucky in Foxboro. They got outclassed by Arizona just like we all expected them to do in Foxboro. Would an NFC East Championship make you feel better this year? It will not me. I want better draft position, because I know this team cannot contend. But the Eagles will win one or two more games and drop themselves in the draft by 8 spots and then wonder why everyone on their board is gone when their pick comes around. Enough! These final two games aren’t worth losing the draft position over.
This, pretty much.
Getting pantsed by the Seahawks in the first round (which is far and away the most likely outcome if we make the playoffs) is not worth losing half a dozen spots in the draft.
We are unlikely to get 2 ST TD and 1 D TD in the same game any time soon…offense scored 14 pts vs Pats
This team is a hot, steaming pile of garbage on both sides of the ball. They’ve been absolutely destroyed in three games this season. Their compete level is pretty low and they crumble easily.
If they stick with Bradford, this crap offense needs to go and they need to switch to a traditional pro-style offense that better suits guys like Murray.
And the defense is just embarrassing. The tackling is an abomination, it’s getting as bad as the secondary in the last year of Andy Reid.
Pass rush disapears much too often. Can anyone really say we took advantage of their back up OL? I think Davis’ gameplan going forward should be to put Cox, Logan and Curry as a 3 man line then just drop everyone else into coverage. The Eagles seem to get coverage sacks much more often than a rusher using a skill rush to get to the passer. Line em up and let Cox do the work 😉
problem is you have 2 ilbs that want nothing to do with tackling
You mean Kendricks that flys around like hes on fire and misses tackle after tackle and Alonso who gets there late and gives a little push when he finally arrives?
I’ll speak for anon, “Yes, those two guys.”
Kendricks is Ernie Sims 2.0
Kiko is injured (almost certain that is whats up)
We all miss Hicks so much.
Kendricks has certainly regressed. Before, even though he was still flying around, he actually made plays time to time.
Can anyone really say we took advantage of their back up OL?
http://gcobb.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/smith.jpg
Omg I almost forgot the silver lining in all of this. MSII with the sack. What a thing of beauty it was.
Half sack. Dude doesn’t need to be getting a swelled head.
Are you sure? At this rate it’s only gonna take him 40 seasons to have a 20 sack career!
Meh. The Eagles were supposed to lose this one and they did. The Cards are just a better team. I’m just pleased we looked competent out there for most of the night, that one David Johnson run non-withstanding.
We’ve managed to right the ship from completely mind boggingly humiliating to simply decent football team, so I consider this a big win for Chip. A few weeks ago it looked like he might have lost the team completely.
It will be fun if we manage to sneak into the playoffs by virtue of a shitty division (the best record we can manage to get in on is 8-8, wooooo) but there’s no expectation of a magical run here. I’m just glad Chip seems to have earned another year.
I don’t know what game you were watching, but competence wasn’t part of it. It was obvious that we were outclassed on the very first drive and not much after it suggested otherwise.
For me, competence means go back and watch the first Cowboys game and then you’ll be praising the strides we’ve made since then. The first Cowboys game we looked like it was the first day of training camp. Laughable penalties, errant snaps, dropped balls, not being get lined up correctly, missed tackles… At least last night we mostly took a beating just because we were a worse team, not because we jumped offsides 3 times in a row or snapped the ball over the QB’s head.
You might be confusing “competent” with “John Brown lets the Eagles off the hook by dropping wide open balls all night.”
It’s hysterical when a wide open WR lets a ball go right through his hands and the defender starts celebrating like he just did something…lol
you’d be stoked to not be torched on sunday night, too
lmao! You’re correct! I’d celebrate not being embarrassed
Not IMO, by the 3rd year of Chip I was expecting us to be the Cards or at least be able to beat them, not lose to them by 3 TD.
Well, I agree, I would have hoped for that as well, but then Chip went all GM Chip on the roster and well here we are.
Frankly I think it speaks volumes that we got by far the best QB performance of the year last night and still got blown out.
Makes you wonder what kind of a massacre it would have been if we had had a more typical QB performance.
Dude, this is major low-barring. We lost by 20 points!
Judging from the posts so far, I am going to take heat for this opinion but here goes: I like what I saw from Bradford. His arm strength was there, he made a number of excellent throws, and he was very tough in the pocket. He completed a couple of clutch passes when he knew he was going to get killed. This isn’t excusing the interceptions. The first one was a bad throw, he was probably pressing for a comeback. The pick 6 looked like a miscommunication with the receiver (Sproles?). I realistically can’t ask more from a qb playing behind a porous O line, without a run game, throwing to a mediocre group of receivers.
Agreed. He had some very good moments. The fact of the matter is, they scored 17 points. Is all of it on Bradford? Probably not.
Convert the 4th and 1, boom, 24 points.
But the Eagles didn’t convert on 4th and 1.
Kelly didn’t trust Bradford to make a play there . . . but he trusted Riley Cooper to be a lead blocker.
And the Eagles had how many 2nd half possessions that yielded all of 7 points?
Does anyone have a link to that play? As I was watching, I wondered why Mathews didn’t turn up field behind Lane to me it looked like there was a seam on Lane’s left hip to get the needed yard.
I would have lost my mind if we passed on that down. And it’s not my lack of faith in Bradford’s skinny legs, but a lack of faith in the guards and Kelce to make enough push to get it with Bradford. I’m not a fan of trickeration to get 4th and short. If you can’t get it with your RB then you have no business keeping your offense on the field.
When I saw Cooper moving into position to block I screamed at the tv even before the snap. Bad call, Coach.
I’ll argue that if the teams go into the lockeroom at halftime tied at 17, it’s a different game. At least that’s what I tell myself so I can sleep at nights!
You make it sound like SB is back with The Rams lol
Hope for the future if nothing else. We may have the biggest piece to the puzzle solved and that’s QB. Bradford made some big time throws yesterday.
If GM chip found our franchise QB, then anything else he does can be forgiven. You can sign a 10 Murrays and Maxwells and still come out smelling like roses if we have our QB of the future.
new dc, has to happen
i asked elsewhere, but any thoughts on who?
Any who will do
***not 1 Castillo
***not Billy avis
Draft OL, OLB, CB. Get some of our people healthy. I’m happy with the roster for next year.
Sign a WR while you’re at it btw.
Agholor was supposed to be that guy. I think he was targeted once last night. Sheesh.
he will never be that guy
bad hands and can’t get open
Same fear
remember when rookies weren’t expected to carry teams?
Not carry but a highlight or 2 wud be comforting .. feeld like he has 1 catch all season. He’ll only get better but dont think he is a 1
i just don’t think you can assess a rookie WR with any accuracy
See the 50 yard bombs he caught. He definatley can just not consistantly so far. If youve given up on him already, I would counter thats way to premature.
on a scale of Fredex to OBJ where does he fit in?
Rookie
Remember when everyone thought Cody Latimer was a sure thing?
i HATE the predraft
I can sympathize with that. It helps me get through tax season though, and for that reason I enjoy reading what thoughtful scout minded folks (like Tommy) write.
I think the enjoyment comes from seeing who and what is available and trying to see the difference between what I as a fan think vs. how Chip thinks. Predictive models are interesting, but at the end of the day too many forget that draft picks can be very hit or miss (and it’s because there are just way too many variables flying around).
Youre gonna compare him to OBJ, a once in a generation player? Come on.
I feel like the traditional thing to do is relieve the Bills of their LT in Free Agency. Sign Cordy Glenn to play LT, keep Lane at RT and move Peters to LG. Hope that Kelce finds himself in the offseason and stops sucking and that Gardner, Barbre or whatever filth we have now can be a short term solution at RG.
Should allow us to wait a little on OL in the draft, which is kinda good news since we no 2nd rounder. Disregarding the whole lets go BPA, it would leave us with the ability to go after my preference, a QB, in the first round, if theres someone we like, but could also be another pass rusher since Marcus Smith is yet another bust. There should still be good OGs available in the 3rd round to add and develop some talent and youth for the future.
there was 2 throws that i remember of I don’t think many qb’s can make. The first was the 10-15 y out route to j.matt on 3rd down while being smoked by lb/dl’s. The other is the one hand catch to celek. Those were 2 clutch accurate throws against tight coverage. That passed the eye test to me. It makes you wonder what sam could do with AZ agressive and explosive Wr group.
Eye test means nothing, though. People are not good at eye test.
In this offense, Nick Foles threw the seam-pass better than Bradford
In 2013, Nick Foles threw every pass better than 90% of the qbs in the league and was the Pro Bowl MVP. In 2014, not so much. Not sure you can use Foles for any comparison as that year was an obvious anomaly.
Classic optimistic Tommy. I came away from the game thinking it could have been much worse in the 1st half, with their speed guy dropping those bombs, not that we were going toe-to-toe with them. That they ran over us with their rookie RB just added insult to injury. Sam looked pretty good, but it might be the result of a very low bar. Other guys in the league are putting up big numbers and everything looks easy. Our team always looks one step behind.
There wasn’t much positive to take away from the game last night. Eagles just have to shake it off though since they are playing for their season on Sat.
Shake it off! Shake it off!!
http://youthministryunleashed.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Shake-it-Off.png
I know there are 2 games left and who knows we make playoffs and that could change things, but based on YTD….not do you want, but do you think Kelly will replace Billy Davis?
if he doesn’t, i’ll go from uncertain about chip’s future to unhappy with chip
It is so obvious that replacing Davis contributes to a cure for a team with this many flaws? How hard it must be to remain resolved and stout at LOS when so many offensive drives are short and scoreless. I’m not defending Davis, but I just don’t see the urgency to replace him, when his successor will face the same dilemma. Carson Palmer regularly displays the difficulty a zero-drop, quick-release, consistently accurate QB presents to competent, rested, prepared defenses, so, as bad as Eagles D looked last night, that offense has put up points against great defenses. If Birds were ever going to win, it was going to require a substantial, sustained offensive effort. I do think there are defensive personnel issues that would concern ANY coordinator. Are Hart and Bair the real deal? Does our D-line require a bookend for Cox that is as dominant? Is Chip EVER going to pay for a consensus all-pro edge rusher? I think as long as Kelly is hell-bent on going as fast as possible, he owes it to the defense, his QB, you and me, EVERYbody to invest heavily in angry, violent guards who move much more than they get moved, a center who can spell Kelce and can do what he cannot, namely move NT’s who are breathing on him, and at least one receiver whose ability is more obvious than his character.
I agree that this offense needs some serious Gs. If Kelce is our mobile blocker I’m fine with that, but the whole deal would be better if we had the ability to ram the ball up the center of the defense. I don’t know if Chip sees this as a need or if it’s imagined.
Davis isn’t god-awful even though he’s had god-awful games. he’s just very limited in terms of potential. i think another coach could do more with the talent level we have.
Also not angry at all. The game went as bad as you could of hoped though.
Thing is, I got the sense in the 3rd that the Players were also very obvious the game had no meaning. Az was playing for a bye
We played for literally almost nothing. Skins won Giants lost. They knew that.
Cardinals – Panthers – Packers – Seahawks. That’s a pretty strong top 4 for the conference.
AFC – Pats, Steelers look great right now, Broncos (QB issues), Bengals (even more QB issues). I hope Steelers come to Foxboro and knock them off.
Also if you are the Panthers you have to try to win last two games right? I don’t sit people.
At this point I just want he Panyhers to lose… Lots. I almost cheered for the Giants, and loved ODB beating the crap out of Norman.
I want them to win. They are clearly not as good as the 2004 Pats, so I think it dilutes/tarnishes the Pats if the Panthers do it.
I don’t care about the playoffs, though heck if they won it would be funny here in NE to refer to the Panthers as the best team ever. Ha.
It is interesting how geography can influence fan attitudes toward teams. For my part, I don’t appreciate the Cam/superman act… that makes me want to root against him. I also don’t believe the panthers are better than our current Eagles team, which makes me grumpy that dropped passes cost us that game. However, anytime you can make a case for making Pats fans cry… I’m on board.
Disgusting
72′ dolphins fan?
You know, we’re pissed that the Eagles lost but this was an 11-2 team playing a wildly inconsistent 6-7 team so we shouldn’t be that upset.
I wouldn’t even say mildly inconsistent team at this point though. It is a mediocre if not below average team.
I think that’s more accurate.
this “wildly inconsistent” team has consistently underachieved. They’ve only beaten bad teams or injury depleted teams. I don’t see how they can beat a Redskin team that is starting to overachieve.
If that game doesn’t get Billy Davis fired, I don’t know what will. Certainly is the only issue with the coaching but if the Cards don’t drop more passes (6) in that game than they had almost all season (10) they hang 50+ pts on this team.
Yeah the turnovers hurt but the Cards put up nearly 500 yards of offense while just running the ball at will almost all night long.
any thoughts on replacements? i don’t know much about that, but it’s definitely time to start window-shopping
I be frank and say I don’t know NFL coaching staff nearly that well to make a recommendation.
This is the 3rd year for Davis here and you can make a valid argument this defense is as bad (if not worse) than the previous 2 years.
I don’t think another coordinator would suddenly turn this into a potent defense but this is the 7th year in the league in 3 cities for Davis as a DC. Not one year where his defense has been better than average and almost every year notably weaker than that.
Eagles invested considerable resources last offseason in the defense with no real improvement. Really almost no reason that can be cited on why Davis should be back next year.
no i agree completely. i just want to start reading about candidates. and i actually think (homer alert) a better DC could do some pretty impressive things with our D roster. i mean, there’s holes, but there’s also some young and veteran talent on each level
I’m not disagreeing — just adding to your thoughts…I’d like to see better talent on defense too. Each week I read ‘there’s talent’ on this defense, yet we can’t stop anybody(unless opposing team is riddled with injuries). Can’t have 3 talented guys and claim the “D” is talented…
no there’s definitely upgrades needed at a ton of positions: at least one CB, at least one ILB, at least one OLB, and another freak on the line. that said, i think Billy D wouldn’t look much better no matter who you gave him.
This is not a team like those SB Giants teams or that 2008 Cardinals team that while generally mediocre is capable of elite performances in multiple key aspects of the game (deep passing and pass rush in the Giants’ case, precision passing in the Cardinals’). This team is thoroughly mediocre, even at what they do best (which is what? Dink and dunk?). And they flat out suck at multiple key aspects of the game (red zone defense, pass protection, pass defense, ball security).
I don’t think they’re going to make the playoffs, because they’re likely to lose one of their remaining two games. But if they do, it will be a waste of time. They’ll likely get embarrassed at home by the Seahawks in round 1 (can you imagine what Wilson and Lynch will do to a defense that gets lit up by Jameis Winston and David Johnson?). And if they somehow pull off a Patriots-esque fluke upset, they will be absolutely flattened on the road in round 2 against Arizona or Carolina.
I’d rather lose out and get the higher draft pick. We need multiple extremely difficult-to-acquire pieces, including a franchise QB, offensive tackle, and elite pass rusher, and we’re already short a second round pick thanks to Chip’s brilliant resource allocation last offseason. We can’t afford to lose any more team-building resources for the sake of being a little less bad this season.
it would be a rather Eagles thing to do to be the worst champs ever. not as Eagles as missing the playoffs, but still pretty Eagle-y
I like watching good games more than good draft position.
Give me two wins and one and done.
Given the choice between spending $10 on opening night star wars tickets vs $10 of scratch off lottery tickets… I’ll take the movie as well.
Like the 2015 Eagles, we know the movie will suck.
And probably the Eagles draft pick too.
Then you like moving farther away from contention rather than closer. Because that’s exactly what dropping in the draft with a team like this is doing.
if we were better at drafting talent this wouldn’t matter – teams like the Pats and Seahawks find legit players deep in the draft. we do occasionally as well, but the idea that you can’t improve with lower picks is inaccurate.
I don’t think the Pats or Seahawks really draft that much better than anyone else. They DO have their qb’s in place though. After that it’s alot easier to build a contender. Just my opinion though.
yes and no – the seahawks had built a very talented team through the draft PRIOR to finding wilson. he was the final piece in some respects.
You can improve by finding good players late in the draft, but even with a good GM you’re swimming upstream in attempting to do so. The draft is an exercise in probability. The more picks you have, and the higher they fall in the draft order, the greater the probability that you’ll find good players or even stars. Chip (who is clearly not a good GM at this point) can only hurt his chances by winning these last two games.
i’m just saying that if we had a better GM it would hurt less to pick later. obviously you want the earlier picks, but it seems like there are teams where a lower pick isn’t as costly as ours wouldbe dude to inferior talent evaluation
So all those teams that pick in the top half of the draft become contenders?
Draft position pretty much matters most when you’re at the top of round one and can target Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck, Donovan McNabb -that type.
Doesn’t help if you get Ryan Leaf, RGIII or Tim Couch though.
I don’t think the Eagles can beat either of the two teams remaining. Maybe if OBJ gets suspended we have a chance
We beat the Giants like a drum earlier this year. Or have you forgotten that?
Giants never gave up and scored 35 on the Panthers yesterday
the Giants are playing like they want to go to the playoffs
the Eagles have the cars packed and doubleparked outside the stadium waiting for the season to end
Could have lost the final game last year and had better position too…
I agree with Tommy, for some reason I wasn’t all that bummed about this game. Bradford is looking good. we had some bad turnover’s and you can’t win that way, but if we play well on offense with no turnovers we can beat Washington. mainly because we will have to score a ton of points since the Cousins might light us up.
i’m not confident but at least I liked what I saw out of Sam.
and murray definitely looks good on the sidelines.
i think what bothered me about this game was the run D looking so freaking terrible. that was supposed to be like our one thing we’d done fairly well and a rookie backup just looked unstoppable against us. that and the general wussiness of our tackling. i didn’t expect a win but physicality is something you actually CAN control and there wasn’t enough of it
Run D has been crap since the bye though and an issue almost all season long. Given it is supposedly the emphasis on what this defensive scheme tries to stop, it is disconcerting.
Cards just run between the T and took it took the Eagles on 1st and 2nd down almost all night long. Set up very manageable 3rd downs almost all night long.
I told my wife, after seeing the dropped passes by Brown, that the Eagles needed to take advantage of that and put together a lead in the first half. We needed the goal line gamble to keep even (and had we come away with 7 before halftime it would have really helped).
In the second half, I was convinced that we couldn’t win without a big play by the defense or special teams. The pick 6 by AZ was the last nail in the coffin. I was encouraged by Huff’s KO return game.
From a commentor on another blog:
“2 offensive TDs or less for 9 straight games. 9 straight games. That’s
pathetic on so many levels I can’t begin describe. The one thing Chip
is supposed to be known for is offense. It’s completely mind blowing to
see such ineptitude.”
Mind-blowing indeed that you’d want this guy back along with Sam “I Won A Heisman So I Must Be Good” Bradford.
two things — 1 — give me wr’s who aren’t constantly dropping the ball…and 2… what’s your plan B? Draft a QB and spend the next 3-4 years developing him?
…
I don’t think Bradford is the problem….
Plan B is working out for the
Raiders
Jaguars
Bucs
Titans
Vikings
Colts
well to be fair only one of those teams has a better record than the birds, and 4 of those 6 teams picked their QB in the top 3 picks…..we didn’t even get to pick that high when were 4-12
It’s working for the Colts? I’d rethink that one. Also, that plan B is not going to work with CK as HC/GM/King. Before I throw away the next 3-4 years, I’m giving Bradford and CK more time…
Carr did not look good yesterday
Rodgers didn’t look good either. You’ll still take both guys over what we have.
i don’t know that i’d take carr over bradford. i’d flip a coin
You’d have to be an idiot to take Bradford over Carr.
including the money and everything? sure. but carr is no sure thing at this point. he’s looked good for a rookie but as we’ve learned from Kap and RG3 it can be misleading to think a young qb’s progress will continue on its trajectory. or maybe i’m an idiot either way
Who’s a rookie?
you got me there. i changed further down the paragraph to “young qb” but yes i misspoke
no you right, you right. i meant young un, not rookie
Let this sink in for you. Luck has been to the playoffs as many years as Chip Kelly has been in the NFL. I’ll take that over hollow 10-6 records.
Why does it have to sink in? Are you implying you have to education me or teach me history of the Colts?
….
Let me help you because you’re not paying attention. The Colts are a mess right now. I don’t mean playing bad, I mean from the owner to the GM to HC to the QB. If all don’t play well in the sandbox, bad things happen.
….
Second — what does last year or last 2 years have anything to do with today? Absolutely nothing. What does Carolina’s record last year have to do with this year? Nothing.
….
What does this year have to do with next year? Still nothing — but right now — the Colts are a mess from top down…..
Let’s talk more about plan B.
Bills
Browns
Broncos
49ers
Redskins
Jets
Dolphins
Lions
Falcons
All have recent high picks invested at QB. Some have had success, some have had very little success, none have superbowl wins.
With the exception of the Browns, Bills, Dolphins and Redskins, all of those teams got to the playoffs with their QBs in the past 9 years.
And we flipped a 2nd and 3rd round draft pick for the number 1 overall pick in a draft.
The Eagles have been in the playoffs 4 out of the last 8 seasons, and this year might make it in the playoffs.
It’s false hope thinking that picking a QB high guarantees anything.
Draft position doesn’t always equal value but it improves your chances on hitting on one. You sure as hell won’t find a Peyton Manning outside of the top 32 picks often.
And out of those seasons were strong QB play from McNabb (ok sort of), Vick, and Foles. Bradford simply hasn’t been enough of a factor for us yet.
You can get QBs outside the top 15. But you need coaching + talent around them.
I personally thought Bradford is looking good. much better then at the beginning of the year. QB takes some time to get everything in your head.
Bradford is also playing much tougher then he s known for.
http://www.phillymag.com/news/2015/12/21/1-dead-eagles-shooting/
To say it is a stretch to blame the Eagles’ performance for this shooting is obvious but I do remember my friend’s dad having to respond to a domestic fight between two family relatives.
It was a game where Cunningham struggled, a verbal disagreement broke out between 2 middle-aged brothers if Cunningham sucked or not, and they trashed their own living room in the process with both brothers needed medical attention.
Long past even getting that upset any more if the Eagles lose or not. Just mellowing as a I entering middle aged years mysefl.
We can talk coaches Rivera, Arians, Carroll and whomever else but it’s mainly talent that wins talent. Those teams have drafted exceptionally well in recent years and made great FA acquisitions. Look at Carolina for example:
Draft: Cam Newton (1st pick no brainer) Luke Kuchely, Kawaan Short, Star Lotulelie, Josh Norman. Those guys are top 3-5 in their positions if not higher (Not to mention injured benjamin).
FA: Greg Olson, Michael Oher, Tedd Ginn. They found unheralded guys that fit their system/culture and are thriving.
I’m sure Rivera is a good coach but he’s no Belichick and he’s knocking on the door of undefeated season largely because of talent. We overestimated the latent on this team, the OL has 1 good starter, WRs corp way below average, ILBs suck, OLB are average, CBs is a weakness, RBs are a mess. The eagles need to revamp the talent evaluation system, weather that means a new GM or whatever but I’m not sure they will do that 2nd year in a row.
Taylor Hart had more snaps than Thornton and Curry last night. I know Ced has been in a slump lately but Hart is the worst DL that we have. He just can’t do anything.
Passing team and hart plays more then curry? Horrible
Question for Tommy and the posters here:
I raised this in my previous post, but wanted to expand a bit since I think it goes to the core of what is wrong with this team.
What is the Eagles identity as a team? What are the foundation components of this team? What are their core strengths as a team? Who are the true difference makers on this squad?
I seriously am struggling to answer these questions.
The identity was supposed to be a relentless, cohesive, adaptable, highly conditioned and efficient squad that would take advantage of opponent weaknesses, tire out the opponent, force mistakes and put teams away in the 4th quarter. We saw some of that in 2013, but starting with the playoff game loss I’ve seen less and less since then and more of the Eagles being on the receiving end of that approach instead of initiating it. Our identity now is very muddled and my sense is the players, coaches and maybe even Chip do not know how to get us back on track.
The foundation components are equally as fuzzy IMO. The DL and ST are the only ones I can still point to with some confidence as areas we can build on to help us win more consistently. However, the DL has gotten abused in multiple games this season and ST is clearly not as good as it was last season. The defense overall played better this season than last, but has collapsed down the stretch giving up 40+ pts in 3 out of the last 5 games. The offense is a total mess; it has been shockingly bad in many games this year. The run game, which was supposed to be the foundation of the offense, is pathetic from the OL to RB to play calling.
Core Strengths? Again, not sure. Run defense used to be, but we’ve been gouged hard multiple times recently and the tackling is worse than ever. Run game with Shady was in 2013, but last year it faltered due to the OL and defensive adjustments and this year it collapsed due to the same issues plus Murray being a bust here. Punting? Donnie Jones has been consistent at least and gotten plenty of practice.
Difference makers? I see Cox, Jones, Sproles and that is about it. We need a huge infusion of talent and some elite options badly to compete.
You are right about the identity. I think we all know what it’s supposed to be. I seriously think this team is in good shape with a revamped and much improved OLINE. I’m most disappointed in the defense. Cox is a beast but there are no one else on his level on the defense. Have a lot of solid to good players but there is no one else that scares an opponent. We need an elite pass rusher or two in the worst way.
Agree on the need for consistent pass rush and elite talent defensively.
I’m much more worried about the offense. The defense at least has shown some strides from last season even though they cannot sustain it fully. The offense has regressed another level down from last season IMO and has been the main reason this team has struggled.
Since the bye, the offense has averaged 18 pts/game. If we get a ST or D TD, we can win, but without that 18/game is not enough to win most games. The OL is the area that needs the most attention, I agree with you, but the weapons and scheme need fixing too.
I think we have plenty of weapons. Is there anything about Mathews, Agholor and Huff that you don’t like? We just don’t use our weapons. As you stated, scheme needs to be adjusted. I’m not sure why you would use a 1st Rd pick on a WR and then proceed to never throw him the ball. The offense is built too much up the middle with backs and TES and never seems as if there are plays drawn up for any one individual. Before I go saying we need new weapons, I’d actually like to try out the ones we have. I’m not ignoring the fact that they need to be more consistent. Agholor ran 62 plays last night and had one target. Go watch the film, I bet he was open his fair share of times. Every time Huff catches a ball and drags 4 defenders we all wonder why he doesn’t get the ball more. The weapons are fine (I think). Chip just needs to scheme more ways to get them the ball. We will never be a top tier offense relying on dunking and dunking and hoping not to make a drive killing mistake. We need more big plays from the receivers but they have to have more than 6 collective targets in a game.
I’m of mixed minds – offense was supposed to be built around the run first and then play action passing when the defensive alignment adjusted to stop the run.
If that is still Chip’s strategy, then we need to invest the most in fixing the OL and identifying the RB we will keep. I’m also assuming we bring Bradford back.
Based on those decisions, the current WR and TE could be sufficient, but I think Celek and Cooper are likely on their way out and I agree with you we have too many slot WR/TE types and not enough outside talent + down field threat.
Chip definitely needs to be more innovative in deploying the personnel, but I still see little talent that would scare a defense at all. I would fully expect them to continue packing the box to stop the run and dare Bradford to beat them with no down field or outside threats. It is a setup for failure for Bradford IMO; if the QB was mobile it could be a different story, but, for all the rhetoric, it does not appear Chip can or wants to find that type of QB.
the poor OL pay this year drags down everything else, running game, passing game, makes our WR look worse than they are, etc. It all seems to start there.
There is some truth to that i.e. football is such a team sport that each facet does impact the other, but it is not that simple either. Even if we fix the OL completely, there are still other issues that need to be addressed.
The OL did not cause the WR, TE & RB to drop passes
The OL did not cause the WR, TE & RB run bad routes
The OL did not cause the WR, TE & RB to miss blocks
The OL did not cause the WR, TE & RB to turn the ball over
The OL does not excuse Chip for not having any deep threat weapons
The OL does not excuse Chip for running the same plays over & over when its clear the D knows exactly what is coming
The OL does not excuse Chip for not utilizing his personnel consistently well
don’t get me wrong I’m disappointed in much more than just the OL play.
See MM out ROY, plus missed a couple of games. You just can’t keep those guys healthy unless they are built like cam / RW.
the identity is obvious. a bunch of tackling dummies on defense and offense has CHicken legs and chicken fingers, dropsies and mopesies.
Tackling isnt about being physical its about technique. Learn the basics n fundementals of tackling first then you can be more physical tackling. Watching the game seriously the going up high to tackle was the worse display of technique ive seen. Thats coaching! Start from scratch take the helmets n pads off n feel the tackle. Cheek to cheek shoulder first wrap n drive. Tackle dummies are no good either. Pad players up with tackle gear n tackle. Once the players have the feel n technique down then pads n helmet you will have no fear. Disgusting display of heart n effort with those tackles!
I think its pretty conclusive this team is lacking an identity under Chip. 3 years down the road and this team feels less close to being elite than it did in year one. I have always been very bullish on Chip and his ability to build a program, but it is very hard to see this team being able to compete even next year…
On defense it’s like we have all ball-hawks and no tacklers. No one “mean”. On offense no play makers
Kelly just mentioned it was a problem with ‘fundamentals’ in regards to the tackling.
I do wonder if all of the emphasis on trying to force turnovers results in shoddy tackling. It has been an issue with this defense at times the past 2 seasons too.
I mean at least last year we could hang our hat on our run defense, I really wish someone would take an indepth look into why the run defense has crumbled this year. So frustrating.
Imagine the problem is almost predominantly with the ILBs because it seems like teams just hammer this team between the T.
Curious to see what has happened with Allen though too with somebody who does actual game film analysis. Is he getting doubled all of the time? Is he holding the point of attack or getting pushed back?
I would RATHER Sacrafice this season and find our QB, than to have a great season and still need to find our QB…. I have been very excited about Sams play since Carolina, but last night was the game I really realized that we have Found our QB going forward…Gettimg Braford thru this yeàr healthy was always the most important aspect of this season for our franchise. Very excited about a Future under Beadford. Kid had some amazing throws. And even when he didn’t make a great play, you can still see he is playing at a high level for example this play where SAM was under pressure, and he stood in the pocket, looked to the left, came off that read and looked to the WR he had in the middle, saw that he had nothing, and took off running for a few yards, no big deal, but Obvious that he is going thru his reads, which shows an improved command for this offense… I’m really excited about what we are seeing from the QB
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For a loss, im pretty damn excited about the direction Bradford is headed. He is really playing better and better each week and he looked pretty damn surgical at times last night with how well he was throwing the ball..
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The downside is we got good QB play, but it is painfully obvious SAM isn’t sorrounded with enough Talent…
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SAM, Jordan and Ertz are all starting to show the talemt we envisioned when they arrived in this city, but it’s NOT ENOUGH!
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SAM NEEDS a good run game to play off of, better blocking from the OL, and we NEED MORE than ERTZ and Jordan to throw to..
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It’s not time to rule out Huff and Agholar, they are still young and talented enough to become quality weapons for us, but we Need at least 1 more serious pass catching weapon..
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NEED:
1) UPGRADE the OL
2) add a pass catching weapon
3) figure out the running back situation
4) further develope Huff and Nelly
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While this season has been a very stressful one, we are starting to see we have a good portion of the pieces we need to build an elite Offense
I think this game should finally put an end to the “the Eagles have one of the best front-7s in the NFL” talk. Nobody take my following assessment as trolling, these are just my honest opinions.
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D-Line – Cox is stud. Logan is a good, not great NT, but I am glad he is here. Cedric Thornton is an over-achiever that has achieved his heights already as a player and its a low bar. Allen is a good backup NT. Curry is a talented pass rusher playing a position that doesn’t suit him and he will most likely leave during FA. Hart, I really don’t know what to make of him but he doesn’t show up too much for me and he tripped on his own legs last night. Rest of the d-line are average players at best.
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Outside LBs – Average at best. Barwin had a great year last year but has played no where near that level of play this year. Graham has been solid in his 1st year as a full time starter. MS2 and Bramam are just bodies out there.
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Inside LBs – Kiko can easily be replaced by a tackling dummy out there. Don’t know if he is still hurt or he never got over his injury but he looks lost and just doesn’t make plays. Kendricks is starting to look like a slightly better Ernie Sims. Ryans is who he is at this point of his career, a great vocal leader on and off the field but physically he cant play this game at a high level. Hicks – Jury is still out but based on the sample size we’ve seen he did look like a stud in the making.
a month ago i would have tried to argue with you on this but it’s a completely fair assessment. cox is the man and logan is probably good enough if we get another stud DE; and barwin and hicks make up one half of a decent lb unit. graham is a #3 but doesn’t get home enough to do what we need.
Oh don’t get it wrong, a month ago I was one of the people saying this is one of the best fronts It just really isn’t.
yeah. i mean all the talk in the world is meaningless when you get pushed around like that. you are exactly what you play like.
I couldn’t of said it any better myself.
so i can tell people i think and speak like a typical douche!
lol That you can sir.
Think graham is a much better situational rusher. Still looking for that every down guy.
i think situational players on the D are useless. you’re telling the offense to run at you, regardless of alignment or whatever.
I think Barwin is good. Not awesome, but quite good. Graham is just ok. A stud rusher would make all these other guys look much better.
barwin is good enough if we had a legit OLB across from him
And like GEAGLE says above, Barwin and Graham never get snaps off b/c of the lack of depth.
Thank you. They’ve been entirely overrated.
i think the d-line is pretty good overall and has played that way pretty much all season
It’s the linebackers that have been awful this year as a collective group. The outside guys rely way too much on bull rushes and a lot of times are out of position and can’t make the play, especially Barwin who IMO has looked ridiculously slow and often winded. Graham has been ok, you would like more sacks but he’s not a worry a to me.
The ILB’s have been horrible and have really gotten exposed since Hicks went down. A lot of people were happy with the re-signing of Kendricks, including me, but…..what the hell happened? He usually makes one play a game, but the rest of the game he is out of position, and when he gets in position makes a poor attempt at wrapping up. Kiko i actually hope is still hurt based on looks. He had a reputation of being over-aggressive and over running plays in Buffalo, and he is still doing that here, but what i didn’t foresee is how weak he plays. It’s no secret he’s a smallish LB and is a guy who goes sideline 2 sideline and relies on speed, but too many times this year he takes himself out of plays by avoiding contact or just getting manhandled by blockers he should shed of easier. Demeco is just shot and needs to be cut or just relegated to emergency LB, Najee Goode should be playing over both Demeco and Kiko for now
on to Washington.
I don’t know what was inconclusive about the game. What is conclusive is the Eagles are what their record says they are– an inconsistent team that lacks the players and coaches to compete against playoff caliber teams, Our running game is not good enough to sustain drives. Our WRs are inexperienced and lacking a true #1. Our inside linebackers can’t stop the run. Our Secondary can”t tackle and plays so far off the receivers, they weren’t even on the TV screen when the opposing WRs made catches. Do we have some talent? yes. Do we have anywhere near the level of talent that the Cardinals have? Absolutely not! Should we keep Bradford? I don’t think we have a lot of options. I would give Chip another year, but Davis should be fired at the end of the season. Firing him now would mean the Eagles have given up on making the playoffs, not that it matters even if they do because 8-8 is not true playoff quality team,
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One of the most dissapointing aspects of last night for me, is how little we are getting out of the inside Linebacker position which was supposed to be a strength for us.
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1) Kiko I can’t blame, because it’s his first year back from Injury, and I can see a situation where he won’t be back to full strength TIL two years removed from his injury. He was solid against the Bills, bad last night, but Im still very confidemt in his future as an eagle as long as he doesn’t suffer any setbacks with new knee injuries of course,.
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2) Mufasa has been dissapointing. Last night should have been a good matchup for him against a Power RB, instead he didn’t contribute many good plays last night… Mufasa started off the season playimg really well, but hasn’t been even close to the same player he was pre hamstring Injury.
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3) Biggest Dissapointmemt is Kemdricks… Weeks removed from his injury, new contract extension, crunch tIme Of the season, and he is coming up small for us instead of being one of our best defenders that I know he is capable of being..
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We Lost Jordan Hicks, and everyone forgot how to play Linebacker… We aren’t getting productipn from this positon, and I think it’s the major reason for why our top rated run defense For the past two years has completely imploded..
KIKO is excused, but Kendricks is extremely dissapointing, and he better get it together because Hicks will come back next year, and if im right about KIko needing to be two years removed from the injury to get back to full strength, Kemdricka could find himself coming off the bench next year.
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We are weak at the ILB position, Shame on Kendricks if he doesn’t step the fuck up to close out this season . Very annoyed with him..
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Pleased with OLB position, but I feel like BG and Barwin have to play too many snaps because we don’t have pass rushers rotating in off the edge.
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See my assessment below? Also Kiko shouldn’t get a pass just because he got hurt. If an over the hill Ryans can return from an Achilles tear in less then a year then Kiko should be good to go with almost a full year since the initial tear. He looks down right scared to do the any of the things he did in Buffalo. Could he not trust his knee or could he still be hurt? Yes, those are possibilities but in no way should any player on this team get a pass for anything.
But people heal at different rates. I thought it was kinda accepted lots of players don’t fully return from ACL until the 2nd year. Plus, Ryans “returned” yes, is he playing lights out or something? no.
But in reality as poor as Ryans and Kiko have been, I would rather have Ryans out there.
ACL you should be good following year. It was the Achilles tears/ruptures that were the ones that took forever to get back into speed. Without full flexion in the ankle in foot loss of power n speed. ACL are more structural ligaments. Kiko works on his quads n hamstrings n conditioning he should be back to what we expect sooner rather than later. Hes already running around so that a plus. But his muscle endurance just doesnt look like it there. Hence why he looks lost n spastic out there sometimes.
it’s not about a pass – it’s about deciding what we have for next year. do you think he’s gonna improve, is the question
I am in the mindset that he can absolutely improve and could be a factor next year. My only thing is for anyone to try to give any player on this team a pass for poor play is unacceptable. The players should be held accountable just as much as the coaching staff.
Sorry man, that’s just BS
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If his body can’t go, his body can’t go, clearly his body isn’t functioning like the KIko that won rookie Of the yea.. And there is a LONGER LINE of players who weren’t back to preinjury form Til their 2nd year removed from the injury, than guys who only needed one year to come back from the injury…
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Look at Demeco Ryan, his first Achilles, he was terrible his first year back and didn’t get back to himself Til yeàr two, which is why everyone was surprised that he was able to be ready to play at the start of this season.
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Every injury is different, every body is different..
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Kiko’s play actually reminds me a lot of what Demeco Ryan looked like his first year removed from his first Achilles surgery with the Texans, then the next year Mufasa was so much better, back resempblng the player he was before the injury.
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KIko also ismt some 30yr old playerr whos career is winding down, he has hopefully 5, 6 years of quality service as an eagle still ahead of him. He is a kid who still has years on his 700k rookie deal. If he gets back to the player he was next season, and has the career we think he can have, no one will care that he struggled his first year back…
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The ONLY THING that could dissapoint me is him suffering anothet Knee injury. If knee injuries are Behnd him for good, iM confidemt that he comes back strong and we see the player we were excited about adding.
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It’s No ones fault if his body needs two years to fully get over the surgery. as long as he is done with serious knee injuries, he should be a BIGTIME addition to the 2016 Defense
Kiko is probably playing injured currently.
Has the Eagles stopped 2 gapping? Noticed Thorton trying to split a double team on a run play n Johnson gashed it the other way. OL got hands onto the LBs quick.
my ignorant take is that we sold out against palmer’s air-raid.
Hate to look back, but I cant help wondering what SAM would be looking like these days if he was throwing to Maclin and Desean.. Kind of a shame that we never got to see those two WRs on the field together in Chips offense..
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Shame Desean is such a jackass, that I cant argue with getting rid of him, but from a roster building perspective, I hate to think of what could have been now that we finally found our QB if:
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SAM at QB
Use Demarco’s Money, Riley Coopers Money, Agholars first round money and spend it on Extending Maclin and Desean, and today we could have a potent WR corp, up there with Arizona, and Steelers WRs:
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DEsean and Maclin Outside, with Jordan Mahews in the Slot, ERTZ at TE…
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We would still have Agholars first round pick and Huffs 3rd round pick to spend on other positions… heck THATS a 1st and 3rd round pick that could have fixed ALL OUR OL problems ..
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We would have Sproles, Ryan Mathews, Barner and a Rookie RB..
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We would have
SAM at QB
Desean, Maclin, and Jordan Mathews
ERTZ and Celek
Lane, 1st rd guard (Agholars pick), Kelce, 3rd rd Guard(Huff pick) and JP
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With a upgraded OL and defenses respecting Desean and Maclins threat, Sproles, Ryan Mathews,Barner and a rookie should be enough to have a quality Run game..
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But in Fairness to chip, It’s way too soon to assume that Huff and AGHOLAR won’t grow into quality Startimg WRs for us..
with our luck, maclin and jaccson would’ve developed stone hands to fit in with our receiving corps
I’m assuming Huff won’t grow into anything.
He’s an above average KOR.
In this touchback era, that’s not as valuable.
yeah it think he’s a KOR/3rd WR. I think he could be great possession WR especially on 3rd down since we like to throw it two yds short of the sticks.
True enough.
In Ags chip drafted a Maclin clone, or at least that’s what he thought he was getting. Maybe it’s WR coach — but none of these guys seem to have the juice. Ags has to be near the bottom for starting if not all WRs.
In the meantime Ertz is playing himself into a decent contract.
I don’t believe in Countimg on Rookies, I look At rookie contribution as a bonus.. So I am however pretty annoyed that we drafted this kid and put him in position where he needed to be counted on To be our #1 outside WR option day one of his rookie year. I HOPE we NEVER see a player drafted and depended on to start day 1. BAD, BAD, BAD IDEA….
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nelson is a very talemted WR. Im still very excited about the starting outside WR he can become..
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You can’t be down on a rookie WR in a struggling Offense, who is being asked to spend his first year having to face:
Revis
josh Norman
Patrick Peterson
DRC
DEsmond Trufant
.l
Might want to wait more than a rookie season before we judge a kid being asked to spend his rookie season having to deal with Most of the top corners in the NFL ..
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I still haven’t forgotten that Burst he showed running away from defenders on that screen in the preseason. I haven’t forgotten that big one handed 47 yard catch, or the Bomb he caught last week… The kid has solid size, legit Talent, and a workethic and Charechter that I would NOT bet against..
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Jordan Mathews also had his struggles in his young career, then last night he reminded everyone just how talemted he can be playingf Iike an absolute BEAST against an elite secondary… I have total confidence in the future of AGHOLAR and Jordan…. Huff has talent, but I’m still waiting for the knucklhead to put it all together. I probably wouldn’t bet on Huff at this point, but I damn sure wouldn’t bet against the work ethic of Jprdan and Nelson. Very excited about those two and ERTZ, but that’s not enough.. We wilL need a little more firepower to throw to
This is where you need to have a vet WR. Agree w the fact that it’s bad to depend on rookies. Some are ready, some aren’t.
I cry a little bit inside every-time I think about the fact that we could have made a play for Boldin or Garcon.
i’m not a decent evaluator of talent by any means, but i was pretty disappointed about getting agholar. he wasn’t the biggest, the fastest, the most polished, the most consistent, in short there was nothing about his game that implied future excellence. it was more like “he’ll be a solid WR.” i’m still pretty confident he can become that, but i don’t think a “solid WR” is what we needed.
allen robinson on the other hand is just a monster.
I’m bummed because it looks like this team isn’t anywhere close to a title, and they’re old to boot.
I’m still of the philosophy of get as high a pick as you can despite wins. I would rather have the choice of Amari Cooper vs. Nelson Agolor, despite it not being a guarantee to work. The short term victories are just sugar. It’s all about the Super Bowl.
I’m damn sure the majority of the readers here are against your opinion. I agree with you though. None of this instant gratification crap will be comparable to how sweet the first Super Bowl win will be.
Don’t get me wrong, the NE win was sweet but it’s just a small sugar high compared to a SB win. And this team has a ton of deficiencies.
Part of me thinks non-tackling players use “stripping the ball” as an excuse not to tackle. Maxwell looks like DRC when (or Nnamdi) when Dez walked him into the endzone. Need a james harrison type to toughen up the defense.
i agree, i like the idea of going for the ball, especially since more and more guys are getting careless with the football in this league, but the Eagles take this tactic to a level of stupidity where they go for the strip in one-on-one tackling situations. They are too focused on going for the ball instead of just tackling the guy. The defense is soft but i think we all kind of knew that going into the season
Lesean tore his MCL
damn. I mean that team had given up anyway, but that’s too bad.
Sammy Watkins can talk his way out of Buffalo and into this team anytime now.
yeah wonder if Bills GM is up for a nother trade, Kiko for sammy
he used to be a redskins killer
This has been said in parts of others’ comments but let me restate it here. I don’t buy this “get hot at the right time & anything can happen” stuff- never have. You need to have something- anything- you are truly good at in order to ride a wave like that. This team has nothing of the sort.
Where is its identity? There is none. Unless they develop one in the next 2 weeks making the playoffs is completely meaningless & arguably detrimental to what needs to happen here.
Where is our identity? Our identity is on the sidelines making calls with little variation for 3 downs. We gave him all the power and he blew up the identity that he set in the first two years here.
what identity was that?
Bradford is looking good now. Foles is looking shot.
http://media.oregonlive.com/oregonian/photo/2013/09/13381028-essay.jpg
I don’t get it
I think this picture means that we’re “America’s Team” now. That is our true identity.
I hear you, but in Fairness, this team always had so many new parts, and young players counted on in Big Roles, that this year was always about what this team could grow into over the course of the season… Short Of being ravaged by injuries, I don’t think there was ever a chamce that we could be better the first half of this season then the second half of this season..
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This year had to be looked at like a mini rebuild.
new QB
new RBs
Turning your WR positipn over to young WRs
Rebuilding half the OL
The only position with stability was TE.
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You change just about every single starting position on Offense, you have to acknowledge that it’s an offensive rebuild and that this team wouldhave to grow into a good pffense, instead of expecting all these changes to work ourt instantly to the best of their capability..
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And if all this change ISNT enough to deal with, we changed almòst the entire secondary which is a very big deal. The secondary is like an Offensive line in that it has to function as a cohesive unit, I WISH it happened overnight, but it doesn’t work that way
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This is Exactly why I was not thrilled with Chip being allowed to rebuild in year 3, but I have to admit that I’m still excited about most of the changes chip made..
Chip has made mistakes, that can’t be denied, but he also has done a lot of good as a first time GM..
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there are changes that look very promising to be excited about going forward, and then there are clear cut mistajes like Demarco Murray that will be interesting to see how we adress this after the season…
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But I feel like Next year will really show us if chip was right about having to rebuild in year 3, or if we were better off continung to build on the FOles, shady, Maclin team of chips first two seasons
Except for the playoff experience. That is valuable in itself. And many if the teams in the playoffs are beatable… Just looks like we will be unlucky and get the Seahawks if we make it.
Plus with Injuries, a team that looks like a world beater, can get Ravaged by injuries and become much more beatable 3 weeks from now.
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Look at Palmer injuring his finger in such a harmless play.. Andy Daltons hand, a concussim that keeps a player out for Two games..
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The injuries because the physical nature of this game can completely transform a team in 3 weeks time..
they could still beat the eagles without honey badger, but they don’t look quite as Super
Damn honey badger out for the season with torn ACL
damn. only a day late. Isn’t this his second ACL?
That is correct, 2nd ACL tear to the same knee.
38 minutes and nobody’s made a joke that Chip will sign him?
Touche.
he’s not “high character”. I think we need some low character – don’t fuck w me” kinds of guys on this team.
hardy for demarco straight up . . .
that’s a joke btw eff womanhitters
“A born playmaker, Mathieu’s season ends with five picks, 16 passes
defensed and a sack. He’s PFF’s No. 1 overall cornerback by a
significant margin”
can’t be he’s too short
Well, the Eagles may not have won last night but the good old turf at the Linc has claimed another victory.
This team is garbage
There is nothing to look forward to on this team. Agholor was a first pick last year and he seems to not be good. 19 for 225. First round bust. Our second rounder Rowe doesn’t look like he belongs in the league. Jordan Hicks is good.
From the 2014 draft I dont think there is anyone to look forward to.
2013 draft there is nobody but our Rocky impersonator when we are down 30 points.
There is no future to this team. You just gotta let Chip go because this is despicable.
I don’t even think Sam Bradford will resign with Chip. And we have no offensive line. This whole organization is a disaster. Next year if they keep Chip they are going to be bad again.
Its just bad.
Id wait a Little longer before deciding AGHOLAR can’t play…
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might need more than 1 year before he can beat the shutdown #1 corners he has had t face as a rookie.
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Welcome to the NFL, first game against Elite Desmond Trufant
few weeks Later he found Darrel Revis on him for an entire game.
josh Norman
Forced Malcolm Butler to commit a Big PIT penalty
Patrick Peterson..
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Way too soon to be down on draftng Agholar. Just wish we didn’t have to lose Maclin
this is a losing battle Geags, like arguing with the writers at “liberty ballers” haha
Ohhhhh is that the troll boy? Fuck, I didn’t even realize I was responding to the donkey. Going to delete the comment. I don’t encourage pathetic trolls
yeah i almost made the same mistake.
WOW Saturday Night Justin Blackmon got arrested for like like his 3rd DUI..
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I just don’t understand how someone can waste such amazing Talent. making Millions as a great NFL WR sure seems like a nice incentive to straighten your life out, yet we still see these sad cases of wasted talent.
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Annoying that we suspend elite talemt like Josh Gordon for years over a joint, or a drink im a responsible manner, when we are losing ENOUGH Talent with the REAL PROBLEMS like Justin Blackmon putting people in Danger with his DUI’s..sad…
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What’s really sad is whp knows how many other serious situations Blackmon has been in that we don’t even know about for a franchise like the Jags denouncing Him like a year ago, stating that he probably would never olay for the Jags againL for a team to get to that point with such a special talent, there has to be a ton of other issues we don’t know about
Just a damn shame what an immense talent Blackmon is/was and we’ll never get to see it showcased. Everyone seen the glimpses on a terrible Jags team but I can only imagine what could of been on a team with a legit QB or hell even the Jags now he could of put up numbers. Blackmon was better then Dez was in college and Dez is one of the premiere receivers in the league now. I was a huge Blackmon fan and its sad to hear about his problems.
I did a little “manage the cap” game a couple days ago for the eagles offseason and he was a FA i signed to a minimum prove it deal….i guess he didn’t prove it lol. It is sad too because i thought he had the talent to be a big time receiver in the NFL.
That police video from a few years ago when he gets pulled over and you can hear him say ” oh man, this is going to be big news” to the cop is a shame. Some guys don’t get it until it’s too late or just don’t ever get it
He is one of my sons receivers in Madden franchise mode and is a beast lol. But in all seriousness its hard to see the young guys throw away millions of dollars and fame because they cant keep their life together.
Looking like Beckham will get suspended, which would be the first offensive players to get suspended for on field cheap shots… Beckham and the disgusting Giants should be proud
Hopefully he is suspended for the week 17 matchup against the Eagles. Not that I am scared of him because the Eagles have owned the Giants since Chip has arrived in Philly but more to see that self-entitled asshole finally get disciplined for his constant on field transgressions.
also so we can pretend our secondary isn’t effed right now
Only looking like 1 game…. But who knows..
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No big Deal, THATS the one team Ifeel like we Own, Cox Knows that OL can’t block him. So he seems to get extra excited to play that team knowing how badly he can outclass them and put on a show..
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Watching the game last night I was blown away how this 300lb man is all over the damn field, making so Many plays…. There were stretches in the game when Cox name was called for a big majority of the plays. tackle by Cox, Sack by Cox, QB hit by Cox, tackle for loss by Cox, chased a RB 10 yards down the field by Cox… my God, this 300lb monster is all over the field even tho every team is forced to gameplan for him… What a disruptive 25yr old Menace on the Football Field..
plus Eli’s stupid “getting sacked” face makes even a shitty season feel worthwhile
Last time they even called a few grounding penalties for once.
The Eli grounding flag face is equally priceless.
Its also pretty entertaining to hear Collinsworth almost blow a load in his pants when referring to how good Cox is. (No pun intended at all)
if only he wasn’t he only guy putting in work.
we can’t beat them everyime though. sometime they will get one.
Mariota is also done for the season with his MCL.
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Shady, Honey Badger, Mariota all done for the season
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While the Eagles played with out our top 3 corners, against the worst team imaginable with all tHee WR’s
maybe we can work a mariota trade. Titans can pick another QB. We can give up a 2 firsts for MM.
Now that he has a torn MCL he’s worth 4 firsts!
I’m full steam ahead on the Bradfordwagon..
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Extremely excited by what Bradford can become with a few years of continuity in this system, a better OL, and Run game to play off of
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I see a QB that can bring stability to this franchise, who we can win with if we put a good enough team around him..
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I knew how Talemted of a passer Bradford was capable of being.
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I had No idea he was this good Manuevering in the Pocket
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I had No idea he was this Tôugh, I have no idea how he still lasted this long with the big hits we been letting Him take all year
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I had no idea he was so damn good rolling out and throwing on the run
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No idea he could take so many big hits, and still stand tall in the pocket, eyes down field, go thru the progressions and endure Big Hits while still delivering good balls giving us a chance
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I had no idea he was the type of leader that could galvanize this entire team, It’s one thng when offensive players think you are a leader, but when Defenders like BG, and our defensive leaders like Malcolm jenkins are impressed with your leadership, THATS a very good sign
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I don’t think SAM is Gettimg the respect he deserves, the kid came back, and his playong his best ball, taking all tyes of hits, but Domt forget, he is still playing with an injured Shoulder, warrioring thru it and kind of save this team from the Detriot, tampa implosion on Sanchez watch,.
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id bet anytning that our players really respect SAM for how he is playing and enduring Hits on a Jacked up shoulder that he only łet heal for 10 days..
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SAM is also a smart kid, give him some time to really grow in this Offense to where he has full command, he knows it inside out, and not only will Bradford command of this offense grow, but chip and the coaches will also be able to better tailor it to what SAM does really well..
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If the Knee Injuries are behind SAM, for me, he is the best thing to happen to the Eagles since we drafted Fletcher Cox.. There is no realistic option that gves us a better chamce to contend, than keeping SAM as our QB, and keep Him healthy for a 3-5 year stretch.
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give SAM An Elite OL, a quality run game, and im confidemt we can win with Him..
yeah i like him. at the very least i’d like to give him the keys while we groom someone
I agree. sam is looking good. with no help
Sam looks dialed in and focused in a way that is much different from the beginning of the year. I think a new light has come on for him.
Think it’s,just a natural progression. We couldn’t avoid the adjustment period that comes with putting a QB on a new team, after sitting out for two years… Early season struggles were unavoidable, we just made it worse with our early season putrid guard play..
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As much as SAM has improved the last few weeks, I don’t think we have seen anything yet in terms of what he can be with an offseason to hit the weight room, work on chemistry with his knew WRs, and learn the offense inside out..
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I really look forward to seeing what he can do, when he has a dominant run game to play off of which we were supposed to see this year but the Run game HASNT worked out like we had hoped..
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Shame we dont get to see what SAM and maclin could have been together… MACLIN had a monster year last year, and FOles nor Sanchez played the position as well as we are seeing SAM play the last 6 games. The back shoulder throw to cElek between two defenders was sick.. The Lasers in traffic he was throwing to Jordan, and ERTZ…
.
Sucks to lose, but a lot to be excited about when it comes to bradford and his developing chemistry with Jordan and ERTZ,
Absolutely. I’m not just talking about the way Sam is playing. I’m talking about how he is carrying himself when he comes of the field. Early in the season after an interception toss it was a shrug, smile, jog off the field… now … he looks like he is more focused, determined, and ready to prove he is the leader of this team.
He has started looking serviceable. However, I don’t think he resigns here. We have very little in the way of WR weapons and our O Line is deplorable with no relief on the horizon. But we still have Murray, which is nice.
his numbers aren’t great, where do you think he goes?
man that’s rough
who gives a crap about a meaningless game. win or lose we only needed to get out of that game with no serious injuries, and a happy demarco murray. so at least we got no serious injuries? I hope rowe is ok. I hope Maxwell stays with murray and leave Watkins in.
its skins or bust now.
nothing has changed
I think many give a crap because the Eagles again got embarrassed to a good team. They didnt even look competent in the second half. I don’t think they can beat Washington.
We’ve replaced most of the team, but the team is still the team. Same issues w/ the secondary and turnovers continue to happen.
If they lose the turnover battle 4-0 yes they will lose again. Those have a way of making you look inept. We had been doing better there so that had better be an anomaly.
turnovers wont happen like that again.
im not confident against Washington, but nothing that could have happened sunday night would change that.
Bradford can do it!
Turnovers like that won’t happen again. Have you been watching the Eagles for the past 2 years? Lol
yeah I have never seen so many like last night.
but can we stop cousins? IDK
Oh comon Mitch. Get yourself some good pizza and beer and saddle up at least one more time this year. It’s playoff (esque) football baby!
playoff ish
or play of fish?
Broncos reserve S David Bruton played through a broken leg in Sunday’s loss to the Steelers, but is “going to miss time.” damn – people are crazy.
I played ping pong once with a hang nail, so yeah you’re right, people be crazy
now that’s tough
That is not a man Kelly would mock for “pain tolerance” issues.
He would in 2 weeks when he wasn’t available.
I really hate when I hear the other team say “we knew what plays they were running” or “they run 15 plays and after that we know what was coming”. I’m sorry. What kind of team are you then if Sam Bradford throws for 360 against you and you know what is coming? We must have really found our QB then if he can do that when the other team knows what is coming. Why then, on several occasions, was your defense not lined up? Why did you only have 10 players on the field in a critical part of the game that resulted in a TD throw? I guess it is because you knew what was coming is the reason the Eagles started dropping passes and fumbling the ball.
if i were Arians i’d be demanding to know why any of my players were talking about a game we already finished playing
*You don’t think like Arians then.
that’s probably true
link?
Comments by Patrick Peterson, came across on my twitter. I just checked, Jeff McLane was tweeting quotes from Peterson.
i really hate this too….a defense may recognize tendencies, but you guys knew what was coming and still gave up over 400 yards???
Re: Sam Bradford vs. the World (kind of)
So far, Bradford’s led the Eagles offense to at least 31 points only 1x this season — against the Saints, whose defense averages 30.5 PPG against.
(Why 31 pts? Because, on average, about 5 of 32 teams’ offenses score 31 points every Sunday in 2015, or 15% — not easy, not so hard as to be rare.)
Besides the Saints game, the Eagles’ next best offensive performances with Bradford are 27 points once (Dallas in OT) and then 24 points once (ATL).
___________________
QUESTION . . . so, using the 31 PPG benchmark, how does Bradford v.2015 (and the Eagles’ offense) compare to some other QBs (and their offenses) this season?
Just focusing primarily on QBs many call mediocre or worse, and QBs in new systems . . . here’s the breakdown:
* Sam Bradford, 6th Yr – New System: 31 pts – 1x
* Case Keenum, 4th Yr – New System: 1x
* Teddy Bridgewater, 2nd Yr: 1x
* Jameis Winston, Rookie: 2x
* Jay Cutler, 10th Yr – New System: 2x
* Matt Ryan, 8th Yr – New System: 2x
* Matthew Stafford, 7th Yr: 2x
* Ryan Tennehill, 4th Yr: 2x
* Ryan Fitzpatrick, 11th Yr – New System: 3x
* Kirk Cousins, 4th Yr: 3x
* Blake Bortles, 2nd Yr – New System: 3x
* Derek Carr, 2nd yr – New System: 4x
* Marcus Mariota, Rookie: 4x
_______________
Back story . . . in 2013, before his first knee in Gm-7, Bradford had thrown 14 TD passes against only 4 INTs.
And twice in those 6+ game Bradford led the Rams offense to 31+ points.
The Rams’ OC? Brian Schoettenheimer.
The Rams’ leading pass-catchers that year? Rookie WRs Tavon Austin and Steadman Bailey and free-agent signee TE Jared Cook.
The Rams’ leading RBs? Zac Stacy and Daryl Cunningham — both gone.
The Rams’ O-line in 2013? Only one of them, Roger Saffold, is even on the team now (although on IR since Wk 5).
______________
Is Bradford the problem in Philadelphia? The answer?
At this point, I’m wondering more about Kelly and his offense.
Because it’s not as though every one of the QBs listed above plays on a team with a good O-line . . . and good WRs . . . and good RBs.
And Bradford certainly didn’t back in 2013 — when Brian Schottenheimer was getting better numbers from him than Kelly is now.
I tend to agree.
I could be wrong, but it seems his simplistic offense is at its best when playing with tempo. First downs are crucial to having sustained drives. It doesn’t look like Sam is ever going to be the long ball, home run type of qb. All the dropped balls and penalties that led to 3rd and long have been the death of the offense. I guessed Sam was perfect when Chip describes his qb as a point guard that needs repetitive accuracy. Mistakes are definitely hurting the scoring opportunities.
“At this point, I’m wondering more about Kelly and his offense.”
^that
Bradford simply is not a good fit for the system. On the other hand, it’s really not easy to do better. Not enough of any QB who’s reliable, never mind one that’s a good fit. Best chance for improvement is probably Geno Smith in trade. I don’t think Kaepernick or RGIII are good ideas because you really need *agile* QBs, and not really straight line runners. We also don’t have good deep targets for their arms. Russell Wilson, TeddyB, Tony Romo, Geno Smith, that sort of mold…
what do you think of guys in the draft as a fit?
Horrible QB draft.
Connor Cook is effectively Eli or Jay, but not as good.
Jared Goff is not athletic enough to play. If you think he is, simply compare him with Mike Glennon in college, and see how Mike Glennon plays in pros.
Carson Wentz and Paxton Lynch are both your standard JP Losemans, Kyle Boller, Gabbert sort of play. Neither are as outperforming for the league they play in to have good hope, and these guys aren’t really in the more hopeful Josh Freeman/Joe Flacco level prospects in terms of outstanding physical skills and reasonable aptitude.
Jacoby Brissert is perhaps a possibility, but it doesn’t look like his ceiling is all that high in terms of aptitude…Think Jason Campbell at best.
Hackenberg, well, is he ever going to be a naturally accurate QB? Probably not.
I think Cardale Jones is the only truly viable prospect. Especially in the sense that out of all of these guys, he’s the only one who has ever truly dominated games. Of course, you see how slow he is in processing what’s going on in the field, and he’s not exactly mister reliable in making basic plays on a routine basis. The Urban system is not a good fit for him, but he certainly didn’t make work as well as it could have been for his talent.
thanks for the reply!
Geno is an interesting idea. I hadn’t thought of him. He’s young enough and has some of the skills to make it work under Chip.
geno sitting behind bradford may not be terrible.
glass jaw
Chip is not a good fit for the players he picks
Geno Smith? Sorry I just threw up in my mouth a little.
Well written and I agree. The playcalling is just plain tired. I am so utterly fatigued watching the zone read or whatever Chip wants to call it. I think he lacks the flexibility necessary to succeed or is so arrogant that he fails to recognize his weaknesses.
Did you watch that short yardage power run on 4th and 1? At some point you have to be able to block people to run. Personnel isn’t there. Chip is probably stubborn for not trying to adjust personnel more but i think he’s limited in what he can do.
I agree with most of what you say. However, he is the GM that has not drafted any o lineman in 2 yrs and not done anything to add to the o line ranks while unloading the 2 starting guards. His scheme wants a lineman that can flatten a LB or safety when pulling but still hold ground on a Calais Campbell. Those guys, like Peters, are few and far between. Kelce is a beast on a defensive back but gets manhandled by a true DT, which is a problem. I have seen NFL fullbacks block better at the point of attack than some of our interior O line. Whether you blame the scheme or the guy staffing the necessary players, it comes back to one guy.
Herresman is done. Mathis is still starting though.
my hope is that he’s got a bunch of stuff he isn’t showing because he knows the season is dead and he wants it to be a surprise next year.
or b/c he knows we can’t execute it.
Yeah we have a slew of great offensive game plans up our sleeve but they have to be kept secret until its time to use them .
.
What happened to the guy that rolled out a 4 TE set in his first preseason game? Does he have too much on his plate? Are the college remarks getting to him? Is he afraid to, as he told Nick Foles, “Grip it and rip it”?
Something is very off with the offense this year, completely agreed. Early in the year Bradford was a big part of the problem. He has improved substantially (as could be hoped). It is a bit mystifying as to why we are not scoring more points — even last year, with an even worse OL, we put up points from time to time. We really haven’t this year.
Part may be the WRs — nobody is really explosive. It might just be the running game though…. Murray has been a bad fit, and Kelly has had no answers to get him to perform better. That is absolutely on Kelly, and the predictable plays get awfully frustrating when they don’t work. We have been moving the ball better though it seems… fewer 3-and-outs… but we are not sustaining them to get the points (or setting for FGs). Whatever the cause, the offense has been a problem this year. The tempo (and having the defense on the field a lot) is predicated on scoring tons of points, which we have not been doing.
yesterday it was TOs, each leading to a TD. 21pt. swing and that’s the game.
Sort of the conclusion I have been coming to. Other teams overcome drops. Why are they so devastating to this team? It sure seems like the problems here are under surface.
along with drops we seem to commit insanely stupid turnovers and penalties at the same time……when it rains it pours on offense this year
The last set of questions are sure valid. All the stuff above that, I just can’t get on board on it being even slightly useful. We can start with the question — were any of the QB’s out a solid year before going to a new system? Then one could follow up with — none of those systems by any other QB are CK’s system. In short, that’s comparing apples to basketballs. There are way, way to many variables to make a general statement like “not all play with good OL” etc. I’d back that up with — can someone explain why Kelce went from (IMHO) the best center in NFL to consistently bad this year?
…..
But – those last two questions. Arguments can be had either way. All we’ve been hearing is CK(et al) had to “dumb down” the offense for Bradford. IF that’s true – how is that CK’s fault? (maybe the fault lies Bradford not being as smart as CK had hoped and a bad hire?). Part of that all-22 in the last game showed a WIDE open Ertz over the middle – but Peters got destroyed badly and a sack happened. IF Peters does his job – that could have been a different outcome on that play.
…..
I think the Eagles had a really good game plan and executed the offense with efficiency the first half. Again, if the Eagles line does their job on 4th and 1 – the first half is completely different.
…..
To sum up — on a year when just about every player on the team is playing below average, it’s hard to pinpoint and blame the QB and HC(even though, they are the ones accountable).
I think there’s definitely reason to start questioning the “Chip’s offense is QB friendly” meme. Only one QB has had any sort of sustained success in it, and even that is stretching the definition of “sustained.”
What we don’t know at this point is whether the team is still building (after a delayed tear down) to his vision, or this season indicates that his blueprint is majorly flawed. I don’t think we’ll get that answer this year. Top 3 WRs are all rookies or 2nd year players. The offensive line is 2 guards who shouldn’t be in the NFL, 1 guy who is declining rapidly at LT, and a center who is clearly not 100%. A $6M RB who isn’t playing well at all, and now isn’t playing at all. A talented QB who is a question mark on every level, but has shown signs of improvement. An otherwise talented 3-4 2 gap defense that is thin at all 4 LB positions.
The draft is going to need to address the OL and OLB positions with high picks. FA is going to need a solid, if unspectacular, OL addition; don’t think they’re going to find a quality LB in FA. Probably need to add a veteran WR in FA, too. ILB will probably continue to be thin, and they’ll need to pray that Hicks can stay healthy and Ernie Si … I mean one of Alonso/Kendricks can find their brain.
IF they succeed in filling those needs, we can start to evaluate whether the schemes are ready for NFL prime time. I think it’s clear that they need some turnover at the position coaches, because they didn’t do a good job with fundamentals at some high profile positions this year.
great, great post AC
more evidence for the holistic offense struggles lies in the player rotations and uses.
pairing Cooper and Austin for half the season, so one or the other was always on the field?
the inability (aside from past 2-3 games) to deploy Sproles in an effective manner, at any of the WR positions?
the “development” of the swiss-army Huff, who is now just an outside WR who runs bad routes?
limited use of deep vertical threats, particularly the rookie speedster who has shown ability to run the Go/Post/Corner well?
inability to reinforce a struggling line early in the year with a 6th OL or 2TE sets?
It seems some of Chip’s reputed strengths upon hire are his actual faults in-season
Why doesn’t Nelson Agholor get any targets or catches when he plays more snaps than any other wide receiver? Can’t he get open? Does Bradford not look for him?
I was wondering if Peterson was matched up with him throughout the night, since I didn’t hear either of their names much.
it’s my understanding that peterson just pretty much locked him down all night
Seen a few times yesterday Bradford just staring at certain areas during the game.. Locks onto his targets alot
https://twitter.com/fduffy3 – duffy notes some good eye movement. I think bradford is progressing. It does really take time to get in to the system. Remember how bad eli was in macadoo’s first year. Cousins is in his second year in the system and now he’s playing great. I think with Foles you saw regression, which is why it hink chip made the move.
Regarding EManning v.2014 . . .
The Giants avg 25 PPG over their last 9 weeks.
And 29 PPG over the last 6.
Probably as much to do with ODB getting healthy as anything else . . . sort of like Foles have DJax to throw to.
true. I guess it helps to have talent on your team.
We sucked bad last night. Either the play calling or the QB aren’t aggressive enough. Honestly, that’s ok. Sam is ok. Other problems are far worse.
I LOVE this question!!#!#!
I don’t know if we want to know that answer. Seems like there is disappointment written all over that answer.
I’d love to ask our fake tough guy WR coach Bicknell why that is.
Patrick Peterson … Better question why isn’t Huff getting more Targets?
both questions have obvious answers…
“Sam Bradford was 8-for-12 for 107 yards vs the blitz on Sunday”
I bet 2 of those incompletions were drops
Josh Norma is crazy:
Excellent!
That rationalization gene of tommys kicked in this week.
I’m beyond the point where I see last night’s loss as even worth discussing. Half of that is due to the fact I was assuming we’d lose. The other half is due to the fact that I want to smash Washington’s season in half and then brutalize the Giants.
If that leads to a stomping by Seattle on divisional weekend; so be it.
I’m with you
I know our guards aren’t real NFL players. I know our center is a sucky thief. Our WRs can’t produce. Our D coordinator has no clue. Our back 8 can’t tackle.
But I’d love to win the division anyway.
Front 7 cant tackle either …
Bye
Bye
Billy
Can only hope
32nd red zone D; that has to equal “fired” every time.
when will we get to play against his defense on another team? come on! we’d put up 21!…haha
A few highlight tackles but that seems to be it
A little harsh but in with ya.
Absolutely. At least we can stick it to the despicable three — Cowboys, Redskins and Giants.
Count me in.
Funny, but he’s one year removed from getting prison raped by Maclin all game.
And Richard Sherman OWNED Peterson on Twitter 2 or 3 times already.
And he was just flat out terrible last year in general. One of the worst corners in the league last year. To hell with him.
he had undiagnosed diabetes (how does that happen) that affected his play last year.
Type 2 diabetes is a relativley benign condition in the short term. High bllod sugar, big deal. What ends up happening is you pee more because the kidneys filter more sugar takong water with it. The real damage comes from decades of high sugar in your vasculature, irrating and stenosing them. People can feel crappy especially high level athletes but type 2 isnt as bad as type 1. As far as how does a NFL program not catch it? No idea. I would assume the teams go through general physicals each off season but perhaps not.
http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/post/_/id/11285540/richard-sherman-patrick-peterson-refuel-their-twitter-beef
Peterson got killed here.
Phones and word press.. Yeah
Best
Jason Kelce +1.8
Jordan Matthews +1.4
Brent Celek +1.3
Lane Johnson +1.2
Josh Huff +1.0
(Bradford +.05)
Worst
Zach Ertz -2.5 (drops poor run blocking)
Ryan Mathews -2.5
Nelson Agholor -2.4 (PFF ranked 120 of 120 for WRs)
Allen Barbre -1.7
Darren Sproles -1.1
Best
Fletcher Cox +2.4
Cedric Thornton +1.3
Worst
Taylor Hart -3.6
Eric Rowe -2.4
Brandon Graham -2.1
Kiko Alonso -2.1
Ed Reynolds -1.7
Beau Allen -1.5
Byron Maxwell -1.4
Jaylen Watkins -1.1
Vinny Curry -1.1
Mychal Kendricks -1.0
15 missed tackles yesterday
that’s it?
that’s the pff number so the real number is probably 30.
Kendricks and Alonso, got it. What about the rest of the team?
How many on all the other plays?
7 hours later but why was Chris Collinsworth RAVING about Ertz’s blocking skills?
The best was Ertz whiffing on his assignment so Mathews gets blown up from behind and drops the ball.
I dunno.
Credit to Jimmy K. This cracked me up. Hope it works here.
Where the Eagles are right now is so confusing compared to the beginning of the season. Is the O fixable with line help? How about the D with a Davis replacement? Decreasing turnovers would help dame as last year. The ILB spot is killing the D. Linebackers are the life of the 3-4 and two of the supposed bigger playmakers in Kendricks and Alonso are duds 🙁
And deMeco aint helpin too much any longer either unfortunately
I think we need to wait until the official end of the season, but assuming Davis is fired, who do we hire to replace him? Firing someone is easy, hiring is the hard part…
Mike Pettine
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHAHA
Clearly you haven’t heard about what a schematic clusterfuck the Browns D has been this year.
Brings me back to high school every time I see that name, like fuck north penn. Hiring a local guy sounds like a nice story but if I was him I’m not sure I’d want any piece of that added pressure.
I think we should hire Dean Blandino as DC. His current group of guys seem well trained in confusing coaches, unpredictability, and swarming to the ball at the end of a play.
Dick Lebeau? Jim Schwartz? Ray Horton? Chuck Pagano? Rod Marinelli (if D replaces Garrett & he isn’t hired as HC), Teryl Austin? Gregg Williams? Mangini? Gus Bradley?
Lebeau: 78
Schwartz: Wide 9,
Horton: Wouldn’t hate it
Pagano: From the Baltimore tree so makes most schematic sense, probably just takes a year off
Marinelli: 43 Tampa 2 disciple
Austin: Diverse background, may not be allowed to interview
Williams: Dickhead, 1 gap 43 coach
Mangini: Nah
Bradley: Not getting fired
It will be some wholly uninspiring retread like Mike Nolan
i puked in my mouth when you said “wide 9”
I do everytime someone complains about the 2 gap being the worst thing ever because it doesn’t allow enough pressure on the QB. Like they forgot what the go get the QB at all costs wide 9 looks like.
I didn’t think Schwartz was still running wide 9 in Buffalo. I think Horton would be my pick, and would quiet some of the Chip is a racist noise, that is of course if Horton doesn’t get a HC job. Austin & Marinelli are close to Dungy who is close to Chip
The most interesting question is who wants the job? Easy to argue that Chip’s O puts you in a bad position every week.
i like the 2 gap. we just need a more consistent rusher at one OLB spot
Schwartz is a dickhead too.
Pat Narduzzi from Michigan State (now Pitt I think)? Bud Foster from VA Tech (i’m a homer but he’s always put out nasty D)? other college thoughts?
The waiting is the hardest part.
Don’t you think that if Chip was interested in a proven, successful DC that Davis would have already been let go? And if he isn’t interested, is it because that person would look to change what Kelly wants on the field? Chip has said repeatedly that he believes in 34 2-gap, run-stuffing as a basic scheme, with big DL, athletic LB’s who can move in space, and a backfield that can cover and tackle. He wants this because he believes it is the best alignment to stop his juggernaut offense. If he ever gets his juggernaut offense, he may be proven correct, but it will require a few different names on defense than we’re now seeing, and the DC will probably be Bill Davis…unless he quits.
kelly is stubborn sometimes but not cartoonishly inflexible (see miles austin, demarco murray, jenkins back to slot). if he keeps davis i’m willing to admit i’m wrong about this though.
Saints D looks llke Eagles D
From 2012
2010; thanks McDermott
https://twitter.com/howardeskin/status/679131297659269121
Can’t imagine if be happy either. When the other team has a 210 pound linebacker you might just try some power runs…
we have bigger issues than an unhappy Demarco…..good chance both Rowe and Maxwell are out for saturdays’ game…..Desean licking his chops
neither of those guys can guard desean anyway
Rowe can
Mr Cousins is about to feel our Cox
Fuck Demarco Murray. Go cry to the owner some more about your playing time.
gotta feeling were going to see a vintage Drew Brees comeback right here tonight
maybe not
damn defense
[…] Inconclusive – Iggles BlitzThe Eagles are now 6-8. They host the Skins on Saturday night. In the finale, they travel to play the Giants. Win both games…and the Eagles are NFC East champs. They would host a playoff game. In some ways, Sunday night was meaningless. Had the Eagles won 40-17, it wouldn’t have changed the importance of the Skins game. That one really will make or break the season. I wonder if losing was actually a good thing. I want the Eagles playing with a sense of desperation on Saturday night. A win over Arizona might have falsely inflated some egos. What does this game mean going forward? If the Eagles do make the playoffs, are they just going to get bounced early? Back in 2008, the Eagles hosted Arizona on Thanksgiving night. That game was a blowout, but the fun kind. The Eagles won 48-20 (and the game wasn’t even that close!). A few weeks later the same teams met in the NFC title game. I don’t think I have to remind you how that game turned out. […]
So my 6 year old brings home a book from the library, it’s something like next generation star QB’s. There are chapters on QB’s like the following: Brady, Daunte Culpepper, Aaron Brooks, that Jets QB who bounced around a little who I can’t remember his name, Brees, McNabb.
I went to UVA and I’m not sure who Aaron Brooks is. Some of these guys need to be excerpted out of the book. But Brady is on the cover, so it’s the 2nd time through our house this year.
Ill nevet forget brian dawkins crushing daunte culpeper on a gosl line stand. . Culpeper was young fast snd huge .. and dawk hurt him as he tried to sscore .. he fumbled.. I literally feel his career was never the same after that hit
There is a good lesson here. Out of those names, I think only McNabb turned into what the team that drafted him thought he would be. The rest were either dumped or disappointments, with one huge winning lottery ticket.
Something to keep in mind when deciding whether or not Bradford is worth the patience.
I tried to point this out earlier, but you’ve done it better here.
Randy Moss made Culpepper looks so good. Shame about that guy.
Pennington? He was a solid player with a weak arm, but smart with the ball and accurate. A couple cheap shots to the knees killed his career.
yes that’s who it is thanks
I don’t understand:
1. What we are running behind Reilley Cooper on 4h & 1, and
2. Why Chip didn’t change the play when AZ changed it’s D look?
3. Is there something with the way Bradford throws that is causing drops that were not an problem last year?
Chip sounded extremely frustrated with the lack of offensive consistency yesterday and all but admitted he has no confidence that the OL can run block, and only slight more confidence in our receivers ability to catch the ball.
Bradford was on the money yesterday, but the INTs in crucial situations is brutal! With so many QBs potentially available this off-season, I wonder who our QB is next year: Bradford, Brees, RG3, G. Smith, Manuel, Kaepernick, Cutler, Stafford, Mariota?
I like when on 4th down we run up and just go. I think that can catch the other team off balance or make them blow a time out. I really didn’t like our sequence there.
Agree 100%. We have the pace, and that’s the perfect time to use it.
thy screwed us on the measurement, that ruined the tempo, i might have tried play action pass
Arizona called a time out. They changed their defensive play when they saw the Eagles were under center.
Agree completely. Recievers for blocking and DBs for tackling is not working Chip
OBJ suspended one game.
Two would have been nice.
I’m finding it hard to get into this game coming up. Not excited about watching DJ catching a deep pass for a TD because the Eagles CB is playing 20 yards off the ball (like he just did vs. that TE)……Trivia time — how far can a TE carry an Eagles CB while holding on the football?
Im rooting for dJax. I dont feel its anti at all. I dont want the skins to win or anyone else to do well but id love to see meSean score srversl and have the cameras cut to Chip and hear joe buck or troy or colingsworthnor whayrvet Eagle hater is doing the coverage explain to the world how chip drove him out. For free no less.
lame
Ahh i chip and his 2 bfd 10-6 seasons letting a star walk cause he dint like him.
F in cluelessill cant get over it.
Its like this franchise hates Recievers
Calling out Demeco to Kiko from the igglesblitz fantasy football league. Looks like we get to battle it out this weekend. I’m not exactly rolling into the championship but maybe Stafford will target Megatron more then once this week. Then again if the Eagles lose on Saturday scoring 500 fantasy points won’t improve my mood.
With you. Saturday is key above all else.
Feel lucky to have gotten this far in FF… Your QB is on fire.
and of course you got Gronk….game on bro.
Yeah winning by less then a point against the dude who basically steamrolled through the league, wild. What a crazy game. Good luck.
Too banged up in the secondary. I’m a true Bird’s optimist, but I’m not feeling the juju here. If Watkins plays corner it’s going to be a long day.